“Presently it came to pass that the Religion of the despised Jesus did infinitely prevail; a Religion that taught men to be meek and humble, apt to receive injuries, but unapt to do any; a Religion that gave countenance to the poor and pitiful, in a time when riches were adored, and ambition and pleasure had possessed the heart of all mankind; a religion that would change the face of things, and the hearts of men, and break vile habits into gentleness and counsel; that such a Religion, in such a time, by the Sermons and conduct of fishermen, men of mean breeding and illiberal Arts, should so speedily triumph over the philosophy of the world, and the arguments of the subtle, and the Sermons of the Eloquent; the power of Princes and the interests of States, the inclinations of nature and the blindness of zeal, the force of custom and the solicitation of passions, the pleasures of sin and the busy arts of the devil; that is, against wit and power, superstition and willfulness, fame and money, nature and Empire, which are all the causes in this world that can make a thing impossible; this, this is to be ascribed to the power of God, and is the great demonstrations of the Resurrection of Jesus.”

Jeremy Taylor - Photo by Vic Moss