FROM THE LIBRARY OF REV. LOUIS FITZGERALD BENSON, D. D BEQUEATHED BY HIM TO THE LIBRARY OF PRINCETON THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY SfcJ *— . Iff. ^ c t-t^&y /t&4^<z^>£- *V: ' * „ SEP 15 mi M E M I riAfc^ SELECT REMAINS REV. THOMAS RAWSON TAYLOR, Late Classical Tutor at Airedale College, Yorksh\ BY W. S. MATTHEWS LONDON ,EY AND DAVIS. HAMILTON. AD M \XD SJMPKIN, MARSHALL, & CO. MDCCCXXXVI. Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2013 http://archive.org/details/selectremOOmatt PREFACE. By those who had the privilege of a personal acquaint- ance with the lamented subject of the following Memoir, it was deemed in no small measure desirable that some record should be preserved of his history and character. To do honour to the sainted dead was less the object of this wish, than to afford a fine example to the living of early and entire devotedness to the cause of God, as it was exemplified during a brief but beautiful life of cheerful piety. It was considered (in defence of publi- cation,) that the just sentiment of Johnson, as to the materiel for effective biography, is now pretty generally recognized—that it adds nothing to the force and prac- tical value of a book that the subject should be greatly lifted out of the ordinary sphere within which men think, and feel, and act : —on the contrary, that what appeals most closely to men's bosoms by way of example and excitement—showing that the points of highest moral, social, and Christian excellence are yet attainable points—will be best calculated to secure the object sought to be obtained. It was thought that at least a useful book — possibly an interesting one—might be 1 produced ; such an one as might succeed in gaining the attention, and speaking to the heart. It is scarcely needful to say, that the Compiler of this volume (for he claims no higher title) entirely coincided VI PREFACE. in the propriety of this design—except in that part which assigned to him the task of its execution. Little did he ever anticipate such a task ! And yet there always seemed to him, in the enjoyment of the closest and most endeared intimacy with his departed friend, in days when death seemed far distant, an unacknowledged but pervading sense of unquiet—incompletion— or what- ever it may be called,—the restlessness of some tropical bird, which cannot sing its own " song in the strange land," on which, for a season, it has alighted, and whose wings are ever tremulous with eager anticipation of its flight. Memory often recurs to those days, and to that converse. It has very often done so during the period (prolonged by the engagements of business) which has been occupied in the arrangement of these pages ; —but the Compiler trusts that he has in no unworthily partial spirit yielded to such influences as might interfere with the few qualifications he had for presenting a faithful exhibition of the character of his friend. He can now only commit this volume to the divine blessing, with the prayer that it may be rendered abun- dantly useful. July 7, 1836. ; TO THE MEMORY OF THE REV. THOMAS RAWSON TAYLOR, Millions of eyes have wept o'er frames Once living, beautiful and young, Now dust and ashes, and their names Extinct on earth, because unsung But song itself hath but its day, Like the swan's note—a dying lay. A dying lay I would rehearse, In memory of one whose breath Poured forth a strain of such sweet verse, As might have borne away from death The trophy of a sister's name, —Winning at once, and giving fame. Bat all is mortal here ; —that song Pass'd like the breeze, which steals from flowers Their fragrance, yet repays the wrong With dew-drops shaken down in showers ; Ah ! like those flowers with dew-drops fed, They sprang, they blossom'd, they are dead. Vlll The Poet (spared a little while,) Followed the sister all too soon ; The hectic rose that flushed his smile Grew pale, and withered long ere noon In life's exulting prime, he gave What death demanded, to the crrave. But that which death nor grave could seize His soul—into his Saviour's hands, (Who, by the cross's agonies, Redeemed a people from all lands,) He yielded, till " that day"* to keep : And then, like Stephen, fell asleep. "That day" will come; meanwhile, weep not, O ye that loved him, and vet more ;" Love him for grief that " he is not —Rather with joy let eyes run o'er, And warm hearts hope his face to see. Where 'tis for ever " good to be." J. Montgomery. The Mount, near Sheffield, June 25, 1836. * 2 Tim. i 12 . CONTENTS. Page. Preface V Memorial Verses : by James Montgomery, Esq. Memoirs 1—227 Select Remains : To a Lady Weeping 229 Sonnet:—Written in Wilford Church Yard 230 Sonnet : —" Wrapt, inspired 231 : Sonnet —Oh no ! I would not that my 232 A Thought 233 Sonnet:—Rev. x. 6 234 Sonnet : —Art thou a Wanderer ? 235 Stanzas : —Blooms there a Rose 236 A Mother's Musings. A Fragment 237 Sonnet for a Benevolent Society 239 Sonnet: — It is a melancholy joy 210 Sonnet: —And how does he, the Beggaiv fare ? 241 Heaven is my home 212 Hymns for Sabbath School Children : No. 1. Yes, it is good to worship Thee 243 2. There was a time when children sang 211 3. Yes, there are little ones in heaven. 245 : Sonnet —Poor Christian Negro ! 247 A Tale of Slavery 248 Sonnet: —Oh! just when thou shalt please 252 Sonnet, on witnessing a gorgeous Sunset 253 Vespers . 254 Hymn : — Lord ! who hast bled and died for 25G Memorial Verses 257 The Sea : — in two Sonnets 261 God is Love 262 .. 1 Page. All is not gold that glitters 263 A Fragment 2G5 The Song, of the Dying 207 The Eve of the Vintage 268 A Father's Dream .. .. .. .. .. .. 271 Sonnet -.—Eight Hundred Thousand Slaves . 273 Aceldama'.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 274 The Ocean 279 A Birthday Ode 280 A very Young Lady's Thoughts about Time . 285 Sonnet :— Kirkstall Abbey 287 Isabel 288 Communion with the Dead . 290 A Brother's, Farewell 304 The Twin Sisters 307 Hymn to the Saviour . 310 Sonnet :—You see that Old Man 311 A Mood by the Sea ..312 Fragments 316 Happy Error . 320 To on their Wedding-day . 322 Lines written on the blank leaf of a Volume of his Sermons 32 Britannia Liberatrix .. .. .. .. .. .. 326 The Martyred Missionary's Grave . 329 A Story of Heaven . 332 To an Orphan 335 Prose Papers : On the Religion of the Patriarchal Aires 336 The Pleasures of Association .. .. 351 An Apology for an Article . 360 A Chapter on Childhood .. .. .. 367 Our School-davs MEMOIRS MEMOIRS. It is ei melancholy yet instructive thought, as we take up for perusal the memorial of departed worth, that within the volume in our hands is compressed the his- tory of a whole human life. Within so narrow a compass is at last reduced all the record of its events and feelings. Here are the beginnings of that life, from its first days of helpless and unconscious dependence, and its golden hours of childish happiness, beautiful and lovely in the sunrise of intellectual being,—onward through the season of youthful discipline, with its ten thousand hopes, joys, purposes, and associations. Here too is all that remains of the excitement of actual con- flict with the cares and occupations of life, when the child of yesterday emerges into a wider sphere, takes up his part in the great drama of Society, exerts an influence for good or evil over unnumbered minds, — his own character the whole time silently but surely moulding into the form it is ultimately to bear, of dignity or dis- honour,—down to the solemn hour when the grave wraps this busy scene in its silent shadows, and the man becomes for ever, as a moral and intellectual being, what his pursuits, and associations, and dispositions have made him. All this, as in single perspective, is brought before the eye ; and we see at once both the beginning and the end of so momentous a tale. 2 MEMOIRS OF Yet however interesting in themselves might be the records of human events and characters, it is with refer- ence to man as the child of immortality that they assume their chief value and significance. We look upon his life in all its aspects as the beginning of existence. We see it especially in a light in which, probably, we never regarded the living man,—in connection with his pre- paration of character for eternity,—and we feel at once the lessons spoken to our own hearts of example, and warning, and excitement,—and perceive in their true light, the worth and dignity which connect themselves with such a record. We see into how compendious a form may be reduced the history of human life and feel- ings, however long the period over which they may have extended, or however wide the sphere of their influence. And in proportion as the biographer succeeds in intro- ducing us to that hidden laboratory of thought and feeling, whence emanated the excellencies and attain- ments of those characters on which Death has set the seal of unchanging and undecaying beauty,—may the living be incited to the attainment of the same measures of faith and hope, knowledge and love,—by the same means,—and resulting in the same glorious end. Espe- cially in the case of those who in a few short years have passed with rapid steps along the path of duty and ac- quirement, attaining that early meetness " for the inhe- ritance of the saints in light," which is the unfailing earnest of its early possession, may the exhibition of cha- racter exert a pure and elevating influence beyond that which their living examples could have produced.