John Howie of Lochgoin

JOHN HOWIE OF LOCHGOIN 2J
world of spirits. "Has the Lord done this, and hid it from
me", he exclaimed, "it wont not to be so in times past ; what
poor sinful creatures are we! I |ee I must yet have more
nagging. 'O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom !
would God I had died for thee, O Absalom, my son, my
son!' If I had known this, I had rested none this night;
O what is this !"
The stricken father lingered on for a few months, as
he had confidently expected he would after hearing this
verse of a Psalm sung :
"O spare thou me, that I my strength recover may again,
Before from fe omo I do depart, and here no more remain."
T^-Cvw-e /
Though a true believer, he never attained to the full
assurance of faith ; and had always a lurking dread of
death. In a foot-note to Reformation Principles Re-exhib-
ited (p. 244), he thus, unconsciously perhaps, pictured
his own case : "Some have advanced unto heaven's thresh-
old (so to speak) wrestling through the dark avenues of
doubts and fears, and yet have anchored safe within the
vail at last."
Late in the evening of the 5th of January, 1793, "his
soul was removed from its clay tabernacle and weary wil-
derness of sin and corruption". The last words he was
heard to utter were: "Christ would come."
The elements of John Howies** literary success are plain */ v)
and palpable. He had not only a strong and vigorous intel-
lect, but he confined himself to one line of study, and
greedily read everything he could lay hands upon that
seemed likely to be helpful; and his line of study was not
so much chosen by him, as it gradually grew upon him.
From his boyhood he loved to hear and read of the martyrs,
reformers, and confessors. And thus he was not only im-
bued with his subject, but was passionately fond of it. It
was this engrossing passion which at first compelled him to
write, though he had then no idea of publishing. From the
beginning of his career, he was an enthusiast and a spe-