TABLE OF CONTENTS. Youthful Piety-Articled to the Law-Residence in London -Correspondence with Teachers-His work at West- minster described by Mr. Sugden and Mr. Mansford- Declining health-Proposal to appoint a Lay Secretary— Chapter VE-CONCLUSION. MEMOIR OF THE REV. M. C. TAYLOR. CHAPTER I. EARLY LIFE. Many disordered lines I saw A fair white page of thin And ev'n smooth lines like the sun's rays H. VAUGHAN. ICHAEL COULSON TAYLOR was born at York, June 3d, 1820. His father, Mr. Isaac Taylor, of that city, still survives him. His mother, whose maiden name was Coulson, died in May, 1863, and his only sister, Mrs. Coulson, of Hazlewood, Yorkshire, died in the December following. Mr. John Francis Taylor, now residing in York, was his only brother. The future moral character of a man's life is generally determined by the circumstances amidst which its first ten or twelve years are passed; for, as a rule, what children are morally during this period, that they remain throughout life. In Mr. Taylor's case, the circumstances of his early life were peculiarly favourable to the formation of a religious character. His parents, who were Wesleyan Methodists, taught him what was right, and trained him in the practice of it. By a discipline at once firm and loving he was habituated to prompt and unquestioning obedience. He was taught to keep holy the Sabbath-day, to attend diligently on religious services, and to reverence the ministers of religion and all godly people. The happy effect of such training was that he was preserved from all open profaneness and vice, and passed, with scarcely a perceptible interval, from the irresponsible condition of childhood into a state of conscious acceptance with God. For his parents he cherished throughout life a dutiful and loving affection; and it is not surprising that the religion of the Methodists having been commended to him from infancy by the practical exhibition of it which he witnessed in his own home, he never felt any disposition to forsake the communion of his parents for any other. All his early years were spent at York until he was eleven, when he was sent to the school of Mr. Heigham, at Doncaster. Soon after coming to this school, through the earnest exhortations of Mr. Heigham, he was led to seek the forgiveness of sins, and ere long obtained a clear and joyous assurance of acceptance with God. From a brief record of his conversion which he wrote on "Good Friday, 1832," it appears that he obtained peace with God on the 10th of August, 1831. He at once made open profession of his faith in Christ, and joined a Methodist class-meeting. Thenceforward he never ceased to hold a place in the membership of the Church, and never, I believe, lost his assurance of the Divine favour. Respecting this period his father says: "Whilst still very young he was very studious, and passionately fond of his books. He read during play and leisure hours until he injured his sight. At the vacations, and after he had left school, he attached himself to my class, and gave such clear statements of his conversion and growth in grace, that all were constrained to glorify God in him." His youthful piety manifested itself practically by leading him to increased carefulness in attending to all the duties and discipline of the school. He was much attached to his teachers, and felt that to Mr. Heigham he was greatly indebted for leading him, when so young, to full religious decision. The late Professor Boole, then one of the masters, was also a great favourite, and with him he afterwards for a long time maintained an affectionate correspondence. |