THE CHRISTIAN MERCHANT. EEY. MR, BELLOWS' DISCOURSE, ON' OCCASIO-V OF THE DEATH OF JONATHAN GOODIIUE. California jgional ,cility UCSB LIBRARY THE CHRISTIAN MERCHANT Christian JlUrcl)ant. DISCOURSE: DELIVERED IN THE CHURCH OF THE DIVINE UNITY, ON OCCASION OF THE DEATH OF JONATHAN GOOD HUE B Y HENRY W. BELLOWS, PASTOR OK THE CUURCH. PUBLISHED BY REQUEST OF THE CONGREGATION. NEW YORK: C. S. FRANCIS & CO., 252 BROADWAY. 1848. JOHN WKSTAI.L, PB1NTBB. DISCOURSE PROVERBS II. 20. THAT THOU MAYEST WALK IN THE WAY OF GOOD MEN, AND KEEP THE PATHS OF THE RIGHTEOUS. CHRISTIANITY suffers from nothing so much as from the want of examples. The great argument which men have against it, is its impracticableness. While its advocates are unable to put their hands upon shining illustrations of its power and spirit, they want both the means of exemplifying its doctrine and precepts, and of confounding the skepticism which deems it visionary. It was the life of Christ that originally gave authority to his teachings, and the Gospel owed its magnificent and rapid triumphs during the first century to the self-denying, consistent and holy lives of its confessors and martyrs. The cause of religion has been sustained in the world since, mainly by the testimony of the faithful few who have borne its divine fruits in their life and conversation. Every resuscitation of its languishing interests has come in the form of a quickened spirit of obedience. The periods of infidelity have been seasons when luxury, pride and sloth, when prosperity, or war, when worldliness in some shape has dimmed the virtue of its professors, and thus obscured the only evidence which is practically potent and unanswerable. A common and favorite form of evading the demands of the Gospel, is to maintain their incompatibility with the necessary conditions of human life. Under other and more favorable circumstances, we inwardly reason, the Christian life might be possible ; and under almost any others than those beneath which we ourselves are struggling, less difficult ; while our own providential lot seems directly hostile to, if not absolutely irre- concileable with, the spirit and conduct required by Christ. Nothing but examples of the Christian life, under all varieties of circumstance, and amid the most trying and disadvantageous scenes, can adequately silence objections like these. The world needs to see men springing up in its busiest and most exposed paths, walking amid the flames of its most devouring passions, handling its most seductive and betraying objects, in contact with its most poisonous evils, and yet main- taining there, principles which are above the sphere in which they move aims that stoop not to the level on which they stand ; a purity that is not to be contaminated; a character above suspicion or reproach. In a community like ours, there is especial danger that the Christian standard will decline, and with it the confidence of the public in the reality of Christian faith and virtue. We live confessedly in the midst of great temptations and seductions. There is nothing, perhaps, concerning which men doubt each other more than in regard to their power to withstand the temp- tation of money. That " every man has his price," is a received maxim of terrible import, whose practical disproof concerns the interests, and even the credibility of the Gospel, more than tongue can tell. It is to this " trial by gold," that we are called in this commercial metropolis : a trial more to be dreaded than the old trial by fire. Amid the competitions and collisions of mercantile enterprise, pressed by the necessity and the difficulty of speedily succeeding, in order to main- tain the expensive position here assumed ; surrounded by examples of crowds, whose confessed and only object is accumulation ; supported in lax practices by the maxims of the careless ; tempted now by the glittering prizes of rapid success, and then by the imminent perils of sudden failure ; excited by the tri- umphant speculations of the adventurous, and dazzled by the social splendors of the prosperous ; conversant all the day long, for at least six days in the week, with the plans and projects, the conversation and spirit of money-making, what wonder is it, that riches come to stand for the principal thing, and that the laws and spirit of Christian virtue are so often found to be withes of straw in the fires of worldly ambition and business enterprise ? What we particularly need, then, is the example of men who are thrown into the hottest part of this furnace, and yet come out unscathed ! Men who enter into the arena of business, seek its rewards, wrestle with its competitors, experience its temptations, taste its disappointments and its successes, its anxieties, and its gratifications ; pass through its crises of panic, and of bubble-prosperity, and yet through all, uphold a character and reputation for unspotted honor and integrity, for equanimity and moderation, and for 8 qualities of mind and heart, to which worldly success is manifestly and completely subordinated. The world may well be suspicious of an untried virtue ; of the worth of an integrity which sustains itself in seclusion, and never measures its strength with the temptations of life ; of a professional goodness, which is hedged about by the restrictions of public opinion ; of a talking piety, that mistakes the glow of beautiful and exalted sentiments for the earnestness and vigor of moral principle ; of the graces which merely reflect the circumstances that surround them ; as for instance, die humility of the low in station, the amiableness of those whose natural temperament is equable, the self-control of the unimpassioned, or moderation of desires in those who are without opportunity or hope of advancement What we need to confirm our faith in virtue, to reprove and stimulate our consciences, is to see the triumph of tempted integrity, the victory of a spirit that feels the force of the passions and desires that agitate our own hearts, and yet controls them ; that is subjected to our own trying circumstances, and turns them to the account of goodness. It is no uncommon thing to hear men, as it were, fortifying their own moral resolution by assailing the ordinary objects of human desire ; denying the desi- rableness of fortune ; charging the necessary principles on which business is conducted with intrinsic immo- rality, and attributing to wealth itself all the evils which come from the passionate "love of money." When these words proceed from the mouths of the unsuc- cessful, or from those withdrawn from the walks of trade, they indicate a very suspicious kind of past experience, and a very doubtful sort of unworldliness. The truth is, the business of this world must be carried on, and there must be commercial centres, where wealth, with all its responsibilities, perils and advan- tages, will be concentrated. Merchants, in the largest use of that word, are a necessary and most important class a fixed, indispensable, and permanent class in the divisions of society. There is no prospect what- soever that the pressure of care, the competitions of trade, the increase of wealth, or the growth of private fortunes, will diminish in a place like this. Just here, this work which you are doing, is to be done will remain to be done ! and you and your successors will be subjected to whatsoever dangers and disadvantages to the moral nature belong to it. It by no means follows because a post is dangerous that it is to be deserted, or that it is wrong to occupy it ! It by no means is true that things are unimportant or to be dispensed with, because they are morally perilous. Commerce is dangerous precisely because of the mag- nitude of the interests involved in it. Money is "peril- ous stuff," just because it is the representative of all other physical and of much intellectual and moral value. This community of business interests and business men is a dangerous and difficult place to dwell in, because those exclusively occupied in dealing with that, which most nearly and universally touches the present welfare and immediate necessities of mil- lions, feel the passions and wants of the nation pressing back upon them, and shaking with convulsive energy the nerves which they themselves are. You feel here, in the commercial heart of this country, 2 10 the heat and passion of the whole body. You fulfil an indispensable function. It is a dangerous one. The fireman who feeds the furnace of the steam- engine is exposed to certain death if the boiler burst ; but he is the last man that can be withdrawn from his post. Let it be understood that the merchant occupies a post of peril ; that he handles a most dangerous substance ; that he is, of all men, most exposed to the evils of worldliness ; that his principles are destined to fearful trial; that he is to live in constant excitement, with anxiety, hope, fear, adven- ture, risk, as his stormy element ; that mercantile misfortune has its imminent moral perils, and com- mercial success equal and peculiar dangers ! Let the merchant understand that he places himself, for the sake of certain valuable and not unworthy consi- derations, in a position in which he is to expect little tranquillity of mind ; small control of his own time, and little direct opportunity for cultivating tastes and pursuits usually regarded as protective to the moral nature. Let him understand that he is, more than any other man, to deal directly with what is, by general consent, the most seductive, exciting, and treacherous commodity in the world ; that which most tempts integrity, moves the baser passions, absorbs the faculties, chills the humane affections, and dulls the spiritual senses: that which w r as the object of our Master's most emphatic warning. But let him, at the same time, recognize the Christian lawfulness and providential importance of his calling, and appreciate the force of the truth that the possible moral advan- tages of a position are proportioned to its moral perils, 11 so that no man's opportunities of forming and exem- plifying the Christian character in some of its most commanding attributes, are so great as those of the merchant. In no man is superiority to worldliness so much honored ; no man's integrity is so widely known or so much venerated ! Honor, uprightness, brotherly kindness, purity and singleness of purpose, moderation and essential superiority to worldly maxims and ambitions these qualities, if they exist in the merchant at all, exist in him in spite of daily trials and temptations. If any man's principles require to be sound to the core, it is his. They do not exist by the forbearance or felicity of circumstances. They are not passive graces. They need to be positive, active, aggressive qualities ; opposing to the perils and assaults of his circumstances a rugged and stern resist- ance. As such they are recognized and honored ; and no man occupies a more commanding moral position, displays a more useful character, or wins a more sincere and compulsory reverence, than the Chris- tian Merchant ! And what does the community need so much, what can it so ill spare, as the example of such men 1 My brethren, we have had such an example before us, in a distinguished merchant of this community, and an honored member of this Christian Society, recently departed from among the living. The wide commentary which the character of Jonathan Goodhue has drawn from the press, makes it too late to pay any original tribute to his virtues, as it removes the apprehension of offending the delicacy of kindred and friends by public notice. Yet it is due to ourselves 12 not to allow the grave to close upon so respected and beloved a member of our Society, without a special commemoration, for our own benefit, of his upright and benevolent life. Let the characteristic modesty and moderation of the man we contemplate, be honored in the chastened hues in which we deli- neate his moral features. Jonathan Goodhue, the son of the Hon. Benjamin Goodhue, Senator from Massachusetts, came to this city about forty years ago, and entered upon mer- cantile life. The public know him only as a Merchant. He has filled no political offices, nor made himself conspicuous in any philanthropic causes. He has originated no large and striking speculations, nor dis- tinguished himself by brilliant success. Except in his commercial capacity, we have not been accustomed to hear his name in the mouth of the public, nor to see it in the columns of our newspapers. No man's life had fewer incidents of an exciting character, or offers more meagre matter for the biographer. We have not seen him in attitudes of trial or temptation peculiar to himself, or in crises fitted to call forth the public sympathy and to arrest the public attention. He is identified with no special movements, whether civil, commercial, or philanthropic, that might give lustre to his name. His life has been as private as an extensive business would allow ; his career as ordinary and common-place in its history as any man's among us of similar age and commercial relations. He is but one among a thousand in our community of equal wealth, similar connexions in business, and like rela- tions with the public. Indeed, more than almost any 13 other citizen of similar intelligence, experience and standing, might he be styled a private person. Why then is it, that with an almost unequalled demonstration of sorrow and bereavement, this com- munity gathers about his grave, and testifies, in the sincerest and heartiest forms, its reverence and love 1 Whence this burst of admiration, respect and affection, coming simultaneously from every portion of the public; uttered through the resolutions of commercial bodies ; speaking from the lips of the press ; and, above all, falling in tones of tenderness from private tongues in all classes of society ? It is as if every one had lost a friend, a guide, an example ; one whom he is surprised to find has been equally the object of respect and affection to ten thousand others ! No concert of action, no mutual understanding, has marked this expression of public feeling ! We hardly knew that we had a man among us in whom such regards united ; and no one beforehand could have predicted the impression his death would make upon the community. He filled so quiet, so unobtrusive, and so steady a place among us, that our thoughts were never directly or abruptly fixed upon him. We felt, we knew, his worth and his influence ; but we did not make it the frequent theme of our remark, nor w r eigh it against that of others ; and therefore, I repeat, we are almost taken by surprise, when forced, by general testimony, to acknowledge that no man could be taken from this community amid such general regrets, possessing such universal confidence, or filling a larger place in its affections and respect. 14 My brethren, it is the recognized worth of private character which has extorted this homage ! It is not what he has done, but what he has been, which thus attracts the gratitude and respect of this community. Jonathan Goodhuc had succeeded, during a long and active life of business, in which he became known to almost all our people through the ordinary relations of trade and commerce, in impressing them with a deep and unquestioning sense of his personal integrity and essential goodness. Collecting its evidence from a thousand untraccable sources, from the unconscious notice of his uniform and consistent life, from the indirect testimony of the thousands who dealt with him, from personal observation, and from the very countenance and manners of the man, this community had become penetrated with the conviction of his changeless virtue, of his spotless honor, of his secret and thorough worth. Other men might have equal integrity, but he had the power of making it indubitably apparent. Other men might have his general worth, but he somehow manifested it in a way to place it beyond cavil, jealousy, suspicion or indifference. He occupied, what is ever to be viewed as the greatest of all earthly positions, that of a witness to the reality of virtue, and one whose testimony was accepted. Brethren, do we know the greatness of this office ? do we recognize that which it supplies, as the pro- foundest need of society ? that which it accomplishes as the most useful and sublime service rendered to men and communities ? If we ask ourselves what the public is now so gratefully contemplating in the 15 memory of Jonathan Goodlme, we find that it is not his public services, not his commercial importance, not even his particular virtues and graces. It is the man himself: the pure, high-minded, righteous man, with gentle and full affections, who adorned our nature, who dignified the mercantile profession, who was superior to his station, his riches, his exposures, and made the common virtues more respected and vene- rable than shining talents or public honors; who vindicated the dignity of common life, and carried a high, large and noble spirit into ordinary affairs ; who made men recognize something inviolable and awful even in the private conscience, and thus gave sanctity and value to our common humanity ! Yes, my brethren, this was the power, this the attraction, this the value of Jonathan Goodhue's life. He has made men believe in virtue. He has made them honor character more than station or wealth ! He has illustrated the possible purity, disinterestedness, and elevation of a mercantile life ! He has shown that a rich man can enter the kingdom of heaven. He stands up, by acclamation, as the model of a Christian Merchant. Here perhaps I might better pause, as having said all that needs to be set forth on this occasion. But you will suffer me to dwell with a little discrimination upon so interesting a subject of contemplation. The distinguishing moral traits of Mr. Goodhue were purity of mind, conscientiousness, benevolence, and love of freedom. Perhaps the first was the most striking in a man in his position. Originally endowed with 1C a sensitive and elevated nature, and educated among the pure and good, he brought to this community, at mature age, the simplicity and transparency of a child, and retained to the last a manifest purity of heart and imagination. I think no man ever ventured to pollute his ear with levity or coarse allusion, or to propose to him any object or scheme which involved mean or selfish motives. He shrank, with an instinc- tive disgust, from the foul, the low, the unworthy ; and compelled all to feel that he was a " vessel made to honor," which could admit no noisome or base mixtures in its crystal depths. His purity of mind was still further evinced in the difficulty with which he conceived of bad motives or wrong intentions in others. He had an unaffected confidence in his fellow-creatures, growing out of his own ingenuousness. He was the apologist of all men, seeking explanations of their misconduct which would relieve them of utter condemnation, and often clinging to them when deserted by most others. It was remarked by one who enjoyed his daily and familiar intercourse, that he never heard him speak in decisive scorn of any man but in one instance. His purity of mind mani- fested itself in the childlike character of his tastes, manners, and pleasures. He retained through life the playfulness and the simplicity of a boy, and was as an equal among his own children. His mind seemed to have no fuel for the fiercer passions of manhood. He had no taste for notoriety, influence, social conspicuousness, exciting speculation, or brilliant success. His purity shrank from the soil contracted 17 in such positions and pursuits. And thus he main- tained the equanimity, elasticity, and spontaneous cheerfulness of his youth, even to his latest days. Probahly concientiousness would be first named, by this community, as Mr. Goodhue's characteristic quality. Duty, I doubt not, was the word, if not oftenest upon his lips, most deeply stamped upon his heart. He was accustomed to refer his conduct, in little and in great things, to the court of con- science. Nor was this sense of duty in him the stern and narrow principle it is sometimes seen to be, even in the good. He had the nicest sense of justice a most tender and solicitous regard for others' rights, and was ever on the watch to learn and to fulfil his obligations in the least particular to every human creature. His conscientiousness was not more mani- fest in the undeviating rectitude of his mercantile and commercial career, than in social and domestic life. He was careful to pay honor where honor is due ; to lose no opportunity of manifesting respect for worth and virtue ; to avoid the least trifling with the feelings or the reputation of others ; and to give, at all times, the least possible trouble on his own account. How lofty a sense of honor how pure and strict an integrity what high-minded principles he carried with him into business, you are far better able to estimate than I. But if the testimony of the commercial world is to be taken, his counting-room was to him a sanctuary in which he offered the daily sacrifices of justice, truth, and righteousness, and sent up the incense of obedience to that great precept, 3 18 " Do unto others as you would that they should do unto you." It was the pervading control and influence of this sense of duty, which enabled him to say at the very close of his life : " I am not conscious that I have ever brought evil on a single human being." And this suggests another characteristic of Mr. Goodhue his benevolence ; which, when I mention it, seems, as each of his other traits does, the most striking of all. Kindness of heart was joined in him with purity of feeling and loftiness and rectitude of conscience. It did not in him take the form of a public philanthropy, although for thirty years he was most assiduous and deeply interested in the duties of a Trustee of the Savings' Bank, and a Governor of the Hospital offices which he would not relinquish even amid the infirmities of his few past years, because he loved the intercourse of the sick and the poor. His benevolence was rather a constant and unwearied desire to make all within his reach happy. He loved his race. He was uneasy if cut off, for ever so short a time, from the intercourse of his fellow-creatures. The human face was dear to him, and his heart overflowed with tenderness and good-will towards every creature that bore it. Perhaps no man in the community had a livelier interest in man simply as man. It mattered nothing what his station, condition, faith, country, or color, he loved his kind ; loved to make the human heart rejoice ; loved to call up even momentary feelings of satisfaction in the breasts of those with whom he had only a passing intercourse. Who so scrupulous as he to discharge the little courtesies of life with fidelity; whose eye turned so 19 quickly to recognize the humblest friend ; whose smile and hand so ready to acknowledge the greetings of a most extensive circle of acquaintances ? I know nothing of his more substantial services to the suffering and the needy. He was not a man to allow his left hand to know what his right hand did ; yet, who can doubt that his charities were as large as his heart and his means ? But can we over-rate the worth of that beaming goodness which over-leaps the barrier of station and wealth, and makes for its possessor a place in the heart of the humblest and most obscure 1 Love creates love ; and the unbounded measure of affection which this community poured out to him, shows how freely he had given his heart to his fellow-men ! I dare not speak of the exemplification his benevolence found in the domestic circle, where he knew how to preserve the most manly dignity, while he lavished a woman's heart. The love of freedom was the most conspicuous mental trait in Mr. Goodlme. He was the earnest advocate of political freedom, of religious liberty, and of free-trade. Possessed of a large understanding, cultivated by careful reading, and early impressed with the principles that moved our republican fathers, he had exercised himself upon all the political, religious, and commercial questions of his time, and upon most had worked himself out into the largest liberty and the clearest light. By conscience, by heart, he was the ardent supporter of human rights. He could bear no restrictions, tolerate no interference here. He had a full and unwavering confidence in the value and 20 the permanency of our institutions, and was not dismayed by any of the discouraging signs of the times. He believed fully in human progress, and delighted in nothing so much as in noticing or re- counting the proofs of it. But his strongest feeling was the importance and the necessity of religious liberty and perfect toleration. He came to this city before the Unitarian controversy had arisen at the East, and was an attendant for many years upon Trinity Church, where, indeed, he became a Sunday school teacher. He was contented there, and was not among those who started the First Unitarian congregation in New York. It was not till the spirit of persecution arose in this city, and he saw men and opinions that he knew to be pure, charged with infidelity, and branded with social opprobrium, that he felt his spirit stirred within him. Then his sense of duty, his strong sentiment of justice, his love of truth, and his abhor- rence of intolerance, all combined to make him cast in his lot with a sect everywhere spoken against. In him it was a high act of moral courage, and a triumph of conscience over interest and inclination, for he was connected, by marriage, with one of the most influ- ential families of the dominant sect in this city, and compelled, in the fulfilment of his duty, to forsake the worship to which his household adhered ; a separation which, to the honor of all be it known, never distilled a drop of bitterness into his domestic cup. Mr. Goodhue was a firm believer in the doctrines of Unitarianism, and rejoiced in every evidence of their spread ; but his attachment to the principles of 21 religious liberty was still stronger, and lie would have left us, as soon as any other body of Christians, had we proved false to the charity we avow. I might speak, my brethren, of the simplicity of his manners, his modesty and humility, his great dislike of ostentation in modes of life, dress, equipage, and domestic arrangements. These were the qualities which made him loved as well as respected. No man envied his success, or was jealous of his honors. His wealth built up no barrier between him and his fellow-men, however humble. His circumstances however prosperous, his condition however elevated, did nothing to conceal, to distort, or to color the image of the man himself. He was manifest through all, and appeared in his modest, simple, sincere goodness, from which none felt the least provocation to detract. I should wrong him, and the place, and the office I fill, did I fail to say, that the foundation of all that was admirable in Mr. Goodhue's character, was Piety ! A profound reverence and love for God was the central and pervading sentiment of his heart. This was the light and strength of his conscience. To please God, to render himself a pure and acceptable offering in his sight, to do his Maker's will on earth as it is done in heaven this was the rule and the impulse, and the secret source of his righteous life. If you ask for the shades in a character so singu- larly shining, perhaps it might be said that Mr. Goodhue valued the approbation of his fellow-men so much as to injure the decisiveness of his estimates of character, and the frankness of his expressions in regard to men and measures ; that his cautiousness 22 amounted to timidity, and his love of peace to pusil- lanimity. He complained of himself that he had not the courage to say disagreeable things when it was proper to do so, to resist wrong, and to check en- croachment. His gentleness and kindness of heart affected his discrimination of character, while his veneration for the opinions of his early teachers in politics and religion, gave his mind a degree of confidence in the sentiments he had received from them, somewhat unfavorable to progress or the full development of truth. He had, perhaps, an over- weening respect for his own judgment in matters which he had not fully measured or exhausted : a fault, however, which never assumed the form of arrogance, or affected his manners, though it may have narrowed his comprehension. My brethren, I have to go in search of his faults to give authority to the testimony I have borne to his graces ; but why should I be solicitous to seem candid in speaking of virtues which were universally recognized ? In conclusion, my brethren, I have one witness to produce, in confirmation of the testimony now concluded, whose integrity, humility and reliableness you are, at this moment, least of all disposed to ques- tion I mean, the subject of these observations himself. After Mr. Goodhue's death, a letter was found, written by him only a few months before, and addressed to his family, which forms such a mirror of the man, and contains so much that is interesting and valuable to us and the community, that every scruple of reserve has given way before the urgency which has sought its publication on the present occasion. It may be 23 considered as Mr. Goodhue's dying testament, as it is, next to his good name, the most precious bequest left to his children. Omitting such parts as more directly concern his immediate family, I shall now proceed to lay this letter before you, without comment, as the appropriate proof, enforcement, and moral of this discourse. The paper is dated New York, February 7, 1848, at his residence in this city, and is as follows: "Born on the 21st of June, 1783, I am now well advanced on my 65th year. This fact of itself would remind me that the end cannot probably be very far off. But besides, I have, for about two years past, occasionally found an opression on the chest, on moving quickly, which seems to indicate some de- rangement in the action of the heart, and this difficulty I think has materially increased within a few weeks. Wishing to offer some observations for the use of my family, should I be suddenly removed from them, I have set down the thoughts that occur to me. " First, then, I thank Heaven, that my lot has been cast in this age, and in this land. I say in this age, for although the evils that exist are abundant, yet I think there has been great gain in the general recog- nition among a numerous portion of the intelligent part of society, of the importance of the great princi- ples of Peace, Temperance, and respect for the rights of others. And in my own country these principles are more prevalent, I think, than in any other; and there is, moreover, I think, this further encouraging ' o o view that they are constantly making progress 24 throughout the community. I take this view also- that the conditions which go to giving a man the consideration and esteem of his fellow-creatures, to which we all justly attach a value, have more refer- ence to the essentials of character, as intelligence and virtue, and more independence of the extraneous circumstances of official position, family connexion, or great wealth. The advantages of these accidents are of no comparable importance here with what they are in the other countries of the world ; and thus temptations to draw men aside from the course of virtuous life, are accordingly so much the less dangerous." After expressing his gratitude for the blessings of his domestic ties, and the happiness of his home, he says : "In those in whom my happiness is more imme- diately concerned, what equivalent could there be for a departure from a life of uprightness." And then continues: " In looking back on my own course of life, I have abundant cause for thankfulness; for while desiring humbly to acknowledge the insufficiency of my own merits, yet have I great reason to rejoice that, growing up under the influence of the good and the pure, I have escaped many evils where others have been less fortunate. I have often men- tioned that, among my associates in my native town, (Salem,) I scarcely ever heard a profane word. 25 " I ought to account it another circumstance of thankfulness, that I had the advantage, in early life, of imbibing and cultivating sentiments of perfect toleration and charity for the religious opinions of others, so that I have never for a moment felt the slightest restraint hi cherishing all good-will towards the worthy and good, of whatever sect or denomi- nation they might be. At an early period of my life I was thrown, for several months, exclusively into the society of Mahometans and Brahmins, and there were many among them with whom a mutual regard subsisted. Mere opinion, if squaring even with my own notions of truth, I have ever considered as far less important than right motives. I wish to cherish the most devout reverence for the Great, Omnipotent, Omnipresent, and Perfect Being, the Great First Cause, the Creator and Ruler of the Universe our Father, Preserver, and Benefactor ; and to keep habitually in view the obligations I owe to him of perfect obedience in all things. What these duties are, I think are more plainly shown in the life and precepts of the Great Teacher, and I wish accord- ingly to set all value upon them. These he has said are essentially, love to God, and love to man." " In reference to the style of living, I wish to advise my children against everything like extravagance, how r ever much they may happen to be favored with the means of indulgence. Things comfortable, if they can afford it, I would not withhold; but I should consider it a rale never to be departed from, that so far as display should be the object, they should never exceed in the slightest degree, the rule which should 4 26 prevail among the wise and the prudent. An infinitely more deserving object of their regard, in the bestow- ment of superfluous means should be, I think, the aiding of the great cause of learning and science. I have no doubt that the tendency of society is to lessen the distinctions of rank as regards the accidents of birth and station, and that the great principle of equality is to make progress in the world and when growing out of a high civilization, it is to be hailed with all w r elcome. The overthrow of almost any of the institutions of society, in any country, by violence, I should be disposed to deprecate, and I am disposed to abhor revolutions, but to cherish reformation everywhere. "In reference to the closing scene in this world, I wish to express my desire that there be no parade connected with the funeral performances. It would be my desire, that none but the immediate relatives and friends should be called together when the usual religious services should be performed, and that not more than a single carriage should follow the hearse to the cemetery." After bidding adieu to his family, with a particular reference to every individual having any claim upon his recollection at such a solemn moment, he concludes with these words : " I pray Heaven to receive my parting spirit." (Signed) "JONATHAN GOODHUE." In a postscript is appended the following pregnant after-thought : " I add, as a most happy reflection, that I am not 27 conscious that I have ever brought evil on a single human being." Brethren, I have thus imperfectly, but truthfully set forth this example of a Christian Merchant, especially addressed to you as business men, in the hope that it may win your serious and profound attention, and with the prayer that through its contemplation, the words of the text may be verified : " That thou mayest walk in the way of good men, and keep the paths of the righteous." UCSB LIBKARY X- A 000999318 9 University of California SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 305 De Neve Drive - Parking Lot 17 Box 951388 LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA 90095-1388 Return this material to the library from which it was borrowed. Univers: Soutt Libr