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ADDRESSED TO

THE INHABITANTS OF BIRMINGHAM,

IN

REFUTATION OF SEVERAL CHARGES,

ADVANCED AGAINST

The Dissenters and Unitarians.

BY THE REV. MR. MADAN.

ALSO,

LETTERS TO THE REV. EDWARD BURN,
In Answer to HIS on the Infallibility of the Apoftolic
Testimony concerning the Person of Christ.

AND

Confiderations on the Differences of Opinion among
Christians, which originally accompanied the Reply
to the Rev. Mr. Venn.

THE SECOND EDITION, WITH SOME ADDITIONS
AND CORRECTIONS.

BY JOSEPH PRIESTLEY, L.L.D. F.R.S.

To speak evil of no man, to be no brawlers, but gentle, shewing all
meekness unto all men. TITUS iii. 2.

Ne sævi Magne sacerdos. VIRGIL.

MR. MADAN'S TEXT.

BIRMINGHA

PRINTED BY J. THOMPSON;

AND SOLD BY J. JOHNSON, ST. PAUL'S CHURCH-YARD, LONDON.

MDCCXC.

BO

THE PREFACE.

OTH the writing of these Familiar Letters, and the demand that has been for them, were equally unexpected by me. I should certainly have contented myself with the publication of my Sermon on the Corporation and Test Acts, if I had not been called forth to say fomething more by the injurious representation that was given of the Dissenters in general, with manifest allusions to myself in particular, by Mr. Madan, a clergyman highly and justly respected in the place where I live.

Also, as his reflections were not confined to the subject of the above mentioned Acts, there was an evident call upon me to give light on those other fubjects on which he appeared to me to have thrown darkness. I therefore thought it highly proper to correct the views that he had given of the principles of the Diffenters, and especially of the Unitarians, and also to shew my neighbours the real constitution of that church of which he was so strenuous an advocate. If the principles of the Diffenters, and of the Unitarians, appear to advantage on the comparison, it is an advantage which they derive from truth, and the occafion of giving it was not fought for by myself.

Though these Letters were never advertised in any London Newspaper, they have, by fome means or other, been more generally known, and read, then most of my publications. In consequence of this, besides a republication of all the separate Parts (five in all) of which they originally confisted, I have now thought proper to republish the whole in an uniform manner, with a few additions and corrections.

The demand for the Letters to Mr. Burn, occafioned by his to me, has been nearly equal to that

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for the Familiar Letters, especially on account of Extracts from the Preface having been printed separately, and fent from this place to every member of the House of Commons, and to all the bishops, immediately before the late debate on the fubject of the Corporation and Test Acts. Highly unfair and shameful as that proceeding was, it is even applauded by Mr. Madan in his Letter to me; so blind can party spirit make men to the true colour of their own conduct, and that of their friends. These Letters to Mr. Burn being, in several respects, fimilar to the Familiar Letters, and the fubject being refumed in them, it has been thought adviseable to reprint them together, rather than separately. It must be remembered, however, that the publication of them preceded that of the Familiar

Letters.

Though this is properly a local controversy, yet on this republication, for more general use, it has been thought proper to retain most of the local circumstances; partly because it would not have been easy to feparate them from the rest, and also because they tend to interest the reader in the discussion; and the names only being changed, the descriptions will equally fuit other persons, and other places. The circumstances relating to the Diffsenters at Birmingham are by no means peculiar to this place ; and such clergymen as Mr. Madan, and Mr. Burn, are to be found in many places. Bigotry and prejudice abound too much even in this enlightened age, and affect many characters in other respects truly valuable. With these confiderations, which candour and justice require, the obfervations in these Letters will be of as much use in one part of the kingdom as in another.

It is to be wished, however, that the friends of religious liberty and free inquiry, would take advantage

vantage of all local circumstances, to draw the attention of their particular neighbours to important fubjects. For where writers and their connections are known, more persons will read, and of course will be impressed, by their publications, than where they are altogether unknown. A pamphlet, or a fermon, that deferves no notice with respect to its general argument, and the knowledge of which will never reach the nation at large, may with great propriety be answered in the place, or neighbourhood, in which it was published. Thus may a whole country be instructed by parts, in a number of local publications, when no one treatise, though ever fo ably written, would fufficiently engage the attention of all. Befides, there are prejudices against some men, and their writings, which do not affect others. What I have done at Birmingham, may be considered as a specimen of what I wish to fee done by other perfons in other places.

To what I have written on the fubject of fubfcription, I would add that, judging by appearances, the clergy are now made to subscribe to what it is im-. possible that many of them can be acquainted with, and what, I will venture to say, they would all condemn if they were.

In the thirty fixth Article, they are made to affert that "the book of confecration of the arch" bishops, &c. lately fet forth in the time of Ed"ward the VI. doth contain all things necessary to " fuch confecration and ordering; neither hath it

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any thing that of itself is fuperftitious and ungodly. "And therefore whosoever are confecrated, or "ordered, according to the rites of that book " since the fecond year of the forenamed king Ed"ward unto this time, or hereafter shall be confe"crated, and ordered, according to the fame rites,

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