Background

He was born in Kilmarnock, Scotland, in 1829, the son of Peter and Isobel (Mackergo) Taylor. His father was a shopkeeper, and the boy grew up in a home where Scotch sagacity, piety, and zest for theological discussion prevailed.

Education

Having received his preliminary education in the local academy, he entered the University of Glasgow, from which he graduated in 1849. His training for the ministry he received at the Divinity Hall of the United Presbyterian Church, Edinburgh. Finishing his course there in 1852, he was licensed to preach by the United Presbytery of Ayrshire on September 14, of that year.

Career

He was ordained at Kilmaurs, a town about two miles from his birthplace, June 28, 1853, and was pastor there until called, in 1854, to the recently formed United Presbyterian Church of Derby Road, Bootle, a suburb of Liverpool.

Bootle, situated at the mouth of the Mersey, was the loading place for ships, and Taylor's parishioners were chiefly from the families of those that the activities of a seaport had called thither. For sixteen years he labored among them, building up a substantial church, and gaining in Liverpool and beyond a reputation as a preacher and public speaker of unusual powers.

In the spring of 1871 he came to the United States and for ten Sundays supplied the pulpit of the Church of the Pilgrims, Brooklyn, of which Dr. Richard Salter Storrs, 1821-1900, was pastor. So impressed by his preaching were some of his hearers that they proposed building a great tabernacle for him in New York, if he would consider settling there. In November 1871, however, Dr. Joseph P. Thompson relinquished the pastorate of Broadway Tabernacle, New York, and Taylor was immediately invited to be his successor. He accepted the invitation, and on April 9, 1872, was formally installed. His ministry in this connection continued until 1892, when he was stricken with paralysis. Resigning on October 27, he was made pastor emeritus, and died somewhat more than two years later. .

As a preacher he took rank in public esteem along with his noted neighbors, Beecher, Storrs, and John Hall. He was a powerful expositor of the Scriptures and their practical application, a strong advocate of the written sermon, which he himself could make picturesque and glowing. His published works number more than forty, among them being David King of Israel (1875); Elijah the Prophet (1876); The Ministry of the Word (1876), Lyman Beecher Lectures at Yale; Moses the Lawgiver (1879, 1894); The Gospel Miracles in Their Relation to Christ and Christianity (1880), lectures at Princeton; John Knox (1885); The Parables of Our Saviour Expounded and Illustrated (1886); The Scottish Pulpit from the Reformation to the Present Day (1887), Lyman Beecher Lectures; The Christian in Society (1891); At the End of Twenty Years (1892); Contrary Winds and Other Sermons (1899); The Limitations of Life and Other Sermons (1904).

From October 1876 to June 1880 he was editor-in-chief of The Christian at Work. He took an active part in the missionary activities of the Congregational churches, being a corporate member of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (1872 - 95), and president of the American Missionary Association (1872 - 95) and of the Congregational Church Building Society (1885 - 95). He was also a trustee of the University of the City of New York and of Mount Holyoke College, and a manager of the Presbyterian Hospital, New York.

Achievements

• He wrote biographies of Rev. Matthew Dickie (1872) and John Knox (1885) and published numerous volumes of sermons and discourses, of which those of a biographical character on Joseph, Moses, David, Elijah, Daniel, and Paul were very popular.

Works

More photos

• book

  • The Miracles of Our Saviour: Expounded and Illustrated

    (The great attraction of this work on the Miracles of Chri...)

  • The Scottish Pulpit: From the Reformation to the Present Day

    (Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We h...)

  • Contrary Winds and Other Sermons

    ( This work has been selected by scholars as being cultur...)

  • David, King of Israel: His Life and Its Lessons

    (This work has been selected by scholars as being cultural...)

  • Moses The Law-giver

    ( This work has been selected by scholars as being cultur...)

  • Peter, the Apostle: -1876

    (Originally published in 1876. This volume from the Cornel...)

  • John Knox 1885

    (Originally published in 1885. This volume from the Cornel...)

  • Elijah the Prophet (Classic Reprint)

Views

Quotations: "We can set our deeds to the music of a grateful heart, and seek to round our lives into a hymn — the melody of which will be recognized by all who come in contact with us, and the power of which shall not be evanescent, like the voice of the singer, but perennial, like the music of the spheres. "

"True repentance has as its constituent elements not only grief and hatred of sin, but also an apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ. It hates the sin, and not simply the penalty; and it hates the sin most of all because it has discovered God's love. "

"The whole track of history is marked with the ruin of empires which having been founded in injustice, or perpetuated by wrong, were ultimately destroyed. "

Personality

He was a typical Scotchman of rugged character, conservative theology, analytical mind, and keen discernment.

Connections

On October 4, 1853, he had married Jessie, daughter of John and Mitchell (Gregg) Steedman of Kilmarnock.

Father:

Peter Taylor

Mother:

Isobel (Mackergo) Taylor

Spouse:

Jessie