Excerpt from The Theological and Miscellaneous Works of Joseph Priestley, Vol. 5
Dr. Priestley, as he has mentioned in his own Preface, designed to have added this History, as a fourth Volume to the Institutes, on their first publication in 1771. But, other occupations intervened, till his materials became sufficient for a larger Work, and he had an increasing conviction of its utility and importance. His metaphysical discussions had led him still farther to consider the questions concerning the nature of Christ; nor during his excursion to the Continent in 1774, could he have failed to perceive the corrupt forms of religion under papal establishments, and their influence to foster the prejudices, and to increase the number of unbelievers.
Yet Dr. Priestley was not one of those credulous Protestants who satisfy themselves that the Reformers in the sixteenth century had left no corruptions of Christianity unreformed, in churches which, under their influence, were established by the civil power. Such establishments themselves, he justly regarded as no trifling corruptions; and as to some of the most censured representations in this Volume, their Author is justified by the published opinions of not a few dignified churchmen. For what are the special pleadings of Bishop Burnet in his Exposition - Bishop Hoadley's Plain Account and his Kingdom of Christ not of this World - Dr. Clarke's Scripture Doctrine - Bishop Law's Theory "purged of ancient prejudices" - Dr. Jortin's Remarks, where he explodes "metaphysical and scholastic divinity from the Christian system;" - what are all these but forcible though indirect attacks on the Creeds and Ritual of their own Church?
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. Это и многое другое вы найдете в книге The Theological and Miscellaneous Works of Joseph Priestley, Vol. 5 (Classic Reprint) (Joseph Priestley)