128 JOSEPH PKIESTLEY. 



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 be- 

 lieves in the religion of Jesus Christ as it is set forth in the New 

 Testament. You say the terms are so general that even Deists 

 would quibble and insinuate themselves. I answer that all the arti- 

 cles 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 equalisation, 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 Liberalism ; and Priestley's 

 views on Ecclesiastical Establishments would, I fear, 

 meet with but a cool reception, as altogether too con- 

 servative, from a large proportion of the lineal descend- 

 ants of the people who taught their children to cry 

 " Damn Priestley ;" and, with that love for the practi- 

 cal application of science which is the source of the 



* " Utility of Establishments," in " Essay on First Principles of Govern- 

 ment," p. 198, 1771. 



