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REVIEW. u Still pleased to praise, yet not afraid to "blame."—-Pope.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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( 321 , )
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Akt . I- —The Theological and Miscellaneous Works , 8 re . of Joseph Priestley , LL . D . F . R . & . Src . With Notes by the Editor , ( J . T . Hutt ) . Vols II . III . IV . WE rejoice to observe that this Edition of Dr . Priestley ' s
Works is proceeding with rapidity , notwithstanding the difficulties which its Editor has had to vanquish . Had lie been compelled to abandon his design , as once there appeared reason to fear , a great and indelible disgrace would have fallen on the admirers of
his Author . Although Unitarians must rightlv refuse to own anv master but Christ , * they cannot fail to hoTd the memory and the works of Priestley in a high and peculiar reverence . He is more decidedly , perhaps , the greatest of their modern champions , more elevated bv the number and the
value of his exertions above all labourers in the same vineyard , than any one partisan of those sects whom it was his lot to oppose . His unwearied zeal , his astonishing industry , his guileless simplicity of heart and frankness of disposition , would entitle his
memory to the fondest cherishing , even had he not left works by which " being dead he yet speaketh . " Eminent as he was in the pursuits of experimental philosophy , earnest in the discharge of his duties as a Christian minister , and ever-active in the fields
of controversial divinity , he yet found time for all that is nearly connected with the interests of humanity in the worlds of politics and of letters . What , then , would have been the estimate formed of the zeal of those
who fee ) it their highest honour to follow him as they think he followed Christ , had their indifference wholly prevented the collection of his works , when undertaken by one whose fitness for the task none could for a
moment question ? Of the works of Dr . Priestley themselves , it cannot be desired that we should now particularly speak . Human praise , were it conferred by those who have a far higher right than we nave to bestow it , could not now reach their illustrious author- Time
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has set on them its sacred seal . Their style could never be commended for any thing but its lucid clearness . It is often wordy aud diffuse , pccasionally incorrect , and seldom elegant or graceful . But the Author had higher desires than that of building *
up to himself a fame on tuneful periods or sparkling fantasies . He felt so intensely the infinite \> alue of truth , that he thought not of those ornaments by which , to minds of a different constitution , she might be
rendered alluring . The great charms of his writings , next to the force of their arguments , are the intense earnestness with which every important doctrine is urged , and every lesson of wisdom impressed on the reader , and the plain-heartedness and unaffected feeling which glow even through his most profound and abstracted
reasonngs . The most striking advantage of this edition is its singular cheapness . The quantity of matter contained in each volume forms a striking contrast to the usual practices of the times . The First Volume is , as yet , withheld , from the desire of the Editor to render his
Memoir of the Life and Writings of his Author as complete as possible . The Second Volume comprises the Institutes ; the Appeal to Professors of Christianity ; the Trial of Mr . Elwall ; and the Familiar Illustration of certain
Passages of Scripture relating to the great Points in dispute between those who follow Dr . Priestjey , and the ejreat majority of the Christian World . The Work is dedicated , by the Editor , with great propriety , in a short but very impressive address , to Mr . Christie , who , as Treasurer of the
Unitarian Fund , is so nobly engaged in extending the great cause to which the energies of Priestley were devoted . The Institutes , published from the edition of 178 & , " the last which had the superintendence of the Author , " are here , for the first time , illustrated by Notes . Of this work Mr . Rutt thus speaks in his Preface :
" It bears a testimony highly honourable to the design . which he had early formed , of giving" e ^ ery effect in his power , to his
Review. U Still Pleased To Praise, Yet Not Afraid To "Blame."—-Pope.
REVIEW . u Still pleased to praise , yet not afraid to "blame . "— -Pope .
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V XIV . £ X
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1819, page 321, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1772/page/41/
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