THE 
MONTHLY MAGAZINE. 
No. 116.] 
JuLy 1, 1804. 
[6, of Vou. 17. 
a 
ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS. . 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
N certain Anecdotes of the Life of Dr. 
Prieftley, annexed to a Funeral Sermon 
on his death, publihya by his brother, the 
Rev. Timothy * Prieftley, I find an account 
of a contference, held at Warrington, be- 
tween the writer and the tutor in Divinity 
at the academy there. The only tutor 
an divinity at Warringten, during Dr. 
Priefiley’s refidence at the academy, and 
for many years after, was the Rev. Dr. 
Aikin, to whom, therefore, the anecdote 
muft be referred. Mr. Prieftley’s narra- 
tive is as follows :— 
*¢ One time, when he was at Warring- 
ton, the tutor in divinity, my brother, and 
me, {pent an afterncon together. ‘The 
converfation turned upon thofe furprifing 
changes we had known in feveral, who 
had been, like his uncle, brought to em- 
brace religion in the {pace of a few hours ; 
and how thofe lived happily, and at death 
triumphed over the king of terrors. 
«© The tutor was remarkably affegted, 
and, turning to my brother, faid—‘ If 
thefe things are true, this is fomething 
more than philofophy.? My. brother an- 
{wered—*‘ True: if ever God had a people 
under the heavens, the perfons alluded to 
were men of God.’ My brother being 
called over the way to meet fome gentle- 
men, defied me to tiay with the tutor till 
he came again. 
out of the room, the tutor wilhed me to 
anfwer any queftion he chofe. I an{wer- 
ed, the more freedom, the more pleafing 
tome. After an{wering feveral queflions, 
I afked him, if he thought fentimen’s like 
his weie calculated to help a min to face 
a holy God? He burit into a flood of 
tears, and, crofling the room, lay his head 
on my right knee, (for he fat ona boffet) : 
he wept exccedingly. After fome time 
he recovered himielf, and faid —* Cnrift 
God! Chrift God! I cannot beli-ve it, 
and fear I fhall never die like a Chrift 
tian.” 
Regard to my father’s memory will not 
fuffzr me to leave unnoticed fuch «an 
afperfion on his charaéter, although con- 
yeyed in a velvcle of vulgarity and in. 
Mownruly Mac, No. 116. 
By the time he had got. 
coherence. Many are living who have 
been his pupils, and who were intimately 
acquainted with his manners and fenti- 
ments ; and I appeal to them all, whether 
the words and actions here afcribed to him, 
be not totsliy repugnant to every idea 
they have formed of him, My father was 
a man of found judgment, of compofed 
feelings, of ftritt propriety of behaviour, 
a fincere and fedulous inquirer after truth, 
and mott fair and candid in the ttatement 
of his Gpinions. He never, to the clofe 
of his life, gave the leait indication of 
compunction or regret for the do¢trines 
which his reaton had perfuaded him to 
believe, and his office had led him to 
teach; and few men had lefs caufe to fear 
‘“ to face a holy God.”’ Ido not hefitate, 
therefore, to “pronounce Mr. Prieftley’s 
account of his converfation with the Di. 
Vinity-tuior at Warrington, either alto- 
gether a fiction, or at leaft a grofs mifre- 
prefentation. It has all the marks of 
one of thofe mifcalled pious frauds, which 
men of more zeal than honefly have in all 
ages been too apt to employ in {uppore 
of their tenets. I have a diftinct recol. 
leStion of his vifit to his brother at War- 
rington, and of the impreffion he left be- 
hind him there, which was that of wonder 
that fuch a man could be tie brother of 
Dr ae Ian, Sir, 
Your’s, &c. J. AIKIN. 
Sticke Nealon: Fune 15,1804. 
at 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
Ee may feem. worthy of remark, that 
the Julian Star, mentioned by fo many 
Roman authors, approximated, in point 
of time, to the natal flar of Chrift, which 
dire&ted the Eaftern Magi to his birth- 
place, and that it likewile poflefled an in- 
direét fimilarity in its affigned defignation ; 
fince the one wes confidered by: the Ro- 
mans, as denoting the reception of a mor~ 
tal into the number of their deities; and 
the other manifetted to the Gentiles the 
appearance of a divine perfon upon 
cath. 
In a note upon the ‘ Julium Sidus,”’ 
in the edition of Hovace im ulum Delphint, 
2 x™ the 
