an undiluted gospel. In pronouncing sentence upon a murderer to the penalty of death, he would at the same time commend to him the redemption purchased for us through the atoning blood of Christ."

Mr. Rumsey married, in 1841, Jane E., daughter of Anthony Brown, of Ogdensburg, who, with a son and two daughters survived him. The son, William, succeeded him as Justice of the Supreme Court.

BENJAMIN RUSH.

SIGNER OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE, 1776.*

BENJAMIN RUSH was born in the township of Byberry, about fourteen miles from Philadelphia, December 24, 1745; died at Philadelphia, April 19, 1813.

He was early sent to the academy of his uncle, Rev. Samuel Finley, situated at Nottingham, Md. The inhabitants of the place were plain farmers, " remarkable for their simplicity, industry, morality and religion." In almost every dwelling the Word of God was read, and family prayer was offered. The learned instructor at this academy, Mr. Finley, who subsequently became president of Princeton College, maintained an interest in the religious welfare of his pupils, and "trained them for both worlds."

Under these healthful influences, young Rush prepared for college, graduating at Princeton in 1760. He studied medicine. under the care of Drs. Redman and Shippen; in 1766 went to Edinburgh for further study, receiving the degree of M. D. at the university in that city in 1768. The following winter he spent in London; returned to Philadelphia in 1769; commenced practice, and was soon elected professor of chemistry in the Philadelphia Medical College.

He was a Delegate to the Continental Congress in 1776 and 1777; was a Signer of the Declaration of Independence, was a member of the convention called to ratify the Federal Constitution, and subsequently held the post of Cashier of the United States Mint.

Between the 8th and 15th of September, 1793, while the yellow * Thacher's "Medical Biography," v. 2; "Volume of Essays," Philadelphia, 1798.

fever was raging, Dr. Rush visited and prescribed for more than a hundred patients a day. While at his meals, his house was filled with patients, chiefly the poor, waiting for advice. To assist him, three of his pupils, Stall, Fisher and Cox, became members of his family. He employed every moment in the intervals of his visits to the sick, in prescribing in his house for the poor, or in sending answers to messages from his patients. His sister counted forty-seven applicants for medical aid turned off in one forenoon before eleven o'clock. In riding through the streets he was often forced to resist the entreaties of parents imploring a visit to their children, or of children to their parents. While thus overwhelmed with business, and his own life endangered, he received letters from his friends in the country pressing him to leave the city. To one of these letters he replied, that he had resolved to stick to his practice and his patients, to the last extremity.

"Piety to God, was an eminent trait in the character of Dr. Rush. It was his practice to close the day by reading to his collected family a chapter in the Bible, and addressing his Maker in prayer. His published writings bear testimony to his Christian virtues and in a manuscript letter, written a short time previous to his last illness, he asserts, that he had acquired and received nothing from the world which he so highly prized, as the religious principles he received from his parents."

The following are among the publications of Dr. Rush:

"Inquiry into the Effects of Ardent Spirits upon the Human Body and Mind," eighth edition issued in 1814. One thousand copies presented by the author to the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church for gratuitous distribution.

"Observations upon the Influence of the Habitual Use of Tobacco, upon Health, Morals, and Property."

"The Latin and Greek Languages, as a Branch of Liberal Education; with Hints of a Plan of Liberal Instruction without them."

Gospel of every Denomi

"A Defence of the Bible as a School Book." "An Address to the Ministers of the nation in the United States, upon Morals."

Subjects Interesting to

"Medical Inquiries and Observations"; four volumes, 8vo. Fourth edition published in Philadelphia, 1815.

In 1808, Mr. Rush engaged with Robert Ralston in forming a Bible Society in Philadelphia, and wrote its Constitution.

In his "Defence of the Use of the Bible as a School Book," Mr. Rush assumes :

"That the Bible contains more knowledge necessary to man in his present state than any other book in the world: that knowledge is most durable, and religious instruction most useful, when imparted in early life: that the Bible, when not read in schools, is seldom read in any subsequent period of life."

Mr. Rush continues:

"The memory is the first faculty which opens in the minds of children. Of how much consequence must it be to impress it with the great truths of Christianity before it is preoccupied with less interesting subjects! As all the liquors which are poured into a cup generally taste of that which first filled it, so all the knowledge, which is added to that which is treasured up in the memory from the Bible generally, receives an agreeable and useful tincture from it."

"There is an aptitude in the minds of children for religious knowledge. I have constantly found them in the first six or seven years of their lives, more inquisitive upon religious subjects than upon any others; and an ingenious instructor of youth has informed me, that he has found young children more capable of receiving just ideas upon the most difficult tenets of religion than upon the most simple branches of human knowledge."

"There is a wonderful property in the memory which enables it in old age to recover the knowledge it had acquired in early life, after it had been apparently forgotten for forty or fifty years. Of how much consequence must it be to fill the mind with that species of knowledge in childhood and youth, which, when recalled in the decline of life, will support the soul. . . . ."

"They have the same advantage over those persons who have only heard the Scriptures read by a master, that a man who has worked with tools has over the man who has only stood a few hours in a workshop."

"I lament, that we waste too much time and money in punishing crimes, and take too little pains to prevent them. We profess to be republicans, and yet we neglect the only means of establishing and perpetuating our republican forms of government; that is, the universal education of our youth in the principles of Christianity, by means of the Bible; for this divine book, above all others, favors that equality among mankind, that respect for just laws, and all those sober and frugal virtues, which constitute the soul of republicanism."

The Woman's Christian Temperance Union held a convention in Philadelphia, Pa., September 20-26, 1885, in commemoration of the issue of the temperance tract by Mr. Rush; the occasion marking the completion of a century of temperance work. Mr. Rush was married in January, 1776, to Julia, daughter of Judge Stockton, of New Jersey. They had thirteen children, nine of whom survived their father. One son became Secretary of the United States Treasury.