Goop’s LIFE 
_ "s* Never indeed was there a man more liberal 
_in diffusing to others the little of which he 
-was possessed, than himself; never was a 
“priest better beloved by the members of his 
congregation. I did not know him myself 
till many years afterwards: but I have been 
credibly informed by a yariety of persons 
who did know him at the time we are now 
speaking of, and were intimately acquainted 
with his situation, that he seemed to live in 
the hearts of every one of his hearers, that 
his kindness and affability excited their af 
fection, his punctilious attention to the 
duties of his office their veneration, and his 
extensive reputation for learning their im- 
plicit confidence in his opiatons. 
© ¥ have said, that at the time of his fix- 
‘ing at Auchinhalrig, he found a high degree 
of rancour and illiberality subsisting, and 
Mutually fomented, between his own con- 
gregation and the surroanding community 
pf protestants. To correct this evil, than 
Which a greater cannot exist, nor one more 
hostile to the spirit of the sacred pages, to 
which both parties reciprocally appeal, he 
Jaboured with all his nnxit. By an exien- 
sive study and a deep knowledge of ecclesi- 
astical history, he had freed himself com- 
pletely frogs the bigotry which still attaches, 
in no inconsiderable degree, to. the more 
 Agnorant of his own persuasion. _ He knew 
as well, axd was ready to admit as largely as 
any protestant whatever, the alternate sys- 
tems of force and fraud, by which the see of 
Rome has endeavoured to obtain an unjust 
‘temporal supremacy over the great body of 
the catholic church itself, to enslave the 
consciences of the laity to its own views of 
culation and power, and to exercise, in a 
YWatiety of highly important concerns, an 
authority which had never been officially 
“gonceded to it, and concerning which the 
‘Teader will meet with a more detailed ac- 
* count, whén we advance. to an analysis of 
the controversial writings into which he was 
“shorily afterwards compelled. Free and in- 
dependent in his own mind, he took the 
Sacred scriptures alone as his standard of 
Bak. a exhorted. every member of his 
congregation to do the satne, to study for 
eit sc to submit to no foreign con- 
_troul, excepting in matters fairly decided by 
‘the catholic church at large, assembled in 
general councils. He could ridicule the in- 
libility of the pope, and laugh at images 
4 nd relics, at rosaries, scapulars, Agnus 
Deis, blessed medals, indulgencies, obiits, 
dirges, as much as the most inveterate 
estant in his neighbourhood, and could 
abundantly abhor the old-fashioned and 
litous doctrine, that faith ought not to 
be held with heretics, Claiming the fullest 
liberty of conscience for himself, he was 
ver ready to extend it in an equal degree to 
others, and could therefore, with the utmost 
diality, embrace the protestant as well as 
the catholic. Honesty of heart was the only 
passport necessary to ensure lis esteem, and 
OF GEDDES. 475 
where this was conspicuous, he never hesi- 
tated to offer ibe right hand of fellowship.” 
The liberality and merit of Mr. Ged- 
des here introduced him to the acquaint- 
ance of many of those protestants, most 
distinguished in rank and literature, of 
whom Scotland could at that time boast, 
But even at this early period, he became 
an object for the exercise of that bigo- 
try from his roman catholic brethren, 
which, in the subsequent course of his life, 
he was doomed to experience still more 
bitterly. Religious bigotry, however, in 
this country, can in general manifest ite 
self only by petty exercises of private 
malice. A more serious evil, in which 
our divine was soon afterwards involved, 
was the embarrassment of his finances, 
resulting from the improvidence of his 
inexpetience and generosity, from which 
he wis relieved by the assistance of the 
late Duke of Norfolk. To prevent the 
recurrence of this embarrassment, he en- 
gaged with sanguine expectations in an 
agricultural speculation, the only con- 
sequence of which was, to plunge him 
in a few years still more’ deeply into 
distress. To retrieve this second tailure 
of his hopes, he ventured on a new ex 
periment, in the publication of “ Select 
Satires of Horace translated into Eng- 
lish verse, and for the most part adapt- 
ed to the present times and manners,” 
This work was so favourably received 
by the public, that its profits, added to 
some incidental assistance of his friends, 
were sufficient’ to extricate him once 
more from the difficulties in which he 
had suffered himself to be involved. 
The success of his first literary work 
emboldened him to try his fortunes in 
the capital, a theatre better suited to 
the activity and talents of his mind, 
than the obscure situations to which he 
had hitherto been attached. ‘This reso- 
lution was aided by the fresh persecu- 
tions which his liberality had drawn 
upon him, from his bigoted religious 
superiors in Scotland; and he accord- 
ingly removed to London in the year 
1779, with the satisfaction of having 
experienced from the congregation which 
he had lately superintended, the most 
lively testimonies of affectionate regard. 
In the ensuing year, by an act of li- 
berality worthy of commemoration, he 
received from the university of Aber- 
deen, the diploma, by which he was 
created doctor of laws, 
His first appointment, afterhis arrival 
