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    Sir , Hampstead , Feb . 5 , 1829 . It is rather late to write upon this subject , but having accidentally met with Mr , Benson ' s work , I was tempted to set down my thoughts upon the question , which you will publish or not , as best comports with your design . T . BELSHAM .

    1 . Dr . Priestley , with Mitchell , Franklin , P . Boscovich , and others , held natter to be destitute of the properties of inertia and impenetrability . 2 . He thought that matter consists of active powers , of attraction , and repulsion , surrounding each other like the coats of an onion . 3 . His matter , therefore , was much the same as Dr . Price's spirit ; i . e . extension without solidity or impenetrability .

    4 . As thought was allowed to be a property of Dr . Price ' s immaterial extended substance , there is no reason why it should be denied to Dr . Priestley ' s matter , which is also extended , penetrable , active substance . 5 . Man , therefore , upon Dr . Priestley ' s principle , might be wholly material , while upon Dr . Price ' s he must have a spirit , or soul , distinct from body .

    6 . Upon Dr . Priestley ' s principle , the man , the conscious being , is annihilated by death ; the several particles being disposed of to make other bodies , or perhaps parts of other souls . 7 . The stamina of one soul would not make the stamina of another , either from necessity of nature or by almighty power .

    8 . Upon Dr . Price ' s principle , the body is indeed resolved at death into its constituent atoms ; and resurrection consists either in uniting the same soul to the same unchangeable stamina , or to a body similarly constituted to the original one ; the identity of the man consisting wholly in identity of soul .

    9 . According to Dr . Priestley ' s principle , identity of man must , strictly speaking , consist of identity of particles , under identity of form . Identity of particles where form is wanting , would be no identity at all . Identity of form where particles are different , can produce only similarity , not identity . 10 . Upon Dr . Priestley ' s principle , therefore , there can be no true resurrection but by a location of the original stamina in the original form . There

    may be a thousand cases imagined of exactly similar stamina placed in an exactly similar form , and producing exactly similar beings ; but there is only one case of identity . 11 . In order to make two similar beings equally happy , a similar combination of particles must be placed under the same or an equal process of discipline .

    12 , Nothing could insure the perfect happiness of Dr . Price ' s man , because with precisely the same discipline he might act a part the very reverse of what he does ; which is very like an opposite effect from the same cause . 13 . Every sentient creature is conscious that he possesses no power of self-determination , but to say that it involves a contradiction , and is in itself impossible , is more than can be warranted .

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    OBSERVATIONS BY THE REV " . T . BFXStfAM ,, OCCASIONED BY MR . BENSON ' S BEMARKS ON DR . PRIESTLEY ' S SYSTEM OF MATERIALISM , MECHANISM , AND NECESSITY , IN A SERIES OF LETTERS TO THE REV . JOHN WESLEY . PRINTED AT HULL .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 2, 1829, page 239, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2571/page/15/