Quotes From James Brainerd Taylor
Memoir: Memoir of James Brainerd Taylor, Second Edition by John Holt Rice and Benjamin Holt Rice (NY: American Tract Society, 1833)
NOTE: 1833 biography available online at Google Books
New Tribute: A New Tribute to the Memory of James Brainerd Taylor by Fitch W. Taylor (NY: John S. Taylor, 1838)
NOTE: 1838 biography available online at Google Books
"For the sake of Christ, then—for the sake of the church, which is his body, and which he has purchased with his own blood, and for which he intercedes—for the sake of your pastor, who prays for your prosperity—and for the sake of those who have labored among you—and for your own sakes, I pray you to be uncommon Christians; that is, be eminently holy, self-denying, cross-bearing, Bible, everyday Christians." [Memoir, 296]
(To a band of young converts after a spiritual revival
at Rahway, New Jersey, June 1825.)
"Surely I am a miracle of grace—a sinner saved by grace, free grace, sovereign grace, almighty grace." [Memoir, 88]
"I am indeed a wonder to myself when I think what I once was, and contrast my former with my present situation and prospects." [Memoir, 105]
"I know and am as fully assured of my acceptance with God as I can be of my existence—that is, if 'love, joy, peace' are evidences of reconciliation [Galatians 5:22]. I have a hope full of glorious immortality." [Memoir, 87–88]
"Thus I find that these walls [of Nassau Hall/Princeton] do not shut out my God. . . . Religion can be enjoyed in college." [Memoir, 165]
"Open, Lord, my eyes—I am tired of waiting for others; there are laborers enough all around, but they don't come into the vineyard to work. Let me be up and doing constantly, faithfully, firmly." [Memoir, 232]
(Cf. "Let us, then, be up and doing, with a heart for any fate; still achieving, still pursuing, learn to labor and to wait." Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, "A Psalm of Life" [1838].)
"In contemplating my latter end, the question arose what inscription would you have on your tombstone? And in thought I answered: 'Here lies ——. A sinner, born again; a sinner, washed, and justified, and sanctified. A sinner, once an heir of hell, a child of the devil, by wicked works; but by grace, a child of God and an heir of heaven; a miracle of grace, deserving all the miseries of the second death; and yet an expectant of endless glory and felicity. Farewell earth; welcome heaven. I am nothing; Jesus is all.'" [Memoir, 151–52]
(July 19, 1823, journal entry, Lawrenceville Academy, N.J.)
Many more quotes to come. Stay tuned.