104 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



opinions about ecclesiastical establishments ; the only wonder is that 

 these opinions were so moderate as the following passages show them 

 to have been : 



" Ecclesiastical authority may have been necessary in the infant state of soci- 

 ety, and, for the same reason, it may perhaps continue to be, in some degree, neces- 

 sary as long as society is imperfect ; and therefore may not be entirely abolished 

 till civil governments have arrived at a much greater degree of perfection. If, 

 therefore, I were asked whether I should approve of the immediate dissolution 

 of all the ecclesiastical establishments in Europe, I should answer, No. . . . Let 

 experiment be first made of alterations, or, which is the same thing, of letter 

 establishments than the present. Let them be reformed in many essential arti- 

 cles, and then not thrown aside entirely till it be found by experience that no 

 good can be made of them." 



Priestley goes on to suggest four such reforms of a capital nature : 



"1. Let the Articles of Faith to be subscribed by candidates for the ministry 

 be greatly reduced. In the formulary of the Church of England, might not 

 thirty-eight out of the thirty-nine be very well spared? It is a reproach to any 

 Christian establishment if every man cannot claim the benefit of it who can say 

 that he believes in the religion of Jesus Christ as it is set forth in the New Tes- 

 tament. You say the terms are so general that even deists would quibble 

 and insinuate themselves. I answer that all the articles which are subscribed at 

 present by no means exclude deists who will prevaricate ; and upon this scheme 

 you would at least exclude fewer honest men." * 



The second reform suggested is the equalization, in proportion to 

 work done, of the stipends of the clergy; the third, the exclusion of 

 the bishops from Parliament ; and the fourth, complete toleration, so 

 that every man may enjoy the rights of a citizen, and be qualified to 

 serve his country, whether he belong to the Established Church or not. 



Opinions such as those I have quoted, respecting the duties and the 

 responsibilities of governors, are the commonplaces of modern Liber- 

 alism ; and Priestley's views on ecclesiastical establishments would, I 

 fear, meet with but a cool reception, as altogether too conservative, 

 from a large proportion of the lineal descendants of the people who 

 taught their children to cry " Damn Priestley," and, with that love 

 for the practical application of science which is the source of the great- 

 ness of Birmingham, tried to set fire to the doctor's house with sparks 

 from his own electrical machine, thereby giving the man, they called 

 an incendiary and raiser of sedition against Church and king, an appro- 

 priately experimental illustration of the nature of arson and riot. 



If I have succeeded in putting before you the main features of Priest- 

 ley's work, its value will become apparent when we compare the con- 

 dition of the English nation, as we knew it, with its present state. 



The fact, that France has been for eighty-five years trying, without 



1 "Utility of Establishments," in "Essay on First Principles of Government," p. 198, 

 1771. 



