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"The principal reason in all and each is the same. itself, is so absorbed in its selected pursuit, whether it be of literature, The mind, while left to ́science, or business, as to have neither time nor inclination to turn to sr serious a concern as that of religion."

It is practically assumed by many, that a man's judgement in religious subjects is valuable, in proportion to his eminence in his own particular calling. Hence the spirit of the inquiry in all ages, Have any of the rulers and pharisees believed on him?' But the truth is, that men most eminent in their particular calling, usually know but little out of it. They are totus in illis," absorbed in their profession. Their minds are engrossed with secular pursuits, and they have little time or inclination to think of religion. An intelligent farmer, of sound common sense, who devotes his evenings to reading on religious subjects, has frequently a degree of knowledge and judgement in theology far superior to theirs.

Dr. Good, however, was an exception to the general fact. Distinguished as he was in his profession, his mind did not consent to expatiate alone in that; for he was scarcely less distinguished as a philosopher, and as a classical and biblical scholar. He was at first a materialist and a Unitarian; and such he might have continued, had he been entirely absorbed in his profession, and been satisfied, as many are, to take his religious views, upon trust, from the pulpit. He examined, reflected, and judged for himself; and he cherished a sincere respect for truth. Such a man is an intelligent and honest seeker, and he will ultimately find. Dr. Gregory remarks, in reference to the erroneous views of Dr. Good at this time,

"Yet, happily, Mr. Good was to a great extent preserved from the worst tendencies of this system. He was too learned and too honest ever to affirm that the helief of the divinity and atonement of our Lord was unknown in the purest age of the church, but was engendered among other corruptions by false philosophy; and he had uniformly too great a regard for the scriptures of the New Testament, to assert that the apostles indulged in far-fetched reasoning, or made use of a Greek word, (Morgens,) which conveyed an erroneous notion, from want of knowledge of the term they ought to have employed he never contended that St. Paul did not mean to teach the doctrine of the resurrection of the body in the fifteenth chapter of the first epistle to the Corinthians; never sported the pernicious sophism, that where mystery begins religion ends.' Being 'buried alive' in occupations, and immersed in vexations of no ordinary occurrence, he did not commune frequently with his own heart, and too naturally sunk into a lamentable indifference to religion, at least, if that word correctly imply converse with God;' but he never evinced indifference to truth and rectitude, nor ever, I believe, became involved in the more awful perplexities of skepticism."

As Dr. Good continued to search the Scriptures, and to extend his keen and practical observation of mankind, he became more and more convinced of the scriptural view of the character, condition, and moral relations and destinies of man; of the proper divinity and atonement of Christ, and of the way of salvation through him. His dissatisfaction, of course, increased

VOL. III.NO. IV.

26

with the erroneous views which he had adopted, until his mind and heart broke from their servitude, and ascended to God in sentiments of evangelical faith and love. He became a sound and consistent believer in Christ. The reader of this Memoir will be interested in the correspondence, which then ensued between him and the skeptical preacher, on whose ministry he had attended for many years. It resulted in his detaching himself from the preacher and the Unitarian sect, and attending at the Temple church, where the powerful reasoning of Dr. Rennell, often engaged in the discussion of topics which, at this period, occupied so much of Dr. Good's attention, seemned to confirm him in the propriety of the step he had taken. "Subsequently, at St. John's Chapel, he availed himself of the successive pastoral labors of Mr. Wilson and Mr. Jerram, until he passed from all worshipping assemblies here, to join the general assembly and church of the first-born in heaven."

Dr. Gregory remarks,

"It was in one of our confidential conversations on the most momentous of all topics, in the summer of 1815, that Mr. Good first distinctly announced to me his cordial persuasion that the evangelical representation of the doctrines of Scripture was that which alone accorded with the system of revealed truth. He said he had greatly hesitated as to the correctness of a proposition I had advanced a few years before, that there was no intermediate ground upon which a sound reasoner could make a fair stand, between that of pure deism and that of moderate orthodoxy, as held by the evangelical classes both of churchmen and dissenters; but that he now regarded that proposition as correct. At the same time he detailed several of the Socinian and Arian interpretations of passages usually brought forward in these disputes, and, with his accustomed frankness, explained how he had come, by degrees, to consider them all as unsatisfactory, and, for an accountable being, unsafe."

"Rock of ages! here I build;
Here, if so thy grace has willed,
Quit the world, and seek in thee,
All I want or wish to be."

That the religious views of Dr. Good had now become thoroughly sound and scriptural, will appear from the following passages from his pen, and numerous others of similar import.

"The triumphant language of the apostle has been fulfilled; his prophetic vision has been realized; and Christ has proved most marvellously the power and the wisdom of God in every age of the world since his own era. Yet how incorrigible is the heart of man when perverted! how obstinate in its errors! how blind to the noon-day, the light from heaven, above the brightness of the sun,' that shines around it!-If the question be still asked, 'Where is the disputer of this world?' Thousands will, even to the present hour, hold up their hands unabashed, and proudly accept the Scripture challenge. They go to Bethlehem, indeed, but they return as they go there no heavenly music has sounded in their ears; they have seen neither angel nor Saviour; they went not to worship, and will not believe. The thing which has come to pass,' and which the Lord hath made known to mankind at large, they regard, not as matter of implicit faith and holy wonder, but as matter for the tribunal of their own reason. With insufferable arrogance, they arraign the Godhead before its impotent bar; they measure the plan of infinite wisdom, the energy of Almighty power, the great mystery of godliness, by their own standard;

* In my "Letters on the Evidences, Doctrines and Duties of the Christian Religion."

and convict the cause of falsehood or of error upon the sole ground that reason cannot comprehend it. And hence, as in the time of the apostles, to some it is, in many parts, a stumbling block, to others altogether foolishness; some, sitting in the seat of the scorner, would summarily enter a general verdict of imposture: while more, perhaps, not far off, though openly condemning one half, are yet ready enough, with an affectation of liberality, to acquit the remainder, on being allowed to put their own corrections into the inspired text.-Merciful God! great, indeed, was thy long-suffering that waited in the days of Noah! but how much greater is that which waiteth in our own day, overpowered as it is in such a diversity of ways, with 'the profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called."*

"What can more forcibly demonstrate to us the intrinsic enormity of sin, of sin of every kind, the utter abhorrence with which God beholds it, in all its incalculable ramifications, its essential repugnancy to the purity and holiness of his own nature, than the stupendous cost of its atonement. Though armed with almighty power, God has not the power to forgive sin unconditionally." "The flashes of immortality, whenever God pleases, are all searching and penetrating, and what is otherwise most powerful sinks into nothing, compared with the irresistible energy with which the Holy Spirit prepares his own way into the heart of man, and transforms that heart into a living temple for himself."

The position asserted by Dr. Gregory, and accorded by Dr. Good, that there is no intermediate point which a sound and consistent reasoner can assume and hold, between evangelical principles and deism, is become palpably true. An active and intelligent mind, finding its ground untenable, will keep moving from one point to another, either upward towards an evangelical faith, or downward towards avowed infidelity.

In religion, as in science, individual principles resolve themselves into general ones, as knowledge advances. The radical difference between an evangelical and a deistical faith is, that the one makes the Bible the sun in our moral world, and creation reflects its light; while the other makes creation the sun, and the Bible reflects its light. The one implies a firm belief of the fact of a revealed religion, and the inspiration of its records; the other is a verging towards deism, or rather it is deism in principle, though the principle may not be fully applied. The one assumes the necessity of revealed light; the other virtually assumes the sufficiency of nature's light, admitting, indeed, professedly, the Gospel, but the "Gospel heathenized."

Dr. Good lived about twenty years after the change took place in his religious views, and after he began to exhibit evidence of a saving conversion to Christ. He appears to have possessed great completeness of Christian character. Notwithstanding his wonderful success in anything in which he engaged, the reader of his Memoirs will learn that he was called to pass through trials repeated and severe, insomuch that few could say, with more experience of its truth,

"Life is a series of griefs and harrassments; and we no sooner escape from one evil, than we have to encounter another."

* Tim. vi. 20.

But he could say in truth,

"For all this there is but one remedy; and, blessed be God, that remedy is a specific; it has stood the test of nearly two thousand years, and has never failed in a single instance. It is the repose of the Christian upon his Saviour; a consciousness of his perpetual presence and support."

As he approached the period of his dissolution, he was more than ever convinced of his sinfulness, and entire dependance on the Saviour. He observes,

"No man living can be more sensible than I am, that there is nothing in ourselves; and of the absolute necessity of relying only upon the merits of Jesus Christ."—" It was most strikingly impressive to hear his quivering lips uttering the words of Scripture, at a time when intense agony occasioned such convulsive motions of the whole body that the bed often shook under him.”"One of the texts he appeared to dwell upon with most earnestness and delight, was, JESUS CHRIST, the same yesterday, to-day, and forever."

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His faculties began to fail him, so that he was nearly insensible to worldly objects. "His hearing now became greatly affected. Mr. Russell called to him in a loud voice, 'Jesus Christ the Saviour' he was not insensible to that sound. His valuable clerical friend then repeated to him, in the same elevated tone, 'Behold the Lamb of God.' This roused him, and with energy, the energy of a dying believer, he terminated the sentence, 'WHICH TAKETH AWAY THE SINS OF THE WORLD,'—which were the last words he intelligibly uttered, being about three hours before his death."

Dr. Good's writings, professional, philosophical and literary, are copious, and extensively known. His "History of Medicine," his "Study of Medicine," his "Book of Nature," his "Translation of Lucretius," bis "Memoirs of Dr. Geddes," his translations of Job and the "Song of Solomon," are his principal works before the public. He also directed considerable attention to the prophecies of Ezekiel, Joel and Zechariah, the book of Ecclesiastes, &c., of striking passages in each of which he has left translations. He translated the book of Psalms, realizing great pleasure in going through so rich a treasure of spiritual and unrivalled poetry.

"Had he published nothing but his 'Translation of Lucretius,' he would have acquired a high character for free, varied and elegant classification, for exalted acquisitions as a philosopher and a linguist, and for singular felicity in the choice and exhibition of materials in a rich store of critical and tasteful illustration.

"Had he published nothing but his Translation of the book of Job,' he would have obtained an eminent station amongst Hebrew scholars and the promoters of Biblical learning.

"And had he published nothing but his Study of Medicine,' his name would, in the opinion of one of his ablest professional correspondents, have gone down to posterity, associated with the science of medicine itself, as one of its most skilful practitioners, and one of its most learned promoters."

"I know not how to name another individual who has arrived at equal eminence in three such totally distinct departments of mental application."

But, exalted as his intellectual attainments were, modesty and discretion preserved him from conceit and the pride of learning,

and conducted him, by the grace of God, to a correct apprehension and an adoring love of the sublime truths and principles of the Gospel of Christ. Tongues shall cease, and knowledge shall vanish away, but charity (true religion) never faileth.

Commendation and Reproof of Unitarians; a Sermon delivered in the Second Universalist Church in Boston, Sabbath Evening, Nov. 26, 1829. By HOSEA BALLOU, Pastor. Boston: Henry Bowen. pp. 19.

The author of this discourse has some claims to be considered as the inventor and father of the present prevailing system of Universalism in this country.* Accordingly, his style of address is that of one who felt himself entitled to speak with a degree of authority to speak not only for himself, but for his brethren, his children. The first part of the discourse before us is taken up with his commendation of Unitarians;' the latter with reproof.'

"Our Unitarian brethren," says he," have just claims to our respect and ap. probation for many things, which both duty and inclination induce us to acknowledge. They hold many, and indeed the most important points of the Christian faith, accordingly as we believe they are revealed in the sacred scriptures."

"They have renounced the unreasonable, perplexing doctrine of the trinity, and have driven its most able defenders to make concessions which amount to its entire renunciation. They have laid aside, as an uncomfortable, worn out garment, the whole scheme of vicarious sufferings, and of placating the wrath of an offended God; and have made the happy discovery of a compassionate, kind and merciful Father in the supreme ruler of the universe. The doctrine of partial election and eternal reprobation they have dismissed with its deserved disapprobation. They have rejected the old notion of man's entire depravity, and told that he is capable of moral improvement, in knowledge and holiness; and in place of the visionary notions about a radical change of our nature, they insist on the more reasonable doctrine of a Christian and virtuous education. And they moreover acknowledge all the divine perfections of our heavenly Father, believing in his infinite wisdom, power and goodness, and in the entire impartiality of his love to his creatures.'

If this representation is correct, Unitarians and Universalists are in fact agreed, in all the leading points of their theology. They are as well agreed as the members of either sect are among themselves; and we see no reason why they should henceforth exist, or be regarded, as separate denominations. Mr. Ballou is a Unitarian-a leading Unitarian—a patriarchal Unitarian, who has labored longer and more successfully to promote Unitarianism than almost any

* A very different theory from those of Relly, Murray and Winchester, all of whom were professed Trinitarians. The historian of Modern Universalism, speaking of the change of views which has taken place since the time of Murray, says, The labors of Rev. Hosea Ballou may be regarded as one of the principal means of this change.' p. 432.

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