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JOHN HOWE (1630-17o6)

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Originally appearing in Volume V13, Page 835 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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JOHN See also:HOWE (1630-17o6)  , See also:English Puritan divine, was See also:born on the 17th of May 163o at See also:Loughborough, See also:Leicestershire, where his See also:father was See also:vicar . On the 19th of May 1647 he entered See also:Christ's See also:College, See also:Cambridge, as a See also:sizar, and in the following See also:year took his degree of B.A . During his See also:residence at the university he made the acquaintance of See also:Ralph See also:Cudworth, See also:Henry More and See also:John See also:Smith, from intercourse with whom, as well as from See also:direct acquaintance with the Dialogues themselves, his mind received that " Platonic tinge " so perceptible in his writings . Immediately after See also:graduation at Cambridge, he migrated to See also:Oxford, where he became See also:fellow and See also:chaplain of Magdalen College, proceeding M.A. in 1652 . He was then ordained by See also:Charles Herle (1598-1659), the Puritan See also:rector of Winwick, and in 1654 went as perpetual See also:curate to See also:Great See also:Torrington in See also:Devon, where he preached the discourses which later took shape in his See also:treatises on The Blessedness of the Righteous and on Delighting in See also:God . In the beginning of 1657 a See also:journey to See also:London accidentally brought See also:Howe under the See also:notice of See also:Cromwell, who made him his domestic chaplain . In this position his conduct was such as to win the praise of even the bitterest enemies of his party . Without overlooking his fellow-Puritans, he was always ready to help pious and learned men of other See also:schools . See also:Seth See also:Ward (afterwards See also:bishop of See also:Exeter) and See also:Thomas See also:Fuller were among those who profited by Howe's kindness, and were not ashamed subsequently to See also:express their gratitude for it . On the resignation of See also:Richard Cromwell, Howe returned to Great Torrington, to leave it again in 1662 on the passing of the See also:Act of Uniformity . For several years he led a wandering and uncertain See also:life, See also:preaching in See also:secret as occasion offered to handfuls of trusted hearers . Being in straits he published in 1668 The Blessedness of the Righteous ; the reputation which he thus acquired procured him an invitation from See also:Lord See also:Massereene, of See also:Antrim See also:Castle, See also:Ireland, with whom he lived for five or six years as domestic chaplain, frequently preaching in public, with the approval of the bishop of the See also:diocese .

Here too he produced the most eloquent of his shorter treatises, The Vanity of See also:

Man as Mortal, and On Delighting in God, and planned his best See also:work, The Living See also:Temple . In the beginning of 1676 he accepted an invitation to become See also:joint-pastor of a non-conformist See also:congregation at Haberdashers' See also:Hall, London; and in the same year he published the first See also:part of The Living Temple entitled Concerning God's Existence and his Conversableness with Man: Against See also:Atheism or the Epicurean See also:Deism . In 1677 appeared his tractate On the Reconcileableness of God's Prescience of the Sins of Alen with the See also:Wisdom and Sincerity of His Counsels, Exhortations and whatsoever means He uses to prevent them,which was attacked from various quarters, and had See also:Andrew Marvell for one of its defenders . On Thoughtfulness for the Morrow followed in 1681; Self-See also:Dedication and See also:Union among Protestants in 1682, and The Redeemer's Tears wept over Lost Souls in 1684 . For five years after his See also:settlement in London Howe enjoyed See also:comparative freedom, and was on not unfriendly terms with many eminent Anglicans, such as See also:Stillingfleet, See also:Tillotson, John See also:Sharp and Richard Kidder; but the greater severity which began to be exercised towards nonconformists in 1681 so interfered with his See also:liberty that in 168.5 he gladly accepted the invitation of See also:Philip, Lord See also:Wharton, to travel abroad with him . In 1686 he determined to See also:settle for a See also:time at See also:Utrecht, where he officiated in the English See also:chapel . Among his See also:friends there was See also:Gilbert See also:Burnet, by whose See also:influence he obtained several confidential interviews with See also:William of See also:Orange . In 1687 Howe availed himself of the See also:declaration for liberty of See also:conscience to return to See also:England, and in the following year he headed the deputation of See also:nonconformist ministers who went to congratulate William on his See also:accession to the English See also:throne . The See also:remainder of his life was uneventful . His influence was always on the See also:side of mutual forbearance, between conformists and dissenters in 1689, and between Congregationalists and Presbyterians in 1690 . In 1693 he published three discourses On the Carnality of Religious Contention, suggested by the disputes that became rife among nonconformists as soon as liberty of See also:doctrine and See also:worship had been granted . In 1694 and 1695 he published various treatises on the subject of the Trinity, the See also:principal being A See also:Calm and See also:Solemn Inquiry concerning the Possibility of a Trinity in the Godhead .

• The second part of The Living Temple, entitled Animadversions on Spinosa and a See also:

French Writer pretending to confute him, with a recapitulation of the former part and an See also:account of the destitution and restitution of God's Temple among Men, appeared in 1702 . In 1701 he had some controversy with See also:Daniel See also:Defoe on the question of occasional conformity . In 1705 he published a discourse On See also:Patience in the Expectation of Future Blessedness, but his See also:health had begun to fail, and he died in London on the 2nd of See also:April 1706 . Richard Cromwell visited him in his last illness . Though excelled by See also:Baxter as a See also:pulpit orator, and by See also:Owen in exegetical ingenuity and in almost every See also:department of theological learning, Howe compares favourably with either as a sagacious and profound thinker, while he was much more successful in combining religious earnestness and fervour of conviction with large-hearted tolerance and cultured breadth of view . He was a man of high principle and See also:fine presence, and it was said of him " that he never made an enemy and never lost a friend." The See also:works published in his lifetime, including a number of sermons, were collected into 2 vols. fol. in 1724, and again reprinted in 3 vols . 8vo. in 1848 . A See also:complete edition of the Whole Works, including much See also:posthumous and additional See also:matter, appeared with a memoir in 8 vols. in 1822; this was reprinted in I vol. in 1838 and in 6 vols. in 1862-1863 . E . See also:Calamy's Life (1724) forms the basis of The Life and See also:Character of Howe, with an See also:Analysis of his Writings, by Henry See also:Rogers (1836, new ed . 1863) . See also a See also:sketch by R .

F . See also:

Horton (1896) .

End of Article: JOHN HOWE (1630-17o6)
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