SKETCH OF THE AUTHOR'S LIFE. 



zi 



Christian revelation, I should, in the estimation of an intelligent and, I 

 would hope, not uncandid hearer, lie open to the charge of inculcating from 

 the pulpit a spirit of skepticism^ and that the allusion which I made on Sun- 

 day last to the unsatisfactory nature of the exploded a priori demonstration 

 of the Divine existence, should have been understood as a declaration of a 

 deficiency in the proper evidence of the being and attributes of God. 



" 1 certainly would not myself attend the ministry of a preacher who was 

 skeptical either in regard to the Divine existence, or the truth of the Chris- 

 tian revelation. I must, therefore, completely justify you in withdrawing 

 from my ministry while you entertain your present views. I can only regret, 

 that I have expressed myself inadvertently in a manner so liable to be mis- 

 understood ; and sincerely wishing you health and happiness, 



" I am. Dear Sir, 



" Your obedient servant, 



" To THE Reverend , 



" Caroline Place, Jan. 29th, 1807. 



" Dear Sir, 



" I am obliged to you for your letter, and add only a word or two, in ex- 

 planation of a single phrase which you seem to regard as uncandid. The 

 term skepticism I have not used opprobriously, but in the very sense in 

 which you yourself seem to have applied it, in the discourse in question, to 

 the apostle Thomas, by asserting, upon his refusal to admit the evidence of 

 his fellow-disciples, as to our Saviour's resurrection, that ' it is possible, per- 

 haps, that the skepticism of Thomas may, in this instance, have been car- 

 ried a little too far.' 



" I quote your idea, and, I believe, your words. A.nd here, without ad- 

 verting to other expressions of a similar nature, suffer me to close with ask- 

 ing you, whether 1 can legitimately draw any other conclusion from such 

 a proposition, than that a skepticism, in some small degree short of that 

 manifested by St. Thomas, is, in the opinion of him who advances that 

 proposition, not only justifiable, but an act of duty ? and that, to a certain 

 extent, he means to inculcate the spirit or disposition on which it is founded? 



" It only remains that I repeat my sincere wishes for your happiness, and 

 that I am, 



« Dear Sir, 



" Your obedient servant, 



" John Mason Good." 



To this letter Mr. Good received no reply. 



Soon after, he surrendered all the characteristics of the Socinian creed, 

 and became a constant attendant upon Divine worship at Temple church ; 

 and in a few years afterward, he wrote another essay " On Happiness," dif- 

 fering very widely from that to which reference has been made in a former 

 part of this memoir, and furnishing a happy commentary on the advantages 

 he had derived from the evangelical reformation in his creed. It was not, 

 however, until 1815, that Dr. Good distinctly communicated to his friends 

 his cordial persuasion, that the evangelical representation of the doctrines 



