224 Biographical Memoir qf'Dr Priestley, 



proceed farther than himself, nor could he bear to fall short of the 

 point which he occupied ; sometimes he attacked the orthodox ; 

 at other times repulsed the supporters of infidehty; and, in short, 

 hardly had there appeared in Europe a work that seemed in the 

 slightest degree directed, either against revelation in general, or 

 the manner in which it was explained, which he did not think 

 himself obliged to refute. 



His activity was without bounds in this sort of war* ; Atheists, 

 Deists, Jews, Arians, Quakers, Methodists, Calvinists, Episco- 

 palians, and Catholics, had alike to combat him. There are 

 works of his against each of these creeds in particular, and I 

 should with difficulty finish were I merely to mention their 

 titles. 



As a proof that all this was done in good earnest, he thought 

 he could predict approaching events by Scripture. False prophets 

 commonly assign a long period to their prophesies, that they may 

 not be detected during their life. Priestley imagined himself su- 

 rer of his point. He published in 1799 an address to the Jews, 

 in which, from the revelations of Daniel and St John, he announ- 

 ced to them their approaching re-establishment in Palestine, the 

 union of all religions, and the foundation of the reign of glory. 

 Besides the calculation of the years, which refers to the commence- 

 ment of the nineteenth century, that grand event was to be usher- 

 ed in by the destruction of the papal power, the Turkish empire, 

 and the kingdoms of Europe. The French monarchy, said he, 

 which seemed so solid, has fallen ; the rest will quickly follow ; 

 the Pope is dethroned and exiled ; the Turk subsists only 



• Independently of the polemical works already mentioned on the subject 

 of unitarianism, he published the following in favour of revealed religion in 

 general : 



Letters to an Infidel Philosopher. 1781 to 1789, 3 parts, 8vo. 



Letters to the Philosophers and Politicians of France on the subject of 

 Religion; 1793, 8vo. ; continuation 1794. 



Reply to Thomas Payne's work entitled Age of Reason. 



Observations on the Growth of Infidelity. 1796. 



Discourse on the Proofs of Revealed Religion. 2 vols. 8vo, 1796 and 1797. 



Letters to Volney, occasioned by his work entitled Ruins. 1797? 8vo. 



Comparison of the Institutions of Moses with those of the Hindoos, and 

 Remarks on Dupuis' Origine des Cultes. 1799, 8vo. 



We pass over many small treatises on particular questions of theology. 



