self-add another living witness to refute the calumnious imputation. The names of Haller and Boerhaave, Cheselden and Paré, Sydenham and Stahl, Fotheringham and Hey, Zimmermann and Good, Hope and Abercrombie,1 and a host of others, stand recorded as on the Lord's side; and their fame speaks trumpet-tongued in favour of the profession which their genius advanced, their virtues ennobled, and their piety adorned. Will you rank with them? These are times not of dalliance or delay. A man must take his side. There are but two-the side of "the Lord," and that of his enemies. There is no middle station; for "he that is not with me is against me." Have you taken yours? Think well; the answer may be for eternity. And if, as God grant you shall, you are led to choose "the more excellent way," let me entreat you at once to declare your choice, and let your actions speak your mind. I have no grey hairs, or weight of years, with which to urge my appeal. But I am old enough to tell you that I know this—that public avowal of your resolution to 66 serve the Lord" will tend powerfully and at once to comfort and security. Strange! passing strange! that a man should feel ashamed to confess allegi

1 See Appendix, P.

ance to the God of Heaven, and gratitude to Him who died that we might live! Strange! that it is not remembered, or not believed, that "whosoever shall deny Christ before men, him will He also deny before His Father which is in Heaven!" But, alas, frail and feeble is humanity! and too often the tempter succeeds in extorting from the young disciple a Peter-like denial of his Master. Espouse His cause! and when trial comes, manfully declare that you have done so. The worldling's laugh and the godless sneer may, for a time, prove sharp and galling; but soon they will lose their sting, and ceasing to annoy, they will cease to come. Live scoffing down! And it may be, that in your ordinary life and conversation, you may be unwittingly enacting the part of a successful Medical Missionary at home.

To him who hears, and is both able and willing to obey the call to personal exertion and sacrifice in the great work, on how many topics of comfort and encouragement might we not enlarge! Let him think of the investment he is making of his time, and talents, and knowledge; " lending them to the Lord," who makes sure of an ample return-“ He

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will repay." Banks break, and firms fail; the safer depository gives the less interest; the high return endangers the losing of all. Thus it is with

the treasures of earth; but not so with those of the faithful missionary. Trading as an honest and wise steward, with the talents committed to his care, he lays up "treasure in Heaven," where interest and accumulation are compound and incalculable, and the security is the word of the Eternal.

Let him reflect how many of his brethren go forth to India, in search of mere worldly wealth, toil hard there, and return-successful it may be, but with broken health; to possess, but not to enjoy; not to live in affluence on their gains, but to die and bequeath them to another. Or, losing both gold and health, they suffer double misery and disappointment. "Vanity of vanities" is their cry. And there is a sound in their ears, whose constant echo is as that of the goblin in the minstrel's lay"Lost! Lost!"

Let him think on the crowded and jostled state of the profession at home, where many of his fellows, with hardest labour and most pinched frugality, scarce save themselves from want; where some are driven into other trades; and where some, long steeped in poverty, lose shame and beg. Remembering this, let him rejoice to know that in the path which he has chosen, success is certain, provided he prove faithful to his Lord and Master. Committing himself to Him, and steadfastly engaged in

His work, God is pledged to his support. He becomes surety for his welfare, and makes good his safety both here and hereafter. "He shall dwell on high; his place of defence shall be the munitions of rocks; bread shall be given him; his waters shall be sure."1 He shall stand high in good men's esteem; and his name shall be honoured and revered among the excellent of the earth; he is followed by their prayers; their hearts and their homes are his. On his monumental tablet there may not be, but on the memory of his name there shall be engraven, with far greater truth than on Gottlieb Fichte's obelisk- "THE TEACHERS SHALL SHINE AS THE BRIGHTNESS OF THE FIRMAMENT; AND THEY THAT TURN MANY TO RIGHTEOUSNESS AS THE STARS FOR EVER AND EVER."

Let him think of the brilliant career that opens out before him. How noble! by the simple operation for cataract,2 to "throw open the darkened windows of the soul, and let the sweet light of Heaven into man's otherwise dreary tabernacle!" But how nobler far, to open the spiritual eye, to see the Sun of Righteousness-to behold the Lamb of God. How kind the art, by vaccination, to deposit in man's earthly frame a particle of wondrous

1 Isaiah xxxiii. 16.

2 See Appendix, Q.

power, whereby a loathsome and most fatal plague shall be either altogether averted, or rendered mild and tractable when it comes! But yet how far more kind to be the means of introducing into the inner man a new and vital principle, more powerful and prophylactic still-the new heart, the Gospel's light, the Spirit's grace-whereby the worst of all evils, Sin, shall be shorn of its malignant power-shall be subdued and trampled on, and routed and driven away! How blessed is that skill which cures the ulcerous wound, and mitigates the agonies of fell disease! But how far more blessed to heal the soul's else deadly hurt, and pour the Gospel's sacred wine and oil into the sinner's wounded spirit! How merciful the hand that safely amputates the unsightly mass of morbid and anormal growth, whose very weight is burthensome, whose course is deathward! But what richer mercy far, to help, Bunyan-like, to lift that heavier load, which not only oppresses now, but would crush and sink the bearer into endless misery!1 How grateful is the task to cure the halting cripple, and make him walk and leap again, as if in youth! But how more glorious far, to recall the wanderer's steps from folly, sin, and death; to guide his feet unto the way of peace; to shew

1 See Appendix, R.