Editing Jeremy Taylor (section)

== Career under Laud ==
Archbishop [[William Laud]] sent for Taylor to preach in his presence at [[Lambeth]], and took the young man under his wing. Taylor did not vacate his fellowship at Cambridge before 1636, but he spent, apparently, much of his time in London, for Laud desired that his considerable talents should receive better opportunities for study and improvement than the obligations of constant preaching would permit. In November 1635 he had been nominated by Laud to a fellowship at [[All Souls College, Oxford]],<ref name=ccel>[https://www.ccel.org/ccel/taylor "Jeremy Taylor", CCEL]</ref> where, says [[Anthony Wood (antiquary)|Antony Wood]],<ref>''Athenae Oxonienses'' (ed. Bliss), iii. 781</ref> love and admiration still waited on him. He seems, however, to have spent little time there. He became chaplain to his patron the archbishop, and [[Chaplain Extraordinary|chaplain in ordinary]] to [[Charles I of England|Charles I]].{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=469}}<ref>[http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bio/226.html Kiefer, James E., "Jeremy Taylor, Bishop and Theologian", Biographical Sketches of memorable Christians of the past]</ref>

At Oxford, [[William Chillingworth]] was then busy with his magnum opus, ''The Religion of Protestants'', and it is possible that through his discussions with Chillingworth Taylor may have been turned towards the liberal movement of his age. After two years in Oxford, he was presented, in March 1638, by [[William Juxon]], Bishop of London, to the rectory of [[Uppingham]] in [[Rutland]].{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=469}} There he settled down to the work of a country priest.

In the next year he married Phoebe Langsdale, by whom he had six children: William (d.1642), George (?), Richard (the last two died c.1656/7), Charles, Phoebe and Mary.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> In the autumn of the same year he was appointed to preach in [[University Church of St Mary the Virgin|St Mary's]] on the anniversary of the [[Gunpowder Plot]], and apparently used the occasion to clear himself of a suspicion, which, however, haunted him through life, of a secret leaning to the Roman Catholic position. This suspicion seems to have arisen chiefly from his intimacy with Christopher Davenport, better known as [[Francis a Sancta Clara]], a learned Franciscan friar who became chaplain to [[Henrietta Maria of France|Queen Henrietta]]; but it may have been strengthened by his known connection with Laud, as well as by his ascetic habits. More serious consequences followed his attachment to the Royalist cause. As the author of ''The Sacred Order and Offices of Episcopacy or Episcopacy Asserted against the Arians and Acephali New and Old'' (1642), he could scarcely hope to retain his parish, which was not, however, [[Committee for Plundered Ministers|sequestered]] until 1644. Taylor probably accompanied the king to Oxford. In 1643 he was presented to the rectory of [[Overstone, Northamptonshire]], by Charles I. There he would be in close connection with his friend and patron [[Spencer Compton, 2nd Earl of Northampton]].{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|pp=469–470}}