Why I like Saint Matthew's account of the Resurrection: 1. Proclaiming the Resurrection *is* an earthquake. 2. The impish character of the angel sitting on the stone. 3. We go back to Galilee, where it all started. 4. This is the first gospel written #MattheanPriority.

"Here therefore are the great Hinges of all Religion: 1. Christ is already risen from the dead. 2. We also shall rise in God's time and our order. Christ is the first fruits. But there shall be a full harvest of the Resurrection, and all shall rise." Jeremy Taylor

Jeremy Taylor, writing to a friend in January 1660: "Episcopius, whose whole works are excellent, and containe the whole body of orthodox religion". Such praise for the Remonstrant Episcopius led the presbyterian clergy of Down and Connor to accuse Taylor of 'Socinianism'.

Jeremy Taylor, in 'The Great Exemplar', on 'he descended into hell': "Our blessed Lord 'descended into hell', saith the creed of the apostles, from the sermon of St. Peter, as he from the words of David, that is, that state of separation and common receptacle of spirits, 1/2

Jeremy Taylor opening his Passion meditation - in 'The Great Exemplar' (1649) - with a reference to Origen is not without significance. It points to what Sarah Hutton has termed "an Origenist moment in English theology” in the 1650s, particularly amongst the Cambridge Platonists.

Jeremy Taylor, in 'The Great Exemplar', on the nakedness and shame of the Crucified:

Jeremy Taylor, in 'The Great Exemplar', on the institution of the Lord's Supper - on the fitting character of the symbols of Bread and Wine:

From Jeremy Taylor's 'A Discourse of the Liberty of Prophesying' (1646) - on viewing diversities of opinions as "not to kindle strife, but to warm our affections":

From Jeremy Taylor's 'A Discourse of the Liberty of Prophesying' (1646) - on how it is natural for there to be a diversity of theological opinions within Christianity:

The concluding words of the Prayer Book Gospel reading for the Monday before Easter: we are called with Peter to have "a broken and a contrite heart" as the Passion of the Lord is proclaimed throughout this week.

From the Epistle Dedicatory of Jeremy Taylor's 'A Discourse of the Liberty of Prophesying' (1646) - on how a wise modesty in theological claims contrasts with a loud, triumphant ignorance:

Jeremy Taylor, in 'The Great Exemplar', on Palm Sunday: the reception of Christ by His disciples on this day is "expressive of all our duties".

From the Epistle Dedicatory of Jeremy Taylor's 'A Discourse of the Liberty of Prophesying' (1646) - quoting Augustine, Taylor chooses cautious, prudent ignorance over false knowledge:

From the Epistle Dedicatory of Jeremy Taylor's 'A Discourse of the Liberty of Prophesying' (1646) - on the need for a wise, prudent agnosticism about theological issues which lack "clearest revelation":

Jeremy Taylor on the Annunciation: "Many times God is present in the still voice and private retirements of a quiet religion, and the constant spiritualities of an ordinary life; when the loud and impetuous winds, and the shining fires of more laborious and expensive 1/2

From the Epistle Dedicatory of Jeremy Taylor's 'A Discourse of the Liberty of Prophesying' (1646) - an early indication (nearly a decade before Unum Necessarium) of the controversy Taylor would provoke with his caution about an expansive doctrine of original sin:

From the Epistle Dedicatory of Jeremy Taylor's 'A Discourse of the Liberty of Prophesying' (1646) - on how a zeal for winning arguments between Christian traditions encourages pride, distracts from practical piety, and "destroy[s] good life":

"The uncommon caution of his temper likewise qualified him greatly as a reformer ... the ground which he took, was so firm, as scarce to leave any part of the foundation he laid, under the necessity of being strengthened." William Gilpin (1784) on Cranmer, martyred OTD 1556.

It's the Spring Equinox - the first astronomical day of spring! ☀️ Longer days. Lighter evenings. Sunshine warm on your skin, birds singing, blossom in the branches.

From the Epistle Dedicatory of Jeremy Taylor's 'A Discourse of the Liberty of Prophesying' (1646) - Taylor proposes that the Apostles' Creed satisfies as the statement of shared Christian faith, with "a charitable and mutual permission" to disagree on other matters. 1/2

From the Epistle Dedicatory of Jeremy Taylor's 'A Discourse of the Liberty of Prophesying' (1646) - Taylor here distinguishes between Zwinglians and Calvinists, something he often does throughout his works. Also, controversially, he includes Socinians amongst the churches:

From the Epistle Dedicatory of Jeremy Taylor's 'A Discourse of the Liberty of Prophesying' (1646) - on the sufficiency of 'mere Christianity', against those who "pretend every opinion is necessary":

"The primate, a man of wisdom and prudence, who was all along averse to the introduction of the liturgy ..." David Hume, in 'The History of England', referring to the 1637 Prayer Book, on John Spottiswoode, Archbishop of Saint Andrews 1615-39.

For the evening of this Saint Patrick's Day, Charles Villiers Stanford's Nunc Dimittis in B flat. youtu.be/s6tuPT4sYUg?...

From the Epistle Dedicatory of Jeremy Taylor's 'A Discourse of the Liberty of Prophesying' (1646) - when the Christian faith is not "kept within its own latitude", and Christians of other communions are pronounced "damned", the faith of the "honest citizen" is undermined:

The very fine collect for Saint Patrick's Day from the CofI BCP 1926. The entirely uncontroversial use of "the Irish people" reflects something of King George V's speech from the Throne at the opening of the Parliament of Northern Ireland, 22nd June 1921.

"For nothing makes society so fair and lasting, as the mutual endearment of each other by good offices." Jeremy Taylor in 'The Worthy Communicant'

From the Epistle Dedicatory of Jeremy Taylor's 'A Discourse of the Liberty of Prophesying' (1646) - Taylor praises the 'Golden Liberty' of the 1573 Warsaw Confederation, ensuring toleration in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, including the non-Trinitarian Polish Brethren.

Two more excellent essays in this collection. The first explores the (too-often forgotten) CofI ministers martyred during the 1641 Rebellion. "To die a Protestant martyr in Ireland was a political statement, one of loyalty to king and church ... [CofI clergy were] peculiar 1/6

"Like Hobbes I remain attached to the idea of civil government and believe it to be superior in every way to the rule of priests."

A Frosty Morning . 2°C and a fine day ahead. Rooks.

Other work by the Ladybird artists. Spring Landscape Artist Rowland Hilder

One of the great gifts of Prayer Book Morning and Evening Prayer is, month by month, abiding in the wisdom of the Psalmist. This evening, cutting through all pretensions and delusions: "God, thou knowest my simpleness, and my faults are not hid from thee" (Ps. 69.5).

Morning Lanes. 5°C and breezy. Blackbirds.

From the Epistle Dedicatory of Jeremy Taylor's 'A Discourse of the Liberty of Prophesying' (1646) - Taylor points to the eirenic Catholic humanist George Cassander (d.1566). Throughout Taylor's works, "the prudent and learned Cassander" consistently appears.

A fascinating essay on CofI cathedral and clerical libraries, 1600-41. Ussher's vast library was open to Protestant and Catholic scholars. He had "an enormous network that included scholars (both Catholic and Protestant), clergy, and members of the laity across Ireland and 1/3

From the Epistle Dedicatory of Jeremy Taylor's 'A Discourse of the Liberty of Prophesying' (1646) - Taylor quotes from King James' advice to the United Provinces on the Remonstrant v. Counter-Remonstrant conflict. Again this has significance as a contrast to the Westminster 1/2

"... the use and benefite of good lawes, all that live under them may enjoy with delight and comfort, albeit the groundes and first originall causes from whence they sprong be unknown, as to the greatest part of men they are." LEP I.1.2

From the Epistle Dedicatory of Jeremy Taylor's 'A Discourse of the Liberty of Prophesying' (1646) - again we can see Taylor's intention in this work, providing an alternative to the Westminster Assembly of Divines:

From the Epistle Dedicatory of Jeremy Taylor's 'A Discourse of the Liberty of Prophesying' (1646) - this points to Taylor's intention in this work, a broad settlement, avoiding "questions speculative". An alternative, then, to what was emerging in the Westminster Confession.

This collection of essays allows "a tentative reconsideration of the Church of Ireland under the Stuarts". The introduction highlights three periods. Firstly, in the early Stuart years, the Church of Ussher developed "an educational and intellectual base" which made the 1/3

"There are in England abundance of men who tolerate in the true spirit of toleration...They would reverently & affectionately protect all religions, because they love and venerate the great principle upon which they all agree, and the great object to which they are all directed."

"... the polemical deployment of 'Arminianism' in the Jacobean and Caroline Church had nothing at all to do with Remonstrant influence on 'Laudianism' or its antecedents." laudablepractice.blogspot.com/2026/03/resp...

From the Epistle Dedicatory of Jeremy Taylor's 'A Discourse of the Liberty of Prophesying' (1646) - on the "very many wise and good men" found in those Christian traditions subject to much suspicion and criticism in the England of the 1640s:

From Hugh Trevor-Roper's panegyric to the Great Tew Circle, Clarendon's defence of the Circle reading the works of the anti-Trinitarian Socinus:

An excellent introduction to the apologetics, theologies and philosophical thought of the various Christian traditions - to the end of the 11th century, 50% of Christians - who dwelt in Islamic polities.

Jeremy Taylor, in 'The Great Exemplar', on how Christ's conversation with the Samaritan woman challenges those who with "a too forward zeal ... call heretic" and deny "the civilities of hospitable entertainment":

The sermon ended with Tillotson quoting "the Counsel of the Wise Man", from the Wisdom of the Solomon. The vast majority of references to the Apocrypha in Tillotson's sermons are from Ecclesiasticus and Wisdom, used to show how reason and wisdom should shape the moral life.

On how the Jacobite (i.e. Miaphysite) philosopher Yaḥyá ibn ʿAdī (893–974AD) cultivated the study of philosophy in 10th century Baghdad, under the Abbasid caliphate, "to promote a realm of public discourse in which both Christians and Muslims could participate".

"Faith assents to the revelations of the Gospel, not only because they are well proved, but because they are excellent things; not only because my reason is convinced, but my reason yields upon the fairer terms, because my affections are gained." Jeremy Taylor