'Another day and another month succeed', he
wrote on May 31st. 'May God keep my mind and heart fixed on Him,
and cleanse me from all sin. I would wish to keep a watch over my
tongue, as to vehement speaking and censuring of others...I would
desire to remember my latter end to which I am approaching... May
God keep me in the hour of death, through Jesus Christ; and
preserve me from every fear, as well as from presumption.' On
June 2nd he wrote, 'Again the day is over and I am going to rest.
Oh Lord, preserve me this night, and strengthen me to bear
whatever Thou shalt see fit to lay on me, whether pain, sickness,
danger, or distress.' On Sunday, June 5th, the reading of the
newspaper aroused 'painful and solemn' reflections... 'So much of
sin and so much of suffering in the world, as are there
displayed, and no one seems able to remedy either. And then the
thought of my own private life, so full of comforts, is very
startling.' He was puzzled; but he concluded with a prayer: 'May
I be kept humble and zealous, and may God give me grace to labour
in my generation for the good of my brethren and for His Glory!'
The end of the term was approaching, and to all appearance the
Doctor was in excellent spirits. On June 11th, after a hard day's
work, he spent the evening with a friend in the discussion of
various topics upon which he often touched in his conversation
the comparison of the art of medicine in barbarous and civilised
ages, the philological importance of provincial vocabularies, and
the threatening prospect of the moral condition of the United
States.
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