Quotes About James Brainerd Taylor
 |
"I have found that I have no unusual endowments of intellect, but I this day resolved that I would be an uncommon Christian." David Livingstone (1813–1873), Scottish missionary-explorer to Africa, buried in London's Westminster Abbey |
"Resolve this day, that, God helping you, you will not be a common, but what James Brainerd Taylor called an 'uncommon' Christian; not a dwarf, but a growing Christian."
Familiar Letters to You, A Young Convert. From Your Pastor (1864, anonymous author)
"[James Brainerd Taylor's death] was no common event; for it was the last earthly hour of an uncommonly holy man."
Fitch W. Taylor, younger brother and eyewitness to James's death
 |
"To spend and to be spent in the service of Christ and for the salvation of souls was his all in all [cf. 2 Corinthians 12:15]. Often would he say, 'None but Christ; all for Christ.'" "Father" Frederick William Hotchkiss (1762–1844), key mentor to Taylor and the Yale College-trained, 61-year Congregational pastor (1783–1844) of First Church of Christ in Saybrook, Conn. |
"And now, my dear brother, as I must press you to pursue after personal holiness, to be as much in fasting and prayer as your health will allow, and to live above the rate of common Christians; so I must entreat you solemnly to attend to your public work."
Missionary and J. B. Taylor cousin David Brainerd (1718–1747) to his brother John, written from Boston in the summer before his death in the home of Jonathan Edwards (1703–1758)
"[James Brainerd Taylor] was a man of exceptional piety, a Christian of the Henry Martyn and [Robert Murray] M'Cheyne type. With him love for Christ and the souls of men was a ruling passion."
John T. Duffield (1823–1901), Professor of Mathematics and Mechanics, Princeton University, and longtime advisor to and historian of the student-led and Taylor-founded Philadelphian Society of Nassau Hall (today's Princeton Evangelical Fellowship)
"And now, dear George, permit me to ask, How is your spiritual health? Those resolutions of James Brainerd Taylor, which you referred to, are very good ones. He is the only one that I remember who went through college unharmed by its polluting touch. May you be another one, and may you be much farther advanced in the divine life after having gone through college, than you were when you entered. . . . I should think there was a great field for usefulness in college; and you may, if you try, be the means of leading many souls to the fold of Christ. I pray for you every day, as I expect you do for me; and O, may we both become, as J. B. Taylor expresses it, 'uncommon Christians.' May we live near the throne of grace; may we become ornaments to the ministry, if we shall be permitted to enter it; and may we at last meet in heaven to dwell with Christ, forever."
12-year old future Yale University student John Davenport Lockwood (1825–1844) to his cousin George, letter January 17, 1838, Binghamton, New York
"I, now, on the first day of the new year, consecrate myself anew to thy service. . . . Dear Savior, I do now beseech thee, to enable me to keep these resolutions, and to become an uncommon Christian."
John Davenport Lockwood (1825–1844), January 1, 1838, Binghamton, New York
Many more quotes to come. Stay tuned.