John Evelyn to Jeremy Taylor. Sayes-Court, 9th February, 1654-5. The calamity which lately arrived you, came to me so late, and with so much incertitude during my long absence from these parts, that 'till my return, and earnest inquisition, I could not be cured of my very great impatience to be satisfied concerning your condition. But so it pleased God, that when I had prepared that sad news, to deplore your restraint,' I was assured of your release, and delivered of much sorrow. It were imprudent, and a character of much ignorance, to inquire into the cause of any good man's suffering in these sad times; yet if I had learned it out, 'twas not of my curiosity, but the discourse of some with whom I have had some habitudes since my coming home. I had read your Preface long since to your Golden Grove; remember, and infinitely justify, all that you have there asserted. "Tis true valour to dare to be undone, and the consequent of Truth hath ever been in danger of his teeth, and it is a blessing if men escape so in these days, when not the safeties only, but the souls of men are betrayed: whilst such as you, and such excellent assistances as they afford us, are rendered criminal, and suffer. But you, Sir, who have furnished the world with so rare precepts, against the efforts of all secular disasters whatsoever, could never be destitute of those consolations, which you have so charitably and so piously prescribed unto others. Yea, rather, this has turned to our immense advantage, nor less to your glory, whilst men behold you living your own insti 1 The cause of this imprisonment has been doubted, but it was evidently, as Evelyn implies in this letter, in consequence of Taylor's attack on the Puritan preachers in the preface to his collection of prayers called the Golden Grove. The latter was the name of Lord Carbery's seat; which at about this time was invested by a troop of Cromwell's horse, and the Earl obliged to take refuge at a farm-house in the hills. A little later, it will be seen, Taylor again suffered brief imprisonment in Chepstow Castle (during his well-known controversy with Bishop Warner), having been suspected as an instigator of the insurrection at Salisbury. Nor was it many months after this second release that he was thrown into the Tower for some days, for the alleged violation of an Act of Parliament. VOL. III. F tutions, and preaching to us as effectually in your chains as in the chair, in the prison as in the pulpit; for methinks, Sir, I hear you pronounce it, as indeed you act it Aude aliquid brevibus gyaris et carcere dignum Si vis esse aliquis that your example might shame such as betray any truth for fear of men, whose mission and commission is from God. You, Sir, know in the general, and I must justify in particular with infinite cognition, the benefit I have received from the truths you have delivered. I have perused that excellent Unum Necessarium of yours to my very great satisfaction and direction; and do not doubt but it shall in time gain upon all those exceptions, which I know you are not ignorant appear against it. 'Tis a great deal of courage, and a great deal of peril, but to attempt the assault of an error so inveterate. Αἱ δὲ κειναὶ κρίσεις τὸν ἀπέρατον ὁδόν. False opinion knows no bottom; and reason and prescription meet in so few instances; but certainly you greatly vindicate the divine goodness, which the ignorance of men and popular mistakes have so long charged with injustice. But, Sir, you must expect with patience the event, and the fruits you contend : as it shall be my daily devotions for your success, who Revd Sir, &c. for: remain, John Evelyn to Jeremy Taylor. Lond: 18 Mar: 1655. REV. SIR, It was another extraordinary charity which you did me, when you lately relieved my apprehensions of 1 That this letter is wrongly dated is manifest, from the fact that the letter immediately following (with the date of January) is the answer to it. The allusion to the "general persecution," and Evelyn's lamentation over "the last farewell of God's service in this city or anywhere else in public," obviously refers to Cromwell's measures against Episcopacy, taken during the present year. In one entry of the Diary (vol. i. p. 323, the 15th April), we see that the small church of St. Gregory's by Paul's (afterwards destroyed in the Great Fire), was now the only one where the ruling powers connived at the reading of the Liturgy. In another (vol. i. p. 327, the 27th Nov.), the Protector's edict against the episcopal party is spoken of. your danger, by that which I just now received: and though the general persecution re-inforce, yet it is your particular which most concerns me, in this sad catalysis and declension of piety to which we are reduced. But, Sir, what is now to be done that the stars of our once bright hemisphere are everywhere falling from their orbs? I remember where you have said it was the harbinger of the great day: and a very sober and learned person, my worthy friend, the great Oughtred,' did the other day seriously persuade me parare in occursum, and will needs have the following years productive of wonderful and universal changes. What to say of that I know not; but certain it is, we are brought to a sad condition. I speak concerning secular yet religious persons; whose glory it will only be to lie buried in your ruins, a monument too illustrious for such as I am. For my part, I have learned from your excellent assistances, to humble myself, and to adore the inscrutable paths of the Most High. God and his truth are still the same, though the foundations of the world be shaken. Julianus Redivivus can shut the schools indeed and the temples; but he cannot hinder our private intercourses and devotions, where the breast is the chapel, and our heart is the altar. Obedience founded in the understanding will be the only cure and retreat. God will accept what remains, and supply what is necessary. He is not obliged to externals; the purest ages passed under the cruellest persecutions; it is sometimes necessary; and this, and the fulfilling of prophecy, are all instruments of great advantage (even whilst they press, and are incumbent) to those who can make a sanctified use of them. But, as the thoughts of many hearts will be discovered, and multitudes scandalized; so are there divers well-disposed persons who will not know how to guide themselves, unless some such good men as you discover the secret, and instruct them how they may secure their greatest interest, and steer their course in this dark and uncomfortable weather. Some such discourse would be highly seasonable, now that the daily sacrifice is ceasing, that all the exercise of your functions is made criminal and 1 William Oughtred, Rector of Albury, author of the "Clavis Mathematica," and other works, and the best geometrician of his time. that the light of Israel is quenched. Where shall we now receive the viaticum with safety ? How shall we be baptized? For to this pass it is come, Sir. The comfort is, the Captivity had no temple, no altar, no king. But did they not observe the passover, nor circumcise? Had they no priests and prophets amongst them? Many are weak in the faith, and know not how to answer, nor whither to fly and if upon the apotheosis of that excellent person, under a malicious representation of his martyrdom, engraven in copper, and sent me by a friend from Brussels, the jesuit could so bitterly sarcasm upon the emblem : Projicis inventum caput, Anglia (Angla ?) Ecclesia! cæsum 1 how think you will they now insult, ravage, and break in upon the flock; for the shepherds are smitten, and the sheep must of necessity be scattered, unless the great Shepherd of Souls oppose, or some of his delegates reduce and direct us. Dear Sir, we are now preparing to take our last farewell (as they threaten) of God's service in this City, or any where else in public. I must confess it is a sad consideration; but it is what God sees best, and to what we must submit. The comfort is, Deus providebit. Sir, I have not yet been so happy as to see those papers which Mr. Royston tells me are printing, but I greatly rejoice that you have so happily fortified that battery; and I doubt not but you will maintain the siege: for you must not be discouraged for the passions of a few. Reason is reason to me wherever I find it, much more where it conduces to a design so salutary and necessary. At least, I wonder that those who are not convinced by your arguments, can possibly resist your charity and your modesty; but as you have greatly subdued my education in that particular, and controversy, so am I confident time will render you many more proselytes. And if all do not come so freely in with 1 Richard Royston was bookseller to three kings, and lived at the Angel in Ivy-lane. He held a patent for printing all the works of King Charles I., and became Master of the Stationers' Company in 1673 and 1674. He died in 1686, in the 86th year of his age, and was buried in the south aisle of Christ Church, Newgate-street. their suffrages at first, you must with your accustomed patience attend the event. Sir, I beseech God to conduct all your labours, those of religion to others, and of love and affection to me, who remain, Sir, your, &c. DEAR SIR, Jeremy Taylor to John Evelyn. St. Paul's Convers: [25 Jan.] (1655-6). I perceive by your symptoms, how the spirits of pious men are affected in this sad catalysis: it is an evil time, and we ought not to hold our peace: but now the question is, who shall speak? Yet I am highly persuaded, that, to good men and wise, a persecution is nothing but changing the circumstances of religion, and the manner of the forms and appendages of divine worship. Public or private is all one: the first hath the advantage of society, the second of love. There is a warmth and light in that, there is heat and zeal in this: and if every person that can, will but consider concerning the essentials of religion, and retain them severely, and immure them as well as he can with the same or equivalent ceremonies, I know no difference in the thing, but that he shall have the exercise, and consequently the reward, of other graces, for which, if he lives and dies in prosperous days, he shall never be crowned. But the evils are, that some will be tempted to quit their present religion, and some to take a worse, and some to take none at all. It is true and a sad story; but oportet esse hæreses, for so they that are faithful shall be known: and I am sure that He who hath promised to bring good out of evil, and that all things shall co-operate to the good of them that fear God, will verify it concerning persecution. But concerning a discourse upon the present state of things in relation to souls and our present duty, I agree with you, that it is very fit it were done,' but yet, by somebody who is in London and sees the personal necessities and circumstances of pious people: 1 It is somewhat curious that Taylor should have forgotton the fact of his having already, five years before the date of this letter, done what he is here so anxious to see again attempted. See the Preface (or Epistle Dedicatory to Lord Carbery) in the Holy Living. |