Perfect peace: letters-memorial of the late John Warren Howell ...

Front matter

BV

Glass.

Book.

Introduction

REV. J. STEVENSON.

Every living man is interested in the experience of the dying. It is the last school of wisdom to which the children of men can be advanced. Some, indeed, may question what concern they have with every sable narrative, and it is true they may not now feel that they are affected by it. Nevertheless here lies their interest : Are they not travellers upon the same road ? Is not the velocity of time hurrying them onward to the same terminus ? And shall we shut our eyes upon the experience of others, and bar the inlet of wisdom till we be ourselves destroyed 1 The reckless navigator may deem his own sagacity a safer guide than all the charts of older mariners, and with unfurled 1*

O INTRODUCTION

sail he may explore the half-known coasts of distant lands, but it may only be to make a first and last discovery of his own folly upon the rock which they would have taught him to avoid.

"Nil humanum a me alienumputo," was the noble sentiment of a heathen philosopher. The lover of wisdom puts nothing from him that concerns his kind. He feels himself linked to every form of man by the tie of a common nature, and he treasures up the lessons of their experience as sources of instruction to direct his own. This is but common prudence. We all act upon it for life, and why not also for death ? It is wisdom for a man's self. Who is there that does not practise it in his own department?

The Merchant fails not to inquire in what quarter of the globe men make their greatest gains, nor is he slow to mark that species of merchandise which has proved most lucrative. The Lawyer studies every case that bears analogy to that of his client, and makes himself familiar with the long list of precedents. The evidence which they furnish he will canyass, and avail himself of the successful pleas which they have urged. So likewise the Physician, the Statesman. the Leaders of armies or of navies, are all wise in their generation. They allow no thing to pass unnoticed which can contribute to their private good or the general benefit. It would be their folly if they did. The temple of wisdom is supported by the pillars of experience. Every discovery in science, every new specimen of art, every fresh advance in knowledge, is of importance to the inhabitants of the globe.

Of all the objects of interest which this attractive world presents, none can equal that of a peaceful death-bed. An eclipse of the solar orb attracts the attention of all Avho are dependent on its light. The birth of an infant awakens emotions in the breast of every one that is connected with its family. But — the departure of a man — the eclipse of a fellow-mortal — the labour of his birth into eternity, should exceed them all in its thrilling interest to his fellows. No man ought to be insensible to its appeal. We know that we must follow him. We see ourselves, as it were, represented in him. His very sickness may be ours. The pain he feels, or the comforts he enjoys, may be ours also. We long, therefore, to know what are the feelings which his situation awakens. If calm and peaceful, we wish to ascertain by what means they became so ; and we see it to be our wisdom, our duty, and our happiness, so to adopt the same means, that when we reach the same verge we may enjoy the same consolation.

To meet this wish is the design of the excellent author of the following letters. To prepare the living for death, by these details of the experience of the dying, is the object of their publication. It is a spiritual study which is here set before us. The rise and progress of a soul heavenward is here described. In the brief space of a few weeks, a "pilgrim's progress" from the city of destruction to the Zion of God is strikingly delineated. An experienced minister of Christ is here perceived guiding an immortal spirit on the way to everlasting happiness. It is a deeply interesting sight. The spiritual physician is called in to administer the medicine of eternal health. Stretched on his dying bed, lies a healer of the body; himself past healing ; and the only inquiry that bursts from his lips is this, "What shall I do to be saved?"

Of all death-beds, that of the medical man is one of the most painfully interesting. He who has grappled with the king of terrors to rescue his fellow-men, he who has been used by Providence to deliver others, is now seized himself. His very profession teaches him at once to recognise the grasp of Death. He knows the ten thousand turnings of disease. He feels not only what it is, but what it will be. He can foresee its course, the stages of its progress, and the symptoms of its advance. He can calculate the various vibrations of the pulse, and fix his eye on the diseased mechanism within. The ulcerated lung, the ossifying heart, the internal cancer, are all as palpably before his mental vision as are the bleeding wound and the fractured limb to the eye of the common observer. He understands alike the power and the impotence of medicines. Surely, if a case could be where ignorance were bliss, it must be to know nothing of anatomy on a sick-bed, and to be then unread in the great pharmacopoeia of unavailable medicines. To have long prescribed for others, and at last to find nothing to prescribe for one's self, is a position of peculiar trial, demanding the strongest sympathy.

Such was the situation of the subject of the ensuing memorial. Mr. Howell was a rising man in the medical profession, — a profession requiring no little share of native talent, and of laborious research. In each of these he excelled. He is described by competent judges as a man of no ordinary stamp. His intellectual powers were of the highest order, and he had long been distinguished for the most patient, persevering study. These studies and powers had heen directed to a profession which required him to be scrupulously exact in every thing that affected the well-being of man. He was accustomed to deal with realities. He could discriminate between the real and the apparent properties of things ; and was not likely, therefore, to be easily deceived, or misled by false premises or specious arguments. The quality of his mind was "reflective, not demonstrative;" we maybe therefore sure that every statement made to him, every truth propounded, would be maturely weighed and fully tested, ere utterance would be given to his accordance with it.

Besides, Mr. Howell is declared to be a man of such integrity and truthfulness, that the fullest confidence might be reposed in the sincerity of every statement which he made. The truth of this abundantly appears in the following Memorial.

The contemplation, then, of the spiritual experience of such a character is highly satisfactory ; and, were it at all needful, a similar testimony might be borne to the Christian fidelity of the narrator, by whom, we know, -that the exactest shade and colouring would be given to every interview which words are capable of imparting.

In the opening letter, Mr. Howell is presented before us as "peculiarly standing in need of spiritual counsel and encouragement." But what occasion was there? His age and prospects fair, his wife and family presented strong arguments, indeed, for love to life. But it was not to love life that he sought encouragement, — it was expressly to meet with death. And why a man, so free from vice, so virtuous and amiable, who had spent his time so honourably to himself and so usefully to others, should shrink more than our nature doth at the approach of death, the world can see no reason ! Were he wanting in common fortitude, or did some secret sin against a fellow-creature lie heavy on his conscience, the fact would be explained. But these existed not. So far as man can judge, Mr. Howell possessed invincible fortitude, and a reputation unblemished and unimpeachable. What, then, occasioned his depression ? It was this : — Mr. Howell had begun to reckon, that though he had not sinned in the sight of men, he had sinned before God. He felt that he had neither loved nor served his Maker as he ought ; and therefore the prospect of soon being ushered into his holy presence filled him with dismay.

Like most other men, Mr. Howell, in the days of health, had chiefly looked to one side of his account, and was "well satisfied with himself" when he thought he had discharged the duties which he owed to his fellow-men. But what does it avail the prisoner, when tried on two indictments, to plead always his innocency as to the second, and pay no regard to the accus tion of the first? Now man is such a prisoner, against whom a double indictment is made out; and, either in this world or in the next, he must give in his pleading to them both. "Thou hast sinned against thy God," and "Thou hast sinned against thy neighbour," is the twofold charge which the Scriptures record against every human being. To the due consideration of the first charge, men seldom or never apply themselves. In general, it is deemed quite enough to show that they have not flagrantly violated the second. How awfully startled, then, must such persons be when death approaches, when conscience awakens, when the guilt of having forgotten God flashes upon their minds, and when the voice of the unerring Judge seems already to condemn them.

Happy, thrice happy, surely, are those who are taught by the Spirit of God to consider the charge in its twofold character, and to seek for an advocate before it be too late. Of this class was Mr. Howell. He was no longer deceiving himself. He had begun honestly to consider the twofold charge which lay against him: he felt that he was guilty, and he knew not how to escape.

To a man in such circumstances, how joyful is the message of the minister of Christ ! — "An advocate is already appointed for you. Trust in him, and he will bring your case to a favourable termination." "But what," may the desponding prisoner answer, — "what can he do for me? what can he say on my behalf, for I am indeed guilty?" "This advocate," the messenger of God can reply, "has shed his blood to take away your guilt, and he has lived a perfectly righteous life towards God and man. Of this blood and of this righteousness he can plead, as your surety, that you may enjoy the benefit. Do you, then, place yourself in his hands?" "Who is he that I may do so?" "He is Jesus Christ the righteous, whose name is Immanuel, God with us. He is the fellow of the Most High God, and yet he is your brother, having assumed your nature, and become bone of your bone. Love to man brought him from the realms of glory, and now he is ascended up on high to plead for every one that belie veth in him."

Imagine such a communication on undoubted authority to be made to a prisoner 2 on the eve of trial. Is it not enough to transport him with joy? Such was the effect of the Gospel, simply and energetically stated, upon Mr. Howell. The glad tidings swallowed up every other feeling. "Grace and peace were multiplied unto him through the knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ his Lord." (2 Pet. i. 2.) And so long as his attention remained fixed on the love of God in Christ towards him, he continued to experience the same exuberant joy. But, afterwards, when time for thought elapsed, this very natural consideration arose within his mind, "But I am altogether unworthy of such a friend as this, and of such a happiness as I now enjoy." We say this was a natural reflection, because, as we estimate men and things by their intrinsic value, we naturally conclude that God judges by the same rule. Though we rejoice, therefore, when we consider the free and blessed declarations of the Gospel of Christ, yet, when we begin to contemplate our own un worthiness, our joy is turned into mourning. This arises from three causes. First, imagining that God will estimate us by our own inherent value; second, hoping to acquire that value in his sight ; and third, inadequately apprehending the nature of that Gospel which has made us glad. To remedy these errors, we need to be convinced by the Word and Spirit of God, that he does not, and will not, estimate man by his personal value, or worthiness, because he has already pronounced that he possesses none. This judgment of God must be so inwrought into our judgment as to destroy the hope of our ever being able to possess any merit in his sight, and then, from this utter prostration of our hopes and of our own righteousness, we must nee to Him, whom God has graciously provided to be the Saviour of our souls. We must see that when God could not accept us in our own name, or for our own sake, he will receive us, and pardon us, and sanctify us, in the name and for the sake of his own Son. We must be brought to believe that the blood of Jesus expiates our sins before God, which even our own blood could not have done; and also to believe that the righteousness of Christ is as freely offered to us and is as fully available for us, as if we ourselves had lived his righteous life.

Such glad tidings, however, as the Gospel brings, appear at times to be too good to be true. We feel as though we could not believe them for joy ! "Can such a creature as I am hope for heaven? Is the love of God so great and so gratuitous that it can reach to me? Is it really true that the Son of the Most High God died upon a cross to save my soul from hell?'' Such are the thoughts that rise upon the mind. They are the natural cogitations of the heart. It does not surprise us. then, to hear a similar sentiment from the mouth of Mr. Howell. On the contrary, we regard it as another evidence of that scrupulous sincerity with which he watched over each successive step of his spiritual progress. There was no eager, unscrutinising, haste; not a single point was ever taken for granted. At one interview we observe that the bliss of heaven formed the captivating subject of conversation. The heart of the instructor was enraptured by it. An enthusiastic hearer would have appeared to reciprocate the feeling of exultation ; but not so the subject of this narrative. "Mr. Howell looked grave. At last he remarked that he admitted the truth of all that had been advanced, but added, after some hesitation, 'It is indeed delightful to hear about the bliss of heaven ; and my own reflections suggested by this tract, and by your conversations, have been most soothing and elevating. At the same time, I cannot subdue a continually rising idea that it is premature in a person like me to entertain the hope of this bliss. All my former pursuits have been so exclusively of a worldly character, and my whole life has been marked by such forgetfulness of God, and indifference to the salvation which is by our Lord Jesus Christ, that I wish for your opinion whether I am not deceiving myself in this matter.' "

Whence did this new feeling originate? Mr. Howell informs us. "I thought," he added, "that your theory of salvation was too simple. It seems too easy a way of getting to heaven. He thought the Gospel too good to be true. Its very freeness tempted him to disbelieve it. The frankness and the generosity of the love of God, exhibited in Christ, are so beyond the thoughts and ways of man (Is.lv. 8.) that even after our minds have received the idea, we find it difficult to retain it. Our sins appear to be too great to be so easily passed by. Oh, unworthy thought ! Easily passed by ! Look to Calvary ! See the beloved Son of God, bleeding, dying on the cross ! Say, hadst thou been nailed there for thine own sins, wouldest thou still believe that they were easily passed by ? Ah, no ! And if a friend will give his body to be pierced instead of thine, are thy sins easily passed by? Yea, if God himself come down, and suffer in thy room, wilt thou still say that thy sins are easily passed by? Nay, rather let us more exquisitely feel for the sufferings of our Friend than we would do 2# for our own. And let his wounds indelibly impress two grand ideas upon our hearts — the greatness of our guilt and the vastness of his love. To keep these two continually in mind is the duty of every Christian. Yet we cannot, without an effort, keep them both equally before us. Like Peter, who had looked simply to his Lord, and thus had walked firmly upon the water, the Christian, after a time, looks to himself and to the billows that surround him, and he begins to sink.

In thinking of himself and of his own weakness, Peter forgot his Master, and his mighty power. So did Mr. Howell in the case before us ; and so do all Christians in the days of their despondency. They think of sin till they lose sight of that atonement which has been made for it. They think of their own unrighteousness till they forget that Christ is of God made righteousness unto them (1 Cor. i. 30.) The true position of every disciple is this, so to see the deep that is beneath him as to lose all confidence in himself, and so to see the Saviour that is near him as to lose all terror of the billows. Christ Jesus has freely made himself our great deliverer. And shall we complain that his work is too gratuitous, and that his deliverance is too complete ? What should we feel to hear the soldiers of Prussia say, in reference to Waterloo, "It was too easy a victory?" Would we not indignantly reply, "So, indeed, it was to you! Our general bore the heat and burden of the day. He gained a hard-fought victory, and gave you a retreating and conquered enemy to pursue?" This reply presents us with anillustration of the Christian's position. Jesus, the Captain of our salvation, has conquered sin, and death, and Satan. He triumphed over them on his cross (Col. ii. 15,) and calls upon us to pursue the conquered foe. The duty of Christians is to follow in the wake of victory. The whole hosts of hell are on the retreat. But never let us forget that, though vanquished, they are not yet destroyed. The retreating enemy, in a revengeful spirit, will turn on every opportunity, and take quick advantage of the incautious zeal or weak timidity of their pursuers. The fearful they will assail ; before the bold and the courageous they will retire. "Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." (James, iv. 7.) He flees, not simply because we resist, but because he feels he has been already conquered by our Lord. To say, then, that our way to heaven is too easy, is to speak with selfish reference to ourselves, overlooking the travail, and the agony, and the blood of Him who made it easy for us.

Yet we ought not to forget that this wrong conclusion originated in Mr. Howell from a right feeling. He was a man of an honourable mind. He knew that he had wronged his Maker, and he felt that he ought to make satisfaction, — nay more, he wished to make it. He could not allow himself to be happy till this was accomplished. This is a most important point. Many honourable men of the world feel utterly at a loss how to solve this difficulty. They find it to be an. effectual barrier to their progress; they feel as though it would not be honourable to accept such a free invitation to heaven, until they have made a full reparation. Now here the Gospel meets them. It declares, "You cannot make this reparation yourselves ; but Christ has put himself in your place, and has made it for you. He has made full satisfaction to God for your offences : yea, he has 'magnified the law/ which you have dishonoured, and 'made it honourable' (Isaiah, xlii. 21.) Your invitation, to heaven, then, is made to you on the very ground on which you desire to accept it. 'A full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, oblation and satisfaction,' has been made for sin; so that God may be just, and yet the justifier of him who believes." (Rom. iii. 36.)

Here, then, is something to lay hold of.

The justice of God is satisfied. We feel that we now tread on solid ground. We see that the Gospel is no superficial thing, but a substantial reality. We learn that our case has been fully dealt with. We no longer hesitate. We accept the work of our Surety, and we rejoice. This became Mr. Howell's feeling; he understood the Gospel. "I see, then," he said, u that in order to be justified, our faith must embrace the blood of Christ for the pardon of our innumerable offences, and the perfect righteousness of Christ as a substitute for our want of righteousness." From this moment his peace and his progress were like a noble river in its flow. The spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Christ had been given to him (Eph. i. 17.) the eyes of his understanding were enlightened, he now knew that the hope of his calling was based on a solid and immovable foundation; and the affections of his heart became captivated by the love of Christ. The immediate effect was an ardent desire after holiness. It is deeply interesting to observe this. How delightful, how instructive is it to watch the progress of a soul ! The love of Christ, like fire, consumes our dross, and assimilates us to himself. No sooner did Mr. Howell understand the love of a crucified Saviour than he inquired, "But is there not provision in the Gospel scheme for our deliverance from the power of sin? God's people surely should be holy. They for whom the Son of God died should themselves die unto sin!"

The soul has attained an elevated position when it can utter this sentiment. It pants after holiness. The noblest ambition that can inspire a created being has now taken possession of the Christian's breast — he longs to be restored to the image of God ! His attention, therefore, is again directed to the Gospel, and he finds it to be pre-eminently a provision for holiness. He finds therein not only a willing Saviour, but also a sanctifying Spirit. He learns that it was by the secret drawings of this Spirit that his thoughts and desires were first turned to the truths of God's word. He perceives that his understanding was enlightened, his conscience awakened, and his affections captivated, by the operation of this Spirit. He now knows that the outward voice of the minister is but the instrument, and that the inward voice of the Spirit is the power that worketh in him; and he feels that, under the quickening of this Spirit, his love to prayer is strengthening, that his delight in God'sword is increasing, and that his hatred to sin, and his desires after purity in every thought and feeling, are burning with an intenser glow.

Thus the dying Christian is made meet for the inheritance of the saints in light. He does not now estimate himself only by the external act, but by the inward motive. He is no longer, well satisfied with himself. He no longer natters himself that he has discharged his duties to his neighbours. He feels that he owed to their soul a debt of love, and of sympathy, and of spiritual kindness, which he had never taken account of. He weeps at the thought of his previous blindness and self-righteousness; and, while he casts all the past upon the atoning blood of his Redeemer, he will be enabled, in all honesty, to say, by the sanctifying grace of the Holy Spirit, " Henceforth it is my whole delight to love the Lord my God, with all my heart, and with all my soul, and with all my strength, and with all my mind : and, I do desire to love my neighbour as I love myself!"

What a change has here taken place ! The twofold law of condemnation has given way to the twofold law of love ! The man has grown up into Christ. (Eph. iv. 15.) Such was at last the case with Mr. Howell. He had put on the new man which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness

(Eph. iv. 24.) And so sincerely and fully had he put off the old man with his deeds (Col. iii. 9.) that even the reflection of sin in a dream oi the night filled him with self-abhorrence !

Behold the workmanship of God ! ' ' Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean?"' The Lord alone ! Behold, then, and admire the power of God ! Go forward, reader, to the perusal of these letters. May these excellent instructions, by which Mr. Howell was conducted from darkness to light, from perplexity to peace, be equally blessed to thee ! Learn, that no natural amiability of heart, no gigantic powers of intellect, nothing but the Gospel of Christ, can secure peace to a troubled conscience. See how former worldliness, and forgetfulness of God, and indifferency to Christ's religion, come back with a heavy weight upon the soul : what thorns to the dying pillow, what hinderers of spiritual progress, those things become, of which in health, but small account is made. Pray then, earnestly, for thine own soul, that the Spirit of the living God may make thee wise unto salvation. From the sublime and solemn spectacle of a fellow-creature calmly composing himself to his last sleep, retire with this resolution indelibly imprinted on thy heart, "To me to live" shall be "Christ" (Phil. i. 21.) Thou shalt thus experience the same marvellous transformation with the subject of this interesting narrative. The medicine of the Gospel will produce in thee also the true symptoms of everlasting health. In the tenderness of his love the Great Physician will watch over the progress of thy soul's convalescence. By the greatness of his skill he will insure the restoration of thy moral strength. In the fulness of his power he will raise up the new man within thee in the holy bloom of spiritual health, and, no longer requiring to detain thee in the sick chamber of this world, he will bid thee also to go to that genial clime, where no danger of a relapse can reach thee, where the noxious vapours of sin and of temptation cannot enter, and where, amongst the spirits of the just, thou shalt be made perfect in holiness for ever.

J. S.

Cury Vicarage, Helston, Cornwall. 27th January, 1844.

MEMORIALS,

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.

In the Bath and Cheltenham Gazette, of January 10th, 1844, there appeared the following obituary : —

" At Torquay, on the 4th instant, aged 33, John Warren Howell, Esq., Surgeon, of Axford Buildings, in this city.

" We have a melancholy duty in recording the death of our esteemed friend, the late John Warren Howell, M.R.C.S., late Honorary Secretary of the Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution, and Corresponding Member of the London Botanical, and other learned societies. His professional life was marked by firmness, ability, and humanity. Of a powerful, energetic, and original mind, his whole life was devoted to the acquisition of knowledge, and promoting the intellectual attainments of mankind. As a lecturer he was eminently distinguished. Many of the articles on botany, astronomy, &c, which have appeared in this journal, and which have been honoured bj the learned with public eulogiums, were communicated by Mr. Howell. During a long period of suffering from pulmonary consumption, the mind of Mr. Howell was exclusively devoted to the truths of revelation — a subject, the deep importance of which he had contemplated from his earliest youth, but the full enjoyment of which he never realized, until, by conversation with Christian friends at Torquay, and a prayerful searching of the Scriptures, his faith became steadfast. His confidence in the all-sufficiency of his Redeemer's ransom was to the last moment of his life spoken of with humility, gratitude, and joy. Beloved by all who had the felicity of his confidence, for his unselfish character, his sincerity, and his unblemished virtue, his memory will be long cherished, and his example reverenced. He has left a widow and three infant children to deplore his loss; for whom, during his short career as a general practitioner in this city, and subsequent long declining state, it was impossible for him to make any provision."