PRIESTLEY. 423 



days after his son's death he writes to his most inti- 

 mate friend and constant correspondent, Theophilus 

 Lindsay, recounting the particulars of his loss, and he 

 adds that he is composing three discourses on Revela 

 tion against modern unbelievers. The letter next year 

 announcing his wife's death, begins with saying to the 

 same friend how much he stands in need of his sym- 

 pathy, and goes on to add, " This day I bury my wife ; 

 she died on Saturday after an illness of a fortnight." 

 He adds some remarks on his literary occupations, and 

 concludes with mentioning a plan he has of travelling 

 to distract his mind.* No one who reads his letters 

 and memoirs by himself can doubt that this stoical 

 firmness is not the result of a callous disposition, but 

 the signal triumph of a heartfelt belief in the promises 

 of Religion over the weakness of our nature. 



It is, indeed, quite manifest that Religion was as 

 much an active principle in him as in any one who 

 ever lived. Not only is it always uppermost in his 

 thoughts, but he even regards temporal concerns of a 

 public nature always in connexion with the Divine 

 superintendence, and even with the prophecies of 

 Scripture. His letters are full of references to those 

 prophecies as bearing on passing events, and he 

 plainly says that since his removal to America he 

 should care little for European events but for their 

 connexion with the Old Testament. He also looked 

 far an actual and material second coming of Christ 

 upon earth. 



It is not true to affirm that he was little of a poli- 



* Mem., vol. i. part ii. p. 328, 354. 



