Jesus, Prophet of Islam - The Islamic Bulletin

218 Jesus, Prophet ofIslam

lord was afraid thatnot only this hou se, butalso his ownmightbe
destroyed.
In 1794, Priestly sailed for America with Benjamin Franklin.
There they opened sorne of the first Unitarian churches in and
around Philadelphia. In the years that followed, the situation in
Englandbecamemorerelaxed. In1802,Priestly's oldcongregation
opened a chapel, and Bilsham, a leading Unitarian, was invited to
preach the opening sermon. Priestly, however, was content to re­
main in America, where he died in 1804.
Joseph Priestly's main contribution to the Unitarians in Eng­
land were his comprehensive arguments, both historical and philo­
sophical, in support of the Unity of God. They were drawn from
the Scriptures and the writings of the old Christian fathers, inter­
preted by reason, and rigorously appIied to the reIigious and po­
Iitical problems of his day. 'Absurdity supported by power,' he
wrote, 'will never be able to stand its ground against the efforts of
reason.' SB
Of all Priestly'S, religious works, the most influential was his
History of theCorruptions ofChristianity, written in two volumes, in
which he sought to show that true Christianity, as embodied in the
beliefs of the early Church, was Unitarian -and that all departures
from that faith were corruptions. The book infuriated the ortho­
dox and delighted the liberals in both England and America. It
was public1ybumedinHolland.Herefollows Priestly's ownsum­
mary of his work:

To consider the system of Christianity, one would think

it very liable to corruption, or abuse. The great outline

of it is that the Universal Parent of mankind commis­

sioned Jesus Christ to invite men to practice virtue, by

the assurance of His merey to the penitent, and of His

purpose to raise to irnmortallife and happiness all the

virtuous and good. Here is nothing that any person

could imagine would lead to much subtle speculation,

at least such as could excite animosity. The doctrine it­

self is so plain, that one would think the learned and

the unlearned were upon a level with respect to il. And

a person unacquainted with the state of thîngs, at the

time of its promulgation would look in vain for any

probable source of the monstrous corruptions and

abuses which crept into the system afterwards. Jesus,

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