HOWE, Joint, who has been called the Platonic Puritan, was b. May 17, 1630, at Loughborough, in Leicestershire, to the living of which parish his father had been pre sented by Laud. lie studied both at Cambridge and Oxford, and after preaching for some time at Winwick, in Lancashire, and Great Torrington, in Devonshire, lie was appointed domestic chaplain to Cromwell in 1656, in which difficult situation his con duct was such as to win praise even from the enemies of his party. At the restoration he returned to Torrington, where the position he had held during the commonwealth made bins an object of close suspicion to the government. The Ace of Uniformity, how ever, ejected him from his parish, Aug. 24. 1662, and he wandered about preaching in secret till 1671, when lie was invited by Lord Massarene, of Antrim castle, in Ireland, lo become his domestic chaplain. Enjoying there the friendship of the bishop of that diocese, and liberty to preach in all the churches under his jurisdiction, he wrote his Vanity of Man as Mortal, and began his greatest work, The Good Man the Living Temple of God (1676-1702), which occupies one of the highest places in Puritan theology. In 1675 he was called to be pastor of the dissenting congregation in Silver street, Lon don, and went thither in the beginning of 1676. In 1677 lie published, at the request of
Mr. Boyle, the Reconcilableness of God's Prescience of the Sins of Men with the Wisdom of His Counsels and Exhortations; in 1681, Thoughtfulness for the Morrow; in 1682, Self dedication; in 1683, Union among Protestants; and in 1684, The Redeemer's Tears wept over Lost Souls. In 1685 he was invited by Lord Wharton to travel with him on the continent; and after visiting the principal cities, he resolved, owing to the state of Eng land, to settle for a time at Utrecht, where he was admitted to several interviews with the prince of Orange. In 1687 the Declaration for Liberty of Conscience induced him to return to England, and at the revolution next year he headed the deputation of dissent ing clergymen when they brought their address to the throne. Besides smaller works, he published, in 1693, Carnality of Religious Contention; in 1694-95. several treatises on the Trinity; in 1699. The Redeemer's Dominion over the Inviable 1Vorld; and he con tinued writing till 1705, when he published Patience in Expectation of Future Blessedness. He died April 2. 1706,—See Henry Rogers's Life and Character of John Howe, with an Analysis of his Writings.