Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

TAYLOR, JEREMY (1613-1667)

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V26, Page 471 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

See also:

TAYLOR, See also:JEREMY (1613-1667) , See also:English divine and author, was baptized at See also:Cambridge on the 15th of See also:August 1613. His See also:father, Nathaniel, though a See also:barber, was a See also:man of some See also:education, for Jeremy was " solely grounded in See also:grammar and See also:mathematics " by him. The tradition that he was descended from Dr See also:Rowland Taylor, See also:Cranmer's See also:chaplain, who suffered martyrdom under See also:Mary, is grounded on the untrustworthy See also:evidence of a certain See also:Lady Wray, said to have been a granddaughter of Jeremy Taylor. She supplied See also:Bishop See also:Heber in 1732 with other See also:biographical data of doubtful authenticity. Jeremy Taylor was a See also:pupil of See also:Thomas Lovering, at the newly founded Perse grammar school. Lovering is first mentioned as See also:master in 1619, so that Taylor probably spent seven years at the school before he was entered at Gonville and See also:Caius See also:College as a See also:sizar in 1626,1 eighteen months after See also:Milton had entered See also:Christ's, and while See also:George See also:Herbert was public orator and See also:Edmund See also:Waller and Thomas See also:Fuller were undergraduates of the university. He was elected a Perse See also:scholar in 1628, and See also:fellow of his college in 1633, but the best evidence of his See also:diligence as a student is the enormous learning of which he showed so easy a command in after years. In 1633, although still below the canonical See also:age, he took See also:holy orders, and, accepting the invitation of Thomas Risden, a former fellow-student, to See also:supply his See also:place for a See also:short See also:time as lecturer in St See also:Paul's, he at once attracted See also:attention by his eloquence and by his handsome See also:face. See also:Archbishop See also:Laud sent for Taylor to preach before him at See also:Lambeth, and took the See also:young man under his See also:special See also:protection. Taylor did not vacate his fellowship at Cambridge before 1636, but he spent, apparently, much of his time in See also:London, for Laud desired that his " mighty parts should be afforded better opportunities of study and improvement than a course of See also:constant See also:preaching would allow of." In See also:November 1635 he had been nominated by Laud to a fellowship at All Souls, See also:Oxford, where, says See also:Wood (Athen. Oxon., Ed. See also:Bliss, iii.

781), love and admiration still waited on him. He seems, however, to have spent little time there. He became chaplain to his See also:

patron the archbishop, and chaplain in See also:ordinary to See also:Charles I. At Oxford See also:William Chilling See also:worth was then busy with his See also:great See also:work, The See also:Religion of Protestants, and it is possible that by intercourse with him Taylor's mind may have been turned towards the liberal See also:movement of his age. After two years in Oxford, he was presented, in See also:March 1638, by See also:Juxon, bishop of London, to the rectory of See also:Uppingham, in Rutlandshire. In the next See also:year he married See also:Phoebe Langsdale, by whom he had six See also:children, the eldest of whom died at Uppingham in 1642. In the autumn of the same year he was appointed to preach in St Mary's on the anniversary of the See also:Gunpowder See also:Plot, and apparently used the occasion to clear himself of a suspicion, which, however, haunted him through See also:life, of a See also:secret leaning to the Romish communion. This suspicion seems to have arisen chiefly from his intimacy with See also:Christopher See also:Davenport, better known as See also:Francis a Sancta See also:Clara, a learned Franciscan See also:friar who became chaplain to See also:Queen An obviously erroneous entry in the See also:Admission See also:Book states that he had been at school under Mr. Lovering for ten years, and was in his fifteenth year. Admissions to Gonville and Caius College (ed. J. See also:Venn, 1887).

Henrietta; but it may have been strengthened by his known Friendship (1657). His Ductor Dubitantium, or the See also:

Rule of connexion with Laud, as well as by his ascetic habits. More I See also:Conscience .. . (166o) was intended to be the See also:standard See also:manual serious consequences followed his See also:attachment to the Royalist cause. The author of The Sacred See also:Order and Offices of See also:Episcopacy or Episcopacy Asserted against the Aerians and See also:Acephali New and Old (1642), could scarcely See also:hope to retain his See also:parish, which was not, however, sequestrated until 1644. Taylor probably accompanied the See also:king to Oxford. In 1643 he was presented to the rectory of See also:Overstone, See also:Northamptonshire, by Charles I. There he would be in See also:close connexion with his friend and patron See also:Spencer See also:Compton, 2nd See also:earl of See also:Northampton. During the next fifteen years Taylor's movements are not easily traced. He seems to have been in London during the last See also:weeks of Charles I., from whom he is said to have received his See also:watch and some jewels which had ornamented the See also:ebony See also:case in which he kept his See also:Bible. He had been taken prisoner with other Royalists while besieging See also:Cardigan See also:castle on the 4th of See also:February 1645. In 1646 he is found in See also:partnership with two other deprived clergymen, keeping a school at See also:Newton See also:Hall, in the parish of Llanvihangel-Aberbythych, See also:Carmarthen-See also:shire.

Here he became private chaplain to See also:

Richard See also:Vaughan, 2nd earl of Carbery (1600-1686), whose hospitable See also:mansion, See also:Golden See also:Grove, is immortalized in the See also:title of Taylor's still popular manual of devotion, and whose first wife was a constant friend of Taylor. The second Lady Carbery was the See also:original of the " Lady " in Milton's See also:Comus. Mrs Taylor had died See also:early in 1651. He second wife was See also:Joanna See also:Bridges, said on very doubtful authority to have been a natural daughter of Charles I. She owned a See also:good See also:estate, though probably impoverished by Parliamentarian exactions, at Mandinam, in See also:Carmarthenshire. From time to time Jeremy Taylor appears in London in the See also:company of his friend See also:Evelyn, in whose See also:diary and See also:correspondence his name repeatedly occurs. He was three times imprisoned: in 1654–5 for an injudicious See also:preface to his Golden Grove; again in See also:Chepstow castle, from May to See also:October 1655, on what See also:charge does not appear; and a third time in the See also:Tower in 1657-8, on See also:account of the indiscretion of his publisher, Richard See also:Royston, who had adorned his " Collection of Offices " with a See also:print representing Christ in the attitude of See also:prayer. Much of his best work was produced at Golden Grove. In 1646 appeared his famous plea for See also:toleration, eeoxoyia 'EKXeKTuuiI, A Discourse of the See also:Liberty of Prophesying. In 1649 he published the See also:complete edition of his See also:Apology for authorized and set forms of See also:Liturgy against the Pretence of the Spirit, as well as his Great Exemplar . . . a See also:History of . . .

Jesus Christ, a book which was inspired, its author tells us, by his earlier intercourse with the earl of Northampton. Then followed in rapid See also:

succession the Twenty-seven Sermons (1651), " for the summer See also:half-year," and the Twenty-five (1653), " for the See also:winter half-year," The Rule and Exercises of Holy Living (165o), The Rule and Exercises of Holy Dying (1651), a controversial See also:treatise on The Real Presence . . . (1654), the Golden Grove; or a Manuall of daily prayers and letanies . . . (1655), and the Unum Necessarium (1655), which by its Pelagianism gave great offence.' The Rule and Exercises of Holy Living provided a manual of See also:Christian practice, which has retained its place with devout readers. The See also:scope of the work is described on the title-See also:page. It deals with " the means and See also:instruments of obtaining every virtue, and the remedies against every See also:vice, and considerations serving to the resisting all temptations, together with prayers containing the whole See also:Duty of a Christian." Holy Dying was perhaps even more popular. A very charming piece of work of a lighter See also:kind was inspired by a question from his friend, Mrs Katherine See also:Phillips (the matchless Orinda "), asking " How far is a dear and perfect friendship authorized by the principles of See also:Christianity ?" In See also:answer to this he dedicated to the " most ingenious and excellent Mrs Katherine Phillips " his Discourse of the Nature, Offices and See also:Measures of ' See an angry See also:letter by See also:Brian Duppa, bishop of See also:Salisbury, on .he subject (See also:Eden i. xlii.). of See also:casuistry and See also:ethics for the Christian See also:people. He probably See also:left See also:Wales in 1657, and his immediate connexion with Golden Grove seems to have ceased two years earlier. In 1658, through the kind offices of his friend See also:John Evelyn, Taylor was offered a lectureship in See also:Lisburn, See also:Ireland, by See also:Edward See also:Conway, second See also:Viscount Conway.

At first he declined a See also:

post in which the duty was to be shared with a Presbyterian, or, as he expressed it, " where a Presbyterian and myself shall be like See also:Castor and See also:Pollux, the one up and the other down," and to which also a very meagre See also:salary was attached. He was, however, induced to take it, and found in his patron's mansion at Portmore, on Lough See also:Neagh, a congenial See also:retreat. At the Restoration, instead of being recalled to See also:England, as he probably expected and certainly desired, he was appointed to the see of Down and See also:Connor, to which was shortly added the small adjacent See also:diocese of See also:Dromore. He was also made a member of the Irish privy See also:council and vice-See also:chancellor of the university of See also:Dublin. None of these honours were sinecures. Of the university he writes, " I found all things in a perfect disorder . . . . a heap of men and boys, but no See also:body of a college, no one member, either fellow or scholar, having any legal title to his place, but thrust in by tyranny or See also:chance." Accordingly he set himself vigorously to tl4e task of framing and enforcing regulations for the admission and conduct of members of the university, and also of establishing lectureships. His episcopal labours were still more arduous. There were, at the date of the Restoration, about seventy Presbyterian ministers in the See also:north of Ireland, and most of these were from the See also:west of See also:Scotland, and were imbued with the dislike of Episcopacy which distinguished the Covenanting party. No wonder that Taylor, See also:writing to the See also:duke of See also:Ormonde shortly after his See also:consecration, should have said, " I perceive myself thrown into a place of torment." His letters perhaps somewhat exaggerate the danger in which he lived, but there is no doubt that his authority was resisted and his overtures rejected. His writings also were ransacked for See also:matter of See also:accusation against him, " a See also:committee of Scotch See also:spiders being appointed to see if they can gather or make See also:poison out of them." Here, then, was Taylor's opportunity for exemplifying the See also:wise toleration he had in other days inculcated, but the new bishop had nothing to offer the Presbyterian See also:clergy but the See also:bare alternative—submission to episcopal ordination and See also:jurisdiction or deprivation.

Consequently, in his first visitation, he declared See also:

thirty-six churches vacant; and of these forcible possesssion was taken by his orders. At the same time many of the gentry were won by his undoubted sincerity and devotedness as well as by his eloquence. With the See also:Roman See also:Catholic See also:element of the See also:population he was less successful. Ignorant of the English See also:language, and firmly attached to their ancestral forms of See also:worship, they were yet compelled to attend a service they considered profane, conducted in a language they could not understand. As Heber says, " No See also:part of the See also:administration of Ireland by the English See also:crown has been more extraordinary and more unfortunate than the See also:system pursued for the introduction of the Reformed religion. " At the instance of the Irish bishops Taylor undertook his last great work, the Dissuasive from Popery (in two parts, 1664 and 1667), but, as he himself seemed partly conscious, he might have more effectually gained his end by adopting the methods of Ussher and See also:Bedell, and inducing his clergy to acquire the Irish See also:tongue, The troubles of his episcopate no doubt shortened his life. Nor were domestic sorrows wanting in these later years. In 1661 he buried, at Lisburn, Edward, the only surviving son of his second See also:marriage. His eldest son, an officer in the See also:army, was killed in a See also:duel; and his second son, Charles, intended for the See also:church, left Trinity College and became See also:companion and secretary to the duke of See also:Buckingham, at whose See also:house he died. The See also:day after his son's funeral Taylor caught See also:fever from a patient whom he visited, and, after a ten days' illness, he died at Lisburn on the 13th of August 1667, in the fifty-fifth year of his life and the seventh of his episcopate, and was buried in the See also:cathedral of Dromore. Taylor's fame has been maintained by the popularity of his sermons and devotional writings rather than by his See also:influence as a theologian or his importance as an ecclesiastic. His mind was neither scientific nor speculative, and he was attracted rather to questions of casuistry than to the problems of pure See also:theology.

His wide See also:

reading and capacious memory enabled him to carry in his mind the materials of a See also:sound See also:historical theology, but these materials were unsifted by See also:criticism. His immense learning served him rather as a storehouse of illustrations, or as an armoury out of which he could choose the fittest weapon for discomfiting on opponent, than as a See also:quarry furnishing him with material for See also:building up a completely designed and enduring edifice of systematized truth. Indeed, he had very limited faith in the human mind as an See also:instrument of truth. " Theo-logy," he says, " is rather a divine life than a divine knowledge." His great plea for toleration is based on the impossibility of erecting theology into a demonstrable See also:science. " It is impossible all should be of one mind. And what is impossible to be done is not necessary it should be done." See also:Differences of See also:opinion there must be; but " See also:heresy is not an See also:error of the understanding but an error of the will." He would submit all See also:minor questions to the See also:reason of the individual member, but he set certain limits to toleration, excluding " whatsoever is against the See also:foundation of faith, or contrary to good life and the See also:laws of obedience, or destructive to human society, and the public and just interests of bodies politic." See also:Peace, he thought, , might be made " if men would not See also:call all opinions by the name of religion, and superstructures by the name of fundamental articles." Of the propositions of sectarian theologians he said that confidence was the first, and the second, and the third part. Of a genuine poetic temperament, fervid and See also:mobile in feeling, and of a prolific See also:fancy, he had also the sense-and wit that come of varied contact with men. All his gifts were made available for influencing other men by his easy command of a See also:style rarely matched in dignity and See also:colour. With all the See also:majesty and stately elaboration and musical See also:rhythm of Milton's finest See also:prose, Taylor's style is relieved and brightened by an astonishing variety of felicitous illustrations, ranging from the most homely and terse to the most dignified and elaborate. His sermons especially abound in quotations and allusions, which have the See also:air of spontaneously suggesting themselves, but which must sometimes have baffled his hearers. This seeming pedantry is, however, atoned for by the clear See also:practical aim of his sermons, the See also:noble ideal he keeps before his hearers, and the skill with which he handles spiritual experience and urges incentives to virtue. The whole See also:works of ...

Jeremy Taylor with a life of the author and a See also:

critical examination of his writings was published by Bishop Reginald Heber in 1822, reissued after careful revision by Charles Page Eden (1847-54). His most popular works, The Liberty of Prophesying, Holy Living, and Holy Dying have been often reprinted. The Poems and See also:Verse-See also:translations of Jeremy Taylor were edited by Dr. A. B. See also:Grosart in vol. i. of the Miscellanies of the Fuller Worthies Library (187o). The first biographer of Jeremy Taylor was his friend and successor, George See also:Rust, who preached a funeral See also:sermon (in 1668) which remains a valuable document. His life has been written by John Wheeldon (1793), H. K. See also:Bonney (1815), T. S. See also:Hughes (1831), R.

H. Willmott (1847), George L. Duyckinck (New See also:

York, 1860). The See also:chief authority is still Eden's revision of Bishop Heber's memoir, which includes much valuable correspondence. See also E. W. See also:Gosse's Jeremy Taylor (1904) in the English Men of Letters See also:series. A bibliography of works dealing with the subject is included in the See also:article by the Rev. See also:Alexander See also:Gordon in the See also:Dictionary of See also:National See also:Biography. S. T. See also:Coleridge was a diligent student and a warm admirer of Jeremy Taylor, whom he regarded as one of the great masters of English style.

A series of comments by Coleridge are collected in his See also:

Literary Remains (1838, vol. iii. pp. 203-390).

End of Article: TAYLOR, JEREMY (1613-1667)

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
TAYLOR, ISAAC (1829-1901) 		[next]
TAYLOR, JOHN (158o-1653)

Site © 2006 - Net Industries