Notice of the life and professional services of William R. Grant, M.D : a discourse, at the opening of the lectures in the Medical Department of Pennsylvania College, for the session of 1852-'53 / by Henry S. Patterson.

  • Patterson, Henry S. (Henry Stuart), 1815-1854.
Date:
1852
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Notice of the life and professional services of William R. Grant, M.D : a discourse, at the opening of the lectures in the Medical Department of Pennsylvania College, for the session of 1852-'53 / by Henry S. Patterson. 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.)

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    trustfully held by our deceased friend. The circles of our religious conviction touched in but few points, but in the points where they did coincide, thank God, lay the great central facts of all spiritual truth. Happy for us it is that the sphere of that truth lies beyond that of intellectual speculation, and there may those of the most opposite convictions meet in unity of spirit and in the bonds of faith. In my early studentship my reverence was divided between two of the lights of our pro- fession, now extinguished. The one, Dr. Otto, had been the beloved physician of my family, our revered helper in all times of trouble and distress. The other was my distinguished pre- ceptor, Dr. Parrish. Between these two good men existed a most intimate friendship and daily intercourse, one of the bonds of which was a common admiration of the Imitation of Christ of Thomas a Kempis. Never shall fade from my mind the beautiful spectacle of those venerable forms,—the placid and peaceful Quaker and the rigidly devout Presbyterian,—bending together over the glowing pages of the heavenly-minded Catholic. Never shall I unlearn the lesson of a true and holy Catholicity of spirit, which was thus taught me, and which I have always believed to be one of the best badges of our pro- fession. It is under the influence of this sentiment that I address you now, and entreat you to ponder carefully the teach- ings of that hour that proclaims, in tones more thrillingly con- vincing than the voice of an archangel, that blessed are the dead who die in the Lord. Yea, saith the Spirit, for they rest from their labours, and their works do follow them. May the Master of life grant you that spirit in full measure, filling all your earthly journey with pleasantness, and crowning your last hour with a glory like to that of him whose loss we mourn, though we know it was great gain to him. So may he, whose life was devoted to your service, be made a blessing to you even in his death, and the companion of your joy in the great resurrection ! And now, Gentlemen, I have performed—how inadequately I feel as deeply as any of you can do,—the task assigned me by our Faculty. As a labor of love, receive and regard it and visit it with no severer criticism. If I shall have stirred up