Memorials of the life and trials of a youthful Christian in pursuit of health, as developed in the biography of Nathaniel Cheever, M. D

Front matter

I LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, f

[SMITHSONIAN DEPOSITJ f

! UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. {

Chapter X. The Church The Market — The Constitution The

FIESTAS AT MALAGA, AS VIEWED BY A FPcOTESTANT, .212

CHAPTER. XL

THE EXPERIMENT AND EXPERIENCE OF A VOYAGE TO SOUTH AMERICA, WITH NOTES UPON MONTEVIDEO AND BUENOS AYRES, 226

CONTEi\ i HI

Page

REVIEW AND CONCLUSION, . ... 350

Preface

This book would not have been added to the multitude of similar memorials of friends and relatives, had it not been for the judgment, repeatedly expressed, of persons well acquainted with the subject of these sketches, that some notice of his life and character in a volume, would certainly do good. As an account of the trials and conflicts of a youthful Christian, nearly the whole of whose life was a protracted struggle after health, and nearly all his attainments the result of repeated disappointments, there is something in it of novelty and originality — something, at least, out of the ordinary channel of biographies. Of the current and changes of the mortal existence here recorded, there are no visible results, nor any consciousness in men's minds connected with the name ; and, in general, a book of memorials is of

VI PREFACE.

those whose successful or remarkable doings, or whose important position, at least, in a larger or a smaller circle, have given them some measure of reputation and of influence.

But in this book there is nothing either of fame or position connected with its subject, to give it popularity ; and its interest must be owing to the pleasure men may take in pursuing the development of a repressed and noble nature, through a life of suffering. There are important Christian lessons contained in it, and growing out of it ; and we would fain hope that this simple record of illness and of disappointed expectation, conducting only to the grave, yet there, and all the way along, pointing to heaven, may meet a want, if not a wish, in some minds, especially youthful minds, and be instrumental in quickening some hearts, perhaps distressed and desponding hearts, in the grand but often trying pilgrimage to the Saints' Rest.

New York, Sept 1st, 1851.