Thomas Taylor

Thomas Taylor, engraving after William Marshall, some time after 1633. Thomas Taylor (1576–1632) was an English cleric. A Calvinist, he held strong anti-Catholic views, and his career in the church had a long hiatus. He also attacked separatists, and wrote copiously, with the help of sympathetic patrons. He created a group of like-minded followers.

Life Taylor was born in 1576 in Richmond, Yorkshire, where his father was known as a friend to Puritans and silenced ministers. He distinguished himself at Cambridge, became a fellow and reader in Hebrew at Christ's College.

A follower of William Perkins, Taylor began preaching at 21 and when only about 25 preached a sermon at St. Paul's Cross before Queen Elizabeth. He was known for strong anti-Roman Catholic views.

Works Taylor was a prolific writer. Apart from printed sermons, he was author of: The Progresse of Saints to Fvll Holinesse, London, 1630; another edit. 1631. Dedicated to Sir Robert Harley. Circumspect Walking, London, 1631, 12mo; reprinted London, 1658. Christ's Victorie over the Dragon, or Satan's Downfall, London. Three treatises: The Pearle of the Gospell, The Pilgrim's Profession, and A Glasse for Gentlewomen, London, 1633. The Principles of Christian Practice, 1635. Christ Revealed, 1635, 4to; reprinted at the Lady Huntingdon seminary at Trevecca, Wales, 1766, at Glasgow 1816, and translated into Welsh, Merthyr Tydvil, 1811. Moses and Aaron, or the Types and Shadows . . . explained, 1653, with an introduction by William Jemmat, in which he calls Taylor "The illuminate doctor", a phrase copied by Thomas Fuller and Anthony Wood.

Collected editions of Taylor's works, none of them quite complete, were published:

With a preface by Edmund Calamy and address by Joseph Caryl, London, 1653; With a life of the author and portrait at age 56, engraved by Thomas Cross, London 1658; The Works of the Judicious and Learned Thomas Taylor, London, 1659.