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dency. She was often searching her heart, questioning and examining herself, to ascertain whether she was truly a disciple of Christ; and this continued to the very last. Few Christians have ever more fully renounced themselves than she, and expected salvation as the purchase of the Saviour, and the free gift of God through him. The idea of human merit in the sight of God was the abhorrence of her soul. Some of the poor, whom she relieved, would sometimes suggest that her abundant charities would render her the favourite of Heaven. Such intimations she always received with manifest disgust, and it is believed never failed to reprove the parties who gave them, and to endeavour to convey juster notions of the manner in which we must be recommended to God. She panted ardently after holiness and inward conformity to the divine law; but a clear sight and a deep sense of her remaining depravity made her abhor herself, and cleave to the

perfect righteousness of Christ, as the only foundation of her hope. Newton's Letters, and Owen on Indwell. ing Sin, were, next to the Holy Scriptures, the books which she most delighted to read.

Thus has an imperfect sketch been given of the character of this excellent woman, of whom a man, who had seen much of the world, was heard to say, as he followed her corpse to the grave, "I would rather be Mrs. Hodge than Bonaparte." Beyond all question, her life was more enviable, her death more happy, and her eternal destiny infinitely more desirable, than that of any un sanctified hero, patriot or sage, whose actions or whose wisdom have furnished the theme of the poet's song, the materials of the historian's volumes, and the objects of emulation to a blinded world. "Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord; yea, saith the Spirit, for they rest from their labours, and their works de follow them."

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TO CORRESPONDENTS.

T's "Observations on the account given in Rev. xx. 4-6, of the first and second resurrection, shall appear in our next number.

B's critical observations on several texts of Scripture, are approved, & on file. A review of Mrs. Warren's History of the American Revolution, and of D. Mason's sermon, on Messiah's Reign; and also Memoirs of the late Rev. John Sergeant, father of the present missionary of that name, and of the Rev. John Moorhead, are received, and are intended for publication next month.

We thank our respected correspondent Beta, for the letters he has sent us, "from an aged clergyman, to a young student in divinity."

The attention of our readers, and particularly of magistrates and legislators, is invited to the piece on the execution of laws, which will well re,ward a careful perusal.

TO THE PUBLIC.

AGREEABLY to an intimation in the Panoplist for October, the Editors of that work beg leave to state to their patrons in particular, and to the public in general, to whom they hold themselves responsible for the profits of their work, which are pledged to "charitable uses," that their success, notwithstanding many obstacles thrown in their way, has much surpassed their expectations; that the avails of the Panoplist have enabled them to discharge all its debts for the first year, though increased by various necessary expenditures, which will not occur in future; and that a balance remains for "charitable uses," the exact amount of which, for reasons following, has not yet been ascertained.

The Editors have experienced very considerable difficulties in closing their accounts for the first year, arising from unavoidable imperfection in their early arrangements, and the scattered and distant situation of many of the subscribers and agents, from some of whom arrearages are yet due. Most of these inconveniences, they think, will not occur again.

The profits already received, have been disposed of as follows:
To" the Evangelical Society" in Vermont, established to aid
pious and ingenious young men, in indigence, to acquire educa-
tion for the work of the gospel ministry,

To the Hampshire Missionary Society
To the Berkshire Missionary Society,

$100 00

108 00

21 35

229 35

Peside the above, there is at least an equal sum, for like charitable uses, in uncollected debts, and in the Numbers of the first volume of the Panoplist unsold, in the hands of the Editors and their agents. When the amount of this unestimated property shall be ascertained, it will be carried to the credit of the charity fund, at the close of this year, when the Editors intend to exhibit an official report under the hands of the Trustees. In the mean time, they offer their grateful acknowledgments to their numerous subscrib ers for their past encouragement; and as this work is not intended to enrich its Editors, but to enlighten the minds, and do good to the souls of their fellow-men, to explain and defend the doctrines, and to recommend the precepts of the gospel, and to collect a fund for the benefit of the poor, they confidently solicit continued patronage from the friends of evangelical truth.

OR,

THE CHRISTIAN'S ARMORY.

No. 20.]

JANUARY, 1807. [No. 8. VOL. II.

Biography.

MEMOIRS OF JOHN HOWARD, ESQ.

From Dr. Samuel Stennett's Sermon, occasioned by his death, which happened January 20, 1790.

I SHALL not take up your time with the particulars of his birth, education, and fortune. The advantages of this kind with which Providence indulged him, and of which he was truly sensible, were of trifling consideration, when brought into view with those personal endowments, natural and religious, by which he was distinguished from most

other characters.

He possessed a clear understanding, and a sound judgment; which were enriched and improved by a variety of useful knowledge. And as he had a taste for polite literature, so he was well versed in most of the modern languages, which he took no small pains to acquire, that he might be the better ena-' bled to carry his benevolent purposes into effect. He had a just idea of the civil and religious rights of mankind, accompanied with a true sense of the worth, importance, and dignity of man as a reasonable, social, and immortal creature. And as no man had a more Vol. II. No. 8.

knowledge of the world than he, having conversed with personages of the first rank in life, and with those in the meanest stations; with characters eminent for virtue and piety, and the most abandoned and wretched; so no man was more fully persuaded than he of the universal depravity of human nature. With the discernment both of a Philosopher and a CHRISTIAN he entered into the principles, maxims, and views of men of all ranks and conditions of life; and knew how to apply the knowledge he thus acquired to the most important purposes.

His moral endowments were perhaps more extraordinary than those just mentioned. Here he shone with distinguished lustre. The two virtues of Fortitude and Humanity were the prominent features in his countenance. Nor could his modesty conceal them from the public eye, no, not from the view of all Europe. They were interwoven with his nature, and always acted in uniextensive son with each other. W w

Such was the firmness of his mind, that no danger could deter him from his duty; not the painful fatigues of long and, hazardous journies; not the perils of seas infested with merciless barbarians; not the loathsome infection of dungeons; not the dread of assassination by the hands of miscreants, who draw their gains from the vitals of those committed to their custo

dy, nor the apprehension of the plague in a ship with a foul bill, and in the confinement of a Lazaréttó; no danger, however formidable, could shake his resolution. "Having made up his mind to his duty," as he told me when expressing my apprehensions for his safety, "he thrusted all consequences from his view, and was resolved to follow wherever Providence led." And in a letter I received from him, when just embarking on a dangerous ocean, with the prospect before him of performing a forty-two days quarantine, he thus expresses himself, "I bless God, my calm spirits and steady resolution have not yet forsaken me.”

He was superior too to the frowns and the contempt of the envious and the avaricious, who represented him as petulantly officious, or extravagantly insane. Disappointments he did meet with, and obstructions were thrown in the way of some of his benevolent plans. But none of these things moved him. And more than one instance I might mention of his asserting the cause of the oppressed, in the face of a kind of opposition which would make most men tremble. Nor, on the other hand, could the Syren song of ease, indulgence, and pleasure,

prevail on him when on the career of duty and danger, in the least to relax his painful exertions.

"Firm to the mast with chains himself he bound,

Nor trusted virtue to th' enchanting sound."

With this Roman fortitude was united uncommon Humanity. He felt for the miseries of mankind in general. He felt for the miseries of the oppressed. Yea, he felt for the miseries of the

guilty, for he well remembered that we are all guilty before God. Their distresses existed not in his imagination only; they were realized to his eye, his ear, his touch. As the Poet expresses it, when speaking of him,

"He quitted bliss that rural scenes bestow,

To seek a nobler amidst scenes of wo,
To traverse seas, range kingdoms,
and bring home,
Not the proud monuments of Greece

or Rome,

But knowledge such as only dungeons teach,

And only sympathy like his could reach."

The number of prisons he visited, at the hazard of his health and life, it would be difficult to collect. Nor did he stop at the iron gate of the most gloomy dungeon. He entered those dreary mansions of silence and darkness, and, in some instances, of cruel oppression; poured tears of commiseration on the wretched inhabitant; and with his own hand ministered assistance, while his heart was meditating plans of more general and effectual relief. "The impressions, says he, which these scenes of misery made on my mind, no. length of time can efface."

It

may therefore easily be imagined that, with a sensibility peculiar to himself, he affixed that expressive motto to his book, "Ah!-little think the gay. Whom pleasure, power, and affluence surround,

How many pine in want, and dungeon-glooms;

Shut from the common air."

THOMSON.

Here I might paint, but I shall rather leave it to you to imagine, the extatic joy which many groaning under oppression felt, at starting into life and happiness, through the interposition of this their generous Patron; and the gratitude too, which even those who justly suffered imprison ment felt, for the alleviation of their miseries by his kind offices.

His disinterestedness also in these exertions for the good of mankind, is deserving of our particular notice. For besides the consideration of the fatigues he endured, the dangers to which he exposed his person, and the expenses of various kinds he incurred, he well knew the reports he made to the public would af ford disgust rather than entertainment, and so be read and regarded by few. He wrote there fore not for the amusement of the curious, and could expect no applause from the unfeeling. Indeed his object was the information of Legislators, of whom he sought, and from whom, to his great satisfaction, he obtained, the redress of many evils he complained of. "As nothing, says he, but a consciousness of duty could have enabled me to go through all the disagreeable scenes which lay in my way, so I had the happiness of being placed out of the reach of other incitements.”

There is one more trait in his character which must not be overlooked, and that is his Temperance. Such a mastery he obtained over himself, that a little food, and that chiefly of the vegetable kind, satisfied the demands of nature; and with one night's rest out of three he could, for a long course of time, pursue his journies. No consideration could prevail on him to partake of the luxuries of the most elegant table, or to allow himself more rest than was absolutely necessary. Nor yet was he influenced, in this kind of discipline he observed, by cynical austerity. He found this mode of living most agreeable to his constitution, and best qualified him for those active exertions, which were the pleasure of his life.

Such were the moral endowments this extraordinary man; such his Fortitude, bis Humanity, his Disinterestedness, and Temperance. I go on now to speak of his religious character. He was a firm believer of divine revelation. Nor was he ashamed of those truths he heard stated, explained, and enforced in this place. He had made up his mind, as he said, upon his religious sentiments, and was not to be moved from his stedfastness by novel opinions obtruded on the world. Nor did he content himself with a bare profession of these divine truths. He entered into the spirit of the gospel, felt its power, and tasted its sweetness.

You know, my friends, with what seriousness and devotion he attended, for a long course of years, on the worship of God among us. It would be scarce decent for me to

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