8. GEORGE MOIR. "The last end Of the good man is peace. How calm his exit! THIS excellent Scottish Christian was little known in the world; but as his life had been devoted to God, so his death eminently displayed the power of the Gospel and the triumph of faith over the last enemy. After having been long worn by painful illness, his wife told him that the change of his countenance indicated the speedy approach of death. "Does it?" he asked. "Bring me a glass." On looking at himself, he was struck with the dying appearance which he saw in his face; but giving the glass back, he said, with a calm satisfaction, "Ah, death has set his mark on my body, but Christ has set his mark on my soul." 9. JOHN HOLLAND. “Leaving the old, both worlds at once they view, Who stand upon the threshold of the new."-WALLER. THE striking account of the death of this excellent person is most of the information that now remains respecting him. The day before he died he called for his Bible, saying, "Come, O come! death approaches; let us gather some flowers to comfort this hour!" He then turned to the eighth chapter of Romans, which he desired a person in the room to read; and at the end of every verse commented upon it in a manner suited to promote his own comfort, and which excited the joy and wonder of his friends. He continued this sacred employment for as much as two hours, when, on a sudden, he said, "O stay your reading. What brightness is this I see? Have you lighted up any candles ?" To which Mr. Leigh, who had been reading, answered, "No; it is the sunshine." Sunshine?" said he; "nay, my Saviour's shine. Now, farewell, world; welcome, heaven. The Day-star from on high hath visited my heart. O speak it when I am gone, and preach it at my funeral, God dealeth familiarly with man! I feel his mercy; I see his majesty: whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell,-God knoweth; but I see things that are unutterable." He continued for some time speaking with a cheerful look, and a soft, sweet voice, though his friends could not understand what he spoke. At last, shrinking down, he sighed, and said, “Ah, yet it will not be. My sins keep me from my God." Not long, however, was he denied the happiness he sought. On the following morning he closed his life with these words upon his lips :-"O what a happy change shall I make! From death to life! from sorrow to solace! from a factious world to a heavenly being! O, my dear brethren, sisters, and friends, it pitieth me to leave you behind. Yet remember my death when I am gone; and what I now feel, I hope you shall find ere you die, that God doth, and will deal familiarly with men. And now, thou fiery chariot, that camest down to fetch up Elijah, carry me to my happy hold! And all ye blessed angels, who attended the soul of Lazarus to heaven, bear me, O bear me into the bosom of my best Beloved! Amen, amen! Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly!" 10. BOERHAAVE. HERMAN BOERHAAVE, one of the greatest physicians, and best of men, was born in Holland, in the year 1668. This illustrious person, whose name has been spread throughout the world, and who left, at his death, above two hundred thousand pounds sterling, was, at his first setting out in life, obliged to teach the mathematics to obtain a necessary support. His abilities, industry, and great merit, soon gained him friends, placed him in easy circumstances, and enabled him to be bountiful to others. As soon as he rose in the morning, it was, through life, his daily practice to retire for an hour for private prayer and meditation. This, he often told his friends, gave him spirit and vigour in the business of the day; and this he therefore commended as the best rule of life: for nothing, he knew, can support the soul in all distresses but confidence in the supreme Being; nor can a steady and rational magnanimity flow from any other source than a consciousness of the Divine favour. He asserted, on all occasions, the Divine authority of the Holy Scriptures. The excellency of the Christian religion was the frequent subject of his conversation. A strict obedience to the doctrine, and a diligent imitation of the example, of our blessed Saviour, he often declared to be the foundation of true tranquillity. He was liberal to the distressed, but without ostentation. He often obliged his friends in such a manner that they knew not, unless by accident, to whom they were indebted. He was condescending to all, and particularly attentive in his profession. He used to say, that the life of a patient, if trifled with or neglected, would one day be required at the hand of the physician. He called the poor his best patients; for God, said he, is their paymaster. In conversation, he was cheerful and instructive, and desirous of promoting every valuable end of social intercourse. He never regarded calumny and detraction, (for Boerhaave himself had enemies ;) nor ever thought it necessary to confute them. "They are sparks," said he, "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." About the middle of the year 1737 he felt the first approaches of that lingering disorder which at length brought him to the grave. During this afflictive illness his constancy and firmness did not forsake him. He neither intermitted the necessary cares of life nor forgot the proper preparations for death. He related to a friend, with great concern, that once his patience so far gave way to extremity of pain that, after having lain fifteen hours in exquisite tortures, he prayed to God that he might be set free by death. His friend, by way of consolation, answered, that he thought such wishes, when forced by continued and excessive torments, unavoidable in the present state of human nature; that the best men, even Job himself, were not able to refrain from such starts of impatience. This he did not deny, but said, "He that loves God ought to think nothing desirable but what is most pleasing to the Supreme Goodness." Such were his sentiments, and such his conduct, in this state of weakness and pain. As death advanced nearer, he was so far from terror or confusion, that he seemed even less sensible of pain, and more cheerful under his torments. He died, much honoured and lamented, in the seventieth year of his age. 11. SIR MATTHEW HALE. SIR MATTHEW HALE, lord chief-justice of England, was born in Gloucestershire, in the year 1609. Before he was six years old he lost both his parents; but, by the care of a judicious guardian, great attention was paid to his education. When he had completed his studies at Oxford he quitted the university, with an intention of going into the army; but, on the persuasion of Sergeant Glanvill, he entered at Lincoln's Inn, and with great vigour, and almost unexampled application, bent his mind to the studies of his profession. In early life he was fond of company, and fell into many levities and extravagancies. But this propensity and conduct were corrected by a circumstance that made a considerable impression on his mind during the rest of his life. Being one day in company with other young men, one of the party, through excess of wine, fell down apparently dead at their feet. Young Hale was so affected on this occasion that he immediately retired to another room, and, shutting the door, fell on his knees, and prayed earnestly to God that his friend might be restored to life, and that he himself might be pardoned for having given countenance to so much excess. At the same time, he made a solemn vow that he would never again keep company in that manner, nor "drink a health" while he lived. His friend recovered, and Hale religiously observed his vow. After this event there was an entire change in his disposition: he forsook all dissipated company, and was careful to divide his time between the duties of religion and the studies of his profession. He became remarkable for a grave and exemplary deportment, great moderation of temper, and a religious tenderness of spirit; and these |