Jeremy Taylor on the altar of the heart
Jeremy Taylor (1613-1667)
IN our second reading at Evensong tonight (Mk 12:13-34), we hear the Summary of the Law:
AND Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.
The recitation of all Ten Commandments in the Administration Of The Lord’s Supper (here) has gradually fallen into disuse, but Bishop Jeremy Taylor (1613-1667) shows us how they should be creatively and positively seen.
They are indeed not a legal imposition. They are a sacrifice upon the altar of the heart.
O ETERNAL GOD, who dwellest not in Temples made with hands, the Heaven of Heavens is not able to contain thee; and yet thou art pleased to manifest thy presence amongst the sons of men with special issues of thy favour and benediction; make my body and soul to be a temple pure and holy; apt for the entertainments of the holy JESUS; and for the habitation of the holy Spirit.
LORD be pleased with thy rod of paternal discipline to cast out all impure lusts, all worldly affections, all covetous desires from this thy Temple, that it may be a place of prayer and meditation, of holy appetites and chast thoughts, of pure intentions, and zealous desires of pleasing thee, that I may become also a Sacrifice as well as a Temple, eaten up with the zeal of thy glory, and consumed with the fire of love, that not one thought may be entertained by me but such as may be like perfume, breathing from the altar of incense; and not a word may passe from me, but may have the accent of heaven upon it, and sound pleasantly in thy ears.
Dearest GOD, fill every faculty of my soul with impresses, dispositions, capacities and aptnesses of religion, and do thou hallow my soul, that I may be possessed with zeal and religious affections, loving thee above all things in the world, worshiping thee with the humblest adorations and frequent addresses, continually feeding upon the apprehension of thy divine sweetness, and consideration of thy infinite excellencies, and observations of thy righteous commandments, and the seal of a holy Conscience as an antepast of eternity, and consignation to the joyes of Heaven, through JESUS CHRIST our Lord. Amen.
The Great Exemplar. Section XI: Of The Religion Of Holy Places.
See also the hymn O Thou Who Camest From Above. More prayers by Jeremy Taylor here.
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"[Politicians] are employed in framing laws and statutes for preventing crimes, and keeping the disorderly multitude within bounds; and at the same time, by personally discountenancing public worship, they are weakening, they are even abolishing, among the multitude, that moral restraint which is of more general influence upon manners than all the laws they frame."
I FIND, by experience, that by often seeing her Portrait, & that of her Dearest Son, I many times recall Him & His Merits, her & her Perfections, to my mind, which before was void of such Heavenly Guests.
I BELIEVE in one God the Father Almighty,