“Is it possible for us, my Brethren, to recall to our memory these holy words without feeling at the same time, in the most forcible degree, all the Christian merits of Howard?  Can we fail to admire and to venerate the unexampled ardour, purity, and perseverance, with which he exercised the peculiar virtue so distinguished by our Lord?—­While we behold him sublimely pre-eminent in this Christian perfection, shall we not cherish the delightful idea, that his heavenly rewards will be finally adequate to his unrivaled labours on earth?  Shall not those who have loved him exult in the persuasion, that in that great and aweful day, when the living and the dead are to receive their everlasting doom; when the princes and the great ones of the earth may be confronted with those whom they have persecuted and oppressed, or whom they have failed to relieve; when the proudest Sons of Learning, Genius, or Wit, may shrink at the superior lustre of those whom they have ridiculed and reviled; Howard will shine encircled by thousands, who will gratefully plead for his beatitude in those blessed words of our Redeemer, ’I was in prison, and he came unto me!’

“Yes, my Brethren, the day will assuredly come, when the servant so signally faithful will be called to a reward, surpassing the utmost reach of our conception, by the voice of his Righteous Master—­then, and then only, will praise be fully proportioned to his transcendant merit; when this consummate Christian is raised to glory by the glorified Messiah, when his pure spirit exults in the commendation of his god.

“The imperfect efforts, that mankind may make to do honour to such a Being, cannot, indeed, so much promote his glory, as they may conduce to the interest of human nature.  Subject as it has been to the wildest excesses, human panegyric, in all its shapes, may be safely devoted to a personage, whom it is hardly possible to praise with sincerity, without feeling our disposition improved.  In a beneficent, a sublime, and truly religious character, there is a sort of magnetic virtue, which to those who are affectionately drawn towards it, though only in idea, communicates a portion of itself.  Hence arises, what we cannot too fondly cherish, the delight and the utility of commemorating departed worth.  If its title to commemoration be justly proportioned to its magnitude, its singularity, and extent; not only various individuals, but different Nations, will become rivals in promoting the fame of Howard.  As the glorious qualities, which his life displayed, are equally open to the emulation of the great and the humble; every class of human creatures is peculiarly interested in his praise.  If to honour his memory may be thought to belong to any one community more than to another; surely, my Brethren, we shall not fail to assume to ourselves so pleasing a duty, so honourable a distinction.  Well, indeed, might the insulting enemies of our Faith reproach us with a supine and disgraceful inattention