THE Theological and Miscellaneous WORKS, &c. OF JOSEPH PRIESTLEY, LL.D. F.R.S. &c. WITH NOTES, BY THE EDITOR. VOLUME II. Containing The Enstitutes, Appeal, and Familiar Ellustration. ΤΟ JOHN CHRISTIE, ESQ. TREASURER OF THE UNITARIAN FUND. DEAR SIR, OUR friendship will, I trust, excuse the liberty I now take, in connecting our names on these introductory pages. Independently, indeed, of the personal gratification this circumstance affords me, it was scarcely possible that I should have formed the design which has given occasion to this volume, without frequently recollecting the hours we have passed together, in the society of valuable Christian friends, endeavouring to promote a more general attention to what we esteem the apostolical faith in Christ. To discover that faith, amidst the many inventions sought out by human ingenuity, and to recommend the profession of it "by labour and patience," through 66 evil report and good report," these, you well know, were the favourite purposes of my Author, from early youth to latest age, in all the trying scenes through which his life was extended; and as subservient to these he chiefly valued his well-earned reputation, among the philosophers of his time. Such a preference, you will readily agree with me, was eminently due to the Christianity of the New Testament, which alone can propose to Man, with any satisfactory evidence of their reality, those objects, in the contemplation of which, pain and pleasure, prosperity and disappointment, the varieties which form his condition in the present world, appear to lose all their dis tinctions. That you may long continue to enjoy what this world can afford, in the midst of a virtuous and happy family, and with the most satisfying expectation of what cannot be enjoyed till this world shall be no more, is the wish of, Dear Sir, Your affectionate Friend, Clapton, Oct. 19, 1817. J. T. RUTT. PREFACE BY THE EDITOR. HAVING appropriated the First Volume to an account of the Life and Correspondence of Dr. Priestley, I now bring before the Subscribers some of the earliest of those publications which comprise his Theological Works. In preparing this volume for the press, I have endeavoured to bear in mind the obvious duty of preserving my Author's language entire, according to his latest corrections, so far as they could be ascertained. Thus, the variations from former editions, have been strictly confined to the correction of typographical errors, or of such inaccuracies as could be discovered in references, especially to the passages in the Old and New Testament. Those passages also have been corrected, when not verbally exact, according to the Common Version, which the Author evidently designed to follow, having marked them as quotations, and distinguished by italics the different translations which he occasionally adopted. These circumstances were unworthy of notice, except to justify myself to any who may minutely compare the editions; and the existence of such inaccuracies may be fairly attributed to the Author's very intimate acquaintance with the Bible, which might lead him, sometimes, to make his quotations merely from memory. For the Notes, with the exception of a few, distinguished by the Author's initial, I am solely accountable. They have increased far beyond my expectation. Yet I trust that they are not wholly irrelevant, but will at least evince |