gerous, to the best interests of those committed to their care. It was too Dr. Bard's practice to call the early attention of his patients to this important subject. Religious admonition, he properly thought, should not be deferred until all hope of recovery is gone. This is not the best chosen period for religious instruction, or the one most favourable to its due effect upon the mind. It is not in the last moments of life, when the body is racked with pain, and the mind agitated and alarmed by the apprehensions of death; when a deadly stupor clouds the faculties, or the imagination flits, in wild delirium, from object to object, and from thought to thought, that the mind can be brought to prepare itself for the awful transition which it is to undergo. Sickness is a season of reflection with most men, and naturally induces a docility of temper, highly favourable to the reception of wholesome admonition. It is now that religious instruction and advice are most productive of effect. If delayed till the last hours of life, they may serve indeed to awaken the alarms of the sick man, and to plunge him into despair, but they can seldom benefit his soul." The conduct of Dr. Bard, in this particular, must commend itself to the approbation of every rational and feeling man; and entitle him to be placed with those worthies who have united to exalted talent, extensive erudition, and distinguished rank, the graces and virtues of the Christian character.

7. Dr. Rush, after having narrated his happy recovery from an attack of the Bilious Yellow Fever of 1795, and from a chronick disease consequent thereon, acknowledges his obligations and gratitude to God, in these words: "But wherewith shall I come before the great Father and Redeemer of men; and what shall I render unto him for the issue of my life from the grave?

-"Here all language fails;Come then expressive silence, muse his praise."

I shall conclude my address by some extracts from the essay of the last mentioned eminent physician, entitled, "The Influence of Physical Causes upon the Moral Faculty," since it appears very applicable to the present discussion; which may be called "An Essay on the Influence of Moral Causes on the Physical Faculties."

"Let it not," says Dr. Rush, "be suspected, from any thing that I have delivered, that I suppose the influence of physical causes upon the moral faculty renders the agency of divine influence unnecessary to our moral happiness. I only maintain, that the operations of the divine government are carried on in the moral, as in the natural world, by the instrumentality of second causes. I have only trodden in the footsteps of the inspired writers. Nebuchadnezzar was cured of his pride, by means of solitude and a vegetable diet; Saul was cured of his evil spirit by means of David's harp; and St. Paul expressly says, I keep my body under, and bring it into subjection, lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a cast-away." " He also believes "that in those extraordinary cases where bad men are suddenly reformed, without the instrumentality of moral, or rational causes, that the organization of those parts of the body in which the faculties of the mind are seated, undergoes a physical change; and hence the expression of a new creature,' which is made use of in the Scriptures to denote this change, is proper, in a literal, as well as a figurative sense." And he adduces, in proof of this, the assertion of Paul, that he "bears in his body the marks of our Lord Jesus." "It is probably the begin

• Rush's Works, vol. iii. p. 353.

sons in sickness; and it is to be feared, that a part of the prejudice against ministerial visits to the chambers of the sick, may have arisen from some instances of indiscretion, or want of fitness, in those who have been called to the performance of this duty. This is not the place to enter into any lengthened or particular statement, of what is believed to be the best manner of dealing with those who are suffering from disease-It is a subject on which a small volume might profitably be written. We shall, however, not forbear to remark, that the duty we contemplate requires, and may be considered as consisting in, tenderness and fidelity. Great tenderness should undoubtedly be used, in all the cases contemplated. The spiritual physician should manifest deep sympathy; and that he may manifest it, he must feel it. He should endeavour to put his own soul in the soul's place of the suffering patient, and carefully consider, also, the bodily weakness of the party to be addressed. This will give a character to all that he says and does -to all his words and actions, and to the very tones of his voice which will be likely to have the most happy effect. But no part of this tenderness is to consist in the want of fidelity, or in endeavours to comfort the afflicted on other than gospel grounds. Not only does the minister of religion incur an awful responsibility for himself, if he endeavours to sooth the sick by unwarranted considerations, but, by so doing, he will sometimes entirely miss his object. A wellinstructed individual, or one whose eyes have been opened on his lost and miserable state as a sinner, will see that his spiritual guide is "a physician of no value," if he directs to other ground of hope and comfort than the riches of divine grace -the full redemption of Christ, and the way that is opened by him for the extension of mercy to the chief of

penitent and believing sinners. We have known a clergyman-who sought to allay anxiety and fear, by reminding the sick of a good moral life, and a regular attendance on the ordinances of the church-told that no repetition of his visits was desired. A man of another spirit was sent for, and heard with the greatest interest.

3. We confidently assert, that if ministerial visits to the sick are managed with discretion and tenderness, as well as fidelity, there is seldom, if ever, any reason to be apprehended that they will interfere with the recovery of the patientand that in many cases they will essentially promote it. This position is abundantly supported by the numerous facts which are stated in the preceding essay, as well as by the opinions there adduced, of some of the most distinguished physicians of our own and other countries. We will add two or three striking instances, witnessed by ourselves. The first was of a lady in a declining state, from pulmonary affection. She had requested spiritual instruction and aid, but had been refused it, under the notion that she was only low spirited, and what is called nervous. But although asafoetida. and opium were fully tried, neither could quiet sleep be obtained, nor incessant agitation and anxiety, when awake, be prevented. At length, to gratify her, and as a matter of experiment, a clergyman was sent for to visit her. Her case was found to be one of a very rational concern, in regard to the state of her soul-accompanied by a manifest want of suitable instruction, direction, and encouragement. These were afforded; and from the very first visit, through the whole of her protracted illness, no more anodynes or antispasmodicks were needed, either to procure sleep, or to prevent agitation. She was calm, patient, quiet, and resigned-not only more comfortable in her own feelings, but unspeakably less trou

blesome to her attendants than she had been before; and thus she remained till her death. The second instance mentioned (for we could mention many) shall be of acute disease. An athletick man, in a dangerous fever tending to putridity, was found in a state of great anxiety about his immortal part. He was neither ignorant of religious truth in general, nor of the exigency of his own case in particular; but the distress of his mind absorbed all regard to the sufferings of the body. Counsel was given him; and in the midst of the prayer that followed, light, and peace, and even joy, broke in, as he affirmed, on his mind. There was manifestly an entire change in his aspect, as well as in his conversation; and a speedy recovery succeeded. A third case has been witnessed by us, since we began to write this article-the case of a female in dangerous illness, whose mind was so affected as to prevent bodily rest, till after spiritual assistance and prayer; since which she has slept comfortably, and hopes are entertained of her recovery. But instances of a similar kind, as already hinted, might be multiplied indefinitely. The writer can affirm with truth, that in the pastoral charge of one of the largest congregations in the United States, for more than the fourth part of a century, he never knew an instance in which his ministerial visitations of the sick were even apprehended, so far as he has known, to have been injurious. In a few instances he has known them forbidden by friends and physicians, and the sick kept in ignorance of their situation, till they were surprised into eternity. The responsibility of such friends and physicians, the writer would not incur for the universe-He hopes that every reader of this article will avoid it. What excuse can be given for depriving the sick of religious aid, when facts innumerable VOL. VII.-Ch. Adv.

demonstrate that it may be afforded, not merely without injury, but often with evident advantage to the aim of the physician? and when, if some bodily suffering were the consequence, it is infinitely outweighed by the hopes of benefiting a soul, destined to happiness or misery inconceivable and interminable!

STRICTURES ON MODERN GEOLOGY.

In our last November number we intimated our intention to transfer to our pages, as soon as we should find a good opportunity, some remarks from the Christian Observer on the subject of Modern Geology

We propose now to fulfil the intention then announced. But we wish, previously, to make a few observations of our own, on the general subject.

1. We are of the opinion that the cause of true religion will never be promoted, but greatly injured, by refusing to listen to the statement of any facts in natural history or science, under an apprehension that they militate with divine revelation. If the things recorded in the Bible. have been revealed by the God of truth-the Creator of the world and all things therein-they never can be inconsistent with well ascertained facts in his works, as they are now exposed to our observation and scrutiny. We all see and admit the folly of Pope Urban VIII., in endeavouring to oppose the Copernican theory of the planetary revolutions, by his edicts and denunciations. It is such an immediate dictate of common sense, that one truth can never contradict another; that he who refuses to admit a plain matter of fact, because he apprehends it will contradict something in the Bible, will always give the enemies of the Bible the opportunity of claiming a triumph, which they will not fail to improve. Facts, when ascertained to be such, must

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be admitted, let the consequences follow as they may; and the friends of the sacred Scriptures ought to admit them with as much freedom as the most avowed infidels; nor have they the smallest reason to fear to do so.

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2. It is however perfectly fair and highly important, to examine carefully, whether what are serted to be facts are such in reality. Many things which infidel writers have affirmed, and have blazoned abroad as falsifying somewhat contained in the sacred Scriptures, have eventually been found either to have no foundation in truth, or no hostile bearing on divine revelation. Thus the infidel Brydone, in publishing his travels, endeavoured to invalidate the authority of Moses, by endeavouring to show from the time required to convert lava into vegetable mould, that the earth is at least fourteen thousand years old, instead of less than six thousand. The calculation on which he reasoned was, that it required two thousand years at least, to convert a stratum of lava into vegetable mould, and that as seven distinct lavas had been discovered, one under the other, and each covered with a bed of rich earth, the conclusion was irresistible, that the earth must have been formed more than fourteen thousand years ago. This led to inquiry and investigation: when, behold, it was proved beyond controversy, that seven different lavas, with interjacent strata of vegetable mould, had been actually formed in somewhat less than fourteen hundred years; demonstrating that lava may be covered with a productive soil in about two hundred and fifty years, instead of requiring two thousand for the purpose. See the close of Watson's Apology for Christianity, addressed to Gibbon. Another supposed demonstration that the earth is many thousand years older than we believe it to be from the account of Moses, was

taken from certain signs of the Zodiack, figured on the ceiling of an inner apartment of a dilapidated edifice at Dendera, near the banks of the Nile-Egypt being the favourite field of infidel enterprise. Volney, in a note appended to his "RUINS," considers this as settling the point that the world is more than sixteen thousand years old. But alas! it has since been shown, that these signs were not intended to form a zodiack at all, but were probably the Horoscopes of individuals, at a time when astrology was in repute; and that the very edifice in which they are found, cannot be of more ancient date than the time of the Ptolemies. Two or three other infidel objections, founded on alleged facts of somewhat a similar character, have been completely falsified, or shown to have no hostile bearing on the Mosaick records, as may be seen in our number for November last. For ourselves, we have ceased to credit the allegations of infidel writers relative to subjects of antiquity and natural science, till we find them confirmed, or admitted, by other writers. They have been so often detected in making rash assertions and hasty conclusions, that we consider it more than an equal chance, that any new statement that impugns, or seems to impugn, divine revelation, is at least materially incorrect. But what we urge is, that a careful inquiry and examination should always be made, in order to ascertain whether alleged facts are really such-When clearly ascertained, let them, we repeat, be admitted freely.

3. When indisputable facts seem to militate with the truth of sacred Scripture, they ought to give no alarm to the believer in divine revelation. The evidence of the truth of the Bible, which is the evidence of testimony, is as strong and as satisfactory as any testimony we can receive in regard to the existence of facts which have recently