learned Father has not favoured us with any particulars of these interesting spirits; has said nothing of the ample wings of fire, which, we doubt not, the dæmons of Homer and Pindar spread out, nor described the laughing eyes of Horace's Familiar, nor even the pointed tail of the short devil of Martial; but we own we should like to see such cases of possession in our days; and though we Reviewers are a kind of exorcists, employed to cast out the eivil dæmon of scribbling, and even pride ourselves upon having performed some notable cures; from such dæmoniacs we would refrain with reverence; nay, so anxiously dread the escape of the spirit, that, for fear of accidents, we would not suffer a saint to come near them.

The belief of a millenium or temporal reign of Christ, during which the faithful were to be indulged in all sorts of sensual gratifications, may be reckoned among those gross errors, for which neither the porch nor the academy are accountable, but which grew up in the rank soil of oriental fanaticism, and were nursed into doctrines of Christianity by the Fathers. Though the world's best religion comes from the East, its very worst superstitions have sprung thence also; as in the same quarter of the heavens arises the sun-beam that gives life to the flower, and the withering gale that blasts it. There is scarcely one of these fantastic opinions of the Fathers that may not be traced among the fables of the antient Persians and Arabians. The voluptuous Jerusalem of St. Justin and Irenæus may be found in those glorious gardens of Iram, which were afterwards converted into the Paradise of the Faithful by Mahomet; and their enamoured Sons of God' may be paralleled in the angels Harut and Marut of Eastern story, who, bewildered by the influence of wine and beauty, forfeited their high celestial rank, and were degraded into teachers of magic upon earth. The mischievous absurdity of some of the moral doctrines of the Fathers; the state of apathy to which they would reduce their Gnostic or perfect Christian; their condemnation of marriage and their Monkish fancies about celibacy; the extreme to which they carried their notions of patience, even to the prohibition of all resistance to aggression, though the aggressor

aimed at life itself; the strange doctrine of St. Augustine, that the Saints are the only lawful proprietors of the things of this world, and that the wicked have no right whatever to their possessions, however human laws may decree to the contrary; the indecencies in which too many of them have indulged in their writings; the profane frivolity of Tertullian, in making God himself prescribe the length and measure of women's veils, in a special revelation to some ecstatic spinster; and the moral indignation with which Clemens Alexandrinus inveighs against white bread, periwigs, coloured stuffs and lap-dogs! all these, and many more such puerile and pernicious absurdities open a wide field of weedy fancies, for ridicule to skim, and good sense to trample upon:

But we must content ourselves with referring to the works that have been written upon this subject; particularly to the treatise de la Morale des Pères of Barbeyrac; which, though as dull and tiresome as could reasona bly be expected from the joint efforts of the Fathers of the Church and a Law professor of Groningen, abun dantly proves that the moral tenets of these holy men are for the most part unnatural, fanatical and dangerous; founded upon false interpretations of holy writ, and the most gross and anile ignorance of human nature; and that a community of Christians, formed upon their plan, is the very Utopia of monkery, idleness and fanaticism.

Luckily, the impracticability of these wretched doctrines was in general a sufficient antidote to their mischief: But there were two maxims, adopted and enforced by many of the Fathers, which deserve to be branded with particular reprobation, not only because they acted upon them continually themselves, to the disgrace of the holy cause in which they were engaged, but because they have transmitted their contamination to posterity, and left the features of Christianity to this day disfigured by their taint. The first of these maxims-we give it in the words of Mosheim-was,

that it is an act of virtue to deceive and lie, when by such means the interests of the church may be promoted.' To this profligate principle the world owes, not only the fables and forgeries of these primitive times, but

ceased in 1767, when he settled at Leeds, as minister to a large and respectable congregation of dissenters. The liberality of the persons composing it, and his own predilection for the ministerial office, rendered this a very agreeable situation to him; and in conformity with the duties of his function, he resumed, with his characteristic ardour, his theological studies. One of the first results of these renewed inquiries was his conversion to the system called Socinian, which he has attributed to a perusal of Dr. Lardner's Letter on the Logos. A number of publications on different topics connected with religion announced the zeal by which he was inspired. Nor was he one who confined his labours to the closet; on the contrary, he was extremely assiduous in his pastoral instructions to the younger part of his flock. Some of his writings displayed an attachment to church-discipline, which he had probably imbibed from his early connexions with Calvinistic dissenters, since they had become obsolete among those with whom he was now associated. He likewise began to enter into controversy respecting the right and ground of dissenting in general, and to take his station as one of the most decided opposers of the authority of the establishment. It was at Leeds that his attention was first excited, in consequence of his vicinity to a pub. lic brewery, to the properties of that gaseous fluid then termed fixed air, and his experiments led him so far as to contrive a simple apparatus for impregnating water with it, which he afterwards made public. At this time, he says, he had very little knowledge of chemistry; and to this circumstance he attributes in some measure the originality of those ex

16 On this occasion he published,__in 1772, his "Institutes of Natural and Revealed Religion." His instructions to the young he resumed with ardour on every change of situation, and had the merit of giving a new direction, among the dis senting ministers, called Presbyterian, to their theological labours, which, since they had outgrown a belief in the Assembly's Catechism, had been almost entirely confined to put pit-instruction. The pupils of Priestley revere his memory, and through not a few of them, though himself dead, he yet speaks the words of truth and so berness.

periments which produced the subsequent discoveries, that have rendered him so celebrated, since otherwise he might probably have followed some beaten track. The success of his History of Electricity induced him to adopt the design of treating on other sciences, in the same historical manner; and at Leeds he diligently occupied himself in preparing his second work on this plan, "The History and present State of Discoveries relating to Vision, Light, and Colours." The expences necessary in composing such a work obliged him to issue proposals for publishing it by subscription, and it appeared in 1772, in one volume 4to. Though a performance of much merit, its reception was not such as to encourage him to proceed in his design; and, fortunately for science, he afterwards confined himself to original researches of the experimental kind.

After a happy residence of six years in this situation, Dr. Priestley quitted it for one as different as could easily be imagined. The Earl of Shelburne (afterwards Marquis of Lansdowne) was one of the few English noblemen to whom it was an object of gratification to enjoy at leisure hours the domestic society of a man of science and literature; and he made a proposal to Dr. Priestley to reside with him in the nominal capacity of his librarian, but rather as his literary companion, upon terms which regard to the future provision of an increasing family would not permit him to decline. He therefore fixed his family in a house at Calne, in Wiltshire, near his lordship's seat; and during seven years attended upon the Earl in his winter's residences at London, and occasionally in his excursions, one of which, in 1774, was a tour to the continent. This situation had doubt

17 After visiting "Flanders, Holland, and Germany as far as Strasburg," he spent " a month at Paris." Of the state of religion among the French literati, he gives the following account :-" As I was sufficiently apprized of the fact, I did not wonder as I should otherwise have done, to find all the philosophical persons to whom I was introduced at Paris unbelievers in Christianity, and even professed Atheists.-I was told by some of them that I was the only person they had ever met with, of whose understanding they had any opinion, who professed to believe Christianity. But on interrogating them

not improbable that the odium which these works brought upon him was the cause of a coolness in the behaviour of his noble patron, which about this time he began to remark, and which terminated in a separation after a connexion of seven years, but upon amicable terms, and without any alleged cause of complaint. By the articles of agreement Dr. Priestley retained an annuity for life of 1507.1

was dedicated to his before-mentioned early associate, Mr. Graham, whom he describes as having long been "a distinguished champion for freedom of thinking in very trying situations." The second volume, illustrating" the Doctrine of Philosophical Necessity," was dedicated to his friend, Dr. John Jebb. Considering the wrongs which Priestley afterwards experienced but could then little expect, the following passage is striking: "You and I, Sir, rejoice in the belief that the whole human

race are under the same wholesome disci

pline, and that they will all certainly derive the most valuable advantages from it, though in different degrees, in different ways, and at different periods; that even the persecutors are only giving the precedence to the persecuted, and advancing them to a higher degree of perfection and happiness; and that they must themselves, for the same benevolent purpose, undergo a more severe discipline than that which they are the means of administering to others."

The publication of these Disquisitions occasioned a “free," yet a truly amicable "discussion" between the author and his friend, Dr. Price, which was published in 1778, dedicated to their common friend, Mr. John Lee, and appears to have left both the parties in opinion just where it found them. Mr. John Palmer, a dissenting minister, who had been the intimate friend of Dr. Priestley's fellow-student, Mr. Alexander, also appeared in favour of philosophical liberty, of which he was considered an able advocate. On the same side the learned Jacob Bryant addressed Dr. Priestley, to whom and to Mr. Palmer he published a reply, and to the latter a rejoinder.

21 Lord Shelburne was at this time a candidate for ministerial power, a situation in which opulence can do little to secure a manly independence, such as directed the conduct of Dr. Priestley. It is no wonder that an aspiring statesman declined the further patronage of a fearless reformer. Yet the manner in which his lordship first proposed to close the connexion does no credit to his memory. He intimated to Dr, Price, that he wished to

His next removal was to Birmingham, a situation which he preferred on account of the advantage it afforded of able workmen in every branch requisite in his experimental inquiries, and of some men distinguished for their chemical and mechanical knowledge. Several generous friends to science, sensible that the defalcation of his income would render the expences of his pursuits too burthensome for him to support, jo ned in raising an annual subscription for defraying them. This assistance he willingly accepted, as more truly honourable to him than a pension from the crown, which might have been obtained for him, if he had desired it, in the administration of the Marquis of Rockingham, and the early part of that of Mr. Pitt. He had not been long settled in this place, before a vacancy happening in the principal disof the resignation of one of the pastors, senting congregation in consequence he was unanimously chosen to supply it. Without interrupting his philosophical and literary pursuits, he entered with great zeal into the duties of his office, especially that important part of it which consists in catechising and instructing the younger members of the society. Theology again occupied a principal share of his attention (indeed, it was always his favourite study,) and some of his most elaborate works in this department, as his "History of the Corruptions of Christianity," and "History of Early Opinions concerning Jesus Christ," made their appearance from the Birmingham press.22 They were a fer

give his friend an establishment in Ireland, where he had large property." To this banishment Dr. Priestley preferred the stipulated annuity which was regularly paid, but though Lord S. had wished "the separation to be amicable," he declined the visits of Dr. Priestley when he should be occasionally in London. Yet when he "had been some years settled at Birmingham Lord S-, removed from the administration, by the rising fortunes of Pitt, sent a common friend to engage Dr. Priestley again in his service"- -a proposal which was immediately declined.

22 The first part of the general conclusion to the "History of the Corruptions of Christianity," was addressed to the consideration of "unbelievers, and especially of Mr. Gibbon," from whose Miscellaneous Works, and an appendix to a volume of