OF JAMES B. TAYLOR. BY GEORGE B. TAYLOR. WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY J. B. JETER, D.D. PHILADELPHIA: THE BIBLE AND PUBLICATION SOCIETY, No. 530 ARCH STREET. [618723 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1872, by THE BIBLE AND PUBLICATION SOCIETY, In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. THE Autor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations. 17821 WESTCOTT & THOMSON, Stereotypers and Electrotypers, Philada. INTRODUCTION. IT is stated by booksellers that in the present age biographies are overlooked and neglected. Well-written lives of great, good, and distinguished men encumber the shelves of publishers, while works of fiction, and indeed most other kinds of books, find a ready sale. If this statement is true-as doubtless it is the fact is unfortunate for the age. History, it is said, is philosophy teaching by example. If this saying is true of history, it is specially true of biography. This presents, in a clear light, the results of the various principal motives and influences which give impulse to human life and guide its course. We are taught the value of this species of composition by the Bible. It is composed largely of the biographies, not formal and full, but fragmentary and graphic, both of good and of bad men. The four evangelists have furnished us biographies of the most wonderful Being whose dwelling has been on earth, and in a style of inimitable simplicity, faithfulness, and beauty. It would not be possible for didactic writing, however wise and authoritative, to impart such a charm and power to holiness as it has in the simple biography of Jesus of Nazareth. If the world has lost its taste for biography, this fact is a sad proof that its taste is vitiated, and the friends of a healthful literature should labor to correct the evil. The life of the humblest and most obscure man, if it were plainly and faithfully written, would furnish many valuable lessons for mankind. To a large extent, the thoughts, affections, passions, conflicts, hopes, sorrows, and enjoyments of one man are common to humanity. But the biography of every man need not and cannot be written. If the lives of all men were composed, then indeed "the world itself could not contain the books that should be written." It is not even proper that the biography of every good and useful man should be recorded. Many persons of great excellence and talents pass their lives in quietness and obscurity, and do not leave behind them materials for composing their biographies. The biographer, then, must select from the multitude of dwellers on earth those whose sayings and doings are worthy of record. The life of the late JAMES B. TAYLOR, D.D., is worthy of preservation. He set a lovely example before the world. He furnished a remarkable instance of what, under the lack of early educational advantages, may be accomplished by a good intellect, governed by religious principle, and diligently, through life, directing its energies to the dissemination of divine truth and the promotion of the kingdom of Christ. Few men of the present day have been more useful by their direct influence than was James B. Taylor. Every work to which he put his hand prospered. The churches under his pastoral charge were built up and established. In every agency in which he was employed he was successful. For more than forty-five years he was immediately connected with every general scheme and effort to promote the interests of the Baptist churches in Virginia. His brains, his hands, his time, his resources, and his influence were all laid on the altar of Christ. He had a large-hearted zeal in his Master's cause-a zeal confined by no sectional limits and restrained by no denominational bounds. He labored for the glory of Christ, but not exclusively in the South. He was from education and deep conviction a Baptist, |