Taylor’s display of yarn in “Huswifery” plays a significant role in illustrating the foundation of the ideal Christian. For example, when asking God to “Make me thy loom then, knit therein this twine: And make thy holy spirit, lord, wind quills” (Taylor 101), Taylor offers to surrender himself to God, so God can use him as the foundation of his masterpiece. Even as Taylor asks God for his spiritual help, his life is in the process of transformation through God's holy word. Then, by choosing to begin the poem with “Make me, O Lord, thy spinning wheel complete”(Taylor 101), Taylor emphasizes his desire for God to use him as that foundation to then transform him into a tool for righteous conversion. While claiming, “My conversation make to …show more content…
be thy reel And reel the yarn thereon spun of thy wheel”(Taylor 101). Taylor is also asking God to utilize his voice, his words, to attract or gather others as if he were gathering yarn on a spool. In a way, by willfully giving his life to Christ, Taylor is allowing Christ to direct him on his spiritual journey, like the yarn on the wheel. Through the creation of the yarn, God has begun to create a holy masterpiece in Taylor. The process of making clothing is a parallel to the journey Christians must take to reach the level of an ideal Christian.
For instance, when desiring the Lord, Taylor claims “Thy holy lord my distaff make for me. Make mine affections thy swift flyers neat”(Taylor 101). Taylor continues to ask the Lord for his guidance in preparing his soul for the teachings of the Lord’s word. While Taylor has an aspiration for his destiny of the Lord’s purpose ,Taylor still has a connection with the Lord to guide him during his spiritual journey. As well as, throughout the progression of Taylor’s life, he continues his process by requesting from God, “Make my soul the holy spoole to be”(Taylor 101), as if he himself embodies the supply of yarn that will be woven into fine clothing. His desire is to offer his soul as an endless supply of Godly yarn to produce the beautiful clothing. In addition, Taylor proclaims, “Thine ordinances make my fulling mills”(Taylor 101). Taylor believes the words of God will rid him of all his sins. Through relieving himself of his sins, Taylor is making his way through the spiritual path to salvation. By referencing the process of making yarn and turning it into clothing, Taylor illustrates the similarity to God’s ability to take an unprepared soul and gradually work it and nurture it into an ideal Christian
life. The beauty of the finished robe exemplifies the ideal Christian living in the word of the Lord. First off, while talking of his thoughts Taylor claims, “My words, and actions, that their shine may fill my ways with glory and thee glorify”(Taylor 101). Taylor’s life has been influenced tremendously by God and he expresses his desire to share the glory of God through his teachings. In this way, he is also hopeful that he will be able to glorify God’s word in the process. Secondly, when explaining the meaning of his apparel, Taylor writes “Then mine apparel Shall display before ye that I am clothed in holy robes for glory” (Taylor 101). Taylor has shown that his training is complete and has been made new into an excellent christian. His transformation to being able to spread the teachings of the holy Lord exemplifies that he is complete. Finally, for the final step of the process, he notes “Then dye the same in heavenly colors. All pinked with varnished flowers of paradise”(Taylor 101). However the Lord decided to make him, he would've turned out amazing because nothing the Lord could ever create could be anything less than amazing. As Taylor considers the possibilities of how God could have created him, his attention still lies with the beautiful robe that God has created. With the Lord’s teachings coming to an end, the yarn has finally been turned into an amazing piece of clothing.
...e. Grace allows this change to happen, but one must be willing to face hardships and difficulties because the road to redemption is narrow and rocky.
Through her many allegories, Hurnard echoes God’s call for His children to joyfully love, trust, and obey Him. She encourages her readers through the call of the Shepherd to strive after true satisfying love by forsaking thei...
Plantinga’s (2002) book Engaging God’s World consists of five parts: “Longing and Hope,” “Creation,” “The Fall,” “Redemption,” and “Vocation in the Kingdom of God.” Throughout the work, Plantinga references public speakers and activists, lyricists, philosophers, saints, and authors to help his audience connect to his perspective.
In the first stanza we are captivated by hope, because it “dangles on a string” before us, not quite in our grasp, because even though we are aware of it, we do not fully have a handle on what it means to be hopeful (1). This is then said to be like “slow-spinning redemption” (2). Again, this is because we do not fully appreciate redemption. We can see it before us, in many different lights, hence spinning, but we do not really understand what makes redemption what it is. Because we do not comprehend the concepts of hope and redemption they “rope us in” and “mesmerize” us (5, 6). We spend a lot of time in our youth...
Edward Taylor’s Upon Wedlock, and Death of Children and Upon a Wasp Chilled with Cold are similar in their approach with the illustration of how beautiful and magnificent God’s creations are to humankind. However, each poem presents tragic misfortune, such as the death of his own children in Upon Wedlock, and Death of Children and the cold, enigmatic nature of human soul in Upon a Wasp Chilled with Cold. Taylor’s poems create an element of how cruel reality can be, as well as manifest an errant correlation between earthly life and spiritual salvation, which is how you react to the problems you face on earth determines the salvation that God has in store for you.
Thompson, Will L. “Put Your Shoulder to the Wheel.” Hymns of the Church of Jesus Christ of
Stanza three, lines one through four state "Lord, make my Soule thy Plate: thine Image bright/ Within the Circle of the same enfoile./ And on its brims in golden Letters write/ Thy Superscription in an Holy style." It seems that, more than anything, Taylor wants to be as godly as possible, and reflect His image. He goes back to being 100% faithful to God when he says he wants his soul to be God's plate, or coin. Then in Stanza three, lines five and six it says "Then I shall be thy Money, thou my Hord:/ Let me thy Angell bee, bee thou my Lord." It reciprocates the idea that Taylor wants to be God's money, or chosen worker, but then it takes a turn not mentioned in the rest of the poem. It states that he wants God to be his "Hord". Although the meaning is not totally clear, Taylor seems to imply that, not only is he God's laborer, but God is storing up treasures in heaven for him through his work. This is what we as Christians should strive to do in this life.
The early white settlers had a hard time defying their own sinful desires and striving for holiness. This was especially seen in the works of Edward Taylor, who was a puritan pastor during the early days of America. In his poem, I Am the Living Bread, he mentioned, “This Wicker Cage (my Corps) to tweedle praise Had peckt the Fruite forbad: and so did fling Away its Food; and lost its golden dayes;” In this context, Edward Taylor is struggling to defy sin that his body offers because it will kill him eventually, and strives to acquire the grace of God that would sustain him. In
This meaning, the Bible is a motivational tool. An example of this in passage is 2 Timothy 3:16, “All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.” As the layers of a pizza each have their individual depth, the layers of the Bible (scriptures) are used as deeper significance and motivation for all God’s people to learn his ways and do well by him and others. Kuhn even mentions how the Bible is used by Christians similarly, “It grants believers the confident sense that answers to many of life’s questions (from the profound to most mundane) can be found in this sacred text (p. 4).” He is essentially stating the Bible is used for motivation and inspiration by many Christians to conquer daily
N. T. Wright’s The Case for the Psalms: Why They Are Essential reminds us of the differences found within the importance of God’s time, space, and matter in comparison to our time, space and matter perspectives. In our limited human capacity we as human kind take our miscues from the human perspective when chasing after the material gains of this world as we put our prayerful meditations and relationships to God on the back burner of our lives while redirecting our energies toward the relationships we cultivate with our wealth. If we as Christian cultivate our relationship with God we will be recognize the wealth we seek can only be found in our relationship with Our Father and Our Savior Jesus Christ as He is the provider of our wealth. He sees clearly our needs providing for them daily. If we could see the realities of our time, spac...
In the first line, Edward Taylor asks that God be the master spinner behind his spinning wheel self which indicates his desire for the Lord to take control of his life and to use that life to create what He will. He then expounds upon this idea by incorporating many of the parts of a spinning wheel into the analogy. Taylor asks that all that he believes come from the Holy Word (his distaff) and that all that he longs for be kept in line with the Lord's wishes by His "swift flyers". He wants his conversation to spring forth from that which the Lord is creating in him, just as the thread, once spun, does not change in nature as it is wound around the reel. Essentially, in this stanza, he is saying: Lord, take me and mold my heart for I am Yours.
...lton’s poem is a beautiful poem of theology and history of the founding of the world and Christianity. It is an extremely important piece of English literature. Not just for Christians but everyone.
A Christian, when faced with the challenge of writing, finds himself in a dilemma: how is he to complete the task? Should he create an allegory? Should he try to teach a lesson reflecting God’s glory? Or should he follow secular trends and current desires in literature? To this, many Christians would say, “Certainly not!” Dorothy L. Sayers and Flannery O’Connor both aim to answer the first question of any Christian writer: How do I write a story with my beliefs?
For example, he quotes 1Timothy 1:17 and then declares “As I read the words, there came into my soul . . . a sense of the glory of the Divine Being; a new sense, quite different from anything I ever experienced before.” (313-314). This declaration shows that as he becomes more familiar with scripture, he is able to open his heart and grow more in love with God. Edwards later states how upset he is that he had not sought out a close relationship with God sooner because he deeply wishes he would have had more time to “grow in grace”(315); this statement comes after he quotes Psalms 119:28 “My soul breaketh for the longing it hath.” (315). It’s evident through the use of this verse how strongly he longs for a fuller and closer bond with God and Christ. Furthermore, he expresses that same sense of yearning when he states “I very often think . . . of being a little child, taking hold of Christ, to be led by him through the wilderness of this world.” (316) and follows it with the verse Matthew 18:3. Through quoting this verse, he once again reinforces how greatly affected by scripture his bond with God is, and how it leaves him seeking to be led even more by
“First, there is the call to be a Christian. Second, for each individual there is a specific call—a defining purpose or mission, a reason for being. Every individual is called of God to respond through service in the world. Third, there is the call that we face each day in response to the multiple demands on our lives—our immediate duties and responsibilities” (Smith, ...