ROGERS'S LIFE OF HOWE.
ALTHOUGH not less celebrated and perhaps more influential in his day than BAXTER, HOWE is at present not so popularly known. Some of this difference in the posthumous reputation of these great Nonconformists may be traced to the nature of their minds : for, yielding HOWE the claim of genius which his admirers demand for him, at least several of the subjects of BAXTER were of a more practical nature, and treated in a plainer way. We are, however, inclined to ascribe much of HowE's weight and popularity whilst alive to the influence of his personal character. Living in an age of persecution, he was always charitable in word and deed; writing at a time when controversies were carried on with a fury which rendered the odium theologicum as coarse as it is always malig- nant, HOWE was invariably courteous—as STILLINGFLEET acknow- ledged, " more like a gentleman than a divine ;" possessing a spirit too truly catholic to regard minute forms as essential to any church, HowE preferred poverty and persecution to the preferment he might have attained by a slavish and sinful subscription to articles of faith established by Act of Parliament ; what was per- haps more effective than either charity, courtesy, or conscientious consistency, he was discreet and disinterested. his censures and remonstrances were so timed, and apparently accompanied by such suavity of manner, that the sin was probed without offence to the sinner. "You have obtained," said CROMWELL to him, " many favours for others; I wonder when the time is to come that you will solicit any thing for yourself or your family." The leading events of IlowE's life are well ascertained, either from their conspicuous nature or front their having been preserved in legal documents. He might almost be said to have been cradled in persecution; for his father was ejected from his parish by L.sun, and appears with his son to have sought a refuge in Ire- land, where they remained till the Rebellion. In 16-17, being then seventeen years of age, young HowE was admitted as a sizar of Christ College, Cambridge ; and, after taking his degree of B.A., repaired to Oxford, where he took the same degree, some months before he reached nineteen. In 1652, lie became M.A.; having not only made great attainments in general knowledge, but closely studied divinity, the'classics, and the writings of the school- men, as well as formed a system of theology for himself from the Scriptures, " which," as he frequently said, " he had seldom seen occasion to alter." Soon afterwards he was ordained in a primi- tive fashion, the Parliament having abolished Episcopacy ; and was shortly led, "by an unexpected conduct of Providence," (though what this was does not appear,) to Great Torrington, Devon. Here he found that some of the flock had strayed from the fold, whilst those who remained were cleft in twain ; but he soon succeeded in producing union and bringing back the strayed sheep.
He remained at Torrington a few years, when business took
him to London. On the last Sabbath of his sojourn, curiosity led him to hear the preacher at Whitehall. CROMWELL, who, in GA.LAMY'S words, " had his eyes everywhere," was struck—so the story runs--with HowE's physiognomy, and after the service sent for him, and, in spite of all excuses, insisted upon his preaching " the next Lord's Day." The discourse was so much to the Pro- tector's taste, that he called for a second, and a third ; after which, he told HOWE that he must remove to London, and become his domestic chaplain,—undertaking, in answer to the preacher's ob- jections, to find a proper substitute for the flock at Torrington. Thus was JOHN HOWE launched at court and involved in a sea of troubles ; for of grandeur lie was quite regardless ; and he was utterly unable to accomplish the great object he aimed at in ac- cepting the post, and which indeed he never altogether abandoned —that of uniting the principal Protestant sects in one catholic communion. The project, hard at all times, was impossible then, not only from the steadfastness of religious belief down even to the minutest points, but from the strange fanaticism of many per- sons and the worldly objects which actuated others. CROMWELL, indeed, professed himself willing to lend a helping hand, " if he could but see any thing in writing that upon consideration he could judge likely to serve such a purpose :" but, independent of this theoretical difficulty, HOWE, when he had to put his shoulder to the wheel, discovered the weight of the wagon. He and a fellow confident of the Protector's differed upon the preliminaries ; the court "affected to live in a loose way " touching doctrinal matters; and after the hints of BAXTER had awakened his jealousy, he had little trouble in discovering " the Infidels and Papists, who are very high and busy under several garbs, especially of Seekers, Vanists, Behmenists." So much did these circumstances trouble him, that he had thoughts of retiring from court altogether; but the death of the Protector forestalled his resolution ; and RICHARD CROMMILL---Of whose honesty of purpose Hows had a high opts
nion—heing unable to keep down the discordant elements which scarce'y yielded to his father, left the court chaplain at liberty to
retire to his parish ; which he did after prophesying to BAXTER, from his experience of great men, that " Religion is lost out of Emsland further than it can creep into holes and corners."
But after the Restoration, he was not left long at peace even in a corner : some of the High Church informers, who then in-
fested the kingdom, denounced him as preaching sedition and treason ; and shortly after came the Act of Uniformity, to eject him from his parish. In the persecutions which followed, HOWE
fared better than many other Nonconformists, partly from the weight of his character, partly from the influence he had acquired amongst several Episcopalians, owing to the good services he bad
rendered them in the time of the Commony-ealth. But although he appears to have escaped imprisonment, Le led for several sears
" the life of a fugitive and a wanderer, procuring a precarious sub- sistence for himself and his family by performing any service, however humble, of which be was capable ;" the remembrance of which time his biographer thinks probably drew from bin], forty years afterwards, his vivid description of the state of the ejected ministers,—" Many of them live upun charity, some of them with difficulty getting, and others (educated to modesty) with greater difficulty begging their bread."
HOWE endured this state of suffering for nine years (from 1662 to 1671). He then went to Ireland as domestic chaplain to Lord MASSARENE ; and, in despite of his Nonconformity, was permitted by the Bishop, in conjunction with the wishes of his Metropo- litan, to preach every Sunday at Antrim church: indeed the Archbishop is reported to have told his clergy, that he wished every pulpit in the province to be open to him. After remaining with Lord MASSARENE for four years, HOWE returned to London, in consequence of being invited by a congregation to take charge of them. During his ministry, be seems to have been active and influential both with his pen and preaching ; his personal inter- ference could not for part of the time have been very considerable, as for three years lie rarely ventured into the streets, on account of the persecutions which were then waged against Noncon- formists. In 1685, when these had reached their height, HOWE went abroad with Lord WHARTON ; and after travelling for a twelvemonth, finally settled at Utrecht, where he took a house for the reception of English lodgers. His courtly influence was now again approaching. The violent proceedings of JAMES the Second had driven many Englishmen of rank and fortune abroad, several of whom formed a connexion with the great Nonconformist; and WILLIAM of Orange, either in consequence of his influence with the Dissenters, or to discover their views, honoured him with several meetings. In 1687, Howe returned to London, upon JAMES publishing the "aeclaration for liberty of conscience ;" and was one of the leading Dissenters who refused to sanction the "dispensing power" as applifd to the Roman Catholics. JAMES sent for him to a private discourse, but could not succeed in in- fluencing him; and on WiEeiaaI's arrival in London, HOWE headed the deputation of Nonconforming divines who waited on the liberator with an address.
The Revolution did not achieve the dreams of HowE's youth ; but it made the nearest approach to them possible at that time, by producing the Act of Toleration. Scarcely, however, were the Dissenters freed from persecution, when they began to differ with each other ; and in a few years there was a schism even in the sect with which HOWE was connected. But his faith enabled him to bear up manfully against these and many other troubles, arising from the death of friends and the bodily ailments consequent upon long life. He continued till 1705 to preach, to pray, and to pub- lish. In the spring of that year, however, he was confined to his chamber, but still continued to receive his friends. Amongst others, RICHARD CROMWELL came to see him,—the only inter- view that seems to have taken place between them since RICHARD, nearly fifty years earlier, resigned a more than kingly power. Such is the outline of JOHN HowE's career. That the filling- up would have been full of interest, there is no doubt, from the nature of the events themselves and the characters of the persons with whom lie was connected. Unhappily, these minute circum- stances have not been preserved, or rather have been destroyed. In what way this happened, is best told by the unwilling agent of their destruction. The extract is from a letter of HowE's son to his brother-in-law, who had written to ask what manuscripts the great divine had left behind him. "I am extremely concerned that some time before my honoured father's de- cease, I was utterly disabled to reap the advantage myself, and communicate it to his friends, of the large memorials he had collected of the material passages of his own life and of the times wherein he lived ; which he most industriously concealed till his last illness, when, having lost his speech, which I thought he would not recover, he surprisingly called me to him and gave me a key, and ordered me to bring all the papers (which were stitched up in a multitude of small volumes), and made me solemnly promise him, notwithstanding all my reluctance, immediately to destroy them ; which accordingly I did." All that is known of the minute circumstances of HOWE'S life, is, we believe, collected in the volume before us. Mr. ROGERS has not only attentively examined the previous bio- graphies of his subject, and consulted various works that were likely to yield any information, but has also had recourse to dif- ferent manuscript collections, whence he has drawn some curious and interesting letters which now appear for the first time. He cannot, however, be said to have presented his matter in the most effective form. Not only does he uselessly eke out his space by long and numerous extracts from HowE's published works, (which if not very generally known, are quite accessible,) but he expands his slender facts by elaborate disquisitions. It is true, Mr. RoGeeS informs the reader that lie has aimed at illustrating the character of Hows ; but this is not well accomplished by ser- monizing upon almost every circumstance of his career. Of Howe's writings we have taken no notice, for in his bio- graphy he is more conspicuous as a divine than un author ; nor do we, from the volume before us, learn any more respecting their composition than the works themselves supply. The reader who desires information on the subject, may consult Mr. ROGERS for an analysis of his various productions, and a critical estimate of their merits, in which the faults of HOWE are fairly stated, but his excellencies somewhat exaggerated ; or he may procure Messrs.. WESTLEY'S and DAVIS'S edition of the works themselves. It may suffice to state here, that necessity drove HOWE to publication; his first book having appeared during his struggles for subsistence consequent on his ejectment ; after which he wrote rapidly and pub- lished frequently. His subjects were always theological ; and his matter considerably excelled his manner, which is repulsive, even when allowance is made for his age.
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