THE

GREAT EXEMPLAR

OF

SANCTITY AND HOLY LIFE,

DESCRIBED IN

THE HISTORY OF THE LIFE AND DEATH

OF OUR EVER-BLESSED SAVIOUE,

JESUS CHRIST:

WITH

CONSIDERATIONS AND DISCOURSES UPON THE
SEVERAL PARTS OF THE STORY;

AND PRAYERS FITTED TO THE SEVERAL MYSTERIES.

BY JEREMY TAYLOR, D. D.

CHAPLAIN IN ORDINARY TO KING CHARLES THE FIRST, AND SOME TIME
LORD BISHOP OF DOWN AND CONNOR-

VOL. I.

Qui sequitur me, non ambulat in tenebris.

WITH

AN INTRODUCTORY ESSAY,

BY THE REV. H. STEBBING, M. A.

LONDON:

GEORGE VIRTUE,

IVY LANE.

1845.

THE Contemplation of the beautiful and the good is the noblest pleasure an intelligent creature can enjoy. There is an activity in the powers of the mind which excites only pain and disappointment when it falls short of the discovery of truth. This is the case when truth is not the immediate object of pursuit: the satisfaction is sought which something worthy of love, something intrinsically excellent is to give; but as truth is the perfecting quality of whatever is good and beautiful, the pursuit is then only successful when it terminates in the enjoyment of its living light.

Religion being the knowledge and worship of God, the infinite source of existence, it is only through religion, or by methods over which it presides, that the mind of man can successfully seek so pure and elevated a possession as truth. To forget the Author of universal being, in any inquiry whatever, is the same thing as to lay aside the whole circle of primary axioms which render science possible. Nor is the simple acknowledgment of his existence, with some general tribute of

veneration, sufficient for the purposes of the mind, bent on the pursuit of truth. It is not till the confession of God's power and goodness is mingled with the warmth which renders it a religious confession, that it prepares the way for knowledge. When it rises to this, each attribute of his nature is discovered, as upholding some mighty portion of creation; and may be traced through the most wonderful complications of material and intellectual beauty, till the brightness of its glory is lost again in infinity.

The highest effort of a sanctified philosophy is to trace the will of Deity acting on, and in, and through his creatures. Not only are God's power and love more clearly apprehended thereby; but the real, the essential nature of things: for nature itself, in the whole vast compound, is but an emanation of his will; and in proportion as we obtain an insight into that, the originating cause of all secondary being, we pass beyond the veil, and reach the secret sources of that great river of life, on whose waves we are borne, and of whose waters we daily drink; but respecting the whence they come or whither they go' of which, we can know nothing but as we know the Divine will.

But a creature like man, however elevated by the holy desire of seeing God in his works, cannot support himself long when the land-marks of buman sympathy are far behind. Abundant proofs