years his range of practice was narrowly circumscribed, and it appears that nearly ten years elapsed before the regular emoluments arising from his practice were equal to the expenses of his family. Little did his friends anticipate at that time the reputation he afterwards acquired, and the long career of successful exertion which was allotted to him.

One circumstance which, strange to say, operated powerfully against Mr Hey's early success in business was his decided religious character and connections. In the course of his apprenticeship, as already noticed, he had become a member of the Wesleyan Methodist body, and he still remained in the same communion. In some of the opinions of that denomination of professing Christians he was far from coinciding, but the points of difference he did not consider of vital importance. He admired their general doctrine and discipline, and therefore, even though to his worldly disadvantage, he persevered in holding fellowship and communion with them.

great mass of that large and influential body of profess- | to commence business on his own footing. For a few ing Christians, he still felt a conscientious attachment to the Church of England. He continued his attendance on evening prayers at the parish church, and often, in the subsequent part of his life, he reverted with pleasure to the advantage which he had derived from these services. "I often," said he, "look at the place where I was accustomed to sit, with great pleasure, and never can forget the happy moments I then enjoyed. The winter season was peculiarly pleasant to me; as the solemn gloom, which seemed rather increased by the few candles then lighted, tended to sober the mind, and excited a peculiar feeling not unfriendly to devotion. I was always sure of hearing two good sermons, one from a prophet, and another from an evangelist; consequently I never came empty away.' This last remark refers to the lessons read from the Old and New Testaments. In the family of Mr Dawson, he conducted himself with the strictest propriety; the only fault, indeed, which they imputed to him, was that of being " righteous overmuch." On this point Mrs Dawson took occasion to remonstrate with him, and an opportunity being thus afforded of explaining his views of divine truth, the young man laid before her, from time to time, the doctrines of Scripture. He read to her also, occasionally, the writings of pious men; but more particularly, the invaluable work of Dr Doddridge, "The Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul." The result of these conversations was, that the young apprentice was made the honoured instrument of leading Mrs Dawson's mind to a right impression of the Gospel, and throughout life she maintained a consistent Christian walk and conversation.

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"Our

Not more than two years had passed after his settlement as a surgeon at Leeds, when Mr Hey married Miss Alice Banks, the second of four daughters of Mr Robert Banks, a gentleman of Craven in Yorkshire. He now established the regular worship of God in his family, morning and evening, at which the whole household were expected to be present. On Sabbath evening he adopted the custom of expounding part of a chapter in the Bible, or explaining some portion of the service in the Book of Common Prayer, or reading a plain practical sermon to his family. He was regular and exemplary in his attendance on public worship, and that he Having finished his apprenticeship with the appro- might have it in his power to be so, he always saw as bation of his master, and with credit to himself, he went many of his patients as possible on the Saturday; and to London, in the autumn of 1757, to complete his pro- as they knew his principles and habits, they did not fessional education. To most young men, such a tran- expect to see him, except in cases of necessity, on the sition would have been dangerous. The fascinating Sabbath. Much of his time on the Lord's day was spent allurements, the gay frivolities of the metropolis, would in private devotional exercises; and besides instructing have withdrawn them from their studies, and thrown his family and servants in divine things, he paid great them into habits of idleness and dissipation. No such attention to the children of the Sunday Schools. As evil influence, however, was produced on Mr Hey's mind. an illustration of Mr Hey's views on the importance of The piety and prayers of the domestic circle in which Sabbath observance, we may quote a passage from the he had been reared, had left upon his heart an impres- published memoir by his friend Mr Pearson. sion which was never effaced. In London, therefore, dear friend, Mr Hey, had a peculiar reverence and as in Leeds, he was active in acquiring such knowledge love for the Sabbath. It was his opinion, that the as would be useful to him in after years. "I would manner in which a person habitually employed the hours spare no pains," he says in a letter to his parents, "to of the Lord's day, would afford no unfair criterion of qualify myself for that state of life to which the Provi- his religious state and character. He observed, that dence of God has called me, and then trust Him with parents ought to let their children see, in their whole the success of my endeavours." The consistency of deportment, that their own minds were deeply impresshis Christian character, often exposed him to the ridi- ed with the sacredness of the Sabbath day. No worldcule of his fellow-students; but by the uniform kind-ly, trifling, or unprofitable conversation, should be alness of his disposition, and the decided superiority of lowed, much less encouraged; but the day should be his talents and information, he speedily succeeded in begun, carried on, and concluded, with a holy cheerfuldisarming their hostility, and they treated him with the ness. He mentioned the great importance and advanutmost attention and respect. tage of parental instruction on this day; and the impressions which had been made on his own mind, at an early period, by the admonitions given by his father, who was scrupulously exact in his observance of the Lord's day; through whose example and conversation on divine subjects he had derived, under the blessing of God, much of his reverence for the Sabbath in the subsequent course of his life. He pursued a similar method with his own children; and the excellency of the fruits produced by it, prove how abundantly the divine blessing descended upon his pious labours."

During his stay in London, he was indefatigable in the prosecution of his studies. The Sabbath he sacredly devoted to the service of God, usually attending divine service three times, and devoting the intervals to private reading, meditation, and prayer. "He has been often heard to say, that his Sabbaths were the happiest of his days, during his residence in London, and that the complete suspending of all his secular pursuits, prepared him to resume his studies with renewed ardour and alacrity."

Having completed his medical education in London, Mr Hey's father proposed to him that he should spend a short time in Paris. This, however, he declined, and accordingly returned to Leeds to commence the exercise of his profession. Mr Dawson, who had learned to appreciate his talents and piety, kindly offered to receive him as a partner; but after much deliberation, he resolved, chiefly in deference to the opinion of his parents,

the principal physicians and surgeons of the town, a medical society for the discussion of professional subjects, and the purchase of medical books. This society laid the foundation of an excellent professional library, which still exists in connection with the Infirmary at Leeds.

listened with patient attention during the discussion of the first and second heads, which related, chiefly, to the importance of the Established Church, and the original principles of the Methodists: but when Mr Hey was proceeding to shew how they had departed from those principles, some indications of uneasiness appeared among the preachers, and Mr Wesley remark. ed, that as there was much other business before them, Brother Hey must defer reading the remainder of his paper to another opportunity;' this opportunity, how. ever, never arrived; hence Mr Hey was accustomed to say, that he did not leave the Methodists-they let him.'

About this time, a Philosophical and Literary Society was formed at Leeds, of which Mr Hey was elected president, and at its meetings he appears to have read various papers, chiefly on scientific and medical subjects. He drew up also some pieces which were honoured with a place in the transactions of the Royal Society of London, and he was an occasional contributor to the memoirs of the Literary and Philosophical Society of Manchester.

About this time a friendly intercourse commenced between Mr Hey and the celebrated Dr Priestley, which continued for many years. This intimacy originated in their common taste for chemical pursuits, and such was the high opinion which Dr Priestley formed of Mr Hey's acquirements both as a professional man and a philosopher, that he suggested his admission into the Royal Society of London, an honour which was accordingly conferred on him in the year 1775. Though thus connected by a kindred love of science, these two gentlemen were far from agreeing in their sentiments on matters of religion. Dr Priestley, it is well known, was an avowed Socinian, and with the view of propagating his peculiar opinions, he published and circulated small tracts, plausibly and insidiously written, on the various doctrines of Christianity. Mr Hey was deeply impressed with the importance of those doctrines which his friend was labour- Such was the high personal as well as professional ing to overthrow, and being dissatisfied with the replies character of Mr Hey, that his fellow-townsmen, anxious which had been published, he wrote a small tract in de- to shew him all respect, proposed to elect him alderman fence of the divinity of Christ, and another in defence of the borough of Leeds. As the pressing nature of his of the atonement. Both these tracts, but more espe- now extensive practice as a surgeon could scarcely adcially the former, obtained an extensive circulation, and mit of his acceptance of such an office, without some proved a most effectual antidote to the pernicious pub-relief from his professional duties, he wished to be exlications of the great advocate of Socinianism and infidelity.

Though at the outset of his professional career Mr Hey had to encounter many difficulties, he succeeded at length in establishing himself in a very large and lucrative practice. His reputation rose high as an operating surgeon, and persons came from remote parts of Yorkshire to Leeds, that they might be under his immediate care. While thus advancing in public estimation as a skilful and successful practitioner, he was disabled from all active exertions by a severe accident which rendered him for a time completely lame; and although he partially recovered the use of the affected limb, the effects were apparent during the remaining years of his life. A dispensation of this nature, occurring at a period when the demands for his professional aid had become so numerous and pressing, could not fail to be felt peculiarly severe, and more especially as his family had become so large as to call for increased exertions on his part. Yet in these circumstances his patience and resignation were remarkably conspicuous. To a friend he once remarked, "If it be the will of God that I should be confined to my sofa, and he commanded me to pick straws during the remainder of my life, I hope I should feel no repugnance to his good pleasure.

Mr Hey's recovery from lameness appearing remote and uncertain, he went to London in the spring of 1778, and consulted some of the most eminent surgeons of the metropolis. By their advice he proceeded to Bath, where he remained for a considerable time, and returned to Leeds, after an absence of four months, in good health, but little improved in the power of using the injured limb. Being thus incapacitated from walking, he occasionally rode on horseback, but he was obliged to pay the greater part of his professional visits in a carriage.

In the year 1781, Mr Hey made a public separation from the Methodist connection. The mode in which he conducted the matter was frank, open, and candid. It is thus stated by Mr Pearson: "He intimated to Mr Wesley his desire of addressing the Conference, and offering some suggestions and advice to them; declaring, at the same time, that if they rejected his proposals, he could no longer remain a member of the Methodist Society. Mr Wesley granted him permission to read his paper in full Conference; they

cused from undertaking the office until his eldest son Richard, then a student in London, should have conpleted his medical education. This request was readily granted. Mr Richard Hey returned to his native town, well qualified, professionally, to assist his father, who was forthwith elected to the office of mayor. Within a few months, however, this son was seized with a rapid consumption, which proceeded so insidiously, that the day was fixed and the usual preparations made for his marriage, before danger was apprehended, and to the grief of his parents and all his friends, he was cut of in the twenty-fifth year of his age.

This was the first of those numerous domestic bereavements to which, by the inscrutable arrangements of Providence, Mr Hey was subjected. Richard was succeeded in his medical practice by his brother William, but he had scarcely assisted his father two years, when, in consequence of having sprained his ancle severely, be was rendered so lame that for four years and a-half be could not walk without the assistance of crutches. His father, however, placed him under the care of an eminent surgeon at Oxford, by whose mode of treatment the lameness was effectually cured. In less than five years after the death of his oldest son, Mr Hey's third daugh ter, Alice, also died of an affection of the lungs. During her illness the good man thus wrote to his son Williams, then in London: "My fond wishes would fain see amendment in your sister's health; but her remova hence will only be the speedier possession of eternal glory. I would rather bury all my children than see them departing from the way of truth and righteous though in the highest prosperity."

ness,

Mr Hey was always desirous of improving every of portunity to impress his family with the unspeakable importance of vital religion. Thus, on the marriage of his second daughter, Margaret, in the year 1797, to the Rev. Robert Jarratt, vicar of Wellington, Somersetshire, his children all met together at his house in Leeds, and the following account is given by one who w present: "On seeing so numerous a family around him, his mind was forcibly struck with the idea, (which indeed proved to be well-founded,) that he should never meet again this large party within his own domestic cirde. He had then attained his sixtieth year, and therefore deemed it a suitable opportunity of giving them such advice as might tend to regulate their conduct through

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It were well if, in the medical profession, many individuals such as Mr Hey could be found. In visiting the sick, how many precious opportunities might they, above all other men, have, of imparting spiritual instruction, and that too at a time when the mind is more susceptible of religious impressions. Thus might the prudent and pious physician be the means of saving the soul, as well as of relieving the diseases of the body.

SCRIPTURAL RESEARCHES.

No. VI.

MEMORIALS OF IMMORTALITY.

BY THE REV. JAMES ESDAILE,
Minister of the East Church, Perth.

1 life, and to impress upon the minds of the younger branches the importance of remembering their Creator in the days of their youth.' He collected them together in his parlour on Sunday evening, and addressed them in a manner peculiarly solemn and affecting. He prefaced his discourse, by requesting them to consider what he was about to say as his dying address to them." At this time Mr Hey's two sons, John and Robert, were prosecuting their studies at Cambridge, with a view to the Church; but while yet in the bloom of youth, they were cut down, under the influence of the same disease which had already committed such ravages in the family. These were severe trials of the faith and patience of the pious and affectionate parent. But he did not sink into dejection under the mournful visitations. No: he was wont to say on such occasions, that his ultimate end respecting his children was answered, inasmuch as he had trained them up to become Is the doctrine of the immortality of the soul taught in inhabitants of that kingdom into which, he trusted, the Old Testament Scriptures? No; nor in the New they had been mercifully received. As a striking Testament either, except in connection with the resurproof that Mr Hey could rise in faith above all the try-rection of the body. We have every evidence that ing vicissitudes of this mortal scene, it may be men- reason can supply, to satisfy us that the soul does not Itioned, that he caused to be inscribed on the grave-stone consist of any combination of matter. We cannot of John, these emphatic words, "O death! where is ascribe to it weight, divisibility, hardness or softness, or thy sting?" and on that of Robert, "O grave! where any other attribute of matter, and, therefore, we term is thy victory?" it a spiritual substance; yet, at the same time, we can scarcely conceive of its existing, and exercising its functions, except in a material receptacle. All its feelings and perceptions are conveyed to it, and manifested by it, through the instrumentality of bodily organs; and all that we hear in the mythology of the heathen, or in the superstition of the vulgar, about the shades of the dead, and the ghosts of the departed, exhibits only a clumsy attempt to invest the soul with a kind of impalpable body, whilst, at the same time, it indicates a belief, that it must occupy a sensible and perceptible tenement of one kind or other.

Amid these accumulated sorrows, Mr Hey continued to discharge his professional duties with uninterrupted activity and zeal. In the spring of 1800, he gave a course of anatomical demonstrations, consisting of twelve lectures, at the Leeds Infirmary, and to that institution the profits were allotted. A second course he delivered in 1803, and a third in 1805. In this latter year, however, Mr Hey was called to endure a trial more poignant than any with which he had yet been visited the death of his daughter-in-law, Mrs William Hey. She had been married about nine years, was the mother of five children, and was adorned with all the graces which could endear her to her family and friends. For this amiable woman Mr Hey had a strong attachment, and her death inflicted a painful wound upon his oft lacerated heart. He had become familiar with bereavements, but this was the severest stroke of all, and he mourned with a deeper intensity of grief than he had ever mourned before.

Mr Hey was now far advanced in years, and the repeated ravages which death had made in his family, tended, no doubt, to hasten on the infirmities of age; but, assisted by his son William, he continued to visit his patients with the utmost regularity, and, in 1809, he gave a fourth course of anatomical demonstrations. It was not until he had completed his seventysixth year that he resigned his office of surgeon to the Leeds Infirmary, when he had the happiness of seeing his son immediately appointed his successor. He still, however, took a lively interest in all that affected the welfare of the institution.

The visitations of death in the family of Mr Hey were not yet ended. In August 1816, he lost his daughter, Mrs Jarratt, who died, from consumption, at Wellington, leaving an afflicted husband and six children, some of them in infancy. In all the domestic afflictions which were allotted to Mr Hey in rapid and painful succession, he bowed with meek submission to the will of Him who doeth all things wisely and well. A few months after Mrs Jarratt's death, he himself was laid on a bed of sickness, and though it pleased the Almighty to restore him to health and usefulness, yet he never recovered perfectly from the injury which his constitution sustained. Sometimes he would say, "I have that about me which will carry me to my grave. And soon was his prediction verified. In the spring of 1819 he was cut off in less than a fortnight's illness. Calm tranquillity and composure characterised his dying moments. He had lived in righteousness; he died in peace.

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It is my intention to throw together a few hints, as contributions towards a history of immortality, in the form in which it is received by Christians, as connected with the resurrection of the body; to show that this is the earliest form in which it was taught, and in which it continued to be held, by those who had the benefit of divine revelation, till it was demonstrated to all the world by Christ's resurrection from the dead.

When Adam came first from the hand of God, it was impossible for him even to form a conception of death. The living soul which was breathed into him by the Almighty, possessed inherent immortality; and when God intimated that death might be incurred by disobedience, it could only be considered as applying to the bodily frame, which had been reared out of the dust of the earth, into which it was again resolvable, or to the dislodgement of the soul from the fair and commodious tenement which had been assigned to it, he could not suppose it possible that the soul itself could die. If there could be any excuse for disobedience to a positive command of God, the alleviation might be found in this, that Adam could not possibly understand the nature of the penalty which was denounced, having never witnessed death, nor felt any of those infirmities which teach men to fear and anticipate dissolution; much less could he apprehend the extinction of that spiritual principle which had been imparted to him by the undying Spirit of God. Nay, though the death of the body is now as certain to every man as the setting of the sun, yet we may reasonably doubt whether the greatest profligates, whose highest wish it must be that the sou! should be utterly annihilated, have ever been able to entertain even a hope that their souls shall cease to live. Adam, then, could only consider the death that was threatened as the penalty of disobedience, as applicable to his bodily frame. He knew that the soul could never die, except, figuratively, in being separated from God. Accordingly, when the sentence was pronounced, it af

fected the immortality of the body alone. "Dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt return," was an announcement that could affect only the corporeal structure; hence all the promises of restoration refer to the resurrection of the body, and its reunion with the immortal spirit.

To cheer man under the miseries of the fall, a promise was given, that the "seed of the woman should bruise the head of the serpent." To understand what this implies, we must remember that the evil which the serpent introduced was sin and death; and the promise evidently amounted to this, that one born of woman should destroy these works of the devil, and bring life and immortality to light. The full import of this promise the fallen pair could not comprehend; but they could not fail to know that it was a promise of mercy, of reparation, and restitution, given to support them under the misery which they themselves had produced --a promise which refreshed the souls of believers during the lapse of four thousand years, and which was at last completely fulfilled, when Jesus of Nazareth, born of a woman, and made under the law, triumphed over the temptations and power of the devil, demonstrating that he was the Lord of life, by his resurrection from the dead, and giving power to his disciples to cast out devils, and "to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy.'

resurrection of Christ took place expressly for the pur. pose of establishing this important truth, for "Christ is risen from the dead, and become the first fruits of them that slept;" 1 Cor. xv. 20; and "If we believe that Jesus died, and rose again, even so them also whe sleep in Jesus will God bring with him." 1 Thess. iv. 14.

This is proof positive; and is attested by such evidence as cannot be adduced in support of any historical fact of ancient times, relating to the ordinary events of the world. There is a cloud of witnesses, who had every opportunity of knowing the truth, and no induce ment to tell a falsehood; their own doctrine excluded the chance of worldly applause or worldly profit, for they preached temperance and self-denial, the mortifica tion of pride, and the subjugation of the feelings to a strict and inflexible rule, opposed to all the prejudices and leading propensities of human nature. There is no possibility of resisting their testimony, except on the supposition that they were wild enthusiasts. I stop not to combat this opinion, but merely to say, that were it well founded, it would be all in favour of their veracity; for an enthusiast is always an honest man; he may be wrong in matters of opinion, but he is a competent witness in matters of fact, for it is his im gination that is affected, and not his senses; and the wisdom of God has so ordered it, that every doctrine of our holy religion is established by facts attested by numerous and competent eye-witnesses, who sealed their testimony with their blood. Shall small critics, then, and petty unbelievers in modern times, presunt to impugn an evidence to which the wisdom of Greece and the power of Rome were forced to succumb, whet they were in the very height of their splendour, when they had ample opportunities of investigating every fact, and were at last compelled, in spite of all their prejudices, to adopt a doctrine which subverted the re ligion of their fathers, and desecrated those splendid monuments of art and genius which had been dedicated to the worship of false gods!

We may be certain, then, that all the righteous who lived during the ante-diluvian period, believed in the resurrection of the body. How was it possible that any one could have the spiritual feelings of Enoch, implied in the expression that "he walked with God," and not have the conviction of a spiritual and immortal life? These feelings are not the ordinary produce of human nature. "That which is born of the flesh is flesh," and, without an extraordinary influence, will never look beyond the gratifications of the body, whilst "that which is born of the spirit is spirit," and must be conscious of a spiritual origin; being "born of incorruptible seed," it must have the witness within itself, that it is as immortal as the eternal source from which it flows, and But it is not my intention to dwell, at present, o that it cannot be affected by the vicissitudes of the the decisive argument for the immortality of the soul, world, or by the dissolution of the body. The natural and the resurrection of the body, furnished by the deman may think the apostle advances an assertion incap-monstrated resurrection of Christ; my object is rather able of proof, when he says, "If the spirit of him who to show the antiquity of the doctrine, and its universal raised Christ from the dead dwell in you, he will quick-reception among those who believed in the law and the en your mortal bodies, by his spirit dwelling in you." prophets. Our Lord preached no new doctrine whe The spiritual man feels that this does not need a proof | he declared the resurrection of the body. It was un -it appears to him of the nature of a self-evident pro-versally received by the Scribes and Pharisees, and by position. But the history of Enoch presents to our view another doctrine, never separated in Scripture from the doctrine of the soul's immortality, viz., the immortality, and, in the case of all who die, the resurrection of the body, for, when he was taken up into heaven in the same body in which he had lived on earth, it afforded a demonstration of that essential doctrine of Christianity, that men in the world to come, shall receive in the body the punishment or reward of the deeds done in the body in the present world. The same fact is proved in the case of Elias, who was taken up into heaven without tasting death, and by the resurrection of our Lord from the dead, and his ascension into heaven in the same body which had been nailed to the cross, pierced with a spear, and confined three days in the tomb.

Here, then, we have three illustrious instances, in the cases of Enoch before the flood, of Elias under the law, and of Jesus, the head of the Gospel dispensation, to satisfy the righteous of the emancipation of their bodies from the power of death, and of the complete discomfiture of the arts of the devil. The two former instances may be considered as peculiar marks of favour to eminent prophets, and a doubt might be entertained whether all the dead who die in the Lord will have

the same privilege of being exalted to glory. But the

all classes among the Jews, except the Sadducees, whe were professed sceptics, and denied the reality of the resurrection, and the existence of angels and spirits. Acts xxiii. 8. Hence the Apostle Paul bears testimety to the general faith of the Jews in the doctrine of the resurrection; and in his pleading before Felix he says, "I have hope toward God, which they themselves as allow, that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust." Warburton, and some few who have followed his eccentric opinions, maintain that the doctrine of a resurrection only began to prev among the Jews during the period of the later prephets, and deny that there is any allusion to it, or to a future state, in the books of Moses. It must be ad mitted that allusions to these important doctrines are scantily sprinkled throughout the Old Testament Ser tures. The reason obviously is, that among the right eous and holy men, who lived under the Old Testame dispensation, the knowledge of a future life was not so much the result of doctrinal teaching, as of pious and spiritual feeling. Their religion was felt in their hearts, and manifested in their lives, rather than lodged is their heads, or arranged in general propositions, to be contemplated and discussed at leisure. It is only when the power of godliness ceases to influence the hears, and the pleasures of the present life take an undue heal