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Edward Thompson Taylor (December 25, 1793–April 6, 1871) was an American Methodist minister. He joined the New England Annual Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1819 and was an itinerant preacher in southeastern New England for 10 years. In 1829, the Port Society of Boston hired Taylor to be the chaplain of the Seamen’s Bethel, a mission to sailors. In Boston, “Father Taylor” became famous as an eloquent and colorful preacher, a sailors’ advocate, and a temperance activist. ==Early career== Edward T. Taylor was born near Richmond, Virginia, on December 25, 1793, but he never knew his parents. Raised by a foster mother, he ran away from home at the age of seven to begin a career as a sailor. In 1811 he came to the port of Boston, Massachusetts. There, he heard a sermon by Edward D. Griffin at the Park Street Church and exclaimed, "Why can't I preach so? I'll try it."〔Gilbert Haven and Thomas Russell, (''Life of Father Taylor, the Sailor Preacher'' ) (Boston: Boston Port and Seamen's Aid Society, 1904), 26.〕 Not long after, Taylor heard the powerful preaching of the Methodist Elijah Hedding, and he began attending Methodist church services and prayer meetings.〔Haven and Russell, 26-29.〕 During the War of 1812, Taylor shipped aboard the privateer ''Curlew'', which was captured by the British ship ''Acasta'' and its crew held at Melville Island.〔Roald Kverndal, ''Seamen's Missions: Their Origin and Early Growth'' (Pasadena, CA: William Carey Library, 1986), 494.〕 Taylor's fellow prisoners asked the prison commandant to allow him to lead worship services in the prison. After his release from Halifax, Taylor returned to Boston and attended the Bromfield Street Methodist Church. He was licensed as a lay preacher in 1813 and took a job driving a horse and cart for a Boston store, traveling through the countryside to sell tinware and rags. After a year or two, he settled in Saugus, Massachusetts, living in the home of a pious widow. The widow paid Taylor to work her small farm by teaching him how to read. He began holding prayer meetings and services in the widow’s house; when his audiences grew, he moved his services to a schoolhouse in East Saugus. Solomon Brown, a local shoemaker who was also a Methodist deacon, became Taylor’s supporter.〔Haven and Russell, 45-46.〕 In 1817, Amos Binney, Commandant of the Boston Navy Yard and a prominent Methodist layman, recommended that Taylor receive formal training. He sent Taylor to Wesleyan Academy in Newmarket, New Hampshire.〔Haven and Russell, 63.〕 Taylor left Wesleyan Academy after about six weeks. In 1818, George Pickering, Taylor’s Methodist presiding elder, sent him to preach in Marblehead, Massachusetts. There he met a pious local woman, Deborah D. Millett, whom he married in 1819. That same year, Taylor was ordained as a minister and assigned to preach in Scituate, Massachusetts, and neighboring towns. In the spring of 1820, he joined a Masonic lodge in Duxbury. He remained a loyal Mason for the rest of his life. Taylor preached in the Harwich, Massachusetts, area in 1821 and 1822. He was assigned to New Bedford in 1823 and to Martha’s Vineyard in 1824. In 1825 he preached in the mill towns around Milford. He was assigned to Bristol and Warren, Rhode Island, in 1826. He preached in Fall River, Massachusetts, in 1827 and 1828. Most of Taylor’s assignments were in coastal towns and seaports, and a significant portion of his parishioners were sailors or maritime workers. Having been a sailor himself, Taylor was particularly effective at preaching to maritime audiences. Alcohol use was a problem in the maritime world, and Taylor preached and counseled temperance to all his listeners. At the same time that he was serving the seafaring and mill towns of southeastern New England, Taylor was a popular preacher at summer camp meetings. By 1828, he had earned a reputation as a skillful and eloquent sailors’ minister and temperance speaker. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Edward Thompson Taylor」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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