specific suggestion that the element of righteous-
ness is closely connected with the robes of glory.
But the precise nature and place of righteousness
in the allegory shows only nebulously; in fact,
the word is not even used in this meditation.
But Meditation I:42 occurs near the begin-
ning of what appears to be a series of related
poems. Meditations I:41–49 all cite scriptural
texts pertaining to Christ’s preparation of the
soul for its entrance into the everlasting state of
glorification. Taylor often seems to have linked
his meditations in sequential arrangements, and
since the poems are based upon the subjects of his
sermons, we may infer that Taylor was probably
preaching a series of sermons on a related topic
from at least 24 May 1691 to 26 February 1693.
From the number of times the wordrighteousness
comes up in this series of poems, I would suggest
that righteousness was a major part of the subject
of Taylor’s sacrament-day sermons during
that period, that Meditations I:41–49 are pri-
marily concerned with that idea, and that the
garments, crown, and other apparel described
in the preparation of the soul stand for the
idea of righteousness.
Three meditations following I:42 treat the
‘‘Crown of Life, of Glory, Righteousness,’’ and
then in Meditation I:46, upon an unknown doc-
trine drawn from ‘‘Rev. 3.5. The same shall be
cloathed in White Raiment,’’ Taylor again
employs the imagery of ‘‘Huswifery’’:
I’m but a Ball of dirt. Wilt thou adorn
Mee with thy Web wove in thy Loom Divine
The Whitest Web in Glory, that the morn
Nay, that all Angell glory, doth ore shine?
They ware no such. This whitest Lawn most
fine
Is onely worn, my Lord, by thee and thine.
(ll. 13–18)
Here both Christ and His Elect wear the robe,
not now the robe ‘‘Wove in the golde Loom of
Humanity’’ (Med. II:128), but the ‘‘Web wove in
thy Loom Divine.’’ And the poem continues to
develop the details of the garment-making conceit.
Of the glorious robes worn by the angels, Taylor
writes:
Their Web is wealthy, wove of Wealthy Silke
Well wrought indeed, its all brancht Taffity.
But this thy Web more white by far than milke
Spun on thy Wheele twine of thy Deity
Wove in thy Web, Fulld in thy mill by hand
Makes them in all their bravery seem tand.
This Web is wrought by best, and noblest ArtThat heaven doth afford of twine most choice
All brancht, and richly flowerd in every part
With all the sparkling flowers of Paradise
To be thy Ware alone, who hast no peere
And Robes for glorious Saints to thee most
deare.
(ll. 25–36)
The fine twine of ‘‘Huswifery’’ now is said to
be deity itself. Christ and His saints together
wear the garment, and the ‘‘sparkling flowers of
Paradise’’ pink these robes as they do the gar-
ment of ‘‘Huswifery.’’
But while Taylor’s robe clearly prepares the
soul for everlasting glory, it also has a more
immediate purpose. All the ‘‘Preparatory Medi-
tations’’ are designed to ready Taylor’s soul for
the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, where the
marriage of Christ’s divine and human natures is
celebrated and where the soul itself performs
the symbolic rite of becoming united to Christ.
In Meditation II:71, written 20 October 1706,
Taylor describes the sacramental feast ‘‘Where
Saints are Guests and Angells waiters are’’:
The Wedden garment of Christs Right-
eousness
And Holy Cloathes of Sanctity most pure,
Are their atire, their Festivall rich dress. (ll.
25–27)
Again the element of righteousness qualifies
the garment, but as in all the other poems, the
term is not described. Supposedly the sermons
that originally accompanied Meditations I:41–
49 would clarify not only Taylor’s use of that
term but the image of garment-making as well
that seems connected with it. But these sermons
are lost.
Another series of sermons, however, speaks
pointedly to the image of the garment, its rela-
tionship to the Lord’s Supper, the significance of
righteousness, and therefore to the poem ‘‘Hus-
wifery.’’ These are not sacrament-day sermons,
but grow out of Taylor’s increasing concern
for the disregard into which the sacrament
was falling, especially because of the liberalizing
activities of Solomon Stoddard, pastor of the
church at Northampton, Massachusetts. When
the first New England congregations gathered,
all church members took the sacrament. After
about 1650, however, participation fell off seri-
ously, and a number of ministers—Stoddard the
most notable—began to reconsider the require-
ments for participating in communion. In 1690,
finally, Stoddard reformed the practice of hisHuswifery