John Howe (1630 - 1705), a nonconformist divine, was often called the Platonic Puritan due to his gentlemanly manner in assailing the heresies of his age. In 1654 Cromwell appointed Howe to be his domestic chaplain. Although Cromwell took offence to one of Howe's sermons, in which Howe censured certain opinions about divine impulses and special impressions in answer to prayer, Cromwell nevertheless kept him on until Cromwell's death.

Revealingly, when Howe was chaplain to Cromwell at Whitehall he became weary of the trumpery and pomp of the palace and wrote to his dear and honored brother in Christ Jesus, Richard Baxter, telling him how much he longed to be back again to his beloved work at Torrington, which was his previous ministry. Thus, it is clear that Howe was a real pastor at heart.

The Act of Uniformity in 1662 forced Howe to restrict his preaching to private assemblies. Accordingly, about nine years later, in 1671, he went to Ireland, where he was allowed to preach freely. When James II published his Declaration For Liberty Of Conscience, Howe returned to London, where he headed the deputation of dissenting ministers who presented their petition to the throne.

Among the Puritans, John Howe ranks as one of eminence, and although he has received many accolades since his death, perhaps this one by Skeats is the most telling --

"This great man was one of the few who have been venerated as much by their contemporaries as by their successors. Time, which commonly adds increased luster to the memory of the good, has not been able to magnify any of the qualities, for which Howe was so conspicuous. His strong and capacious intellect, his sublime elevation of thought, his flowing eloquence, the holiness of his life, the dignity and courtesy of his manners, the humor of, his conversation, won for him from the men of his own time the title of The Great Howe."

Howe produced many works, perhaps his most notable being, The Living Temple, and, The Redeemer's Tears Over Lost Souls. His works are hard to find today, but they are pearls worth possessing if you can find them.

"That human prudence should take place against the divine will, is that a thing to be wished? Or are we to be fond of human prudence in opposition to the divine counsel, as if we thought the world would be better governed by men than by God?" Prayer And The Decrees Of God

"The primary or more principal notion that we are to have of prayer, is to conceive of it as an act of worship, that is, as a homage due and claimed to be paid to the great sovereign Lord of all. That is the principal and prime notion that we are to have of prayer; that is, that it is such an act of duty as wherein we are to own and acknowledge God: it is due to him, as he is God, to be supplicated, sought to; that there be a dependence upon him, professed and avowed by his reasonable creatures." Prayer And The Decrees Of God

"When we do pray, we do also express inclinations and desires of our own, that we would have this or that brought about, when we foreknow the event to be determined by the divine will: prayer is so far from being excluded by that, that we pray with so much the more vigour and cheerfulness and alacrity; and our hearts and souls are so much the more enlarged and engaged and drawn forth in prayer, even when we know the things we pray about are determined by the counsel of the divine will." Prayer And The Decrees Of God

"It is a mighty damp to all rational desire to have no hope." Prayer And The Decrees Of God

"When we do not foreknow the event, as not having any discovery made to us what the counsels of the divine will concerning it are, yet, even then, the business of prayer is to refer ourselves, with reference to any such concernments, to the divine disposal. A thing most suitable to him and to us; to him, as he is the wise and sovereign Lord of all; and to us, as we are depending creatures, subject to his government, and are disposed of, in reference to all our concernments, or whatsoever we have any concern about, as he sees good." Prayer And The Decrees Of God

"Wherein we are ignorant of the event and what God will do, the proper design of prayer is, to endeavour to obtain at his hands a disposition of spirit complying with his pleasure, so as there may be no contest between him and us; that whenever the event falls out, if it do prove agreeable to our inclinations, we may rejoice in it with so much the more raised and sincere gratitude; if it do not, that we may submit to him, without engaging in a contest with one who giveth no account of any of his matters; and with whom, none can contend and prosper... Therefore, the business we must design in such prayer, or in prayer about such things, (the issue whereof we do not foreknow,) is not to bring the divine will to ours, but to bring our will to his." Prayer And The Decrees Of God

"Suppose one comes down a rapid stream in a boat, and hath the opportunity to throw an anchor or hook on the shore, there he pulls, as though he would draw the shore to the boat, and yet, all that he can be rationally supposed to intend, is to draw the boat to the shore. So are we to design in prayer, that plucking ourselves unto God, the drawing of our souls to a compliance with him, that our wills may be brought to unite with his; not that we can imagine to change his will by any thing we can say, more than in the narrative of our prayer we do suppose to ourselves the informing him of any thing whereof we suppose him before ignorant." Prayer And The Decrees Of God

"As if any man on earth is to petition a human judicature, he must endeavour to know the style and phrase of the court, and that his petition may be right in point of form; and especially so are we concerned to do in this case, when we are to address the great God. There must be a becomingness of God observed, that we address to him, as God is to be addressed to, and one that is absolutely supreme, and perfectly wise and good." Prayer And The Decrees Of God

"Such a conception of God, if our prayers do but carry with them a conformity to that conception, that is, that we have this fixed confidence concerning him, that he can do what he will, and that he will always do what is best, we can never think that such prayers can ever be unavailing. But this doth so highly agree with this apprehension, that he doth all that he doth do according to the counsel of his own will, that it not only is not prejudiced thereby, but we are greatly confirmed in it, that if he doth all things according to the counsel of his own will, he will never do any thing that is wrong, he will never do any thing that we ought to have so much as a wish that it be otherwise than as he will do it; for as he can do whatsoever he will, so he will always do whatsoever is best." Prayer And The Decrees Of God

"We ought to form our addresses and petitions to God, according as his word hath given us direction... As to all those things that are of principal concernment and necessity to us, we find directions in his word to pray for such things, with promises they shall be granted upon serious and sincere prayer." Prayer And The Decrees Of God

"We know his [God's] will so far about our principal concernments, as that they who repent shall be forgiven, they who ask his Spirit shall have it, to them that improve what they have, he will give more, that if we set ourselves to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling, he will work in us to will and to do of his own good pleasure." Prayer And The Decrees Of God

"We have as express promises concerning temporal good things as the nature of the things will bear, or our circumstances admit, and therefore, God hath done more suitably to himself and us, in reference to such things, in telling us all things shall work together for good to them that love God and that are the called according to his purpose. Indeed, a person that is a sincere lover of God, cannot but be the better by whatsoever event occurs to him in external respects; for that love is an active principle in him, that co-operates to the making good of the promise." Prayer And The Decrees Of God

"The interests of men in this world in reference to their temporal concernments, do so generally interfere and cross with one another and oppose one another, that it is impossible all prayers should be granted. For there are many times prayers against prayers. One man or this sort of men prays for this event, and another sort, for the quite contrary event. Therefore, it is most absolutely necessary that the divine counsel should moderate, and have its agency, not only in bringing about events, but even in forming the spirits of men." Prayer And The Decrees Of God