The Sources 159
Prayers of Jeremy Taylor (1613–67)
Taylor was an able and educated scholar whose fortunes rose and fell with
the troubled politics and religious disputes of the time: in favour under
Charles I, imprisoned and excluded under Cromwell and finally honoured
with a bishopric in Ireland in 1660 at the Restoration of the monarchy. His
writing style was noted as among the best in English and his most influential
work The Rule and Exercise of Holy Living bears out this judgement. It reveals
a strong faith in Christ, rooted in the realities of life. With flowing and
captivating prose he describes in practical and detailed terms the manner of
life of the Christian, including deeply personal prayers for each day and for
every purpose.
Prayers of John Wesley (1703–91)
John Wesley is rightly known as the revival field preacher of the eighteenth
century and the founder of Methodism. Born into a very large family, he
followed his father into the Anglican priesthood. He and others in their
‘holy club’ at Oxford were branded ‘Methodists’ for their strict lifestyle and
care for the poor. A disappointing mission trip to the American colonies led
to Wesley’s life-changing experience of new birth in 1738 and a year later to
his first open-air sermon. So began a long life of traversing the country on
horseback preaching in thousands of locations and forming ‘class meetings’
of those who were born again or revived. Wesley’s great desire was to live in
‘perfect love’ and to enable others to do the same. One means is prayer, so
he wrote Forms of Prayer, prayers for each day of the week, which are full of
aspirations for a holy life.
Prayers of Charles Spurgeon (1834–92)
C.H. Spurgeon, ‘the prince of preachers’, led the largest Protestant Church
in the world in his time. Born and raised in rural Essex he was called to
an influential church in London at the age of 20, and with his youthfulness
and his direct language was soon drawing an enormous congregation.