Jeremy Taylor (1613–1667) was a
cleric
Clergy are formal leaders within established religions. Their roles and functions vary in different religious traditions, but usually involve presiding over specific rituals and teaching their religion's doctrines and practices. Some of the ter ...
in the
Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...
who achieved fame as an author during
the Protectorate
The Protectorate, officially the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland, was the English form of government lasting from 16 December 1653 to 25 May 1659, under which the kingdoms of Kingdom of England, England, Kingdom of Scotland, Scotl ...
of
Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English statesman, politician and soldier, widely regarded as one of the most important figures in British history. He came to prominence during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, initially ...
. He is sometimes known as the "Shakespeare of Divines" for his poetic style of expression, and he is frequently cited as one of the greatest prose writers in the English language.
Taylor was under the patronage of
William Laud
William Laud (; 7 October 1573 – 10 January 1645) was a bishop in the Church of England. Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury by Charles I of England, Charles I in 1633, Laud was a key advocate of Caroline era#Religion, Charles I's religious re ...
,
Archbishop of Canterbury
The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the Primus inter pares, ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the bishop of the diocese of Canterbury. The first archbishop ...
. He went on to become chaplain in ordinary to
King Charles I as a result of Laud's sponsorship. This made him politically suspect when
Laud was tried by Parliament and executed in January 1644/5 during the
English Civil War
The English Civil War or Great Rebellion was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Cavaliers, Royalists and Roundhead, Parliamentarians in the Kingdom of England from 1642 to 1651. Part of the wider 1639 to 1653 Wars of th ...
. After the
parliamentary
In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...
victory over the King, he was briefly imprisoned several times.
Eventually, he was allowed to live quietly in Wales, where he became the private chaplain of the Earl of Carbery. After the
Restoration, he was made
Bishop of Down and Connor in Ireland. He also became
Vice-Chancellor of the University of Dublin.
He is remembered in the liturgical calendars
of the Church of England and other Anglican churches.
Early life
Taylor was born in
Cambridge
Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...
, the son of a barber, Nathaniel.
[Dictionary of National Biography, 2004] He was baptised, as a child, on 15 August 1613 at
Holy Trinity Church, Cambridge. His father was educated and taught him grammar and mathematics. He was then educated at
the Perse School, Cambridge, before going to
Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge
Gonville and Caius College, commonly known as Caius ( ), is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1348 by Edmund Gonville, it is the fourth-oldest of the University of Cambridge's 31 colleges and ...
, where he gained a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1630/1631 and a
Master of Arts
A Master of Arts ( or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA or AM) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Those admitted to the degree have ...
degree in 1634.
The best evidence of his diligence as a student is the enormous learning of which he showed so easy a command in later years. In 1633, although still below the canonical age, he took holy orders, and accepted the invitation of Thomas Risden, a former fellow student, to supply his place for a short time as lecturer at
St Paul's Cathedral
St Paul's Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of St Paul the Apostle, is an Anglican cathedral in London, England, the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London in the Church of Engl ...
.
Career under Laud
Archbishop
William Laud
William Laud (; 7 October 1573 – 10 January 1645) was a bishop in the Church of England. Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury by Charles I of England, Charles I in 1633, Laud was a key advocate of Caroline era#Religion, Charles I's religious re ...
sent for Taylor to preach in his presence at
Lambeth
Lambeth () is a district in South London, England, which today also gives its name to the (much larger) London Borough of Lambeth. Lambeth itself was an ancient parish in the county of Surrey. It is situated 1 mile (1.6 km) south of Charin ...
, and took the young man under his wing. Taylor did not vacate his fellowship at Cambridge before 1636, but he spent, apparently, much of his time in London, for Laud desired that his considerable talents should receive better opportunities for study and improvement than the obligations of constant preaching would permit. In November 1635 he had been nominated by Laud to a fellowship at
All Souls College, Oxford,
["Jeremy Taylor", CCEL]
/ref> where, says Antony Wood, love and admiration still waited on him. He seems, however, to have spent little time there. He became chaplain to his patron the archbishop, and chaplain in ordinary to Charles I.
At Oxford, William Chillingworth was then busy with his magnum opus, ''The Religion of Protestants'', and it is possible that through his discussions with Chillingworth Taylor may have been turned towards the liberal movement of his age. After two years in Oxford, he was presented, in March 1638, by William Juxon, Bishop of London, to the rectory of Uppingham in Rutland
Rutland is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Leicestershire to the north and west, Lincolnshire to the north-east, and Northamptonshire to the south-west. Oakham is the largest town and county town.
Rutland has a ...
. There he settled down to the work of a country priest.
In the next year he married Phoebe Langsdale, by whom he had six children: William (d.1642), George (?), Richard (the last two died c.1656/7), Charles, Phoebe and Mary. In the autumn of the same year he was appointed to preach in St Mary's on the anniversary of the Gunpowder Plot
The Gunpowder Plot of 1605, in earlier centuries often called the Gunpowder Treason Plot or the Jesuit Treason, was an unsuccessful attempted regicide against James VI and I, King James VI of Scotland and I of England by a group of English ...
, and apparently used the occasion to clear himself of a suspicion, which, however, haunted him through life, of a secret leaning to the Roman Catholic position. This suspicion seems to have arisen chiefly from his intimacy with Christopher Davenport, better known as Francis a Sancta Clara, a learned Franciscan friar who became chaplain to Queen Henrietta; but it may have been strengthened by his known connection with Laud, as well as by his ascetic habits. More serious consequences followed his attachment to the Royalist cause. As the author of ''The Sacred Order and Offices of Episcopacy or Episcopacy Asserted against the Arians and Acephali New and Old'' (1642), he could scarcely hope to retain his parish, which was not, however, sequestered until 1644. Taylor probably accompanied the king to Oxford. In 1643 he was presented to the rectory of Overstone, Northamptonshire, by Charles I. There he would be in close connection with his friend and patron Spencer Compton, 2nd Earl of Northampton.
Royalist prisoner
During the next fifteen years, Taylor's movements are not easily traced. He seems to have been in London during the last weeks of Charles I in 1649, from whom he is said to have received his watch and some jewels which had ornamented the ebony case in which he kept his Bible. He had been taken prisoner with other Royalists in the siege of Cardigan Castle on 4 February 1645. In 1646 he is found in partnership with two other deprived clergymen, keeping a school at Newton Hall, in the parish of Llanfihangel Aberbythych
Llanfihangel Aberbythych () is a Community (Wales), community in Carmarthenshire, Wales. The population recorded at the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 census was 1,344. It is bordered by Llangathen, Llandeilo, Dyffryn Cennen, Llandybie, Gorsl ...
, Carmarthenshire. Here he became private chaplain to and benefited from the hospitality of Richard Vaughan, 2nd Earl of Carbery, whose mansion, Golden Grove, is immortalised in the title of Taylor's still popular manual of devotion, and whose first wife was a constant friend of Taylor. At Golden Grove Taylor wrote some of his most distinguished works.[ Alice, the third Lady Carbery, was the original of the Lady in John Milton's '' Comus''. Taylor's first wife had died early in 1651. His second wife was Joanna Bridges or Brydges, said to be a natural daughter of Charles I; there is no good evidence for this. She owned a good estate, though probably impoverished by Parliamentarian exactions, at Mandinam, in Carmarthenshire. Several years following their marriage, they moved to Ireland. From time to time Taylor appears in London in the company of his friend John Evelyn, in whose '']Diary
A diary is a written or audiovisual memorable record, with discrete entries arranged by date reporting on what has happened over the course of a day or other period. Diaries have traditionally been handwritten but are now also often digita ...
'' and correspondence his name repeatedly occurs. He was imprisoned three times: in 1645 for an injudicious preface to his ''Golden Grove''; again in Chepstow Castle
Chepstow Castle () at Chepstow, Monmouthshire, Wales, is the oldest surviving post-Roman stone fortification in Britain. Located above cliffs on the River Wye, construction began in 1067 under the instruction of the Normans, Norman Lord William ...
, from May to October 1655, on what charge does not appear; and a third time in the Tower
A tower is a tall Nonbuilding structure, structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant factor. Towers are distinguished from guyed mast, masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, self-supporting ...
in 1657, because of the indiscretion of his publisher, Richard Royston, who had decorated his ''Collection of Offices'' with a print representing Christ in the attitude of prayer.
Writings
''The Rule and Exercises of Holy Living'' provided a manual of Christian practice, which has retained its place with devout readers. The scope of the work is described on the title page. It deals with the means and instruments of obtaining every virtue, and the remedies against every vice, and considerations serving to the resisting all temptations, together with prayers containing the whole Duty of a Christian. ''Holy Dying'' was perhaps even more popular. A very charming piece of work of a lighter kind was inspired by a question from his friend, Katherine Philipps ("the matchless Orinda"), asking ''How far is a dear and perfect friendship authorised by the principles of Christianity?'' In answer to this, he dedicated to Mrs Phillipps his ''Discourse of the Nature, Offices and Measures of Friendship'' (1657). His ''Ductor Dubitantium, or the Rule of Conscience …'' (1660) was intended to be the standard manual of casuistry
Casuistry ( ) is a process of reasoning that seeks to resolve moral problems by extracting or extending abstract rules from a particular case, and reapplying those rules to new instances. This method occurs in applied ethics and jurisprudence. ...
and ethics for the Christian people. His works were translated into Welsh by Nathanael Jones.
Bishop in Ireland at the Restoration
He probably left Wales
Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...
in 1657, and his immediate connection with Golden Grove seems to have ceased two years earlier. In 1658, through the kind offices of his friend John Evelyn, Taylor was offered a lectureship in Lisburn
Lisburn ( ; ) is a city in Northern Ireland. It is southwest of Belfast city centre, on the River Lagan, which forms the boundary between County Antrim and County Down. First laid out in the 17th century by English and Welsh settlers, with t ...
, County Antrim, by Edward Conway, 2nd Viscount Conway. At first, he declined a post in which the duty was to be shared with a Presbyterian
Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...
– or, as he expressed it, "where a Presbyterian and myself hall belike Castor and Pollux, the one up the other downe" – and to which a meagre salary was attached. He was, however, induced to take it, and found in his patron's property at Portmore, on Lough Neagh
Lough Neagh ( ; ) is a freshwater lake in Northern Ireland and is the largest lake on the island of Ireland and in the British Isles. It has a surface area of and is about long and wide. According to Northern Ireland Water, it supplies 4 ...
, a congenial retreat.
At the Stuart Restoration
The Stuart Restoration was the reinstatement in May 1660 of the Stuart monarchy in Kingdom of England, England, Kingdom of Scotland, Scotland, and Kingdom of Ireland, Ireland. It replaced the Commonwealth of England, established in January 164 ...
, instead of being recalled to England, as he probably expected and certainly desired, he was appointed to the see of Down and Connor,[ to which was shortly added the additional responsibility for overviewing the adjacent diocese of Dromore. As bishop, he commissioned in 1661 the building of a new cathedral at Dromore for the Dromore diocese. He was also made a member of the ]privy council of Ireland
His or Her Majesty's Privy Council in Ireland, commonly called the Privy Council of Ireland, Irish Privy Council, or in earlier centuries the Irish Council, was the institution within the Dublin Castle administration which exercised formal executi ...
and, in 1660, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Dublin. None of these positions was a sinecure.
Of the university he wrote:
Accordingly, he set himself vigorously to the 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 north of Ireland, and most of these were from the west of Scotland, with a dislike for Episcopacy which distinguished the Covenanting party. No wonder that Taylor, writing to James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormonde
Lieutenant general, Lieutenant-General James FitzThomas Butler, 1st Duke of Ormond, Knight of the Garter, KG, Privy Council of England, PC (19 October 1610 – 21 July 1688), was an Anglo-Irish statesman and soldier, known as Earl of Ormond fr ...
shortly after his 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.
This was Taylor's golden opportunity to show the wise toleration he had earlier advocated, but the new bishop had nothing to offer the Presbyterian clergy but the alternative of submission to episcopal ordination and jurisdiction or deprivation. Consequently, at his first visitation, he declared thirty-six churches to be vacant; and repossession was secured on his orders. At the same time, many of the gentry were apparently won over by his undoubted sincerity and devotedness as well as by his eloquence. With the Roman Catholic element of the population he was less successful. Not knowing the English language, and firmly attached to their traditional forms of worship, they were nonetheless compelled to attend a service they considered profane, conducted in a language they could not understand.
As Reginald Heber says:
During this period, he was married a second time to Joanna Brydges, supposedly a natural daughter of Charles I. From this marriage, two daughters were born: Mary, who went on to marry Archbishop Francis Marsh and had issue and Joanna, who married Edward Harrison, MP for Lisburn
Lisburn ( ; ) is a city in Northern Ireland. It is southwest of Belfast city centre, on the River Lagan, which forms the boundary between County Antrim and County Down. First laid out in the 17th century by English and Welsh settlers, with t ...
, and had issue. From his father-in-law, Marsh inherited a silver watch, said to have been a gift from Charles I; this watch remained in the family of his great-grandson, Francis Marsh, barrister-at-law.
Taylor died at Lisburn on 13 August 1667. He was buried at Dromore Cathedral where an apsidal chancel was built in 1870 over the crypt where he was laid to rest.
Jeremy Taylor is honoured in the Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...
, the Anglican Church of Canada
The Anglican Church of Canada (ACC or ACoC) is the Ecclesiastical province#Anglican Communion, province of the Anglican Communion in Canada. The official French-language name is ''l'Église anglicane du Canada''. In 2016, the Anglican Church of ...
, Scottish Episcopal Church, Anglican Church of Australia
The Anglican Church of Australia, originally known as the Church of England in Australia and Tasmania, is a Christian church in Australia and an autonomous church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. In 2016, responding to a peer-reviewed study ...
and in the Episcopal Church of the United States on 13 August.
Family
Jeremy Taylor is said to have been a lineal descendant of Rowland Taylor, but the assertion has not been proved. Through his daughter, Mary, who married Archbishop Francis Marsh, he had numerous descendants.
Principal publications
*''A Discourse of the Liberty of Prophesying'' (1646), a famous plea for toleration published decades before John Locke
John Locke (; 29 August 1632 (Old Style and New Style dates, O.S.) – 28 October 1704 (Old Style and New Style dates, O.S.)) was an English philosopher and physician, widely regarded as one of the most influential of the Enlightenment thi ...
's ''Letters Concerning Toleration''.
*''Apology for Authorised and Set Forms of Liturgy against the Pretence of the Spirit'' (1649)
*''Great Exemplar … a History of … Jesus Christ'' (1649), inspired, its author tells us, by his earlier intercourse with the earl of Northampton
*''The Rule and Exercises of Holy Living'' (1650)
*''The Rule and Exercises of Holy Dying'' (1651)
*''Twenty-seven Sermons Preached at Golden Grove, for the Summer Half-year …'' (1651)
*''Twenty-five Sermons Preached at Golden Grove, for the Winter Half-year …'' (1653)
*''Clerus Domini: or, A Discourse of the Divine Institution, Necessity, Sacrednesse, and Separation of the Office Ministerial'' (1651)
*''The Real Presence and Spirituall of Christ in the Blessed Statement Proved Against the Doctrine of Transubstantiation
Transubstantiation (; Greek language, Greek: μετουσίωσις ''metousiosis'') is, according to the teaching of the Catholic Church, "the change of the whole substance of sacramental bread, bread into the substance of the Body of Christ and ...
.'' (1654)
*''Golden Grove; or a …'' (1655)
*''Unum Necessarium'' (1655), on the doctrine of repentance, perceived Pelagianism
Pelagianism is a Christian theological position that holds that the fall did not taint human nature and that humans by divine grace have free will to achieve human perfection. Pelagius (), an ascetic and philosopher from the British Isles, ta ...
gave great offence to Presbyterians.
*''Discourse of the Nature, Offices and Measures of Friendship'' (1657)
*''Ductor Dubitantium, or the Rule of Conscience …'' (1660)
*''The Worthy Communicant; or a Discourse of the Nature, Effects, and Blessings consequent to the worthy receiving of the Lords Supper …'' (1660)
Although Taylor is named as the author on the title page of ''Contemplations of the State of Man in this Life, and in that which is to Come'' (1684), the work is an abridgement of Vivian Mullineaux's 1672 English translation of Juan Eusebio Nieremberg's work ''De la diferencia entre lo temporal y lo eterno, y Crisol de Desengaños'' (''On the Difference between the Temporal and the Eternal, and the Crucible of Deceptions'', 1640), apparently compiled by Taylor.
Secondary literature and posthumous editions
* Antoine, Sister Mary Salome.
The Rhetoric of Jeremy Taylor's Prose: Ornament of the Sunday Sermons.
' PhD Dissertation. Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, 1946.
* Bonney, Henry Kaye.
The Life of ... Jeremy Taylor ... Lord Bishop of Down, Connor, and Dromore.
' London: T. Cadell & W. Davies, 1815.
* Brown, W. J. ''Jeremy Taylor.'' London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1925.
* Carroll, Thomas K., ed. ''Jeremy Taylor: Selected Works.'' Preface by John Booty. The Classics of Western Spirituality Series. New York City: Paulist Press, 1990.
* de Ricci Albrecht, Sister Mary Catherine. ''The Exemplum in the Sermons of Jeremy Taylor.'' M.A. dissertation. District of Columbia: Catholic University of America, 1947.
* Duyckinck, George L.
The Life of Jeremy Taylor, Bishop of Down, Connor, and Dromore.
' New York: 1860.
* Gosse, Edmund. ''Jeremy Taylor.'' The English Men of Letters Series. London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., 1904.
* Grosart, A.B., ed.
The Poems and Verse Translations of Jeremy Taylor.
' Fuller Worthies’ Library. 1870.
* Gathorne-Hardy, Robert.
A Bibliography of the Writings of Jeremy Taylor to 1700.
' Dekalb, IL: Northern Illinois University, 1971.
* Heber, Reginald, ed. ''The Whole Works of the Right Rev. Jeremy Taylor �� with a Life of the Author, and a Critical Examination of His Writings, in Ten Volumes.'' Revised and corrected by Charles Page Eden. London: Longman, Green, and Longmans, 1848.
* Herndon, S. ''Jeremy Taylor's Use of the Bible.'' PhD. dissertation. New York: New York University, 1949.
* Hughes, H. Trevor.
The Piety of Jeremy Taylor.
' London: Macmillan, 1960.
* Huntley, Frank L.
Jeremy Taylor and the Great Rebellion: A Study of His Mind and Temper in Controversy.
' Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1970.
* Jackson, Robert S. ''The Meditative Life of Christ: A Study of the Background and Structure of Jeremy Taylor's "The Great Exemplar."'' PhD. dissertation. Ann Arbor: U of MI, 1959.
* Peterson, Raymond A. ''The Theology of Jeremy Taylor: An Investigation of the Temper of Caroline Anglicanism.'' PhD. dissertation. New York: Union Theological Seminary, 1961.
* Stranks, Charles James. ''The Life and Writings of Jeremy Taylor.'' London: Church Historical Society, 1952.
* Streatfield, K.M.
A Critical Edition of Six Occasional Sermons by Jeremy Taylor (1613–1667).
' PhD Dissertation. University of Edinburgh, 1988.
* Wheeldon, John.
The Life of Bishop Taylor, and the Pure Spirit of his Writings, Extracted and Exhibited for General Benefit.
' London: George Bigg, 1793.
* Williamson, Hugh Ross. ''Jeremy Taylor.'' London: Dennis Dobson Ltd., 1952.
* Worley, G.
Jeremy Taylor: A Sketch of His Life & Times, with a Popular Exposition of His Works
'' London: Longmans, Green, & Co., 1904.
See also
* Caroline Divines
*'' Homo unius libri''
Notes
References
*
External links
*
*
*
*
Brief Biography of Jeremy Taylor
13 August 2006)
Works of Jeremy Taylor online
* Early editions of works by Jeremy Taylor i
the McAdoo Collection
at the Library of Trinity College Dublin
{{DEFAULTSORT:Taylor, Jeremy
1613 births
1667 deaths
17th-century Christian mystics
Clergy from Cambridge
People educated at The Perse School
Fellows of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge
Alumni of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge
English non-fiction writers
Bishops of Down and Connor (Church of Ireland)
Anglican bishops of Dromore
English theologians
English Anglican theologians
Protestant mystics
English male non-fiction writers
Arminian writers
Arminian ministers
Arminian theologians
Anglican saints
Anglican devotional writers
Early modern Christian devotional writers
17th-century Anglican theologians