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ing his pen in their defence. To the concerns of "the Church Missionary Society" especially, he devoted himself with the utmost activity and ardour, as a most judicious, learned, and able member of its committee. He suggested some useful plans for the instruction of missionaries, and, in certain cases, of their wives, in the general principles of medical science, the nature and operation of the simpler remedies, and in the safe practical application of such knowledge to numerous cases which may obviously Occur among the inhabitants of the dark and uncivilized regions in which Christian missionaries most frequently labour. These suggestions were not merely proposed in general terms, in the committee; but, in many instances, carried into the minutiae of detail, by instructions which Dr. Good gave personally to the missionaries themselves. Nor was the advice thus given confined to professional topics. The stores of his richly endowed mind were opened to their use on subjects of general literature, biblical criticism, the rules of translation, the principles of geology, botany, zoology, nay, every department of knowledge calculated to fit them thoroughly for their noble and arduous undertaking. Nor, again, were these kind and valuable offices confined to individuals of the Church Missionary Society alone. His soul was too liberal and capacious, and his conviction of the paucity of the labourers too deep, to induce him for a moment to wish or to imagine that the glorious object could be accomplished entirely by missionaries of any one persuasion. On different occasions I have introduced to him missionaries and others connected with various religious societies, who were anxious to profit by his advice, on topics respecting which they scarcely knew where else to apply; and, uniformly, the individuals who thus availed themselves of the privilege, have testified in the most lively terms their grateful sense of the affectionate kindness of his demeanour, and the value of his suggestions."

His piety exhibited itself in his intercourse with his patients; for, in prescribing for an intricate disease, he was in the habit of praying for Divine direction; on administering a medicine himself, he was known frequently to utter a short ejaculatory prayer; and, in cases where a fatal issue was inevitable, he most scrupulously avoided the cruel delusion too common on such occasions, and with the utmost delicacy and feeling, announced his apprehensions.

As an evidence of his devotional character, the following, bearing date July 27th, 1823, is here inserted.

"FORM OF PRAYER,

"Which I purpose to use, among others, every morning, so long as it may please God that I shall continue in the exercise of my profession; and which is here copied out, not so much to assist my own memory, as to give a hint to many who may perhaps feel thankful for it when I am removed to a state where personal vanity can have no access, and the opinion of the world can be no longer of any importance. I should wish it to close the subsequent editions of my 'Study of Medicine.'

"O thou great Bestower of health, strength, and comfort! grant thy blessing upon the professional duties in which this day I may engage. Give me

Judgment to discern disease, and skill to treat it; and crown with thy favour the means that may be devised for recovery; for, with thine assistance, the humblest instrument may succeed, as, without it, the ablest must prove unavailing.

"Save me from all sordid motives; and endow me with a spirit of pity and liberality towards the poor, and of tenderness and sympathy towards all; that I may enter into the various feelings by which they are respectively tried; may weep with those that weep, and rejoice with those that rejoice.

"And sanctify thou their souls, as well as heal their bodies. Let faith and patience, and every Christian virtue they are cailed upon to exercise, have their perfect work: so that in the gracious dealings of thy Spirit and of thy providence, they may find in the end, whatever that end may be, that it has been good for them to have been afflicted.

“Grant this, O heavenly Father, for the love of that adorable Redeemer, who, while on earth, went about doing good, and now ever liveth to make intercession for us in heaven. Amen."

One cannot help being struck with the resemblance of character between the great Boerhaave and Dr. Good; but that excellent man Baron Haller resembled him still closer. This great and learned physician in the early part of his life, likewise, had doubts concerning the objects of the Christian faith. "But these doubts were dispelled by a successful application to every branch of science on the one hand, and by a candid examination of the sacred oracles on the other. The first, by purging his soul, according to his own emphatic language, of arrogance and pride, filled it with true poverty of spirit. The second convinced him that the Divine Revelation conveyed in the Holy Scriptures is a boon worthy of the merciful Author of our nature to give, and such as is fit for guilty mortals to receive with humble gratitude and reverence.".

The parallel between these great and good men, devoted as they were to the work of doing good to the bodies and souls of their fellow-men, is still greater, from the circumstance that Dr. Good, like Boerhaave and Haller, had envious and malignant enemies. But he never regarded calumny and detraction, nor ever thought it necessary to confute them. He adopted the sentiment of Boerhaave, who said, "They are sparks which, if you do not blow them, will go out of themselves. The surest remedy against scandal is, to live it down by perseverance in well-doing; and by praying to God that he would cure the distempered minds of those who traduce and injure us."

After a life of virtue and consistent piety, such as characterized Dr. John Mason Good, the reader may anticipate a peaceful termination, even in the light of nature itself. But, illuminated as were the dark valley and shadow of death by the resplendent light and glory of the Christian revelation, his path seemed, like "that of the just," to "shine brighter and brighter even to the perfect day.”

Mark the humility, devotion, and faith which were exhibited in the hour of his approaching dissolution. He called the members of his family around his bed, and thus addressed them: "I have taken what unfortunately the generality of Christians too much take-I have taken the middle walk of Christianity-I have endeavoured to live up to its duties and doctrines,

but I have lived below its privileges. I have had large opportunities given me, but I have not improved them as I might. I have been led astray by the vanity of human learning, and by the love of human applause."

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How insignificant are the highest intellectual endowments, and the most extensive erudition, when compared with the Christian character. In the light of the invisible world just dawning upon his vision, he exclaimed, more than once, "O, the vanity of human learning?" "O, the folly of human applause?" And then he would dwell with evident satisfaction upon the text, which he so often repeated in his last moments-"Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever." And after the power of distinct articulation was gone, and he was almost in the embrace of death, when his kind clergyman repeated the words, "Behold the Lamb of God!" he added, as the last effort of his expiring breath, "who taketh away the sins of the world."

For this brief outline of the life and death of the learned and excellent author of the "Book of Nature," I am indebted chiefly to "Dr. Gregory's Memoirs," and to the able review of that work in the "Christian Spectator." And although precluded by the limits of this sketch from entering into numerous details of his writings, learning, and virtues, which possess an enduring interest; yet enough is here recorded to afford matter for much useful reflection and improvement to the philosopher, the philanthropist, and the Christian. And the profession of medicine is here seen to be honoured in the life of one of its most enlightened and zealous votaries, who superadded to his high literary and professional attainments the still higher character of a sincere and consistent Christian philosopher, bequeathing to us and to posterity his bright example, to be inscribed with those of Boerhaave, Haller, Mead, and Rush, on the tablet of our memories, stimulating us to emulate their virtues, that we may, like them, have a peaceful death, cheered by the hope of a blissful immortality.

THE

BOOK OF NATURE.

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