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.’