Howie, John

Howie, John a Scotch Presbyterian, was born at Lochgoin Nov. 14, 1735. His father died when John was only one year old, and he was removed to his grandparents' at Blackhill, where he received a limited education. In 1766 he returned to the farm of Lochgoin, to pursue the study of Church history and religious biography, to which he had devoted much of his time for several years. In 1767 his early religious impressions assumed the form of decided piety, and he determined to serve the Church by preparing the book for which he is celebrated, The Scotch Worthies. "It is a work of no inconsiderable labor; for, though the biographical information he had procured, and with which his powerful memory was richly stored, must have greatly facilitated the task, yet, living remote from cities, and almost shut out from the abodes of civilized life, the difficulty of correspondence and the want of books must have tended not a little to render his task both painful and irksome. Under all these disadvantages, however, did Mr. Howie, in the seclusion of Lochgoin, bring the work to a successful termination. The first edition appeared in 1774 and a second, greatly enlarged, in 1785 (new edition, revised, corrected, and enlarged, with a preface and notes by Wm. McGavin, Edinb. and N. Y., 1853, 8vo). Like the 'Pilgrim's Progress,' it has been long so extensively popular with all classes of the community, that it has secured for itself a position from which it will never be dislodged, as long as Presbyterianism, and a religious attachment to the covenanted work of Reformation, continue to engage the attention of the natives of Scotland." Besides this work, Mr. Howie published,

1. a collection of Lectures and Sermons, by some of the most eminent ministers, preached during the stormiest days of the Persecution: —

2. An Alarm to a secure Generation —

3. Faithful Contendings displayed; an account of the suffering remnant of the Church of Scotland from 1681-1691 —

4. Faithful Witness-bearing exemplified

5. Patronage Anatomized, a work which, next to the "Scots' Worthies," must be regarded as superior to all his other writings —

6. Vindication of the Modes of handling the Elements in the Lord's Supper before giving Thanks; written during the controversy on this subject among the Antiburgher seceders —

7. Clarkson's plain Reasons for Dissenting, with a preface and notes, and an abstract of the principles of the Reformed presbytery regarding civil government —

8. Preface to Mr. Brown of Wamphray's Looking glass of the Law and the Gospel. Howie died in Sept. 1791. "He was, indeed, a marked character, whether at home, in the public market, or at church; and wherever he went, the fame of his piety and varied acquirements contributed greatly to his influence" (Biogr. Sketch prefixed to the Amer. edition of his "Scotch Worthies"). — Allibone, Dict. of Authors, 1, 905. (J.1I. W.)