Jeremy Taylor – Mum's devotional

‘Mercies felt in childhood’

November 26th

…hitherto God hath not failed us: we have no reason to suspect him for the future… God hath so ordered it, that a man shall have had the experience of many years’ provision before he shall understand how to doubt; that he may be provided for an answer against the temptation shall come, and the mercies felt in his childhood may make him fearless when he is a man. Add to this, that God hath given us his Holy Spirit; he hath promised heaven to us; he hath given us his Son; and we are taught from Scripture to make this inference from hence, ‘How should not he with him give us all things else?’

from Jeremy Taylor’s Holy Living (Ch. 2, sect. 6)

Better the little that the righteous man has than the abundance of many wicked people… The Lord watches over the blameless all their days, and their inheritance will last forever. They will not be disgraced in times of adversity; they will be satisfied in days of hunger…

The wicked borrows and does not repay, but the righteous is gracious and giving… A man’s steps are established by the Lord, and He takes pleasure in his way. Though he falls, he will not be overwhelmed, because the Lord holds his hand.

I have been young and now I am old, yet I have not seen the righteous abandoned or his children begging bread. He is always generous, always lending, and his children are a blessing.

…The salvation of the righteous is from the Lord, their refuge in a time of distress. The Lord helps and delivers them; He will deliver them from the wicked and will save them because they take refuge in Him.

from Psalm 37

I started a bit earlier in the psalm than I otherwise would have because that whole section in Holy Living has more overlap with Psalm 37 than you would think.

Public and private devotion

November 8th

…Jesus began to speak to the crowds about Jon: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed swaying in the wind? What then did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothes? Look, those who wear soft clothes are in kings’ palaces. But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and far more than a prophet… I assure you: Among those born of women no one greater than John the Baptist has appeared, but the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and the violent [forceful] have been seizing it by force.

Matthew 11:7-9,11-12 (HCSB)

The good example of the preacher is his best sermon; the Baptist had till this time, that is, about thirty years, lived in the wilderness under the discipline of the holy Ghost, under the tuition of angels, in conversation with God… thirty years he lived in great austerity; and it was a rare patience…

But after the expiration of a definite time John came from his solitude, and served God in societies. In the wilderness his company was angels, his employment meditations and prayer, his temptations simple and from within, his occasions of sin as few as his examples… and yet the Spirit of God called the Baptist to a more excellent ministry; for in solitude pious persons might go to heaven by the way of prayers and devotion, but in society they might go to heaven by the way of mercy, and charity. In solitude there are fewer occasions of vices, but there is also the exercise of fewer virtues.

John the Baptist united both these lives; and our blessed Saviour, who is the great precedent of sanctity and prudence, lived a life common, sociable, humane, charitable, and public; and yet retired to prayer and contemplation. Jesus reconciled both; and so did John the baptist: and from both we are taught,that solitude is a good school, and the world is the best theatre; the institution is best there, but the practice here; the wilderness has the advantage of discipline, and society opportunities of perfection; privacy is the best for devotion, and the public for charity. In both, God has many saints and servants; and from both the devil has had some.

from Jeremy Taylor’s The Life of Christ (Sect. 8)

Yes, Matthew 11 has come up before.

Contentment

November 5th

Now godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.

1 Timothy 6:6-7 (NKJV)

Virtues are, like friends, necessary in all fortunes; but the best are friends in our sadnesses, and support us in our sorrows and sad accidents: and in this sense, no man that is virtuous can be friendless; since God hath appointed one remedy for all the evils in the world, and that is a contented spirit: for this alone makes a man pass through fire, and not be scorched; through seas, and not be drowned; through hunger and nakedness, and want nothing.

For no man is poor that does not think himself so: but if, in a full fortune, with impatience he desires more, he proclaims his wants and his beggarly condition. For if that which we are or have do not content us, we may be troubled for everything in the world which is besides our being or our possessions.

God is the master of the scenes; we must not choose which part we shall act; it concerns us only to be careful that we do it well, always saying, ‘If this please God, let it be as it is…’ If we choose, we do it so foolishly that we cannot like it long, and most commonly not at all: but God, who can do what he pleases, is wise to choose safely for us, affectionate to comply with our needs, and powerful to execute all his wise decrees.

Here, therefore, is the wisdom of the contented man, to let God choose for him; for when we have given up our wills to him, and stand in that station of the battle where our great general hath placed us, our spirits must needs rest while our conditions have for their security the power, the wisdom, and the charity of God.

from Jeremy Taylor’s Holy Living (Ch. 2, sect. 6)

I know I was just complaining about Taylor, but then it turned out this was the perfect follow-up to yesterday’s post, so I guess I get what I deserve. Though there was the wonderfully quaint “He were a strange fool that should be angry because dogs and sheep need no shoes, and yet himself is full of care to get some” so it’s not all dull.

Anyway, happy Guy Fawkes Night to anyone who cares, and a friendly public service announcement not to be d***s to people who believe differently than you. 🔥 🔥 🔥

…and here’s Tchaikovsky’s 1812 overture. With cannons.

Living Temples

September 13th

Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?

1 Corinthians 3:16 (NKJV)

God is especially present in the hearts of his people by his Holy Spirit; and the hearts of holy men are temples in the truth of things, and, in type and shadow, they are heaven itself. For God reigns in the hearts of his servants; there is his kingdom. The power of grace has subdued all his enemies: there is his power. They serve him night and day, and give him thanks and praise; that is his glory. This is the religion and worship of God in the temple. The temple itself is the heart of man; Christ is the high-priest, who from there sends up the incense of prayers, and joins them to his own intercession, and presents all together to his Father; and the Holy Ghost, by his dwelling there, has also consecrated it as a temple; and God dwells in our hearts by faith and Christ by his Spirit, and the Spirit by his purities: so that we are also cabinets* of the mysterious Trinity; and how is this short of heaven itself, except as infancy falls short of manhood, and letters of words? It is the same state of life, but not the same age. It is heaven in a looking-glass, dark, but yet true, representing the beauties of the soul, and the graces of God, and the images of his eternal glory.

from Jeremy Taylor’s Holy Living (Ch. 1, Section 3)

*’Cabinet’ also meant a room, or even a small hut, at one point.

Why we do what we do

September 5th

There are many devices in a man’s heart; nevertheless the counsel of the LORD, that shall stand.

Proverbs 19:21 (KJV)

In every action reflect upon the end; and in your undertaking it, consider why you do it.

Let every action of concernment be begun with prayer, that God would not only bless the action, but sanctify your purpose… …let not that which began well, and was intended for God’s glory, decline and end in thy own praise, or temporal satisfaction, or a sin.

When we use those means which God hath laid before us, with [impartiality] and thankfulness, it is a good sign that we are instead intent upon God’s glory than our own convenience, or temporal satisfaction. He that is indifferent whether he serve God in riches or in poverty, is a seeker of God instead of himself.

When a temporal end consisting [co-existing] with a spiritual, and pretended to be subordinate to it, happens to fail and be defeated if we can rejoice in that, so God’s glory may be secured, it is a great sign our hearts are right, and our ends prudently designed and ordered.

from Jeremy Taylor’s Holy Living (Ch. 2)

Then what kind of people should we be?

September 1st

…what sort of people ought you to be?… waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God…

2 Peter 3:11-12 (ESV)

God has given to man a short time here upon earth, and yet upon this short time eternity depends: for every hour of our life we must give account to the great Judge of men and angels. …we must account for every idle word; not meaning that every word which is not designed for edification, or is less prudent, shall be reckoned for a sin; but that the time which we spend in our idle and unprofitable talking; that time which might and ought to have been employed to spiritual and useful purposes — that is to be accounted for.

We must remember that we have a great work to do, many enemies to conquer, many evils to prevent, much danger to run through, many difficulties to be mastered, many necessities to serve, and much good to do; many children to provide for, or many friends to support, or many poor to relieve, or many diseases to cure…

The life of every man may be so ordered (and indeed must) that it may be a perpetual serving of God: the greatest trouble and most busy trade and worldly encumbrances, when they are necessary, or charitable, or profitable in order to any of those ends which we are bound to serve, whether public or private, being a doing of God’s work.

from Jeremy Taylor’s Holy Living (Ch. 1, Section 1, Care of Our Time)

Spending time

July 26th

There is reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on that day, and not only to me, but to all those who have loved his appearing.

2 Timothy 4:8 (CSB)

If we consider how much of our lives is taken up by the needs of nature; how many years are wholly spent, before we come to any use of reason; how many years more before that reason is useful to us to any great purposes, how imperfect our discourse is made by our evil education, false principles, ill company, bad examples, and want of experience; how many parts of our wisest and best years are spent in eating and sleeping, in necessary businesses and unnecessary vanities, in worldly civilities and less useful circumstances, in the learning arts and sciences, languages, or trades; that little portion of hours that is left for the practices of piety and religious walking with God, is so short and trifling, that, were not the goodness of God infinitely great, it might seem unreasonable or impossible for us to expect of him eternal joys in heaven, even after the well spending those few minutes which are left for God and God’s service.

[But] God rewards our minutes with long and eternal happiness; and the greater portion of our time we give to God, the more we treasure up for ourselves; and “No man is a better merchant that be that lays out his time upon God, and his money upon the poor.”

from Jeremy Taylor’s Holy Living (Ch. 1)