a cheerful temper is with a holy and religious and even solemn turn of mind. The works which I have here presented to the reader in a popular form are in their whole tenour full of seriousness; but let it not be supposed, that they are the production of one, whose views of religion were formed in the cloister, and saddened by the moroseness of age; or who was ignorant of the manners of the world, and the nature of human life. When the first of these works was published the author was only thirty-seven years of age; having married early, and been united to a second wife, he had partaken in full measure of all the sorrows, as well as of all the blessings of domestic life; he had been from twenty-four years of age occupied as a parish priest; had been all his lifetime honoured with the favour of the great; and in his capacity of chaplain to King Charles the First had constant access to the court. If, therefore, the "Holy Living and Dying" be considered as exemplifying the rule of life which Taylor himself strove to follow, let it be remembered, that it was the rule of one, whose occupations were those of active life; and let his example teach us, how the Christian may abstract himself, as it were, from surrounding circumstances, and live in the midst of his worldly employment, as one who seeks a heavenly country, and who accounts himself a pilgrim and sojourner in the earth. I have only to add the expression of my hope, that God may bless the labour which I have bestowed upon the following work; and that the present edition of the "Holy Living and Dying" may prove to be a manual of practical piety, fitted to the use of persons of every age and condition, and which, whilst it faithfully describes the proportions of that "holiness without which no man shall see the Lord," may cause every one who studies it to feel more sensibly the imperfection of his best services; and daily to become more and more convinced, that human merit can have no place in the work of our redemption, and that eternal life is the free gift of God, bestowed upon the faithful, only for the sake and through the satisfaction of Jesus Christ. Charter House, 30 January, 1838. |