SKETCH OF THE AUTHOR'S LIFE. 



1 ess, and was eventually led to embrace its doctrines and its spirit 

 as the great ultimatum of human attainments. In the language of his bio- 

 grapher, he had " sought for intelligence at the Great Fountain of intellect, 

 and had found Him whom to know is life eternal." 



It is true, that in the former part of his life. Dr. Good was led into many 

 errors of opinion, which he found reason to recant ; and he afterward de- 

 precated the errors in practice resulting from those opinions. But although, 

 at that time, the ranks of infidelity were most numerously, and, we may 

 add, ably occupied, and by many of his literary associates ; yet he could 

 never altogether overcome the principles impressed upon his mind by the 

 early instructions of his father : and hence he was preserved from those fatal 

 errors, which, if received into his mind at that time, would doubtless have led 

 him into a labyrinth of metaphysical subtlety, from which he might never 

 have extricated himself. 



But he avoided these dangers to which by his early associations he was 

 exposed ; being protected by the impressions made on his mind under his pa- 

 ternal roof, in favour of the truth and authenticity of the sacred Scriptures ; 

 and he wrote an essay on the " Credibility of Revelation," which is still 

 extant : but, it seems, he either wanted the opportunity, or perhaps the moral 

 courage, to publish it, although it was admirably calculated to be useful, judg- 

 ing from the extracts furnished by his biographer. 



Still, however much as he admired the general system of revelation, and 

 ably as he could defend it, it would seem that he vacillated in his creed from 

 one error to another, and wandered in the mazes of intellectual and moral 

 obscurity, in full view of the Light which could alone illuminate his path. 

 He acknowledged its existence, occasionally glanced towards it, which 

 only served to make his " darkness visible ;" yet still he sought not for 

 tranquillity and peace by implicitly yielding to its influence. In an essay 

 " On Happiness," written about this time, he reasons himself very elabo- 

 rately into the persuasion that there is an intimate connexion " between 

 morals and natural philosophy ;" that " the same spark that shoots through 

 the mind the rays of science and information, diffuses through the heart 

 the softer energies of nature," and he thus exhibits the final issue of this 

 momentous inquiry : 



" From such considerations as these, then, it results, that he is pursuing 

 the most probable path to human felicity, who, blessed by nature with a 

 soul moderately alive to the social affections, and an understanding that 

 elevates him above the prejudices and passions of the ignorant, cultivates 

 with a sedulous attention the one that he may best enjoy the capacities of 

 the other." 



With these views of the nature of happiness and the best method of 

 securing it, he was led to the avowal of the system of Materialism, and that 

 of the Universalists, with respect to future punishment ; and becoming asso- 

 ciated with a number of gentlemen who professed their belief in the doc- 

 trines of modern Socinianism, he soon acquired a kindred spirit, and on his 

 removal to London, in 1793, he joined the congregation of Mr. Belsham, a 

 distinguished minister of that persuasion in the metropolis, where he con* 

 stantly attended worship until the year 1807. 



During the fourteen years he was thus connected with this Socinian con- 



