CHAP. III.

FROM 1646 To 1647.

AMONGST the many circumstances that

at once attract attention and excite surprise during the gloomy contest, which at that time distracted England, and drove her most religious inhabitants from their homes, to seek an asylum at a distance from the scene of discord, none more deeply impresses the mind, than the numerous and profound writings which were rapidly published and read with avidity, during such a season.

This may in some measure be accounted for, by the slight apprehension entertained by the people, of the fatal issue of the contest, in the murder of the sovereign; and least of all, by the King himself; who was known, even during his restraint, to be sufficiently tranquil, to investigate the profundity of Hooker and Hammond, and enjoy the imagination of Tasso and Ariosto.

A striking instance of abstraction of mind from passing events, is afforded during those years of the life of Taylor, which were spent either in the hurry of war, or the seclusion of a precarious retirement; the time of his life at which we are now arrived.

During this unsettled state of public affairs, though harassed by frequent change of situation, and distracted by the bustle of conflict, Taylor did not lose sight of that, which, in his estimation, was most valuable, namely, the Church of Christ as it had been established in England' at the Reformation, though now abused and persecuted. "We have not only

felt," he says, "the evils of an intestine "war, but God hath smitten us in our spirit. "But I delight not to observe the correspond"encies of such sad accidents, which, as they "may happen upon divers causes, or may be "forced violently by the strength of fancy, or "driven on by jealousy, and the too fond opinings of troubled hearts and afflicted

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spirits; so they do but help to vex the of fending part, and relieve the afflicted but "with a phantastic and groundless comfort: "I will therefore deny leave to my own "affections, to ease themselves by complain

"ing of others: I shall only crave leave that "I may remember Jerusalem, and call to mind "the pleasures of the temple, the order of her "services, the beauty of her buildings, the "sweetness of her songs, the decency of her "ministrations, the assiduity and economy "of her priests and Levites, the daily sacri"fice, and that eternal fire of devotion that "went not out by day nor by night: these "were the pleasures of our peace; and there " is a remanent felicity in the very memory "of those spiritual delights which we then enjoyed as antepasts of heaven, and con"signations to an immortality of joys." a

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The assembly of divines issued a form of worship, called "A Directory," "on the first "of July in the year 1643; which was "authorised by an ordinance of the thirteenth " of March following. On the appearance of "this precept, which took away that form of prayer, that by the authority and consent " of all the binding power of the kingdom, " had been used and enjoyed ever since the

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• Polemical discourses, or Συμβολον. Θεολογικόν, Preface to Apology for Liturgy.

b Heylin's Life of Laud.

"reformation," Taylor instantly engaged in a refutation of its principles, and produced his

Apology for authorised and set forms of

Liturgy; against the pretence of the
Spirit."

The treatise itself bears internal evidence of its having been written soon after the publication of the directory; and the dedication, which is to the King, states that it was not given to the world till two years afterwards: this circumstance fixes the date of its composition in the year 1644. In the mean time he published a discourse concerning prayer which appeared in 4to. in 1646, without his name *. In fact the apology is only an amplification of this, which he called " A Dis"course concerning Prayer extempore, or by "pretence of the Spirit, in justification of "authorised and set forms of Liturgie, printed in the yere 1646."

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In delivering his judgment upon this subject, he exercises no asperity, being resolved, as he himself declares, "not to be angry with

• Brit. Mus. Trin. Coll. Camb. G. 3. 4. The name of the place where published is not mentioned.

any men of another persuasion, as knowing "that he differed just as much from them, as they did from him.”

He first considers the opinions of those who deny all set forms, though in the subject matter they are confessed innocent and blameless. In the course of the investigation he canvasses the question of the operation of the spirit, applied particularly to the case of prayer, and shews, that "whatever this gift "is, or this spirit of prayer, it is to be acquired by human industry, by searching the Scriptures, by reading, by conference, and by whatsoever else faculties are improved, "and habits enlarged. That God's spirit "hath done his work sufficiently this way, and "he loves not either in nature or grace (which are his two great sanctions) to multiply miracles when there is no need."

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Having examined the full scope of the objections brought by those persons who oppose all set forms, he proceeds to investigate the sentiments of those who give leave that set forms

In the Brit. Mus. "An Apology for authorized and "Set Forms of Liturgie, against the Pretence of the "Spirit. 4to Lond. 1649."