SECTION III. Christian Men. 1. ROBERT BOYLE. "Piety has found Friends in the friends of science, and true prayer ROBERT BOYLE, eminent alike for science and piety, was the son of Richard, earl of Cork; and was born in the year 1627. He was a man of great learning; and his stock of knowledge was immense. The celebrated Dr. Boerhaave has passed the following eulogium upon him: Boyle was the ornament of his age and country. Which of his writings shall I commend? All of them. To him we owe the secrets of fire, air, water, animals, vegetables, fossils; so that from his works may be deduced the whole system of natural knowledge." He was treated with particular kindness and respect by King Charles the Second, as well as by the two great ministers, Southampton and Clarendon. By the latter, he was solicited to enter into orders; for his distinguished learning and unblemished reputation, induced Lord Clarendon to think, that so very respectable a personage would do great honour to the clergy. Boyle considered the proposal with due attention. He reflected, that, in his present situation of life, whatever he wrote with respect to religion, would have greater weight, as coming from a layman; for he well knew that the irreligious fortified themselves against all that the clergy could offer, by supposing and saying, that it was their trade, and that they were paid for it. He con sidered, likewise, that, in point of fortune and character, he needed no accession; and, indeed, his desire for these was always very limited. But Bishop Burnet, to whom Boyle had communicated memorandums concerning his life, tells us, that what had the greatest weight, in determining his judgment, was, "the not feeling within himself any motion or tendency of mind, which he could safely esteem a call from the Holy Spirit; and therefore he did not venture to take holy orders, lest he should be found to have lied unto it." The encyclopædist says that one of the most prominent features of his character, was his sincere and unaffected piety. This was exemplified in all his writings and in the whole course of his life. The great object of his philosophical pursuits, was to promote the cause of religion, and to discountenance atheism and infidelity. His intimate friend, Bishop Burnet, makes the following observations on this point: "It appeared to those who conversed with him on his inquiries into nature, that his main design (on which as he had his own eye constantly fixed, so he took care to put others often in mind of it) was to raise in himself and others more exalted sentiments of the greatness and glory, the wisdom and goodness of God. This design was so deeply impressed on his mind, that he concludes the article of his will, which relates to the Royal Society, in these words: 'I wish them a happy success, in their attempts to discover the true nature of the works of God; and I pray that they, and all other searchers into physical truths, may cordially refer their attainments to the glory of the great Author of nature, and to the comfort of mankind.'" Bishop Burnet also says of him: "He had the most profound veneration for the great God of heaven and earth that I ever observed in any man. The very name of God was never mentioned by him, without a pause and observable stop in his discourse." His liberality was almost unbounded. He was at the charge of the translation and impression of the New Testament into the Malayan tongue; and he had it dispersed in the East Indies. He gave a great reward to the person who translated into Arabic Grotius's incomparable book on the truth of the Christian religion; and had a whole edition printed at his own expense, which he took care to have spread in all the countries where that language was understood. By munificent donations, and by his patronage, he also very materially promoted the plans of other persons for propagating the Christian religion in remote parts of the world. In other respects, his charities were so extensive, that they amounted to more than a thousand pounds sterling every year. He died like a Christian philosopher, in the full assurance of that faith he had embraced, and to the establishment and propagation of which his best energies had been devoted. Of his firm attachment to Christianity, and of his solicitude for vindicating its truth, and extending the knowledge and influence of it, he exhibited the most substantial proofs, both while he lived and at his death. 2. JOHN HOWARD. "Howard, thy task is done! thy Master calls, And shot through dungeon glooms a leading ray; I prove thy faith, thy love, thy zeal no more."—AIKEN. JOHN HOWARD was born at Hackney, England, in the year 1726. His religious principles were strongly fixed even in his early youth, and continued steady and uniform through life. As the devoted friend of the poor and unfortunate, he is known all over the world, and his memory will be revered to the end of time. Dr. Aikin thus speaks of his character and work:"Among those truly illustrious persons who, in the several ages and nations of the world, have marked their track through life by a continued course of doing good, few have been so distinguished, either by the extent of the good produced or by the purity of motive and energy of character exhibited in the process of doing it, as the late John Howard. To have adopted the cause of the prisoner, the sick, and the destitute, not only in his own country, but throughout Europe; to have considerably alleviated the burden of present misery among those unfortunate classes, and, at the same time, to have provided for the reformation of the vicious, and the prevention of future crimes and calamities; to have been instrumental in the actual establishment of many plans of humanity and utility, and to have laid the foundation for much more improvement hereafter; and to have done all this, as a private, unaided individual, struggling with toils, dangers, and difficulties, which might have appalled the most resolute, is surely a range of beneficence, which scarcely ever before came within the compass of one man's exertions." Deeply impressed with a sense of the importance of his designs, and of the uncertainty of human life, he was desirous of doing as much as possible within the allotted limits. And the number of prisons and hospitals which he visited, in a short period of time, is surprising. The pious and well-governed disposition by which he was actuated, is forcibly expressed in the following passage extracted from one of his interesting publications: "To my country I commit the result of my past labours. It is my intention again to quit it, for the purpose of revisiting Russia, Turkey, and some other coun tries, and extending my tour in the East. I am not insensible of the dangers that must attend such a journey. Trusting, however, in the protection of that kind Providence which has hitherto preserved me, I calmly and cheerfully commit myself to the disposal of unerring Wisdom. Should it please God to cut off my life in the prosecution of this design, let not my conduct be uncandidly imputed to rashness or enthusiasm, but to a serious, deliberate conviction that I am pursuing the path of duty, and to a sincere desire of being made an instrument of greater usefulness to my fellow-creatures than could be expected in the narrow circle of a retired life." A little before the last time of his leaving England, when a friend expressed his concern at parting with him, from an apprehension that they should never meet again, he cheerfully replied: "We shall soon meet in heaven;" and, as he rather expected to die of the plague in Egypt, he added: "The way to heaven from Grand Cairo is as near as from London." He said he was perfectly easy as to the event, and made use of the words of Father Paul, who, when his physicians told him he had not long to live, said, "It is well; whatever pleases God pleases me." This good man was arrested in his career of usefulness, by a disease, supposed to be the plague, at Cherson, in the beginning of the year 1690. He was perfectly sensible, during his illness, except at short intervals, till within a very few hours before his death. He was fully prepared for the event, and often said, that he had no wish for life, but as it gave him the means of relieving his fellow-creatures. |