114 JOSEPH PRIESTLEY. [LECT. 



graver reproach than that implied in being called a 

 gloomy fanatic, necessarianism, though very shocking, 

 having a note of Calvinistic orthodoxy ; but, if a man 

 is a materialist ; or, if good authorities say he is and 

 must be so, in spite of his assertion to the contrary ; 

 or, if he acknowledge himself unable to see good 

 reasons for believing in the natural immortality of 

 man, respectable folks look upon him as an unsafe 

 neighbour of a cash-box, as an actual or potential 

 sensualist, the more virtuous in outward seeming, the 

 more certainly loaded with secret " grave personal 



sins." 



Nevertheless, it is as certain as anything can be, 

 that Joseph Priestley was no gloomy fanatic, but 

 as cheerful and kindly a soul as ever breathed, the 

 idol of children ; a man who was hated only by those 

 who did not know him, and who charmed away the 

 bitterest prejudices in personal intercourse ; a man 

 who never lost a friend, and the best testimony to 

 whose worth is the generous and tender warmth with 

 which his many friends vied with one another in 

 rendering him substantial help, in all the crises of his 

 career. 



The unspotted purity of Priestley's life, the strict- 

 ness of his performance of every duty, his transparent 

 sincerity, the unostentatious and deep-seated piety 

 which breathes through all his correspondence, are 

 in themselves a sufficient refutation of the hj^pothesis, 

 invented by bigots to cover uncharitableness, that 

 such opinions as his must arise from moral defects. 

 And his statue will do as good service as the brazen 



