Socialism and the Pope

"As to Jesus of Nazareth, I think his system of morals and his religion, as he left them to us, the best the world ever saw, or is like to see; but I apprehend it has received various corrupting changes. I have, with most of the present dissenters of England, some doubts of his Divinity."

Joseph Priestly, the discoverer, scientist and scholar, was born at Fieldhead, near Leeds, England, in 1733. He was educated in strict Calvanism but soon embraced Unitarianism. He studied at Daventry under Dr. Samuel Clarke, and settled as Minister of the Needham Market Church, in Suffolk, 1755. He removed to a parish at Nantwich, 1758. Three years later he went to Warrington as a teacher. He now became in turn Minister at Leeds, Birmingham, and Hackney, of chapels where the congregations had drifted into Unitarianism. His sympathy with the French Revolution caused his house, library and scientific apparatus to be burned and destroyed by a reactionary Birmingham mob in 1791. Three years later he went to Warrington as a teacher. He now became in turn Minister at Leeds, Birmingham, and Hackney, of chapels where the congregations had drifted into Unitarianism. His sympathy with the French Revolution caused his house, library and scientific apparatus to be burned and destroyed by a reactionary Birmingham mob in 1791. Three years later he emigrated to America and settled at Northumberland, Pa., where he died in 1804.

Priestly relentlessly trimmed away from the Christian faith conventionalities, traditions and mysteries. His histories of "The Corruptions of Christianity" and his "General History of the Christian Church" are excellent works in this respect. He developed Christianity without superstition.

Of his philosophical writings, the late Professor Huxley said:-

"They are among the most powerful and unflinching expositions of materialism and necessarianism which exist in the English language."

Lindsey rightly claimed Dr. Samuel Clarke (1675-1725), under whom Priestly studied; Dr. Gilbert Burnett, Bishop of Salisbury (1643-1715); John Tillotson, Archbishop of Canterbury (1630-1694); and Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727) as Unitarians.

Samuel Clarke was a philosopher, metaphysician, and divine. Born at Norwich, he was chaplain to Bishop Moore in 1699 and rector of Drayton two years later. In 1712 he published his famous work attacking the Trinity. His memoirs were edited by the celebrated Unitarian scholar, Whiston.

Gilbert Burnett was born at Edinburgh, on September 18, 1643. His father was a lawyer whom many raised but none employed. After the Restoration, Burnett père was made one of the Lords of Session, and Burnett was sent to Aberdeen to graduate M.A. In 1633, he visited England and met Tillotson, with whom he formed a life friendship. After a sojourn in Holland and France, he was ordained a priest at Edinburgh, in 1665, by Bishop Wiseheart, and presented to the parish of Saltain by Sire Robert Fletcher. In 1669, he was appointed Professor of Divinity at the Glasgow University. Here he remained for four and a half years. He migrated to London, and in 1675 was appointed Preacher of the Chapel of the Rolls. Whether the legal atmosphere influenced him