and a full stream, and breaks down every obstacle, making it even as its own brow, it stays not to be tempted by little avocations, and to creep into holes, but runs into the sea through full and useful channels. So is a man's prayer; if it moves upon the pit of an abated appetite, it wanders into the society of every trifling accident, and stays at the corners of the fancy, and talks with every object it meets, and cannot arrive at heaven; but when it is carried upon the wings of passion and strong desires, a swift motion and a hungry appetite, it passes on through all the intermediate regions of clouds, and stays not till it dwells at the foot of the Throne, where Mercy sits, and thence sends holy showers of refreshment. I deny not but some little drops will turn aside, and fall from the full channel by the weakness of the banks and hollowness of the passage; but the main course is still continued; and although the most earnest and devout persons feel and complain of some looseness of spirit and unfixed attentions, yet their love and their desire secure the main portions, and make the prayer to be strong, fervent, and effectual."

"Because friendship is that by which the world is most blessed and receives most good, it ought to be chosen among the worthiest persons, that is, amongst those that can do greatest benefit to each other; and though in equal worthiness I may choose by my eye, or ear, that is, into the consideration of the essential I may take in also the accidental and extrinsic worthinesses; yet I ought to give everyone their just value; when the internal beauties are equal, thou shalt help to weigh down the scale, and I will love a worthy friend that can delight me as well as profit me, rather than him who cannot delight me at all,

and profit me no more; but yet I will not weigh the gayest of flowers, or the wings of butterflies, against wheat; but when I am to choose wheat, I may take that which looks the brightest. I had rather see thyme and roses, marjoram and July flowers (gilli-flowers), that are fair, sweet, and medicinal, than the prettiest tulips, which are good for nothing; and my sheep and kine are better servants than race-horses and greyhounds; and I shall rather furnish my study with Plutarch and Cicero, with Livy and Polybius, than with Cassandra and Ibrahim Bassa; and if I do give an hour to these for divertisement or pleasure, yet will I dwell with those than can instruct me, and make me wise and eloquent, severe and useful to myself and others. I end this with the saying of Lalius in Cicero: 'Friendship ought not to follow utility, but utility friendship.' When I choose my friend, I will not stay till I have received a kindness; but I will choose such an one as can do me many if I need them; but I mean such kindnesses which make me wise, and which make me better; that is, I will, when I choose my friend, choose him that is the bravest, the worthiest, and the most excellent person; and then your question is soon answered. To love such a person, and to contract such friendships, is just as authorized by the principles of Christianity, as it is warranted to love wisdom and virtue, goodness and beneficence, and all the impresses of God upon the spirits of brave men."

In 1648 Taylor published "The Life of Christ; or, The Great Exemplar; "the preface to which breathes his usual liberality of view and is rendered especially valuable by its vigorous generalisations. It seeks to prove that the per

Two of Mademoiselle de Scuderi's interminable romances.

ceptive part of true religion, the moral law, as taught by Nature, by Moses, and our Lord, is in all its parts absolutely "reasonable; " in other words, eminently and peculiarly fitted to subserve the purpose for which man was made, of "living happily." The work itself is thoroughly practical; it elucidates the teaching of the labours and character of Christ, and applies it to the reader's benefit. Chronological order is not strictly observed; and, of course, Taylor does not anticipate the "negative criticism" which, of late years, has been applied so perseveringly to the Gospel narrative. Defects of plan are obvious, and to topics of comparative unimportance an undue space is sometimes allotted; but these and other faults are as nothing compared with the beauty and splendour of the composition as a whole, and the spiritual insight, the knowledge of the human heart, and the deep pathos which underlies particular passages.

Of the "Holy Living and Holy Dying," the most popular of Jeremy Taylor's works, and probably the most popular, as it seems to us incomparably the best, of all English devotional writings, it would be as superfluous as presumptuous to speak in praise. How many aching hearts, how many weary minds have sought and found consolation in its pages! How many consciences have they awakened-how many souls have they moved, purified, exalted! When John Wesley had read the chapter "On Purity of Intention," he was so deeply touched by it, so overcome, that he thenceforth resolved. to devote his whole life to God, all his thoughts, and words, and deeds-"being thoroughly convinced that there was no medium, but that every part of life must

either be a sacrifice to God or to one's self." It has been said that the "Holy Living and Dying" are the "Paradise Lost and Regained" of devotional literature, with their sublime strains softened by the singular beauty of the Christian "Allegro and Penseroso." With Keble we are ready to exclaim-" Audiamus jam illum bene beateque vivendi ac moriendi Antistitem." To the depressed, the feeble, the weary-to the broken spirit and the fainting heart, as to the trusting, undoubting soul; to the eagerness of youth, the aspiration of manhood, the contentedness of old age-these consecrated pages come with a balm and a benediction; for their writer speaks as if his lips had been touched with a live coal from the altar of God. They glow with the sweet pure sunshine of heaven; in each eloquently musical period we seem to catch the echoes of angelic songs. "All images of rural delight; the rose and the lily; the lark at heaven's gate; the various incidents of sun and shade; the shadows of trees; the gilding of clouds, the murmuring of waters -whatever charms the eye, or comforts the heart, or enchants the ear, is collected in these pictures of the religious character.” The rare excellence of Taylor's manual is most manifest when we compare it with the devotional treatises of the Roman Church; and the comparison is the more valuable from the way in which it brings out the sober teaching and the manly moderation of the Church of England. For with all Taylor's sweetness, there is no effeminacy; with all his strictness of discipline, no asceticism. While appealing to the heart, the soul, the conscience, he appeals also to the intellect and the understanding. He never fails to be practical and self-reliant; his earnestness is governed

by good sense, and never dreams itself away in a sensuous sentimentalism. In this one sentence, which, we think, only an English Churchman, or at all events only an English Christian, could have written, you find the quintessence of Jeremy Taylor's theory of the true regimen of life-"God hath given every man work enough to do, that there should be no room for idleness, and yet hath so ordered the world that there shall be place for devotion. He that hath the fewest businesses in the world is called upon to spend more time in the dressing of his soul; and he that has the most affairs may so order them that they shall be a service of God."

In the preface to the volume of prayers to which he gave the title of "The Golden Grove," Taylor warmly expresses his regret at the overthrow of the English Church, and his deep affection for "her sacraments so adorned and ministered," and "her circumstances of religion so useful and apt for edification." He states with much freedom his opinion of the harsh and unChristian conduct of the Puritan preachers. At a time when Taylor stood almost alone in his advocacy of religious tolerance, his language not unnaturally excited the prejudices of the dominant party; and Taylor was arrested and thrown into prison. He was quickly released; but seems again to have offended the ruling powers, and to have been committed to Chepstow Castle, where, however, he was not uncourteously treated. He used his pen to good purpose, adding twenty-five discourses to the collection previously published, and producing his "Unum Necessarium; or, The Doctrine and Practice of Repentance, describing the Necessities and Measures of a Strict, a Holy, and a Christian Life, and