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after tbfr sirigftlar person ; but We ha ^ e not been able to learn any thing < rfhim beyonfl ^ Fewfjarticulars which we find in ~ The Christian Reflector and'TheotogicallnQUirer , ^ ( a monthly
publication , at Liy ^ rpoo ! , ) for February of tjie present year . In this work , , a writer , signing Jiiruself Glnsguensis , after quoting the extract , before re-Terred to , from Maty , proceeds to give the following information :
" Several years ago , I was induced , in consequence of reading this account * to make some inquiries after this extraordinary man , but I soon found that * the place which had known him , Jcnew him ao longer ? and was forcibly reminded by my fruitless researches of the lines of the poet :
< c * Full mauy a gem of purest ray serene The dark unfathom'd caves of ocean bear , Full many a flowef is born to blush unSeen , And waste its sweetness iii the desert air . *
. I wa 3 happily more successful with respect to Goldie ' s publications . These tyere lent me by a friend , and I can truly say afforded me sincere pleasure in the perusaj . The first
work published b y Goldie , was . his * Essays Moral and Divine / intended to overthrow the dogma of original or birth sin , and to prove that
heartwithering opinion to be utterly repugnant both to reason and scripture . A copy of these € Essays' was presented by their author to the celebrated writer of e The Sketches of Man /
Lord Kaitries . This distinguished in * , dividual's opinion of Goldie ' s talents and principles will be seen by the following letter , which is printed in the Preface to the second work that Goldie
published , The Gospel Recovered / &c . It cannot fail , I think , of being highl y interesting to tjie friends of free inquiry and of scriptural Christianity . € t Edinburgh , * <* Sm , , August 2 , 1779 .
" I hold myself much obliged to you for distinguishing me , from your other readers , by a present of yonr J > ook , I applaud your performance greatly , a # a s&lljuiore the motive that iiuluced you . to . write . , " The strange jApd absurd doctrinee
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that jhaye heewm ^ ktted 4 xk the > Chris * tian Wiigioa , by different sects ,, have occasioned not only much opposition and enmity amongst Christians , but have tended beside , to much deprava tion of morals * What , in particular .
can be more destructive fbo virtue and good works , than the doctrine of faith , as perverted , by many of our zealots ? In a word , Christianity , among those who adopt it in its purity , is the great support of morality , and the great cement of goodness and benevolence among men . But not to mention
other bad effects of the engrafted , doctrines mentioned , a mail of sense * when he begins to study the motley figure that Christianity rnakes in the doctrines of many of our sects * imist be a very good man indeed , if he be not tempted to think that religion is all a cheat ; and consequently lhat
men may give way to every appetite without check or controul . " I am , Sir , 4 * Your obedient humble servant ,
. " HENRY HOME " To Mr . John Goldie . ^ " The poet of nature and of truth , Robert I 3 urns , was , it appears , the intimate friend of John Golaie , ; aud « short time subsequently to the ,,
appearance of the ' Essays Moral tod Divine , addressed to his heretical brother the following lines * -IP is strange that these and similar effusions of Burns ' s muse , should have beon excluded from most of the editions of
the works of * dear nature ' s artless child / Though when it ia remembered that those editions have been usually made for the * gods of earth , * perhaps it is not strange . Jt is ' auld
orthodoxy / which alone can bedeck hj ^ r ad vocates in the purple and the fine linen . A greater than Solomon has declared , that * they that wear soft clothing are in kings houses / And observation will tea , ch him who
needs the instruction , that in the palaces of the mighty , the words of truth and soberness have x | o certain dwelling-place . The plain dictates of reason and common sense , usually
find most favpur wi $ * tjhose , > vho rer seroble J& # ^ ajqi oj God ^ 6 $ , who ' had his raiaieut of camel ' s hair and a leathern girdle about hi ^ loioa / . Nor need it excite oiuch surprise that the
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J ^ kn Goldie , of KUmfrfMfck . 141
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1823, page 141, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1782/page/13/
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