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thought and vigour of expression. It was a performance" not to be raised from the heat "of youth, or the vapours of wine, like that "which flows at waste from the pen of some

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vulgar amourist, or the trencher fury of a

rhyming parasite; nor to be obtained by the "invocation of dame memory and her siren "daughters; but by devout prayer to that "eternal spirit, who can enrich with all ut"terance and knowledge, and sends out his

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Seraphim with the hallowed fire of hist "altar to touch and purify the lips of whom "he pleases; to this must be added indus"trious and select reading, steady observa "tion, insight into all seemly and generous "arts and affairs; till which, in some measure, "be compassed at mine own peril and cost I "refuse not to sustain the expectation of "such a work' from as many as are not loth "to hazard so much credulity upon the best

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pledges that I can give them. Although "it nothing content me to have disclosed "thus much before hand; but that I trust

hereby to make it manifest with what small "willingness I endure to interrupt the pursuit "of no less hopes than these, and leave a calm "and pleasing solitariness, fed with cheerful "and confident thoughts, to embark in a

"troubled sea of noise and hoarse disputes, "put from beholding the bright countenance "of truth, in the quiet and still air of delight"ful studies."

In these and other passages that might be cited from the prose of Milton, we perceive that we are conversing with a person of a high and majestic order; whose energy may be thought to equal, but not surpass that of Taylor. In intellectual opulence, in brightness of fancy, in richness and fluency of expression, the balance is so nearly even that we hesitate to pronounce which side preponderates.

The following quotation from the works. of Bishop Hall, another contemporary with this illustrious divine, so strongly reminds us of the style of Taylor, that the reader at first sight might be deceived. "God is the God "of order, not of confusion. As therefore, “in natural things, he useth to proceed from "one extreme to another by degrees, through "the mean: so doth he in spiritual. The "sun riseth not at once to his highest, from "the darkness of midnight; but first sends "forth some feeble glimmering of light in

"the dawning; then looks out with weak "and waterish beams; and so by degrees "ascends to the midst of heaven. So in the "seasons of the year, we are not one day "scorched with a summer heat; and on the "next, frozen with a sudden extremity of "cold. But winter comes on softly; first,

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by cold dews, then hoar frosts; until at "last it descend to the hardest weather of

all; such are God's spiritual proceedings: "He never brings any man from the estate "of sin, to the estate of glory, but through "the estate of grace." "

"The recreations of a Christian," (for even these human frailty will sometimes call for) "are such as may be meet relaxations to a "mind overbent, and a body tired with ho"nest and holy employments; safe, inoffen“sive, and for time and measure fitly pro"portioned to the occasion; like unto soft "music betwixt two long and stirring acts; "like unto some quick and savory sauce to a "listless and cloyed stomach; like unto a "sweet nap after an over-watching. He is "far from those delights that may effeminate,

"Meditations and Vows, p. 29.

"or corrupt the mind; abhorring to sit by "those pleasures, from which he shall not "rise better."▾

The style of Hall is more racy and sen tentious than elevated and flowing; and he impresses the mind by an air slow and majestic, on occasions when Taylor would surprise by his brightness and captivate by his energy. The unadorned periods of Sanderson and Hammond, of Hale and Chillingworth, of Farringdon, Bramhall, or Etonian Hales, bear so slight a resemblance to the style of Taylor, that no comparison can be formed between them. But the copiousness of Barrow justly demands a place by the side of this distinguished writer. The stream which he pours from the fountains of salvation, clear as it is deep, and strong as it is full, descends upon us with irresistible energy. We are too much occupied by the force of moral wisdom that every where prevails, to require the embellishments of fancy: but the flow of divine truth proceeding from Taylor is as exuberant as that of Barrow, but not so equable. In the flexures of its course at one time it charms

The Christian, p. 241, 12mo. Lond. 1647.

by its richness, and at another awes by its: rapidity.

The style of Taylor not only convinces the mind by a clearness of method and force of expression, but it elevates the spirit by the warmest piety and fills it by the profoundest

reverence.

English prose was in his time in a progressive state. It had been advanced very far by the genius of Sidney and the wisdom of Hooker; but the pedantry of the reign of James had done much to eclipse its lustre. In Taylor it broke out from its obscurity with encreased energy and brightness. His polemical discourses exhibit a specimen of English composition superior to any that had gone before.

As a preacher, though too diffuse for mo dern hearers, yet was he the admiration" of

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"It would be unpardonable were I to omit the testimony of affection to the memory of Bp. Taylor, given by one of the most distinguished literary characters of the present age; who, in speaking of Hooker, Barrow, and the Bishop of Down and Connor says, ἐγώ δε Ωκηρον μὲν σεβω, θαυμαζωδε Βάρρειον, καὶ φιλῶ Ταίλωρον. See note to Dr. Parr's Spital Sermon.

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