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mortal interests sink into insignificance , or rather which confer on those interests all the rational importance t ~ hat they possess . As a Christian preacher , we particularly admired Drv Price . The subjects , the style and the delivery of his sermons , were uncommonly attractive . We wish that the writer of his life had at least
endeavoured to express ia adequate terms the fascinations ( such we found them ) of his simple yet fervent addresses to the understandings and the feelings of 2 iis hearers . It has been our fortune to attend on some fine speakers , on
some orators of great celebrity : but to -eloquence so natural and resistless &s his we have never listened . If his political reputation added considerably to the number of his auditors , his congregations were secured , however , by other and far superior motives .
The composition of these Memoirs frequently betrays heedlessness , and therefore a want of respect for the public taste . When Mr . Morgan informs us Cp . 22 ) that Dr . Price ' s " hearers [ audience ] were equally thin 11 both on Newington Green and in Poor Jewry Lane—when he says that the great end which this excellent man always
had in view was " to instill into the minds of his congregations the 'necessity of a virtuous course ( p . 186 ) , these and many such examples * of inadvertence make us sensible of the strict relation between precision and clearness , between inaccfuraev and obseuritv , of style .
A very caustic temper is often discernible in the Memoirs : and , on several occasions , the biographer does not write in the mild and humble spirit which characterised the honoured subject of his volume . Passages of
this description will be quoted in the sequel of our Review : we now proceed to the more agreeable employment of extracting anecdotes and observations by which our readers may be gratified and instructed ; and these we shall produce in the order of their
occurrence . Dr . S . Chandler ' s injudicious advice to a young minister . During Mr . Price ' s residence at Stoke Newington , " he occasional ! y officiated in different congregarious , particularly at Dr . Chandler's
* One is found in page 24 . * ' He received in consequence a very flattering letter , &e . which lie regarded more , &c . than a « a proof of it $ [ of his own CQimnUttiCation ] having- wrought , &C . "
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meeting--house in th # Old Jewry . Here ] seemed to acquire considerable popular *? but Dr . Chandler , for reasons be ^ t know ' to himself , advised him to be less enerecti in his manner , and to deliver his discourses with more diffidence and modesty . Thi rebuke had its natural effect on the m \ U and unassuming' temper of Mr . Price . Tr avoid an extreme into which he was in nrt
danger of falling-, he ran into the opposite extreme of a cold and lifeless delivery which , by rendering him less popular with the congregation , disposed them to feel less regret when their minister had no further occasion for his services . " Pp . 11 12 .
The zeal of the Rev . S . Price for the Trinity . His nephew being asked by him , " whether lie believed in trfe proper divinity of Jesus Christy he very ingenuousl y answered in the negative , if by proper dL vinity was meant the equality of Jesus
Christ with God . On which his uncle Avitb some vehemence exclaimed , that he had rather see him transformed into a j » z ^ , than that he sJiould have been brought up to be a dissenting minister without beliei * ing in the Trinity . ™ Pp . 13 , 14 . We confess , we should have
hesitated to admit these two communications had not Mr . Morgan derived his knowledge of the occurrences of his relation ' s earlier years either from conversation with Dr . Price or from the notes which he had prepared for the purpose of writing his life . Separately from the instruction which the above
anecdotes , in effect , contain , they who study the diversities of human character will be assisted by them in their favourite pursuit . Interview ^/ Mr . Hume with sone of his opponents * This writer " had heen so little accustomed to civility from his theological adversaries , that his admiration was naturally excited by the
least appearance of it in any of their publications . Dr . Doug-las ( the late bishop of Salisbury ) , Dr . Adams and Mr . Price , were splendid exceptions * to this rudeness and bigotry . Having * been opposed by * iese divines with the candour and respect wlucu were due to his abilities , ami whicli it is shameful should ever be wanting in any
controversy , he was desirous of m eetingthem all together , in order to spend ate * hours in familiar conversation with them--Accordingly , they all dined by invitation at Mr . Cadell's in the Strand 5 and , » might be expected , passed tliciv time in 1 ^ utmost harmony and good humour . subsequent interview with Mr . Price , ^ Mr . Hume visited him at his house at we ing-ton Green , he candidly acknovvieuL that on one point Mr . Frice hadj ^^ ? Principal Campbell was anolUe *
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£ 6 O Review . — -Morgans Life of Price .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1815, page 580, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1764/page/48/
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