The Eulogies of Howard: A Vision

by William Hayley

Proverbs, chap, xxviii, ver. i.

"In these few words, my brethren, we have a passage of Scripture, that served as a favourite maxim, or leading truth, to the admirable personage whose glorious qualities it is now both my duty and my delight to recall to your remembrance. The words, indeed, are so consonant to that exalted spirit which his life displayed, that they almost appear to me an epitome of his character. Let us consider Courage as one of his principal endowments! To contemplate so pure and resolute a being in this point of view, may lead us to form just ideas on the true nature of this primary virtue, on the sacred source from whence it should proceed, and the sublime end to which it should aspire. How large a portion of folly, vice, and wickedness, have arisen from mere mistakes concerning this most important of human qualities! so important, that the real dignity of man can only rise in proportion as this virtue is perfectly understood, and properly cherished! In the same proportion, let me add, our courageous Philanthropist will be found entitled to the praise of every upright mind, to the homage of every feeling heart.

"If we take the word Courage" in the most common and simple sense of that term, as a generous and noble contempt of personal hardship and danger; who has given more numerous or more striking examples of such brave contempt! Or if we follow the definition of Courage given us by a profound, an eloquent, and philanthropic Writer, namely, that it is a just estimate of our own powers; who is there among the most signal Benefactors of mankind, not professedly inspired, that ever formed an estimate of what he might achieve in the most glorious field of enterprize, at once so difficult, and so true, so humble, and so grand.

"With every apparent disadvantage, Howard conceived it possible that his endeavours might correct the abuses, and mitigate the sufferings of men, in various nations of the world. Whence happened it, that a mortal, so visibly weak and gentle, shrunk not from an idea so pregnant with difficulty and peril! It was because, 'The Righteous are bold as a Lion.' It was because he felt the strongest internal conviction of this animating truth, that, while Heaven blesses a man with health sufficient to pursue a benevolent and magnanimous design, the vigour of his mind, and most probably his powers of doing good, will be proportioned to the firmness of his faith, and the sincerity of his virtue.

"Many achievements of beneficent Courage have undoubtedly been accomplished by men influenced by no motive but that generous love of glory which is so frequently the predominant passion of an active and ardent mind: but the virtues that arise from this source are as unsteady, and as precarious, as the reward they pursue. He who acts only as a candidate for the applause of mankind, will find his spirit vary with all the variations in the ever-changing atmosphere of popular opinion. He will be subject to hot and cold fits of action and inactivity, of confidence and distrust, in proportion as the illusive vapour, that he follows, may either sparkle or fade before him. Hence proceeded much of that inconsistency and weakness, which appear in some of the most enlightened, and exalted characters of the Pagan world.—Wanting a purer light from Heaven, the most radiant spirits of antiquity were bewildered; one in particular, the mildest and most undaunted of antient Worthies, who had a sufficient portion of heroic philanthropy to prefer the benefit of mankind to every selfish consideration, had yet his hours of diffidence and despondency. On a final review of his own generous labours, he is supposed to have questioned the very existence of Virtue, though he had made it the idol of his life; a striking proof, that the temperate and invariable energy of soul, which alone perhaps deserves the name of true Courage, can only proceed from a fuller knowledge and love of GOD; from the animating assurance, that, however we may prosper or fail in the earthly success of our endeavours to do good, the merit of the attempt is registered in Heaven; and we secure to ourselves the everlasting approbation of our Almighty Parent, in proportion as we approach towards that blessed model of Perfect Benevolence, who has taught us, by his divine example, to compassionate and to relieve the sufferings of the wretched. From this source flowed the courageous beneficence of HOWARD: and how delightful it is to observe that the force, the extent, the utility, and the lustre of the stream, has gloriously corresponded to the height and purity of the fountain!

"The Sensualist and the Sceptic may, indeed, deride the conduct of a man, who sacrificed all the common pleasures of life, and sought for no recompence but in the favour of Heaven. It may be said that an illusive fervor of mind has hurried men, in all periods of the world, into singular and wild exertions, which excite the wonder of the passing hour, and are afterwards either deservedly forgotten, or only recalled to notice by Reason and Philosophy, to caution the restless and impetuous spirit of man against all similar excesses.

"But the pursuits of Howard, though they had all that sublime energy which so often distinguished the projects of Superstition, were so far from being influenced by any superstitious propensity, that perhaps they cannot appear to more advantage than by being brought into comparison, or contrast, not with the sluggish piety of sequestered Monks, but with the bold and splendid feats of the most active and enterprising Fanaticism. Allow me, therefore, to recall to your thoughts those distant ages, when every ardent spirit in Christendom was inflamed with a passionate desire to deliver the Christian pilgrims of Palestine from the oppression of Infidels! Figure to yourselves the whole force of Europe collecting its violence, like a troubled sea, and preparing to pour a terrific and destructive inundation over the Holy Land! Behold the strong and the weak, the ambitious and the humble, pursuing the same object! Behold assembled Kings and their People, Soldiers and Priests, the servants of Earth and Heaven rushing, with equal ardour, to rescue the Sepulchre of Christ, and to drown all the innumerable enemies of their Faith in an universal deluge of blood! In this scene we have the sublimest spectacle, perhaps, that was ever exhibited by mistaken piety and misguided valour. The love of God, by which this heroic multitude was professedly impelled, was probably in many minds as sincere as it was ardent. The religious spirit of their enterprize can still animate and transport us in the song of the Poet: and in the more rational page of History, while we justly lament the errors of their devotion, we admire the force and perseverance of their courage.

"To the sublime fortitude of these collected warriors, let us compare the mild magnanimity of HOWARD. Let us survey him setting forth for an expedition as perilous as theirs; not as the Soldier of Fanaticism, but as the Pilgrim of Humanity! Attachment to GOD, and resolution which no hardship, no danger, no difficulty can daunt, are equally conspicuous in the sanguinary Fanatic and the compassionate Philanthropist: but how widely different are the prime earthly objects of their pursuits! The fierce Crusaders invaded Asia with a desire to exterminate the Infidels. The benevolent HOWARD was led into the same quarter of the globe, and into perils more deadly than those of war, by a wish to exterminate, or rather to restrain, the ravages of that terrific enemy to human life, the Plague.

"He had conceived an idea, that, as this most alarming of mortal maladies has been often strangely neglected by the sluggish and superstitious inhabitants of the East, it might be possible by a calm and courageous examination of its nature and its progress, to set limits to its rage; and particularly to secure his own country from a future visitation of a calamity, against which the fearless and eager spirit of Commerce appears not to have established a sufficient precaution. For the prospect of accomplishing public good, so devoutly to be wished, he nobly thought it a trifling sacrifice to hazard the little remnant of his advanced life; and, however men or nations may differ in policy or religion, whereever there is a human spirit sufficiently pure and enlightened to estimate public virtue, the sentiments and the conduct of HOWARD must secure to his memory the fondest veneration. There is a perfection and felicity in his character that appears supremely laudable in every point of view. If, abstracted from all religious considerations, we regard him only as a citizen who devoted himself to the service of his country, the brightest records of Antiquity afford us no parallel to his merit. Had he lived in those early times, the generous enthusiasm of the antient world would have idolized his name. Philosophy and Genius would have found, in his benevolent labours, the most ample theme for instruction, and the purest subject for universal panegyrick. They would have celebrated him as a benefactor to mankind, who had built a new portico to the Temple of Glory superior to the dome itself. They would have preferred the beneficent Philanthropist to the dazzling Conqueror, to the fascinating Demagogue, to the attractive Sophist; and all the various idols of public praise. But as Antiquity exhibits no character of such unclouded lustre, we have great reason to conclude, that such a character could owe its existence only to the pure and sublime spirit of our Christian Faith. Let us, therefore, contemplate HOWARD as a Christian! it is by considering him in this light, that we shall feel ourselves most happily related to his virtues, and most delightfully interested in the honours they receive.

"In the poor and calamitous objects of his regard, in the gentleness and purity of his manners, in his modest and magnanimous refusal of earthly honours, in the wide extent and courageous perseverance of his charity, we cannot fail to discern how richly he was endowed with the genuine spirit of that pure and sublime Religion which has the divine prerogative of converting weakness into strength, and of giving to Humility the influence of Power. There is not a feature in the character, there is hardly an action in the life of this exemplary personage, that does not mark him as a true servant of CHRIST. And may we not presume the blessed Author of our faith, in supplying us in these dissolute times with a recent example of such astonishing and unlimited beneficence, is graciously pleased to afford us a new motive to prize and to cherish that animating faith, which could form, in an age like the present, a character so wonderfully entitled to the veneration of the world? The spirit of Christianity is so visible in the conduct of HOWARD, that the prime objects of his attention might be thought to have been suggested to him by the very words in which our blessed Lord announces to the heirs of eternal glory the source of their beatitude—'Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was an hungry, and ye gave me meat; I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink; I was a stranger, and ye took me in; naked, and ye cloathed me; I was sick, and ye visited me; I was in prison, and ye came unto me.'