Book Description

Excerpt from The Theological and Miscellaneous Works of Joseph Priestley, Vol. 17 The Sixteenth Volume having comprised the Discourses delivered in Philadelphia, which were principally designed to illustrate the Evidences of Divine Revelation, I have here brought together Dr. Priestley's latest labours in that great cause, to the promotion of which the efforts of his youth, his manhood, and his declining age were equally devoted. To the enlarged edition of the "Observations on the Increase of Infidelity" are now annexed the originals from Voltaire's Correspondence and the Ruins of Volney. This attention I considered as due to my Author, lest any reader should regard such extravagances as not always the language of those learned Unbelievers, but occasionally the misrepresentation of their sentiments in an inaccurate translation. I have also largely quoted, as probably little known in England, the Letter from M. Volney to Dr. Priestley, which called forth his Letters to that learned and scientific traveller. The "Comparison of the Institutions of Moses with those of the Hindoos and other Ancient Nations," which appeared in 1799, was the execution of a design expressed by the Author two years before, in the Preface to the Second Volume of Discourses, preached at Philadelphia, (Vol. XVI. p. 189.) His earlier attention to this subject appears in the Appendix to this Volume, No. IV., and in the former volumes to which I have referred (p. 132). About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.