A slight sketch of the controversy between Dr. Priestley and his opponents on the subject of his Disquisitions on matter and spirit / [Anon].
- Samuel Badcock
- Date:
- [1780]
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: A slight sketch of the controversy between Dr. Priestley and his opponents on the subject of his Disquisitions on matter and spirit / [Anon]. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![( [ 50 ] of fbcial intercourfe will flrongly prepoffefs his mind in favour of it; and his affeCtions will make him wifh for what his reafon would fcarcely permit him to hope. A flrong perfuafion arifing merely from paffion and defire, may be 'mistaken for a more ra¬ tional principal; and that which owed its founda¬ tion to felf-iove may be fuppofed to have its feat in the mold deliberate judgment, and be the fettled didtate of the befl grounded convidtion. But if a man, inftead of indulging himfelf in re- C tD flections which arife from his paffions, reafons with coolnefs, he will find caufe to fufpedt the truth of his fond and flattering conclufions, He will fee that the object of his attachment was the body, as animated by an intelligent principle. Both maybe equally fuhject to difTolution ; or at leafl be fo much changed as to retain little of their forms, and lefs of their original connections, habits, and prin¬ ciples ; fo that if they really exift in a future life it may be only as every other portion of material fub- ftance may exift :—for there is something in matter that is unperifhable, and can only be annihilated by the power which created it. If this mere ftudent of nature fhould attend his beloved friend in the laft moments, and endeavour to fmooth the pillow of death by thefe tender offices which friendfhip didtates, his doubts will be ftrengthened.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b30372161_0058.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
