Taylor, Jeremy, Dd

Taylor, Jeremy, D.D.

a distinguished Anglican divine, was born at Cambridge in 1613. He entered as a sizar in Caius College, Cambridge, in 1626, and became chaplain to archbishop Laud and to Charles I; was made fellow of All- Souls College, Oxford, in 1632; and was rector of Uppingham, Rutlandlshire, 1638; sequestered by Parliament in 1642; and after the defeat of the Royalists suffered frequent but short imprisonments. During the first year of the Protectorate, he kept a school in Wales in conjunction with William Nicholson, and officiated as chaplain to the earl of Carberry at Golden Grove, Carmarthenshire. In 1658 he settled in Ireland and preached alternately at Lisburn and Portmore. He returned to London in the spring of 1660, and signed the loyal Declaration of the Nobility and Gentry April 24, thirty-five days before the Restoration. He was consecrated bishop of Down and Connor in January, 1661, made a member of the Irish Privy Council in February, entrusted with the diocese of Dromore in March, and in the same year was elected vice-chancellor of the University of Dublin. He died at Lisburn, Aug. 13, 1667, and was interred in the choir of the cathedral at Dromore. His funeral sermon was preached by his chaplain, Dr. George Rust, who said of him: "His endowments were so many and so great as really made him a miracle. He was a rare humanist and deeply versed in all the polite arts of learning, and thoroughly concocted all the ancient moralists, Greek and Roman poets and orators. He had the good-humor of a gentleman, the eloquence of an orator, the fancy of a poet, the acuteness of a schoolman, the profoundness of a philosopher, the wisdom of a chancellor, the sagacity of a prophet, the reason of an angel, and the piety of a saint. He had devotion enough for a cloister, learning enough for a university, and wit enough for a college of virtuosi." To sum up all his attainments, Thompson calls him, in his Biog. Hist., the "Homer of divines';" Hannah More, the "Shakspeare of the Church;" earl Shaftesbury, the "Spenser of English theological literature." An account of his writings and the various editions would fill a volume. We give an outline of his works, and simply the first editions': The Sacred Order and Offices of Episcopacy (Oxford, 1642, 4to): — A Discourse concerning Prayer (Lond. 1646, 4to): — New and Easy Institution of Grammar: Discourse of the Liberty of Prophesying (1647, 4to):The Great Exemplar of Sanctity and Holy Life (1649, 4to): — The Rule and Exercise of Holy Living (1650, 12mo): — The Rule and Exercise of Holy Dying (1651, 12mo): — A Discourse of the Office Ministerial (Lond. 1651; 8vo): — Sermons for all Sundays in the Year (ibid. 1653, 2 vols. fol.): — Manual of Daily Prayers (1655, 8vo): — Doctrine and Practice of Repentance (Lond. 1655, 8vo): — Polemical and Moral Discourses (1657, fol.):Discourses of the Nature, Offices, and Measures of Friendship (1662,12mo): — Offices or Forms of Prayer (1658, 8vo): — The Rule of Conscience (1660, 2 vols. fol.): The Worthy Communicant (1660, 8vo): — Rules and Advices to the Clergy of the Diocese of Down and Connor (Dublin, 1661, 8vo): — Discourse of Confirmation (1664, 8vo): — Dissuasives from Popery; addressed to the People of Ireland (ibid. pt. 1, 1864, 4to; pt. 2, 1867, 4to, some 8vo).: — Contemplations of the State of Man (1684, 4to and 8vo). There have also been published separately, Christian Consolations Taught from Religion (24mo): — Guide to Eternal Happiness (12mo): — Baptists Justified, with Notes by Dr. Anderson (12mo): — Reverence Due to the Altar; Preparation for the Sacrament (12mo): — Comforts of Piety (12mo): — Marriage Ring (Lond. 1838, 32mo): — Warning Vain (1848, 18mo): — Godly Fear (1867, 32mo): — Selections from his Prayers (1811, 8vo): — Beauties of Jeremy Taylor (Lond. 1845): — Selections from his Writings (in Sparks, Essays and Tracts in Theology, vol. 6:No. 11). There have been numerous editions of Dr. Taylor's works: Select Works (1819, 6 vols. 8vo, Longman); Select Works, by Bradley (2 vols.); Select Works, by T. S. Hulghes, D.D. (5 vols. 8vo); Practical Works, by George Croly, D.D. (2 vols. 8vo); Whole Works, with Essay Biographical and Critical, by Henry Rogers (1835,3 vols. imp. 8vo); Whole. Works, by Rev. J. R. Pitman, with life of the author and a critical examination of his writings; Life of Bishop Taylor, by bishop Heber; and also Life, by Rev. J. Wheeldon, in which the pure spirit of his writings is extracted and exhibited for the general benefit. See Allibone, Dict. of Brit. and Amer. Authors, s.v.; Chalmers, Biog. Dict. s.v. (W. P. S.)