among the heterodox portion of the Presbyterian body of that country. We heard him once say, in his own quaint way," If the Calvinistic Methodists had not done more for my poor country than the Welsh Bishops, the devil would have laid claim to the Principality as his own undisputed territory long ago." Speaking of the Welsh Socinians, he said once to us, "They are as acute as Priestly himself; and such is the help afforded them by the devil that our very peasants set themselves up as oracles, and would out-argue half the Socinian preachers of England."*

Passing over many interesting features in the history of this extraordinary man, we find him arriving in the metropolis in October, 1811. Here, for a time, he laboured under many difficulties and discouragements, and suffered privations which, in the present age, do not ordinarily befal the faithful ministers of Jesus Christ. But God was preparing him in the furnace of affliction for more extended usefulness in his church; and those who best knew the trials he was called to endure can and do bear ample testimony to the fortitude, humility, and unrepining submission of mind, by which, at the worst of times, he was so eminently distinguished. Like his blessed Master, he was largely experienced in the school of sorrow; but like him, too, though in a far humbler degree, he was wont to say, "Not my will, but thine be done."

Soon after his arrival in the metropolis, he was happily appointed curate to the late Rev. William Goode, A. M., rector of Black

As an instance of the absurd zeal and pertinacity of some of these misguided pea sants, he used to refer to a Welshman, who, in contending with him for the simple humanity of Christ, stumbled upon the words of Paul, 1 Cor. xv. 47, in defence of his position.

friars, with whom he continued to officiate till his death, in the month of April, 1816. In 1813, he was chosen Sunday-evening Lecturer of St. Antholin's, Watling-street, by the parishioners. During Mr. H.'s ministry in Blackfriars, there was a small circle of intelligent and good people who discerned and appreciated the inestimable qualities which belonged to his mind and character; but the general impression produced by his labours was by no means remarkable, nor was he ever seen to advantage, even by his most attached friends, while he remained in this important sphere. It is a fact daily urged upon our notice and conviction, that special circumstances are necessary to call forth the energy of particular minds, and that upon some favourable, or perhaps apparently accidental, occurrence, the usefulness of an entire existence may materially depend. Upon the death of Mr. Goode, Mr. H. became a candidate for the rectory of Blackfriars, which is in the gift of the parishioners, but lost it, after a zealous struggle on the part of his friends, by a small majority.

In the month of March, 1817, he became the lessee of the Episcopal Chapel in Long Acre, when he resigned the lectureship of St. Antholin's, and devoted himself entirely to the service of his new congregation, exerting a degree of zeal for which his dispeptical habits but ill prepared him.

Here at once Mr. H. seemed to

feel himself at home, and, like a father in his family, began to deliver himself to the large and respectable auditories which resorted to his ministry. From comparative obscurity, he broke forth, almost suddenly, upon the public mind, and became an attraction to some of the most intellectual Christians in this great city. His eccentricities,

appear, this love involves more of the holiness of Deity in it, than the love that embraces angels. Hear the important truth; it will eventually live in the heart of every child of God, and kindle a fire purer than that of a seraph. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him might not perish, but have eternal life.' Here is love!-love so great that it brings Deity down from heaven to earth, for such as you and I !-and yet, remember, nothing less than this could avail us: it is all necessary, True it is, we cannot understand these truths irrespective of a revelation; but thanks be to God for his written word! It is said in Rom. v. 8th verse, But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.'"

On receiving the Bible as a whole.

"If any person were to take an extract from any particular book, and send it forth into the world, capable of being interpreted in a manner never intended by the author, every man of candour and of common sense would desire to see the whole book before he formed his opinion of the work or of the author. This ought also to be done with respect to the sacred writings. This much is their due, and cannot in justice be denied them; and this, in the name of my great Master, I demand for them. And why should it be denied? Is it not very strange, that men will use common sense when they are investigating any other subject, and will not bring it along with them when they come to trial about matters of eternal concerns of heaven, hell, and an eternity of happiness or misery?

There are evidently many particular passages of Scripture, which, when considered and taken separately, seem to have a meaning very different from other passages and from the general current of Scripture. But the truth depends not upon one passage, but upon the general agreement and union of the whole. In interpreting Scripture, one passage is to be compared with another, and with the general tenor of truth."

On the Moral Perfection and Holiness of God.

"The creating and sustaining power of God are clear, though the manner of them is incomprehensible; but there is one thing to which our attention should be supremely directed the moral perfections of Jehovah, especially his holiness; we should feel this to be as essential an attribute as power or omniscience: God must cease to exist when he ceases to be holy. May we study this lesson by the light of truth, and the principle, if properly learned, will end in practice. Good and evil do not arise from any arbitrary appointment of Deity. The law that is holy, just, and good, proceeds from

a will that is holy, just, and good, and that will from an essence that is holy, just, and good; there is no fatality in the case; every thing that proceeds from God is infinitely free and holy. The holiness of God consists in infinite love to good, and hatred to evil; and the proof of this shines in perfect glory and beauty in the person of Messiah. There are difficulties, respecting each particle of matter, so incomprehensible that a child might readily puzzle a philosopher; but when we behold the incarnate God dying to atone for transgressions that we have committed, we discover the holiness of God at full length -the perfect image of his own perfections in the person of his Son. We perceive his holiness filling both law and gospel in the character of Jesus Christ; we see it in his hatred to sin, in the sufferings of an infinite person; we see it in his love to the sinner, delivering him from guilt and condemnation; the sufferings of the Saviour imply both in an equal degree. A view of God in Christ melts the heart of the most obdurate sinner; he perIceives his holiness in the law and in the gospel, in his mercy and in his justice, and it makes and preserves him holy for ever."

On the Sustaining Grace of God.

"While here below, man carries in his bosom a suicidal principle continually; and the holy energy of God, that preserved the angels in their first estate, is necessary to prevent this principle from evincing itself in our destruction. The believer's attention, then, should be continually directed to the sacrifice and righteousness of Jesus Christ, that his conscience may be kept in perfect peace, while the Spirit of Jesus disciplines him to oppose the might and majesty of God to every evil continually. I could soon prove that the most glorious beings above, if the Spirit were withdrawn from them, would immediately descend to their original nothingness. If this be true (and true it is), that pure beings require the exercise of the power of God, what is to preserve us in such a world as this? Suppose you were to see a spark of fire descend in the ocean, and were told that spark is to consume the waters; what would convince you of the truth of this? Nothing but facts. Now, here are factsthe grace of God taking possession of the heart of man. Man naturally possesses a will directly opposite to the will of God" enmity against God"-ignorant of the holy character of God; and yet see the power of this grace, influencing him to act diametrically opposite to his natural disposition! And bless God for this his most glorious work! We have naturally no disposition to love and serve God, because he is a holy God. There is a most awful vacuum in the heart, which must be filled here by the regenerating grace of God, or hereafter with the destroying torments of hell.",

Such is a very imperfect sketch of Mr. Howels's theology. It was well guarded at every point highly Calvinistic on the one hand, and on the other free from the least particle of antinomianism.

Nor was it only accurate and well digested in the matters referred to, but also in all other particulars. During the last few years, when the errors and extravagances of the millenarian school were so painfully prevalent, he stood firm as a rock, while many of his brethren in the national church were drawn aside from the simplicity that is in Christ.* He denounced, with unflinching severity, the horrid fable of Christ's sinful humanity. One day, being strongly urged by a gentleman, at the table of a friend, to read certain pamphlets on the millenarian controversy, he coolly observed, "Sir, it is unnecessary, I have read the

writers."

In the latter years of his life, he was wont to say that he could accept no preferment in the church while it involved the necessity of reading the burial service in every case, which the law now requires. "Am I," said he to an intimate friend, to be forced to canonize every rogue that dies in my parish?" "Then," replied his friend, "why don't you leave the establish ment?" " Because," said he, "God has not left it."†

When we reflect on the mighty

He once observed to the writer of this,

when speaking of the havoc which Mr. Irving and his party had made among some of the younger clergy of the national church, that

the young divines of the Church of England begin to teach others before they have learnt any thing themselves; and hence they become the easy prey of every specious heretic, from Johanna Southcote upwards, who attempts to practise on their credulity. Poor fellows!" added he, "they are like a ship at sea, in a storm, without ballast or cargo.'

+ Query-Are not the terms of clerical

influence exerted by the mind and talent of the deceased over the decisions of hundreds, if not thousands, in this metropolis, and when we call to remembrance that he had only just reached the zenith of his usefulness in the church of Christ, having died in the fifty-fifth year of his age, we cannot but regard his sudden removal as a great public calamity.

None but those who knew the intellectual, and moral, and social qualities, which belonged to this devoted clergyman, can fully appreciate the loss which has been sustained by his flock, and also by many interesting sections of the Christian public-particularly the rising ministry of the national church, to whom he acted as a father, a counsellor, and a guide.

"He possessed a mind," observes Mr. Melvill, in his Funeral Sermon, "of uncommon powers. While others were passing on

slowly, step by step, he could leap at once to the conclusion. Logical in the arrangement of his thoughts, but quick-sighted to discern truth afar off, he knew how to lead others from stage to stage, but needed not for himself the intermediate demonstration. His

faculties were of that class which would have eminently qualified him for mathematical investigations; and, when his powers were turned from secular studies to the nobler science of theology, they enabled him to bring forth truth in such condensed forms that his hearers could not receive it till broken up and expanded. His discourses accorded with the character of his mind, one of his

paragraphs would have been another man's sermon. His ideas were great ideas; and, when they struggled forth in their naked and unadorned grandeur, there was a nervousness in the speech that embodied them that made

up for the absence of a highly polished diction. His health was so weak that he could

give but little time to the writings of authors: hence, he rather thought for himself than gathered from the thoughts of others. An inferior mind, thus debarred from books, would have grown common-place in discourse; but he, on the contrary, drew perpetually on his hausted, seemed rather to enlarge.” own resources, which, in place of being ex

There was a playful simplicity and innocence in his manners never to be forgotten. Never did friend

continues in the Established Church?

from guile was he, that it was diffi

cult to believe that he had lived for more than half a century in such a world as ours. He delighted in sprightly intercourse, relieved by anecdotes relating to great or little men; but his conversation was always holy, and the minister was never tarnished by the imperfections of the man. He was so benevolent as to bring himself down to the level of children; and when he had secured their attention by some striking narrative, or by some pecuniary gift, he was always sure to improve the golden moment by pointing them to the great sources of hope and peace in the sympathy and grace of the Lord Jesus. To the child of a friend, whom he greatly regarded, he said, on the boy's departure to school," If you give not yourself to the Lord, you insult God's truth, and you will be condemned with the wicked in the last day, and I shall be there to witness and approve your condemnation."

In family prayer he was sometimes great and impressive beyond expression. The writer of this article remembers once to have heard him expound, at his own fire-side, the 139th Psalm, when his wife, and children, and servants, were all dissolved in tears, by the stupendous ideas which he threw out in reference to the mercy of Jehovah in all his works and ways. A poor Welsh widow happened to be present in the capacity of an occasional servant; and, after prayer, he was so delighted to find that she could talk Welch, and knew somewhat of the value of religion, that he began a most fluent conversation with her in his native dialect, and then closed the discourse by putting a half-sovereign into the poor woman's hand.

He was generous to a fault, and the poor of Christ's flock shared his most tender pity. He could not see a brother in distress and withhold

from him the aid which his circumstances required. As his means enlarged, so did his heart; and on money he put absolutely no value but for supplying necessities, paying just demands, and helping the virtuous poor.

We need scarcely ask, "How did such a man die?" It is reasonable to suppose that, if intellect were preserved, he would die in peace. And so it was. Although the disease of which he died made rapid progress, and soon brought on the mortal crisis, yet no symptom of alarm, or fear, or even anxious doubt, was perceived by any of the weeping bystanders.

On Lord's day, the 11th of Nov. he officiated in his place of worship with his usual energy, and took for his evening text the last verse of the 87th Psalm: "All my springs are in thee." Little did his people imagine that they would hear his voice no more. On Tuesday, the 13th of Nov., he spent the greater part of the day with an old and attached friend, whom he afterwards named as his executor; and, from the testimony of that friend, it appears that his conversation was unusually full of heaven. On the

Wednesday morning the symptoms of cold in the chest were distinctly perceived, and, with some persuasion, he was prevented from preaching, on the evening of that day, his weekly lecture. On the Thursday evening, disease had made such rapid progress that fresh medical aid was called in. When the physician arrived, the first thing he said to him was, "See the effect of sin!" But, though he was always deeply conscious of the malignant nature and sad consequences of moral evil, he was not, in his last hours, under any apprehension as to the security of his own state. Perceiving his ordinary medical attendant and the nurse who waited on him dissolved in tears, he looked