Jeremy Taylor (1613 – 1667) was an author and a clergyman in the Church of England. He is sometimes known as the “Shakespeare of Divines” for his wonderful poetic style of putting pen to paper. As I read through his many quotes, my soul became full of delight by his amazing way with words. I hope you will agree as you read through these quotes below.
“Love is friendship set on fire.”1
“What can be more foolish than to think that all this rare fabric of heaven and earth could come by chance, when all the skill of art is not able to make an oyster!”
“No man can hinder our private addresses to God; every man can build a chapel in his breast, himself the priest, his heart the sacrifice, and the earth he treads on, the altar.”
“Enjoy the blessings of this day, if God sends them; and the evils of it bear patiently and sweetly: for this day only is ours, we are dead to yesterday, and we are not yet born to the morrow.”
“Look at that beautiful butterfly, and learn from it to trust in God. One might wonder where it could live in tempestuous nights, in the whirlwind, or in the stormy day; but I have noticed it is safe and dry under the broad leaf while rivers have been flooded, and the mountain oaks torn up from their roots.”
“In dwelling on divine mysteries, keep thy heart humble, thy thoughts reverent, thy soul holy. Let not philosophy be ashamed to be confuted, nor logic to be confounded, nor reason to be surpassed. What thou canst not prove, approve; what thou canst not comprehend, believe; what thou canst believe, admire and love and obey. So shall thine ignorance be satisfied in thy faith, and thy doubt be swallowed up in thy reverence, and thy faith be as influential as sight. Put out thine own candle, and then shaft thou see clearly the sun of righteousness.”
“To be proud of learning is the greatest ignorance.”
“God hath given to man a short time here upon earth, and yet upon this short time eternity depends.”
“To see rare effects, and no cause; a motion, without a mover; a circle, without a centre; a time, without an eternity; a second, without a first: these are things so against philosophy and natural reason, that he must be a beast in understanding who can believe in them. The thing formed, says that nothing formed it; and that which is made, is, while that which made it is not! This folly is infinite.”
“A religion without mystery must be a religion without God.”
“He that is proud of riches is a fool. For if he is exalted above his neighbors because he has more gold, how much inferior is he to a gold mine.”
“The best theology is rather a divine life than a divine knowledge.”
“From David learn to give thanks for everything. Every furrow in the Book of Psalms is sown with the seeds of thanksgiving.”
“It is impossible for that man to despair who remembers that his Helper is omnipotent.”
“Do not think that God is only to be found in a great prayer, or a solemn office: he is moved by a sigh, by a groan, by an act of love; and therefore, when your pain is great and pungent, lay all your strength upon it.”
“Men are apt to prefer a prosperous error to an afflicted truth.”
“The Holy Ghost is certainly the best preacher in the world, and the words of Scripture the best sermons.”
“I have seen the sun with a little ray of distant light challenge all the powers of darkness, and without violence and noise, climbing up the hill, hath made night so retire that its memory was lost in the joys and sprightliness of the morning.”
1 All of these quotations listed in this devotion are from the following websites:
104 Jeremy Taylor Quotes | ChristianQuotes.info
Jeremy Taylor Quotes (Author of Holy Living and Dying)
Wow, these ARE good