The only public discussion which Mr. Howe seems to have engaged in after this, was that respecting occasional conformity. He was led into this by the circumstance, that Sir Thomas Abney, a member of his congregation, while Mayor of London in 1701, attending public worship sometimes in the established church and sometimes among the dissenters, was publicly assailed for so doing in a pamphlet, with a preface, in which Mr. Howe was called on either to vindicate or condemn it. A part of what he wrote on this occasion is preserved by Calamy, and shows the acuteness as well as the liberal character of his mind in his now advanced age.

But Mr. Howe, as may be supposed, was tired of the narrowminded contentions of the world, and conscious that his own spirit was above them, and that the time of its deliverance could not be far distant, he seemed fast ripening for a better world, and impatient for that blessedness, the nature of which he so well understood. During the latter years of his life he published a number of sermons on various occasions, and in 1702 the second part of his Living Temple, the first part of which had been published soon after his settlement in London, in 1675, and which is the most elaborate and systematic of his theoretical works. The last work of his, published during his life, was a discourse on "Patience in expectation of future blessedness," which appeared in 1705, "and this," says Calamy, "was what he now had particular occasion for. For having employed his time, strength, and interest in the most valuable services, he by this time was wasted with several diseases, which he bore with great patience and resigned submission to the will of his heavenly Father. He discovered no fear of dying, but, even when his end drew near, was very serene and calm. He seemed indeed sometimes to have been got to heaven, even before he had laid aside that mortality, which he had been long expecting to have swallowed up of life. It was observed, and is, I believe, to this day remembered by some of his flock, that in his last illness, and when he had been declining for some time, he was once in a most affecting, melting, heavenly frame at the communion, and carried out into such a ravishing and transporting celebration of the love of Christ, that both he himself, and they, who communicated with him, were apprehensive he would have expired in that very service."

During his last sickness he was visited by many of all ranks, and conversed with them freely and cheerfully. Among the rest Richard Cromwell, now himself grown old in retirement, came to make him a last visit, and pay his respects to him before he died. There was much serious conversation between them, and the parting was very solemn and affecting to both. To the young ministers, who visited him, he talked much, and like, one of another world. His strength being at length quite exhausted, he died in peace and in full expectation of the blessed

ness of the righteous, April 2. 1705. He was buried in the parish church of St. Alhallows, Bread street, and his funeral sermon preached by his great admirer Mr. John Spademan.

Such are the leading incidents in the life of Howe, and my limits will only permit me to add a few paragraphs respecting his character. In his person he is represented by Dr. Calamy, as" very tall and exceeding graceful," and the portaits, that are preserved of him, fully correspond with what the same writer says of the expression of his countenance, as indicating something uncommonly great and tending to excite veneration.

In regard to his intellectual powers the history of his early scholarship, as well as his writings, gives proof, that they were of the highest order and applied with exemplary diligence. Before taking his second degree at the University, at the age of 22, "he had not only gone through a course of philosophy, conversed closely with the heathen moralists, read over the accounts we have remaining of Pagan theology, the writings of the school-men, and several systems and common places of the Reformers, and the divines that succeeded them, but had thoroughly studied the Sacred Scriptures, and from thence drawn up a body of divinity for himself and his own use, which he saw very little occasion afterwards to vary from." His character at the Universities, too, is indicated by the intimacy which he enjoyed with such men as Dr. Henry More and Dr. Cudworth, at Oxford, both of whom were over 30 years old, while he was but a boy; and with Mr. Gale and others, who were afterwards distinguished, at Cambridge. His distinguished Oxford friends, especially More, kept up habits of intimacy with him, frequently visiting him during his residence in London; and to his intercourse with these men has been aseribed the tincture of Platonism, which is so apparent in his writings.

His ministerial qualifications seem to have been remarkable even in that age of sound scholarship, and unsparing diligence. Such were his stores of thought, and so thoroughly were they digested, that he could preach as methodically without preparation, as others after the closest study, usually delivered his sermons without notes, and had great copiousness and fluency in prayer. The following is the account, which he gaye Dr. Calamy, of his customary services in the pulpit at Torrington, on the public fasts, which, in those days, were frequent, and kept with great strictness and solemnity. He began" about nine in the morning with a prayer for about a quarter of an hour, in which he begged a blessing on the work of the day, and afterwards read and expounded a chapter or psalm, in which he spent about three quarters, then prayed for about an hour, preached for another hour, and prayed for about half an hour. After this he retired, and took some little refreshment, for about a quarter of an hour, or more, the people singing all the while, and then came again into the pulpit, and prayed for another hour, and gave them another

xvi

BIOGRAPHY OF REV. JOHN HOWE.

sermon of about an hour's length, and so concluded the service of the day at about four in the evening, with about half an hour or more in prayer-a sort of service," as Calamy observes, "that few could have gone through without inexpressible weariness both to themselves and their auditories."

The great firmness, consistency, and inflexible integrity of Mr. Howe's character, were exhibited on many occasions, which would have shaken men of ordinary principles. No suspicion of a self-seeking disposition appears to have attached to him during his connexion with those in power, and when upon his refusing to assent to the terms of conformity, his friend Dr. Wilkins, now bishop of Chester, expressed his surprise, that a man of his "latitude" should be scrupulous in that matter, Mr. Howe assured him, "that that latitude of his, which he was pleased to take notice of, was so far from inducing him to conformity, that it was the very thing, that made and kept him a non-conformist."

His general views of religion were, in the highest and best sense, liberal and rational. He considered Christianity, not so much a system of opinions, and a set of forms, as a divine discipline for the heart and life, a living power, which must be felt, and become the actuating principle of our own spiritual being. He seems to me to have made his views of philosophy and of Christianity a more perfectly harmonious and consistent whole, than any other distinguished theologian, even of that philosophical age. It was the largeness and comprehensiveness of his views, as well as the native temper of his mind, that made him liberal and tolerant to the views of others, and a firm and constant supporter of generous and catholic principles.

His writings are numerous, and were first collected and published in 2 vols. fol., at London, in 1724, with a dedication to the King, by Samuel Chandler, and memoirs by Dr. Calamy. Within a few years past they have been recalled into circulation, and several editions published in England, with large additions of posthumous matter. Other practical treatises, and many of his sermons are little, if at all, less worthy of a place in this selection, than those which are inserted, and my first intention was to fill the first volume from his writings. The wish to secure variety, and bring other writers into notice, has induced a different course. The late editions of his writings occupy eight octavo volumes, but large as the whole work is, there are few of the old authors, whose entire practical and theoretical works are equally deserving of a republication in this country. So profound and rational are his philosophical and theological views, and so free from the peculiar tones and phraseology of a sect, or an age, are his practical and devotional writings, that they can neither grow old by time, nor lose their power over the minds of thinking and pious men, so long as the essential principles of reason and religion remain unchanged. THE EDITOR.

THE

BLESSEDNESS OF THE RIGHTEOUS.

A TREATISE

ON PSALM 17: 15.

When he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is, 1. John 3. 2.

Αλλὰ τὰ κακὰ οὐ δυνατὸν ἐν θεοῖς ἵδρυσθαι· τὴν δὲ θνητὴν φύσιν, και τόνδε τὸν τόπον περιπολεῖ ἐξ ἀνάγκης. Διὸ καὶ πείρασθαι χρὴ ἐνθένδε ἐκεῖσε φεύγειν ὅτι τά χισα. Φυγὴ δὲ ὁμοίωσις θεῷ κατὰ τὸ δυνατὸν, ὁμοίωσις δὲ δικαιὸν καὶ ὁσιόν με τὰ φρονησέως γένεσθαι.

It is impossible that vice should find a place in the abode of the Gods; but it necessarily adheres to a mortal nature, and to the present world. It is therefore our duty to shun it with the utmost eagerness, or, in other words to seek the highest possible resemblance to God, which resemblance consists in rectitude, holiness and wisdom: Plat. in Theæt.