Camden gazette. (Camden, S.C.) 1816-1818, October 31, 1816, Image 1
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
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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