PRIESTLEY, JosErn, son of Joseph Priestley, a cloth-draper at Fieldhead, near Leeds, was born at Fieldhead, Mar. 13, 1733, O.S. His mother having died when he was six years old, he was adopted by an aunt, by whom he was sent to a free school. There he learned Latin and Greek. During vacation, he taught himself various languages, both ancient and modern. For some time he was obliged to abandon his studies, owing to weak health; he then betook himself to mercantile pursuits. With returning strength, his literary studies were resumed, and successfully prosecuted at a dissenting academy at Daventry under Mr. (afterward Dr.) Ashworth, successor to Dr. Doddridge. Though his father and aunt were strong Calvinists, their house was the resort of many men who held very different opinions;. and the theological discussions which he was in the habit of hearing seem to have had much effect on young Priestley: before lie was 19 he calls himself rather a believer in the doctrines of Annimus, but adds, "I had by no means rejected the doctrine of the trinity or that of the atonement." Before leaving home, he wished to join a Calvinistic communion; but he was refused admission, the ground of refusal being that he had stated doubts as to the liability of the whole human race to "the wrath of God and pains of hell forever." During his residence at the academy, he conceived himself called on to renounce nearly all the theological and metaphysical opinions of his youth. "I came," he says, "to embrace what is called the heterodox side of every question." In 1755 he became minister to a small congregation at Needhain :Market, in Suffolk. with an average salary of £30 per annum. While here, he composed his work entitled The Scripture Doctrine of Remission, which shows that the Death of Christ is no proper Sacrifice nor Satisfaction for Sin. His leading theological doctrine seems to have been that the Bible is indeed a divine revelation, made from God to man through Christ, himself a man and no more, nor claiming to be more. He seems to have rejected all theological dogmas which appeared to him to rest solely upon the interpretation put upon certain passages of the Bible by ecclesiastical authority. Even the fundamental doctrines of the trinity and of the atonement he did not consider as warranted by Scrip. titre, when read by the light of his own heart and understanding. It does not, however, appear that these doctrinal errors produced any morally evil results. He not only con trived to live on £30 a year; but, by adding a little to his income by means of teaching, he was enabled to purchase a variety of instruments to help him in his scientific studies. In 1758 he quitted Needham for lc antwich; and in 1761 lie removed to Warrington, where he was appointed successor to Mr. (afterward Dr.) Aikin, as teacher of languages and belles-lettres. At Warrington, lie married Miss Wilkinson, a lady of great talent and amiability. Here his literary career may be said first fairly to have begun. A visit to London led to his making the acquaintance of Franklin and of Dr. Price. The former supplied him with books which enabled him to write his Histom and Present State Electricity, published in 1767. It was followed by a work on Vision, Light, and Colors. In 1762 he published his Theory of Language and Universal Grammar. In 1766 he was made a member of the royal society, and a doctor of laws by the university of Edin burgh. In the following year he removed to near Leeds, where lie was appointed minister of a dissenting chapel. The fact of a brewery being beside his dwelling gave a new direction to his energetic and versatile mind; he began to study pneumatic chemistry, publishing various important works connected with this science. " No one," says Dr. Thomson, " ever entered on the study of chemistry with more dis
advantages than. Dr. Priestley, and yet few have occupied a more dignified station in it." While at Leeds, he agreed to accompany capt. Cook on his second voyage; but certain ecclesiastics having objected to the latitude of his theological views, the board of longitude refused to sanction the arrangement, and he did not go. In 1773 he was appointed librarian and liteiary companion to lord Shelburn, with a salary of £250 per annum, and a separate residence. Ile accompanied the earl on a continental tour in the yea; 1774. Having been told by certain Parisian savants that he was the only man they had ever known, of any understanding, who believed in Christianity, he wrote, in reply, the Letters to a Pailosophical Unbeliever, and various other works, containing criticisms on the doctrines of Hume and others. His public position was rather a hard one; for while laughed at in Paris as a believer, at home he was branded as an atheist. To escape the odium arising from the latter imputation, he published in 1777 his Disquisition Relat ing to Mutter 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 11 must rest solely on the truth of the Christian revelation, and that on science they have no foundation 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 resurrection, because he found it declared in the revelation. On leaving lord Shelburn, he became minister of a dissenting chapel at Birmingham. The publication, in 1786, of his History of Early Opinions Concerning Jesus Christ, occasioned the renewal of a controversy which had begun in 1778 between him and Dr. Horsley, concerning the doctrines of free will, materialism, and unitarian ism. The victory in this controversy will probably be awarded by most men in accord ance with their own preconceived views on the questions at issue. His reply to Burke's R.e4ctions on the French Revolution led to his being made a citizen of the French republic; and this led to a mob on one occasion breaking into his house and destroying all its contents, books, manuscripts, scientific instruments, etc. He states that the sum awarded to him as damage fell l'2,000 short of the actual pecuniary loss. A brother-in-law, how ever, about this time left him £10,000, with an annuity of £200. In 1791 he succeeded to the charge at Hackney, which had become vacant by the resignation of Dr. Price. He did not remain long here, however. His honestly-avowed opinions had made him as unpopular as an honest avowal of opinions generally does. He removed to America, where lie was received with respect, if not with enthusiasm. He had the offer of the professorship of chemistry at Philadelphia, which he declined. In 1796 his wife died. To the day of his death, he continued to pursue his literary and scientific pursuits with as much ardor as he had shown at any period of his active life. He died Feb. 6„ 1804, expressing his satisfaction with his having led a life so useful, and his confidence in immortality. At Paris, his awe was read by Cuvier before the national institute. He has given us his autobiography down to Mar. 24, 1795. He was a man of irreproachable moral and domestic character, remarkable for zeal for truth, patience, and serenity of temper. He appears to have been fearless in proclaiming his convictions, whether theo logical, political, or scientific. See memoirs of his own life, continued by his son, with observations by T. Cooper. Also life by John Corry.