professorship would have obliged me to spend four months of the year at Philadelphia. As to my usefulness in other respects, I really think it will eventually be greater in consequence of not immediately forcing myself into a more public situation. My writings, which are now much inquired after, and were not known or thought of before, will prepare the way for my preaching in Philadelphia, which I am determined upon, about two months, the next winter. In the mean time I shall have a small congregation here, all the more intelligent people in the place having agreed to join in building me a place of worship. A Mr. Walker, a good scholar, and, in point of character and fortune, the first person in this place, has read almost all my theological writings with the most entire approbation, and even my Disquisitions and controversy with Dr. Price. If we establish a college here, I do not think that I could any where be fixed to more advantage, especially if it be considered that I have here the leisure for my pursuits that I could not have in a populous town, and the climate, &c., much superior to any thing near the coast, in several important respects. Could you and Mrs. Lindsey be set down here, especially in the autumn, without the risk and fatigue of the voyage, you would think it a paradise. It gives a feeling of serenity and cheerfulness that I never had in England. Even the winter, which is now closing, is much less disagreeable, though colder, than yours. It was, however, only three times below 0, and then not at all unpleasant; and as the air is generally clear, that is the time for visiting and pleasurable excursions on slays, which is superior to any other mode of conveyance.* DEAR SIR, To REV. T. BELSHAM.t Northumberland, March 22, 1795. I CONSIDER it as nearly the same thing whether I write to you or to Mr. Lindsey, as I have nearly the same things to say to you both, as you both interest yourselves in what relates * Orig. MS. + Hackney College. to me and my pursuits; and I have little else, living as I do, sequestered from the world, to entertain you with. But I judge of you by myself; and nothing interests me so much as what relates to you and your pursuits. I do not know that any thing has given me more pleasure since I left England than to hear, in my present state of inaction, of your success in the congregation, and in your lecturing to my class at Hackney. I feel as if, by your means, I was not wholly idle, though I am here at present unemployed, and, much against my will, without any thing to do. I hope, however, you will not consider me as being wholly useless. In a Inconveniently situated as I am, I have contrived to repeat my experiments on the generation of air from water, and have diversified them in such a manner as to answer some objections that were made to them, and to extend them farther. few weeks it will, I hope, be in my power to do a good deal more; but I will not trouble you, about things of this nature. I have published an answer to Mr. Paine's book, and it is much read. An edition I first printed here was on bad paper, but another, printed at Philadelphia, looks as well as any pamphlet printed in England, and there will be another edition in Boston. I am now greatly enlarging some Observations I wrote and printed on my arrival in this country on the Causes of the spread of Infidelity. I will send you and Mr. Lindsey copies of what I publish here, if I can, but I find more difficulty than I was aware of in doing this. If I was at Philadelphia I could manage better. I admire the climate of this part of the country very much; but our greatest advantage is the peace we enjoy, and have the prospect of preserving, and the blessings of a good government calculated to preserve it. It is with the greatest eagerness we read all advices from Europe, and especially from England, for the interest of which I cannot help feeling very sensibly. The last accounts we have had, mention the French having passed the Waal, and advancing to Utrecht, and the probability of the Dutch making peace. With every good wish to my native country, and especially my friends in it, I am, dear Sir, yours sincerely. CHAPTER IV. (1795, 1796.) 1 MR. PRIESTLEY, having carried through the press at Northumberland the Memoirs, "from his father's manuscript," thus commences his Continuation: I entertained hopes at one time that my father would have continued the narrative himself; and he was frequently requested to do so by me, and many of his friends, in the course of the year preceding his death. He was requested also, in imitation of Courayer,* to add, at In "Déclaration de mes derniers sentimens sur les différens dogmes de la Religion," presented, in 1767, to the Princess Amelia, with a request for its concealment during the author's life. This MS, the princess bequeathed to her chaplain, Dr. Wm. Bell, by whom it was published in 1787. M. Le Courayer died in 1776, aged 95. He had constantly resided in England since 1728, when he quitted France to escape the persecution excited by his "Dissertation sur la validité des Ordinations Anglicanes." About 1751, Mr. Lindsey came into his acquaintance in the family of the Duchess of Somerset, where Courayer was frequently an inmate, The "derniers sentimens" are strictly Unitarian, though the author, too like some earlier Unitarians, does not allow himself, in terms, to explode the notion of a Trinity. He says, "De toutes les manières d'expliquer le dogme de la Trinité, je n'en connois point de plus contraire à la véritable doctrine du Christianisme, que celle qui suppose dans la Divinité l'existence de trois natures, ou de trois substances, distinctes, soit collatérales, soit subordonnées. C'est, à mons sens, rétablir le polythéisme, sous prétexte d'expliquer un mystère. L'Unité de Dieu est le fondement de l'Evangile; et tout ce qui peut donner atteinte à cette vérité est dangereux. "Je crois donc, qu'il n'y a qu'un seul Dieu; que son Esprit n'est point une substance distinguée de lui; et que Jésus Christ, à qui la divinité a été très intimement unie, est son fils en vertu de cette union; et il n'y a rien de choquant à concevoir qu'il puisse se communiquer à un homme aussi pleine the close of his Memoirs, a summary of his religious opinions. This would have counteracted the suspicions entertained by some, that they had undergone a considerable change since his coming to America; and it was thought by his friends, that such a brief and simple statement of all that appeared to him essential to the Christian belief, and the Christian character, would attract the attention of many readers previously indisposed to religion altogether, from not understanding its real nature, and judging of it only from the corrupt, adulterated, and complicated state in which it is professed in all countries called Christian. It was suggested to him also, that as his society through life had been singularly varied and extensive, and his opportunities of attaining a general knowledge of the world, and a particular knowledge of eminent political and literary characters, very great, it would contribute much to the instruction and amusement of those into whose hands his Memoirs should fall, if they were accompanied with anecdotes of the principal characters with whom he had been acquainted; for he had a fund of anecdote, which he was never backward to produce for the amusement of his friends, as occasions served for introducing it. But his relations were never sarcastic or ironical, or tended to disparage the characters of the persons spoken of, unless on subjects of manifest importance to the interests of society. He meant to have complied with the above suggestions, but being at that time very busily employed about his "Comparison," and thinking his Memoirs of little value compared with the works about which he was then engaged, he put off the completion of his narrative until his other works should be ready for the press. Unfortunately, this was too late. The work he had in hand was not completed until the 22d of January, when he was very weak, and suffered greatly from his disorder, and he died on the 6th of February. ment, et aussi intimement, qu'il le juge nécessaire pour sa propre gloire, et pour le salut du genre humain." Declaration, pp. 4-7. See " A Faithful Translation, to which is prefixed an Account of Dr. Courayer,” (1787,) pp. 15-20. The letters which will occupy the remainder of this chapter are all from Dr. Priestley. They narrate the various objects which now engaged his attention, and the disadvantage or facilities for their pursuit, which he naturally attributed to a remote and retired residence. They also feelingly allude to bereavements of the most painful description, which he was too soon called to suffer, and discover the consolations he derived from an habitual confidence, on Christian principles, in the equity and benevolence of the Divine dispensations, piously concluding, that All is best, though we oft doubt TO REV. T. LINDSEY.* DEAR FRIEND, Northumberland, April 5, 1795. I NEVER felt so sensibly as I now do the benefit of the principles which I have taken so much pains to teach to others. I mean, chiefly, the belief of a Providence, extending to all events; of nothing happening without the will of the wisest and best of Beings. Otherwise, my situation is so very different from what it has ever been before, that I should have felt the change very severely, especially so late in life. Nothing is yet done towards building my house. It is next to impossible to get workmen, and the price of every thing is advanced one-third since we have come hither. This indeed is an alarming circumstance, and how far the evil will go we cannot tell. It is with most probability ascribed to the increase of paper money, which has only very lately made its way hither. In consequence of this, I expect that living, even in this remote place, will soon be as dear as in London; but my sons will soon raise every thing we want of provisions within * Essex Street. |