Funeral oration : delivered before the citizens of Boston assembled at the Old South Church, Nov. XVII. at the burial of Gaspar Spurzheim ... / by Charles Follen.

  • Follen, Charles, 1796-1840.
Date:
1832
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Funeral oration : delivered before the citizens of Boston assembled at the Old South Church, Nov. XVII. at the burial of Gaspar Spurzheim ... / by Charles Follen. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

    24/34
    Religion, he thought, must be the result of the freest and most exalted use of our reason. To those who would exclude reason from the dominion of religion, he said, ' Reason is the noble gift by which the Creator has distinguished man from all other animated things. God, who is all wisdom and all reason, could never create man in his own likeness, as it is said he did, and then forbid the employment of the very fac- ulties which must form a principal feature in the resem- blance.' 1 cannot refrain here from quoting a passage from a manu- script, to which, on any other occasion than this, I should not feel authorised to recur. It is a letter from an aged lady, now residing in Paris, an old and faithful friend of Dr. Spurzheim, which he received a few days before his death. What she writes in confidence to her absent friend, will best show the opinion of those who stood nearest to him, concerning his re- ligious character. Speaking of the poor emigrants who came over in the same vessel, she says, ' That you, my dear friend, have rendered yourself on board the vessel so useful by your talent as a phy- sician, ought to reconcile you to the medical science. Ma- ny of these poor men would perhaps have perished without your aid; and the fact that all were saved, is for you no small blessing.' She then goes on expressing her compassion for the situation of the poor emigrants, and only wishes that their souls might have been ministered to by pious and enlightened preachers of the gospel, as their bodies were, by his watchful care. ' You, my friend, who are so well acquainted with Holy Writ, must confess, that by not receiving the divine word, many men have been made wretched.' While Dr. Spurzheim resided in Boston, he spent his time chiefly in preparing and delivering his lectures, and in visiting our public institutions, our hospitals, prisons, house of indus- try, churches, and schools. He was also present at the public exhibitions of our university, and showed a hearty interest in every effort at improvement, in individuals and in the commu-