His first publication, if we mistake not, was some ingenious and learned discourses, preached at his own parish church, containing the arguments for and against the reception of Christianity by the ancient Jews and Greeks.
He also preached a very powerful sermon, which he subsequently published, on the Claims of the Establishment, in reply to the loud expostulations every where circulated, on what were denominated the Claims of the Roman Catholics.
But this personage’s great work was a volume of Dissertations or Lectures, the subject of which was a comparison between Paganism and Christianity. They were obviously intended for the benefit of a great public seminary, to which among other things it had been objected, that more was taught the pupils, of Heathen, than of Christian theology. The avowed object of the work was to illustrate the Christian Religion, and explain the errors and follies of Heathen superstition, and it is really a powerful production.
The other successful candidate for clerical honours arrived at equal dignities, but with claims very dissimilar. He was a servitor at one of our universities, and though of remarkable steadiness and unimpeachable conduct, discovered no talents which justified his expectation of college distinctions.
He accordingly took orders, and went to a village remote from the metropolis, to discharge the honourable and useful office of a curate. Here fortune befriended him also. A noble family had a mansion in the vicinity, the head of which laboured under a sort of imbecility, which disqualified him for active business.
The curate, if respectable, always receives more or less notice from the heads of a parish, and in this instance Mr. G. was found so attentive, obliging, and assiduous, that great intimacy and confidence followed. There was also a General election, in the event of which the family greatly interested themselves, and the curate, by his zeal, activity, and ardour, was very instrumental in procuring the matter to terminate, as his patrons desired.
The first bonus received in testimony of their attachment, was the living of the place where he had officiated as curate, which was worth little less than twelve hundred pounds a-year. But this was far from all. The intimacy was increased on one side, as the usefulness was experienced on the other; and as the political influence of the family was very considerable, one of the best Prebendal stalls in the kingdom was added to the Rectory, and at no very great distance of time, a Deanery. But here an act of justice remains to be done.
This ecclesiastical friend of the Sexagenarian, though not a man remarkable for his learning, his talents, or his accomplishments, was eminently so, for his mild and amiable manners. His memory does not deserve to be followed with scorn or disdain, because he owed his elevation to a concurrence of fortuitous and fortunate circumstances. Rather let it receive the tribute of respect which it merits, from his being, which he really was, friendly, benevolent, charitable, and zealously anxious to promote the comforts and improve the interests of his poor and dependent neighbours.
A third clerical personage may not improperly be introduced among those, whose progressive success in life far surpassed their earlier claims and expectations. His history is succinctly this.