with most men advancing in life, inferior studies give place to superior ones.

But I will venture to say, that while a person retains so much Greek or Hebrew (an acquaintance with which last is a rare qualification with the clergy) as to be able to read without assistance only the more easy parts of scripture, he has every requisite of a good critic with respect to any thing deserving particular attention. For this does not depend upon the facility with which he can read the languages in general. With a little more time he will collect the evidence necessary to ascertain the sense of any difficult passage, and form as good an opinion as the more ready scholar. The greatest scholar would hardly choose to publish an opinion concerning the sense of a disputed passage, without consulting concordances, lexicons, and indexes, which the ordinary scholar can also do. And some of the greatest scholars in the learned languages have been very poor divines.*

his uncle, Dr. Price, than I can pretend to be, I requested his account of it, and he has given me his opinion in the following letter:

"Dear Sir,-Dr. Price was by no means a stranger to the Greek and Latin languages. He was induced to give them a considerable degree of attention, by their immediate connexion with some of his favourite pursuits. Early in life his studies directed him to Cudworth's Intellectual System. From this work he imbibed a strong partiality for Platonism, and an eager desire to examine the system according to Plato's description of it, in his own language; this he accomplished, though, agreeably to his own confession, after the labour of years, and the experience of very great difficulties. His notes, however, to his Treatise on Morals, [Ch. i. Sect. iii.,] will shew that he was not a stranger to the author he admired.

"Besides, there was no part of literature more interesting to Dr. Price than a critical knowledge of the New Testament. This was an object of his pursuit to the latest hour of his life; indeed he read with uncommon avidity whatever related to this subject. His congregation must remember that in his sermons he frequently introduced verbal criticisms, attended with a reference to the original language.

"I will add, that he was so great an admirer of Epictetus as always to carry a copy of his Enchiridion in his pocket, the Greek of which he interpreted with the

utmost ease.

"These circumstances most certainly give Dr. Price no claim to eminence as a classical scholar, but they are sufficient to refute the idle charge of his being illiterate; a charge which I should scarcely think to be deserving of any notice, as I should suppose that its effect will be altogether confined to the indulgence of the author's temper. I am, &c.

G. MORGAN." (P.) Mr. G. Morgan, with whom I have occasionally associated, among the friends of civil and religious liberty, by whom his liberal sentiments and manly independence were justly esteemed, "had undertaken," as his brother, Mr. W. Morgan, relates, "to write a very circumstantial history of his uncle's life, and had made consider. able progress in it, when, towards the close of the year 1798, a fatal disorder put a final period to this and all his other pursuits. The confused state in which his papers were found, and the indistinct short hand in which they were written, rendered it impossible either to arrange, or to understand them properly." Mem. of Dr. Price, pp. vi. vii.

If we may judge of Mr. Wakefield's general system of theology from the following sketch of it, (p. 5,) it is not such as can safely defy either the club of argument, or the shaft of ridicule. "The stupendous doctrine of redemption from the

Besides, to ascertain the true sense of passages of scripture, the knowledge of many things, besides the language in which they are written, is requisite, especially that of customs, opinions, &c. Even the phraseology of scripture may not be sufficiently attended to by those who are proficients in the language in general. This also appears from Mr. Wakefield's interpretation of our Saviour's language, on which he lays so much stress, the true sense of which he has entirely mistaken, though there is no difficulty whatever in construing every word. The real value of a facility in reading the learned languages is greatly overrated by those who boast of it,* and much more useful things must be sacrificed

to it.

Let us now consider how it appears that Dr. Price was "no true friend of religious liberty." "He was forward," Mr. Wakefield says, "on various occasions, to express his disapprobation of my conduct, and oppose my election to the classical tutorship in the college at Hackney." He adds, in a strain of invective surely not becoming any extraordinary measure of the spirit of Christianity, or that can peculiarly recommend any mode of it, "But that Dissenters should thus shew their aversion to any religious principles, or any practice grounded on these principles, is an excess of inconsistency and impudence, which no language in my power can chastise in terms of suitable indignation and contempt.

A considerable portion of this unutterable indignation and

consequence of Adam's transgression by the achievement of immortality through the medium of the Messiah, a doctrine proclaimed, exemplified, and ascertained, by the life of the Son of God, his sacrifice on the cross, and his restoration to life on the third day, was inculcated on mankind amidst a most august display of celestial agency, accompanying this unexampled communication of the Deity, the completion and conclusion, it should seem, of all his religious dispensations to the human race." The union of Unitarianism, with such crude conceptions as these, resembles the mixture of iron and clay in Nebuchadnezzar's images. (P.)

Mr. Wakefield in reply, considers Dr. Priestley as thinking" meanly of the redemption of mankind by the death of the Son of God," and as disparaging "the magnificent language in which the great apostle speaks of this doctrine." Strictures, p. 14. What was the peculiar notion which Mr. Wakefield in common, I believe, with the late Mr. Tyrwhitt, entertained on this subject, and on which they differed, sometimes eagerly, from others with whom they were agreed in the rejection of Christ's Pre-existence, a Trinity and a vicarious Atonement, I am not able clearly to understand, and now unavailingly regret that during our unreserved intercourse, 1 neglected to ascertain my friend's opinion. I have supposed it to have been not very different from Dr. Taylor's "Scripture Doctrine of Atonement."

I by no means wish to detract from the reputation of Mr. Wakefield for that kind of literature to which he has given particular attention, on which he evidently values himself, and with respect to which he pronounces Dissenters in general to be exceedingly illiterate. A Dissenter, however, of whose acquaintance with the same branch of literature I have conceived a high opinion, will soon endeavour to give the world an estimate of it. (P.)

contempt, as much at least as fell to the share of Dr. Price, I own belongs to me; being equally chargeable with this gross inconsistency and impudence. But whereas Dr. Price is happily out of the reach of this sudden storm, which cannot affect the dead, it may overwhelm the living. Being, however, so much interested, let us expostulate a little on the subject.

How can it be said that a man is no true friend of religious liberty, merely because he expresses his disapprobation of any particular opinion or conduct, and acts in consequence of it? It is a liberty which all men, and all Christians, take; and certainly no man has ever done it with more freedom than Mr. Wakefield himself, and this very pamphlet affords the strongest proof of it.

Dr. Price really thought, as I myself do, that public worship is of great importance, and that an example of habitual attendance upon it is of particular consequence in an instructor of youth; and he acted upon this principle, as, I believe, all the trustees of the New College did, in demurring to elect Mr. Wakefield a tutor in it, till they could procure information whether he attended public worship or not. The answer returned to their inquiries was not decisive, but left room to presume that, as he had attended the public worship of the Church of England, when he was tutor at Warrington, he would do so in a similar situation here; and with a liberality which Mr. Wakefield should have acknow ledged, they were not solicitous what mode of public wor ship he preferred, though in their opinion his former practice had been inconsistent with his own sentiments, he being an Unitarian, while the worship he attended was Trinitarian.

When, to the concern of all the friends of the institution, Mr. Wakefield was found to attend no public worship at all, still, with a liberality, which certainly does them honour, and which he would not have found every where, they expressed no public disapprobation of it, but suffered him to continue in his employment till he himself, of his own accord, dissolved the connexion. Could Mr. Wakefield's Cambridge friends, of whose liberality he makes so great a boast, to the disparagement of the Dissenters, have done more ?†

* See Vol. XV. p. 420.

+I do not much wonder that Mr. Wakefield, being a Cambridge man, should boast of his own University, to the disparagement of Dissenters. I, being a Dissenter, may be prejudiced on the other side; but, in my opinion, it is sufficient praise for the members of the University of Cambridge, if they be allowed to occupy a middle station between those of the University of Oxford, and those who are usually called rational Dissenters, with respect to liberality, and an acquaintance with useful knowledge in its full extent. (P.)

Thus much I thought myself called upon to say in defence of Dr. Price, of the Dissenters in general, and of the trus tees of the New College in particular. Dr. Price I consider as one of the first of human characters. I have had occasion to give particular attention to it, and I look up to it with equal veneration and affection. Of all, men Dr. Price was certainly the farthest from being actuated by the spirit of persecution; and, if true candour ever had its perfect work in this world, it was in his breast.

This I say, without wishing to detract from the virtue of the man, who, in my opinion, undervalues him. Mr. Wakefield's "disposition may be as serious, his love of virtue as ardent, and his faith as sincere," as he says it is; and certainly he is a great sufferer for his religious opinions. "I am persuaded," he says, " that no man in England, of any denomination, has suffered so much hinderance in his secular concerns, on account of his religious opinions, as myself; and this is to my mind a perpetual source of unspeakable exultation."+

I am happy (and this I say without any offensive meaning) that Mr. Wakefield is able to console himself in this manner; for I do not see how, in the nature of things, there can be any remedy in the case till his opinions be more generally received. If he be, as I doubt not he is, truly conscientious in doing every thing in his power to discountenance public worship, may not others be equally conscientious in adhering to it, and even in dreading the influence which his sentiments and practice may have on their children and acquaintance? This negative persecution, if it can be so called, (for in reality it is nothing more than withholding positive encouragement,) is the necessary and unavoidable consequence of Mr. Wakefield's avowed opinions and conduct, and certainly differs very much from that kind of persecution which arises from persons not being content to think and act for themselves, but from a determination to controul the conduct of others.

I had myself full as much reason to complain of persecution, when for several years I was not able to get a single scholar, when I wished to open a school, because I was an Arian. For any person who had a dread of Arianism, and of his child being infected by me, could not be expected

* Enquiry, p. 26. (P.)

See Vol. I. Memoirs, 59.

+ Preface, p. iv. (P.)

to put him under my care; nor could I complain of it. It was the necessary consequence of my principles and my situation.

Suppose, what is very possible, that any person should make it a matter of religion to refrain from all labour, not only on Sundays, but on Saturday (the Jewish Sabbath) also, and likewise on all the fasts, festivals, and holidays of every kind in the Popish calendar, would he not necessarily find hinderance in his secular concerns, in consequence of acting according to the dictates of his conscience? He certainly would; but his friends could not relieve him they could only pity him. I should think, however, that there are so many persons, especially in the upper ranks of life, disinclined to public worship, that Mr. Wakefield would not meet with much hinderance in his secular concerns from them, at least on this account.

All that any of us can do is to follow the best judgment of our own minds, and abide by the consequences of upright and consistent conduct, whatever they may be. But let us not censure others for following their best judgments, though it may eventually prove inconvenient to us. Many of my enemies, who would not only discountenance, but even destroy me, if they were able, I am far from thinking very ill of; and if their zeal had no mixture of malignity, there would even be a merit in it. The time will come when we shall know what we are now ignorant of, and likewise one another, better than we do at present; and then it may happen that the persecutors and persecuted shall rejoice together, each of them having assisted in carrying on the wonderful designs of Providence, in promoting the spread of truth and virtue, though in very different ways.*

I do not see why the Dissenters should be treated with such peculiar acrimony by Mr. Wakefield,† or other per

See Vol. III. pp. 450, 451; XIX. p. 353.

↑ Who replies, that his opposition is "to some of their practices, and not to them," and that his "pamphlet speaks with as much severity of the worship and thee worshippers of the Church of England." Strictures, p. 19. This appears in the conclusion of the following remarks on our Lord's denunciation against the "Scribes and Pharisees," Matt. xxiii. 14. The whole paragraph appears well worthy of a reader's attention.

"This expostulation does not necessarily involve, we own, an absolute censure of these long prayers of the Pharisees, here specified: but, if we reflect on other parts of the conduct of our Lord; if we observe the short formulary which he himself laid down as the standard of our devotions, and the brevity with which he urged his own petition, in a most agonizing moment, Father! if it be possible, let this cup pass from me! if we take, I say, all these considerations into our account, it must be thought highly probable even from this passage, that our Lord designed to ex