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THE PASSOVER SERMONS AND POEMS: TYPES AND EMBLEMS IN EDWARD TAYLOR'S "UPON THE TYPES OF THE OLD TESTAMENT" (ENGLAND, MASSACHUSETTS)
Abstract
In his typological treatise Upon the Types of the Old Testament, Edward Taylor includes two sermons on the Passover. Two sermons upon the same theme is in itself remarkable (these are the only extant sermons where Taylor returns to the same typological subject), but Taylor's contrasting treatment of that theme is even more revealing. In the first Passover sermon, written in 1697, Taylor explicates the Passover as a type of Christ (the antitype); but in the second sermon, written in 1706, he examines the Passover as an emblem of the Lord's Supper. Consequently, these two sermons on the Passover (and their accompanying Preparatory Meditations) are significant in a number of ways. First, they demonstrate that Taylor was aware of emblem theory as a tradition distinct from typological exegesis. Secondly, a comparison of the ways the sermons and poems are developed shows that Taylor did not base his poetic aesthetic upon emblem theory but upon typological exegesis, Puritan serman theory, and Protestant meditational practices. Thirdly, Taylor's repetition of the Passover theme adds to our knowledge of the Taylor/Stoddard controversy over the Lord's Supper; when he develops the Passover/emblem figure (an innovation in Puritan typological tracts), he is engaging in the politics of the Lord's Supper. Fourthly, Taylor's use of the Passover as a metaphor for both Christ's sacrifice and the communion of the Lord's Supper demonstrates the importance of metaphor in his thought and poetry; for Taylor, poetic metaphor is God's own "neate Rhetoricall, and Wise manner of Speaking." Finally, an examination of the way Taylor develops the Passover in two sermons and their respective poems sheds light upon his poetic practice. Taylor's meditations are not self-examinations for justification nor are they expressions of an agonizing tension concerning his own Election. Instead, they are Taylor's effort to grasp and imitate divine truth within his own life as an act of private, devotional preparation for both the renewed sanctification of the Lord's Supper and, ultimately, for glorification. The meditations recapitulate the order of redemption which results in a lessening of anxiety and a renewed assurance for Taylor.
Subject Area
American literature
Recommended Citation
KOELLING, DEBORAH SPANGLER, "THE PASSOVER SERMONS AND POEMS: TYPES AND EMBLEMS IN EDWARD TAYLOR'S "UPON THE TYPES OF THE OLD TESTAMENT" (ENGLAND, MASSACHUSETTS)" (1984). ETD collection for University of Nebraska-Lincoln. AAI8423806.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dissertations/AAI8423806