685

Memoir of John Mason Good, M.D. F.R.S. &c.

ture, to which he always listened, with pleasure, appearing, however, much more struck with some than with others. On one occasion, without any suggestion or leading remark from those around, he was heard to repeat distinctly with quivering convulsive lips, 'All the promises of God are yea and amen in Christ Jesus.' 'What words for dying lips to rest upon.' At another time, as one of his family was sitting by, he uttered some expression, not accurately remembered, of deep sorrow for sin. This text was then mentioned, 'If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.' He repeated, 'faithful: yes-nothing can be more suitable.'

"The same evening one of his family kneeling over him said, 'May I pray, can you bear it?' the reply was-'I am not sure, I am in great pain; but try and pray. Accordingly a few words were offered up, imploring that the Saviour would reveal more of His loving-kindness, His exceeding glory, to him; he listened attentively, and uttered something expressive of his feeling that these petitions were suitable to him, and of his deeply joining

in them.

"On Monday, Jan. 1st, his sufferings increased, and his mind wandered. At 7 o'clock on the morning of this day his youngest daughter proposed repeating a well-known text of scripture, as the likeliest means of recalling him to himself. She was answered that this in his present weakness would only confuse him more. A text of scripture, however, was repeated, and the effect was wonderful; it seemed a perfect calling back of the mind: he listened with manifest pleasure, and concluded it himself. Many were the texts which were repeated at different intervals throughout this day, and to which he listened with more or less pleasure, as they more or less seemed to strike his feelings as suitable to his own case. Some of them were, "The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin.' 'Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God.' "The Lord is my shepherd.' 'Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.' Mr. Russell being about to quit the room, Dr. Good called out, begging him not to go. It was most strikingly impressive to hear his quivering lips uttering the words of scripture, at a time when intense agony occasioned such convulsive motions of the whole body, that the bed often shook under him. His youngest daughter, who was

686

then holding his poor cold hands, said to him, Do you remember your favourite hymn?" There is a fountain fill'd with blood: he had repeated it in the earlier part of his illness, and told Mr. Russell that sometimes. when walking through the streets of London he used to repeat it to himself. In one instance he altered it unintentionally, but still strictly preserving

the sense.

"Dr. Good repeated it as given in the St. John's collection of hymns, with this exception-Instead of

When this poor lisping stammering tongue
Lies silent in the grave,'

he substituted,

When this decaying mouldering frame
Lies crumbling in the dust.'

This little variation may not be regarded as
altogether unimportant, since it shews that
his mental powers were still vigorous.

"Sometimes when those around could not remember the exact words of the passage of scripture intended to be quoted, he corrected the error, and repeated them accurately. One of the texts he appeared to dwell upon with most earnestness and delight was, JESUS CHRIST, the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever. When Dr. Good's former Unitarian views are remembered, the dwelling upon this particular text could not but be consolatory to his family. Another text, which, without any suggestion or leading remark, he' repeated several times, was, 'Who art thou, O great mountain, before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain; and He shall bring forth the head-stone thereof with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace unto it,* dwelling with peculiar emphasis upon the words, Grace, grace unto it.'

"He also appeared to derive great comfort from these texts, repeated by Mr. Russell, When flesh and heart fail,' &c. Also, When thou walkest through the fire, I will be with thee,' &c. He also listened with much apparent comfort to that portion of the Te Deum suggested to him by his wife, When Thou hadst overcome the sharpness of death, Thou didst open the kingdom of heaven to all believers.'

"On the afternoon of this day, (Monday,) Dr. Good perfectly knew every one, again expressed himself thankful to be placed in the midst of his family, and to be near Mr. Russell, When Mr. Travers arrived in the evening, he immediately recognized him, addressed him by name, and submitted to the means used for his relief, though painful. Upon the last opiate draught being given, he would not rest satisfied until told the precise quan

Tempus fugit.-A Fragment.

689

Essay on a Particular Providence, by Dr. Good.

“Look at the avaricious nan," said I, «bee hind engaged in business; you will find him amidst the busy, bustling crowd, ever on the alert, hurrying on from one place and from one scheme to another, continually forming new projects, antici

690

fare? Let us learn to fight the good fight
and to come off conquerors,
nay, more
than conquerors, through the great Cap-
tain of our salvation. Is pleasure our
aim? Let us seek
it where
joys
are to be found: even in one true an
in whose

pating future gain, with all the eagerness and there

and anxiety of keen-eyed, deep-judging speculation, embracing every opportunity of increasing his worldly store, and letting nothing slip that might be the means of adding one mite more to his earthly trea sure. Thus he employs, and thus he improves his time; while his chief good, his greatest gain, his highest interest, his richest treasure, is forgotten.

3

ei "Observe the ambitious man, the man who is in quest of fame, seeking reputation, perhaps, in the mouth of a cannon, ors on the point of the sword; he engages in the most daring enterprises, he surmounts the greatest difficulties, he is retarded in his progress by no obstacle that may happen in his way; but flies in the face of danger and of death, in the pursuit of honour; nor is he ever at rest till he reaches the summit of his wishes, even the highest pinnacle of human greatness; this he considers as his summum bonum →→ here rest call his desires, here centres all his happiness; alas! he looks no further.

9

,

Sees too, the libertine, the man of pleasure, observe him amidst the circle of his gay companions, continually pursuing the same vicious course from day to day, in quest of unsubstantial joys, a vain "shadow, hunting shades; thus his time flies; and thus he travels on through life, till he is stopped in his mad career by some fatal disease, which perhaps his own folly and intemperance have drawn upon him, and he is suddenly, and prematurely, hurried to that land, from whose bourne no tra veller returns. de df of siit

right

is fulness of joy, and at whose are pleasures for evermore. And, whatever our employment in life may be, or whatever our pursuits, let us never forget, that as 'time flies,' eternity comes on, and that, pass but a few days more, perhaps but a few hours, at the most but a very few years, and we shall have done with all earthly things; we shall be summoned to quit this transitory state, for one that will know no end.

Then, in what shape soever the messenger of mortality may come, however formidable his appearance, we shall meet him with composure, we shall welcome him as a friend, who is come to conduct us to a better world, to a happier clime, to a more blissful region, even to that region, where time, pain, and death, shalt be no more.

Near Kingsbridge, Devon, T. JARVIS March, 1828. end 9.bd zwod 9970ŮJ → DobremumOS-9914R

AN ESSAY ON THE DOCTRINE OF A PAR-
TICULAR PROVIDENCE BY THE ᏞᎪᎢᎬ .
JOHN MASON GOOD, M.D.

Mind out doof'o tol (Concluded from col. 599.) donlw 2. "But the Deity being allowed to possess a capability of exerting a providential care over his creatures, it has at times been contended that such an exertion would be derogatory to his infinite greatness and majesty. A mean and con tracted idea! and unworthy of a philo sopher to entertain for a moment. How ever it may be respecting ourselves, in "But let us view the contrast. Let us the view of the Deity nothing can, proturn our eyes from such characters as perly speaking, be either great of small these, and contemplate that of the pious and nothing unworthy the notice of him divine. Behold in him a pattern for our who created it. If the Deity did not ded imitations here is precept, and example grade himself by the formation of his creau! too. Let us learn from him, while he ad-tures, much less can he do so by super dresses us in the sublime and emphatic language of inspiration, not only that all flesh is as grass, and the goodliness thereof ast the flower bof the field, that our life is assas vapour, a shadow, a dream, a tale that is told; but let us also learn to re deem the time. Are we engaged in business?blabouring to increase our earthly "I have, moreover, observed already, treasure? Let us learn from him to be that the Creator is a being of infinite bene come rich in good works; and to lay up volence; and that the principal motive he for ourselves treasures in heaven. Are we, could possibly be actuated by in the forwith the ambitious man, engaged in war-mation of any order of beings, must be 128.-VOL. XI.

intending them after they are formed for an existing being must at all times be superior to non-existence and though they may have claims upon his bounty and his protection at present, it is certain they could have no claim at all anterior to their actual creation. to enratedara adt vol]

2 Y

691

Essay on a Particular Providence, by Dr. Good.

their own essential felicity. If it did not degrade him, then, to exert himself in providing for this felicity at first, it cannot degrade him in the superintendence and direction of it afterwards; and as a being all active, and all powrful, he cannot possibly resist such a conduct.

"In effect, such a superintendence and unremitted exertion seems fully proved both from the continued operation of the laws of nature; the powers entrusted to mankind; and the various and unexpected events which often arise to confound the policy of the most artful, and baffle the strength of the mighty. Were it not so, material bodies must be possessed of an innate and essential power of mutual gra. vitation: a doctrine, as Sir Isaac Newton observes, in his letters to Dr. Bentley, too absurd to be credited by any man in his senses; and few events in nature would take place contrary to our expectations, or at any time excite our surprise.

"It appears singular and unaccountable, that after acknowledging his belief in the existence of such a general providence, and, indeed contending for its truth, Lord Bolingbroke, vol. 5. quarto edition, should, nevertheless, deny the extension of this providence to individuals. That the same volume which declares that when the immorality of individuals becomes that of a whole society, then the judgments of God follow, and men are punished collectively in the course of a general providence,' that this same volume should almost in the same page inform us that 'it is plain from the whole course of this providence, God regards his human creatures collectively, and not individually; how worthy soever every one of them may deem himself to be a particular object of the divine care; and that there is no foundation in nature for the belief of such a scheme as a providence thus particular.' Is not then every collection and society of beings composed of individuals? or is it possible for such a society or collection to be interested in providential interpositions, and yet for the individuals that compose it to remain uninterested and unaffected thereby? Is it from a view of the derogation we have before remarked upon, or of fatigue, or of incapacity, that the Deity should thus restrain himself? or what precise number of individuals can constitute a society capable of demanding the full attention of Providence, the abstraction of a single member from which would immediately render it unworthy of any further notice or regard?

"Miserable indeed must have been the

692

situation of Cadmus or Idomeneus, wan-
dering, as they were, from climate to cli-
mate, in pursuit of an unknown region;
and attended, perhaps, by too few asso-
ciates to induce the interference and bene-
diction of Providence
upon their attempts.
And still more miserable the fate of a
Philoctetes, or a Robinson Crusoe, cut
off, by the most desert solitude, from the
pleasures of social communication, and,
by the same solitude, deprived of the assis-
tance of the Deity. And Sophocles had
more reason than has generally been ima-
gined, when he makes the former ex-
claim,

O Death, where art thon, Death ?-so often called,
Wilt thou not listen? wilt thou never come?
FRANCKLIN.

"In fact, every order of created beings whatsoever, and every station in every various order, must be equally the object of the attention and care of the Supreme Being. While Solomon was noticed by him, in all his glory, he did not forget the lily of the field,' in its humbler and more modest array. And whatever difference there might have appeared to the dazzled eyes of mortals, between the situation of David or Cincinnatus, when engaged in the lowlier employments of agriculture and rural economy, and when advanced to the first dignities of their different nations, and leading forward their exulting armies to victory and renownin the grand survey of the great Creator of all things, such differences and distinctions must shrink into nothing, and every gradation of life alike enjoy his common protection.

"If the race of man did actually proceed, according to either the Mosaic history or the fabulous accounts of the Greeks, from one single pair, or family-it is plain, according to this doctrine, that Providence could have little to do with the world, either at its first creation, or immediately after the deluge: and it would form a curious inquiry, and one, I fear, not easily resolved, at what period, from either of these grand epochs, were mankind so multiplied as to become proper objects of providential notice?

"Pope, who is often the mere echo of Bolingbroke, who was 'formed by his converse, as he expresses it himself, and had, "in his little bark, attended his triumph and partaken the gale' so far, that he was often ignorant of his own latitude-has, nevertheless, dared to differ from his noble patron on this subject, and discovers a manly independence in thinking for himself. The providence of God, according

Essay on a Particular Providence, by Dr. Good.