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THE LIBRARY
OF
THE UNIVERSITY
OF CALIFORNIA
LOS ANGELES
GIFT OF
William B. Vasels
THE
^fieoIoBfcal anil iSWij^cellaneottS
WORKS
OF
JOSEPH PRIESTLEY, LL.D. F.R.S. &c,
WITH
NOTES,
BY THE EDITOR.
— •-♦-•^ —
VOLUME XVI.
Containinf;
RELATINO TO
THE EVIDENCES OF REVEALED RELIGION,
FOUR DISCOURSES,
INTENDED TO HAVE BEEN DELIVERED AT PHILADELPHrA^
AND
SINGLE DISCOURSES.
I-KJNTBOBV CBURGEHMAM'riBLD, HACKNBY.
725/ C)
CONTENTS ^"^3
OF THE SIXTEENTH VOLUME,
— "» ♦ »
DISCOURSES
RELVTING TO THE
EVIDENCES OF REVEALED RELIGION,
DELIVERED
IN THE CHURCH OF THE UNIVERSALISTS,
AT
PHILADELPHIA, 1796, 1797.
Page
Dedication - - - -3
Preface - - - -6
Disc.
I. The Importance of Religion - - - - 14
II. Of the superior Value of Revealed Religion - - 24
HI. A View of Heathen Worship - - - - 36
IV. The flame Subject continued - - - - 50
V. The Excellence of the Mosaic Institutions - - 62
VI. The same Subject continued - - - - 76
VII. The Principles of the Heathen Philosophy compared
with those of Revelation - - - - 90
VIII. The same Subject continued - - _ - loi
IX. The Evidence of the Mosaic and Christian Religions - 116
X. The same Subject continued - - - - 129
XT. The Proof of Revealed Religion from Prophecy - 148
XT I. Internal Evidence of Jesus being no Impostor - - 166
XIII. The moral Influence of Christian Principles - - 182
Conclusion .-___> 195
Preface to the Second Volume - - - 197
I. The moral Design of Revelation - - - 2()i
Parti. - . ... ii.
Part II. - - - - - 212
II. Of the Authority assumed by Jesus, and the Dignity
with which he spake and acted - _ _ 22O
Parti. - - - - ~ ib.
Part II. - - - _ - 229
Part III. - - - 242
Part IV. - - - . - 253
111. The Doctrine of Jesus respecting Morals - - 264
Part I. - - - ih.
Part II. - - - * - 276
as
IV CONTENTS.
IV, The Doctrine of a Resurrection, as taught by Jesus - 287
Parti. - . . - . if,.
Part II. - - . _ _ 298
V. Of the Principles and Evidences of Mahometanism,
compared with those of Christianity - - 312
Parti, - - - if,.
Part 11. - - - - - 323
Part III. - - - - - 335
Part IV. - - - - - 347
Part V. - - - - - 3o(>
Part VI. - - - - - 368
VL The Genuineness of the Book of Daniel, and his Pro-
phetic Character vindicated - - - 37(5
Part I. - - - ib.
Part II. - - - - - 385
VII. Of the Prophecies concerning Antichrist - - 395
Part.I. - - - - - ib.
Part II. - - - - - 409
FOUR DISCOURSES,
INTENDED TO HAVE BEEN DELIVERED AT PHILADELPHIA.
I. On the Duty of mutual Exhortation - . - - 419
II. On Faith and Patience _ - - - 434
III. On the Change which took place in the Character of the
Apostles after the Resurrection of Jesus Christ - 44G
IV. The same Subject continued - - - « 456
SINGLE DISCOURSES.
Unitarianism explained and defended, in a Discourse delivered
in the Church of the Universalists, at Philadelphia,
1796 - 473
An Address to the Unitarian Congregation at Philadelphia,
delivered on Sunday, March 5, 1797 - - 490
"y\ye. Case of the poor Emigrants recommended in a Discourse
delivered at the University Hall in Philadelphia, on
Sunday, February 19, 1797 - - - •? 600
*«.'' " %".
DISCOURSES
■■•■' * -.
RELATING TO THE ' 1
EVIDENCES OF REVEALED RELIGION,
DELIVERED IN
'STfie mnxtb of tje mnihttmlimf
AT PHILADELPHIA,
1796, 1797. * *
- -, P ►. ^.'. •>:'.' ...^
AND PUBLISHED AT THE REQUEST OF MANY OP THE HEARER?.
Be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of
the hope that is in you.
1 Peter iii. 15.
IPhiladelph'ia, 1796, 1797.]
VOL. XVI. B
JOHN ADAMS,
vice-president of the united states of america*
Dear Sir,
The happiness I have had, of your acquaintance and
correspondence ever since your embassy to England,-]* our
common friendship for Dr. Price,J the ardent friend of
liberty and of America, your steady attachment to the
cause of Christianity, the favourable attention you gave
to the following Discourses, when they were delivered,
and the wish you expressed that they might be published,§
induced me to take the liberty to dedicate them to you. \
Stajtesmen who have the firmness of mind to profess them-
selves Christians, and who have a just sense of the import-
ance of Christianity, are not numerous ; and those of them
who adopt a rational Christianity, the evidences and doc-
* To which oflSce he had been elected in 1789» on the first Presidency of Wash-
ington. The latter " declining to be considered as a candidate for tlie third elec-
tion," Mr. Adams, in 1797> was chosen President, and Mr. Jefferson Vice-President.
In 1801, Mr. Jefferson was elected President, in preference to Mr. Adams, whose
administration (see Vol. IX. p. 5, Note %) was become very unpopular. That gen-
tleman commenced his public life at Boston, in 1770, as a Barrister. In 1776, he
strenuously supported the Declaration of Independence. In 1783, with Dr.
Franklin and Mr. Jay, he signed at Paris, the Definitive Treaty of Peace, between
Great Britain and the United States, when Mr. David Hartley was the British
Commissioner. See New An. Reg. IV. p. (114;) Dr. Holmes's American An-
nals, 1808, 11. pp. 246, 293, 378, 393, 404, 405, 410, 419.
t In 1787. Mr. Adams, during this embassy, published his " Defence of the
Constitutions of Government of the United States."
X On whose ministry, at the Gravel-Pit Meeting, Hackney, Mr. Adams, while
Ambassador, frequently attended.
§" These discourses — attracted much attention, and created an interest in the sub-
ject which, there is reason to believe, has produced lasting effects." The " Lectures
were attended by very crowded audiences, including most of the members of the
Congress of the United States, at that time assembled at Philadelphia, and of the
executive officers of the Government." Mr. Priestley's Continuatiou$\\o. p. 190;
12mo. p. 171. ^
Philadelphia appears to have been a central station of the Universnlists, iit
whose church these Discourses were delivered. Dr. Holmes says, that, in 1787,
" a Universal Church was founded at Boston ;" and that, in 1791, " the Universal
Churches in the United States agreed on their articles of faith, at Philadelphia."
Amei-ican Annals, II. pp. 387, 395.
There appears to have been a new meeting-house erected for this religious soci-
ety, about the time of the delivery of these Discourses. Mr. Wanscy says, ** Dr.
Priestley preached a sermon, on the opening of the Universalist Church, at which
almost every member of Congress attended." Excursion to the United States, E "
2, 1798, p. 203.
B 2
4 DEDICATION.
trines of which will bear to be submitted to the test of
reason, in this age, in which, while many are carried away
by the prevailing tide of infidelity, others oppose it by an
enthusiasm which disclaims the aid of reason, are still fewer,
and are, therefore, entitled to the greater esteem of those
who entertain the same sentiments.
We shall, no doubt, ourselves be ranked with enthusiasts,
by those unbelievers (and by far the greater part of them
are of this class) who have become so without any just
knowledge of the subject, or investigation of the evidence
of revelation. But the contempt of such persons, whatever
rank they may hold in the political or the learned world, is
itself contemptible. Every serious inquirer after truth will
respect other serious inquirers, though their opinions should
differ ever so much. But the censures of men^ whether well
or ill-informed, will appear of little moment to those who
look to the decision of the impartial Judge of all. And,
mindful of his solemn warning, we must not be ashamed
of him, or of his cause, in any circumstances, however
unfavourable, lest he should be ashamed of us at a time
when his favour will be of infinitely greater moment to us
than any thing else.
You and I, Sir, are advancing to a period of life in which
these views naturally open, more and more, upon us. We
find this world receding, and another fast approaching, and
we feel the importance of having something to look to, when
the present scene of things shall be closed. And whatever
we value for ourselves, it behoves us to recommend to others.
You will, therefore, rejoice if an exhibition of the Evidences
of Revealed Religion, such as is contained in these Dis-
courses, should produce any effect.
It is happy that, in this country, religion has no connexion
with civil power, a circumstance which gives the cause of
truth all the advantage that its best friends can desire.* But
religion is of as much use to statesmen as to any indivi-
duals whatever. Christian principles will best enable men
to devote their time, their talents, their lives, and, what is
often a greater sacrifice still, their characters, to the public
good ; and in public life this will often be, in a great mea-
sure, necessary.
Let a man attain to eminence of any kind, and by what-
ever means, even the most honourable, he will be exposed
to envy and jealousy, and, of course, he must expect to
• See Vol. Vlll. pp. % 6 ; Vol. IX. p. "> ; Vol. X. p. 5«3.
DEDICATION. 5
meet with calumny and abuse. It was the lot of our Sa-
viour himself, and it is a part of the wise order of Provi-
dence that it should always be so. For, besides that it is
of the greatest importance to the community, that every
person in a public station should have the strongest motive
for the greatest circumspection, unmixed praise is what no
human mind can bear without injury. An undue elation,
which would soon be found to be as hurtful to himself as
unpleasant to others, would be the necessary consequence
of it. And what principles can enable a man to consult
the real good of his fellow-citizens, without being diverted
from his generous purpose by a regard to their opinion con-
cerning him, like those of the Christian who can be satisfied
with the approbation of his own mind, (which, of course,
draws after it that of his Maker,) and who, though not
insensible to due praise, can despise calumny, and, steadily
overlooking every thing that is intermediate, patiently wait
for the day of final retribution? As these principles enabled
the apostles to rejoice in tribulation and persecution of every
kind, so the virtuous statesman will not complain of that
abuse which operates so favourably both with respect to his
own mind, and the interests of his -country. They are Chris-
tian principles that best enable a man to bear this necessary
and excellent discipline, and form the truly disinterested and
Hiagnanimous patriot.
* I cannot conclude this address, without expressing the
satisfaction I feel in the government which has afforded me
an asylum from the persecution which obliged me to leave
England,* persuaded that its principles, being fundamen-
tally good, instead of tending, like the old governments of
Europe, to greater abuse, it will tend to continual meliora-
tion. Still, however, my utmost wish is to live as a stranger
among you, with liberty to attend, without interruption, to
ray favourite pursuits; wishing well to my native country,
as I do to all the world, and hoping that its interests, and
those of this country, will be inseparable, and, consequently,
that peace between them will be perpetual.
I am, with the greatest esteem,
Dear Sir,
Yours sincerely,
J. PRIESTLEY.
Philadelphia, May, 1796.
* See a later, atid less favourable optiiiou <of Mr. Adutns'b udmiuistratioO) Vol.
IX. p. 5.
PREFACE.
The Discourses contained in this volume may be con-
sidered as supplemental to those which I delivered in
England relating to the same subject, just before I left that
country,* and which have been re-printed in this. Being
requested to preach in this city, I thought I could not make
choice of any subjects more unexceptionable, or more useful,
than of such as relate to the Evidences of Revealed Religion,
in an age abounding with unbelievers, many of whom have
become so merely for want of better information. Being
unwilling to go over the same ground that I had been upon
before, I have made these Discourses interfere as little as
possible with the former. Some of the same observations
will, no doubt, be found in both ; but they are not many,
and of such particular importance, that they cannot be too
much impressed on the minds of Christians.
As I had no intention of publishing these Discourses, at
least at this time, I did not note the authorities I have made
use of in them, as there could not have been any propriety
or use in reciting them from the pulpit ; and being at a dis''
tance from my library, I cannot add them now. But they
are such as, 1 am confident, no person at all acquainted with
the subjects, will call in question. They were by no means
originally collected by myself. The far greater part of them
have been frequently quoted, and their accuracy never dis-
puted. I had little to do besides collecting, arranging, and
applying them, in a manner somewhat more adapted to my
present purpose. The greater part of them will be found
in Leland's Necessity of Revelation,^ Young's Discourses on
Revelation the Cure of Superstition,"^ and the Letters of soine
Jews to Voltaire,^ all which works 1 would recommend to
♦ See Vol. XV. pp. 191—362. t See Vol. II. p. 65.
X There can be no doubt that the Author here designed the following work :
''An Historical Illustration on Idolatrous Corruptions in Kcligion from the beginning
of the World ; and on the Methods taken by Divine Providence in reforming them,"
1734, 2 Vols. 8vo. by Arthur Young, a clergyman of the Church of England. I
have had frequent occasion (in Vols. II. XL) to quote this work, which abounds
in references to the earliest authorities.
§ Translated from the French. Dublin, 1777. See Vol.11, p. 69 ; Monthly Review,
1778, LXX. p. 177. Of the original, which first appeared in 1769, the 6th edition,
eularged and corrected from the autlior'a MSS., was published d Paris, Au. XUI.
PREFACE. 7
tlie attentive perusal of my readers. The doctrines of the
Heathen philosophers were almost all copied verbatim from
Brucker's History of Philosophy, abridged by Dr. Enfield,
a truly valuable, accurate, and well digested work. The
account of the Grecian oracles, and various of their super-
stitions, will be found in Potter's Antiquities of Greece, a
common but most excellent work.
The Second Part of Mr. Paine's Age of Reason being
published in this city during the delivery of these Dis-
courses, I thought proper to animadvert upon such parts of
it as appeared to me most deserving of notice. I had once
thought of replying to this part of the work more at large,
1805, in 3 vols. 8vo. under the following title: " Lettres de quelques Juifs Portu-
gais, Allemands et Pdouais, i M. de Voltaire." Prefixed to this edition is
*' Notice sur la Vie et les Ouvrages de M. L' Abbe Guinie" the learned Christiaa
who personated, on this occasion, certain disciples of Moses.
Antony Guenee, who was 'born at Etampes, Nov. 23, 1717, of poor parents, owed
chiefly to himself his early education. Having studied at Paris, he became a
member of that university, and in 1741, succeeded Rollin as Professor of Rhetoric
in the college of Plessis. After twenty years he retired on a pension, designing to
devote himself almost exclusively to theological studies. He now diligently cul-
tivated Greek and Hebrew; but found the knowledge of several modern languages
requisite to his pursuits. He therefore travelled into Italy, Germany, and England.
Considering that religion had been in no place more sharply assailed or more pow-
erfully defended than in that country, he determined not only to read the best
English works in defence of Revelation, but to translate some of them.
On his return to Plessis, M. Githiee published Lord Lyttleton's Observations, of
•which he has sufficiently declared his opinion, by entitling the translation " La
Religion Chretienne demontree par la Conversion et 1' Apostolat de Saint Paul."
He afterwards published translations of West on the Resurrection of Jesits, and of
Sherlock's Trial of the Witnesses. The Letters appear to have been his next pub-
lications. Voltaire discovered the author, and in his correspondence with D' Alem-
bert, Dec. 8, 1776, thus admits his talents, shewing at the same time that he had felt
his severity: " Le Secretaire Juif, nomme Guenee, u' est pas sans esprit et sans
connoissances ; mais il est malin comme un singe. II mord jusqu'au sang, en
faisant sembJant de baiser la main."
M. Guhiie was drawn from his retirement, at the instance of his friend Abb6
Marie, to fee joined with him in the education of the two sons of Count D' Artois,
uow Monsieur; the youngest of whom, the Duke de Berri, has just closed, from a
cruel assassination, a life more worthy of a courtly education than of such a preceptor.
At Paris, M. Guhiie read to the Academy of Inscriptions and Belles- Lettres, of
which he was a member, four Memoirs on the fertility of Judea. In one of these
he thus solves the difficulty from the present state of that country, often proposed,
and especially by Voltaire; " Dieu, qui s'etoit engage de donner aux Hebreux
un pays fertile, ne leur avoit pas promis qu'il le seroit toujours, m^me lors qu'ils '
auroient cessfe d' en fetre les maitres ou les cultivateurs." These Memoirs appear
in the latter volumes of the transactions of the Academy.
The storm of the Revolution is represented by his biographer as having peculiarly
affected M. Guenee, by depriving him of his pupils, whom his age would not allow
him to follow into exile. He retired to Fontainebleau, where he placidly expired
the 27th of November, 1803, aged 86. His mind and person are thus agreeably
described : " Modeste, simple et affable, il faisoit aimer en lui le savant, le Chretien
et I'homme vertueux. Sa belle ^me etoit peinte sur son visage; et la vieillesse, loin
d' en alterer les traits caracteristiques, leur pr^toit un nouveau charme, pari' im-
pression plus frappante de cette bont^ qui inspire ji-la-fois de 1' iuler^t et du re-
spect." See ISotice sur la Vie, pp. 6 — 16.
8 PREFACE.
as I did to the First Part ; but I afterwards thought that
assertions so extravagant and ill-founded as Mr. Paine's
generally are, may be safely left to have their full effect, as
it can only be upon the minds of persons so extremely igno-
rant and prejudiced, that no refutation would be attended to
^^ by them, so that it would only be throwing pearls before
'^fiwine.
^ So great is Mr. Paine's ignorance with respect to subjects
'* of this nature, that he maintains, that the book of Job has
*' all the circumstantial evidences of being an original book
of the Gentiles,"* principally because he finds in it the
mention of Orion, Arcturus, and the Pleiades^ which are
Greek words ; when these terms occur only in translations,
those in the original being quite different. Surely he had
access to some unbelievers, who could have informed him
better.
Without deigning to reply to any thing that had been
advanced against the First Part of his work, Mr. Paine in
this proceeds with an air of insolent triumph, as if all the
advocates of Revelation lay prostrate at his feet, whereas
they are only looking down upon him, and feel no emotions
but those of pity for himself and his deluded followers, the
blind led by the blind.
There are, however, unbelievers more ignorant than Mr.
Paine. M. Volney, Laquinio, and others in France, say that
there never was such a person as Jesus Christ, and there-
fore, though they may have heard that there are such books
as those of the New Testament, I conclude that they cannot
have read them. Surely such ignorance as this does not
mark the Age of Reason.
/ I have more than once observed, that the disbelief of
{revelation makes the belief of the being of God of no
/practical use, and that it has, in France, led to speculative
C Atheism. In a tract published at Paris in 1793? intitled A
Letter to a Sensible Woman, is the following paragraph:
" Theism is an opinion respectable for the genius and the
virtues of men who have embraced it," (referring in a note
to Socrates and Rousseau, J " no less than for the advantage
which this first step towards reason, on abandoning the pre-
judices of infancy, has been of to mankind. But, after all,
it is but a first step, and no persons would stop there, if they
â– would frankly give way to the impulse they have received.
Np person remains in this intermediate system but through
• Age of Reason, Pi. ii. p. 35.
PREFACE. y
want of reflection, timidity, passion, or obstinacy. Time,
experience, and an impartial examination of our ideas, will
undeceive us. Voltaire, who was long the apostle of Theism,
professed to doubt towards the close of his life, and repented
that he had been too confident. Many others have expe-
rienced the same."*
- If, then, any person be in a state of mind in which he is
) shocked at the idea of absolute At/ieism, let him pause before
1 he abandon revelation, and give way to what this writer calls
[ the first impulse. But on no account let any obstruction be
laid in the way of free inquiry. With the apostle, (1 Thess,
V. 21,) let \i^ prove all things, and hold fast only that which
shall appear to be good,
I might have given a curious counterpart to the hypo-
theses of the ancient philosophers in those of the most
distinguished of the modern unbelievers. For many of
their opinions concerning the origin of the universe, its
subsequent revolutions, and other subjects connected with
religion and morals, are not less wild, incoherent, and ab-
< surd ; as every theory must be that excludes the belief of
^a God, and a superintending providence. This under-
taking, however, has been executed with equal truth and
ability in a French work, entitled Les Helviennes, ou Lettres
Provinciales Philosophiques, in five volumes, l2mo. 1784.
They are called Provincial Letters in imitation of those of
that title by the famous Pascal, in which he exposed the
absurdities of the principles of the Jesuits, a work of ge-
nuine humour,-]- to which this is, in many respects, not
inferior. It is therefore adapted to afford equal entertain-
ment and instruction.
From this excellent work it will be evident that the
rejection of revealed religion will be attended with all that
dissoluteness of morals for which the ancient Heathens were
remarkable, there being no vice for which some of the most
eminent of modern philosophical unbelievers have not been
advocates ; and therefore that, in an advanced state of so-
I ciety, human reason has never proved a sufficient barrier
against vice. It will also be evident, that a propensity to
the unrestrained indulgence of all the passions has been the
principal cause of the prevailing disposition to throw off the
salutary restraints of religion.
Not only are the great Christian virtues of humility, the
forgiveness of injuries, and the loving of enemies, excluded
•£«(<«•, p. 25. (P.) t Sec Vol. V. p. 3387
10 PREFACE.
from the class of virtues, and a spirit of pride and revenge
encouraged ; not only is all virtue reduced to mere self-love,
the great end of human life represented to be the pursuit of
pleasure in the lowest sense of the word, and suicide recom-
mended when this object is no longer attainable ; but the
very barrier between men and brutes has been thrown down
by many eminent unbelievers.
All the ancient legislators, even among the Heathens,
considered the laws of marriage as the first step towards
civilization, and the conjugal and parental relations as, what
no doubt they are, the chief source of the sweets of social
life. But many modern unbelievers openly plead not only
for an unbounded liberty of divorce, but a community of
women, and make very light of the vices most contrary
to nature. What is this but reducing men even lower than
the state of brutes ? And what can we expect from the
natural operation of these principles, but the prevalence of
those vices which the apostle in his second epistle to Ti-
mothy enumerates as a symptom of the approach of the last
times, which are elsewhere described as exceedingly cala-
mitous, 2 Tim. iii. 1, 2: " This know, that in the last days
perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of
their own selves," &c. The apostle Peter also says, (2 Ep.
iii. 3, 4,) '* Knowing this — that there shall come in the last
days, scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying,