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    face , and take them as types of what lies in the depth . Why limit the modes of devotional conception ? Why say to any emotions or any thoughts , * You shall not worship , ' to any desires , r You shall not pray ? ' There can be no proprieties here , Prayer is no more than the utterance , the irrepressible utterance , of the affections which most adorn and dignify human nature ; it is the soul's act in laying itself consciously open at the feet of God 5 it is the gush of

    tenderness with which the spirit pours forth its burning emotions of veneration and love ; it is the joy , or the agony , or the shame of placing the mind as it is , in contact with the great parent mind , that its sins may become clearer , its wants more craving , that its life may be quickened , and its sympathies refreshed . This is the end , this the temper of piety ; every thing eke is but its instrument ; and that mode of thought and expression which is truest to each individual mind , must be that mind ' s best vehicle of devotion .

    But , however little of apparent glow there might be in Dr . Priestley ' s piety , it was , like every thing else in his nature , sincere and true ; and it conducted him with a moral dignity , sometimes reaching the highest kind of greatness , through a life of no ordinary vicissitude . It is difficult , even at this distance of time , in

    the quiet of one ' a study , with abundant proofs that better times have set in , nay , in immediate view of ten Irish , bishops and church-rates disappearing under the ministerial extinguisher , to read the history of the Birmingham riots with due composure . And yet the great sufferer himself , the pastor driven from his flock * the author despoiled of his manuscripts , the toil of years ,

    the philosopher almost within hearing of the crash of his apparatus , the philanthropist hunted for his noble sympathy with his race , the man robbed of his social rights , uplifts amid the violence a front of unbroken , yet not cold magnanimity . Indeed it is this very calmness , so instantaneous , so unlaboured , g o utterly free from stoicism , far more than the mere exhibition of suffering , that

    almost chokes one in this narrative . There is an evident simplicity and fidelity in his delineation of hia ^ wn state of mind which inspires one with that most delicious feeling—perfect faith in a fellow-being : there is no excitement ; the deeps of hia nature were stirred , but they were only freshened , not thrown into storm ; there is no exaggeration , no consciousness of being an object of interest , no endurance for the sake of setting an example , no

    sectarian triumph secretly exclaiming , * See what my principles can do ; ' the same sentiments of sublime necessarian piety , the same indignation quelled in the faith that present evil U the index that points to future good , the same compassion for those who wronged him , neither mawkish nor haughty , which appear in his replies to public addresses , appear also , and with ju « t the same prominence , in his careless and familiar letters . It was obvious that in all times past he had been faithful to his Christian philosophy , and deeply imbedded in his mind and heart every principle which bin

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    234 On the Life , Character , and Writings of Dr . Priestley .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 2, 1833, page 234, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2612/page/18/