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in short , an almost necessary act of devotion to make the pilgrimage of bigotry , and with more than Mahometan zeal to cast a stone at the f < daring Socinian - " and if by some strange accident , an ecclesiastic discovered that Dr . Priestley was a man , with the usual faculties and feelings of the species , and especially that he was a good man , beloved , revered ,
admired by such as knew him best , the surprise was as great as that which is felt on finding out that one who has been always regarded as a malignant enemy , is and ever has been a cordial friend .
So great , for a long period , was the terror inspired by the name of Priestley , that philosophers treading in his steps , and availing themselves of his successful researches , dared not openly appeal to his authority . The discovery
was proclaimed as an honour to England , but the discoverer was passed over in deference to prejudice . At length , the name was timidly pronounced , but always with a disclaimer of his theological and political sins . But the time is now come for doing
this great man justice ; his character as a philosopher is confirmed by the improvements of science $ it is no longer profitable to revile the man , and it is almost esteemed a work of supererogation ( excepting perhaps at Dublin ) to anathematize the divine .
The Bishop of Raphoe will not , we apprehend , look back upon his treatment of Dr . Priestley with entire satisfaction in those moments in which men survey their actions in the light of Christian truth and charity . We
would willingly hope that he did not sit down with the design of doing him a wrong , but he himself cannot read Dr . Carpenter ' s acute " Exam in at ion * without confessing , at least , that he has misrepresented the distinguished advocate of modern Unitarianism . He
charges him , e . g . with denying the doctrine of redemption by Christ , because he renounced and exposed the doctrine of atonement by satisfaction to Divine Justice . This latter tenet the Bishop himself eeems to abandon , though it is evidently the dogma of his church . But he adheres to the am ~
biguous word atonement , uses it in a sense which an Unitarian might approve , and thojggh he must have seen
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that Dr . Priestley employed the term in a different and more correct theological sense , accuses him of the impiety of rejecting the whole doctrine of
Christian redemption , which he arbitrarily chooses to understand by the term . By such means any man may prove whatever he pleases ; against such arts no argument , no character can stand .
From the Bishop ' s misrepresentations we turn with pleasure to Dr . Carpenter ' s description of this truly great man , who had indeed his imperfections , but none in which there was not a certain " soul of good " :
" Dr . Priestley's character was marked by an almost childlike simplicity ; and his open frankness and undisguisednesa sometimes gave the advantage to those who had more of worldly wisdom . Like that Apostle whom in several respects he resembled , in simplicity and godly sin * cerity he had his conversation in the
world . There was in him neither art nor guile : and he wrote as though all the world were as guileless and as artless as himself . He said all he thought , and why he thought ; and certainly did not enough consider the use which might be made of his less digested views and arguments , by bitter or prejudiced opponents , or by injudicious admirers .
" The . success which in various ways attended his pursuits , and the degree in which he must have perceived that he outstripped the great bulk of his contemporaries , both in moral and in physical science , naturally produced a
selfconfidence , which sometimes might really be without foundation , and which often would appear so , to those who could not understand the processes of his mind , or appreciate , as they deserved , the excellencies of his character . This
selfconfidence is most manifested , when the contemptuous sneers , the overbearing arrogance , or the paltry insinuations , of his opponents , — -or their brutal efforts to destroy his well-earned reputation , in order to destroy the force of his arguments , —led him to shew on what ground he felt that he stood , and firmly to
maintain itm < c Indefatigable activity marked his life ; but it was of that kind which , having great objects in view , seldom put on the form of minute drudgery .
Whether he would ultimately have advanced truth more , by writing more cautiously , some may doubt . My own opinion is , that he would . His first thoughts were ofteo happy ; but there was sometimes a
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300 Review . —Dr . Carpenter ' s Examination of Bishop Magee .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1821, page 300, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2500/page/44/
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