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HOW public affairs requiring great judgment and skill, as well as command of temper and sagacity.

But the Restoration followed close upon the time of Howe's return to his seclusion in Devon; nor was it long before hierarchical revenge set about to make search for its victims. Among these Howe was one, although he had in several instances exerted all his influence in behalf of the prelatical and deprived clergy. His accusers, in the first instance, were baffled in their attempt to convict him of having uttered treasonable words in a sermon; but he, together with so many of the best men in the church, soon came within the range of that indeed "infernal machine"—the act of uniformity of 1662. Inclined as he was in all cases to carry the principle of conformity to the utmost limit which a good conscience might allow, Howe's compliance with the requirements of this brutal ordinance was impossible: he could not hesitate. The act was so framed as should drive all men such as he out of the church; this was its true, and indeed its avowed intention, nor were its contrivers disappointed. On the day when the act was to take effect he took leave of a weeping congregation, and with his wife and children went forth to suffer; and he did suffer, for several years living precariously upon the kindness of friends, and undertaking any services which might enable him to supply the most urgent wants of his family. It was during this period that he published the "Discourse upon the Blessedness of the Righteous." Some time after this Howe accepted an invitation from Lord Massarene of Antrim castle, Ireland, to become his domestic chaplain. He had then endured the miseries of want with his young family for six years, and he now brought them into a position of comfort or competence, and there he enjoyed some years of undisturbed devotion to his ministerial functions and to his studies. While in this retirement he published two sermons, entitled "The Vanity of Man as Mortal," and on "Delighting in God;" and also made progress in the work with which his repute as a theological writer is mainly connected, "The Living Temple." After five years peacefully spent at the residence of his generous patron, Howe accepted an invitation to become the pastor of a nonconforming congregation in London, where the esteem in which he was held opened to him a wide sphere of influence, and moreover won for him the friendship of several distinguished men of the episcopalian communion—among these were Stillingfleet, Tillotson, Sharp, Whichcot, Kidder, Fowler, Lucas. About this time, having published a sermon or treatise, entitled "The Reconcileableness of God's Prescience of the Sins of Men with the wisdom and sincerity of his counsels and exhortations," he became obnoxious to the more rigid of the theologians, and was vehemently assailed by several of them, as by Theophilus Gale and others of the same class. One, a Thomas Dawson, transgressed the bounds of reason and courtesy to such an extent as to provoke a chastisement from the noted Andrew Marvell. From this hot controversy Howe held himself aloof. He was, however, induced to enter upon argument with a more worthy opponent—Stillingfleet, who had preached an intemperate and inconsiderate sermon in the city on the Evils of Separation. Howe's expostulation with his antagonist and friend, is a noble sample of commingled meekness, firmness, and charity; and in fact it won praise from Stillingfleet. In a like spirit he combated the extravagant political doctrines of another of his distinguished friends—Tillotson; and here again he found a noble-minded antagonist. If only the few men in every age, such as Howe and two or three of the episcopalians, his contemporaries, could be left to compose religious discords, the church universal might easily become a peaceful habitation! It was far otherwise then, as since. In 1681 measures were instituted for renewing the persecution of the nonconformists; and to such an extent was this hostility carried that, for some length of time, Howe, although so discreet and inoffensive in his conduct, was compelled to hide himself from the public eye, and seldom dared to be seen in the streets, several of his hearers and friends having been committed to Newgate. At this time, however, he published several small treatises and sermons; among these is to be noted, published in 1684, the treatise entitled "The Redeemer's Tears, wept over lost souls! "The persecution of nonconforming ministers reached a height in 1685; and, to escape from the severity of it, Howe consented to accompany Lord Wharton in his travels on the continent, and in the course of this tour he made acquaintance with some of the most distinguished literary men of the time. At length he established himself at Utrecht, and there received many of his countrymen, either exiles like himself, or noble persons on their travels; and on Sunday he officiated in the English church in that city. At this time he had several interviews with William, prince of Orange, who, when king of England, continued to treat him with marked respect. It was he who, as representing the nonconformist ministers, delivered an address to the new sovereign. In the following year he made a generous appeal to persons in power in behalf of the refugee French protestant ministers, and argued also the case of the nonconformists in an effective manner; and at length, May 24, 1689, the act of toleration received the royal assent. On this occasion Howe, in the manner that was characteristic of his disposition, urged moderation and mutual forbearance upon the eager spirits on both sides. Released from the terrors of persecution, the nonconformists now gave way to fierce controversies among themselves, and again this man of peace, full of the wisdom that is from above, stepped in to quench the fires of theological debate. These controversies have, however, now no claim to particular notice. On this occasion he published his excellent discourse on the "Carnality of Religious Contention;" and in reference to the trinitarian controversy, in which South and Cudworth had taken a part, he put forth his "Calm and Sober Inquiry;" and in 1695 his funeral sermon for Queen Mary, entitled "Heaven, a State of Perfection." In 1701-2 he put forward a piece on a subject much debated at the time, "Occasional Conformity," which he justified on broad christian principles as opposed to the rigidness and fanaticism of many among his brethren. The second part of his great work, "The Living Temple," was published in 1702, soon after which time his constitution broke up; nevertheless, he continued his public engagements, and also published his discourse on "Patience in Expectation of Future Blessedness." His death occurred, April 2, 1705, and his last days were such as his life had been—a rare exemplification of the truth and excellence of the gospel.

John Howe, as to his personal distinctions, had been much favoured by nature, and to the graces which were his by birth were added the refinements which attach to high culture, and to the social habitudes of a scholar and a gentleman. The characteristic of his mind was its symmetry and equipoise. His turn, metaphysical, and his power of abstraction in the region of philosophical thought was such as would have secured for him a place of honour in that department, if his time and thought had not happily been devoted to higher purposes—those, namely, of the christian ministry. The modern reader of this great man's writings must prepare himself for an effort which will be called for, not so much for mastering the thought, as in overcoming the repugnance which will be engendered by a rugged, inharmonious style, by a meagreness of diction, and by an excess of that fault of the times, division and subdivision of the matter, carried to an extreme which greatly impairs the effect otherwise resulting from the depth and majesty of the author's conceptions. Majesty in the thought, not grace or care in the conveyance of it; depth and elevation of religious feeling, always well governed and controlled by a sound judgment; an intensity and intimacy of the spiritual discernment; and above and with all, the pure and the lofty moral feeling of a mind which was by nature sensitive, in an unusual degree, to sentiments of this order—had become thoroughly imbued with christian principles, and had realized these principles throughout a long course of varied discipline among the trials and temptations of life. Howe's principal works have already been named. The modern reader who may be glad to turn away, sometimes at least, from the literature of the day with its effort and its pretensions, will delight himself in books such as the "Living Temple;" "The Redeemer's Tears, wept over lost souls;" "The Calm and Sober Inquiry concerning the possibility of a Trinity in the Godhead;" "The Blessedness of the Righteous;" "The Redeemer's Dominion over the Invisible World;" and the treatise of "Delighting in God." Within the limits of this article no attempt can be made to offer an analysis of this writer's principal work—"The Living Temple." To the actual reader of the book such an analysis would be superfluous; to others, it would not seem attractive enough to tempt them into these deep waters. The life of John Howe was written by Edmond Calamy; but recently, and in an able and impartial manner, by Principal Henry Rogers—The Life and Character of John Howe, MA., with an analysis of his writings, 1836.—I. T. 