While at Needham he composed his work entitled The Scripture Doctrine of Remission, which shows that the Death of Christ is no proper Sacrifice nor Satisfac- tion for Sin; but that Pardon is dispensed solely on ac- count of a Personal Repentance of the Sinner. It was published in 1761. He seems to have rejected all the- ological dogmas which appeared to him to rest solely upon the interpretation put upon certain passages of the Bible by ecclesiastical authority. It does not, however, appear that these doctrinal errors produced any morally evil results. A visit to the metropolis was the occasion of his introduction to our own celebrated countryman, Dr. Franklin, Dr. Price, and others. To the first of these he communicated his idea of writing a historical account of electrical discoveries, if provided with the requisite books. These Dr. Franklin undertook to pro- cure, and before the end of the year in which Priestley submitted to him the plan of the work he sent him a copy of it in print, though five hours of every day had been occupied in public or private teaching, besides which he had kept up an active philosophical corre- spondence. The title of this work is The History and Present State of Electricity, with Original Experiments (1767; 3d ed. 1775). By his devotion to learning and his persistent scrutiny of nature, Priestley now unrav- elled many a tangled web of science, and it was his to make the most valuable discovery in science of the last century; but as he drew nearer natural truth, he be- came more and more, though perhaps unconsciously, es- tranged from revealed truth, and by a hot temper and hasty utterances alienated his best friends. A disagree- ment between the trustees and professors of the academy led to his relinquishing the appointment at Warrington in 1767. His next engagement was with a large congre- gation at Mill-Hill Chapel, Leeds, where his theological inquiries were resumed, and several works of the kind composed, chiefly of a controversial character. The vicinity of his dwelling to a public brewery was the occasion of his attention being directed to pneumatic chemistry, the consideration of which he commenced in 1768, and subsequently prosecuted with great success. His first publication on this subject was a pamphlet on Impregnating Water with Fixed Air (1772); the same year he communicated to the Royal Society his Obser- vations on Different Kinds of Air, to which the Copley medal was awarded in 1773. He originated other modes of investigation now pursued, and, indeed, nearly all that is known of the gases has its foundation in the dis- coveries he made. He discovered oxygen gas, nitrous gas, nitrous-oxide gas, nitrous vapor, carbonic -oxide gas, sulphurous-oxide gas, fluoric-acid gas, muriatic gas, and ammoniacal gas. The discovery of oxygen alone rivalled in importance the great discovery of gravita- tion by Newton in the preceding century. The pneu- matic trough, a vessel by means of which chemists col-
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kct gas, was also in good pari invented by Priestley. He experimented untiringly, and gave to the world a detailed account of almost every observation he made. For a time lie was the- idol of men of science. All Eu- rope did } i i in limner. At the height of his reputation he became companion to the earl of Shelburne, with whom he travelled extensively oil tin- Continent. He remained with that nobleman seven years, at tlie end of which, in 1789, receiving a pension, he settled in Birmingham, where he proceeded actively with his philosophical and theological researches, and was also appointed pastor to a dissenting congregation. Having been told by cer- tain Parisian savans that he was the only man they had ever known, of any understanding, who believed in Christianity, he wrote, in reply, the Letters >■> a Philo- sophical t rnbt lit I'' r ( 17m i i. and various other works con- taining criticisms on the doctrines of Hume and others. His public position was now rather a hard one; for while laughed at in Paris as a believer, at home be was branded as an atheist. To escape the odium arising from the latter imputation, he published his Disquisi- tion relating to Matter and Spirit. In this work, while he partly materializes spirit, he at the same time partly spiritualizes matter. He holds, however, that our hopes of resurrection must res! solely on the truth of the Chris- tian revelation, and that scientifically they have no demonstration whatever. The doctrines of a Revelation and a Resurrection appear with him to have supported one another. He believed in a Revelation, because it declared a Resurrection; and he believed in a Resur- rection, because he found it declared in the Revelation. Yet in his Introductory Dissertation to Hartley's Obser- vations "a Man he expressed doubts again concerning the immateriality of the sentient principle in man; and in the Doctrim of Necessity — another elucidation of Hartley (q. v.) — published about the same time, largely denied the Christian doctrine of Revelation. I Jut among the many points of Church dogma called in question or
altogether repudiated, Dr. Priestley thus far had not
openly t shed the doctrine of the Trinity. In 17M2 he
published his History qftki Corruptions of Christianity {2 vols. 8vo). A refutation of the arguments contained in tlii-- work was proposed for one of the Hague prize essays; and in I7*.'i the work itself was burned bj the common hangman in the city of Dorr, Next came a History of Early Opinions concerning Jesus Christ | 17m'.. 4 vols. Svii), but it failed to make any impression in the literary or theological world. His previous writings, however, gave ria to a lively literary warfare between Priestley and Dr. Horsley. The principal subjects dis- enssed were the doctrines of Free Will. Materialism, and Unitarianism. The victory in this controversy w ill prob- ably 1"' awarded by most men in accordance with their own preconceived views on the questions at issue. In a letter to Dr. Price, dated dan. 27, 17'.M, Priestley says: "With respect to the Church, with which you have med- dled but little, I have long since drawn the sword and thrown away the Bcabbard, and am very easy about the consequences." While it was a source of wonder to the savans of the ( 'on tinen t t hat such a man could believe in a God at all. his want of belief shocked the better class of his countrymen, who, although at the time sadly. ki\