day do something towards the continuation of my Church History. I shall finish the next period which will carry the History to the rise of Mahometanism, in about a month, tasking myself every day. My materials will not carry me much farther.

I never read so much Hebrew as I have since I left England. I have nearly finished all the Old Testament, and I never read it with so much satisfaction, especially the prophecies, which I am now attending to. I think I shall read more or less of the Hebrew Bible as long as I live; and shall, when I get my Polyglots, and other helps, take much pleasure in translating more than I undertook before. Having leisure for miscellaneous reading, I have read almost the whole of Tacitus, which I had not done before, and I admire him more than I expected. I shall read many of the best ancient writers, especially the historians, when I get my library.

I have nearly printed the Continuation of my Letters to the Philosophers and Politicians of France, and to a Philosophical Unbeliever; the latter in answer to Mr. Paine's Age of Reason; which is much read, and has made great impression here; nor will you wonder at it, when you consider what kind of Christianity is preached here. I am told that the Quakers read it with great avidity, and they have no knowledge at all of the proper evidence of Christianity, or the doctrines of it. Many of them, therefore, in this country, either actually are, or are easily made unbelievers. There are great expectations, I am told, from my answer to Paine, and I hope it will do good.

I told you that when I came hither I was asked to preach at the Presbyterian meeting-house; but though I am sure I said nothing which could give any Christian just offence, they never asked me again, and I have contented myself with reading a sermon in my own house. Yesterday, however, the officer of a company of soldiers who are passing this way requested me to preach to them, and they got the use of the meeting-house, and some of the people of the place attended;

but little can be done before I get a place to myself, which, if a few persons from England join us, will soon be accomplished, especially if the college be established here, and of this no doubt is now entertained; and the person whose property the greatest part of the town is, has consented to give the ground to build it on. We therefore hope to have the buildings raised the next year, and begin some business, when I hope to be of some use. In the spring, however, I shall go to Philadelphia, and preach a sermon, which I have already composed and transcribed, from Acts xvii. 18-20; but I want your cool judgment in this and all my other compositions. I feel myself as a ship without a rudder."

Again. "Though I am far from being so happy as I was at Hackney, near you and Mr. Belsham, I have a tolerable prospect of being more comfortable when I have got my house built; but I foresee much trouble, as well as expense, attending it. My instruments must remain unpacked, at least in a great measure, till then, and my books are chiefly in a barn and a garret, so that it is not very easy to come at them all. In this respect, however, I do pretty well, and by doing my different tasks every day, have the satisfaction of thinking I do some business, without which I should have little enjoyment of life.

I shall get well acquainted with the Hebrew Bible, a large portion of which I read the first thing every morning, and I give some hours every day to my Church History. The great number of unbelievers here will keep up my attention to the evidences of revelation, and I think I may perhaps add another part to my Letters to a Philosophical Unbeliever, on the subject of prophecy. I like Bicheno's idea of the seven thunders meaning the seven wars which have taken place since the conquests of the Turks, but there is little else that I admire in him. I have had some of the same thoughts that Mr. Garnham has entertained; but I cannot say that they give me the same satisfaction that they do him, and I think he hazards a great deal in foretelling the duration and the issue of the pres

ent war against the French. I am endeavouring to settle my opinion of the most probable interpretations of the principal prophecies in Daniel and the Revelation, and when I have done it, shall write to you more fully on the subject. I have no satisfaction like that which attends the study of the Scriptures.

being employed as

Since I wrote last, I have a prospect of a preacher here. I have a service every Lord's day at my son's house; and several persons, the most respectable in the place, have desired to attend, and even, I hear, talk of building a place of worship for me. To this I shall contribute pretty largely myself, and shall feel most happy in being so employed, and in instructing such young persons as will attend me."

In February, 1796, he visited Philadelphia, and delivered a course of Lectures on the Evidences of Revealed Religion. The congregation that attended, says a lady who was present, were so numerous that the house could not contain them, so that as many were obliged to stand as sit, and even the doorways were crowded with people. During this visit he attended the debates of Congress, on the ratification of Jay's treaty. The passage in which he speaks of them in writing to Mr. Lindsey is not without interest.

"After a long discussion, the House of Representatives have voted, by a majority of three, for carrying the treaty with England into execution. Having much leisure, I have attended to hear much of the debate, and have heard as good speaking as in your House of Commons, and much more decorum. A Mr. Ames speaks as well as Mr. Burke; but, in general, the speakers are more argumentative, and less rhetorical. And whereas there are not with you more than ten or a dozen tolerable speakers, here every member is capable of speaking, which makes interesting debates tedious. A good account of the speeches is taken by short-hand writers, who have a desk for the purpose, and, I believe, many of the speakers correct them afterwards. As the speeches on this

occasion are printed, I will send them to you. The members for the northern states are in general in favor of the treaty, and those from the southern, against it. I am well acquainted with both, and they do not avoid one another, as the heads of parties do in England; and when once any thing is decided by fair voting, all contention ceases."

In the course of the next year Dr. Priestley's situation was rendered yet more solitary by the death of his youngest son and of his wife. These were severe trials, and he often pathetically alludes to them in his letters, showing how deeply he was afflicted and how a Christian faith and hope sustained him. "The time is fast approaching with respect to me," he says, in a letter to Mrs. Barbauld, "when our intercourse from which I have derived so much satisfaction, will be renewed with advantage, and to this future scene late events have drawn my attention in a more particular manner than ever. How much to be pitied are they who are not Christians! What consolation can they have in their sorrows? Mine have sometimes such a mixture of joy, as hardly to deserve the name." "The death of my wife," he says some months afterward, "has made a great change in my feelings; though I never felt so sensibly the happy effects of religion."

In 1797 he again passed some time in Philadelphia, preaching on the Evidences of Christianity, and publishing remarks on the infidel writings of Volney, who was then in that city. The subject of infidelity was that which now supremely interested him. He took little notice of those who were disposed to treat him as a heretic. "Except avowing my sentiments, which I thought it necessary to do, in a single discourse last year, I pay no attention whatever to the Orthodox, and confine myself to the unbelievers, as by much. the more formidable enemy of the two." "While I am preaching and writing against the common enemy, they are preaching and writing against me." That any unbeliever can be pious and habitually devout (without which every charac

ter must be very imperfect) is what I have not yet seen any appearance of."

"How insignificant," he exclaims, " are all subjects, compared to those which relate to religion! And yet I am persuaded I have more pleasure in my philosophical pursuits than any of my unchristian brethren. My views of these subjects give a dignity and importance to them, which, in the eye of the unbeliever, it is impossible they should have." In a similar strain he writes, on hearing of the death of Mrs. Lindsey. "The loss of near friends and the society to which we have been long accustomed, weans us from the world. I have hardly a wish to stay behind, already. When a few more of my friends are gone, I shall wish to go too; and I think of our meeting in another state much more than ever. What an unspeakable blessing is the knowledge of Christianity. What a pearl of great price do unbelievers reject! I have now very little real satisfaction in any studies that are foreign to this. I think I should even drop my philosophical pursuits, but that I consider them as that study of the works of the great Creator, which I shall resume with more advantage hereafter."

In January, 1800, he wrote thus to Mr. Lindsey.

"Your account of my daughter's illness affects me much. So few recover from consumptions, that I have no expectation of it in her case. She will, however, be freed from much trouble in this life, and be well prepared for another; and such is my situation here, and so near am I to the same catastrophe, that such an event affects me much less than it would otherwise do. The removal of a very few more would make me wish to follow them. I have no desire to live on account of any enjoyment that I can reasonably expect in this life; but while I am capable of doing any good, I wish to have the opportunity.

From how much trouble has my wife been relieved! She had a great mind; but the events that have taken place since her death would have affected her deeply. My trials, now