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printed discourses , on every topic connected with religion and morals , affords a wide field * for the display of good taste in the selection y and sarely it will not be denied , that many
preachers might benefit their audience much more by reading to them the good sense of Clarke , Foster , Abernethy , Fawcett , Enifield and many others , rather than ( what is too often the case ) nonsense of their own .
I am far from thinking Mr . TVs conclusion correct , that the Rev . Gentleman who made the assertion intended : accusing Dr , P . of " neglecting an important branch of his duty , of being negligent and indolent , " ( which Mr . T . says , € i were , undoubtedly meant to be implied , " ) because such an assertion would have exhibited the
most palpable ignorance of Dr . P . ' s habits and disposition , and an illi berality of feeling , which I flatter myself no enlightened man can entertain . To the exemplary zeal with which Dr . P . discharged the various duties of bis important function , my own
observation and experience enable me to testify ; and the numerous advantages derived from his able and instructive lessons , by me and many of my friends , have impressed us with a deep sense of the obligations we owe to this truly eminent man . The
recollection of his amiable simplicity , when imparting from the great stores of his own capacious and philosophic mind , affords us exquisite pleasure , though we cannot but indulge a strong feeling of regret , not unmixed with indignation , that " bigot rage * ' should have been the cause of his removing
from a situation where he was so pre-eminently useful and happy . The seed , however , that he sowed , we hope has not been unproductive ; and the taste for scientific pursuits and general literature , which is so widely diffused
in Birmingham and its vicinity , may , 1 believe , in a great degree , be ascribed to his example and instructions . A manly freedom of thought , an intrepid independence of conduct , marked the tenor of his life . No timid
considerations restrained his inquiries , or influenced his decisions , on any subject ; and whatever appeared to hinti to be truth , he cordially embraced and fearlessly a vowed . * The happiness * and improvement of his ; fellow-creatures being the great objects h # had in
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vtew , he steadily and disinterestedly pursued whatever had a tendency to protijiote them . Though earnest in impressing upon others the importance of the opinions which , after diligent inquiry , he embraced , yet he
diadained the dogmatizing and intolerant spirit of those who would limit inquiry within thesphere of their own narrow views , and as they stigmatize fret thinking as a crime , would make their own confined notions , ( however
tineiilightened by science , ) the criterion of truth and propriety . Such a character , and such an example as Dr . P ., would be of inestimable advantage , at this period , in this populous town ; but I fear we " shall never look upon his like again . "
Dr . P . * never visited Birmingham after his bouse , library , &c . were destroyed ; therefore , what your " re * spected private Correspondent" states , may be correct as to his preaching " the sermons of Dr . Enfiefd * Mr . Lindsey and others , after his own had
been destroyed at the riots T a transaction I unfortunately witnessed , and have the satisfaction to reflect , that every thing a few individuals could do to prevent the mischief and preserve his property , some of my friends and myself endeavoured to do . But of
the correctness of his opinion , that Dr . P . " found it difficult to compose on trite and common-place subjects " those who are acquainted with his writings , may be permitted tcT entertain a doubt . To wie they appear ( and I believe I am very far froin
being singular in the opinion ) , in contestably to prove , that he was as much distinguished for the talent of rendering " trite and common-place subjects" attractive and interesting , as those of an abstruse and philosophical kind , intelligible and perspicuous , and
characterized by a simplicity of manner almost peculiar to himsel f , very much resembling that of his philosophical friend and companion , the celebrated Franklin . His writings have been objected to , as being u chiefly polemical ; " and the same character
may be applied to the labours of Wickliffe and Luther , and Middleton and Wakefield , and many others of the friends and benefactors of mankind * Such objections , however , will have no weight , except with the timid or the time-serving , whose Steal is con-
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Reply to Mr . Taylor on Dr . Priestley ' s Pulpit Sermons . 321
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VOX ,, XIII . 3 T
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1818, page 321, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2476/page/33/
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