WESLEYAN-METHODIST MAGAZINE.

NOVEMBER, 1863.

THOMAS HARTWELL HORNE, B.D., F.S.A., &c.

A THEOLOGICAL library is incomplete in which Horne's "Introduc-. tion to the Critical Study and Knowledge of the Holy Scriptures" is not found. This favourite production of its learned and laborious author has given to his name a world-wide celebrity. It is found among the literary treasures of mitred dignitaries; it stands upon the book-shelves of most college-libraries; it is carefully packed and transported by hundreds of itinerating ministers when removing from one sphere of duty to another; it is frequently consulted by many earnest lay-preachers, and is not inaccessible to the painstaking Sunday-school teacher. It is a well-stored quiver, whence many a famous archer has drawn the arrows wherewith the heart of error has been fatally pierced. The ravings of the rude infidel have been silenced by its incontrovertible statements; the sophistries of the keen-witted sceptic have been exploded by its candid researches and well-sustained arguments. Popery has so far writhed under its truth-telling chapters, as to give it honourable mention in the columns of the " Index Expurgatorius ;" and modern "Essayists and Reviewers" may find their answer in its copious dissertations on "Prophecy and Miracles."

Appended to "Reminiscences, personal and bibliographical," published by his daughter, is a chronological list of works, amounting to fifty, brought out by the author of the "Introduction." These works -some controversial, some historical, some devotional, some pastoral -show Mr. Horne to have been most conscientious in the economizing of time; a close observer of men and things; and one who, for the benefit of mankind, "intermeddled with all wisdom."

Born October 20th, 1780, young Horne learned to read at a "dameschool," where, he says, the "lady-like mistress took particular pains to make her young pupils read and spell distinctly." Many of our best public speakers owe much of their clear and distinct enunciation to the care bestowed on their early discipline. With other children of the village he was accustomed to stand up in the church at Eversley, Hampshire, to repeat the Catechism. Who shall say that this weekly instruction in Scripture knowledge did not lay the foundation of that acquaintance with sacred lore which distinguished his subsequent career? Preferring the catechetical exercises of the village church to strolling in the green fields during the afternoon of the Lord's day, he began a course of self-denial by which time in large as well as in fragmentary portions was redeemed for biblical studies. Left fatherless at the carly age of thirteen, "small of stature, and not robust," he

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spent eight years of his youthful life "in the humble situation of a clerk to barristers." For this situation Horne was prepared by the education he had received at Christ's Hospital, where he "was contemporary during two years with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, at that time Head-Grecian, or senior scholar." In return for certain hospitalities shown to Coleridge by the grandfather of Horne, our young friend was taught the Greek alphabet. Since those days of cramped scholarship, when pupils who entered the grammar-school "learned neither writing nor arithmetic," a marvellous expansion of the system of education has taken place. With the liberal advantages enjoyed by the youth of our times, Providence and posterity will most justly look for commensurate improvement.

Horne's first permanent situation was with Mr. Toller, a barrister, son of a Dissenting minister. Horne's faith in the truth of Scripture had been shaken by the perusal of an infidel novel, of French origin; but in Mr. Toller's well-stocked library he opportunely found an antidote. This was the treatise of Leland on the "State of Religion in the Heathen World." Attracted by the beauty of its classical quotations, Horne read it, made notes of it in leisure hours, and said to himself, "If this is right, I am wrong." The result was the publication, A.D. 1800, of an essay, entitled, "A Brief View of the Necessity and Truth of the Christian Revelation;" for the copyright of which he obtained two guineas. This praiseworthy occupation of his spare time preserved him from the evils of gay company, gave a wholesome bent to his mental powers, and prompted him to lay by a store of valuable information for future use. The pleasure and profit to be derived from a diligent perusal of the writings bequeathed by the worthies of this and former generations, are infinitely preferable to the short-lived excitements of the theatre, the casino, or the billiard-room. The disposition, now shown by many principals of mercantile houses, to provide well-selected libraries for the use of the young persons in their establishments, tends to encourage growth in knowledge, virtue, and religion, as well as to exclude the pleas of indolence and irreligion.

At an early date Mr. Horne read what his own pen describes as “an eccentric volume which had excited much and most undeserved ridicule of the Wesleyan Methodists." He went to hear for himself. One Wednesday he heard at Great Queen-street the latter part of a sermon on "Christ in you the hope of glory," by the venerable Joseph Benson. "I went again," says he, "on the first Sunday evening in the year 1801." "How long halt ye between two opinions?" was the text of the same great preacher, so wise to win souls. "That was the sermon which fixed me....... My mind experienced a most salutary and important change." By this "most powerful and persuasive discourse, on the folly and danger of irresolution in the momentous concerns of the soul," he was "effectually arrested." The ministry of Mr. Benson, it is well known, was one of unwonted power. An unction from the Holy One attended his distinct and accurate representations of Divine truth. Clad in the armour of righteousness, inflamed with intense love to Christ, and full of compassion for the perishing souls of men,

most skilfully and successfully did this Boanerges wield the sword of the Spirit. In many parts of the country the savour of his extraordinary preaching has survived the lapse of half a century. For example, his famous sermon on Dan. v. 27, (“Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting,") preached in the main street of Redruth to an immense crowd who swayed to and fro, and lifted up their voice like the troubled sea when swept with one of heaven's mighty winds, can never be forgotten in the history of Cornish Methodism.

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The subsequent perusal of Mr. Fletcher's powerful and unanswerable "Appeal" brought the conscience-smitten soul of this penitent to the throne of grace; where," says he, "I embraced the atonement, found peace, and gave myself to the service of God my Saviour." In that hour he felt that he was "justified by faith," " accepted in the Beloved;" that he had "redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace;" that he was adopted into God's family, and made "an heir of God, and a joint-heir with Christ." "For many years," says Mr. Horne, "I had the privilege and comfort of being in communion with the Wesleyan Methodists, among whom I found many kind friends, who counselled me in the difficulties and trials to which I was exposed, while they edified me by their Christian conversation. I quitted that Society, only when the ecclesiastical regulations of the Church of England rendered my retirement from them necessary, previously to my preparing for ordination in that section of the church universal. But I had the privilege of keeping up a Christian correspondence with many of them; and I have been favoured with the successive friendships of their most eminent ministers to the present time." In these days, when some zealous partisans would unchurch all denominations save their own, and when others studiously withhold all acknowledgment of the debt they owe to branches of the Saviour's catholic family which they have left, it is refreshing to read the above ingenuous statement. This vine, which in after years bore rich and plentiful fruit within the enclosure of the Establishment, first took deep root, and found the nourishment and succour it needed, in the soil of a communion which has often seen its saplings transplanted to beautify other hills of Zion. In 1806 Mr. Horne became clerk to Joseph Butterworth, Esq., M.P., the law-bookseller. As private secretary to that eminent man, he had opportunities of acquaintance with the leading philanthropists of the day. As acting secretary of a Committee for the Relief of distressed Germans, as Superintendent of a Wesleyan Sunday-school, as one of the visiters appointed by the Strangers' Friend Society, and as the founder of the first Bible Association in Lambeth, he manifested his lively interest in those benevolent undertakings which have contributed largely to the honour, happiness, and stability of the nation. Works faithfully performed in such departments of usefulness bring a tenfold blessing on the labourer. He has the reward of a good conscience, and the benediction of many that were ready to perish, with the crowning approval of his Maker and Judge.

The first edition of the " Introduction was "the result of seventeen years' prayerful, solitary, unassisted, and not unfrequently midnight labour." From February, 1801, till 1812, Mr. Horne pursued a preparatory course of reading; and then he began to write. In a long letter addressed to the late Dr. Bunting this literary project was disclosed, with a strong desire to obtain the help of that distinguished minister and sound divine as a co-labourer. Divine Providence marked out a path for the Solon of modern Methodism, widely different from that of his early friend. To proclaim in convincing speech the truths of Christianity to vast congregations; to advocate the principles of the Missionary enterprise; to urge the speedy emancipation of the West Indian negro; and to enforce, by chaste, eloquent, and overwhelming appeals, the claims of manifold benevolent institutions,—as well as to sit in council, and direct conflicting opinions to a peaceful issue,—was the work chosen for Dr. Bunting. And right well did he perform it.

In a letter to the biographer of his friend, Mr. Horne writes:"Previously to my undertaking the Introduction,' I had sketched a prospectus for an edition of the English Bible, in which the books of the Old and New Testament should be inserted chronologically, and with a biblical commentary; that is, one in the very words of Scripture. A general Introduction' was to be prefixed; which growing in my hands, I finally dropped the idea of a biblical commentary, and bent all my efforts to the 'Introduction to the Critical Study of the Holy Scriptures,' the first edition of which was published in June, 1818."

As sub-librarian to the Surrey Institution, (to which office he was elected through the influence of Mr. Butterworth and Dr. Adam Clarke,) the author of the " Introduction" had access to a collection of books "formed under the influence of the highest bibliographical knowledge, and with a due regard to the interests of religion." This appointment he held from May, 1809, until the Institution was dissolved in 1823; during which time stores of useful knowledge were laid up, with which his subsequent writings were enriched. Many agreeable acquaintances were formed there, some of which ripened into lasting friendship. Well-selected libraries are a great boon conferred upon society. The world of mind is thus thrown open to the inquirer; and the feet of the ardent youth are directed to the temple of truth, rather than to scenes of frivolous pleasure.-In 1812 Mr. Horne married Sarah, eldest daughter of John Millard, Esq., London. Her bright intellect and cultivated mind well fitted her to be an improving companion, while the energy with which she superintended domestic affairs freed her husband from every anxiety of that kind. "Lively, prudent, and truly pious,"-so runs his affectionate testimony," she was indeed a helpmeet for me during the forty-six years of singularly happy wedded life that she was lent to me by Almighty God, the Father of all mercies." Some corrections of her learned husband's style in the "Introduction" are attributable to the cultivated taste of this lady. The first edition, published in 1818, in two volumes, was gracefully acknowledged by the Bishops of London, Chester, &c., as containing "more than any other work in

our language on the subject;" as "admirably calculated to be of service to young men who are preparing themselves for holy orders; and as "abounding with valuable facts and authorities judiciously and ably applied."

About this time Mr. Horne was ordained by Dr. Howley, Bishop of London, to the curacy of Christ Church, Newgate-street, in the city of London. Here he continued until the death of the rector in 1825. On the dissolution of the Surrey Institution; he prepared an edition of the works of Dr. Beveridge. In 1824, at the request of the trustees of the British Museum, he undertook to prepare a catalogue of the printed books in that national repertory; and for their consideration drew up "Outlines for the Classification of a Library." In 1827 he published an "Analysis of the Introduction.'" This compendium was called forth by some piracies of the original work, so adroitly executed that no injunction could have been obtained against the publishers. In bringing out this abridgment he toiled seventeen hours a day; so that, in one month after counsel's opinion had been taken, a copy of the "Compendious Introduction" presented to each of his legal advisers. Who does not feel reproved for mental indolence, before such an example of intense devotedness to literary pursuits?

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Having some musical knowledge, Mr. Horne turned his attention to congregational psalmody. The result was a Manual of Parochial Psalmody," dedicated to the Archbishop of Canterbury. Unquestionably, the profit of public worship depends greatly upon the manner in which the singing is conducted. The selection of appropriate hymns, the adaptation of tunes, the mode of announcing the words to be sung, and the spirit with which the musical part is executed, often determine the character of the service. Who has not felt his soul thrilled with sacred emotion, when hymn and tune harmonized in uttering some precious truth, commemorating some grand event, or expressing some deep sentiment of joy or grief? Those who have gained a knowledge of music, (it may be, at considerable pains and cost to themselves or others,) cannot find a nobler sphere for the application of their attainments, than in the service of song practised in the sanctuary of God's house, the school-room, and the meeting for fellowship and prayer.

In addition to the honorary degree of M.A., conferred by the University of Aberdeen, Mr. Horne obtained the diploma of B.D. by exercises performed at Cambridge. He was enrolled among the Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature, and became a member of the Society of Antiquaries. In America his works found an extensive circulation: hence, as a mark of esteem for his eminent diligence in biblical researches, the University of Pennsylvania bestowed on him the diploma of Doctor in Divinity. In 1831, Dr. Blomfield, Bishop of London, collated him to the small prebend of Sneating, in St. Paul's cathedral, "as a mark of the esteem he entertained of the value of services to the cause of Christianity by different publications, especially by the Introduction.'" The emolument derived from