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IX LIFE-S DlSAsTUOtfS SCliN't.S, TO Oi'HEKS DO, - Number 31. CAMDKN, S. C. what vow w ould uimi by others* donl to you. Da kwih, GAZETTE. Thursday, October 31. 1816. Volume I = ^ / Terms. THE. price to Subscribers is Three dol- I Lars per annum, for fifty -two numbers, ex clusive of postage ; and in all ca -es whtre fiapers a/iall-be delivered a: the t xfiense of the publisher % the price will be Three dollars V fiftt cesTs a year, it, be fluid bi? mvntAa after subscribing. Ic is ecfiectrd , however, that nubsc fibers li ving at a distance, from the inconvenience of c-jUecfion% will pay in advunce. Terms ot advertising in this Gazette. Advertisements not exceeding tight lines rod I be printed for fifty cknts, for the first publication, and half that ptice for every subsequent insertion . Larger advertise - rnenta will be charged in proportion . A liberal discount will be made on the bills of those who are constant or consider ble customers in this line. 1 j. j* If no directions arc given with an ad - Vi r/isemcnt, it will be continued till forbid, October 3, I 8 1G. COMMUNICATED. Extract of a letter from Ntw York, dated October 12. i 8 1 6. " There. is great cause of rejoicing for the prosperity of Zion in thtse parts. At a camp meeting, which commenced the 11th Sept. about 40 miles up the North Fiver from this place, and continued un til that day week, t lie Lord manifested his power and grace, in the awakening and conversion of souls, in a wonderful man ner, Speaking after the manner of men, the weather was ^vwry- unfavorable. ? =Ftve or six sloop loads of people started from New-Yoik and I3rooklin, against a heavy N. E. wind and rain : however, the Lord brought us all safe (through some danger) to the desired haven. The weather con tinued cloudy and rainy, and we saw not the Sun I think until Saturday, and then but for a short time. In short, I think we had not two days Sun altogether, during the whole oft he meeting? -in consequence* the public exercise of preaching was much interrupted: ? but we prayed the mOre, which perhaps was better. 1 he New Yorkers are well prepared for camp meet ings ? they have no less than 12 large tents, made of sail cloth, under the direction of a committee, for the accommodation of those who go from the City, each person paying a small rate for the same. In some of the largest of these tents (ai well as in other country tents, and tents from Iirooklin) the exercise of singing and pray er went on in the intervals of preaching, day and night-? and the Lord wrought wonderfully. Sinners, come into these tents, (like metal in the ore when cast into the furnace*) would so >n be melted, mould ed, made new, and come out bright and shining! Loud hosanna's ? gloiy, glory, hallelujah, was heard almost incessantly. I think on a moderate calculation there were one hundred precious souls converted to God ! All glory to his adorable name. My soul shared in the blessing of his grace* Qn the last evening of the meeting, while engaged with mourning souls with other brethren, my own soul was most sweetly filled with that 'l Iwvewhtch ca&tcth ow ftar." I felt as a little child. Friday evening af ter we returned from the camp meeting, we had what they call lure a camp meet ing prayer meeting ; i. e. a gene.al prayer meeting, at whirh those who have been to carpp meeting, are pai ticularly desired to attend. They arc generally much blest. There were/ory who gave in their names to join society that evening, and several more found peace. Saturday and Sunday "9th and 29th Sept. we had two days meeting in the woods over the river, about 9 milts from the city. Many that were disappointed it) going to the tamp meeting, went there, and we had a glorious lime On Sabbath I expect there Were more than 2, jOO people on the ground. 1 think more . than 20 souls were converted. 'i'uescHv evening following, at prayer meeting, eigh teen joined society and three or four more found the Lord. There is at tins tune a gracious work among the people. With in one month I suppose not much short of 100 have joined our church. Other church es also seem to be somewhat stirred up. We receive accounts Irom the preachers of revivals and good prospects in almost every direction. Ulessed be God, the latter day glory is hastening on. O let all the child ren of God swell the solemn cry. tk Thy Kingdom come" until the glory of God shall Hll the whole earth." LI I K!{ A HV. FKuai THK POUT ICO. Dela/ihir 7-\. R'/,rjsitory of the Liven and I'o i l / uita of distinguished American h. - Another objection to the writer of the ? Lives" under considera tion, is, that he forestalls the judg ment of rhe reader ? by c< summing up'' the character, before he lias re lated any -of the facts, that enter~ into the composition of that sum . It is not the business of a biogra pher, to sum up characters, but to narrate incidents ; from which every rratierAvrH^brm his owneenclusioro To i,et out with telling the reader, what, if he has any sagacity, he must discover, either argues that consummate degree of vanity, which leads the writer to believe himself the only competent judge ; or, it evinces that want of confi dence in his own skill, which in duces him, like the wretched daub er of a sign, to write on the board, (bis is a white bear , or this is a red lion . And if the painter, or the writer, should unfortunately happen to produce something more like a sheep ) than a bear, his awkwardness is only the more conspicuous, for this open declaration of his inten tion. In the "Life of Dr. Benja min Rush" the discrepance between the design and thb execution , is sin gularly manifest. The writer be - gtnsy by "summing up" the cha racter of this illustrious American, in the following pompous terms ; "Considered in relation to the en tire compass of his character- ? as a practitioner, a teacher, a philoso pher, and a writer, Dr. Ru*h must be acknowledged to have been the most distinguished physician that America has produced." ? " On the medical mind of his country he has left an impress of his intellect which will not be obliterated, perhaps, for the term of hlff a century ? cer tainly nor during the lifetime of many of those who were educated under the light and sway of his lec tures.*' Now, the reader who should take the trouble, to sum up these declarations would very naturally conclude, that it was the writer's intention, to draw the character of a great man ; and he would be con firmed in this opinion, perhaps, if a little while afterwards, lie should meet with the following f< Jn the course of his long continued and extensive practice, there is scarcely a malady to which human nature is liable, that did not fall under his notice and his care. Nor is there reason to believe that he often failed to render whatever of* service and relief the state of the profession was calculated to afford. Bui his high est excellence as a physician lay in bis knowledge and treatment of fe ver. It was in his combats with that form of disea^ey that he man ifested, at once, the strength of a giant and the skill of an adept. Al though it must be acknowledged that he was frequently vanquished in the conflict, the misfortune arose, not jr.m any fault tn bim , but from the imper'ect condition of the art which he practised. "--"What Boer haave was to the school of I.eyden, and Cullen to that of Edinburgh, was he to the medical school of Phi ladelphia." But how will he be dis appointed, to find that this man, who was" an awakening spirit" to the minds, of his pupils; who seldom failed** in his combats" with dis eases, except/row the imperfect con dition cf the art which he practise dj who has left " an impress of his in tellect, on the medical mind of his country, which will not be oblitera ted, perhaps, for the term of half a century " how will the reader be dis appointed, we say, to find, that the doctrines and sentiments of such a man, have descended with him te the grave\ l et tis hear, how this inge nuous manufacturer of characters, makes thiswicu/ distinguished teacher and philosopher that America has produced a mere propagator of ri diculous doctrines and "crude noti ons.*' " His unqualified adoption of many of the crude notions of Dr. Brown led him to mingle a mass of error , by no means inconsiderable , with the salutary truths which (lowed from his lipT. His doctrine of lite, whtch he laboured with patience, and fortified with great ingenuity and address, his theory off ever It was in his combats with ttat f.rm of dis ease, that he manifested, at once, the strength of a giant and the skill of an adept ,") his unity of disease, and his rejection of nosology ? all of tbem the offspring of Brunonian prin ciples ? \'fii not long survive their illustrious author. We might almost have said that they descended with him to_the grave- Nor does a better _ fate await his doctrines respecting the functions and uses of the spleen, rhe liver, and the thyroid gland; to neither of which, indeed, were his eloquence and elevated standing able to give popularity or weight, even amongst his favourite pupils in the university. But, to make amends for this, many of his prctual precepts will be recollected and referred to as canons in medicine , while the human constitution and the nature of the diseases to which it is subject, shall remain unchanged " Now, if we give credit to the judgment of the writer, that " Dr. Rush was the most distinguished physician that America has produ ced/ how are we to believe, that, "as a teacher," his doctrines and sentiments, were full of errour ; and that as " a philosopher," his views were neither original nor just ? that his precepts are to be considered as canons to last forever, while the the ories , upon which those precepts must have been founded, arc coo ab surd to " survive chcir illustrious author Setting aside the absur dity of calling Dr. K u-h the author, and the illustrious author^ too, of* principles, w hich arc ? all of them, the offspring of Dr Brc w,i ; > there Ua vaiiance between- W7?i, the co,^^|IU hU cha dcavoured to reconcile. We have seen \\ hat he was, as " a teacher, and as i( a philosopher " let us now sec, whether, as - a wri ter," he stands any better chance, of i being considered "the most distil guished physician that America ha* produced. " "To the reputation of fine writer, (says this biographical Arithmetician) which belongs not to the province of science but of literature, Dr. Rush had no fretensi on How then, is he so 4< distin guished, " as " a writer "? Is it for the bulk of his writings ; or for the excellence of their matter ? It suiely cannot be for the former, because some physicians of America have written quite as much, or more and as for the latter, the medical theories, contained in his works , " appear to be destined to a premature death;** the metaphysicks and views of mental affections are "among the most un~ satisfactory of the professor's spe culations and the " miscellaneous essays'1 contain sentiments, of which the " pernicious effects have not yet entirely ceased to exist!*' So much for the matter . But not withstanding all these faults, " for nearly three thousand year s past, but few physicians, equal in greatness , have appeared in the world nor is it probable that the number will be materially increased for ages to come. A great physician is as rare a personage as a great monarch Much mo*e rate, it should seem; for, within the last three thousand years, thete have been many great monarchs. "Such was Dr. Rush" ? aud such with very little change of colouring, is the picture of every hero, which the writer has attempted to draw. JThcy are all such men as nature forms but once %in a century ; and yet all these were borne, and flourished in the same age ! Happy, happy country ! 4 4 In other regions whole centuries pass away, and no -such intellectual luminaries appear." It would be tedions to go through the whole of" the Lives, "a* we should only be compelled, to repeat the same terms of disapprobation, upon all. The writer hax not relat ed a single anecdote, of any of the illustrious men, of whom he pro fesses to be the Biographer: nor has he given a single fact, or inci dent, that does not, more proper ly, belong to the province of the Historian. 1 he same ful ome adu lation, the same invincible love of hyperbole, lead him into the same incongruities, in the delineation of all his characters. Fishef Ames was et a statesman and an orator of tr anscetidant abilities" ? if a patriot and legislator of tried integrity" ? t? an advocate and a counsellor of exalted standing" ? c< Cicero him self w?i4 scarce pos>csed of more varied attainments." "There is nut lung very extravagant in all this; and, ih&ugh nature tioca not often /orm such men