This is the text to our free handout for our free study guide, Holy Living and Prayer: The Spiritual Guidance of Jeremy Taylor.
Jeremy Taylor demonstrates both his deep piety and literary prowess when talking about the power and majesty of God. In his description of God’s divine presence he poetically portrays a vibrant deity who surges with activity: “roll(ing) the orbs of heaven” and “fix(ing) the earth with his foot;” he binds and throws his enemies, and yet sustains all creatures with loving intimacy. This combination of awesome power and loving intimacy is experienced by his presence in the hearts of those who love him, because in this “temple” is his “kingdom,” where his “power” is found in the grace through which we are bound to him in love.
With this view of the human heart as the kingdom and temple of God, Taylor encourages readers to make each moment of their day an opportunity to interact with God. His list of Things to Be Done sees each day as a journey closer to God, and every period within that day—from rising, to working, to retiring to bed each night—is a point along that journey which we draw ever closer to God and can “give (him) thanks for what was good.”
It is for this reason that prayer is central to Taylor’s understanding of the good life. This booklet includes several pieces of his advice on praying. In Of Prayer he answers the question, “Should we pray silently or out loud?” His answer: both, because mental prayer is particularly effective in focusing our mind and emotions, while vocal prayer is most attuned to the way in which we communicate with others.
All of Taylor’s prayers are therefore relational: all approach the “gracious” God who is “worthy…of all love,” requesting the grace that builds up our lives and enables us to grow “in the love of God and of our neighbours.”
Image: Cover to the booklet, “Holy Living and Prayer,” incorporating a painting by Eden Upton Eddis (Source).
