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€ f It is much to be lamented that at : man of Dr . Franklin ' s genera ! good character and great influence should have been an unbeliever hj Christianity , and also have done so much as he . did to make others unbelievers . To me , however , he acknowledged that he had not ^ ivea so muqh attention as fie ought 16 have done to the evidences of Chris * iianity , and desired me to recommend to him a few treatises on the
subject , such as I thought most dese ^ rvkig of his notice , but not of great length , promising to read theni , and give me his sentiments on them / Accordingly I recommended to him Hartley ' s Evidences of Christianity in his Observations on Man 5 and what 1 had then \ vr \ t ^ tea on the subject , in my Institutes of . Natural and ileveale'dj Religion ; but the American war breaking out soon after I do not believe that , h $ jeyer foujad lumself sufficiently at leisure for the discussion . ?
Jo consequence of living with Lord Siielburae , fap regularfy spent a great part © f Jiis winters in London . Tiiisgave him an opportunity of improving his acquaintance with jpiaiiy of the most distinguished philosophical and literary efoaractjers o £ the i 3 ay . J * was also the means pf increasiiig his i ^ 4 tiroacy -witty that estimable character / the Rev . Theophilus Lind ^ ey . Dr . Priestley , indeed , throughout these riienioirs ^ dwells w ^ t- fci pecur Jiar delight 011 his friendshi p and couiie ^ ion with this v ^ mpvaM ^ patriarch of unkajianisii > . ' - ^ ' ;\ . "
c < To his society , " he says , " I owe much of my ^ zefojc : tli # , doc trine of the divine unity , for which he ixia ^ e so gre'at sacrifice ^ and in the defence of which hp so much distinguished himself , so as to occasion a new ^ era iat the history of rel igion in this
countty-As \ v e became more intftnate , conijding . in his ! jbetter taste apdjudg ^ inent , and also in that of Mra . pLifK ^ ey , 3 woma n 0 / ^ tjie saine spint and views , and in all respjects ^ a help : ®^ et for him , I , lie vei * chose Jt . O publish any thine of raoin ^ rtt Kelating to theologyUwitbout coaisujtjrig them ; and hardl y ever ventured to insert aViy thing that they disap * proved ^ being sensible thaPmy dispositionled to precipitancy ' > tQ AvJ ^ eh their coolness was a seasonable check . " ; 1 ' . -
At Birrrnnghanii he continued his -philosophical and theological inquiries without inueii intermission . He published here two volumes of Experiments , besides sendinc ; com inanimations to the Royal Sacicty . It was soon after his removal hither jthat hepomposed and published ifoe iX riistoxy of the Corypptioi ^ s of Chrisrtianity /* the first section 6 f wbi-ch ^ e Lnnrruaefy attacke . q ia the' ^[ aiithly Review ( by Mr * Badcock ) , then , by
Dr . Hor ^ ley , and afterwards by Mr . Howes and oher oppon-€ nts ? he undertook to collect from the original writers the state of opinion ? on the subject in the age succeeding that of the apostles . The result of this laborious ' / investigation he published , in his ^ History . of Early Opinions concerning Jesus Christ , " in four vols- 8 w € > V Dr . Priestley dphtinucd at Birmingham tmtil the year 17-91 , wheil he was obliged to leave it , ia cpnsequence ot the dis-
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4 Sfe Memoirs of Dr . Priestley .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1806, page 486, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1728/page/38/
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