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 society, and, for the same reason, it may perhaps continue to be, in some degree, necessary 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 better establishments than the present. Let them be reformed in many essential articles, 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 Testament. 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."[1]
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 Liberalism; 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 greatness 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 appropriately experimental illustration of the nature of arson and riot.
If I have succeeded in putting before you the main features of Priestley's work, its value will become apparent when we compare the condition of the English nation, as we knew it, with its present state.
The fact, that France has been for eighty-five years trying, without
- ↑ "Utility of Establishments," in "Essay on First Principles of Government," p. 198, 1771.
