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of its kind , and it must be delightful to all your readers to see its veteran author again in the field , &p eminently displaying his £ re [ at powers 60 u (| gment and discrimination , witli his Wonted tactin thus
, bringing Into oh £ < $ ? & &t \ d lucid focus the avbwed Senttinents of that great apostle of tJnitarianisni , Dr . Priestley , on a subject so highly interesting as is that of the resurrection unto life .
At the same time , however , that the candour and perspicuity of Mr . Belsham ' s illustration of the principles of Dr . Priestley merit applause , it appears to m e , by the aid of that illustration , but too obviously apparent , that the learned Doctor's principles not only do not admit of a belter * in the resurrection of the
body , but disown the doctrine that we shall exist In a future state ! Thus , ( in 10 , ) M r . Belshani tells us , that " upon Dr . Priestle ^* spii ^ ciple there can be no true reSiivfecJtiou but by a location of the original s ^ a > miiia in the original form . " Well , then , did the learned Doctor credit such a ic location" ? Assuredly not : for he thouglit ( 6 J , that " after death the
Several particles are disposed of to make other bodies . * ' As , therefore , the same identical particles will , by the process of nature , form parts of many different Vodieain succession , it is most obvious that the same identical body cannot exist , in a future state . Those particles which made up the head of Solomon
naaj have since formed part of every otfcei * member of the human body in the persons of other individuals . Inasmuch , therefore , as the same particles or stamina wjil have appertained in this life tp many different bodies , it is evident that there cannot be in another life , as to all of them , " a location of the same
original stamina in the original form ;" and , consequently , upon Dr . Priestley ' s principles , there cannot be any ** true resurrection . " The same identical particles cannot , for example , at one and the same time , hereafter form part of the head of a Solomon , the tongue of a
Xantippe , and the heart of a Penelope : aud , in truth , the particles which once formed parts of those members of the human bbdy , may now enter into the composition of a worm ^ or an ephemera , a mqnarcVs diadem * pr air old woman ' s 1
pipkin ! Iteflecttorts such aja tfietee against tjie resurrection of oiir bodies ajfter detith are insurinoiintable ; by ttie' advocates for that floctrine >; Bttt witty respect to tW more Important , the mom ^ to ^ i 3 , the all-absorbing questloii—stiali we e £ isi Hi all after the death of our tiever-td - tie - reanimated
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bodies ?—shall we in our souls ? ee God ? it is a consolation to turn away from the principles of Dr . Priestley , and to believe with Dr . Price , that ( 5 ) " man lias a spirit or soul distinct from the body , " and ( 8 ) ttat the identity of the man consists wholly in identity of soul . "
Upon the principles of Priestley , as illumined by Mr . Belsham , it seems to me utterly impossible for any rational being to believe in a future state of existence , for we are told ( 5 ) , that upon those principles " man might be wholly material : ** and , further , ( fi , ) that " the man , the conscious being , is anni < hilated by death , the several particles
being disposed of to make other bodies , or , perhaps , parts of other souls . " Now , whoever thinks with Priestley , that man may be " wholly material , * ' and that the particles which constitute the man are disposed of to make other bodies , or parts of other souls , never can consistently feel any thing like a conviction tliai the same individual will or can exist in
another life ; for the very same arguments which , upon Dr . Priestley ' s principles , repel a belief in the resurrection of the body , do , in precisely the same manner , disprove the doctrine of tnau ' s existence after death , or , in Mr . Belsham s Words , ( 6 , ) < c upon Dr . Priestley *^ £ riiici [ yies , the man , the conscious being , is tihtoihilatedby death" !
Mi * . Belsham remarks ( 3 ) , tirat c < Dr . Priestley ' s matter was much the same as Dr . Price ' s spirit , i . e . extension without solidity or impenetrability '; " but , granting that Dr . Priestley did entertain such an opinion of " matter , " yet is there not any advance made bv it towards
shewing that man may exist hereafter ,, supposing him to be *< wholly material , " as will be the case if , instead of being ^ o wholly material , he possesses , as Dr . Price thought , a spirit or soul distinct from the body . In that yvhich is' the only just point of comparison 'bh this subject , Dr . Priestley ' s matter" never can be assimilated to Dr . Price ' s "
spirit : nor can tiie one ever approximate the other ; seeing that every thing " material" is perishable , whilst that which i 3 " spiritual" \ $ immortal , It is rather a contradiction in terms to characterize 0 r . Price's * ' spirit" as an " immaterial
fabstatiee" ( 4 ) : and surely Dr . Priestley ^ s 4 t matter" cannot be aptly termed all " extended" substance , or be properly said tb resemble «« spirit , " if it consists of powers of attraction and renulsion , compactly surrounding each other > like the Coats of an onion ; " neither can it be u active , " for those opposing powers
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796 Miscellaneous Correspondence .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 2, 1829, page 796, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2578/page/52/
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