The Religion of Joseph Priestley

7/27/2019 The Religion of Joseph Priestley

1/17

JOSEPH PRIESTLEYBy Rembrandt PealcCourtesy of the NewYork Historical Society


2/17

THE RELIGION OF JOSEPH PRIESTLEYB Y IRA V. BRO WN *THAT Joseph Priestley should be known primarily for the dis-covery of oxygen is somewhat ironic; he regarded his workin chemistry as an avocation, not the serious business of his life.His time and his energies were devoted primarily to religion, notto science. He held a series of pastorates during a period totalingover twenty years, and his theological writings eventually ran tomore than twenty volumes. He was the central figure in the forma-tion of English. Unitarianism, and he anticipated many of theviewpoints of Protestant liberalism in general. Like the greatNewton before him and other distinguished scientists after him,Priestley saw no incompatibility between religion and science.There was a natural partnership, he insisted, between the "word'*and the "works" of God.

The stages of Priestley's theological development represent inmicrocosm the evolution of Protestant thought as a whole. He wasbrought up a Calvinist, toyed briefly with Arminianism, movedon to Arianism, and finally became a Socinian. Though often at-tacked as a radical, he clung throughout his life to some orthodoxdoctrines, and these loomed larger in his later years. His chiefimportance was as an advocate of free inquiry. He properly holdsan honored place among those who gave us the intellectual libertywhich the Western World enjoys today. Whether the field wasscience, politics, or religion, Priestley was convinced that truthcould only prevail in a free market of ideas.

Born in the hamlet of Fieldhead near Leeds, Yorkshire, in 1733,Joseph Priestley was the son of a clothmaker. This area of Eng-land was a center of the woolen industry and of Nonconformity.Joseph's mother died when he was only six years old, but not be-*Dr. Ira V. Brown is Associate Professor of American History at ThePennsylvania State University. The present paper was read before theNorthum berland County H istorical Society, A pril 15, 1955, and at D ickin-son College, March 22, 1956, on the occasion of the presentation of the an-nual Dickinson College Award in Memory of Joseph Priestley to Dr. DetlevW. Bronk.

85


3/17

86 P E N N S Y L V A N I A H I S T O R Yfore she had taught him the Westminster Catechism. His upbring-ing was then entrusted to an equally Calvinistic aunt, who gavehim devoted care until he went away to school. The atmosphereof his childhood was one of austerity. Sunday was kept with un-usual strictness, and swearing was looked upon with special hor-ror. His teachers were local Dissenting ministers, and he earlyacquired a good grounding in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin, as wellas theology. In his teens he began showing "heretical" tendencies,and he was refused membership in the Independent Chapel be-cause he was considered unorthodox. By the age of eighteen hehad rebelled against Calvinism, although he had "by no means re-jected the doctrine of the Trinity, or that of Atonement/' 1 Inthis youthful period he classed himself as an Arminian.In 1752, at age nineteen, Priestley entered the Daventry Acad-emy. Since Oxford and Cambridge were closed to Dissenters, thenon-Anglican churches had founded a number of academies. Theseschools were of collegiate level and in the eighteenth centuryactually offered an education superior to that of the universities.2Priestley found his three years at Daventry an exciting and re-warding experience, both intellectually and spiritually. The atmos-phere here was conducive to free inquiry, and one of his tutorswas a Calvinist while the other was inclined toward liberalism.

In my time [Priestley recalled] the academy was in astate peculiarly favorable to the serious pursuit of truth,as the students were about equally divided upon everyquestion of much importance, such as Liberty and Neces-sity, the sleep of the soul, and all articles of theologicalorthodoxy and heresy.3Here Priestley advanced to the mild form of Unitarianism knownas Arianism. This doctrine was widespread in eighteenth-centuryEngland, among both Anglicans and Dissenters.4 Arianism modi-fied orthodox trinitarianism by holding that Christ was a createdbeing not co-eternal with the Father, but pre-existing before ap-

1 Joseph Priestley, Memoirs, in Life and Correspondence of Joseph Priest-ley, ed. by John T. Ru tt (London , R. H un ter, 1831), I", 15.2 Irene Parker, Dissenting Academies in England (Cambridge, The Uni-versity Press, 1914).3 Priestley, M emoirs, Joe. cit., I, 23.* James H. Colligan, The Arian M ovement in England (Manchester, TheUniversity Press, 1913).


4/17

THE RELIGION OF JOSEPH PRIESTLEY 87pearing in the flesh. The more radical Socinianism, to whichPriestley later subscribed, maintained that the Saviour was a mereman.Priestley's first pastorate was at Needham Market in Suffolk,where he served from 1755 to 1758. It was not a happy experience.He had inherited a speech defect which was not conducive to suc-cess in the pulpit, a tendency to stammer. His advancing hetero-doxy caused further difficulty; it was about this time that heabandoned the doctrine of the vicarious atonement. His bachelorstatus was also embarrassing. In 1758 he moved to his second pas-torate, at Nantwich in Cheshire, where the congregation was smallbut friendly. Here also he opened a school. This work preparedthe way for his third appointment, as a tutor in the WarringtonAcademy, which occupied him from 1761 to 1767. W hile hiredto teach languages, he was soon pioneering in the teaching ofhistory and "natural philosophy." Visits to London during theseyears brought introductions to Richard Price and BenjaminFranklin, who stimulated Priestley's later intellectual progress.Our knowledge of Franklin's famous kite experiment comes fromPriestley's History and Present State of Electricity, published in1767. Franklin must have told him the story.5While he found the work at Warrington congenial, Priestleywas happy to re-enter the ministry, when, in 1767, he was offeredthe pulpit of the strong Mill Hill congregation at Leeds, near hischildhood home, where he served for six years. This changebrought him a better income and the opportunity to renew histheological studies. Particularly influential at this point wasNathaniel Lardner's Letter on the Logos, which converted himfrom Arianism to Socinianism.6 Priestley was also much in-fluenced by his friend Theophilus Lindsey, whom he met in 1769.Lindsey led a secession from the Church of England and foundedthe Essex Street Chapel in London, the first English church dis-tinctly known as Unitarian. At Leeds Priestley started The The-

5 Carl Van Doren, Benjamin Franklin (New York, Viking Press, 1938),164, 356.0 Nathaniel Lardner (1684-1768) was one of the foremost theologiansamong the eighteenth century Independents. The Letter on the Logos,written in 1730 but not published until 1759, asserted that "there is one God,even the Father, and that Jesus Christ is a man with a reasonable soul anda human body." See Earl Morse Wilbur, A History of Unitarianism inTransylvania, England, and Am erica (Cambridge, Harvard University Press,1952), 264-265.


5/17

88 P E N N S Y L V A N I A H I S T O R Yologkal Repository, t h e e a r l i e s t U n i t a r i a n p e r i o d i c a l . I n 1 7 6 8 h em a r r i e d a n d b e g a n r a i s i n g a f a m i l y .

I n 1 7 7 3 , o n t h e r e c o m m e n d a t i o n o f B e n j a m i n F r a n k l i n a n dR i c h a r d P r i c e , P r i e s t l e y w a s a p p o i n t e d l i b r a r i a n t o L o r d S h e l -b u r n e , a t a s a l a r y o f 2 5 0 a y e a r a n d a h o u s e , a p o s t w h i c h h eh e l d f o r s e v e n y e a r s . H e w a s r e a l l y a " l i t e r a r y c o m p a n i o n " t oShe lbu rne and had a g rea t dea l o f f ree t ime fo r h i s s tud i e s i ns c ie n c e , m e t a p h y s i c s , a n d t h e o l o g y . I n 1 7 7 4 h e a c c o m p a n i e d h i sp a t r o n o n a t o u r o f t h e C o n t i n e n t . T h e s a m e y e a r h e d i s c o v e r e do x y g e n .

T h e y e a r s w i t h S h e l b u r n e g o t P r i e s t l e y s t a r t e d o n h i s l o n g c a r e e ro f t heo log ica l wr i t i ng . Hi s f i r s t impor t an t book in t h i s f i e ld wasDisquisitions relating to Ma tter a nd Spirit (1777), w h i c h d e v e l -o p e d t h e m e t a p h y s i c a l s y s t e m u n d e r l y i n g h i s l a t e r t h e o l o g y . I tw as a cu r iou s w o rk co m bin ing e l emen t s o f sci en ti f ic skep t i c i smw i t h r e l i g i o u s f a i t h a n a s s e r t i o n o f p h i l o s o p h i c m a t e r i a l i s m a n da v i n d i c a t i o n o f t h e C h r i s t i a n d o c t r i n e o f r e s u r r e c t i o n . P r i e s t l e y ' sd o c t r i n e o f m a t e r i a l i s m w a s b o r r o w e d l a r g e l y f r o m D a v i d H a r t -l ey ' s Observations on Man ( 1 7 4 9 ) , w h i c h h a d a t t e m p t e d t o e x -p l a i n a ll m e n t a l p h e n o m e n a o n p h y s i c a l g r o u n d s . W h i l e e a r l i e rP r i e s t l e y , " l i k e t h e g e n e r a l i t y o f C h r i s t i a n s in t h e p r e s e n t a g e , "ha d t a ke n i t fo r g r an t ed tha t m an ha d a sou l d i s t i nc t f rom h i sb o d y , h e w a s n o w c o n v i n c e d t h a t w e a r e " e n t i r e l y u n a u t h o r i z e dt o a d m i t a n y t h i n g i n m a n b e s i d e s t h a t body w hic h is t he ob j ec to f o u r s e n s e s . " 7

S e n s a t i o n a n d t h o u g h t h a d g e n e r a l l y b e e n h e l d t o b e i n c o m -p a t i b l e w i t h t h e i n e r t n e s s a n d i m p e n e t r a b i l i t y of m a t t e r . P r i e s t l e yi n s i s t e d t h a t m a t t e r w a s n o t i n e r t a n d n o t i m p e n e t r a b l e . " T h a t t h ec o m p o n e n t p a r t i c l e s of t h e h a r d e s t b o d i e s d o n o t a c t u a l l y t o u c ho n e a n o t h e r , " h e s u g g e s t e d , " i s d e m o n s t r a b l e f r o m t h e i r b e i n gb r o u g h t n e a r e r t o g e t h e r b y c o ld , a n d b y t h e i r b e i n g r e m o v e d f a r -t h e r f r o m e a c h o t h e r b y h e a t . " 8 P o w e r s o f a t t r a c t i o n a n d r e p u l s i o nw e r e i n h e r e n t in t h e s e p a r t i c l e s o f m a t t e r , a n d t h e i r c o h e s i o nm i g h t b e b r o k e n . W a s P r i e s t l e y f o r e s h a d o w i n g a t o m i c s c i e n c e ?

S e n s a t i o n a n d t h o u g h t , t h e a t t r i b u t e s of " s o u l " i n P r i e s t l e y ' sd e f i n i t i o n , h e r e g a r d e d a s p r o d u c t s o f t h e m a t e r i a l s u b s t a n c e o f

7 Joseph Priestley, Disquisitions Relating to Matter and Spirit, in The-ological and Miscellaneous Work s of Joseph Priestley, ed. by John T. Rutt(London, G. Smallfield, 1817-1832), III, 201-202.8 Ibid., Ill , 227.


6/17

TH E RELIGION OF JO SE PH PRIEST LEY 89the bra in . Damage to the bra in would damage one ' s menta l andemotional faculties. "Likewise, as the mind is affected in conse-quence of the affections of the body and brain, so the body isliable to be reciprocally affected by the affections of the mind, asis eviden t in the visible effects of all str on g pas sio ns , ho pe orfear , love or anger , joy or sorrow, exul ta t ion or despair . " 9 W a sPr ies t ley an t ic ipa t ing psychosomat ic medic ine?

Mater ia l ism, Pr iest ley argued, was a t tes ted by the Bible as wellas by reason:

The doctr ine of Scr ipture is tha t God made man of thedust of the ground; and, by s imply animating this or-ganized matter , made him that l iving, perc ipient and in-te l l igent being that he is . According to revela t ion, deathis a state of rest and insensibili ty, and our only, thoughsure hope of a future l ife , is founded on the doctrineof the resurrection of the whole man, at some dis tant pe-riod; this assurance being sufficiently confirmed to us,both by the evident tokens of a divine commission at-tending the pe rsons who de l ive red the doc t r ine , andespecia l ly by the ac tual resurrec t ion of Jesus Chris t ,which is more authent ica l ly a t tes ted than any other fac tin his tory.1 0

Death was decomposi t ion, "and whatever is decomposed may berecomposed by the Being who f i rs t composed i t . '71 1 This P r i e s t l e yconfidently expected in the fullness of t ime. The Scripture doc-tr ine , then, was resurrect ion of the body, not immorta l i ty of thesoul. T h e comm on opinio n of the soul ' s surv ivin g the body hadbeen " in t roduced in to Chr is t ian i ty f rom the Or ien ta l and Greekphilosophy, which in many respects exceedingly a l tered and de-based the t rue Chris t ian system." 1 2

I f no man had a soul dis t inc t f rom his body, Chris t , "who inall other respects appeared as a man, could not have had a soulwhich had ex is ted be fore h is body/ '

1 3Thus the Ar ia n hypo the s i sof the pre-exis tence of Chris t could not be correct . Pr iest ley ' s

views on this subject were e laborated in la ter works."Ibid., Ill, 244.10 Joseph Priestley, The History of the Philosophical Doctrine Concern-ing the Origin of the Soul, in Works, III, 386.^Matter and Spirit, in Works, III, 332.12 Ibid., I l l , 329.13 Ibid., I l l , 220.


7/17

90 P E N N S Y L V A N I A H I S T O R YA c o r o l l a r y to P r i e s t l e y ' s d o c t r i n e of m a t e r i a l i s m w a s t h e p r i n -

c i p l e o f " p h i l o s o p h i c a l n e c e s s i t y / ' w h i c h h e d e v e l o p e d i n a n a p -p e n d i x t o t h e Disquisitions relating to Ma tter and Spirit. " I fman . . . be wholly a material, it will not be denied but that hemust be a mechanical being," he reasoned.14 Every human will, heasserted, was subject to certain fixed laws. "A particular determi-nation of mind could not have been otherwise than it was, if thelaws of nature be such, as that the same determination shall con-stantly follow the same state of mind, and the same views ofthings."15 As Priestley understood it, the doctrine of "necessity"was not a pessimistic one. The chain of causes and effects hadbeen established by the infinite wisdom of God and would ter-minate in "the greatest good of the whole universe."16 Even ap-parent evils and sufferings might be instruments of good. Thisbelief contributed to the serenity and optimism which carriedPriestley through serious adversities without bitterness. The the-ory was not unique with Priestley. He had learned it originallyfrom Anthony Collins and had been confirmed in it by Hartley'sObservations on Man. Some critics charged that Priestley wasretu rning to Calvinism, but there was an important difference.While Calvin emphasized the sovereignty of God, Priestley em-phasized God's goodness. His faith in divine benevolence appar-ently made him in essence a Universalist: "No Necessarian . . .supposes that any of the human race will suffer eternally. . . ."17Among those critical of Priestley's doctrines of materialism andnecessity was his good friend Richard Price. Did Priestley not,"by maintaining God to be the source of all the motions in theworld, allow a soul to the world, though he will not to men?" 18Price, a philosophical idealist, denied that matter could think andargued for a soul separate from the body. Price also defendedfree will. On one point they were in agreement; they both lookedforward to resurrection and the last judgment. The debate be-tween the two men was published in 1778, under the title A FreeDiscussion of the Doctrines of Materialism an d Philosophical

14 Joseph Priestley, The Doctrine of Philosophical Necessity, in WorkIII, 453.* Ibid., Ill, 464.Ibid., Ill , 532.17 Ibid.13 A Free Discussion of the Doctrines of Materialism, and PhilosophicalNecessity, in a Correspondence Bctivccn Dr. Price and Dr. Priestley, inWorks, IV , 63 .


8/17

TH E RELIGION OF JOSE PH PRIESTLEY 91Necessity, in a Corespondence betw een Dr. P rice and Dr. Priest-ley. The debate demonstrated, Price wrote, "that two personsmay differ totally on points the most important and sacred, witha perfect esteem for one another."19 Priestley's views, he added,gave striking proof of "a truth, which, could it be stamped onevery human mind, would exterminate all bigotry and persecu-tion," the truth that "worth of character, and true integrity, andconsequently God's acceptance, are not necessarily connected withany set of opinions." Priestley was equally charitable:

He who can have, and truly enjoy, the society of suchmen as Dr. Price . . . cannot envy the condition ofprinces. Such fellowship is the true balsam of life; itscement is infinitely more durable than that of the friend-ships of the world, and it looks for its proper fruit, andcomplete gratification, to the life beyond the grave.20In 1780 Priestley resumed his ministerial career by accepting

the pastorate of the New Meeting, one of two Unitarian congre-gations in Birmingham, which he held for the next decade. Thiswas the most liberal pulpit in England, and Priestley was unani-mously chosen to fill the position. The atmosphere was congenial,and Priestley was given time to continue h is researches in. chem-istry and in theology. Here he revived the Theological Repository,which had been suspended for some years, and made it a vehicleof some new views at which he had arrived. Among these was theconviction that Jesus was completely human, with human frailties,and that He was the son of Joseph and Mary.21 Priestley thusclearly stamped himself a Unitarian.At Birmingham Priestley completed his most famous theologicalwork, An History of the Corruptions of Christianity (2 volumes,1782), which surveyed the history of Christian dogma and churchgovernment. This study entitles him to a place among the foundersof the modern discipline of intellectual history. The "corruptions"of Christianity for Priestley included most of what had been gen-erally considered its fundamental doctrines: the Trinity, theVirgin Birth, original sin, predestination, the vicarious atonement,and plenary inspiration of Scripture. It was these corruptions, he

10Ibid., IV, 16.' * I b i d . , I V , 4 . -, " - " ' ; ' -,- '- : : . V . . w - \ -551 W i l b u r . J o e . cit., 3 0 1 - 3 0 2 .


9/17

92 PENNSYLV ANIA HISTORYfelt , which prevented the universal acceptance of Christ iani ty. Thebest way to win this acceptance was to expose the falsehood ofwh at had so long passed for C hrist ian i ty and to dem ons trate whatChris t ian i ty t ru ly was.

To consider the system (if i t may be called a system)of Christ iani ty a priori [he w r o t e ] , one would think i tvery l i t t le l iable to corruption, or abuse. The great out-l ine of it is , that the Un ive rsa l P ar en t of m ank ind com-missioned Jesus Christ to invite men to the pract ice ofvir tue, by the assurance of his mercy to the penitent ,and of his purpose to ra ise to immortal l i fe and happi-ness all the vir tu ou s an d. the good, b ut to inflict an ad e-quate punishment on the wicked. In proof of this hewr ou gh t m an y miracles, an d after a public execu tionhe rose again from the dead. He also directed thatproselytes to his religion should be admitted by baptism,and that his disciples should eat bread and drink winein commemoration of his death. 2 2

The cause of the la ter corruptions Priest ley found in "the estab-lished opin ions of the he ath en wor ld, and especially the philoso ph-ical part of it." 2 3

The greatest of the corruptions, he bel ieved, was the doctrineof the Trinity, to which he gave much attention not only in thisbook but a lso in other works. He found "nothing l ike divini tyascribed to Christ before Just in Martyr, who, from being a phi-losopher, became a Christ ian, but a lways re ta ined the peculiarhabit of his former profession."

2 4The divinity of Christ was firsttaught by those who had been "heathen philosophers, and espe-

cia l ly those who were admirers of the doctrine of Plato." Therewas "a pret ty easy gradation in the progress of the doctrine ofthe divinity of Christ; as he was first thought to be a God in somequalified sense of the word, a distinguished emanation from thesupreme mind, and then the logos or wisdom of God personified;and i t was not t i l l near four hundred years after Christ that hewas thought to be proper ly equal to the Father.'32 5

While the "idolatry" of the Christ ian church had begun with22 Joseph Priestley, An History of the Corruptions of Christianity, inWorks, V, 480.23 Ibid., V, 481.24 Ibid., V, 29. Justin Martyr lived in the second century A.D.33 Ibid., V, 506-507. . :


10/17

TH E RELIGION OF JOS EPH PRIESTLEY 93the deification of Jesus Christ, it had ended with the adoration ofa great hie rar chy of saints and angels wh ich remin ded Prie stleyof the heroes and demigods of the pagans. The use of holy water,incense, and candles in worship Priestley also traced to heatheninfluences. The Roman Catholic Church, he believed, was "theprincipal seat of that anti-christ ian corruption, of which so muchis said, and against which we are so earnestly cautioned, in thebooks of the New Testament / ' 2 6

Priestley was not alone among eighteenth century thinkers, orindeed among Protestants in any period, in questioning the divineright of Catholicism. Most Protestant groups claimed, l ike theUnitarians , tha t they were re turning to the "pure" gospel of theNew Testament.27^ And rationalists joined forces with pietists ina battle for religious freedo m an d the sep aratio n of chu rch andstate.

Pries t ley exp ande d his analysis of the Tr ini ta r ian "co rru pt io n"in An History of Early Opinions concerning Jesus Christ, Com-piled from Original Writings; Proving That the Christian ChurchWas at First Unitarian (4 volumes, 1786). The first basis of hisargument for the Unitarian posi t ion was "from the genera l tenourof the Scriptures." 2 S The Unity of God, he claimed, was the doc-trine not only of the Old Testament but also of the SynopticGospels. The second basis of his argument was reason; Trini-tarianism to him implied a logical contradiction. Through a studyof the writ ings of the Church Fathers, he undertook to tracethe gradu al development of A rian and Tr ini ta r ian interpre ta-t ions. His chief conclusion was that the majority of Christ ianswere U ni tar ian unti l the t ime of the Council of Nicea (A .D . 32 5 )."A little reflection . . . one wo uld thin k, m igh t satisfy an y pe rso n,that a doctrine which was unknown in the Christ ian church t i l lthe four th c entury , could be no genuine doctrine of Ch rist ianity ." 2 9

Priest ley 's History of Early Opinions concerning Jesus Christis also notab le for his discussion of the do ctri ne of the V irg inBirth, the truth of which he had come to question. He suspectedthat it was not a part of the earliest gospel narratives. The Gospel

id., V, 448.27 Sidney E. Mead, "Denominationalism: the Shape of Protestantism inAmerica," Church History, XXIII (January, 1955), 297.3SJoseph Priestley, Early Opinions Concerning Jesus Christ, in Works,VI, 13 ff.20 Ibid., VII , 180 .


11/17

94 PENNSY LVAN IA HISTORYof Mark did not contain i t , and Priest ley suggested that Matthewand Luke did not include i t in their ear l iest versions. He thoughtthe introductions to these gospels were later interpolations. 3 0 T heearliest cer tain mention of the Virgin Bir th he found in the writ-ings of Justin Martyr , a century af ter the t ime of Chris t . Pr iest-ley was not inclined, however , to proceed from this beginning todoubt of al l the New Testament miracles . The great bulk of themhe believed to have been well authenticated; the very cornerstoneof his faith was belief in the resurrection.

His relat ive conservatism in handling Biblical miracles set Jo-seph Pr ies t ley sharply apar t f rom more thoroughgoing skept icssuch as Edward Gibbon, David Hume, Vol ta i re , and Tom Paine .These he undertook to refute in several works, notably his Lettersto a Philosophical Unbeliever (1787) . Pr ies t ley was convinced tha tthe Jewish and Chris t ian revelations as set for th in the Bible werein general authentic and relat ively contemporary his tor ical narra-t ives of actual facts :

W e m ay . . . safely conclu de, tha t since the his tor y ofthe miracles , the death and the resurrection of Chris t ,and also that of the miracles wrought by the apostles ,were received as true by such numbers of persons in theage in which they were published, and the account wasnever confuted, but Chr is t iani ty kept ga ining groundfrom that t ime to the present, the great facts on which itscredi t s tands were unques t ionably t rue . 3 1

To the or thodox, however , Pr ies t ley ' s l ibera l ism was dangerousindeed. The most active of his opponents was Samuel Horsley, anAngl ican c lergyman, who engaged him in a long and acr imonioustheological controversy. Horsley was able to point out minor in-accuracies in Pr iest ley's work and thus to create the impressionthat his entire argument was unsound. The result of this debatewas to sharpen the l ines of hosti l i ty between Anglicans and Dis-senters . Pr iest ley was, of course, opposed to the EstablishedChurch itself as well as to the system of doctrine prevailing inthe Established Church. This fact accounts in considerable degree

30 Ibid., VII, 57 ff. Here Priestley comes close to anticipating the HigherCriticism, which flowered a century later.31 Joseph Priestley, Letters to a Philosophical Unbeliever, in Works, IV ,477-478.


12/17

THE RELIGION OF JOSEPH PRIESTLEY 95for the misfortune that now befell him, the persecution which ledhim to leave his native land.It was not entirely a matter of religion; politics was involved,too. Priestley, like many English liberals, was a defender of theFrench Revolution. He was among those who wrote replies toEdmund Burke's famous Reflections on the French Revolution(1790). Two Anglican clergymen of Birmingham charged himwith sedition against church and state. The controversy suddenlyturned into mob violence on July 14, 1791, the second anniversaryof the fall of the Bastille. Friends of the Revolution were observ-ing the occasion with a dinner, though Priestley did not himselfattend. Incited by the conservative clergymen, a mob was organ-ized to break it up. The dinner was already over when the mobarrived, and in the end their fury was turned against the Unitarianchapels and against Priestley's home. Priestley and his familyescaped in the nick of time, quickly abandoning a game of back-gammon, but his house, his library, and his laboratory weredestroyed.He was able eventually to recover 2500 in damages from thegovernment, but he felt it was not safe to return to Birminghamand now transferred his residence to London. Before long he wasinvited by the Gravel Pit Meeting at Hackney to succeed to thepastorate left vacant by the death of Richard Price. His situationin England, however, remained somewhat precarious. He wasburned in effigy along with Tom Paine; politicians inveighedagainst him in the House of Commons; his old associates in theRoyal Society shunned him; and he received countless threaten-ing letters. When England went to war with France, the prospectof treason charges loomed. In 1794 he decided to emigrate toAmerica, where his sons had already settled. The last ten- yearsof his life were passed in Northumberland, Pennsylvania.Here he completed his six-volume General History of the Chris-tian Church, which he had begun in Birmingham. The last fourvolumes were printed in Northumberland by Andrew Kennedys-were published in 1802-1803, and were dedicated to Thomas Jef-ferson. The cost was largely subscribed by Priestley's Englishpatrons. This work was quite similar in tone to the History of

32 On Kennedy see Francis G. Burrows, "Early Newspapers of Northum-berland County," Proc. Northumb. County Hist. Soc, III, 1931, 56-57.


13/17

96 PENNSYLVANIA HISTORY

THE PRIESTLEY HOUSE IN NORTHUMBERLANDNoiv owned by the Borough of NorthumberlandCourtesy The Pennsylvania State University

the Corruptions .of Christianity. Nothing could be more absurd,he concluded, than "the doctrines which were, in a course oftime, received as articles of Christian faith by what was calledthe Catholic Church; nor were any rites more disfigured bysuperstition than those of Christian baptism and the Lord's sup-per."33 He did not regard the story as entirely depressing, how-ever, for he was convinced that a new day was dawning. He wasthankful that he lived in an age "in which we see the gradualdiffusion of intellectual light, and a better aspect of things in amoral respect than has ever appeared in the world before." 34

The most interesting phase of Priestley's later theological workis his preoccupation in the last decade of his life with Bibleprophecies and the second advent. He became persuaded that thecataclysmic events associated with the wars of the French Revo-lution had been forecast in the books of Daniel and Revelation."I expect the downfall of all the states represented by the ten

33 Joseph Priestley, Genera! History of the Christian Church, in Works.X, 532.31 Ibid., IX, 17.


14/17

TH E RELIGION OF JOSE PH PRIESTLEY 97toes in the image of Nebuchadnezzar, and the ten horns of the4th beast of Daniel before the present war be over/ '3 5 This in-terest is evidenced in several of his lesser publications (e.g., Thepresent State of Europe Com pared w ith Ancient Prophecies,1794) and in his correspondence. His fr iend Thomas Belshamrecalled a conversation just before he left England in whichPriestley expressed his conviction that the second personal ap-pearance of Christ was near at hand. "You may probably l ive tosee it," he said; "I shall not. It cannot, I think, be more thantwenty years ." 3 6

One of the chief evidences for the imminent return of ChristPriestley found in the general prevalence of irreligion in his t ime.This idea he developed in Observations on the Increase o f Infidelity(Northumberland, 1795) :

The intelligent Christian will also see a valuable purposeanswered by the present prevalence of infidelity. It is astriking fulfilment of the prophecies of our Saviour,who, though he foretold that his church should neverfail, likewise intimated that, at his second coming, heshould not find much faith (or a general belief andexpectation of his coming) in the earth. It is likewise aconfirmation of what the apostles have written concern-ing the apostasy of the latter days. In the meantime, theprevalence of infidelity is the most efficacious means ofpurifying our religion from the abuses and corruptionswhich at present debase it, and especially of overturningthe civil establishments of Christianity in all Christiancountries, whereby the kingdom of Christ has been madea kingdom of this world, having been made subservientto the corrupt policy of men, and in every respect thereverse of what it originally was.37

While in earlier days Priestley had expected the second com-ing to be figurative rather than literal, he was now persuadedthat there would be a "personal appearance of Christ descending"in the clouds of heaven, and coming to exercise his proper king-35 Scientific Correspondence of Joseph Priestley, ed. by Henry C. Bolton(New York, privately printed, 1892), 156.30 Thomas Belsham, Mem oirs of the Late Reverend Theophilus Lindsey,2nd edition (London , R. H un ter, 1820), 286.37 Joseph Priestley, Observations on the Increase of Infidelity, in Works,XVII, 104-105.


15/17

98 P E N N S Y L V A N I A H I S T O R Yd o m . " 3 S " T h i s s e c o n d c o m i n g o f C h r i s t , a n d t h e c o m m e n c e m e n to f t h e Mi l l e n i u m ," h e w r o t e " w e a r e l e d b y a w h o l e s e r i e s o fp r o p h e c i e s t o e x p e c t i m m e d i a t e l y a f t e r t h e o v e r t h r o w o f t h ep r e s e n t E u r o p a n m o n a r c h i e s , w h i c h a r e e v i d e n t l y t o t t e r i n g t ot h e i r b a s e . " 3 9 T h e s e c o n d c o m i n g w o u l d b e a c c o m p a n i e d b y t h er e t u r n o f t h e J e w s t o P a l e s t i n e a n d b y t h e d e s t r u c t i o n o f t h eP a p a c y , w h i c h P r i e s t l e y b e l ie v e d , i n c o m p a n y w i t h m a n y P r o t e s -t a n t s , t o b e t h e A n t i - C h r i s t of P r o p h e c y . I n s o m e p a s s a g e s o n ei s a s t o n i sh e d t o fin d h o w c l o se l y t h e p r e m i l l e n n i a l i sm o f t h i s U n i -t a r i a n i n t e l l e c t u a l c o m p a r e s w i t h t h a t o f t h e n o t o r i o u s Mi l l e r i t e so f a g e n e r a t i o n l a t e r a n d J e h o v a h ' s W i t n e s s e s i n o u r o w n d a y .T h e c a l a m i ti e s a c c o m p a n y i n g t h e w a r s o f t h e F r e n c h R e v o -l u t i o n w e r e , t h e n , b u t a p r e l u d e t o t h e m i l l e n i u m . P r i e s t l e y ' s o p -t i m i sm a s t o t h e f u t u r e o f h u m a n so c i e t y h i s f a i t h i n p r o g r e s s ,if y o u w i l l w a s a n o u t s t a n d i n g f e a t u r e of h i s t h o u g h t . T h e e i g h t -e e n t h c e n t u r y E n l i g h t e n m e n t w a s " a p r o m i s e o f g r e a t e r i m p r o v e -m en t in su cce ed ing ag es , an d o f the fu lf i llmen t o f the p rop he c iesw h i c h ; a n n o u n c e a s t a t e of g r e a t a n d p e r m a n e n t f e l i c it y i n t h elatter days o f t h e w o r l d , w h e n nation shall not -lift up sw ordagainst nation, w h e n m e n shall learn war no more a n d w h e n t h ew h o l e e a r t h shall be full o f the know ledge of the Lord"*0 W h a t -e v e r w a s t h e b e g i n n i n g o f t h e w o r l d , P r i e s t l e y b e l i e v e d , t h e e n dw a s t o b e " g l o r i o u s a n d p a r a d i s a i c a l b e y o n d w h a t o u r i m a g i n a t i o n sc a n n o w c o n c e i v e . " 4 1 I t a p p e a r s t h a t t h e m o d e r n n o t i o n of p r o g -r e s s i s b u t a s e c u l a r i z e d v e r s i o n of C h r i s t i a n m i l l e n a r i a n i sm a n dt o so m e e x t e n t , in d e e d , a p r o d u c t o f Ch r i s t i a n i t y . I n P r i e s t l e y ' sw o r k w e f i n d b o t h t h e r e l i g i o u s t h e m e o f Mi l l e n n i u m a n d t h e s e c u -l a r t h e m e o f U t o p i a . 4 2

A n o t h e r i m p o r t a n t i n t e r e s t o f h i s l a t e r y e a r s w a s t h e n e w s t u d yo f c o m p a r a t i v e r e l i g i o n , i n w h i c h P r i e s t l e y w a s a p i o n e e r . T h i sin terest i s ref lected in h is Com parison of the Institutions of theHebrew s w ith Those of the Hindoos and other Ancient Nations

38 Compare his Institutes of Natural and Revealed Religion (1772), inWorks, II, 365, with Observations on the Increase of Infidelity (1795), inWorks, XVII, 103.39 Observations on the Increase of Infidelity, in Works, XVII, 103-104.40 Gene ral, History, of the Christian Chu rch, preface, in Works, IX, 17.41 An Essay on the First Principles of Government (London, J. Johnson,1771), 4-5. , . . . ..43 For other illustrations of this inter-connection, see Ernest L. Tuveson,Millennium and Utopia: a Study in the Background of the Idea of Progress(Berkeley, University of California Press, 1949). ;


16/17

THE RELIGION OF JOSEPH PRIESTLEY 99(1799), Socrates and.Jesus Com pared (1803), and The Doctrinesof Heathen Philosophy Com pared w ith. Those of Revelation(1804). But Priestley's inquiry into other, faiths served only tostrengthen his confidence in the superiority of Christianity, as heunderstood it.''What.would I not give/' Priestley exclaimed in 1795, "to havethe 'opportunity to ap pear, as a public preacher of UnitarianChristianity!"43 This opportunity came in the spring of 1796,when he was invited to give a series of lectures at Elhanan Win-chester's new Universalist church in Philadelphia. His topic was"The Evidence of Revelation," published as The Evidences ofRevealed Religion (Philadelphia, 1796). Among his hearers wereVice President John Adams and Dr. Benjamin Rush. The latterreported that Priestley had shown "in the most striking mannerthe superiority of the Jewish and Christian, revelations over thepagan religions in principles, in morals, and in ceremonial insti-tutions." Next he was to demonstrate the truth of Christianity"from the miracles which accompanied its establishment."44 Ac-cording to Rush he had "crowded and respectable audiences" andhis sermons were "very popular."45 "I have never met with somuch knowledge," the famous physician continued, "accompaniedwith so much simplicity of manners."46 The result of this courseof lectures was the establishment of a small Unitarian society,from which is descended the present First Unitarian Church ofPhiladelphia, which was the first church in the United Statesto bear the Unitarian name.Priestley's efforts to plant Unitarianism in the SusquehannaValley were disappointing. Scotch Presbyterianism was firmlyentrenched. Unitarian services were held in his home, but fewattended. "In this part of the country," he observed soon afterhe arrived in Northumberland, "I find nothing but the extremesof infidelity and bigoted orthodoxy. Whether I shall do any goodhere I cannot tell. If I do, it will* be slowly and silently."

47By43 Priestley to Rev. Thomas Belsham, August 30, 1795, quoted in Life andCorrespondence of Joseph Priestley, II , 316.^Benjamin Rush to John Dickinson, April 5, 1796, quoted in Letters ofBenjamin Rush, ed. by Lyman Butterfield (Princeton, Princeton UniversityPress, 1951), I I , 773-774.* Rush to Griffith Evans, March 4, 1796, ibid., I I , 772-773.46 Quoted in Butterfield, ibid., I, 80.47 Priestley to Rev. Thomas Belsham, December 14, 1794, in Life andCorrespondence of Joseph Priestley, II , 283.


17/17

100 P E N N S Y L V A N I A H I S T O R Y1800 t he p i c tu r e w a s a l i t t l e b r i gh t e r . I n t ha t ye a r he r e po r t e dh a v i n g a c l a s s o f a d o z e n y o u n g m e n s t u d y i n g U n i t a r i a n i s m a n da c ongr e ga t i on o f a bou t f o r t y . 4 8 T h e U n i t a r i a n c h a p e l w h i c h n o ws t a n d s i n N o r t h u m b e r l a n d w a s n o t e re c t e d u n t i l 1 8 3 4 , a g e n e r a -t i on a f t e r P r i e s t l e y ' s de a th . P r i e s t l e y , o f c ou r s e , ha s on ly a ni n c i d e n t a l p l a c e a m o n g f o u n d e r s of A m e r i c a n U n i t a r i a n i s m ,w hic h s t e m s c h i e f l y f r om a N e w E ng la nd r e be l l i on a ga ins t C a lv in -i s m . Som e o f t he B os ton g r oup r e a d h i s books , bu t t he r e w a s a p -p a r e n t l y n o p e r s o n a l c o n t a c t .4 9

P r i e s t l e y ' s P e n n s y l v a n i a e x i l e w a s n o t e n t i r e l y a h a p p y o n e .D e a t h s o o n d e p r i v e d h i m o f h i s y o u n g e s t s o n a n d h i s w i f e . H ew a s su b j e c t e d t o v i c i o u s a b u s e b y a n o t h e r E n g l i s h e m i g r a n t , t h eno to r ious po l e m ic i s t W i l l i a m C obbe t t . A nd h i s he a l t h de c l i ne dv i s ib ly a s t he ye a r s w e n t by . H e d i e d on F e b r u a r y 6 , 1804 , a t t hep r o ve r b i a l a ge o f m a n , t h r e e s c o r e ye a r s a n d t e n . " H e ha d f o rs o m e t i m e p r e v i o u s , " h i s f r i e n d a n d d i s c ip l e T h o m a s C o o p e r r e -po r t e d , " f o r e s e e n h i s d i s s o lu t i on , bu t he ke p t up t o t he l a s t h i sh a b i t u a l c o m p o s u r e , c h e e r f u l n e s s , a n d k i n d n e s s . " 5 0 T he f a i t h ,hope , a nd c ha r i t y w h ic h c ha r a c t e r i z e d h i s l i f e a r e w e l l i l l u s t r a t e di n t h e e p i t a p h w h i c h a p p e a r s o v e r h i s g r a v e i n N o r t h u m b e r l a n d :

R e tu r n un to t hy r e s t , O m y s ou l , f o r t heL o r d h a t h d e a l t b o u n t i f u l l y w i t h t h e e .

I w i l l l ay me down in peace and s leep t i l ]I a w a k e i n t h e m o r n i n g o f th e r e s u r r e c t i o n .

4S Priestley to "Mr. Russell," November 13, 1800, ibid., 446.49 Conrad Wright, The Beginnings of Unitarianism in America (Boston.Starr King Press, 1955), 215-216.50 Thomas Cooper to Benjamin Rush, February 6, 1804, quoted in ScientificCorrespondence of Joseph Priestley, 162.

Documents

The Religion of Joseph Priestley