HOWEL HARRIS. HOWEL HARRIS was born at Trevecka, in the parish of Talgarth, in the county of Brecknock, on the 23d of January, 1714; his parents were of Caermarthenshire extraction, in low circumstances; they however contrived to give him a classical education, and he was kept at school until he was eighteen years of age, at which time his father dying, he was obliged to employ himself in instructing a few boys in the neighbourhood in reading and writing, in which situation he supported himself for some time, intending at a proper age to take holy orders. In November, 1735, he went to Oxford, and entered at St. Mary's Hall, under the tuition of a Mr. Hart, but here he did not remain long, as we find him in the following year keeping a school at Trevecka, which he afterwards removed to the parish church; he now seems to have given up every idea of the established church, and to have adopted the opinion of a sect since called Methodists,-and which were then in their infancy. About this time a man went about the country instructing young persons to sing psalms; on these occasions he first appeared as a preacher, in which he met with no opposition, but being sent for by a gentleman in Radnorshire, who had heard of his rising fame, to preach before a large congregation, either his doctrines or his conduct gave offence to some of the clergy or magistrates of the county, and he was turned out of his school. This, however, did not discourage him, and he continued from thence forward to preach publicly, sometimes twice or thrice a day, being supported by several who became converts to his opinion. In 1739, while Mr. Harris was in the exercise of what he no doubt conceived to be his duty, and holding forth to a congregation in Merionethshire, he was charged by some magistrates with a breach of the Conventicle Act (a law made in the reign of Charles II. for the suppression of seditious assemblies). Mr. Harris observed upon this occasion with great propriety, that he was not within the purview of this statute, that he was a Conformist, and that neither he or his hearers entertained any seditious intentions; upon which, and upon consulting with some lawyers, the prosecution was dropped; but notwithstanding this he met with considerable opposition in some places; at Machynlleth, in Montgomeryshire, a pistol was fired at him; at Pontypool, in Monmouthshire, his congregation was dispersed by a magistrate, who read the Riot Act to them, and Mr. Harris was bound over to appear at the assizes, where, however, upon further consideration, it was not thought expedient to pursue the business. He also met with very rough treatment in several other places, and once or twice narrowly escaped with his life from the fury of a bigotted and ungovernable populace. In the month of March, 1739, he became first personally acquainted with Mr. Whitfield, though he had previously received a letter from him, approving of his conduct, and encouraging him to proceed in his itinerant exhortations. Mr. Whitfield in his journal describes the pleasure he received in the interview with his brother, Howell Harris, at Caerdiff; he says, that "he generally discoursed in a field, from a wall, or table, but at other times in a house, or any thing else; and that he had established near thirty societies in Wales." The friendship formed between these two extraordinary characters, from the unanimity of their sentiments upon religious subjects, and particularly as to free grace and election, in which they differed in some points from the fol It will hardly be believed, though it is certainly true, that in the present reign, convictions upon this statute have been drawn, and the penalties levied upon persons whom there was no more pretence to accuse of sedition than of manslaughter. If the noisy ebullitions and ravings of these itinerants should occasionally frighten the passenger's hour, or if the frantic gestures and contortions of the sect called Jumpers should sometimes disgrace our streets and highways, let the Legislature provide a remedy to meet expressly the mischief, but let it not be said to the disgrace of our laws, that to suppress the irregular indecorous effusions of the zealout, we must convict him of intentions to disturb the order of Government. lowers lowers of Mr. Wesley, continued during their lives. In 1744 he married Anne, daughter of John Williams, of Skreen, in the county of Radnor, Esq. by whom he left issue only one daughter, Elizabeth, who married Charles Prichard, of Brecon, Esq. by whom she has several children. After preaching in different parts of England and Wales for upwards of seventeen years, a wish probably to enjoy a home occasionally, and domestic felicity, induced him to lay the foundation of the present buildings at Trevecka, which was begun in April 1752. At this time his funds were very inadequate to the undertaking, but the subscriptions of many who wished well to the undertaking, and of some who being fond of Mr. Harris's manner and style of preaching, desired to reside in what was afterwards called the Family of Trevecka, enabled him to complete the work. Here he established a small manufactory in wool, and in 1754 there were settled under the same roof with him 100 persons, the profits of whose labours were applied towards a general fund for tir support. This com munity or family, still con tinues, but since his death the members have considerably decreased. Soon after the breaking out of the war with France, in the reign of George II. the Breconshire Agriculture Society offered to form themselves into a troop of horse to serve in any part of Great Britain, without pay; Mr. on this occasion Harris engaged to furnish ten men and horses, with their accoutrements, to attend them at his own expence; for some reasons which do not now appear, Government did not think it expedient to accept of their services, but on his recommendation five young men, who were settled at Trevecka, entered into the 58th regiment of foot, and fought for their king and country at the sieges of Louisboug, Quebec, and the Havannah. In the year 1759 the loyalty of Mr. Harris becoming generally known and approved of, he was solicited to accept of an ensign's commission in the Bre conshire Militia; this, after some consideration, he agreed to do, and having taken with him from Trevecka twenty-four men, twelve of them at his own expence, as to cloathing and arms, he joined the regi ment ment in 1760, and some time afterwards he was advanced to the rank of captain in that corps. The first year of their services they were ordered to Yarmouth, whither Mr. Harris accompanied them, sometimes joining his men on their march, in signing hymns and psalms, and at other times, and in most towns through which they passed, preaching to them in his regimentals, a sight at that time perfectly novel, and not very common at this day. In 1762 he returned from Plymouth, upon the concluthe conclusion of the war, to Trevecka, after having served three years in the militia. In 1767 Selina, the late Countess Dowager of Huntingdon, came to reside at Trevecka, where she established what was called a college, for the education of young men of this persuasion who were intended for preaching, to which several resorted during her life time, but it is now nearly if not totally deserted. In the year 1770 he lost his wife, and in the year 1773, upon the 21st of July, an attack of the stone and gravel, to which he had been then lately subject, put a period to his existence. He was buried at Talgarth, and over his grave in the church there is a long epitaph, on the merits of which readers will probably differ. His character, like most of those who have made warm friends and bitter enemies, has been variously represented, with one set he was an angel, with the other a knave. Charity, though it may not inspire us with the raptures of his admirers, will induce us to hesitate before we admit either his hypocrisy or roguery; to his only daughter he was hardly just, and by his will it appears that he was extremely anxious that the whole of his property should go in the first place in discharge of his debts, and the remainder to those to whom he conceived himself obliged for assistance, in money or otherwise. He was a strong robust man, though not tall, his voice was loud, and by some thought sonorous. He was, when preaching, always completely cloathed in sulphur, fire, and brimstone, which he dwelt out liberally, and with no inconsiderable effect. The terrors of hell, which he painted with almost a poet's fire, contributed, no doubt, frequently to frighten men from their vices; but it is submitted, (without the least idea of blaming those who may differ with the writer in opinion), though it it would be much more conducive to the cause of Christianity, and consequently to the advancement of virtue and true religion, to address the reason, rather than the passions, of mankind. The old gentleman with his horns and his hoofs sometimes terrifies, but like the scare-crow in the garden, the intended effect is lost by his frequent introduction, and atheisms ometime sfollows; whereas if man can be convinced that it is his interest in this, as well as in a future world, to lead a virtuous life, he will feel benefits more immediately, and yet they will certainly be more durable. T. J. |