1802.] 
Such. was the creed of the man who 
has been repeatedly calumniated and mal- 
treated as°an infidel and heretic, whofe 
name, by--many, was never mentioned 
without reproach. But among the truly 
Jearned, candid, and liberal of every fect, 
Dr. Geddes had fteady friends, whofe af- 
feGtions and regard no difcordancy of opi- 
nions could. alienate. Indeed it would 
have been ftrange if there had not been 
found many perfons capable of appreciating 
thevarious excellenciesattaching to thecha- 
racter of Dr. Geddes. Where virtue and 
fcience unite in the fame mind; *-here 
great talents and high attainments. are 
combined with integrity, honour, and be- 
nevolence in the intercourfes of focial life, 
with a facred regard to truth and liberty, 
to the honour of Ged and of rational re- 
ligion: whatever be the theological creed 
of fuch a perfon.; to whatever church or 
communion of Chriftians he belongs, he 
muft claim, and will enjoy, the refpeé& 
fuch a combination of eminent qualities 
will neceffarily command. 
“In Dr. Geddes thefe qualities were 
united in a very remarkable degree: as a 
man of extenfive learning, his various 
works, but elpecially his ‘Tranflation and 
Critical Notes, will afford the mof anrple 
teftimony to the prefent and to fucceeding 
generations. With refpect to fomecther to-~ 
pics, a learned Italian declares, that he 
never knew. out of the Papal dominions a 
perfon more deeply learred in the ecclefi- 
‘aftical hittory, canon law, the liturgy of 
the church, and the diplomacy of the court 
of Rome, than Dr. Geddes: nor does he 
believe that many of the higher clergy 
belonging to the Papal church could have 
rivaled him in thefe branches ef ftudy. 
‘The qualities of his heart were not lefs 
amiable’ and eftimable, than his talents 
were tranfcendant- Of his intesrity, ho- 
nour, and benevolence, many are the liPing 
witneffes : many mourn the lofs of a man, 
whofe wit and vivacity heightened the 
joys of their focial parties—whofe good 
humour and‘ pleafantry never failed’ to ex- 
hilarate the fpirits of thofe about him. 
‘That he was irritable in fome refpeéts, will 
not be denied: but he was never malig- 
Nant ; never vindictive ; “* Never did the 
fun go down upon his wrath.” His zeal 
for what he conceived to be the truth, 
upon all fubjects, led him to a kind of ea- 
gerne‘S in the aflertion and maintenance of 
his opinions, which by perfons ignarant of 
the man was fometimes miftaken for a 
dogmatical temper. But no one was more 
ready than Dr. Geddes to admit every 
man tq the. proper enjoy:nent of his own 
Montaty Mac, No.85, 
* 
Account of the late Dr. Geddes. 
O61 
creed. He was in the ftricteft fenfe of the 
word a truly genuine Catholic; his good- 
will extended to all of every fect and 
party. he Bi 
His writings exhibit in a complete point 
of view the fpirit, and ardent feelings of. 
the man. ‘Though many of them are mo- 
numents of profound erudition, of inde- 
fatigable ftudy and refearches ; yet there 
are others, known by his friends to have 
been his compofition, though without his 
name, which bear the marks of fuperior 
genius, fprigatlinefs, and wit. é 
Befides the Tranflation of the early books 
of the Bible, and the Critical Remarks 5 
we fhould notice as highly deferving the 
attention of the Biblical {cholar, 
The Profpe&tus of a new Tranflation of 
the Bible, gto. 1786.—A Letter to the 
Bifhop of London on the fame fubject. 
1787.—-His Propofals came out in 1788. 
In the year 1790, he publithed a Gene- 
ral Anfwer to the Queries, Councils, and 
Criticifms refpeéting the intended Tranf- 
lation: a work highly interefting and en- 
tertainine. 
In 1793, he wrote an Addrefs to the 
Public on the Publication of his new 
‘Tranflation :—and in the fucceeding year, 
his Letter to, and Correfpondence with, 
the Bifhop of Centuriz, were publithed. 
As a controverfialit, Dr. Geddes dif= 
tinguifhed himfelf in the year 1787, bya 
Letter to Dr. Prieftley, in defence of the 
divinity of Jefus Chrift; and by a Letter 
to a Member of Parliament, on the ex- 
pediency of a general repeal of all penal 
ftatutes that regard religious opinions. 
In a Modeft Apology for the Roman 
Catholics of Great Britain, publifhed in 
the fpring of 1800, Dr. Geddes has dif- 
played much geal in defence of the tenets - 
to which he adhered; ereat moderation 
when defcanting upon the injuries to which 
himfelf and brethren were fubjeé&t, by the 
continuance of — perfecuting laws; ‘and 
found reafoning when he argues in behalf of 
the juftice and poliey of abolithing all legal 
difabilities for confcience fake.* Thiswork 
deferves 
* Speaking of the Catholics, in the pre- 
face to his Mode? Apology, Dr. Geddes fays, 
‘if in fome refpects they appear unfocial, 
it is chiefly owing to a foreign education ; 
which they have been‘long obliged to mendi- 
cate in abroad, and, which gave them un- 
couth, uncourtly habits they feldom over~ 
came. Some. veftiges of this education are 
ill vifible; but time will efface them, and 
has already, in a great meafure, made them 
lefs apparent. Communicate to them the 
Mm bleffings 
