The Lesser Feast of Jeremy Taylor, Bishop and Theologian
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Page numbers listed are from The Book of Common Prayer.
Opening Sentence, page 103
Officiant: O God, make speed to save us.
People: O Lord, make haste to help us.
All: Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen. Alleluia.
Psalm 114, page 756
Hallelujah!
When Israel came out of Egypt, *
the house of Jacob from a people of strange speech,
Judah became God’s sanctuary *
and Israel his dominion.
The sea beheld it and fled; *
Jordan turned and went back.
The mountains skipped like rams, *
and the little hills like young sheep.
What ailed you, O sea, that you fled? *
O Jordan, that you turned back?
You mountains, that you skipped like rams? *
you little hills like young sheep?
Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord, *
at the presence of the God of Jacob,
Who turned the hard rock into a pool of water *
and flint-stone into a flowing spring.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: *
as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen.
Reading: Mark 13:32–37
‘But about that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Beware, keep alert; for you do not know when the time will come. It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his slaves in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to be on the watch. Therefore, keep awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or at dawn, or else he may find you asleep when he comes suddenly. And what I say to you I say to all: Keep awake.’
Reflection: Jeremy Taylor, Bishop and Theologian
Jeremy Taylor, one of the most influential of the “Caroline Divines,” was educated at Cambridge and, through the influence of William Laud, became a Fellow of All Souls at Oxford. He was still quite young when he became chaplain to Charles I and later, during the Civil War, a chaplain in the Royalist army.
The successes of Cromwell’s forces brought about Taylor’s imprisonment and, after Cromwell’s victory, Taylor spent several years in forced retirement as chaplain to the family of Lord Carberry in Wales. It was during this time that his most influential works were written, especially Holy Living and Holy Dying (1651). The opening of Holy Living reveals the impact that the Civil War, fought in part over religious concerns, had on him:
“I have lived to see religion painted upon banners, and thrust out of churches; and the temple turned into a tabernacle, and that tabernacle made ambulatory, and covered with skins of beasts and torn curtains; and God to be worshipped, not as he is ‘the Father of our Lord Jesus,’ (an afflicted Prince, the King of sufferings,) nor as the ‘God of Peace,’ (which two appellatives God newly took upon him in the New Testament, and glories in forever,) but he is owned now rather as ‘the Lord of Hosts,’ which title he was preached by the Prince of Peace. But when religion puts on armor, and God is not acknowledged by his New Testament titles, religion may have in it the power of the sword, but not the power of godliness; and we may complain of this to God, and amongst them that are afflicted, but we have no remedy but what we must expect from the fellowship of Christ’s sufferings and the returns of the God of peace. In the meantime, and now that religion pretends to stranger actions upon the new principles; and men are apt to prefer a prosperous error before an afflicted truth; and some will think they are religious enough, if their worshippings have in them the great earnestness and passion, with much zeal and desire; that we refuse no labor; that we bestow upon it much time; that we use the best guides, and arrive at the end of glory by all the ways of grace, of prudence, and religion.”
Among Taylor’s other works, Liberty of Prophesying proved to be a seminal work in encouraging the development of religious toleration in the seventeenth century. The principles set forth in that book rank with those of Milton’s Areopagitica in its plea for freedom of thought.
In later life, Taylor and his family moved to the northeastern part of Ireland where, after the restoration of the monarchy, he became Bishop of Down and Connor. To this was later added the small adjacent diocese of Dromore. As bishop, he labored tirelessly to rebuild churches, restore the use of the Prayer Book, and overcome continuing Puritan opposition. As Vice-Chancellor of Trinity College, Dublin, he took a leading part in reviving the intellectual life of the Church of Ireland. He died in 1667, having remained to the end a man of prayer and a pastor.
Source: Lesser Feasts and Fasts 2024
The Prayers, pages 106-107
Officiant: Lord have mercy.
People: Christ have mercy.
Officiant: Lord have mercy.
All:
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy Name,
thy kingdom come,
thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
Officiant: Lord, hear our prayer;
People: And let our cry come to you.
Officiant: Let us pray.
O God, whose days are without end, and whose mercies cannot be numbered: Make us, like your servant Jeremy Taylor, deeply aware of the shortness and uncertainty of human life; and let your Holy Spirit lead us in holiness and righteousness all our days; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Intercessions and Thanksgivings
Dismissal, page 107
Officiant: Let us bless the Lord.
People: Thanks be to God.
Officiant: The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with us all evermore. Amen.