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THE  J     p    Q 

HARRISON 

COLLECTION  OF 

NINETEENTH  CENTURY 

BRITISH  SOCIAL  HISTORY 

Harrison 
AP 
4 
.R217 
vol.11 

BRIGHAM  YOUNG  UNiyEBSir/,  ■  -.  ...;...-... 


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THEOI.OGIC  AI.      EXAMIMER. 


'  It  is  not  possible  to  destroj  political  serritade  while  allowing  religions  servitude 
to  remain ;  the  political  springs  hj  necessity  from  religions  slavery.  In  that 
place  where  the  priest  may  say  to  an  entire  people,  "  Surrender  to  me  your  reason 
without  conditions,"  the  Prince,  by  an  infallible  logic,  may  repeat  also, "  Surrender 
to  me  your  liberty  without  control." ' — Quinkt. 


VOL.   XI. 


Eonlron : 

JAMES  WATSON,  3,  QUEEN'S  HEAD  PASSAGE,  PATERNOSTER  ROW. 

1851. 


INDEX. 


Page. 
Adams's,  Mr.,  addresses  in  Victoria 

Park  . .       30 

Address  to  the  electors  of  Ayr  . .  105 
Advice  to  those  who  go  to  church 

against  their  will  ..     109 

Adventures  in  Whitehaven  237,  253 

Aggregate  meeting  of  Mormons  in 

London  . .       80 

Anecdote  of  the  Rev.  H.  HoUey  . .  337 
Answerto  Henry  Norrington  183,199,216 
Apologies  for  Moses  . .       18 

Archdeacon  Hare's  mission  of  the 

Comforter  . ,     274 

Art  independent  of  Christianity  . .  103 
Aspect  and  expedients  of  Christi* 

anity  . .      147 

'Athenffium's,'  the,  estimate  of  Robert 

Owen  ..     194 

Atheistical  open-air  preaching  . .  337 
Baptist  riots  in  Jamaica  . .     273 

Beldagon  church  . .     131 

Bible,  the,  an  archseological  curiosity  217 
Bible  test  of  superstition,  the  . .  323 
Brother  Dick  fulfilleth  a  revelation  240 
Can  sceptics  be  philanthropists  . ,  295 
Catholic  polity,  the  . .       39 

Catholicism,  the  type  of  the  churches 

around  us  . .     297 

Character  of  Christ,  the  329,  376 

Charles  George  Harding  . .     248 

Christianity  of  Christ,  the  . .       81 

Christianity  V.  infidelity  .,     311 

Christ's  death  humanly  justifiable . .  237 
Civil  rights  of  Jews,  the  . .     291 

Clerical  subscriber,  a,  and  the  '  Critic '  314 
Conversion  of  Anastasius,  the  . .  275 
Confessions  of  a  Quaker  . .     184 

Convert  through  examining  the  Bible  29 
Critic,  the,  and  R.  W.  Emerson  ..  173 
Cooper,  Thomas,  in  Scotland  . .  65 
Current  publications  ...     136 

Death  of  David  Hetherington  ..  123 
Death  of  Mr.  John  Lennon  . .      255 

Death  of  Mrs.  Emma  Martin  . .  349 
Decline  of  Quakerism  . .       87 

Defence  of  opinion  a  warfare  . .  1 
Defence  of  opinion  against  the  clergy 

of  Lancaster  .33,  49,  61 

Defence  of  the  civil  rights  of  atheists    307 


Page. 
Defence  of  metaphysics  . .  385 
Delay  not  failure  . .  223 
*  Devine'  witness,  a  •  •  336 
Dismal  state  of  Blairgowrie  . .  266 
Disorder  and  decay  in  the  Estab- 
lished Church  • .  3 
Divine  socialism  ..  225 
Early  martyrs,  the,  not  all  Chris- 
tians •  •  113 
Editor,  the,  mistaketh  Christianity  125 
Edifying  examination,  an  ..  98 
Education  and  instruction  . .  337 
Efifect  of  circumstances  . .  304 
Enemy  in  the  north,  the  . .  17 
English  edition  of  GauU's  works  , ,  191 
Equality  . .  386 
Erroneous    quotations    from      the 

'Eclectic'                                   ..  4 

Essentials  of  a  union  for  mechanics  289 
Experience  of  an  old  Methodist  . .  6,  21 
Extraordinary   distribution  of   the 

*  Reasoner '                                   • .  344 

Farewell  of  the  '  Truth-Seeker'     . .  106 

Father  Newman  on  relics              . .  321 

Fox,  W.  J.,  on  Godless  education  319 

Freedom  of  opinion  in  Whitehaven  89 

Freethinking  not  a  disqualification  151 

Free  will  of  Christ                        . .  216 

Further  readings  from  Mackay      ..  286 

George  Thompson,  Mr.,  on  atheism  328 
Government  of  the  laws  of  nature, 

the  366, 371 

Hagen,  Mr.,  to  a  true  reasoner      . .  378 

Hebrew  prayer  done  in  gas             . ,  46 

Heretic  stoker,  the  . .  267 
History  of  two  nights  in  Blackburn, 

the                                               . .  397 

History  of  a  visionary,  the  . .  321 
History  of  the  last  trial  by  jury  for 

atheism  in  England  45,  114,  338 
Holyoake's,  Mr.,  lectures  in  Gala- 
shiels ..  56 
Hymn  of  Love  . .  1 70 
Important  movement  in  Calcutta  .-,  257 
Inquirer  in  reply  to  Mr.  Chilton  . .  12 
Interesting  state  of  Sheffield  . .  249 
Irreligious  books  . .  200 
Jehovah  destroyed  by  his  own  attri- 
butes                                           ..  233 


INDEX. 


Page. 

243 
384 
368 
359 
186 


Jesus,  and   the   moral    aspects    of 

Christianity 
Jesus  as  a  man  •  • 

John  of  Tuam  in  London 
Judgment  of  Christianity 
Kossuth  and  the  Magyars  of  old    . . 
Lancaster  controversy,  the  125,  141,  157 
Late  Joseph  Spence,  the  . .     343 

Lecture  on  irreligious  books  • .       71 

Lectures  in  Paisley  . .       77 

Lectures  in  Glasgow  . .        93 

Lectures  in  "Whitehaven  . .     221 

Lectures  in  Newcastle-on-Tyne    ••     286 
Lectures  and  discussions  338,  359 

Lectures  in  Stockport  . .     365 

Lectures  in  South  Shields  . .     264 

Lord  Palmerston  on  free  expression 

of  opinion  «.     346 

Mahometan  paradise,  the  ..       53 

Mary  Eeed,  Mrs.,  appeareth         . .     317 
Meanings,  new  and  old,  of  the  term 

atheist  . .     232 

Medical  symptoms  of  controversial- 
ists «.  43 
Methodist  reaction  . ,  58 
Millar's,  Mr.,  late  report  ..  393 
Missionary  V,  God  ,.  370 
Modes  of  interesting  the  popnlace  209 
Morality  independent  of  religion  152,  313, 

330 
Mormon  prophet,  the  . .     223 

Mysterious  rapping,  the  . .       66 

Naming  children  . .     202 

New  reform  in  Germany  11,  263 

New  dress  of  women  . .     225 

New  working  man's  Bible  . .     260 

Non-existence  of  atheists,  the         .     103 
Old  clo',  old  clo'  , .     289 

On  the  circulation  of  freethinking 

works  . .       65 

On  the  word  atheist  - .       87 

On  the  sin  of  going  to  church      163,  179 
Operations  of  the  Religious  Tract 

Society  . .     193 

Originality  . .     266 

Paganism's  new  face  . .     247 

Pamphlets  of  Opponents  . .     269 

Petition  concerning  Queenwood    167, 201 
Philosophic  type    of  religion,    the 

67,  83,  99 
Phonetics  v.  Sunday  , .     260 

Pictures  of  hell  . .     339 

Polemical  intelligence  ..     377 

Polite  literature  . .     289 

Popular  English  preachers  94,  120 

Popular  Christianity,  the  ..     281 

Prayer  for  slavery  . .     290 

Principles    of  belief    held     by    a 
searcher  after  truth  .       27 


Page. 
Progress  of  the  intellect,  the        211,  227 

Progress  of  freethinking  in  Bedlington  231 

Progress  at  the  Philpot-street  In- 
stitution 

Rationalism  and  its  assurances 

Reading  the  Bible  a  penal  offence. . 

Readings  from  Macaulay's  essays.. 

Reinforcement  , . 

Religion,  atheism,  and  art 

Religious  scruples  resulting  in  murder  369 

Religion  of  Protestants,  the  . .     268 

Remarkable  union  of  economy  and 
taste  . . 

Report  from  Poplar  ,. 

Reply  of  Mr.  Norrington 

Rev.  Mr.  Rees,  the,  and  the  Exhi' 
bition 

Rev,  Mr.  Phillips,  the 

Rev.  Mr.  Woodman  at  the  Burnley 
lectures  ... 

Rights  of  women  in  America 

Robert  Owen's  eightieth  birthday.. 

Ruskin'g,  Mr.,  religious  strictnreB. . 

Ruskin's,  Mr.,  works 

Saint  Robert  Bums 

Saint  and  the  Fisherman,  the 

Scene  at  the  Rev.  C.  Kingsley'e  lec- 
ture 

Secrets  of  nature,  the  . . 

Several  matters 

Shorter  catechism,  the 

Sketches  in  Scotland  .. 

Southwell,  Mr.,  in  Glasgoir 
Spencer^s  theory  of  human  happiness 
Stockport  agency 
Successful  escape,  a 
Summary  of  the  theology  of  Plato 
Sun  worship  .. 

Superhuman  power 
Symbolism 
Terms  of  Socialism 
The   Hebrew  religion,  whetsce  de- 
rived ,. 
Theodore  Parker 

They  belong  to  us  ., 

Times,  the,  and  the  taxes  dtt  knoW^ 

ledge 
To  all  whom  it  may  concern 
To  my  fbllow  subsoribers    to  the 
'  Reasoner'  ,. 

To  friends  on  farms 
Unitarian  Quakerism  *» 

Yaughan's,  Dr.,  Serm<Ks  .. 

Virtue 

Visit  to  Dundee 
Week,  a,  in  East  Lancashire 


233 
201 
234 
269 
78 
115 


112 

318 
379 

103 
265 

881 

se 

20 
273 
290 

66 
364 

102 
119 
111 
387 
^1 
33d 
196 
254 
203 
272 
88 
396,  391 
..  266 
..     119 

7,23 

n 

S»I8' 

m 

14 
..     Mi 

..   t(m 

..     990 
169,  305 

..   aoi 


Wesleyan  conference,  the,  in  N^ew*- 

castle  . .     186 

Works  of  Dr.  Lees  ..     176 


^I^e   Witu&ontr 

AND 

THEOLOGICAL.     EXAMINER. 

They  who  believe  that  they  have  Truth  ask  no  favour,  save  that  of  being  heard :  they  dare  the 
judgment  of  Mankind  :  refused  Co-operation,  they  invoke  Opposition,  for  Opposition  is  their 
Opportunity. — Editor. 


DEFENCE    OF    OPINION    A    WARFARE 


A  SHORT  ADDRESS  TO  READERS. 

The  eleventh  volume  of  the  Reasoner  commences  with  this  number,  and  the 
reader  has  a  right  to  expect  some  formal  statement  of  the  prospects  before  us. 
But  I  am  too  much  occupied  with  the  enemy  to  make  it.  During  the  past  fort- 
night I  lectured  four  times  in  Glasgow,  and  four  times  in  Paisley ;  now  I  write 
from  Dundee.  In  the  next  four  days  I  expect  to  speak  in  Galashiels,  in  Glasgow, 
Paisley  again,  and  Carlisle.  By  the  time  that  this  appears  I  shall  be  engaged  in 
the  defence  of  Opinion  against  the  Reverend  James  Fleming,  of  Lancaster. 
Amidst  incessant  peregrinations  it  is  not  possible  to  render  such  an  account  of 
our  stewardship  as  I  am  anxious,  and  otherwise  prepared  to  present.  It  is,  how- 
ever, a  good  augury  that  we  are  so  much  employed  in  making  progress  as  not  to 
have  time  to  report  it.  One  sign  of  onwardness  is,  that  the  Newspapers  are  begin- 
ning to  think  our  proceedings  matters  of  public  interest.  When  the  Press  begins 
to  report  us,  the  Pulpit  must  debate  with  us.  The  audiences  I  have  met  lately 
have  been,  in  all  places,  greater  than  I  have  ever  met  before.  I  speak  of  an  aver- 
age estimate ;  and  although  the  terms  of  admission  have  been  higher  than  usual, 
it  has  not  affected  the  numbers,  which  have  exceeded  the  facilities  of  ventilation  in 
some  of  our  halls.  The  last  volume  has  been  the  most  prosperous  of  this  series, 
and  I  expect  to  find,  on  balancing  the  accounts,  some  small  salary  in  my  favour  as 
editor.  The  Shilling  List,  when  some  subscriptions  to  hand  are  acknowledged, 
will  reach  nearly  or  quite  two  thousand  shillings.  On  my  return  to  town  I  shall 
prepare  some  papers  on  important  plans  for  the  future.  Now  I  can  venture  only 
on  one  detail.  The  Wrapper  of  the  first  Monthly  Part  of  this  new  volume  will 
be  virtually  a  Supplement.  It  will  contain  a  variety  of  special  and  permanent 
information  which  ought  to  be  constantly  before  our  readers.  At  length  we  shall 
present  parts  regularly  to  the  Metropolitan  press,  and  if  our  readers  can  do  the 
same  by  the  Provincial  press,  we  shall  have  Monthly  notices,  and  not  unfrequently 
discussions  of  our  views.  A  greater  result  still  is  attainable  by  us  of  this  kind — 
if  each  reader,  who  is  able  to  do  it,  will  give  his  weekly  number  away  to  a  new 
person  each  week,  and  take  a  Monthly  Part  for  himself,  to  bind.  By  this  plan  our 
circulation  would  indefinitely  increase  two  ways — one  by  way  of  Monthly  Parts, 
and  the  other,  and  more  important,  through  the  incessant  distribution  of  the 
Reasoner  into  new  hands.  After  a  time,  repeat  the  gift  of  copies  to  friends  who 
have  not  come  to  feel  interest  in  the  views  advocated.  In  other  cases,  let  the 
weekly  number  be  given  to  neighbours,  shopmates,  and  strangers.  Our  circle  is 
so  much  a  '  working  circle,'  that  I  do  not  doubt  that  this  suggestion  will  be  acted 
upon. 

Frequently  the  observation  is  made  to  me,  '  Why  devote  yourself  to  such  an 
advocacy  as  that  which  the  Reaso7ier  maintains,  when  there  is  this  and  that  topic 


[No.  260.]  [No.  1,  Vol.  XI.] 

[ONE  PENNY.l 


THE  REASONER. 


to  which  you  might,  more  profitably  to  yourself  or  the  public,  occupy  yourself?' 
I  seldom  return  an  answer.  The  remark  does  not  sound  to  me  like  an  inquiry  or 
even  a  remonstrance,  so  much  as  like  a  lesson.  It  shows  how  much  is  yet  left 
undone  in  the  development  of  our  objects  when  their  directness  to  the  public  wel- 
fare is  not  perceived.  In  the  same  manner  when  I  leave  a  pulpit,  as  I  have  just 
done  that  of  the  Rev.  George  Gilfillan,  of  Dundee,  and  note  the  silence  main- 
tained about  us — how  the  preacher  is  able  to  oflFer  to  his  congregation  a  case  as 
ours  which  has  no  feature  of  ours  about  it ;  when  such  a  course  can  be  taken  I 
feel  neither  anger  nor  reproach,  but  retire  more  and  more  mindful  of  the  labour 
and  duty  before  me.  For  a  long  time  I  asked  the  Pulpits  to  debate  with  us.  I 
ask  it  now  no  longer.  I  express  my  willingness  to  meet  them,  but  do  no  more. 
They  put  it  down  as  an  impertinence  when  I  first  requested  them,  and  instead  of 
answering  courteously,  they  preserved  a  contemptuous  silence.  It  is  our  fault 
that  they  can  do  this.  We  ought  to  make  it  impossible  for  them  to  keep  silence. 
When  we  enter  the  field  with  an  enemy,  and  he  can  afford  to  play  in  his  camp 
when  we  challenge  him  to  battle,  he  has  a  right  to  his  play.  It  is  our  duty  to  march 
up  and  spoil  his  play — to  make  it  dangerous  for  him  to  play ;  and  if  we  cannot  do 
this,  it  is  of  no  use  whining  about  it.  We  must  cast  about,  strengthen  our  forces, 
and  do  as  men  should  do  under  similar  circumstances.  Complaint  is  our  reproach; 
surprise  is  but  the  expression  of  our  inexperience.     We  must/_^A(. 

How  this  is  all  to  be  done,  will  be  told  as  opportunity  offers.  More  I  have  not 
now  time  to  tell ;  but  this  I  know,  it  must  be  done,  and  that  the  right  work  is 
being  done,  though  partially.  We  are  numerous  enough  for  the  work,  and  I  ask 
the  earnest  to  help.  We  can  give  disquietude  to  Zion,  which'  is  not  what  it  pre- 
tends to  be,  a  kind,  courteous,  fairplay  Zion,  but  a  haughty,  insolent,  proud,  de- 
faming, contemptuous  Zion.  This  is  the  only  Zion  thiit  exists.  The  front  of  the 
Church  to  us  is  relentless  and  vindictive.  Be  it  so.  Let  us  not  act  as  children, 
and  idly  quarrel  with  all  this.  It  is  our  fault  if  it  continue  so.  We  have  the 
truth  and  the  right  on  our  side,  and  I  pardon  all  who  can  treat  us  rudely.  Why 
do  we  let  them  ?  Why  is  not  the  name  of  Freethinker,  or  Sceptic,  or  Rationalist, 
or  Atheist,  as  honourable  a  name  as  Christian  ?  We  have  ourselves  to  thank  if 
it  is  not.  It  sounds  as  well,  and  means  ;is  much  that  is  sincere,  and  more  that  is 
publicly  useful.  We  have  indulged  in  considerable  coasting  about  the  enemy,  now 
let  each  go  to  battle  in  some  way  or  other.  War  on  error  ought  to  be  as  stern,  as 
incessant,  as  diversified,  and  as  glorious  as  war  on  men  has  been.  The  hand  of 
fellowship  and  the  word  of  love  give  to  all  men,  but  show  them  at  the  same  time 
how  they  miss  truth  and  usefulness  to  which  they  might  profitably  attain.  If  we 
do  not  this,  our  profession  of  good  will  is  a  mere  cant.  While  we  say  Freedom 
of  Opinion  is  a  power,  and  do  not  make  a  power  of  it,  the  world  laughs  at  us,  and 
has  a  right  to  laugh;  but  it  will  cease  to  laugh  when  we  come  to  make  a  power  of 
our  opinions. 

'How  gentle  Holyoake  is— too  gentle  for  his  work.  He  is  a  lamb  who  fights 
with  wolves,'  is  the  exclamation  of  many  a  critic  of  our  course.  The  truth  is,  I 
can  never  resent  the  rude  speeches  of  Christians.  I  sit  and  wonder  that  these 
men  dare  be  rude,  and  ask,  Why  is  it  ?  Respect  cannot  be  had  by  asking  for  it : 
it  must  be  commanded,  and  that  is  to  be  effected  only  by  action.  It  is  of  no  use 
putting  on  the  wolf  in  words,  and  playing  the  lamb  in  work.  Every  braggart  can 
do  this.  We  must  reverse  the  order.  The  world  is  theirs  who  have  &  true  pur- 
pose, and  the  industry  which  never  ceases  to  work  for  its  realisation. 

Abruptly,  because  hastily,  yet  earnestly  yours, 

Dundee,  May  14th,  1851.  G.  J.  Holyoake. 


THE  REASONER. 


DISORDER  AND  DECAY  IN  THE  ESTABLISHED   CHURCH. 


CURIOUS  CONFESSIONS  IN  THE  'MORNING  CHRONICLE.' 

The  clever  writer  who,  under  the  signature  '  D.  C.  L  ,'  has  in  a  long  series  of 
letters  in  the  Morning  Chronicle  defended  the  principles  and  practice  of  the  High 
Church  party,  makes  a  furious  attack  on  the  Bishop  of  Manchester  in  the  Chronicle 
of  the  21st  instant,  espousing  the  cause  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Alsop,  Incumbent  of 
Westhoughton,  a  correspondence  between  whom  and  the  bishop  has  lately  been 
published.     The  priest  appears  to  belong  to  what  is  called  the  Tractarian  party. 
The  bishop  is  thus  characterised  by  D.  C.  L  :  'Bishop  Lee  is  z. protege  of  Lord 
John  Russell,  and  is  a  model  bishop  of  the  new  school  of  liberal  Christians,  which 
is  in  some  people's  eyes  to  regenerate  the  Establishment;'  and  he  concludes  his 
letter  by  declaring  that  '  if  there  ever  has  been  a  bishop  more  tyrannical,  more 
persecuting,  more  unfair  than  another,  it  is  Bishop  Lee.'     The  case  between  the 
bishop  and  Mr,  Alsop  is  this:  in  1848  they  had  a  correspondence  on  the  subject 
of  the  use  of  the  surplice  in  the  pulpit,  and  other  rubrical  observances,  to  which 
Mr.  A>Bop,  as  a  Tractarian,   most  religiously  adhered,  but  which  the  bishop,  a 
shining  light  of   the  Low  Church,  regarded   with  the  most  Evangelical  horror. 
D.  C.  L.  thus  describes  the  grounds  of  Bishop  Lee's  aversion  :  *  The  bishop,  while 
a  Christian,  most  tolerant  in  his  creed,  most  tolerant  of  differences — tolerant  as 
rumour  has  it,  even  to  qualifying  with  a  "  perhaps  "  the  belief  in  the  divinity  of 
our  blessed  Saviour  as  needful  towards  belonging  to  the  National  Church, — Bishop 
Lee,  I  say,  makes  one  exception  to  his  liberality,  one  abatement  to  his  toleration  : 
bitterly  and  unrelentingly  does  he  persecute  compliance  with  the  rubric,  and  belief 
in  the  one  Catholic  and  Apostolic  faith  of  that  portion  of  the  Universal  Church  of 
which  he  is  a  bishop.     Mr.  Alsop  strives  to  act  up  to  that  rubric,  and  he  believes 
in   that  faith  —  thence  the  denial  of  justice  which  he  has  met  with.'    Extracts 
are  given  by  D.  C.  L.  from  some  of  Mr.   Alsop's  letters  ;  he  thus  defends  his  at- 
tention to  the  strict  rules  of  the  ritual  and  rubric  :  '  I  would  make  the  Church  the 
educator  of  all,  the  protector  and  almoner  of  the  poor:  in  reality  what  it  is  in 
name,  "  the  congregation  of  faithful   men."  *I  do  not  contemplate  the  restoration 
of  the  Church  of  the  past,  but  I  must  see  it  something  very  different  from  what  it 
is  now ;  I  must  endeavour  as  far  as  in  me  lies  to  make  it  so,  or  I  will  not  hide  the 
truth  from  your  \jriTA&h.\^,  I miisthecome  an  infidel.     Am  I  likely  to  make  ritual 
observances  dangerous  ?     With  my  strong  natural  tendency  to  unbelief,  and  not 
to  superstition,  am  I  not  doing  the  best  for  myself  as  well  as  for  others  ?    Would 
you  wish  to  give  me  a  blow  that  might  cause  paralysis,  then  death  ?     I  leave  this 
argument  of  the  inner  life.     I  wish   to  say  here  a  few  words  about  my  use  of  the 
surplice,  as  this  is  the  only  change  to  which  the  people  have  really  objected.' 

What  can  be  more  plain,  what  can  be  clearer  than  the  meaning  of  all  this  ? 
The  doctrine  of  the  High  Church  pnrty  approaches  to  that  of  Rome;  the  myste- 
rious eflBcacy  of  the  Sacraments,  the  absolving  power  of  the  priest,  and  other  tenets 
which  tickle  the  vanity  and  dignify  the  office  of  the  clergyman,  are  held  by  this 
section  of  the  church,  and  not  by  the  Evangelicals  to  which  Bishop  Lee  belongs. 
Without  the  religious  excitement  and  mystifying  influence  afforded  by  the  contemp- 
lation of  these  doctrines,  and  the  practice  of  supposed  sacerdotal  and  almost 
magical  functions  which  Tractarian  principles  permit  Mr.  Alsop  to  believe  himself 
specially  endowed  with  power  from  the  Holy  Ghost  to-  perform,  he  cannot  keep 
down  the  promptings  of  his  reason  and  sober  judgment.     He  must  keep  up  the 


THE  REASONER. 


excitement,  he  must  believe  himself  an  inspired  priest,  or  he  must  yield  to  reason, 
and  throw  off  Christianity  altogether. 

Some  time  after  this  correspondence  the  Bishop  of  Manchester,  in  an  address 
at  a  public  meeting  of  the  Society  for  the  Employment  of  Additional  Curates, 
thus  made  use  of  Mr.  Alsop's  free  and  confidential  unburthenings  of  his  feelings  : 
'  If  I  find  incumbents  preferring  their  wretched  ceremonials  of  a  bygone  time  to  the 
vital  essence  of  Christianity,  and  clinging  to  the  surplice  in  ministration,  instead 
of  clinging  to  the  word  of  truth,  and  telling  me  (for  unfortunately  I  am  not  speak* 
ing  of  imaginary  cases)  that  they  must  cling  to  those  antiquated  follies,  or  they 
must  become  infidels,  then  on  them  I  will  not  bestow  your  bounty.' 

Mr.  Alsop  was  naturally  very  indignant  at  this,  and  complains  of  the  construc- 
tion put  upon  his  words;  he  writes  to  the  bishop,  'When  in  the  fulness  of  my 
trust  in  you  I  used  this  strong  and  unguarded  expression,  I  was  thinking,  as  every 
word  in  that  sentence  discloses,  of  something  very  different  from  preaching  in  the 
surplice.  I  was  thinking  of  a  church  in  which  the  ministers  would  not  be  com- 
pelled to  tell  lies  and  to  desecrate  their  holy  office, — in  which  there  might  be  more 
faith,  self-denial,  purity,  and  zeal,  less  worldliness,  pride,  covetousness,  and  sen- 
suality in  both  priest  and  people.  Such  thoughts  as  these  have  driven  many  into 
dissent,  as  when  I  considered  what  our  Christianity  has  been  of  late  they  have 
sometimes  tempted  me  to  doubt  its  divine  institution.'  Did  ever  an  infidel  bring 
more  severe  charges  against  a  church  ?  What  weakness,  what  wavering,  what 
bitter  dissensions  in  the  Established  Church  does  this  interesting  case  disclose  ! 

E.B. 

ERRONEOUS  QUOTATION  FROM  THE  'ECLECTIC 


Those  of  our  readers  who  also  read  the  Eclectic  Review,  will  have  been  puzzled 
to  remember  in  what  part  of  it  they  could  have  read  the  passage  quoted  as  from  it 
on  page  414  of  the  Reasoner.  We  have  to  tell  them  that  it  is  not  to  be  found  in 
the  Eclectic,  it  being  an  error  to  have  ever  said  so.  On  construing — mis-construing 
one  ought  to  say — some  MS.,  the  mistj^e  was  made.  An  erratum  was  ordered  to  be 
written  next  week,  when  Mr.  Holyoake  leaving  town  on  the  same  day  he  forgot  it, 
and  as  he  undertook  to  do  it,  its  omission  was  not  noticed  till  our  attention  was 
drawn  to  it  by  a  correspondent,  whom  we  thank  for  his  attentions.  Fortunately 
for  us,  the  paragraph  in  question  was  one  that  our  readers  would  not  consider  a 
disparagement  to  that  Revieiv,  and  the  only  harm  we  have  done,  is  having  printed 
an  unintentional  misrepresentation  of  the  views  entertained  in  that  quarter, 
which  we  could  have  no  motive  for  doing  consciously. 

G.  J.  H. 

NOTICE    OF    PROVINCIAL    TOUR. 


On  Sunday  evening,  May  11th,  and  on  Monday  and  Wednesday,  Mr.  Holyoake 
lectured  in  Dundee.  On  Friday  he  addressed  a  public  meeting  in  Galashiels, 
convened  to  petition  Parliament  on  behalf  of  Secular  Education.  On  Saturday  he 
took  part  in  the  celebration  of  Robert  Owen's  Birthday,  in  the  Communist  Hall, 
Glasgow.  On  Sunday  last  he  lectured  in  the  same  city,  on  Monday  in  Paisley,  on 
Tuesday  in  Carlisle — and  on  Wednesday,  Thursday,  and  Friday,  he  is  to  reply  to 
the  Rev.  Mr.  Fleming,  in  Lancaster. 


THE  REASONER. 


C^jramitiattnu  at  tijc  Prc^s. 

The  Experience  of  an  Olb  Methodist. — We  take  this  confession  from  No. 
150  of  the  People.  Having  the  pleasure  of  knowing  the  writer,  we  can  attest  that 
it  is  a  genuine  revelation  :— It  is  an  awful  thing  for  a  man  to  be  compelled  to 
separate  himself  from  his  kind,  in  such  sense  as  every  one  must  who,  in  our  day, 
proclaims  his  repudiation  of  religious  orthodoxy.  But,  when  1  think  of  the 
thousands  upon  thousands,  in  our  own  and  other  countries,  whom  false  notions  of 
religion  are  either  making  miserable,  or  withholding  from  happiness ;  when  I 
think  on  the  quackery  of  priests  and  interested  religionists,  and  on  the  barriers 
thrown  thereby  in  the  way  of  instruction  and  enlightenment,  notwithstanding  the 
progress  of  our  age  in  science  and  various  ameliorations,  I  feel  humbled,  ashamed, 
and  compelled,  in  spite  of  consequences,  to  add  my  mite  of  power  to  your  honour- 
able efforts.  Is  it  not  lamentable  that  children,  born  in  the  nineteenth  century, 
should  be  taught  to  believe  that  God  is  a  cruel  God — that  he  is  irreconcilable 
without  blood;  that  they  should  be  taught  to  believe  that  there  is,  in  this 
otherwise  glorious  universe,  a  horrid  hell  of  fire  and  brimstone,  and  that  millions 
upon  millions  of  God's  own  offspring  will  be  chained  down  in  liquid  fire  to  all 
eternity — that  they  should  be  taught  to  believe  that  their  own  escape  from  this 
fearful  pit  of  destruction  is  made  to  depend  on  faith  in  these  abominable  dogmas, 
more  than  on  their  being  just  and  good — that  they  should  be  taught  and  brought 
to  believe  that  salvation  depends  on  abetting  and  supporting  that  system  of 
priestly-quackery,  which  presses,  like  a  nightmare,  on  the  souls  and  bodies  of  men 
—  which  prevents  their  elevation — which  chains  them  to  the  old  antiquated  ideas 
of  bygone  cruelty  and  ignorance?  I  say,  when  one  thinks  of  these  things,  though 
it  is  an  awful  condition  to  be  put  out  of  the  sympathy  of  one's  kind,  and  ranked 
with  every  thing  that  is  deemed  most  vile  and  most  worthy  of  damnation,  yet  every 
good  man  will  know  what  are  the  claims  of  duty,  humanity,  and  true  religion. 
These  are  the  considerations  which  have  induced  me  to  write  and  send  you  the 
following  account: — From  my  childhood  to  my  eighteenth  year,  I  attended  the 
preachings  of  the  Calvinistic  Independents,  my  parents  being  members  of  one 
of  their  societies.  From  my  eighteenth  to  about  my  fortieth  year  I  was  an  active 
member  of  the  Methodist  Society.  Though  never  a  very  wild  fanatic,  I  was,  of 
course,  influenced  in  my  life  and  feelings  by  the  orthodox  views  on  depravity,  the 
atonement,  endless  punishments,  &c.  Being  always  a  reader,  and,  in  some  sort, 
a  thinker  too,  I  was  far  from  ever  being  satisfied  with  the  evidences  of  Scripture 
inspiration.  Thousands  of  times  I  referred,  mentally,  to  the  temptation  of  poor 
John  Bunyan,  wherein  the  devil  whispered  the  query — '  How  do  you  know  but  the 
followers  of  Mahomet  have  as  good  evidence  of  the  miraculous  nature  of  their 
prophet,  as  you  have  concerning  Christ's.'  And  as  often  have  I  queried  whether 
the  doubt  was  not  from  a  different  source  than  the  '  Father  of  lies.'  In  fact,  I 
rather  hoped,  and  tried  to  persuade  myself,  that  our  belief  was  right,  than  assuredly 
believed.  Moreover,  from  what  I  have  known  of  the  experience  of  others,  I  aver 
that  there  are  very  few  thinking  orthodox  believers  who  are  not  in  the  same  con- 
dition. This  universal  doubt  says  little  in  favour  of  Bible  revelation.  We  never 
doubt  gravitation,  or  any  other  great  revelation  of  God  in  nature.  It  was  from 
the  steady,  though  slow  operation  of  my  own  reason,  more  than  from  any  other 
cause,  that  I  first  began  to  repudiate,  one  after  another,  several  of  the  principal 
orthodox  doctrines.  I  believe  the  notion  of  endless  punishments  was  the  first 
upon  which  my  mind  gave  way.  I  reasoned  thus — If  I  could  not  find  it  in  my 
own  heart  to  torment  my  own  child,  in  such  an  awful  manner,  for  a  single  day,  nor 


THE  REASONER. 


even  for  a  moment,  how  can  I  believe  that  God,  who  must  be  the  author  of  my  best 
feelings,  and  the  inspirer  of  my  best  thoughts,  will  torment  one  half  of  his  own 
children  in  fire  and  brimstone  to  all  eternity  ?  The  next  orthodox  notion  which 
I  discarded,  was  that  respecting  the  Sabbath  day.  I  believe  my  first  light  on  this 
subject  came  from  reading  Dr.  Paley's  thoughts  upon  it,  in  his  '  Moral  Philosophy.' 
On  a  real  examination,  for  myself,  I  was  amazed  that,  not  merely  without  Scripture 
authority,  but  in  actual  opposition  to  it,  Christians  had  bound  this  antiquated 
Jewish  ordinance  to  their  own  system.  A  third  orthodox  doctrine  which  fell  from 
under  me  was  that  of  total  natural  depravity.  The  process  by  which  I  was  freed 
from  this  delusion  was  curious.  It  was  from  reading  and  reasoning  upon  the 
Mosaic  account  of  what  is  called  *  the  fall  of  man,'  in  Genesis.  I  by  no  means 
began  by  disputing  the  inspiration  of  the  story  ;  I  rather  got  a  more  elevated  idea 
of  what  was  meant  by  it.  I  saw  that  no  such  thing  as  total  depravity  was  intended ; 
and  my  imagination,  aided  by  the  words  of  the  passage,  made  it  into  a  beautiful 
allegorical  account  of  man's  elevation  by  the  acquisition  of  knowledge.  I  had  long 
lamented  man's  fall,  and  had  all  but  blamed  the  Almighty  for  permitting  it;  and 
few  can  have  an  idea  how  pleased  I  was  with  my  new  discovery.  And  before  any 
one  ridicules  my  peculiar  fancy,  let  him  look  at  the  passage  and  see  if  it  is  not  as 
like  truth  as  the  commonly-received  notion.  I  know  not  how  I  reconciled  the 
New  Testament  interpretation  of  the  affair :  but  these  cogitations  did  not  last 
long,  for  h&ving  put  into  my  hands  one  of  the  controversial  works  of  Dr.  Chan- 
ning,  my  fine  fabric  fell  to  the  ground,  and  my  views  underwent  a  further  and 
more  consistent  change.  During  the  progress  of  these  changes,  my  notion  of 
sects  and  creeds,  and  of  the  meritoriousness  of  faith,  were  all  turned  topsy-turvy. 
The  light  which  I  had  got  enabled  me  to  see  that  they  were  all  nonsense.  But 
none  can  tell — except  the  man  who  has  experienced  it — the  occasional  heart-rend- 
ing, and  the  mental  anguish,  caused  by  such  a  revolution  of  the  soul,  and  such 
a  renunciation  of  all  that  the  mind  has  previously  rested  upon.  I  still  wished, 
even  longed,  to  preserve  my  faith  in  the  general  inspiration  of  the  Bible.  I 
had  hitherto  no  idea  of  finding  any  imperfection  in  Jesus,  or  the  New  Testa- 
ment: and,  in  a  Society  which  I  joined  for  the  discussion  of  religious  subjects, 
I  read  some  papers,  to  the  effect  that  the  whole  Bible  was  a  true  revelation  from 
God,  and  that  its  varied  morality  was  only  a  proof  that  Infinite  "Wisdom  con- 
descended to  the  various  conditions  of  the  world's  different  ages,  &c.  But  I  did 
not  long  stop  here.  By  reasoning  I  soon  became  convinced,  that  in  the  mind  of 
God  there  could  be  no  degrees  in  morality ;  that  what  was  right  and  wrong  at  one 
period,  must  be  so  always.  After  this  rubbish  was  removed,  I  began  seriously 
to  consider  whether  such  and  such  portions  of  Scripture  could  really  be  inspired. 
First,  with  the  aid  of  Dr.  Priestley,  the  miraculous  conception  of  Jesus  was  dis- 
carded. Next  went  such  accounts  as  the  sacrifice  of  Isaac  by  his  own  father;  the 
commission  of  the  Israelites  to  destroy  the  nations  of  the  Canaanites ;  and  David's 
being  the  man  after  God's  own  heart,  while  the  Bible's  own  account  made  him  a 
tyrant,  an  adulterer,  and  a  murderer.  Moreover,  while  my  mind  was  in  this  state, 
I  happened  to  hear  a  course  of  lectures  on  Geology,  which  was  an  entirely  new 
subject  to  me.  These  lectures  seriously  shook  my  faith  iu  Genesis.  On  further 
attention  to  the  same  subject,  by  reading,  Moses  was  quite  overthrown.  I  had 
long  been  heartily  sick  of  the  worldliness  of  all  modern  religious  systems,  and  of 
the  excessive  pMiy  spirit  of  religionists,  and  I  now  was  brought  to  regard  sectarian 
parties  with  a  degree  of  loathing.  It  is  true  I  occarionally  attended  the  Unitarian 
preachings,  but  more  as  a  matter  of  form  than  anything  else. 

[To  be  concluded.] 


THE  REASONER. 


€f)e  ^ehiiio   ^XtliQian:  ixtftmt  Sfrtbrtr. 


BY   EUGENE. 


The  method  adopted  by  Paine  in  re- 
futation of  the  priestly  dogma,  that 
the  Bible  was  the  revealed  word  of 
God,  was  admirably  adapted  to  his 
peculiar  talents.  He  tried  it  by  the  in- 
ternal evidence  it  contained  of  its  au- 
thenticity, and  by  a  comparison  of  its 
physical  philosophy  with  the  indisput- 
able facts  of  science.  The  method  of 
Strauss  in  the  *  Leben  Jesu,'  testing  by 
strict  criticism  and  historical  analysis 
the  claims  of  the  New  Testament  upon 
our  belief  in  its  genuineness  and  au- 
thenticity, was  also  appropriate  to  Ger- 
man genius  and  requirements.  That 
beautitul  and  candid  confession  of  the 
religious  struggles  of  a  life, '  The  Phases 
of  Faith,'  tests  the  Jewish  and  Chris- 
tian systems  by  the  criterion  ot  the 
moral  sense,  aided  by  historical  criti- 
cism;  and  all  these  methods  have  their 
merits.  But  they  do  not  exhaust  the 
subject.  Egyptian  history  discloses 
that  the  Hebrew  chief,  at  once  the  priest 
and  the  statesman  of  the  tribes  of  Israel, 
derived  his  religion  fiom  the  Egyptians; 
comparison  showing  that  the  two  creeds, 
the  two  cosmogonies,  and  the  two  sets 
of  rites  are  so  astonishingly  alike  as  to 
he,  unmistakably,  from  the  same  source. 
There  are,  it  is  true,  some  important 
practical  differences,  but  they  are  only 
sufficieiit  to  make  that  which  would 
otherwise  have  been  a  mere  adoption,  a 
derivation  ;  and  to  mark  a  new  epoch  in 
the  history  of  man — the  declaration  of 
equality  before  God. 

Opinion  is  ever  on  the  change ;  and 
mutability  holds  sway  over  creeds  and 
faiths  quite  as  much  as  over  the  ma- 
terial of  the  physical  world.  There  is 
no  absolute,  unalterable  religious  belief. 
One  race  of  men  derives  its  system  of 
fundamental  belief  and  super-imposed 
doctrine  and  ceremonial  from  another ; 
and  human  intercourse  diffuses  them 
through  the  world.  The  first  race,  or 
tribe,  or  nation  in  point  of  civilisation, 
gives  an  irresistible  impulse  to  progress, 
and  stamps  its  character  for  ages.  Ex- 
isting religions,  so-called  knowledge, 
appears  to  have  been  all  derived — its 
origin  being  hidden  in  the  unknown 
depths  of  the  past.  There  in  the  early 
days,  no  doubt,  the  facts  of  nature, 
ever-present,  and   ever-recurring   with 


unchanging  regularity,  supplied  to  the 
thoughtful  a  key  to  a  cosmogony,  and  a 
b  isis  for  a  religion  ;  and  the  more  one 
looks  into  the  <1i verse  creeds  of  men,  the 
more  distinctly  does  it  appear  that  re- 
ligion is  the  adoration  which  man  pays 
to  the  unknown,  and  which  he  vainly 
but  enthusiastically  believes  he  has 
unveiled,  interpreted,  and  explained. 
Every  religion  has  its  roots  in  the  earth, 
though  the  branches  of  some  may  tower 
towards  the  skies.  The  best  and  the 
purest  is  but  an  attempted  explanation 
of  phenomena  which  lie  beyond  the 
cognisance  of  logic  and  the  senses,  and 
towards  which  the  aspirations  of  man 
will  yearn  for  ever  and  for  ever.  We 
who  know  not  the  relation  between  cause 
and  effect,  dogmatise  with  arrogance  of 
the  Cause  of  Life,  the  mystery  of 
Orgnnisation,  and  the  immortality  of 
spiritual  existence.  We  are  ignorant  of 
the  sources  of  the  Nile  and  the  interior 
of  Africa,  and  yet  we  pretend  to  be  fa- 
miliarly acquainted  with  the  creation  of 
the  earth,  the  planets,  and  the  sun !  The 
bravest  have  striven,  the  subtlest  have 
followed  phenomena  point  by  point  with 
indefatigable  zeal,  the  wisest  have 
thought  deeply  and  long — science,  phi- 
losophy, fanaticism  have  each  brought 
its  quota  to  the  common  stock  of  inter- 
pretation; and  what  have  we  gained? 
In  the  way  of  belief,  the  theists  remain 
where  the  old  priests  of  Egypt  appeared 
to  have  arrived  ages  and  ages  ago — and 
they  trust  in  the  '  Unutterable,'  who  is 
to  be  worshipped  in  silence.  In  the  way 
of  knowledge,  philosophy  has  resolved 
that  we  can  know  appearances  alone, 
and  their  uses  to  us.  In  the  way  of  un- 
belief, the  atheist  re=ts  his  case  here; 
that  the  existence  of  God  is  simply  'not 
proven,'  and  that  he  is  content  to  re- 
main within  the  bounds  of  the  know- 
able,  a  student  of  phenomena. 

And  yet,  here  we  are,  still  disputing 
whether  a  Book  which  contains,  in  one 
volume,  the  whole  of  the  historical  re- 
cords and  literature  ot  a  single  people, 
shall  be  held  as  of  divine  origin,  the 
unique  depository  of  sacred  truth,  the 
criterion  of  moral  law,  the  boundary  of 
scientific  knowledge,  the  sole  and  final 
expression  of  the  enigma  of  the  universe  ! 
And  what  does  that  book  contain  ?    The 


THE  REASONER. 


history  of  a  successfully  asserted  na- 
tionality, and  of  a  derived  religion. 

The  little  that  we  know  of  the  He- 
brews in  Egypt  amounts  to  this,  that 
they  were  slaves.  There  are  few,  very 
few,  records  of  their  existence  in  Egypt 
among  the  tombs  and  temples  of  the 
Nile.  Travellers  have  fancied  resembl- 
ances here  and  there,  but  the  unpreju- 
diced inquirer  has  been  unable  to  trace 
them ;  and  we  may  assume  it  as  an  as- 
certained fact,  that  the  Hebrews  did  not 
occupy  a  sufficiently  important  rank 
among  the  Egyptians,  to  be  thought 
worthy  of  a  place  among  the  painted  re- 
cords of  that  wonderful  people.  The 
story  that  they  built  the  great  pyramid 
is  an  error.  The  pyifimid  was  standing 
when  Abraham  left  the  plains  of  Chaldee 
to  dwell  for  a  period  in  the  Valley  of 
the  Nile.  Until  the  time  of  Moses,  the 
Hebrews  had  no  thought  of  nationality. 
They  lived  in  some  part  of  the  land  of 
Egypt,  probably  worshipping  the  deities 
of  Egypt,  and  conforming  to  the  cus- 
toms of  the  Egyptians.  Even  when 
Moses  had  led  them  into  the  desert, 
their  first  act  of  rebellion  was  to  cast  a 
golden  calf— that  is,  to  make  for  them- 
selves an  image  of  Apis — one  of  the 
gods  they  had  been  accustomed  to  adore 
in  the  land  of  their  bondage.  To  Moses 
alone  is  due  the  honour  of  founding  the 
Hebrew  nation,  impressing  it  with  a  dis- 
tinct character,  and  imparting  to  it  a  dis- 
tinct religion.  A  slight  attention  to  the 
life  of  Moses  will  suffice  to  show  how 
they  came  by  their  religion  and  their  na- 
tionality. 

We  may  accept  the  story  of  the  Bible 
that  Moses  was  a  Hebrew  boy,  found  by 
the  daughter  of  the  reigning  Pharaoh 
among  the  reeds  of  the  Nile ;  that  he 
was  brought  up  in  the  palace,  and  edu- 
cated by  the  priests.  And  what  does 
this  involve  ? 

In  the  Egyptian  system  we  find  two 
religions ;  one  for  the  priests,  and  one 
for  the  people.  The  priesthood  was  the 
highest  caste  in  the  state.  They  were 
numerous  and  wealthy;  their  office  was 
hereditary ;  they  were  the  depositories 
of  knowledge,  as  well  as  the  authors  of 
literature  and  f  cience,  and  their  power 
was  unbounded.  From  their  ranks  the 
king  was  taken,  :.nd  in  their  hands  lay 
the  main  of  the  national  destinies.  They 
stood  betweeu  che  People  and  their  God, 
whose  will  and  pleasure  they  interpreted, 
and   whose  worship  they  ordained  and 


directed.  Thus  was  the  Egyptian  go- 
vernment a  theocracy,  and  its  rulers  pre- 
tended to  hold  their  power  direct  from 
heaven. 

But  the  pride  of  caste,  the  arrogance 
of  exclusive  knowledge,  led  them  to  en- 
tertain a  very  contemptuous  estimate  of 
the  capabilities  of  the  masses  to  receive 
and  bear  the  truth.  Though  themselves 
monotheists,  holding  in  reverence  a 
being  for  whom  they  had  no  name,  whom 
it  would  have  been  sinful  to  name,  and 
worshipping  this  unknown  God  in 
silence  ;  yet  they  invented  for  the  people 
a  system  of  polytheism,  a  splendid  cere- 
monial worship,  and  formal  and  sacrifi- 
cial adoration.  This  public  worship  of 
the  Egyptians  appears  to  have  consisted 
of  a  worship  of  the  deified  attributes  of 
the  one  God  of  the  priesthood,  presented 
to  the  people  visibly  through  the  sym- 
bols, the  idols,  and  sacred  animals.  The 
chief  temples  were  at  once  the  palaces 
and  "the  universities  of  Egypt;  and  it 
was  in  one  of  these  places  that  Moses 
grew  from  youth  to  manhood. 

So  situated,  adopted  by  the  highest 
caste,  and  consequently  heir  to  the 
highest  knowledjje  of  his  protectors,  it 
was  thus  that  Moses  obtained  the  idea 
of  the  one  Supreme  God,  who  was  to  be 
worshipped  in  silence  ;  it  was  thus  that 
he  became  learned  in  all  the  learning  of 
the  Egyptians,  that  he  was  initiated  and 
accomplished  in  the  mysteries,  and  in- 
structed in  the  belief,  and  the  cosmogony 
of  the  priesthood;  the  ceremonial  ob- 
servances, the  gross  polytheism,  with 
which  they  imposed  upon  the  people. 
It  was  in  this  school  that  he  learned 
the  Egyptian  theory  of  creation.  It  was 
here  he  became  an  adept  in  natural 
magic.  It  was  in  the  splendid  temples 
of  the  Valley  of  the  Nile  that  he  as- 
sisted in  the  performance  of  those  cere- 
monial rites  which  he  afterwards  par- 
tially adapted  to  the  vagabond  life  of 
the  Hebrews  in  the  Desert. 

But  the  Hebrew  ?  While  Moses  was 
at  Memphis  in  the  palace  of  the  king, 
they  were  making  bricks  without  straw, 
and  their  lot  was  the  hard  lot  of  slaves. 
Thoroughly  imbued  with  the  supersti- 
tions of  their  equals  nmong  the  Egyp- 
tians, the  simple  monotheism  attributed 
to  Abram  effaced  and  forgotten,  except 
by  one  here  and  there,  they  were  dead  to 
all  ideas  of  nationality.  But  one  day 
Moses  slew  an  Egyptian,  who  had  mal- 
treated a  Hebrew,  and  fled  for  his  life 


into  the  deserts  of  Sinai;  remained  there 
for  years,  meditated  a  great  design,  that 
of  freeing  his  brethren  from  the  double 
yoke  of  brutalising  slavery  and  not  less 
bratalising  idolatry  ;  and  when  the  Pha- 
raoh died,  from  whose  vengeance  he  had 
fled,  he  proceeded  to  execute  his  design 
— perhaps  the  greatest,  as  originally  con- 
ceived by  Moses,  to  be  found  in  the 
annals  of  antiquity.  He  succeeded  in 
founding  a  nation  ;  he  failed  in  abolish- 
ing the  priesthood,  and  in  eradicating 
rigid  ceremonial  superstition.  The  in- 
veterate habits  of  an  ignorant  people 
were  too  strong  for  his  will,  and  too 
dogged  for  his  ingenuity  ;  the  Hebrews 
sighed,  not  only  for  the  flesh-pots  of 
Egypt,  but  for  the  symbolical  deities, 
the  reigning  priesthood,  the  festivals, 
and  sacred  months,  of  that  charming 
land. 

The  religious  system  which  Moses  in- 
tended, and  that  which  he  was  compelled 
to  establish,  are  very  difl'erent.  He  was 
opposed  to  ceremonial  worship,  yet  he 
was  compelled  to  permit,  and  even  regu- 
late it ;  he  was  opposed  to  the  institution 
of  a  priesthood,  yet  he  was  compelled  to 
establish  one.  But  he  succeeded  in  one 
important  point — he  abolished  the  mo- 
nopoly of  knowledge,  proclaimed  the 
right  of  the  people  to  the  great  national 
ideas,  and  destroyed  the  fetishism  of  priest 
worship.  This  was  a  revolution,  the  like 
of  which  is  not  to  be  found  in  ancient 
history,  and  the  forefather  of  many  re- 
volutions in  modern  times  which  are 
seldom  traced  to  so  antique  a  source.  It 
amounted  then  to  the  laying  bare  of  the 
most  studiously  concealed  and  important 
dogmas  taught  by  the  learned  Egyp- 
tians, and  was,  so  far,  a  declaration  of 
the  spiritual  equality  of  man.  This  was 
the  first,  the  most  important  deviation 
which  Moses  made  from  the  practical 
theology  of  Egypt. 

The  next  was  significant  of  many 
things.  The  Egyptians  believed  in  a 
future  life,  where  the  good  were  rewarded 
and  the  bad  punished.  Moses  trans- 
ferred the  punishment  and  the  reward  to 
this  life,  tacitly  denying  the  dogma  of 
immortality,  because  he  appears  to  have 
thought  that  reward  and  punishment  are 
the  more  efficacious  the  more  closely 
they  attend  on  virtue  and  vice,  and  be- 
cause he  probably  had  no  conception  of 
a  Hereafter,  except  the  practically  use- 
less doctrine  of  the  soul  as  an  emanation 
from  the  Supreme,  in  whom  at  death  it 


would  become  again  absorbed.  This  was 
too  refined  for  the  purposes  of  controll- 
ing the  passions  of  an  enslaved  and  de- 
graded people.  Political  motives  appear 
to  have  shaped  his  religious  creed  most 
likely  more  than  he  himself  was  aware. 
The  Hebrews,  demoralised  by  four  hun- 
dred years  of  servitude,  and  much  mixed 
up  with  men  not  properly  Hebrews,  who 
left  Egypt  in  their  company,  required 
strict  discipline  and  energetic  measures 
to  raise  them  to  a  state  of  respectable 
manhood  as  a  nation.  For  that  reason 
Moses  appears  to  have  subjected  them 
to  the  privations  of  the  desert,  and  for 
that  reason  he  appears  to  have  made  the 
one  Supreme  God  of  the  Egyptians  a 
Tutelary  God  of  the  Jews.  The  sole 
originality  of  the  Hebrew  religion  lies  in 
its  departures  -from  the  Egyptian,  and 
for  these,  in  part,  political  and  moral 
motives  can  be  assigned. 

A  few  passages,  containing  both  facts 
and  speculations,  from  Miss  Martiueau's 
volume  on  '  Eastern  Life,  Past  and  Pre- 
sent,' will  throw  some  light  on  this  sub- 
ject. She  writes,  that  Moses  contem- 
plating the  great  design  of  his  life,  that 
of  liberating  the  Hebrews,  saw  '  that 
they  must  be  removed  from  the  influ- 
ences which  had  made  them  what  they 
were,  and  then  elevated  into  a  capability 

for    independent    social    life The 

Hebrews  could  never  become  enlightened 
amidst  the  darkness  of  popular  life  in 
Egypt.  There  could  not  be  spiritual 
life  in  their  houses,  while  "  darkness 
that  might  be  felt"  brooded  all  about 
them.  They  could  never  be  purified 
while  the  corruptions  of  idolatry  swarmed 
within  their  dwellings,  and  among  their 
dress  and  food — coming  up  from  the 
river,  and  down  upon  thera  in  the  very 
air.  They  could  never  be  elevated  in 
views  and  character  while  subject  to  con- 
tempt as  "an  unclean  people"  (as  Ma- 
netho  calls  them)  and  to  the  wrongs  of 

slavery. — They  must  be  removed 

No  one  knew  better  than  Moses  at  this 
time,  the  privileges  of  life  in  the  Desert. 
He  had  witnessed  the  hardihood,  the 
self-denial,  the  trusting  poverty,  the 
generous  hospitality,  and  the  compara- 
tively pure  piety  of  the  Arab  tribes  who 
lived  in  tents  in  nature's  ascetic  retreats. 
These  were  the  very  qualities  the  He- 
brews needed,  and  could  never  attain 
elsewhere.  It  was  not  civilisation  and 
its  lessons  that  they  needed.  Civilisa- 
tion and  slavery  were  indissolubly  con- 


10 


THE  REASONER. 


nected  in  their  ideas.  Discipline  was 
■what  they  needed ;  and  not  that  disci- 
pline from  the  hand  of  man  which  must 
include  more  or  less  of  slavery;  but  the 
discipline  of  Nature,  whose  service  is 
perfect  freedom.  Here,  while  relaxing 
from  the  excessive  toil  which  had  broken 
them  down,  they  were  in  no  danger  from 
indulgence.  Here,  while  learning  en- 
durance, it  would  not  be  at  the  cost  of 
that  exasperation  of  feelings  which  had 
hitherto  embittered  their  hardships. 
They  would  learn  that  submission  to 
Nature  which  is  as  great  a  virtue  as  sub- 
mission to  Man  is  a  vice.  Here,  among 
the  free  winds,  and  bold  suns,  and  broad 
shadows,  with  liberty  to  rove,  and  ex- 
emption from  the  very  presence  of  man, 
they  might  become  braced  in  soul,  free 
in  mind,  and  disciplined  in  body,  till 
they  should  become  fit  tor  an  ulterior 
destination.' 

The  Hebrews  reached  the  desert  in 
safety,  and  Moses  proceeded  to  legislate 
for  them,  and  to  carry  out  his  great 
plans.  The  chief  Idea  of  Moses  was  the 
immediate  moral  government  of  God. 

'  The  Supreme,  as  made  known  in  the 
heathen  Mysteries,  exercised  no  imme- 
diate government  over  men;  and  in 
order  to  give  them  any  idea  of  a  divine 
government,  national  and  subordinate 
gods  were  presented  to  them,  who  must, 
of  course,  be  named.  Much  superstition 
in  Egypt  was  conaected  with  the  names 
of  the  gods ;  and  the  Hebrews  could  not, 
as  the  history  shows  us,  recognise  a  pro- 
tecting god,  who  was  declared  to  them  as 
a  patriarchal,  and  was  henceforth  to  be 
a  national  God,  but  through  a  Name. 
It  was  long,  many  generations,  before 
they  conceived  of  Jehovah  as  more  than 
a  National  God.  He  was  the  God  of 
their  fathers,  and  their  own  ;  better  and 
stronger  than  the  gods  of  other  nations, 
and  even  their  over-ruler :  but  still,  the 
God  of  none  but  the  Hebrews: — the  be- 
nefactor of  the  children  of  Abraham, 
but  the  enemy  of  the  Egyptians  and  the 
Canaanites.  In  this  last  belief,  it  is  evi- 
dent that  they  wei'e  not  contradicted  or 
discouraged.' 

That  belief  was  clearly  the  origin  of 
the  doctrine  set  forth  in  later  years  that 
the  Hebrews  were  a  '  peculiar  '  people, 
and  clung  to  now  because  it  is  so  power- 
ful an  auxiliary  of  the  revelation-idea. 


The  following  shows  how  Moses  was 
led  to  quit  his  original  simple  ideas 
derived  from  Egypt,  and  adapt  them  to 
the  Hebrew  mind  and  the  altered  cii'- 
cumstances  of  the  Hebrew  people  : — 

' It  appears  as  if  there  had  been  an 
intention  and  a  hope  of  training  the 
Hebrews  to  a  state  of  knowledge  and 
obedience  by  moral  instruction,  and  a 
plan  of  pure  and  simple  worship ;  the 
obedience  of  Abraham, and  thesimplicity 
of  his  worship  in  the  door  of  his  tent, 
being  perhaps  the  example  and  the  aspi- 
ration which  Moses  had  before  him  when 
he  brought  forth  the  Hebrews  from 
Egypt.  Warburton  and  others  are  of 
opinion  that  the  ritual  scheme  was  adopted 
after  the  aflfair  of  the  golden  calf,  which 
showed  the  people  to  be  more  incapable 
of  a  pure  religion  and  direct  communion 
than  could  have  been  supposed.  A  com- 
parison of  the  two  sets  of  Command- 
ments seems  to  countenance  this  view. 
The  first  set,  though  falling  below  the 
inculcation  of  personal  righteousness, 
yet  are  of  a  much  higher  character  than 
the  second.  They  aim  at  a  good  degree 
of  social  order, for  the  age  in  which  they 
were  given,  and  contain  nothing  ritual, 
except  the  precept  about  the  Sabbath 
This  is  the  set  brought  down  by  Moses 
when  he  found  the  people  feasting  about 
the  golden  calf,  and  which  he  broke  and 
threw  from  him.  The  second  ten,  which 
remained  permanent,  are  such  as  may 
well  be  believed  to  have  accompanied 
the  ritual  system  now  supposed  to  have 
been  instituted.  They  are  all  ritual  ex- 
cept the  first  two :  these  two  merely  for- 
biddiug  all  covenanting  with  heathens, 
and  making  of  molten  gods.  Tue  whole 
set  contains  no  directions  for  personal  or 
social  conduct.  The  fact  certainly  con- 
veys the  impression  that  a  more  ad- 
vanced system  of  Moral  Government  was 
withdrawn  for  the  time,  and  replaced  by 
one  less  advanced,  in  proportion  to  the 
disappointment  caused  by  the  lapse  of 
the  degraded  people.  The  Jewish  writers, 
for  the  most  part,  lay  the  blame  of  this 
lapse  on  the  influence  of  the  Egyptian 
mob,  "  the  mixed  multitude  "  who  fol- 
lowed in  the  train  of  the  Hebrews :  but 
it  does  not  save  their  credit  at  all  to  sup- 
pose them  more  easily  influenced  by 
such  comrades  than  by  Moses  and  the 
ideas  he  had  communicated. 


[To  be  concluded.] 


THE  REASONER.  11 


©ur  ^Blatfnnn. 

Prem  which  anv  earnest  opponent  may  controvert  our  opinions,  and  from  which  any  may  expound  views 
not  coincident  with  our  own,  if  tending  to  the  Rationalisation  of  Theology. 


THE  NEW  REFORM  IN  GERMANY, 


IV. 

To  the  Editor  of  the  Reasoner. 

SiE, — The  one  great  opposition  from  which  all  conflicts  of  this  time  arise,  is  that 
of  privilege  and  equalisation.  The  more  pertinaciously  on  the  one  hand  the 
privilege  was  maintained,  and  the  more  vivaciously  on  the  other  hand  the  acknow- 
ledgment of  the  equal  rights  of  man  was  required,  the  broader  and  deeper  the 
cleft  was  to  be,  which  originated  in  society.  To  shut  that  cleft  before  the  flood 
of  revolution  should  break  forth,  was  the  purpose  of  Germano-Catholicisme. 

We  saw  that  opposition  increasing  in  three  quarters  of  the  society;  there  the 
privileged  doctrine  opposed  to  the  right  of  thinking  equal  for  all  men;  there  the 
privileged  classes  opposed  to  the  equal  political  right  of  all  citirens ;  there  the 
privileged  possession  and  enjoyment  opposed  to  the  natural  right  of  each  single 
one  of  the  guarantee  of  his  existence  and  pleasure  of  life.  We  were  therefore 
endeavouring  to  accomplish  the  reconciliation  by  the  means  of  knowledge  and 
popular  education.  Being  taught  by  history,  that  any  progress  in  the  cultivation 
of  the  nations  has  only  arisen  from  their  religious  revolutions —  these  mak- 
ing the  new  purified  principles  of  progress  the  agency  and  source  of  all  their 
willing  and  acting,  their  manners,  customs,  and  habits — we  endeavoured  to 
eflFectuate  a  religious  revolution  of  the  generation  now  living,  in  order  to  regenerate 
thereby  the  whole  life  of  mankind.  According  to  this  the  maxims  of  the  Germano- 
Catholic  communion,  with  regard  to  their  doctrine,  Cultus,  and  constitution,  have 
been  formed. 

Sacred  is  the  dogma,  the  time  past  teaches ;  sacred,  because  answering  to  the 
natural  being  of  a  man,  is  the  free  knowledge  of  truth,  so  we  are  teaching  ourselves. 
We  did  not  establish  any  confession  of  faith  binding  the  single  one.  We  concede 
the  most  perfect  liberty  of  teaching,  and  we  intend  to  make  the  results  of  scientific 
inquiry  the  joint  property  of  all.  Hereby  we  hope  to  take  away  the  opposition 
of  knowing  and  believing;  there  will  be  not  longer  any  intolerance,  the  tolerance 
itself  not  being  more  wanted,  and  that  penetrating  dissension  which  has  been 
brought  in  the  German  nation  by  religious  factions  since  many  centuries  will  be 
finished. 

Sacred  is  the  ecclesiastical  precept,  the  old  time  teaches;  sacred  is  the  free  acting  of 
man  when  arising  from  the  unrestrained  development  of  all  that  belonging  to  the  sound, 
full,  and  complete  nature  of  man  ;  sacred  therefore  the  works  of  true  Christian  love, 
so  we  are  teaching  ourselves.  It  has  been  the  hypocrisy  of  the  old  time  that  has 
oppressed  the  natural,  pure,  and  sacred  love  of  men's  hearts  by  cultivating  that 
selfishness  which,  as  penetrating  all  relations  of  life,  is  the  chief  cause  of  that 
profound  misery  which  a  great  deal  of  mankind  is  sunk  in.  The  worship  of 
Germano-Catholicisme  is  therefore  the  worship  of  love,  the  worship  of  life.  And 
with  regard  to  that  our  main  purpose  is  to  realise  on  this  earth  that  kingdom  of 
God  which  the  time  of  old  delayed  in  a  life  of  another  world.  We  turn  the  eyes 
from  the  other  to  this  world.  We  do  not  embellish  any  heaven  by  pleasures  being 
refused  to  man  on  earth,  but  we  intend  to  enjoy  them  here,  each  regarding  him- 
self as  the  brother  of  the  other.  Our  religion  is  not  mere  believing,  our  religion 
is  true  living,  human  living  of  man. ' 


12  THE  REASONER. 


And  thus  while  the  old  time  teaches  dull  obedience,  we  are  teaching  the  liberty  of 
moral  will.  By  that  obedience  and  submissiveness  to  an  individual  will,  praised  as 
virtue  by  the  old  time,  she  has  supplied  that  system  of  being  put  under  a  guardian 
which  generated  in  society  the  privilege  of  classes,  the  source  of  so  many  dis- 
sensions and  bloody  conflicts.  Against  this  we  inculcate  to  the  human  heart  the 
highest  esteem  as  to  the  liberty  of  human  will,  openly  pronouncing  any  oppression 
as  sin,  while  the  spontaniety  of  man  is  his  natural  and  inalienable  right. 

As  for  the  reproaches  made  to  us  for  those  endeavourings  from  the  most  different 
quarters,  we  say  this  :  we  are  not  atheists,  because  we  seek  and  find  God  within  the 
world,  within  the  life ;  like  Jesus,  we  intend  to  live  in  God,  and  he  ought  to  live  in 
us.  Christ  is  the  founder  of  the  true  theory  of  education,  as  pronouncing  truth 
and  love  the  ground  and  corner-stones  of  human  life,  and  the  only  real  remedies 
as  to  the  sick  body  of  human  society.  Only  this  is  our  Christianity  ;  that  preached 
by  Christian  orthodoxy  we  are  and  will  be  the  destroyers  of.  We  are  no  social  or 
communist  sect,  but  we  sanctify  the  endeavourings  of  Socialists  by  elevating  them 
into  the  rank  of  religion.  We  are  no  political  club,  but  we  further  and  sanctify  the 
democratic  principles,  those  being  the  spontaniety  of  man  and  liberty  of  human 
will.  Therefore  we  are  no  obstacle  to  the  purposes  of  Socialism,  Democracy, 
Humanism.  We  regard  ourselves  as  the  true  and  positive  promoters  of  all  those 
endeavourings,  and  we  cannot  understand  how  it  is  possible  to  deem  us  as  any 
impediment  of  them.  Not  sooner  than  the  new  view  of  the  world  having  been 
elevated  into  the  rank  of  the  most  intrinsic  sanctuary  of  the  human  heart,  it  has 
power  enough  to  reform  and  regenerate  even  the  outward  conditions  of  human 
society.  This  being  our  conviction,  the  result  of  so  many  efforts — proceeding  from 
the  purest  ideas — did  not  surprise  us  this  time.  The  bright  splendour  of  truth 
has  dazzled  men  and  inspired  them,  but  the  beam  of  light  did  not  yet  penetrate 
into  the  innermost  being  of  themselves.  Yet  men  are  fastened  with  their  thoughts, 
their  whole  remembrance  to  the  time  past.  They  of  course  who  wish  to  obtain 
prosperity  by  impetuous  haste  are  forced  to  take  another  course,  but  their  haste 
shall  not  guide  them  to  a  greater  victory.  And  even  the  victory  being  gained 
would  be  but  a  transient  triumphing.  Therefore  we  persevere,  franchising  men  in 
and  from  their  innermost  being;  we  know  that  this  way  is  the  larger  and  more 
painful,  but  the  victory  then  obtained  is  the  surest,  and  not  more  to  be  taken  away. 

London,  1851.  Carl  Scholl. 


INQUIRER    IN    REPLY    TO    MR.    CHILTON. 


Sib, — The  objection  to  the  design  argument,  to  which  I  adverted  in  my  last 
letter  in  reply  to  Mr.  Chilton,  seems  still  to  require  some  more  specific  statement 
and  refutation.  Formally  stated,  it  is  this:— We  argue  from  analogy  that  the 
works  of  creation  must  be  the  product  of  a  mind  similar  to  our  own.  But  mind 
requires  the  existence  of  body  ;  therefore  the  same  analogy  should  lead  us  to  con- 
clude that  they  are  the  work  of  a  body  similar  to  our  own.  But  this  body  con- 
tains marks  of  contrivance,  &c.  It  is  here  assumed  that  any  instance  of  fore- 
thought or  provision  may,  by  natural  analogy,  be  referred  either  to  mind  or  body; 
that  the  one  naturally  involves  the  idea  of  the  other,  they  being  necessarily  con- 
nected in  the  mind  as  cause  and  effect.  But  the  fallaciousness  of  this  representa- 
tion of  the  process  of  the  mind  will  be  obvious  when  we  consider  that  the  constant 
and  unfailing  experience  necessary  to  connect  two  events  in  the  mind  as  cause 


THE  REASONER.  13 


and  effect,  does  not  exist  in  this  case,  the  body  being  found  without  its  assumed 
correlative. 

Various  ingenious  reasons  have  indeed  been  given  for  the  belief  that  the  mind 
is  the  result  of  material  action,  but  it  is  certainly  unheard  of  that  this  theory 
should  be  assumed  on  the  mere  grounds  of  common  language  and  experience- 
There  is  no  rednctio  ad  absurdum  here.  In  the  method  of  a  reductio  ad  absurdum, 
so  common  in  the  demonstration  of  converse  propositions,  we  deduce  an  absurdity 
out  of  the  proposition  itself,  as  thus,  admitting  a  fallacy,  and  then  applying  the 
same  generalisation  in  an  analogous  case  to  produce  contradiction  :  but  here  the 
absurdity  arises  only  if  we  admit  that  the  same  common  experience  which  leads 
us  to  infer  that  design  implies  a  designer,  teaches  us  also  that  mind  is  the  pheno- 
mena of  body.  This  is  not  an  extension  of  the  analogy  at  all,  but  rather  a  false 
substitution  of  one  term  for  another  in  the  analogy,  which  terms  are  not  identical. 

No  analogy  can  be  extended  beyond  the  similar  things  on  which  it  is  founded. 
Law,  order,  and  design,  indicate  intelligence,  pomp,  and  wisdom,  but  nothing  cor- 
poreal, as  the  footprints  of  primaeval  creatures  indicate  their  structure,  but  not 
their  instincts. 

If  from  a  faint  analogy  we  were  to  infer  that  the  planets  were  inhabited,  we 
might  be  able  to  determine  some  of  the  physical  conditions  of  the  existence  of 
their  inhabitants;  but  who  would  be  so  absurd  as  to  expect  information  concerning 
their  internal  policy  or  religion  ?  Yet,  misled  by  this  sophism,  we  find  the  atheist 
making  inquiries  concerning  the  person  of  God,  precisely  analogous  to  these,  con- 
ceived in  precisely  the  same  spirit,  but  with  ridiculous  triumph,  and  equally  absurd 
and  fallacious.  In  his  letter  in  No.  247,  Mr,  Chilton  says,  that  '  a  belief  in  the 
action  of  invisible  intelligent  agency  in  the  production  of  natural  phenomena, 
appears  to  me  to  flow  naturally  and  easily  from  man's  ignorance  of  the  purely  ma- 
terial causes  in  operation  in  the  universe ;'  and  his  former  statement,  that  '  the 
theist  failing  to  discover  from  an  examination  of  natural  phenomena,  how  the 
world  and  its  furniture  originated,  assumes  that  it  must  have  been  made  by  a  being 
equal  to  the  task,'  plainly  shows  the  nature  of  the  theism  Mr.  Chilton  com- 
bats. But  as  in  my  reply  I  have  shown  what  Mr.  Chilton  reluctantly  admits,  that 
'  it  (theism)  is  not  an  assumption,  but  only  (as  if  an  inference,  which  differs  from 
an  assumption  as  truth  from  falsehood,  were  something  less)  an  inference ;'  and  as 
further  Mr.  Chilton  repeats  that  theism  precedes  atheism  (for  through  the  affir- 
mation the  negation  is  known),  the  latter  being  no  more  than  a  declaration  of  dis- 
sent from  the  theist's  conclusions;  Mr.  Chilton  must  also  admit  that  hLs  notions  of 
theism  being  incorrect,  his  declaration  of  atheism  was  rather  premature. 

But  Mr.  Chilton  asserts  that  atheism  is  also  an  inference,  and  I  agree ;  it  is  an 
inference — an  inference  from  facts  not  yet  found  out. 

The  idea  of  God,  which  at  first  arises  from  a  sense  of  dependence  on  external 
things,  is  at  last  confirmed  by  the  perception  of  design  in  the  universe,  and  the 
ever-acknowledged  and  inextinguishable  religious  sentiment,  while  it  constrains  us 
to  bow  before  him,  determines  also,  as  I  have  shown  before,  our  notions  of  his 
moral  nature.  If  we  know  the  character  ascribed  to  the  Deity  by  any  worshippers? 
we  have  a  certain  index  to  their  own.  The  notions  of  power  peculiar  to  a  barbarous 
people  are  altogether  physical;  bravery  is  almost  the  sole  virtue, and  might  in  war 
the  highest  praise  :  these,  therefore,  are  the  peculiar  attributes  of  their  gods.  Not 
having  any  clear  notions  of  morality,  it  is  no  way  inconsistent  for  them  to  ascribe 
actions  to  the  gods  which  appear  altogether  mean  and  immoral  to  more  enlightened 
minds.     Hence  the  first  man  who  attains  to  more  exact  views  of  morality  and  pro- 


14  THE  REASONER. 


priety,  is  very  apt  to  be  persecuted  as  a  blasphemer;  for  he  shall  find  that  his 
purer  notions  of  morality  do  not  square  at  all  with  the  recorded  conduct  of  the 
gods.  And  therefore  as  he  sees  them  to  be  imperfect  and  crirainal,  he  is  a  blas- 
phemer of  necessity.  Hence  the  reason  why  the  first  infidels  have  ever  been  men 
of  the  most  exalted  intellect  and  virtue.  For  a  man  to  be  before  his  age,  is  to  be 
subject  to  the  scorn,  the  obloquy,  and  the  persecution,  of  those  whom  he  cannot 
help  offending.  No  priest  ever  was  in  advance  of  his  time.  Several  other  infer- 
ences from  this  important  truth  might  be  adduced,  but  I  forbear. 

I  have  delayed  this  answer  longer  than  perhaps  is  consistent  with  the  interest  of 
the  debate,  but  this  was  unavoidable.  Inquireb. 


TO    ALL    WHOM     IT    MAY     CONCERN. 


Sir, — Some  time  since,  as  you  are  aware,  I  commenced  editing  a  small  monthly 
magazine  entitled  the  'Free  Inquirer  in  Science,  Politics,  and  Theology.'  Being 
a  local  publication,  and  partly  published  in  a  locality  where  superstition  is  syste- 
matically bound  up  with  the  'let  alone  and  get  what  you  can'  principle,  it  has 
ceased  with  the  fifth  number.  I  do  not  say  that  the  loss  will  be  publicly  felt, 
but  if  I  had  been  able  to  keep  it  up,  I  think  I  should  have  done  a  little  good. 
Alrendy  its  influence,  though  small,  began  to  attract  notice.  One  of  our  local 
editors  gave  the  '  Inquirer'  a  passing  remark,  while  the  editor  of  the  Portsmouth 
Times  gave  me  the  credit  of  being  'bold  even  to  the  extreme  limits  of  daring.' 

While  the  '  Inquirer '  was  in  existence  no  one  cared  to  openly  discuss  the  question 
at  issue  with  me,  but  immediately  it  retired  from  office  a  few  pious  opponents 
abused  me  for  my  '  gross  attacks  on  revealed  religion.'  As  it  is  every  minister  in 
the  town  has  been  supplied  with  copies,  and  if  they  wish  for  discussion  on  the 
subject  of  religion,  let  them  come  forward. 

After  you  have  appropriated  the  proceeds  of  the  'Inquirers'  to  the  purposes  I 
have  named  below,  I  will  regularly  contribute  2s.  6d.  a  quarter  to  the  Reasoner 
Fund  while  I  remain  in  work.  If  I  am  wanted  to  assist  in  carrying  on  the  work 
you  have  so  successfully  cofhmenced,  I  will  willingly  come  forward  with  my  mite 
and  with  my  humble  abilities;  nor  will  I  shrink  from  my  duty  should  we  be  so 
unfortunate  as  to  have  again  to  champion  for  freedom  of  discussion  in  the  face  of 
law.  Meantime,  I  shall  devote  the  next  two  or  three  years  of  my  life  to  close 
study  ;  I  shall  be  able  then  to  combat  more  effectually  the  existing  errors  of  society. 

George  Robert  Vine. 

P.S. — I  have  3000  of  Nos.  1  and  2  of  the  new  series  of  the  '  Free  Inquirer'  on 
hand,  which  1  should  be  glad  to  dispose  of,  in  packages,  at  2s.  Gd.  per  hundred. 
Is,  3d.  for  fifty,  or  8d.  for  twenty-seven.  Nos.  1  and  2  are  complete  in  themselves, 
and  contain  the  following  complete  articles :  Christianity  and  its  Professors — 
Religious  Frauds — Christianity  v.  Christian  Men,  by  myself — The  Catholic  Con- 
troversy, by  J.  J.  M.  —  An  Essay  on  the  '  Theory  of  Development,'  by  W. 
Chilton — the  Three  Rings  of  Boccaccio,  and  several  scientific  and  social  extracts. 
Size,  24  pp.  12mo.  The  proceeds  to  be  devoted  to  the  following  purposes  : — 10s. 
to  the  Reasoner  Fund,  5s.  to  the  Stamp  Abolition  Committee,  5s.  to  the  Hungarian 
and  Polish  Refugees,  and  the  remainder  for  myself.  I  will  send  a  parcel  to  the 
Reasoner  Office  for  such  disposal,  if  Mr.  Watson  will  have  the  goodness  to  take 
charge  of  them.  G.  R.  V. 


THE  REASONER. 


15 


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16  THE  REASONER. 


During  the  last  Knott  Hill  Fair,  which  commenced  on  Easter  Monday,  there 
was  a  stall  in  Deansgate,  Manchester,  on  which  was  nothing  but  Bibles  and  Testa- 
ments. Two  men,  who  had  the  appearance  of  town  missionaries,  were  at  the  stall, 
and  were  distributing  hand-bills  asking  the  following  questions  : — '  Dear  reader, 
have  you  a  Bible  or  Testament?  You  may  think  this  a  strange  question.  It  is, 
however,  certain  that  thousands  of  families  are  destitute  of  that  precious  book 
which  can  alone  make  wise  unto  salvation,  through  faith  which  is  in  Christ  Jesus. 
This  surely  cannot  be  because  they  are  unable  to  purchase  one,  for  they  can  have 

a  Bible  for  lOd.,  a  Testament  for  4d But  perhaps  you  have  a  Bible.     Will 

you  not  then  recommend  it  to  others  ?  Think  a  moment.  Are  there  no  friends 
or  neighbours,  or  even  members  of  your  own  family,  who  are  destitute  of  it  ?  If 
you  know  of  any  such,  what  better  present  can  you  take  them  than  that  which  can 

administer  solid  and  lasting  comfort  in  every  time  of  need  ? Let  the  word  of 

the  Lord  have  free  course  and  be  glorified.'  This  is  a  new  phase  of  Christian 
propagandism.  Why  not  freethinkers  do  likewise  ?  A  bill  might  be  issued,  say- 
ing— '  H-dve  yon  &  Reasoner  ?  If  you  have  not,  purchase  one  immediately.  It  is 
published  weekly  at  Id.;  and  if  you  approve  of  it,  recommend  it  to  your  relations 
and  friends.  In  its  pages  is  advocated  the  right  of  private  judgment  in  matters 
of  speculative  belief;  as  those  who  must  answer  for  themselves  ought  to  think 
for  themselves.  Let  freethought  be  encouraged,  that  superstition  and  intolerance 
may  be  made  to  disappear,'  &c.  A. 

The  Bath  Herald,  of  September  1828,  has  the  following  remarks  :— '  A  member 
of  the  legal  profession  in  this  city  lately  had  occasion  to  call  upon  an  invalid 
gentleman  of  the  most  exemplary  character  and  piety,  residing  at  a  short  distance 
from  Bath,  for  the  purpose  of  swearing  him  to  an  affidavit,  and  requested  the  loan 
of  a  Bible  for  the  purpose.  "  I  have  no  such  book  in  my  house,"  said  the  gentle- 
man emphatically  to  the  astonished  lawyer ;  "  for,  sir,  /  have  a  family  of  daughters!" 
Notwithstanding  this  singular  declaration,  a  better  man  or  more  devout  Protestant 
Christian  is  not  living  than  this  gentleman.' 

The  principles  of  Dissent  (says  'My  Life,'  by  an  ex-Dissenter)  are  not  fixed  and 
stationary,  like  those  of  the  Church  of  England.  Presbyterians  to-day.  Indepen- 
dents to-morrow.  Baptists  ten  years  hence,  and,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  sometimes  So- 
cinians  afterwards.  I  heard  an  old  Independent  minister  once  declare  at  the 
Wiltshire  Association, '  That  if  all  the  chapel  deeds  of  all  the  Independent  meeting 
houses  should  he  examined,  not  one  out  of  ten  would  be  found  to  be  strictly  legal. 
But  then  we  are  all  dissenters ;  some  think  this  and  others  think  that — but  we  all 
agree  to  oppose  the  church,  and  whenever  we  are  called  upon  to  assist  and  pull 
down  the  successor  of  St.  Peter,  we  give  a  willing  and  cheerful  hand.' 

In  the  spring  season  at  Bath,  in  the  year  17G0,  subscription-books  were  opened 
for  prayers  at  the  Abbey,  and  gaming  at  the  Rooms.  At  the  close  of  the  first  day 
the  number  of  subscribers  for  prayers  were  twelve,  and  for  gaming  67 !  The 
following  lines  were  written  on  the  occasion  : — 

The  Church  and  Rooms  the  other  day 
Open'd  their  books  for  prayer  and  play; 
The  priest  got  twelve,  Hoyle  sixty-seven  : 
How  great  the  odds  for  Hell  'gainst  Heaven ! 

London  :  Printed  by  Holyoake  Brothers,  3,  Queen's  Head  Passage,  Paternoster-row;  and  Published 
by  J.  Watson,  3,  Queen's  Head  Passage,  Paternoster-row. — Wednesday,  May  21st,  1851. 


ANT) 

THEOLOGICAL-     EXAMINER. 

The?  who  believe  that  they  have  Truth  ask  no  favour,  save  that  of  bein?  heard :  they  dare  the 
judgment  of  Mankind  :  refused  Co-operation,  they  invoke  Opposition,  for  Opposition  is  their 
Opportunity, — Editor. 


THE    ENEMY    IN    THE    NORTH. 


After  a  month's  speaking  and  travelling,  and  hunting  after  the  enemy  in  the 
north,  I  have  reached  the  pleasantest  of  places  to  me — my  own  fireside — exhilarated 
and  stronger  in  health  than  when  I  set  out.  It  was  not  always  possible  to  secure 
an  alternate  night  for  rest,  but  to  some  extent  1  accomplished  it,  and  am  all  the 
better  in  consequence,  and  the  recess  gave  me  time  to  see  pleasant  places  and 
pleasant  people.  I  have  been  through  the  wonderful  crypts  of  Glasgow  Cathedral, 
and  stood  on  the  grave  of  Edward  Irving,  the  divinest  of  modern  revivalists.  I 
have  visited  the  grave  of  poor  Thorn  the  poet,  at  Dundee,  and  sailed  over  the 
charming  Tay.  I  have  listened  to  the  Rev.  George  GilfiUan,  and  rambled  down 
the  Gala  Water — along  the  silvery  Tweed — round  Abbotsford,  which  was  the  grave 
of  its  Wizard  architect — through  glorious  old  Melrose  Abbey — over  Carlisle 
Castle — peeped  into  the  dungeon  of  Fergus  Mclver,  one  of  the  manliest  of  heroes, 
and  stood  over  the  drawbridge  through  which  he  passed  on  the  morning  on  which 
he  was  beheaded — stared  at  brawny  Skiddaw  mountain  (without  putting  it  out 
of  countenance),  and  gazed  at  the  spectral  ruins  at  Penrith,  which  overlook  a 
scene  that  might  be  taken  for  the  emblem  of  eternity.  But — Behold,  are  not  these 
things  recorded  in  the  Chronicles  by  the  Way  ?  (which,  by  the  way,  I  have  not 
yet  written,  but  which  I  will  make  a  violent  attempt  to  write  for  the  succeeding 
numbers  of  the  E^asoner).  At  present  1  have  an  Ave  Maria  to  say,  and  some 
beads  to  count,  as  a  propitiation  for  long  absence,  to  my  household  Gods — certain 
juvenile  Deities  in  the  shape  of  four  wild  little  people,  who  are  not  exactly  aware 
that  such  a  word  as  '  subordination  '  is  in  the  dictionary,  and  who  are  waiting  to 
treat  me  to  their  newest  scream  and  their  merriest  gambol. 

Curious  events  have  taken  place  in  Lancaster  this  past  week,  both  on  the  part  of 
the  Rev.  Mr.  Fleming,  who  has  exhibited  unprecedented  conduct,  and  the  Lancaster 
Gazette,  which  has  published  one  of  the  rudest  of  articles,  which  was  also  an  in- 
citement of  the  people  of  that  town  to  very  ambiguous  conduct.  Shopkeepers  in 
the  town  have  been  under  special  discussional  sensation  since  the  appearance  on 
the  walls  of  a  placard  headed  '  Defence  of  Opinion  against  the  Rev.  J.  Fleming,' 
saying — 

'  The  public  of  Lancaster  are  respectfully  informed  that  Mr.  G.  J.  Holyoake,  of 
London,  editor  of  the  Reasoner,  author  of  the  "  Logic  of  Death,"  and  several  similar 
publications,  will  deliver  three  lectures  in  the  Large  Room,  New  Inn  Yard, 
Market  Street,  May  21st,  22nd,  and  23rd,  on  the  following  subjects  :  T.  The  case 
stated  between  Atheism  and  Theism,  with  a  view  to  show  the  moral  innocency  of 
speculative  opinions,  even  the  most  extreme,  if  conscientiously  held.  II.  Moral 
objections  to  Christianity  :  the  new  class  of  reasons  for  not  accepting  the  religious 
doctrines  of  the  day  do  not  relate  so  much  to  critical  discrepancies  as  to  moral 
defects.    III.  Catholicism  consistent  Christianity,  and  the  actual  Type  of  the 


[No.  261. j  INo.  2,  Vol.  ii.j 

[ONE  PENNY-l 


18 


THE  REASONER. 


Churches  aronnd  us,  all  of  which  alike  excite  personal  distrust  and  public  alarm. 
— In  a  letter  which  appeared,  on  April  19,  in  the  Lancaster  Guardian,  from  the 
Rev.  J.  Fleming,  that  gentleman  said,  "  If  Mr.  Holyoake  considers  himself  at  all 
wronged  by  my  strictures  on  the  '  Logic  of  Death,'  let  him  come  to  Lancaster,  and 
defend  what  he  has  wiitten  in  a  series  of  lectures,  and  I  will  be  prepared  to  reply 
to  him,  and  vindicate  the  claims  of  Christianity  against  all  he  may  advance  against 
them."  The  above  lectures  will  contain  Mr.  Holyoake's  defence  of  his  writings 
in  general,  and  of  the  "  Logic  of  Death"  in  particular.  Each  night  an  opportunity 
will  be  aflForded  to  the  Rev.  Mr.  Fleming  to  reply.  Admission  :  gentlemen  3d., 
ladies  2d.' 

What  took  place  after  this  bill  appeared    I  shall  commence    to   relate  first, 
thoBgh  in  point  of  time  it  should  stand  last  in  the  Chronicles  aforesaid. 

G.  J.  HOLTOAKE. 

APOLOGIES    FOR    MOSES. 


The  religiously  educated  inquirer  is  constantly  perplexed  in  his  study  of  the 
Pentateuch,  by  the  alleged  personal  action  of  Almighty  God  in  the  legislation  and 
policy  of  the  Jews,  which  prevents  his  accounting  for  the  apparent  omissions  and 
barbarities  in  their  Law,  and  for  their  merciless  foreign  and  civil  wars,  by  any 
deficiency  of  civilisation  and  enlightenment  in  their  legislators  and  rulers.  De- 
fenders of  the  supernatural  wisdom  of  the  Bible  are  driven  to  the  strangest  shifts 
in  order  to  scramble  through  this  insurmountable  difficulty. 

In  one  of  Bishop  Burnet's  conversations  with  Lord  Rochester,  that  penitent 
sinner  ventures  to  express  to  the  worthy  prelate  a  doubt  of  the  justice  of  the  whole- 
sale massacre  of  the  Canaanite  nations.  Burnet  argues  that 'God  must  have  an 
absolute  right  over  the  lives  of  all  his  creatures,'  and  that '  if  he  could  take  away 
their  lives  without  injustice  or  cruelty,  he  had  a  right  to  appoint  others  to  do  it.' 
And  furthermore,  'the  taking  away  people  by  the  sword  is  a  much  gentler  way  of 
dying  than  to  be  smitten  with  3  plague  or  a  famine  ;  and  for  the  children  that  were 
innocent  of  their  father's  faults,  God  could  in  another  state  make  that  up  to  them.' 
Which  is  of  course  a  most  ample  explanation. 

In  Matthew  Henry  and  Scott'a  '  Commentary  on  the  Bible,'  we  find  the  following 
attempt  to  justify  these  same  massacres,  with  reference  to  the  twentieth  chapter 
of  Deuteronomy,  from  the  tenth  to  the  eighteenth  verse  : — *  In  dealing  with  the 
worst  of  enemies  the  laws  of  justice  and  honour  must  be  observed ;  and  as  the 
sword  must  never  be  taken  in  hand  without  cause,  so  not  without  cause  shown. 
Even  to  the  proclamation  of  war  must  be  subjoined  an  offer  of  peace,  if  they  would 
accept  it  upon  reasonable  terms.  That  is,  say  the  Jewish  writers,  upon  condition 
that  they  renounce  idolatry,  worship  the  God  of  Israel  as  proselytes  of  the  gate  that 
were  not  circumcised,  pay  to  their  new  masters  a  yearly  tribute,  and  submit  to 
their  government.'  Very  reasonable  terms  truly  !  and  it  will  be  seen  that  the 
nations  to  whom  they  were  offered  were  very  leniently  treated  in  comparison 
with  those  who  were  found  in  possession  of  the  promised  land.  '  The  nation  of 
Canaan  are  excepted  from  the  merciful  provisions  of  this  law.  Remnants  might 
be  left  of  the  cities  that  were  far  off,  because  by  them  the  Israelites  were  not  in  so 
much  danger  of  being  infected  with  idolatry ;  nor  was  their  country  so  directly 
and  immediately  intended  in  the  promise.  But  of  the  cities  that  were  given  to 
Israel  for  an  inheritance,  none  of  the  inhabitants  must  be  left.  Since  it  could  not 
be  expected  that  they  should  be  cured  of  their  idolatry,  they  would  infect  Israel.' 
Can  anything  be  more  clear  ?     This  Almighty  Being  'could  not  expect' that  the 


THE  REASONER.  19 


Canaanites  should  be  cured  of  their  Paganism,  did  expect  that  his  favourite  Jews 
would  easily  be  cured  of  their  Theism,  and  therefore,  as  the  shortest  and  easiest 
method,  ordered  the  idolaters  to  be  exterminated! 

Mr.  Henry  Rogers,  in  his  '  Reason  and  Faith '  (p.  82),  says  :  '  Against  the  alleged 
absurdity  of  the  laws  of  Moses,  such  works  as  that  of  Michaelis  have  disclosed 
much  of  that  relative  wisdom  which  aims  not  at  the  absti-actedly  best,  but  at  the 
best  which  a  given  condition  of  humanity,  a  given  period  of  the  world's  history, 
and  a  given  purpose,  could  dictate.  In  pondering  such  difficulties  as  still  remain 
in  those  laws,  we  may  remember  the  answer  of  Solon  to  the  question,  whether  he 
had  given  the  Athenians  the  best  laws  :  he  answered,  "  No,  but  the  best  of  which 
they  were  capable ;"  and  the  illustrious  Montesquieu  I'emarked,  "When  Divine 
Wisdom  said  to  the  Jews,  *  I  have  given  you  precepts  which  are  not  good,'  this 
signifies  they  had  only  a  relative  goodness;  this  is  the  sponge  which  wipes  out  all 
the  difficulties  which  are  to  be  found  in  the  Law  of  Moses."  This  is  a  truth  which 
we  are  persuaded  a  more  profound  philosophy  will  understand  the  better,  and 
only  those  legislative  pedants  will  refuse  weight  to  it,  who  would  venturously 
propose  to  give  New  Zealanders  and  Hottentots,  in  the  starkness  of  their  savage 
ignorance,  the  complex  forms  of  the  British  Constitution.' 

Mr.  Rogers  seems  to  think  that  the  cases  of  giving  a  political  constitution  and 
a  code  of  laws  and  morals  are  analogous.  The  Hottentots  may  be  nnfit  to  exercise 
any  of  the  functions  of  legislation,  but  would  it  be  too  '  venturous  '  in  an  English 
ruler  to  try  to  teach  them  our  English  morality  ?  Would  such  a  person  be  a 
moral '  pedant?'  Are  the  rules  of  civilised  morals  too  complex  for  the  compre- 
hension of  a  New  Zealander  or  a  Hottentot?  No  one  has  ever  complained  of 
Moses  not  granting  the  Jews  a  modern  constitution,  but  of  his  having  taught  them 
a  cruel  system  of  morals  and  customs,  not  calculated  to  humanise  and  civilise 
them,  but  to  perpetuate 'the  starkness  of  their  savage  ignorance,' and  to  heighten 
and  stimulate  some  of  their  most  objectionable  habits  and  propensities  with  the 
sanction  of  divine  authority. 

The  work  of  Michaelis,  a  learned  German  professor  of  Hebrew  and  divinity,  to 
which  Mr.  Rogers  refers,  is  a  laborious  Commentary  on  the  Law  of  Moses,  written 
expressly  as  a  defence  against  infidel  attacks.  We  will  quote  a  short  passage  from 
his  remarks  on  the  singular  absence  of  any  penal  or  even  prohibitory  law  to  pro- 
tect female  virtue  from  violence,  except  in  those  cases  when,  from  the  woman 
being  betrothed,  a  collateral  injury  would  be  inflicted  on  a  male  Hebrew.  'This 
may  be  attributed,'  says  he,  '  to  the  deep  debasement  of  the  Jewish  females  in 
consequence  of  polygamy,  and  the  custom  of  selling  wives.'  And  soon  after  he 
says,  '  Polygamy,  and  the  right  of  the  blood-avenger  to  attack  and  kill  with  im- 
punity the  person  who  had  slain  one  of  his  relations,  will  hardly  be  reckoned 
among  the  laudable  institutions  of  any  government.  It  was  a  right  which  the 
legislator  was  here  forced  to  tolerate,  because  it  was  connected  with  an  imaginary 
sense  of  honour  which  he  could  not  eradicate  from  the  minds  of  the  people.'* 

Now  if  Michaelis  had  made  these  excuses  for  Moses  as  a  legislator  of  a  barbarous 
period,  himself  a  barbarian  raised  above  the  mass  of  the  people  he  governed  only 
by  his  superior  talents  and  energy,  they  would  have  been  admissible ;  but  when 
oflPered,  as  they  are,  on  behalf  of  an  Almighty  God,  they  become  simply  absurd. 
All  the  laws  of  Moses  are  delivered  in  the  name  of  God ;  Jehovah  was  the  legis- 
lator of  the  Hebrews,  and  according  to  Michaelis  he  was  '  forced  to  tolerate  '  the 

*  '  Commentaries  on  the  Laws  of  Moses,'  by  John  David  Michaelis.     Article  5. 


20  THE  REASONER. 


impure  and  bloodthirsty  customs  of  his  chosen  people  on  account  of  their  rooted 
propensities  and  their  '  imaginary  sense  of  honour.' 

Many  savage  nations  under  the  English  rule  have  had  their  '  imaginary  sense  of 
honour,'  and  yet,  strange  to  say,  -we  -were  not  forced  to  tolerate  it.  We  permit  no 
blood-avenger  to  roam,  dagger  in  hand,  in  search  of  his  hereditary  foe,  still  less  do 
we  sanction  such  a  murderous  custom  by  legislative  permission.  Hindoo  widows 
formerly  used  to  burn  themselves  on  the  funeral  piles  of  their  husbands.  The 
prejudice  in  favour  of  the  custom  was  strong,  but  it  was  a  wicked  custom,  and  the 
English  government  was  not  'forced  to  tolerate  it.'  And  what  is  still  more 
strange,  in  many  instances,  after  a  short  lapse  of  time,  the.ie  ignorant  nations 
beoin  to  feel  and  to  acl^nowledge  the  justice  and  advantages  of  our  interference 
with  their  ancient  habits,  in  spite  of  the  starkness  of  their  savage  ignorance.' 

But  let  us  remark  on  the  contradictions  and  absurdities  in  the  character  of  the 
God  of  the  Bible.  This  Almighty  legislator,  who  is  said  to  have  interfered  to 
stop  the  sun  and  moon  in  order  to  allow  the  Jews  sufficient  time  to  slaughter  the 
Midianites,  would  not  interfere  to  prevent  murder,  slavery,  or  polygamy :  this 
Almighty  Being,  who  interfered  to  harden  the  heart  of  Pharaoh,  and  to  '  make  ob- 
stinate' the  spirit  of  the  Canaanites,  would  not  interfere  to  check  the  '  imaginary 
sense  of  honour,'  which  led  to  the  perpetration  of  malignant  hereditary  feuds  and 
murderous  conflicts.  Such  is  a  fair  sample  of  the  '  relative  wisdom  disclosed'  by 
the  ponderous  Commentary  of  Michaelis.  Undecimus. 

ROBERT    OWEN'S    EIGHTIETH    BIRTHDAY. 


Two  numerous  and  enthusiastic  parties  have  been  held  in  London  to  celebrate 
the  eightieth  birthday  of  the  founder  of  English  Socialism.  These  meetings  gave 
evident  signs  of  the  progress  of  the  Social  principle.  The  first  party  was  held  on 
the  14th,  at  the  Cranbourn  Hotel,  Cranbourn  Street,  Leicester  Square — Mr.  G.  A. 
Fleming  in  the  chair.  Several  foreign  Socialists  were  present,  among  whom  were 
General  Houg,  editor  of  Kosmos,  Mr.  Horace  Greeley,  editor  of  the  New  York 
Tribune,  and  Mons.  and  Mdlle.  D'Arusmont.  Mr.  Owen,  who  appeared  in  exqel- 
lent  health  and  spirits,  read  a  paper  '  For  May  14,  1851,'  in  which  he  says—'  The 
early  knowledge  of  nature's  laws,  in  the  formation  of  the  human  character,  has 
been  a  constant  source  of  unspeakable  happiness  through  my  life.  It  has  made 
me  to  love  human  nature,  and  to  be  alone  anxious  for  its  permanent  happiness. 
It  has  made  me  content,  without  the  slightest  fear  or  dread  of  after  consequences, 
to  die  at  any  time,  for  which  I  have  been  made  to  be  always  ready  and  prepared.' 
At  John  Street,  on  the  18th,  more  than  300  persons  sat  down  to  tea,  and  a 
large  number  assembled  after  the  doors  were  opened  to  the  public.  Mr.  W.  D. 
Saull  presided  over  this  meeting.  The  first  sentiment  was  introduced  by  Mr. 
Kydd  and  Mr.  Turley  :  'The  People;  may  their  teachers  seek  their  elevation 
and  moral  improvement,  that  their  long-cherished  hopes  and  noblest  aspirations 
may  be  fully  realised.'  The  second — 'Robert  Owen,  the  philanthropist;  may  his 
efforts  for  the  elevation  of  humanity  meet  with  a  response  in  all  the  nations  of  the 
earth  ' — was  proposed  by  Mr.  Robert  Cooper,  seconded  by  Mr.  Alexander  Camp- 
bell. Mr.  Owen  addressed  the  audience  for  a  considerable  time,  in  a  speech  full 
of  vivacity  and  good  feeling.  He  expressed  his  intention  of  endeavouring  to  prove 
to  those  who  had  called  him  a  '  visionary,'  that  he  was  a  '  practical  man,'  by  draw- 
ing up  a  brief  statement  of  his  own  views,  which  should  be  printed  on  one  sheet, 
Mr.  Owen  is  at  least  a  practical  instance  of  untiring  energy  and  perseverance. 

Austin. 


THE  REASONER.  21 


(!Fj:anituatt0u  of  ti)e  ^re^s. 


The  Experience  of  an  Old  Methodist  [concluded  from  last  number.] — I 
tried  in  vain  to  retain  such  a  hold  of  the  Scripture  as  might  consist  with  their 
notions ;  but  at  length  truth  compelled  me  to  give  up  all  belief  in  miraculous 
revelation,  as  mere  pretence — or  at  least  as  old-world  superstition,  1  may  men- 
tion, in  passing,  soon  after  I  had  arrived  at  this  stage,  I  heard  you  deliver  some 
lectures  on  religion,  wherein  you  gave  some  terribly  hard  hits  at  the  mischievous 
superstitions  of  orthodoxy.  But  you  were  then,  apparently,  as  I  had  been  pre- 
viously, wishful  to  stop  at  Unitarianism.  I  admired  your  zeal  and  determination 
to  battle  for  truth,  but  felt  convinced  that  you  would  have  to  undergo  still  further 
change — and  I  had  not  long  to  wait  to  witness  it.  I  know,  from  my  own  former 
feelings  towards  others,  and  from  what  I  have  myself  been  the  subject  of  more 
recently,  that  Christians  have  the  most  horrid  ideas  of  what  they  call  infidelity. 
In  fact,  up  to  my  fortieth  year,  if  there  was  one  thing  more  horrible  than  all  others, 
one  thing  that  I  feared,  dreaded,  and  desired  to  shun  more  than  all  others,  it  was 
infidelity.  Nor  has  the  long  and  important  transition  been  made  without  great 
mental  suffering,  and  many  a  season  of  mental  agony.  I  protest  that  I  never  gave 
up  faith  willingly ;  it  was  parting  with  my  then  best  hopes.  One  consolation  I 
had,  ever  since  my  earliest  yieldings  to  common  sense  against  superstition — I 
had  got  rid  of  all  dread  of  everlasting  fire  and  brimstone.  That  nightmare  was 
removed  from  my  soul.  As  it  is  a  received  opinion  of  nearly  all  believers,  and  was 
once  an  opinion  of  my  own,  that  unbelief  universally  springs  from  a  wicked 
nature,  impatient  of  moral  control,  I  will  take  occasion  to  say,  that  I  trust  all  my 
associates  give  me  credit  for  loving  real  virtue  as  strongly  as  ever  I  did;  and  for 
at  least  as  strong  and  persevering  desires — and  efforts  too — to  be  useful  among 
my  fellow-men  as  ever.  It  is  true  I  can  do  some  things  which  I  formerly  durst  not 
do,  simply  because  I  now  believe  that  we  were  made  for  this  world  as  well  as  for 
the  future  state — that  we  were  not  made  to  pull  long  faces  merely — and  that  all 
our  faculties  were  made  for  exercise  and  use.  As  I  wish  to  be  candid,  and  to 
exhibit  all  the  sides  of  my  case  fairly,  I  will  confess  that  though  I  have,  on  the 
one  side,  got  rid  of  all  dread  of  hell,  I  have  not,  on  the  other  side,  so  definite,  and, 
as  it  were,  familiar  a  connection  with  heavenly  things,  as  Methodism  inspires.  I 
do  not  expect,  with  certainty,  to  ascend  above  the  clouds,  and,  in  the  centre  of  the 
universe,  or  anywhere  else,  see  God  in  a  tangible  shape ;  nor  do  I  expect  to  see 
Jesus  Christ  actually  sitting  at  God's  right  hand.  I  have  no  expectation  that, 
actually  present,  both  in  body  and  soul,  I  shall  spend  an  eternity  amid  assembled 
saints  and  angels,  singing  anthems  and  performing  direct  acts  of  adoration,  &c., 
&c.  Instead  of  all  this,  however,  I  have  a  strong  hope  that  God,  who  has  mani- 
fested his  wisdom  and  beneficence  so  wonderfully  and  so  overflowingly  in  all 
nature,  does  not  intend  human  life  and  being  to  close  at  the  period  we  call  death ; 
though  I  pretend  not  to  kuow  how  or  in  what  kind  of  condition  existence  will  be 
continued.  I  have  so  firm  a  trust  that  all  will  be  well,  and  that  Infinite  Wisdom 
is  at  the  helm  of  the  universe,  that  I  have  no  fear  of  laying  my  body,  when  weary 
with  age,  and  worn  with  labour,  in  that  bed  which  God  has  made  for  all  his  human 
children.  As  I  have  long  thought  the  same,  I  have  been  much  pleased  with  your 
idea  that  nature  is  the  true  revelation,  and  that  nature  is  all-sufficient.  And  as 
geology,  astronomy,  and  history,  all  conspire  to  prove,  that  physical  nature 
generally,  and  man  particularly,  has  been  and  is,  gradually,  and  constantly,  pro- 
gressing, I  feel  a  sublime  pleasure  in  exercising  a  rational  faith,  which  cannot 


22  THE  REASONER. 


be  unpleasing  to  the  Deity,  in  throwing  my  entire  and  everlasting  interests  upon 
infinite  goodness.  Though  I  presume  not  to  be  God's  favourite,  I  claim  to  be  his 
child.  Little  did  I  think  when,  on  my  painful  discovery,  that  I  had  been  trusting 
in  popular  superstition ;  and  when  faith  had  died  within  me,  little  did  I  think  that 
the  immortal  flower  would  again  revive  in  such  joyful  freshness.  My  Methodist 
associates  used  to  urge  me — as  the  best  antidote  to  doubt — not  to  reason  but  believe. 
I  have  found  that  an  infinitely  better  faith  has  been  the  result  of  following  enligh- 
tened reason,  than  that  which  arose  from  old-world  ignorance,  superstition,  and 
blind  belief.  Speaking  of  the  Methodists,  I  may  acknowledge  that,  in  one  respect, 
they  were  useful  to  me.  During  the  whole  of  the  time  that  I  was  connected  with 
them,  I  lived  in  a  country  village,  where  intellectual  companionship  was  extremely 
scarce.  All  the  travelling  preachers  who,  in  consecutive  years,  were  placed  in 
our  circuit,  I  was  acquainted  with,  as  a  matter  of  course.  And,  independently  of 
their  religious  principles,  &c.,  they  were  much  better  associates  than  I  should 
otherwise  have  had.  In  fact,  with  some  of  them,  I  often  held  '  sweet  counsel,'  on 
subjects  much  more  congenial  to  either  their  tastes  or  mine,  than  the  splitting  of 
orthodox  hairs.  In  conclusion,  allow  me  to  say,  that  as  I  have  not  known  you  all 
through  your  life,  I  am  at  a  loss  to  guess  how  in  the  world  you,  like  me,  were 
made  a  Methodist  preacher.  I  cannot  account  for  it  by  a  comparison  with  my  own 
case,  for  this  reason — you  are  not  only  a  man  of  intellect  and  energy,  but  of 
strong  and  determined  independence.  I  am  slow  of  thought,  with  perhaps  too 
large  love  of  approbation.  1  thank  you  heartily  for  having  introduced  Theodore 
Parker  to  me.  His  arguments  are  as  convincing  as  his  spirit  is  amiable ;  and  that 
is  saying  much  ;  for  he  is  evidently  one  of  the  best  of  men.  T  had  read  Fox's 
work  on  'Religious  Ideas'  with  much  satisfaction,  and  am  greatly  pleased  with  your 
plan  of  epitomising  his  and  other  good  and  extraordinary  works. —  The  People. 

The  Value  of  Epitaphs. — When  the  person  is  buried,  the  next  care  is  to 
make  his  epitaph.  They  are  generally  reckoned  best  which  flutter  most ;  such 
relations  therefore  as  have  received  most  benefits  from  the  defunct,  discharge  this 
friendly  office,  and  generally  flatter  in  proportion  to  their  joy.  When  we  read 
those  monumental  histories  of  the  dead,  it  may  be  justly  said  that  all  men  are 
equal  in  the  dust ;  for  they  all  appear  equally  remarkable  for  being  the  most 
sincere  Christians,  the  most  benevolent  neighbours,  and  the  honestest  men  of  their 
time.  To  go  through  an  European  country,  one  would  be  apt  to  wonder  how 
mankind  could  have  so  basely  degenerated  from  such  excellent  ancestors.  Every 
tomb  pretends  to  claim  your  reverence  and  regret :  some  are  praised  for  piety  in 
those  inscriptions,  who  never  entered  the  temple  until  they  were  dead;  some  are 
praised  for  being  excellent  poets,  who  were  never  mentioned,  except  for  their  dul- 
ness,  when  living;  others  for  suldime  orators,  who  were  never  noted  except  for 
their  impudence  ;  and  others  still  for  military  achievements,  who  were  never  in 
any  skirmishes  but  with  the  watch.  Some  even  make  epitaphs  for  themselves, 
and  bespeak  the  reader's  good-will.  It  were  indeed  to  be  wished,  that  every  man 
would  early  learn  in  this  manner  to  make  his  own ;  that  he  would  draw  it  up  in 
terms  as  flattering  as  possible,  and  that  he  would  make  it  the  employment  of  his 
whole  life  to  deserve  it. — Goldsmith's  Citizen  of  the  World,  Letter  12. 

FuKTHEE  Papal  Aggression. — A  letter  from  Rome,  dated  May  1st,  says  that 
the  President  of  the  Propaganda,  Cardinal  Franzoni,  has  just  issued  an  appeal  to 
all  Italy,  calling  upon  all  good  Catholics  to  subscribe  funds  for  the  erection  of  a 
Roman  Catholic  cathedral  in  London.  The  projected  edifice  is  to  be  dedicated  to 
St.  Peter,  and  schools  for  boys  and  girls  attached  to  it. — Leader. 


THE  REASONER. 


23 


€iit  ^thvsio  aaeligtan:  io^mct  Bstibtis* 


BT   EUGENE. 

[Concluded  from  last  number.] 


However  this  may  be,  a  ritual  religion    ception,  ^nd  bearing  no  relation  what- 


they  were  now  to  have  :  and  in  this  ritual 
they  must  have  their  moral  government. 
Moses  had  been  compelled  to  surrender 
his  loftiest  aim  and  hope — that  of  raising 
the  people  above  a  ceremonial  worship. 
His  object  henceforth  plainly  was  to  ele- 
vate the  ceremonial  worship  into  as  good 
a  moral  government  as  its  nature  would 
permit.  In  the  great  concern  of  all — 
that  of  the  Sanctions  of  the  Moral  Law 
which  he  gave,  Moses  made  his  third 
marked  departure  from  the  religion  of 
Egypt.  The  first  was  his  laying  open 
the  Mysteries  :  the  second,  his  declaring 
the  Supreme  a  tutelary  God  :  and  the 
third  was  his  offering,  as  the  Sanc- 
tion of  the  Moral  Law,  Temporal  Retri- 
bution  instead  of  Future  Reward   and 

Punishment Moses     saw    that    the 

doctrine  of  future  reward  and  punish- 
ment was  disbelieved  by  the  learned,  and 
was  so  far  made  a  deception  to  the  peo- 
ple as  that  the  inevitable  suffering  which 
arises  from  sin,  and  the  peace  which  at- 
tends goodness,  were  concealed  from 
them  under  the  disguise  of  arbitrary 
punishment  and  rewar.d.  The  Initiated 
appear  to  have  believed  in  a  future  life, 
and  in  the  natural  retribution  by  which, 
from  their  very  constitution,  the  virtu- 
ous enjoy  and  the  vicious  suffer  :  but,  in 
as  far  as  they  declared  these  things  in 
the  form  of  divine  promises  and  threats, 
contingent  on  future  conduct,  they  de- 
ceived the  people;  and  Moses  as  care- 
fully avoided  perpetrating  this  evil  as 
any  other  connected  with  the  Mysteries. 
The  second  way  of  meeting  the  difficulty 
of  the  existence  of  evil  was  no  less 
familiar  to  him, from  his  position  through 
life;  the  supposition  of  two  opposing 
deities.  He  had  seen  in  Egypt  how  from 
being  brothers,  children  of  one  father, 
Osiris  and  Typho,  Good  and  Evil,  had 
become  foes ;  and  he  had  witnessed  the 
moral  mischief  which  arises  from  the 
belief  of  a  malevolent  spiritual  being. 
We  find  therefore  in  the  Mosaic  system 
no  more  trace  of  an  evil  spiritual  being, 
hostile  to  God  and  man,  than  of  a  future 
life  of  reward  and  punishment.  The 
serpent  in  Eden  is,  in  the  history,  a  mere 
serpent,  altogether  Egyptian  in  its  con- 


ever  to  the  Evil  Being  with  which  su 
perstitionafterwardsconnectedit.  Moses 
nowhere  hints  at  such  a  notion  as  that 
of  an  express  Author  of  Evil.  On  the 
contrary  his  doctrine,  consistent  from 
end  to  end  of  his  teachings,  is  that  which 
Isaiah  expressed  afterwards  in  the  plain 
words :  '  I  am  the  Lord,  and  there  is 
none  else.  I  form  the  light  and  create 
darkness ;  I  make  peace  and  create  evil. 
I  the  Lord  do  all  these  things.' 

And  Moses  boldly  cut  the  knot  by 
presenting  as  a  Sanction  for  the  moral 
law,  the  doctrine  that  happiness  and 
prosperity  follow  obedience,  misery  and 
adversity  disobedience  to  God — a  doc- 
trine founded  on  a  great  truth.  Sub- 
stitute for  '  God,'  the  '  Laws  of  Nature,* 
moral,  physical,  and  intellectual,  and 
George  Coombe's  '  Constitution  of  Man' 
may  be  read  as  a  commentary  upon  the 
doctrine  of  Moses. 

The  cosmogony  of  the  Jews,  at  least 
a  part  of  it,  and  that  the  older,  is  deci- 
dedly Egyptian.  Miss  Martineau  says 
of  the  representations  in  the  Tomb  of 
Osirei  at  Thebes  : — *  It  is  impossible  to 
look  upon  these  representations  of  the 
serpent;  of  the  tree  of  life,  of  which 
those  who  ate  were  made  as  gods  ;  of  the 
moving  spirit  of  the  Creator,  and  of  the 
universally  prevalent  ideas  of  the  origi- 
nal spread  of  water;  the  separation  of 
the  land  from  the  water ;  the  springing 
of  vegetation,  and  the  sudden  appearance 
of  animals  on  the  new  surface;  and  the 
separation  of  the  upper  air  into  regions 
of  abode,  without  seeing  whence  was  de- 
rived the  first  of  the  two  accounts  of  the 
creation  given  in  the  Book  of  Genesis  ; 
that  in  which,  not  Jehovah,  but  the 
Elohim  were  engaged,  who  would  be  un- 
derstood by  the  Egyptian  instructors  of 
Moses  to  be  Knepb  and  Phthah — the 
Presiding  Spirit,  and  the  Forming  In- 
tellect of  the  Supreme.  The  other,  and 
very  different,  account  has  little  that  is 
Egyptian  in  its  character,  and  was  pro- 
bably not  learned  at  Heliopolis  or 
Thebes.' 

Again  :  '  In  their  theory  of  the  forma- 
tion of  the  world,  they  (the  Egyptians) 
believed  that  when  the  toimless  void  of 


24 


THE  REASONER. 


eternal  matter  began  to  part  oflF  into 
realms,  the  igneous  elements  ascending 
and  becoming  a  firmament  of  fiery  bodies, 
and  the  heavier  portions  sinking  and  be- 
coming compacted  into  earth  and  sea,  the 
earth  gave  out  animals — beasts  and  rep- 
tiles; an  idea  evident!  j'  derived  from  their 
annual  spectacle  of  the  coming  forth  of 
myriads  of  living  creatures  from  the  soil 
of  their  valley,  on  the  subsidence  of  the 
flood.  When  we  remember  that  to  them 
the  Nile  was  the  sea,  and  so  called  by 
them,  and  that  they  had  before  them  the 
spectacle  which  is  seen  nowhere  else,  of 
the  springing  of  the  green  herb  afterthe 
separation  of  the  waters  from  the  land, 
we  shall  see  how  different  their  view  of 
the  creation  must  be  from  any  which  we 

could  naturally  form.' 

The  last  point  of  similarity,  evidently 
derived,  is  that  of  the  ritual  of  the  Jews. 
We  have  seen  that  Moses  was  compelled 
to  abandon  his  original  design  of  doing 
without  ceremonial  worship,  for  the 
Hebrews,  fresh  from  Egypt,  could  not 
be  prevailed  upon  to  give  up  their  super- 
stitions. Where  should  Moses  get  a 
ritual  and  a  worship  except  from  the 
land  in  whose  temples  he  had  graduated 
in  ritual  and  ceremony,  quite  as  much 
as  in  wisdom  and  philosophy  ?  He  ac- 
cordingly 'gave  them  a  ritual  Egyptian 
in  its  forms,  seasons,  and  associations, 
but  with  Jehovah  alone  for  its  object.' 
'  He  had  all  the  requisite  knowledge  of 
Egyptian  worship  and  ways.  He  had  at 
his  command,  among  the  "  mixed  multi- 
tude," Egyptian  artificers;  besides  that 
many  of  the  Hebrews  themselves  were 
no  doubt  skilled  artisans.  So  he  treated 
them  as  they  compelled  him  to  do.  He 
ofiered  them  a  new  set  of  Command- 
ments, eight  out  of  ten  of  which  were 
about  feasts  and  offerings,  and  sacrifices 
and  holy  days.  He  fixed  upon  the  days 
of  Egyptian  feasts,  knowing  that  the 
people  would  at  all  events  observe  the 
days  of  New  Moon,  First-fruits,  &c.,and 
securing  this  observance  for  Jehovah  by 
special  ordinance.  He  set  them  to  work 
upon  a  tabernacle— a  moveable  temple 
for  the  Desert,  as  nearly  as  possible  re- 
sembling an  Egyptian  temple.  He  made 
them  an  ark— exattly  like  what  the  tra- 
veller in  Egypt  sees  sculptured  in  the 
processions  of  the  priests,  on  the  walls 
of  palaces  and  temples  finished  before 
Abraham  was  Lorn.— He  permitted  to 
them  an  oracle,  the  Uiim  and  Thummim, 
derived  immediately  fr6m  an  Egyptian 


model.  And,  most  mournful  to  him  of 
all,  he  had  to  give  them  a  priesthood, 
like  that  which  they  had  been  accustomed 
to  look  up  to  as  sacred.  He  had  hoped 
to  make  of  them  a  high-caste  nation,  and 
had  delivered  to  them  the  announcement 
"  And  ye  shall  be  unto  me  a.kingdom  of 
priests,  a  holy  nation." ' 

And  these  passages  are  still  stronger 
evidence  : — '  When  Moses  had  failed  to 
satisfy  the  people  that  Jehovah  should 
have  no  meaner  temple  than  that  of  the 
heavens  and  the  earth,  and  when  it  there- 
fore became  necessary  to  prepare  for 
him  a  visible  abiding  place,  there  could 
be  no  doubt  about  what  kind  of  temple 
it  must  be.  The  Hebrews  were  living, 
like  the  Egyptians,  under  a  theocracy; 
and  the  temples  of  Egypt,  palaces  for 
the  Divine  King,  must  be  the  model. 
"  The  Israelites,"  says  Dr.  Kitto,  "  were 
taught  to  feel  that  the  tabernacle  was  not 
only  the  temple  of  Jehovah,  but  the 
palace  of  their  King ;  that  the  table  sup- 
plied with  wine  and  shew-bread  was  the 
royal  table  ;  that  the  altar  was  the  place 
where  the  provisions  of  the  monarch 
were  prepared ;  that  the  priests  were 
the  royal  servants,  and  were  bound  to 
attend  not  only  to  Sacred  but  also  to 
secular  affairs,  and  were  to  receive,  as 
their  reward,  the  first  tithes,  which  the 
people,  as  subjects,  were  led  to  consider 
as  part  of  the  revenue  which  was  due  to 
God,  their  immediate  sovereign.  Other 
things,  of  a  less  prominent  and  im- 
portant nature,  had  reference  to  the  same 

great  end." There  is  no   reason   to 

suppose  that  the  tabernacle  was  the  first 
portable  sanctuary  ever  made.  The 
eastern  idolaters  of  the  old  world  used 
to  carry  about  with  them  the  shrines  of 
their  idols  in  their  wanderings  :  and  the 
prophet  Amos  and  the  martyr  Stephen 
charge  the  Israelites  with  having  done 
even  this.  Travellers  tell  us  that  at  this 
day  the  eastern  tartars  carry  about  a 
tabernacle,  which  they  set  up  for  pur- 
poses of  worship,  and  take  to  pieces 
again  when  they  migrate.  This  is  pro- 
bably as  old  as  any  other  nomade  cus- 
tom. Except  in  its  portableness,  the 
tabernacle  of  the  Hebrews  was  as  like  as 
it  could  be  made  to  an  Egyptian  temple. 
It  had  its  circuit  wall,  represented  by  a 
curtained  enclosure :  it  had  its  open 
court;  and  then  the  edifice  itself,  in  the 
lorm  of  an  oblong  square.  It  had  the 
two  chambers  which  are  the  indispens- 
able parts  of  all  Egyptian  temples — the 


THE  REASONER. 


25 


Holy  Place;  and  within  this,  and  very 
small,  the  Holy  of  Holies.  The  cover- 
ings which  formed  the  ceiling  and  walls 
of  these  chambers  were  embroidered 
with  figures  of  cherubim,  as  the  ceilings 
and  walls  of  Egyptian  temples  had  sculp- 
tures and  pa.intings  of  heavenly  crea- 
tures. If  we  may  take  the  description 
in  the  1st  chapter  of  Ezekiel  as  the  He- 
brew description  of  cherubim,  nothing 
can  be  more  like  the  lion-headed,  hawk- 
headed,  ox-headed,  winged  images,  in  the 

Egyptian  sculptures Throughout  all 

these  ages,  the  Holy  of  Holies  was  in  the 
highest  sense  a  sanctuary.  Nooneentered 
it  but  the  most  privileged  of  the  priests, 
and  it  contained  nothing  but  the  symbol 
of  the  presence  of  the  god.  In  the 
Egyptian  temples,  this  symbol  was  the 
shrine ;  a  chest  or  closet,  containing  a 
sacred  pledge,  and  surmounted  by  an 
idol  form  on  its  lid  or  top ;  that  idol 
form  being  often  guarded  by  winged 
creatures,  two  of  the  wings  stretching' 
upwards,  and  two  covering  their  bodies, 
as  Ezekiel  describes.  The  guardian  hawk 
and  ibis,  and  the^  wings  of  Isis  Protec- 
trix  precisely  resemble  this  description; 
and  indeed  the  ark  of  the  Hebrews  is 
exactly  the  Egyptian  shrine,  with  the 
omission  of  the  idol  figure  in  the  Mercy- 
seat.  When  carried  by  poles  on  the 
shoulders  of  priests,  habited  much  like 
those  of  Egypt,  trumpeters  leading  and 
following  the  procession,  with  their  rams' 
horns  at  their  mouths,  as  on  occasion  of 
the  summons  of  Jericho,  nothing  can  be 
imagined  more  like  the  sculpture  on  the 
walls  at  Medeenet  Haboo,  where  the 
shrine,  priests,  and  trumpeters  make  a, 
part  of  the  coronation  procession.  The 
Sacrifices  offer  more  points  of  resembl- 
ance than  perhaps  any  other  part  of  the 
institutions  of  Moses.  The  oblations  or 
gifts  were  the  same,  and  the  libations. 
The  Hebrews  brought  cakes,  meal,  wa- 
fers and  wine,  turtle-doves  and  young 
pigeons,  exactly  as  we  see  that  Egyptians 
brought  them  in  days  when  no  Hebrew 
had  yet  entered  the  Nile  Valley.  Swine 
were  abhorred  by  the  Egyptians  as  the 
tenements  of  evil  spirits,  from  the  ear- 
liest days.  The  practice  of  the  sacrificer 
laying  his  hands  on  the  head  of  the  vic- 
tim, and  confessing  his  sins,  thus  charg- 
ing the  head  with  imprecations,  is  pre- 
cisely what  Herodotus  relates  as  the 
Egyptian  practice;  and  so  is  the  immo- 
lation of  the  red  heifer.  If  the  Egyp- 
tian animal  was  not  entirely  red,  if  a 


single  black  or  white  hair  was  found 
upon  it,  it  was  rejected,  because  Apis 
was  black,  and  Typho  red.  The  Hebrew 
sacrifice  was  to  be  "a  red  heifer,  without 
spot,  wherein  is  no  blemish,  and  upon 
which  never  came  yoke."  "In  the  The- 
baid,"  says  Sir  G.  Wilkinson,  "  the 
sheep  was  considered  not  merely  as  an 
emblem,  but  as  the  most  sacred  of  all 
animals."  "  Strabo,  Clemens,  and  many 
other  writers,  notice  the  sacred  character 
of  the  sheep  ;  and  the  two  former  state 
that  it  was  looked  upon  with  the  same 
veneration  in  the  Saite  nome  as  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  Thebes."  And  such 
resemblances  are  found  throughout  the 
whole  institution.' 

The  historian  of  a  later  day,  writing 
a  narrative,  d  la  Macaulay,  for  effect,  in 
order  to  heighten  the  interest  and  in- 
tensify the  'situation,'  attributes  to  God 
the  honour  of  having  invented  these 
patterns,  this  tabernacle,  those  sacrifices 
and  sacrificing  priests  !  It  is  thus  that 
we  see  Moses  through  the  enchanted 
glass  of  fable,  with  a  halo  round  his 
head  as  he  descends  from  tie  solitudes 
of  Sinai,  after  a  personal  interview  with 
the  Lord.  It  is  thus  that,  through  the 
same  medium,  comes  the  celebrated 
phrase,  'And  the  Lord  said  unto  Moses.' 
Doubtless  Moses  left  documents  behind 
him — but  it  is  not  clear  that  he  left  any 
books.  The  scribe  or  scribes  who  com- 
piled the  history  of  the  Hebrews  acted 
as  modern  historians  love  to  act — they 
accounted  for  everything ;  magnifying 
the  greatness  of  their  origin  by  the  nar- 
ration of  miracles  and  prophesies ;  and 
justifying  the  claim  to  a  tutelary  God 
by  a  history  of  the  many  proofs  he  had 
given  of  his  devoted  care  and  attention. 
I  do  not  say  that  the  scribes  wilfully  did 
these  things  ;  but  that  these  things  were 
done.  I  cannot  account  for  them.  The 
Law  was  not  pretended  to  have  been 
found  in  the  Ark  until  the  time  of 
Josiah  ;  the  Passover  was  not  known  to 
have  been  celebrated  until  after  the 
Law  had  been  made  known.  The  priest- 
hood was  not  completely  established 
until  the  reign  of  Jehoida.  But  when 
it  was  established  it  became  worthy  of 
its  origin,  thoroughly  stamped  with  the 
impress  of  Egypt.  Then  we  are  told 
the  first  four  books  of  the  Pentateuch" 
were  compiled,  and  the  book  of  Deuter- 
onomy in  the  time  of  Josiah. 

It  is   remarked  by  Miss   Martineau 
that  there  is  an  astonishing  similarity 


26 


THE  REASONER. 


between  Osiris  and  the  expected  Messiah 
of  the  Jews — another  derived  idea.  The 
Alexandrian  Christians  have  hung  the 
mantle  of  Osiris  on  the  body  of  Jesus  of 
Nazareth,  and  endowed  the  son  of  the 
carpenter  with  the  character  and^  attri- 
butes of  the  Egyptian  deity. 

The  '  primary  attribute  (of  the  Su- 
preme God)  his  Goodness,  was  embodied 
in  Osiris,  who  left  his  place  in  the  pre- 
sence of  the  Supreme,  took  a  human 
form  (though  not  becoming  a  human 
being),  went  about  the  world,  doing  good 
to  men,  sank  into  death  in  a  conflict 
with  the  Power  of  Evil;  rose  up  to 
spread  blessings  over  the  land  of  Egypt 
and  the  world,  and  was  appointed  Judge 
of  the  Dead,  and  Lord  of  the  heavenly 
region,  while  present  with  his  true  wor- 
shippers on  earth,  to  do  them  good. 
Such  were  the  history  and  functions  of 
Osiris,  as  devoutly  recorded  by  the 
Egyptians  of  several  thousand  years 
ago.  And  here,  in  Philse,  was  his  sepul- 
chre, where  the  faithful  came  in  pil- 
grimage, from  the  mighty  Pharaoh  to 
the  despised  goat-herd,  for  a  long  course 
of  centuries. — He  was  especially  ordered 
for  other  reasons  than  his  benefactions  : 
as  being  the  only  manifestation  on  earth 
of  the  Supreme  God.  This  made  him 
superior  to  the  Eight  great  gods,  after 
whom  he  ranked  on  other  accounts.  How 
the  manifestation  was  made  in  a  human 
form  without  an  adoption  of  human 
nature,  was  one  of  the  chief  Egyptian 
mysteries ;  the  ideas  of  which  will  now, 
I  fear,  never  be  offered  to  our  apprehen- 
sion.— Upon  his  death,  he  passed  into 
the  region  of  the  dead — (borne  there,  as 
the  sculptures  represent,  by  the  four 
geniiof  Hades) — and  then,  having  passed 
through  its  stages,  was  raised  to  the 
function  of  Judge. — Among  the  allusive 
names  of  Osiris  were  those  of  "  Opener 
of  good,"  "  Manifester  of  grace,"  and 
"  Revealer  of  truth  :"  and  the  descrip- 
tion of  hini  was,  in  the  ancient  words, 
"  full  of  grace  and  truth."  He  ob- 
tained the  victory  after  his  death  over 
the  Evil  Principle  which  had  destroyed 
him :  and  it  was  in  his  name,  which 
they  then  assumed,  that  the  virtuous, 
after  judgment,  entered  into  the  state  of 
blessedness  which  they  shared  with  him. 
The  departed,  men  and  women  alike, 
were  called  Osiris  :  this  spiritual  name 
betokening  that  they  were  now  in  that 
state  where  sex  was  abolished,  where  no 


marriage  existed,  but  human  beings  had 
become  pure  as  the  heaven-born  inhabi- 
tants  It  is  impossible  not  to  per- 
ceive that  Osiris  was  to  the  old  Egyp- 
tians what  the  Messiah  is  to  be  to  the 
Jews ;  and  what  Another  has  been  to  the 
Christians.  The  nature,  character,  and 
offices  of  Osiris,  and  the  sacred  language 
concerning  him  are  so  coincident  with 
those  most  interesting  to  Christians,  as 
to  compel  a  very  careful  attention  on  the 
part  of  inquirers  into  Egyptian  antiqui- 
ties  It  is  a  fact  which  ought  to  be 

attended  to  while  considering  the  various 
solutions  offered,  that  the  character  and 
offices  of  Osiris  were  certainly  the  same 
in  the  centuries  which  preceded  the 
birth  of  Abraham — in  the  very  earliest 
times  known  to  us — as  after  the  deaths 
of  Pythagoras  and  Plato.  This  is  proved 
by  the  sculptures  in  the  oldest  monu- 
ments.' 

These  extracts  and  observations  point 
to  a  subject  which  at  least  is  worthy  of 
a  rigid  examination  by  the  Christians. 
Whatever  moral  beauty  Christianity 
may  have  ravealed,  or  caused  to  be  re- 
vealed to  the  world,  it  is  to  most  men 
disfigured  and  polluted  by  the  remains 
of  the  gross  superstitions,  the  symboli- 
cal beliefs,  and  the  fetish  propensities 
of  paganism. 

The  conclusions  to  which  these  re- 
marks point  are  these:  that  Egypt  was 
the  mother  of  religion,  that  the  religion 
of  the  Jews  was  derived  from  the  reli- 
gion of  the  Egyptians ;  that,  as  a  con- 
sequence of  that  derivation,  the  idea  of 
a  special  revelation  in  the  case  of  the 
Jews  is  completely  destroyed ;  and  that 
Christianity,  as  a  matter  of  course, 
shares  the  fate  of  Judaism  ;  for  Chris- 
tianity, taken  as  an  isolated  fact,  origi- 
nating with  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  can  have 
no  special  claims. 

We  owe  this  new  proof  in  favour  of 
Rationalism  to  the  disinterested  re- 
searches of  a  few  men  who  have  found 
in  the  hieroglyphic  language  of  the 
Temples,  Tombs,  and  Pyramids  of 
Egypt  a  living  record  of  a  mighty  race, 
and  made  that  record  plain  to  us.  These 
meu  are  great  authorities,  profound 
scholars,  and  indefatigable  inquirers. 
They  lived  for  years  in  Egypt ;  they 
made  their  study,  their  bed,  their  daily 
and  nightly  abode,  the  Tombs  on  the 
banks  of  the  Nile ;  and  though  they 
have  done  much,  more  yet  remains. 


THE  REASONER.  27 


&ur  ^latfnrm. 

From  which  any  earnest  opponent  may  controvert  nur  opinions,  and  from  which  any  may  expound  Tiews 
not  coincident  with  our  own,  if  tending  to  the  Rationalisation  of  Theology. 


PRINCIPLES  OF  BELIEF  HELD  BY  A  SEARCHER  AFTER  TRUTH. 


To  the  Editor  of  the  Reatoner. 

Sir, — I  believe  in  one  supreme  Being  who  created  all  things.  I  do  not  believe 
in  a  future  state,  because  I  can  see  no  object  in  man's  living  again — neither  do  I 
think  it  would  answer  any  good  or  wise  end,  I  look  upon  the  idea  of  a  creature 
like  man  living  in  any  state,  or  under  any  form,  for  ever,  as  an  impossibility  and 
an  absurdity.  I  do  not  believe  the  book  called  the  Bible  to  be  the  work  of  the 
supreme  Being  who  created  the  universe  ;  and  for  this  reason,  because  the  works 
of  creation — such  as  the  revolution  of  the  earth  upon  its  axis,  the  motion  of  the 
heavenly  bodies  (as  they  are  called),  the  succession  of  seasons,  &c. —  are  beautiful, 
grand,  and  hai'monious,  while  the  Bible  is  a  book  full  of  contradictions  and  absur- 
dities. I  do  not  believe  the  supreme  Artificer  ever  called  out  of  a  place  called 
heaven,  or  anywhere  else,  to  men  upon  this  earth,  and  told  them  to  write  this  or 
the  other.  I  do  not  believe  that  Moses,  or  any  other  of  the  so-called  inspired 
writers,  was  any  more  inspired  than  myself,  or  any  other  man  of  the  present  day. 
I  look  upon  the  creation  of  the  world  as  given  by  Moses  as  a  miserable  produc- 
tion, scarcely  fit  for  a  nursery  tale.  I  cannot  conceive  a  being  like  the  Author  of 
all  things  taking  six  days  to  do  what  he  could  have  done  in  a  moment,  and  after- 
wards resting  on  the  seventh,  like  a  common  mechanic,  or  labourer — thereby  im- 
plying that  that  Being  was  tired  with  the  work  he  had  done. 

I  look  upon  the  story  of  Adam  and  Eve  and  the  serpent  as  a  beautiful  allegory, 
having  reference  to  the  Virgo  of  the  Zodiac,  the  herdsman  who  appears  to  be 
tempted  by  her.  I  believe  if  there  ever  had  been  such  a  Garden,  and  the 
Almighty  had  placed  an  Angel  with  a  flaming  sword  to  protect  it,  the  place 
would  be  in  existence  at  the  present  time.  I  do  not  believe  an  almighty  Being 
ever  created  man  for  the  express  purpose  of  tormenting  him,  and  for  the  childish 
offence  of  eating  an  apple.  I  do  not  believe  that  the  Author  of  all  things  ever 
'  repented  him  that  he  had  made  man,'  and  drowned  all  the  world,  with  a  very  few 
exceptions.  1  believe  that  the  story  of  Noah  and  the  Deluge  was  taken  from 
OVid. 

I  know  that  the  Being  who  made  the  universe  must  of  necessity  be  a  kind  and 
benevolent  being,  whereas  the  God  of  the  Bible  is  a  monster  of  cruelty  and  in- 
justice. I  do  not  believe  the  God  of  nature  ever  created  devils  to  torment  man 
after  death.  I  believe  there  are  no  devils  half  so  bad  or  revengeful  as  the  priests 
of  the  present  day. 

I  do  not  believe  that  man  was  born  in  sin,  as  I  cannot  conceive  a  good  and  mer- 
ciful being  making  anything  sinful  or  bad.  I  believe  that  scarcely  any  man  is 
naturally  bad  or  wicked ;  1  believe  for  the  most  part  man  is  made  bad  by  infamous 
laws  made  by  worse  men.  I  believe  that  the  priests,  persecuting  their  fellow-men 
for  merely  believing  according  to  their  own  honest  convictions,  has  been  a  fertile 
source  of  crime,  from  the  fact  of  such  persecution  driving  many  good  men  from 
their  position  in  society.  I  hold  those  passages  in  the  Bible  where  it  pretends  a 
merciful  God  ordered  a  set  of  barbarians  to  slaughter  thousands  of  their  fellow- 
creatures,  admitting  them  to  have  been  a  trifle  more  barbarous  than  themselves, 
as  horrible  and  dreadful  blasphemy.  It  is  quite  contrary  to  my  idea  to  believe 
that  a  merciful  God  ever  ordered  '  Women  big  with  child  to  be  ripped  up,'  or  that 


28 


THE  REASONER. 


he  should  take  a  share  in  the  spoil  after  a  battle  of  either  '  changes  of  raiment 
or  the  asses;'  had  it  been  written  the  priests'  share  instead  of  the  Lord's,  it 
would  have  been  much  nearer  the  truth.  I  agree  with  Paine,  that  if  a  man  was  to 
take  the  Bible,  and  with  a  pen,  whenever  he  came  to  the  words  'and  the  Lord 
spake  unto  so  and  so,'  and  write  the  priest  above  said  unto  the  priest  below,  it 
would  be  more  in  accordance  with  the  fact.  Not  only  do  I  believe  that  to  accept 
the  Bible  as  the  word  of  God  can  be  productive  of  no  good,  but,  on  the  contrary, 
by  instilling  false  notions  of  the  Deity  into  the  minds  of  men,  is  productive  of  a 
vast  amount  of  evil.  Men  would  never,  in  my  opinion,  have  taken  so  much  plea- 
sure in  cutting  each  other's  throats,  even  for  the  sake  of  that  miserable  principle 
called  faith,  had  they  not  believed  in  the  Almighty  having  set  the  example.  Not 
only  do  I  believe  the  Almighty  to  have  had  nothing  whatever  to  do  with  the  book 
called  the  Bible,  but  I  believe  it  to  have  been  written  by  bad  and  ignorant  Jewish 
priests  for  the  whole  and  sole  view  of  enslaving  the  minds  of  men  for  their  own 
base  purposes.  I  believe  the  whole  of  the  so-called  prophecies  in  the  Old  Testa- 
ment to  be  fallacies,  as  every  one  can,  by  a  little  tracing  out,  be  found  to  refer  to 
things  happening  at  the  time  they  were  written,  and  to  have  no  reference  whatever 
to  events  which  were  to  take  place  many  hundreds  of  years  afterwards.  Take,  for 
instance,  Isaiah,  where  it  says  '  a  virgin  shall  conceive  and  bear  a  son.'  The  story 
is  all  finished  and  done  with  in  a  few  succeeding  verses,  and  could  have  no  possible 
reference  to  the  birth  of  any  supposed  Saviour,  which  was  to  take  place  some  hun- 
dreds of  years  afterwards.  As  I  disbelieve  totally  and  entirely  in  original  sin  and 
the  powers  of  any  devil  over  man,  of  course  there  can  be  no  occasion  for  me  to 
believe  in  a  Saviour.  So  I  look  upon  the  story  of  Jesus  Christ  as  being  the  son  of 
the  Almighty  as  absurd  and  ridiculous.  That  such  a  man  did  live  is  a  possibility, 
and  quite  within  the  range  of  probability  I  will  freely  admit ;  but  as  a  reasonable 
being  I  feel  bound  to  deny  the  Almighty  having  anything  to  do  with  him.  I  look 
upon  the  ridiculous  story  of  the  conception  as  quite  as  absurd  as  the  story  of 
Jupiter  having  connection  with  Leda  in  the  form  of  a  swan,  between  which  and  a 
dove,  or  Holy  Ghost,  there  is  but  little  difference.  I  believe  according  to  Dupuis, 
Volney,  and  others,  that  the  story  of  Christ  and  all  his  miraculous  doings  is  only 
an  allegorical  representation  of  the  sun.  As  regards  the  miracles  that  he  per- 
formed I  treat  them  as  absurdities,  well  knowing  how  easy  it  is  to  impose  upon  the 
credulity  of  mankind,  pai-ticularly  in  the  darker  ages,  when  we  in  our  own  time 
have  seen  people  ready  enough  to  be  gulled  by  imposition — for  instance.  Mad  Tom 
of  Canterbury  or  the  winking  virgin  of  Rimini.  My  own  firm  and  honest  convic- 
tion is,  that  the  whole  of  the  Old  and  New  Testament  is  totally  and  entirely  the 
work  of  man,  and  that  the  Almighty  had  nothing  whatever  to  do  with  the  matter, 
and  to  believe  in  the  truth  of  either  I  consider  degrading  to  man  as  a  rational 
creature,  and  insulting  to  a  supreme  and  perfect  Being.  To  the  oft  asked  question, 
'  Why  has  the  system  listed  so  long  if  untrue,'  I  reply,  that  the  many  millions  a 
year  basely  appropriated  for  the  express  purpose,  as  well  as  the  power  and  position 
its  supporters  are  enabled  to  maintain,  is  quite  a  sufficient  answer,  to  say  nothing 
of  the  natural  credulity  of  the  greater  portion  of  mankind  who  are  fond  of  the 
marvellous. 

Had  the  Bible  been  in  reality  the  work  of  the  Almighty,  and  necessary  to  the 
salvation  of  mankind,  I  doubt  not  it  would  have  been  written  in  such  unmistak- 
able terms  that  all  created  beings  would  have  believed  in  it :  as  it  is,  I  would  just 
as  soon  put  implicit  faith  in  the  Koran,  which  is  scarcely  so  absurd  and  unlikely  a 
production.     I  look  upon  the  whole  code  of  morals,  so  called,  as  found  in  the  New 


THE  REASONER. 


29 


Testament,  if  acted  upon  would  totally  annihilate  society.  Take,  for  instance,  the 
'turning of  the  cheek  to  the  smiter,'  or  'giving  the  cloak  to  the  man  who  steals 
your  coat.' 

I  know  that,  for  the  opinion  I  have  stated,  I  shall  be  called  all  sorts  of 
names,  such  as  infidel,  blasphemer,  &c.,  but  I  care  not:  the  priests  imprisoned 
Galileo  for  saying  the  earth  revolved ;  all  men  who  have  lifted  up  their  voices 
against  priestly  power  and  intolerance  have  been  abused  and  persecuted.  I  have 
stated  my  own  belief  as  clearly  and  concisely  as  possible,  with  the  whole  and  sole 
view  of  doing  good  to  my  fellow-men,  by  assisting  them  to  see  through  the  impo- 
sition which  has  for  so  long  a  time  been  practised  upon  them,  feeling  grateful  daily 
and  hourly  myself  for  being  emancipated  from  such  soul-enslaving  tyranny. 

In  conclusion,  I  believe  that  time  always  was  and  always  will  be,  and  that  year 
will  follow  year  through  countless  ages,  and  I  have  come  to  the  conclusions  I  have 
stated  from  convictions  based  upon  my  own  reasoning  powers,  after  having,  as  far 
as  I  am  able,  looked  at  both  sides  of  the  question  for  and  against  a  belief  in  the 
Scriptures!  and  I  shall,  when  my  appointed  time  to  die  comes,  resign  my  breath 
into  the  hands  of  the  Being  who  gave  it,  without  a  fear,  without  a  doubt,  without  a 
dread ;  and  even  in  the  event  of  its  pleasing  that  Being  that  I  should  exist  again 
in  some  other  state  or  form,  I  have  no  fear  whatever  that  it  will  be  in  a  state  of 
misery  or  torture. 


[The  writer  of  this  paper  belongs  to  a  class  of  Christians  with  whom  we  rarely 
have  the  honour  of  communication.  With  his  Theism  of  course  we  disagree,  but 
we  quite  concur  in  his  desire  to  rationalise  the  popular  idea  of  Deity  as  set  forth 
in  miscalled  Revelation,  and  cheerfully  aid  him  by  publishing  his  '  Principles  of 
Belief.'— Ed.] 


A  CONVERT  THROUGH  EXAMINING  THE  BIBLE. 


Sm, — Apart  from  any  special  arguments  which  might  be  offered  on  the  question 
of  unbelief,  I  know  of  no  better  way  of  answering  that  class  of  religious  enthu- 
siasts who  are  ever  ready  to  question  the  propriety  of  any  dissent  from  their  own 
views  and  opinions,  than  by  giving  an  outline  of  individual  experience  in  that  much 
censured  method  of  '  living  without  God  in  the  world.'  It  is  said  that  a  man  des- 
titute of  the '  faith  which  is  in  Jesus,'  is  a  being  lost  to  all  sense  of  shame  and 
rectitude,  and  that  to  a  man  who  has  turned  his  back  upon  religion,  there  is  nothing 
left  him  here  or  hereafter  but  condemnation.  Love,  law,  order,  honesty,  nor 
truth,  are  allowed  to  be  in  the  possession  of  him  who  doubts  the  existence  of  a 
Creator.  This  is  certainly  bad  enough,  but  there  is  something  else  which,  in  my 
estimation,  is  much  worse — home  is  insulted,  when  it  is  said  that  to  be  infidel  one 
must  be  a  bad  parent  and  a  bad  friend,  when  the  wife  and  children  of  the  infidel 
are  treated  with  mock  pity  ;  and  it  is  in  fact  declared  vice  must  necessarily  exist 
with  infidelity.  Such  objections,  I  think,  may  best  be  met  by  personal  experience. 
I  take  to  myself  no  merit  in  being  an  atheist  more  than  this,  that  when  I  began  to 
doubt  the  truth  of  revelation,  I  spared  no  pains  to  have  my  doubts  settled  on  one 
side  or  the  other:  to  trifle  with  a  question  like  this  I  considered  unpardonable. 
My  faith  at  first  (which  was  none  of  the  smallest)  revolted  on  a  further  examina- 
tion of  the  subject,  and  after  a  struggle  it  yielded  to  a  '  little  reason.'  This  I  say 
from  my  own  experience  at  the  time,  that  the  'book  of  life'  will  make  more  infidels 
than  any  other  book  will,  it  it  be  only  read  intelligently.  My  convictions,  after 
becoming  fully  acquainted  with  this  book,  certainly  rested  not  Zionwards;  and  it 


30 


THE  REASONER. 


is  a  matter  of  deep  surprise  now  to  me  how  I  could  have  passed  over  the  thousand 
and  one  objectionable  passages  in  that  book,  in  the  thousand  and  one  times  I  had 
really  read  it.  Years  have  passed  since  then,  and  I  can  now  honestly  declare  that 
I  tried  every  means  which  reason  might  dictate  to  perceive  the  beauty  of  Chris- 
tianity, so  much  eulogised  in  the  pulpit,  to  find  out  some  unwarrantable  cause  for 
the  changes  which  spring  up  in  my  convictions,  giving  the  religion  of  my  fathers, 
which  was  ever  dear  to  me,  the  benefit  of  a  last  lingering  doubt,  and  turning  back 
upon  this  argument  and  that  argument  with  a  double  desire  of  knowing  the  truth. 
And  yet  I  did  not  read  many  infidel  books,  neither  having  the  means  nor  the  inclina- 
tion to  procure  them.  What  I  did  read  was  sufficient  to  assist  me  in  coming  to  a 
conclusion.  I  felt  that  I  did  not  possess  the  ability  to  justify  anything  higher  than 
private  controversy,  hence  I  did  not  consider  it  necessary  to  know  the  opinions  of 
early  infidels,  unless  reference  was  made  to  them  by  present  writers ;  but  as  I 
thought  it  essentially  necessary  to  understand  the  particular  features  of  modern 
in6delity,  I  examined  them  attentively  and  patiently,  and  the  conclusion  I  came  to, 
after  I  had  decided  upon  the  insufficiency  of  religion  as  a  moral  regenerator,  was 
to  reckon  myself  a  confirmed  unbeliever,  nor  deny  my  principles  whatever  might 
be  the  contingency. 

Why  I  wish  to  be  so  explicit  with  these  matters  is,  because  of  the  frequent  ac- 
cusation that  infidelity  i?  the  effect  of  wholesale  vice,  and  that  it  inevitably  leads  to 
destruction.  As  to  it  being  preceded  by  evil  conduct  I  am  at  present  prepared  to 
deny,  and,  on  the  contrary,  can  honestly  declare  that  the  word  of  God  itself,  and 
the  conversation  of  an  esteemed  friend,  were  the  principal  causes  of  my  unbelief 
having  existence  at  all — and  to  tell  me  that  I  read  the  Scriptures  to  my  own  con- 
demnation can  have  no  influence  with  me.  I  read  them  with  my  prejudices,  will- 
ing to  be  guided  by  my  reason.  I  read  them  also  for  the  purpose  of  clearing  away 
my  doubts  of  their  worth. 

The  cause  that  I  assign  for  there  not  being  more  unbelievers  is,  that  the  Bible 
is  the  last  book  that  is  properly  read.  It  is  better  circulated,  but  more  doomed  to 
moth  and  dust  than  any  other  book  you  can  name.  In  very  numerous  instances, 
I  have  quoted  passages  from  this  book  which  have  been  more  than  questioned. 
Can  the  same  be  said  of  any  other  book  that  has  been  read  ?  The  truth  is,  that 
religious  faith  materially  afiects  the  senses ;  and  while  we  have  this  astonishing 
book  in  our  hands  we  not  only  lose  sight  of  ourselves,  but  we  also  lose  sight  of  our 
subject.  The  only  means  by  which  we  can  extricate  ourselves  from  this  sort  of 
mesmeric  study,  is  to  begin  by  doubting  the  truth  of  the  text. 

Such  is  a  prominent  portion  of  my  experience  as  a  truth-seeker  in  religion.     I 
must,  however,  say,  I  willed  it  not  to  be  an  atheist,  I  would  rather  have  been  a 
Christian,  but  it  is  otherwise.     A  man  who  would  condemn  another  man  for  his 
honest  conviction,  perverts  the  best  privilege  it  is  our  common  lot  to  possess. 
Bradford.  M.  R. 

MR.  ADAMS'S  ADDRESSES  IN  VICTORIA  PARK. 


Sir, — This  morning  I  was  in  Victoria  Park  and  heard  Mr.  Adams  speak.  Towards 
the  end  of  his  discourse  he  inquired  whether,  in  the  crowd  he  was  addressing,  there 
were  no  Christians  who  would  come  forward  and  dispute  any  point  with  him.  The 
challenge  was  not  accepted,  and  at  this  Mr.  Adams  expressed  his  satisfaction,  because  it 
argued,  as  he  thought,  that  no  Christians  were  present.  After  the  lapse  of  a  short 
time  he  repeated  the  challenge,  and  hinted  that  if  any  Christians  were  present,  their 
silence  might  imply  a  want  of  confidence  on  their  part  in  the  soundness  of  their  doc- 


1 


THE  REASONER, 


31 


trines.  Upon  this  a  Christian  did  come  forward,  and  although  he  was  no  match  for 
Mr.  Adams,  so  far  as  debating  was  concerned,  yet  from  his  earnestness  of  manner,  his 
humility,  and  the  evident  benevolence  of  his  motives,  I  doubt  not  that  what  he  said  had 
great  weight  with  his  auditory,  and,  in  a  great  measure,  counteracted  many  an  impres- 
sion that  may  have  been  made  by  Mr.  Adams  in  his  preaching.  If  I  had  thought  that 
I  could  do  as  well  as  the  Christian  above  referred  to,  I  would  have  accepted  Mr.  Adams's 
challenge,  but  never  having  spoken  in  public,  I  wanted  confidence,  and  therefore  re- 
mained silent. 

My  silence  did  not  arise  from  any  doubt  on  my  part  as  to  the  truth  of  the  principles  I 
advocate,  and,  as  a  proof  of  this,  I  beg  to  say  that  if  you  will  give  insertion  in  the 
pages  of  the  Reasoner  to  a  few  observations  I  could  make  in  reply  to  what  I  have 
heard  recently  in  Victoria  P  ark,  with  regard  to  the  morality  contained  in  the  first  dozen 
or  half  dozen  verses  of  Christ's  sermon  on  the  mount,  I  will  send  them  to  you.  I  am 
not  a  scholar,  and  shall  not  be  able  to  say  one-half  of  what  doubtless  could'  be  said  on 
thi!  subject.  However  I  will  do  my  best,  and  if  no  other  end  be  answered,  this  public 
promise  to  do  what  T  can,  through  the  medium  of  your  periodical,  to  defend  Christi- 
anity, will  satisfy  Mr.  Adams  that  there  are  men  in  the  world  who  are  not  ashamed  of 
the  gospel  of  Cnrist.  Juvenis. 


[If  the  comments  of  Juvenis  are  tolerably  well  done,  we  shall  insert  them.     Will  he 
please  accompany  them  with  his  name  and  address? — Ed.] 

Statement  of  the  Receipts  axd  Expenditure  of  the  Rational 
Society,  from  May  1850  to  May  1851. 


Keceited.  £    s.  d. 

Balance  in  hand  Mar  17th,  1850            ..  0    3    7 

General  fund  received,  vii. : — 

London,  Al         036 

Lambetb O90 

Sheffield 0  15    0 


Assets. 


Cash  in  hand 


0    5    7 


Paid. 
Paid  for  postages,  &c.  duringf  the  year. . 
„    on   acrount  of  cash  advanced  for 
'  Herald  of  Progress' 


Cash  in  hand 


0 

s. 
2 

d. 
0 

1 

5 

6 

1 

0 

7 
5 

6 

7 

£\    13     I 

Liabilities. 
Balance  due  on  account  of  '  Herald  of 

Progress '  2     13 

THOS.  WKITAKEE,  Hon.  Fin.  Sec. 


GUiDE  TO  THE  LECTURE  ROOM. 

Literary  Institution,  John  Street,  Fitzroy  Square. 
June  1st  [7jj,  Samuel  M.  Kydd,  *  Oa  the  Laws  of 
the  Hcbrevrs.' 

Hackney  Literary  and  Scientific  Inst'tution, 
Mermaid  Assembly  Rooms. — June  4th  [8],  a  lec- 
ture. 

Hall  of  Science,  City  Road.  —  June  1st  [ril, 
Thomas  Cooper,  '  Coustantine  the  Great.' 

Institute  of  Progress,  10a,  Upper  George-street, 
Sloanc-square. — May  30th  [8],  a  Discussion.  June 
1st  [7i],  a  lecture. 

Eclectic  Institute,  Denmark  Street,  Soho.  — 
Every  Friday  [8i],  Mr.  J.  B.  O'Brien,  '  Home  and 
Foreign  Politics.'  Every  Sunday  [74],  on  '  Moral 
and  Social  Science.' 

Free  Inquirers'  Society,  British  Coffee  Rooms, 
Edgeware  Koad.  —  June  1st  [7],  a  lecture. 

Areopagus  Coffee  and  Reading  Room,  59,  Church 
Lane,  Whitechapel. — Every  Sunday,  Monday,  and 
Wednesday  (8),  a  Lecture  or  Discussion. 

City  Forum  Coffee  House,  60,  Red  Cross  Street. 
—June  2nd  [8^],  discussion.  Strtiject,  '  Does  an 
all-wise  Providence  govern  the  Universe?' 


Works  published  by  J.  Watson. 

THE  LIBRARY  of  REASON,  containing  aseries 
of  articles  from  the  works  of  ancient  and 
modern  authors  in  favour  of  FREE  INQUIRY. 
22  Nos.  stitched  in  a  wrapper,  with  Title  and  Con- 
tents  price    1     6 

P.S. — Persons  requiriag  single  numbers  to  com- 


plete sets,  can  procure  them  from  the  publisher,  or 

through  his  agents. 

Owen  and  Bacheler's  Discussion  on  the  Ex- 
istence of  God  and  the  Authenticity  of  the 
Bible.     In  1  vol.,  neat  cloth  boards,  price    4    6 

Discussion  on  God,  in  1  vol.,  cloth 1  10 

Ditto        ditto        in  a  wrapper    1    4 

Discussion  on  the  Bible,  1  vol.,  cioth   3    2 

Ditto        ditto        in  a  wrapper 2     8 

(Or  in  parts  at  fid.  each.) 

Popular  Tracts,  by  Robert  Dale  Owen,  in 
1  vol.,  cloth  boards 2    6. 

The  Bible  of  Reason,  or  Scriptures  of  Ancient 
and  i\!odem  Authors.  1  thick  vol,8vo.  c.  let.  7    6 

Godwin's  Political  Justice,  2  vols,  bound 
in  one,  cloth  lettered    5    0 

Mirabaud's  System  of  Nature,  2  vols,  bound 
in  one,  cloth  lettered   6    0 

Volney's  Ruins  of  Empires  and  Law  of 
Nature,  with  three  engravings.  1  vol., 
cloth  lettered 3    0 

(To  be  had  in  Five  parts  at  fid.  each,  or  in  15 
numbers  at  2d.  each.) 

Shelley's  Queen  Jlab,  with  all  the  notes,  1 

vol.,  cloth  lettered   I      6 

Ditto        ditto  wrapper    1     0 

Trevelyan's  Letter  to  Cardinal  Wiseman  . .     0     1 

The  Revolution  which  began  in  Heaven  :  a 

Dramatic  Vision  ot  Time,  oy  H.  Lucas  . .      0     6 

The  Freethinker's  Magazine,  in  ^  JNos.  at  2d., 
and  2  Nos.  at  fid. 
London !  James  Watson,  3,  Queen's  Head  Pas. 

sage.  Paternoster -row. 


32 


THE  REASONER. 


Mr.   Watson   will  soon  recover  entirely.     But  many  will  learn  with  regret,  that 
both  Mrs.  and  Mr.  Martin  have  suffered  in  health  a  long  time. 

Mr,  Holyoake  returned  to  town  on  Saturday  evening,  and  he  has  to  acknowledge  the 
various  newspaper  reports  chat  have  been  forwarded. 

A  M.  Gobin  was,  in  1826,  sentenced  in  France  to  six  months'  imprisonment,  and  a 
fine  of  600  francs,  for  accidentally  hitting  a  statue  of  the  Virgin  Mary,  while  shooting 
at  a  partridge. 

The  Times,  of  May  15,  says  that  '  It  is  not  perhaps  generally  known  that  the  men 
who  deserted  from  the  Cape  Mounted  Rifles  have  relapsed  from  Christianity  in  a  body, 
and  returned  to  their  original  Paganism,  the  labours  of  the  missionaries  having  been 
lost  upon  them;  and  the  knowledge  they  have  acquired  of  the  use  of  arms,  has  rendered 
them  more  dangerous  enemies  than  they  otherwise  would  have  been.' 

The  Bombay  papers  announce  the  decision  of  the  first  case  under  the  recent  Act, 
which  established  Liberty  of  Conscience  in  India.  A  man  of  the  name  of  Narayun 
Ramchunder  became  a  convert  to  the  Christian  faith,  but  could  not  prevail  on  his  wife 
to  follow  him,  and  she  in  consequence  separated  herself  from  him,  carrying  away  her 
child,  a  boy  of  seven  years  of  age.  Narayun  Ramchunder,  anxious  to  recover  posses- 
sion of  his  child,  instituted  a  suit  against  his  wife  before  the  Principal  Sudder  Ameen, 
That  officer  decreed,  that  the  plaintiff  by  adopting  Christianity  '  had  committed  no  act 
that  rendered  him  morally  unfit  for  the  exercise  of  the  natural  right  of  the  father  to  the 
guardianship  of  the  child,'  and  decreed  the  case  in  his  favour.  The  mother  of  the  boy 
appealed  to  the  judge  of  Ahmednuggur.  That  gentleman  being  more  deeply  versed  in 
the  peculiarities  of  Hindoo  ecclesiastical  law,  decided  that,  according  to  the  Shaster, 
'  a  Brahmin  renouncing  his  religion  becomes  an  outcast,  and  resigns  and  forfeits  all  his 
civil  rights,  comprising  the  guardianship  of  his  children  lawfully  begotten  prior  to  such 
renunciation.'  The  child  was,  therefore,  given  back  to  his  Hindoo  mother;  hut  the 
question  was  not  allowed  to  rest  here.  The  father  appealed  to  the  Sudder  Court  at 
Bombay,  and  in  the  meantime,  Act  21  of  1850,  the  much-abused  Lex  Loci,  had  become 
law.  The  sitting  judge  recorded  the  following  minute,  which  sets  the  question  finally 
at  rest,  and  will  be  gratefully  remembered  as  the  first  application  in  Bombay  of  the 
great  law  of  religious  freedom.  '  Since  the  Decree  now  appealed  against  was  passed, 
Act  21  of  1850  has  become  the  law  of  the  land.  This  law  clearly  provides,  that  any 
law  or  usage  that  inflicts  on  any  person,  forfeiture  of  rights  of  property  by  reason  of  his 
or  her  renouncing  the  communion  of  any  religion,  or  being  deprived  of  caste,  shall 
cease  to  be  enforced  as  law.  This  being  so,  it  appears  to  me  that  the  special  appellant 
under  the  existing  law  cannot  be  debarred  from  exercising  the  rights  of  a  parent  over 
his  infant  child,  by  reason  of  his  renunciation  of  the  Hindoo  religion,  but,  on  the  con- 
trary, is  entitled  to  all  the  natural  rights  and  privileges  of  a  parent.' 

Many  newspapers  addressed  to  Australia,  New  Zealand,  and  the  United  States  of 
America,  having  been  recently  detained  at  London,  in  consequence  of  the  postage  due 
for  their  conveyance  not  having  been  paid,  it  has  become  necessary  to  call  attention  to 
the  regulation  under  which  a  postage  of  one  penny,  either  in  money  or  by  stamp,  must 
be  paid  in  advance  upon  each  newspaper  sent  to  those  countries,  and  to  point  out  that, 
unless  such  postage  be  paid,  the  newspapers  cannot  be  forwarded.  Postmasters  desire 
the  utmost  publicity  to  be  given  to  this  announcement. 

London:  Printed  by  Holyoake  Brothers,  3,  Queen's  Head  Passage,  Paternoster-row;  and  Published 
by  J.  Watson,  3,  Queen's  Head  Passage,  Paternoster-row. — Wednesday,  May  28th,  1851. 


I 


AND 

THEOLOGICAL     EXAMINER. 

They  who  believe  that  they  have  Truth  ask  no  favour,  save  that  of  being  heard:  they  dare  the 
judgment  of  Mankind  :  refused  Co-operation,  they  invoke  Opposition,  for  Opposition  is  their 
Opportunity. — Editos. 

DEFENCE  OF  OPINION  AGAINST  THE  CLERGY  OF  LANCASTER. 


When  returning  from  Sheffield  last,  I  came  by  the  Great  Northern  line  from 
cariosity  to  see  it,  as  I  had  never  ridden  upon  it;  on  that  day  the  train  by  which 
I  should  have  come  up  the  Midland  failed  to  arrive  at  the  Euston  station  when 
due — some  accident  had  occurred.  On  going  to  Glasgow,  a  spring  under  the  car- 
riage in  which  I  sat  broke  in  the  night,  and  it  was  luckily  discovered  before  our 
necks  were  broken.  These  would  be  called  providential  interferences  if  they  hap- 
pened to  a  priest. 

Sometimes  I  relate  instances  in  which  I  enjoy  a  laugh  at  an  opponent's  cost ; 
I  will  relate  one  now  wherein  an  opponent  may,  if  he  pleases,  have  a  laugh  at  the 
expense  of  myself.  On  the  Sunday  morning  when  the  broken  spring  of  the  afore- 
said carriage  was  discovered,  we  were  desired  to  get  out.  On  doing  so,  I  asked 
one  on  the  platform  where  we  stopped  what  place  we  were  at.  '  Lancaster '  was 
the  reply.  It  had  so  happened  that  I  had  arranged  with  '  Julius  Aspirant,'  who 
had  corresponded  with  me,  and  whom  I  did  not  know,  to  meet  me  as  I  passed 
through,  and  talk  over  the  Rev.  Mr.  Fleming's  letter  in  the  Lancaster  Guardian. 
In  a  similar  manner,  and  for  a  similar  purpose,  I  was  to  meet  a  stranger  at  Car- 
lisle. That  I  might  be  known,  I  agreed  to  walk  on  the  platform  with  my  hat  in  my 
hand.  Getting  out  on  what  I  supposed  to  be  the  Lancaster  platform,  I  walked  up 
and  down  hatless.  It  was  scarcely  daybreak;  after  travelling  all  night  one  felt 
susceptible  of  the  cold,  and  the  blast  that  poured  down  from  bleak  hills  near 
assured  me  that  the  cold  was  no  delusion.  Seeing  no  one  as  I  expected,  I  took  a 
walk  townward,  while  the  new  carriage  was  found  and  connected  with  the  train. 
Having  selected  the  cofiFee  house  in  which  I  thought  they  kept  the  best  fires,  I  deter- 
mined to  take  up  quarters  there  when  I  went  to  reply  to  the  Rev.  Mr.  Fleming. 
Then,  standing  on  an  eminence,  I  looked  over  the  town  to  where  I  supposed  the 
reverend  gentleman's  parsonage  to  be  situated,  and  commenced  an  apostrophe  to 
that  unconscious  individual.  '  Is  not  ignorance  sometimes  bliss  ?'  I  exclaimed,  as 
I  contemplated  the  pious  lecturer  on  Infidel  literature  reposing  in  utter  ignorance 
that  the  enemy  (the  'arch  enemy,'  as  an  unsophisticated  deacon  declared  me  a  few 
weeks  ago)  was  so  near.  He  who  ought  to  have  been  on  his  watch-tower,  lest  the 
invader  should  break  into  Zion  like  a  thief  in  the  night,  was  reposing  in  indolent 
dreams.  But  no  doubt,  thought  I,  the  good  man  turneth  uneasily  on  his  bed  as 
the  shadow  of  the  Evil  One  falleth  upon  his  window,  darkening  his  room,  and 
disturbing  his  slumbers.  And  at  this  point  I  was  turning  into  a  soliloquy  that 
might  have  done  credit  to  Ossian,  when  a  huge,  bladder-faced  Hodge,  who  was 
running  down  to  the  station  to  meet  a  sweetheart  going  oflf  by  the  train,  precipitated 
himself  round  a  corner  against  me,  and  almost  knocked  me  over,  and  broke  my 
apostrophe  into  two  parts.  'Hallo,  old  fellow,'  I  ejaculated,  'where  are  you  off  to 
in  such  an  irregular  way?'    'To  the  Preston  station,'  he  answered;  'I  shall  be 


[No.  262.J 


[ONE  PENNY.] 


[No.  3,  Vol.  XI,] 


34  THE  REASONER. 


too  late.'  '  To  what  station?'  I  gasped;  '  what  place  is  this  ?'  '  Pbeston,'  he  re- 
plied, with  what  breath  he  had  left,  Aud  true  enough  it  was  ;  and  I  had  been 
apostrophising  my  reverend  opponent  at  Preston  instead  of  Lancaster.  Whether 
Mr.  Fleming  felt  any  inexplicable  uneasiness  that  morning  I  have  never  learned. 
I  am  afraid  not. 

It  seemed  like  bursting  upon  a  new  world,  as  we  passed  over  the  borders  of 
England  and  Scotland,  and  screamed  away  through  hill  and  dale  and  torrent,  as 
the  morning  broke  upon  the  wide  landscape  around,  and  the  sun,  like  the  smile  of 
affection  on  the  face  of  age,  fell  on  the  hoary  snow-clad  mountain  tops,  and  set 
their  white  faces  laughing  above  their  dark  and  solemn  breasts.  No  worshipper  in 
bird-cage  temples,  under  skies  of  smoke,  could  inspire  half  the  joy,  good-will,  and 
peace  which  the  beauty  of  such  a  morning  awakens.  By  the  time  I  did  reach 
Lancaster  I  had  forgotten  all  about  the  Rev.  Mr.  Fleming,  and  was  only  recalled 
to  a  consciousness  of  his  existence  by  the  appearance  of  my  friend, '  Julius  A.'  A 
fall  of  snow  obscured  everything  as  we  reached  Lanark,  but  sunshine  won  the 
victory  again,  and  by  one  o'clock  we  reached  Glasgow,  where  by  accident  it  was 
as  dry  as  bright.  A  party  of  friends  had  provided  a  cab  for  me  at  the  station, 
and  I  started  again  for  Paisley,  where  I  met  Pater  and  Mater  Glassford  aboat 
three  o'clock.  Thus  supping  at  my  own  table  in  London  on  Saturday  evening, 
I  was  in  time  to  dine  in  Paisley  the  next  afternoon. 

Passing  over  three  weeks  spent  in  Scotland,  of  which  I  shall  give  an  accoant, 
our  narrative  takes  us  to  Lancaster,  in  which  town  the  placards  have  appeared  as 
quoted  last  week.  Instead  of  any  Committee  being  formed,  as  I  had  hoped  would 
be  the  case,  I  found,  in  the  Lancaster  Gazette  of  May  17,  the  following  ominous 
welcome,  entitled 

'  INFIDEL    LECTURERS,    AND    HOW    TO    TREAT    THEM. 

'  With  feelings  of  grief,  not  unmixed  with  sentiments  of  another  kind,  we  have 
seen  announced  upon  the  waUs  of  our  town  the  delivery  of  a  series  of  lectures  in 
defence  of  atheistical  opinions.  We  find,  further,  by  the  same  advertisement, 
that  we  are  indebted  for  this  truly  pestilent  visitation  to  a  challenge  thrown  out  by 
the  Rev.  Mr.  Fleming,  minister  of  the  Independent  Chapel.  Mr.  Fleming  has  been 
engaged  in  lecturing  upon  inBdelity  in  the  town,  and  he  seems  to  have  made  some 
allusion  to  a  certain  publication  issued  by  one  Holyoake,  and,  either  at  the  time  or 
at  the  conclusion  of  his  lectures,  thought  proper  to  declare,  through  the  medium  of 
the  press,  that  if  the  person  called  Holyoake  felt  himself  aggrieved,  he  had  better 
come  down  to  Lancaster  and  maintain  his  cause,  and  he  (Mr.  Fleming)  would 
undertnke  to  answer  him.  Of  the  indiscretion  manifested  in  this  parade  of  de- 
fiance it  is  impossible  to  entertain  a  doubt.  Before  taking  such  a  step  Mr,  Fleming 
was  bound  to  consult  the  feelings  and  opinions  of  the  town.  We  feel  perfectly 
satisfied  that  if  Mr.  Fleming  had  condescended  to  make  the  necessary  inquiry  in 
this  regard,  he  would  have  found  a  thousand  voices  raised  against  a  course  of 
proceeding  so  obviously  injurious  to  the  best  interests  of  society.  The  man 
Holyoake  we  know  nothing  about,  but  we  will  answer  for  it  he  is  an  adept  at  his 
craft,  and  well  practised  in  the  art  of  making  the  worst  appear  the  better  reason. 
With  a  ready  tongue  and  a  well  stored  armoury  ot  infidel  weapons  at  command, 
such  a  man  will  never  want  hearers  or  (shame  to  think)  admirers,  whilst  human 
nature  continues  what  it  is.  The  way  to  defeat  the  purposes  of  the  professed 
atheist  is  never  to  defile  one's  sense  of  hearing  by  listening  to  his  satanic  sophis- 
tries :  for,  after  all,  the  main-spring  of  his  actions  is  human  pride,  and  that  ac- 
cursed attribute  of  our  fallen  condition  is  never  so  effectually  rebuked  as  when 


THE  REASONER.  35 


encountered  by  the  passive  resistance  of  a  contemptuous  neglect.  We,  therefore, 
beg  and  beseech  all  such  as  do  us  the  honour  to  read  our  paper,  to  abstain  from 
visiting  the  lecture  room.  It  is  enough  that  our  walls  should  be  disgraced  by  the 
placards  which  for  the  first  time  (thanks  to  Mr.  Fleming)  now  blaze  upon  their 
dishonoured  masonry.  The  only  chance  left  by  which  the  town  can  wipe  away  this 
disgrace  is  for  the  inhabitants  to  resolve,  as  one  man,  that  the  lecturer  shall  have 
the  lecture  room  to  himself — that  he  may  go  away  from  Lancaster,  enabled  to  say 
of  the  good  old  town  that  his  lectures  were  unattended  by  a  single  creature.  That 
is  the  way  to  treat  infidel  lecturers.  We  trust,  for  the  honour  of  the  town,  that  our 
humble  but  very  earnest  request  will  be  thought  worth  attending  to.  If,  on  the 
contrary,  the  infidel  lectures  should  be  attended  by  any  considerable  number 
of  listeners,  Mr.  Fleming  must  be  held  responsible  for  the  consequences.' 

It  is  clear  that  those  who  read  this  might  break  my  head,  with  the  impression 
that  they  were  saving  their  town  from  '  dishonour.'  Taught  to  regard  me  as  a 
'  pestilence,'  they  might  come  to  treat  me  as  one.  Yet  the  Gazette  represents  the 
Church  of  England  party.  The  clergy  of  this  Church  are  commonly  gentlemen 
by  birth,  and  ai*e  always  understood  to  be  so  by  education,  and  from  them  we  are 
accustomed  to  receive  courtesy  of  refutation  higher  than  their  Dissenting  rivals 
show  to  us.  Among  Dissenters  1  except  the  Unitarians,  whose  religion  in- 
cludes courtesy.  I  was  therefore  surprised  to  find  the  Gazette  descending  to 
so  much  rudeness  as  this  article  manifests. 

ThuLwas  certainly  a  very  curious  reception  to  give  a  stranger.  If  there  were 
not  tmfGuardian  in  the  same  place  to  exalt  the  character  of  letters  somewhat,  the 
public  would  have  an  extraordinary  notion  of  editorial  afi^ability  in  the  good  old 
town  of  Lancaster. 

But  I  was  far  more  surprised  to  find  in  another  Lancaster  newspaper,  the 
Guardian,  a  letter  from  the  Sev.  Mr.  Fleming,  to  the  same  purport,  but  after  a 
difierent  fashion.  What  will  the  English  public  say  to  the  following  communica- 
tion to  the  editor  of  the  Lancaster  Guardian'?  Had  I  invited  Mr.  Fleming  to 
meet  me  in  London,  the  best  Hall  at  my  command,  or  over  which  my  friends  had 
influence,  would  have  been  placed  at  his  disposal,  and  the  most  intelligent  and 
courteous  audience  we  could  have  invoked  should  have  been  summoned  to  greet  him. 

'the  rev.  me.  FLEMING  TO  THE  EDITOR  OF  THE  "LANCASTER  GUARDIAN." 

'  My  Dear  Sir, — I  see  it  is  assumed  in  the  hand-bill  announcing  the  lectures  to 
be  delivered  by  Mr.  Holyoake,  next  week,  that  I  shall  bjB  present  on  each  occasion, 
to  reply  to  what  is  advanced.  I  have  no  such  intention;  and  nothing  that  I  have 
said  or  written  in  connection  with  the  present  discussion  warrants  any  such  ex- 
pectation. Moreover,  I  have  other  views  of  Christianity  than  to  risk  its  defence 
in  opposition  to  what  may  be  urged  against  it,  in  a  hurried  and  oflf-hand  speech  at 
ten  o'clock  at  night.  And  this  Mr.  Holyoake  must  or  ought  to  have  known.  The 
announcement,  therefore,  that  "each  night  an  opportunity  will  be  afi'orded  to  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Fleming  to  reply,"  is,  as  it  stands,  a  mere  bait  to  ensure  an  audience.  But 
though  I  have  no  intention  of  replying  to  Mr.  Holyoake  in  the  way  that  he  evidently 
wishes  me  to  do,  and  though  in  consequence  of  other  important  engagements,  I 
fear  I  shall  not  even  have  the  opportunity  of  hearing  him,  I  yet  abide  by  all  that 
I  have  written,  and  in  due  season  will  show  that  "I  am  prepared  to  reply  to  him, 
and  vindicate  the  claims  of  Christianity  against  all  he  may  advance  against  them." 

'  Sir,  I  cheerfully  concede  to  Mr.  Holyoake  the  right  of  holding  what  opinions 
he  pleases.     Against  that  I  have  nothing  to  say.     The  right  of  private  judgment 


36  THE  REASONER. 


to  the  fullest  possible  extent,  is  his,  and  every  one's.  Still,  in  the  exercise  of  this 
right,  I  believe  he  has  grievously  and  fatally  erred.  Many  of  the  opinions  he 
holds,  on  questions  of  the  greatest  vital  importance,  and  which  he  is  most  assiduous 
in  propagating,  I  regard  as  most  dangerous.  That  your  readers  may  have  some 
idea  of  thena,  I  submit  to  their  consideration  the  following,  extracted  from  his 
printed  writings.  "  It  seems  to  me  that  there  is  nothing  in  Christianity  that  will 
bear  the  test  of  discussion  or  the  face  of  day :"  "  Nor  am  I  a  believer  in  the  in- 
spiration of  the  Bible.  That  which  so  often  falls  below  the  language  of  men,  I 
cannot,  without  disrespect,  suppose  to  be  the  language  of  God  :"  "  Surely  we  must 
see  that  sin  against  God  is  impossible  :"  "  I  have  seen  the  falsity  of  the  Christian 
system;  my  mind  is  made  up  upon  it :"  "I  will  undertake  to  show,  and  I  think 
satisfactorily,  that  the  morality  of  Jesus  Christ  is  not  that  which  we  can  safely 
follow,  or  profitably  hold  up  for  example:"  "  I  therefore  repeat  that  the  best  cha- 
racter in  the  New  Testament,  if  imitated,  becomes  an  ill  example  :"  "  It  seems  to 
me  that  Nature  and  God  are  one — in  other  words,  that  the  God  whom  we  seek  is 
the  Nature  which  we  know  :"  "  If  there  be  a  God,  it  is  that  Nature  which  every- 
where surrounds  us  :"  "When  man  sinks,  it  is  into  the  bosom  of  Nature:"  "I  am 
an  Atheist,  and  the  pulpits  tell  you  that  he  who  so  avows  himself  must  be,  to  use 
a  phrase  of  their  own,  diabolical." 

'These,  Sir,  are  the  opinions  of  Mr.  Holyoake,  which  I  submit  to  the  public 
through  your  columns,  because  the  question,!  find,  is  asked,  "What  does  he  teach?" 
What  encouragement  ought  to  be  given  to  the  advocacy  and  promulgation j^f  such 
opinions,  I  will  not  now  say.  An  opportunity  of  doing  so  will  soon  be  en^yed  by 
me.  I  leave  it,  therefore,  with  my  fellow-townsmen  themselves  to  judge  of  the 
course  that  ought  to  be  pursued  by  them  in  this  matter. 

'Sir,  I  regard  it  as  a  very  fortunate  occurrence  that  the  evening  on  which  these 
sentiments  are  first  openly  taught  and  advocated  among  us,  is  the  anniversary- 
meeting  of  our  Auxiliary  Bible  Society.  At  the  very  moment  the  Scriptures  are 
denounced  and  held  up  to  public  scorn  as  fictitious  and  false,  in  Market  Street, 
the  truthfulness,  and  divinity,  and  preciousness  of  the  Bible,  will  be  advocated  by 
intelligent,  and  holy,  and  earnest  Christian  men,  in  St.  Leonard  Gate.  It  is  surely 
not  too  much  to  say  that  I  hope  all  who  love  and  value  God's  own  word  will  en- 
deavour to  give  personal  countenance  to  that  anniversary,  and  thereby  show  that 
they  prize  the  Scriptui-es,  and  are  determined  to  sustain  that  noble  institution  in 
its  soul-saving  eiforts,  which  is  one  of  the  grand  bulwarks  of  our  day  against  the 
advances  of  infidelity,  lawlessness,  and  crime. 

'  Greenfield,  May  16,  1851.  James  Fleming.' 

How  could  I  help  using  his  name  on  the  placards  ?  Pledged  to  go  to  Lancaster 
to  defend  my  opinions  against  the  Rev.  Mr.  Fleming,  how  could  the  inhabitants 
know  that  I  was  come  to  fulfil  my  promise  unless  I  told  them  so  ?  How  could  I 
do  less  than  offer  Mr.  Fleming  '  an  opportunity  to  reply  ?'  What  would  he  have 
said  had  I  refused  him  an  opportunity  ?  How  could  I  help  thinking  that  he 
would  be  present?  He  publicly  announced  that  'he  would  defend  Christianity 
against  all  that  I  should  advance  against  it ;'  how,  therefore,  was  he  to  know  satis- 
factorily what  I  advanced,  or  how  reply  to  me,  if  he  never  meant  to  come  near? 
Then  what  justification  had  he  for  representing  me,  not  as  one  who  entered  Lan- 
caster for  the  vindication  of  conscientious  opinion,  but  as  a  trickster  who  sought 
baits  to  catch  pence  ? 

Moreover,  as  Mr.  Fleming  had  accused  me  before  the  public  of  LancaBter  of 
writing  'immoral'  publications,  why  should   he  invite  that  public  to  a  Bible 


THE  REASONER.  37 


Society  meeting  on  the  night  when  I  opened  my  defence  against  his  charges  ?  As 
a  gentleman  he  ought  rather  to  have  encouraged  that  audience  who  listened  to  his 
charge  to  be  present  at  my  reply.  Must  we  conclude  that  to  be  a  Christian  is  in- 
compatible with  the  generous  amenities  of  life  ?  Without  knowing  me,  without 
having  heard  me,  he  tells  the  people  of  Lancaster  that  I  should  hold  up  the  Bible 
to  '  public  icorn.^  Scorn  implies  derision  and  contempt.  Why  should  my  simple 
and  earnest  dissent  from  the  received  interpretation  of  scripture  be  painted  so 
offensively  as  is  here  done  ?  Is  Mr.  Fleming  incapable  of  distinguishing  between 
respectful  and  derisive  states  of  feeling?  If  he  is  not,  he  ought  to  cease  to  write 
about  them;  if  he  is,  he  ought  to  have  observed  more  justice.  But  worse  than 
this,  he  associates  '  infidelity  '  with  '  lawlessness  and  crime.^  Thus  he  not  only 
excited  against  me  the  prpjudices  of  the  Christian,  but  he  made  me  an  object  of 
suspicion  to  the  civil  magistrate. 

When  this  aspect  of  things  was  known  to  others,  they  advised  me  not  to  go  to 
Lancaster,  deeming  it  rushing  on  destruction  or  injury — '  into  the  lion's  mouth,' 
etc,  I  thought  so  too,  but  that  did  not,  under  the  circumstances,  seem  to  me  a 
sufficient  reason  for  stopping  away.  So  far  as  I  could  learn,  no  lectures  of  the 
kind  I  announced  had  ever  been  delivered  in  Lancaster ;  and,  from  these  notes  of 
preparation,  Itexpected  that  forcible  means  would  be  taken  to  prevent  these.  This 
sort  of  letters  has,  in  our  experience,  often  been  the  preFnde  of  violence,  nor  in 
this  case  were  there  wanting  ominous  signs.  The  Odd-Fellows,  who  let  their 
Hall  to  Mr.  Fleming — for  it  was  in  their  Hall  he  made  the  attack — refused  it  to 
me  to  defend  myself  in.  On  me,  a  past  officer  of  their  Order,  whose  lectures  they 
listen  to  on  taking  every  degree — to  me,  to  whom  they  had  sworn,  in  the  faith  of 
the  Order,  to  succour  and  help  as  a  Brother — on  me  they  closed  the  doors  of  their 
Hall  when  I  was  a  stranger  in  their  streets.  This  was  one  of  the  instances  in 
which  the  brotherhood  of  faith  destroys  the  brotherhood  of  man. 

One  place  was  obtained — the  singing  room  of  an  inn.  But,  immediately  it  was 
announced  as  taken,  two  letters  were  sent  to  the  proprietor  to  induce  him  to  cancel 
his  word  and  refuse  me.  Also,  he  was  waited  on,  I  believe,  by  a  member  of  Mr. 
Fleming's  congregation,  who  offered  the  proprietor  themoney  he  had  let  his  room  for 
if  he  would  close  the  doors  against  me.  And  I  began  to  see,  in  more  ways  than  one, 
that  though  I  was  invited  to  Lancaster  I  was  not  welcome.  At  this  point  I  sent 
instructions  that  no  money  should  be  spared,  and  that  any  demands  should  be  met 
instantly;  and  I  supplied  money  to  meet  any  increase  of  charge  that  printer,  or 
poster,  or  anybody  might  make  or  need  in  their  reluctance  or  fear  to  supply  me 
with  the  conveniences  I  required.  I  ordered  the  best  place  to  be  secured  that 
could  be  had,  so  that  my  opponent  might  have  no  excuse  that  want  of  respecta- 
bility in  the  place  was  the  reason  of  his  keeping  away.  All  letters  for  me  I 
ordered  to  be  addressed  to  the  post  office,  that  my  own  retreat  might  remain  a 
secret  if  need  be.  On  this  account  my  intention  of  living  at  the  Royal  Oak  was 
changed,  as  I  feared  they  might  treat  me  rudely ;  and  when  I  reached  there  I 
ordered  a  fly  and  drove  to  the  outskirts  of  the  town,  and  asked  permission  to  stay 
with  an  obscure  but  honest  family.  It  was  not  without  apprehension  as  to  the  in- 
convenience that  might  result  as  to  their  future  employment  that  they  consented. 
The  old  gentleman  I  engaged  as  my  servant,  and  I  promised  him  the  fullest  pro- 
tection if  harm  accrued  to  him.  The  door-keeper  I  paid  at  the  rate  of  a  box- 
keeper  of  a  theatre.  On  the  first  night  he  was  knocked  down  by  two  rude  fellows, 
who  refused  to  pay  him  the  advertised  admission.  G.  J.  Holyoake. 

[To  be  continued.] 


38  THE  REASONER. 


(SyKminatian  al  tl)c  )9r££s. 


Rights  op  Women  in  America. — The  following  are  extracts  from  a  letter 
which  has  been  received  by  Mr.  Owen  from  his  eldest  son,  Robert  Dale  Owen. 
The  letter  is  dated  Indianopolis,  Feb.  25, 1851: — I  sit  down,  my  dear  father,  at  the 
close  of  the  hardest  winter's  work  I  have  ever  gone  through  in  my  life,  to  give  you 
some  idea  of  its  character  and  results.     All  our  States,  you  may  remember,  have 
written  constitutions,  embodying  not  only  the  great  general  principles  upon  which 
the  State  governments  are  founded,  but  also  briefly  setting  forth,  in  many  details, 
what  it  is  judged  wise  not  to  leave  open  to  the  annual  chances  of  changeful  legis- 
lation.    These  constitutions  usually  remain  unchanged  for  a  considerable  term  of 
years ;  a  quarter  to  half  a  century.     Ours  has  remained  wholly  unchanged   for 
thirty-four  years.     When  they  are  changed  it   is  by  a  vote  of  the  people  in  their 
primary  assemblies.     Last  year  a  Convention  was  called  for  the  purpose  of  chang- 
ing our  constitution,  or  organic  law,  as  it  is  sometimes  termed  ;  and,  as  you  know 
I  was  elected  a  delegate.     Our  Session  commenced  on  the  7th  of  October,  and 
terminated  on  the  10th  of  February ;  and  I  have  sent  you,  in  the  Indiana  State 
Sentinel,  the  result.     It  will  be  submitted  to  the  people  next  August';  and  there  is 
little  or  no  doubt   that  it  will  be  adopted  by  a  very  large  majority;  for  it  seems  to 
give  the  greatest  satisfaction.     We  had  eighteen  standing  Committees,  to  each  of 
whom  one  branch,  or  class  of  subject,  was  entrusted,  to  be  matured  and  reported. 
And  the  chairmen  of  all  these  Committees  constituted  a  Committee  of  'Arrange- 
ment and  Revision.'     I  was  appointed  chairman  of  the  two  principal  Committees. 
The  Committee  on  the  '  Rights  and  Privileges  of  the  Inhabitants  of  the  State,' 
and  the  Committee  on  '  Revision,'  consisting  of  the  eighteen  chairmen.     Of  course 
I  was  compelled  by  my  position — even  if  inclination  had  not  urged  me — to  take  a 
leading  part  in  thedelibej-ations  and  divisions  of  the  Convention.     Of  course,  1  was 
the  object  of  frequent  attack  ;  but  I  believe  that  even  my  opponents  admitted — to 
use  a  common  phrase  amongst  us — that  they  *  didn't  make  much  of  me.'     I  brought 
forward   a   proposition   securing  to  women  after  maifiage   their  own  property, 
instead  of  sufifering  it  to  merge,  as  by  the  common  law  it  does,  in  the  husband. 
This,  as  you  may  suppose,  was  met  by  some  of  the  sticklers  for  old  custom,  as  a 
terrible  innovation,  calculated  to  uproot  the  foundations  of  society,  destroy  the 
harmony  of  the  domestic  circle,  invade  the  sanctity  of  the  marriage  relation,  and  a 
great  deal  more  of  the  same  nonsense.     I  succeeded,  nevertheless,  in   carrying 
through  the  provision  in  question,  in  somewhat  varying  forms,  three  several  times 
by  deliberate  vote  of  ayes  and  noes.     Each  time  it  was  reconsidered,  and  it  was 
finally  lost.     This  was  chiefly  eflfected  by  the  influence   of  the  Church.    Several 
clergymen  in  this  city  attacked  the  proposal,  aud  me  by  name  as  its  author,  openly 
in  their  sermons  ;  and  succeeded  in  scaring  a  few  timid  spirits  who  turned  the  scale 
against  us.     The  question  on  final  passage  was  ultimately  lost  by  five  votes  only 
in  a  body  of  150. — Robert  Oweii's  Journal. 

Priests  no  Reformers. —  Goldsmith  appeared  to  entertain  fto  very  exalted 
opinion  of  the  priesthood,  for  in  Letter  10  of  the  '  Citizen  of  the  World  '  he  says, 
'  In  every  country  the  bonzes,  the  brachmans,  and  the  priests,  deceive  the  people  ; 
all  reformations  begin  from  the  laity  ;  the  priests  point  us  out  the  way  to  heaven 
with  their  fingers,  but  stand  still  themselves,  nor  seem  to  travel  towards  the  coun- 
try in  view.' 


THE  REASONER. 


39 


€{ie    (Batlfalic   Paltts* 


A  TRUE  British  Protestant,  whose  no- 
tions of  '  Popery '  are  limited  to  what 
he  hears  from  an  Evangelical  curate  or 
has  seen  at  the  opening  of  a  Jesuit 
church,  looks  on  the  whole  system  as  an 
obsolete  mummery;  and  no  more  be- 
lieves that  men  of  sense  can  seriously 
adopt  it,  than  that  they  will  be  converted 
to  the  practice  of  eating  their  dinner 
with  a  Chinaman's  chop-sticks  instead  of 
the  knife  and  fork.  He  pictures  to  him- 
self a  number  of  celibate  gentlemen, 
who  glide  through  a  sort  of  minuet  by 
candle-light  around  the  altar,  and  wor- 
ship the  creature  instead  of  the  Creator, 
and  keep  the  Bible  out  of  everybody's 
way,  and  make  people  easy  about  their 
sins  :  and  he  is  positive  that  no  one 
above  a  '  poor  Irishman  '  can  fail  to  see 
through  such  nonsense. 

Few  even  of  educated  Englishmen 
have  any  suspicion  of  the  depth  and 
solidity  of  the  Catholic  dogma,  its  wide 
and  various  adaptation  to  wants  inefface- 
able from  the  human  heart,  its  wonder- 
ful fusion  of  the  supernatural  into  the 
natural  life,  its  vast  resources  for  a 
powerful  hold  upon  the  conscience.  "We 
doubt  whether  any  single  Reformed 
Church  can  present  a  theory  of  religion 
comparable  with  it  in  comprehensive- 
ness, in  logical  coherence,  in  the  well- 
guarded  disposition  of  its  parts.  Into 
this  interior  view,  however,  the  popular 
polemics  neither  give  nor  have  the 
slightest  insight :  and  hence  it  is  a  com- 
mon error  both  to  underrate  the  natural 
power  of  the  Romisii  scheme,  aijd  to 
mistake  the  quarter  in  which  it  is  most 
likely  to  be  felt.  It  is  not  among  the 
ignorant  and  vulgar,  but  among  the  in- 
tellectual and  imaginative — not  by  ap- 
peals to  the  senses  in  worship,  but  by 
consistency  and  subtlety  ""of  thought — 
that  in  our  days  converts  will  be  made 
to  the  ancient  Church.  We  have  re- 
ceded far  from  the  Reformation  by  length 
of  time  :  the  management  ot  the  contro- 
versy has  degenerated  :  it  has  been  de- 
based by  political  passions,  and  turned 
upon  the  grossest  external  features  of 
the  case  :  and  when  a  thoughtful  man, 
accustomed  to  defer  to  historical  autho- 
rity, and  competent  to  estimate  moral 
theories  as  a  whole,  is  led  to  peuetrate 


beneath  the  surface,  he  is  unprepared 
for   the   sight   of  so   much    speculative 
grandeur,  and,  if  he  have  been  a  mere 
Anglican  or  Lutheran,  is  perhaps   as- 
tonished into  the  conclusion,   that   the 
elder  system   has   the  advantage  in  phi- 
losophy and  antiquity  alike.     From  this 
among  other  causes,  we  incline  to  think 
that  the  Roman   Catholic  reaction  may 
proceedconsiderably  further  in  this  coun- 
try ere  it  receives  any  effectual  check. 
The  academical  training  and  the  clerical 
teaching  of  the  upper  classes  have  not 
qualified  them  to  resist  it.    At  the  other 
end  of  society  there  are  large  masses 
who  cannot  be  considered  inaccessible 
to  any  missionary  influence, affectionately 
and  perseveringly  applied.  Not  all  men, 
in  a  crowded  community,  are  capable  of 
the   independence,  the  self-subsistence, 
without  which  Protestantism  sinks  into 
personal  anarchy.     The  class  of  weak, 
dependent  characters,  that  cannot  stand 
alone  in  the   struggle  of  life,  are  unpro- 
vided for  in  the  modern  system  of  the 
world.     The  co-operative  theorist  tries 
to  take  them  up.    But  somehow  or  other 
he  is  usually  a  man  with   whom,  by  a 
strange  fatality,  co-operation  is  impos- 
sible :  intent   on    uniting   all   men,   yet 
himself  not  agreeing  with  any;  with  in- 
dividuality so  intense  and  exclusive,  that 
it  produv:es  all  the  effect  of  intolerant 
selt-will;  nnd  thus  the  very  plans  which 
by  his  hypothesis  are  inevitable,  are  by 
his  temper    made   impracticable.       He 
appeals,  however,   and    successfully,  to 
the  uneasiness  felt  by  the  feeble  in  the 
strife  and  pressure  of  the  world  :  he  fills 
the  imaginatiftn  with   visions  of  repose 
and  sympathy  :  he  awakens  the  craving 
for  unity  and  iucorpoi'ation  in  some  vast 
and  sustaining  society.     And  whence  is 
this  desire,  disappointed  of  its  first  pro- 
mise, to  obtain  its   satisfaction  ?     Is  it 
impossible  that  it  may  accept  proposals 
from  the  most  ancient,  the  most  august, 
the    most   gigantic   organisation   which 
the  world  has  ever  seen  ? — that  it  may 
take  refuge  in  a  body  which  invests  in- 
digence  with   sanctity — -which  cares  for 
its  members  one   by  one — which  has  a 
real  past  instead  ot  a  fancied  future,  and 
warms  the  mind  with  the  colouring  of 
rich  traditions — which,  in  providing  for 


40 


THE  REASONER. 


the  poorest  want  of  the  moment,  enrolls 
the  disciple  in  a  Commonwealth  spread 
through  all  ages  and  both  worlds  ? 
Whatever  socialistic  tendency  may  be 
diflfused  through  the  English  mind  is 
not  unlikely,  in  spite  of  a  promise  dia- 
metrically opposite,  to  turn  to  the  advan- 
tage of  the  Catholic  cause.  The  middle 
classes  of  this  country,  and  the  foremost 
ranks  of  the  artisans,  have  been  so 
thoroughly  cast  in  a  Protestant  mould, 
and  so  jealously  vindicate  their  sturdy 
individuality,  that  no  reaction  from 
Rome  will  aifect  them  with  any  feelings 
but  of  amazement  and  contempt.  Still, 
in  the  peculiar  combinations  of  the  pre- 
sent period,  materials  enough  exist  in 
England  for  the  successful  operations  of 
a  well-equipped,  devoted,  and  skilful 
priesthood ;  and  if  the  prudence  of  Rome 
has  failed  her  as  to  the  mamier  of  her 
recent  advance,  her  true  instinct  has 
perhaps  detected  the  right  moment.  It 
must  be  admitted  that  his  Holiness  has 
thoroughly  puzzled  the  English  people. 
It  is  not  clear  to  them  how  they  should 
comport  themselves  towards  his  preten- 
sions. They  have  objections  to  arro- 
gance at  all  times ;  and  when  an  Italian 
Priest  meddles  with  their  national  geo- 
graphy, disposes  of  their  counties,  draws 
lines  around  their  cities,  and,  fixing  an 
admiring  eye  on  the  unfurnished  cathe- 
drals of  Westminster  and  Beverley, 
supplies  bishops  for  their  future  adorn- 
ment— they  feel  inclined  at  least  to  let 
him  know  that  they  are  here,  and  that 
England  is  not  an  unoccupied  colony  to 
be  parcelled  out  among  his  flock.  But 
they  read  Cardinal  Wiseman's  Appeal, 
and  become  convinced  that,  if  anything 
is  amiss,  it  is  their  own  fault ;  for  that 
apparently  nothing  has  been  done  beyond 
the  fair  scope  of  law.  Thin  it  is  useless 
to  be  angry,  unless  they  alter  the  law; 
yet  to  repent  of  what  they  did  with  a 
purpose  of  justice,  and  in  a  temper  of 
generous  trust — to  recall  their  deliberate 
concession  of  free  religious  development 
— to  resume  again  the  detestable  policy 
of  theologic  legislation — is  a  course 
which  they  would  feel  ashamed  to  con- 
template. Moreover,  in  such  a  course, 
it  is  equally  diflicult  to  know  how  to 
begin  and  where  to  stop.  To  legislate 
about  mere  naums  and  titles,  apart  from 
the  functions  they  denote,  would  be  a 
helpless  expression  of  childish  irrita- 
tion :  to  prohibit  the  offices  themselves 


would  be  to  drive  a  wounding  law  into 
the  interior  structure  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  church. 

If  Catholicism  be  a  superstition,  that 
is  no  reason  for  interfering  with  it  by 
law Whether  its  solution  of  ques- 
tions of  divinity  be  wiser  or  more  foolish 
than  that  of  the  Protestant  Confessions, 
is  a  matter  with  which  the  state  has  no 
concern.  It  may  go  astray  on  all  the 
topics  of  the  Thirty-nine  Articles — may 
blaspheme  in  its  prayers  to  the  '  Mother 
ot  God  ' — may  be  idolatrous  in  the  mass 
and  pagan  in  the  ritual,  without  justify- 
ing the  slightest  legislative  check.  Were 
it  heietical  as  Antichrist,  and  false  as 
the  scarlet  abomination, its  career  should 
run  tree  of  the  Attorney- General.  Eng- 
lishmen enjoy  —  as  inseparable  from 
freedom  of  conscience— unlimited  right 
of  error  and  delusion.  There  is  (or  re- 
cently was)  an  establishment  near  Lon- 
don for  the  adoration  of  the  Vital  Prin- 
ciple ;  where  it  is  the  most  serious  of 
crimes  to  eat  beef,  a  deplorable  infirmity 
to  cut  a  cabbage,  and  the  height  of  holi- 
ness to  live  on  apples  ripely  dropping 
into  the  expectant  aprons  of  devotees. 
The  disciples  of  Mr.  Holyoake  under- 
take the  propaganda  of  Atheism.  The 
Book  of  Mormon  succeeds  among  thou- 
sands in  the  North  to  all  the  honours 
of  the  Bible.  And  a  nation  which  is 
wise  enough  to  leave  all  these  things  un- 
molested by  coercive  check,  cannot  aban- 
don its  forbearance  in  dealing  with  the 
confessional  and  the  eucharistic  sacrifice. 
If  the  Latter-day  Saints  may  organise 
their  staff  of  '  Angels,'  and  send  them, 
in  the  name  of  Joe  Smith,  to  baptise 
converted  potters  and  believing  house- 
maids in  the  waters  of  every  large  river  ; 
the  Catholics  cannot,  on  any  charge  of 
superstition,  be  denied  their  order  of 
Bishops,  lor  the  supervision  of  the 
priesthood  and  the  governance  of  their 
faithful.  After  tolerating  so  much  new 
nonsense,  we  have  lost  all  plea  for  grow- 
ing angry  with  the  old. 

But,  in  fairness  to  the  Protestant  feel- 
ing, it  should  never  be  forgotten  that 
the  Roman  Catholic  system  presents  a 
feature  absent  from  every  other  variety 
of  Nonconformity,  It  is  not  a  Religion 
only,  but  a  Polity — and  this  in  a  very 

peculiar  sense You  might  differ  from 

John  Knox  about  Synods,  without  pre- 
judice to  your  agreement  in  all  else.  But 
with  the  Romish  Church  it  is  different. 


THE  REASONER. 


41 


It  is  not  that  her  religion  contains  a 
Polity,  but  that  her  Polity  contains  the 
whole  religion.  The  truths  she  pub- 
lishes exist  only  as  in  its  keeping,  and 
rest  only  on  its  guarantee ;  and  if  yon 
invalidate  it.  they  would  vanish,  like  the 
promissory  notes  of  a  corporation  whose 

charter   was   proved   false Simple 

people  imagine  that  theocratic  claims 
are  harmless  because  they  refer  only  to 
spiritual  matters.  Cardinal  Wiseman 
assures  the  Dean  and  Chapter  of  West- 
minster, that  he  does  not  covet  their 
Abbey,  or  begrudge  their  revenues,  or 
dream  of  meddling  with  their  congrega- 
tion. He  only  wants  to  be  a  city  mis- 
sionary, and  carry  light  and  consolation 
into  noisome  courts  and  alleys,  where 
Protestant  influence  cannot  penetrate. 
He  and  his  episcopal  brethren  have  no 
other  function  than  to  see  that  the  'poor 
Irish '  say  their  prayers — that  the  priests 
are  diligent  in  their  calling — that  the 
altars  have  clean  cloths,  and  the  broken 
crucifixes  get  repaired.  They  administer 
in  a  kingdom  that  is  not  of  this  world  : 
and  never  can  quit  their  quiet  sphere  to 
enter  into  the  affairs  of  civil  life.  Hu- 
man interests  and  institutions  are  no 
more  in  danger  from  them  than  from 
the  angels  in  heaven.  We  believe  this 
to  be  said  in  perfect  good  faith,  from  the 
Catholic  point  of  view ;  and  for  the  hour 
to  be  true  even  from  the  Protestant. 
Bat  before  we  concede,  upon  this  plea, 
the  demand  of  every  church  to  perfect 
Autonomy — before  we  turn  away  with 
the  careless  assurance  that  these  cleri- 
cal matters  are  no  affair  of  ours,  it 
might  be  well  to  know  how  and  where 
the  line  is  to  be  drawn  between  tem- 
poral and  spiritual  things.  Evfcu  in 
the  reformed  churches  this  boundary 
has   been  a  topic   of    serious    dispute. 

But,   on    the    Catholic    map    of 

this  universe,  no  such  line  is  found  at 
all;  or  if  it  seems  to  be  there,  it  is  but 
as  the  shadow  of  a  window-frame,  throw- 
ing its  bar  across  the  sheet,  and  shitting 
as"  the  sun  of  ecclesiastic  glory  rises  or 
declines.  What  is  temporal  in  England 
is  spiritual  in  Spain ;  what  belongs  to 
the  kingdoms  of  this  world  in  the  nine- 
teenth century,  belonged  to  the  kingdom 
of  heaven  in  the  sixteenth.  Dejure,  the 
divine  commission  extends  to  everything, 
and  might  absorb  this  planet  into  the 
Papal  state :  de  facto,  it  includes  what  it 
can,  and  stops  where  it  must To  re- 


cede with  passive  resistance  in  every 
step,  to  advance  with  active  pressure  in 
every  opeu  direction,  is  the  policy  of  a 
priesthood  that  never  dies. 

During  the  last  thirty  years  there  has 
been,  till  lately,  a  constant  retreat  of  legis- 
lation from  its  interference  with  the  pri- 
vate will;  trum  the  press, tVoni commerce, 
from  litigation,  from  religion,  restric- 
tions have  been  removed ;  and  the  notion 
hiis  become  current  that  the  State  has 
nothing  to  do  but  to  protect  '  body  and 
goods.'  So  long  as  such  an  idea  retains 
its  i.  fluence,  and  government  attempts 
no  more  than  to  stop  thett  and  keep  the 
peace,  it  can  scarce  come  into  collision 
with  any  priesthood,  and  no  apprehen- 
sion of  any  interference  will  exist :  the 
two  rivals  are  for  the  time  on  different 
walks,  and  will  not  meet.  The  vicar 
apostolic  does  not  aspire  to  be  constable, 
or  the  lord-lieutenant  to  perform  ex- 
treme unction.  But  the  time  comes  of 
inevitable  reaction  against  our  exag- 
gerated trust  in  individual  self-guidance: 
fever  and  pauperism  in  cities,  sullen  in- 
digence in  the  country,  excessive  work  in 
factories,  and  juvenile  ignorance  every- 
where compel  us,  as  a  community,  to  en- 
large our  aims  and  embrace  some  moral 
ends.  Reformatory  discipline  is  at- 
tempted in  the  prison;  inoustrial  train- 
ing in  the  Puor  Law  Unions ;  public 
grants  are  made  for  education  ;  and  in 
Ireland,  hrst,  common  schools,  next,  lay 
colleges  are  created  under  sanction  of 
Parliament.  Xo  sooner  does  this  nobler 
statesmanship  begin  to  take  effect,  than 
the  politician  is  told  that  he  is  trespass- 
ing on  the  churchmen's  ground.  Who 
but  the  priest  can  undertake  the  '  cure 
of  souls  ?'  Who  biit  he  distinguish 
their  medicine  from  their  poison  ?  Who 
else  has  a  right  to  care  about  God's  poor  ? 
Are  the  Catholic  youth  to  read  history 
without  a  spiritual  guide  at  their  elbow, 
to  tell  them  whom  to  canonise  and  whom 
to  hate  ? — and  to  learn  geology  without 
the  art  of  squeezing  the  epochs  within 
orthordox  dimensions  ?  And  to  study 
astronomy  without  warning  from  the 
contumacy  of  Galileo  ?  No  :  vested  in- 
terests of  the  holiest  kind  pre-occupy 
the  territory  of  knowledge ;  no  plough 
shall  touch,  no  harvest  insult,  its  special 
right  of  eternal  barrenness.  And  so, 
amid  a  pageantry,  and  with  a  secrecy 
fitted  to  mystify  a  dead  of  darkness,  the 
Irish     Episcopate     hold    a    Synod    at 


42 


THE  REASONER. 


Thurles ;  resolve  to  quench  the  best 
light  of  promise  that  for  many  a  oenera- 
tion  has  been  lifted  above  the  storm  of 
faction ;  and  surmising  with  sure  instinct, 
that  what  brings  the  nation  to  port, 
must  bring  the  priesthood  to  wreck,  they 
repent  of  the  prospect  of  repose,  and 
steer  the  vessel  right  back  into  the 
tempest. 

And  so,  in  proportion  as   legislation 

rises   above   matters   of   police, and 

attempts  beneficent  prevention,  instead 
of  posthumous  infliction;  just  therefore 
when  it  begins  to  interest  the  moral  feel- 
ing of  the  nation,  and  attest  the  growth 
of  higher  sentiments,  does  the  altar  ap- 
pear to  bar  the  way,  and  the  priest 
declares  that  all  within  the  rail  is  his. 
At  the  moment  and  in  the  act  of  aspiring 
to  a  nobler  life,  the  State  is  blocked  out 
and  spurned  as  most  profane.  So  has 
it  always  been  with  that  proud  church : 
and  so  it  must  ever  be.  Yet,  strange  to 
say,  all  this  may  be  without  fault,  with- 
out pride,  in  individuals.  It  involves 
no  reproach  to  private  believers  or  to 
official  guides.  They  are  entangled  in  a 
net  whose  threads  have  shot  out  fibres 
into  their  wills,  and  penetrated  the  very 
substance  of  their  souls The  ar- 
rogance of  5iome  is  something  imper- 
sonal ;  it  is  a  function  of  her  organism,  a 
law  of  her  ecclesiastic  life.  It  utters  it- 
self alike  trom  the  lips  of  the  meekest  and 
the  most  insolent  of  her  prelates,  and 
whether  acting  through  the  energy  of 
Hildebrand,  the  frivolity  of  Leo  the 
Tenth,  or  the  saintly  virtues  of  Pius  the 
Fifth,  never  permits  you  to  forget  the 
'Vicar  of  Christ.'  It  is  in  the  very 
atmosphere  of  her  traditions.  Like  the 
wind  which,  in  crossing  the  ocean,  distils 
its  surface,  taking  up  the  pure  water  and 
leaving  the  brine ;  these  traditions, 
sweeping  over  the  ages,  absorb  every 
glory  and  omit  all  the  shame :  and  the 
temper  which  they  nourish  is  the  ac- 
cumulated product  of  a  history  which  for- 
gets no  victory  and  dwells  on  no  defeat. 
But  the  social  operation  of  this  spirit  is 
not  alleviated  by  its  absence,  as  a  per- 
sonal disposition,  from  the  individual 
heart.  It  cannot  be  untrue  to  its  ten- 
dency. A  system  pledged  to  solitary 
and  universal  empire;  enjoyed  to  see 
nothing,  hear  nothing  upon  God's  earth, 
except  itself,  and  the  subject  given  for 


its  sway  ;  bound  to  blot  out  all  countries 
trom  the  map,  and  all  ages  from  Chris- 
tian history,  which  do  not  bear  witness 
to  its  unity  and  majesty,  can  make  terms 
with  no  rival,  and  endure  no  equal. 
Others  are  free,  when  only  not  oppressed : 
but  this  feels  itself  a  slave,  till  it  is  lord 
of  all. 

What,  then,  is  the  political  inference 
to  be  drawn  from  this  theocratic  character 
in  the  Roman  Church  ?  Have  we  been 
supplying  premises  for  a  no-popery  con- 
clusion ?  Not  so  ;  unless  the  canons  of 
Exeter  Hall  logic  are  henceforth  to  be 
the  rules  of  English  statesmanship,  and  a 
hq^le  cowardice  to  take  place  of  that 
noble  courage  with  which,  in  many  a 
danger,  the  English  people  have  dared 
to  be  just.  Ambition  in  a  sect,  and  ex- 
clusiveness  in  a  creed,  are  good  reasons 
for  not  arming  them  with  special  power, 
and  trusting  them  with  political  privi- 
lege :  but  no  reason  at  all  for  withhold- 
ing from  them  civil  equality,  or  imposing 
coercive  limits  on  the  spontaneous  de- 
velopment of  their  religious  institutions. 
No  one  thinks  of  insisting  on  humility 
of  mind  as  a  condition  of  the  franchise, 
or  denying  the  alderman's  gown  except 
to  the  shoulders  of  modest  innocence ; 
and  as  little  can  we  make  the  temper  of  a 
Church  a  qualifying  ground  of  its  civil 
freedom.  With  our  eye,  then,  full  upon 
the  inevitable  tendencies  of  the  lloinish 
system,  with  the  conviction  that  it  gen- 
erates a  state  of  mind  at  variance  with 
the  English  standard  of  civil  and  religi- 
ous liberty,  with  the  certain  knowledge, 
that  the  equal  and  tolerant  treatment  it 
receives  it  will  never,  in  its  place  and 
day  of  power,  be  willing  to  reciprocate; 
we  yet  say  to  our  fellow-oountrymen — 
Be  just,  and  fear  not;  put  not  your  trust 
in  coercive  laws,  dream  not  that  divine 
truth  can  be  bought  with  the  coin  of 
human  injury:  be  resolved,  if  ever  you 
have  to  defend  your  own  rights  from 
encroachment,  to  enter  the  field  without 
reproach.  The  free  mind  and  the  large 
heart  in  yourselves  and  your  children, 
will  be  a  surer  charm  against  the  priest 
and  the  canon  law,  than  preventive 
statutes  or  an  outcry  for  the  Queen's 
supremacy.— i^rom  '  The  Battle  of  the 
Churches;^  Art.  VII.  of  the  Westmin- 
ster Review,  for  January  1851. 


THE  REASONER,  43 


Our  |9latfoim. 

Prom  which  any  earnest  opponent  may  controvert  our  opinions,  and  from  which  any  may  expound  views 
not  coincident  with  our  own,  if  tending  to  the  Rationalisation  of  Theology. 


THE   MEDICAL    SYMPTOMS    OF    CONTROVERSIALISTS. 


To  the  Editor  of  the  Reasoncr. 
Sib, — Judging  from  what  appears  in  your  journal,  you  deem  it  desirable  to  be 
able  to  reduce  the  phenomena  so  commonly  manifested  by  disputants  to  some 
defined  physical  rule,  whereby  the  liability  to  invective  and  imputation  could  be 
estimated  on  scientific  principles.  Examining  the  Life  of  Joseph  Blanco  White 
some  time  ago,  I  found  the  following  letter,  addressed  by  him  to  a  Liverpool 
paper  at  a  time  when  controversy  raged  iu  that  port.  What  he  communicates  as 
having  reduced  to  a  science  is  as  worthy  to  be  ranked  as  a  discovery  in  intellec- 
tual medicine  as  those  of  Jenner  or  Hahnneman  in  other  curative  departments. 
I  am  sorry  White  did  not  live  to  found  hospitals  and  publish  a  manual  of  the  new 
Art.  .  H. 


Sir, — I  am  an  old  practitioner  of  medicine,  who  have  the  misfortune  of  being 
established  on  so  healthy  a  spot  of  the  principality  of  Wales,  that  I  hardly  have 
anything  to  do  in  the  way  of  my  profession.  The  people  among  whom  I  live  are 
so  obstinate— I  might  say,  rudely — well,  that,  for  a  time,  I  could  not  help  taking 
their  vivacious  looks  as  a  personal  insult.  But  habit  has  reconciled  me  to  this 
impudence  of  health,  and  I  do  no  longer  complain  of  their  total  disregard  of  my 
interests.  I  have,  however,  a  little  pittance  of  my  own,  and  being  naturally  con- 
tentus  parvo,  i.  e.  not  ambitious,  my  time  is  entirely  devoted  to  the  establishment 
and  devlopment  of  a  medical  system  of  my  own.  Having  very,  very  few  near  me 
who  want  my  advice,  I  have  for  some  time  been  in  the  practice  of  making  cut 
medical  cases  for  myself,  entirely  for  the  love  of  science ;  for  I  seldom  trouble  the 
patients  with  my  opinion,  and  never,  of  course,  either  was  oflFered,  or  accepted  a 
fee.  But,  '  How,'  you  will  ask,  *do  you  proceed  ?  Do  you  procure  a  view  of  the 
persons  for  whose  welfare  you  are  so  disinterestedly  concerned  ?'  No,  my  dear  sir, 
not  at  all ;  for,  besides  that,  I  could  not  afford  to  travel  at  my  own  cost — I  should 
fear  to  be  very  uncivilly  sent  about  my  business  when  I  had  fully  stated  the  object 
of  my  errand. 

Now,  Mr.  Editor,  I  beg  your  particular  attention,  for  I  am  about  to  lay  open  the 
delicate,  and,  I  might  say,  ethereal  principle  of  my  system.  You  know  how  many 
attempts  have  been  made  to  discover  the  internal  state  of  the  microcosm,  man: 
by  the  lines  of  the  hand,  cheiromancy ;  by  the  features,  physiognomy ;  and  lastly, 
by  Ae  bumps  and  dimensions  of  his  head,  phrenology.  Nor  have  speculatists 
been  wanting  who  wished  to  discover  the  state  and  peculiar  structure  of  the  mind, 
through  the  shape  of  individual  handwriting.  I  have  gone  deeper  into  the  mys- 
tery of  man,  and  am,  at  length,  in  possession  of  a  key  which  opens  at  once  the 
moral  and  physical  state  of  certain  individuals  to  my  observant  eyes.  The  moral 
part  of  the  discovery,  however,  I  leave  to  the  clerical  profession,  reserving  to  my- 
self that  which  properly  belongs  to  the  science  of  medicine.  My  guides  (to  come 
at  once  to  the  discovery)  are  the  literary  composition  s  of  the  various  patients  who, 
in  absolute  ignorance  of  their  internal  diseases,  betray  them  completely  through 
their  writings.  This  science  have  named  Bibliopathology.  At  present,  there 
is  but  one  adept  of  this  miraculous  science,  that  is,  your  humble  servant,  myself ; 
but  I  am  ready  to  receive  pupils,  and  if,  by  means  of  your  valuable  paper 


44 


THE  REASONER. 


However,  I  will  say  no  more,  lest  you  should  charge  me  for  an  advertisement. 
To  return  to  my  method.  I  procure  as  many  of  the  publications  of  living  authors 
as  my  scanty  means  and  the  kindness  of  my  friends  will  allow  me.  I  study  these 
productions  medically;  and  such  is  the  efficacy  of  my  scientific  principle,  that,  if 
there  is  any  morbid  tendency  in  the  author,  I  can  instantly  discover  it.  Oh  !  sir, 
how  many  a  young  poet  and  poetess  have  I  cautioned — alas  !  in  vain — against  an 
approaching  consumption !  How  many  cases  of  inanition  have  I  predicted  !  How 
many  members  of  parliament  (for  I  can  form  my  diagnosis  from  their  speeches) 
might  secure  themselves  from  the  various  dangers  of  epilepsy,  water  in  the  head, 
and  the  writhings  of  the  cholic,  if  they  would  believe  my  prognostic  of  their  causes  ! 
But  the  largest  field  for  my  science  I  have  always  found  among  the  clergy.  There 
is  not,  my  good  sir,  an  episcopal  charge  but  discloses  to  me  a  most  wretched  state 
of  the  internal  system.  As  in  parliament  most  of  the  indications  are  spasmodic, 
those  of  the  clergy  are  mostly  biliary.  There  is  much  plethora  among  thena,  with 
its  natural  consequences  of  somnolency,  constipation,  &c.,  &c. 

But  of  bile  !  The  true  atra  bilis,  which  the  ancients  used  to  send  to  Anticyra, 
as  we  do  to  Cheltenham,  I  frequently  find  the  most  appalling  symptoms. 

One  of  these  cases  has  lately  occupied  my  attention,  which,  as  the  patient 
(patient,  of  course,  without  his  being  conscious  of  it)  lives  in  or  very  near  our 
town,  I  have  resolved  to  state  to  you  at  full  length,  that  you  may  be  good  enough 
to  make  inquiries,  and  compare  actual  realities  with  my  scientific  conjectures, 
which,  as  you  will  easily  believe,  are  more  than  realities  to  myself. 

You  are  well  aware  the  theological  controversy  is  raging  in  your  town  of 
Liverpool.  A  theological  controversy  !  Oh  !  if  medicine  had  generally  been 
carried  to  the  acme  of  perfection  to  which  I  have  brought  it,  that  name  would  be 
more  formidable  than  the  influenza  three  years  ago.  Well,  then,  I  have  atten- 
tively examined  the  internal  state  of  various  individuals,  as  it  is  deducible  from  their 
printed  productions  on  this  occasion.  I  will  not  give  you  all  my  observations,  for 
fear  of  tiring  you  ;  but  I  must  beg  your  particular  attention  to  the  case  of  the  Rev. 

Mr. ,  as  clearly  indicated  in  a  letter  addressed  to  the  Rev.  Mr. .     I  never 

met  with  a  more  dangerous  superabundance  of  bile — acrid,  corrosive — threatening, 
in  my  opinion,  a  spontaneous  combustion  of  the  patient.  I  should  not  be  sur- 
prised, indeed,  if  one  of  these  mornings  there  should  be  found  in  the  bed  of  the 
reverend  gentleman  a  handful  of  caput  mortuum,  some  alkalies,  perhaps — the 
rest  of  the  individual  having  been  converted,  with  a  loud  detonation,  into  what  the 
Germans  very  appropriately  call  sour  gas. 

1  must,  however,  inform  you  of  another  delicate  part  of  my  method,  which  I 

have  particularly  applied  to  the  case  of  Mr. .     It  is  this :  out  of  the  ancient 

and  modern  satii-ists  I  have  chosen  some  strikingly-depicted  characters  to  gfiide 
me  in  such  medical  investigations.  Now,  when  1  find  in  a  recently-published 
book  or  pamphlet  that  the  author  might  have  sat  to  the  satirical  painter  for 
one  or  other  of  his  remarkable  pictures,  I  directly  infer  a  morbid  state  in 
the  living  writer — else  how  could  a  man  with  a  sound  constitution  be  so  ex- 
tremely like  an  exaggerated  drawing,  perhaps  a  caricature  ?  Let  us  apply  this 
rule  to  Mr.  M [the  particular  clergyman  in  question.] 


The  paper  found   in  the  street  by  Mr.  Dyer  has  not  sufficent  interest   for 
publication. 
Was  the  letter  of  '  M.  A.  L.'  intended  for  publication  ? 


THE  REASONER. 


45 


HISTORY  OF  THE   LAST  TRIAL  BY  JURY  FOR  ATHEISM. 

In  the  short  time  which  has  elapsed  since  this  work  was  announced,  two  editions 
have  been  sold.  A  third  edition  has  been  prepared  and  is  now  ready  for  delivery. 
The  following  summary  of  the  contents  of  the  work  will  show  the  nature  and 
variety  of  the  topics  treated  in  it : — 

Chap.   I.— Before  the  Traprisonment.  Chap.  III.— After  the  Sentence. 

Chap.  II. — The  Trial.  Chap.  IV. — After  the  Liberation. 

CONTENTS. 


Inscription  to  W.  J.  Birch,  M.A. 
Reasons  for  writing  the  History. 
Social  life  in  Cheltenham. 
The  experience  of  a  Socialist  Missionary. 
The  Blasphemy. 
The  English  Socialists  of  1840. 
The  fate  of  the  poet  Sperry. 
Euclid's  Elements  indicted  for  heresy. 
The  apprehension  of  Mr.  Holyoake. 
The  examination  in  the  police  court. 
A  dog-fancier  giveth  evidence. 
The  Rev.  Dr.  Newell '  will  have  no  quib- 
bling,' 
Mr.  Capper's  idea  of  bold  men. 
The  old  man  at  the  Merlin's  Cave. 
Surgeon  Pinching  argueth. 
The  journey  to  Gloucester  handcuffed. 
Letter  from  John  Arthur  Roebuck,  M.P. 
Verbatim  copy  of  the  committal  to  Glou- 
cester Gaol. 
Superintendent  Russell's  removal. 
Inquiries  by  the  prisoners. 
The   chaplain   withholds  Mr.   Holyoake's 
books.  [cell. 

Two  magistrates  visit  the  Atheist  in  his 

Pen  and   ink  portrait    of    '  old    Bransby 
Cooper.' 

London  an  enchanted  land. 

Mr.  Holyoake's  first  lecture  at  the  Rotunda. 

The  apprehension  of  the  Adamses. 

The  '  usual  thing,'  by  Mr.  Bubb. 

A  barrister's  defence. 

The  sentence  upon  Adams. 

Mr.  Justice  Erskine's  estimate  of  morality. 

The  javelin-men  are  detained. 

A  scene  in  court — the  servility  of  ignorance. 

Mr.  Ogden  is  indignant. 

Mr.  Holyoake  is  indicted  for  fighting  Om- 
nipotence with  force  of  arms. 

The  judge  thinks  Lovesey  had  better  '  go.' 

A  sour-looking  gentleman  is  discomfited. 

The  speech  for  the  Crown,  such  as  it  is. 

Bartram  gives  evidence. 

The  '  chafiF'  in  the  office  about  the  blas- 
phemy. 

Mr.  Holyoake  commences  his  defence. 

The   speech   of  Craven  Berkeley   in   the 
House  of  Commons. 

Sir  James  Graham  censures  the  magistrates. 

Mr.  Justice  Erskine  interrupts  the  prisoner. 

The  judge  explains  the  law. 


He  explains  himself.  [Chronicle. 

Portrait  of  Mr.  Holyoake  in  the  Morning 
Mr.  Holyoake  likely  to  shoot  the  Queen. 
The  golden  rule  of  Jean  Jacques  Rousseau. 
Mr.    Holyoake's  memorial   to   Sir    James 

Graham. 
Godwin's  epitome  of  Socialism. 
Goethe's  statement  of  the  problem. 
Mr.  Bransby  Cooper  interrupts  the  Court. 
Death  of  Mr.  Holyoake's  sister. 
The  Reign  of  Time. 
Five  modes  of  solving  the  problem  of  the 

existence  of  God. 
The  court  retires. 
Mutton-eating  blasphemous. 
The  doctrine  of  right,  as  laid  down  by  Lord 
John  Russell. 

Motto  of  Sir  James  Graham.  [address. 

The  judge  asks  to  see  the  Rev.  Mr.  Close's 

The  gaol  Manual  of  Devotion. 

Judge  Erskine's  opinion  of  Strauss's  '  Life 
of  Jesus.' 

Maxim  of  the  Vicar  of  Wakefield. 

Milton  and  the  Jesuits. 

Statement  of  the  Common  Law. 

The  Judge  suggests  a  Writ  of  Error. 

Christianity  in  a  legal  point  of  view. 

Lord  Chief  Justice  Abbott's  law  of  juries. 

The  author  of  Wat  Tyler's  apology. 

Peroration  of  the  defence. 

The  Charge  of  the  judge. 

The  jury  deliberate. 

The  Deist  falters. 

The  sentence. 

Criticism  of  the  defence. 

Acknowledgments  to  Publicola  and  others. 

An  apple  supper. 

The  visiting  magistrates  come  round. 

Howitt's  correct  list  of  the  cast,  quit,  and 
condemned. 

Ogden  summonses  to  prayer. 

The  chaplain  comes  to  remonstrate. 

Mr.  Holyoake   requires   to   be  carried  to 
chapel. 

The  lost  sheep  which  cannot  stray. 

Mr.  Holyoake  locked  up  during  prayers. 

The  prison  dress  proposed. 

The  art  of  resistance  in  gaol.  [seen. 

Mr.  Jones  appeals  to  what  sky  could  be 

Mr.  Jones  reads  the  14th  Psalm,  and  de- 
parts for  ever. 


46  THE  REASONER. 


Death  and  reappearance  of  Richard  Carlile.  Return  to  Birmingham. 

The  bed  of  grease.  Mr.  Holyoake's  address  on  his  liberation. 

Sir  James  Graham's  concession.  Parliamentary  diet  for  the  cure  of  atheism. 

Preparation  for  suicide.  Letter  to  the  editor  of  the  Cheltenham 

Illness  and  death  of  Madeline.  Free  Press. 

The  genius  and  worship  of  liberty.  Art  of  making  applications  in  gaol. 

Burial  of  Madeline.  Mr.  Bransby  Cooper  speaks  out. 

Mrs.  Holyoake's  visit  to  Gloucester.  Scenes  at  morning  prayers. 

Portrait  of  Captain  Mason,  the  governor.  Writing  in  the  dark. 

Upton  learns  a(  grammar.  Interview  at  night  with  the  government 

Ogden's  elephantine  hints.  commissioners. 

The  governor's  retaliation.  The  moral  of  the  book.  [tianity. 

Captain  Mason's  idea  of  oath-taking.  Persecution  shown  to  be  legitimate  Chris- 

A  reciprocal  dialogue  with  the  chaplain.  Persecution  actually  a  power  to  put  down 

The  Temptation.  opinion. 

The  last  effort  at  conversion.  Gaols  the  colleges  of  the  people. 

The  dumpling-shaped  Bible.  The  Equity  and  Law  Life  Assurance  Society. 

Interview  with  the  Board.  The  conditions  of  law-breaking  defined. 

Origin  of  '  Paley  Refuted.'  Statement  of  the  Atheistic  question. 

A    HEBREW    PRAYER,    DONE     IN    GAS.* 


Clerical  gentlemen  of  every  denomination,  and  all  who  believe  that  the  labourer 
is  worthy  of  his  hire,  may  now  conscientiously  select  those  articles  necessary  to  a 
respectable  exterior  from  the  cheap  clothes  mart  of  Nebncadnezzar  and  Son.  The 
violent  outcry  against  gentlefolks  patronising  those  firms  who  are  supposed  to  pay 
their  workpeople  starvation  prices,  is  silenced,  and  Fashion  may  now  replenish  her 
wardrobe,  for  next  to  nothing,  without  the  fear  of  being  haunted  by  spectral  artizans 
and  their  wives  and  little  ones.  The  Hebrew  character  has  outlived  the  obloquy 
to  which  it  has  so  long  and  so  unjustly  been  subjected ;  and  it  must  in  charity  be 
supposed,  that  the  paltry  list  of  prices,  Jewish  firms  are  said  to  pay  for  the  making 
up  articles  of  attire,  is  purely  fictitious. 

Nebncadnezzar  and  Son  have,  by  a  stroke  of  ingenuity  and  considerable  outlay, 
illumined  the  public  mind  with  respect  to  the  real  nature  of  their  sentiments 
towards  the  masses  who  live  by  the  sweat  of  the  brow.  They  have  caused  to  be 
written  in  letters  of  fire  (that  is  jets  of  gas)  the  words  '  God  bless  the  People '  along 
the  whole  range  of  their  extensive  establishment  in  Oxford  Street;  and  thus, 
nightly,  the  disaffected  crowd  may  inform  themselves  that  their  paymasters  are 
by  no  means  so  cruel  as  they  are  represented  to  be — at  least  they  are  willing  that 
the  people  may  be  blessed  spiritually  if  not  by  better  prices. 

Bigots  may  contemn  the  gas  light  benediction  of  the  Hebrew  firm  as  no  better 
than  a  splendid  mockery;  the  over-refined  may  deem  it  profane  to  mix  up  prayer 
with  paletots  and  pantaloons ;  but  whatever  those  who  have  not  learned  to  live  in 
charity  with  all  men  may  say  of  the  holy  device  emblazoned  on  the  show-rooms  of 
the  enterprising  Israelites,  there  is  no  doubt  those  disinterested  capitalists  will 
bear  the  vilest  insinuation  of  their  enemies  with  a  'patient  shrug,'  and  that  their 
virtues  will  continue  to  shine  forth  (as  the  Mormon  prophet  has  it)  '  in  the  most 
glorious  and  brilliant  manner.' 

It  is  not  every  tradesman  who  can  boast  the  happy  arrangements  of  our  Jewish 
outfitters,  who  not  only  supply  a  genteel  garment  at  a  lower  rate  than  any  other 
firm  in  the  trade,  but  in  addition  they  perform  the  arduous  duties  of  high-priests, 
and  turn  their  shop  into  a  house  of  prayer. 

•  By  Moses  and  Son,  who  have  had  the  words  •  God  bless  the  People '  put  up  in  gas  on 
the  side  of  their  shop  in  Oxford  Street,  London. 


THE  REASONER. 


47 


It  is  to  be  hoped  that  as  the  stricken  Israelites  were  healed  by  the  brazen  serpents 
which  Moses  hung  out  in  the  wilderness,  so  our  over-worked  artizans  may  derive 
some  comfort  from  the  contemplation  of  the  ingenious  contrivance  invented  by  the 
Moses  who  sojourns  in  these  latter  days  in  the  wilderness  of  Oxford  Street. 

Christopher. 


GUIDE  TO  THE  LECTURE  ROOP/I. 

Literary  Institution,  John  Street,  Fitzroy  Square. 
June  8th  [7i],  Robert  Owen,  '  Address  to  the 
Strangers  who  visit  the  World's  Fair.' 

Hackney  Literary  and  Scientific  Institution, 
Mermaid  Assembly  Rooms. — June  11th  [8],  a  lec- 
ture. 

Hall  of  Science,  City  Koad.  —June  8th  [ri], 
a letture. 

Institute  of  Progress,  10a,  Upper  George-street, 
Sloane-square. —  June  6th  [8],  a  Discussion.  June 
8th  [7J], a  lecture. 

Eclectic  Institute,  Denmark  Street,  Soho.  — 
E^ery  Friday  [SJ],  Mr.  J.  B.  O-Brien,  '  Home  and 
Foreign  Politics.'  Every  Sunday  [riL  on  '  Moral 
and  Social  Science.' 

Free  Inquirers'  Society,  British  Coffee  Rooms, 
Edgeware  Uoad.  —  June  8th  ["],  a  lecture. 

Areopagus  Coffee  and  Reading  Room,  59,  Church 
Lane,  Whitechapel. — Every  Sunday,  Monday,  and 
Wednesday  (S),  a  Lecture  or  Discussion. 

City  Forum  Coffee  House,  60,  Red  Cross  Street. 
— June  9th  r8i],  discussion.  Subject,  '  Does  an 
all-wise  Providence  govern  the  Universe  ?' 

ADVERTISEMENTS. 

To  Visitors  to  the  International  Exhibition. 

J  J.  BRTANT  (late  of  the  London  and  Glasgow 
•  Arms,  292,  Buchanan  Street,  Glasgow)  having 
taken  'THE  CROWN  '  TAVERN  &  COMMER^ 
CIAL  LODGINGS,  469,  >ew  Oxford  St.,  so  in- 
forms those  of  his  Glasgow  friends  who  intend  visit- 
ing the  Metropolis.  Consideration  will  be  paid  both 
to  comfort  and  economy.  The  Crown  is  centrally 
situated  between  the  City  and  the  Crystal  Palace. 
Omnibuses  to  all  parts  of  London  continually  pass 
the  Door— Fare  4d.  The  Crown  is  within  three 
minutes'  walk  of  the  British  Museum. 

Cards  to  be  had  of  Mr.  Brocklehurst,  292, 
Buchanan  Street,  Glasgow. 

J.  J.  B.  being  thoroughly  acquainted  with  Lon- 
don, intending  visitors  from  any  part  of  Scotland, 
Ireland,  or  the  English  provinces,  may  usefully 
communicate  with  him  previous  to  leaving  their 
homes. 

It  will  be  some  guarantee  to  friends  to  observe 
that,  before  residing  in  Glasgow,  J.  J.  Bryant  was 
a  long  time  a  member  of  Branch  A  1. 

mo  LET.  — COMFORTABLE  SLEEPING 
1  APARTMENTS,  in  a  Large  and  Airy  House, 
and  healthy  situation,  with  Sitting  Rooms  if  re- 
quired. 

No. 6,  Clyde  Tkbeace,  Caledonia  Road, 
Near  the  Station  of  the  Great  Northern  Railway. 
Terms  very  moderate. 

ETRUELOVE,  at  his  Periodical  and  Publica- 
•  tion  Depot,  22,  John-street,  Fitzroy-square, 
adjoining  the  Literary  and  ticientific  Institution, 
is  now  selling  the  lollowing  works,  many  of  them  at 
reduced  priceii  : —  s.  d. 

Paine's  Political  Works    5     0 

Age  of  Reason 3     0 

Voltaire's  Philosophical  Dictionary,  complete  6  0 
Gibbon's  Decline  and  Fall  of  the  Roman 

Empire,  complete IS     0 

The  First  Five  Vols,  of  the  Reasoner, 
hf.-bd.,  including  the  Herald  of  Pro- 
gress           20    0 

The  Chemist,  in  4  vols 14    0 


The  Quarto  Edition  of  Busby's  Lucretius, 

with  large  portrait  of  Epicurus,  half  bound  7  6 

The  Diegesis,  by  Robert  Taylor 5  0 

The  Devil's  Pu'.pit,  by  <litto 4  6 

The  Lion,  edited  by  Carlile&R.Taylor,4vol8  15  0 

The  Vestiges  of  Creation,  complete 2  6 

Ernest  Jones's  Lectures  on  Canterbury  v.  Rome  1  0 
Voices  of  Freedom  and  Lyrics  of  Love,  by 

Gerald  Massey 1  0 

Tlye  Seerest  of  Prevorst,  being  revelations 
concerning  the  inner  life  of  man,  &c.,  by 

Justinus  Kerner 1  6 

Babeut''s  Conspiracyfor  Equality.  B.  O'Brien  3  0 

Eugene  Sue's  Wandering  Jew,  best  edition      2  6 

Ensor's  Political  Works,  strongly  bound,4  vols  6  0 

Burns'  Complete  Works,  14  illustrations,  g.  e.  1  0 

Shelley's  Works,  neat  pocket  edition 2  0 

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and  the  Addresses  of  Louis  Blanc  at  the 

Luxembourg 0  6 

The  Words  of  a  Believer,  by  the  Abbe  de 

Lamennais    0  6 

The  People,  by  Michelet,  best  edition  ....       1  0 
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of  1848.     By  Louis  Blanc     1  0 

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The  New  Lanark  Report,  by  Robert  Owen      0  3 

The  Social  Hymn  Book 0  6 

Carpenter's  Political  Text  Book 1  0 

13  Lectures  by  Robert  Owen 1  0 

Romanism    the    Religion    of  Terror,   and 

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Shortlvwill  be  published  DEATH-BED 
REPENTANCE,  its  fallaciousness  and 
absurdity  ;  a  new  edition,  rewritten  by 

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The  Student,  a  sceptical  play,  by  F.  Bate         0  3 
Just  punlished.  Two  Letters  to  Dr.  CumTning 
on  the  subject  of  his  lecture,  entitled  God  in  Sci- 
ence, by  \V.  D. 

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48 


THE  REASONER. 


Our  Opm 


'  PuBLicoLA,'  in  a  recent  letter,  observes: — 'There  is  a  deplorable  and  general 
want  of  self-reliance  in  the  people,  which  cannot  be  observed  without  apprehension. 
We  seek  for  patronage  in  every  thing — in  religion,  politics,  trade,  taste,  literature, 
and  charity.  We  beg  to  be  "led  by  the  nose  as  asses  are."  A  single  "noble" 
Reformer,  with  just  a  moderate  portion  of  the  other  qualities  for  the  post,  would  give 
the  headless  party  of  Reformers  in  the  House  of  Commons  the  leader,  and  thereby 
the  union  and  efficiency,  now  so  desiderated,  for  it.  But  there  must  be  station  and 
position  as  well  as  talent.  That  sappy  imitation  of  humanity,  Lord  Granby,  is  the 
recognised  leader  of  the  Protectionists.  Disraeli  is  not  Captain,  only  Adjutant. 
Our  artists  cannot  make  an  Exhibition,  nor  our  Hospitals  get  up  a  subscription 
list,  nor  our  counties  convene  a  meeting,  nor  our  malcontents  start  an  opposition, 
nor  our  amateurs  play  a  play,  nor  our  societies  frame  an  organisation,  nor  our 
mechanics'  institutes  hold  a  tea-drinking,  without  patronage.  We  are  slaves  of 
names.  We  do  not  believe  in  principles;  we  believe  in  Lords.  Those  who  cannot 
catch  a  Lord,  put  up  with  an  M.P.  Were  the  Saviour  to  come  again,  we  should 
ask  whether  the  Pharisees  believed  in  him.  But  for  Prince  Albert,  the  world's 
grandest  Exhibition  would  never  have  been  realised.  To  benefit  decayed  authors, 
we  must  have  a  Ducal  saloon  for  theatre,  a  Baronet  for  playwright,  and  the  Royal 
Family  for  spectators.  Our  very  Socialism  requires  to  be  nursed  and  dandled  by 
a  clergyman.  The  one  thing  in  which  we  must  eo-operate  is  the  game  of  "  Follow 
my  leader."  And  any  may  lead  who  are  before  us  in  the  world.  We  are  servile 
in  our  pride,  and  proud  of  our  servility.  Some  nerve  is  needful  to  be  hopeful  of 
such  a  people.' 

Horace  Walpole,  in  his  recently-published  correspondence  with  the  Rev.  W. 
Mason,  says — 'I  have  read  divinity  which  taught  me  that  no  two  persons  agree, 
and  metaphysics  which  nobody  understands ;  and  consequently  I  am  little  the 
wiser  for  either.' 

Mr.  Holyoake  acknowledges  the  receipt  of  a  religious  letter  from  the  Rev. 
T.  CoUisson,  Curate  of  New  Radford,  accompanied  by  'Three  Lectures  on  the  Bible 
and  Infidelity.' 

Mr.  Newsham  asks  what  History  gives  particulars  of  a  time  when  'man  living 
with  his  family  acknowledged  no  other  authority  than  his  parents,'  which  he  says 
he  reads  in  the  Reasoner  of  May  7th.  We  must  refer  him  to  the  writer  of  the 
article. 

Will '  W.  E.  B.'  favour  us  with  his  address  to  his  fellow  subscribers,  and  an  ex- 
amination of  Mr.  Alfred  Smee's  'Untrodden  road  to  the  proof  of  the  Existence 
of  God  ?' 

Robert  Owen  is  about  lecturing  again  in  London.  At  the  John  Street  Institu- 
tion, on  June  10,  1851,  he  is  to  deliver  an  address  to  the  strangers  visiting  the 
World's  Fair, 

Dr.  Bateman  has  offered  a  prize  of  five  guineas  for  the  best  Essay  on  the  follow- 
ing subject: — 'In  what  w:iy  is  the  Great  Exhibition  calculated  to  increase  the 
Domestic  Comforts  and  elevate  the  Character  of  the  Working-classes;  and  what 
are  the  best  means  of  making  it  available  for  these  purposes  ?'  The  Essays  are 
to  be  sent  with  as  Uttle  delay  as  possible,  to  the  Society  of  Arts,  or  to  Dr.  Bate- 
man, East  India-road,  London. 

London:  Printed  by  Holyoake  Brothers,  3,  Queen's  Head  Passage,  Paternoster-row;  and  Published 
by  J.  Watson,  3,  Queen's  Head  Passage,  Paternoster-row. — Wednesday,  June  4th,  1851, 


THEOLOGICAL     EXAMINER. 


They  who  believe  that  they  have  Truth  ask  no  favour,  save  that  of  bein^  heard:   they  dare  the 
judgment  of  Mankind  :    refused  Co-operation,   they   invoke  Opposition,  for    Opposition    is  their 
Opportunity. — Editor. 
< 

DEFENCE  OF  OPINION  AGAINST  THE  CLERGY  OF  LANCASTER. 


II. 
Space,  that  Supreme  Arbiter  of  all  articles,  put  an  abrupt  termination  to  my 
report  last  week  at  the  point  at  which  I  recounted  that  the  old  gentleman  who 
received  money  at  the  doors  was  thrown  down.  He  was  fortunately  not  much 
hurt,  but  was  naturally  enough  intimidated,  and  I  gave  him  a  special  sum  on 
account  of  the  assault,  and  guaranteed  him  the  same  sum  every  time  he  was 
knocked  down  ;  and,  in  case  he  was  hurt,  the  best  medical  aid  that  could  be  com- 
manded ;  and,  in  the  event  of  his  being  injured  in  his  humble  connection  by  serving 
me,  I  undertook  to  remove  his  whole  family  to  any  town  he  selected,  and  sustain 
them  till  I  provided  them  with  new  employment.  Why  I  did  this  was,  that  I 
adhered  to  my  fixed  resolution  of  never  imposing  on  any  persons  the  responsibility 
which  belongs  to  the  course  I  chose  to  pursue  myself.  If  need  had  been  I  would 
have  spent  in  Lancaster  all  the  proceeds  of  my  three  weeks'  labour  in  Scotland 
rather  than  have  been  prevented  offering  the  explanations  the  public  there  had  a 
right  to  expect.  If  my  expenses  were  greater  than  I  could  defray,  I  should  apply 
to  the  readers  of  the  Reasoner  to  make  up  the  deficiency  To  proceed — I  desired 
my  door-keeper  to  engage  an  able  assistant  to  stand  nearhim  as  a  protection.  The 
printer  first  applied  to,  to  print  my  bills  said,  '  no,'  and  added  '  it  was  a  serious 
thing  to  meddle  with  Christianity  in  Lancaster.'  The  party  who  made  this  strange 
reply  gave  an  ominous  weight  to  it.  On  what  ground  fair  play  could  be  '  serious  ' 
I  could  not  make  out.  No  law  existed  which  foreshadowed  any  punishment  for 
the  explanation  of  my  views,  without  the  concurrence  of  the  Attorney-General  to 
the  indictment.  This  could  not  be  unknown  to  the  party  in  question ;  and  as 
his  printing  a  simple  announcement  could  not  be  illegal,  whatever  my  speaking 
might  prove  to  be,  there  remained  no  very  agreeable  construction  to  put  upon  this 
answer.  But  anotherprinter  tooka  juster  view  of  the  matter,  and  my  bills  were  issued. 
When  the  Sunday  preceding  the  lectures  arrived,  from  all  the  pulpits,  I  was  in- 
formed, adjurations  were  addressed  to  the  flocks  not  to  attend  my  lectures.  Yet 
there  was  one  honourable  exception  to  this,  that  of  the  Unitarian  church,  whose 
minister  advised  his  hearers  to  go  and  judge  for  themselves.  Not  exactly  knowing 
what  to  expect,  I  took  the  precaution  to  write  to  Sheffield,  to  one  who  was  not 
only  a  good  friend,  but  a  strong-armed  friend,  whom  I  wished  to  see,  both  for  company 
and  service,  for  the  only  persons  known  to  me  were  the  two  whom  I  had  engaged 
as  my  servants,  and  who  had  neither  influence  nor  help  that  they  could  render  for 
my  protection.  But  I  was  too  late.  Prior  engagements  prevented  my  friend 
coming.  So  I  went  down  to  the  lecture  room  alone.  The  passage  leading  to  it 
was  blocked  up  by  people  to  whom  two  men  were  distributing  scurrilous  religious 
tracts  which  had  been  imported  from  that  sacred  depository  of  calumny,  the  Religious 
Tract  Society  of  London.   One  of  the  tracts  being  given  away  represented  thelnfidels 


[No.  263.]  lNo.4,  Vol.  XI.] 

[ONE  PENNY.l 


50  THE  REASONER. 


as  men  who  '  lie  in  wait  to  deceive,  who  are  diligently  bent  on  ruining  the  present 
peace  and  the  future  prospects  of  paankind ;  who  despise  dominion,  speak  evil  of 
dignities,  and  promise  men  liberty,  while  they  themselves  are  the  servants  of 
corruption.'  Saying  further  that  'it  is  awfully  true,  that  this  is  a  day  of  rebuke 
and  blasphemy,  in  which  bold  bad  men  have  arisen  speaking  perverse  things,  even 
denying  the  Lord  who  bought  them ;  men  who  would  cast  down  both  the  altar 
and  the  throne,  would  rob  the  Christian  of  his  charter,  and  strip  him  of  his  hope, 
his  help,  his  heaven.' 

Another  tract  being  given  away  was  by  the  Rev.  Hugh  Stowell,  describing  the 
infidel  as  being  as  bad  a  character  as  can  be  well  conceived  ;  a  drunkard,  a  blas- 
phemer, and  a  cruel  husband.  These  statements  were  put  into  the  hands  of  the 
entire  audience.  If  they  believed  but  half  of  what  was  thus  ungenerously  told  them 
I  could  not  fail  to  find  the  meeting  as  amiable  as  a  den  of  tigers.  One  lady  was 
so  far  struck  by  the  forocity  of  the  spirit  of  these  tracts  so  distributed,  asked  if  she 
should  send  for  a  policeman  ?  I  declined  to  allow  one  to  be  introduced  about  the 
meeting,  as  the  presence  of  such  persons  often  suggested  violence  or  led  to  it.  I 
assented  that  it  might  be  well  to  have  one  available  in  case  of  need.  The  sequel, 
however,  showed  that  neither  the  press  nor  the  pulpits  were  able  to  put  down  the 
lectures,  for,  on  entering  the  room,  I  found  a  good  audience,  and  a  slight  cheer  on 
entering  showed  me  that  I  might  even  calculate  on  good  feeling.  I  was  told  that 
the  audience  comprised  some  of  the  best  families  in  the  town.  I  first  passed  in 
review  the  article  in  the  Gazette  and  the  letter  in  the  Guardian,  then  the  tracts  at  the 
door,  marking  distinctly  the  estimate  I  was  obliged  to  form  of  my  reverend  opponent. 
Then  I  proceeded  to  state  the  case  between  atheism  and  theism,  which  was  the 
subject  for  the  evening.  Not  the  slightest  interruption  occurred  from  beginning 
to  end.  I  was  myself  sole  occupant  of  the  orchestra,  and  I  then  left  the  meeting 
open  for  any  reverend  gentleman  present  to  call  in  question  my  statements,  so 
far  as  he  thought  me  wrong. 

The  Rev.  Mr.  Hereford,  Unitarian  minister,  was  the  first  who  rose.  He  said 
'  he  thanked  Mr.  Holyoake  for  having  laid  his  opinions  before  them,  and  for  the 
manner  in  which  he  had  done  it.  The  language  Mr.Holyoake  had  employed  through- 
out could  not  possibly  give  ofience  to  any  one.'  The  rev.  gentleman  then,  with  great 
courtesy  and  in  very  accurate  language — in  the  words  of  one  thoroughly  self- 
possessed  and  master  of  the  subject — proceeded  to  bear  his  testimony  to  the  inde- 
pendence of  morality  and  religion,  and  the  moral  innocency  of  speculative  opinions. 
He  ended  by  asking  me  whether  I  would  explain  what  amount  of  evidence  would 
satisfy  me  as  to  the  existence  of  God.  I  answered,  as  fully  as  I  could  impromptu, 
to  such  a  question, '  any  coherent  scheme  of  probabilities,  moral,  physical,  or  tes- 
timentary.'  The  rev.  gentleman  said  that  he  put  questions  with  a  view  to  learn 
what  were  the  grounds  on  which  I  held  my  opinions,  and  he  asked  me  a  variety 
of  questions,  which  I  cannot  now  recall  with  accuracy.  Most  of  them  were  brief 
and  pertinent,  and  the  necessity  of  answering  instantly  left  me  no  time  to  record 
them. 

Thomas  Johnson,  Esq.,  solicitor  and  clerk  to  the  magistrates,  then  rose,  and 
put  a  series  of  questions,  well  conceived  and  well  expressed,  a  few  of  which  I  have 
preserved.  He  attended,  he  said,  in  order  to  hear  the  new  order  of  arguments  by 
which  they  might  be  met  in  time  to  come  by  persons  who  adopted  views  similar  to 
my  own.     One  question  he  put  thus  : 

'  Sir,  you  have  admitted  the  existence  of  conscience  ;  what  is  conscience  ?  does 
it  imply  i-esponsibility,  and  to  whom  ?' 


THE  REASONER.  51 


I  replied,  'conscience  is  a  man's  sense  of  duty,  and  it  implies  responsibility  to 
himself,  and  to  his  fellows.'     Another  interrogatory  was  this  : 

*  The  Scriptures  exist,  how  do  you  account  for  them  ?' 

T  answered,  '  how  did  I  account  for  the  Scriptures  ?  "Why  I  supposed  them  to  have 
been  written,  and  they  appeared  to  me  to  have  been  written  by  honest,  conscientious 
men.'     Mr.  Johnson  replied: 

'  As  I  admitted  that  the  Scriptures  were  written  by  honest  men,  how  did  I  ac- 
count for  the  records  of  miracles  which  they  contained  ?  If  such  things  never 
happened,  how  came  honest  men  to  record  them  ?' 

To  this  I  replied,  that  '  I  was  not  aware  that  honesty  implied  infallibility. 
"Were  sincere  men  never  mistaken  ?  Did  every  honest  witness  in  a  court  of  law 
always  prove  himself  incapable  of  error  ?  Catholic  miracles — the  winking 
virgin  of  Rimini — had  thousands  of  attestators  whose  honesty  could  not  be  ques- 
tioned, and  whose  word  could  not  be  believed.' 

Many  other  questions  were  put,  and  afterwards  Mr.  Read,  a  tradesman,  as  I 
was  told,  rose  and  said  : 

'  I  had  sought  to  prove  the  innocency  of  speculative  opinion ;  but  were  we 
morally  innocent  in  endeavouring  to  counteract  others'  faith,  if  we  have  nothing 
better  to  put  in  its  place  ?'  He  then  gave  the  case  of  a  repentant  Socialist,  who 
had'become  degraded  by  Socialism,  and  died  deplorably.  I  had  to  tell  this  gentle- 
man, that  if  the  death-bed  was  a  test  of  true  faith,  the  Protestant  must  give  way  to 
the  Catholic  religion,  and  Mahomedanism  and  Buddhism  were  truer  than  Christi- 
anity. If  he  would  point  out  to  me  what  principles  of  Socialism  were  calculated 
to  demoralise  a  man,  I  would  myself  give  them  up.  I  explained  to  him  what  the 
principles  of  Socialism  were,  and  he  made  no  answer.  Also  I  observed  that  he  was 
mistaken  respecting  me  ;  I  had  better  views  to  put  in  the  place  of  those  proposed 
to  be  removed. 

Mr.  Thompson,  a  mason,  then  rose,  and,  with  that  painful  and  oppressive 
humility  manifested  by  anxious  and  sincere  Christians,  asked  whether  he  was  not 
in  the  right  to  plead  for  religion  he  being  a  sincere  Christian  ?  I  assured  him  that 
he  was  perfectly  right  in  doing  as  he  did,  so  long  as  he  thought  as  he  appeared  to 
think. 

It  was  past  eleven  before  we  concluded.  While  we  were  thus  occupied,  the 
meeting  of  the  Bible  Society  was  proceeding  in  the  Music  Hall.  Of  the  various 
remarks  made  there  about  infidel  writers  and  the  spread  of  their  opinions  nothing 
was  new,  except  the  following  episode,  which  I  quote  from  the  Lancaster  Cfazette 
of  May  24  :— 

The  Rev.  C.  Campbell  said — '  He  had  another  reason  [he  had  assigned  a  previous 
one]  for  attending  their  meeting.  He  felt  that  that  night  Lancaster  was  profaned ; 
and  he  dared  not  shrink  from  expressing  from  that  platform  the  indignation  the 
subject  excited.  He  had  no  doubt  the  originator  [the  Rev.  J.  Fleming]  now 
present  on  the  platform,  had  seen  his  error,  humbled  himself  before  God,  and 
regretted  that  he  should  have  been  the  cause  of  that  profanation.  He  hoped  that 
evening  that  in  Lancaster  infidelity  would  be  foiled  alike  with  Popery  in  its  attempts 
to  tear  the  sun  of  righteousness  from  its  meridian,  or,  what  was  the  same  thing, 
to  cover  with  thick  darkness  the  glory  of  the  living  God.  He  really  did  hope  the 
originator,  who  no  doubt  had  erred  from  the  best  of  motives,  was  alive  to  the  mis- 
chief he  was  likely  to  occasion,  and  that  the  evil  which  his  indiscretion  had 
inadvertently  occasioned  would  by  the  blessing  of  God  be  averted.'  This  exquisite 
piece  of  impertinence  was  received  with  applause. 


52  THE  REASONER. 


The  Rev.  J.  Fleming  himself  said—'  The  rev.  deputation  had  told  them  that  th® 
meetings  of  the  society  were  this  year  better  attended  than  ever,  and  rightly  attri- 
buted it  to  the  Papal  aggression.  The  same  cause,  he  believed,  was  acting  on  their 
meeting  that  night.  Aye,  and  he  thought  they  were  also  indebted  somewhat  to 
the  great  man  in  Max-ket-street.  He  was  glad  to  see  the  apprehended  evil  work- 
ing thus  to  the  increase  of  their  meeting.  He  was  glad  to  see  Mr.  Campbell  there 
that  night.  His  rev.  friend  (if  he  would  permit  him  to  call  him  so)  was  himself  an 
illustration  of  the  good  efiFect  upon  their  attendance,  for  he  was  one  who  came  to 
their  meeting  entirely  on  account  of  the  matter  he  was  referring  to.  That  he  (Mr. 
Fleming)  was  the  unwitting  cause  of  the  man  being  in  the  town  he  admitted. 
Some  person  must  take  the  bull  by  the  horns,  and  in  the  discharge  of  that  duty  he 
had  made  up  his  mind  to  endure  a  little  goring.  He  was  prepared  for  it ;  but  he 
had  the  satisfaction  of  knowing  that  the  lectures  he  had  delivered  had  been 
attended  with  good  effect,  for  he  had  since  conversed  with  persons  formerly  of  in- 
fidel tendencies  who  were  now  convinced  of  their  folly.  His  friend,  Mr.  Campbell, 
was  not  acquainted  with  all  the  complicated  circumstances  that  had  been  at  work  to 
produce  the  result.  What  he  (Mr.  Fleming)  said  publicly  was  made  the  pre- 
text; and  as  to  the  responsibility,  it  might  as  well  be  said  that  Christ  by  his 
coming  was  responsible  for  all  the  persecutions  his  devoted  followers  endured.  He 
had  made  up  his  mind  to  all  this.  They  were  not  to  be  cast  down  by  these  little 
things.  God's  word  must  prevail.  All  the  Popery  and  all  the  infidelity  in  the 
world  would  be  but  as  chaff  in  the  balance  when  compared  with  the  effects  to  be 
produced  by  the  diffusion  of  the  Scriptures.' 

A  strange  way  of '  taking  the  bull  by  the  horns  '  surely,  to  avoid  Market  Street 
where  he  was  to  be  met,  and  advise  all  his  followers  to  keep  out  of  the  way. 

Next  day  the  public  opinion  in  the  town  ran  much  against  Mr.  Fleming.  It  is 
due  to  the  people  of  Lancaster  to  say,  that  they  had  healthier  notions  of  fair  play 
than  their  pastors.  The  influence  of  their  comments  on  the  proceedings  of  the 
night  at  the  two  meetings  was  not  lost  on  my  opponent,  for,  on  the  second  night, 
notwithstanding  his  own  advice  to  others  to  keep  away,  he  came  himself;  and 
when  I  entered  the  meeting,  I  found  a  large  audience  present,  including  several 
ladies.  That  night  I  was  received  with  as  much  cordiality  as  though  I  had  stepped 
on  a  London  platform. 

I  began  by  stating  that  I  had  again  found  at  the  doors  two  tract  distributors.  I 
addressed  the  men  engaged  in  that  unfriendly  work,  for  the  tracts  of  that  night 
were  as  abusive  of  infidels  as  on  the  preceding  evening — representing  them  as 
drunkards,  cruel  husbands,  blasphemers,  and  much  else  that  is  evil.  Looking 
the  older  man  closely  in  the  face,  I  said — 

Why  are  you  giving  those  tracts  away  ?    The  only  answer  I  received  was : 

He  was  ordered  to  do  so. 

Where  do  you  come  from  ?  I  inquired. 

He  didn't  know. 

You  an  intelligent  man,  fifty  years  of  age,  and  pretend  that  you  don't  knov  where 
you  come  from  ? 

The  Tract  Society,  he  replied. 

What  Tract  Society  ?  The  Tract  Society  who  issue  the  tracts  in  your  hands  is 
in  London.     Have  you  been  sent  down  from  London  ? 

He  didn't  know. 

Finding  this  pious  tract  distributor  suffering  from  some  confusion  in  his  organ 


THE  REASONER.  53 


of  veracity,  I  turned  to  his  brother  on  the  other  side  the  passage,  and  I  asked  him 
who  sent  him  there  ? 

He  did  not  know  exactly. 

Well,  tell  me  as  exactly  as  you  can,  I  said. 

The  Tract  Society,  he  replied. 

Who  are  the  Tract  Society  ?     You  know  who  sent  you  here  ? 

He  didn't  know  that  exactly. 

You  must  know  the  names  of  some  of  them.     Name  those  you  remember  best. 

Well,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Fleming  was  one. 

When  I  came  to  this  part  the  meeting  grew  much  excited,  and  called  out  *  shame, 
shame,'  all  around  Mr.  Fleming.  I  told  that  meeting,  that  as  they  were  anxious 
to  know  what  my  objections  to  Christianity  were,  that  there  was  one  objection 
which  I  had  to  it  which  amounted  to  a  prejudice,  which  was  that  it  taught  bad 
manners.  Not  even  in  the  strife  of  the  House  of  Commons,  nor  in  the  conflicts  of 
civil  parties,  could  any  man  indulge,  without  forfeiting  his  character  as  a  gentle- 
man, in  such  language  as  was  employed  with  applause  in  Christian  controversy, 
and  justified  by  Scriptural  quotations.  G.  J.  Holyoake. 

[To  be  continued.] 

THE     MAHOMETAN     PARADISE. 


Christian  writers  frequently  bring,  as  a  damning  and  conclusive  charge,  suffi- 
cient of  itself  to  consign  Mahometanism  to  the  contempt  of  refined  and  civilised 
nations,  that  the  description  in  the  Koran  of  the  Paradise  prepared  for  faithful 
believers  presents  a  series  of  enjoyments  of  the  most  sensual  and  material  nature. 
Now  the  descriptions  of  Hell  in  the  New  Testament  are  all  essentially  material, 
and  the  Catholic  Church  gives  her  sanction  to  the  most  horrible  pictorial  repre- 
sentations of  infernal  torments  according  to  Scripture,  for  the  terror  and  edifica- 
tion of  children  and  persons  unable  to  read.  But  most  Protestants  would  complain 
bitterly  of  being  calumniated  if  they  were  accused  of  approving  or  tolerating  such 
coarse  intimidation.  Protestant  theologians  shrink  from  a  bold  and  explicit 
exposure  of  their  own  doctrines,  and  seek  to  shroud  them  in  vague,  general,  and 
mysterious  terms,  or  obscure  metaphorical  language.  They  cannot  deny  a  be- 
lief in  the  hell-punishments  mentioned  by  Jesus,  who  describes  the  rich  glutton 
opening  his  eyes  amidst  the  flames  of  hell,  and  begging  in  vain  for  a  drop  of  water 
to  cool  his  tongue ;  who  tells  his  disciples  of  the  bottomless  pit,  the  worm  that 
dieth  not,  the  tormenting  devils,  and  the  lake  burning  with  fire  and  brimstone. 
Protestants  cannot  get  rid  of  these  definite  and  material  images,  but  they  avoid 
dwelling  on  the  subject,  and  many  of  them  teach  that  the  Bible  accounts  of  Hell 
are  figurative,  and  signify  the  torments  of  conscience,  and  the  absence  from  God, 
and  the  spirits  of  the  just  made  perfect. 

But,  indeed,  if  we  examine  the  accounts  of  Heaven  contained  in  the  Christian 
Scriptures,  we  shall  find  them  also  to  be  essentially  material,  and,  unless  figuratively 
explained  away,  not  at  all  superior  in  dignity,  speciousness,  or  grandeur  to  any  of  the 
ancient  mythological  or  poetical  descriptions.  The  Scriptural  heaven,  with  its  vulgar 
machinery  of  lightning,  thrones,  incense,  and  flying  angels,  is  a  fit  counterpart  to 
the  Scriptural  hell,  with  its  brimstone  lakes,  devils,  and  gnashing  of  teeth;  and 
both  equally  require  the  unlimited  acquiescence  of  modern  Protestant  believers 
in  an  uninquiring  and  indefinite  supposition  of  metaphor  and  mystery :  if  taken 
in  a  literal  sense  they  would  be  too  absurd  for  any  man  of  education,  however 


54  THE  REASONER. 


pious.  In  a  literal  sense,  what  could  the  modern  Christian  think  of  the  being 
seated  on  a  throne  in  Heaven,  who  is  '  to  look  upon  like  unto  a  jasper  and  a  sardine 
stone,' and  who  is  worshipped  'day  and  night'  by  twenty-four  elders,  and  four 
beasts  of  diverse  and  grotesque  appearance,  and  '  full  of  eyes  before  and  behind ' 
(Revelations,  c.  iv.,  v,  6).  The  modern  Christian  looks  with  most  supreme  con- 
tempt and  pity  on  the  Hindoo,  whose  God  is  symbolically  represented  with  three 
heads  and  eight  arms,  and  overlooks  the  fact  that  the  Bible  declares  God  to  be 
worshipped  in  Heaven  under  the  form  of  a  lamb, '  as  it  had  been  slain,'  with  seven 
horns  and  seven  eyes,  and  that  on  one  occasion  their  God  descended  to  the  earth 
in  the  bodily  shape  of  a  dove  I  Without  a  liberal  use  of  mystery  and  metaphor, 
the  modern  Protestant  theologian  could  not  make  a  plausible  show  of  reply  to  the 
doubts  and  difficulties  of  his  pupils. 

Now,  on  the  part  of  Mahometauism,  it  must  be  said  that  a  considerable  sect, 
the  Sufis,  consisting  of  the  most  learned  and  devout  men  of  that  religion,  explain 
all  the  sensual  pleasures  of  their  promised  Paradise  in  a  figurative  sense,  as  signi- 
fying angelic  and  spiritual  enjoyments.  They  deal  with  the  Houris  just  as  Pro- 
testants deal  with  the  brimstone  lakes,  the  celestial  beasts,  and  the  '  back  parts'  of 
Jehovah.  And  surely  no  Christian  can  cavil  at  such  an  explanatory  process,  no 
Christian  can  find  fault  with  the  use  of  such  imagery  to  describe  the  bliss  of 
Heaven,  when  he  himself  believes  that  Solomon  was  inspired  by  God  to  delineate 
the  love  of  Christ  for  his  Church,  and  other  divine  mysteries,  under  the  gross  and 
sensual  raptures  of  a  lascivious  epithalamium.  The  Sufis  also  regard  as  religious 
allegories  the  amorous  and  convivial  lyrics  of  the  celebrated  Persian  poet,  Hafiz, 
who  was  a  member  of  their  sect,  and  whom  they  venerate  almost  as  an  inspired 
writer.  For  every  word  and  phrase  in  his  songs  they  discover  an  appropriate 
religious  interpretation,  just  as  pious  Christian  commentators  find  a  mystical 
significance  in  the  warmest  passages  of  the  Song  of  Solomon. 

When  the  Mahometans  require  a  Ueformation  they  will  have  it.  They  must 
pass  through  this  stage,  as  European  Christian  nations  are  now  passing.  Increased  j 
knowledge  and  better  taste  will  cause  the  most  revolting  and  immoral  tenets  of  the 
Koran  to  be  modified,  softened  down,  and  explained  away,  in  the  same  way  that 
Protestants  have  treated  various  doctrines  and  conclusions  that  may  be  legitimately 
drawn  from  a  literal  interpretation  of  the  Bible.  Undecimus. 

~  THE  OBSCURE  HISTORY  OF  A  CHURCH. 


In  connection  with  the  arrangements  for  the  Censtis  recently  taken,  blank  forms  \ 
were  issued  to  the  churchwardens  for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  certain  information  j 
concerning  their  respective  churches.     The  return  for  a  church  near  Hereford  is  | 
said  to  have  been  filled  up  as  follows: — To  the  question,  'How  or  by  whom  j 
erected  ?'  the  answer  was, '  I  do  not  know.'     '  When  consecrated  ?'    '  God  knows.' 
'  Under  what  circumstance  the  license  granted  ?'     '  Nobody  knows.'     A  column 
was  left  in  the  schedule  for  'remarks,'  and  the  communicative  warden  took  advan- 
tage of  the  opportunity  to  enlighten  the  Home  Secretary  with  the  following  ex- 
pression of  his  opinion  : — '  There  is  in  this  parish  about  £500  per  annum  paid  in 
all  ways  from  the  occupiers  of  land  to  this  church,  and  I  have  known  the  whole  of 
the  duty  done  for  £35  per  annum.     We  hare  only  one  service  on  a  Sunday,  and 
the  parish  very  seldom  visited  by  a  clergyman.     We  have  to  thank  the  Dissenters 
for  what  little  education  the  poor  receive.  In  my  opinion  we  want  a  radical  reform 
in  the  church.'    We  would  beg  to  suggest  that  the  reform  wanted  is  in  the  applica- 
tion of  the  funds  thus   supplied,  which   should  he  given  tor  the  support  of  a  good 
secular  school  for  the  poor  children  of  the  parish.  A, 


THE  REASdNER.  55 


©ur  platform. 

From  which  any  earnest  opponent  may  controvert  our  opinions,  and  from  which  any  may  expound  views 
not  coincident  with  our  own,  if  tending  to  the  Rationalisation  of  Theolegv. 

ON  THE  CIRCULATION  OF  FREETHINKING  WORKS. 

To  the  Editor  of  the  Reasoner. 

SiE, — I  have  read  with  much  pleasure  the  suggestions  contained  in  your  letter  to 
Mr.  Trevelyan,  printed  in  a  recent  number  of  the  -Reason«r,  concerning  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  publishing  house  in  London,  with  an  extensile  agency  in  the 
provinces ;  and  it  appears  to  me  highly  desirable  that  they  should  be  carried  out 
as  soon  as  practicable. 

From  the  observations  I  have  been  enabled  to  make,  I  believe  that  no  publication 
devoted  to  the  advocacy  of  Freethought  will  be  able  to  defray  its  expenses  by  the 
mere  produce  of  its  sale,  while  the  present  system  continues.  The  circulation  of 
such,  from  a  variety  of  causes,  is  impeded  even  among  the  class  whose  opinions  it 
expresses. 

Beyond  the  circle  of  Freethinkers,  a  periodical  of  such  descriptipn  can  hope  for 
no  support  worth  any  consideration.  The  opponents  of  free-inquiry  stigmatise  its 
organs  as  advocating  immorality,  and  would  think  their  doom  sealed  were  they  to 
suffer  a  sixpence  of  their  money  to  support  them.  Some  do  this  through  bigotry, 
and  others  through  ignorance.  But  they  are  both  equally  prejudicial.  It  is  true, 
exceptions  relieve  this  dreary  void  ;  but  they  are  few  and  far  between. 

A  correspondent  of  yours,  a  short  time  since,  remarked  that  the  rich  freethinkers 
in  Liverpool  debar  themselves  from  supporting  such  publications  as  the  Reasojier 
although  they  concur  in  its  principles,  from  the  fear  of  braving  the  opinion  of  the 
world.  This  disease  of  fear  prevails  in  a  very  extensive  degree,  not  only  in 
Liverpool,  but  all  England.  I  say  disease,  for  this  fear  is  carried  too  far.  I  con- 
sider that  the  real  cause  of  this  complaint  is  often  indifference.  Certainly  they 
might  support  their  friends  without  posting  hand-bills  concerning  their  creed. 

The  destruction  of  this  prejudice  of  the  '  world  '  would  be  a  great  object  attained. 
Many  freethinkers  view  with  comparative  indifference  the  increasing  freedom  of 
language  employed  by  the  Press  in  treating  of  holy  things  ;  but  that  levity  must  in 
time  remove  this  great  obstacle.  Let  us  obtain  only  toleration,  and  conviction  to 
the  tolerators  will  soon  follow. 

There  are  many  whose  fortunes  are  under  the  control  of  others,  a  withdrawal  of 
whose  patronage  would  be  the  sure  effect  of  an  expression  of  scepticism.  These 
are  placed  in  a  worse  condition  than  their  opulent  brothers,  who  would  not  achieve 
their  utter  ruin  by  open  unbelief. 

But  even  among  freethinkers  willing  to  support  them,  the  circulation  of  their 
journals  is  hindered.  The  newsvendors  in  large  towns  display  Christian  periodicals 
in  their  windows  and  at  the  doors,  but  deny  to  the  Reasoner  and  its  brethren  a 
similar  exhibition.  Some  go  further,  and  refuse  to  supply  it — though  I  believe 
these  are  few.  Many  agents,  who  would  otherwise  deal  impartially,  are  prevented 
from  so  doing  by  the  menaces  of  rev.  gentlemen,  whose  countenances,  as  they 
know  by  bitter  experience,  do  not  always  beam  with  that  benignity  which  they 
contrive  to  display  when  they  sit  for-  their  portraits.  Therefore,  many  sceptics 
are  ignorant  of  the  existence  of  their  journals,  and  consequently,  if  they  would, 
they  cannot  support  them. 

In  villages  the  case  is  worse.    The  newsvendor,  for  there  is  seldom  but  one, 


56  THE  REASONER. 


is  generally  one  of  the  softer  sex,  and  very  often  a  teacher  in  a  Sunday  school,  or 
at  least  connected  with  one.  The  numerous  periodicals  which  figure  in  the  list 
in  the  '  Directory'  with  the  prefix  '  Christian  '  or  '  Gospel,'  that  worthy  vends  by 
dozens  ;  but  a  freethinldng  publication  is  prohibited.  Indeed,  an  application  for 
a  copy  would  give  rise  to  an  exhortation,  duly  seasoned  with  diablerie  ;  and  then 
the  minister,  who  is  the  cazique  of  the  place,  would  take  up  the  matter  :  and  thus 
the  freethinker,  if  he  wishes  to  avoid  ruin,  must  stifle  his  opinions  and  play  the 
hypocrite.    Obtaining  the  periodical  there  is  quite  impossible. 

There  are  few  who  abuse  the  Jesuitical  policy  of  penetrating  into  the  bosom  of 
families,  who  know  how  far  the  same  thing  is  done  by  other  priests,  both  estab- 
lished and  dissenting.  In  relation  to  freethought  their  influence  is  most  baneful; 
the  unhappy  sceptic  has  often  to  choose  between  the  Gospel  and  being  discarded 
by  his  priest-ridden  relatives. 

The  only  instruments  by  which  to  remove  these  obstructions  appear  to  be  a 
general  agency,  and  a  partly-forced  circulation  by  means  ot  distribution.  The 
former  will  be  of  service  to  professed  freethinkers,  and  the  latter  must,  in  a  greater 
or  less  degree,  cause  conviction,  or  at  least  toleration.  At  present,  however,  it 
is  evident  that  a  publication  of  this  class,  solely  dependent  on  its  own  resources, 
must  incur  a  loss.  H.  I.  U. 


[We  readily  insert  this  letter.  In  its  observations  we  fully  concur,  as  respects  the 
groundless  fear  of  many  of  our  friends ;  but  we  have  reason  to  think  better  of  the 
Newsvendors  than  our  correspondent. — Ed.] 

MR.  HOLYOAKE'S  LECTURE  IN  GALASHIELS. 

The  question  of  Education  is  becoming  every  day  of  greater  importance.  All  are 
agreed  as  to  the  necessity  of  some  measure  for  securing  its  blessings  to  the  mass 
of  the  population.  But  while  all  are  agreed  as  to  its  necessity,  serious  differences 
exist  as  to  the  mode  in  which  this  blessing  is  to  be  supplied.  We  have  occupied 
a  portion  of  our  columns  with  a  condensed  report  of  a  speech  upon  this  subject, 
by  Mr.  Holyoake,  of  London,  which  was  delivered  to  a  numerous,  if  not  select, 
audience  of  our  townsmen.  With  regard  to  the  speech  in  general,  we  confess  we 
listened  with  considerable  pleasure  to  the  dispassionate  way  in  which  the  gentle- 
man handled  his  subject.  There  was  none  of  that  violent,  inflammatory  declama- 
tion with  which  some  itinerant  orators  are  in  the  habit  of  regaling  the  public  ear — 
no  supplementary  seasoning  of  the  dish  to  tickle  a  dull  or  deadened  appetite,  but 
plain  and  rational  statements,  put  forth  in  a  clear  manner  and  temperate  tone. 
We  were  not  a  little  pieased  to  find  the  high  standard  at  which  Mr.  Holyoake 
wishes  the  national  education  to  be  placed.  It  is  not  too  much  Education  we  have 
to  fear,  but  too  little.  The  half-educated  man,  who  remains  contented  with  his 
modicum  of  learning,  is,  in  general,  a  presumptuous,  self-conceited  pedant.  Vain 
of  the  little  smattering  attained,  he  stands  upon  a  slightly  elevated  platform,  which, 
while  it  does  not  enable  him  to  commune  with  loftier  spirits,  is  sufficient  to  make 
him  despise  those  above  whom  he  has  risen,  but  lying  far,  far  indeed,  below  those 
high  overshadowing  terraces  of  Parnassus,  which,  could  he  attain  them,  would  only 
serve  to  show  him  how  many  more  elevations  lay  beyond  these,  and  how  little  he 
knew  of  what  may  be  known.  We  rejoice,  therefore,  to  observe  that  the  curricu- 
lum required  by  the  advocates  of  Secular  Education  aims  at  something  higher 
than  the  ordinary  branches,  which  are,  too  often,  as  much  as  the  means  of 
the  parents  can  afford.    But   here  our   admiration   of  the  scheme   must   stop. 


THE  REASONER.  57 


There  are  other  features  in  the  case  to  which  we  cannot  so  readily  grant  our 
assent ;  and  the  first  will  readily  strike  every  Scotsman  who  has  had  the  inestimable 
privilege  of  drinking  in  the  sublime  and  simple  truths  of  the  New  Testament 
with   the  earliest  lessons  of  childhood — it   is    the   purposed  and   total  exclu- 
sion of  the  W»rd  of  God  from  the  school.     If  *  Combe's  Constitution  '  be  a  work 
fitted  by  its  simplicity  of  style,  and  the  grandeur  of  the  truths  it  contains,  to  form 
a  school-book  (as  we  are  informed  it  is)  for  the  young  ;  surely  we  may  be  allowed 
to  bring  forward  that  humble  book,  the   New   Testament,  on  the  same  ground. 
Are  its  lessons  of  morality  less   hard  to  be  understood  or  practised?    Are   its 
unadorned  simplicity  and  pathos  less  calculated  to  arrest  the  young  mind  and 
enchain  the  attention  ?     Is  there  any  precept  contained  in  its  pages  which  any 
one  of  these  advocates  of  morality  would  venture  to  condemn  ?     In  fine,  viewing 
it  merely  as  a  school-book,  we  would  ask,  where  is  there  to  be  found  in  all  the  wide 
literature,  which  claims  no  higher  birth-place  than  the  earth  we  tread,  a  book 
better  fitted,  by  its  simplicity  of  style,  its  earnestness  of  tone,  and  sound  practical 
wisdom,  for  instructing  the  young,  and  training  them  in  the  path  which  will  most 
conduce  to  their  happiness  as  men,  and  members  of  society  ?     The  Bible  has  other 
and  higher  claims  to  recommend  it  as  the  best  book  to  be  placed  in  the  hands  of  the 
young — even   the   recommendation  that  it  is  the  truth  of  God;  but  we  ask  on 
merely  moral  grounds,  what  can  the  advocates  of  unsectarian  Education  see  in 
the  Word  of  Life  that  they  must   banish  it  from  the  eyes  of   the   young  as  a 
dangerous  thing  ?     Is  it  not  a  thing  of  itself  savouring  of  sectarianism,  to  exclude 
a  book  which  the  unanimous  voice  of  every  good  and  pious  man,  in  times  past,  and 
in  the  present  day,  demands  (in  Scotland  at  least)  to  be  taught  as  the  very  foun- 
dation of  all'other  instruction  ?     The  party  who  are  opposed  to  this  are  a  mere 
fraction,  as  every  one  knows ;  and,  thank  God,  the  majority  have  not  arrived  at  that 
pitch  of  refinement  as  to  couat  the  Scriptures  of  Truth  unfit  food  for  the  minds 
of  their  children.     One  word  as  to  the  objection  brought  forward  by  Mr.  Holyoake 
and  his  coadjutors.     '  Familiarity,'  they  say,  '  breeds  contempt.'     '  The  name  of 
God,  by  being  made  a  task  word,  becomes  disagreeable  to  the  minds  of  the  young.' 
Such  reasoning,  in  application  to  some  subjects,  bears  a  show  of  plausibility  upon 
it;  but  a  moment's  reflection  will  show  the  daring  assumption  that  is  here  made. 
Where  amongst  the  many  thousands  of  our  population  that  rejoice  at  this  day  in 
the  light  of  the  truth,  could  one  be  found  who  is  not  free  to  acknowledge  to  that 
his  purest,  holiest,  and  most  ardent  feelings  of  devotion  were  enkindled  with  that 
name  which,  taught  in  infancy  to  respect,  with  a  confident,  yet  holy  and  awful 
reverence,  is  yet  the  name  most  sacred  and  venerated  in  his  heart  ?    The  name  of 
the  Almighty  author  of  our  bodies,  and  the  Father  of  our  spirits — with  reverence 
be  it  spoken — cannot  become  too  familiar.     It  may  be  drawn  in  with  the  milk 
of  infancy,  and  it  may  be  taught  at  home  and  a-field,  and  why  not  also  in  the  school 
with  all  propriety  and  decorum  ?     And  where  else,  but  at  school,  are  those  be- 
nighted creatures  to  learn  the  truth,  who  are  deprived  by  death  of  a  parent's 
care,  or  are  as  effectually  kept  in  ignorance  of  all  that  is  sacred  by  their  igno- 
rance or  incapacity.     The  name  of  Him  who  sent  his  Son  to  save  us,  we  repeat, 
cannot  be  too  early  graven  on  the  hearts  of  the  young.    As  well  talk  of  the  fami- 
liarity of  the  light  of  the  sun  '  breeding  contempt,'  or  the  common  air  which  is 
necessary  to  support  animal  life,  becoming  despised  on  account  of  our  familiar  ac- 
quaintance with  it !     This  much  we  would  demand,  that  the  Bible  be  one  of  the 
books  read  in  schools,  so  that  those  (and  their  name  is  legion)  who  wish  their 
children  to  be  there  instructed  in  the  divine  word  may  not  be  disappointed  for 


58  -         THE  REASONER. 


the  sake  of  the  fe^r  who  really  care  not  whether  the  Bible  be  read  at  all,  either  at 
school  or  elsewhere.  It  is  only  fair  play  that  the  opportunity  may  be  placed  in 
their  way ;  and  as  for  that  same  insignificant  section  of  objectors,  we  see  no  reason 
they  have  to  complain  if  the  Bible  is  taught  in  the  school  where  their  children  are. 
Let  them  send  word  that  they  do  not  wish  their  children  to  join  the  Bible  class, 
for  fear  of  contamination  !  in  the  same  way  as  they  would  signify  their  desire  that 
they  should  not  learn  Latin  or  any  other  branch,  and  we  undertake  to  say  the  case, 
though  rare,  will  receive  the  favourable  consideration  of  the  schoolmaster — he 
will  certainly  not  force  his  scholars  to  learn  anything,  however  desirable,  against 
the  wishes  of  the  parents. 

"We  thus  express  our  conviction  that  the  Bible,  as  a  historical  and  a  moral  book, 
should  be  placed  in  the  reach  of  all,  and  as  a  religious  book  it  ought  to  be  placed 
within  the  reach  of  that  numerous  body  of  Scottish  people  who  demand  it  to  be 
tau»ht  their  children.  It  will  be  understood  that  we  speak  of  reading  the  Bible 
without  note  or  comment,  except  in  so  far  as  may  be  necessary  for  the  elucidation 
of  the  subject.  Any  attempt  at  drawing  sectarian  deductions,  or  party  doctrines 
from  the  pure  word,  we  would  reject  and  condemn  ;  and  conscious  we  are,  that  the 
great  bulk  (shall  we  not  say,  the  entire  parochial  body  of  our  schoolmasters  ;  and 
we  trust  of  other  sects  ?)  are  far  removed,  indeed,  from  any  such  paltry  and  injudi- 
cious attempts  to  propagate  a  peculiar  creed.  The  school  may  be,  and  we  trust 
often  is,  the  place  where  the  good  seed  of  the  world  is  stored  up  in  the  heart,  but 
we  never  heard  of  any  one  who  had  formed  his  religious  creed  from  his  teacher. 
That  is  the  work  of  a  maturer  judgment  and  riper  years.  The  attendance  at  our 
parochial  schools,  where  the  Bible  is  taught — composed  often  of  every  sect  and 
denomination — goes  far  to  prove  the  little  danger  which  our  population  apprehend 
on  this  ground. — Border  Advertiser,  May  23,  1851. 


[The  lecture  referred  to  was  quoted  in  the  Leader  of  May  31.  The  subject  being 
Educational,  is  not  relevant  here — but  the  comments  of  the  editor  above  given 
relate  to  topics  we  professedly  debate  in  these  columns.  We  must  tell  the  editor 
of  the  Border  Advertiser  that  he  is  not  acquainted  with  the  objections  we  could 
bring  against  the  Bible,  but  we  will  not  embarrass  the  great  question  of  public 
Instruction  by  arguing  the  matter  in  connection  with  such  a  subject.  We  stand 
purely  on  the  ground  of  conscience,  and  we  ought  not  to  be  called  upon  to  justify 
that  conscience  any  more  than  any  religious  body  that  differs  from  the  Church  of 
England.  It  is  enough  that  we  do  in  our  conscience  object  to  the  use  of  the  Bible 
in  the  instruction  of  our  children,  and  we  claim  that.our  conscience  shall  be  res- 
pected (in  this  case)  without  discussion  or  imputation. — Ed.] 

^_^ a — . ..• 

METHODIST     REACTION. 


The  Wesleyan  Times  gives  the  following  statistics  respecting  the  decline  of 
Methodism  :— The  decrease  in  Halifax  and  Bradford  is  3,514  ;  SheflBeld,  4,846; 
Manchester,  1,829;  Liverpool,  1,098;  Northampton,  631;  Birmingham,  2,500; 
London,  4,848;  Macclesfield,  440;  Norwich,  4,096;  York,  1,617;  Leeds,  5,694; 
Newcastle,  3,360.     Total  decrease,  34,723. 

These  returns  are  from  twelve  districts,  and  show  a  falling  off  of  Wesleyan 
disciples  of  nearly  35,000,  The  aforesaid  paper  remarks : — '  When  the  returns 
from  the  remaining  twenty  districts  come  to  hand,  we  suspect  they  will  show  a  net 
decrease  of  about  50,000 !'     What  can  have  induced  such  a  large  retrogression 


59 


THE  REASONER. 


amongst  a  class  of  such  nose-led  religionists  ?  Internal  dissension  has  done  much, 
but  reason  also  may  have  been  at  work,  and  convinced  many  of  them  that  the  ex- 
perience-telling class-meeting  is  but  another  name  for  the  confessional;  and  there- 
fore they  fly  from  the  precincts  of  the  Wesleyan  denomination.  I  have  cause  to 
believe  that  our  labours  have  not  been  without  effect  in  reclaiming  many  from  the 
narrow  path  of  sectarianism  to  the  broad  field  of  principle.  It  is  precisely  in  those 
towns  where  our  labours  have  been  most  active  that  the  greatest  falling  off  is 
observable.  If  other  sects  were  to  publish  how  many  of  their  sheep  have  left  the 
fold,  we  should  find  cause  of  encouragement.  J. 


SURGICAL     OPERATIONS 


These  operations  have  often  won  in  a  day  for  the  operator  more  than  years  of 
unobtrusive  labour  could  have  gained.  Mr.  Skey,  in  the  last  Hunterian  oration, 
dwells  upon  this  subject,  contending,  if  we  are  rightly  informed,  that  the  knife 
should  be  the  very  last  resort  of  the  honest  and  intelligent  surgeon.  He  limits 
the  use  of  the  knife  '  operations  of  expediency  ' — operations,  that  is  to  say, '  which 
are  undertaken  for  the  purpose  of  curing  deformity,  by  the  removal  or  division 
of  sound  parts,  or  of  painless  diseases,  which  do  not  exceed  inconvenience. 

meaSfluer  pwjiasauiJa. 

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GUIDE  TO  THE  LECTURE  ROOM. 

Literary  Institution,  John  Street,  Fitzroy  Square. 
June  15th  [7i],  Ernest  Jones,  '  Labour,  Capital, 
Wages.' 

Hall  of  Science,  City  Road.  —  June  15th  [7i], 
Thomas  Shorter,  '  Approaching  Anniversary  of  the 
Battle  of  Waterloo.' 

Institute  of  Progress,  10a,  Upper  George-street, 
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Eclectic  Institute,  Denmark  Street,  Soho.  — 
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and  Social  Science.' 

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60  THE  REASONER. 


The  select  committee  appointed  on  Ecclesiastical  Courts  have  just  issued  their 
report,  from  which  the  following  are  extracts  : — The  Registrar  of  the  Consistorial 
Court  of  Bristol  resides  in  Lincolnshire,  and  receives  a  fixed  payment  from  the 
deputy- registrar,  in  lieu  of  any  part  of  the  fees,  of  £200  per  annum  ;  last  year  this 
was  reduced  to  £160.  The  joint  deputy-registrars  are  solicitors  and  proctors,  and 
exercise  the  exclusive  right  of  transacting  all  the  common-form  business  in  the 
office.  They  estimate  the  average  net  emoluments  of  their  joint  office  at  £444. 
The  judge's  average  annual  receipts  for  the  last  three  years  were  £126.  Their 
business,  as  solicitors  and  deputy- registrars,  is  conducted  altogether;  and  they 
make  no  distinction  in  their  table  of  charges  for  common-form  business,  to  parties 
in  the  court,  between  what  is  due  to  them  as  officers  of  the  court,  and  their  pro- 
fessional charges  as  proctors.  The  duties  of  the  registrar  of  the  Consistorial 
Court  of  Bath  and  "Wells  are  performed  by  a  deputy,  the  principal  registrar  being 
one  of  the  metropolitan  police  magistrates,  and  receiving  a  net  annual  payment 
out  of  the  fees  of  £400.  The  deputy's  net  receipts  in  1847  were  £810 ;  in  1848  and 
1849  they  averaged  £471.  The  greater  amount  in  1847  arose  from  additional  fees 
in  that  year,  consequent  upon  an  inhibition  of  the  Archdeacon's  Court.  The  fees 
of  the  judge,  who  is  stated  to  have  sat  in  court  once  or  twice,  produce  him  an 
average  net  income  of  £166,  besides  £30  a  year  paid  to  his  deputy,  who  acts  as 
judge  of  the  court,  and  is  the  father  of  the  deputy-registrar.  The  deputy- 
registrar  is  also  registrar  or  deputy-registrar  of  twenty-four  peculiar  courts ;  in 
respect  of  business  in  them  the  same  charges  are  made  as  in  the  consistorial  court. 
In  the  Decanal  Court  the  principal  registrar  is  a  lady,  who,  the  deputy  believes, 
was  appointed  to  the  office  when  she  was  five  years  old.  In  the  Archdeacon's 
Court  the  principal  registrar,  who  receives  £100  a  year,  and  does  none  of  the 
registrar's  work,  is  a  clergyman  residing  in  another  diocese,  and  is  alleged  not  to 
be  qualified  to  act  as  registrar. 

Copies  of  the  Reasoner  were  forwarded  to  Dr.  Kerns,  of  Sheffield — one  with  the 
leading  article  entitled  'The  Sheffield  Lectures  and  Dr.  Kerns,'  and  the  other 
with  the  reply  to  the  letter  of  Dr.  Kerns.  The  Rev.  Doctor  has  been  at  length 
aroused  to  do  something  in  the  shape  of  an  *  Address  to  the  Freethinkers  of 
Sheffield,'  &c.  The  following  appeared  in  the  Sheffield  Free  Press  of  Saturday, 
May  17: — 'Dr.  Kerns  has  favoured  us  with  a  long  letter,  addressed  to  "The 
Freethinkers  of  Sheffield  and  Mr.  George  Jacob  Holyoake,"  which  we  must  decline 
inserting  on  several  grounds.  The  first  objection  we  have  is  Dr.  Kerns'  own 
admission,  that  he  took  no  notice  of  Mr.  Holyoake's  letter  in  the  Free  Press,  and 
it  was  only  on  that  letter,  with  some  further  remarks,  being  reprinted  in  the 
Reasoner,  that  the  reverend  gentleman  felt  disposed  to  reply  to  them.  Such  being 
the  case,  we  would  suggest  that  Dr.  Kerns  furnish  his  reply  to  the  Reasoner,  for 
which  purpose  we  will  return  his  MS.  The  second  reason  why  we  decline  to  pub- 
lish the  letter  is  on  account  of  its  ffreat  length.  Besides  this,  we  think  a  newspaper 
is  scarcely  the  proper  medium  for  a  controversy  of  this  nature.  If  we  inserted 
the  remarks  of  Dr.  Kerns  on  Mr.  Holyoake,  we  must  in  justice  open  our  columns 
to  the  latter  party  for  a  reply.  We  are  informed  that  Mr.  Holyoake  has  greatly 
injured  the  cause  of  Christianity  in  this  town  already ;  and  a  controversy  (after 
the  great  want  of  moral  courage  manifested  by  the  ministers  of  religion  in  this 
town,  in  declining  to  meet  that  gentleman  when  he  was  in  Sheffield),  would,  we 
believe,  still  further  extend  the  injurious  principles  Mr.  Holyoake  advocates.  In 
fact,  the  freethinkers  boast  that  no  minister  or  individual  representing  any  reli- 
gious body  dare  meet  Mr.  Holyoake  ;  and  to  attack  him  now  in  the  columns  of  our 
paper,  in  place  of  meeting  him  when  in  Sheffield,  would  only  tend  to  strengthen 
that  opinion.' 

London  ;  Printed  by  Holyoake  Brothers,  3,  Queen's  Head  Passage,  Paternoster-row ;  and  Published 
by  J.  Watson,  3,  Queen's  Head  Passage,  Paternoster-row. — Wednesday,  June  11th,  1861. 


THEOLOGICAL     EXAMINER. 

They  who  believe  that  they  have  Truth  ask  no  favour,  save  that  of  being  heard:  they  dare  the 
judgment  of  Mankind  :  refused  Co-operation,  they  invoke  Opposition,  for  Opposition  is  their 
Opportunity. — Editor. 


DEFENCE  OF  OPINION  AGAINST  THE  CLERGY  OF  LANCASTER. 

(concluded.) 
"When  my  lecture  was  over  on  the  moral  objections  to  Christianity,  Mr.  Fleming 
and  the  Rev.  Mr.  Hereford  both  rose ;  but  Mr.  Hereford  gave  way  to  Mr.  Fleming. 
Mr.  Fleming  declined  controversy,  and  professed  that  all  he  should  do  would  be 
to  ask  me  questions  as  to  my  opinions;  and  this  he  did  in  a  tone  so  opposite  from 
that  of  every  other  gentleman  who  had  spoken,  that  the  meeting  was  as  sensible  as 
I  was  of  the  difference.  Questions  conceived  so  as  to  entrap  were  put  in  the  spirit 
of  one  seeking  a  triumph  rather  than  the  truth.  The  aversion  which  by  this  time 
I  had  conceived  towards  this  gentleman  was  so  great,  that  it  cost  me  quite  a 
struggle  to  enter  into  controversy  with  him,  and  I  who  had  gone  so  many  miles  to 
meet  him  would  have  gone  as  far  to  have  avoided  him  could  I  have  reconciled  it 
with  my  duty.  But  subsequently  this  feeling  passed  away,  as  the  reader  will  find. 
Before  answering  him,  I  told  Mr.  Fleming  that  I  expected  he  would  have  prefaced 
his  first  speech  by  an  apology  for  the  course  (under  erroneous  impression,  I  was 
willing  to  believe)  which  he  had  taken  in  reference  to  me,  especially  in  his  letter 
in  the  Lancaster  Guardian.  Instead  of  doing  so,  he  affected  lo  be  the  outraged 
person  himself,  and  much  more  of  the  same  kind  not  now  worth  recording.  I 
restricted  myself  then  to  telling  Mr.  Fleming,  that  I  should  not  ask  him  twice  if 
his  own  feelings  as  a  gentleman  did  not  dictate  to  him  the  amende  he  should  make. 
The  Rev,  Mr.  Hereford  said  the  entertainment  of  a  personal  question  was  incom- 
patible with  the  solemn  subject  to  be  considered.  But  it  seemed  to  me  that  Mr. 
Hereford  overlooked  that  the  appropriate  prelude  to  approaching  a  solemn 
subject,  is  to  make  clean  our  hands.  The  temper  of  justice  is  the  basis  of  all 
healthy  awe. 

During  my  lecture  I  had  occasion  to  say,  that  the  death  of  Christ  as  an  expiation, 
called  the  central  fact  of  the  Christian  system,  was  to  me  an  appalling  circum- 
stance to  contemplate.  In  noticing  this  remark,  Mr.  Fleming  said  twice, '  we  had 
that  night  heard  a  great  deal  of  the  bloody  cruelty  of  GodJ  When  he  repeated  this 
the  second  time,  I  rose  and  said, '  I  thought  my  reverend  opponent  was  labouring 
under  some  misapprehension.  I  believed  that  we  had  not  heard  that  coarse,  and, 
as  many  would  regard  it,  painful  phrase  from  any  lips  but  his  own  ;  and  I  must 
protest  against  its  being  put  into  my  mouth  by  its  repetition  as  though  I  had  used 
it.'  Mr.  Fleming  did  not  repeat  it  again.  Overlooking  an  important  distinction 
I  laboriously  kept  before  the  audience,  Mr.  Fleming  emphatically  asserted  that  I 
denounced  all  authority — whereas  my  argument  went  only  to  substitute  the 
authority  of  reason  for  the  authority  of  names  and  faith. 

He  also  introduced,  in  refutation  of  my  argument,  an  extraordinary  parallel 
between  the  Queen  and  God ;  so  unique  was  it,  that  it  excited  the  wonder  of  the 
orthodox  no  less  than  the  wonder  of  the  heterodox. 


[No.  364.] 


[ONE  PENNY.] 


INo.  S,  Vol.  XI.] 


62 


THE  REASONER. 


Probably  Mr.  Fleming  spoke  an  hour.  He  did  not  make  speeches  for  me  to 
reply  to,  but  put  to  me  questions  of  examination  and  cross  examination.  I  sub- 
mitted to  every  form  of  interrogation,  and  answered  point  by  point  in  any  way  de- 
sired of  me.  Had  I  had  anything  to  conceal,  that  mode  of  procedure  would  have 
taken  advantage  of  me.  But  I  did  not  object  to  it.  I  did  not  even  ask  myself 
whether  it  was  fair  or  not.  I  regarded  it  as  good  exercise  for  a  young  debater, 
who  ought  to  be  equal  to  every  emergency  and  every  form  of  attack. 

The  impression  produced  by  this  night's  debate  is  best  shown  in  the  following 
letter,  which  appeared  the  next  afternoon  in  the  Lancaster  Guardian,  entitled — 

THE  EET.  J.  FLEMING  AND  MR.  GEOEGE  J.  HOLYOAKE. 

Mr.  Editor, — I  have  no  wish,  could  you  afford  me  the  opportunity,  of  intruding 
on  your  columns  the  arguments  in  favour  of  Christianity  in  comparison  with 
those  advanced  by  the  advocates  of  infidelity;  but,  with  your  permission,  I  would 
advert  as  briefly  as  I  can  to  matters  of  a  personal  nature  arising  out  of  the  con- 
troversy on  this  important  subject.  I  am  only  speaking  the  sentiments  of 
numbers  of  persons,  all  of  whom  with  myself  dissent  in  toto  from  the  peculiar  tenets 
of  Mr.  Holyoake — all  of  whom,  however,  are  the  advocates  of  unshackled  inquiry 
— when  I  inform  Mr.  Fleming,  through  your  instrumentality,  that  the  manner  in 
which  he  has  thought  fit  to  treat  a  gentleman,  whose  courtesy  and  fairness  are 
unequalled,  whose  truthfulness  and  honesty  of  opinion  no  man  can  impeach,  whose 
moral  character  is  untainted — has  not  been  such  as  to  reflect  credit  on  himself  as 
a  gentleman  and  a  minister  of  the  gospel,  but  has  rather  tended  to  the  disparage- 
ment of  those  glorious  doctrines  of  which  he  is  a  public  exponent. 

I  do  not  quarrel  with  Mr.  Fleming  for  one  moment,  as  I  understand  a  rev. 
gentleman,  of  a  somewhat  pugnacious  mood,  thought  fitfto  do  at  the  Bible  meeting, 
for  introducing  to  the  audience  assembled  in  the  Odd-fellows'  Hall,  the  evidences 
of  the  truth  of  Christianity  in  contrast  with  those  of  a  contrary  belief.  1  believe 
that  the  Christianity  of  the  New  Testament  will  be  more  appreciated  if  it  is  better 
known,  I  believe  that  Christianity  will  bear  the  inquiry  of  reason,  and  that  no- 
thing is  more  repulsive  to  its  teaching  than  that  it  should  be  enfolded  in  an  air  of 
mystery  which  it  is  blasphemous  to  disclose,  or  that  it  should  attach  to  it  votaries 
by  the  fears  of  a  blind  superstition.  But  I  do  quarrel  with  Mr.  Fleming  for  in- 
voking a  discussion  which  he  either  could  not  or  does  not  feel  inclined  to  sustain — 
that  he  has  thereby  exhibited  a  weakness  which  will  tell  strongly  in  favour  of  the 
cause  which  Mr.  Holyoake  advocates. 

Mr.  Fleming's  position  is  this.  He  addresses  an  audience  on  the  subject  of 
infidelity.  He  reprobates  particular  works,  and  holds  up  to  public  execration  a 
particular  production  of  Mr.  Holyoake's,  which  he  represents  as  having  an 
'immoral'  tendency,  and  he  challenges  any  infidel  to  vindicate  the  authenticity  of 
his  opinions,  and  he  will  meet  him,  and  prove  the  truth  of  all  that  he  had  stated. 
Who  so  competent  to  vindicate  his  own  works  as  Mr.  Holyoake  himself?  This 
gentleman,  feeling  himself  aggrieved  by  the  imputation  of  immorality,  accepts  the 
challenge.  To  this  Mr.  Fleming  at  first  demurs — forgetting  that  Mr.  Holyoake 
has  a  personal  claim  upon  him,  owing  to  the  selection  of  his  works  as  the  objects  of 
his  attack— on  the  ground  that  his  challenge  was  only  intended  for  infidels  present 
in  that  room  !  He  afterwards  states  that  if  Mr.  Holyoake  considers  himself 
wronged, '  let  him  come  to  Lancaster  and  defend  what  he  has  written,  in  a  series 
of  lectures,  and  I  will  be  prepared  to  reply  to  them.' 

This  appears  fair  and  honest  and  hon6urable.  But  how  does  Mr.  Fleming 
'  reply?'    He  does  not  attend  the  first  lecture  of  Mr.  Holyoake.    At  the  second 


THE  REASONER.  63 


he  does  make  his  appearance,  and  instead  of  '  replying,'  he  states  positively  that 
he  has  no  intention  of  replying  in  Mr.  Holyoake's  presence,  that  he  merely  wishes 
to  obtain  his  opinions,  and  when  he  has  left  the  town,  when  he  is  not  present  to 
correct  any  misapprehension  or  misconstruction,  then  will  Mr.  Fleming  '  enjoy  ' 
the  '  opportunity  '  which  was  offered  to  him  on  the  evening  of  each  lecture. 

Sir,  I  again  repeat,  that  with  Mr.  Holyoake's  doctrines  I  cannot  concur.  But 
1  recognise  his  right  to  perfect  freedom  of  thought  and  speech.  I  recognise  his 
claims  to  fair  and  honourable  dealing,  and  particularly  by  those  who  claim  as  one 
of  the  golden  principles  of  our  Saviour,  that  glorious  aspiration  of  charity  and  love 
— '  Do  unto  others  as  ye  would  they  should  do  unto  you.' 

A  "Working  Man. 

This  letter  could  not  have  been  written  by  a  *  working  man,'  in  the  sense  of  the 
writer  being  an  artizan.  Such  a  person  would  not  have  had  influence  enough  to 
have  prevailed  on  the  editor  to  have  inserted  such  a  letter.  It  is  proof  that  other 
persons  must  have  been  favourably  impressed,  so  far  as  to  vindicate  my  right  to 
freedom  of  opinion  and  fair  play.  Certainly  ray  acknowledgments  are  due  to  the 
assumed  '  Working  Man,'  and  to  the  Guardian,  for  admitting  his  letter. 

On  the  third  night  Mr.  Fleming  appeared  altogether  a  different  person.  His 
tone  was  kind  and  his  language  courteous,  and  I  quite  forgot  all  the  unpleasant- 
nesses which  had  preceded.  The  interrogations  were  as  incessant  as  on  preceding 
nights.  Among  other  things,  Mr.  Fleming  said  he  '  did  not  intend  to  say  that  I 
was  an  immoral  person.  He  had  inquii-ed  previously  to  my  coming  to  Lancaster, 
and  learned  that  my  private  character  was  satisfactory.' 

It  appeared  to  me  that  Mr.  Fleming  modified  some  of  the  views  he  was  under- 
stood to  maintain.  He  took  credit  that  neither  himself  nor  the  audience  held  the 
notions  of  eternal  punishment  I  had  described — which  were  the  orthodox  and 
evangelical  doctrines.  Of  course  I  was  glad  to  find  that  Mr.  Fleming  and  the 
Christians  of  Lancaster  were  advanced  somewhat  near  the  Unitarian  point  of 
generous  conception  of  the  character  of  God.  I  pressed  Mr.  Fleming  to  explain 
his  own  views — to  say  distinctly  whether  he  did  or  did  not  believe  in  eternal 
punishment.  If  he  did,  there  was  no  value  in  his  repudiation  of  my  statements. 
If  he  did  not,  he  admitted  an  important  point  that  I  was  anxious  to  establish. 
Twice  or  thrice  I  pressed  this  question,  but  Mr,  Fleming  appeared  always  not  to 
hear  me,  and  never  noticed  my  lequest  nor  explained  his  own  creed  on  this  in- 
teresting subject.  Certainly  Mr.  Fleming  on  another  point  was  honourably  ex- 
plicit. He  conceded  the  rightfulness  of  discussion — of  freedom  of  opinion — my 
right  to  differ  from  the  Christian — and  I  understood  him  to  admit  the  moral 
innocency  of  dissent.  The  effect  of  these  admissions  was  very  striking  on  the 
audience  :  many  seemed  to  breathe  more  freely  than  before.  It  is  doubtless  very 
sad  that  the  spirit  of  a  people  should  wait  on  a  priest's  Qoncessions,  but  that 
seemed  to  be  the  case  in  Lancaster. 

I  should  endeavour  to  recount  more  of  the  points  Mr.  Fleming  raised,  and  some 
remarks  I  made  in  reply  ;  but  I  shall  have  an  opportunity  of  printing  Mr.  Flem- 
ing's own  report  of  the  proceedings,  and  I  would  rather  present  his  version  than 
my  own.  Before  concluding  I  told  him  that  I  should  be  ready,  at  his  convenience, 
to  enter  into  public  discussion  with  him  on  the  questions  involved  in  my  lectures 
and  his.  He  answered,  his  duties  were  heavy,  and  as  a  Professor  his  time,  I  would 
allow,  must  be  fully  occupied;  but  either  in  the  newspapers,  or  through  a  publica- 
tion, or  by  a  pamphlet,  he  would  examine  my  lectures.  It  was  my  part  to  offer 
him  discussion,  it  was  his  to  decline  it,  or  adopt  any  mode  of  holding  it  that  seemed 


64  THE  REASONER. 


sufficient  or  suitable  to  him — and  the  privilege  of  doing  so  I  fully  and  unreservedly 
conceded  to  him.  The  reader  will  see  from  a  notice  next  week  that  Mr.  Fleming 
is  fulfilling  his  promise  in  one  of  the  ways  he  proposed. 

Mr.  Johnson,  on  this  night,  inquired  in  what  sense  I  used  the  word  nature.  I 
answered,  in  the  sense  of  Paley  and  Coleridge,  as  an  aggregate  name  for  the  sum 
of  phenomena.  The  definition  might  have  been  larger,  but — sufficient  to  the  day  'is 
the  evil  thereof  (?).     Mr.  Johnson  replied : 

'Was  the  idea  of  nature,  in  the  sense  in  which  I  used  it,  more  simple,  or  was  it 
not  less  instructive,  than  the  idea  of  God — denoting  so  many  attributes  of  moral 
excellence  ?'  The  attributes  he  mentioned  were  seven  in  number :  I  have  now  lost 
their  enumeration,  I  said  that  I  thought  Nature,  with  its  observable  attributes, 
was  simpler  than  the  metaphysical  conception  of  Deity,  with  imaginary,  at  least 
abstract,  ones.  Mr.  Johnson  added  some  practical  cases  relative  to  personal  piety, 
and  put  them  in  a  devout  spirit.  The  Rev,  Mr.  Hereford's  questions  related 
chiefly  to  free-will  and  its  consequences,  and  all  his  suppositions  as  to  my  views 
were  just.  When  Mr.  Johnson  explained  an  idea  on  this  subject,  he  apologised 
for  some  incoherence  in  his  statement,  and  said  '  he  put  his  case  even  more  illogi- 
cally  than  the  Rev.  Mr.  Hereford.'  Mr.  Hereford  (who  really  had  put  the  case 
better)  here  bowed  very  low  at  the  compliment,  and  the  pantomime  was  diverting, 
and  the  audience,  who  caught  the  allusion,  shared  in  the  spirit.  Though  I  had  to 
leave  Lancaster  at  four  the  next  morning,  Mr.  Johnson  besought  me,  at  a  late  hour, 
to  prolocg  the  replies,  to  which  I  answered  that  I  was  quite  agreeable  to  stay  res- 
ponding till  the  train  went.  It  was  approaching  twelve  before  the  meeting  sepa- 
rated. The  discussion  this  night  was  as  instructive  to  me  as  the  spirit  was 
pleasant  in  which  the  opponents  conducted  it.  It  was  to  me  the  most  valuable 
night  I  remember  to  have  spent  on  a  platform.  Before  leaving  the  room,  Mr. 
Hereford  and  Mr.  Johnson,  and  some  other  gentlemen,  came  and  shook  hands  in 
a  friendly  manner. 

The  chief  constable  did  us  the  honour  to  be  an  auditor  on  the  second  night,  and 
to  place  four  policemen  in  readiness  to  preserve  the  peace.  To  whom  this  cour- 
tesy was  owing  I  know  not,  probably  to  Mr.  Johnson;  but  I  addressed  a  letter  of 
acknowledgments  to  the  head  of  the  police. 

On  the  latter  nights  several  ladies  were  present,  and  some  distinguished  mem- 
bers of  Mr.  Fleming's  congregation.  Mr.  Fleming  is  a  younger  and  a  handsomer 
man,  but  in  style  of  oratory  resembles,  as  well  as  in  darkness  of  complexion,  the 
Rev.  Robert  Montgomery,  the  fashionable  metropolitaa  preacher,  otherwise  known 
as  '  Satan  Montgomery.' 

The  Lancaster  Gazette,  whose  fascinating  leader  on  '  Infidel  Lecturers  and  how  to 
treat  them  '  has  been  quoted,  had  the  following  paragraph  in  its  next  number: — 
'  The  person  to  whom  we  had  occasion  to  allude  last  week,  as  likely  to  visit  the 
town  in  defence  of  infidel  doctrines,  has  for  three  nights  past  lectured  at  one  of  our 
public-houses,  and  we  are  sorry  to  say  the  attendance  has  been  very  numerous.  Of 
course  many  would  go  to  "  hear  the  fun,"  and  come  away  affected  neither  one  way 
nor  the  other;  but  it  is  to  be  feared  thai,with  others,seed  has  been  sown  which  the  com- 
mon enemy  of  mankind  will  in  due  time  ripen  to  a  harvest  of  never-ending  sorro"^^.' 

The  Guardian,  always  more  courteous,  the  same  week  made  this  report : — *  On 
the  evenings  of  Wednesday,  Thursday,  and  Friday  last,  Mr.  George  Jacob  Holy- 
oake,  the  author  of  the  "  Logic  of  Death,"  an  atheistical  pamphlet,  and  editor  of 
the  Eeasoner  periodical,  delivered  three  lectures  in  the  New  Inn  Concert  Room, 
Market  Street,  in  advocacy  of  his  opinions.    It  will  be  remembered  that  the 


THE  REASONER. 


65 


"  Logic  of  Death  "  was  introduced  by  the  Rev.  J.  Fleming,  in  one  of  his  lectures 
in  the  Odd-Fellows'  Hall,  and  its  arguments  examined  and  criticised.  Mr.  Holy- 
oake,  feeling  aggrieved  by  some  expression  in  one  of  the  lectures,  imputing  to  his 
work  an  "  immoral"  tendency,  accepted  a  challenge  to  vindicate  his  writings  and 
opinions.  The  subject  of  the  first  lecture  was,  "The  case  stated  between  atheism 
and  theism,  with  a  view  to  show  the  moral  innocencyof  speculative  opinions,  even 
the  most  extreme,  if  conscientiously  held."  The  universe,  according  to  Mr.  Holy- 
oake's  definition,  is  "  material,  self-existent,  and  eternal,"  governed  by  a  collection 
of  laws  to  which  he  gives  the  name  of  Nature.  In  the  second  lecture  he  attempted 
to  show  that  the  Christian  code,  as  a  system  of  morals,  was  defective.  Yesterday 
evening  he  proposed  to  prove  that  "  Catholicism  was  consistent  Christianity,  and 
the  actual  type  of  the  churches  around  us,  all  of  which  alike  excite  personal  distrust 
and  public  alarm."  At  the  close  of  each  lecture  some  discussion  arose,  any  one  in 
the  room  being  at  liberty  to  propose  any  question  to  the  speaker.  On  Thursday 
evening  Mr.  Fleming  attended  the  lecture,  and  questioned  Mr.  H.,  with  a  view  of 
eliciting  his  opinions,  ia  order  that  he  might  reply  to  them  "  at  the  proper  time.'' 
The  audiences  on  each  evening  were  very  numerous.  Though  we  do  not  believe 
that  Mr.  Holyoake  will  have  added  a  single  convert  to  the  roll  of  atheism,  his 
courtesy  of  demeanour  and  the  sincerity  and  honesty  with  which  he  avows  his 
opinions,  entitled  and  secured  to  him  a  dispassionate  hearing.' 

Each  night  I  was  the  solitary  occupant  of  the  orchestra.  I  had  no  one  to  pre- 
side. I  was  my  own  chairman,  and  I  was  lecturer,  respondent ,  and  master  of 
ceremonies  in  general,  from  first  to  last.  On  the  Sunday  following  prayers  were 
put  up  for  me  in  several  places  in  Lancaster.  Mr.  Fleming  directed  the  Sunday 
school  to  pray  for  me.  The  prayer  he  ofifered  up  was  to  the  efifect  that  the  Lord 
had  done  good  in  causing  me  to  come  to  Lancaster.  It  had  been  the  means  of 
showing  the  people  how  men  may  be  led  away  by  following  reason  instead  of  the 
true  light  of  faith.  It  appears  that  some  surprise  has  been  felt  that  I  should  have 
had  audiences  so  large  on  the  three  last  meeting  nights  of  the  week,  and  at  three- 
pence admission.  My  reason  for  this  choice  was,  that  in  an  uncertain  town  I 
neither  wanted  to  meet  a  crowd  nor  a  rabble,  as  the  rude  are  often  sent  to  our 
open  meetings,  and  when  they  incite  disturbance  the  responsibility  is  shifted  from 
the  real  authors.  Respectable  people  have  character  to  maintain,  and  do  not  com- 
mit themselves  personally.  The  crowning  drollery  is  that  a  meeting  has  since 
been  announced  in  Lancaster  by  the  crier,  who  was  instructed  to  end  his  oration 
with  these  words — '  You  paid  threepence  to  hear  an  unbeliever ;  come  and  hear  a 
believer  for  nothing  !'  I  have  not  been  apprised  of  the  effect  of  this  superb  appeal 
— it  ought  to  have  proved  irresistible.  G.  J.  Holyoake. 

THOMAS  COOPEK  IN  SCOTLAND. 


We  were  delighted  to  receive  a  letter  informing  us  that  Mr.  Cooper  has  passed  from  Belfast  to  Glas- 
gow. We  should  like  to  know  what  our  Irish  friends  thought  of  him,  who  is  a  species  of  Meagher  of 
progress.  This  is  Mr.  Cooper's  first  visit  to  Scotland,  with  which  we  hope  he  will  have  reason  to  be  as 
pleased  as  he  deserves  to  be.  Incomparably  the  most  attractive  of  all  our  metropolitan  lecturers,  critical 
Scotland  will  be  curious  to  hear  him  who  has  lent  lustre  to  Chartism,  interest  to  Socialism,  and  power 
to  freedom  of  opinion.  Dsre  devil  Wallace,  brave  old  Knox,  gallant  Robert  Burns,  and  sly  old  Geordie 
Buchanan,  have  often  been  his  eloquent  themes  ;  and  now  the  author  of  the  '  Purgatory  of  Suicides  '  is 
himself  in  the  land  of  heroes,  poetry,  and  poets.  This,  I  know  from  recent  inquiries  made  of  me  while 
in  Scotland,  our  friends  will  be  glad  to  learn.  The  towns  desiring  Mr.  Cooper's  presence  should  com- 
municate at  once  with  him,  at  Mr.  Charles  Clarke's,  152,  Buccleugh  Street,  Glasgow,  where  he  will  be 
before  this  notice  is  read  in  Scotland.  G-  J-  H. 


66  THE  REASONER. 


(Syaminatiaix  af  tlft  l^rtgt. 


Saint  Robert  Burns. — Nobody  binds  np  the  Assembly's  Catechism,  longer  or 
shorter,  with  '  Murray's  Grammar '  interleaved  in  the  same  volume.  The  fallacy 
in  argument  is  a  fiction  in  fact.  Another  point  was  the  alleged  success  of  the  old 
Kirk  in  the  management  of  the  parochial  schools.  To  illustrate  this.  Sir  R.  Inglis, 
in  the  House  of  Commons,  enumerated  a  host  of  eminent  men  who  had  been 
trained  in  them,  and  ascribed  to  that  management  the  high  character  in  which 
Scotch  education  was  held  for  above  a  century.  He  named  Robert  Burns  !  He 
did  not  allude  to  the  '  Holy  Fair,'  nor  recite  the  '  Prayer  of  Holy  Willie.'  No 
reminiscences  of  the  bard's  unceremonious  treatment  of  Mother  Kirk  and  her 
'  unco  guid  '  sons,  chequered  the  imperturbable  brass  of  the  bigot  Baronet.  *  Ran- 
tin  Robin,'  for  the  first  time  in  his  history,  was  made  to  shine  as  a  jewel  in  the 
saintly  crown  of  the  Scotch  Kirk.  This  will  be  rare  news  for  the  Presbytery  of 
Ayr.  And  then,  it  may  be  asked,  what  was  the  state  of  the  Kirk  during  the 
period  that  the  worth  of  its  schools  was  attested  by  the  appearance  of  so  many 
illustrious  men,  poets,  historians,  metaphysicians,  economists,  and  politicians  ? 
Why,  it  was  the  heretical  era  of  the  Kirk.  It  was  the  age  of  latitudinarianism.  It 
was  the  time  of '  new  light,'  when  so  many  of  its  preachers  told  the  suspicion  '  that 
three's  one  and  twa,'  whatever  the  Confession  may  say  to  the  contrary.  It  was 
the  season  when  scepticism  and  infidelity  were  rife  in  Scotland,  and  held  their 
court  in  Edinburgh.  Was  the  school  then  far  behind  the  Kirk,  or  the  Dominie 
much  sounder  than  the  Minister  ?  Besides,  that  great  fact,  the  Free  Church,  is 
fatal  to  the  claims  of  the  Established  Clergy  to  school  dominion.  They  are  no 
longer  the  people's  clergy.  Children  cannot  be  allowed  to  remain  under  their  rod 
when  adults  have  broken  their  bonds. — Puhlicola,  in  Weekly  Dispatch,  June  7, 1851. 

The  Mysterious  Rapping. — The  Buffalo  Courier,  in  an  article  upon  the 
Rochester  knockings,  publishes  the  following,  and  vouches  for  its  truth : — *  A 
young  man  called,  a  day  or  two  since,  upon  the  ladies  in  whose  keeping  are  the 
Rochester  spirits.  His  bearing  was  sad,  and  his  voice  was  tremulous  with 
emotion.  Sorrow  was  in  his  countenance,  and  a  weed  was  on  his  hat.  He  sighed 
as  he  took  a  seat,  and  the  by-standers  pitied  him  as  they  saw  him  draw  forth  a 
spotless  handkerchief  and  wipe  away  a  tear  that  gathered  in  his  eye.  After  a  few 
moments  of  silence  he  took  one  of  the  ladies  aside,  and  requested,  if  consistent,  to 
be  put  in  communication  with  the  spiritual  essence  of  his  mother,  and  here  he 
wiped  his  eyes  rapidly,  and  sobbed.  A  period  of  quiet  elapsed,  and  a  knock  was 
heard,  signifying  that  the  desired  correspondence  could  be  had,  and  with  a  hesitat- 
ing voice  the  young  man  commenced  questioning  the  invisible  one.  '  How  long 
had  I  gone  before  you  died  ?'  A  length  of  time  was  stated. — '  Where  are  you  now, 
mother  ?  Are  you  happy  ?'  The  knocking  indicated  that  the  spirit  was  at  rest. — 
'  Are  those  of  your  friends  who  have  gone  before  with  you  ?' — '  They  are/  said  the 
knocking. — 'Then  you  can  recognise  them  perfectly?' — The  noise  certified  the 
affirmative. — 'Can  you  see  me  at  all  times  when  you  wish  ?' — The  raps  proclaimed 
the  perpetual  clearness  of  the  shaker's  vision  in  tJiat  respect. — The  gentleman 
seemed  relieved,  and  the  spectators  stood  overwhelmed  with  wonder.  Taking  his 
hat,  the  mourner  arose,  thanking  the  ladies,  and  as  he  stood  in  the  door  quietly 
remarked — '  I  have  been  very  much  entertained,  as  no  doubt  my  mother  herself 
will  be,  for  I  left  her  at  home  not  half  an  hour  since,  basting  a  turkey  for  dinner !' 
— AthencEum,  June  7,  1851. 


THE  REASONER. 


67 


CJe  \Bl}\XaSap'^it  Cspe  of  3acltflt0n, 

DEVELOPED     BY     PEOFESSOE    NEWMAN  :     STATED     AND    EXAMINED. 


BY    G.    J.    HOLYOAKE. 


INTRODUCTION. 

In  184*7  a  volume  was  published  by  Chap- 
man, entitled  '  The  Soul,  Her  Sorrows  and 
Her  Aspirations.'  The  author  was  Francis 
William  Newman,  the  brother  of  John 
Henry  Newman,  known  now  as  '  Father 
Newman,'  Father  Newman  represents  the 
Catholic,  Professor  Newman,  the  author 
of  the  work  here  considered,  represents  the 
Rationalistic  side  of  Religion. 

The  Church  of  England  seldom  gives 
you  the  impression  of  being  in  earnest.  Its 
hierarchv  seems  maintained  for  show.  You 
must  visit  the  ranks  of  Evangelism  for  the 
religion  which  has  life.  Mr.  Newman 
seems  to  personify  the  evangelical  aspect  of 
piety.  He  has  caught  up  the  whole  spirit 
of  religion  in  its  profoundest  meaning,  and 
passing  it  through  the  crucible  of  a  culti- 
vated intellect  and  pure  nature,  he  presents 
us  with  the  phenomenon  of  religion  made 
(as  far  as  the  present  writer  thinks  it  can 
be)  moral  and  philosophic. 

The  casual  observer  of  religious  sects 
must  be  aware  of  the  variety  of  types  extant. 
To  speak  of  them  with  any  justice  or  pre- 
cision, they  must  be  distinguished  into 
low,  intermediate,  and  high.  Mr.  New- 
man represents  the  highest  type.  As  I 
know  very  well  that  many  people  who  pro- 
fess the  lower  forms  of  the  Christian  Faith, 
would  not  do  so  were  they  acquainted 
with  a  higher,  delineated  by  the  hand  of 
one  whose  piety  cannot  be  called  in  ques- 
tion, I  have  made  here  an  abstract  of  Mr. 
Newman's  views.  And  I  shall  thus  be 
able  to  bring  it  under  the  notice  of  many 
Christians  who  never  heard  of  Mr.  New- 
man's work,  and  who  could  not  buy  it  if  they 
would,  and  (to  tell  the  whole  truth)  would 
not  buy  it  if  they  could,  till  some  one  has 
shown  to  them  its  safety.  This  book  has  in- 
struction also  for  my  own  friends,  as  will 
appear  as  1  proceed ;  but  as  I  am  anxious  for 
the  rationalisation  of  Christianity,  I  take 
an  interest  in  all  that  approximates  to  what 
I  think  the  truth,  and  hence  I  publish 
this  review  of  a  work,  upon  which  I  have 
spoken  by  choice  in  many  parts  of  the 
country.  If  men  cannot  see  as  I  see,  I 
shall  be  glad  for  them  to  see  as  Mr.  New- 
man sees. 

.  Those  who  make  it  a  rule  to  pass  over 
the  Preface  of  a  book  as  not  relating  to  it. 


will  profit  in  this  case  by  returning  to  the 
good  old  practice  of  reading  it.  Nowhere 
does  Mr.  Newman  appear  to  write  unless  he 
has  something  to  say,  and  whatever  he 
sees  well  to  say  is  worthy  the  reader's  con- 
sideration. It  is  in  the  preface  that  Mr. 
Newman  remarks,  that '  a  long  period  passed 
in  the  history  of  mankind  when  the  Mo- 
rality of  every  great  national  system  was 
supposed  to  depend  entirely  on  the  external 

authority  which  promulgated  it; but 

in  later  stages  of  mental  culture,  the  au- 
thoritative sanction  which  is  superadded  to 
moral  precepts  became  valued,  not  as  that 
which  is  essential  to  guarantee  their  truth 
to  a  cultivated  moral  nature,  but  as  that 
which  (like  parental  command)  enforces 
action  while  the  moral  sense  is  in  its  in- 
fancy.' In  this  respect  Mr.  Newman 
agrees  with  Sir  James  Mackintosh,  that 
morals  are  intrinsically  independent.  That 
theology  may  add  a  sanction  to  them,  but 
does  not  create  them.  One  great  charm 
of  Mr.  Newman's  book  is  its  remarkable 
directness  of  language.  Whether  there 
are  any  subjects  upon  which  the  author 
would  be  reserved  or  mystical  I  know  not, 
but  it  seems  that  he  does  not  write  on  any 
subject  upon  which  he  does  not  choose  to  be 
explicit.  Emerson  is  an  Oracle  often  ad- 
mitting of  a  double  interpretation,  Carlyle 
is  a  riddle  by  the  way-side,  puzzling  all 
passers  by — but  Newman  discourses  manly 
wisdom  in  simple  and  youthful  language. 
It  seems  a  light  matter  to  say  that  each 
page  is  reliable.  When  Mr.  Newman 
describes  Fetishism,  for  instance,  it  is  an 
addition  to  our  knowledge  which  we  can 
quote.  The  reader  can  trust  it — and  such 
an  assurance  is  a  boundless  satisfaction  to 
one  who  desires  to  learn  as  he  reads.  Of 
large  historical  knowledge,  knowing  the 
most  important  languages,  able  in  mathe- 
matics, versed  in  practical  sciences,  quick 
to  comprehend,  and  more  than  all  conscien- 
tious to  report,  Mr.  Newman  fulfils  all  the 
requirements  of  the  reader,  who  feels  that 
what  the  author  states  he  has  verified,  and 
that  he  speaks  on  matters  of  fact  with  the 
authority  of  nature.  It  is  difficult  for  the 
well-favoured  reader  to  estimate  the  value 
of  such  an  author  to  the  ill-favoured 
learner.  The  poor  student  belonging  to 
the  working   classes,  whose  every  day  is 


68 


THE  REASONER. 


engrossed  beyond  his  strength  in  the  battle 
for  the  supply  of  animal  wants,  and  who  is 
turned  at  night  wearied  (like  a  jaded  horse 
into  a  barren  field)  to  browse  on  the  casu- 
alties of  literature— the  cheap  periodicals ; 
so  often  got  up  without  adequate  means, 
and  oftener  without  conscience;  where 
that  which  is  original  is  poor,  and  that 
which  is  borrowed  is  incorrect  —  inferior 
food,  of  which  no  quantity  yields  any 
strength  !  To  children  of  the  people, 
to  whom  scholastic  guidance  is  never 
vouchsafed,  beguiled  by  a  show  of  popular 
learning  which  seduces  them  and  abandons 
them  to  mediocrity,  such  a  book  as  this 
— profound  in  thought,  affectionate  in 
spirit,  trusty  in  report,  accurate  in  speech, 
— is  an  epoch  in  personal  history,  disci- 
plining the  understanding,  and  giving  a 
new  tone  to  character. 

The  modest  object  of  this  book  is  that 
of  making  contribution  tow^ards  a  natural 
History  of  the  Soul  as  the  true  basis  of 
Theology.  What  may  be  accomplished  in 
this  direction  in  the  way  of  scientific  proof 
is  not  quite  clear,  but  that  this  is  the  right 
way  of  procedure  we  have  no  doubt.  The 
analysis  of  feeling,  and  of  the  presumptive 
evidence  on  the  side  of  human  estimate  of 
Deity,  has  long  appeared  to  me  as  the  only 
ground  on  which  the  believer  could  ever  win 
the  ear  of  the  world;  and  it  was  with  curiosity 
I  learned  that  the  first  part  of  this  ground 
had  been  occupied  by  Mr.  Newman.  He 
has  furnished  an  entirely  new  statement  of 
Theology  :  a  statement  we  know  to  be  new 
because  it  presents  an  old  subject  without 
once  reviving  those  sensations  of  which 
once-believers  dread  the  repetition.  It 
is  the  first  religious  book  I  have  been  able 
to  read  for  years,  and  I  have  read  it  many 
times  as  an  exercise,  in  order  to  thoroughly 
understand  the  highest  case  which  has 
been  presented  on  the  religious  side. 

I  have  looked  into  some  modern  books 
which  have  attained  celebrity  in  pointing 
out  the  errors  of  popular  Christianity,  but 
they  seemed  to  me  not  to  differ  from  older 
ones  except  in  amplification  of  former 
arguments.  They  were  urged  witM  more 
decorousness  than  was  formerly  the  case, 
because  the  subsidence  of  dangerous  per- 
secution has  left  play  for  the  manifestation 
of  the  gentlemanly  tone,  but  there  has 
been  no  more  feeling  than  before  in  the 
efforts.  The  surgeon  has  removed  the  dis- 
eased part,  or  perhaps  amputated  the  limb 
very  cleverly,  and  taken  his  fee  of  public 
applause  as  a  skilful  operator,  but  he  has 
displayed  no  personal  sympathy  with  his 
patient.     In  Mr.  Newman's  case  it  is  alto- 


gether different.  He  is  a  spiritual  surgeon, 
and  never  forgets  that  his  patient  is  his 
brother.  You  may  feel  pain  under  his 
hand,  but  you  are  persuaded  his  is  the 
hand  under  which  you  will  suffer  least, 
and  that  his  affection  and  intelligence  will 
save  you  all  he  can.*  He  is  the  friend  and 
never  the  opponent.  He  does  not  offend 
you  by  spiritual  superciliousness.  There 
is  no  tone  of  pride  about  him.  There  is 
no  lie  for  the  glory  of  God  in  him  :  he  does 
not  recognise  that  God  can  be  glorified  by 
any  word  of  deceit.  To  disparage,  to 
mortify,  to  obtain  a  victory  over  you,  are 
pettinesses  of  controversy  which  he  des- 
pises. He  is  never  angry,  petulant,  or 
harsh.  He  never  plays  the  priest — soft 
and  gracious  when  his  argument  opens, 
menacing,  imperious,  and  contemptuous 
when  it  closes,  and  is  not  accepted.  His 
profound  respect  for  others,  for  their  sin- 
cerity and  well  meaning,  is  uninterrupted. 
Yet  in  all  this  gentleness  there  mingles  no 
weakness.  Every  affectionate  word  is  ani- 
mated by  a  masculine  strength  of  will,  and 
in  this  union  of  both  qualities  a  great 
lesson  in  intellectual  and  moral  discipline 
is  afforded.  No  man,  whether  believer  or 
atheist,  can  read  this  book  without  great 
improvement,  unless  he  be  very  good  in- 
deed, or  entirely  incapable  of  moral  ap- 
preciation.     » 

I  do  not  suppose  that  the  Christian  world 
will  be  thankful  for  this  book.  They 
seldom  discriminate  their  true  friends.and, 
I  think,  never  are  grateful  to  them.  To 
some  sour  effusion  of  evangelism  which  con- 
tradicts Christianity's  capacity  for  charity 
— to  some  subtile  treatise  which  confounds 
but  does  not  convince,  they  would  give  an 
exuberant  welcome ;  but  for  a  book  like 
this,  conceived  in  the  highest  genius  of 
proselytism,  which  must  command  respect 
for  the  religious  sentiment  wherever  it 
is  read,  they  have  had  no  word  of  thank- 
fulness.-f  That  which  strikes  me  as  the 
secret  of  its  proselytising  power  is  its 
wondrous  candour.  All  other  religious 
books  which  I  have  read  seemed  to  me  to 
be  fencing  with  the  reader.  They  never 
trust  him  or  trust  themselves.  There 
is  nothing  out-spoken,  frank,  and  chi- 
valrous :  all  seems  to  be  cautious,  giving 
one  the  idea  there  is  something  to  con- 
ceal.    Mr.   Newman's  book  is  marked  by 

*  First  said  in  1848:  we  are  now  in 
1851,  and  no  other  book  has  yet  appeared 
bearing  the  same  marks. 

t  At  least  none  have  yet  come  under  raj 
notice. 


THE  REASONER. 


69 


th«  utter  absence  of  this  tone.  Knowing 
that  no  earnest  men  are  wholly  in  the 
wrong  in  matters  of  humanity,  he  does  not 
fear  to  ad  mit  what  is  right  on  his  opponent's 
side,  which  certainly  does  not  indispose 
an  opponent  to  admit  what  is  right 
on  his.  He  thus  inspires  you  with  confi- 
dence and  respect,  and  this  is  the  found- 
ation of  all  healthy  concurrence.  This 
predisposing  element  to  uniformity  Mr. 
Newman's  book  has  above  all  others  I  have 
read.  If  one  does  not  concur  in  it,  it  is 
because  of  the  presence  ot  intellectual  error 
— no  prejudice  stands  between  his  reader 
and  himself.  Others,  besides  Christians, 
who  study  its  ability,  may  learn  of  its 
wisdom  of  manner,  in  the  written  and  oral 
advocacy  of  their  views. 

No  review  of  this  book  has  come  under 
my  notice  which  at  all  conveys  the  spirit 
of  it,  and  I  much  distrust  my  own  power 
to  supply  what  I  feel  to  be  wanting.  All 
accounts  of  its  daringness,  of  its  strong 
rejection  of  so  much  to  which  the  mass  of  be- 
lievers cling  in  indiscriminating  adoration, 
constitute  the  framework  of  the  book,  with- 
out its  life — indeed  less  than  that,  for  such 
accounts  are  merely  those  of  the  clearing 
of  the  ground  in  order  to  occupy  it  by  a 
new  superstructure.  And  no  adequate 
idea  of  the  superstructure  can  be  obtained 
except  by  reading  the  book.  A  perfect 
book  is  ever  its  own  best  reporter,  and  so  it 
is  in  this  case.  A  faint  approximation  is 
all  I  can  promise. 

PART    I.       THE    STATEMENT. 

'All  human  knowledge,  like  human 
power,  is  bounded ;  and  it  is  then  most 
accurate,  when  we  can  sharply  draw  the 
line  which  shows  where  ignorance  begins ' 
(p.  1.)  With  this  remark,  so  pregnant 
with  purpose,  Mr.  Newman  opens  his  in- 
quiry into  what  we  know,  that  shall,  when 
distinctly  defined,  justify  a  programme  of 
religious  belief.  He  accurately  observes 
that  '  It  is  a  condition  of  human  existence 
to  be  surrounded  with  but  a  moderately 
difiFused  light,  that  instructs  the  understand- 
ing, and  illimitable  haziness  that  excites 
the  imagination'  (p.  1.)  The  foundation 
of  Mr.  Newman's  system,  he  frankly  per- 
mits us  to  perceive  lies  in  the  fact  that  this 
'  obscurity '  without  us,  is  calculated  to 
call  forth  religious  sentiments.  '  The 
region  of  dimness  is  not  wholly  without 
relations  to  our  moral  state.'  The  great 
theological  problem  he  proposes  to  solve 
was  never  so  happily  expressed  before,  viz., 
how  '  to  reconcile  Passion,  Prudence,  Duty, 
Free  Thought,  and  Reverence  '  (p.  4.) 


In  the  relation  of  the  child  to  the  parent 
Mr.  Newman  sees  the  model  of  human  life 
throughout  its  entire  extent.  In  the '  lov- 
ing reverence,  sure  trust,  and  unreflecting 
joy,  which  a  child  may  exercise  towards  a 
parent,  whose  wisdom  and  goodness  appear 
to  him  illimitable,'  Mr.  Newman  beholds 
'  a  source  of  moral  perfection  '  desirable 
for  men  '  whose  understandings  have 
opened  wide  enough  to  see  that  all  human 
minds  are  limited,  all  human  hearts  shal- 
low, and  that  no  object  worthy  of  absolute 
reverence  coraes  within  the  reach  of  sense.' 
(p.  3.)  It  is  this  '  absolute  object'  which 
Mr.  Newman  seeks.  In  his  search  he 
takes  for  his  guide  a  definition  of  the  Soul, 
which  is  entitled  to  the  rank  of  a  discovery. 
He  calles  the  '  Soul  that  side  of  our  nature, 
by  which  we  are  in  contact  with  the  In- 
finite.' Religion  he  would  seem  to  regard 
as  the  cultivation  of  this  side  of  our  nature, 
by  bringing  it  into  contact  with  an  object 
of  absolute  perfection  and  goodness,  which 
shall  inspire  us  with  aspirations  after 
purity,  and  cheer  us  by  rational  hope. 
There  is  a  freshness  in  all  Mr,  Newman's 
conceptions  which,  after  the  hard,  acid, 
and  incongruous  theology  of  the  pulpits, 
comes  over  the  feelings  like  a  charm.  The 
fruits  of  this  religion  which  he  eliminates 
are,  he  tells  us,  '  Meekness,  thankfulness, 
love,  contentment,  compassion,  humility, 
patience,  resignation,  disinterestedness, 
purity,  aspiration,  devoutness'  (p.  21.) 

By  an  analysis  of  human  sentiments 
Mr.  Newman  delineates  the  '  Sense  of  the 
Infinite.'     The  processes  are  these  :  — 

1  Awe,  that  feeling  with  which  darkness 
inspires  us,  of  which  we  are  sensible  in  a 
walk  alone  by  night  under  thick  trees, 
when  a  sense  of  the  unknown  pierces 
through  and  unmans  all  but  innocence. 
The  moral  effect  of  Awe  is  a  pervading 
sense  of  our  littleness  in  the  presence  of 
immensity  (p.  11.) 

2.  Wonder,  that  feeling  excited  by  the 
.  sublime  and  astonishing  scenes  of  Nature 
when  Awe  has  somewhat  subsided.  Its 
moral  attribute  is  an  aspiration  after  fuller 
knowledge  of  that  'power,  principle,  or 
person,  out  of  which  all  that  we  see  has 
proceeded'  (p.  13.) 

3  Admiration  is  the  perception  of  na- 
tural Beauty,  whose  appropriate  function 
is  to  call  forth  the  heart  into  admiration 
and  prepare  it  for  love.  As  a  glimpse  of 
life  beyond  the  grave,  and  a  glance  of  the 
eye  into  the  depths  of  space,  are  adapted  to 
calm  stormy  passions,  so  a  tranquil  resting 
of  the  soul,  on  whatever  form  of  beauty, 
tends  to  impart  cheerfulness,  elasticity  of 


70 


TBB  REASONER. 


spirits,  and  mute  thankfulness,  towards — 
perhaps  we  know  not  whom  (p.  19.) 

Mr.  Newman's  conception  of  the  func- 
tions of  these  sentiments  is  as  lofty  as  it  is 
delicate.  Awe,  Wonder,  Admiration,  he 
regards  as  fitting  man  to  discharge  his 
duty  in  that  perilous  hour  when  Duty 
clashes  with  Interest.  Enthusiasm,  that 
passionate  love  for  some  idea,  which  what- 
ever form  it  may  take,  is  capable  of  ani- 
mating man  to  every  sacrifice  of  Self,  Mr. 
Newman  regards  as  the  Life  of  Morality, 
and  the  one  universal  enthusiasm  he  thinks 
is  that '  called  out  by  a  sense  of  the  Infinite, 
wherein  we  feel  Self  to  be  swallowed  up. 
All  the  generous  side  of  human  nature  is 
nurtured  and  expanded  by  the  contempla- 
tion of  the  Infinite '  (p.  26.) 

4.  A '  Sense  of  Order '  Mr.Newman  traces 
from  the  operations  of  nature.  Order  is 
the  type  of  Unchangeableness,  and  '  the 
recognition  of  unchangeableness  is  the 
turning  point  and  passage  from  barbarian 
to  cultivated  religion.'  The  perception  of 
Universal  Order  involves  the  refutation  of 
Polytheism.  The  One  who  is  regarded  as 
the  Supreme  (source  of  order)  is  considered 
to  have  ruled  upon  the  same  principles  in 
every  conceivable  age,  and  here  an  idea 
of  his  Eternity  comes  in.  At  this  point 
and  after,  a  man's  religion  falls  under  the 
control  of  his  understanding :  henceforth 
contemplations  and  imaginations  concern- 
ing the  Infinite  put  on  the  coherent  form 
of  thought  and  Speculation.  A  new 
element  has  been  admitted  which  will 
either  dissolve  all  the  rest,  or  by  blending 
with  them  happily  will  give  to  the  religion 
definiteness  of  form,  consistency,  and  no- 
tions which  can  abide  the  criticism  of 
acute  incredulity  (pp.  28-9.) 

5.  Sense  of  Design.  To  those  who  fail 
to  recognise  an  active  Will  in  the  universe, 
Mr.  Newman  addresses  the  consideration 
of  design.  Without  antagonist  argument 
or  intrusion  of  human  artifice,  he  takes 
things  fresh  from  nature.  Lungs  are  fitted 
to  breathe  and  eyes  to  see,  and  in  this  Fit- 
ness he  sees  Design.  '  No  syllogism  is 
pretended  that  proves  that  a  lung  was 
made  to  breathe,  but  we  see  it,'  he  says, 
'  by  what  some  call  Common  Sense,  and 
some  Intuition '  (p.  32.)  And  '  since  the 
whole  universe  is  pervaded  by  similar  in- 
stances of  fitnesses,  not  to  see  a  Universal 
Mind  in  nature  appears  almost  a  brutal 
insensibility  ;  and  if  any  one  intelligently 
profess  Atheism,  the  more  acute  he  is,  the 


more  distinctly  we  perceive  that  he  is  de- 
ficient in  the  Religious  Faculty.  Possibly 
some  day,  by  a  new  development  of  his 
character  or  by  the  contagion  of  sympathy, 
he  may  acquire  Religious  Insight ;  but  for 
the  present  we  lament  that  he  has  it  not, 
and  hereby  is  cut  off  from  the  profoundest 
influences  of  humanity'  (p.  33.)  Holding 
that  the  Fitnesses  which  meet  our  view  on 
all  sides  bring  a  reasonable  proof  that 
Design  lies  beneath  them,  Mr.  Newman 
considers  the  doctrine  of  an  intelligent 
Creator  justified.  Adding  now  the  con- 
clusion drawn  from  the  Order  of  the  uni- 
verse, he  avers  that '  we  have  testimony 
adapted  to  the  cultivated  judgment  that 
there  is  a  Boundless  Eternal  Unchangeable 
Designing  Mind,  not  without  whom  this 
system  of  things  coheres  :  and  this  Mind 
is  called  God'  (p.  34.) 

6.  Sense  of  Goodness.  The  conception 
of  the  goodness  of  God  Mr.  Newman  ar- 
rives at.  '  God  is  too  great  to  be  moved  by 
petty  passions ;  he  cannot  have  pleasure  in 
our  misery.'  We  *  attribute  to  him  bound- 
lessness of  every  kind  of  which  we  can 
conceive,'  and  a  pure,  final,  and  consolatory 
idea  of  God's  goodness  Mr.  Newman  ex- 
presses in  these  words : — *  All  the  possible 
perfectness  of  man's  spirit  must  be  a  mere 
faint  shadow  of  the  divine  perfection.' 

7.  The  sense  of  Wisdom  differs  from 
Goodness  in  this,  that  '  Goodness  is  seen  in 
the  choice  of  ends,  Wisdom  in  the  direction 
of  the  means.'  The  antagonist  Divine 
wisdom  has  to  overcome  consists  of  the 
human  will,  which  Mr.  Newman  regards 
as  independent. 

8.  The  sense  of  Reverence  is  that  which 
follows  the  discernment  of  a  mighty  and 
inscrutable  Being  in  the  Universe.  Re- 
verence is  the  beginning  of  true  religion. 
He  who  reverences  God  is  a  religious  man, 
and  whatever  his  other  defects,  is  an  ac- 
cepted worshipper.  The  source  of  re- 
verence Mr.  Newman  seems  to  place  in  the 
perception  that  the  great  power  who  pre- 
sides over  Nature  must  needs  possess  Moral 
qualities  similar  to  our  own,  though  every 
way  more  perfect.  It  is  this  feature  that 
raises  what  was  Paganism  into  Rational 
Religion.  In  such  a  portraiture  of  God  as 
this,  so  consonant  to  the  moral  sense,  com- 
mending him  to  the  affections  by  its  sweet- 
ness and  to  the  intellect  by  its  purity,  how 
gentle  and  yet  how  effectual  is  the  refu- 
tation of  the  gloomy  picture  of  the  avenging 
Deity  our  popular  theology  preaches  to  us. 


(To  be  continued.) 


THE  REASONER.  71 


LECTURE     ON    IRRELIGIOUS    BOOKS 


The  discussion  amongst  the  members  of  the  Botchergate  Working  Men's  Reading 
Room  on  the  admissibility  into  their  library  of  Paiue's  '  Age  of  Reason,'  and  other 
anti-Christian  books,  appeal's  to  have  stirred  up  a  good  deal  of  controversial 
animosity  among  the  frequenters  of  that  institution ;  and  the  decision  come  to, 
last  week,  by  a  small  majority,  to  accept  Mr.  Mounsey's  offer  of  a  plot  of  ground, 
on  the  condition  that  the  books  referred  to  shall  be  excluded,  has  not  healed  the 
breach,  although  it  has  for  the  present  settled  the  dispute.  Accordingly  the  dis- 
sentients were  instrumental  in  engaging  Mr.  G.  J.  Holyoake,  of  London,  editor  of 
a  sceptical  publication  called  the  Reasoner,  to  deliver  a  lecture  upon  the  subject, 
on  Tuesday,  May  20th.  The  Athenaeum  could  not  be  obtained,  and  the  long  room 
of  the  Blue  Bell  Inn,  Scotch  Street,  was  therefore  engaged  for  the  purpose.  The 
room  was  densely  crowded,  and  the  audience  included  several  of  the  working  classes 
who  are  not  members  of  the  reading  room — the  total  number  being  probably 
about  300.  Several  were  unable  to  get  admission.  The  room,  being  imperfectly 
ventilated,  even  with  the  windows  open,  was  insufferably  hot,  and  redolent  of  what 
Jack  Falstaff  would  have  termed  a  villanous  compound  of  bad  smells.  The  in- 
terest evinced  was  intense,  and  the  satisfaction  expressed  with  the  views  pro- 
pounded by  the  lecturer  unmistakeable.  Mr.  Hugh  Campbell  was  called  to  the 
chair,  and  in  a  few  brief  observations  introduced  the  lecturer.  Mr.  Holyoake  is 
above  the  average  stature — is  spare  and  somewhat  lanky  in  person,  has  a  weak 
and  rather  squeaking  voice,  but,  barring  an  occasional '  Haitch  '  betraying  Cock- 
ney birth,*  speaks  with  correctness  and  fluency.  His  lecture  consisted  chiefly  of 
general  propositions  asserting  the  right  of  freedom  of  thought  and  opinion,  regard- 
less of  everything  but  truth ;  and  these  propositions  he  brought  to  bear  on  the 
particular  question  of  the  evening — though  that  was  either  overlaid  with  geue- 
ralities  or  glanced  at  incidentally.  A  newspaper  is  not  the  proper  medium  for 
such  discussions,  but  as  the  lecture  had  immediate  reference  to  one  of  the  vexaice 
questiones  now  agitating  the  working  classes  of  this  city,  it  may  not  be  improper 
to  give  a  skeleton  sketch  of  some  of  the  salient  points  touched  upon. 

Mr.  Holyoake  began  by  expressing  his  regret  that  by  the  refusal  of  the 
Athenaeum  the  audience  had  been  forced  into  a  small  and  inconvenient  room 
especially  as  no  moral  or  intellectual  harm  could  come  out  of  his  lecture,  wherever 
delivered.  Christians,  he  said,  laboured  under  the  impression  that  all  the  outrage 
of  feeling  was  on  the  side  of  the  iundels;  but  he  reminded  them  that  much  of 
what  Christians  believed  and  uttered  was  equally  outrageous  to  their  opponents. 
He  claimed  the  right  to  think  for  himself.  No  man  could  relieve  him  of  his  re- 
sponsibility to  God,  and  no  man  should  dictate  the  opinions  he  should  hold  or  the 
creed  he  should  subscribe  to— for  they  could  not  give  him  a  guarantee  about  the 
future :  and  all  its  problems  of  life,  and  time,  and  death,  were  as  much  his  business 
as  any  other  man's,  and  he  must  solve  them  for  himself  ^s  he  best  could.     He  de- 


*  The  number  present  was  at  least  400,  judging  by  the  crowd  ;  and  as  many  as  those 
named  by  this  reporter  were  turned  away  from  the  doors.  The  platform  was  so  thronged 
that  I  was  compelled  to  stand  on  a  chair  in  order  to  be  seen,  and  the  small  area  of  an 
arm  chair  was  all  the  room  allowed  me.  It  must  have  been  this  elevation  on  so  slender 
a  pedestal  which  made  me  appear  '  lanky '  in  the  eyes  of  the  reporter.  The  occa- 
sional '  Haitch '  must  have  been  owing  to  the  density  of  the  atmosphere.  It  was  not  pos- 
sible to  get  the  vowels  out  in  clearness  or  purity  in  such  a  thick  and  'villanous  com- 
pound '  of  inhalation  as  that  of  which  the  reporter  complains— it  could  not  have  been 
owing  to  Cockney  birth,  as  I  happen  to  be  a  native  of  Birmingham. — G.  J,  H. 


72  THE  REASONER. 


manded  liberty  to  pursue  his  own  course,  as  all  the  consequences  must  finally  be  on 
his  own  head.  The  reason  of  his  coming  here  was  the  discussion  published  in  the 
local  newspapers  on  the  admission  of  irreligious  books  into  the  working  man's 
reading  rooms.  So  far  as  the  controversy  was  concerned,  he  thought  there  was 
much  to  amend  on  both  sides.  What  astonished  him  most  was  that  such  a 
number  of  person^  should  be  forgetful  of  what  was  due  to  one  of  their  most  illus- 
trious countrymen — Thomas  Paine.  He  then  entered  at  length  into  a  vindication 
of  Paine's  political  and  moral  character.  When  he  lived  it  was  dangerous  to 
think  as  he  thought.  His  life  and  liberty  were  perpetually  in  danger.  The  friend 
of  Burke  and  Washington  he  was  one  of  the  great  means,  through  his  pen,  of  giv- 
ing America  her  freedom,  and  his  strong  sense  was  employed  in  vindicating  the 
principles  of  liberty  all  over  the  world.  The  advocate  of  morality  and  order,  he 
sacrificed  himself  to  some  of  his  best  friends  when  he  published  his  '  Age  of 
Reason,'  and  made  himself  a  martyr  to  the  opinions  he  avowed  and  with  which  the 
world  had  since  so  virulently  quarrelled.  He  regretted  that  towards  such  a  man 
the  harsh  expressions  indulged  in  during  the  recent  controversy  should  have  been 
employed.  He  contended  that  Paine's  works,  as  well  as  others,  styled  irreligious, 
should  be  included  in  the  libraries  of  all  reading  rooms  where  the  working  classes 
were  to  be  fairly  and  properly  educated.  The  clergy  were  fond  of  denouncing 
Paine  as  an  irreligious  man  ;  they  did  the  same  with  Voltaire  and  Robespierre; 
and  called  them  Atheists.  They  were  not  so,  but  believers  in  God,  and  in  their 
lifetime  were  the  only  men  who  made  contributions  to  the  arguments  proving  the 
existence  of  a  God — contributions  of  which  he  had  heard  clergymen  avail  them- 
selves in  the  same  sermons  in  which  they  denounced  the  authors  of  them.  Ad- 
verting to  the  report  of  the  discussion  in  the  Athenaeum  relative  to  the  condition 
of  Mr.  Mounsey's  grant  of  land  for  a  new  reading  room,  the  lecturer  said  the 
speech  of  the  Dean  was  the  speech  of  a  gentleman — there  was  courtesy  and  good 
feeling  in  it.  Mr.  Mounsey  appeared  to  be  the  only  man  who  made  the  recognitioa 
that  there  might  be  conscience  on  the  side  of  those  opposed  to  the  conditions. 
With  respect  to  the  rest,  he  never  heard  such  a  fuss  made  about  £100  in  his  life  ; 
it  gave  the  impression  that  the  working  classes  of  Carlisle  were  in  a  state  of  de- 
plorable poverty,  when  £100  could  be  of  such  consequence  to  them.  For  his 
own  part,  while  he  would  accept  the  money  under  such  conditions  as  might  be  im- 
posed, he  would  protest  against  the  wisdom  of  those  conditions — stating  that  the 
time  would  come  when  the  Protestants  would  be  able  and  obliged  to  create  for 
themselves  a  new  institution  in  which  the  proscribed  books  should  be  admissible. 
Just  so  with  regard  to  education.  If  he  had  his  wish,  he  .would  make  it  secular, 
but  it  was  of  such  importance  that  he  would  willingly  accept  it  with  any  admixture 
of  religion  rather  than  none  at  all.  The  word  secular  was  misused.  Institutions 
professedly  excluded  religion  and  politics,  but  there  was  not  one  in  the  kingdom 
where  the  profession  was  observed.  The  committee  who  managed  them 
would  one  day  refuse  to  let  the  room  to  a  lecturer  like  himself,  and  the 
next  they  would  let  it  to  a  clergyman — which  was  in  efiisct  putting  down 
the  minority,  and  giving  the  advantage  to  the  dominant  party.  The  Earl 
of  Carlisle — the  wisest,  most  useful,  and  most  liberal  of  our  earls — in  open- 
ing an  institution  recently  in  London,  said  it  would  be  open  to  all — no  one 
would  be  excluded  ;  but  directly  afterwards  he  said,  *  As  to  the  books,  my  friend 
the  Vicar  of  St.  James's  will  see  to  them.'  Good  manners  and  good  feeling  taught 
us  to  join  in  the  society  of  men  of  all  opinions  or  no  opinions  at  all  on  religion  j 
and  yet,  while  it  was  deemed  proper  to  meet  them  in  person  and  on  an  equality, 


THE  REASONBR.  73 


their  books,  expressing  their  honest  opinions,  were  most  inconsistently  rejected 
as  inadmissible.  If  institutions  were  to  be  made  really  secular,  all  books  should 
be  excluded,  except  those  relating  to  science,  history,  and  criticism — not  the  best 
course,  in  his  opinion,  but  the  course  that  was  forced  upon  them  by  the  impossi- 
bility of  men  meeting  together  and  learning  each  other's  opinions  on  the  solemn 
topics  which  were  placed  under  ban.  If  they  were  more  manly,  better-informed, 
and  braver — if  they  had  more  confidence  in  truth  than  they  appeared  to  have — 
they  would  say, '  Let  every  one  express  his  opinions  as  he  pleases,  and  we  will  trust 
to  the  issue,  whatever  it  be.'  Mr.  Mounsey  had  acknowledged  that  the  opponents 
of  the  conditions  of  his  grant  might  be  perfectly  conscientious  in  their  views. 
And  what  were  £100  compared  to  a  man's  conscience?  '  What  mattered  it  to  a 
man  if  he  gained  the  whole  world,  if  he  lost  his  own  soul?'  A  man's  conscience 
ought  to  be  dearer  to  him  than  money,  and  no  man  should  suffer  it  to  be  bribed. 
Why  did  Christians  prefer  Christianity  to  Mahomedanism, Buddhism,  or  Paganism, 
but  because,  looking  at  its  evidences, promises, and  professions,  they  believed  it  to  be 
the  most  reasonable  of  them  all  ?  They  had  a  right  to  hold  their  opinions  on  that 
point;  and  he  claimed  the  right  to  hold  his  on  the  same  ground  of  reasonability. 
He  might  be  mistaken — they  might  be  mistaken.  As  far  as  he  could  judge 
he  was  right,  and  his  persistence  in  his  opinions  had  involved  him  in  many  disad- 
vantages. He  could  not  take  an  oath,  if  it  was  to  be  held  as  a  profession  of  faith, 
and  he  thus  was  prevented  from  recovering  property  of  which  he  had  been 
deprived ;  and  for  avowing  faithfully  his  honest  convictions  with  regard  to  religious 
matters  he  had  been  sent  to  prison  by  Judge  Erskine  for  six  months.  Men  hold- 
ing his  opinions  were  treated  much  after  the  fashion  of  the  witches  of  old,  who 
were  thumb-tied  and  thrown  into  a  ditch — if  they  swam  they  were  burned  for 
witches,  and  if  they  sank  they  were  drowned.  The  lecturer  then  gave  a  sketch  of 
the  philosophy  of  human  belief  and  the  progress  of  opinion — maintaining  that 
every  man  should  be  allowed  freely  to  utter  his  opinions,  and  truth  left  to  take 
care  of  itself.  If  opinions  were  wrong  or  bad,  free  discussion  would  put  them 
down — the  only  fuir,  honourable,  and  rightful  way  in  which  opinion  ought  to  be 
put  down.  If  the  clergy  and  other  Christians  had  the  same  confidence  in  their 
opinions  that  he  had  in  his,  they  would  give  every  man  fair  play,  and  not  be  afraid 
of  the  issue.  A  bad  opinion  or  a  bad  book  could  not  live  among  an  intellectual 
people.  If  Paiue's  '  Age  of  Reason '  was  a  bad  book — if  its  language  was  coarse 
or  vicious — it  would  create  disgust  in  the  minds  of  all,  and  the  evil  would  work 
its  own  cure.  While  they  were  all  grateful  to  Paine  for  what  he  did,  they  might 
allow  that  he  had  used  many  expressions  which  would  not  be  used  in  the  present 
day.  But  the  fact  was,  the  progress  of  opinion  was  now  much  beyond  Paine. 
The  '  Age  of  Reason  '  was  nearly  obsolete,  and  its  arguments  or  principles  were 
seldom  referred  to.  There  were  better  books  for  which  people  were  more  con- 
cerned now-a-days.  Thus  they  had  the  books  of  the  Rationalists  of  Germany; 
and  if  he  wanted  a  model  of  a  book — free  from  every  possible  fault — he  would 
point  to  Professor  Newman's  '  Phases  of  Faith.'  The  perfection  of  kindness, 
modesty,  wisdom,  and  a  most  careful  consideration  of  the  consciences  of  other 
men  was  in  '  The  Soul :  her  Sorrows  and  her  Aspii-ations,'  by  the  same  author, 
who  says  the  attributes  of  the  religious  man  are  humility,  kindness,  disinterested- 
ness, service,  love,  and  modesty.  If  these  were  the  characteristics  of  Christianity, 
how  kind  and  gentle  ought  Christians  to  be  !  Yet  he  was  afraid  the  Dean  of 
Carlisle  would  not  sanction  Mr.  Newman's  books  for  a  Working  Man's  Reading 
Room.    Briefly,  he  might  say  that  the  nature  of  the  ground  of  controversy  with 


74  THE  REASONER. 


the  Christian  world  had  changed,  and  people  in  Carlisle  seemed  to  know  nothing 
about  it.  He  would  not  hold  a  controversy  on  the  '  Age  of  Reason,'  which  was 
simply  a  criticism  on  the  alleged  authenticity  and  inspiration  of  the  Bible,  He 
Would  not  enter  into  a  wordy  cavil  whether  these  things  were  true  or  false,  for  the 
discussion  would  leave  no  man  wiser  or  better.  If  they  told  him  miracles  were 
performed,  he  replied  he  was  sorry  the  day  of  miracles  was  gone  by.  If  a  man  could 
now  catch  a  iish  with  the  income-tax  in  its  mouth,  and  feed  four  or  five  thousand 
persons  with  a  few  loaves  and  fishes,  the  Poor  Law  Commissioners  would  make  a 
king  of  him.  If  he  were  told  there  were  true  prophets,  all  that  he  was  sorry  for 
was  that  the  race  was  extinct,  for  many  things  had  happened  which  were  not  fore- 
told, and  it  would  have  been  better  for  us  if  they  had  been  foretold — better  for  the 
working  classes,  and  better  for  civil  and  religious  liberty.  As  to  the  interpreta- 
tion of  the  Bible,  out  of  respect  to  a  man  he  might  argue  it  with  him,  but  the  ar- 
gument would  be  useful  to  neither  of  them.  To  judge  of  its  authenticity  it 
was  necessary  to  be  acquainted  with  Arabic,  Sanscrit,  Greek,  Latin,  and  He- 
brew ;  and  the  multitude  of  people,  as  well  as  himself,  were  too  busily  occupied  to 
study  these  languages.  The  Bible,  therefore,  was  a  dead  letter  to  them  and  to  him. 
If  these  things  affected  his  eternal  interest  he  must  study  them  and  judge  for  him- 
self with  his  own  eyes ;  he  could  not  believe  them  at  second  hand,  and  trust  his  sal- 
vation to  the  possibility  of  the  correctness  of  other  persons'  reports,  or  to  the 
casualty  of  any  man's  interpretation.  The  only  ground  worth  debating  was 
whether  Christian  doctrines  exalt  mankind  and  afford  them  new  inducements  to 
virtuous  conduct,  and  whether  the  examples  set  forth  therein  were  such  as  could 
be  referred  to  in  the  battle  of  freedom  and  truth  in  which  they  were  all  engaged. 
He  was  as  much  concerned  about  private  virtue  and  public  morality  as  Christians 
were.  There  must  be  public  justice,  order,  and  legal  regulations  by  which  justice 
should  be  done  amongst  men.  If  he  differed  from  them  it  was  because  he  believed 
there  was  a  better  way  of  accomplishing  all  these  things  than  the  way  he  attacked 
— and  not  because  he  had  less  regard  for  truth,  honour,  humanity,  or  duty.  He 
agreed  in  all  things,  and  he  would  only  have  Christians  to  deal  with  him  as  to  the 
wisdom  or  folly  of  his  views,  not  as  to  the  integrity  of  his  intentions.  Surely  no 
man  would  uphold  the  Christian  religion  longer  than  he  believes  it  to  be  true  :  and 
if  a  man  conscientiously  protested  against  it  as  erroneous  he  should  not  be  held  np 
as  an  infidel,  treacherous  to  truth.  Chalmers,  Whately,  and  Mackintosh  had  all 
admitted  that  religion  and  morality  were  independent  of  each  other,  morality  having 
its  own  proper  sanctions,  and  religion  merely  shedding  a  purer  light  over  the 
whole  domain  of  moral  duty.  But  because  the  infidel's  grounds  of  morality  were 
different  from  the  Christian's,  it  was  unjust  to  say  that  he  had  no  morality  at  all. 
The  lecturer  concluded  amidst  loud  applause,  and  offered  to  answer  any  question 
that  might  be  put  to  him,  but  no  one  coming  forward  he  again  briefly  addressed 
the  meeting,  and,  after  he  had  acknowledged  the  vote  of  thanks  passed  to  him, 
the  meeting  broke  up  shortly  before  10  o'clock. — Carlisle  Journal. 

JUSTICE    IN    WHITEHAVEN    TO    UNITARIANS. 


The  magistrates  of  Whitehaven  have  had  a  case  before  them,  in  which  Mr.  Chas. 
Flinn  was  charged  with  assaulting  Mr.  Hugan,  by  religious  profession  a  Unitarian, 
while  delivering  a  lecture  at  the  end  of  the  Bulwark,  a  place  usually  devoted  to 
open  air  preaching.  Two  witnesses  proved  the  serious  assault  on  Mr.  Hugan, 
but  the  magistrates  dismissed  the  case,  on  the  ground  that  the  address  of  the 
lecturer,  which  was  on  *  Progression,'  was  inciting  a  breach  of  the  peace.    Some 


expressions  relative  to  the  divinity  of  Christ  formed  the  offence,  which  the  worthy 
magistrate  pronounced '  highly  culpable  conduct.'  The  Whitehaven  Herald  informs 
us  that  the  Rev.  F.  W.  Wicks  was  upon  the  bench  when  this  disreputable  decision 
was  given.  Thus  it  appears  that  Mr.  Flinn  has  these  magistrates'  approbation  to 
play  the  ruffian  whenever  a  Unitarian  shall  displease  him  touching  the  divinity  of 
Christ. — Leader,  June  14th. 


Sftea^aner  prnjiagittra. 


To  promote  the  eflSciency  of  the  Reasoner  as  an  organ  of  Propagandism,  one  friend  subscribes  lOs. 
weekly,  another  59.,  one  23.  monthly,  others  Is.  each  weekly-others  intermediate  sums  or  special 
remittances,  according  to  ability  or  earnestness.  An  annual  contribution  of  Is.  from  each  reader 
would  be  easy,  equitable,  and  sufficient.  What  is  remitted,  in  whatever  proportion,  is  acknowledged 
here  and  accounted  for  the  at  end  of  the  Volume, 


W.  J.  B.  (lOs.  weekly,  Nos.  256  to  264  inclusive),  90s.— A  Friend  (per  Mr. 
Watson),  5s.— ]\Ir.  P.,  Birmingham,  5s.— R.  E,.  (per  publisher),  Is.— J.  Stoth, 
Birkenhead,  Is.— S.  B.,  Vauxhall,  2s.  6d.— Mullier  (for  Vol.  XI.),  Is.— Jas.  Gray, 
Is.— Wm.  Farmer  (per  Mr.  Saunders,  Nottingham),  10s.— Wm.  Lees  (per  ditto), 
5s.— G.  M.  (per  ditto),  4s.— J.  S.  (per  ditto),  Is.— Veritas,  Sunderland,  6d.— G. 
Smith,  Salford,  Is.— Arthur  Trevelyan,  100s.— Total,  227s. 

1^  All  notices  to  correspondents,  of  propagandism,  business,  and  directions, 
will  be  found  on  the  wrapper  of  the  monthly  parts. 


GUIDE  TO  THE  LECTURE  ROOM. 

Literary  Institution,  John  Street,  Fitzroy  Square. 
June  22nd  [7^],  George  Jacob  Holyoake,  '  The  Art 
of  Organisation.' 

Hall  of  Science,  City  Road.  —  June  22Dd  [ril, 
Walter  Cooper,  '  Christian  Socialism.' 

Institute  of  Progress,  10a,  Upper  George-street, 
Sloane-square. — June  20th  [8],  a  Discussion.  22nd, 
[7J],  a  lecture. 

National  Hall,  242,  High  Holborn.— June  22nd, 
[8],  P.  W.  Perfitt  will  lecture. 

Eclectic  Institute,  Denmark  Street,  Soho.  — 
Every  Friday  [8J],  Mr.  J.  B.  O'Brien,  '  Home  and 
Foreign  Politics.'  Every  Sunday  [74] ,  on  '  Moral 
and  Social  Science.' 

Areopagus  Coffee  and  Reading  Room,  59,  Church 
Lane,  Whitechapel. — Every  Sunday,  Monday,  and 
Wednesday  (S),  a  Lecture  or  Discussion. 

City  Forum  Coffee  House,  60,  Red  Cross  Street. 
— Every  Sunday,  Monday,  and  Thursday  [8^],  a 
Discussion. 


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The  following  works  are  to  be  disposed  of: 

THE  REASONER,  Vols.  I.  to  X  ,  nicely  bound. 
— The  Movement,  complete,  nicely  bound. — 
The  Investigator,  complete,  nicely  bound.— 
Strauss'g  Leben  Jesus,  4  vols,  in  2,  ditto. — The 
Prompter,  complete.  —  Hone's  Apocryphal  New 
Testament.— The  Devil's  Pulpit,  nicely  bound. — 
Taylor's  Syntagma,  and  Reply  of  Dr.  Pye  Smith. 
— Two  copies  of  the  Lancashire  Beacon,  &c.,  &c. 

Mr.  J.  Friend  has  them  in  his  possession  at  the 
Hall  in  Webber  Street. 


76  THE  REASONER. 


Placards  to  the  following  effect  are  being  posted  in  Cheltenham  and  Gloucester: — 
The  inhabitants  of  Cheltenham  and  Gloucester  will  remember  that,  in  1841,  Mr. 
Holyoake  was  indicted  for  Blasphemy,  for  an  answer  given  to  the  question  of  a  local 
preacher  in  the  Cheltenham  Mechanics'  Institution.  Under  the  title  of  '  The  History  of 
the  Last  Trial  for  Atheism  in  England,'  he  has  now  found  an  appotunity  of  publishing 
the  personal  particulars  and  public  results  of  that  transaction.  The  work  contains 
literary  portraits  of  Capt.  Mason,  governor  of  the  gaol,  and  of  Bransby  Cooper — with 
anecdotes  of  the  Rev.  Robert  Cooper,  the  chaplain,  Mr.  Hicks,  surgeon,  and  the  Rev. 
Andrew  Sayer.  Among  the  persons  of  Cheltenham  preserved  in  this  record  are  Mr. 
Bubb,  solicitor,  surgeon  Pinching,  Mr.  Capper,  the  Rev.  T.  B.  Newell,  Mr.  Overbury, 
Mr.  Jelinger  Symonds,  with  anecdotes  of  the  Chartists,  and  various  other  parties. 

Mr.  Trueman,  long  a  worker  among  the  Free-Inquirers  of  Paddington,  having 
suffered  from  illness  for  some  time,  a  subscription  was  made  on  his  account  at  the  Hall 
of  Science  after  Mr.  Holyoake's  lecture  on  Sunday  evening.  The  John  Street  friends 
have  aided  in  another  way.     W.  J.  B.  has  sent  £1, 

The  instrumental  band  at  the  Hall  of  Science  has  been  changed  for  a  pianoforte, 
and  vocal  performances.  Before  and  after  the  lectures  on  Sunday  evening  a  gentleman 
sings  selected  songs,  much  more  in  taste  than  sacred  music.  The  present  pieces  appear 
to  give  great  pleasure,  the  words  being  of  the  progressive  order  of  thought. 

A  '  Constant  Reader'  writes : — 'You  would  oblige  me  by  saying  how  I  could  send  the 
Reasoner  to  Ireland,  and  what  the  postage  would  be.  The  regulations  cited  in  No.  219 
I  find  are  for  the  United  States.  Will  the  same  regulations  answer  for  Ireland,  yiz.,  not 
exceeding  2  oz.  one  penny  ?  If  so,  I  will  send  a  weekly  number  to  a  "  Convert  from 
Catholicism."  I  am  another  myself.  Please  oblige  me  through  the  medium  of  the 
Reasoner  Open  Page.'  Perhaps  some  Irish  reader  can  answer  our  correspondent.  We 
fear  the  postage  to  Ireland  will  be  twopence. 

Three  original  letters,  in  the  hand-writing  of  Sir  Walter  Scott,  James  Hogg,  the  Ettrick 
Shepherd,  and  Thomas  Moore,  author  of  '  Lalla  Rookh,'  written  in  1827,  have  been 
forwarded  to  our  office  by  a  person  in  Scotland,  whose  necessities  compel  him  to  sell 
them.  Any  one  likely  to  purchase  them  can  see  them  by  calling  upon  our  publisher, 
or  may  learn  the  price  by  forwarding  an  envelope  directed  and  stamped. 

We  learn  that  Mr.  George  Adams,  of  Cheltenham,  has  gone  to  America. 

The  tract  with  which  we  are  favoured  by  Mr.  Jordan — the  '  Logic  of  Life,'  by  the 
Rev.  Hugh  Stowell,  M.  A. — was  not  written  with  any  reference  to  the  '  Logic  of  Death.* 
On  the  contrary,  it  was  that  tract  which  suggested  the  title  of  the '  Logic  of  Death.' 

S.  Moons  will  find  every  work  of  Voltaire  worth  its  English  price. 

The  German  wool  work,  in  relievo  landscape,  illustrative  of  the  Seasons,  is  at  the 
Rosherville  Gardens  this  season.  The  ingenious  artists  have  done  nature  into  wool  in 
a  very  noticeable  manner.  « 

M.  Cabet,  the  Icarian  Communist,  arrived  in  London  last  week,  and  has  proceeded 
to  Paris. 

Mr.  HdU,  of  Carrington  Street,  Nottingham,  wishes  to  purchase  a  copy  of  Blount's 
Translation  of  Philostratius. 

On  Sunday  evening,  Mr.  Holyoake  lectured  at  the  Hall  of  Science  on  '  The  Policy 
and  Prospects  of  Freethinking ;  with  a  report  of  the  strength  and  temper  of  the  enemy 
in  Scotland  and  the  North.' 

London:  Printed  by  Holyoake  Brothers,  3,  Queen'i  Head  Pa«sage,  Paternoster-row;  and  Published 
by  J.  WataoD,  3,  Queen's  Head  Passage,  Paternoster-row. — Wednesday,  June  18th,  1851. 


AND 

THEOLOGICAL     EXAMINER. 


They  who  believe  that  they  hav«  Truth  ask  no  favour,  save  that  of  being  heard;  they  dare  the 
judgment  of  Mankind  :  refused  Co-operation,  they  invoke  Opposition,  for  Opposition  ia  their 
Opportunity. — Editob. 


LECTURES    IN    PAISLEY, 


The  first  lecture  in  Paisley  was  in  the  Wilson  Hall,  held  by  our  Socialist  friends. 
Mr.  Motherwell  is  still  secretary,  and  Mr.  Glassford  president.  There  is  no  ex- 
ample among  us  in  which  a  small  Branch  has  continued  its  organisation  and  social 
usefulness,  and  grown  in  influence,  and  acquired  respect,  as  the  Paisley  Branch 
has  done.  And  there  are  pieces  of  their  conduct  as  instructive  as  their  general 
example.  Before  my  engagement  was  completed,  Mr.  Motherwell  wrote  me — *  We 
are  ready,  but  we  wait  for  Glasgow  to  step  first.  They  seem  to  expect  the  position 
of  the  initiative,  and  we  all  concede  it  to  them.'  Such  an  excellent  temper  as  this 
is  rarely  manifested.  Where  there  is  the  ability  to  act  thus,  there  is  always  the 
ability  to  exist,  and  control  success. 

One  who  was  lately  known  as  Provost  Anderson,  of  Paisley,  died  on  the  night 
of  my  first  lecture.  He  is  spoken  of  as  a  liberal  and  intelligent  man.  He  was  a 
Quaker.  In  England  a  Quaker  is  a  solemn  thing  enough,  but  in  Scotland,  that  is 
when  compared  with  good  presbyterian  saints,  he  is  quite  a  lively  creature— cer- 
tainly a  liberal  one  as  far  as  freedom  of  conscience  is  concerned,  and  the  moral  use 
of  the  Sabbath.  The  good  provost  always  gave  his  vote  in  favour  of  Sunday  trains. 
Peace  and  honour  be  with  his  name.  A  story  is  told  of  the  provost,  that  in  his 
early  days  he  was  so  thorough-going  a  radical  that,  about  1820,  he  had  to  ship 
himself  to  America  in  a  meal  tub.  Some  assured  me  the  legend  was  fabulous, 
others  that  it  was  true,  which  is  likely  enough  in  those  blessed  days  of  Castlereagh 
Toryism.  If  so,  the  provost  must  have  been  entered  among  the  imports  of  the  New 
York  Custom-house  as  a  '  British  refugee  in  barrel.'  When,  in  the  course  of  events, 
the  i-adical  became  a  provost,  people  wondered  at  the  change  of  public  opinion  ;  and 
when  the  jealous  radicals  thought  the  good  provost  grew  whiggish,  they  revived  the 
fable  of  the  meal  barrel.  Nevertheless  the  broad-brimm«d  mayor  died  with  the 
real  esteem  of  his  fellow-citizens,  many  of  whom  remember  with  gratitude  his  noble 
conduct  during  a  season  of  distress,  such  as  Paisley  has  too  often  experienced.  On 
such  an  occasion  he  refused  to  call  in  the  military,  whose  presence  he  thought 
would  only  excite  to  outrage  people  already  in  despair  through  want.  The  respon- 
sibility of  the  peace  of  the  town  rested  with  him.  It  is  difficult  to  conceive  how 
much  courage  was  required  in  this  act.  He  saved  many  homes  from  widowhood 
and  orphandom,  and  many  poor  fellows  also  from  miserable  transportation.  The 
blood  he  saved  must  have  been  a  sweeter  thought  to  him  on  the  bed  of  death,  than 
the  blood  others  have  shed  can  surely  be  to  them.  The  tomb  of  such  a  Magistrate 
is  nobler  than  that  of  any  Soldier's. 

Except  the  first,  the  lectures  were  given  in  the  Exchange  Rooms— the  Wilson 
Street  Hall  being  too  small.  The  largest  audiences  I  had  addressed  in  Scotland 
were  those  of  Paisley.  Several  took  notes,  but  no  notable  person  entered  into 
debate. 


[No.  265.J  lNo.6,  Vol.  XI.] 

[ONE  PENNY.l 


—  t 


78  THE  REASONER. 


The  first  night  in  the  Exchange  Rooms  a  rather  elderly  man  came  on  the  plat- 
form, and,  applying  the  definite  article  to  a  most  indefinite  subject,  demanded  of 
me  to  tell  him  '  which  was  the  church  ?'  The  querist  seemed  to  be  a  cross  between 
a  Mormon  and  a  Swedenborgian,  and  proved  a  pleasant  interlocutor. 

Next,  a  lively  gentleman  in  a  short  green  coat,  who  had  the  bearing  of  a  half- 
pay  officer  in  a  citizen's  habit,  stepped  solemnly  and  methodically  on  to  the  plat- 
form. He  rejoiced  in  the  ancient  name  of  Adam,  but  he  did  not  resemble  Adam 
in  any  other  respect.  Fixing  himself  like  a  drill-serjeant,  stiff  and  perpendicular, 
he  commenced ;  and  not  till  he  had  found  his  position  did  he  seem  able  to  speak 
at  all.  '  Did  I  believe  in  God  ?  he  wanted  to  know  that.'  And  then,  still  standing, 
arms  down  and  perpendicular  as  a  light-house,  he  turned  a  pair  of  eyes — large, 
full  tea-Clip  like  eyes,  so  jetty  and  electrical  that  they  seemed  like  a  couple  of  black 
bude  lights.  Not  since  the  days  of  Satchwell  of  Northampton  have  I  seen  any- 
thing half  so  flashy.  The  Exchange  was  large  and  the  platform  dark — so  much  so 
that  I  could  scarcely  see  myself;  and  I  must  have  appeared  to  the  audience  like 
an  Esquimaux  at  the  North  Pole,  in  the  nine  months  when  they  have  no  sun. 
But  when  my  friend  in  green  did  his  exercise  of '  eyes  right,'  and  turned  his  optics 
in  my  direction,  he  illumined  the  hall,  and  the  audience  resounded  with  surprise 
and  merriment  at  this  ocular  pantomime.  Of  all  the  opponents  I  ever  met,  this 
gentleman  was  the  most  glaring.  After  a  little  short-sword  exercise  about  the 
existence  of  God,  he  made  a  thrust  with  Chance,  and  closed  by  charging  with  the 
French  Revolution.  He  was  an  *  honest-like '  old  '  sodger '  of  the  Uncle  Toby 
school,  and  we  missed  him  the  second  night. 

On  returning  to  Paisley  on  the  following  week,  I  lectured,  by  request,  on  Chartism, 
after  which  an  internecine  discussion  took  place,  Messrs  Robinson  and  Cochrane 
being  chief  disputants.  The  subject  was  a  vigorous  mutual  criticism  of  each 
others'  party  in  the  town,  and  preference  and  antipathy  to  Mr.  O'Connor.  With 
the  general  points  of  the  lecture  agreement  was  expressed.  But  with  loca^ 
differences  and  active  dissent  there  semed  to  exist  a  healthy  feeling  that  promised 
to  right  itself.  G.  J.  Holyoake. 

REINFORCEMENT. 


The  proportion  of  recent  numbers  of  the  Reatoner  written  by  myself  attests  the 
extent  of  the  demands  made  on  my  attention  and  time,  arising  out  of  current  con- 
troversies. Much,  of  which  no  notice  has  been  given,  remains  behind.  The  In- 
tellectual Repository,  a  monthly  magazine  of  the  Swedenborgians,  contains  several 
columns  of  personal  interest,  by  the  Rev.  Woodville  Woodman,  in  reference  to 
myself  and  in  reference  to  Mrs.  Martin  (for  whom,  being  ill,  it  is  our  duty  to 
answer.)  In  the  Lancaster  Guardian  the  Rev.  Mr.  Fleming  has  commenced  his 
reply  to  my  lectures  in  that  town.  And  that  my  answer  may  be  admitted  in  the 
Guardian,  it  should  be  prepared  with  such  carefulness  that  while  it  explains  every 
principle  faithfully,  shall  yet  afford  no  pretext  for  exclusion.  Public  lectures  can, 
in  most  cases,  be  rendered  remunerative,  but  not  so  communications  to  the  press, 
which  now  consume  my  time  week  after  week,  compelling  the  relinquishment  of 
almost  all  other  engagements.  We  have  reached  that  stage  at  which  it  is  indis- 
pensable that  our  defences  are  presented  thoughtfully.  The  opponents  whom  we 
have  deliberately  provoked  have  leisure,  learning,  acuteness,  and  power,  and  they  are 
ready  and  disposed  to  take  vigorous  advantage  of  any  deficiencies  or  neglect  which 
we  may  betray.  The  clergy  in  many  quarters  now  take  in  the  Reasoner  to  see  the 
state  of  the  case  on  the  side  opposed  to  them,  and  effectiveness  is  now  of  import- 


THE  REASONER.  19 

ance  to  us.  Ministers  take  the  Reasoner  into  their  vestries  and  pulpits,  and  City 
Missionaries  carry  it  from  house  to  house,  when  they  find  any  argument  in  it  ill 
considered  or  ill  expressed,  by  whomsoever  written.  Editorially,  one  will  shortly 
have  to  learn  of  that  vigilant  merchant  who  acquired  the  faculty  of  sleeping  with 
one  eye  open. 

In  every  part  of  the  country  demands  are  being  loudly  made  for  fuller  develop- 
ments of  our  advocacy,  especially  for  directions  on  organisation.  This  week  ap- 
pears the  continuation  of  our  reply  to  Professor  Newman's  book,  a  statement 
which,  for  many  reasons,  ought  no  longer  to  be  delayed.  It  is  intended  to  appear 
in  a  separate  form, for  special  circulation.  Besides  the  Theological  Register,  which 
is  proceeding,  and  a  '  Library  of  all  Churches,'  which  is  being  formed,  the  reader 
will  shortly  see  an  announcement  of  a  '  Cabinet  of  Reason,'  being  a  series  of  Six- 
penny and  Shilling  Volumes  of  works  original  and  revised,  by  which  we  will  con- 
sent to  be  judged.  We  have  no  accredited  literature  of  our  own,  and  the  Clergy 
take  up  any  book,  by  whomsoever  and  howsoever  written,  and  quote  it  against  us 
as  our  own.  We  must  accredit  chosen  works,  and  thus  put  an  end  to  this 
liability  of  indiscriminate  attack  and  indefinite  responsibility. 

The  object  of  this  notice  is  to  say  to  those  of  our  readers  who  think  it  useful 
that  I  should  be  able,  for  some  time,  to  devote  myself  fully  to  the  execution  of  a 
work  to  which  I  am  in  a  sense  pledged  as  a  matter  of  honour,  no  less  than  con- 
scientious duty,  will  send  reinforcements  to  our  Propagandist  List,  so  that  the 
surplus,  after  defraying  the  usual  expenses  of  the  publication  of  the  Reasoner,  may 
afford  some  salary.  This  is  not  said  to  the  public  nor  to  all  of  our  readers  (because 
many  read  the  Reasoner  who  are  not  with  us),  but  to  those  who  approve  of  what 
is  being  done  and  desire  it  to  proceed  uninterruptedly  and  as  efficiently  as  possible. 
The  persons  now  addressed  are  solely  those  who  see  that  our  war  against  the 
teachings  of  the  priesthood  is  a  well  advised  and  necessary  system  of  self-defence, 
who  see  that  we  are  engaged  in  the  destruction  of  that  which,  if  not  destroyed, 
paralyses  progress  and  puts  dishonour  upon  us,  while  it  remains  strong  enough  to 
enforce  conventional  acquiescence  in  it  on  the  part  of  our  friends.  What  is  here 
proposed  is  not  a  matter  of  personal  necessity  to  myself,  as  my  customary  en- 
gagements afford  that  which  is  sufficient  for  my  wants.  It  will  be  a  -vrron^  to  me 
if  any  put  upon  this  the  construction  of  an  '  appeal '  in  the  usual  sense.  I  merely 
wish  to  be  able  to  occupy  myself  in  a  particular  way.  As  the  fight  has  grown 
thick  and  hot,  I,  without  hesitation,  r.sk  for  the  means  of  fighting  the  battle  out. 
If  I  am  to  be  held  in  any  way  responsible  as  conducting  a  warfare,  I  must,  like 
any  other  person  so  placed,  be  held  free  to  ask  for  reinforcements  when  needed. 

The  Rev.  Mr.  Woodman,  in  the  Swedenborgian  magazine  to  which  I  have  to 
reply,  argues  that  I  ought  to  work  for  nothing— but  though  the  ability  of  doing  so 
is  enviable  indeed,  it  involves  consequences  which  I  never  found  a  butterman  or  a 
milkman  able  to  understand,  and,  in  the  usual  course  of  human  events,  it  comes 
about  that  these  people  have  to  form  opinions  on  this  very  subject.  If  Mr. 
Woodman  happens  to  have  any  little  people  at  his  table,  he  has  doubtless  found  out 
that  they  have  learned  to  eat  before  reaching  years  of  '  discretion,'  and  nothing 
that  he  can  do  will  cure  them  of  the  habit.  Every  day  they  expect  something, 
and  though  he  explain  to  them  that  it  is  neither  religious,  disinterested,  nor 
philosophical  to  eat ;  and  though  he  give  them  very  excellent  reasons  against  it — 
though  he  speak  to  them,  as  he  of  Tarsus  has  it,  '  with  the  tongues  of  men  and 
angels,'  they  will  cut  his  oration  short  in  two  by  demanding  '  a  piece  of  bread  and 
butter' — and  prove  all  eloquence  on  this  point,  as  St.  Paul  again  assures  us,  so 


80  THE  REASONER. 


much  '  sounding  brass  and  tinkling  cymbals.'  The  doctrine,  therefore,  that  Mr. 
Woodman  could  not  carry  out  with  juveniles,  whose  plastic  nature  is  proverbial, 
cannot  be  of  fair  application  to  more  unyielding  adults,  while  the  world  is  ao 
much  addicted  to  dining,  beyond  the  power  of  example  to  check  or  of  logic  to 
refute.  I  must  therefore  be  allowed  to  stipulate  for  the  means,  till  *  better  light ' 
is  vouchsafed  of  complying  with  the  general  custom.  G.  J.  Holyoake. 

AGGREGATE  MEETING  OF  THE  MORMONS  IN  LONDON. 


A  CONFERENCE  of  the  people  known  as  '  Mormonites,'  or  '  Latter-day  Saints,'  was 
held  on  Monday  week,  at  the  Freemasons'  Tavern.  Sometime  before  three  o'clock, 
the  hour  fixed  for  commencing,  the  body  of  the  large  hall  and  the  galleries  were 
crowded  with  a  very  respectable  and  orderly  assembly,  consisting  in  about  an 
equal  division  of  the  members  of  both  sexes,  with  a  considerable  proportion  of 
young  persons.  In  addition  to  the  leaders  of  the  *  Saints  '  in  London  and  the  pro- 
vinces, and  in  Scotland  and  Ireland,  there  were  also  present  several  brethren  from 
America,  France,  Belgium,  Germany,  Switzerland,  and  Sweden,  who  had  come  to 
the  metropolis  to  visit  the  Exhibition.  There  could  not,  altogether,  have  been 
less  than  1100  people  in  the  hall,  and  nearly  twice  that  number  were  refused 
tickets,  in  consequence  of  there  not  being  sufficient  room  to  accommodate  them.... 
...There  were  addresses  from  the  '  elders,'  in  the  course  of  which  it  was  stated  that 
the  statistics  of  January  last  showed  there  were,  altogether,  in  the  United  King- 
dom, 42  conferences,  602  branches,  22  seventies,  12  high  priests,  1,761  elders, 
1,590  priests,  1,226  teachers,  682  deacons,  and  25,454  members;  making  a  total  of 
30,747  Saints.  During  the  last  14  years  more  than  50,000  had  been  baptised  in 
England,  of  whom  17,000  had  emigrated  to  '  Zion.'  One  of  the  young  ladies, 
dressed  in  white  (perhaps  the  most  handsome  and  ladylike  of  the  number),  next 
took  her  place  on  the  platform,  and  delivered,  in  a  clear  and  well  modulated  voice, 
an  address  on  behalf  of  the  young  ladies,  relative  to  the  important  part  sustained 
by  their  sex  in  assisting  to  elevate  the  morals  and  improve  the  spiritual  condition 
of  the  human  family  by  the  spread  of  the  Gospel,  nnd  the  upbuilding  of  the  kingdom 
of  God,  &c.  Miss  Louisa  Johnstone,  of  Birmingham,  a  young  vocalist  of  con- 
siderable merit,  who  presided  at  the  piano,  afterwards  favoured  the  company  with 
a  song,  the  first  verse  of  which  was  as  follows : — 

I'm  a  saint,  I'm  a  saint,  on  the  rough  world  wide, 
The  earth  is  my  home,  and  my  God  is  my  guide ! 
Up,  up,  with  the  truth,  let  its  power  bend  the  knee, 
I  am  sent,  I  am  sent,  and  salvation  is  free. 
I  fear  not  old  priestcraft;  its  dogmas  can't  awe, 
I've  a  chart  for  to  steer  by,  that  tells  me  the  law  ; 
And  ne'er  as  a  coward  to  falsehood  I'll  kneel 
While  Mormon  tells  truth,  or  God's  prophets  reveal ! 
Up,  up,  with  the  truth,  let  its  power  bend  the  knee ; 
I  am  sent !  I  am  sent !  dying  Bab'lon  to  thee ; 
I  am  sent !  I  am  sent  I  take  this  warning  and  flee. 

Hymns  and  songs,  and  addresses  from  Lorenzo  Snow,  President  of  the  Italian 
Mission,  and  Erastus  Snow  of  the  Danish  Mission,  followed,  and  the  meeting  did 
not  separate  until  a  late  hour. 


[We  have  abridged  this  account  from  the  ^o«co«/br»iJS<  of  June  11  th,  not  having 
had  the  opportunity  of  being  present  at  the  meeting.  It  is  frequently  said  that  Chris- 
tianity must  be  true— it  spread  so  miraculously  :  that  it  could  not  be  ridiculous,  or  it 
would  not  have  met  with  such  prompt  acceptation.  Here  we  have  a  body  having  the 
advantage  of  doctrines  as  ridiculous  as  can  be  desired,  multiplying  much  more  miracu- 
lously than  Christianity  itself.     Mormonism  must  be  true. — Ed.] 


THE  REASONER.  81 


(iFvaminattoii  of  t^c  ^rcjSs. 


The  Christianity  of  Christ,  and  the  Christianity  of  the  Churches. 
— There  is  no  moral  virtue  more  estimable  than  sincerity  of  opinion.     There  is  no 
spectacle  more  painful  to  an  honest,  sensitive,  and  truth-loving  spirit,  than  that  of 
a  conscientious  man  suffering  under  persecution  for  having  publicly  expressed  the 
convictions  of  his  mind.     Who  can  read  of  the  horrid  barbarities  practised  by  the 
Popish  inquisition  on  Protestant  Christians,  and  not  feel  his  blood  boil  with  indig- 
nation ?    Who  can  read  of  the  savage  cruelties  inflicted  by  Protestant  bigotry 
upon  Popish  Christians,  and  not  blush  and  sigh  for  the  superstition,  ignorance, 
and  inconsistency  of  humanity  ?     Who  ?  do  we  say — alas  !  we  fear  there  are  many 
even  in  the  nineteenth  century,  and  in  England,  who  would  not  scruple  to  erect 
again  the  stake  at  Smithfield,  and  with  their  own  hands  to  apply  the  torch  to  the 
faggot-bound  '  heretic'    There  are  to  this  day,  and  we  grieve  to  write  it,  many 
highly  educated  (as  the  phrase  goes)  and  notably-pious  persons  whose  religious 
zeal  would  carry  them  on  to  the  perpetration  of  atrocities  towards  their  mis-be- 
lieving fellow-creatures,  which  would  be  worthy  the  worst  times  of  papal  despotism. 
The  love  of  persecution  for  the  sake  of  religion  yet  glows  in  the  hearts  of  thousands 
of  professing  Christians.     This  love  is  not  confined  to  the  professors  of  any  parti- 
cular set  of  doctrines  ;  it  is  alike  cherished  by  Pi'otestant  and  Roman  Catholic,  by 
churchman  and  dissenter — in  short  by  all  who  prefer  the  wild  dogmas  of  revela- 
tion to  the  pure   dictates  of  reason.     From  the  time  of  ear-smiting  Peter  down  to 
the  present  debate  about  '  papal  aggression,'  the  history  of  Christianity  has  been 
little  else  than  one  unbroken  succession  of  bloodthirsty  violence,  sectarian  bitter- 
ness, and  priestly  fraud.     So  true  is  this,  that  it  has  been  said  that  if  a  man  were 
to  judge  of  Christianity  by  the  conduct  of  Christians,  it  is  about  the  very  last  re- 
ligion a  good  citizen  would  select  for  himself.     And  we  are  convinced  more  infidels 
have  been  made  through  the  religious  feuds  of  Christian  churches,  than  by  the 
teaching  of  the  most  talented  sceptical  authors.     Seeing  that  Christian  commu- 
nities have   not  been   more  free  from    strife    and  wickedness  than  other  states 
where  the  name  of  Christ  was  not  only  not  adored  but  despised,  many  a  man  has 
been  driven  to  renounce  every  religious  faith,  and  to  say  with  the  French  philosopher 
Bayle  'I  am  a  Protestant  because  I  protest  against  all  religions.'     The  wisdom  of 
such  a  course  we  may  be  permitted  to  call  in  question  ;  but  enthusiastic  sensibility 
is  frequently  the  victim  of  illogical  conclusions,  and  we  must  confess  to  some  sort 
of  respect  for  the  errors  of  the  head  when  we  find  the  heart  uninfected  with  in- 
human and  anti-social  prejudices.    Now,  to  condemn  the  Christianity  of  Christ  as 
laid  down  in  the  new  Testament  because  the  Christianity  of  the  churches  has 
sanctioned  persecution  and  slaughter,  appears  to  us  a  very  considerable  error  of 
the  head.    And  this  is  one  point   on   which  we  think  Mr.  Holyoake  errs.     He 
argues  that  as  Christians  have  in  every  age  acted  the  part  of  ferocious  tormentors 
towards  those  who  have  differed  from  them  in  religion,  Christianity  must  neces- 
sarily be  a  ferocious  and  wicked  faith.     But  we  do  not  admit  the  sequitur.     Christ 
never  commanded  persecution — he  taught  us  to  love  our  enemies,  as  Socrates  had 
done  four  hundred  years  before.     Christ  did  not  ordain  secular  punishments  for 
those  who  refused  his  doctrine— he  desired  the  tares  among  the  wheat  to  be  let 
alone  until  the  harvest,  and  not  to  be  rooted  up  and   burnt   with   fire.     Christ 
preached  '  peace  on  earth,'  and  we  challenge  Mr.  Holyoake  to  show  one  occasion 
on  which  Jesus  of  Nazareth  evinced  a  partiality  for  massacres,  wars,  and  intole- 


82  THE  REASONER. 


rance.     The  spirit  of  Christ  was  the  spirit  of  gentleness  and  love.    Indignation  he 
doubtless  often  displayed  against  Pharisees  and  ceremony-worshipping  Jews,  but 
a  heart  earnest  for  the  propagation  of  truth  and  the  victory  of  right,  cannot  avoid 
the   impulses  of  its  better   nature.     Christ's   indignation,  however,  never   over- 
stepped the  bounds  of  charity.     To  accuse  Christ  of  want  of  charity  and  of  insti- 
gating to  persecution,  in  consequence  of  what  subsequent  teachers  and   professors 
have  done,  is  unjust.     It  is  equally  unjust  to  identify,  as  many  do,  the  profession 
of  atheism  with  profligacy  of  character  and  entire  contempt  for  all  moral  obliga- 
tions.    Mr.  Holyoake  will  admit  the  force  of  reasoning  when  applied  to  his  own 
case— why  not,  then,  in  the  case  of  Christianity?     Neither  can  we  agree  with  Mr. 
Holyoake  in  his  atheistical  theory.    Mr.  H.  does  not  believe  there  is  a  God,  because 
he  cannot  discover  any  trace  of  him  in  nature.     To  our  minds  nature  presents  so 
many  marks  of  design  and  such  evidence  of  a  prime  power  somewhere  existing,  that 
unless  the  system  of  the  universe  arose  by  chance  out  of  chaos,  or  existed  from  all 
eternity,  there  is  nothing  left  for  us  to  fall  back  upon  but  the  being  of  a  God — that 
is  some  spiritual,  eternal,  intelligent  power,  the  first  principle  of  all  things.     What 
the  nature  and  attributes  of  this  power  may  be  we  do  not  pretend  to  say.     What 
we  contend  for  is  simply  the  necessary  existence  of  some  such  power,  call  it  by  what 
name  you  please— Jehovah,  God,  Nature,  or  Lord.     We  think  that  the  atheist 
asks  us  to  credit  a  greater  miracle  than  any  to  be  found  in  the  Christian  Scriptures. 
But  be  this  as  it  may ;  let  the  atheist's  belief  or  no-beliet  be  the  very  essence  of  cre- 
dulity and  folly,  he  has  a  right  to  enunciate  it  openly.    If  his  views  he  unreasonable, 
those  of  his  persecutors  who  would  silence  him  by  law  and  punish  him  by  im- 
prisonment for  free  utterance  are  not  only  unreasonable   but   disgraceful.     The 
narrative  of  Mr.   Holyoake's  book  sets  foith  in  strong  colours  the  hideous  de- 
formity of  that  species  of  modern  inquisition  which  the  law  places  over  liberty  of 
thought  and  lipeech.     We  envy  not  that  man  his  feelings  who  can  peruse  this  '  Last 
Tiial  by  Jury  for  Atheism  '  unmoved,  and  without  loathing  for  the  paltry  piety 
of  his  accusers.     We  are  surprised  at  the  cool  and  temperate  tone  in  which  this 
book  is  written.     After  the  treatment  Mr.  Holyoake  received  from  the  '  powers 
that  be,' we  might  have  expected  a  more  antagonistic  production  from  his  pen. 
Six  months'  confinement  in  Gloucester  gaol — for  merely  saying  in  public  that  he 
thought  the  people  too  poor  to  have  a  God,  and  that  while  they  were  in  this  state 
it  would  be  well  to  put  the  Deity  on  half-pay — instead  of  souring,  seems  to  have 
philosophised   his   spirit,   without   converting   him  to  the  Christian   faith,     Mr. 
Holyoake  was  tried  in  August  1842,  and  found  guilty  of  blasphemy,  that  vague  and 
capricious  term  for  an  indefinable  ciime.     The  account  he  gives  of    his  trial  is 
extremely  interesting.    The  description  of  his  prison  lite  it  is  impossible  to  read 
without  emotion.     While  in  confinement  several  attempts  were  made  to  convince 
him  of  the  error  of  his  creed,  but  were  all  unsuccessful.     We  cannot  but  admire 
the   quiet  yet  determined   manner   in   which  Mr.  Holyoake   conducted  himself 
throughout  his  imprisonment.     He   effectually  baffled  the  soul-torturing  priests 
who  came  to  'convert '  him  by  authority,  and  we  regard  his  little  book  as  a  valu- 
able contribution  to  the  cause  of  freethought. — F,  G.,  in  the  Working  MarCt  Jour- 
nal of  June  7th,  1851.     [Against  the  remarks  of  this  friendly  reviewer,  touching 
Christianity  not  warranting  perseciftipn,  it  is  not  necessary  to  offer  a  defence  here. 
Those  who  read  the  book  reviewed  will  find  the   reasons  upon  which  the  author 
grounds  his  statements,  and  by  them  he  is  willing  to  be  judged. — Ed.] 


THE  REASONER. 


83 


DETELOPED     BT     FBOFESSOE    NEWMAN  :*     STATED     AND    EXAMINED. 


BY   G.    J.    HOLYOAKE. 


'Thb  most  decisive  moral  eflFects  produced 
by  the  devotional  posture  of  the  soul,'  ex- 
pressed by  the  term  reverence,  is  explained 
(p.  50)  to  'depend  on  consciousness  that  it 
has  met  the  eye  of  God.'  To  ensure  this 
sentiment  pure,  lofty,  and  progressive,  Mr. 
Newman  hesitates  not  to  warn  the  reader 
that  even  the  Bible  is  not  to  be  regarded 
as  an  Ideal,  unless  the  conscience  is  too 


[Continued  from  last  number.] 

punish  the  desire  of  sin,  as  itself  a  sin,  is 
the  germ  of  all  spirituality  (p.  66.)  We 
get  more  light  than  comes  from  many 
sermons  in  a  single  definition ;  as  that  of 
Remorse,  for  instance,  which  is  explained 
as  the  convulsion  of  the  Soul,  as  it  con- 
sciously stands  under  the  eye  of  God 
(p.  69.) 

The  purposes  of  religion',  the  condition  of 


dull  to  rise  above  the  Bible— that  in  no  case     its  purity  and  test  of  its  perfection,  are  thus 


must  the  conscience  be  depressed  to  any 
standard,  not  even  to  the  Biblical  standard 
("p.  62.)  Mr.  Newman  gives  this  salutary 
piece  of  instruction,  by  which  the  entire 
Christian  world  might  largely  profit.  '  All 
Christian  apostles  and  missionaries,'  says 
he,  '  like  the  Hebrew  prophets,  have  al- 
ways refuted  Paganism  by  direct  attacks 
oniisimmoral  doctrines,  and  have  appealed 
to  the  coisciences  of  heathens  as  compe- 
tent to  decide  the  controversy  (p.  59.)  The 
same  boldness  of  simple  and  true  faith, 
by  which  the  born  votary  of  Paganism 
breaks  away  from  the  errors  of  his  national 
creed  to  follow  [what  he  is  told  are]  the 
revelations  of  God  in  his  soul,  will  also 
authorise  and  require  the  Romanist  to  re- 
ject the  Authority  of  his  Church,  and  the 
Protestant  that  of  his  Bible,  whenever  the 
one  or  the  other  inculcates  upon  him  as 
divine  that  \shich  falls  beneath  the  highest 
Ideal  of  his  soul'  (p.  57.) 

If  it  were  required  of  me  to  define  this  work 
on  the  Soul,  in  relation  to  that  spiritual 
religion  which  is  so  distasteful  to  the  world 
when  dispensed  from  the  pulpits  by  men  of 
crude  knowledge  and  vulgar  nature,  I 
should  say  this  book  is  the  '  Philosophy  of 
Evangelical  Piety.'  Mr.  Newman  throws 
a  new  light  on  Sin — a  subject  so  treated 
that  no  new  light  was  deemed  possible;  so 
badly  treated,  indeed,  that  no  new  light 
was  felt  to  be  wanted.  When  it  comes  to 
be  distinctly  perceived  that  the  God  of 
Nature  is  the  God  of  our  conscience's,  and 
that  all  wrow^  doing  is  frowned  on  by  Him, 
the  two  new  terms,  Holiness  and  Sin,  are 
needed  (p.  65.)  To  perceive,  as  even  old 
Herodotus  did,  that  the  GoJs  hate  and 

•  '  The  Soul,  her  Sorrows  and  her  Aspi- 
rations.' By  Francis  William  Newman. 
London :  John  Chapman. 


described—'  1  he  moral  uses  of  religion  are 
to  enliven  man's  conscience,  strengthen  his 
will,  elevate  his  aspirations,  content  him 
with  small  supplies  to  his  lower  wants, 
rouse  all  his  generous  tendencies,  and  here- 
by ennoble  him  altogether ;  but  it  can  do 
none  of  these  things  effectually,  except 
when  it  keeps  him  steadily  looking  into  the 
face  of  the  Infinite  and  Infinitely  Pure  One' 
(p.  70.)  Guileness  is  the  whole  secret  of 
divine  peace  (p.  74.)  A  conscious  upright- 
ness is  obviously  necessary  to  any  spiritual 
peace,  nor  does  the  heart  need  any  other 
testimony  than  its  own  to  the  fact  of  its 
uprightness  (p.  89.) 

With  a  reflection  as  searching  as  his 
piety  is  pure,  Mr.  Newman  points  out  that 
what  is  popularly  termed  '  the  total  de- 
pravity of  human  nature  '  is  more  correctly 
the  imperfection  of  nature.  In  order  to  be 
morally  perfect  we  should  need  at  once 
infinite  wisdom  and  affections  of  infinite 
power — in  fine,  we  should  need  the  incom- 
municable prerogatives  of  God  ("p.  84.) 
The  necessary  imperfection  of  our  con- 
stitution cannot  be  appropriated  to  us  as 
Sin.  This  rational  sense  of  sin  does  not, 
however,  degenerate  into  contentment  with 
imperfection,  for  the  Soul  is  taught  to 
aspire  daily  to  higher  and  higher  Perfection. 
To  distinguish  between  the  testimony  of  a 
Good  Conscience  and  the  dangerous  com- 
placency of  Self-righteousness,  Mr.  New- 
man observes,  that '  the  moment  we  begin 
to  admire  ourselves,  we  are  satisfied  with 
the  state  of  goodness  already  attained,  and 
cease  (for  so  long)  to  aspire  after  anything 
highes :  thus  the  life-blood  of  the  soul  is 
arrested,  and  putrefying  stagnation  is  to 
be  feared'  (p.  92.) 

In  treating  of  the  sense  of  Per- 
sonal Relation  to  God,  Mr.  Newman 
no     longer    appeals     to     reason     within 


84 


THE  REASONER. 


the  same  degree  as  in  the  preceding 
portions  of  his  work.  We  therefore  take 
his  descriptions  of  this  phenomenon.  '  The 
man,'  gays  he, '  who  at  the  same  moment 
that  he  adores  perceives  that  his  adoration 
is  perceived  and  is  accepted,  has  already 
begun  an  intercourse  with  God'  (p.  123.) 
Mr.  Newman's  theory  is  however  consistent 
with  itself  in  all  attractiveness  of  worship. 
He  tells  us  that '  God  does  not  act  towards 
us  (spiritually)  by  generalisations,  which 
may  omit  our  individual  case — his  perfec- 
tion consists  in  dealing  with  each  case  by 
itself  as  if  there  were  no  other '(p.  126.) 
Spiritual  progress  Mr.  Newman  holds  to 
consist,  not  merely  in  suppressing  some 
worse  and  lower  tendency  very  necessary 
and  desirable,  but  a  comfortable  mediocrity 
is  all  that  will  result.  The  moral  perceptions 
must  keep  rising  (p.  169) -the  better  part 
which  we  choose  must  keep  elevating 
(p.  168.) 

Mr.  Newman's  views  of  a  Future 
life  are  as  new,  modest,  and  pure  as  his 
other  speculations.  He  considers  that 
there  are  no  arguments  either  in  Scripture 
or  of  Reason  appreciable  by  the  unspiritual 
consciousness  proving  the  immortality  of 
the  soul.  Future  existence  seems  not  to 
him  necessary,  either  to  soften  sorrow  or 
animate  hope.  Pure  love  to  God  simply 
requires  that  nearness  of  spirit  which  is 
obedience  and  purity.  Trustful  aspiration 
seems  to  be  the  condition  of  the  soul  with 
respect  to  eternity — and  whatever  as- 
surance can  be  had  of  everlasting  life 
comes  best  from  the  spiritual  conviction 
that  from  being  a  child  of  God  we  shall 
be  heirs  of  God — of  his  kingdom,  the  king- 
dom of  the  Prophets  and  the  Messiah. 

On  the  Sermon  on  the  Sabbath,  and 
other  '  Means  of  Grace,'  especially  on  the 
Sabbath,  Mr.  Newman  produces  one  of  the 
most  original  and  effective  passages  which 
has  yet  been  written.  These  are  parts  of 
the  book  the  public  will  suppose  most  con- 
genial to  us,  but  we  have  no  intention  to 
dwell  upon  them— we  deem  them  rather 
belonging  to  the  religious  who  may  profit 
by  such  a  piquant  analysis  of  their  un- 
suspected errors.  We  indeed  admire  the 
modest  and  reverent  bravery  with  which 
the  whole  book  is  conducted  from  beginning 
to  end.  All  the  efforts  of  mankind  to  ex- 
plain the  mystery  of  spiritual  things  are 
treated  with  rps[ject;  and  yet  none  are 
exempt  from  that  manly  criticism  which 
comes  so  gracefully  from  the  brother  of  the 
great  Puseyite  leader.  We  have  chosen 
rather  to  dwell  on  those  affirmative  de- 
velopments   which    are    additions  to   our 


insight  into  religious  phenomena.  We 
therefore  conclude  this  imperfect  exposition 
by  a  final  passage,  which  must  command 
the  respect  of  philosophy,  as  he  gives  us  his 
key  to  the  True  Religion.  '  The  immense 
progress  of  pure  intellect,'  says  he,  '  must 
show  every  thoughtful  man  the  impossi- 
bility (not  to  say  wickedness)  of  sacrificing 
the  Intellect  to  the  Soul;  and  wherever 
there  is  true  Faith,  there  is  an  unhesitating 
conviction  that  there  cannot  possibly  be 
any  real  collision  between  these  two  parts 
of  human  nature'  (p.  180.)  '  To  sacrifice 
Imagination  and  Intellect,  and  to  sacrifice 
Domestic  aSection,  are  about  on  a  par. 
It  seems  to  be  quite  an  axiom  of  thought 
that  the  human  mind  was  meant  to  labour 
for  the  Useful,  to  con  template  the  Beautiful, 
to  possess  itself  of  the  True,  and  to  contend 
for  the  Right,  as  well  as  to  worship  the 
Holy,  or  imitate  the  Bountiful  One  (p.l  90.) 
He  who  attempts  to  render  the  work  of 
another  should,  as  far  as  possible,  render 
it  in  the  spirit  in  which  it  is  written.  This 
I  have  endeavoured  to  do,  placing  myself, 
as  well  as  I  was  able,  in  the  author's  place, 
endeavouring  to  think  his  thoughts,  and  to 
forget  that  my  own  views  differed  from 
his.  If  I  have  done  justice  to  my  own 
estimate  of  Mr.  Newman's  book,  the  reader 
will  agree  with  me  that  it  approaches  to 
the  solution  of  that  famous  question  put  in 
'Childe  Harold'— 

Foul  Superstition  !  howsoe'er  disguised, 
Idol,  saint,  virgin,  prophet,  crescent,  cross, 
For  whatsoever  symbol  thou  art  prized. 
Thou   sacerdotal   gain,  but  general  loss! 
Who  from  true  worship's  gold  can  separate 
thy  dross  ?  * 

The  author  of  the  '  Soul,  her  Sorrows  and 
her  Aspirations^  has  higher  pretensions  to 
have  answered  this  question  than  any  other 
writer  of  our  times. 

Religious  persons  have  often  replied  to 
me,  '  You  will  find  the  same  genial  ut- 
terances of  piety  in  the  writings  of  many 
divines  as  in  Mr.  Newman's.'  In  one 
sense  this  is  true ;  there  are  passages 
of  generous  inspiration  in  the  works  of 
many  eminent  preachers,  but  express- 
ed with  less  explicitness,  and  besides, 
accorapained  with  a  certain  equivoca- 
tion which  leaves  you  in  doubt  whether 
you  may  trust  them.  With  Mr.  Newman 
there  is  an  unmistakableness  which  you 
feel  to  be  at  once  reliable.  There  are  no 
subtle  texts  of  Scripture  coming  in  to  dilute 
his  meaning  —  there  are  no  theories  of 
divinity  crushing  the  vitality  out  of  bis 
generous  sayings.    What  he  says  once  he 


THE  REASONER. 


85 


says  all  through — not  in  one  or  two  pas- 
sages, but  on  every  page.  His  speech  is 
constantly  gentle — his  pure  views  extend 
to  his  life— they  pervade  all  he  does — he 
sweeps  away  all  that  contradicts  his  genial 
utterances.  It  is  in  this  wholeness,  this 
permanence  of  spirit,  that  makes  him  un- 
like all  other  Christian  writers. 

PART    II.       TH  E  EXAMINATION. 

The  advantage  of  a  book  of  this  character 
to  all  who  desire  the  rationalisation  of  re- 
ligion is  incalculable.  It  constitutes  a  stan- 
dard by  which  to  try  the  low  types  of  the 
Christian  faith.  To  one  who  dissents  from 
pure  Moralism — to  any  indeed  who  hold 
the  popular  and  degrading  forms  of  Christi- 
anity, we  may  point  to  the  teachings  of 
this  book,  and  thus  hope  to  elevate  them. 
To  ourselves  it  has  the  great  value  of 
showing  us  the  ablest  things  that  can  be 
urged  by  a  man  of  candour  and  genius, 
and  in  what  is  excellent  in  such  delinea- 
tion we  see  what  we  have  to  equal  or 
surpass,  if  we  are  compelled  to  reject 
that  set  forth  by  our  opponent.  A  book 
so  consummate  as  the  Natural  History  of 
the  Soul,  is  a  standard,  therefore,  by  which 
to  try  others  and  ourselves. 

This  is  not  a  hard  book  to  answer  from 
our  point  of  sight — the  difficulty  is  in  re- 
futing such  argumentative  foundation  as 
it  has  without  giving  the  impression  that 
we  undervalue  its  fine  moral  developments. 

Mr.  Newman  sees  in  the  Soul  and  the 
Conscience  specific  senses.  But  the  re- 
currence to  us  in  act  of  our  common  ideal 
of  j  ustice  or  duty  is  all  that  we  mean  when 
we  speak  of  Conscience.  The  frequent 
query  to  the  unjust,  or  supine  man — '  have 
you  no  conscience  V  means,  have  you  no 
sense  of  justice  or  duty  ?  We  have  seen 
the  Soul  defined  as  '  that  part  of  our  nature 
by  which  we  are  in  contact  with  the  In- 
finite' But  the  Soul,  like  the  conscience, 
admits  of  a  simple  explanation.  From  the 
observation  of  the  near  we  pass  to  the  con- 
templation of  extended  phenomena.  The 
illimitableness  of  the  unknown  has  a  refining 
influence  over  us.  Doubtless  we  desire  to 
discover  our  relation,  if  any,  to  it.  The 
sense  of  the  Infinitude  around  us  is  an 
extension  or  enlargement  of  our  Conscious- 
ness. We  give  it  the  name  of  Soul,  but 
we  hardly  mean  thereby  an  entity.  W^e 
may  recur  to  reflections  on  nature,  and 
thus  amplify  our  own  life  without  making 
that  part  of  our  nature  an  independent 
existence.  To  refer  each  class  of  functions 
to  separate  moral  senses  is  convenient  and 
distinctive,  but  we  must  beware  of  allow- 
ing these  terms  to  grow  into  entities  by  this 


specious  and  frequent  use.  From  speaking 
of  infinite  phenomena  we  come  to  abridge 
it  into  the  Infinite,  the  unknown  parts  of 
nature  come  to  be  spoken  of  by  Goethe  as 
the  Unknown.  The  Infinite  and  the  Un- 
known, by  the  agency  of  isolation  and 
capital  letters,  assume  the  force  of  per- 
sonalities, and  the  attribute  insensibly 
glides  into  an  Entity.  It  appears  to  me 
that  the  logical  force  of  this  book  upon 
believers  lies  in  the  unnoticed  metamor- 
phoses which  such  leading  words  undergo. 

The  atheist  sees  also  with  Mr.  Newman, 
that  all  human  knowledge  is  bounded ; 
and  he,  too,  seeks  to  draw  the  line  where 
our  knowledge  ends  and  our  conjectures 
begin  :  but  the  *  illimitable  haziness  '  sur- 
rounding our  existence,  of  which  he  also 
is  sensible,  fails  to  enable  him  to  draw  up 
a  confession  of  religious  belief — it  indeed 
excites  his  '  imagination,'  but  fails  to  guide 
his  '  understanding.'  The  '  region  of  dim- 
ness is  not  without  relation  to  his  moral 
state,'  so  far  as  we  can  judge  the  reasons 
alleged. 

The  Infinite  is  open  to  us  as  well  as  to 
the  theist,  and  therefore  the  '  generous 
side'  of  the  nature  of  the  moralist  may  be 
nurtured  and  expanded  by  its  contemp- 
lation. Every  aspect  of  nature  has  its 
lesson  for  reflective  man.  The  boundless 
ness  of  the  starry  region  impresses  us  with 
the  littleness  of  all  strife.  In  the  presence 
of  such  immensity  we  are  taught  humility 
and  love.  We  cannot  look  on  Nature  at 
Peace  without  inspiring  gentleness  and 
tranquility.  The  same  forms  of  moral 
loveliness  our  author  delineates  with  a 
master's  hand,  seen  equally  discernible  and 
equally  to  belong  to  the  student  of  nature. 

Mr.  Newman  unites  a  Catholic  explicit- 
ness  to  Evangelical  doctrine — with  him  we 
have  none  of  the  evasiveness  of  the  usual 
rational  religionists.  Mr.  Newman  does 
not  pretend  to  compete  with  logic.  He  is 
too  much  of  the  scholar  to  deprecate  it. 
He  concedes  its  great  claims  as  the  security 
of  intelligence,  but  he  erects  a  system  in- 
dependently of  it,  openly,  respectfully,  but 
boldly  without  it. 

The  affections  of  Awe,  Wonder,  Admira- 
tion, do  not  denote  any  necessary  belief  in 
a  Personal  Deity  (p.  49.)  Order,  Design, 
Goodness,  and  Wisdom  are  the  attributes 
of  nature  which  are  held  to  bring  in  a  per- 
sonal Deity.  But  with  respect  to  Order 
in  the  universe,  we  do  not  learn  from  any 
observation  that  it  must  necessarily  have  an 
external  origin.  Mr.  Newman  does  not 
seem  to  discover  in  nature  proof  that  it  has 
a  Ruler  over  it.  He  says  that  if  a  man 
believes  that  in  the  human  mind  an  origi- 


86 


THE  REASONER. 


nating  Will  exists,  he  will  believe  that  the 
same  species  of  Will  has  been  exercised  on 
nature.  But  if  he  discerns  within  himself 
no  first  principle  of  movement,  he  of  course 
needs  none  out  of  himself.  If  in  his  own 
actions  be  sees  no  marks  of  (what  others 
call)  Will,  why  should  he  see  them  in 
Nature?  (pp.  29-30.)  This  is  precisely 
the  case  with  the  atheist.  That  law 
(.which  is  the  name  given  to  the  uniformity 
of  operations,  to  the  calculable  forces  of 
nature)  seems  to  him  also  to  pervade  mind. 
Intelligence  seems  no  more  exempt  from 
law  than  inorganic  matter.  Will  is  merely 
the  coincidence  of  desire,  intellectual  or 
sensuous,  with  external  influence. 

The  atheist  therefore  has  little  to  answer : 
his  case  remains  intact.  He  knows  that 
no  opinion  will  finally  prevail  but  that 
which  is  founded  on  or  coincident  with 
logic.  With  respect  to  the  ar?juraent  of 
Design,  Mr.  Newman  fails  to  establish  any 
case  which  afiectsthe  position  of  the  atheist. 
The  line  of  reasoning  adopted  by  Paley, 
followed  by  Chalmers,  and  illustrated  by 
Brougham,  Mr.  Newman  gives  up  as  un- 
tenable, and  proposes  a  new  statement  of 
it.     Thus  :— 

*  To  believe  in  a  divine  architect,  because 
I  cannot  otherwise  understand  by  what 
train  of  causation  an  Eye  could  have  been 
made,  is  one  thing  :  does  the  theist  any  the 
more  comprehend?  But  to  beljeve  in  a 
Design,  because  I  see  the  Eye  to  be  suited 
to  the  Light,  is  another  thing.  This  latter 
view  rests  on  the  intuitive  perceptions  of 
the  Soul ;  the  former  on  the  accuracy  of 
strict  logical  deduction — which  can  easily 
be  shown  to  be  inconclusive.  Such  Fit- 
nesses as  meet  our  view  on  all  sides  bring 
a  reasonable  conviction  that  Design  lies 
beneath  them  ;  and  to  confess,  is  to  confess 
the  doctrine  of  an  intelligent  Creator  ' 
(p.  34.) 

But  this  goes  no  farther  than  to  furnish 
a  superficial,  popular  justification  of  the 
ascription  of  mind  and  personality  to  the 
power  which  is  in  Nature.  But  to  what 
end  do  we  trouble  at  all  about  this  matter 
unless  to  get  intellectual  satisfaction  out  of 
it  1  and  this  Mr.  Newman's  argument  can- 
not afToid  us.  He  himself  says  it  does  not 
carry  us  up  to  a  First  Cause.*     Then  how 

*  A  celebrated  divine  of  the  Church  of 
England,  some  time  ago,  favoured  me  with 
an  answer  to  my  '  Logic  of  Death,'  founded 
upon  a  masterly  restatement  of  the  design 
argument.  As  he  marked  his  letter '  private,' 


can  we  rely  on  that  course  of  reasoning 
which  brings  with  it  no  test  of  its  authen- 
ticity ?  How  can  we  know  that  the  road 
we  have  set  out  upon  is  the  right  one,  if  it 
be  a  road  that  cannot  bring  us  to  the  end 
of  our  journey?  In  a  passage  of  memo- 
rable candour,  Mr.  Newman  only  alleges 
that '  it  is  injustice — to  the  train  of  thought 
— which  suggests  Design  to  represent  it  as 
a  search  after  causes  until  we  come  to  a 
First  Cause,  and  there  stop.' 

But  if  this  be  not  its  purpose,  of  what 
value  is  it  1     Mr.  Newman  continues — 

'  As  an  argument  this,  I  confess,  in  itself 
brings  me  no  satisfaction.  It  is  not  pre- 
tended that  we  understand  the  First  Cause 
any  more  than  the  original  phenomena. 
When  we  know  not  the  character  of  His 
agency,  how  have  we  accounted  for  any- 
thing ?  or  how  have  we  even  siraplified  the 
problem?  A  Go</ uncaused  and  existing 
from  eternity  is  to  the  full  as  incompre- 
hensible as  a  world  uncaused  and  existing 
frora  eternity  '  (p.  36.) 

It  would  not  be  possible  to  express  more 
forcibly  the  difficulties  which  the  atheist 
seeks  to  clear  up.  Yet  upon  these  Mr. 
Newman  has  and  professes  to  have  no  light 
to  throw.  If,  therefore,  we  regard  the  po- 
sition of  the  atheist  logically  as  it  should  be 
regarded,  as  arising  in  an  attempt  to  sa- 
tisfy the  human  understanding  respecting 
the  fundamentals  of  Theology,  Mr.  New- 
man gives  up  the  whole  case  to  him, 

'  It  is  right  however  here,'  he  observes, 
'  to  enter  a  protest  against  being  thought 
to  have  any  accurate  and  scientific  know- 
ledge of  God.  We  have  none.  Our  know- 
ledge is  essentially  crude,  and  only  approxi- 
mate ;  and  to  affect  the  rigour  of  human 
science  is  mere  delusion.' 

Mr.  Newman's  entire  arguments  on  this 
head  are  founded  on  a  total  logical  negation 
— written  without  the  fear  of  the  philoso- 
phers before  the  eyes  of  the  author,  and 
most  certainly  sufficiently  in  defiance  of 
them.  Thus  we  find  '  Syllogistic  proof  of 
an  outer  world  will  never  be  gained,  nor 
yet  syllogistic  proof  that  a  God  exists  or 
listens  to  prayer '(p.  92.)  And  we  'can 
no  more  prove  that  Will  is  not  mere  De- 
sire, than  1  can  prove  that  it  is  God's  in- 
fluence and  not  my  own  which  1  feel  with- 
in.' 

and  has  declined,  at  my  request,  to  Remove 
the  restriction,  I  have  been  unable  to  pub- 
lish it.  But  these  passages  are  equally  a 
reply  to  it. 


(To  be  continued.) 


THE  REASONER.  87 


Our  ^3Iatf0im. 

From  trhieh  any  earnest  opponent  may  controvert  our  opinions,  and  from  which  any  may  expound  Tiews 
not  coincident  with  our  own,  if  tending  to  the  Rationalisation  of  Theology. 

DECLINE    OF     QUAKERISM. 


To  the  Editor  of  the  Reasoner. 

SiK, — It  is  an  opinion  held  by  many  of  the  orthodox  among  the  Society  of 
Friends,  that  their  religioas  principles  will  ultimately  prevail,  and  that  all  the 
world  will  become  Quakers.  That  Society  never  makes  any  returns  of  the  mem- 
bers, but  the  estimate  for  many  years  has  been  20,000.  The  government  census 
details  for  Sunday,  March  31st,  1851,  show  that  not  more  than  13,400  persons  at- 
tended public  worship  at  the  Friends'  meeting  houses  in  England,  Wales,  and 
Scotland,  on  the  morning  of  that  day,  so  that  allowing  for  absentees,  invalids, 
and  young  children,  and  for  the  presence  of  a  few  non-members,  it  is  probable  that 
the  Quaker  population  does  not  exceed  15,000,  which  is  5,000  below  the  usual  esti- 
mate. In  the  last  yearly  meeting  (Congress)  of  the  Society,  held  in  London,  May 
1851,  John  Bright,  M.P.,  spoke  impressively  on  the  state  of  the  Society,  and  ex- 
pressed his  belief  that  in  fifty  years  there  would  not  be  friends  enough  to  form  a 
yearly  meeting.  A  member,  well  versed  in  the  Society's  statistics,  stated,  in  the 
yearly  meeting  of  1850,  that  from  the  proportion  of  the  sexes  known  in  some  of 
the  largest  meetings,  it  appeared  that  there  were  in  the  society  about  eleven  females 
to  seven  males,  ^'e  have  here  a  society  of  men,  acknowledged  to  stand  high  for 
their  morality,  wealth,  philanthropy,  industry,  and  general  intelligence,  and  yet 
with  all  these  essentials  towards  becoming  great  and  numerous,  there  is  a  manifest 
dwindling  in  numbers,  and  an  unsatisfactory  sexual  disproportion.  The  cause  of 
the  latter  may  perhaps  be  found  in  the  fact,  that  Quakers  forbid,  under  pain  of 
excommunication,  marriage  with  any  but  the  members  of  their  own  body,  and  that 
the  men  choose  a  good  wife  upon  other  principles  than  those  of  religion.  The 
number  of  persons  expelled  and  resigning  membership  yearly,  is  very  consider- 
able; and  both  these  are  by  far  most  frequent  among  the  male  sex;  those  admitted 
as  new  members  from  convincement  are  very  few  indeed.  The  hollowness  that 
pervades  Christian  sects  is  nowhere  more  evident  than  in  the  Society  of  Friends, 
and  well  known  to  many  of  its  members  ;  a  firm  faith  in  the  essential  goodness  of 
human  nature, rather  than  its  depravity,as  professed, a  practical  belief  in  the  value 
and  importance  of  morality,  and  a  knowledge  that  the  outside  shams  of  re- 
ligion may  be  kept  up,  without  saying  much  about  them,  will  probably  ensure  the 
existence  of  Quakerism  some  years  longer;  but  when  the  day  arrives  that  every 
man  may  as  fearlessly  express  his  religious  opinions  as  his  scientific  belief,  the 
past  will  be  regarded  with  astonishment,  and  the  mummeries  that  we  have  united 
in  upholding  by  a  dumb  show  will  be  tried  by  Rationalism,  and  assigned  a  place 
only  in  the  history  of  the  things  that  were.  Thus  much  from  one  who  has  the 
means  of  knowing  the  truth.  Q.  Q. 

ON    THE     WORD    ATHEIST. 


Sib, — I  think  I  have  occasionally  noticed  trains  of  reasoning  and  forms  of  ex- 
pression in  the  Reasoner,  showing  that  you  ought  to  adopt  a  diflferent  symbol  of 
your  views  than  the  word  atheist — taking  that  to  import  'there  is  no  God,'  which 
you  cannot  affirm  of  your  own  knowledge,  unless  you  have  higher  gifts  than  others, 
or  it  has  been  revealed  unto  you. 


THE  REASONER. 


Cannot  you  find  a  term  that  will  truly  mark  the  distinction  between  deism  and 
that  corrected  view  which — if  I  rightly  infer  the  state  of  your  mind — would  now 
limit  your  affirmation  to  this,  that  you  do  not  see  sufficient  evidence  of  the  ex- 
istence of  God  ? 

What's  in  a  name  ?  Much,  in  theology — men  must  label  their  faith  that  it 
may  be  conveniently  referred  to;  it  is  therefore  important  to  truthful  and  just 
dealing  with  their  thoughts,  that  the  word  used  should  correctly  signify  the  views 
entertained. 

Put  this  into  the  waste  basket,  or  print  it,  as  you  please,  but  think  of  the  subject, 
and  whether  the  word  '  Secularist '  would  not  convey  a  more  correct  idea  of  your 
phase  of  faith  than  '  Atheist!' 

June  1851.  Edward  Seabch. 

[In  the  lecture  once  promised  to  be  reported,  on  the  *  Martinean  and  Atkinson 
Letters,'  which,  however,  provincial  duties  compelled  the  omission  of,  the  applica- 
ability  to  us  of  the  word  Secularist  was  dwelt  upon — and  the  sense  in  which 
I  Secularism  is  peculiarly  the  work  we  have  always  had  in  hand,  and  how  it  is  larger 
than  Atheism,  and  includes  it,  was  explained.  In  the  '  Case  stated  between  Atheism 
and  Theism,'  the  subject  of  an  essay  in  preparation,  Mr.  Holyoake  will  enter  into 
the  question. — Ed.] 

SUN     WORSHIP. 


Sir, — The  Tracts  in  Nos.  1  and  2,  Vol.  XI.,  show  that  the  Hebrew  religion  is 
derived  from  the  Egyptian — can  the  writer  show  the  origin  of  the  Egyptian  ? 
Have  not  all  religions  their  origin  in  sun  worship?  consequently  are  sun  worship 
still,  though  the  worshippers  may  be  ignorant  of  it.  The  fact  is  that  Jesus  Christ 
is  the  man  in  the  sun,  and  I  am  not  certain  that  Moses  was  not  when  his  face 
shone  so  that  the  people  could  not  look  on  it.  N.  S. 


We  take  the  following  curious  letter  from  the  Nation  of  June  7th.  It  is  ad- 
dressed to  the  editor  of  that  paper  : — 

Sir, — In  the  article  on  this  subject,  by  an  Irish  antiquary,  in  your  last  publication, 
it  is  stated  that  the  pagans  worshipped  in  '  groves,"  which,  no  doubt,  they  did ;  the 
groves,  like  other  interesting  places,  having  their  tutelary  deities.  But  the  '  grove' 
of  the  scriptures,  as  quoted,  is  certainly  not  a  grove  of  trees,  but  an  object  within 
the  temple,  and  of  such  a  character  that  the  Jews  associated  with  it  ideas  of  ob- 
scenity, as  will  easily  appear  from  the  following,  among  other  texts  : — '  They  have 
made  to  themselves  groves  to  provoke  the  Lord.' — Douay  Bible,  3  Kings,  xiv.,  16. 
If  a  grove  of  trees  were  meant,  the  expression  would  be, '  they  have  planted,  «fec.,' 
but  it  was  something  made  or  fabricated. 

'  They  built  themselves  groves  on  every  high  hill,  and  under  every  green  tree.' — 
lb.,  xxiii.,  2.    How  could  they  make  '  groves  '  under  '  green  trees  V 

'And  he  took  the  effeminate  out  of  the  land,  and  removed  all  the  filth  of  the  idols 
moreover,  he  removed  his  mother  Macha  from  being  the  princess  in  the  sacri- 
fices of  Priapus  and  in  the  grove  which  she  had  consecrated  to  him.'-r-Ib.,  xv.,  13. 
The  following  text  is  decisive  : — '  He  caused  the  grove  to  be  carried  out  from  the 
house  of  the  Lord,  and  burned  it  at  the  brook  Cedron,  and  reduced  it  to  dust !  he 
also  destroyed  the  pavilions  of  the  effeminate,  for  which  the  women  wove,  as  it  were, 
littU  dwellings  for  the  grove.'— 4  Kings,  xxiii.,  9,  7- 


THE  REASONER.  89 


Here  it  is  manifest  that  the  '  grove  '  was  an  image  within  the  temple,  and  that 
the  women  wrought  little  dwellings  or  shrines  for  it.  The  Hebrew  word  translated 
'grove '  in  our  Bibles  is  ashra,  and  that  does  not  mean  a  grove  of  trees.  It  was 
probably  a  small  portable  wooden  round  tower,  intended  to  represent  a  phallus,  a 
prominent  object  in  the  depraved  theology  of  the  Phoenicians  and  Greeks. 

Cork,  June  2,  1851.  C 


FREEDOM    OF    OPINION    IN    WHITEHAVEN 


We  read  in  the  Whitehaven  Herald,  of  June  7th,  that  on  Thursday,  June  5, '  Before 
George  Harrison  and  John  Peile,  Esqrs.,  and  the  Rev.  F.  W.  Wicks,  Charles 
Flinn,  miner,  was  charged  with  beating  James  Hughan,  a  street  lecturer,  and  with 
knocking  him  down  in  Strand  Street.  This  assault,  and  the  manner  in  which  it 
originated,  has  been  the  subject  of  no  little  discussion  and  excitement  amongst  the 
working  classes  during  the  past  week.  It  appeared  that  the  complainant  Hughan, 
who  in  religious  profession  is  a  Unitarian,  gave  a  lecture  "  On  Progression,"  at 
the  end  of  the  Bulwark  on  Monday  evening  last,  when  he  was  surrounded  by  groups 
of  idlers,  who  seemed  disposed  to  make  merry  with  the  lecture.  Having  made  use 
of  certain  derogatory  expressions  respecting  the  divinity  of  the  Founder  of  Christi- 
anity, he  was  presently  handed  down  from  the  pile  of  timber  logs  from  which  he 
was  addressing  the  crowd,  and  subjected  to  not  very  ceremonious  treatment.  Some 
of  his  friends  took  his  part,  and  wished  to  obtain  a  hearing  for  him,  which  others 
resisted,  and  the  affair  speedily  assumed  the  aspect  of  a  general  row,  and  had  at  one 
time  a  very  alarming  appearance,  there  being,  it  is  calculated,  not  less  than  a 
thousand  people  present.  During  this  disturbance  it  was  that,  according  to  com- 
plainant's charge,  Flinn  and  some  others  struck  and  knocked  him  down.  Flinn 
denied  the  charge,  and  said  the  complainant  was  not  fit  to  take  an  oath,  as  he  did 
not  believe  in  the  Bible :  he  said  the  row  was  a  general  one,  and  that  he  was 
knocked  down  himself,  and  if  the  complainant  had  been  knocked  down  by  him  it 
had  been  accidentally.  Two  witnesses  were  called  to  prove  that  the  lecturer  was 
ill-used  by  Flinn;  but  the  magistrates  considered  that  complainant  himself  had 
been  greatly  to  blame  by  inciting  to  a  breach  of  the  public  peace.  The  Superin- 
tendent of  Police  said  that  unless  the  magistrates  put  a  stop  to  these  discussions 
on  the  Bulwark,  some  one  would  be  murdered  :  be  had  sent  a  number  of  men  down 
on  the  occasion,  and  they  had  enough  to  do  to  protect  the  complainant,  as  there 
was  a  mob  at  the  time  of  at  least  eight  or  ten  hundred  people.  The  magistrates 
told  the  complainant  that  his  conduct  had  been  highly  culpable,  and  therefore  they 
should  dismiss  the  case,  which  they  did,  and  requested  the  Superintendent  of  Police 
to  put  a  stop  to  such  proceedings  in  future.' 

If  we  are  rightly  informed  Mr.  Flinn  has  been  twice  in  prison  for  assaults — 
dangerous  assaults — and  is,  therefore,  a  person  to  whom  public  encouragement,  of 
his  peculiar  line  of  exertion,  should  not  be  extended  without  some  clear  reason 
being  shown.  Mr.  Flinn  being  a  Catholic,  is  likely  to  take  offence  at  that  which 
another  species  of  Christian  would  not,  and  this  ought  to  be  borne  in  remem- 
brance before  the  public  agree  with  the  magistrate,  that  Mr.  Hughan's  'conduct 
was  highly  culpable.'  We  have  thought  that  one  of  the  objects  of  law  was  to 
prevent  men  (whether  provoked  or  not)  from  attempting  assaults  at  caprice,  and 


90  THE  REASONER. 


executing  their  own  judgments  under  the  excitement  of  pnssion  and  prejudice- 
To  this  end  reference  is  provided  to  the  magistrate,  in  whose  impartiality  and 
justice  protection  may  be  found.  But  here,  although  we  have  the  Rev.  F.  W. 
Wicks  upon  the  bench,  the  magistrates  agree  to  set  aside  the  evidence  of  two 
witnesses,  who  testify  to  Flinn's  assault,  on  the  ground  that  Mr.  Hughan  had  in- 
cited a  breach  of  the  peace.  This  is  strange  law.  Why,  if  Mr.  Hughan  had 
*  incited,'  it  might  have  mitigated  the  sentence,  but  it  could  not  prevent  Flinn's 
conviction,  unless  the  town  of  Whitehaven  is  to  be  abandoned  to  lynch  law,  or,  to 
what  seems  the  same — Flinn  law.  Is  the  public  speaker  to  consult  every  man 
present, from  the  Catholic  downwards,  what  he  shall  say  before  he  speaks?  If  not, 
why  do  the  magistrates  attach  the  blame  to  Hughan,  and  acquit  Flinn?  Instead 
of  this  bench  lending  the  protection  of  the  law  to  those  whose  lives  are  endan- 
gered, we  shall  not  be  surprised  one  day  at  finding  the  bench  imprisoning  a  man 
because  he  has  had  the  misfortune  to  be  assaulted,  for  it  seems  that  the  assaulted, 
and  not  the  assaulter,  is  the  only  '  party  greatly  to  blame,'  or  '  highly  culpable.'  A 
letter  appears  in  the  Whitehaven  Herald,  of  June  14,  the  purpose  of  which  is  to 
show  that  the  conscience  of  the  infidel  being  difierent  from  that  of  the  Christian, 
t«  not  to  he  respected.  If  our  friends  in  Whitehaven  can  so  arrange  it,  I  shall  en- 
deavour to  go  down  and  explain  this  matter,  and  see  also  whether,  by  a  memorial 
to  the  magistrates  for  a  re-hearing  of  the  case  (Hughan  v.  Flinn),  or  by  memorial 
to  the  Home  Secretary,  some  new  decision  cannot  be  had. 

G.  J.  H. 


EMENDATIONS    OF   THE    'LOGIC    OF    DEATH.' 


Wb  have  just  issued  the  Eighteenth  Thousand  of  this  essay.  Indebted  to  our 
readers  for  attention  in  circulating,  fresh  efforts  have  been  made  to  render  it  ac- 
ceptable and  reliable.  It  has  been  printed  in  new  type,  and  on  better  paper.  The 
new  type,  besides  being  clearer,  affords  somewhat  more  space,  which  has  been 
occupied  by  a  needful  amplification  of  one  argument,  in  the  second  part.  The 
paragraph  on  p.  15,  beginning  in  the  sixteenth  edition  '  The  greatest  aphorism,' 
etc.,  now  stands  thus  : — 

*  The  greatest  aphorism  ascribed  to  Christ,  called  his  Golden  Rule,  tells  us  that 
we  should  do  unto  others  as  we  would  others  should  do  unto  us.  It  is  not  moral 
audacity,  but  a  logical  and  legitimate  application  of  this  maxim  to  say  that  if  men 
shall  eventually  stand  before  the  bar  of  God,  God  will  not  pronounce  upon  any  that 
appalling  sentence,  "  Cast  them  into  outer  darkness  :  there  shall  be  weeping  and 
gnashing  of  teeth;"  because  this  will  not  be  doing  to  others  as  he,  in  the  same 
situation,  would  wish  to  be  done  unto  himself.  If  frail  man  is  to  "  do  good  to  them 
that  hate  him,"  God,  who  is  said  to  be  also  Love,  will  surely  not  burn  those  who, 
in  their  misfortune  and  blindness,  have  erred  against  him.  He  who  is  above  us 
all  in  power  will  be  also  above  us  all  in  magnanimity.' 

Profiting  by  criticism,  to  which  it  has  been  subjected,  every  page  has  been 
revised  where  a  sentence  appeared  that  could  be  punctuated  for  the  better,  freed 
from  any  ambiguity,  or  rendered  with  more  strength  and  exactness.  It  is  now  in 
a  permanent  form,  and  any  who  care  to  preserve  it  will  find  the  new  edition  the 
best. 

G.J.  H 


THE  REASONER. 


91 


fleaStmcr  ^rnpasautJa. 


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would  he  easy,  equitable,  and  sufecient.  Wiiat  is  remitted,  in  whatever  proportion,  is  acknowledged 
here  and  accounted  lor  the  at  end  of  the  Volume. 


THE     PAST    VOLUME. 


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GUIDE  TO  THE  LECTURE  ROOM. 

Literary  Institution,  John  Street,  Fitzroy  Square. 
June  29th  [7i],  Alexander  Campbell,  'The  Origin 
of  Socialism.' 

Hall  of  Science,  City  Road.  —June  29th  [7i], 
i'amuel  M.  Kvdd,  '  Life  and  Policy  of  Pitt." 

Institute  of  Progress,  10a,  Upper  George-street, 
Sloane-square.— June  27th  [8],  a  Discussion.  29th, 
[7J], a  lecture. 

National  Hall,  242,  Higl»Holborn.— June  29th, 
[8],  P.  VV.  Perfitt.  'The  Character  of  Luther.' 

South  London  Hall,  Corner  of  Webber  Street, 
Blacktriars  Road— June  29th  [SJ],  C.  Southwell, 
'  Milton,  Cowley,  Waller,  Butler,  and  Durham.' 

Eclectic  Institute,  Denmark  Street,  Soho.  — 
Every  Friday  [SJ],  Mr.  J.  B.  O'Brien,  '  Home  and 
Foreign  Politics.'  Every  Sunday  [7i],  on  '  Moral 
and  Social  Science.' 

Areopagus  Cotfee  and  Reading  Room,  59,  Church 
Lane,  Whitechapel. — Every  Sunday,  Monday,  and 
Wednesday  (8),  a  Lecture  or  Discussion. 

City  Forum  Coffee  House,  60,  Red  Cross  Street. 
—  Every  Sunday,  Monday,  and  Thursday  [8^],  a 
Discuksion. 


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THOUGHTS  ON  THE  NATURE  OP  MAN, 
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'A  systematic  collection  ot  facts.' — Present  Age. 

'An  excellent  compendium.' — Reasoner. 

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from  a  vast  array  of  authors,  ancient  and  modern.' 
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sitions by  reference  to  many  authorities  whose 
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92 


THE  REASONER. 


A  CO-RESPONDENT,  who  does  not  favour  us  with  his  name  or  address,  sends  a 
letter  in  which  he  says — '  From  curiosity  I  purchased  one  day  a  number  of  your 
periodical,  and  have  since  read  several.  The  effect  has  been  that  I  am  more  firmly 
imbued  with  Christian  principles  than  ever — your  irrational  publication  has  really 
strengthened  my  faith.  Cease  writing,  I  conjure  you,  if  you  wish  to  preserve 
infidelity  on  earth.  Write  as  much  as  you  like,  if  you  feel  desirous  of  sjrt-eading 
Christianity.'  As  this  gentleman  doubtless  believes  what  he  himself  says,  we  shall 
expect  from  him  a  handsome  subscription  to  the  Reasoner  Fund.  As  a  consistent 
Christian,  he  can  hardly  refuse  his  support  to  one  who  so  '  strengthens  the  faith.' 

A  correspondent  in  Accrington  writes : — *  All  my  friends  interested  in  the 
Reasoner  have  left  the  town,  but  strangers  who  have  come  to  the  town  more 
than  fill  their  places.  Much  depends  on  agents  and  booksillers.  If  booksellers 
expose  the  Reasoner  for  sale,  it  gives  encouragement  to  the  timid  who  wish  to  read 
it,  but  dare  not.  Many  meetings  have  been  held  by  those  interested  in  Sunday 
schools,  to  find  out  the  cause  of  more  than  three-fourths  of  the  young  men  leaving 
the  school.  It  is  difficult  to  keep  a,fir$t  class — called  the  young  men's  class.  Our 
Mechanics'  Institution  goes  on  well — there  is  a  good  attendance  of  young  men.  At 
one  of  the  meetings  of  the  members  of  the  Institution,  the  defective  system  of 
Sunday  school  teaching  was  pointed  out — three-fourths  of  the  yoang  men  being 
absent — and  provisions  were  made  to  enable  young  men  to  attend  the  Institution 
on  Sunday  evenings  from  5  to  10  o'clock,  for  the  purpose  of  reading  the  news- 
papers, monthlies,  and  books  from  the  library.  The  attendance  on  Sunday 
evening  is  very  good.' 

Mr.  "Watson  is  at  present  in  Cumberland,  where  it  is  ho|^ed  the  change  of  air 
will  fully  re-establish  his  health, 

Mr,  Martin  manifests  signs  of  restoration  to  health,  Mrs,  Martin,  we  are  very 
glad  to  report,  begins  to  present  hopes  of  recovery. 

The  New  Monthly  Wrapper  appears  with  the  Monthly  Parts  this  day. 

The  tracts  on  *  Church  Authority '  and  '  Christian  Missions,'  published  by 
Israel  Holdsworth,  will,  if  opportunity  offers,  be  quoted  in  part  or  whole, 

J.  W.  C.  wishes  to  see  an  essay  on  the  *  Art  and  Details  of  Progress.'  In  some 
of  the  papers  in  course  of  publication  in  the  Reatoner  he  will  meet  with  something 
of  the  kind, 

'  At  the  last  meeting  of  the  town-council,'  says  the  Reading  Mercury,  '  Mr. 
James  complained  of  the  high  charge  of  £2.  5s,  for  the  crier's  hat.  He  also 
wished  to  take  that  opportunity  of  saying  that  the  crier  ought  not,  at  the  end  of 
each  cry,  to  say  "  God  save  the  Queen."  It  was  very  improper. — The  Mayor  : 
Say?— Mr.  James:  "God  save  the  Queen."  (A  laugh.)— The  late  Mayor:  I 
always  say  "Amen  "  when  I  hear  him.  (Laughter.) — Mr.  James  :  It  onght  not  be 
suffered.    It  is  blasphemy.' 

Under  the  head  of  '  A  Decided  Dissenter,' the  Nonconformist,  of  Jane  11th, 
quoted  that — 'A  poor  woman  who  attended  a  Dissenting  chapel  not  far  from 
Wiveliscombe,  was  continually  teased  by  the  parish  priest  to  attend  the  "  Trtte 
Church.'  lu  the  warmth  of  her  attachment  to  her  scriptural  worship,  and  to  rid 
herself  of  the  annoyance,  she  exclaimed,  "  Sir,  if  you  put  me  on  that  church  tower, 
and  starve  me  to  death,  I'd  still  go  to  meeting  I"  ' 

London:  Printed  by  Holvoake  Brothers,  3,  Queen's  Head  Pa«sage,  Paternoster-row;  and  Published 
by  J.  Watson,  3,  Queen's  Head  Passage,  Paternoster-row.— Wednesday,  June  25th,  1861. 


n 


i 


AND 

THEOLOGICAL     EXAMINER. 


They  who  believe  that  they  have  Truth  ask  no  favour,  save  that  of  beini;  heard:  they  dare  the 
judgment  of  flfankind  :  refused  Co-operation,  they  invoke  Opposition,  for  Opposition  is  their 
Opportunity. — Editor. 


THE  LECTURES  IN  GLASGOW, 


The  first  three  of  the  Glasgow  lectures  were  delivered  in  the  Unitarian  Chapel, 
Union  Street — the  chapel  in  which  the  Rev.  George  Harris  long  officiated.  At  the 
members'  meetings  at  which  my  admission  to  the  occupancy  of  the  pulpit  was 
discussed,  the  votes,  I  was  informed,  were  equal,  and  that  the  casting  vote  ^yhich 
decided  the  question  in  my  favour  was  given  by  the  chairman,  the  Rev.  Charles 
Clarke.  I  have  often  had  to  acknowledge  the  courtesy  and  friendliness  of  the 
Unitarian  Christians ;  but  this  is  the  most  remarkable  instance  that  I  have  yet 
met  with.  Though  the  arguments  such  persons  may  use  may  not  win  our  convic- 
tion, their  conduct  cannot  fail  to  command  our  respect. 

The  lectures  in  the  chapel  were  upon  Chartist  Leaders,  Science  of  Socialism,  and 
Secular  Education.  No  one  can  say  there  is  no  opposition  to  be  had  in  Glasgow 
— there  is  one  man  who  opposes  everybody  and  everything.  I  suppose  there  is 
some  one  of  this  vocation  in  most  Scotch  towns  :  I  heard  of  one  in  Dundee  who 
opposes  everybody,  and  himself  too,  as  he  sometimes  disproves  his  own  case,  with 
a  view,  as  he  says,  to  be  impartial.  Mr.  Adams,  of  Glasgow,  is  a  Chartist  and 
something  more  ;  but  what  that  something  is,  is  very  undefined,  and  though 
Adams  is  always  trying  to  define  it  he  never  does.  Perhaps  he  is  a  Swedenborgian 
— perhaps  a  Gnostiq,  but  the  only  thing  of  which  you  are  sure  is,  that  he  will  be 
your  opponent.  All  things  are  proverbially  uncertain  but  one,  at  least  in  Glas- 
gow. The  '  Old  Guards  '  of  Nottingham's  great  commander  might  storm  Gorbals 
— steam  vessels  might  sail  pleasure  trips  on  a  Lord's  day  in  Caledonia — the  Tide 
might  refuse  to  come  up  the  Clyde  on  a  Sunday  out  of  respect  to  the  Sabbath — 
there  is  no  knowing  what  may  happen;  but  one  thing  always  happens,  and  that  is 
an  opposition  speech  from  friend  Adams.  Yet  Adams  is  an  honest  fellow,  and 
capable  of  making  a  useful  speech;  but  he  makes  himself  so  common  that  he 
destroys  his  own  influence,  and  the  people  look  upon  him  as  a  man  to  be  endured, 
when  with  more  judgment  he  would  be  esteemed.  If  he  would  take  sides  clearly, 
and  moderately  advocate  one  set  of  views,  he  would  be  a  useful  and  even  an  effec- 
tive man. 

What  he  said  on  this  occasion  was  not  very  striking.  He  can  do  better.  On 
one  night  he  wanted  to  know  whether  if  women  were  not  property  they  would  not 
be  every  man's  mistress  ?  I  had  been  saying  that  the  time  would  come  when  it 
would  be  thought  more  disreputable  that  women  should  be  held  as  property  than 
it  was  now  thought  disreputable  that  the  negroes  should  be  held  as  property  by 
American  slaveholders.  But  when  women  were  no  longer  man's  property,  Adams 
could  not  see  that  they  would  be  their  own  property,  and  that  independence  once 
accomplished,  the  refinement  and  purity  of  a  woman's  nature  would  always  keep 
her  from  pollution.  A  coarse  or  sensual  man  could  not  look  up  in  the  presence  of 
a  woman  of  a  cultivated  and  pure  nature.     A  glance  of  such  a  woman's  eye  is 


tNo.  266.]  LNo.  7,  Vol.  XI.] 

[ONE  PENNY.l 


94 


THE  REASONER. 


enough  for  her  protection  when  she  is  free.  Her  degradation  always  comes 
through  her  dependence.  But  all  the  objectors  to  communism  assume  that  woman 
has  neither  purity,  independence,  nor  strength,  by  which  she  could  stand  alone; 
that  she  will  always  be  the  victim  or  the  toy.  I  hope  these  objectors  will  all  live 
to  find  out  their  mistake. 

If  Paisley  be  'cheerie,'  as  they  say  down  there — if  it  be  a  good  place  for  plea- 
sure, Glasgow  is  the  place  for  instruction.  Their  'cuteness  is,  to  use  a  descriptive 
of  the  district, '  awful.'  If  they  do  come  out  in  debate,  they  do  it  publicly  and 
privately  (for  one  way  does  not  satisfy  them)  ;  they  put  a  critical  razor  in  every 
muscle  of  you.  1  am,  at  the  present  moment,  absolutely  in  Kantean  slices — as 
thin  as  those  off  a  Vauxhall  ham.  My  fourth  lecture  was  commenced  soon  after 
eight,  in  the  Lyceum  Rooms.  It  was  close  and  crowded,  and  for  three  hours  I  was 
like  a  Whig's  reputation — in  a  dissolving  state.  Some  time  after  eleven  we  broke  up 
— no,  adjourned.  The  debate  of  the  night  closed  about  half-past  one.  At  the  end 
I  wa?  in  syllogistic  pieces,  and  asked  for  a  cab  to  convey  my  remains  home,  and  I 
went  to  bed  in  intellectual  fragments,  and  it  was  dinner  time  the  next  day  before 
I  had  finished  putting  myself  together  again.  Those  who  like  these  processes  as  1 
do,  enjoy  them  throughout.  Ideas  reassorted  are  often  susceptible  of  a  better  \ 
arrangement — the  parts  of  the  argumentative  machinery  frequently  admit  of  new 
fitnesses,  and  the  parts  found  to  fit  nowhere  come  to  be  thrown  aside. 

We  celebrated  Mr.  Owen's  birth-day  in  Glasgow,  by  a  public  tea  party  on  Satur- 
day evening.  In  Paisley  it  was  celebrated  at  eleven  o'clock  at  night  in  the  Wilson 
Hall,  and  the  party  I  attended  in  Dundee  was  unable  to  assemble  till  midnight, 
when  we  drank  the  old  gentleman's  health  in  lemonade,  not  even  coffee  was  attain- 
able at  so  late  an  hour.  The  bill  announcing  the  tea  party  in  Glasgow,  named  a 
joint  object  of  '  honouring '  me  as  well.  To  this  I  demurred,  on  the  ground  that 
none  of  us  were  worthy  to  be  mentioned  at  the  same  time — that  all  the  honour  we 
could  offer  was  due  to  Mr.  Owen  himself.  It  was  a  suflBcient  gratification  to  me  to 
have  the  privilege  of  being  present  on  such  an  occasion.  The  speakers  appointed 
to  refer  to  me  I  requested  not  to  do  it,  and  they  obliged  me.  Mr.  Millar,  as  one 
formerly  belonging  to  my  educational  classes,  claimed  the  liberty  to  make  some 
acknowledgments,  which  he  did  in  a  graceful  and  manly  manner,  without  one  word 
of  hyperbole.  Mr.  Dodds,  who  presided,  and  Mr.  Donne,  restricted  themselves  to 
the  topic  of  the  evening.     After  I  left,  a  lady  spoke  with  considerable  effect. 

On  the  Sunday  night,  when  the  lecture  in  the  Communist  Hall  (a  neat  interior) 
was  over,  I  named  three  children — 

Elizabeth  Smith,  John  Andrew  Smith,  Jean  Millar ; 

accompanied  by  a  short  address  upon  what  was  in  the  power  of  parents  (of  what- 
ever means)  to  do  towards  the  formation  of  the  characters  of  children,  as  respects 
truth,  purity,  courtesy,  and  courage.  G.  J.  Holyoake. 

POPULAR  ENGLISH  PREACHERS. 

THE  EEV.  JOHN  GUMMING,  D.D.,  OF  THE    SCOTCH   CHURCH,  CROWN  COURT,  LONDON. 

[Partridge  and  Oakey,  upon  one  of  whose  publications  we  had  lately  to  animad- 
vert, have  published  a  volume,  entitled  *  Pen  Pictures  of  Popular  English 
Preachers.'  The  language  is  full  of  alliterations— that  is,  of  series  of  words 
beginning  with  the  same  letters,  a  habit  which  is  commonly  deemed  a  childish  one 
of  affectation  in  writing.  The  tone  of  the  book  is  of  great  levity ;  and  the  com- 
parisons are  mostly  coarse.    If  we  had  written  such  a  book,  we  should  have  been 


THE  REASONER.  95 


thought  intentionally  offensive  to  the  preachers  and  congregations  noticed.  The 
book  has,  also,  the  distasteful  quality  of  fulsomeness.  Many  of  the  clergy  men- 
tioned must  feel  mortification  at  it;  but  they  have  not,  so  far  as  I  can  learn,  made 
any  objection  to  the  book.  Dryden,  when  he  wished  to  mark  the  descent  of  poetry, 
began  with  Spenser  and  ended  with  Flecno :  in  the  same  way,  the  descent  of 
clerical  pen  portraiture  may  be  indicated,  by  beginning  with  Gilfillan  and  ending 
with  the  author  of  this  book — who  may  be  described  as  a  very  bad  Gilfillan. 
These  '  Sketches,'  by  the  way,  are  dedicated  to  '  Susanna,'  by  the  'Author  of  the 
Life  of  Chatterton.'  As  we  have  not  the  honour  of  knowing  the  author's  name,  we 
shall,  on  quoting  from  his  performance,  specify  it  as '  Partridge  and  Oakey 's  English 
Preachers.'  The  extracts  we  shall  quote  are  such  as  contain  anecdotes  which  may 
interest  those  readers  who  may  like  to  learn  something  personally  of  men,  upon 
whose  writings  we  have  often  to  comment.  The  peculiarities  of  manner  and 
opinion  described  in  this  work  we  suppose  are  reliable,  as  Partridge  and  Oakey, 
being  religious  publishers,  have  no  doubt  satisfied  themselves  that  they  do  not 
libel  their  patrons.  The  pruned  selections  we  may  present,  will  also  be  made  from 
parts  which  are  best  expressed,  as  respects  taste  and  style,  and  from  which  we  shall 
omit  all  we  can  which  there  may  be  reason  to  think  the  divines  themselves  would 
omit,  were  they  dictating  the  quotations. — Ed.] 


The  Scotch  Church,  Crown  Court,  Drury  Lane,  is  a  large  oblong  building ;  a 
gallery  deep  and  commodious  running  round  one  of  the  long  and  two  of  the  short 
sides — the  pulpit  being  placed  in  the  centre  of  the  other  long  side.  The  only 
national  emblems  to  be  seen  are  thistle-shaped  ground  glass  shades  of  the  gas-lights, 
and  a  thistle  or  two  in  the  painted  glass  windows.  In  all  other  respects  the  place 
resembles  an  English  dissenting  chapel. 

How  densely  the  church  is  crowded — and  how  aristocratic  appears  the  congre- 
gation! We  are  prepared  for  the  'quality,"  by  the  glimpse  we  just  now  had  out- 
side of  luxurious-looking  carriages,  with  strawberry-leaved  coronets  on  their  panels. 

Near  the  pulpit,  on  its  left  side,  and  in  a  secluded  place  under  the  gallery,  sits 
a  gentleman  and  lady  with  two  little  children.  The  gentleman  is  of  diminutive 
stature — his  head  is  large,  and  thinly  covered  with  dark  brown  hair,  which  care- 
lessly sweeps  across  his  capacious  forehead.  His  eyes  are  keen  and  cold,  the  nose 
longish  and  Slightly  turned  up  at  'ts  point,  the  mouth  thin-lipped  and  compressed. 
Two  apologies  for  whiskers  appear  jnst  below  the  prominent  cheek  bones.  As  a 
whole,  the  countenance  is  indicative  of  intellectual  acquirements,  but  it  wants 
energy  of  expression,  or  rather  the  expression  of  energy.  There  is  something  of 
insignificance  about  it.  But  its  owner  is  no  insignificant  personage — for  the  little 
man  who  sits  so  quietly  in  that  shaded  pew,  is  the  Prime  Minister  of  England — 
Lord  John  Russell,  and  those  who  sit  beisde  him  are  his  wife  and  children. 

Not  far  from  the  Premier  is  to  be  observed  a  gentleman,  tall  and  robust-looking. 
His  face  is  florid  and  plump.  He  resembles  a  well-to-do  country  gentleman, 
rather  than  a  member  of  the  titled  aristocracy.  Nevertheless  he  is  a  Lord.  It  is 
Lord  Ducie,  an  amiable  nobleman  enough,  we  believe,  but  who  is  not  likely  to 
rival  Brougham.     He  is  a  regular  attendant  on  Dr.  Cumming's  ministry. 

'  Beautiful  exceedingly '  is  the  singing  at  the  Scotch  Church.  There  is  no 
organ;  but  it  is  evident  that  the  choir  requires  not  the  aid  of  that  king  of  musical 
instruments.  Never  have  we  heard  better  congregational  singing  than  at  Dr. 
Cumming's.  Clear  and  distinct  in  its  silvery  sweetness  was  one  female  voice, 
which  reminded  us  of  that  of  Jenny  Lind  :  and,  we  have  since  heard  that  the  lady 


96  THE  REASONER. 


to  •whom  it  belongs  is  generally  known  as  the  Nightingale  of  Crown  Court  Church. 
The  psalm  of  praise  and  thankfulness  has  ceased — the  congregation  are  seated, 
and  the  minister  of  the  place  ascends  the  stairs  which  lead  to  the  pulpit. 

The  prayer  commences.  It  is  an  extemporaneous  one,  and,  as  all  prayers  should 
be,  it  is  deeply  fervent  and  devotional.  We  have,  before  now,  been  absolutely  dis- 
gusted with  some  exercises  of  this  kind  ;  for  there  are  ministers  whom  we  aould 
name  who  have  a  vile  habit  of  talking  at  God,  instead  of  praying  to  him.  They 
exhibit  a  familiarity  when  addressing  the  Deity  which  painfully  affects  many  who 
hear  them.  John  Foster,  one  of  the  profoundest  thinkers  of  the  age,  pointedly 
refers  to  this  practice,  and  severely  reprobates  it  in  his  Essay  '  On  the  Aversion 
of  men  of  taste  to  Evangelical  Religion.'  Dr.  Cumming's  prayer  was  a  model  of 
its  kind  ;  there  were  no  tiresome  repetitions — no  daring  approaches  to  the  Divine 
presence — no  presumptuous  requests.  All  was  solemnity,  humility,  and  devotion  ; 
and  the  fervent  aspirations  of  the  Creature  to  its  Creator. 

The  prayer  is  ended.  Another  hymn  has  been  sung,  and  the  preacher  rises  to 
commence  his  discoarse.  He  is  of  the  middle  height,  perhaps  rather  above  it,  but 
attired  as  he  is  in  clerical  robes,  one  is  apt  to  be  deceived  in  such  a  matter,  which, 
after  all,  is  not  of  any  great  importance,  if  we  agree  with  Dr.  Watts  that  the  '  mind 
is  the  standard  of  the  man.'  Dr.  Cumming's  face  is  a  fine  one.  A  glance  at  it 
I  might  convince  any  ordinary  observer  that  it  belongs  to  one  whose  mind  is  not  of 
the  common  stamp.  Look  at  that  high,  broad  forehead,  across  which  dark,  very 
I  dark  hair  sweeps,  revealing  the  ample  temples,  and  behind  that  barrier  of  bone 
you  will  feel  assured  is  a  brain  of  uncommon  capacity.  Two  eyebrows,  large,  well- 
arched,  and  black,  overshadow  a  pair  of  dark  eyes,  of  a  serious  and  fearless  ex- 
pression. The  nose  is  slightly  aquiline — but  not  large,  and  on  it  perpetually  rests 
a  pair  of  spectacles,  from  which  we  may  infer  that  much  study  has  somewhat  im- 
paired his  visual  organs,  however  much  it  may  have  sharpened  his  critical  per- 
ceptions. Some  one  has  said,  and  I  think  with  truth,  that  the  mouth  is  a  far  more 
expressive  feature  than  the  eyes.  In  Dr.  Cumming's  case  such  is  the  fact:  the 
upper  lip  is  thin,  but  well  shaped,  the  lower  one  somewhat  fuller  than  its  fellow. 
This  feature  is  very  expressive;  at  times  a  half-smile  plays  upon  and  around  it, 
but  it  generally  has  a  tinge  of  melancholy  about  it.  The  complexion  of  the 
countenance  is  dark,  and  large  black  whiskers  from  the  lateral  boundaries  of  the 
face.  Such  is  the  personal  appearance,  so  {:^r  as  we  can  convey  an  idea  of  it,  of  the 
Pastor  of  the  Crown  Court  Scotch  Church. 

Opening  a  little  Bible  which  he  hol(^3  with  both  hands,  Dr.  Cumming  com- 
mences his  discourse,  by  reading  from  it  his  text.  Very  clear  and  musical  is  his 
voice.  Although  by  no  means  loud,  it  can  be  heard  with  the  utmost  distinctness 
in  the  most  distant  part  of  the  church,  and  consequently,  as  there  is  no  shuffling 
and  leaning  forward  to  catch  the,  sounds,  the  most  perfect  stillness  roigns.  With- 
out a  single  preliminary  '  hem,'  or  a  moment's  pause  for  the  purpose  of  collecting 
his  ideas,  he  at  once  commences  the  elucidatir.n  of  his  theme;  and  before  he  has 
uttered  half  a  dozen  sentences,  it  is  evident  enough  that  all  his  matter  has  been  care- 
fnlly  arranged  beforehand.  There  is  not  the  slightest  hesitation,  his  words  and  ideas 
flow  forth  like  a  clear  continuous  stream,  and  they  are  as  transparent  too.  The 
eloquence  of  some  ministers  resembles  the  course  of  a  mountain  torrent — now  with 
difficulty  threading  narrow  ravines — now  expanding  in  a  calm,  lake-like  expanse, 
reflecting  the  loveliness  of  the  skies — anon  rushing  and  roaring  over  precipices 
and  rocky  barriers  ;  and  dancing  in  sunlight  through  verdurous  plains,  and  mossy- 
winding  ways.     Such  orators  startle  by  similes,  attract  by  antitheses,  and  charm 


THE  REASONER. 


97 


by  variety.  Not  such  is  the  character  of  Dr.  Cumming's  oratory.  From  the 
moment  he  commences  his  discourse,  until  the  concluding  sentence  passes  his 
lips,  the  current  of  his  eloquence  flows  on  calmly  and  untroubled.  There  are  no 
passionate  out-bursts — no  succeeding  passages  of  pathos — little  to  dazzle — less  to 
startle — nothing  to  bewilder; — all  is  clear,  calm,  and  convincing.  With  his  little 
Bible  in  his  hand,  or  more  frequently  in  both  hands,  as  we  before  intimated,  he 
generally  commences  by  plunging  at  once  into  his  subject,  not  by  making  any 
lengthened  introductory  remarks.  His  voice,  which  but  slightly  informs  us  of  his 
northern  origin,  is  remarkably  pleasant,  and  indeed  musical.  Seldom  does  it  rise 
or  sink  above  or  below  the  key  in  which  he  commences  his  discourse,  yet,  as  might 
be  expected  by  strangers,  the  effect  is  not  monotonous,  for  every  sentence  is  ad- 
mirably balanced,  each  period  carefully  rounded,  and  almost  every  tone  is  ad- 
mirably modulated.  "When  hearing  Dr.  Gumming,  one  is  reminded  of  the  des- 
cription of  '  Silver-tongued  Smith,'  one  of  the  celebrated  preachers  of  Elizabeth's 
time.  But  though  the  subject  of  our  sketch  is  truly  '  silver-tongued,'  the  solem- 
nity, at  times  almost  the  severity  of  his  manner  preserves  him  from  anything  like 
tameness.  Dr.  Cumming's  manner  in  the  pulpit  is  pleasing.  He  seldom  uses 
any  other  action  than  a  gentle  waving  of  the  hand,  or  the  turning  from  one  part  of 
his  congregation  to  the  other.  He  is  no  cushion-thumper,  and  depends  for  effect 
more  upon  what  he  says,  than  on  the  graces  of  action.  Not  that  he  is  ungraceful 
at  all — far  from  thnt;  what  we  mean  is,  that  he  is  in  this  respect  directly  the  op- 
posite of  those  pulpic-fops  who  flourish  their  bordered  pieces  of  inspiration-lawn  in 
the  pulpit,  and  throw  themselves  in  such  attitudes,  as  com  pels  one  to  believe  that  the 
looking  glass  is  almost  as  essential  a  preparation  for  the  pulpit  as  the  Bible  itself. 
Dr.  Gumming  is  a  very  voluminous  author.  His  style  as  a  writer  resembles 
that  of  his  oral  productions.  The  sale  of  his  works  is  productive  of  large  sums ; 
so  that,  what  with  the  salary  derived  from  his  rich  congregation,  and  profits  of 
his  literary  productions,  his  income  must  be  large. 

THEODORE     PARKER. 


At  the  large  and  interesting  Unitarian  meeting  at  the  Freemasons'  Tavern,  on 
June  13th,  for  the  purpose  of  deliberating  on  the  duty  of  English  Unitarians  in 
reference  to  the  part  taken  by  their  American  brethren  about  the  Fugitive  Slave 
Law,  the  Rev.  J.  G.  Robberds,  of  Manchester  Gollege,  said—'  He  was  rejoiced  that 
Theodore  Parker's  name  was  amc^g  those  mentioned  in  the  resolution  moved  by 
Mr.  Armstrong,  from  the  very  noble  way  in  which  he  had  stood  forward  against 
the  Fugitive  Slave  Law;  and,  theJhgh  differing  much  from  his  theological  sen- 
timents, he  had  taken  an  early  opportunity  of  declaring  from  the  pulpit  his 
deep  admiration  of  the  manner  in  which  Mr.  Parker  had  publicly  and  solemnly 
protested  against  the  above  abominable  law.'  The  rev.  gentleman  added  emphati- 
cally— '  There  is  no  man  in  America  whom,  for  his  conduct  on  that  occasion, 
I  would  rather  welcome  to  my  pulpit,  my  home,  and  my  heart.' — Inquirer, 
June  21,  1851.  It  may  not  be  out  of  place  to  mention  here  a  chivalrous  act 
(recently  quoted  by  the  Inquirer  from  an  American  paper),  in  which  Theodore 
Parker  took  part  a  few  weeks  ago.  When  the  authorities  of  Boston  refused  per- 
mission to  Daniel  Webster  to  hold  a  meeting  in  Festival  Hall,  for  the  purpose  of 
defending  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law,  alleging  that  disturbances  (it  is  to  be  pi-esumed, 
from  the  Abolitionists)  would  be  sure  to  take  place,  a  number  of  the  Abolitionists, 
among  whom  Theodore  Parker  was  one,  signed  a  letter  to  the  magistrates,  request- 
ing that  their  opponent  might  be  allowed  to  give  the  public  explanation  of  his 
views  which  he  desired,  offering  themselves  to  suppress  all  disturbance  that  might 
be  imagined  to  arise  in  consequence.  The  authorities  (to  the  best  ot  my  remem- 
brance) refused  the  request.  Panthea. 


98 


THE  REASONER. 


dByKmlnatian  ai  ti)e  press. 


An  Edifsing  Examination. — In  the  inquest  at  Lewes  the  boy  Boakes,  who, 
according  to  bis  mother's  evidence,  had  expressed  a  suspiciously-extreme  desire  to 
see  the  train  go  by,  having  been  put  into  the  witness-box,  the  Coroner  commenced 
a  line  of  examination  which  would  have  been  suitable  if  the  object  had  been  to  ex- 
clude the  boy's  testimony,  or  if  the  place  had  been  the  school-house  instead  of  a 
court  of  justice,  and  the  business  an  inquiry  into  Boakes's  religious  education.  J. 
E.  Boakes  was  put  into  the  witness  box.  The  Coroner. — Suppose  you  do  not  speak 
the  truth,  do  you  know  what  will  become  of  you  ?  The  boy  said  nothing,  and 
began  to  cry.  The  Coroner. — Do  you  go  to  church  and  say  your  catechism  ?  Boy. 
Yes.  The  Coroner. — Do  you  know  that  there  is  a  God  who  punishes  those  who 
speak  falsely?  The  boy  again  began  to  cry,  and  the  jury,  interfering,  said  they 
were  of  opinion  that  he  ought  not  to  be  examined.  The  boy  having  been  perplexed, 
confounded,  and  frightened  by  the  questions  so  learnedly  put,  and  so  germain  to 
the  fact  whether  he  had  put  a  sleeper  on  the  rail,  the  jury,  not  less  wise  than  the 
Coroner,  were  forthwith  of  opinion  that  he  ought  not  to  be  examined,  and  that 
justice  must  dispense  with  the  evidence.  On  a  subsequent  day,  however,  he  was 
again  placed  in  the  witness-box,  it  being  clear  that  in  the  meanwhile  he  had  been 
under  special  tuition  and  training  as  to  the  replies  to  be  made  to  the  questions 
touching  the  nature  of  an  oath.  The  Coroner. —  Since  you  were  here  on  Saturday 
has  any  one  instructed  you  on  the  nature  of  an  oath  ?  Boy. — No,  The  Coroner. — 
Have  you  been  told  what  it  is  to  take  an  oath  ?  Boy. — No.  The  Coroner.— you 
go  to  school,  and  has  any  gentleman  explained  the  meaning  of  an  oath  to  you  ? 
Boy. — No,  Sir.  The  Coroner. — 1  think  you  are  mistaken.  Do  you  know  Mr. 
Green,  the  clergyman  of  St.  Ann's  ?  Boy. — Yes.  The  Coroner. — Has  he  spoken 
to  you  about  taking  an  oath  ?  Do  you  know  it  is  right  to  speak  the  truth  ?  Boy. — 
Yes.  The  Coroner. — And  if  you  do  not  speak  the  truth  do  you  know  what  will 
become  of  you  ?  Boy. — Go  to  hell.  The  Coroner.— There,  gentlemen,  I  think 
that  will  do.  How  old  are  you,  boy?  Boy. — Ten,  Sir.  The  boy  was  then  sworn. 
— '  Do  you  know  what  will  become  of  you  ?'  '  Go  to  hell.'  *  There,  gentlemen, 
I  think  that  will  do,'  says  the  satisfied,  triumphant  Coroner.  *  Go  to  hell '  was  the 
passport  to  the  Court, '  go  to  hell '  opened  its  ears,  '  go  to  hell  '  cleared  the  way  to 
its  credit,  '  go  to  hell '  was  of  excellent  acceptation,  *  go  to  hell '  was  a  guarantee 
for  all  that  was  required  ;  and  well  might  the  Coroner  rub  his  hands  and  chuckle, 
'There,  gentlemen,  I  think  that  will  do!'  l-he  boy  was  in  a  state  of  grace.  To 
be  sure,  in  the  three  preceding  replies  he  had  stated  what  was  not  true,  that,  since 
his  previous  examination,  he  had  not  been  instructed  as  to  the  nature  of  an  oath, 
and  that  no  gentleman  had  explained  it  to  him  ;  but  what  mattered  this  specimen 
of  his  veracity,  and  the  value  of  his  evidence,  when  it  appeared  that  he  had  so 
distinct  an  understanding  of  the  road  that  lay  before  him  ?  The  Coroner  did  not 
say  *  a  boy  who  cannot  tell  the  truth  about  so  simple  a  fact  as  the  instruction  he 
has  received  within  the  week  is  an  untrustworthy  witness,'  but  in  effect  '  It 
signifies  not  that  he  has,  from  stupidity  or  mendacity,  denied  what  is  true,  his 
answer  that  he  is  to  go  to  hell  if  he  does  not  speak  the  truth  is  a  sufficient  pledge 
for  his  credibility.— .£^a;amner,  No.  2,264. 

A  Fact  for  Cardinal  Wiseman.— On  Sunday,  the  30th  ult.,  Father  Mick 
cursed  the  parents  of  the  poor  children  who  attend  the  Protestant  school  at  Bangor, 
and  cursed  any  person  who  dared  even  to  speak  to  them. — Ballina  Chronicle, 


THE  REASONER. 


99 


DEVELOPED     BY     PROFESSOR     NEWMAN  :     STATED-  AND    EXAMINED. 


BY    G.    J.    HOLYOAKE. 

[CJoncluded  from  last  number.] 


Ip,  however,  the  argument  of  design  was 
established,  it  would  have  no  practical 
value  unless  we  could  discover  the  will  of 
God.  But  here  again  logical  inference  af- 
fords us  no  help.  For,  as  far  as  material 
nature  is  concerned,  moral  considerations 
are,  as  far  as  we  know,  uniformly  over- 
borne by  mechanical  ones.  God  acts  by 
general  laws,  and  Mr.  Newman  properly 
concludes  that '  God's  moral  tkoughts  can 
no  more  be  detected  in  the  detailed  actions 
of  material  objects,  than  the  affections  of 
the  watchmaker  by  inspecting  a  watch.' 
Thus  what  is  called  the  design  argument 
rests  upon  the  intuitive  perception  of  fit- 
nesses, which  indicate,  but  do  not  logically 
prove,  design — and  thus  the  intellect  must 
doubt  while  the  soul  may  believe. 

For  Mr.  Newman  to  represent  us  as  being 
of  defective  nature,  or  as  suff'ering  intel- 
lectual privation,  is  a  less  serious  allegation 
than  at  first  sight  it  appears ;  it  is  not  a 
privation  not  to  see  as  Mr.  Newman  sees, 
unless  he  sees  something  important  which 
we  cannot.  By  the  aid  of  Mr.  Newman's 
book,  we  are  now  able  to  see  all  that  he 
sees;  and,  as  it  fails  to  satisfy  us,  we,  in 
our  turn^  might  with  as  much  propriety 
assume  Mr.  Newman  to  be  suffering  from 
some  privation  in  not  being  able  to  see  its 
want  of  validity. 

An  octagenarian  atheist,  to  whom  I  men- 
tioned Mr.  Newman's  accusation  that  we 
were  deprived  of  a  sense,  answered, '  Ah 
and  he  is  right,  too.  Faith  is  another 
sense.  There  is  no  mistake  about  it.  Faith 
is  that  sense  which  enables  a  man  to  see 
what  is  not.' 

Mr.  Newman  rests  his  entire  theory  of 
religion,  not  upon  any  logical  proof,  but 
upon  the  popular — and,  as  he  calls  it, 
instinctive — belief  in  a  self-determining 
Will,  which,  except  we  adopt,  we  cannot 
act  wisely  or  well  (p.  122).  '  If  there  be  no 
such  will  in  us,  it  is  still  useful  for  practice 
to  believe  that  there  is,  and  the  man  who 
most  knows  the  truth  is  then  most  likely  to 
act  foolishly.  This  is  so  intense  a  paradox 
as  to  confirm  most  people  in  their  convic- 
tion that  there  is  a  self-moving  will  in  us.' 
The  answer  to  this  is  easy  to  the  thought- 
ful, and  to  those  accustomed  to  introspec- 
tion. 


Yet  it  is  clear  that  innumerable  people  do 
act  wisely  and  well  without  any  practical 
belief  in  a  self- moving  will.  The  judge 
before  he  tries  a  case,  and  the  jury  before 
they  hear  it,  have  no  will  upon  the  subject. 
Both  wait  for  evidence,  and  the  verdict  and 
the  sentence  are  determined  alone  by  evi- 
dence  and  by  law.  Those  who  take  this 
view  of  the  human  will  Mr.  Newman  says 
ought  logically  to  be  atheists.  Atheism, 
therefore,  erected  on  necessarian  ground, 
is  a  logical  system. 

On  this  subject  my  own  feelings  and 
convictions  are  in  strange  contrast  with 
those  of  Mr.  Newman.  He  is  able  to  re- 
cognise the  presence  of  Supreme  ruling 
mind  only  through  the  existence  of  Free 
Will.  The  presence  of  government  in  in- 
telligence, of  law  in  mind,  is  to  him  the 
symbol  of  atheism  and  moral  anarchy. 
While  to  me  Free  Will  seems  the  synonym 
of  chaos  in  nature,  of  disorder  in  ethics,  of 
confusion  in  life.  I  see  the  influence  men 
can  exert  on  society,  and  that  life  is  a  cal- 
culable process.  But  why  is  it  so  ?  There 
my  curiosity  is  baffled,  and  my  knowledge 
ends.  In  vain  I  look  back,  hoping  to  un- 
ravel that  mysterious  destiny  with  which 
we  are  all  so  darkly  bound.  That  is  the 
channel  through  which  all  my  conscious- 
ness seems  to  pass  out  into  a  sea  of  wonder, 
and  if  ever  the  orient  light  of  deity  breaks  in 
on  me,  it  will,  I  think,  come  in  that  direc- 
tion. The  presence  of  law  in  mind,  is  to 
me  the  greatest  fact  in  theology.  But  no 
gleam  of  such  truth  will  ever  come  through 
the  churches.  All  churches  unite  to  deny 
it.  I  am  afraid  the  secret  is  in  the  grave. 
The  most  important  objection  to  this  theory 
of  Necessity  is  that  Mr.  Newman  regards  it 
as  being  fatal  to  morals  as  well  as  religion. 
But  morality,  in  its  every  possible  develop- 
ment, recognises,  as  he  himself  explains  it 
(p.  25),  '  both  interest  and  duty  as  leading 
ends  of  action  ;'  and  the  necessarian  is 
more  likely  to  discern,  calculate,  and  fol- 
low out  these  ends  than  the  man  of  free 
will,  who  is  bound  to  disregard  conse- 
quences upon  the  principle  of  his  assumed 
mental  constitution. 

It  is  not  necessary,  after  these  results  are 
arrived  at,  to  debate  with  Mr.  Newman  his 
doctrine  of  goodness  in  connection  with 


100 


THE  REASONER. 


the  question  of  the  Origin  of  Evil,  or  his 
theory  of  Wisdom  and  Reverence,  except 
to  say,  with  respect  to  the  last,  that  we 
hope  it  may  be  allowed  that  reverence  for 
virtue  and  genius  may  exist  in  those  who 
are  not  able  to  find  an  object  external  to 
nature  on  whom  to  repose  that  affection. 

Involved  in  a  struggle  for  life  and  liberty, 
partisans  of  the  atheistic  theory,  which  I 
should  call  that  of  pure  moralism,  have 
had  few  opportunities  of  dwelling  upon  the 
discipline  of  the  affections  which  they,  in 
common  with  the  Christian,  would  seek  to 
cherish.  Whatever  pertains  to  purity  and 
elevation  of  character,  we  value  as  deeply 
as  the  theist.  We  fully  agree  with  what 
Mr.  Newman  so  excellently  says  upon 
these  heads.  We  do  not  differ  on  these 
points,  except  as  to  the  mode  of  carrying 
them  out.  Even  the  sense  of  sin  has  with 
us  its  defined  place.  Excess  is  sin,  and, 
therefore,  all  deviations  from  intellectual 
or  physical  temperance,  is  an  offence.  All 
omissions  of  duty,  or  of  love,  are  offences  ; 
which,  if  they  do  not  involve  remorse, 
involve  contrition— that  contrition  which 
is  expressed  by  all  possible  reparation — 
stricter  watchfulness  and  contingent 
amendment. 

What  sense  of  personal  relation  to  God 
can  any  one  have  whose  understanding  is 
bafiledineverunstance  to  which  comprehen- 
sion of  the  divine  existence  is  attempted  ? 
Plainly  none.  Yet  to  understanding  we 
must  come,  as  we  have  no  other  protector 
than  that  against  the  extravagance  of  su- 
perstition. Why  religions  themselves  have 
so  often  become  degenerate,  has  been  that 
iviU  has  not  purified  them.  Men  have  not 
seen  the  improvement  of  nature  and  its  de- 
pendence on  circumstance. 

We  lose  little,  if  anything,  by  the  theory 
of  Pure  Moralism  (mere  moralism  Mr. 
Newman,  I  fear,  would  call  it)  :  we  gain 
little  by  that  theory  of  religion  which  he 
propounds.  He  is  too  far-sighted  not  to 
see,  and  too  frank  to  withhold  the  admis- 
sion of  the  fact, '  that  in  these  days  at  least 
no  miracles  are  worked  for  our  welfare,  and 
there  is  nothing  God  can  grant  us  (p.  148) 
except  the  ideal  boon  that  the  Soul  may 
never  break  away  from  His  love.'  Except 
in  things  spiritual,  Mr.  Newman  does  not 
pretend  that  there  exists  any  special  provi- 
dence interfering  to  save  us  or  to  guide  us. 
Atheism  does  not  leave  us  more  without  God 
in  the  world  th:in  this  representation  ;  and 
it  at  least  has  this  merit,  that  it  forewarns 
us  by  its  absolute  teachings,  and  thus  fore- 
arms us  against  despair.  Mr.  Newman, 
too,  gives-  the  theory  of  fear  and  hope  of  the 


future.    In  a  passage  as  admirable  for  its 
courage  as  its  truth,  he  says — 

'  Among  ourselves  also,  beyond  a  doubt, 
crime  is  repressed  in  bold  and  wicked  men, 
only  by  fear  of  the  visible  and  present 
judge.  Whether  hell  be  in  theory  believed 
or  disbelieved,  it  has  no  practical  power, 
except  over  the  less  hardened.  But  the 
attempt  to  turn  Religion  into  a  system  of 
State  Police,  is  an  impiety,  whicli  inevit- 
ably defeats  its  own  end.  Nor  less  does  it 
desecrate  divine  Hope,  to  apply  it  as  a 
means  of  softening  the  sorrows  of  the  un- 
spiritual.  Natural  sympathy  is  far  more 
effective  for  consolation  than  any  of  the 
conventional  topics,  poured  forth  profes- 
sionally on  an  uncongenial  mind.  If  Hope 
is  to  comfort  them  in  their  darker,  it  must 
live  with  them  in  their  brighter  hours;  it 
must  gush  up  out  of  an  inward  fountain. 
I  know  it  is  said,  that  the  poor  are  made 
more  patient  by  the  notion  so  current 
among  them,  that  in  another  life  they  will 
get  compensation  for  the  hardships  which 
they  endure  in  the  present ;  but  this  is  to 
buv  patience  by  propagating  delusion'  (pp. 
231-2). 

We  therefore  find  that  human  condition 
is  to  wait  on  death  with  that  quiet  resig- 
nation which  flows  from  innocence  and 
fortitude,  and  with  that  unpresumptuous 
expectancy  which  true  humility  teaches. 

The  loss  which  Mr.  Newman  represents 
those  to  sustain  who  have  no  sense  of  per- 
sonal relation  to  God  is  less  than  he  sup- 
poses. He  thinks  that  to  see  in  God  a 
person  is  the  most  energetic  mode  of  realis- 
ing our  highest  ideal  of  moral  excellence, 
and  in  clearing  the  moral  sight  so  that  the 
ideal  may  keep  rising,  other  things  being 
equal,  a  spiritual  man  will  hold  a  higher 
and  purer  morality  than  a  mere  moralist 
(p.  167).  But  what  he  thus  gains  in  sub- 
limity he  is  in  danger  of  losing  in  practical 
usefulness.  Is  not  the  love  of  humanity  a 
more  energetic  excitement  of  the  affections 
than  the  vague  ideal  of  Deity,  which  has 
no  hold  upon  the  understanding?  No- 
thing so  tends  to  clear  the  moral  sight 
as  a  fraternal  yet  resolute  vindication 
of  the  right  among  living  men ;  and 
we  are  sure  that  our  ideal  of  excellence 
will  always  keep  rising,  as  it  will  grow 
with  our  experience  and  expand  with  our 
knowledge — and  hence  will  become  a  pure 
enthusiasm  overspreading  the  whole  of 
life.  If  the  ideal  we  are  to  take  for  our 
guide  be  gathered  from  humanity,  the  mo- 
ralist and  the  theist  stand  on  the  same 
level,  and  derive  their  inspiration  of  per- 
fection from  the  same  source  ;  and  in  the 


THE  REASONER. 


101 


respect  in  which  the  theist  affects  to  elevate 
his  ideal  to  the  skies,  he  loses  in  definite- 
ness  and  verity  what  he  gains  by  such 
abstract  exaltation.  To  tell  us  that  the 
ideal  which  is  to  purify  us,  must  be  imagi- 
nary and  abstract  is  surely  not  defensible. 
W hat  is  infinite  is  beside  mortals  ?  A  very 
few  words  spent  in  distinguishing  for  adop- 
tion a  leading  moral  principle  will  fur- 
nish a  man  with  a  guide  which  will  deter- 
mine his  character,  employ  his  life  to  real- 
ise, and  conduct  him  to  indefinite  nobleness 
through  the  infinite  steps  of  the  diversified 
realisations  which  prolonged  years  afford. 
How  can  the  affections  manifest  themselves 
or  prove  their  genuineness  except  by  ser- 
vice of  our  species?  We  may  distrust  all 
spirituality  which  refuses  this  proof  of  its 
worth.  Service  and  endurance  are  the 
two  attributes  of  cultivated  and  refined 
moralisin — service,  by  which  loveisproved, 
endurance,  by  which  it  is  tried. 

We  take  Conscience,  which  Mr.  New- 
man admits  takes  the  lead  of  conduct  in 
personsof  great  worth  (p.  136).  Conscience, 
which  is  a  subject  of  growth,  and  amen- 
able to  reason.  Conscience,  which  is  ca- 
pable, Mr.  Newman  farther  allows,  of  the 
greatest  sacrifices  at  the  call  of  Duty  (p. 
137).  Stoicism  (it  matters  little  whether 
the  name  be  old  or  new,  provided  it  sym- 
bolise progressive  and  rational  practice) 
had  a  true  heart  in  it  Mr.  Newman  allows, 
as  the  noble  Hymn  to  Jupiter,  composed 
by  the  stoic  Cleanthes,  shows  (p,  136). 
'  We  do  not  indeed  doubt,'  says  Mr.  New- 
man (p.  157),  'that  a  man's  own  self-re- 
spect  may  make  him  to  choose  to  die, 
rather  than  live  degraded  in  his  own  eyes, 
by  deviating  from  his  ideal  of  right  con- 
duct :  let  earnest  stoicism  be  confessed  to 
be  noble  and  honourable  ;  although  it 
makes  the  mind  too  exclusively  reflective, 
and  endangers  pride  and  self-confidence.' 

What  of  danger  may  lie  in  this  direction 
ought  to  be  guarded  against  undoubtedly, 
and  we  think  it  can.  It  certainly  seems  to 
us  that  these  risks  are  less  momentous  than 
those  which  spring  from  the  other  side  of 
the  question.  '  Our  first  want,'  Mr.  New- 
man remarks,  towards  the  close  of  his 
book,  p.  215, '  is  the  expansion  of  indivi- 
dual life.  We  need  to  see  and  know  some- 
thing for  ourselves,  and  to  learn  to  feed 
ourselves  spiritually.  To  be  dependent  is 
hardly  to  live.'  Where  can  we  look  for 
independence  so  well  as  to  the  side  of  a 
generous  Stoicism  ? 

In  lieu  of  creeds  we  have  the  love  of 
Humanity  and  the  study  of  Nature.     We 


rely  on  the  c»ltivation  of  intelligence  and 
the  efforts  of  industry — our  security  is  in 
the  integrity  of  our  intentions  and  the 
kindness  of  our  endeavours — our  pleasure 
is  in  the  reverence  we  offer — our  consola- 
tion is  in  the  help  we  render  to  inferior 
natures.  Laborare  est  orare — work  is  our 
worship. 


Of  portions  of  this  book  (with  which  I 
have  now  done)  which  seemed  to  me  in- 
structive, I  have  freely  expressed  my  ap- 
probation ;  and  in  a  manner  as  strongly  and 
as  emphatically  as  I  could  command,  I 
have  marked  my  dissent  from  the  unreliant 
tenor  of  the  teachings  of  Mr.  Newman, 
which  I  think  need  to  be  guarded  against. 
The  want  of  cogent,  substantial  argument 
for  the  support  of  Mr.  Newman's  theory 
is  so  evident,  that  I  trust  every  one  who 
has  been  a  reader  thus  far,  will  be  induced 
to  pause  before  he  accepts  Mr.  Newman's 
view  as  the  final  truth.  Many  who  com- 
prehend no  medium  between  independence 
of  opinion  and  rudeness  of  retort,  will  have 
been  at  a  loss  to  account  for  the  approval 
I  expressed  in  the  early  part  of  this  re\4ew. 
With  many,  any  agreement  whatever  is 
considered  as  a  coincidence  throughout. 
To  consult  the  temper  of  such  readers 
would  condemn  a  reviewer  to  perpetual 
hostility  to  all  to  whom  he  was  opposed. 
These  people  would  leave  to  no  critic  the 
merit  of  discrimination.  Men  differ  in  the 
nature  of  their  opponency  as  much  as  they 
do  in  their  stature,  speculations,  voice,  and 
complexion.  Not  to  distinguish  and  ac- 
knowledge an  honourable,  able,  and  manly 
opponent,  from  the  disingenuous,  mediocre, 
and  cowardly  tribe  who  daily  assault  us,  is 
to  deserve  condemnation  for  ever  to  the 
lowest  order  of  opposition.  As  respects 
the  government,  I  am  accustomed  to  urge 
that  we  have  no  right  to  invoke  public 
opinion  upon  their  injustice,  unless  we  are 
prompt  to  acknowledge  what  is  generous 
in  tendency  (however  little  it  may  be) 
which  now  and  then  they  betray.  So  with 
controversy — as  I  hate  deeply  and  heartliy 
what  I  think  erroneous,  I  endeavour 
to  preserve  my  right  to  enter  the  distinctest 
protest  against  it  that  I  am  able  to  put  on 
record,  by  preserving  the  temper  which 
shall  make  the  fairest  acknowledgments  to 
opponents  of  that  sincerity  \vhich  I  have 
no  right  to  question,  and  of  that  ability 
which  it  were  want  of  capacity  not  to  see, 
want  of  culture  not  to  feel,  want  of  can- 
dour not  to  own. 


MS 


THE  REASONES. 


SCEVE  AT  THE  EEV.  CFARLE5  SLN'GSLET'S  LECTURE. 


XTwDWS.  I'ae  he*i  of  '  T^e  mihor  of  "^  Alien  Locke"  :^  the  p^ilpii,"  tie  Aca<»»- 
fiirmast  reports  tiiat '  A  v^viiti  cA  diaciursea  on  "  Ta€  Messa^s  of  tke  Chorch  "  mre 
in  coarse  of  deiiTery  ou  San-iaj  eT«ii:iz?.  al  the  Chorch  of  St.  Jofaa  the  Eruigelist, 
Chariocta  Street.  Flnzroj^^Tiare.  The  sennoQ  Li-t  5an<iaj  eTe&iag  vai  by  the 
Ser.  C  Eiagrigj,  agthcir  of  the  '^  Sauu*'  Trafe«ij,~  "  Aitoe  Lscke,**  aad  other 

rfae  iiiMBfc,  "The  Me— yrf  the  Chw  1 1  to 

fw  k«  tat  Lake  z.  16-19.    Fna  Aia  des- 

CTiptiaa  >y  Cfcrit  hiif  If  rf hi« ■!—■■, the  fiiwhri   iifarii  the  priBffpht  «rf 

«f  Ae  Chwih     ■■  epm  BMe,  h^ttan, 

prkti^  the  atitewy  rale  «f  kagi^  the 

L«fan— cati,M4theaciUMeMeftheiMhMinspect>Ue.    He 

»hfe,e»thefiiMief  theee  fliiiti  yrsadple*, 

,  ,     f  *''  ^ 

Whfle  h«  «ae  |i ifiit  the  Rfgiiffiw,  the  Scr.  Mr.  Drew 

"i oaaMaaMMaUe fw  the  rrafiig  Jrti,  aad, ae  the  cu«t'«C'"i'-" 

He  iMd  he  hard  a  vcty  ponf  Oi 
^■rf  t»  pctfiwa.    As  BitaMr  ef  Aaft  chnch,  m  irieiitr  t»  the  tiihe»efthe 

,  he  awt  pn«cit  acaiMt  the  fisBovK  they  haii  heard  at  iMat 
fw  Ae  BMat  part  Mtrae,  aiad  aHT^i^  hat  vhat  he  ejected  frea  the 
awtefthe—fcfirt.    Theefcrt»pe»the  iififi  ri  way  he  iaigiaii      Mr.Kiasa- 


G.J.  H. 


I 
I 


THKK&&aQKEL 


.  a  HMateK  ■•  lA*  ■■!■■*&■■■ 


THE  KET.  MR.  SEES  AXD  THE  ElHIBIflUBfc. 


THE   XOX-EXISTEXCB   OP  AISEISI& 


«r  ■FiBkl^  tfk*  Oh— i  T^Mm»lMiiffil'>  >m  an  irfiiint  *ift  rsdhto 

as  Mily  MnWHl  tesfeMMM  W  «Hft  ■■■Ml  ■M  1 

tTM  \jmTi  —  lifcnntfr tmn  TTT^'*^ — *^ 

1^  lilifni  <fc»m  ■>»  ■»  G»*i    lfclK«d|r 
!»■  fM  diil  fcM  SMi  ••  w  lAs  km^  Mrii  ■UhHl  ai  wiljhl  k»  cra^* 
BiHlttMviter«f  tidb  ulttHJ  «  Buds  !■  wltl*  fai>«|n  kn*a«HiliHrl» 

•»  «lftv  vkM  ikty  tewm;  4nl  iB  ki^V«>««  rlMa>i*K  «f  «feiyi  liiy  ftw*  Ml  «yfaM 


_iji4  ■lEDUln^.tl  yHWfi     H— J  rf  <iw   ■iSiMni  fci  fl—Jbii 
rfiMlM<  kafcHs  a—My  Ui>i%NL  ^  <>*  iiiftt»i«iin  <f  wigMl  Wi> 

•■4«MVM>MM*»vMilk4btykmi%w««r  |hM  mj  «^*mI 


ART    IXDEPEXDEXT    OF    CHEISTIAXITT. 


Wk  aff«  fttyw^  »tH,  M»v  EJSuct  »>iM>  * WwOy  >>  m^"  »4iA  ««  aM 
H«Hik*»  t<«y  ^wOJbw  llMl^''i»%W(»BI«wMN  n&iiKiiiJ»  Kiiw  llilii^  !>»>>> 
«9in«ia««tO«tMlwMK. 

TW  awlft  BMMW  «f  Mdb  W  MMMMi  9MM4  I*  V*  t» 


104  THE  REASONER. 


the  God  of  Israel  taught  men  the  right  rules  and  principles  necessary  to  aa 
efficient  practice  of  the  arts  and  manufactures ;  that  he  instructed  Moses,  just  as  a 
master  instructs  an  apprentice ;  and  whatever  dignity  belongs  to  the  practice  of 
arts  and  manufactures  is  to  be  attributed  to  this  their  supposed  heavenly  origin. 
Hence  the  conclusion  is  come  to  th;it  the  atheist  must  necessarily  entertain  a  low 
conception  of  *  beauty  in  art,'  and  of  the  '  dignity  of  labour.' 

Vasari,  the  acc<»mplished  Christian  painter,  who  lived  about  three  hundred  years 
ago,  speaks  of  the  origin  of  the  arts  thus :  '  Simple  children,  rudely  reared  in  the 
woods  have  begun  to  practice  the  arts  of  design  with  no  other  model  than  those 
beautiful  pictures  and  sculptures  furnished  by  nature.'  One  of  our  own  professors 
of  painting,  Opie,  speaks  to  the  same  purpose.  He  says — '  The  rudiments  of 
painting  appear  to  me  so  congenial  to  the  mind  of  man,  that  they  may  almost  be 
said  to  be  born  with  it."  Further,  speaking  of  art,  he  observes — '  Instead  of  asking 
where  it  was,  I  should  be  inclined  to  ask  where  it  was  not  invented,  as  the  more 
difficult  question  to  solve.'  Thus,  with  respect  to  arts  of  design,  upon  respectable 
authority  and  an  appeal  to  nature  herself,  we  learn  that  we  coincide  in  opinion 
with  the  rest  of  mankind. 

Vasari  traces  art  to  the  workings  of  nature.  So  does  the  atheist.  Even  when 
Vasari  comes  to  speak  of  a  '  divine  light,'  influenced  by  which  man  is  led  to  prac- 
tise noble  arts,  and  to  raise  himself  above  the  beasts  of  the  field,  he  is  far 
from  saying  that  the  Hebrew  race  were  so  very  plentifully  endowed  with  this  '  divine 
light ;'  rather  he  reserves  his  enthusiasm  to  dilate  on  the  great  artists  of  another 
people,  whose  worship  was  utterly  opposed  to  that  of  the  Israelites. 

Moses  and  the  Jewish  people  are  very  much  indebted  to  any  writer  for  such 
honourable  mention  in  connection  with  the  arts.  True  it  is,  we  are  informed  that 
Moses  furnished  the  Children  of  Israel  with  some  *  curious  patterns  and  designs,' 
and  we  also  learn  that  the  Egyptians,  long  before  Moses  was  born  among  them, 
designed  and  worked  all  kinds  of  '  curious  patterns.'  More,  we  have  proof  that 
they  wore  eminently  skilful  in  the  practice  of  the  arts  of  life.  Moses,  who  was 
educated  by  the  Egyptian  priesthood  (svho  were  also  artists),  possibly  derived 
some  of  his  ideas  of  art  from  his  tutors.  But  that  we  will  leave  to  others  to 
determine,  who  may  also  favour  us  with  a  conjecture  as  to  the  source  of  Egyptian 
art.  A  recent  traveller  fancies  that,  in  constructing  the  Pyramids,  the  Egyptians 
had  an  eye  to  the  forms  of  their  blue  hills.  The  same  imaginative  writer  traces 
some  resemblance  betwixt  the  columns  of  their  magnificent  temples  and  the  beau- 
tiful palm  trees  which  abound  in  those  parts.  If  natural  objects  suggested  ideas 
of  form  to  that  people,  the  opinion  expressed  by  Vasari  and  Opie  respecting  the 
common  origin  o»  the  arts  of  design  is  materially  sustained. 

The  Assyrians,  Phoenicians,  and  Persians  have  also  some  claim  to  considera- 
tion. To  whom  were  those  peoples  indebted  for  an  induction  into  the  arts  and 
manufactures  ?     Doubtless  to  nature,  the  common  mother  of  all. 

There  never  was  a  more  opportune  time  than  the  present  to  remonstrate  against 
the  supposition  that  the  arts  of  life  had  an  especial  origin  and  sanction  through 
Moses  on  Mount  Sinai. 

The  great  International  Exhibition  contains  examples  of  workmanship  of  most 
indisputable  excellence,  contributed  by  peoples  neither  inspired  nor  influenced  by 
anything  written  in  the  Bible.  Nations  whose  histories  trace  back,  through 
almost  trackless  ages,  to  sources  in  no  way  connected  with  the  Jews.  Peoples  not 
sympathising  with  the  Jews  in  religious  or  political  motives  for  exertion,  to  whom 
Christianity  is  unknown,  have  sent  works  of  art  and  manufacture  to  our  metropo- 


THE  RBASONER.  105 


lis  for  exhibition,  with  the  understanding  that  they  are  to  be  honourably  tested 
with  the  workmanship  of  other  peoples.  How  would  it  give  just  cause  of  distrust 
if,  in  deciding  which  of  the  nations  represented  display  the  most  skill,  the  Chris- 
tian umpires  were  to  set  up  exclusive  Christian  pretensions,  and  deny  justice  to 
those  whom  Christians  call  Pagan  or  superstitious  ?  Surely  such  will  not  be 
attempted.  For  one  great  social  end,  the  '  sober,  practical  Saxon  has  invited  the 
workers  of  the  whole  earth  to  a  friendly  trial  of  strength  under  the  verdict  of  that 
fine  old  Saxon  institution,  the  jury  ;'  and  should  the  Saxon  meet  his  guests  Bible 
in  hand,  and  quote  Scripture  to  disparage  their  contributions,  and  deny 
to  them  culture,  merely  because  they  do  not  write  '  Christian '  over  their 
studios,  worshops,  and  marts  ?  Such  a  proceeding  would  be  like  reading  a 
funeral  service  over  friendships  so  genei'ously  invoked  and  so  generously  res- 
ponded to. 

"When  we  have  had  leisure  to  cultivate  an  acquaintance  with  the  history  of  the 
fine  arts,  we  have  had  to  trace  our  way,  for  the  most  part,  over  classic  ground ; 
few  of  the  historians  of  art  directed  us  to  the  tents  of  the  children  of  Israel,  or, 
indeed,  to  any  period  of  Jewish  history.  Those  historians  have  mostly  been  zealous 
Christians;  but  their  knowledge  of  the  Bible  would  not  enable  them  to  assert  that 
the  Jewish  people,  during  any  period  of  their  strange  career,  excelled  in  the  prac- 
tice of  the  fine  arts. 

Francis  William  Newman  observes,  that  *  The  whole  value  of  Hebrew 
history  to  us  turns  upon  the  Hebrew  religion.'  The  same  author  further  says, 
in  contradistinction,  it  would  be  absurd  to  write  a  history  of  Greece  and  take  no 
notice  of  Philosophy,  Poetry,  and  Art.  This  writer  does  no  more  than  pro- 
nounce the  common  opinion  of  Europe.  Christopher. 

ADDRESS  TO  THE  FREE  &  INDEPENDENT  ELECTORS  OF  THE 
COUNTY  OF  AYR,  BY  J.  G.  PARKER,  ESQ.,  OF  ASSLOSS. 


It  is  dated  June  3rd,  1851,  and  after  a  statement  of  his  political  creed — which 
includes  a  tax  of  fifty  per  cent,  on  the  incomes  of  gin-palace  and  beer-shop  keepers, 
distillers,  and  'the  proud  aristocracy,'  the  crushing  of  Puseyism,  compulsory 
training  of  the  poor  ignorant  Papists  in  Protestant  truth,  the  Bible  being  the  only 
text-book,  and  the  punishment  of  Sabbath-breaking,  gambling,  drunkenness,  and 
nncleapness  with  hard  labour  in  the  dockyards  and  in  the  sewers  of  large  towns — 
the  candidate  for  the  county  of  Ayr  breaks  into  the  following  strain  of  fervid 
eloquence : — 

I  shall  now,  in  conclusion,  pray  most  fervently  that  our  high-spirited,  noble 
Queen  may  be  long  preserved,  in  health  and  happiness,  to  reign  over  a  great,  loyal, 
but  above  every  consideration  a  religious  and  moral  people ;  and  may  her  gratitude 
to  Jehovah  bear  some  correspondence  to  the  vast  obligations  she  is  laid  under  to 
act  as  his  vicegerent,  with  singleness  of  heart  and  devotion,  when  she  considers 
the  terrible  risk  she  ran  on  the  11th  or  12th  of  August,  1849,  when  she  committed 
the  public  and  flagrant  iniquity  of  sailing  from  Belfast  on  the  ever-l)lessed  day  of 
the  Lord.  Oh !  if  the  great  King  of  Kings  and  Lord  of  Lords  (whose  humble 
servant  I  am)  had  met  her  and  her  squadron  (which  came  to  anchor  in  Rothsay 
Bay,  I  believe)  in  wrath,  where  would  her  poor  lost  soul  have  been  but  swelling 
the  awful  chorus  of  the  damned,  in  the  doleful  regions  of  eternal  woe,  along  with 
her  uncle,  George  the  Fourth,  Claverhouse,  Lauderdale,  Grierson  of  Lag,  Sir 
Archibald  Kennedy,  the  bloody  Lord  Advocate,  Queensbury,  etc.,  etc.,  etc.  ?    But 


106  THE  REASONER. 


she  has  been  spared  to  live  to  his  glory,  and  to  be  the  nursing  mother  of  the  true 
church,  the  church  of  Calvin,  Luther,  Knox,  Cromwell  (my  sainted  friend);  and  of 
Owen,  Howe,  Baxter,  Bunyan,  Boston,  and,  above  all,  the  immortal  Dr.  Love  of 
Anderson,  the  Hameylia  or  Alps  of  divines.  God  bless  you  all,  and  success  to  the 
canvass. 

By  the  bye,  I  had  almost  forgotten  Ireland,  that  sweet  but  unhappy  portion  of 
her  Majesty's  dominions.  The  policy  of  the  immortal  Oliver  Cromwell  must  be 
adopted  there,  the  Bible  or  the  sword — the  steam  guillotine,  erected  wherever  the 
priests  of  Baal  interfere  with  the  consciences  of  their  poor  deluded  victims,  the 
vile  slaves  of  his  unholiness,  who  sits  on  the  Seven  Hills,  the  foul  favourite  of  the 
scarlet  damsel :  and  their  reverences  must  be  made  to  taste  all  the  sweetness  of 
this  most  ingenious  machine,  tq  the  melancholy,  soul-subduing  air  of,  '  He  played 
upon  a  razor,  a  razor,  a  razor,  he  played  upon  a  razor,  fee  fa  fum,'  which  my  droll 
friend,  Assloss,  sings  with  a  considerable  share  of  humour ;  but  we  can  have  no 
objection  that  those  poor  creatures,  Wiseman,  the  Bishop  of  Exeter,  Lord  Aber- 
deen, Sir  James  Graham,  the  Irish  brigade,  and  the  rest  of  the  synod,  should  take 
a  harmless  game  at  Pope  Joan  for  a  farthing  pool.  John  Glen  Paekee. 

THE  FAREWELL  OF  THE  'TRUTH  SEEKER.' 


Of  all  the  magazines  which  have  of  late  years  existed  among  us,  none,  in  useful 
honesty,  useful  truth,  and  useful  courage,  have  stood  out  more  manfully  than  the 
Truth  iSeeher,  edited  by  Dr.  Lees,  Mr.  Phillips  especially,  and  other  able  coadju- 
tors, have  contributed  to  the  TrwfA  (Seeier  papers  of  remarkable  merit.  We  quote, 
with  sincere  regret,  the  '  Farewell '  which   it  has  made  to  the  reading  public  : — • 

'  With  the  present  volume  (concluded  in  No.  13,  containing  Table  of  Contents, 
etc.)  the  Truth  Seeker  ceases,  at  least  for  the  present.  For  six  years  we  have  con- 
ducted it,  almost  single-handed,  against  the  prejudices  and  intolerance  of  society. 
It  is  our  tribute  to  the  Spirit  of  the  Age — our  practical  assertion,  not  of  a  barren 
right  merely,  but  of  the  positive  duty  of  Free  Thought  and  Utterance.  Satisfied 
of  the  influence  the  periodical  has  exerted,  and  of  the  good  it  has  effected,  we  do 
not  regret  the  sacrifices  we  have  made  for  its  support,  and  most  heartily  thank 
the  noble  few  who  have  to  some  extent  lightened  our  burthen. 

'  An  apology  is  due  for  one  circumstance.  During  our  winter's  absence,  the 
magazine  being  committed  to  other  superintendence,  two  articles  were  inserted 
(one  by  a  printer's  mistake)  of  a  party  character,  contrary  to  our  rule.  It  is 
strictly  within  our  original  scope  to  open  our  pages  to  the  discussion  (jpro  and 
con.')  of  Political  and  Social  Principles,  but  not  io  party  documents. 

'Some  papers  by  Mazzini,  on  the  "Duties  of  Man,"  were  announced  for  our 
next  volume,  in  case  of  the  continuance  of  the  Truth  Seeker.  These,  with  others 
by  some  of  our  old  contributors,  will  shortly  appear  in  the  English  Republic.  The 
first  six  numbers  of  that  periodical  will  be  sent,  to  our  subscribers  only,  for  the 
price  of  four  and  a  half — i.  e.,  on  receipt  of  twenty-eight  postage  stamps.' 

ARE  WE  OR  ARE  WE  NOT  TO  PRAY  TO  THE  VIRGIN  ? 

We  copy  the  following  advertisement  from  a  Wexford  .paper;  and,  although  the 
day  fixed  for  the  sermon  has  passed,  yet  its  publication  may  gain  the  attention  of 
some  priest  in  the  neighbourhood,  who  ought  readily  to  secure  the  offered  reward, 
seeing  that  his  church  teaches  its  adherents  to  offer  fervent  and  frequent  prayers 


THE  REASONER. 


107 


to  the  Virgin  Mary.  If  there  is  a  scriptural  warrant  for  this  practice  let  it  be 
produced — if  there  is  not,  then  we  shall  all  be  instructed  by  knowing  the  value 
of  the  authority  that  does  command  it : — 

*  Thirty  pounds  reward.  A  sermon  will  be  preached  (if  the  Lord  will)  on 
Sunday  evening:,  March,  1851,  in  Carnew  Chapel,  Wexford,  by  the  Rev.  John  R. 
Dowse,  incumbent  of  Shillelagh.  Subject:  Invocation  of  the  Virgin  Mary  and 
the  Saints.  Any  person  producing  from  the  Bible  a  single  precept  teaching  per- 
sons on  earth  to  invocate  the  Virgin  Mary,  or  other  saints  in  heaven,  shall  receive 
£30  reward.  We  hold  ourselves  responsible  for  the  payment  of  the  above  reward 
to  anyone  earning  it  before  the  1st  of  May  next.  Wm.  C.  Moore,  Rector  of 
Carnew;  J.  R.  Dowse,  Incumbent  of  Shillelagh ;  W.  W.  Cornan,  Curate  of  Carnew.' 

To  promote  the  efficiency  of  the  Reasnner  as  an  organ  of  Propagandism,  one  friend  subseribes  lOs. 
weekly,  another  59.,  one  2s.  monthly,  others  Is.  each  weekly— others  intermediate  sums  or  special 
remittances,  according  to  ability  or  earnestness.  An  annual  contribution  of  Is.  from  each  reader 
would  be  easy,  equitable,  and  sufficient.  What  is  remitted,  in  whatever  proportion,  is  acknowledged 
here  and  accounted  lor  the  at  end  of  the  Volume. 

Acknowledged  in  No.  264,  227s. — Arthur  Trevelyan,  60s. — Thomas  Billington, 
Pimlico,  Is. — H.  0.  (per  Mrs.  Watson),  Is. — H.  West,  Kent,  2s.  6d. — Julius 
Aspirant,  28."  6d.— M.  R.,  Bradford,  Is.— W.  B.,  Is.— J.  W.,  Is.— Thomas  John- 
son, Shelf,  2s. — John  Sharp,  do.,  Is. — W.  Wills,  Northampton,  Is. — Total,  301s. 

l|^  All  further  notices  of  propagandism,  business,  and  directions,  will  be  found 
on  the  wrapper  of  the  monthly  parts. 


GUIDE  TO  THE  LECTURE  ROOM. 

Literary  Institution,  John  Street,  Fitzroy  Square. 
July  1st  [8i],  Discussion  in  the  Coffee  Room; 
Question,  '  The  Respective  Merita  of  Free  Trade 
and  Protection.'— 6th  [74],  Samuel  M.  Kydd, 
'  Life  and  Policy  of  Pitt.' 

Hall  of  Science,  City  Road. —July  6th  [7i], 
a  Lecture. 

Institute  of  Progress,  10a,  Upper  George-street, 
Sloane-square.— July  4th  [8],  a  Discussion.  6th, 
[7h},  a  lecture. 

National  Hall,  242,  High  Holborn.— July  6th 
[8],  P.  W.  Perfitt.  '  Luther,  as  the  Religious  Man.' 

South  London  Hall,  Corner  of  Webber  Street, 
Blacktriars  Road.— July  6th  [73],  C.  Southwell, 
'  Dryden,  Rochester,  Roscommon,  Pomfret,  and 
Phillips.' 

Eclectic  Institute,  Denmark  Street,  Soho.  — 
Every  Friday  [8^],  Mr.  J.  B.  O'Brien,  '  Home  and 
Foreign  Politics.'  Every  Sunday  [74],  on  '  Moral 
and  Social  Science.' 

Areopagus  Coffee  and  Reading  Room,  59,  Church 
Lane,  Whitechapel. — Every  Sunday,  Monday,  and 
Wednesday  (S),  a  Lecture  or  Discussion. 

City  Forum  Coffee  House,  60,  Red  Cross  Street. 
—Every  Sunday,  Monday,  and  Thursday  [8^],  a 
Discuission. 


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sage,  Paternoster -row. 


108  THE  REASONER. 


<Biiv  &pen  Page. 

We  received  notice,  that  on  June  22nd  ult.,  the  Rev.  W.  Brock  would  preach,  in 
Bloomsbury  Chapel,  a  sermon  to  'young  men,'  entitled  'Atheism  Refuted  and 
Renounced.'  Had  it  been  Denounced  we  could  have  understood  it.  Is  the  Rev. 
Mr.  Brock  an  atheist,  that  he  has  to  renounce  atheism  ?  When  that  reverend 
shepherd  calls  upon  his  flock  'to  renounce  the  devil  and  all  his  works,' he  evi- 
dently supposes  them  to  have  some  communication  with  that  remarkable  individual. 
It  would  seem  that  Mr.  Brock  has  some  intercourse  with  atheism.  Mr.  Brock's 
sermon  came  off  at  7  o'clock  in  the  morninfr — does  this  gentleman  think  that  we 
can  bear  to  be  refuted  before  breakfast?     Rather  too  early  in  the  day  ! 

Pantheism  is  the  doctrine  that  conscious  goodness  animates  the  universe.  Rational- 
ism, in  teaching  that  man's  welfare  depends  on  the  harmonious  development  of 
bis  own  capacities  and  his  harmony  with  nature  and  society,  rests  on  the  doctrine 
that  goodness  animates  the  universe — that  the  study  of  humanity  is  the  study  of 
beauty  and  goodness.  The  consciousness  of  the  universal  goodness  it  says  nothing 
about — lets  alone — but  its  vivid  recognition  of  the  fact  that  universal  goodness  and 
progression  do  exist,  often  leads  it  to  the  very  brink  of  the  assertion  that  this  is 
conscious.  Extremes  meet — and  we  start  to  behold  the  very  presence  of  Deity  in 
'  atheistical' speculations.  .  P. 

Mr.  Charles  Larkin,  of  Newcastle-on-Tyne,  has  recently  delivered  a  course  of 
lectures  against  Atheism,  but  the  language  in  which  he  expressed  his  antagonism 
was  so  violent  and  unjust  as  not  to  be  hurtful  at  all  to  those  whom  he  sought  to 
oppose. 

Mr.  Palmer,  of  the  Partheninm,  St.  Martin's  Lane,  has  lately  been  endangered 
by  breaking  a  blood  vessel ;  but  upon  calling  to  ascertain  his  state  of  health,  the 
answer  was  that  he  was  so  far  recovered  as  to  be  able  to  walk  about  again. 

Readers  in  the  Paddington  district,  who  may  find  difficulty  in  procuring  the 
Reasoner,  may  be  supplied  by  Mr.  J.  Bowen,  Newsvender  and  Stationer,  of  10, 
Salisbury  Street,  corner  of  Little  Exeter  Street. 

The  tenth  volume  of  the  Jleasoner  is  now  ready  for  delivery.  We  hope  in  future 
to  be  able  to  give  the  Index  with  the  last  number  of  the  closing  volume. 

The  66th  Monthly  Part  of  the  Reasoner  was  issued  last  week.  The  matter  we 
had  prepared  for  the  wrapper  was  found  nearly  enough  for  eight  pages  when  it  was 
too  late  to  provide  a  double  wrapper.     Next  month  we  hope  to  give  eight  pages. 

A  correspondent  from  Whitehaven  writes  thus  : — '  Reading  in  the  Reasoner  the 
account  of  the  proceedings  at  Lancaster,  has  set  me  thinking  on  the  subject 
seriously,  and  the  result  of  my  reflections  is  this  :  All  readers  of  the  Reasoner 
must  see  how  necessary  it  is  for  him  and  her  to  exert  themselves  to  aid  their  per- 
secuted friends  ;  not  a  town  but  feels  the  want  of  power  and  influence.  Then  why 
do  our  friends  not  circulate  all  the  works  they  think  useful,  as  far  as  lies  in  their 
power?  Why  keep  their  numbers  of  the  Reasoner uW^  by  them  ?  Give  them  to 
others,  or  send  them  about.  What  numbers  of  books  which,  by  being  put  in  cir- 
culation, would  strengthen  our  hands,  are  lying  idle  on  the  shelves  of  our  friends. 
What  use  are  they  if  there  ?  We  shall  have  no  right  to  complain  of  weakness,  un- 
less all  the  means  of  gaining  strength  are  not  applied.  Books  are  quiet  but 
sure  weapons  to  work  with.  Let  our  friends  bear  this  in  mind,  and  they  will  know 
whose  shoulders  to  put  the  blame  upon.' 

London:  Printed  by  Holyoake  Brothers,  3,  Queen's  Head  Passage,  Patemoster-row;  and  Published 
b;  J.  Watson,  3,  Queen's  Head  Passage,  Paternoster-ron. — Wednesday,  July  2nd,  18&1. 


AND 

THEOLOGICAL     EXAMINER. 


They  who  believe  that  they  have  Truth  ask  no  favour,  save  that  of  beinf;  heard:  they  dare  the 
judgment  of  Mankind  :  refused  Co-operation,  they  invoke  Opposition,  for  Opposition  is  their 
Opportunity. — Editor. 


ADVICE  TO  THOSE  "WHO  GO  TO  CHURCH  AGAINST  THEIR  WILL. 


This  week  we  interrupt  the  Provincial  Reports  to  answer  an  inquiry  lately  made 
by  more  persons  and  with  greater  earnestness  than  usual.  The  last  communica- 
tion put  into  our  box  is  from  a  correspondent,  well  connected  in  the  city,  who  put 
his  case  as  follows.     It  need  not  be  said  why  we  omit  name  and  address  : — 

'  Sir, — I  am  a  young  man  of  19  years  of  age.  From  having  carefully  perused 
the  works  of  Volney,  Paine,  and  others,  I  have  become  warmly  attached  to 
deistical  opinions,  not,  I  hope,  hastily,  but  as  the  result  of  mature  deliberation.  I 
an",  in  the  habit  of  spending  the  Sunday  with  my  friends,  who  are  exceedingly 
religious,  and  accompanying  them  to  chapel.  For  so  doing  I  have  incurred  the 
displeasure  of  a  freethinking  friend,  who  argues  that  by  my  regular  attendance  at 
chapel  I  am  assisting  to  support  an  erroneous  system,  and  that  it  is  my  duty  to 
stop  away,  or  else  give  up  my  deistical  opinions.  Now,  sir,  what  can  I  do  ?  If  I 
disclose  my  sentiments  to  my  relations,  they  won't  discuss  the  subject  with  me, 
but  cover  me  with  contempt  and  scorn,  and  perhaps  disown  me  altogether,  which, 
to  me,  would  be  a  serious  matter.  On  the  other  hand,  am  I  justified  in  playing 
the  hypocrite,  and  regularly  attending  a  place  of  worship,  and  listening  to  sermons 
crammed  with  inconsistencies  and  absurdities  at  which  my  reason  revolts?  My 
object  in  troubling  you  with  these  remarks,  is  to  ask  your  opinion  on  the  course 
that  I  should  pursue  with  most  credit  to  myself.  If  you  will  oblige  a  constant 
reader  of  the  Reasoner  with  a  word  or  two  on  this  subject  in  that  periodical,  I  have 
reason  to  believe  you  will  be  conferring  a  great  favour  on  many  in  a  similarly 
awkward  situation.' 

We  should  like  to  have  the  personal  acquaintance  and  friendship  of  the 'free- 
thinking  friend  '  alluded  to.  As  he  advised  so  large  a  sacrifice  as  that  of  our  young 
correspondent  incurring  the  loss  of  his  worldly  prospects,  no  doubt  he  (the  'free- 
thinking  friend')  was  making  himself  an  equally  great  sacrifice  in  some  quarter,  in 
some  way  or  other.  No  doubt  he  was  subscribing  freely  for  the  spread  of  his 
opinions,  was  active  in  distributing  a  knowledge  of  them,  was  writing  on  the  sub- 
ject himself,  was  getting  new  readers  to  the  periodical  confuting  that  class  of  errors 
to  which  he  was  opposed — no  doubt  he  was  doing  all  this  at  a  sacrifice  as  great  as 
that  which  he  advised.  This,  no  doubt,  was  the  case,  because  one  could  not  re- 
commend another  to  do  more  than  one  did  one's  self.  And  as  the  number  of 
freethinkers  who  do  so  much  as  this  is  not  too  great,  we  should  be  happy  to  make 
the  acquaintance  of  any  others. 

The  reason  for  such  remarks  is  that  much  harm  is  done  by  giving  advice  so 
severe  that  it  is  not  likely  to  be  followed,  and  omitting  to  point  out  what  equivalent 
thing  may  be  done  if  the  austere  recommendation  is  not  followed.  He  who  advises 
another  to  sacrifice  himself,  is  bound  himself  to  set  the  example.  Nor  is  it  of  use 
telling  a  man  to  give  up  his  opinions.    He  cannot  give  up  his  opinions  at  will,  and 

[No.  267.]      ~"  '  [N0.8,  Vol.  XI.] 

[ONE  PENNY.l 


110  THE  REASONER. 


when  he  sacrifices  himself,  he  ought  to  take  care  that  he  at  the  same  time  accom- 
plishes for  the  public  a  good  equal  to  that  which  he  forfeits  himself.  No  question 
that  it  is  the  best  thing  for  a  disbeliever  to  stop  away  from  church — to  refuse  openly, 
respectfully,  and  manfully,  and  to  make  his  refusal  an  example  to  all  around  him. 

It  is  well  to  live  upon  less,  to  put  up  with  privation,  to  work  harder,  in  order  to 
enjoy  the  noble  freedom  of  conscience  and  action.  Where  a  man  is  single,  and  has 
no  relatives  depending  upon  him,  he  should  cast  himself  at  once  on  the  world  and 
freedom,  and  struggle  his  way  through.  The  discipline  would  make  his  character  if 
not  his  fortune.  But  to  those  who  do  not  or  cannot  take  this  course,  let  them 
take  care  that  the  evil  is  atoned  for  as  far  as  possible,  and  reduced  to  as  small  an 
offence  against  the  truth  as  possible. 

Undoubtedly  it  is  a  fault  to  go  to  church  when  you  should  be  bearing  testimony 
against  it.  But  if  you  refuse  to  go  and  are  ruined,  and  those  about  you  are  ruined 
also,  you  lose  the  power  of  spreading  your  opinions  except  by  the  example  of  loss 
incurred,  which  is  not  attractive  as  the  world  goes.  Do  this  even  then.  Struggle 
against  going  to  church  as  much  as  you  can — embrace  every  fair  opportunity  of 
being  absent :  say  you  do  not  profit  sufficiently — that  you  need  instruction  in  ethics, 
and  you  do  not  get  it — that  you  need  a  higher  ideal  of  life  set  before  you,  and  you 
do  not  find  it  furnished.  These  reasons  will  always  be  true  and  excuse  many 
absences — but  will  not  excuse  all.  When  you  must  go,  remember  you  have  to 
atone  for  it.  Ask  yourself  what  you  do  it  for,  and  devote  one  half  the  value  of  the 
sum  of  the  advantage  to  support  what  you  consider  the  true  principles. 

If  religious  people  force  the  compliance  of  your  attendance  against  your  con- 
science, as  the  price  of  your  means  of  actual  living  according  to  your  station — if 
you  must  go  to  church  as  a  matter  of  trade,  or  self-protection,  or  in  kindness  to 
others,  you  need  not  give  manliness  as  well  as  submission.  Take  vengeance  on 
the  church  who  thus  attacks  your  manhood  and  honour.  Devote  half  your  ad- 
vantages which  you  have  to  purchase  by  acquiescence,  to  exploding  and  bringing 
into  contempt  the  system  which  seeks  to  enslave  you.  If  this  course  were  often 
taken  religious  people  would  soon  give  over  enforcing  compliance  with  their  ex- 
ternals. They  know  that  many  every  day  sit  down  in  their  churches  and  chapels  who 
do  it  reluctantly,  and  they  often  boast  how  they  coerce  and  compel  those  to  come 
in  who  despise  their  effete  doctrines.  Could  ihey,  however,  see  these  persons  were 
bent  on  exacting  that  full  compensation  for  their  compliance,  by  well  devised  and 
indefatigable  retaliation,  they  would  rather  tremble  than  rejoice  at  the  right  of 
those  over  whom  they  now  triumph. 

The  evil  is  that  hundreds  who  are  reluctant  church  and  chapel  goers  affect  to 
regret  the  necessity,  but  never  devote  a  single  £5  note  to  avert  it.  Many  who 
get  £500  and  £1000  a  year  by  complying  with  religious  observances,  which  they 
feel  as  fetters,  never  expend  anything  to  exterminate  the  system  which  degrades 
them.  It  must  be  because  they  are  only  reproached  for  their  compliance,  and  are 
never  advised  how  to  extricate  themselves  through  the  medium  of  others.  Many 
comply  for  the  sake  of  families.  If  we  are  to  believe  this  and  honour  its  genuine- 
ness and  humanity,  it  can  only  be  on  the  ground  thut  they  give  proof  of  it  by  real 
attempts  to  put  an  end  to  the  whole  system  of  hypocrisy.  It  is  very  common  for 
gentlemen  to  say, '  I  really  cannot  oppose  the  Church,  it  would  ruin  me.'  Nobody 
wants  them.  Let  them  help  those  who  can  afford  to  do  it,  and  do  do  it  even  at 
their  own  cost.  Give  adequate  means,  which  we  undertake  faithfully  to  employ  and 
honestly  to  account  for,  and  we  will  do  the  -arork.  Were  sufficient  means  supplied 
tor  propagandism,  in  a  few  years  there  could  be  created  such  a  change  in  public 


THE  REASONER.  Ill 


opinion,  that  it  would  be  deemed  publicly  more  honourable  for  all  who  dislike 
churches  and  chapels  to  stop  away  than  go  to  them.  Once  for  all  we  say  that 
those  who  act  the  compliant  p;irt  as  respects  religious  customs  for  any  reasons  of 
weakness,  trade,  or  humanity,  and  complain  of  the  degradation,  and  yet  devote 
no  part  of  their  religious  gains  to  exterminating  the  whole  system,  and  do  not 
work  where  they  might  woi^k  for  its  destruction — we  say  we  do  not  believe  in  their 
clearsightedness,  or  we  do  not  believe  in  their  manliness  and  sincerity. 

This  is  a  large  question,  involving  many  points  of  integrity  and  honour.  It  is 
touched  here  hastily  and  imperfectly.  Possibly  many  of  our  readers  will  desire 
to  offer  their  opinions,  objecting  or  confirming.  We  hope  they  will  do  so,  for  it  is 
one  upon  which  more  may  and  perhaps  ought  to  be  said. 

G.  J.  HOLYOAKE. 


SEVERAL      MATTERS. 


A  CORRESPONDENT  represents  that  he  has  been  deceived^  with  i-eference  to  our 
promise  of  the  new  Monthly  Wrapper.  In  saying  it  would  appear  with  the  first 
part  of  the  new  volume,  we  meant  the  first  part  wholly  made  up  of  the  new 
numbers.  We  did  not  foresee  that  the  last  Part  of  the  last  volume  must  contain 
two  numbers  of  the  new  volume.  This  was  an  accident  which  did  not  occur  to 
our  notice.  Thus  those  who  have  ordered  the  last  Part  of  the  old  volume  expect- 
ing to  find  it  in  the  new  wrapper  have  been  disappointed,  which  we  regret.  It  has 
been  explained  how  it  came  about  that  the  wrapper  now  it  has  appeared  is  not  all 
we  intended  it  to  be.  The  next  part  will  be  found  in  a  double  wrapper.  To  pre- 
vent any  wrong  expectation  as  to  the  probable  contents  of  it,  let  us  say  that  it  will 
be  made  up  mostly  of  permanent  matter,  it  being  intended  to  keep  there  such 
suggestions,  addresses,  and  business  directions  relative  to  propagandism  as  ought 
to  be  brought  monthly  unler  the  notice  of  our  more  earnest  readers,  which  notices 
if  kept  in  the  Reasoner  would  occupy  space  wanted  for  current  events.  From 
time  to  time  will  be  explained  the  purposes  to  which  the  information  on  the 
wrappers  may  be  put.  With  respect  to  the  addresses  of  the  News-agents,  of  which 
we  have  begun  to  give  a  list,  we  want  some  reader  in  each  town  to  inform  us 
whether  all  the  persons  whose  names  we  have  put  down  keep  the  Reasoner  on  sale, 
as  we  shall  have  to  restrict  the  names  of  agents  which  we  advertise  to  those  who 
keep  the  Reasoner  on  sale.  It  will  be  of  great  value  to  us  to  be  informed  accurately 
who  these  agents  are,  and  also  to  be  apprised  whenever  any  new  agent  commences 
to  supply  it.  It  is  of  service  to  local  agents  to  be  regularly  advertised  in  the 
metropolis.  Our  friends  travelling  to  various  towns  make  it  a  point  to  purchase 
of  those  agents. 

The  article  published  in  a  late  number,  entitled  '  Reinforcement,'  is  already  re- 
ceiving the  responses  of  friends.  Foremost  has  been  Mr.  Arthur  Trevelyan, 
from  whom  we  last  week  acknowledged  three  pounds,  although  he  had  just  before 
contributed  five  pounds  to  the  new  volume. 

The  Rev.  James  Fleming,  of  Lancaster,  has  completed  his  review  of  my  lectures, 
in  three  numbers  of  the  Lancaster  Guardian.  I  have  prepared  three  letters  in 
reply,  the  first  of  which  has  been  forwarded  for  insertion  in  last  Saturday's  paper. 
Next  week  will  appear  in  the  Reasoner  the  first  part  of  the  *  Lancaster  Controversy.' 

We  want  just  seven  names,  as  subscribers  of  seven  sixpences,  to  complete  our 
thousand  for  the  Abolition  of  the  Taxes  on  Knowledge.  He  who  closes  the  list 
ought  to  be  as  memorable  as  the  first  purchaser  of  a  Jenny  Lind  ticket.  We  shall 
put  down  the  names  in  the  oi-der  in  which  they  arrive.  The  only  fear  is,  that 
every  reader  will  think  that  every  other  has  sent  his  sixpence,  and  so  we  shall  not 
get  any,  and  the  list  will  never  be  complete.  This,  we  believe,  is  the  reason  that 
the  number  has  not  been  made  up  before.  The  subscriber  of  the  eighth  sixpence 
will  have  it  returned  to  him,  as  we  only  want  seven.  G.  J.  H. 


112  THE  REASONER. 


A   REMARKABLE    UNION    OF    ECONOMY    AND    TASTE    IN  A 
BAPTIST  CHAPEL. 


The  proprietors  of  the  Baptist  Chapel  situate  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  Victoria 
Theatre,  are  determined,  it  would  seem,  to  keep  pace  with  the  spirit  of  the  times, 
and  turn  an  honest  penny  whenever  an  opportunity  is  afforded  them.  We  know 
not  whether  it  is  anywhere  set  down  that  Baptist  chapels  should  be  strictly  set 
apart  for  prayer,  but  this  we  know  that  the  one  referred  to  is  not  confined  ex- 
clusively to  that  object.  The  ground  floor  on  the  left  hand  side  of  the  sacred 
porch  is  occupied  by  a  picture  broker.  This  tasteful  individual,  in  fine  weather, 
embellishes  the  spacious  area  with  a  collection  of  pictures  by  the  old  masters,  inter- 
spersed with  a  few  specimens  by  living  artists.  The  more  attractive  consist  of 
some  female  portraits  which  might  pass  for  members  of  the  court  of  King  Charles 
II.  Without  cataloguing  the  whole  assortment,  we  may  note,  among  the  rest,  a 
duplicate  of  Murillo's  famous  '  Beggar  Boys,'  and  the  'Return  from  Hawking,'  by 
Landseer.  We  do  this  just  to  show  that  the  reverend  landlords  allow  their 
tenant  such  licence  as  is  indispensable  to  an  amateur  in  the  formation  of  a  popular 
collection  of  pictures. 

Having  said  thus  much  of  the  broker,  we  will  introduce  the  broker's  next  door 
neighbour — that  is  the  occupant  of  the  ground  floor  of  the  sacred  edifice,  on  the 
right  hand  side  of  the  porch.  We  made  no  inquiries,  yet  we  doubt  not  she  is  an 
honest,  hard  working  woman.  Some  amateur  painter  (we  feel  confident  no  pro- 
fessional had  any  hand  in  it)  has  enabled  the  good  woman  to  make  known  the 
nature  of  her  calling.  The  entrance  is  ornamented  with  the  full-length  portrait 
of  a  very  clumsy-looking  mangle.  As  a  picture  it  deserves  to  be  ranked  with  the 
very  lowest  order  of  art.  Not  only  has  the  artist  rendered  the  elegant  and  highly 
useful  machine  in  colours  glaringly  inharmonious,  but  he  has  likewise  betrayed 
utter  ignorance  of  the  rules  of  linear  perspective.  We  wonder  how  the  connoisseur 
on  the  other  side  of  the  chapel  door  can  endure  so  crude  a  performance  in  the 
neighbourhood.  Perhaps  he  has  adopted  the  humane  maxim,  '  Live  and  let  live,' 
and  thus  tolerates  in  charity  what,  as  a  man  of  taste,  he  would  feel  bound  to  anni- 
hilate. We  take  it  the  mangle  picture  is  intended  as  an  average  specimen  of 
Baptist  art.  The  dealer's  collection  we  look  upon  as  mere  stock  in  trade,  but  the 
mangle  is  a  permanent  badge  of  Baptist  taste,  nailed  in  a  conspicuous  place  on  the 
chapel  front. 

We  never  heard  that  the  Baptists,  as  a  religious  body,  ever  make  any  great 
sacrifices  for  the  promotion  of  the  fine  arts,  and  we  have  some  reason  to  think 
they  never  did.  We  had  been  acquainted  with  their  music  and  singing  for  many 
years,  having  resided  near  one  of  their  places  of  worship  in  a  small  market  town 
in  Berkshire,  and  we  then  formed  our  estimate  of  their  accomplishments  in  the 
vocal  and  instrumental  departments.  In  candour  we  must  own  that  they  sang 
and  played  with  considerable  earnestness,  at  the  same  time  not  with  such  remark- 
able skill  as  to  make  us  esteem  our  lodgings  any  the  better  for  being  within  a 
respectable  hearing  distance.  Whatever  attractions  of  '  rural  sight  or  sound'  the 
Berkshire  hamlet  had  for  our  boyish  days,  neither  the  architectural  decorations  of 
their  chapel  nor  the  singing  of  their  choir  made  anything  approximating  to  a 
favourable  impression  on  our  youthful  sensibility.  We  remember  the  good 
Baptists  used  to  lament  our  plentiful  lack  of  grace,  and  that  we  used  to  smile  at 
their  simplicity. 

We  knew  what  they  could  do  in  music  and  song — it  remained  for  us  to  discover 
what  they  could  do  in  the  pictorial  way.    Perhaps  it  is  not  fair  to  judge  them 


THE  REASONER.  113 


solely  by  the  mangle  '  fresco '  (yet  one  would  think  they  would  not  have  it  nailed 
on  their  chapel  front  unless  they  took  some  pride  in  it).  If  we  are  to  take  that  for 
what  they  can  do,  it  is  the  first  discovery  we  have  made  of  their  abilities,  and  we 
hope  it  will  be  the  last.  We  intend  to  carry  our  researches  into  the  interior  of 
the  chapel,  where  we  expect  to  make  the  discovery  that  the  lady  of  the  mangle  is 
also  a  laundress,  and  that  she  has  some  interest  in  the  bath  devoted  to  the  interest- 
ing ceremony  of  immersion.  Should  such  turn  out  to  be  the  fact,  we  shall  not  be 
at  all  surprised,  after  learning  to  what  purposes  the  authorities  can  appropriate 
another  portion  of  the  holy  mansion.  The  Icelanders  let  their  churches  to  tallow- 
chandlers  and  fishmongers  for  store  rooms — so  says  a  lady  traveller  who  has  re- 
cently paid  that  economical  race  a  visit.  We  do  not  think  that  benighted  people 
any  more  entitled  to  credit  on  the  score  of  their  economy  than  the  proprietors  of 
the  chapel  to  which  we  have  directed  the  attention  of  Lambeth  readers. 

Christopher. 

THE  EARLY  MARTYRS  NOT  ALL  CHRISTIANS. 


Salvador  is  a  Jew.     It  is  his  idea  that  the  Roman  emperors,  asserting  themselves 
to  be  gods  from  the  time  of  Augustus,  paved  the  way  to  the  worship  of  the  man  Jesus. 

*  The  year  12  before  the  actual  era,  and  more  than  forty  years  before  the  preach- 
ing of  Jesus  Christ,  an  immense  temple  in  honour  of  Augustus  was  inaugurated 
at  the  conflux  of  the  Saone  and  the  Rhone.  The  Gaulish  gods  acknowledged  the 
emperor,  the  man  god,  for  their  sovereign  :  obedience  and  devotion  to  Rome 
formed  the  basis  of  the  worship  of  this  temple.  The  statues  of  sixty  cities,  the 
most  important  of  the  Gauls,  represented  the  homage  and  subjection,  more  or  less 
disguised,  of  all  the  peoples  from  the  Alps  to  the  Ocean,  from  the  Pyrenees  to  the 
Rhine.  In  this  sense,  and  in  a  Roman  point  of  view,  the  Gauls  acquired  incon- 
testible  rights  to  an  honorary  title — it  merited  to  be  called  the  eldest  daughter  of  the 
religion  of  the  divinity  of  Augustus  and  of  the  emperors,  in  the  same  manner  that 
this  country,  some  ages  afterwards,  was  thought  worthy  to  receive  the  title  of  the 
eldest  daughter  of  the  new  church  detached  from  Jerusalem,  of  the  new  religion 
of  which  Rome  has  had  the  destiny  to  be  the  expression,  the  most  authentic  and 
the  true  centre.' — (Salvador's  '  Roman  Domination  in  Judea,'  vol.  i.,  pp.  335-6,) 

I  would  call  your  attention  particularly  to  these  last  words,  because  they  seem 
exactly  corresponding  to  those  which  you  are  represented  as  having  expressed  in 
the  late  discussion  with  the  Rev.  Mr.  Scott. 

Another  remarkable  fact  he  appears  to  substantiate  is,  that  the  Romans  did  not, 
for  a  long  time,  know  the  difference  between  Christians  and  Jews.  They  knew 
that  all  the  Jews  were  expectant  of  a  Christ  or  Messiah.  When  they  called  them 
(the  Jews)  Christians,  they  only  meant  those  who  had  this  belief,  without  attach- 
ing it  to  the  person  of  Jesus.  The  mention  of  Christ  crucified  by  Tacitus  he 
declares  to  be  an  interpolation,  which  also  was  the  judgment  of  the  late  Rev.  Mr. 
Taylor.  Thus  the  martyrdoms  ascribed  to  the  Christians,  Salvador  affirms  to  have 
been  suffered  by  the  Jews. 

Even  under  Augustus  the  Jews  were  well  known  at  Rome,  from  the  frequent 
mention  of  them  by  Horace,  who,  when  told  of  a  miracle,  said  a  Jew  may  believe 
that.  He  wishes  to  speak  on  business  with  a  friend,  who  says  it  is  the  Sabbath  of 
the  Jews,  let  us  not  offend  their  prejudices.  The  answer  of  Horace  is  worth 
giving  in  classical  language,  as  you  or  your  readers  may  wish  it  for  a  motto — 
'  Nulla  mihi,  unquam  religio  est,'  which  Englished  is  '  I  never  had  any  religion.' 
His  friend  answers  so  exactly  in  the  strain  of  the  religious  sentimentalist  of  the 
present  day  that  it  is  worth  giving — '  At  mi :  sum  paulo  infirmior,  unus  multorum,' 
English — '  But  I  am  a  little  weaker  on  that  point ;  I  am  one  of  the  many.^ 

W.  J.  B. 


114 


THE  REASONER. 


%amttiattOtt  of  il)t  \Brtes, 


The  History  of  Six  Months'  Imprisonment. — This  is  a  record  of  facts, 
pleasantly  rendered,  relative  to  the  imprisonment  of  the  author,  in  1842,  for  blas- 
phemy. The  work  is  divided  into  four  chapters — before  the  imprisonment;  the 
trial;  after  the  sentence;  and  after  the  liberation.  A  very  high  compliment  is 
paid  to  the  accomplished  Mr.  Birch  in  the  '  Dedication.'  This  gentleman  is  author 
of  the  '  Inquiry  into  the  Religion  of  Shakspere,'  a  charming  book  for  the  literary 
man.  Any  one  might  feel  proud  of  having  such  a  compliment  paid  him.  Al- 
though there  may  have  been  some  unnecessary  daring  in  Mr.  Holyoake  when  he 
uttered  the  words  fur  which  he  was  prosecuted  and  imprisoned,  yet  we  have  no 
sympathy  whatever  with  prosecutions  for  opinions.  Our  talented  townsman,  Mr. 
Samuel  Bailey,  in  his  *  Formation  of  Opinions,'  has  taught  us  the  utter  absurdity 
and  wickedness  of  anything  of  the  kind.  In  the  celebrated  inaugural  address  of 
Lord  Brougham,  the  doctrine  is  clearly  laid  down,  that  it  would  be  as  reasonable 
to  persecute  a  man  for  having  red  hair,  or  a  crooked  nose,  or  a  cast  of  the  eye,  as 
for  having  certain  opinions.  This  appears  to  have  been  fully  verified  by  this  six 
months'  imprisonment.  From  first  to  last,  Mr.  Holyoake  appears  to  have 
bothered  policemen,  magistrates,  judges,  counsel,  jailors,  turnkeys,  prisoners, 
prison  inspectors,  the  Home  Secretary,  and  Parliament  itself.  Even  after  the  im- 
prisonnient  was  over  Mr.  Holyoake  fired  another  shot,  the  effects  of  which,  we  have 
no  doubt,  are  now  felt  in  the  improved  discipline  of  the  prison  where  he  was  in- 
carcerated. "We  apprehend  that  all  the  officers  connected  with  the  prosecution 
and  imprisonment  were  heartily  glad  when  they  were  rid  of  it.  Many  piquant 
sketches  appear  throughout  the  book.  We  are  glad  to  find  that  our  talented 
member,  Mr.  Roebuck,  who  sat  for  Bath  at  that  time,  brought  the  case  before  the 
Home  office  and  Parliament.  Sir  James  Graham  stated  in  the  House,  in  answer  to 
him,  that  *  there  had  been  serious  irregularities  and  unnecessary  harshness  in  the 
case  of  Holyoake  ;'  a  very  severe  reproof,  which  was  heavily  felt.  The  report  of 
the  trial  is  taken  from  the  reporter's  notes.  At  another  part  of  the  trial,  honour- 
able mention  is  made  of  the  conduct  of  the  ladies — and  a  touching  recital  of  the 
occurrence  brings  our  townsmen,  John  Fowler  and  Paul  Rogers,  out  in  a  pleasant 
and  honourable  position.  We  trust  our  readers  will  possess  the  book,  as  its 
perusal  will  suggest  many  important  ideas  at  the  present  time. — Sheffield  Free 
Press,  May  3,  1851. 

The  '  Nonconformist  '  and  the  *  Last  Trial  for  Atheism.' — Mr.  Holyoake 
is  not  a  person  with  whom  one  can  or  ought  to  sympathise  greatly :  but  we 
deprecate  and  deplore  all  such  legislative  interference  with  religious  opinion  as  he 
has  sufiered  from  ;  and  his  case  shows  it  to  be  bad  in  principle,  and  most  injurious 
in  its  effects.  We  must  take  his  part,  and  not  the  wicked  law's,  in  this  most  un- 
Christian  prosecution. — Nonconformist,  June  11,  1851.  [Several  reviews  of  the 
'  Last  Trial '  have  been  prepared  by  journalists,  and  have  been  suppressed  by 
clerical  influence  connected  with  the  respective  newspapers  for  which  they  were 
prepared.  This  has  been  communicated  by  a  friend  under  whose  hotice  one  or  two 
cases  have  come. — Ed.] 

A  Bishop  Supporting  Dissent. — The  Bishop  of  Durham  has  subscribed  £15 
towards  an  Independent  Chapel,  in  Newcastle-upon-Tyne,  at  which  that  champion 
of  dissent,  the  Rev.  T.  Biuney,  preached  on  Sunday  week.— Prestow  Chronicle, 
June  28,  1851. 


THE  REASONER. 


115 


Saeligtoit,   ^^tlftiSnx,   anlf    ^rt. 


BY    CHRISTOPHER. 


In  the  service  of  Christianity,  the  fine 
arts  have  unquestionably  ari-ived  at 
great  maturity  and  perfection.  Raphael 
and  Michael  An»elo  went  far  to  lival  the 
ancients  ;  but  the  ahlest  judges,  even 
amongst  devout  Christians,  decree  the 
palm  of  superiority  to  the  ancients,  and 
the  ablest  Christian  painters  and  sculp- 
tors have  vied  with  each  other  in  paying 
honour  to  the  painters  and  sculptors  of 
Greece,  It  is  refreshing  to  read  with 
what  warmth  and  enthusiasm  the  pain- 
ters of  Italy,  while  in  the  service  of  the 
Pope,  could  speak  of  the  sculptured 
deities  whose  worship,  as  Catholics,  they 
must  have  been  taught  to  hold  in  abomi- 
nation. We  trace  this  liberal  conduct 
of  Christian  artists  to  the  enlightened 
principles  of  the  arts  in  which  they  were 
so  well  accomplished.  It  would  have 
been  easier  to  have  persuaded  Michael 
Angelo  that  he  was  Pope  Clement  than 
to  have  wrung  from  him  any  other  de- 
cision than  that  Phidias  was  the  greatest 
of  sculptors.  The  principles  which  re- 
gulate the  judgment  of  the  artist  are 
absolute  as  the  laws  of  nature.  To  him 
art  is  but  'nature  methodised.'  Nicolas 
Poussin,  who  painted  at  Rome  till  1GG5, 
having  stU'lied  Raphael  and  the  antique 
with  so  much  profit  as  to  win  for  him- 
self a  place  beside  the  fiist-class  painters 
of  Italy,  made  the  following  striking 
comparison  betwixt  Pagan  and  Christian 
artists.  He  said — '  Compared  with  your 
moderns,  Raphael  is  an  angel ;  compared 
with  the  ancients,  he  is  an  ass.'  This 
painter-like  comparison  has  been  mainly 
borne  out,  though  in  milder  language, 
by  the  majority  of  eminent  critics. 

Italian  painters,  although  engaged  to 
adorn  Christian  churches,  knew  that  it 
would  be  vain  to  seek  among  Christian 
archives  for  materials  for  their  art.  The 
Joves,  Junos,  and  Apollos  of  Pagan 
worship  formed  the  basis  of  that  excel- 
lence to  which  painting  and  sculpture 
were  carried  by  Da  Vinci,  Raphael, 
Michael  Angelo,  Julio  Romano,  and  the 
Carracci.  Those  Christian  artists  knew 
that  the  materials  for  beautifying  Chris- 


tian churches  were  only  to  be  found 
among  the  ruins  of  Pagan  temples. 

The  statuaries  and  painters  of  Greece 
were  indebted  to  the  demands  made 
upon  them  by  the  priests  for  the  excel- 
lence they  achieved,  and  which  to  this 
day  has  not  been  equalled.  The  attri- 
butes of  their  deities,  heroes,  philoso- 
phers, and  poets  (amongst  whom  a  sort 
of  relationship  existed)  taxed  the  artist's 
invention  to  the  uttermost,  and  drew 
forth  the  most  perfect  types  of  every 
variety  of  form  and  character. 

The  Athenians  pursued  art  in  that 
liberal  spirit  which  mankind  would  do 
well  to  infuse  into  all  their  undertakings. 
Throwing  aside  everything  which  pre- 
vented its  full  and  complete  develop- 
ment, their  productions  soon  furnished 
a  remarkable  contrast  to  the  crudities  of 
older  nations.  The  history  of  the  world 
does  not  present  more  hopeful  and  in- 
citing evidence  of  perseverance  and 
success  in  pursuit  of  excellence  than 
the  labours  of  the  Grecian  chisel.  Never 
was  there  a  more  striking  demonstration 
of  what  great  things  a  people  can  ac- 
complish whose  genius  is  unfettered  and 
uncontrolled.  Hitherto  sculpture  and 
painting  had  been  pursued  like  vulgar 
crafts,  realising  the  most  barren  con- 
ceptions, anil  employed  only  as  the  lan- 
guage of  prejudice,  bigotry,  and  intole- 
rance. Tlirough  almost  trackless  ages 
the  self-same  idols  reared  their  hideous 
shapes,  adequate  to  the  purposes  of  the 
priesthood  and  for  the  worship  of  peoples 
unnumbered.  Art  arose  in  Greece — to 
use  a  figure  of  one  of  her  poets — '  like  a 
Day  drawn  by  white  steeds,'  a  glorious 
light  amidst  a  world  of  'darkness  which 
might  be  felt.'  Ages  have  elapsed,  and 
Greece  has  passed  away,  but  the  glory 
which  crowned  the  efforts  of  her  aspiring 
sons  in  the  free  exercise  of  the  arts 
remains  undiminished  and  unobscured. 

Fortunately,  it  is  possible,  without 
quitting  England,  to  acquire  a  knowledge 
of  the  works  of  Grecian  artists ;  laudable 
care  has  been  taken  to  purchase  many 
of  the  most  precious  fragments  as  they 


116 


THE  REASONER. 


hare  been  'dug  from  their  grave  for  ages.' 
Of  those  which  might  not  be  purchased, 
accurate  casts  have  been  procured,  which, 
in  the  absence  of  the  originals,  serve  the 
student  for  exemplars.  There  is  a  col- 
lection of  Grecian  sculptures  in  the 
British  Museum,  another  at  Oxford,  and 
many  smaller  ones  in  different  parts  of 
the  country.  Miniature  casts,  bearing 
some  resemblance  to  the  originals,  are 
hawked  in  almost  every  town  ;  an4 
whether  looking  at  the  mutilated  frag- 
ments in  the  state  in  which  thev  were 
exhumed,  or  the  large  authentic  casts, 
many  of  which  have  been  restored  (that 
is,  the  casts  have  been  supplied  with 
missing  portions  by  ingenious  sculptors). 
or  judging  only  from  the  shilling  at- 
tempts at  imitation  vended  in  the  streets, 
they  are  at  once  recognised  as  the  almost 
perfect  types  of  fair-proportioned  man- 
hood and  womanly  gracefulness.  Some 
appear  to  us  as  deities,  but  they  are  esti- 
mated only  as  wonders  of  art — as  imper- 
sonations of  man  and  woman,  beautiful, 
graceful,  and  energetic. 

It  will  be  seen,  upon  consulting  the 
history  of  the  fine  arts  in  their  connec- 
tion with  religion,  that  they  have  been 
fostered  and  perfected,  or  neglected  and 
degraded,  just  as  priests  have  desired 
and  willed — and  this  without  reference 
to  any  particular  nation.  Thus  in  Egypt 
the  arts  were  pursued  under  the  most 
degrading  conditions  ;  and  so  also  by 
the  descendants  of  Abraham.  On  the 
other  hand,  to  the  artists  of  Greece 
every  incitement  was  held  out  which 
might  induce  them  to  excel.  To  the 
Egyptians  little,  and  to  the  Israelites 
belong  no  sort  of  renown  for  the  works 
of  their  sculptors  and  painters.  In  con- 
trast, Greece  is  called  the  Mother  of 
Arts.  The  works  of  Grecian  sculptors 
evidence  the  greatest  nicety  of  percep- 
tion, enlarged  and  refined  conception — 
and  more,  the  rare  practical  accomplish- 
ment (so  difficult  to  master)  to  realise 
fully  to  the  comprehension  of  others 
that  which  was  deemed  worthy  of  being 
perpetuated. 

To  old  Rome  belongs  the  doubtful 
reputation  of  having  despoiled  the 
temples  of  Greece  of  their  best  works  of 
art,  and  of  havin^j  afterwards  highly  ap- 
preciated them.  It  seems  to  have  trou- 
bled the  Romans  very  little  with  respect 
to  whom  their  gods  were,  where  they 
came  from,  what  they  wpre  made  of,  or 


by  what  process  they  became  possessed 
of  them ;  hence,  on  their  acquisition  of 
Grecian  deities,  they  found  no  scruples 
to  prevent  their  giving  them  the  highest 
places  of  honour  in  their  own  temples. 
Thus  the  gods  of  Greece  became  the 
gods  of  Rome.  But  not  so  the  skill 
which  created  those  gods.  Rome  could 
plunder  others  of  their  godly  creations 
but  could  not  steal  the  ability  to  create 
for  themselves. 

In  turn,  the  barbarians,  and  then  the 
Christians,  arose  in  great  strength,  and 
demolished  the  divinities  and  other 
images  which  the  Romans  had  been  at 
so  much  pains  to  accumulate.  After- 
wards the  caste  of  the  Christians  altered, 
and  they  displayed  the  greatest  zeal  to 
dig  up  and  collect  together  the  fragments 
of  the  images  they  had  broken,  and  to 
make  good  the  havoc  they  had  made. 
Further,  they  established  ^schools  of 
painting  and  sculpture  for  themselves. 
It  is  known  to  what  the  arts  have  arisen 
under  the  sanction  of  religion.  It  re- 
mains to  be  shown  what  use  can  be  made 
of  the  arts  by  those  who  have  no  religion 
in  the  ordinary  acceptation  of  the  term, 
for,  in  all  the  cases  we  have  mentioned, 
a  religion  of  some  sort  or  other  was  the 
chief  incitement  to  artistic  effort. 

For  our  acquaintance  with  the  several 
religions  of  India,  Egypt,  Greece,  and 
ancient  Italy  we  are  chiefly  indebted  to 
the  arts  of  design,  which  were  monopo- 
lised by  the  priests  ot  those  nations  to 
furnish  the  symbols  for  imparting  reli- 
gious instruction  to  the  masses  of  the 
people.  Many  interesting  particnlars 
have  been  brought  to  light  concerning 
the  Egyptians,  in  whose  temples  and 
tombs  an  unceasing  investigation  is  pur- 
sued by  learned  and  indefatigable  Eu- 
ropeans. The  priests  of  that  ancient 
race  appear  to  have  considered  religion 
the  only  subject  worthy  to  be  recorded 
in  paint  and  in  stone.  Whatever  pan- 
city  ot  record  may  be  felt  respecting 
some  of  the  habits  of  that  people,  almost 
every  stone  of  their  vast  buildings  is  a 
written  tablet  to  enlighten  the  scholar 
on  matters  pertaining  to  their  religions 
observances.  Egyptian  art,  if  the  term 
may  be  allowed,  was  strictly  conven- 
tional. Idols  were  designed  by  the 
priesthood,  and  forms  thus  furnished 
were  held  inviolable.  Those  idols  not 
being  self-explanatory,  a  series  of  hiero- 
glyphics were  needed  to  explain  them — 


THE  REASONER. 


117 


these  were  likewise  designed  by  the  in- 
dastrioas  priests.  Some  of  the  objects 
selected  to  illustrate  the  idols  were  of  a 
loathsome  nature.  The  cat,  dog,  and 
crocodile  were  amongst  the  objects  most 
revered  of  those  set  before  the  people. 
The  selection  shows  anything  but  a 
dainty  taste  on  the  part  of  those  who 
made  it — one  certainly  not  likely  to 
initiate  a  love  of  the  beautiful.  Those 
firet-class  idols  Osiris  and  Isis  were  very 
uncouth,  and  the  Sphynx  was  sufficiently 
monstrous  to  be  the  mother  of  all  the 
monsters  which  ever  haunted  mankind. 

Sympathy  does  not,  ought  not,  to 
exist  betwixt  Egyptian  sculptures  and 
modem  art.  The  chief  characteristics 
of  those  sculptures  are  opposed  to  the 
common  principles  of  nature  ;  nature 
is  outraged  by  them,  and  every  noble 
aspiration  suffers  by  their  contemplation. 
There  are  reasons  why  the  remains  of 
Egyptian  tombs,  temples,  obelisks,  idols, 
and  mummies  are  valuable  to  modern 
teachers ;  but  there  are  no  reasons  why 
those  idols  should  not  be  rejected  by 
those  who  aspire  to  excellence  in  the 
arts  of  design.  Not  in  contempt  of  the 
religion  which  they  typify  are  they  re- 
jected, but  because  they  want  beauty 
and  dignity  and  grace. 

The  children  of  Israel,  who  were  in- 
debted to  the  Egyptians  for  the  little 
knowledge  they  had  of  the  arts  of  design, 
were  subjected  to  similar  regulations, 
and  they  never  achieved  a  name  for  the 
creation  of  ideal  beauty  and  graceful- 
ness on  canvass,  in  stone,  wood,  ivory, 
or  brass.  The  calf  idol  which  they 
manufactured  in  the  wilderness  (proba- 
bly an  imitation  of  the  red  heiier  of 
Osiris)  brought  them  little  encourage- 
ment ;  no  sooner  did  their  great  law- 
giver perceive  the  beast  than  he  broke 
it  to  pieces,  and  caused  three  thousand 
of  the  'stiff-necked'  idolaters  to  he  slain. 
Afterwards  the  Jews  were  supplied  with 
patterns,  made  everything  to  order,  and 
took  care  to  make  nothing  on  their  own 
responsibility.  Moses  gave  out  that  he 
received  the  patterns  he  furnished  to 
the  Israelites  from  the  hands  of  God. 
Such  might  have  been  the  case,  though 
some  are  inclined  to  believe  they  were 
but  imitations  of  patterns  Moses  had 
been  familiar  with  all  his  life  in  Egypt. 
In  justice  to  the  Egyptians,  the  matter 
ought  to  be  decided.     If  a  similar  dis- 


pute about  patterns  occurred  in  these 
times,  a  party  standing  in  the  light  of 
the  Egyptian  priesthood  wonld  have 
little  difficulty  in  obtaining  damages  for 
an  infringement  of  their  copyright. 

We  have  been  accustomed  to  consider 
useful  manufactures  in  their  commer- 
cial, economical,  and  political  capacity, 
and  thus  estimated  them  with  respect  to 
their  value  to  society.  The  more  mere 
manual  operations  may  become  associa- 
ted with  the  fine  arts,  and  derive  addi- 
tional worth  from  the  connection,  so 
much  the  greater  will  be  our  satisfaction, 
so  much  the  more  will  they  rise  in  onr 
estimation. 

Painting,  poetry,  music,  and  sculp- 
ture we  esteem  as  elegant  speculations, 
involving  no  less  than  a  people's  refine- 
ment— that,  entertained  in  their  pure 
and  simple  capacity,  they  elevate  and 
ennoble  the  mind,  and,  in  the  purity  of 
their  culture,  furnish  no  uncertain  testi- 
mony of  a  nation's  morality. 

Some  writers  speak  very  confidently 
of  religion  being  the  source  of  art  both 
in  ancient  and  modem  times,  but  there 
is  a  vagueness  in  this  language  which 
amounts  to  a  considerable  pretension, 
misleading  the  reader  as  to  the  facts  of 
the  case.  People  suppose  that  Chris- 
tianity, or  the  genius  of  the  true  religion, 
has  been  the  source  of  it  all.  Whereas 
in  ancient  times  the  arts  arose  and  at- 
tained to  a  perfection  which  the  epoch  of 
the  true  religion  has  certainly  not  sur- 
passed. As  we  have  shown,  the  kind 
of  religion  extant  at  the  commencement 
of  the  arts  was  the  Pagan  religion,  which 
had  a  large  element  in  it  both  of  mate- 
rialism and  humanity.  What  charac- 
terises, what  stamps  the  great  efforts  of 
the  early  artists  are  features  strongly 
human  :  indeed  all  their  divinities  are 
human  in  their  embodiments.  This 
element  of  humanity  entered  like  a 
strong  inspiration  into  the  celebrated 
efforts  of  which  we  are  speaking — is 
quite  appreciable  by  the  atheist  in  any 
age,  and  may  be  considered  as  a  common 
condition  capable  of  ensuring  greatness 
in  the  arts  among  any  people  of  intel- 
lectual capacity,  upon  whom  ordinary 
cultivation  shall  be  bestowed.  It  is  no 
uncommon  thing  to  find  modem  divines 
representing  the  entire  pagan  world  as 
being  without  God,  or  without  the  inspi- 
ration  of  the  trae   religion.     Indeed  it 


seems  agreed  on  all  hands,  so  far  as  re- 
ligious writers  are  concerned,  that  the 
ancients  are  very  much  to  be  pitied  for 
having  been  born  so  early,  when  they 
(•ould  not  avail  themselves  of  the  clas- 
sic;il  genius  of  the  Evnugelists  or  the 
elegant  speculations  of  the  nnan  of 
Tarsus.  ]3ut  what  strikes  us  with  most 
force  is,  that  if  the  ancients  accomplished 
so  much  without  religion,  why  may  not 
other  people  hope  to  attain  to  some  de- 
gree of  cultivation  in  the  same  way,  see- 
ing that  a  common  humanity  helongs  to 
all,  and  that  the  world  is  full  of  tragedy 
and  poetry  in  every  age?  It  is  very 
much  overlooked  that  it  is  come  to  be 
considered  a  vulgar  state  of  the  critical 
faculty  which  sees  no  distinction  be- 
tween religion  and  morality.  In  these 
pages  opponents  have  often  been  re- 
minded that  sufficient  concessions  have 
been  made  of  late  years  to  establish  the 
fact,  so  far  as  eminent  authority  is  con- 
cerned, that  morality  is  independent  of 
religion. 

The  philosophic  critic  and  the  defender 
of  divinity  only  contend  now  for  the 
eminence  of  religion,  as  shedding  a 
brighter  and  purer  light  over  the  field 
of  ethics.  Morality,  which  is  indepen- 
dent of  religion,  and  may  exist  equally 
well  with  atheism,  is  only  now  depicted 
as  being  of  a  lower  kind  than  that  pos- 
sessed by  the  more  fortunate  Christian. 
There  is  no  reason,  therefore,  to  deny  a 
taste  for  the  arts,  or  even  proficiency  in 
them,  to  the  atheist.  It  is  no  longer  a 
question  of  fact,  but  one  of  degree.  In 
determining  this  degree,  the  Christian 
of  course  awards  the  palm  to  himself; 
but  the  fact  that  the  capacity  belongs,  in 
some  lesser  degree,  to  his  opponent  is 
no  longer  to  be  disputed.  The  question 
then  arises,  whence  is  the  inspiration  of 
atheistical  art  to  come  ?  We  answer, 
morality  is  an  inspiration,  and  that  in 


the  kingdom  of  secularism  all  the  riches 
of  nature  are  opened  to  the  student 
therein. 

It  has  been  shown,  over  and  over 
again,  that  in  Poetry  and  the  Drama, 
two  of  the  highest  branches  of  imagina- 
tive art,  there  are  no  sources  of  inspira- 
tion so  profound  as  those  of  nature,  so 
moving  as  those  of  human  incident ;  and 
we  have  never  heard  that  nature  and 
the  tragic  incidents  of  human  life  are 
the  peculiar  property  of  the  Christian. 

From  all,  therefore,  that  history 
speaks,  facts  suggest,  or  inference  in- 
forms us,  there  is  no  reiison  to  suppose 
that  the  appreciation,  the  love,  and  the 
cultivation  of  the  arts  may  not  be  found 
dwelling  with  the  atheists  as  a  body  as 
well  as  with  Christians. 

How  far  these  conclusions  are  from 
being  ideal  the  historical  reader  may 
soon  satisfy  himself.  In  the  periods 
when  Christianity  has  been  most  intense 
it  has  been  most  opposed  to  art.  The 
Puritans,  for  instance,  despoiled  the 
noblest  examples  of  secular  genius,  and 
whatever  ancestors  less  religious  than 
themselves  had  borrowed  from  Pagan 
quarters  to  adorn  their  temples  of  wor- 
ship with.  Even  to  this  day  the  struggle 
still  goes  on,  and  the  sceptic  has  to 
stand  between  the  pietist  and  the  degra- 
dation of  art,  which  can  never  move  in 
saintly  harness,  and  is  nothing  unless 
free.  There  are  not  wanting  Christians 
who  would  put  petticoats  on  the  Grecian 
Slave  of  Power  now  in  the  Exhibition, 
and  fit  out  Apollo  with  a  suit  from 
Holywell  Street,  in  order  to  comply 
with  Christian  decorum — a  certain  com- 
pound of  prudery  and  aflfectation,  very 
tar  removed  from  nature,  truth,  and 
chastity.  In  a  practical  sense,  we  think 
it  may  be  proved  that  art  rather  lives  in 
spite  of  religion  than  in  consequence 
of  it. 


THE  REASONER.  ii9 


Prom  which  any  earnest  opponent  may  controvert  our  opinions,  and  from  which  any  may  expound  viewa 
not  coincident  with  our  own,  il  tending  to  the  Rationalisatiar.  of  Tiieology. 

THE     SECRETS     OF    XATURE. 


Sir, — I  observe,  in  No.  236  of  the  Heasoner,  that  Mr.  Harrison  demanded  of  me 
'where  the  first  mjin  came  from  ?'  He  wanted  a  direct  reply,  he  said.  I  gave  him 
one.  I  said,  I  did  not  know, '  I  was  not  in  the  secrets  of  nature,'  &c.  As  I  wish 
for  information  on  that  topic,  and  on  the  creation  of  the  world,  I  deemed  it  prudent 
to  write  you,  and  if  you  can  give  me  no  other  reply,  no  other  mode  of  responding 
to  opponents;  even  then,  an  answer  will  be  very  acceptable. 

I  cannot  believe  the  Bible  history  of  the  beginning  of  man  and  of  the  world,  it 
being  unreasonable  and  unsolid ;  and  I  cannot  accept  the  theory  of  progressive 
development,  it  being  so  intricate  and  unsatisfying.  To  say,  as  an  absolute 
answer,  that  I  do  not  know  how  the  world  and  man  originated,  sounds  somewhat 
inelegant;  although  I  presume  it  to  be  the  most  logical  one.  I  consider  it 
essential  to  have  fixed  opinions,  and  I  hope  you  will  not  think  me  intruding  in 
soliciting  information. 

Should  you  vouchsafe  a  reply,  I  should  communicate  the  result  to  several  of 
my  friends  who  know  of  my  intention  of  addressing  you,  and  who  are  equally 
desirous  of  enlightenment  as  myself. 

You  may  be  pleased  to  learn  that  the  Reasoner  is  read  in  Clapham  by  persons 
persons  who  believe  in  its  contents.  A  Glapham  Truth-seeker. 

[To  confess  to  want  of  knowledge  where  you  have  it  not  is  no  doubt '  inelegant,' 
as  this  querist  terms  it — but  inelegancy  is  better  than  presumption.  Other  replies 
may  be  given,  but  they  involve  details  which  lead  from  the  subject  of  debate.  The 
one  which  confesses  to  want  of  knowledge  has  the  advantage  of  pressing  the 
Christian  to  unravel  himself  and  reveal  what  he  knows. — Ed.] 

TERMSOFSOCIALISM. 

Sir, — In  263  of  the  Reasoner  Mr.  Holyoake  reports  himself  to  have  replied  in 
answer  to  a  question,  that  '  Conscience  is  a  man's  sense  of  duty,  and  it  implies 
responsibility  to  himself  and  to  his  fellows.'  This  statement  coming  from  a  dis- 
ciple of  Mr.  Owen  is  extraordinary,  and  seems  to  imply  a  denial  of  one  of  the  most 
essential  principles  of  Socialism.  If,  as  Mr.  Holyoake  states  in  Reasoner  No.  184, 
p.  354,  *  man  neither  made  his  nature  nor  his  condition,'  but  *  owes  his  actions  to  the 
destiny  of  his  organisation  and  position,'  then  'conscience'  or  a  '  sense  of  duty' 
must  result  from  these  two  sources  of  thought  and  action.  Hence  to  affirm  that 
responsibility  is  thus  implied,  seems  in  direct  opposition  to  the  nature  of  things. 
If  man  be  responsible  for  his  'sense  of  duty,'  then  the  structure  of  society  is  based 
on  a  correct  foundation,  and  it  is  mere  folly  in  Mr.  Owen  to  talk  of  substituting  the 
new  principle  of  human  irresponsibility. 

Of  man  being  responsible  to  himself  seems  scarcely  conceivable,  if  the  ordinary 
definition  of  the  term  be  understood,  viz.,  accountable  or  answerable  to  society  for 
actions  committed.  It  is  time  Socialists  turned  their  attention  to  the  recasting  of 
such  terms;  no  one  conceives  that  in  dealing  with  human  actions  the  Socialist 
takes  no  heed  of  the  individual,  but  it  is  done  with  a  view  to  personal  improvement, 
not  violently  and  vindictively  to  punish  him  for  doing  what  he  could  not  help. 


120  THE  REASONER. 


Hence  the  necessity  for  such  terms  as  responsibility  being  abandoned  and  better 
put  in  their  place.  Zeno's  servant  being  caught  in  a  theft  urged  that  'it  was  his 
destiny  to  steal;'*  '  and  to  he  beaten  '  replied  his  master,  which  was  more  worthy 
of  a  witty  than  a  wise  man,  because  the  latter  could  not  fail  to  perceive  it  to  be 
unjust  to  punish  him  for  what  he  could  not  help.  Perhaps  this  will  serve  to  induce 
others  to  make  some  practical  suggestions  on  this  matter. 

Glasgow.  Cleon. 

[Cleon  should  tell  us  what  answer  he  would  give  to  the  question  put  to  Mr. 
Holyoake.  Cleon's  interpretation  of  terms  is  that  which  has  before  time  con- 
demned Socialism  to  argumentative  impotence.  When  he  replies,  giving  his 
own  answer,  we  shall  see  better  what  his  notions  are ;  at  present  it  is  hard  to  be- 
lieve that  he  means  all  that  his  letter  implies. — Ed.] 

POPULAR     ENGLISH     PREACHERS. 

THE    REV.    WILLIAM    JAY,    OF    BATH. 

London  is  the  great  central  reservoir  of  pulpit,  as  well  as  of  every  other  sort  of 
talent,  but  it  must  be  admitted  that  among  those  who  occupy  the  sacred  desks  in 
in  the  Provinces,  are  very  many  great  and  distinguished  men.  Foremost  among 
these  is  one  who  may  aptly  be  termed  the  Nestor  of  the  Pulpit.  Such  is  the  '  old 
man  eloquent '  of  Bath — William  Jay  ! 

Who  does  not  know  the  city  of  Hot  Water,  and  of  ancient  Dowagers — the  realm 
of  King  Bladud — the  scone  of  Beau  Nash's  trumpery  triumphs,  and  the  still  gay 
metropolis  of  the  West  of  England  ?  For  considerably  more  than  half  a  century 
Mr.  Jay  has  been  the  dissenting  '  lion  '  of  that  particular  place,  and  the  Rowland 
Hill  of  the  provincial  Pulpit ;  like  the  latter  his  course  has  been  marked  by  a  blending 
of  piety  with  eccentricity.  Mr.  Jay  commenced  his  career  in  the  chapel  of  which  he 
has  been  pastor  such  a  number  of  years  in  rather  a  singular  manner.  Somewhere 
in  Wiltshire  was  situated  an  academy  for  the  reception  of  young  men  preparing 
for  the  ministry,  over  which  establishment  presided  the  Reverend  Cornelius 
Winter.  Jay,  then  a  young  man,  but  recently  promoted  from  the  plough-tail  by 
some  shrewd  friend  who  had  pierced  through  the  rough  crust  of  the  raw  country 
youth,  and  discerned  the  vein  of  genuine  talent  which  ran  and  sparkled  underneath, 
was  a  pupil  of  Mr.  Winter's,  but  had  never  made  his  appearance  before  a  con- 
gregation as  a  preacher,  although  repeatedly  urged  to  '  break  the  ice '  by  his 
preceptor. 

One  Saturday  afternoon  young  Jay  received  a  summons  to  attend  on  Mr.  Winter, 
in  the  study.  When  he  entered  the  sanctum,  the  old  gentleman  handed  him  a^ 
note,  and  said — '  Mr.  Jay,  the  weather  is  fine,  and  as  you  have  been  hard  at  work 
all  the  week  perhaps  you  would  like  a  ride  to  Bath  ?'  Young  Jay  made  no  ob- 
jection, and  Cornelius  Winter  produced  a  note  he  had  just  written.     '  This  note,' 

he  remarked, '  I  wish  to  be  conveyed  to  the  Reverend  Mr. ,  of  Argyle  Chapel ;  he 

lives  in  the  Orange  Grove,  Bath,  not  far  from  his  place  of  worship.  Please  to  hand 
this  to  him,  and  he  will  give  an  answer.  Remember — you  must  see  him  yourself. 
The  Bath  coach  passes  the  door  of  the  house  in  an  hour  from  now,  so  get  ready  at 
once,  and  here  is  the  amount  of  the  fare.'  So  the  student,  who  had  often  heard  of 
the  gay  city  of  Bath,  but  had  never  visited  it,  attired  himself  in  the  best  clothes 
which  his  humble  means  afforded,  jumped  on  the  Bath  coach,  and  with  heart  and 


Rationalism,  p.  37. 


THE  REASONER.  121 


spirit  light  entered  the  gay  city,  and  speedily  made  his  way  to  the  Orange  Grove. 
The  house  of  the  then  popular  minister  of  Argyle  chapel  was  soon  found,  and  like 
many  thousand  other  bearers  of  letters,  the  young  man,  '  indifferent  to  the  tidings 

he  conveyed,'  knocked  at  the  door,  and  inquired  for  the  Reverend  Mr. .  He  was 

at  home ;  Jay    was    ushered   into  his  study,  and  delivered  the  letter  from   Mr. 

Winter.  Mr. deliberately  read  it,  and  then  calmly  folding  it,  he  eyed   the 

young  man — and  holding  out  his  hand,  said,  with  the  most  perfect  nonchalance, 
'Mr.  Jay — you  must  preach  for  me  to-morrow.'  'Preach,  sir!  preach  for  you, 
sir !  to-morrow  morning  ?'  asked,  or  rather  gasped,  the  agitated  young  man.  '  Mr. 
Winter  has  sent  you  to  me  for  that  very  purpose ,'  observed  the  old  minister,  and  he 
added — '  To-morrow  I  am  engaged  at  Bristol,  and  I  applied  to  Mr.  Winter  for  a 
supply — he  has  sent  you.  So,  as  preach  you  must  and  shall,  it  is  necessary  yon 
should  at  once  make  some  preparation.  I  am  now  about  to  leave.  Here  are  books 
at  your  service,  and  every  thing  else  you  can  require.'  Leaving  young  Jay  in  a 
state  which  many  a  young  minister  may  imagine,  and  feeling  completely  'trapped,' 
Mr. courteously  bade  adieu  to  his  '  supply  '  for  the  morrow. 

Left  by  himself — thrown  upon  his  own  energies — the  self-reliance  of  the  student 
was  called  into  action.  He  knew  that  he  could  not  'back  out'  of  the  matter; 
indeed,  if  he  had  been  inclined  to  shirk  the  sermon,  and  the  preparation  for  it,  he 

would  have  found  any  effort  to  do  so  abortive,  for  on  Mr. 's  leaving  the  study, 

he  quietly  locked  the  door,  and  the  young  man  was  a  close  prisoner ;  so  he  re- 
mained until  the  old  minister's  wife  summoned  him  to  the  tea-table. 

How  he  was  employed  during  the  interval  it  is  not  necessary  to  inquire — let 
us  hear  how  he  acquitted  himself  on  the  Sunday  morning.  At  the  appointed  hour 
the  good  folks  of  Argyle  Chapel  were  not  a  little  surprised  to  see  a  young  man 
emerge  ^rom  the  vestry  and  ascend  the  pulpit  stairs.  Some  of  the  old  members 
looked  vexed  at  this,  for  there  were  among  them  not  a  few  who  have  an  idea  that 
if  they  pay  their  minister  so  much  per  annum,  they  have  an  undoubted  claim  to 
the  whole  of  his  services ;  and  that  their  pastor  has  no  right  whatever  to  leave, 
even  for  the  sake  of  recruiting  his  health,  or  for  the  purpose  of  resting  his  mind 
by  preaching  one  of  his  old  sermons  to  a  fresh  congregation.  As  the  stranger  took 
his  seat  in  the  pulpit,  there  were  sundry  nods  and  winks  and  contemptuous 
tossings  of  chins,  for  'his  youth'  was  against  him.  Some,  not  seeing  their  old 
pastor  in  his  pulpit,  opened  their  pew  doors  and  went  out,  and  the  great  majority 
of  those  who  remained  behind  would  have  followed  such  bad  examples  had  not  a 
feeling  of  shame  restrained  them.  Young  Jay  timidly  rose,  and  commenced  by 
giving  out  his  text.  It  was  one  singularly  apropos  to  the  situation  in  which  he 
was  placed.  After  naming  the  chapter  and  verse,  he  paused  for  a  moment,  and 
then  somewhat  astonished  his  hearers  by  pronouncing,  slowly  and  distinctly,  words 
selected  from  the  touching  narrative  of  Abraham  and  Isaac,  and  from  that  part  of 
it  where  the  patriarch  is  represented  as  about  to  sacrifice  his  beloved  son.  Young 
Jay  simply  read  these  words  : — '  And  the  lad  knew  nothing  of  the  matter.'  Great 
was  the  effect,  so  pointedly  were  the  words  delivered ;  and  the  youthful,  nay,  the 
boyish  appearance  of  William  Jay  heightened  the  curiosity  of  the  congregation  as 
to  what  would  come  next.  They  were  not  left  long  in  doubt,  for  with  a  gravity 
beyond  his  years,  the  young  man  proceeded  to  develop  his  subject  and  to  delight 
his  hearers.  There  was  such  an  absence  of  affectation,  so  little  (if  any)  straining 
after  effect,  by  essaying  wild  flights  of  imagination,  that  even  the  grim  old  clerk 
relaxed  his  iron  visage,  the  ancient  members  severally  looked  pleased,  and  the 
young  folks  were  delighted.  « 


122  THE  REASONER. 


Jay  was  once  invited  to  dine  with  an  old  lady  after  an  anniversary  sermon — about 
a  dozen  sat  down  to  an  exceedingly  ill-furnished  table,  and  the  keen  eye  of  Jay 
detected  the  shift  resorted  to  by  the  thrifty  hostess  to  make  a  very  little  go  a 
very  lon<»  way.  He  was  too  fond  of  sarcasm  to  allow  an  opportunity  to  pass  by 
when  such  ofTered  itself,  and  on  being  asked  to  say  grace  he  rose,  and  glancing 
half  comically  over  the  barren  waste  of  table  cloth,  he  quoted  two  lines  from  a  well- 
known  hymn, 

'  Lord  !  what  a  wretched  land  is  this, 
Which  yields  us  no  supply  ." 

and  then  sat  down  to  the  Barmecidal  feast. 

Not  very  long  after  Mr.  Jay's  first  sermon  at  Argyle  Chapel,  he  became  pastor 

of  the  congregation  assembling  there,  Mr. ,  his  predecessor,  having  died — 

and  where  he  still  remains,  as  attractive  as  ever,  after  more  than  sixty  years  con- 
tinuance in  his  office.  Let  us  now  depict  him  as  the  Pastor  of  to-day;  as  the 
octogenarian  soldier  of  the  Cross  ! 

More,  considerably  more  than  half  a  century  has  passed  away;  Bath  is  a  far 
more  quiet  place  than  it  was  sixty  years  ago.  Cheltenham,  Brighton,  and  a  host 
of  other  fashionable  places  of  resort  have  sprung  up,  and  eclipsed  the  Western 
Spa.  Ruffles  and  rapiers  no  longer  flutter  and  jingle  in  the  Pump  P»,oom ;  and 
Sydney  Gardens,  the  Vauxhall  ot  the  provinces,  live  but  in  the  memories  of  faded 
beaux  and  decayed  beauties ; — but  Argyle  Chapel  (modernised,  it  is  true,)  still 
remains ;  and  the  voice  which  was  heard  so  many  years  ago,  mellowed  by  age,  still 
echoes  within  its  walls. 

The  congregation  assembling  at  Argyle  Chapel  is  what  may  be  called  a  rich  one 
— perhaps  a  fashionable  one  ;  and  so,  of  course,  everything  is  quietly  and  easily 
done.  There  is  very  little  shuffling  of  feet ;  and  only  the  rumpling  of  rich  silks 
disturbs  the  stillness  of  the  place.  The  pew-openers  are  patterns  of  propriety — 
not  clumsy  persons  who  trudge  heavily  down  the  aisles,  and  swing  open  doors,  and 
when  you  are  passed  in,  bang  them  to  again  ;— nothing  of  the  kind; — they  walk  as 
though  their  feet  were  shod  with  felt. 

Mr.  Jay  is  of  the  middle  height,  stoutly  built,  and  his  broad  shoulders  are  bowed 
by  age.  There  is  something  in  the  massive  head  of  Mr.  Jay  which  reminds  one 
of  the  grand  old  head  of  some  ancient  statue  of  Jupiter;  it  is  large,  and  abundantly 
covered  with  silvery  hair,  which,  sweeping  from  one  of  the  temples,  discloses  a 
splendid  forehead.  The  eyes  are  dark,  bright,  lively,  and  searching.  Eyebrows 
large,  of  a  darkish  grey,  overshadow  these  '  windows  of  the  soul,'  as  some  old  writer 
has  called  them.  The  nose  is  short,  and  not  classically  formed,  and  the  mouth 
is,  if  anything,  a  trifle  too  large  for  the  connoisseur  in  such  matters.  A  double 
chin  fades  imperceptibly  away  into  a  short  neck,  which  is  connected  with  a  broad, 
expansive  chest. 

The  style  of  Mr.  Jay  is  one  exclusively  his  own.  He  imitates  no  one.  Tjsually, 
he  commences  his  sermons  with  some  abrupt,  terse  observation,  which  would  seem 
to  have  little  to  do  with  his  subject,  and  which  sometimes,  indeed,  has  nothing  in 
connection  with  it.  He  is  not  rapid  in  his  delivery,  but  rather  the  reverse ;  his 
sentences  are  delivered  with  great  emphasis.  His  discourses  may  sometimes  be 
almost  called  conversational,  for  he  talks  to  people,  as  well  as  at  them.  Oc- 
casionally he  produces  an  effect  by  a  solemn  strain  of  eloquence,  immediately 
following  some  remarks  which  had,  spite  of  the  sanctity  of  the  place,  provoked  a 
smile  ;  for,  as  in  the  case  of  Rowland  Hill,  he  has  a  flow  of  wit  which  cannot  always 
be  restrained.     It  is  not  an  uncommon  practice  of  his,  to  select  rather  peculiar 


THE  REASONER. 


123 


texts — take  for  an  instance  his  funeral  sermon  for  Rowland  Hill,  when  he  chose 
as  the  motto  of  his  discourse,  the  words  '  Howl  !  fir  trees,  for  the  cedar  has  fallen  ! ' 
— Partridge  and  Oakey's  English  Preachers. 

DEATH  OF  DAVID  H3THB3,INGT0N. 


Mr.  Dayid  Hethekington,  the  only  sua  who  survived  his  father,  Henry  Hether 
I  ington,  expired  at  Manchester  last  week  after  a  fortnight's  illness  of  the  small 
pox.  Previous  to  the  death  of  his  father  he  entered  the  establishment  of  Mr. 
Abel  Hey  wood,  of  Manchester,  a  situation  which  afforded  him  great  pleasure;  and 
the  manner  in  which  he  always  spoke  of  Mr.  Heywood  was  honourable  to  that 
gentleman.  David  lived  with  his  mother,  whom  he  mainly,  if  not  entirely,  sup- 
ported. The  old  lady  is  now  left  alone  in  the  world.  David  resembled  his  father 
,  personally  and  in  disposition- — and  all  who  knew  him  will  hear  of  his  death  with 
regret.  , 

1^"  The  John  Street  Institution  will  be  closed  on  Sunday  the  13th,  in  conse- 
quence ot  the  members  and  friends  taking  an  Excursion  to  Alperton. 


GUIDE  TO  THE  LECTURE  ROOM. 

Literary  Institution,  John  Street,  Fitzrny  ?quare. 
— July  8th  [Si],  Discussion  in  the  Coffee  Room. 
Question,  'The  Respective  iierits  of  Free  Trade 
and  Protection.' 

Hall  ot  Science,  City  Road.— July  13th  [74], 
G.  J.  Holyoake,  '  The  Prayer  of  th-  Archbishop 
of  Canterbury  on  the  Opening  of  the  Great  Exhi- 
bition examined.' 

Institure  of  Progress,  10a,  Upper  George-street, 
Sloane-square. — July  llth  [8],  a  Uiscasiion.  13th, 
[7J], a  lecture. 

National  Ha'.l,  242,  High  Holborn.— Jiilv  13th 
[8],  P.  \V.  Perfitc. '  l^uther,  as  the  Reforming  JIan.' 

s^outh  London  Hall,  Corner  of  \Vel)ber  ^treet, 
Black.'riars  Road.— July  13th  ["J],  C.  Southwell, 
'Addison,  Prior,  Fenton,  Hughes,  Sheffield,  Coa- 
greve,  and  Blackmore.' 

Eclectic  Institute,  Denmark  Street,  Soho.  — 
Every  Friday  [8A],  Mr.  J.  B.  O'Brien,  '  Home  and 
Foreign  Politics.'  Every  Sunday  ["i],  on  '  Moral 
smd  Social  Science.' 

Areopagus  Cottee  and  Reading  Room,  59,  Church 
Lane,  \\  hitechipel. —  Every  Sunday,  Monday,  and 
Wednesday  (3),  a  Lecture  or  Discussion. 

City  Forum  Cotiee  House,  60,  Red  Cross  Street. 
—  Every  Sunday,  Monday,  and  Thursday  [8^],  a 
DiscuDsion. 


ADVERTISEMENTS. 

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Owen  and  Bacheler's  Discussion  on  the  Ex- 
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Now  Publishing,  Price  Is.  6d., 
rrnOUGHTS  ON  THE  NATUR.-i:    OF   MAN, 
I    THE  PROPAGATION  OF  CREEDS,  .AND 
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TER.    By  a  Physician. 

'This  is  a  valuable  work,'— British  Controver- 
sialist. 

'  An  able  production.' — Tnrestigator. 

'A  systematic  collection  ot  facts.' — Present  Age, 

'  An  excellent  compendium.' — Reasoner. 

'The  writer  illustrates  his  subject  ov  citations 
from  a  vast  array  ot  authors,  ancient  and  modern.' 
— Critic. 

'  The  author  has  very  ab'.y  supported  his  propo- 
sitions by  reterence  to  many  authorities  whose 
names  stand  high  as  theologians.' — Expositor. 

London  :  Joseph  Clayton,  265,  Strand  ;  and,  by 
order,  from  all  other  booksellers. 


124  THE  REASONER. 


The  following  'public  notice'  has  been  posted  aboat  Drayton  Parslow,  Bock- 
inghamshire,  by  a  landowner  and  clergyman  : — 'Whereas  some  of  my  tenants  on 
the  Diggin's  and  Henley's  piece,  have  of  late  been  very  irregular  in  their  attend- 
ance at  charch  on  the  Sunday;  and  so  have  not  complied  with  the  agreement 
entered  into  between  landlord  and  tenant,  "  That  each  tenant  should,  as  often  as 
possible,  be  present  at  divine  worship  on  the  Lord's  day."  I  give  this  timely 
notice  to  all  whom  it  may  concern — That  unless  I  see  them  more  regular  at  church 
than  lately  they  have  been,  such  persons  absenting  themselves  for  the  future  will 
be  required  to  give  up  their  land  on  Michaelmas-day  next,  without  further  notice.' 
The  Aylesbury  Neivs  asks,  '  Is  the  Pope  of  Rome  as  intolerant  as  this  ^rotestant 
clerical  landlord  ?' 

On  Sunday  evening  next  Mr.  G.  J.  Holyoake  will  lecture  at  the  Hall  of  Science, 
City  Road,  on  '  The  Prayer  of  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  on  the  opening  of  the 
Great  Exhibition,  and  an  exposition  of  what  he  had  better  have  done  than  de- 
livered it.' 

Mr.  Harding,  editor  of  the  late  Republican  magazine,  the  readers  of  that  jonmal 
will  regret  to  hear  has  for  some  time  been  in  aprecarions  state. 

In  the  course  of  a  lecture  lately  delivered  at  Gloucester,  by  the  Rev.  W.  C.  Os- 
born,  Chaplain  of  the  Bath  Gjibl,  the  rev.  gentleman  stated  that  daring  six  years, 
55  children  in  Bath  Gaol  had  cost  the  country  £6,050,  which  would  have  paid  for 
sending  them  all  to  a  boarding  school.  Of  these,  5  were  dead,  15  transported,  30 
leading  a  criminal  life,  and  about  5  only  of  whom  he  could  say  they  were  not 
candidates  for  transportation. 

Six  short  Tracts,  written  by  Mr.  Owen  and  printed  on  one  sheet  (a  convenient 
form  to  secure  their  perusal,  the  subjects  being  sequential),  have  been  issued  by 
the  Committee  of  Social  Propaganda  for  circulation  at  the  International  Exhibi- 
tion. These  Tracts  can  be  obtained  at  Mr.  Watson's,  3,  Queen's  Head  Passage, 
Paternoster  Row,  and  Mr.  Tmelove's,  23,  John  Street,  Fitzroy  Square.  For 
further  information  on  these  topics  see,'  Robert  Owen's  Journal,'  and  other  works 
of  Mr.  Owen,  which  may  be  had  of  Mr.  Watson  or  Mr.  Traelove,  or  obtained 
through  other  publishers  and  booksellers. 

The  Rambler  (Roman  Catholic)  for  this  month  has  a  laboured  eulogy  upon  one 
Ippoliti  Gallantini ,  aZuza  'the  apostolic  Silkweaver.'  This  sainted  man,  we  are  told, 
had  such  an  eye  for  the  spiritual  welfare  of  his  fellow  worms,  that  he  was  ac- 
customed to  take  the  children  of  Florence  outside  the  city  walls  to  play  bowls, 
'  fixing  it  as  a  rule,  that  instead  of  exacting  money,  the  winners  should  oblige  the 
losers  to  recite  some  short  prayers  by  way  of  suflFrage  for  the  souls  in  purgatory!' 

A  Society  of  the  Friends  of  Italy  is  being  organised  in  London,  whose  three- 
fold objects  have  been  thus  stated  :— 1.  By  public  meetings,  lectures,  pamphlets, 
and  the  press — and  especially  by  affording  opportunities  to  the  most  competent 
authorities  for  the  publication  of  standard  works  on  the  history  of  the  Italian 
national  movement — to  provide  materials  for  a  correct  public  appreciation  of  the 
Italian  question  in  this  country.  2.  To  promote  the  same  object,  on  fitting  oc- 
casions, in  parliament.  3.  And  generally  to  aid,  in  this  country,  the  cause  of  the 
Independence,  the  Unity,  and  the  Political,  Religions,  and  Commercial  Liberty  of 
Italy. 

London  :  Printed  by  Holyoake  Brothers,  3,  Qneen'i  Head  Patsa^,  Paternmter-row;  and  Pnbluhed 
by  J.  Wataon,  3,  Queen's  Bead  Paaaage,  Paternoster-row.— Wednesday,  July  Stb,  1851. 


AND 

THEOLOGICAL     EXAMINER. 


They  who  believe  that  they  have  Truth  ask  no  favour,  save  that  of  beinii;  heard:  they  dare  the 
judgment  of  Mankind  :  refiued  Co-operation,  they  invoke  Oppo6ition,  for  Opposition  i^  their 
Opportunity. — Eoitob. 

THE  LANCASTER  CONTROVERSY. 


THE  REV,  MB.  Fleming's  fibst  letteb:  a  beview  of  mk,  holyoake's 

BECENT    LECTUBES. 

In  reviewing  and  replying  to  Mr.  Holyoake's  recent  lectures,  I  have  no  intention 
of  considering  every  objection  he  urged  against  Christianity,  and  every  argument 
he  brought  forward  in  support  of  infidelity.  This  T  should  not  have  done  even  in 
public  discussion,  when  a  much  greater  opportunity  of  doing  so  would  have  been 
had.  It  is  with  the  salient  points  of  the  lectures  only  that  I  purpose  dealing  in 
this  critique — with  what  apparently  was  of  importance  in  the  lecturer's  own 
estimation,  and  what  might  possibly  appear  to  some  of  the  audience  not  to  be  des- 
titute of  force. 

As  a  lecturer,  Mr.  Holyoake  possesses  excellences  which  at  once  place  him  on 
vantage  ground  with  many  of  his  auditors.  His  appearance,  voice,  fluency  of 
speech,  and  earnestness  of  manner,  are  all  greatly  in  his  favour,  and  immediately 
secure  for  him  the  attention  of  those  whom  he  addresses.  He  appears  a  thought- 
ful, earnest,  and  somewhat  melancholy  man,  fully  given  to  his  mission  as  the  modern 
apostle  of  atheism,  and  determined  to  embrace  every  opportunity  of  announcing 
and  diffusing  his  sentiments,  whether  success  attends  his  efforts  or  not.  His 
mind  is  evidently  wholly  engrossed  with  the  subject  of  his  advocacy,  and  for  it  he 
apparently  lives,  and  seems  prepared  to  encounter  every  inconvenience  and  sacri- 
fice to  secure  for  it  a  wider  dissemination  among  his  feUow  countrymen,  and 
throughout  the  earth. 

That  Mr.  Holyoake's  recent  lectures  were  a  fair  specimen  of  his  lectures  generally, 
and  the  objections  he  urged  against  Christianity  a  fair  sample  of  those  he  usually 
adduces,  may,  I  think,  be  warnintably  concluded.  They  certainly  embraced  the 
substance  of  his  writings,  as  far  as  I  know.  My  belief  then  is,  that  he  said  as 
much  against  Christianity,  and  in  behalf  of  atheism,  as  he  could,  during  the  period 
comprised  by  the  delivery  of  his  lectures.  But  that  that  was  very  little  is,  as  far  as  I 
can  learn,  the  general  opinion  of  those  who  listened  to  him.  This  certainly  is  my 
own  belief ;  and  I,  therefore,  cannot  avoid  the  impression  that  Mr.  U.'s  visit  to  the 
town  has  been  productive  of  great  and  lasting  good.  It  has  shown  to  ns  the  hollow- 
ness  of  infidelity — how  little  can  be  brought  forward  in  support  of  atheism,  and 
against  Christianity,  And  this  is  surely  a  matter  for  congratulation.  For  myself 
it  is  so  especially,  after  the  fears  that  were  entertained  and  expressed  by  so  many 
relative  to  the  issue  of  Mr.  H.'s  lectures.  It  is  my  honest  belief  that  infidelity 
has  not  gained  a  single  adherent  by  this  effort ;  but  that,  on  the  contrary,  not  a  few 
who  formerly  were  predisposed  to  embrace  its  principles,  have  been  led  to  pause 
and  to  inquire  afresh  into  the  character  of  the  pretensions  they  were  about  to 
support. '  This  much,  as  to  the  issues  of  the  lectures,  I  have  thought  it  well  at 
once  to  advance  for  the  sake  of  any  who  may  still  indulge  the  idea  that  great  evil 


[No.  2GB.J  IMo.  »,  Vol.  XI.] 

[ONE  PENNY.] 


126  THE  REASONER. 


has  come  from  them.  Of  Mr.  H.'s  inconsistency  and  unfairness,  as  the  advocate 
of  certain  opinions,  and  the  avowed  opponent  of  Christianity,  I  somewhat  com- 
plained at  the  close  of  his  second  and  third  lectures  ;  and  to  these  I  again  advert. 
He  holds  it  as  an  axiom  or  first  principle,  that  the  opinions  men  honestly  hold, 
and  which  they  believe  to  be  calculated  to  promote  the  well-being  of  men,  and  the 
good  order  of  society,  they  ouglft  to  have  the  privilege  of  disseminating  whereso- 
ever and  whensoever  they  please,  without  hindrance  or  interruption.  Yet  this  rule 
which  Mr.  H.  lays  down  for  others,  to  which  he  professes  to  attach  the  highest 
importance,  and  for  which  he  pleads  most  earnestly,  he  does  not  himself  observe. 
He  disregarded  it  once  and  again  during  the  three  nights  of  his  lectures  in  Lan- 
caster. This  he  did  most  glaringly  in  the  complaint  which  he  made  of  the  de- 
livery of  tracts  against  infidelity  to  those  who  entered  the  hall  to  hear  his  lectures. 
Those  tracts  contained,  in  the  judgment  of  those  who  circulated  them,  nothing  but 
truth  —instructive,  important,  and  practical  truth ;  and  in  the  act  of  distributing 
them,  they  ought  not,  according  to  Mr.  H.'s  principles,  to  have  been  interfered 
with,  or  complained  of,  and  least  of  all  by  Mr.  H.  himself.  But  here  Mr.  H. 
clearly  showed  that  he  was  not  prepared  to  concede  to  others  what  he  demanded 
as  a  right  for  himself.  Those  who  complain  of  the  intolerance  of  others,  ought 
not  themselves  to  evince  it  or  to  practise  it.  If  Mr.  H.  considered  the  tracts  to 
contain  what  was  untrue,  his  duty  was  to  demonstrate  their  falsity,  and  not  to  con- 
demn their  distribution,  or  merely  assert  that  they  misrepresented  infidelity. 
But  he  did  neither. 

But  this  was  not  the  only  violation  of  his  own  axioms,  of  which  Mr.  H.  was 
guilty.  There  were  others  equally  glaring.  But  reference  to  one  more  only  must 
here  suffice.  He  adopts  it  as  a  principle,  that  no  doctrine  can  be  regarded  as  an 
established  and  settled  truth,  which  has  not  been  universally  discussed  and  uni- 
versally received.  Yet  he  holds  himself  many  doctrines,  and  I  have  no  doubt  sin- 
cerely, which  have  never  been  so  discussed  and  received.  Nay  more,  he  holds  and 
maintains  as  true,  opinions  which  have  received  comparatively  little  discussion, 
and  been  adopted  by  few;  whilst  he  rejects  as  altogether  false,  opinions  which 
have  received  the  widest  discussion,  and  been  embraced  as  irresistibly  and  demon- 
strably true  by  hundreds  of  thousands  of  the  most  enlightened  of  mankind.  Now, 
what  but  culpable  inconsistency  is  this  ?  Why  does  Mr.  H.  adopt  principles  and 
violate  them  at  every  step  ?  Let  him  adhere  to  his  own  standard  of  appeal  for 
deciding  what  is  true  and  what  is  false — what  is  deserving  of  our  credence  and 
what  is  not  so,  and  he  cannot  continue  any  longer  what  he  is — the  adversary  of 
Christianity,  and  the  advocate  of  atheism.  The  doctrine  of  the  Divine  existence 
has  been  all  but  universally  discussed,  and  universally  received ;  yet  Mr.  H.  re- 
gards it  as  wholly  unworthy  of  any  intelligent  man's  approval  and  belief.  Atheism 
has  been  little  discussed,  and  adopted  by  the  most  insignificant  number;  but  he 
nevertheless  accepts  it  and  advocates  it. 

Then  I  have  also  to  complain  of  Mr.  H.'s  unjaimesa.  He  does  not  deal  honestly 
with  the  questions  he  undertakes  to  discuss.  What  he  professes  to  object  to  is 
Christianity,  but  what  he  actually  opposes  are  the  opinions  and  practices  of  men. 
The  weapons  he  employs  he  draws  not  from  the  armoury  of  the  Gospel,  but  from 
the  quivers  of  men.  What  he  charges  home  upon  Christianity,  is  properly  only 
chargeable  on  the  statements  and  conduct — the  books  and  systems  of  those  who 
profess  it.  Now  of  this  I  complain — and  I  think  with  justice.  If  Christianity  is 
to  be  opposed,  let  it  be  the  Christianity  we  receive,  and  not  that  we  know  nothing 
of — the  Christianity  of  the  Mew  Testament,  and  not  that  of  men's  writings  and 


THE  REASONER.  12T 


lives — the  Christianity  which  stands  before  the  world  as  God's  revelation,  and  not 
that  which  is  of  the  earth  and  earthy.  That,  however,  Mr.  H.  seems  not  to  venture 
to  assail.  Its  impregnableness  he  has  probably  discovered.  But  be  that  as  it  may, 
all  that  I  ask  for  is,  that  when  Christians  are  charged  with  adhering  to  a  religious 
system  that  is  objectionable  and  untenable,  let  it  be  demonstrated  from  the  Bible 
itself,  and  on  fair  grounds  of  reasoning,  that  such  is  the  case. 

Mr.  H.  takes  credit  to  himself  for  being  an  atheist.  Hemaintainsthat  if  there  were 
sufficient  evidence  for  the  doctrine  of  the  Divine  existence,  and  the  truth  of  Christi- 
anity, he  could  not  prevent  himself  being  a  believer  in  both — for,  that '  the  under- 
standing is  the  subject  of  evidence,'  and  '  is  moved  by  evidence.'  But  does  the 
conclusion  fairly  follow  the  premises  ?  What  drunkard  is  not  convinced  of  the  evil 
of  intemperance,  and  the  dutifulness  of  sobriety?  But  all  drunkards  do  not  follow 
their  convictions.  The  same  may  be  said  of  burglars,  and  thieves,  and  sensualists? 
and  multitudes  of  others.  The  doctrine  of  Mr.  H.  is  contradicted  by  innumerable 
facts  from  day  to  day.  Men  are  not  solely  under  the  guidance  of  their  understand- 
ings. There  are  other  authorities  which  they  acknowledge,  and  to  which  they 
render  obedience.  Before  they  can  be  induced  to  change  the  objects  of  their 
pursuit,  to  live  for  new  and  different  ends  from  what  they  have  previously  followed, 
and  alter  the  whole  course  of  their  conduct,  their  heart  must  be  influenced  as  well 
as  their  understanding.  Men  can  resist  evidence,  close  their  eyes  to  proofs,  and 
act  contrary  to  what  is  most  plainly  their  duty.  This  they  frequently  do.  More- 
over men  may  warp  their  judgments,  blunt  their  perceptive  faculty,  and  dis- 
qualify themselves  for  the  reception  of  evidence,  by  the  prosecution  of  a  wrong 
course.  In  that  case  the  deficiency  of  which  they  complain  is  not  in  the  evidence 
presented  to  them,  but  in  their  own  injured  capacities  ? 

Mr.  H.  says  the  differences  among  Christians  involve  infidelity.  How  so  ?  Are 
all  infidels  of  one  heart  and  mind?  Then  do  the  differences  among  infidels  involve 
the  truth  of  Christianity  ?  Do  the  differences  of  atheists  imply  Theism  ?  Or  the 
differences  of  Socialists  the  opposite  doctrine  ?  Mr.  H.  won't  say  anything  of 
the  kind.     Then  of  what  value  is  his  argument  ? 

Nature,  in  the  opinion  of  Mr.  H.,  is  self-existent  and  eternal.  This  is  a  first 
and  cardinal  doctrine  with  him.  He  frequently  refers  to  it  in  his  writings,  and  as 
often  introduces  it  in  his  lectures.  Yet  he  supplies  no  proof  of  its  truthfulness- 
makes  no  attempt  at  demonstration — adduces  not  even  a  solitary  illustration.  He" 
merely  asserts  it ;  and  under  the  form  of  a  bare  assertion  leaves  it.  But  thus  no 
intelligent  man  will  be  satisfied.  Mr.  H.'s  ipse  dixit  is  not  sufficient;  until  rigid 
arguments,  irresistible  proof,  overwhelming  evidence  are  adduced,  the  assertion 
that  the  world  is  self-existent  and  eternal  will  go  for  nothing,  and  be  treated  by 
thinking  men  as  it  deserves.  The  general  belief  of  mankind,  the  discoveries  of 
geology,  the  histories  of  nations,  the  recent  date  of  existing  arts,  and  the  per- 
petual changes  that  are  going  on  in  the  world  around  us,  all  go  to  show  that 
neither  man  nor  nature  has  existed  for  ever.  And  then  what  shall  we  say  of  the 
disposition  of  the  material  of  the  world,  and  of  its  universal  harmonies  and  adapta- 
tions? The  world  could  not  make  itself.  It  possesses  no  intelligence;  yet  the 
impress  of  the  highest  conceivable  intelligence  is  everywhere  exhibited  by  it.  As 
has  been  well  said,  '  The  Crystal  Palace  is  the  embodiment  of  an  idea  conceived 
and  perfected  in  a  personal  intelligence.  It  has  been  constituted  by  rule  and  com- 
pass, measure  and  weight,  and  according  to  the  suggestions  of  wisdom  and  skill. 
All  the  variety  of  its  extraordinary  contents  bear  the  impress  of  thought  and  pur- 
pose, design  and  contrivance,  faculty  and  power  ;  but  no  one  confounds  the  work 


128  THE  REASONER. 


with  the  •workmen,  or  imagines  that  the  skill  impressed  on  the  productions  is 
something  inherent  in  the  productions  themselves,  or  that  they  have  sprung,  by 
necessity,  from  the  impulse  or  operation  of  unintelligent  force !  Any  one  who 
saw  the  apparently  confused  and  chaotic  jumble  of  coarse  packages  and  unarranged 
materials,  as  they  lay  about  the  building,  previous  to  being  put  into  harmonious 
order,  could  never  have  imagined  that  they  had,  in  themselves,  any  tendency  to 
take  the  places  and  assume  the  appearances  to  which  they  were  destined,  indepen- 
dently of  the  mind,  the  thought,  plan,  reason,  and  ability  of  the  person  or  persons 
by  whom  all  was  to  be  effected.  Even  if  it  had  been  possible  to  conceive  such  a 
thing — to  conceive,  namely,  that  they  should,  without  the  immediate  agency  of 
hands,  have  gradually  arranged  themselves  into  beautiful  groups,  and  that  thus 
confusion  was  to  be  succeeded  by  order — this  would  only  have  been  regarded  as 
the  result  of  processes  to  which  they  had  been  subjected  by  human  sagacity,  and 
as  the  proof  of  profounder  and  more  wonderful  contrivance  on  the  part  of  the 
presiding  genius  of  the  scene.  Instead  of  tempting  a  thoughtful  observer  to  con- 
found and  identify  the  thing  done  with  the  actual  doer — or  to  lose  sight  of  him, 
and  attribute  all  to  necessity  or  chance,  or  to  some  mysterious  appetencies  in  the 
things  themselves— it  would  only  have  carried  the  idea  of  personality  further 
back,  and  have  augmented  his  admiration  of  the  attributes  that  distinguished  it. 
In  the  same  way,  adhering  to  the  truth  that  the  heavens  and  the  earth  are  an 
actual  creation,  then,  whatever  may  have  been  the  processes  through  which  they 
gradually  passed  till  the  whole  fabric  was  developed  and  perfected,  all  was  the 
work  of  a  personal  agent,  distinct  from  the  actual  universe  itself,  and  all  that  was  done 
was  accomplished  through  the  action  of  those  laws  which  he  framed — to  which  he 
subjected  them — which  he  administered — which  the  things  did  not  originate — 
which  they  could  not  understand,  and  from  which  they  could  not  escape.  He — 
the  living,  spiritual,  personal  God — was  the  Mover  and  Maker,  the  Designer  and 
Doer  from  first  to  last.'  James  Fleming. 

MR.  HOLYOAKE'S  REPLY  TO  MR.  FLEMING'S  FIRST  LETTER. 


To  the  Editor  of  the  Lancaster  Gtuirdian, 

SiK, — As  the  Rev.  Mr.  Fleming  has  closed  his  review  of  my  recent  lectures  in 
Lancaster  (which  review  I  have  read  with  interest),  some  explanation  is  due  to 
that  gentleman  on  points  which  he  has  failed  to  conceive  accurately,  and  which  he 
doubtless  desires  shall  be  stated  fairly ;  and  the  newspaper  public  (now  the 
matter  has  been  submitted  to  them)  will  consider  themselves  entitled  ik>  hear  both 
sides  of  a  question  upon  which  they  are  appealed  to  for  a  verdict.  In  comply- 
ing with  this  expectation  I  shall,  however,  be  brief.  If  indeed  I  wrote  at  greater 
length  than  Mr.  Fleming  I  might  stand  excubed.  On  my  adversary's  side  is  the 
prejudice  of  the  age — the  willing  ear  of  the  influential — the  cry  of  the  multitude 
and  the  sanction  of  the  law  :  to  which  I  have  to  oppose  an  advocacy  which  per- 
secution has  made  ambiguous,  calumny  unpopular,  and  bigotry  dangerous.  My 
appeal  also  in  this  case  is  to  an  audience  of  which  few  have  examined  the  question, 
and  none  dare  declare  their  conviction.  But  I  shall  for  other  reasons  attempt  no 
lengthy  answer.  You,  sir,  (the  Editor  of  the  Lancaster  Gtiardian,)  have  before 
admitted  communications  on  my  behalf.  The  customs  of  this  country  are  adverse 
to  hearing  any  but  the  religious  advocate  in  the  newspapers,  and  I  am  anxious  not 
to  trespass  on  impartiality  so  unusual  as  that  which  you  have  manifested.  It  is 
certainly  some  abatement  of  any  further  apprehension  I  might  feel  to  find  myself 


THE  REASONER.  129 


in  so  fair  a  way  of  being  acceptable  where  I  had  little  reason  to  expect  it.  Mr. 
Ffeming  is  so  impressed  that  what  I  have  said  already  'has  been  productive  of 
great  and  lasting  good,'  that  I  shall  not  be  surprised,  on  another  visit,  should  he 
offer  me  the  use  of  his  own  chapel,  as  he  cannot  himself  hope  to  do  more  than 
accomplish  'great  and  lasting  good  '  by  his  happiest  ministration. 

This  gentleman  represents  me  as  complaining  of  the  delivery  of  certain  tracts 
at  my  lectures,  which  the  deliverers  believed  to  contain  nothing  but  the  'truth,'  and 
of  which  1  did  not  demonstrate  the  falsity — and  on  these  accounts  Mr.  Fleming 
brings  against  me  the  threefold  charge  of 'inconsistency,  unfairness,  and  intolerance.' 
One  of  the  tracts  delivered  at  the  doors  of  my  lecture  room  represented  all  infidels, 
and  me  by  implication,  as  '  men  who  lie  in  wait  to  deceive,  who  are  bent  on  ruining 
the  present  peace  and  future  prospects  of  mankind,  and  promise  men  liberty  while 
they  themselves  are  the  servants  of  corruption,^  and  much  else  equally  rude — setting 
the  example  of  bad  taste,  bad  spirit,  and  bad  manners.  Why  should  I  disprove  the 
falsity  of  that  of  which  the  falsity  was  evident,  especially  as  Mr.  Fleming  did  not 
say,  and  has  not  said,  and  will  not,  I  think,  attempt  to  say,  one  word  in  their 
justification  ?  If  I  objected  to  them,  it  was  because  under  the  circumstances  they 
were  no  part  of  free  discussion — they  were  a  calumny  and  an  intimidation.  But  my 
Reverend  Reviewer  declares  that  according  to  my  principles  I  ought  not  to  have 
complained  of  the  delivery  of  these  tracts,  an  instance  of  how  little  Mr.  Fleming 
knows  of  my  principles.  Certainly  it  is  an  axiom  with  me  that  every  man  has  a 
moral  right  to  circulate  what  he  believes  to  be  true  ;  and  he  has  a  right  also  to 
take  the  consequence  if  he  circulates  what  is  false.  I  have  never  maintained  t^at 
the  libeller  is  entitled  to  public  applause  because  he  is  a  conscientious  libeller. 
The  only  freedom  we  ever  demanded  of  the  British  Government  has  been  that 
speculative  opinion  should  be  left  free,  subject  only,  when  bad,  to  the  chastise- 
ment of  better  opinion.  My  demand  has  been  that  opinion,  whether  right  or  wrong, 
whether  foul  or  fair,  should  not  be  visited  by  legal  penalties,  but  left  entirely  to 
the  moral  penalties  of  public  reprobation.  It  is  evident,  therefore,  that  in  visiting 
those  Tracts  with  reprobation,  I  was  acting  in  strict  accordance  with  a  long- 
avowed,  healthy,  self-sustaining,  self-defensive  principle.  Mr.  Fleming  argues  as 
though  every  man  who  is  the  advocate  of  freedom  of  opinion  is  in  consequence 
disqualified  from  protesting  against  its  abuse.  This  is  the  logic  which  would  sap 
the  strength  of  the  friends  of  a  wise  liberty,  and  inflate  the  pretensions  of  tyranny. 
Not  to  fall  in  with  this  is,  in  Mr.  Fleming's  eyes,  'inconsistency,  unfairness,  and 
intolerance.' 

Considering  the  strange  medley  of  opinions  Mr.  Fleming  has  collected  together 
and  ascribed  to  me,  it  must  be  owing  either  to  his  charity  or  the  latent  state  of  his 
ingenuity  that  he  has  not  made  me  appear  ridiculous.  Because  I  (following  the 
theory  of  Bailey)  explained  that  no  doctrine  could  be  considered  as  established 
unless  universally  discussed  and  accepted,  Mr.  Fleming  represents  me  as  holding 
that.no  doctrine,  of  any  other  order,  is  to  be  believed.  If  this  were  my  view  I 
should  create  an  immense  difficulty  in  the  way  of  any  new  opinion  being  believed ; 
for  if  we  must  wait  for  the  whole  world  to  examine  and  accept  it  first,  we  shall 
have  to  wait  a  considerable  time.  "Whereas  my  argument  was,  that  though  we 
might  believe  our  opinions  true  upon  individual  examination,  we  could  not  con- 
sider them  in  the  light  of  established  truths  (neither  I  mine,  nor  Mr.  Fleming  his) 
until  they  had  won  universal  assent  in  the  arena  of  free  and  universal  discussion— 
an  ordeal  which  helps  to  guarantee  their  absolute  truth — an  ordeal  to  which  all 
opinions  involving  the  risk  of  a  future  life  ought  to  be  submitted,  as  a  matter  of 
self-defence. 


130  THE  REASONER. 


Mr.  Fleming,  never  averse  to  imputation,  declares  I  *  do  not  deal  honestly '  with 
Christianity — thnt  I  oppose  the  systems  of  men  as  that  of  the  New  Testament. 
You  win  be  surprised,  Mr.  Editor,  to  learn  that  1  took  the  crucifixion  of  Jesus 
Christ,  the  Son  of  God,  to  be  the  central  fact  of  the  Christian  system — that  Christ 
died  to  take  away  the  sins  of  the  world,  that  it  was  necessary  for  Cnrist  to  die  to 
save  us  from  the  wrath  to  come.  Does  Mr,  Fleming  deny  this  to  be  Christianity? 
If  he  does,  will  he  be  good  enough  to  tell  me  what  it  is  that  he  preaches  as  Christi- 
anity, when  the  Son  of  God  and  his  death  on  CalvarV;  and  sin  against  Heaven  and 
the  wrath  to  come,  are  taken  away?  These  were  the  doctrines  to  which  I  had  the 
painful  task  of  objecting,  and  if  these  were  not  an  honest  selection  let  Mr.  Fleming 
name  one,  and  I  will  endeavour  to  meet  his  views. 

True,  I  said  that  if  sufficient  evidence  (to  me)  of  the  Divine  existence  was  placed 
before  me,  the  law  of  the  human  understanding  was  such  that  I  must  believe. 
Mr.  Fleming  thinks  himself  called  upon  to  refute  this  truism,  and  he  attempts 
by  asking  '  What  drunkard  is  not  convinced  of  the  evil  of  intemperance  ?  but  all 
drunkards  do  not  follow  their  convictions.'  But  the  question  is  not  *  what  do 
drunkards  follow,'  (I  would  rather  Mr.  Fleming  adopted  sober  illustrations,)  but 
what  do  drunkards  believe?  Will  Mr.  Fleming  tell  us  that  while  a  drunkard 
is  convinced  of  the  evil  of  intemperance,  that  he  does  not  believe  in  the  evil  of  in- 
temperance ?  What  makes  drunkards  follow  drunkenness,  though  convinced  of 
its  evil,  is  a  question  of  conduct  which  I  have  no  objection  to  discuss,  but  it  has 
nothing  to  do  with  the  present  question  of  belief. 

In  what  way  '  differences  among  Christians  involve  infidelity,'  which  Mr.  Flem- 
ing says  I  alleged,  I  know  not.  I  therefore  pass  by  that  passage,  which  eludes 
both  my  recollection  and  my  understanding. 

Grounds  for  helieving  in  the  self-existence  and  eternity  of  NaLure,  which  Mr. 
Fleming  appears  to  ask  for,  may  be  stated  thus.  Nature  is  something.  Whence 
could  it  have  come  ?  Out  of  nothing  ?  We  cannot  understand  that — we  cannot 
conceive  it.  We  rather  conclude  that  it  is  self-existent.  And  what  could  never 
have  begun  to  be,  must  always  have  been,  hence  the  self-existent  appears  to  be 
also  eternal.  Mr.  Fleming's  account  of  this  matter  doubtless  appears  simple  to 
him,  but  to  me  it  presents  insuperable  difficulties.  The  end  of  controversy  is  the 
explanation  of  our  mutual  views.     It  is  the  part  of  the  public  to  judge  between  us. 

That  Nature  which  has  the  majestic  attribute  of  self-existence,  has  doubtless 
the  lesser  attribute  of  self-action.  The  theory  of  Nature  which  I  hold  teaches  me 
to  see  and  to  own  its  inherent  sublimity  and  wondrous  manifestations.  The  theory 
of  Mr.  Fleming  degrades  it  into  a  mere  instrument,  and  God  into  a  handicraftsman 
— into  some  indefinite  Mr.  Paxton,  the  fabricator  of  a  Universal  Conservatory.  A 
writer,  certainly  not  to  be  suspected  of  partiality  to  atheism,  has  described  the 
idea  of  Mr.  Fleming's  elaborate  paragraph  upon  the  Crystal  Palace  as  turning 
upon  '  the  whole  current  hypothesis  of  the  Universal  being  a  machine,  and  then  of 
an  Architect,  who  constructed  it,  sitting  as  it  were  apart  and  guiding  it,  and  seeing 
it  go — which  may  turn  out  an  inanity  and  nonentity,  not  much  longer  tenable ; 
with  which  result  we  shall  in  the  quietest  manner  reconcile  ourselves.  Our  Na- 
tural Theologies  may,  in  reference  to  the  strange  season  they  appear  in,  have  a 
certain  value,  and  be  worth  printing  and  reprinting,  only  let  us  understand/or 
whom,  and  how,  they  are  valuable,  and  be  in  no  wise  wroth  with  the  atheist,  whom 
they  have  not  convinced,  and  could  not,  and  should  not  convince.'* 

George  Jacob  Holyoake. 

*  Carlyle's  Miscellanies,  p.  321,  vol.  iv.j  Art.  Diderot. 


THE  REASONER. 


131 


aBeUragan  Cljurtf). 


BY      EENEST      CHARLES      JONES. 

[For  some  time  past  Mr.  Ernest  Jones  has  been  issuing  '  Poems  and  Notes  to  the 
People.-  On  looking  over  the  first  four  numbers  we  were  attracted  by  the  great 
beauty  of  the  '  Beldagon  Church.'  Other  poems  in  these  four  numbers  are  more 
admired— the  '  New  World '  for  its  political  sentiments,  the  '  Painter  of  Florence ' 
for  the  finish  of  some  passages.  The  death  of  the  Painter  is  indeed  a  masterly 
sketch.  We  select '  Beldagon  Church,'  because  of  its  subject ;  but  our  admiration 
is  not  founded  upon  that,  but  upon  the  intrinsic  beauty  of  the  poem.  It  abounds 
in  passages  of  poetic  beauty,  delicate  appreciation  of  Nature,  eloquence,  contrast, 
and  wit.  The  quotation  of  it  below  is  much  abridged,  in  order  to  present  the 
whole  picture  in  our  available  space  ;  yet  we  have  retained  the  passages  of  adora- 
tion and  pantheistic  recognition  of  God  in  Nature,  which  contain  more  power  and 
feeling  than  six  cantos  rolled  into  one  by  the  Rev.  '  Satan '  Montgomery,  whose 
praise  is  in  all  the  churches.  The  reader  will  find  Mr.  Jones's  poem  more  effective 
in  its  original  fulness.  We  italicise  passages  which  the  author  would  not  be  sup- 
posed capable  of  writing ;  indeed,  his  talent  is  so  various,  and  his  performances  so 
unequal,  that  those  who  do  not  take  the  trouble  to  study  him  in  various  aspects 
will  form  a  very  inadequate  estimate  of  him.  No  political  objection,  save  a  quali- 
fied one,  can  now  lie  against  Mr.  Jones — any  other  will  sure  to  be  erroneous  and 
unjust;  for  he  manifests  such  various  talent,  that  he  astonishes  you  as  much  by 
his  wisdom  as  by  his  extravagance,  as  his  political  advice  in  his  *  Notes  for  the 
People  '  shows.  Nor  are  the  poems  of  equal  merit.  Any  man  who  writes  poems 
weekly  will  be  sure  to  write  bad  ones  sometimes,  but  the  power  to  write  a  good 
one  is  so  rare  that  men  take  note  of  it.  We  question  whether  any  poem  of  greater 
beauty  on  the  whole  than  Beldagon  Church  has  appeared  for  a  long  time  ;  and  in 
such  an  unpretending  way  such  a  poem  was  never  presented,  it  being  but  the  fourth 
part  of  one  weekly  twopenny  number  of  '  Poems  and  Notes  for  the  People.'] 


1.    The  Walk  to  Church. 
Loud  the  lofty  belfry  rung, 
Wide  the  massy  portal  swung — 
For  Beldagon's  Cathedral-fane 
A  proud  Assembly  sought  again. 
High  the  fields  are  waving  ; 
Orchard  fruit  is  blest — 
Summer's  merry  saving 
For  winter's  happy  rest. 
O'er  the  clover  lea 
The  blossom-loving  bee, 
Neglectful  of  her  Maker 
Tho'  'tis  Sunday-morn, 
Little  Sabbath-breaker  ! 
Winds  her  humming  horn. 

Bell  and  book  unheeding. 
The  quiet  kine  are  feeding, 
The  birds  are  on  the  wing, 
The  pebbled  runnels  ring, 
The  rivers  still  are  flowing, 
The  graceful  corn  is  growing, 
The  frolic  wind  is  blowing — 
And  yet,  the  world  caressing, 
Unwrinkled  by  a  frown, 
The  blue  sky  sends  a  blessing 
On  all  creation  down. 


In  Beldagon's  cathedral-fane. 
From  tesselled  floor  to  gilded  vane 
Hangs  that  deep,  sepulchral  gloom 
That  turns  a  church  into  a  tomb. 
Marble  mourners  coldly  weep  ! 
Graves  are  for  a  pavement  spread  ; 
A  stifling  air  is  overhead  : 
'Tis  not  the  home  of  those  who  sleep. 
It  is  a  prison  for  the  dead  ! 

But  ere  you  pass  yon  portal,  stay  ! 
The  bells  have  yet  a  space  to  chime — 
Then  let  them  toll  their  sullen  rhyme, 
And  come  away  awhile  with  me 
To  harvest -field  and  clover  lea ; 
Sit  by  Nature's  side,  and  pray, 
And  join  her  service  for  the  day: 
Every  whispering  leaf's  a  preacher, 
Every  daisy  is  a  teacher, 
Writing  on  the  unsullied  sod 
Revelation  straight  from  God. 
Then,  while  yon  solemn  belfry  swings. 
List  how  Earth  her  matin  sings. 
We  shall  return  in  time  to  hear 
How  Saints  adore  and  sinners  fear. 


132 


THE  REASONER. 


2,     The  Ritual  of  Nature. 
Mistily,  dreamily  steals  a  faint  glimmer — 
Hill-tops  grow  lighter,  though  stars  become 
dimmer : 

First  a  streak  of  grey ; 
Then  a  line  of  green  ; 
Then  a  sea  of  roses 
With  golden  isles  between. 
All  along  the  dawn-lit  prairies 
Stand  the  flowers,  like  tip- toe  fairies, 
Waiting  for  the  early  dew : 
Listening- 
Glistening — 
As  the  morning 
Walks  their  airy  muster  thro'. 
All  the  new-born  blossoms  christening 
With  a  sacrament  of  dew. 
See  !  a  shadow  moves 
Down  the  mountain  furled : 
It  is  a  thin  grey  shadow- 
Yet  it  moves  the  world. 
For  hist  ye !  list  ye  I  what  is  gliding 
Where  the  trail  is  newly  laid  ? 
In  the  herbage  hiding, 
Thro'  the  bushes  sliding, 
With  the  moving  shadow  ? 
Crowds  of  timid  things, 
Paws,  and  feet,  and  wings. 
All  thro'  the  boughs  and  bufhy  glade, 
And  o'er  the  clover  meadow. 
There  they  pass 
Through  the  grass, 
And  the  shaken 
Drops  awaken 
Lines  of  light 
On  their  flight ; 
And  there 
The  hare, 
With  head  erect 
And  ears  bent  over, 
Peers  around 
Above  the  clover, 
From  the  mound 
The  mole  has  made, 
To  detect 
An  ambuscade. 
And  gaze  aloft,  where  riven 
Thro'  the  parted  heaven. 
Cleaves  a  snowy  stream  ; 
Between  its  cloudy  shores 
A  towering  eagle  soars 

To  bathe  in  the  first  sunbeam. 
And  comes  back  to  the  mountains  dun 
To  tell  them  he  has  seen  the  sun. 

Then  the  skies  grow  bold  ; 
Fast  the  day  mounts  high ; 
Forth,  in  cloudless  glory, 
y         Bursts  the  flashing  fire ! 

And  where  the  warm  rays  quiver 
On  pool,  and  rill,  and  river — 


Whirling,  twirling, 

Upward  curling. 
Vapoury  columns,  music  rife, 

Meeting,  parting, 

Backward  darting — 
Swarms  the  merry  insect  life. 

Lone,  the  chanticleer 
Crew  reveillee  long ; 
'Tis  now  his  turn  to  hear 
The  world  awake  to  song. 

The  flower  that  isings 

As  the  sunlight  clings 
On  the  petal  ivith  finger  of  gold ; 

And  the  forest — that  harp  of  a  mil- 
lion strings. 
And  ceolian  melodies  old  I 

While  the  voice  of  the  springs 

In  the  mountain  rings 
The  great  key-note  of  the  main, 

And  the  light  cloud  flings 

From  its  shadowy  wings 
The  laugh  of  the  dancing  rain. 

Then  the  birds  all  pause 

On  the  blossoming  shaws 
As  the  drop  on  the  branch  they  hear, 

And  the  thunder,  that  awes. 

Like  a  giant's  applause, 
The  song  it  was  given  to  cheer. 

And  the  labourer's  lay 

Is  enlivening  day. 
And  the  shepherd  boy  answering  wild ; 

And  the  young  at  their  play 

In  the  new-mown  hay,  [child  ; 

And  the  mother's  sweet  song  to  her 

As  if  nature,  intent 
To  surpass  all  she  lent 
In  the  breath  of  the  rose  and  the  coo 
of  the  dove,  [verse  sent 

To  crown  the  great  hymn  of  the  uni  - 
Human  Love. 
While  wanton  luxury's  saintly  child 
Sleeps  off  the  nights  debauches  wild. 
When  fields  are  dew  and  skies  are  balm 
Thus  nature  sings  her  morning  psalm. 

And  a  spirit  glides  before  me. 

Pointing  all  the  moral  true ; 
Oh,  my  God,  how  I  adore  thee 

When  I  walk  thy  wonders  thro'— 
Learning  Spring's  romantic  story, 
Or  the  Summer's  tale  of  glory, 
Or  the  Autumn's  legend  hoary, 

Old  as  earth,  yet  ever  new. 
Nor  is  it  sadder  when  the  Winter 

Lays  his  hand,  tho'  wet  and  cold, 

On  bough  and  blossom,grassand  mould, 
Saying,  in  his  breathings  deep — 
Mortal,  rest !  and  Nature,  sleep  ! 
But  unto  nought  that  livetb,  weep. 


THE  REASONER. 


133 


For  ever  the  loving  hand  of  Heaven 
Heals  the  wound  that  man  has  given  ; 
Reptile,  bird,  and  beast  of  prey 
From  half  the  world  are  swept  away — 
Those  who  took  the  taint,  decay. 
And  ever  the  stream  of  Trn this  flowing; 
And  ever  the  seed  of  Peace  is  growing  ; 
And  ever  a  voice  is  stealing, 
The  gospel  of  Love  revealing ; 
Flower  and  mountain,  wave  and  wind 
Say — God  is  good  ;  and  God  is  kind ; 
He  frowns  at  fear,  and  grief,  and  care, 
And  man's  worst  blasphemy,  despair. 
For  jovis  praise,  and  peace  is  prayer, 
And  Heaven  is  near,  and  Earth  is  bright, 
And  God  is  Love,  and  Life,  and  Light. 

Now  the  wind  is  slow  subsiding ; 
On  the  boughs  the  birds  are  hiding  ; 
The  herds  are  standing  by  the  stream  ; 
The  motes  are  pausing  on  the  beam  ; 
As  tho'  they  heard  the  noontide  say. 
With  hushing  glory, '  Let  us  pray.' 
And,  hark !  the  booming  bells  give  o'er  ; 
Then  back  to  Beldagon  once  more. 

3.     The  Service. 

In  the  churchyard's  elraen  shade 
Glittering  chariots  stand  arrayed  ; 
The  coachmen  on  the  boxes  nod  ; 
The  horses  paw  the  sacred  sod ; 
And  round  the  porch  are  laughing  loud 
The  lounging  lacqueys'  liveried  crowd. 
But  now  behold  we  are  within. 
Safe  from  sunshine  and  from  sin. 

Silks  have  rustled,  fans  have  fluttered — 
Sneers  and  compliments  been  uttered  ; 
And  many  found,  as  find  they  ought, 
In  church  the  object  that  they  sought: 
Business  finds  a  turn  in  trade; 
Praise,  its  victim  ;  wit,  its  butt; 
New  acquaintance  have  been  made. 
Old  acquaintance  have  been  cut. 

Now  the  congregation's  seated, 
And  the  church  is  growing  heated 
With  a  heavy,  perfumed  air 
Of  scents,  and  salts,  and  vinegar. 
The  morning  prayers  are  ending — 
The  psalmody's  ascending ; 
The  great  men,  lowly  bending, 
Turn  their  gilded  leaves  about. 
Most  ostentatiously  devout. 

Then,  like  the  flutter  of  a  full  pit 

When  a  favourite  passage  comes, 
As  the  Bishop  mounts  his  pulpit 

Sink  the  whispers,  coughs,  and  hums. 
And,  here  and  there,  a  scattered  sinner, 
Rising  in  the  House  of  God, 
Shows  he 
Knows  the 


Rosy, 

Cosy, 
Dosy, 
Prosy 
Bishop,  with  a  smile  and  nod. 

The  Prelate  bows  his  cushioned  knee : 
Oh,  the  Prelate's  fat  to  see  ; 
Fat  the  priests  who  minister, 
Fat  each  roaring  chorister, 
Prebendary,  Deacon,  Lector, 
Chapter,  Chanter,  Vicar,  Rector, 
Curate,  Chaplain,  Dean,  and  Pastor, 
Verger,  Sexton,  Clerk,  Schoolmaster — 
From  mitre  tall  to  gold-laced  hat 
Fat's  the  place,  and  all  are  fat. 

The  bishop  rises  from  his  knee. 
And  thus  begins  his  homily  : — 

THE  BISHOP  OF  BELDAGON'S  SERMON. 

Sink  and  tremble,    wretched  sinners ;  the 

Almighty  Lord  has  hurled 
His    curse  for   everlasting  on   a  lost  and 

guilty  world ! 
Upon  the  ground  beneath  your  feet ;  upon 

the  sky  above  your  head  ; 
Upon  the  womb  that  brings  you  forth ;  upon 

the  toil  that  gives  yon  bread  ! 
On  all  that  lives,  and  breathes,  and  moves, 

in  earth,  and  air,  and  wave  ; 
On  all  that  feels,  and  dreams,  and  thinks  : 

on  cradle,  house,  and  grave. 
For  Adam  murdered  innocence, — and  since 

the  world  became  its  hearse. 
Throughout   the  living  sphere  extending 

breeds  and  spreads  the  dreadful  curse. 
Nay  !  Beside  all  certain  scourges,  dreader 

evils  rise  as  well : 
Plague,  and  war,  and  famine  sweep  their 

countless  victims  down  to  Hell ! 
All  for  special  sin  commissioned,  as  the  Al- 
mighty rod  was  held 
Over  Europe's  insurrections  when  its  sa- 
vages rebelled. 
Ha  !  How  they  rotted  !  How  they  perished ! 

Myriads  stricken,  day  by  day  ! 
Rebels  yielded — men  submitted — and  the 

wrath  was  turned  away. 
Brethren  !  profit  by  the  lesson  !  see  the  hand 

that's  stretching  down 
To   shield   the  woolsack,  counter,  ledger, 

altar,  mitre,  sabre,  crown  I 
Then  be  patient  in  Affliction  !  envy  not  the 

rich  and  great  ! 
'A  contrite  and  a  broken  heart'  alone  shall 

enter  at  the  gate. 
You  may  think  the  rich  are  happy,  but  you 

little  know  the  cost : 
By  the  gain  of  earthly  treasures  are  eternal 

treasures  lost. 
For  this  life  is  short  and  fleeting,  and  they 

choose  a  poorer  share ; 


134 


THE  REASONER. 


Let  them  revel — let  them  triumph :  they 

shall  suffer  douhly  there. 
Your  afflictions  are  your  blessings;  by  dis- 
aster you  are  tried ; 
Those  are  happiest  who  are  saddest,  if  the 

searching  test  they  bide. 
Tears  are  gladder  far  than  smiles  ;  disease 

is  healthier  far  than  health; 
Rags  are  warmer  far  than  ermine  ;  want  is 

richer  far  than  wealth ; 
Hunger  feeds  you  more  than  plenty;  strife 

is  peace  and  peace  is  strife ; 
Loss  is  gain  and  gain  is  loss  ;  life  is  death 

and  death  is  life. 
Check  the  proud  repining  spirit — bare  the 

back  and  kiss  the  rod ; 
Humbled,  crushed,  and  broken-hearted  is 

the  state  that  pleases  God. 
Listen  not  to  idle  schemers,  pointing  to 

Utopian  goals ; 
Yours  is  more  than  work  enough  to  save 

your  miserable  souls. 
Dream  not  of  amelioration  ;   future  ages 

still  shall  nurse 
Jn  their  breast  the  ancient  serpent,  the  ir- 
revocable curse. 
'Tis  writ,  '  I  came  fo  bring  a  sword.'    'Tis 

writ,  '  The  poor  shall  never  cease.' 
'Tis  blasphemy  to  talk  of  plenty,  heresy  to 

think  of  peace ! 
By  nature  you  are  all  corrupt,  and  doomed, 

and  damned,  and  lost  in  sin ; 
Each  natural  thought,  each  natural  wish 

is  searching  Satan's  lure  within  ! 
And,  to  crown  the  gloomy  prospect,  should 

a  single  hope  aspire. 
Hangs  o'er  all  the  Day  of  Judgment  with 

its  world-destroying  fire  I 

The  bishop  bows  with  reverence  bland, 
And  leans  his  head  upon  his  hand  ; 
Then  up  the  aisles  and  arches  dim 
Peals  the  deep  resounding  hymn  : — 

THE  BISHOP  OF  BELDAGON'S  HYMN. 

The  heart's  a  black  pollution  ; 

Pest  is  in  the  breath  ; 
Each  limb's  a  dark  conspirator, 

Compassing  our  death ; 

The  mind's  a  moral  ulcer  ; 

The  veins  with  venom  roll ; 
And  life  is  one  great  treason 

Of  sense  against  the  soul. 

A  subtle  fiend  is  lurking 
In  land,  and  air,  and  wave; 

The  very  ground  beneath  you 
Is  but  an  open  grave ; 

For  Earth's  a  brittle  casing 
O'er  the  raging  fires  of  Hell, 

Breaking  in  at  every  footstep 
Since  our  father  Adam  fell. 


In  every  bird  that  carols. 
In  every  flower  that  blows, 

In  every  fruit  that  ripens 
Behold  your  secret  foes. 

Tn  every  hour  and  moment, 

In  every  pulse  that  flies. 
In  every  breath  and  accent 

The  flames  of  hell  arise. 

Throughout  the  night,  the  Devil 
Sits  whispering  at  your  ear  : 

Your  dreams  are  all  his  prompting, 
Your  prayers  are  all  his  fear. 

Let  tears  bedew  your  pillow, 

And  tremble  as  you  sleep; 
Arise  next  morn  in  sorrow, 

And  work,  and  watch,  and  weep. 

For  every  word  you  utter. 

For  every  deed  you  do, 
Hell  fire  for  everlasting 

May  rack  you  through  and  through. 

All  science,  song,  and  masic, 

And  poetry,  and  art. 
Are  Satan's  foul  devices 

To  snare  the  sinner's  heart. 

In  books  there  lurks  a  danger 

That's  hardly  understood ; 
The  best  are  scarcely  harmless, 

And  none  of  them  are  good. 

Religion  takes  for  granted  ; 

Faith  never  murmurs  '  why  ?' 
To  think,  is  to  be  tempted ; 

To  reason,  is  to  die ! 

Bohold  a  mask  in  friendship. 
The  Tempter's  face  to  hide  ; 

A  pagod  in  Affection  ; 
And  Hell  on  every  side. 

The  blood  of  Christ,  atoning, 
Might  wash  your  sin  away  ; 

But,  that  you've  won  salvation. 
No  mortal  tongue  can  say. 

For,  when  you've  done  your  utmost. 
Small  glimpse  of  hope  is  there  : 

Then,  sinner  !  on  thy  death-bed, 
Sink,  tremble,  and  despair ! 

The  Bishop  now  indulges  in 

A  spiritual  fiction. 
And  from  the  hand  that  holds  a  curse 

He  pours  a  benediction. 

The  blessing's  o'er— the  rites  are  done, 

The  organ  wails  its  last ; 
And  from  the  Church  of  Beldagon 

The  crowd  are  flitting  fast. 


THE  REASONER.  135 


From  which  any  earnest  opponent  may  controvert  our  opinions,  and  from  which  any  may  expound  views 
not  coincident  with  our  own,  if  tending  to  the  Rationalisation  of  Theology. 

THE    EDITOR    MISTAKETH    CHRISTIANITY. 


Sir, — For  a  long  time  past  I  have  been  a  reader  of  your  Reasoner,  and  however 
much  I  differ  from  your  conclusions,  I  cannot  butaimire  your  freedom  of  thought, 
boldness  of  expression,  and  independence  of  action.  With  the  sentiment  embodied 
in  your  motto  I  cordially  agree,  and  I  think  that  a  person  who  acts  up  to  it  so  well 
as  yourself  will  willingly  receive  a  communication  from  one  who  fears  that  you 
sometimes  mistake  your  position,  and  confound  the  thing  called  Christianity  with 
the  sayings,  teachings,  and  actions  of  Christ. 

I  conceive  your  abilities  are  misapplied.  In  attempting  to  destroy  Christianity 
you  must  remember  you  are  destroying  all  the  goodness  and  virtue  that  it  em- 
braces, as  well  as  its  supposed  evils.  I  believe  in  God  and  in  Christ,  but  my  be- 
lief in  both  I  consider  to  be  as  much  founded  in  reason  as  your  disbelief.  Instinct, 
and  all  but  universal  assent,  proclaim  the  great  First  Cause ;  and  an  opinion  so 
widely,  deeply,  and  long  assented  to,  has  its  foundation  in  a  truth  that  cannot  be 
safely  ignored. 

You,  as  well  as  myself,  know  that  orthodoxy  is  not  Christianity,  and  that  it  is 
not  fair  to  confound  the  monstrosities  of  mankind  with  the  eternal  truth  of  God. 
Infidelity  is  preferable  to  devils,  hell  fire,  and  a  God  dooming  the  vast  majority 
of  his  creatures  to  eternal  torment.  But  every  thing  must  be  viewed  divested  of 
its  accidents  and  corruptions,  and  if  we  take  the  teachings  and  spirit  of  Christ,  we 
shall  find  that  they  sanction  neither  ancient  mummeries  nor  modern  absurdities. 
According  to  him  love  is  the  essence  of  religion,  and  the  test  by  which  the  good 
man  must  be  known. 

Catholicism  is  not  consistent  Christianity.  It  is  consistent  orthodoxy.  "Were  I 
not  a  rationalist  I  should  be  a  Catholic,  for  I  see  no  medium,  any  more  than 
Newman  can,  between  the  absolute  right  of  private  judgment  and  absolute  depen- 
dence on  authority.  Were  Evangelicals  true  to  their  own  professions  of  belief  in 
the  depravity  of  nature,  the  wickedness  of  reason,  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity,  &c., 
they  would  at  once  join  the  Church  of  Rome.  But  Protestants  have  enough  of 
private  judgment  to  prevent  the  climax  of  absurdity.  They  stop  half  way  to  the 
Pope,  and  by  and  by  when  they  perceive  the  consequences  of  their  own  dogmas 
they  will  retrace  their  steps,  and  view  him  whom  they  worship  divested  of  all 
those  qualities  which  are  more  provocative  of  hatred  than  affection. 

What  your  moral  objections  to  Christianity  can  be  I  cannot  conceive.  The 
spirit  of  all  Christ's  teachings  is  pure  and  heavenly.  If  your  opinions  are  formed 
by  what  is  said  of  Christ,  then  your  moral  objections  must  exist  in  great  abundance. 
But  Christ  never  wrote  any  thing  for  posterity,  nor  commanded  any  thing  to  be 
written,  but  he  left  behind  him  an  influence  and  spirit  that  admits  of  e-ternal  pro- 
gress, and  modifies  all  external  institutions.  Paul,  a  man  inferior  only  to  his  master 
in  the  utterance  of  all-embracing  truths,  says — '  He  was  made  a  minister  of  the  New 
Testament  not  of  the  letter  but  of  the  spirit,  for  the  letter  killeth  but  the  spirit 
giveth  life.'  If  you  judge  of  Christianity  by  the  letter,  then  it  is  an  absurdity ; 
but  if  you  judge  of  it  by  its  spirit,  then  it  includes  every  principle  of  virtue  and 
happiness. 

I  am  often  surprised  at  the  ft-ivoulous  nature  of  the  charge  brought  against 
Christ.  The  other  day,  in  your  Reasoner,  a  writer  condemned  him  because  he  is 
reported  to  have  said  *  I  come  not  to  send  peace  but  a  sword '  (Mat.  x.,  32.)    Now 


136  THE  REASONER. 


it  is  evident  to  the  most  superficial  observer  that  Christ  here  refers  to  the  con- 
vulsions and  animosities  excited  by  new  opinions,  whether  true  or  false.  In  all 
history  there  is  no  fact  more  evident,  than  that  the  promulgation  of  good  *  sets 
people  together  by  the  ears,'  and  produces  for  a  time  a  state  of  anarchy,  confusion, 
and  disaster,  quite  foreign  to  the  ultimate  effect.  Christ  simply  utters  an  estab- 
lished fact,  a  natural  law,  a  law  that  you  have  yourself  exemplified,  acknowledged, 
and  enforced. 

I  fear  to  encroach  to«  much  on  your  time  and  space.  I  will  say  in  conclusion 
that  T  hope  you  and  your  fellow  workers  will  judge  the  Bible  and  Christ  in  the 
same  impartial  manner  that  you  form  opinions  of  other  documents  and  characters. 
Look  on  the  Bible  as  a  history  of  mind — as  a  book  containing  what  people  thought 
of  Deity.  No  one  can  entirely  divest  himself  of  the  character  of  the  age  in  which 
he  lives.  But  moral  truths  depend,  for  their  authority,  not  on  any  amount  of 
evidence,  and  what  book  is  so  full  of  these  as  the  Bible.  In  it,  all  moral  sayings 
and  discoveries  have  been  anticipated.  And  what  character  stands  out  like  that  of 
Christ's?  If  such  a  being  were  met  with  in  Grecian  or  Roman  history  he  wonld 
be  the  constant  object  of  laudation.  Then  why  refuse  him  his  just  meed  of  praise 
and  reverence  because  his  followers  have  deified  him,  put  into  his  mouth  words 
that  he  never  spoke,  attributed  to  him  actions  that  he  never  performed,  and 
made  him  responsible  for  all  the  miserable  sophistries  and  dogmas  which  they  have 
invented? 

Southampton.  Heney  Nokeington. 


[Some  answer  is  due  to  this  correspondent,  especially  as  he  writes  to  us  for  the 
first  time.  "Would  '  Undecimus,'  or  *  William  Chilton  '  answer  for  the  editor,  who 
is  at  this  time  too  fully  engaged  ?— -Ed.] 

CURRENT     PUBLICATIONS. 


Every  month  brings  with  it  the  English  Republic.  Nos.  5,  6,  and  7,  for  May, 
June,  and  July,  have  duly  appeared.  If  they  contained  no  more  than  the  pieces 
from  the  writings  of  Mazzini,  they  furnish  contributions  to  the  literature  of  pro- 
gress not  otherwise  accessible  to  the  English  reader — and  for  this  Mr.  Linton 
deserves  our  thanks,  if  for  nought  else.  Besides,  there  are  excellent  things  of  his 
own,  containing  a  quality  of  practical  earnestness  not  evident  in  the  same  degree 
in  other  political  writers.  Then  his  exquisite  ascetism  of  comment  on  Chartist 
proceedings  is  not  to,  be  lightly  enjoyed.  At  present  republicanism  is  counted  a 
somewhat  superfluous  advocacy;  but  it  is  the  only  logically-consistent  one  among 
democratic  advocates,  and  will  come  into  wider  favour  yet.  The  last  number  con- 
tains a  series  of  epitaphs,  from  which  wo  extract  two  specimens  of  Mr.  Linton's 
mode  of  commemorating  the  politically  dead.  The  first  is  '  For  a  Small  Column 
in  Memory  of  the  affliction  of  M.  Thiers  :' — 

'  Thiers  has  had  a  cancer  on  his  tongue. 
No  wonder!     Would  you  know  the  reason  why  ? 
When  pimples  have  from  trivial  falsehoods  sprung, 
What  must  he  have  whose  whole  life  is  a  lie  ?' 

The  second  epitaph  is  intended  to  stand  '  In  the  Jesuits'  Burial  Ground  :' — 

'  A  murderer  to  the  very  bone— 
A  traitor  to  the  marrow — 
Cain  and  Iscariot  both  in  one : 
Here  lies  Odillon  Barrot.' 


THE  REASONER. 


137 


In  the  Zoist  for  July  we  find  a  quotation  from  the  Lancet,  of  February  8th,  ult., 

which  states  that  *  Mdlle.  Julie  de  B •  practises  mesmerism  extensively,  and  we 

are  told  successfully,  upon  Sir  Benjamin  Hall,  Bart.,  the  M.  P.  for  Marylebone, 
whose  confidence  in  the  profession  we  recommend  the  medical  electors  of  Maryle- 
bone to  remember  when  he  next  solicits  their  sweet  voices  at  an  election.'  A 
more  extraordinary  passage  than  this  we  never  read  in  a  clerical  journal.  If  a 
member  of  parliament  is  ill,  is  he  to  be  denied  the  privilege  of  selecting  his  own 
mode  of  cure,  under  the  penalty  of  losing  his  seat  ?  It  is  the  same  thing  as  dis- 
qualifying the  member  because  he  goes  to  a  dissenting  chapel.  What  would  Mr. 
Wakley  say  if  the  electors  of  Finsbury  were  called  upon  to  reject  him  because  he 
did  not  go  to  a  hydropathic  establishment  the  last  time  he  was  ill  ?  The  Zoist  for 
this  quarter  is  rich  in  exposures  of  this  species  of  medical  bigotry.  The  Noncon- 
formist, of  June  25th,  ult.,  contains  a  tribute  to  Dr.  EUiotson,  and  a  gratifying 
recognition  of  the  science  of  magnetism,  thus  expressed  : — '  It  would  suffice  to 
redeem  any  opinion  on  natural  phenomena  from  contempt,  that  Reichenbach  and 
Dr.  Gregory  gave  it  the  authority  of  their  names,  and  sustained  it  by  generalised 
results  of  careful  experiments.  We  cannot  think  that  these  men  will  have  the 
fate  of  that  man  of  highly-cultivated  and  philosophic  mind,  Dr.  EUiotson,  who 
has  borne  the  obloquy  and  opposition  incident  to  his  professional  study  and 
employment  of  magnetism,  with  the  dignity  and  self-respect  truly  becoming  a 
scientific  man  in  possession  of  a  truth  too  refined  and  advanced  for  the  immediate 
adoption  of  the  age.' 

A  Refugee  Circular  is  published  by  Melsom,  of  Liverpool,  at  Id.  It  contains 
prayers  and  articles  by  refugees,  addresses  by  friends,  and  acknowledgments  of 
subscriptions.  The  introduction  to  the  article  in  No.  2  contains  these  words : — 
'  So  much  misrepresentation  exists  in  the  country  respecting  the  conditions  on 
which  the  refugees  left  Turkey,  (occasioned  by  the  falsehoods  so  industriously) 
circulated  by  a  portion  of  the  Liverpool  press,  that  we  deem  it  advisable  to  reprint 
Major  Wolynski's  "Answer  to  the  article  which  appeared  in  the  Liverpool  Mercury, 
of  March  7th,  1851."'  The  words  we  have  put  in  parentheses  had  been  better 
omitted.  Sympathising  fully  with  the  object  of  the  Circular,  we  would  have  it 
as  effective  as  possible.  Correct  evfiry  error,  but  in  a  foreign  advocacy  be  neutral 
to  those  who  make  it. 

Apropos  to  Melsom's  publications,  we  may  observe,  that  Coansellor  Ironside,  of 
Sheffield,  who  for  many  years  has  refused  to  vote,  has  resumed  that  duty.  This 
desirable  change  in  his  notions  has  been  brought  about  by  the  letters  on  '  Direct 
Legislation,'  by  M.  Rittinghausen,  reviewed  p.  423  in  our  last  volume,  published 
by  Melsom. 

The  same  publisher  has  brought  out  another  useful  translation  by  Victor  Con- 
siderant,  entitled  '  The  Difficulty  Solved ;  or,  the  Government  of  the  People  by 
Themselves.'  Our  Chartist  readers  will  find  this  work  worth  their  attention,  and 
also  the  reply  to  it,  a  brilliant  critique  by  Louis  Blanc,  entitled  '  Plus  de  Giron- 
din,'  to  be  had  of  Jeffs,  Burlington  Arcade. 

A  small  and  often-desired  volume  has  just  been  issued  by  George  Tayler,  of  the 
Inner  Temple,  containing  a  variety  of  information  which  one  would  not  expect  to 
find  necessarily  included  in  such  a  subject.  The  mere  enumeration  of  its  subject 
will  point  out  its  value  to  our  readers  connected  with  Literary  and  Scientific 
Institutions  It  is  entitled  'The  Law  as  to  the  Exemption  of  Scienti^c  and 
Literary  Institutions  from  the  Parish  and  other  Local  Rates,  with  practical  direc- 


138  THE  RBASONER. 


tions  to  such  Societies,  Mechanics'  Institutes,  &c.,  thereon,  and  Comments  on  the 
Policy  of  the  Law  and  Exemptions  from  Rateability.  With  an  Appendix  of  the 
Statute  of  6  &  7  Vict.,  c.  36,  and  Verbatim  Reports  of  the  Cases  decided  in  Hilary 
Term,  1851,  and  to  the  Royal  Manchester  Institution  and  the  Manchester  Concert 
Hall.' 

There  is  a  publication  issued  at  2d.  in  Glassow,  entitled  the  Freeman.  In  a 
religious  sense  it  has  both  interest  and  merit.  The  editor,  the  Rev.  Charles 
Clarke,  says  in  No.  1,  '  We  have  omitted  "  Christian  "  in  the  name  of  our  journal 
in  order  that  we  might  be  free  to  introduce  a  greater  variety  of  subjects  than 
could  with  propriety  appear  under  this  term,'  We  observe  some  excellent  papers 
by  '  Atticus,'  and  other  notable  articles. 

We  have  received  a  volume  entitled  '  National  Education '  from  the  author,  Mr. 
James  Miller.  It  struck  us,  on  its  appearance  in  1834,  as  being  a  work  of  very 
novel  treatment.  The  principles  of  morality,  metaphysics,  politics,  and  political 
economy  are  elicited  and  demonstrated  after  a  mathematical  fashion.  We  sup- 
posed it  to  have  been  long  out  of  print,  but,  as  we  find  this  is  not  the  case,  we 
would  advise  the  author  to  get  it  before  the  public. 

The  Whittington  Club  has  lately  refused  to  permit  the  Reasoner  to  lie  upon  the 
reading  room  table,  to  which  it  was  formerly  supplied  by  a  member  of  the  Club. 
The  rejection,  we  believe,  was  founded  upon  a  review  of  a  book — which  review 
was  unexceptionable  of  itself,  but  some  member  of  the  library  committee  did  not 
like  the  book  reviewed,  which  he  had  read.  If  the  same  rule  were  followed  univer- 
sally, all  the  journals  published  would  be  excluded  from  all  the  news  rooms  in  the 
country,  Mr.  Holyoake,  being  a  member  of  the  Club,  wrote  and  offered  to  supply 
the  monthly  parts  gratuitously.  The  offer  was  declined  in  the  following  letter  ; — 
'  Sir, — I  am  directed  by  the  managing  committee  to  inform  you,  that  they  decline 
your  offer  of  the  Reasoner  for  the  reading  room  of  the  institution,  with  thanks. — 
I  am,  sir,  yours  respectfully,  W.  Stkudwicke,  Sec'  ^ 

Those  who  remember  the  wonderful  papers  of  Pel  Verjuice,  on  marine  service, 
■will  have  some  idea  of  the  kind  of  revelations  made  on  this  subject  by  an  Old 
Seaman.  Mr.  Watts,  of  Islington,  whose  energetic  services  in  political  and 
religious  reform  have  long  been  known  in  circles  where  the  actual  work  is  done, 
has  now  contributed  an  extraordinary  pamphlet  to  the  cause  of  the  sailors,  entitled 
the  '  Warning  Voice  of  a  Seaman  ;  or.  Five  Years'  Slavery  in  the  British  Navy.' 
There  is  no  mistaking  its  genuineness;  its  language  is  that  of  a  sailor;  and  it 
contains  much  which  none  but  a  sailor  could  or  would  write.  Some  of  the  news- 
papers have  given  extracts  from  it  on  the  ground  of  their  romantic  interest.  We 
only  know  of  one  case — that  of  Pel  Verjuice — in  which  a  sailor  ever  acquired  the 
ability  and  retained  the  resolution  to  tell  his  own  story  when  he  had  the  means ; 
for  the  wonder  is  that  either  ability  or  spirit  should  survive  such  slavery  and 
cruelty  as  that  through  which  Mr.  Watts  has  passed.  This  compact  little  book  of 
eighty  duodecimo  pages,  published  by  Watson,  is  specially  calculated  to  serve  the 
cause  of  reform  in  the  navy,  which  has  begun  to  be  agitated  in  some  of  our  sea- 
ports; and  we  commend  it  to  the  attention  of  our  friends  wherever  coacerned  in 
this  needful  agitation.  Mr.  Watts,  at  considerable  expense,  has  presented  a  copy 
to  every  member  of  parliament.  Every  British  sailor  ought  to  have  a  copy  in  his 
possession,  if  only  out  of  respect  to  one  of  themselves  who  has  so  manfully  vindi- 
cated their  claims. 

G.  J.  H. 


THE  RBASONER. 


139 


EeaSoner  ^irnpasaulra. 


To  promote  the  efficiency  of  the  Reasoner  as  an  organ  of  Propagandism,  one  friend  subscribes  10s. 
weekly,  another  5s.,  one  2s.  monthly,  others  la.  each  weekly— others  intermediate  sums  or  special 
remittances,  according  to  ability  or  earnestness.  An  annual  contribution  of  Is.  from  each  reader 
would  be  easy,  equitable,  and  sufficient.  What  is  remitted,  in  whatever  proportion,  is  acknowledged 
here  and  accounted  for  the  at  end  of  the  Volume. 


Acknowledged  in  No.  266,  301s. — N.  S.  (half-yearly,  which  is  always  remitted 
the  day  on  which  it  is  due),  10s. — Mr.  V.  (a  friend  who,  though  he  has  long  been 
blind,  sends)  10s.— J.  Shaw,  Barrhead,  Is. — R.  Lockhead,  do..  Is.— Robert  Bell, 
Edinburgh,  Is.— D.  Murphy,  Is. — R.  W.,  Is.— Per  Shaksperes,  giren  by  W.  J. 
B.,  20s.— J.  Scott,  Methwold,  Is.— William  Holyoak,  Leicester,  Is.— Total,  349s. 
[Dr.  Lees  writes : — *  I  was  much  interested  in  your  Lancaster  Report,  and  as  it  is 
not  right  that  any  man  should  go  into  warfare  at  his  own  cost — and  as  the  truth 
cannot  be  fully  tested  or  brought  out  where  we  have  only  one  side — I  beg  to 
enclose  some  books  as  my  contribution  towards  the  eliciting  of  it.  The  truth, 
I  suppose,  does  not  need  more  than  fair  play,  and  you  ought  to  have  no  less. 
I  send-  a  complete  set  of  the  Truth-Seeker  and  Present  Age,  nine  parts  (to  be 
sold  at  wholesale  price — 12s.,  published  at  16s.) ;  Jobert's  *  Philosophy  of  Geology,' 
with  'Thoughts  on  God,  Genesis,  &c.'  (3s.  6d.,  published  at  4s.  6d.)  These  books 
will  lie  at  Mr.  Watson's  for  sale.'] 


GUIDE  TO  THE  LECTURE  ROOM. 

Literary  Institution,  John  Street,  Fitzroy  Square. 
— July;22nd  [8J],  Discussion  in  the  Coffee  Room. 
Question,  '  The  Respective  i\Ierit3  of  Free  Trade 
and  Protection.'  20th  [7i],  Ernest  Jones,  'Christ 
versus  Mammon,  or  the  doings  of  the  Bishops.' 

Hall  of  Science,  City  Road.— July  20th  [7i], 
Thomas  Shorter,  'The  Institutions  of  Lycurgus.' 

National  Hall,  242,   High  Holborn.— Julv  20th   | 
[8],  P.  \V.  Perfitt. '  Luther,  as  the  Victorious  Man.' 

South  London  Hall,  Corner  of  Webber  Street, 
Blackfriars  Road.— July  20th  [7|],  C.Southwell, 
'Pope,  Gay,  Pattison,  Hammond,  Savage,  Hill, 
and  Ticktli.' 

Institute  of  Progress,  10a,  Upper  George-street, 
Sloane-square. — July  18th  [8],  a  Discussion.  20th, 
[7i],  a  lecture. 

Eclectic  Institute,  Denmark  Street,  Soho.  — 
Every  Friday  [SJ],  Mr.  J.  B.  O'Brien,  '  Home  and 
Foreign  Politics.'  Every  Sunday  [74],  on  '  Moral 
and  Social  Science.' 

Areopagus  Coffee  and  Reading  Room,  59,  vJhurch 
Lane,  Whitechapel. — Every  Sunday,  Monday,  and 
Wednesday  (3),  a  Lecture  or  Discussion. 

City  Forum  Coffee  House,  60,  Red  Cross  Street. 
— Every  Sunday,  Monday,  and  Thursday  [8^],  a 
Discussion. 

Commercial  Hall,  Philpot  Street,  Commercial 
Road  East. — Every  Tuesday  and  Thursday  even- 
ing [8],  a  Discussion. 

ADVERTISEMENTS. 

Works  published  by  J.  Watson. 

THE  LIBRARY  of  REASON, containing  aseries 
of  articles  from  the  works  of  ancient  and 
modern  authors  in  favour  of  FREE  INQUIRY. 
22  Nos.  stitched  in  a  wrapper,  with  Title  and  Con- 
tents  price    1     6 

P.S. — Persons  requiring  single  numbers  to  com. 
plete  sets,  can  procure  them  from  the  publisher,  or 
through  his  agents. 

Owen  and  Bacheler's  Discussion  on  the  Ex- 
istence of  God  and  the  Authenticity  of  the 
Bible.     In  1  vol.,  neat  cloth  boards,  price    4    6 


Discussion  on  God,  in  1  vol.,  cloth 1  10 

Ditto        ditto        in  a  wrapper    1    4 

Discussion  on  the  Bible,  1  vol.,  cloth   3    2 

Ditto        ditto        in  a  wrapper 3     8 

(Or  in  parts  at  6d.  each.) 
Popular  Tracts,  by  Robert  Dale   Owen  in 

1  vol.,  cloth  boards 2    6 

The  Bible  of  Reason,  or  Scriptures  of  Ancient 

and  i\Iodem  Authors.  1  thick  vol. 8vo.  c.let.  7    6 
Godwin's  Political  Justice,  2   vols,   bound 

in  one,  cloth  lettered 5     0 

Mirabaud's  System  of  Nature,  2  vols,  bound 

in  one,  cloth  lettered   6    0 

Volney's    Ruins    of    Empires  and  Law  of 
Nature,  \vith   three    engravings.    1    vol., 

cloth  lettered 3    0 

("To  be  had  in  Five  parts  at  6d.  each,  or  in  13 

numbers  at  2d.  each.) 
Shelley's  Queen  Mab,  with  all  the  notes,  1 

vol.,  cloth  lettered  1     6 

Ditto        ditto  wrapper    1     0 

Trevelyan's  Letter  to  Cardinal  Wiseman  . .     0     1 
The  Revolution  which  began  in  Heaven  :  a 

Dramatic  Vision  of  Time,  by  H.  Lucas  . .     0    6 
The  Freethinker's  Magazine,  in  7  Nos.  at  2d., 

and  2  Nos.  at  6d. 
Volney's  Lectures  on  History,  1  vol.,  cloth      1     6 
Ditto        ditto        ditto      wrapper  ....     1     0 
Frances  Wright's  Popular  Lectures,  1  vol.    3    0 
Ditto        ditto        Few  Days  in  Athens, 

1  vol.,  cloth  lettered 1    6 

Ditto        ditto  wrapper     1     0 

London :  James  Watson,  3,  Queen's  Head  Pas. 
sage.  Paternoster -row. 

Just  published.  Part  IX.  and  last,  with 
Index,  2s.  6d. 

THE  TRUTH-SEEKER  and  PRESENT  AGE, 
containing  papers  on  Scepticism,  ancient  and 
modern ;  on  Idealism  and  Realism ;  and  on  Phy- 
sical and  Political  Philosophy. — John  Chapman, 
142,  Strand,  London.  (No.  13  and  list,  vol.  II., 
price  7d.,  post  free,  from  Dr.  Lees,  Leeds.) 


140  THE  REASONER. 


Our  Open  page. 

Me.  Luke  Burke  did  deliver  two  lectures,  one  entitled  '  A  Demonstration  of  the 
Existence  of  a  God,  upon  purely  philosophical  principles  ;'  the  other  '  An  Inquiry 
into  the  Nature  and  Attributes  of  God,  upon  philosophical  principles.'  Mr. 
Holyoake  replied  to  them  in  Mr.  Burke's  presence  on  two  Sunday  nights  at  the 
City  Road  Hall — but  Mr.  Burke  could  never  be  induced  to  publish  them. 

Professor  Kinkel,  in  a  lecture  on  the  drama  at  Willis's  Rooms,  remarked  that, 
in  spite  of  Shakspere's  greatness,  it  was  injudicious  to  take  him  for  a  model  in  the 
present  day.  '  Though  a  worthy  object  for  the  adoration  of  all  poets  and  thinkers, 
j  it  is  an  impiety  to  use  him  as  a  means  for  shackling  art.  A  new  epoch  arises  with 
j  great  events  of  its  own,  and  to  represent  these  a  new  great  poet  is  required.' 

A  placard  to  the  following  effect  has  been  prepared  for  the  poster: — 'Some  sup- 
pose there  are  no  penal  statutes  against  free  expression;  others  know  there  are,  and 
think  it  proper  that  it  should  be  so.  Such  persons,  and  all  who  care  for  more  accu- 
rate information  on  the  subject,  may  find  it  in  the  "  History  of  the  Last  Trial  by  Jury 
for  Atheism  in  England,"  a  work  which  comprises  an  historic  vindication  of  the 
proceedings  of  the  atheistical  party  during  the  past  eight  years,  with  an  account  of 
what  they  have  done  and  why  they  have  done  it.  To  be  had  of  most  Booksellers 
and  News-agents,  if  ordered.' 

Can  some  reader  oblige  us  with  Archdeacon  Hare's  sermon  on  '  Self-Sacrifice,' 
or  tell  us  who  is  the  publisher  ? 

Any  reader  having  a  copy  of  Godfrey  Higgin's  '  Anacalypsis '  to  dispose  of  may 
write  to  the  office,  as  a  correspondent  is  asking  for  one. 

We  have  received  from  Mr.  E.  L.  Pearson,  of  Islington,  Is.  for  the  Committee 
issuing  Mr.  Owen's  Tracts,  also  lOs.  from  Mr.  Atkins,  Civil  Engineer,  of  Oxford, 
which  have  been  handed  to  the  secretary. 

The  first  number  of  the  Inquirer  and  Imtructive  Repository,  a  Monthly  Magazine, 
was  issued  on  July  1st.  The  contents  are  varied  and  interesting.  An  article  entitled 
'  The  Clergy  and  American  Slavery,'  contains  a  list  of  clergymen  who,  '  if  by  one 
prayer  they  could  liberate  every  slave  in  the  world,  they  would  not  dare  to  offer  it.' 
Richard  Oastler,  the  factory  children's  king,  has  published  in  No.  9  of  his  Home 
an  interesting  reply  to  the  '  Logic  of  Death,'  by  Britannicus,  who  saw  it  in  a  book- 
seller's shop  in  Northampton.  Britannicus  promises  a  second  article  on  the 
subject. 

The  Reasoner  exchanges  with  the  Popular  Tribune,  M.  Cabet's  paper,  published 

i  at  Nauvoo,  Illinois.     French  ability  in  journalism  will  be  a  serviceable  example 

to  the  American  press.     The  Leader  frequently  quotes  from  the  Popular  Tribune, 

and  we  shall  be  able  often  to  present  some  extracts  of  interest  to  our  Communist 

readers. 

In  Sunderland  the  Rev.  Ebenezer  Syme,  and  in  Newcastle-on-Tyne  Mr.  Joseph 
Cowen,  jun.,  have  issued  able  addresses  on  behalf  of  the  Polish  and  Hungarian 
Refugees. 

Mr.  J.  y.  Aitchison,  late  Pastor  of  the  Evangelical  Union  Church,  New  Street, 
Paisley,  lately  delivered  a  discourse  on  Christian  Baptism,  in  which  he  proposed 
to  '  show  the  Scripture  Evidences  which  led  to  his  change  of  mind  upon  that  sub- 
ject.' Where  was  Mr.  Aitchison's  Free  Will  when  he  suffered  his  opinions  to  be 
changed  by  evidence  ? 

London:  Printed  by  Holyoake  Brothers,  3,  Queen's  Head  Passage,  Patemoster-row ;  and  Published 
by  J.  Watson,  3,  Queen's  Head  Passage,  Paternoster-row. — Wednesday,  July  l6th,  1851. 


AND 

THEOLOGICAL     EXAMINER. 


They  who  believe  that  they  have  Truth  ask  no  favour,  save  that  of  being  heard:  they  dare  the 
judgment  of  Mankind  :  refused  Co-operation,  they  invoke  Opposition,  for  Opposition  ia  their 
Opportunity, — Editor. 

THE  LANCASTER  CONTROVERSY. 


THE  REV,  MK.  FLEMING'S  SECOND  LETTER  :  A  REVIEW  OF  MR.  HOLYOAKE'S 
RECENT  LECTURES. 

Mr.  H.  boldly  and  decidedly  avows  himself  an  atheist.  He  has  no  faith  in  the 
generally-received  doctrine  of  the  Divine  existence.  He  sees  nothing  in  the 
structure  of  the  universe — in  the  constitution  of  man — in  the  Scriptures  of  truth 
—in  history,  testimony,  experience,  to  convince  him  of  the  being  of  a  God, 
and  he  altogether  rejects  the  doctrine — declares  it  to  be  an  unestablished  dogma, 
and  proclaims  to  the  world  that  it  is  a  delusion  and  a  fiction.  Yet  when  plied 
with  the  difficulties  that  beset  the  position  he  has  assumed,  he  is  compelled  to 
admit  that  there  may  be  a  God,  and  that  he  cannot  say  absolutely  there  is  no  such 
Being.  He.  thus  abandons  his  atheism  ;  at  all  events  allows  it  to  be  resolved  into 
ignorance,  or  obtuseness  of  perception.  Mr.  H.,  therefore,  after  this  admission 
made  at  the  close  of  the  last  of  the  lectures  now  under  consideration,  can  no  longer 
say,  there  is  no  God,  or  to  use  his  own  exact  words, '  that  the  God  whom  we  seek 
is  the  Nature  which  we  know,' — but  this  only,  *  I  know  not  that  there  is  a  God.' 
But  what  this  amounts  to,  of  what  this  is  an  acknowledgment,  all  will  at  once 
perceive. 

The  proofs  of  the  existence  of  God,  adducible,  are  too  many  even  for  enumeration. 
Reference  to  two  or  three  only  will  now  be  made.  There  is  then,  as  the  first  of 
these,  the  religious  instinct,  or  capacity,  or  tendency,  of  man — a  proof  for  the  Divine 
existence  on  which  too  high  a  value  cannot  be  set,  but  to  which  comparatively 
little  importance  or  prominency  has  hitherto  been  given.  Man  is  emphatically  a 
religious  creature.  The  forms  of  worship ;  the  religious  ritfes  and  ceremonies  that 
everywhere  prevail,  prove  to  demonstration  that  he  is  so.  And  in  what  light  is 
this  religious  feeling  which  is  in  men,  and  in  them  alone,  which  is  always  active, 
and  everywhere  manifested,  and  which  is  their  peculiar  distinction,  to  be  regarded  ? 
Clearly  in  that  of  an  argument  in  support  of  the  doctrine  of  the  Divine  existence. 
As  has  been  well  said, '  It  swells  upwards,  and  amounts  to  a  proof  of  the  existence 
of  God.' 

'  It  is  a  simple  fact,  then,  beyond  all  question,  that  humanity  possesses  this  dis- 
tinguishing attribute.  All  things  beneath  and  around  him  seem  to  be  made 
for  man ;  but  he  is  the  subject  of  a  strong,  active,  predominating  impulse,  that 
appears  like  a  consciousness,  on  his  own  part,  that  he  is  made  for  something  else. 
This  impulse  finds  utterance  and  embodiment  in  religious  ideas,  and  religious 
service.  Now,  it  would  be  a  strange  anomaly  in  a  world  like  this,  in  which  every 
faculty  of  every  creature  finds  its  corresponding  and  appropriate  object— in  which 
wing  and  hoof,  scent  and  speed,  eye  and  ear,  hand  and  horn,  powers  and  passions, 
appetites  and  attributes  of  all  sorts,  are  fitted  exactly  to  something  that  seems  to 
be  made  for  tliem,  or  for  which  thet/  are  made — it  would  be  a  strange  thing  that  the 


[No.  269.1  INo.  10,  Vol.XI,] 

[ONE  PENNY.l 


142  THE  REASONER. 


only  exception  to  this  law  should  be  the  Lord  and  Master  of  the  world  himself ! — 
and  that  it  should  occur,  too,  just  in  that  one  facfllty  that  at  once  distinguishes  and 
dignifies  Him  more  than  any  other !  The  existence  and  actings  of  the  religious 
instinct  in  man  thus  constitute  a  proof  of  the  existence  of  God,  just  as  the  admitted 
existence  of  God  involves  the  obligation  to  religion  in  man.  The  tendency  in 
humanity  '  to  feel  after  God  if  haply  it  may  find  him — and  to  have  something  it 
may  call  God — whether  it  succeed  in  finding  Him  or  not — is  demonstrative  of  a 
Divine  objective  reality  answerable  to  itself,  in  the  same  way  as  the  half-formed 
wings  of  a  bird  in  the  shell  are  proof  of  the  existence  of  an  external  atmosphere, 
and  of  the  ultimate  destiny  of  the  bird  itself.' 

A  second  argument  for  the  existence  of  God  is  testimony.  It  is  a  common  thing 
for  the  atheist  to  argue  thus  :  If  God  is,  let  him  show  himself,  and  we  will  believe  in 
his  existence.  If  He  be  possessed  of  the  power  generally  attributed  to  him.  He  can  so 
manifest  himself  as  to  disperse  every  shadow  of  doubt  from  our  mind,  and  correct 
our  error,  and  secure  for  himself  the  homage  and  obedience  of  our  hearts  :  let  him 
do  this,  and  the  question  is  settled  for  ever.  Why  is  it  that  He  does  not  do  this, 
and  at  once  remove  all  our  perplexities,  and  put  an  end  to  the  long  and  profitless 
discussion  between  believer  and  sceptic  ?  It  might  be  enough,  as  a  reply  to  all  this, 
to  cite  the  words  of  Scripture, '  To  him  that  hath  shall  be  given ;'  '  If  any  man 
will  do  his  will,  he  shall  know  the  doctrine,' '  If  they  believe  not  Moses  and  the 
Prophets,  neither  will  they  be  persuaded,  though  one  should  rise  from  the  dead.' 
But  the  thing  that  is  asked  for  has  already  been  given.  God  Juts  manifested 
himself.  The  earth  has  been  lightened  with  his  glory.  The  mountains  have  shook 
at  his  presence.  A  nation  of  men  have  trembled  at  his  voice.  Noah,  Abraham, 
Jacob,  Moses,  Elijah,  Isaiah,  and  John,  saw  him  and  lived.  We  have  their  testi- 
mony that  they  did  so — their  calm,  enlightened,  immutable  testimony.  What 
more  is  required  ?     Is  other  testimony  admitted  ?     Why  not  their's  ? 

Chrisiians  know  by  their  own  experience  that  there  is  a  God.  This  is  an  argu- 
ment which  is  of  incalculable  value  to  multitudes.  It  has  been  put  thus  : — 'Sup- 
pose a  native  of  the  torrid  zone  were  to  say  to  a  sceptic,  "  You  say  you  have  felt 
iCe — -1  have  not  felt  it ;"  would  he  consider  this  a  sufficient  offset  to  his  own  expe- 
rience on  the  subject?  Would  he  not  think  that  his  testimony  was  a  reason  why 
the  other  should  believe  in  ice,  although  he  knew  nothing  about  it  ?  Would  he 
consider  the  non-experience  of  the  other  an  equipoise  for  his  own  experience? 
Most  certainly  not.  Yet  the  sceptic  adopts  this  very  rule  with  regard  to  the 
Christian.  He  sets  his  non-experience  against  the  Christian's  experience.  But 
what  then  ?  If  his  state  of  mind  proves  that  he  does  not  know  God,  that  of  believers 
proves  that  they  do  know  him.  And  if  they  do  know  him,  then  he  exists  ;  nor 
does  his  non-experience  prove  that  he  does  not  exist,  but  only  that  be  has  not  experi- 
enced that  he  exists — as  good  a,  reason  for  his  declining  to  believe  in  the  Divine 
existence  on  the  trstimony  of  others  as  would  be  that  of  the  inhabitant  of  the  torrid 
zone  for  declining  to  believe  in  ice  on  his  testimony,  merely  because  he  himself  had 
never  experienced  the  existence  of  any.'  Mr.  H.  may  tell  me  in  answer  to  this 
that  he  has  no  experience  whatever  of  the  doctrine  of  the  being  of  God,  and  on 
this  ground,  as  well  as  on  others,  rejects  it,  I  will  receive  his  statement  as  true. 
But  then,  in  my  turn,  I  solemnly  assure  him  that  /  know  there  is  a  God.  Will  he 
believe  me?' 

The  nrguments  for  the  Divine  existence  supplied  by  the  common  consent  of 
mankind — the  moral  nature  of  man,  tlio  government  of  the  world,  and  special 
proviiieuces — I  pass  over,  and  advert  for  a  moment  or  two  to  that  which  is  drawn 


THE  REASONER.  143 


from  the  (f^si^w  which  is  everywhere  apparent  in  the  Universe.  That  marks  of  design 
are  everywhere  discoverable  every  candid  individual  will  admit.  But  these  marks 
of  design  in  creation  are  as  much  an  evidence  of  a  designer  who  is  above  and  in- 
dependent of  the  universe,  as  are  the  marks  of  design  supplied  by  the  machinery 
of  a  factory,  the  mechanism  of  a  watch,  the  apartments  of  a  house,  the  various  beds 
of  a  nursery  garden,  or  the  arrangement  of  the  letters  and  words  of  a  newspaper. 
Design  cannot  be  admitted  as  evidence  of  a  designer  in  one  case  and  not  in  the 
other.  If  the  design  of  a  portrait  evidences  a  designing  mind ;  the  higher,  and 
clearer,  and  more  important  design  of  man,  the  reality  is  equally  an  evidence  of 
an  intelligent  Maker.  Mr.  H.  then  is  bound  either  to  acknowledge  God,  or  an  in- 
telligent First  Cause  of  all  things,  or  to  show  positively  that  these  manifestations  of 
design  do  not  prove  his  existence.  '  He  is  bound  to  show  that  all  possible  ap- 
pearances of  design  do  noiprove  a  design,  and  of  course  a  designer  j  and,  therefore, 
that  all  possible  appearances  of  design  can  be  produced  by  a  cause  void  of  design  ; 
and,  consequently,  that  the  works  of  men,  manifest  as  much  appearance  of  the 
same  as  they  may,  do  not  prove  them  to  be  possessed  of  it.'  These  difficulties 
must  be  obviated,  or  the  Divine  existence  admitted. 

But  then,  Mr.  H,  replies,  if  appearance  of  design  is  evidence  of  a  designer  in  one 
case,  it  is  evidence  thereof  in  another,  and  therefore  proves  that  God  had  a  designer 
or  Maker.  But  how  so  ?  '  What  appearance  of  contrivance  or  design  is  there  in 
God  ?  Is  it  said,  in  his  mind  ?  How  in  his  mind  ?  Why  there  is  harmony,  order, 
intelligence  there.  True,  but  it  is  not  these  qualities  themselves  but  their  manifesta- 
tionszs  displayed  in  the  works  of  nature  which  are  made  the  proof  of  a  designer.  The 
argument  is  this  :  that,  as  mere  matter  is  void  of  intelligence,  it  could  exhibit  no 
indications  thereof,  excepting  so  far  as  made  to  exhibit  them  by  an  intelligent 
being ;  and  that  as  the  Universe  is  mere  matter,  and  does  exhibit  those  indications, 
it  must  have  had  an  intelligent  author.  The  absurdity  of  the  objection  consists  in 
making  the  mind  of  a  being  the  manifestation  of  mind,  and  so  an  evidence  of  another 
designer.' 

I  have  the  most  thorough  confidence  in  the  truth  of  the  Bible.  I  believe  that 
its  claims  to  a  divine  origin  rest  on  a  foundation  that  has  never  been  shaken,  and 
that  never  can  be  disturbed.  I  see  in  the  fact  of  its  existence — the  harmony  of 
its  parts — the  sublimity  of  its  doctrines — the  purity  of  its  morality — the  accordance 
of  its  statements  with  human  consciousness — the  fulfilment  of  its  prophecies — the 
greatness  of  its  miracles— the  early  triumphs  of  Christianity,  and  in  the  effect 
which  it  produces  in  the  experience  and  lives  of  those  who  heartily  believe  it,  the 
most  convincing  and  satisfactory  proofs  of  its  truth  and  divinity.  I  see  all  who 
come  to  the  study  of  the  Scriptures  with  a  thoughtful,  devout,  and  teachable  mind, 
rise  up  from  their  perusal  fully  persuaded  of  their  truthfulness,  and  ready  to  part 
with  any  thing  and  every  thing  rather  than  this  persuasion,  and  I  am  the  more 
and  more  confirmed  in  my  belief  with  regard  to  them.  But  the  establishment  of 
the  claims  of  the  Bible  is  the  establishment  of  the  doctrine  of  the  Divine  existence. 
The  one  is  the  consequent  and  necessary  eflfect  of  the  other.  Bat  the  Bible  ts  true, 
and  therefore  God  is. 

This  paper  is  solely  occupied  with  the  argument  for  the  being  of  God,  because 
Mr.  H.  is  an  atheist.  But  for  this  strange  and  painful  fact,  no  such  an 
amount  of  space  would  have  been  taken  up  with  what  to  many  will  doubtless  ap- 
pear a  superfluous  task.  What  remains  to  be  answered  will  come  within  a  small 
compass,  and  form  only  another  paper.  James  Fleming. 


144  THE  RBASONER. 


[We  regret  that  we  have  opened  our  columns  to  this  controversy,  but,  having 
permitted  Mr.  Fleming's  strictures  on  the  lectures  of  Mr.  Holyoake,  we  cannot,  in 
fairness,  refuse  insertion  to  the  vindication  of  the  latter.  Mr.  H.  will,  of  course, 
confine  himself  strictly  to  the  arguments  of  Mr.  Fleming,  be  as  concise  as  possible, 
and,  we  are  sure,  will  say  nothing  offensive  to  the  feelings  of  those  who  so  widely 
differ  from  his  opinions. — Note  to  the  first  Letter,  by  the  editor  of  the  L.  GJ] 

MR.  HOLYOAKE'S  REPLY  TO  MR.  FLEMING'S  SECOND  LETTER. 


To  the  Editor  of  the  Lancaster  Guardian. 

Sib, — As  it  seems  to  afford  Mr.  Fleming  some  controversial  satisfaction,  I  ob- 
ject not  to  it — otherwise,  when  he  represents  that  when  I  was  'plied  with  diflficul- 
ties  I  was  compelled  to  admit  that  there  may  be  a  God,'  I  should  tell  him  that 
what  he  paints  as  my  compulsion  is  my  custom.  What  he  describes  as  being 
extorted  from  me  at  the  'close '  of  my  last  lecture  was  the  opening  explanation  of 
my  first,  and  was  put  on  record  by  me  many  years  ago.  Mr.  Fleming  must  know 
well  that  the  whole  question  of  the  Divine  existence  is  one  of  probability,  and 
that  he,  no  more  than  myself,  is  justified  in  using  positive  language.  If  hastiness 
of  affirmation  was  not  the  controversial  sin  of  the  Christian,  Mr.  Fleming  too 
would  observe  the  rule  which  I  follow,  and  concede  in  his  turn  that  there  may  not 
be  a  God. 

There  is  some  propriety  in  the  Unitarian  affirming  that  there  is  a '  religious 
instinct'  in  man.  In  the  Unitarian  with  whomreligion  is  a  sentiment  and  creed  a 
service,  piety  at  least  approaches  to  the  simplicity  and  purity  of  an  instinct  j  but 
with  the  lower  typfes  of  the  Christian  faith  there  can  be  no  pretension  to  it.  The 
thirty-nine  articles  are  surely  not  instinctive  in  man,  nor  the  iron  dogmas  of 
Calvin,  nor  the  liquid  doctrine  of  the  Baptists,  nor  any  creed  which  a  Wesleyan 
may  draw  up.  Why,  even  arithmetic  is  not  instinctive  in  the  human  race,  or  so 
many  could  not  be  found  to  take  three  to  be  one ! 

What  I  advance  in  these  communications  is  rather  in  deference  to  Mr.  Fleming 
than  to  the  quality  of  his  review  of  my  lectures.  That  review  might  have  been 
written  to  conceal  the  tenor  of  my  subjects,  it  seems  to  me  so  foreign  to  what 
I  dwelt  upon.  Had  my  name  been  omitted  throughout  Mr.  Fleming's  three  papers, 
I  should  not  have  identified  them  as  relating  to  me  at  all.  It  is  not  for  me  to  take 
the  initiative,  and  recount  what  I  actually  urged.  That  might  subject  my  reply  to 
non-insertion.  It  remains  for  me  to  follow  what  my  adversary  has  seen  fit  to  put 
forward.  Otherwise,  as  respects  this  very  question  of  the  religious  instinct, 
I  should  observe  that  I  did  not  introduce  it.  In  a  certain  and  fuller  sense  than 
Mr.  Fleming  has  put  it,  I  should  concele  it  to  him.  Mr.  Fleming  frames  his 
reply  to  me  as  though  I  was  some  indiscriminate  assailant  of  everybody  and  every- 
thing, without  the  power  to  see  or  the  candour  to  own  that  there  are  many  things  of 
reason  and  weight  on  the  side  opposed  to  me,  demanding  respectful  consideration. 
But  Mr.  Fleming,  in  setting  up  defences  of  matters  I  never  disputed,  effectually 
keeps  out  of  discussion  the  points  I  came  to  Lancaster  to  enforce.  For  instance, 
his  argument  on  '  testimony '  has  no  relation  to  me.  Atheists,  I  think,  do  not 
utter  the  offensive  and  presumptuous  speech  put  into  their  mouths  by  Mr.  Fleming, 
and  say,  '  Let  God  show  himself,  and  we  will  believe.'  We  only  observe  that 
the  manifestation  of  God  would  dispel  all  doubt,  and  command  the  intelligent 
homage  of  every  creature.  As  Deity  takes  not  this  course,  it  may  be  concluded 
that,  human  happiness  being  provided  for,  he  has  a  lofty  pleasure  in  its  progress, 
and  that  he  is  too  great  to  need  and  too  cultivated  to  require  that  perpetual  recog- 
nition only  exacted  by  the  lowest  order  of  donors. 


THE  REASONER.  145 


Mr.  Fleming  reminds  me  that  Noah  and  Moses  and  John  saw  God,  and  asks 
why  should  I  not  receive  their  testimony  ?  My  answer  is,  that  Mahomet  and 
Joseph  Smith  give  me  the  same  assurance,  and  if  I  believed  them  all  I  should 
believe  too  much.  In  the  same  manner,  when  Mr.  Fleming  tells  me  that  he  knows 
there  is  a  God,  and  asks  will  I  believe  him,  I  remind  him  that  the  Pagan,  the 
Buddhist,  the  Thug,  and  Mormon  say  the  same  thing.  There  never  was  a  super- 
stition whose  priests  would  not  advance  this  presumptuous  testimony.  Am  I  to 
believe  them  all  ?  Honest  Catholics  will  tell  me,  as  recklessly  as  Mr.  Fleming, 
that  they  know  that  the  Virgin  Mary  answers  prayers.  Will  Mr.  Fleming  believe 
these  persons  ?  Certainly  not.  He  must  answer,  as  I  do  to  him, '  I  doubt  not  the 
sincerity  of  your  declarations,  but  I  am  not  satisfied  of  the  accuracy  of  your  im- 
pressions. The  existence  of  God  is  not  a  matter  of  politeness.  It  is  more  a  ques- 
tion of  evidence  than  of  courtesy.' 

It  is  related  of  that  Nestor  of  modern  preachers,  the  Rev.  "W.  Jay,  of  Bath,  that 
when  the  divinity  of  Edward  Irving  was  at  its  zenith,  a  disciple  of  the  new  church 
set  out  on  a  mission  to  Mr.  Jay,  with  a  view  to  induce  that  gentleman  to  join  their 
body  and  be  saved.  The  venerable  minister  demanded  who  he  was,  and  what  was 
his  business  ?  He  answered,  without  hesitation,  that  he  was  an  angel.  He  was 
confident  of  it;  he  had  no  misgivings  about  it;  like  the  Rev.  Mr.  Fleming  in  the 
present  case,  he  Jcnetv  he  was  an  angel.  The  Rev.  Mr.  Jay  quietly  requested  him 
to  take  off  his  coat,  which  when  the  angel  had  done  it,  Mr.  Jay  proceeded  to 
examine  his  shoulder  blades  rather  roughly.  '  Pray  what  are  you  doing,  sir  V 
inquired  the  celestial  visitant  indignantly.  '  Feeling  for  yo|^r  •wings,'  was  Mr. 
Jay's  reply.  The  angel  departed  very  wroth.  Mr.  Jay  had  a  right  to  expect  to 
find  some  particular  conformation  after  so  unusual  a  profession ;  and  when  Mr. 
Fleming  claims  the  eminent  distinction,  which  philosophers  and  divines  have  long 
craved  in  vain,  of  knowing  that  God  exists,  we  have  a  right  to  expect  some  very 
original  contribution  to  theological  literature  from  his  pen.  One  so  gifted  must 
have  it  in  his  power  to  furnish  peculiar  information  ;  and  I  can  only  regret  that  in 
his  present  papers  he  has  not  justified  the  high  expectation  he  has  raised. 

The  argument  of  design,  now  considered  as  exploded  in  all  advanced  schools  of 
theology,  Mr.  Fleming  reproduces  in  every  paper,  as  though  he  had  nothing  else 
to  write  about.  An  able  critic  in  the  Topic  lately  applauded  Humboldt  for  ex- 
cluding from  his  'Kosmos' this  hacknied  dogma.  'Assuredly,' the  commentator 
observes,  *  the  evidences  of  design  in  the  creation  require  a  previous  idea  in  the 
mind  of  him  that  perceives  them  Were  not  man  a  designer,  they  would  never 
be  perceived  :  and  man,  therefore,  uses  nature  as  a  mirror,  wherein  are  reflected 
the  properties  of  Ids  own  being,  which  he  mistakes  for  her  own  independent  laws.' 
Mr.  Fleming,  who  cannot  comprehend  Nature,  yet  assumes  to  know  all  about  it, 
proceeds  on  the  extravagant  assumption  that  he  knows  it  to  be  void  of  all  self- 
action  ;  that  he  has  ascertained  all  the  properties  of  matter ;  and  that  it  has  no 
inherent  power  to  do  what  it  does  do. 

Will  the  public  suppose  that  I  did  not  argue  the  question  of  atheism  in  my  lec- 
tures ;  that  I  confined  myself  to  showing  that  all  opinion,  even  atheistical  opinion, 
if  conscientiously  held,  is  morally  innocent — as  morally  innocent  as  theistical 
belief ;  and  that,  as  there  was  no  crime  in  the  creed  of  the  understanding,  that  the 
atheist  and  the  Christian  must  stand  equally  innocent  in  the  eye  of  God — and  that, 
therefore,  the  idea  of  eternal  punishment  for  belief  could  have  no  truth  in  itself^ 
no  place  in  philosophy,  nor  admitted  of  defence  in  discussion  ?  Mr.  Fleming 
refused  to  debate  this  in  my  presence  ;  yet,  if  he  believes  it,  the  people  of  Lancaster 
ought  to  know  it,  and  if  he  denies  it  he  ought  to  have  given  his  reasons  for  it  in 
his  professed  review  of  my  lectures.  For  1  did  not  conceal  from  him,  that  if  I  es- 
tablished this  position  in  Lancaster  I  should  be  satisfied,  though  I  established 
nothing  else ;  and  he  who  leaves  this  point  out  of  a  i-eview  of  my  lectures,  leaves 
the  character  of  Hamlet  out  of  the  play.  George  Jacob  Holyoake. 


146  THE  REASONER. 


ClFjramtuattou  at  V^t  ^reSs. 

A  Visitation. — On  the  Sunday  within  the  octave  of  Corpus  Christi,  which  is  al- 
ways observed  with  great  solemnity  in  the  Roman  church,  a  grand  solemn  high 
mass  was  celebrated  at  St.  Augustine's,  Granby-row,  Manciester,  which  was 
splendidly  decorated  with  flowers  and  caudles  on  the  occasion,  and  the  church 
was  thronged.  Whilst  Mr.  Bardsley,  the  organist,  was  playing  and  the  full  choir 
sinuing  the  '  Dona  nobis  pacem,'  Mr.  Bardsley  fell  back  from  his  seat  at  the  organ, 
and  was  conveyed  from  the  choir  to  the  presbetery,  where  he  died  on  Monday 
morning  at  half-past  five,  having  never  spoken  after  his  attack.  The  consternation 
at  this  event  was  great;  and  the  coincidence  of  the  chorus, '  Dona  nobis  pacem,' 
with  the  death-stroke  of  the  organist  whilst  playing  it,  was  exceedingly  aflfecting. 
Miss  Bardsley,  the  daughter  of  the  deceased,  was  in  the  choir  singing  at  the  time. 
— Leeds  Intelligencer.  [When  Mr.  Robert  Cooper  was  taken  ill  while  lecturing  ia 
Sunderland,  the  saints  said  it  was  a  '  visitation.'     Was  this  a  visitation  ?] 

Faith  and  Duty. — Every  pursuit  which  conduces  to  the  welfare  of  the  world, 
has  its  appropriate  honour  attending  it ;  and  a  genuine  virtue  is  developed  by  en- 
thusiasm for  what  is  highest  in  our  own  line  of  action.  You  may  treat  life  as  a  pro- 
blem, which  has  to  be  wrought  out  to  a  successful  result,  with  certain  moral  conditions 
attached  to  it.  Do  not,  because  it  looks  difficult,  timorously  shrink  from  attempt- 
ing the  solution ;  but  work  through  every  part  of  it,  whether  you  get  the  whole 
result  or  not,  without  violating  one  of  its  moral  conditions.  Such  is  the  course  of 
action  which  contributes  to  relative  perfection,  by  linking  our  individual  lives 
through  specific  d#ties  with  the  general  well-being  of  the  world. — Rev.  J.  J. 
Taylor^ s  '  Christian  Aspects  of  Faith  and  Duty.'' 

Signs  of  PaoaaEss  in  China. — The  following  statement  has  appeared  in  the 
Annates  de  la  Propagation  de  la  Foi :—' The  young  Emperor  of  China,  who  suc- 
ceeded his  father  at  his  death  in  February,  1850,  having,  at  his  accession,  rejected 
the  demands  addressed  to  him  by  the  mandarins  for  permission  to  persecute  the 
Christians  within  his  dominions,  published  a  decree  in  the  month  of  June  in  the 
same  year,  permitting  the  free  exercise  of  the  Christian  religion  in  his  dominions. 
The  Emperor  at  the  same  time  invited  four  missionaries  to  wait  upon   him,  who 
are  to  be  lodged  in  his  palace.     Monsignor  Perronneau,  Bishop  of  China,  has  in- 
formed us  in  a  letter,  dated  the  5th  of  September,  1850,  that  the  Emperor  was 
educated  by  a  Christian  lady  in  whom  the  late  Emperor  placed  unbounded  con- 
fidence.    A  similar  education  had  been   formerly  given  to  some  of  the  Roman 
I  Emperors  during  the  three  centuries  of  persecution,  and  the  Christians  had  thereby 
,  obtained  an  occasional  respite,  so  valuable  for  the  propagation  of  the  faith  amongst 
:  those  souls,  naturally  timid,  who  in  all  times  have  been  the  most  numerous.' 
j      Primitive  Methodist  Conference. — The  assembly  commenced  its  annual 
'  sittings  in  the  connexional  chapel  at  Yarmouth,  on  the  4th  inst.     The  spiritual, 
I  financial,  and  numerical  state  of  the  connexion  was  found  to  be  very  encouraging, 
j  and  the  societies  generally  are  at  peace  among  themselves.     The  net  increase  of 
I  members  for  the  year  is  4019.     Forty-four  young  men  were  received  on  trial  as 
i  travelling  preachers,  and  twenty-five  who  had  completed  their  travelling  probation 
were  admitted  into  full  connexion.     Several  preachers  and  other  officials  availed 
i  themselves  of  the  privilege  aflforded  by  the  liberal  measures  of  the  last  Conference 
for  the  admission  of  hearers.      The  following  are  the  statistics  : — The  number  of 
stations,  303  ;  numbers,  108,781 ;  travelling  preachers,  551 ;  local  preachers,  9077 ; 
class    leaders,    6490;    connexional    chapels,    1C62;    rented    chapels,    &c.,    3593; 
Sabbath  schools,   1403;  scholai-s,   112,098;  teachers,  21,342;  and  deaths   during 
the  year,  1402. — Lincoln  paper. 


THE  REASONER. 


147 


C^c  ^gjpccW  mts  eriftiiitntS  ai  (S^riStianita. 


BY  W.  J.  B. 


The  Rev.  Mr.  Scott  lately  wanted  to 
know  what  we  have  to  say  against  the 
morality  of  Jesus.  Another  young  man 
is  coming  forward  to  defend  the  sermon 
on  the  mount  against  attacks  made  upon 
it  in  the  Victoria  Park.  It  may  be  said 
of  the  morality  of  Jesus,  that  '  what  is 
true  is  not  new,  what  is  new  is  not  true.' 
It  seems  to  me  that  Jesus  took  his  mo- 
rality chiefly  from  the  Old  Testament, 
somewhat  disfigured  and  misquoted.  It 
is  difficult  to  know  what  Jesus  meant  by 
poor  in  spirit,  or  what  he  meant  by  the 
kingdom  of  Tieaven.  If  he  were  an  ex- 
ample, at  times  he  showed  himself  proud 
and  offensive,  and  at  other  times  little. 
He  was  violent  till  his  fall,  and  then  he 
was  dumfoundered,  and  could  not  say  a 
word  in  his  own  justification;  and  so  tar 
from  thinking  that  he  himself  had  gained 
the  kingdom  of  heaven,  he  said  God  had 
forsaken  him.  To  be  poor  in  spirit, 
therefore,  if  he  is  an  example,  is  a  bad 
precept,  and  holds  out  a  fallacious  re- 
ward. We  think  it  equally  wrong  to 
mourn  for  the  purpose  of  being  com- 
forted ;  nor  do  we  think  the  inducement 
to  mourn  ever  fulfilled.  We  would 
rather  the  world  had  no  cause  to  mourn. 
We  know  of  no  mourning  except  for 
sins,  and  then  people  had  much  better 
mourn  and  not  be  comforted  till  they 
had  given  them  up.  Again :  we  know 
the  meek  do  not  inheric  the  earth,  and 
therefore  it  is  a  false  precept  anu  delu- 
sive recommendation.  Certainly,  if 
Jesus  was  poor  in  spirit  at  times,  he 
was  never  meek.  To  hunger  and  thirst 
after  righteousness  is  vague  language — 
as  vague  as  your  stomach  would  be  if 
you  expected  to  be  filled  by  it ;  and 
Jesus's  method  of  instituting  a  supper — 
of  bread  and  wiue — was  not  a  teetotal 
method  of  illustrating  the  doctrine.  To 
be  merciful,  and  expect  it  in  return  is 
nothing  wonderful;  we  should  say  to  be 
merciful  sufficiently  repays  itself,  the 
giver  and  receiver.  We  do  not  see  any 
mercy  practised  by  Christ  in  the  theory 
of  Christianity.  We  rather  think  it  bad 
morality  that  promises  a  blessing  when 
people  persecute  you.     Christ   recom- 


mends a  mutilation  of  the  person  utterly 
incompatible  with  morality.  He  also 
confuses  the  laws  of  Moses  with  his  pe- 
culiar notions  of  conversation.  We  do 
not  see  what  our  conversation  has  to  do 
with  a  commandment  against  forswear- 
ing and  perjury.  In  conversation,  Jesus 
offended  against  his  own  rule,  as  his 
conversation — instead  of  being  yea,  yea, 
and  nay,  nay — was  generally  prefaced  by 
verily,  verily,  ye  wolves  and  hypocrites, 
wolves  and  whitened  sepulchres. 

The  laws  of  Moses  needed  superseding, 
but  the  contrary  precepts  of  Jesus  would 
be  utterly  subversive  of  all  justice.  Not 
to  resent  crimes  would  be  as  immoral  as 
to  give  to  every  one  that  asked  whether 
they  were  good  or  bad.  Besides  which 
was  the  example  of  Jesus.  He  was  not 
more  patient  in  deed  than  he  was  in 
word  :  he  beat  the  sellers  of  the  temple 
and  destroyed  their  property ;  he  told 
his  followers,  on  one  occasion,  to  buy 
swords,  and  Peter  cut  off  the  ear  of  the 
officer  sent  to  apprehend  Jesus.  Not  to 
resist  evil,  we  say,  is  very  immoral ;  we 
should,  on  every  occasion,  show  our  love 
of  good  by  opposition  to  what  is  bad. 
Jesus,  by  his  speech  and  example,  was 
travestying  law  and  morality.  Jesus 
says,  '  Ye  have  heard  that  it  hath  been 
said.  Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbour  and 
hate  their  enemy.'  The  contrary  is 
really  the  truth  :  you  are  to  do  good  to 
your  enemies,  as  is  said  in  many  places 
of  the  Old  Testament. 

Jesus  did  not  supply  very  high  mo- 
tives to  good  conduct :  they  were  either 
rewards  in  heaven  or  punishments  in 
hell.  We  know  people  are  charitable 
from  the  love  of  it,  and  think  no  more 
about  it. 

The  Lord's  prayer  is  said  to  be  a 
Rabbinical  composition.  Jesus  instructs 
us  to  ask  to  be  delivered  from  evil,  when 
just  before  he  told  us  not  to  resist  it. 
Here  we  learn  then  that  it  was  said  by 
the  Jews  forgive  your  enemies,  and  that 
they  represeuted  God  as  forgiving  us  on 
this  account.  We  ask  if  Jesus  so  repre- 
sents himself,  or  so  represents  God.  On 
the  contrary,  we  have  a  vindictive  God, 


148 


THE  REASONER. 


and  a  vindictive  8on,  and  we  are  to  seek 
forgivenessof  sinsnot  in  forgivingothers, 
but  in  their  sacrifice.  If  one  be  morality, 
is  not  the  other  immorality  ?  We  do 
not  see  any  good  in  fasting,  except  for 
the  health.  All  the  wise  fast  more  or 
less,  put  a  restraint  upon  their  appetites, 
and  are  rewarded  by  better  health. 

We  think  the  treasure  in  heaven 
worse  than  the  treasure  upon  earth ;  we 
think  it  an  immorality  to  turn  people's 
attention  from  the  earth  to  indefinable 
treasures  above.  Of  course  it  is  a  very 
good  measure  for  the  priest,  who  is  as- 
sumed to  keep  the  treasury  of  heaven. 
From  Christ  downwards  to  the  present 
time,  priests  have  turned  such  precepts 
to  their  own  advantage,  and  taught  that 
in  giving  to  them  you  were  laying  up  a 
treasure  in  heaven.  You  are  to  give  to 
every  one  that  asks,  and  not  turn  away 
from  him  who  borrows.  You  are  not  to 
be  particular  in  your  selection ;  you  are 
not  to  give  only  to  the  honest  and  good 
and  industrious,  but  to  the  bad,  idle,  and 
all.  We  are  not  told  what  righteousness 
consists  in,  but  we  are  frequently  told 
that  perfection  consists  in  distributing 
wealth.  A  bag  seems  to  have  been  kept 
for  the  purpose.  To  tell  people  to  take 
no  care  of  themselves,  that  they  shall 
be  provided  for,  is  not  true,  and  a  maxim, 
if  followed,  which  would  lead  to  the 
greatest  misery.  It  is  a  precept  that 
only  does  for  priests  and  impostors. 
Here  we  have  another  precaution  of 
priestcraft :  we  are  not  to  exercise  our 
judgment  as  to  who  is  a  rogue  or  who  is 
honest.  Christ  threatens  his  hearers  if 
they  judge  him,  as  they  had  reason  to 
judge  after  his  speech  to  give  all  they 
had  away  and  not  take  any  care  of  them- 
selves. We  do  not  see  any  morality,  we 
see  a  sinister  design,  in  all  these  senti- 
ments— we  see  the  foundation  of  a 
grossly-immoral  system. 

In  considering  the  morality  of  Jesns 
it  is  necessary  to  know  what  is  morality. 
What  is  moral  on  earth  is  not,  according 
to  the  defenders  of  divinity,  morality  in 
a  God.  With  him  all  the  attributes  of 
excellence  are  changed.  Allowing  there 
was  anything  Providential  in  the  mis- 
sion of  Jesus,  we  cannot  see  the  fulfil- 
ment ot  any  of  the  assignable  attributes 
of  divinity  in  the  death  of  Jesus.  Jus- 
tice of  heaven  was  injustice  so  to  entrap 
mankind    into  their  own   destruction; 


and  Jesus,  when  he  said  '  Father  forgive 
them,  for  they  know  not  what  they  do,' 
confessed  his  own  error  in  letting  them 
remain  in  their  ignorance.  Judging 
these  matters  in  a  merely  human  way, 
Jesus  should  have  asked  forgiveness  of 
himself,  or  of  his  father,  or  of  the 
people,  for  having  been  the  instrument 
of  their  perdition — having  brought  des- 
truction on  Jerusalem,  aud  the  punish- 
ment of  everlasting  fire  hereafter  for 
mistaking  him  for  a  man.  *  Father 
forgive  them,  for  they  know  not  what 
they  do,'  has  often  been  cited  as  the  ex- 
ample of  the  forgiveness  of  injuries ;  but 
we  say  the  Jews  were  the  injured  party 
in  the  afiair. 

Jesus  spoke  of  the  great  things  he 
would  have  done  for  Jerusalem  had  they 
believed  in  him.  It  was  clear  what  was 
his  course,  viz.,  to  make  them  believe, 
and  take  them  under  his  wings.  But 
though  Jesus  likens  what  he  would  do  to 
a  hen  towards  her  chickens,  it  is  clear 
he  had  not  altogether  the  feelings  of  a 
hen.  He  was  not  content  with  preach- 
ing eternal  torments  hereafter  for  those 
who  did  not  believe  in  him.  In  other 
respects  his  conduct,  weighed  humanly, 
is  inexplicable.  If  he  got  a  civil  word 
from  the  Pharisees  and  Scribes,  he 
answered  them  with  low  epithets ;  and 
when  he  partook  of  the  supper  of  a 
Pharisee,  he  violated  the  common  rites 
of  hospitality  by  abusing  his  guest  and 
his  order.  lu  spite  of  his  injunction 
to  the  contrary  in  the  sermon  on  the 
mount,  Jesus  seems  to  have  been  an 
abusive  person.  He  had  never  the 
power  of  retaliation,  except  in  words ; 
but  we  may  tell  from  what  he  said  what 
he  would  have  done,  and  what  he 
threatens  to  do  when  he  comes  to  judg- 
ment. Eighteen  hundred  years  ago  he 
was  judged,  condemned,  and  put  to  death, 
and  luckily  for  the  world  his  promised 
return,  which  was  expected  so  soon,  has 
not  taken  place.  It  is  doubtless  painful 
to  many  that  this  should  be  said,  bub 
the  case  warrants  it.  Was  there  any 
consistency  in  this  sermon  on  the  mount? 
Did  he  love  justice,  mercy,  and  truth  ?  If 
so,  he  would  not  keep  away  18  hundred 
years  leaving  us  wandering  in  error, 
and  continually  treading  the  broad  road 
that  leads  to  destruction  and  the  *  ever- 
lasting bonfire,'  as  Shakspere  names  it. 
The  meek  in  spirit  promised  himself  and 


THE  REASONER. 


149 


his  followers  a  very  worldly  triumph — 
the  being  fishers  of  men,  and  finally  their 
judges,  sitting  on  the  twelve  thrones  of 
Israel. 

If  Popery  be  the  type  of  Christianity, 
Jesuitry  is  its  peculiar  characteristic. 
The  inconsistency  of  Jesus  in  morals 
and  theory  is  all  hewn  into  shape  by 
the  Society  of  Jesus.  Their  code  of 
morals  is  an  exact  deduction  from  the 
contradictions  avowed  by  Jesus  in  the 
sermon  on  the  mount  and  elsewhere. 
They  tell  you  to  suffer,  and  use  the  arm 
of  power  themselves — to  be  patient  of 
injuries,  and  they  persecute.  In  the 
precepts  and  practice  of  Jesus  there  is 
no  vagary  that  cannot  find  it?s  justifica- 
tion. The  authority  of  antiquity,  the 
traditions  of  the  saints,  the  writings  of 
the  fathers,  and  the  practice  of  the 
churches  have  so  interpreted  the  Scrip- 
tures. Can  it  be  said  that  Jesus  does 
not  teach  what  has  been  invariably  the 
reading  of  the  four  gospels  for  eighteen 
hundred  years  ?  For  the  revelation  of 
the  four  gospels  has  been  unfolded  to  us 
for  the  last  eighteen  hundred  years,  and 
we  should  be  blind  if  we  did  not  see  it. 
It  is  too  late  now,  in  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury, to  say  it  means  another  thing. 
There  may  have  been  martyrs  to  a  pro- 
fession of  belief  of  some  sort  in  Chris- 
tianity ;  but  how  many  martyrs  to  unbe- 
lief of  all  kinds  in  its  doctrines  have 
been  seen  ?  considerably  moffe  we  should 
say.  Have  not  the  alternate  persecu- 
tions of  each  other  by  all  Christians 
derived  their  authority  from  the  words 
of  Jesus  ?  If  a  tree  does  not  bear  good 
fruit,  cut  it  down  and  cast  it  into  the 
fire  ;  better  lose  one  member,  or  life  in 
this  world,  than  to  have  eternity  in  hell 
fire.  After  all  the  denunciations  and 
abuse  of  those  who  did  not  think  like 
himself  or  follow  him,  such  irritation  of 
the  mind  is  easily  resolvable  into  acts, 
when  the  time  comes  that  the  weight  of 
power  is  put  into  the  hands  of  disciples 
to  be  exercised  over  dissentients.  It  is 
the  great  hope  of  every  party  one  day 
to  be  triumphant,  and  the  apostles  were 
promised  that  they  should  be  judges 
over  the  earth.  They  might  endure 
persecution  on  the  way  to  triumphant 
power,  but  come  it  would  when  they 
might  least  expect  it.  It  was  good  for 
fishermen,  carpenters,  and  such  like,  to 
be  fishers  of  men.     What  are  all  the 


chevaliers  d'industr{e,a,nd  swell  mobs,  but 
fishers  of  men  ?  What  are  priests,  and 
many  others  in  professions  and  com- 
merce, but  fishers  of  men,  regularly 
brought  up  to  it  ?  If  any  one  was  now 
to  arise,  and  preach  to  men  wearied  in 
the  work  of  over  competition,  and  to 
women  who  eked  out  a  needlework  live- 
lihood, and  talk  after  the  style  of  Christ, 
men  would  denounce  him.  Suppose  he 
was  to  go  to  publicans  and  sinners,  or  to 
frequent  public-houses,  telling  the  rich, 
hated  for  the  way  in  which  they  had  got 
their  wealth,  that  he  cauie  to  forgive 
their  sins — that  those  who  had  money 
had  only  to  give  it  to  him  as  their  terms 
of  acceptance  into  the  kingdom  of  hea- 
ven, and  those  who  had  it  not  had  no 
need  any  longer  to  take  care  of  themsel- 
ves, that  heaven  would  provide  food  and 
clothing — does  not  everybody  with  the 
least  knowledge  of  mankind  know,  that 
such  a  doctrine  would  attract  a  quantity  of 
followers  ?  A  few  rich  there  are  always 
found  to  patronise  any  revolution — who, 
convicts  in  society  themselves,  hope  to 
reach  elevation  by  giving  assistance  to 
those  who  hold  out  such  prospects  to 
ambition,  such  relief  to  iheir  vexations, 
as  Jesus  held  out  to  them.  Of  the  igno- 
rant there  would  always  be  plenty;  such 
examples  of  stupidity  and  ambition,  sim- 
plicity and  cunning  as  the  character  of 
Peter  reveals.  The  elevation  to  them 
in  this  world  was  enough  to  turn  their 
heads,  and  Peter  evinced  that  he  had 
not  the  strongest  on  his  shoulders. 
Such  Sancho  Panzas  will  be  always 
found  to  follow  Don  Quixotes  on  any 
knight-errantry.  The  prominency  given 
to  Peter  affords  a  sample  of  the  workings 
of  a  more  astute  on  a  more  simple  nature. 
That  Peter  must  have  been  dazzled  by 
the  part  he  played,  and  that  was  assigned 
to  him  in  the  future,  is  clearly  evident. 

Peter  and  his  colleagues  were  to  have 
their  thrones.  Jesus  would  stimulate 
faith  by  suspecting  it,  and  holding 
out  rewards  to  them  and  to  those  who 
endure  to  the  end.  It  was  to  be  in  this 
world,  and  in  the  other — or,  if  not  in  one, 
it  was  sure  to  be  in  the  other — that  the 
kingdom  of  neaven  was  to  meet  with  ful- 
filment. Peter  was  told  that  he  was 
next  to  his  master,  that  he  could  for- 
give sins,  that  he  was  to  judge  mankind, 
that  he  was  to  feed  his  sheep,  that  he 
was  to  have  the  keys  of  heaven  and  hell. 


Then  in  a  moment  of  elation,  if  he 
boasted  to  the  rest  and  brought  upon 
himself  their  denial  of  his  separate 
claims,  he  got  rebuked  by  his  master. 
When  he  thought  the  time  whs  come 
that  Jesus  should  show  himself  who  he 
really  was,  and  master  of  the  powers  he 
had  even  delegated  to  him,  Jesus  used 
no  very  complimentary  language  to  him, 
and  told  him  he  was  Satan,  and  to  get 
behind  him.  No  doubt  Peter  thought 
the  entry  into  Jerusalem  the  consum- 
mation of  his  own  and  master's  great- 
ness, and  at  a  hint  at  a  sword  it  appears 
he  was  the  only  one  who  bought  one  and 
used  it.  All  the  rest  fled,  but  Peter  no 
doubt  thought  he  was  legion,  and  single- 
handed  was  able  to  put  to  flight  the 
armed  force  of  Jerusalem  and  Rome. 
We  must  conjecture  it  was  an  entire 
failure,  and  that  he  was  further  duped 
into  believing  that  he  had  cut  oflf  an  ear 
which  his  master  put  on  again — so 
the  story  runs,  for  it  he  had  used  his 
sword  we  cannotconceive  why  he  should 
have  been  allowed  quietly  to  follow,  and 
not  been  made  to  answer  for  it. 

From  such  a  class  as  Peter's  no  doubt 
Jesus  might  largely  recruit.  We  see 
Jesus  gave  the  keeping  of  the  money 
they  levied  to  Judas.  The  Eleven  must 
have  thought  this  care  of  riches  rather 
inconsistent  with  the  profession  of 
poverty  and  having  no  care  for  the 
things  of  this  world.  But  diamond  cut 
diamond :  when  Judas  saw  the  bubble 
was  about  to  burst  he  departed  with  the 
capital,  though  there  was  enough  lett  in 
the  inexhaustible  mine  of  human  credu- 
lity always  to  furnish  the  bag,  and  be 
the  prize  to  every  future  Judas  in  the 
church. 

Of  the  class  of  easy  converts  among  the 
females  might  be  reckoned  Magdalene. 
Her  new  vocation  was  certainly  a  much 
easier  method  of  gaining  a  livelihood 
than  common  prostitution.  There  is  no 
assertion  that  she  became  immaculate : 
it  is  evident  she  loved  the  Lord,  and  the 
Lord  loved  her.  It  was  certainly  a  place 
well  fitted  for  a  woman's  ambition  to  be 
the  chosen  of  the  Lord.  It  would  not  do 
for  a  leader  of  the  people  to  make  these 
selections  in  these  days.  Christ  set  her 
above  an  honest  woman,  her  sister  Mary 
had  some  care  for  things,  instead  of  no 
care,  as  the  Magdalene,  and  therefore, 
according  to  the  sermon  on  the  mount, 


the  morality  of  the  Magdalene  was  pre" 
ferred.  In  the  same  spirit  the  Magda- 
lene threw  away  a  box  of  precious  oint- 
ment, and  delicacy  too,  on  the  feet  of 
her  master.  The  disciples  thought  it 
better  had  been  divided  among  the 
followers — but  again  Jesus  defended  the 
Magdalene  on  the  principle  laid  down 
in  the  sermon  on  the  mount.  Ways 
and  means  must  have  been  good  with  her 
when  she  could  afibrd  a  box  of  ointment. 

Another  class  from  which  Jesus 
largely  recruited,  male  and  female,  were 
the  maniacs,  a  description  of  persons 
not  a  very  suitable  accompaniment,  if 
Jesus  himself  were  in  his  senses.  No 
doubt  many  did  flock  around  him,  when 
he  could  give  to  so  many  thousands  a 
miraculous  picnic.  We  would  ensure 
the  success  of  any  religion  on  this  prin- 
ciple of  belief,  we  would  engage  to  make 
converts  of  all  the  world,  and  withdraw 
them  from  all  other  superstitions. 
Whether  for  good  or  for  evil,  we  would 
not  presume  to  say,  yet  we  would  not 
reproach  them  (as  the  Jews  did  their 
master),  with  being  winebibbers  and 
gluttons. 

The  first  miracle  he  performed,  that  of 
turning  water  into  wine,  would  be  sure 
to  collect  all  the  thirsty  as  followers  (as 
the  loaves  and  fishes  would  the  hungry), 
who  probably  had  nothing  but  the 
Jordan  for  the  quenching  of  their  thirst. 
However  admirable  might  be  the  tran- 
substantiation  of  Adam's  ale,  given  by 
the  father,  into  wine,  given  by  the  son — 
a  conquestover  nature  worthy  of  £acchus 
the  son  of  Jupiter — we  do  not  think  it 
added  to  the  moral  character  of  Jesus. 
Turning  water  into  wine  was  his  first 
miracle,  and  at  the  famous  supper  turn- 
ing his  blood  into  wine  was  his  last. 

There  is,  in  fact,  no  possibility  of  judg- 
ing, in  the  usual  way,  the  extraordinary 
tacts  which  faith  has  sanctified  in  the 
life  of  Christ,  without  giving  offence. 
Father  Newman  tells  us,  *  God's  logic  is 
not  our  logic,  his  morality  is  not  our 
morality;'  then  why  not  at  once  say  he 
is  not  to  be  judged  by  our  morality,  and 
admit  that  he  was  immoral  according  to 
our  notions  2  If  Mr.  Scott,  and  other 
Christians,  are  to  challenge  us  to  object 
to  the  ethics  of  Jesus,  let  them  concede 
to  us  the  same  freedom  that  they  exercise 
when  they  criticise  Confucius,  Mahomet, 
George  Fox,  or  Joseph  Smith. 


THE  REASONER. 


151 


Our  ^BlaUarm. 

From  which  any  earnest  opponent  may  controvert  our  opinions,  and  from  which  any  may  expound  views 
not  coincident  with  our  own,  if  tending  to  the  Rationalisation  of  Theology. 

FREETHINKING   NOT  A    DISQUALIFICATION. 


Sir, — Under  the  head  of  '  Advice  to  those  who  go  to  Church  against  their  will,' 
you  gave  some  very  useful  suggestions  in  No.  267  of  the  Reasoner.  With  you,  I 
think  that  something  more  may  usefully  be  said  upon  so  important  a  subject  as 
the  conduct  of  freethinkers  whilst  they  are  in  the  power  or  under  the  surveillance 
of  the  orthodox.  I  write  because  I  feel  strongly,  because  I  think  I  see  my  way 
clearly.  What  I  have  to  say  is  credited  with  three  years'  experience  ;  and  allow 
me  to  premise  that  I  am  a  young  tradesman  without  capital,  therefore  not  inde- 
pendent of  the  world  in  a  pecuniary  sense. 

My  impression  is,  that  now  the  ^eater  portion  of  persecution  is  earned  by  harsh 
dogmatic  language  on  the  part  of  freethinkers.  Much  of  the  opprobrium  in  which 
we  are  held  results  from  undignified  timidity.  Religionists  think  we  ought  to  be 
ashamed  of  our  opinions,  because  to  them  our  opinions  appear  to  be  wicked  and 
horrihle.  By  timidity  and  a  want  of  candour  in  the  expression  of  opinion,  we  con- 
firm religionists  in  their  bad  opinion  of  us  and  our  principles.  If  we  appear 
ashamed  of  that  which  we  believe  honourable  and  useful,  and  listen  in  deferential 
silence  to  that  which  we  believe  erroneous  and  injurious,  we  ought  not  to  be  sur- 
prised at,  and  it  appears  to  me  we  deserve,  the  bad  opinion  of  the  religious  world. 

There  appears  to  me  not  to  be  half  the  danger  in  a  fearless  expression  of  opinion 
as  is  generally  supposed,  if  such  expression  of  opinion  is  clothed  in  temperate  lan- 
guage. Humanity  is  stronger  than  bigotry,  and  can  always  be  awakened  by  kind 
and  considerate  language  joined  to  a  conciliating  manner.  If  we  seek  to  conciliate 
instead  of  to  anger,  to  persuade  instead  of  to  conquer — if,  instead  of  attacking,  we 
oflfer  ourselves  for  conversion,  as  earnest  seekers  of  any  truth  opponents  may  have 
to  offer — bigotry  will  not  be  roused,  prejudice  awakened,  nor  rancour  displayed.  If 
we  shew  that  we  stand  npon  a  common  ground  with  them,  namely,  the  desire  for 
truth,  and  application  of  it  for  the  benefit  of  the  human  family — thus  showing  our 
objects  are  the  same,  however  we  may  differ  as  to  the  means  of  attaining  them — 
there  is  little  doubt  on  my  mind  that  men  would  rationally  discuss  their  dif- 
ferences. Men's  conclusions  are  oftentimes  the  same,  though  drawn  from  different 
premises.  Who  differs  with  his  family,  with  the  world,  should  be  careful  to  find 
out,  and  keep  constantly  in  view,  that  in  which  he  agrees  with  them — narrowing 
the  gulf  as  much  as  possible  that  divides  them,  that  it  may  easily  be  bridged  over. 
Unimpeachable  conduct  and  untiring  suavity  of  demeanour  are  the  best  safeguards 
against  oppression  for  opinion's  sake,  and  are  opinion's  best  advocates.  It  is  easy 
and  useful  to  show  that  we  cannot  help  our  opinions,  they  being  the  result  of 
evidence  coming  under  the  observation  of  an  understanding  we  did  not  make.  If 
this  is  well  urged,  a  Christian  cannot  fail  to  see  he  must  bring  evidence  to  substan- 
tiate his  position  before  he  can  hope,  or  ought  to  hope,  to  change  us. 

My  personal  experience  substantiates  the  above.  In  my  dogmatic  period  I  suf- 
fered for  my  dogmatism,  though  apparently  for  my  opinions.  By  intemperate 
expression  I  earned  dislike  and  disrespect  instead  of  esteem.  I  made  foes  instead 
of  converts.  Now,  although  I  know  well  I  cannot  justly  lay  claim  to  half  the 
qualities  and  discipline  that  a  freethinker  should  have,  affairs  are  greatly  altered. 
Yet  I  never  shrink  discussion  privately  nor  publicly,  and  if  I  wanted  a  character 
I  should  apply  to  Christians  who  know  me  to  be  an  atheist  active  la  the  promul- 
gation of  my  opinions. 


152  THE  REASONER. 


A  Christian  acquaintance  with  whom  I  have  often  conversed  upon  the  relative 
merits  of  Christianity  and  atheism,  takes  the  trouble  to  teach  me  book-keeping 
gratuitously.  A  Roman  Catholic,  who  hates  Protestantism  and  believes  I  am 
inevitably  doomed  hereafter,  tenders  the  use  of  his  purse  whenever  I  am  in  need 
of  cash  for  business  purposes.  I  have  no  claim  on  these  persons,  excepting  that 
of  an  ordinary  acquaintance.  Those  with  whom  I  come  in  contact  in  trade  treat 
me  with  respect  and  trust,  at  the  least  equal  to  what  I  can  expect  from  my  position 
apart  from  peculiarity  of  opinion.  Remember,  I  discuss  with  every  one  as  occa- 
sion offers,  excepting  with  customers,  and  then  I  never  conceal  my  opinions. 

In  respect  to  the  particular  case  of  your  correspondent,  if  obliged  to  go  to 
church  I  advise  him  to  take  notes,  and  when  at  home  to  point  out  the  inconsisten- 
cies of  the  sermon,  if  there  are  any,  and  show  how  much  of  the  practices  of  all  the 
ministers  of  the  Gospel  differs  from  many  of  the  precepts  of  the  gospel  they  preach. 
Let  him  balance  the  loss  of  dignity,  of  independence,  of  truth,  the  deterioration  of 
character  (inevitable  consequences  of  his  painfully-constrained  position),  with  the 
advantages  he  might  have  to  yield  by  following  a  nobler  and  freer  course.  It  is 
for  him  to  decide  upon  his  own  affairs  :  I  have  here  given  him  the  benefit  of  my 
experience,  should  I  hear  that  it  has  been  of  any  service  I  shall  be  much  gratified. 

In  conclusion  allow  me  to  say,  sir,  that  you  were  the  first  who  taught  me  that  it 
is  far  more  often  manner  than  matter  that  creates  anger  and  incurs  persecution 
in  private  life.  Exalt ada. 

[We  never  received  a  letter  more  encouraging  than  this.  The  writer  omits  his 
name  only  because  he  has  spoken  of  himself,  as  it  may  seem,  in  self-laudatory 
terms.  We  knew  him  only  in  what  he  styles  his  '  dogmatic  period,'  and  if  it  were 
not  for  the  I'eference  with  which  his  letter  concludes,  we  should  say  we  never 
thought  it  possible  that  he  would  ever  come  to  express  views  so  sound  and  pui'sue 
a  course  of  conduct  so  wise  as  he  has  now  adopted. — Ed.] 

MORALITY    INDEPENDENT    OF    RELIGION. 


Sir, — I  have  been  for  some  time  engaged  in  a  correspondence  with  a  Christian 
on  the  subject  of  religion,  and  copy  a  portion  of  his  last  letter,  and  my  reply  to  it, 
because  I  think  that  many  who  read  your  periodical,  while  they  disbelieve  that  the 
Christian  religion  has  any  other  than  a  purely  human  origin,  may  think,  as  my 
correspondent  does,  that  atheism  would  be  fatal  to  society. 

It  appears  to  me  that  while  so  many  workmen  are  laboriously  engaged  in  trying 
to  knock  down  the  old  Christian  church,  it  would  be  well  if  some  would  help  the 
downfall  by  devoting  a  little  time  to  the  duty  of  pointing  out  the  perfect  indepen- 
dence of  morality  on  religion.  We  are  constantly  asked,  '  How  are  people  to  be 
kept  in  order  without  religion?'  &c.  In  short,  it  is  a  common  idea  among  Chris- 
tians, that  when  revealed  religion  is  abandoned  as  a  superstition,  that  men's  pas- 
sions will  be  let  loose  without  restraint  of  any  kind — that  morality  is  identical 
with  religion,  and  will  go  with  it. 

My  friend  says — '  Granting,  for  the  sake  of  argument,  that  what  is  called  Re- 
vealed Religion  is  no  such  thing,  but  a  purely  human  invention,  I  maintain  that 
to  destroy  such  illusion  would  be  fatal  to  the  best  human  interests  of  mankind ; 
that  society  could  not  exist;  chaos  would  be  the  consequence.  Morality  and  the 
very  laws  of  the  land  are  founded  on  Christianity.  Let  us  take  for  consideration 
the  effect  of  universal  atheism  on  the  present  relations  and  obligations  of  the  two 
sexes.    I  choose  this  subject  as  being  the  most  clearly  important  and  the  most 


THE  REASONER.  153 


helplessly  wrecked  along  with  Christianity.  What  is  to  prevent  ever^  young  female 
yielding  to  the  first  temptation  ?  Sinful  ?  To  whom  ?  There  is  no  God  !  Eat, 
drink,  and  be  merry,  for  to-morrow  you  die.  Obey  the  dictates  of  Nature.  The 
same  argument  holds  good  with  respect  to  married  life.  I  abstain  from  enlarging 
on  this  theme.  Your  own  reflections  will  be  able  to  follow  np  the  subject  till  you 
are  horror  struck  to  fin  i  that  your  atheism  has  led  you  on  till  you  have  lost  the 
power  of  distinguishing  good  from  evil.' 

I  replied  to  this  briefly — '  Morality  and  religion  are  constantly  confounded  in  the 
minds  of  Christians,  whereas  they  are  perfectly  independent  of  one  another.  Human 
motives  are  quite  sufl&cient  to  prevent  the  sad  state  of  female  virtue  you  predict 
as  the  consequence  of  atheism.  Morality  is  innate  in  the  human  mind;  the  more 
civilised  the  higher  will  be  the  standard  of  morality.  Honour  and  chastity, /or  their 
own  sakes,  are  human  motives,  and  will  for  ever  be  valued  in  proportion  to  the  cul- 
tivatioii  of  the  mind,  which  I  call  civilisation.' 

Sinfulness  or  immorality  is,  as  Carlyle  justly  calls  it,  *  stupidity,'  which  will  be 
more  effectually  combatted  by  intellectual  cultivation  than  by  threats  of  fire  and 
brimstone.  N. 


[Upon  this  large  and  useful  question,  the  '  Independence  of  Morality  and  Reli- 
gion,'we  have  never  been  able  to  dwell  sufficiently.  Of  late,  incidentally,  more 
attention  has  been  paid  to  it  by  us.  We  should  be  glad  to  hear  further  from  '  N.' 
on  this  subject. — Ed.] 

TO  MY  FELLOW  SUBSCRIBERS  TO  THE    'REASONER.' 


Sir, — From  your  Platform  I  desire  to  say  a  few  words  to  my  fellow  subscribers 
to  the  Reasoner.  I  never  look  upon  the  individual  items  of  the  Reasoner's  list 
without  regret,  that  so  important  a  cause  does  not  receive  wider  support  from  the 
general  body  of  its  subscribers. 

Religion  is  stationary — more,  it  is  obstructive,  it  is  antagonistic  to  the  true 
happiness  of  mankind.  It  preys  upon  us  from  our  births  to  our  deaths,  and 
pursues  its  Roman  Catholic  victims  beyond  the  grave.  It  demands  our  time  for 
mummeries  that  are  mockeries  to  manhood,  to  an  object  which  it  insults  rather 
than  worships  by  its  puerilities.  If  its  promises  were  true,  they  would  be  worth- 
less. It  tortures  with  imaginary  fears,  and  renders  life  miserable  by  its  slavish 
exactions.  It  demands  the  support  of  a  useless  class  often  arrogant  in  their 
acquired  power.  Its  morality  is  questionable.  It  professes  equality,  but  where  ? 
In  a  heaven,  or  the  grave ;  not  where  alone  it  would  be  serviceable — on  earth.  It 
spreads  much  dissension,  where  its  professors  acquire  power.  It  makes  and 
supports  class-made  laws,  and  calls  upon  the  power  it  supports  to  aid  in  persecu- 
tion. It  demands  implicit  obedience,  and  thus  robs  us  of  liberty — denounces  our 
rational  amusements,  and  renders  life  miserable,  dark,  ascetic,  and  gloomy. 

We  who  seek  in  the  practice  of  morality,  general,  and  consequently  individual 
happiness — whose  desires  do  not  presumptuously  extend  beyond  this  life — with 
whom  belief,  or  disbelief,  is  a  matter  of  evidence — stood,  but  a  few  years  ago,  as 
parias  upon  the  earth — not  to  be  believed — not  to  be  trusted — not  to  be  associ- 
ated with — fit  only  to  be  feared,  persecuted,  and  destroyed.  Now,  through  laborious 
advocacy,  principle  is  conceded  to  it.  Men  difiering  widely  from  its  opinions,  at 
least  allow  to  us  plain  dealing — in  some  cases,  fairness ;  and  we  may  consider  that 
we  have  made  some  social  advance. 

It  must  be  that  many  readers  of  the  Reasoner  are  not  impressed  with  the  import- 


{  aiSR  of  amtuorting,  witii  the  bwit  of  tiior  mggna,  a,  work,  the  eommon  gnHmd  af 
I  viiiek  is  BilBH.f  <jf  diooahc  and  apeech. 

!       Wc  Bri&t*«  nlipaii  so  lie  aupersiaaa. ;  &at  <&re  we  where  and  vfaen  ««  vmiiii 
9Bf  il^dinq^  «Hr  ■dFtaaifpaBtt  Maai  JuuywBiwd  ?     Caaid  many  of  na  do  90  at 
■■Gvifadlf  iwlfc— B«ifiiunigHB&ig  ear  bread  ?    In.  chia  toot  to  foot  hanie  of 
a*  2«9il  &K  •rtaoRl  aeiprieseenis.    Indignities 
•Abb  tfcriMk  vpoa  ns.  jeC 

i4%«AaKiafinfaaMp«eeB«RlL.    "WeKavv: 
'l«Car  tm  ^mm  iktm,wbga.  ami  where  «e  wwilii, 

■  XBt 


Kr. 


nt!tf^»mmA,hfihmWglbi 


^  A  Fri«n«f  "Tty^ 

7  /,  W.  C  n»y  drt.),  2 ;  A  Friend  > oer  Mr.  Bita^ 

MK^SnaoslMr),  1 ;  l.ow«r  Plaee  Itusduit^.  3  ;  Inwe  > 

dUbatn,  9 ;  iiau^  ^^ffr  M«mswtC.e'^>n^Vjn»,  i;  MuKriutl  Gray,  d«^  I ;  WiUmm 

f  F)f«m,  dn.,  I ;  J.  EE.  OMHNdiy  40.,  4^  ^«h«  WaMy  4»c,  3;  flA-wxrd  J<ihmmm,4iKy 

1^  X«iM»  0««f^  li^li   9^  BiBwwmi— ^  1;  HmV7  Korria,  iJevfef,  1;  £. 

Ip  J>  gwwg^  Hfcilgltl,  I;  ir<rft>1nme,  10; 


THE  re:a5^:'>'zs. 


Barrfsead,!;  Mr.  FbiB,  <il,  1;  grtift  l*r**r«*.  1  - 
I>sTMDo«giM,4asl;  J. E.  SMyartI, Ih  lifii  i,  1;  S.^ 
Till     I   II,  aimgnw,  1 ;  Ukm  SmiA,  1 ;  Wml 

AudB  Ktiy— he.  1  -/  Hcnr  Lake,  1 ;  6.  H.  I^  1; 

1 ;  WiB>  SwvlH,  H^ie,  1 ;  G.  &,  Gfa^**,  1 ;  S.  B^  1 ; 

Jaws  Sfwr,  Liiupiwi,  1 ;  E4«>4  Scavcai,  1.— Tatal.  1« 


156  THE  REASONER. 


The  Christian  Examiner — conducted  by  the  most  intellectual  and  pious  D.  D.'s, 
of  the  Channing  school,  and  believers  in  supernatural  Christianity — in  a  clever  article 
against  Feuerbach,  says — '  It  is  folly  to  talk  of  demonstrating  God's  existence ;  we 
cannot  argue  with  a  man  to  whom  it  is  not  a  matter  of  inward  consciousness,  any 
more  than  we  can  discuss  colours  with  a  blind  man,  God's  being  is  an  object  of 
faith,  and  not  of  demonstration,  and  all  attempts  at  proof  have  been  signal  failures.' 
(Vol.  xlix.,  p.  133.     September  1850.) 

On  Sunday  next  Mr.  G.  J.  Holyoake  will  lecture  in  Newcastle-upon-Tyne,  on 
'  The  Intellectual  Truth  and  Moral  Tendency  of  Atheism  Vindicated  against  the 
recent  Aspersions  and  Misrepresentations  of  it  by  Opponents  in  that  town.'  Mr. 
Holyoake  expects  to  visit  Padiham  and  Manchester  before  his  return. 

The  article  by  '  Ion,'  entitled  '  The  Workman  and  the  Exhibition,'  which  lately 
appeared  in  No.  65  of  the  Leader,  has  been  reprinted,  by  permission,  and  at  the 
cost  of  a  manufacturer  in  the  North,  for  gratuitous  circulation  among  visitors  at 
the  Crystal  Palace,  by  whom  he  thinks  it  may  be  usefully  read.  Other  copies  can 
be  had  at  one  halfpenny  each,  or  sixpence  per  dozen,  of  our  publisher. 

Archbishop  Hughes  has  reached  Paris,  says  the  New  York  Herald,  on  his  way 
home  from  Rome,  without  the  red  hat.  The  Pope  has  behaved  very  shabbily  to 
our  New  York  prelate.  Instead  of  giving  him  a  hat — a  Cardinal's  hat — his 
Holiness  only  gave  him  a  fish.  The  Pope  was  more  polite  to  Mrs.  Bennett,  when 
she  last  visited  the  Eternal  City.  His  Holiness  presented  to  that  lady  a  beautiful 
cameo  portrait  of  himself,  and  a  plenary  indulgence,  signed  by  his  own  hand,  for 
her  husband.     Unfortunate  Archbishop  ! 

Le  Flaneur  remarks: — 'It  will  be  recollected  that  one  of  the  charges  against 
Lord  Torrington  was  that  he  hanged  a  Buddhist  priest  in  his  calico  robe  of  pagan 
priesthood.  The  intelligent  electors  of  Cork  are  very  much  dissatisfied  with  their 
member,  the  witty  Serjeant  Murphy,  for  his  vote.  "  Augh,  the  Judas  !  Sure  he 
voted  for  hanging  a  holy  praast  !  Augh,  the  villain !"  The  Serjeant  says  it  would 
be  of  no  use  to  explain  that  it  was  a  pagan  priest,  and  not  a  Roman  Catholic ;  but 
that  if  he  tells  them  it  was  a  Protestant  priest,  he  shall  become  more  popular 
than  ever.' 

The  Tablet  contains  an  advertisement  appealing  for  subscriptions  in  aid  of  the 
Popish  rioters  at  Birkenhead.  Among  the  donations  advertised  are : — '  His 
Eminence  Cardinal  Wiseman,  £10.' 

The  '  Principles  of  Belief  held  by  a  Searcher  after  Truth,'  given  in  a  recent 
number  of  the  Reasoner,  have  been  reprinted  and  circulated  in  Lincolnshire. 

We  have  received  No.  1  of  the  Christian  Reasoner,  an  imitation  of  this  paper. 

No.  2  of  the  Exponent  contains  an  article  on  Thomas  Cooper. 

The  Popular  Tribune  (Mr.  Cabet's  Journal)  tells  us,  in  No.  18,  that  the 
Archbishop  of  Paris  occupied  himself  with  social  reforms,  and  now  a  do- 
minican  friar.  Father  Lacordaire,  one  of  the  most  eloquent  preachers  who  are 
the  pride  of  the  Catholic  church  in  France,  is  also  meddling  with  those  questions, 
and  with  the  approbation  of  said  archbishop,  is  almost  indulging  in  Socialism,  says 
the  conservative  cornespondent  of  the  Courrier  des  Etats-  Unis,  to  the  great  scandal 
of  those  whom  he  terms  the  insolent  aristocracy  of  money. 

London:  Printed  by  Holyoake  Brothers,  3,  Queen's  Head  Passage,  Patemo»ter-row ;  and  Published 
by  J.  Watson,  3,  Queen's  Head  Passage,  Paternoster-row.— Wednesday,  July  28rd,  1861. 


AND 

THEOLOGICAL     EXAMINER. 

They  who  believe  that  they  have  Truth  ask  no  favour,  save  that  of  being  heard:  they  dare  the 
judgment  of  Mankind  :  refused  Co-operation,  they  invoke  Opposition,  for  Opposition  ia  their 
Opportunity. — Editok. 

THE  LANCASTER  CONTROVERSY  CONCLUDED. 


THE  REV.  ME.  FLEMING'S  THIRD  LETTER  :  A  REVIEW  OF  MR,  HOLYOAKE'S 
RECENT  LECTURES. 

If  there  was  one  thing  for  which  Mr.  H.'s  recent  lectures  were  more  marted 
than  another  it  was  this — unsupported  assertions.  He  was  at  no  pains  to  inform 
his  audience  of  the  sources  of  his  information,  to  assign  his  reasons  for  the  opinions 
he  advocated,  and  to  give  his  authority  for  what  he  brought  forward  as  facts.  He 
asserted  much  but  proved  little.  Had  it  been  otherwise,  had  he  supported  by 
clear  and  irrefragable  arguments  what  he  urged  as  objections  to  Christianity,  the 
consequences  of  his  visit  to  Lancaster  might,  in  the  experience  of  a  few,  have 
been  serious  and  disastrous ;  but  as  it  was,  the  firmness  of  the  foundation  of  the 
Christian's  faith  was  only  made  more  than  usually  obvious,  and  little  or  no  injury, 
I  should  apprehend,  was  sustained  by  any  one.  Still  the  course  which  Mr.  H. 
pursues,  whether  advantageous  or  not  to  the  cause  he  advocates,  is  one  to  which 
every  person  who  values  truth  and  loves  fair  play  will  very  strongly  object.  It 
evades  the  difficulty  of  the  question  at  issue,  produces  false  impressions  with 
regard  to  the  real  character  of  Christianity,  and  countenances  a  mode  of  dealing 
with  the  gravest  and  most  important  subjects  which  cannot  be  too  earnestly 
deprecated  and  opposed.  But  that  I  may  not  even  seem  to  fall  into  the  error  of 
which  I  complain,  I  forthwith  submit  the  following  assertions  of  Mr.  H.  as  speci- 
mens of  those  with  which  I  now  find  fault. 

'The  books  of  the  Buddhists  contain  a  better  system  of  morality  than  the  Bible.' 

*  I  have  known  districts  where  truth  has  been  entirely  suppressed  by  persecution.' 

*  Civilisation,  or  the  means  of  producing  it,  has  always  preceded  the  introduction  of 
the  Gospel  among  the  people  who  have  received  it.'  '  The  Christian  system  is 
essentially  a  system  of  persecution.'  '  Popery  is  Bible  Christianity ;  all  its 
doctrines  are  reducible  from  the  scriptures.'  '  Sir  Isaac  Newton  was  a  Unitarian — 
was  a  poor  theologian — was  great  only  in  mathematics — is  never  quoted  by  the 
pulpits — and  wrote  only  one  book  on  religion  towards  the  close  of  his  life.' 

These  are  some  of  the  grave  and  important  statements  which  Mr.  H.  ventured 
to  advance  without  proof  or  confirmation.  But  the  reason,  doubtless,  was  because 
he  had  none  to  supply.  They  might,  therefore,  with  perfect  safety,  be  left  where 
they  are.  Unsupported,  what  are  they  worth  ?  Yet  a  few  counter  statements  may 
not  be  without  use.  The  works  of  Dr.  Medhurst  and  Mr.  Fortune,  on  China, 
prove  then  the  first  of  these  assertions  to  be  totally  untrue  :  the  whole  history 
of  truth  in  the  world  contradicts  the  second  :  the  travels  of  Captain  Cook,  Ellis's 
Polynesian  Researches,  Williams's  Missionary  Enterprises,  Moffat's  South  Africa, 
demonstrate  the  incorrectness  of  the  third  :  every  page  of  the  New  Testament,  and 
the  life  of  every  man  who  strictly  adheres  to  the  example  and  teachings  of  Jesus 
Christ,  refute  the  fourth:  the  Bible,  Fletcher's  Lectures  on  Roman  Catholicism, 
Cumming's  Protestant  Discussion,  and  Seymour's  Mornings  with  the  Jesuits  at 


[No.  2/0.]  «  INo.  11,  Vol.  XI.] 

[ONE  PENNY.l 


158  THE  REASONER. 


Rome,  supply  the  answer  to  the  fitth  :  and  the  Life  of  Sir  Isaac  Newton,  by  Sir 
David  Brewster,  triumphantly  confutes  the  last. 

Mr.  H.  objects  to  miracles  as  evidences  for  the  truth  of  Christianity,  because  they 
are  not  intelligible  to  the  common  people.  But  what  is  there  that  is  unintelligible 
about  them  ?  What  is  there  that  requires  to  be  known  about  them  to  constitute 
them  proofs  of  the  truth  of  the  Scriptures,  that  the  most  illiterate  may  not 
comprehend  ?  It  is  ah  facts  that  miracles  are  evidences  of  the  verity  of  the  Bible, 
and  as  facts  they  are  intelligible  to  all.  The  objection,  therefore,  that  they  are 
unintelligible,  is  a  mere  evasion  of  their  force  as  a  source  of  proof  for  the  truth 
of  the  Christian  religion. 

The  prophecies  of  the  Scriptures  are  objected  to  by  Mr.  H.,  not  on  the  ground 
of  improbability  or  impossibility,  but  of  meagreness.  They  refer  to  such  insignificant 
events,  and  to  such  obscure  peoples  !  In  making  such  an  assertion,  Mr.  H.  is  either 
guilty  of  the  most  culpable  misrepresentation,  or  shows  himself  to  be  most  grossly 
ignorant  of  the  Book  against  which  he  declaims.  The  prophecies  of  the  Old  and 
New  Testaments  refer  to  the  greatest  and  most  important  events  that  have  ever 
occurred,  and  embrace  the  interests  not  only  of  nations,  but  of  mankind  at  large. 
They  comprise  the  overthrow  of  Nineveh,  Babylon,  Tyre,  and  Jerusalem — the  rise 
and  fall  of  the  Assyrian,  Persian,  Grecian,  and'Homan  empires — the  dispersion, 
conversion,  and  restoration  of  the  Jews — the  universal  diffusion  of  Christian  truth, 
the  resurrection  of  the  dead,  and  the  general  judgment  of  mankind.  Are  these 
obscure  and  insignificant  matters  ? 

But  the  crucifixion  of  Christ  forms  a  main  hindrance  with  Mr.  H.  to  a  reception 
of  Christianity.  He  cannot  reconcile  that  event  with  the  representations  usually 
made  of  the  Divine  character,  and  with  truth,  justice,  and  love.  And  he  rejects 
as  wholly  untrue  both  the  record  of  the  event  itself,  the  book  in  which  it  is  found, 
and  the  doctrine  of  the  existence  of  Him  who  is  said  to  have  required  such  a 
sacrifice  for  the  expiation  of  human  guilt.  A  strange  mode  indeed  of  settling  the 
question  of  the  truthfulness  of  Christianity  !  A  '  New  class  of  reasons  in  truth 
for  not  accepting  the  religious  doctrines  of  the  day  !'  But  things  have  not  quite 
come  to  such  a  pass  as  this.  The  verity  of  the  Bible  does  not  depend  on  Mr.  H.'s 
ability  to  harmonise  its  statements  with  his  notions  of  propriety  and  rectitude.  It 
rests  on  an  infinitely  nobler,  better,  and  surer  basis.  The  death  of  Christ  was  a 
voluntary  death — a  free,  spontaneous,  and  self-chosen  act  on  the  part  of  Christ 
himself,  and  as  such  never  can,  on  any  ground  of  fairness  and  justice,  be  adduced 
to  tell  against  the  Divine  character,  as  one  of  perfect  purity,  boundless  love,  and 
infinite  excellence.  'No  man  taketh  my  life  from  me,  I  have  power  to  lay  it  down 
and  to  take  it  up  again.'  *  I  came  not  to  do  my  own  wilL'  '  Christ  loved  us  and 
gave  himself  for  us.' 

But  if  the  crucifixion  of  Christ  does  not  show  that  God  is  stern,  unforgiving, 
unloving,  and  unlovely,  the  punishment  of  men  for  carrying  into  effect  his  own 
purposes,  most  assuredly  does.  The  betrayers  and  crucifiers  of  Christ  fulfilled  the 
Divine  intention  and  decree ;  yet  they  were  charged  with  the  deepest  guilt  for  so 
doing,  and  punished  accordingly.  Does  not  this  demonstrate  Capriciousness  and 
cruelty,  and  constitute  God  unworthy  of  our  confidence  and  regard  ?  So  reasons 
Mr.  H.  But  before  this  reasoning  is  accepted  and  deemed  of  any  weight,  the 
following  questions  must  be  answered.  On  what  ground  did  the  men  in  question 
act?  Were  they  acquainted  with  the  Divine  purpose,  and  did  they  act  with  the 
view  of  executing  it  ?  What  were  the  motives  and  feelings  by  which  they  were 
influenced  in  the  course  they  pursued  ?  Is  it  opposition  to  the  secret  decrees  of 
God  or  to  his  clearly  revealed  will  that  constitutes  men  sinners,  and  deserving  of 


THE  REASONER.  159 


panishment  ?  The  men  in  question  transgressed  and  disregarded,  by  the  course 
they  prosecuted,  what  had  been  given  to  them  as  the  rule  of  their  conduct,  and 
were  influenced  throughout  by  the  worst  of  motives  and  feelings.  '  Seciet  things 
belong  unto  the  Lord  our  God,  but  those  things  which  are  revealed  belong  unto 
us  and  to  our  children  for  ever.'  The  secret  purposes  of  God  are  never  intended 
to  be  a  rule  of  life  to  us:  it  is  the  law  and  the  testimony  that  constitute  this,  and 
which  are  clearly  and  fully  revealed  to  us  in  the  hooks  of  the  Scriptures. 

But  then  men,  according  to  Mr.  H.,  cannot  be  sinners.  They  live  under  the 
regime  of  a  stern,  inflexible,  and  irresistible  necessity  ;  and  from  what  they  cannot 
avoid  or  prevent  themselves  from  doing,  they  cannot  be  accounted  either  re- 
sponsible or  guilty.  Admit  this  doctrine  to  be  true — that  men  are  necessitated 
to  do  all  that  they  perform,  and  what  is  the  conclusion  which  directly  and  ir- 
resistibly foUowB  ?  This,  most  obviously — that  they  can  no  more  be  charged 
with  ofience  against  one  another  than  against  God  — that  do  what  they  may  they 
are  guiltless — that  no  sovereign  can  charge  a  rebellious  subject  with  crime,  no 
parent  accuse  a  wayward  and  self-willed  child  of  disobedience  and  ingratitude,  and 
no  man  blame  another  for  any  amount  of  injustice  and  injury  he  may  receive  at 
his  hands.  But  a  doctrine  which  is  so  absurd  and  monstrous,  which  every  man's 
consciousness  tells  him  is  untrue,  and  which  Mr.  H.  himself  constantly  disregards, 
though  earnest  in  the  inculcation  of  it,  I  will  not  spend  a  moment  in  refuting. 
The  man  who  seeks  refuge  in  such  a  doctrine  is  generally  in  a  sorry  plight.  His 
cause  is  then  desperate. 

*  A  tree,'  said  the  greatest  and  best  of  teachers, '  is  known  by  its  fruit.'  Never 
was  a  simpler  or  more  satisfactory  rule  of  judging  of  the  character  of  opinions 
and  systems  given.  Can  infidelity  bear  its  application?  I  believe  not.  But 
whether  it  can  bear  it  or  not,  the  application  shall  be  made.  Infidelity  has  always 
been  boastful  and  pretending.  It  oS'ers  to  men  what  is  better  than  Christianity  — 
it  assures  them  of  calm  retreats,  elysium  fields,  never-failing  gratifications,  free- 
doms from  the  power  and  tyranny  of  the  pulpits,  reason  instead  of  faith,  certainty 
instead  of  doubt,  intelligence  instead  of  superstition,  and  confidence  in  the  hour  of 
death  instead  of  doubts  and  misgivings.  Well,  what  are  its  actual  fruits  ?  It  has 
long  existed — nearly  as  long  as  Christianity.  What,  then,  has  it  accomplished 
for  mankind?  What  wastes  has  it  reclaimed  ?  What  nations  of  barbarians  has 
it  civilised  ?  What  barren,  burning  deserts  has  it  converted  into  cultivated  and 
fertile  lands?  How  many  lazar  houses  has  it  erected?  How  many  hospitals? 
How  many  asylums  ?  How  maiiy  houses  for  the  destitute  ?  How  many  mis- 
sionaries has  it  labouring  among  the  degraded  tribes  of  Africa — among  the  super- 
stitious Hindoos — among  the  savage  inhabitants  of  the  South  Sea  Islands  ?  When 
enthroned  in  France,  was  the  reign  it  set  up  a  reign  of  love — the  laws  it  enacted 
righteous  laws — the  customs  it  countenanced  generous  and  elevating  customs — 
and  the  morality  it  inculcated  and  encouraged  high-toned  morality  ?  The  answer 
is  emphatically,  No.  Infidelity  has  none  of  these  things.  But  '  a  tree  is  known 
by  its  fruit.'  James  Fleming. 

MR.  HOLYOAKE'S  REPLY  TO  MR.  FLEMING'S  THIRD  LETTER. 


To  the  EdXtor  of  the  Lancaster  Cruardian. 
Sib, — The  tone  of  the  review  to  which  I  now  close  my  reply  is,  I  am  bound  to 
admit,  much  more  decorous  and  kindly  than  I  could  have  expected  after  the  extra- 
ordinary opening  of  our  controversy,  which  appeared  in  the  Guardian  of  May  17. 
Yet,  in  his  review,  my  reverend  opponent,  directly  and  by  implication,  applies  to 


160  THE  REASONER. 


me  twenty-one  epithets,  such  as  a  disputant  employs  when,  not  content  with 
stating,  he  must  also  judge  his  own  case.  The  purity  of  controversy  warns  me 
not  to  retort  these  epithets,  which  would  cause  an  objection  to  be  made  to  free 
discussion  itself,  which  properly  belongs  to  the  peculiar  manner  in  which  it  is 
sometimes  conducted.  Therefore,  as  in  my  previous  letters,  I  shall  confine  myself 
to  Mr.  Fleming's  substantive  arguments. 

As  examples  of  ' unsupported  a,ssertions;'  which  my  opponent  somewhat  emphati- 
cally declares  me  to  have  indulged  in,  he  reports  that  I  made  mention  of  the  books 
of  the  Buddhists  as  containing  a  better  system  of  morality  than  the  Bible.  My  pre- 
ference for  Buddhism,  as  I  stated,  was  founded  on  the  fact  that  its  theory  was  that  of 
the  worship  of  Pure  Intellect,  and  the  elevation  of  men  to  the  heavenly  state,  by 
meritorious  works,  which  I  considered  more  instructive  than  the  worship  of  the 
Christian  deities,  and  healthier  than  Salvation  by  Faith.  Mr.  Fleming  does  not 
say  whether  Medhurst  and  Fortune  differ  from  me  in  these  points  of  fact ;  it  is 
nothing  to  the  purpose  that  they  differ  from  me  as  to  opinion. 

In  the  course  of  one  of  my  lectures,  I  read  from  the  review  in  the  Examiner 
of  Sir  Emerson  Tennent's  late  work  on  '  Christianity  in  Ceylon,  and  the  Buddhist 
Superstitions' — a  late  authority,  which  I  rnay  oppose  to  Mr.  Fleming's  authorities, 
Medhurst  and  Fortune.  The  Examiner  reports  that  '  the  chief  results  which  the 
Christian  missions  in  Ceylon  demonstrate  is  the  important  fact,  that  nothing  but 
the  preliminary  cultivation  of  the  intellectual  faculties  by  education  and  secular 
teaching  has  as  yet  succeeded  in  India  in  preparing  the  way  for  the  Gospel ;'  and 
I  added  that  our  missionaries  generally  found  the  natives  more  grateful  for  our 
arts  than  for  our  creeds.     It  was  thus  that  I '  supported  '  this  assertion. 

True,  I  said  the  Christian  system  is  one  of  persecution,  and  I  told  Mr.  Fleming 
how,  in  the  case  of  my  own  imprisonment.  Christians  set  a  watch  upon  me, 
Christians  informed  against  me.  Christians  prejudiced  the  public  against  me — how 
by  Christian  pay  were  hireling  lawyers  retained  against  me — how  by  Christian 
witnesses  I  was  confronted,  by  the  Christian  press  misrepresented,  by  a  Christian 
jury  found  guilty,  by  a  Christian  judge  condemned — how  Christian  preachers 
proved  the  scripturalness  of  the  whole  proceeding,  and  Christian  congregations 
gave  thanks  to  God  for  the  success  of  the  prosecution.  Also  I  read  to  Mr. 
Fleming  other  passages  from  the  History  of  my  Trial.  Thus  I  sustained  another  of 
the  assertions  which  Mr.  Fleming,  by  a  remarkably  free  use  of  language,  affirms  that 
I  left  unsupported.  In  the  same  manner,  >iid  space  allow  me  to  recount  the  argu- 
ment of  my  lecture  on  *  Catholicism  consistent  Christianity  ' — Catholicism  which 
I  proved  had  for  its  principle,  Authority ;  for  its  agents,  1.  Terror,  2.  Persecu- 
3.  Inquisition — the  public  would  see  that  Mr.  Fleming  must  attach  some  private 
meaning  to  the  term  unsupported  when  he  connects  it  to  my  assertions.  Perhaps 
he  means  unsupported  to  his  satisfaction. 

If  Mr.  Fleming  distrusts  my  experience  and  the  facts  I  detailed  as  to  troth  being 
put  down  by  persecution,  let  him  read  one  of  the  leaders  in  the  Times,  of  iMov.  28, 
1850.    If  that  reference  is  inconvenient,  he  may  see  the  passage  in  Reasoner  No.  243. 

Brucker,  who  renders  the  completest  account  of  Sir  Isaac  Newton's  religious 
opinions  with  which  I  am  acquainted,  and  which  Mr.  Fleming  will  find  quoted  at 
length  in  Chalmers's  'Biographical  Dictionary,' gives  us  no  idea  that  Newton 
believed  in  the  Trinity.  The  gist  of  Sir  Isaac's  argument,  as  given  by  Brucker,  is 
this  : — *  God  is  omnipresent  substantially,  {or  power  cannot  exist  without  substance.^ 
'  What  the  substance  of  anything  is  we  are  xvholly  ignorant.^  '  God  exists  to  us  in  a 
manner  altogether  unknown.'  Surely  this  is  Unitarian,  so  far  as  the  oneness  of 
God  is  concerned  ?     Was  such  a  medley  of  divinity  as  this  ever  before  or  since 


THE  REASONER.  161 


propounded  by  a  mathematical  philosopher  ?  How  did  Newton  know  that  God 
existed  'substantially' — that  is,  in  substance — if  we  are  'wholly  ignorant'  what 
substance  is  ?  How  could  Newton  prove  that  God  exists  '  substantially,'  if  the 
'  manner  '  of  his  existence  to  us  is  wholly  unknown  ?'  If  the  pulpits  make  a  prac- 
tice of  quoting  this  wondrous  assortment  of  contradictions — which  Mr.  Fleming  . 
asserts,  by  implication,  Sir  David  Brewster  triumphantly  establishes — all  I  can  say 
is,  the  pulpits  are  less  wise  than  I  took  them  to  be.  The  only  edition  of  Brew- 
ster's Life  of  Newton  which  I  have  seen  is  the  New  York  one  in  the  British 
Museum.  Sir  David  gives  very  fairly  the  conflicting  testimony  as  to  Sir  Isaac's 
opinions,  but  anything  but  '  triumphantly  establishes  '  his  Trinitarianism. 

Whatever  can  my  reviewer  mean  when  he  says  I  '  objected  to  miracles  because 
they  were  unintelligible  to  the  common  people?'  On  the  contrary,  I  said  they 
were  the  most  intelligible  things  possible,  especially  the  fish  with  the  income  tax 
in  his  mouth,  which  would  be  quite  a  favourite  in  these  times — especially  the  few 
small  loaves  which  fed  12,000.  The  Poor  Law  Commissioners  would  make  a  king 
of  that  man  who  could  work  such  miracles  now.  A  recent  writer  of  no  mean 
research  has  lately  observed,  that  '  One  of  the  insuperable  difficulties  of  the 
miracle  is  the  moral  one — why,  if  really  possible,  it  does  not  manifest  itself  oftener. 
A  descent  of  Vishnou  is  too  often  wished  for  in  vain.' 

As  I,did  not  object  to  the  miracles  because  the  common  people  could  not  under- 
stand them,  neither  did  I  object  to  the  prophecies  *  because  of  their  meagreuess.' 
I  could  not  see,  and  I  cannot  see,  what  either  one  or  the  other  has  to  do  with  plain 
people  in  these  days.  We  are  not  savages  who  must  be  confounded  by  legerde- 
main, nor  are  we  of  that  class  who  tempt  fate.  We  are  men  who  should  make  fate 
— not  weak  girls,  who  go  hang  their  hopes  on  fortune-telling.  1  told  Mr.  Fleming 
that  I  would  accept  Christianity,  if  morally  consonant,  without  miracle  or  prophecy 
to  recommend  it;  then  why  dwells  he  on  points  which  I  conceded?  Is  there  but 
one  track  in  which  he  can  walk,  can  he  not  get  beyond  Keith  and  Paley  ?  Must 
orthodox  conti'oversy  pursue  one  mill-horse  round  for  ever  ?  He  says  mine  is  '  a 
strange  mode  of  settling  the  truth  of  Christianity.'  To  him  doubtless  it  is,  who 
does  not  appear  to  have  two  ideas  on  the  subject.  Let  us  settle  its  morality  first, 
and  then  its  truthfulness  will  take  care  of  itself. 

Again :  I  submit  deferentially  that  the  question  is  not  why  did  the  Jews  crucify 
Christ,  but  why  was  it  needful  that  an  exhibition  so  appalling  should  have  been 
necessary  in  order  to  take  away  the  sins  of  the  world.  If  Mr.  Fleming  says  it 
was  not  necessary,  he  indeed  will  meet  me  to  some  purpose,  and  I  shall  be  but  too 
happy  to  agree  with  him.  My  argument  is  that  nothing  of  the  kind  could  be 
necessary.  In  the  eighteenth  edition  of  the  '  Logic  of  Death'  (p.l5),  the  essay  out 
of  which  this  controversy  arose,  I  have  expressed  my  Ciise,  which  I  submit  Mr. 
Fleming  has  not  in  any  way  invalidated. 

Since  we  are  made  to  be  what  we  are  by  that  inevitable  necessity,  whose 
currents  set  in  before  we  began  to  exist,  and  which  bear  us  along  to  our  des- 
tiny, I  argued  that  we  cannot  be  accountable  for  our  fate  to  Him  from  whose 
hands  we  are  assured  the  issues  of  our  life  proceeded.  Mr.  Fleming  de- 
clares this  doctrine  absurd  and  monstrous,  and  so  it  is  when  he  states  the  in- 
ference from  it.  He  makes  it  to  appear  that  because  men  are  not  responsible  to 
God,  that  there  can  be  no  obedi^ce  or  gratitude  exacted  between  man  and  man. 
But  because  God  cannot  well  hold  as  guilty  for  being  what  he  has  made  us  to  be, 
it  surely  does  not  follow  that  men  may  not  exact  that  order  necessary  to  their 
mutual  protection,  and  expect  that  pleasure  will  be  felt  when  happiness  is  conferred 
upon  the  miserable  ?     Neither  with  God  or  men  does  this  doctrine  of  necessity 


-- 


162  THE  RBASONER. 


interrupt  government,  it  only  interrupts  punishment.  Its  moral  lesson  is  to  teach 
us  how,  by  wise  calculation,  we  may  supersede  punishment  by  making  crime  impos- 
sible. It  is  only  when  Mr.  Fleming  states  this  theory,  that  it  is  '  monstrous  and 
absurd.'    I  may  address  that  gentlemanin  the  language  of  the  author  of  the  Podesta: — 

'  Look  closer  to't ;  you  make  the  evil  first — 

A  base,  then  pile  a  heap  of  censures  on  it. 

'Tis  your  own  sin  supplies  the  scafiFolding 

And  mason  woik;  you  skilful  rear  the  grim 

Unsightly  fabric  ;  and  there  point,  and  say 

"  How  ugly  is  it."     You  meanwhile  forget 

'Tis  your  own  handy  work.' 
It  would  ill  repay  your  courtesy,  Mr.  Editor,  to  extend  this  reply  by  a  formal 
refutation  of  that  remark  which  comes  with  such  bad  grace  from  Mr.  Fleming, 
viz.,  that  the  tree  of  infidelity  is  not  advantageously  known  by  its  fruit.  What 
fruit  has  Christianity  borne  to  us  after  its  eighteen  centuries  of  elaborate  advocacy 
and  divine  support — with  discord  in  all  our  churches,  unfriendliness  of  spirit  in  its 
members,  artifice  in  trade — with  a  league  among  crowns  to  putdown  liberty  abroad — 
with  oppression  in  politics  at  home — with  ignorance  among  the  people  and  misery 
everywhere  ?  Is  it  a  Christian  who  asks  what  fruits  have  infidelity  borne,  which  has 
so  rarely  had  free  or  fair  play  where  Christians  have  had  power  to  prevent  it  ?  In 
this  country  Christian  magistrates  refuse  to  take  our  oaths,  and  men  of  wealth 
who  make  a  profession  of  atheism  endanger  their  possessions.  Wherever  property 
has  been  left  for  the  establishment  of  our  opinions  in  London,  Manchester,  Cork, 
France,  America,  judges  declared  it  left  for  an  'immoral'  purpose,  and  the 
triumphant  and  nefarious  Christian  has  carried  it  away  for  his  own  purposes. 
Whatever  the  testimony  of  a  man's  conscience  may  be,  he  must  die  under  the 
profession  of  Christian  name,  or  his  relatives,  if  he  die  poor,  may  suffer.  Every 
charity  in  the  kingdom  is  in  the  receipt  of  contributions  from  infidels  and  atheists, 
the  credit  of  which  the  Christian  claims,  because  the  donors  must  accept  the 
Christian  designation  in  order  to  preserve  social  status.  The  Christian  refuses  us 
the  protection  of  the  laws — he  causes  the  law  to  deny  us  freedom  while  living,  to 
plunder  us  when  we  are  dead — and  then  he  has  the  effrontery  to  turn  round  and 
demand  what  fruits  has  the  tree  of  infidelity  borne.  Notwithstanding  these  dis- 
advantages, it  has  often  wrested  civilisation  from  the  despoiling  hand  of  supersti- 
tion. It  has  struggled  for  the  education  of  the  people,  ever  delayed  by  the 
jealousies  or  the  fears  of  sects.  It  has  discovered  the  presence  of  Law  in  mind 
which  has  made  progress  into  a  science,  and  has  substituted  Systematic  Morality 
for  that  oriental  declamation  which  has  so  long  failed  to  reach  human  practice. 
In  the  person  of  Voltaire,  infidelity,  as  Lamartine  assured  us,  gave  freedom  to 
France.  In  the  person  of  Paine,  it  gave  independence  to  America.  Thus  the 
people  in  the  Old  World  and  the  New  have  owed  Liberty  to  two  advocates  of 
Infidelity;  can  Mr.  Fleming  say  as  much  of  any  two  Christian  Ministers  ? 

Before  concluding,  there  is  one  acknowledgment  due  to  Mr.  Fleming,  which  I 
have  no  disposition  to  conceal  or  to  moderate.  When  he  has  had  to  speak  of  me, 
he  has  not  done  it  by  inuendo,  but  mentioned  me  by  name — so  that  I  have  known 
the  exact  amount  of  responsibility  devolving  on  me  to  meet.  When  he  has 
referred  to  my  publications  he  has  done  it  by  quoting  their  titles,  so  that  others 
might,  if  they  pleased,  refer  to  them  also,  and  judge  between  us.  This  is  a  fair- 
ness not  usual  in  our  opponents.  It  is  fearless  in  Mr.  Fleming,  and  on  these 
accounts,  when  he  says  he  has  no  apprehension  of  the  strength  of  our  case  or  the 
progress  of  our  opinions,  I  believe  him  ;  and  I  make  no  ungrudging  acknowledg- 
ment of  his  honour  and  liis  courage  in  these  respects. 

Perhaps  Mr.  Fleming  may  care  to  write  further,  to  explain  something  I  may 
have  misunderstood  or  lepresented  inaccurately,  or  to  supply  some  omission  ;  in 
which  case  you,  Mr.  Editor,  may  fear,  if  I  wish  lo  answer  such  further  communi- 
cation, that  theie  will  be  no  end  to  the  controversy  you  have  done  me  the  honour  to 
permit.  I  therefore  say  that  I  do  not  wish  to  reply  again  upon  this  subject. 
Having  been  heard  in  ray  own  defence,  if  I  have  not  made  my  case  good,  it  has 
been  my  fault  not  to  have  made  better  use  of  my^opportunity  ;  and  I  leave  to  my 
opponent,  as  1  usually  prefer  to  do,  the  last  word.  G.  Jacob  Holtoake. 


THE  REASONER. 


163 


n   tlft   §iin   al  <@atns   to   Cljurcl^. 


The  utter  absence  of  life  and  vitality, 
which   characterise   the    observance   of 
the   Sabbath   and   its   ordinances,   is   a 
source  of  much  deep  regret  to  sincerely 
professing    Christians.     Believing   that 
some  spiritual  eflScacy  is  bound  up  in 
these   observances,  they   must   witness 
with  inward  grief  what  they  account  the 
gradual   decay   of  religious    feeling   as 
exhibited  in  its  established  forms.     For 
us  to  assume  much  sympathy  with  this 
grief  would  be  as  hypocritical  as  it  is 
absurd.    Erroneously   based,   however, 
as  we  believe  this  feeling  to  be,  we  dare 
assert  there  are  few  who  have   thrown 
off  all  reverence  for  established  forms 
without  a   struggle,   or   who   have  not 
severally,  at    certain    stages   of    their 
mental   development,  felt   in  a  similar 
manner.     Inasmuch   as   this   feeling  is 
almost  invariably  the  precursor  of  in- 
quiry, it  ought  to  be  favourably  regarded. 
We    witness  its  tendency  in  the  plain 
speaking  sincerity  and  earnest  vigour  of 
Buch  minds  as  Newman, Foxton,  Froude, 
Maurice,  Kingsley,  and  others.    Among 
formalists  generally  such  views  find  no 
favour,   and   it    is    to    excite    inquiry 
among  these  that  this  address  is  written. 
The  arguments  attempted  to  be  drawn 
from  Scripture  for  a  Sabbath  observance 
have  been  exposed  and  refuted  so  fre- 
quently that  it  were   needless  waste  of 
time  to  enter  upon   the   subject  here. 
Many  of  the  most  learned  divines  and 
commentators  within  the  church   have 
shown     that     this   embodiment   of  the 
Jewish  ceremonial  law  is  nowhere  en- 
joined   upon     professing     Christians.* 
The  letter  of  the  Bible  commands   no 
such  observance,  and  the  spirit  of  the 


BY   JULIAN. 

little  wonderful  that  such  an  idea  should 
be  eagerly  seized  upon  by  many  to  esta- 
blish, by  flocking  to  this  weekly  spec- 
tacle, a  claim  to  superior  piety.  But  in 
vain  may  we  expect  in  a  man  any 
clear  perception  of  the  '  beauty  of  holi- 
ness '  who  confines  its  exemplification 
to  one  day  out  of  seven.  If  he  does  not 
do  so,  what  then  is  meant  by  '  keeping 
holy  the  Sabbath  day  ?'  Is  it  by  such  a 
holiness  as  is  to  have  no  connection  with 
other  days  ?  If  so,  what  is  this  holiness 
worth,  or  rather,  how  comes  he  to  call 
that  holiness  which  may  be  put  on  and 
off  with  his  Sunday  suit?  If  it  must 
have  such  a  connection,  we  would  simply 
inquire  how  he  finds  himself  warranted 
in  making  a  distinction  between  these 
six  days  and  the  seventh.  By  what 
most  curious  and  recondite  process  does 
he  reconcile  it  with  his  conscience  to 
keeping  especially  holy  one  day  out  of 
seven,  when  he  knows  that  he  is  equally 
bound  to  realise  his  highest  idea  of  holi- 
ness every  day  of  his  life?  The  tendency 
of  such  an  injunction  is  to  degrade  and 
deaden  all  religious  feeling.  Common 
sense  must  teach  us,  that  a  man  who 
deems  his  exertions  to  be  principally 
required  against  a  certain  day  will,  in 
spite  of  himself,  show  a  corresponding 
laxity  in  conforming  to  the  same  prin- 
ciples throughout  the  week.  If  he  shews 
no  such  laxity  he  keeps  no  Sabbath. 

For  how  much  mean  selfishness  and 
conventional  cant  is  this  church-going  a 
cover  and  palliative,  especially  among 
the  respectable  classes  !  and  how 
much  longer  is  it  that  such  precious 
mummery  will  be  allowed  to  deceive 
even  the  most  simple  of  us  lookers  on  ? 


New  Testament  is  in  direct  opposition    From  the  importance  attached  to  this 


to  it.f  The  dogma  that  one  day  out  of 
seven  only  is  to  be  kept  holy,  is  as 
absurd  as  it  is  profane.  Founded  as 
it  is  on  a  total  misapprehension  of  what 
constitutes  religious  feeling,  it  seems 

*  Grotius,Bucer,  Calvin,  Pebo,  Martyr, 
Musculus  Ursinus,  Gomarus,  and  more 
lately  Dr.  Paley,  Dr.  Lingard,  Archbishop 
Whately,  and  others. 

t  '  The  Mosaic  Sabbath.'  (Chapman  & 
Hall,  London.)  '  No  Sabbath  in  Chris- 
tianity.'     (Barlow,  Newcastle-ou-Tyne.) 


observance  by  the  *  saints,'  one  might 
imagine  some  wondertul  effect  followed 
these  weekly  visitations  to  what  is  termed 
the  *  sanctuary.'  A  very  slight  expe- 
rience would  convince  him  of  his  error. 
He  could  not  long  witness  the  cool  self- 
satisfied  demeanour  of  your  orthodox 
church-goer  without  becoming  aware 
that  he  had  committed  some  grievous 
mistake.  None  seem  to  desire,  far  less 
to  expect,  any  change.  Perhaps  they 
think  it  is  enjoined  in  Scripture  ;  but 
whether  or  not,  the  pi-iest,  at  all  events, 


164 


THE  REASONER. 


enjoins  it,  and  they  rejoice  thereat.     It 
is  a  pleasant  and  a  goodly  thing  when 
some  shoT  of  piety,  however  trifling, 
attaches  to  an  observance  at  once  public 
and  fashionable.    Religion  would  be  but 
a  poor  element  after  all,  unless  it  were 
respectable,   and    made   some    display. 
Only  through  this  and  other  spectacles 
is  it  recognised  by  formalists — and,  in- 
deed, without  them  would  be  esteemed 
altogether    worthless.     It    is    held    in 
Scotland,  that  if  a  man  is  seen  at  kirk 
or  market  the  week  before  his  decease, 
he  is  accounted  in  good  health,  and  in  a 
competent  state  to  make  his  will.     By  a 
parity  of  reasoning,  these  church-goes 
seem  to  imagine  that  a  decent  obser- 
vance of  this  ceremony  constitutes  piety. 
On  no  other   ground  is  it  possible  to 
account    for    their    most    regular    and 
business-like  attendance.     We   find  in 
them  no  exemplication  of  the  spirit  of 
Christianity.     They  have  no  idea  of  a 
religion  influencing  every  day  life,  but 
the  whole  is  comprehended  in  the  ob- 
servance of  certain  forms  and  a  belief 
in  certain  dogmas.     It  has  no  connec- 
tion  with   their  social   state,  and   any 
attention  to  the  cure  or  alleviation  of  its 
evils  forms  no  part  of  what  they  de- 
nominate  their   '  religious   duties.'     In 
the   decay  of  such  a  religion  all  good 
men  rejoice,  and   in  the  exposure   and 
ridicule  of  its  upholders  it  is  time  that 
all    true    men    should    aid.      Nothing 
proves    the    soul-destroying    efliects   of 
formalism  more  than  the  total  absence 
of  the  slightest  approach  to  enthusiasm, 
and  the  aversion  to  inquiry,  which  cha- 
racterise its  votaries.     They  profess  a 
pious  horror  at  any  new  ideas  calculated 
to  disturb  their  routine  of  vacuity,  or 
occasion  unpleasant  reflections.      They 
prefer  being  '  blind  in  public  to  seeing 
in  secret.'     Having  succeeded  perhaps 
in  deceiving   themselves,  they   at   last 
come   to   deem   it   possible  to   deceive 
others  with  their  round  of  conventionali- 
ties and  weekly  displays,  their  oracular 
utterance    of    unintelligible    cant    and 
saintly  hypocrisy.     Atraid,  after  all,  to 
call   their   minds    their    own,   it    were 
surely  expecting  too  much  to  imagine 
they  could  ever  eatertain  even  a  mode- 
rate respect  for  the  convictions  of  others. 
They   do   not   l^>ve   earnestness — why, 
indeed,  should  they?     It  is  a  restless, 
uncomfortable  commodity,  and  savours, 
tuo,  of  change  and  innovation.     Were 


Christ  now  to  appear  on  earth,  these 
saints,  who  monopolise  all  the  talk 
about  him,  would  be  the  first  to  cry  him 
down  as  a  dreamer  or  turbulent  fellow. 
In  obedience  to  another  dictum,  and 
that  other  a  man  fallible  as  themselves, 
they  have  learnt  to  distrust  their  own 
inmost  convictions  and  feelings.  Car- 
ried on  through  life  in  a  dull,  soul- 
enslaving  routine — bound,  as  they  ima- 
gine, to  believe  a  series  of  absurd  and 
incomprehensible  dogmas — their  sym- 
pathies and  aspirations  become  either 
wholly  torpid,  or  find  ample  vent  in 
some  half-strangled  form  of  joint-stock 
charity,  on  which  they  feel  bound  to 
engraft  their  own  narrow  sectarian  ideas. 
Religion  is  a  thing  kept  altogether  apart 
from  the  shop  or  counter,  the  market 
or  the  exchange.  Perhaps  they  have  a 
dim  kind  of  perception  that  the  two 
would  not  work  well  together,  at  least 
not  to  what  they  conceive  their  worldly 
prosperity.  Hence  the  fancy  of  having 
them  in  separate  parcels. 

Thus,  from  motives  of  cold  and  self- 
ish prudence,  stifling  within  themselves 
and  ignoring  in  others  the  existence  of 
our  spiritual  perceptions,  we  cease  to 
wonder  at  the  decay  of  religious  obser- 
vances. The  uphold^s  themselves  have 
brought  them  into  contempt.  It  may 
fairly  be  questioned  whether  such  soul- 
less hucksters  in  religious  forms  ever 
deceive  each  other,  but  certain  it  is  they 
no  longer  deceive  society.  In  the  pre- 
sent day,  the  fact  of  one's  regular  at- 
tendance at  church  would  fail  to  pre- 
possess an  intelligent  mind  in  favour  of 
his  religious  feeling  or  moral  rectitude. 
For  with  none  of  these  (thanks  to  the 
conventionalism  of  the  saints)  has 
church-going,  even  presumptively,  the 
smallest  connection.  But  with  a  world 
of  intolerance  and  selfish  hypocrisy,  it 
has,  singular  to  say,  a  very  essential  one. 
Show  me  a  narrow-minded,  sanctimo- 
nious saint,  and  you  as  certainly  shew 
me  a  regular  attender  at  church,  perhaps 
a  quasi  *  respectable '  man.  Can  any 
good  motive  induce  my  attendance  or 
fellowship  with  such  as  these,  or  can  I 
do  so  without  violating  my  own  moral 
consciousness  ?  My  natural  position  to 
such  a  man,  or  to  such  a  class  of  men, 
is  one  of  antagonism.  Why  should  we 
partake  their  spiritual  lethargy,  or 
rather,  why  should  we  affect  to  do  so  ? 
L?t  each,  at  all  events,  maintain  intact 


THE  REASONER. 


165 


bis  own  integrity.  If  we  cannot  always 
realise  our  conception  of  what  is  holy, 
just,  and  true,  we  shall  still  absoWe  us 
to  ourselves  as  having  sincerely  striven 
to  do  so  ;  but  this  superstitious  mum- 
mery of  conformity  is  as  ruinous  as  it 
is  degrading.  If  our  life  has  no  intrin- 
sic value,  it  is  absolutely  worse  than 
valueless  when  we  lend  our  countenance 
to  what  is  erroneous  in  theory  and  Pha- 
risaical in  practice.  A  conformity  such 
as  these  saints  would  wish  is  neither 
possible  nor  desirable.  No  good  end 
is  ever  to  be  served  by  conscious  dis- 
simulation and  hypocrisy.  We  cannot, 
with  impunity,  so  tamper  with  ourselves. 
All  forms  are  only  useful  in  so  far  as 
they  embody  realities;  and  when  they  do 
so,  it  is  the  realities  only  that  are  prized. 
Forms  are  then  unthought  of,  and  are 
merely  accidental,  not  insisted  on. 
Among  professing  Christians,  this  order 
of  things  is  now  reversed.  Possessing 
no  longer  in  their  souls  the  vitality 
which  first  originated  them,  each  thinks 
to  conceal  his  spiritual  death  by  seizing 
on  the  forms,  which  he  holds  forth  and 
observes  as  possessing  life.  But  the 
time  during  which  such  shallow  mockery 
can  deceive  others  is  fast  passing  away, 
A  purer  and  more  living  faith  than  now 
animates  the  churches  has  begun  to  dawn 
among  them.  The  epithets  of  infidel 
and  atheist  have  lost  their  power  to 
terrify  or  scare  away  inquiry.  Some  are 
even  bold  enough  to  contend  that  the 
only  men  deserving  the  name  infidel  are 
formalists  and  church-goers,  who,  lack- 
ing sincerity  to  inquire  for  themselves, 
are,  if  possible,  even  more  unwilling 
that  any  one  else  should  dare  to  do  so. 
As  a  means  of  moral  and  religious 
culture,  the  church  has  had  its  day,  and 
it  were  folly  to  deny  that  it  has  doubtless 
done  good  work  in  its  time.  But  no 
forms  can  long  outlive  the  necessities 
which  gave  them  birth.  Tempora 
mutahtur  et  nos  mutamur  in  illis.  The 
soul  of  man  is  destined  successively  to 
outgrow  all  forms.  Bound  strictly  by 
none,  it  aspires  constantly  after  the 
highest  and  purest  ideal.  Chui'ch  at- 
tendance is  rapidly  becoming  a  thing  of 
the  past,  and  those  minds  are  fast  in- 
creasing who  perceive  and  accept  this 
fact  Neither  need  such  as  bewail  this 
'  mourn  as  those  without  hope.'  Cast- 
ing aside  as  nought  the  prejudices  of 
early  religious  training  and  association, 
calm  and  impartial  reflection  must  sug- 


gest that  religious  feeling  is  not  tied 
down  to  manifest  itself  in  church-atten- 
dance, or  any  other  set  form  of  worship. 
The  spirit  will  not  be  so  bound  or  dic- 
tated to.  Only  in  proportion  as  religion 
is  pure  and  spiritual  is  it  independent  of 
forms.  It  is  said  of  Milton,  that  he 
grew  old  without  visible  worship.  Yet 
scarcely  the  most  igaorantly  bigoted 
mind  would  deny  to  our  prince  of  poets 
strong  religious  feelings.  The  convic- 
tion is  slowly  and  steadfastly  permeating 
all  churches,  that  religion  is  of  no  church 
or  creed. 

He  prayeth  best  who  loveth  best 
All  things,  both  great  and  small ; 
For  the  dear  God  who  loveth  us 
He  made  and  loveth  all. 

When  we  see  religious  bodies  attaching 
importance  to  certain  forms,  be  sure 
they  have  already  lost  a  portion  of  that 
spirit  for  which  no  forms  will  compen- 
sate. This  spirit  it  rests  with  ourselves 
to  evoke  into  true  life,  grandeur,  and 
beauty.  It  can  exist — it  does  exist — 
independent  of  all  Prophets  and  Mes- 
siahs, Bibles  or  Korans.  Inherent  in 
the  nature  of  man,  its  strength  is  only 
attainable  in  perfect  freedom. 

In  no  age  could  it  necessarily  follow 
that  a  man  was  destitute  of  religion 
who  ceased  to  attend  church ;  and  in 
the  present  day  there  does  not  even 
exist  such  a  presumption.  Church- 
attendance  is  not  a  religious  act,  but  only 
the  simulation  of  what,  under  different 
times  and  ciicumstances,  might  have 
been  so.  What  wonder  if  it  has  ceased 
to  satisfy  the  wants  and  aspirations  of 
the  mass  of  inquiring  minds  ?  Within, 
all  is  dull,  cold,  and  dead  ;  without,  all 
is  busy,  stirring,  and  progressive.  No 
man,  in  full  possession  of  his  faculties, 
can  hesitate  in  his  choice.  The  church 
has  isolated,  and  persists  in  isolating, 
itself.  An  eminent  American  writer* 
has  thus  forcibly  expressed  himself  on 
the  anomalous  position  of  the  church  in 
connection  with  this  observance: — 'It 
seemed  strange  that  the  people  should 
come  to  church.  It  seemed  as  if  their 
houses  were  very  unentertaining,  that 
th^y  should  prefer  this  thoughtless 
clamour.  It  shows  that  there  is  a  com- 
manding attraction  in  the  moral  senti- 
ment that  can  lend  a  faint  tint  of  light  to 
dulness  and   ignorance,   coming  in  its 

*  Emerson. 


166 


THE  REASONER. 


place.  The  good  hearer  is  sure  thathe  has 
been  touched — sometimes  is  sure  that 
thei'e  is  somewhat  to  be  reached,  and 
some  word  that  can  reach  it.  When  he 
listens  to  these  vain  words,  he  comforts 
himself  by  their  relation  to  his  remem- 
brance of  better  hours  ;  and  so  they 
clatter  and  echo  unchallenged,'  To  the 
dullness  and  ignorance  here  spoken 
of  every  intelligent  man  who  has  atten- 
ded church  can  bear  witness;  but,  with 
deference  to  Emeison,  we  must  be  al- 
lowed to  doubt  whether  the  commanding 
attraction  of  the  moral  sentiment  would 
long  avail  to  draw  him  thither.  We 
quarrel  not,  however,  with  a  description 
which,  while  charitably  construing  the 
good  hearers'  attendance,  renders  the 
observance  itself  sufficiently  contemp- 
tible. 

Milton,  too,  besides  shewing  how 
entirely  destitute  is  this  ceremony  of 
any  scripture  authority,  has  pictured  a 
state  of  things,  quoted  by  the  previous 
writer,  the  spirit  of  which  is  even  truer 
in  our  own  day  than  it  could  have  pos- 
sibly been  in  his  time  : — 

'A  wealthy  man,  addicted  to  his 
pleasures  or  to  his  profits,  finds  religion 
to  be  a  traffic  so  entangled,  and  of  so 
many  puddling  accounts,  that  of  all 
mysteries  he  cannot  skill  to  keep  a  stock 
going  on  that  trade.  What  should  he 
do?  Fain  he  would  have  the  name  to 
be  religious  ;  fain  he  would  bear  up  with 
his  neighbours  in  that.  What  does  he, 
therefore,  but  resolve  to  give  over  toil- 
ing, and  to  find  himself  out  some  factor 
to  whose  care  and  credit  he  may  commit 
the  whole  managing  of  his  religious 
affiiirs — some  divine  of  note  and  estima- 
tion that  must  be.  To  him  he  adheres; 
resigns  the  whole  warehouse  of  his  re- 
ligion, with  all  the  locks  and  keys,  into 
his  custody,  and,  indeed,  makes  the  very 
person  of  that  man  his  religion  ;  esteems 
his  associating  with  him  a  sufficient 
evidence  and  commendatory  of  his  own 
piety.  So  that  a  man  may  say  his  re- 
ligion is  now  no  more  within  himself, 
but  is  become  a  dividual  moveable,  and 
goes  and  comes  near  him  according  as 
that  good  man  frequents  the  house.  He 
entertains  him,  gives  him  gifts,  feeds 


him,  lodges  him — his  religion  comes 
home  at  night,  prays,  is  liberally  sup- 
ped, and  sumptuously  laid  to  sleep, 
rises,  is  saluted,  and  after  the  malmsey 
or  some  well-spiced  beverage  and  better 
breakfast  than  he  whose  morning  ap- 
petite would  have  gladly  fed  on  green 
figs  between  Bethany  and  Jerusalem, 
his  religion  walks  abroad  at  eight,  leav- 
ing his  kind  entertainer  in  the  shop 
trading  all  day  without  his  religion.' 

The  besetting  sins  of  our  social  system 
are  selfishness  and  conventionalism. 
Religion,  as  exemplified  in  established 
forms,  is  saturated  with  it.  If  our  clergy 
possessed,  as  they  assume  to  do,  the 
office  of  divine  teaching,  they  would 
bear  in  their  lives  and  characters  a  com- 
manding evidence  of  their  divine  mis- 
sion. But  it  is  needless  to  dilate  upon 
their  almost  total  incapacity.  Follow- 
ing blindly  the  path  prescribed  by  cus- 
tom, ritual,  and  routine,  they  have  lost 
all  recognition  of  their  spirituar  office 
and  dignity — they,  in  reality,  no  longer 
fill  such  an  office.  Their  claims  are 
either  tacitly  ignored  or  openly  derided 
by  all  who,  emancipated  from  sectarian 
influence,  have  ever  seriously  considered 
the  subject.  Neither  is  it  so  much  their 
incapacity  as  their  pretensions  and  in- 
sincerity which  we  laugh  to  scorn.  It 
is  their  false  position  that  subjects  them 
to  so  much  obnoxious  criticism,  against 
which  their  comparative  insignificance 
would  otherwise  act  as  an  efifectual 
shield.  What  a  monstrous  hypocrisy  is 
that  system  by  which  a  certain  class  of 
men  assume  such  high  functions  ?  or 
what  greater  folly  than  to  imagine  that 
the  laying  on  of  hands,  and  endorse- 
ment of  the  thirty-nine  articles,  or  the 
confession  of  faith,  can  constitute  any 
claim  in  the  eyes  of  liberal  men.  Judged 
by  that  high  standard  of  moral  and  re- 
ligious sentiment  which  we  trace  in  all 
truly  great  minds  who,  as  poets  and 
philosophers,  have  been  in  reality  the 
benefactors  and  elevators  of  their  spe- 
cies, how  will  these  servile  imitators 
stand  comparison  ?  The  bare  idea  of 
such  a  comparison  is  sufficiently  ridicu- 
lous, and  no  one  in  his  heart  ever  seri- 
ously makes  it. 


[To  be  concluded  in  the  next  number.] 


THE  REASONER.  167 


Our  ^aiatform. 

From  nrhicb  any  earnest  opponent  may  controvert  our  opinions,  and  from  which  any  may  expound  views 
not  coincident  with  our  own,  if  tending  to  the  Rationalisation  of  Theology. 

A    PETITION    CONCERNING    QUEENWOOD. 


Sir, — By  order  of  the  Central  Board  I  forward  the  enclosed,  requesting  that  the 
same  may  be  inserted  in  the  Reasoner. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Central  Board,  held  on  July  2nd,  1851,  it  was  resolved 
'  That  the  petition  now  read  be  adopted  and  forwarded  to  Mr.  Roebuck  for  presen- 
tation, and  that  copies  be  sent  to  the  editors  of  the  Sheffield  Free  Press,  the  Reasoner, 
and  the  Leader,  for  insertion  in  their  papers  ;  that  copies  be  also  sent  to  Sir  I.  L. 
Goldsmid,  Messrs.  Finch,  Green,  Clegg,  Owen,  Bracher,  Edmondson,  Ashurst, 
Atkinson  &  Co.,  Buxton,  and  the  Promoters  of  Christian  Socialism;  and  that  a 
petition  be  prepared  for  presentation  by  the  Branches.' 

Thomas  Whitakbe,  Hon.  Fin.  Sec. 


'To  the  Honourable  the  Commons  of  the  United  Kingdom  of  Great  Britain  and 
Ireland,  in  parliament  assembled,  the  petition  of  the  central  board  of  the  Rational 
Society,  enrolled  under  10  George  IV.,  and  4  and  5  William  IV., 
'  Sheweth, — That  in  1835,  Robert  Owen  commenced  a  society  for  the  practical 
carrying  out  of  his  views  on  co-operation. 

'  That  in  1837,  the  rules  for  the  government  of  the  society  were  agreed  upon  at 
a  general  meeting  of  delegates  from  various  parts  of  the  country,  signed  among 
others  by  Robert  Owen  and  John  Finch,  and  copies  were  sent  to  J.  Tidd  Pratt,  for 
enrolment  and  certificate,  and  were  certified  and  enrolled  accordingly. ' 

*  That  by  the  said  rules  the  name  of  the  society  was  declared  to  be  the  "  National 
Community  Friendly  Society." 

*  That  at  the  annual  congress  of  the  society,  held  in  1838,  the  said  rules  were 
revised,  and  other  copies,  signed  by  Robert  Owen,  John  Finch,  and  William  Pare 
among  others,  were  sent  as  before  for  enrolment  and  certificate,  and  were  certified 
and  enrolled  accordingly. 

'  That  at  the  annual  congress  of  the  society,  held  in  1843,  it  was  unanimously 
agreed,  amongst  other  things,  that  the  name  of  the  society  should  be  "The  Rational 
Society,"  and  the  altered  rules  were  enrolled  and  certified  as  before. 

'  That  after  the  first  enrolment  of  the  society,  in  1837,  upwards  of  sixty  branches, 
numbering  altogether  some  thousands  of  members  (principally  working  men), 
were  formed  in  various  cities  and  towns  of  England  and  Scotland ;  namely, 
amongst  others,  in  London,  ManchesJ;er,  Liverpool,  Birmingham,  Bolton,  Stock- 
port, Bristol,  Huddersfield,  Halifax,  Blackburn,  Bradford,  Leeds,  Worcester, 
Macclesfield,  Coventry,  Oldham,  Bath,  Rochdale,  Leicester,  Ashton,  Sheffield, 
Doncaster,  Great  Yarmouth,  Hull,  Wigan,  Preston,  Newcastle-on-Tyne,  Chelten- 
ham, Brighton,  Chatham,  Sunderland,  Darlington,  Norwich,  Reading,  Stour- 
bridge, Northampton,  Derby,  Edinburgh,  Glasgow,  Paisley,  and  Dundee. 

'That  after  the  said  first  enrolment  the  members  begaji  to  subscribe  money  to 
carry  out  the  objects  of  the  society  on  the  faith  of  its  principles,  the  good  character 
of  its  leaders,  and  the  perfect  legality  of  all  the  steps  that  were  taken. 

'That  at  the  annual  congress,  held  in  1839,  the  said  John  Finch,  of  Liverpool, 
iron  merchant ;  William  Clegg,  of  Cheetham  Hill,  Manchester,  merchant ;  and 
Charles  Frederic  Green,  of  London,  gentleman,  were  appointed  trustees  of  the 
society  and  lessees  of  an  estate  at  Queenwood,  in  the  county  of  Hants,  which  had 


168 


THE  REASONER. 


just  then  been  taken  of  Sir  Isaac  Lyon  Goldsmid,  on  behalf  of  the  society,  and  the 
sum  of  £37,794  was  raised  and  afterwards  expended  upon  the  said  estate. 

'  That  at  the  annual  congress  of  1840  the  draft  of  a  trust  deed,  prepared  by  W. 
H.  Ashurst,  of  Cheapside,  London,  the  society's  solicitor,  was  considered  and 
ordered  to  be  completed  forthwith. 

'  That  the  said  John  Finch  has  written  many  letters  and  addresses,  from  time 
to  time,  in  the  Neiv  Moral  World,  which  was  the  weekly  ;publication  of  the 
society,  declaring  his  utmost  confidence  in  the  experiment,  and  urging  the 
members  to  come  forward  liberally  with  their  subscriptions  ;  that  besides  being 
lessee  and  trustee  as  aforesaid,  he  has  been  the  president  of  the  society  and  signed 
scrip  in  that  capacity ;  that  he  has  been  president  of  the  congress  on  various 
occasions,  and  governor  of  the  community  established  at  Queenwood,  as  aforesaid, 
and  that  he  insured  the  said  estate  in  the  name  of  '  John  Finch  and  others,  trustees.' 
'  That,  from  an  official  account  rendered  to  the  annual  congress  in  1845,  it  ap- 
peared that  the  sum  of  £37,794  had  been  subscribed  and  lent  by  the  members, 
benefit  societies,  and  others;  and  the  property  was  valued  at  ^25,676,  leaving  a 
deficit  of  £14,239,  after  deducting  £2,121,  being  the  amount  of  liabilities  to  various 
tradesmen. 

'  That,  in  consequence  of  this  deficiency,  it  was  unanimously  agreed,  on  the  16th 
of  July,  1845,  by  the  congress  (the  said  lessees  and  trustees  concurring)  to  assign 
the  property  to  John  Buxton,  Frederic  Bate,  and  George  Bracher,  in  trust  for  the 
benefit  of  the  creditors  of  the  society. 

'  That  the  said  assignees  forthwith  proceeded  to  compel  the  members  of  the 
society  who  were  located  on  the  estate,  with  their  families,  to  leave  it,  and  begin 
the  world  again  as  best  they  might ;  that  they  also  proceeded  to  make  arrangements 
for  a  sale  of  the  whole  estate,  which  was  duly  advertised  to  take  place  on  the  5th 
December,  1845 ;  and  that  the  said  John  Finch  then  interfered,  a  few  days  before 
the  sale  was  to  have  taken  place,  and  forbade  it. 

'  That  the  said  John  Finch  afterwards  requested  a  special  congress  to  be  called, 
to  consider  the  best  mode  of  proceeding,  which  was  accordingly  done. 

'  That',  at  the  said  special  congress,  which  was  held  in  April,  1846,  the  said  John 
Finch  attended  and  took  his  seat  as  an  ex-officio  member,  by  virtue  of  being 
trustee  of  the  society,  as  aforesaid  ;  that  he  also  moved  and  signed  resolutions  upon 
which  he  spoke ;  and  that  the  congress  confirmed  the  assignment  made,  as  afore- 
said, at  the  previous  congress,  and,  by  resolution,  requested  the  said  Robert  Owen 
and  William  Pare  to  confer  with  the  said  lessees  and  assignees,  in  order  that  a 
speedy  and  satisfactory  settlement  of  the  whole  affair  might  be  made. 

« That,  in  the  following  month  of  May,  1846,  the  said  John  Finch  went  down  to 
the  said  estate  of  the  society  at  Queenwood,  and  at  night,  along  with  others,  broke 
into  a  part  of  the  building  well  known  throughout  the  country  as  Harmony  Hall,  and 
took  there  from  the  official  books,  papers,  documents,  agreements,  and  correspon- 
dence belonging  to  the  society,  and  afterwards  boasted  that  all  the  members  of  the 
society  were  in  his  power. 

'  That,  at  the  annual  congress  of  the  society  held  in  1844,  the  said  John  Buxton 
was  appointed  president  of  the  society  and  governor  of  the  community,  and  had 
possession  of  the  property  in  that  capacity ;  and  that,  after  his  appointment  as  one 
of  the  aforesaid  assignees,  he  continued  to  hold  possession  by  request  of  his  co- 
assignees. 

'  That,  on  the  9th  June,  1846,  the  said  John  Finch  headed  a  party  of  agricultural 
labourers,  and  forcibly  ejected  the  said  John  Buxton  from  the  estate,  and  also 


THE  RBASONER.  169 


forcibly  turned  his  wife  and  children  out  upon  the  highway,  where  they  all 
encamped  for  the  space  of  several  weeks,  until  a  meeting  of  creditors  and  all  par- 
ties interested  had  been  held,  to  decide  on  what  was  best  to  be  done  under  the 
circumstances. 

'  That  the  said  meeting  was  called  for  the  29th  of  June,  1846,  and  the  said  John 
Finch,  by  public  advertisement,  forbade  the  parties  to  meet  upon  the  said  estate, 
and  threatened  all  who  came  upon  it  that  they  would  be  liable  for  trespass,  and 
also  stated  in  the  advertisements  that  it  was  believed  the  principal  object  of  calling 
the  meeting  was  to  afford  an  excuse  for  parties  to  congregate  together  and  commit 
a  breach  oj  the  peace. 

'  That  the  meeting  was  therefore  held  at  Rose  Hill,  a  place  adjoining  the  said 
estate,  and  the  said  William  Pare  attended  and  moved  certain  resolutions  as  and 
for  the  said  John  Finch,  which  were  passed  without  any  opposition  by  the  meeting. 

'  That,  immediately  after  the  meeting,  the  said  John  Buxton  left  the  estate,  and 
it  has  since  been  in  the  possession  of  the  said  John  Finch,  and  of  one  George 
Edmondson,  who  now  holds  it. 

'  That  no  account  whatever  has  since  been  rendered  to  the  society,  nor  any 
moneys  paid  over  to  the  members,  nor  has  any  statement  whatever  been  made  of 
what  is  intended  to  be  done  with  respect  to  the  said  property. 

'  That,  from  correspondence  which  has  been  published,  it  appears  that  the  said 
John  Finch  acted,  and  is  acting,  under  the  advice  of  the  said  W.  H.  Ashurst,  and 
of  Messrs.  Atkinson  and  Sanders,  Manchester,  solicitors. 

*  That  one  of  your  petitioners  received  a  letter,  on  the  18th  May,  1846,  from  the 
said  John  Finch,  in  which  he  stated  his  opinion  to  be  that  the  property  of  the 
society  was  fairly  worth  from  £18,000  to  £20,000. 

'  That  your  petitioners,  being  publicly  and  prominently  connected  with  the  said 
society,  have  received  very  many  affecting  letters,  at  various  times,  from  poor 
working  men,  iu  almost  all  parts  of  the  country,  urging  them  to  take  effectual 
steps  to  obtain  a  settlement  of  the  society's  affairs,  and  to  get  them  the  money 
which  they  had  subscribed,  the  non-possession  of  which  was  entailing  cruel  hard- 
ships upon  them. 

*  That  your  petitioners  have  called  upon  the  said  Robert  Owen  to  interfere  and 
obtain  a  settlement,  but  that  he  refused  to  do  so. 

'  That  your  petitioners  have  done  all  in  their  power  to  bring  about  a  settlement 
by  moral  means,  not  being  able  to  see  that  much  real  benefit  was  likely  to  result 
by  any  proceedings  at  law. 

'  That  your  petitioners  are  unable  to  state  whether  a  trust  deed  was  ever  executed 
or  not,  inasmuch  as  the  papers  and  documents  of  the  society  were  improperly 
taken  out  of  their  possession  as  aforesaid ;  and,  as  they  are  thus  debarred  from  all 
access  to  the  accounts,  they  cannot  ascertain  from  a  perusal  of  the  bill  of  the  said 
W.  H.  Ashurst  any  information  relative  to  the  execution  of  the  said  deed. 

'That  the  specious  and  plausible  promises  held  out  to  the  members  to  subscribe 
their  hard-earned  money  in  order  to  benefit  their  condition,  the  number  of  poor 
members  in  all  parts  of  the  country  who  were  inveigled  by  those  promises,  the 
extent  of  their  subsci-iptions,  the  utter  non-fulfilment  of  the  promises  or  return  of 
any  of  the  money,  and  the  wide-spread  calamity  which  has  been  the  result,  are 
facts  which  loudly  call  for  the  interference  of  your  honourable  house. 

'  That,  as  your  honourable  house  has  ordered  an  inquiry  to  be  made  into  the 
affairs  of  the  National  Land  Company,  from  which  much  good  appears  likely  to 
result,  it  is  the  opinion  of  your  petitioners  that  a  similar  result  would  be  effected 


170 


TBE  REASONER. 


by  an  inquiry  into  the  affairs  of  the  Rational  Society,  and  the  circumstances  of  the 
case  strongly  warrant  such  an  inquiry. 

'  Your  petitioners  therefore  pray  that  your  honourable  house  will  forthwith 
order  an  inquiry  to  be  made  into  the  aflfairs  of  the  Rational  Society  before  a  com- 
mittee of  your  honourable  house,  and  that  your  petitioners,  in  common  with  other 
members  thereof,  may  be  heard  in  support  of  the  allegations  herein  contained,  in 
order  that  justice  may  be  done  to  all  parties  interested. 

'  And  your  petitioners,  as  in  duty  bound,  will  ever  pray.' 

[Since  the  discontinaance  of  the  Herald  of  Progress,  the  Reasoner  has  represented 
the  gentlemen  with  whom  the  above  petition  originates,  and  therefore  insertion 
is  given  to  it  just  as  it  is  received.  The  tone  in  which  it  is  expressed  is  to 
be  regretted.  In  vindicating  one  division  of  Socialists,  the  honour  of  the  party 
should  not  be  forgotten.  Th^  same  facts,  which  indeed  ought  to  be  told,  might 
have  been  expressed  with  more  dignity  and  more  effect;  and  that  best  principle  of 
Socialism,  which  teaches  us  to  impute  no  evil  intention  to  others,  especially  those 
who  have  been  our  colleagues,  should  have  given  a  different  tone  to  it.  Had  I 
known  anything  of  the  preparation  of  the  petition  (which  I  did  not  till  I  received  it  on  a 
printed  slip),  I  should  have  pleaded  for  its  entire  revision.  The  ieader  observes  that 
the  petition  will  lead  people  to  suppose  that  the  acts  complained  of  are  to  be  ascribed 
to  the  legal  advice  sought,'  and  adds,  that 'of  Messrs  Atkinson  and  Sanders  it 
knows  nothing  [which  is  also  true  of  the  Reasoner],  but  that  the  character  of  Mr. 
Ashurst  is  so  unquestionable,  that  the  public  will  ascribe  the  implication  of  his 
name  to  a  feeling  of  partisanship  or  misapprehension.'  In  these  remarks  I  fully 
concur,  and  I  will  say  more,  that  the  same  is  true  of  Mr.  Owen  and  Mr.  Pare;  nor 
is  there  any  reason  to  believe  that  any  person  mentioned  disparagingly  has  acted 
from  any  other  than  fair  intention,  however  unhappy  the  result  has  been.  How- 
ever agreeing  with  the  truth  of  the  prayer  of  the  petition,  I  dissent  with  extreme 
regret  from  the  tone  adopted,  which  will  not  further  justice,  but  expose  a  noble 
cause  to  the  derision  of  its  enemies. — G.  J.  H.] 

HYMN    OF    LOVE. 


There  is  no  Heaven  but  Love ; 

All  things  that  live  and  move 

Are  upheld  by  its  breath. 

And  it  is  master  of  the  bands  of  death. 

It  makes  the  weak  heart  strong. 

The  songless  gush  with  song ! 

And  spreads  the  earth  with  flowers, 

And  builds  enchanted  palaces  and  bowers. 

It  claimeth  for  its  own 

Each  lovely  tint  and  tone, 

And  maketh  Beauty  seem 

The  semblance  of  its  own  delighted  dream. 

And  vocal  to  its  ear 

Dumb  stars  and  solar  sphere — 

Their  muffled  music  comes 

In  grandeur,  rushing  like  the  roll  of  drums. 

It  sees  a  mystic  sense — 

A  language  deep,  intense — 

In  the  gross  blades  and  weeds ; 

And  floods  of  glory  o'er  the  silent  meads. 

It  maketh  women's  eyes 

Star-blossoms,  mysteries  I 


And,  in  celestial  sheen. 

Arrays  their  loveliness  of  form  and  mien. 

It  decks  the  virgin  bride, 

Paining  her  balmy  side 

With  odorous  pangs,  which  start 

To  blissful  music  all  her  throbbing  heart. 

All  things  fall  well  it  knows; 
And  wheresoe'er  it  goes 
Music  and  flowers  attend, 
And  dark,  brute  forms  rejoice,  and  call  it 
friend. 

All  the  great  works  of  man 

Are  built  upon  its  plan  ; 

It  paints,  and  carves  the  stone. 

And  the  high  realms  of  Phantat^y  doth  own. 

And  Love,  one  day,  shall  reign 

O'er  hill  and  vale  and  plain  ; 

And  all  the  land  and  sea 

Shall  own  the  triumph  of  his  sovereignty  ! 

G.  S.  p.,  in  the  TrrtlA  Seeker 
for  April,  1851. 


EeaiSoncr  iSropagaiUJa. 


To  promote  the  efficiency  of  the  Reasoner  as  an  organ  of  Propagandi<im,  one  friend  subscribes  lOs. 
weekly,  another  59.,  one  2s.  monthly,  others  Is.  each  weekly— others  Intermediate  sums  or  special 
remittances,  according  to  ability  or  earnestness.  An  annual  contribution  of  Is.  from  each  renler 
would  be  easy,  equitable,  and  sufficient.  Wiiat  is  remitted,  in  whatever  proportion,  is  acknowledged 
here  and  accounted  for  at  the  end  of  the  Volume. 


Acknowledged  in  No.  268,  3493. — Friend  of  Reason  (who  resumes  his  subscrip- 
tion of  5s.  weekly)  for  August,  20s. — Arthur  Trevelyan  (further  subscription)  40s. 
— E.,  Sheffield,  and  friend,  2s.  6d.— Charles  McKim,  Whitehaven,  2s.  6d.— 
William  McKim,  do.,  2s.  6d. — James  Julian,  do.,  2s. — George  Foster,  do.,  Is. — 
W,  S.,  do.,  Is. — William  Wilson,  do.,  2s. — John  Leennan,  do.,  6d. — John  Laugh- 
lin,  do.,  is. — Peter  Lennon,  do..  Is. — William  Thompson,  do..  Is. — By  sale  of 
Truth  Seeker,  presented  by  Dr.  Lees,  Os.  [Jobert's  '  Philosophy  of  Geology,'  price 
3s.  6d.,  given  by  Dr.  Lees,  may  be  had  at  our  office.] — W.  E.  B.,  lOs. — William 
Jervis,  Shelton,  Is. — William  Woolley,  do.,  Is. — B.  S.  (per  Mr.  Watson),  lOs. — 
Henry  Clark  (per  Mr.  Hagcn,  Derby),  2s.  6d.— James  Smith,  Paisley,  6d. — A 
Constant  Reader  (per  Mr.  Love,  Glasgow),  10s.* — Edward  Search,  IDs.  6d. — 
E.  B.  (per  Mrs.  Watson),  10s.— Secularist,  6d.—  W.  B.,  Rochdale,  6d. ;  G.  R.  Vine, 
Is. — James  Spurr,  Liverpool,  2s.  6d. — J.  Burnley,  Heckmondwike,  6d. — Richard 
Hunt,  Hyde,  Is.  6d.— William  Holyoak,  Leicester,  Is.  6d. — E.  W.  (per  Mrs. 
Watson),  2s.  6d. — R.  R.,  Is.  6d.— O.  J.,  Huddersfield,  Is. — J.  Allen,  Leicester,  6d. 
— F.  W.  Camden,  6d.— Mr.  H.,  Wandsworth,  Is.— L.  J.,  do..  Is.— E.  C,  Brierly 
Hill,  58.  —  Lucius,  Dorset,  Is.  —  Fact,  2s.  6d.  —  John  Bates,  Northampton 
(annual),  Is.— Total,  529s. 

•  Through  oversight,  this  has  not  been  acknowledged  before. 


GUIDE  TO  THE  LECTURE  ROOM. 

Literary  Institution,  John  Street,  Fitzroy  Square. 
— August  3rd  [7i],  Ernest  Jones,  '  Aristocracy 
and  the  Irish  Census.'  —  5th  [8.^],  Uiiicussion 
in  the  Coffee  Room.  Question,  '  The  Respective 
Alerits  of  Free  Trade  and  Protection.' 

Hall  of  Science,  City  Road.— August  3rd  [7i], 
a  lecture. 

National  Hall,  242,  High  Holborn.— August  3rd, 
[8J,  P.  W.  Perfitt  will  lecture. 

South  London  Hall,  Corner  of  Webber  Street, 
Blacktriars  Road. — August  3rd  [72].  C.  Southwell, 
'Young,  Gray,  Boyce,  Thompson,  and  Churchill.' 

Eclectic  Institute,  Denmark  Street,  Sohu.  — 
Every  Friday  [SJ],  Mr.  J.  B.  O'Brien,  '  Home  and 
Foreign  Politics.'  Every  Sunday  [741,  on  '  Moral 
and  Social  Science.'  . 

Areopagus  Cotfee  and  Heading  Room,  59,  Cnurch 
Lane,  Whitechapel. — Every  Sunday,  Monday,  and 
Wednesday  (S),  a  Lecture  or  Discussion. 

City  Forum  Coffee  House,  60,  Red  Cross  Street. 
—  Every  Sunday,  Monday,  and  Thursday  [8^],  a 
Discussion. 

Commercial  Hall,  Philpot  Street,  Commercial 
Road  East. — Every  Tuesday  and  Thursday  even- 
iijg  [8],  a  Discussion. 

ADVERTISEMENTS. 

Working  Men  and  Sbofkeepebs  ! 

If  you  wish  to  learn  the  true  causes  of  the  Distress 

of  Labour  and  of  the  Misdirection  of  Trade, 

read 

NOTES     TO     THE     PEOPLE, 

Publishing  every  Saturday, 
Containing  40  columns  of  close  print,  besides  wrap- 
per, for  Two  Pence, 
BY     ERNEST    JONES, 
Of  the  Middle  Temple,  Barrister  at- Law. 


POPULAR  WORKS. 

Theodore  Parker  on  Matters  Pertaining  to 

Religion.     1  vol.  cloth  boards i 

Cooper's    Purgatory   of   Suicides.      I    vol. 

cloth   lettered 3 

To  be  had  in  Parts  and  Numbers. 
Cooper's  Wise  Saws  and  Modern  Instances. 

2  vols,  cloth  lettered 5 

Cooper's  Baron's  Yule  Feast.     Wrapper..  I 
Cooper's  Eijjht  Letters  to  the  Young  Men 

ot  the  Working  Classes 0 

Cooper's  Journal.     1  vol.  cloth   3 

Do.     Captain  Cobler,  or  the  Lincolnshire 

Insurrection.     1  vol 2 

Cerebral  Physiology  and  Materialism.    By 

W.  C.  Engledue,  M.D "  0 

Doubts  of  Infidels   0 

Paiue's  Political  Works.     2  vols,  in  one..  5 

—  Theological  Works.    1  vol.  cloth. ...  3 

—  Rights  of  Man 1 

—  American  Crisis 1 

—  Common  Sense    0 

—  Letter  to  the  Abbe  Raynal    0 

—  Letters  to  the  Citizens  of  the  United 
States 0 

—  Public  Good 0 

—  Agrarian  Justice 0 

—  First  Principles  of  Government  ....  0 

—  English  System  of  Finance  0 

—  Abolition  ot  Royalty 0 

Life  of  Paine,  by  W.  J.  Linton   0 

Portrait  of  Paine,  engraved  on  Steel 1 

The    English   Republic,  edited   by   W.  J, 

Linton.     Nos.  1  to  7,  each  at  0 

Byron's  Vision  of  Judgment    u 

Southey's  Wat  Tyler 0 

Essay  on  the  Functions  of  the  Brain 0 


Published  by  R.  Pavey,  47,  Holywell  St.,  Strand, 
London ;  and  to  be  had  ttirough  the  Booksellers. 


London ;  James  Watson,  3,  Queen's  Head  Pas- 
sage, Pateinoater-row. 


(72 


THE  REASONER. 


Our  C&ppu  page 

The  late  Dyce  Sombre  was  understood  to  be  the  son  of  a  German  adventurer  in 
India,  of  the  name  of  Summer,  who  espoused  the  late  Begum  Oomroo.  All 
manner  of  wild  and  scandalous  stories  are  afloat  as.  to  the  life  of  this  woraan  and 
the  death  of  her  husband.  It  seems  not  to  be  quite  certain  whether  Mr.  Dyce 
Sombre  was  the  real  or  only  the  adopted  child;  but,  be  that  as  it  may,  upon  the 
death  of  his  father  the  Begum  transferred  her  maternal  affections,  such  as  they 
were,  to  the  son  of  the  German,  who  was  educated,  it  is  said,  by  a  Protestant 
clergyman,  although'  the  old  lady  herself  by  turns  professed  herself  a  Catholic 
and  a  Mahometan — having  actually  built  a  cathedral  and  a  mosque,  with  the  in 
tention  of  having  two  strings  to  her  bow  [a  wise  woman  this].  After  her  demise 
Mr.  Dyce  Sombre  came  to  Europe,  and  first  made  himself  remarkable,  in  Italy, 
by  the  extraordinary  black  marble  monument  which  he  caused  to  be  executed  and 
sent  to  India  in  memory  of  his  benefactress.  His  subseqent  life  in  England  has 
already  been  noticed.  In  consequence  of  his  death  in  a  state  of  lunacy,  his  money 
in  the  funds,  railway  shares,  and  other  property,  of  the  annual  value  of  £11,000, 
will  become  divisible  between  Captain  Troup  and  General  Soldroli,  the  husbands 
of  his  two  sisters,  who  are  next  of  kin.  An  additional  sum,  producing  £4,000  a 
year,  will  also  fall  to  their  families  on  the  death  of  Mrs.  Dyce  Sombre. 

A  meeting  of  the  creditors  of  Messrs.  Finch  and  Willey,  of  the  Windsor 
foundry,  Liverpool,  has  been  held  at  the  Clarendon  Hooms,  when  it  appeared,  from 
the  statement  of  accounts  submitted,  that  the  total  liabilities  of  the  firm  were  £65000, 
and  it  was  calculated  that  the  assets  would  realise  10s.  in  the  pound.  Mr.  E. 
Finch  stated  that  eighteen  months  ago,  on  the  retirement  of  Mr.  Smith,  who  is  a 
creditor  for  £7000,  there  was  a  loss  of  £6000  on  the  concern,  and  that  the  com- 
pletion of  contracts  then  on  hand  had  since  established  a  further  loss  of  £7000. 
The  Bank  of  Liverpool  is  well  secured,  as  also  Charles  Geach,  Esq.,  M.P.,  of  Bir- 
mingham, who  had  advanced  £10,000  on  account  of  Chepstow  bridge ;  but  the 
creditors  of  Finch  and  Son  are  also  creditors  to  this  estate  to  upwards  of  £20,000. 
A  committee  was  appointed  to  wind  up  the  estate  as  speedily  as  possible. 

We  read  among  newspaper  foreign  news  that  a  Gazette,  from  which  the  follow- 
ing is  taken,  has  been  received: — '  Luh-keen-ying,  Governor  of  the  Kieu  nan  and 
Keang  se  provinces,  in  a  memorial  to  the  throne,  dated  the  10th  of  February,  says 
— All  sects  of  false  religion  burn  incense,  fast  and  live  upon  vegetable  diet  to 
gather  money.  Amongst  such  the  Roman  Catholics  are  notorious,  worshipping 
the  cross,  and  caring  alike  neither  for  heaven  nor  for  ancestors.  Under  the  cloak 
of  religion  they  transgress  the  law.  TTo  put  the  people  in  good  paths  is  requisite 
to  demolish  bad  religions,  and  put  forward  good  ones.  The  classics  should  be 
taught  to  every  one,  even  to  the  peasants,  and  then  no  error  would  find  entrance.' 

'  The  Difficulty  Solved,  or  the  Government  of  the  People  by  Themselves,' 
noticed  two  numbers  since,  is  published  by  Watson  in  London.  Omitting  to  say 
so,  has  caused  inquiries  as  to  how  it  can  be  obtained. 

The  Essay  entitled  '  The  Philosophic  Type  of  Religion,  as  developed  by  Profes- 
sor Newman  (in  "  The  Soul,  Her  Sorrows  and  Her  Aspirations,  ")  Stated,  Ex- 
amined, and  Answered,  by  G.  J.  Holyoake,'  will  shortly  be  ready  in  a  separate  form. 

We  have  pleasure  in  stating  that  Mr.  Watson  has  returned  home  from  Cumber- 
land very  much  improved  in  health  by  his  excursion. 

London :  Printed  by  Holyoake  Brothers,  3,  Queen's  Head  Passage,  Paternoster-row;  and  Published 
by  J.  Watson,  3,  Queen's  Head  Passage,  Paternoster-row. — Wednesday,  July  30th,  1851. 


AND 

THEOLOGICAL     EXAMINER. 

They  who  believe  that  thej  have  Truth  ask  no  favour,  save  that  of  being  heard:  they  dare  the 
judgment  of  Mankind  :  refused  Co-operation,  they  invoke  Opposition,  for  Opposition  is  their 
Opportunity. — Editos. 


THE    'CRITIC   AND    R.    W.    EMERSON. 

An  article  appeared  in  the  last  number  of  the  Critic  upon  R,  W.  Emerson, 
■which  is  so  offensive  to  good  taste,  and  so  gross  a  slander  npon  Emerson's  character, 
both  as  a  man  and  a  writer,  that  I  must  crave  your  indulgence  to  say  a  few  words 
in  reply.  The  author  of  the  article  is  evidently  a  very  young  man — not  without 
talent — who  owes  much  of  his  literary  culture  to  Emerson,  and  a  good  deal  of  his 
ill  nature,  presumption,'and  egotism  to  his  creed.  He  confesses  that  he  was  once  an 
admirer,  in  some  sort  a  student,  of  Emerson  ;  not  that  he  ever  plunged  into  his 
master's  '  fatal  negations,  or  thought  meanly  of  Jesus  Christ,'  but  that  he  was  a 
listener  at  Gamaliel's  feet,  and  looked  with  a  child's  delight  upon  the  painted 
flowers  on  Gamaliel's  robe.  It  was  the  garment  of  the  man,  not  the  man  himself, 
his  refined  speculations  and  practical  wisdom,  which  attracted  this  darling  boy; 
and  now  that  he  has  grown  out  of  his  teens,  and  grown  into  a  kind  of  mongrel 
orthodoxy,  he  is  anxious  to  let  the  world  know  how  much  his  youthful  mind  was 
misled  by  Emerson,  and  how  very  dangerous  a  person  he  considers  him  to  be.  One 
can  very  well  afford  to  pardon  such  a  statement  as  this,  and  even  to  thank  an 
honest  man  for  showing  cause  why  he  changes  his  opinions  upon  important  and 
disputed  subjects  :  but  it  is  but  fair  that  a  plea  of  this  kind  should  be  manly  and 
even-handed,  that  it  should  not  be  a  piece  of  cunning  special  pleading,  and  least  of 
all,  that  it  should  not  be  abusive  and  dishonest.  If  I  have  a  competent  antagonist 
to  meet,  who  is  a  man  of  probity  and  character,  it  is  my  duty  to  give  him  the 
fullest  benefit  of  his  position ;  and  I  deserve  no  thanks  for  this  simple  act  of 
justice  :  but  if,  knowing  his  character,  I  seek  to  traduce  him  before  my  audience, 
and  to  prejudge  their  minds  against  him,  in  order  that  I  may  gain  a  better  and  more 
acceptable  hearing  for  myself,  I  am  not  only  a  quack  but  a  scoundrel.  Far  be  it 
from  me  to  charge  the  writer  in  the  Critic  with  these  moral  delinquencies,  although 
there  is  much  in  the  statement  of  his  case  which  has  an  oblique  look  with  it.  He 
shall  speak  for  himself,  however.  Alluding  to  the  pi-obable  causes  of  what  he  is 
pleased  to  call  the  declining  influence  of  Emerson  in  this  country,  he  says  :  '  In 
the  first  place,  his  appearance  disappointed  many ;  they  did  not  meet  the  rapt, 
simple,  dreaming  enthusiast,  of  whom  they  had  been  dreaming.  They  met  instead, 
a  calm,  cold  friend,  down  eyed,  uncertain-seeming  Yankee,  whose  every  step  was 
an  apology,  whose  voice  seldom  seemed  to  quiver  under  the  access  of  deep  earnest- 
ness, and  whose  eye  at  times,  even  round  the  rich  pea  of  his  eloquence,  shot  out  a 
basilisk  glance,  which  reminded  you  of  your  serpent  lurking  and  looking  down  far 
amid  the  thick  summer  of  a  forest  tree.  The  late  David  Scott,  the  painter,  was, 
we  know,  one  of  the  many  who  were  disappointed  and  shaken  by  the  petty,  cring- 
ing, and,  on  the  whole,  insincere  aspect  of  Emerson,  and  his  portrait  of  him  is 
even  more  than  usual  with  him  a  portrait  of  what  the  man  should  have  been,  and 
not  of  what  he  is.' 


[No.  271.]  [No.  12,  Vol.  XI.] 

[ONE  PENNY.] 


174  THE  REASONER. 


Secondly,  his  lectures  were  chiefly  double  entendres.  There  were  alike  commis- 
sions and  omissions  in  them,  which  proved  this  to  a  certainty.  '  We  have  seen 
him  scanning  an  audience,  ere  he  resolved  which  of  two  lectures  he  should  give. 

We    ave  heard  of  him,  too,  sacrificing  to  suit  an  audience,  the  principle,  pith, 

marrow,  and  meaning  of  a  whole  lecture,  as  if  in  quoting  the  words,  Thou  shalt 
worship  the  Lord  thy  God,  he  had  slily,  and  sat  voce,  substituted  the  little  word 
not.  Nay,  even  when  there  was  no  such  concealment,  or  subtraction, 
there  was  a  game  of  hide  and  seek  continually  going  on — a  use  of  scriptural  phrases 
in  an  unscriptural  sense,  a  trimming  and  turning  and  terror  at  the  prejudices  of 
his  audience  altogether  unworthy  of  his  genius.' 

Such  is  the  preface  to  the  crude  and  puerile  criticism  which  this  writer  passes 
upon  Emerson  ;  and  it  will  be  confessed  by  all  competent  men,  whether  friends  or 
foes,  who  have  heard  and  seen  Emerson,  that  a  grosser  libel  could  not  very  well 
have  been  written.  Emerson's  person  is  certainly  not  cast  in  the  most  classic 
moulds,  nor  is  there  anything  very  remarkable  or  prepossessing  in  his  general 
appearance.  He  is  a  common-looking  Yankee  man — tall,  fair,  calm,  and  self-pos- 
sessed, with  the  culture  and  manners  of  a  gentleman.  But  his  calmness  is  not  ice, 
nor  does  it  spring  from  a  cold,  unimpassioned  nature,  but  is  partly  constitutional, 
and  partly  the  result  of  a  rigid  and  lofty  discipline.  To  a  person  like  our  critical 
friend,  who  is  so  evidently  inflammable,  and  who,  like  all  youths  of  his  stamp, 
dwells,  and  to  all  appearance  will  continue  to  dwell  for  some  time  yet  to  come,  in 
what  Emerson  calls  the  superlative  state,  one  cannot  wonder  that  Emerson  should 
appear  tame  and  frigid  ;  for  he  is  none  of  your  hale  fellows,  well-met,  cannot  drink 
and  swear,  hut  respects  himself,  and  would  keep  his  '  own  island  inviolate.'  From 
personal  knowledge  of  Emerson,  I  can  say  that  I  never  met  with  a  fairer  or  a  more 
beautiful  soul  in  any  man  than  in  him  ;  and  he  has  left  memories  round  my  hearth- 
stone which  will  remain  there  like  household  gods,  so  long  as  I  and  mine  exist. 
His  private  manners  are  simple,  winning,  and  fascinating,  and  he  has  found  a 
home  in  some  of  the  noblest  English  hearts,  which  is  the  best  criterion  of  his 
worth.  The  down-look  which  our  friend  the  critic  charges  against  Emerson,  as  if 
he  were  a  pickpocket,  is  not  for  such  as  he  to  comprehend.  But  I  may  say,  that  a 
man  whose  mind  is  always  occupied  with  those  high  concerns,  about  which  our 
critic  talks  so  much,  is  not  likely  to  be  a  vulgar  gazer  j  nor  can  a  nervous,  sensitive 
man  always  look  a  rude  and  brazen  braggart  in  the  face.  His  averted  eye  and 
silent  demeanour  are  the  best  rebuke  to  such  a  person.  But  as  for  the  '  basilisk 
glance,'  and  the  malignant  (I  think  this  is  the  word)  figure  about  the  serpent,  they 
are  false,  and  few  men  of  any  pretensions  to  literature,  to  say  nothing  of  Christian 
charity,  could  have  been  found  in  England  to  utter  such  uncourteous  and  disgrace- 
ful words.  They  are,  however,  apiece  with  the  rest  of  this  performance.  And 
not  content  with  blacking  the  features  of  Emerson  with  his  own  Stygian  brush,  he 
must  needs  call  from  the  tomb  the  spirit  of  a  great,  noble — hearted,  and  high- 
minded  man— David  Scott — to  bear  witness  to  his  skill.  Poor  Scott !  how  he 
would  tremble  with  emotion,  and  deep  indignation,  if  he  could  hear  such  words  as 
'  petty  cringing' and '  insincerity  of  aspect,' applied  to  Emerson  under  the  sanc- 
tion of  his  venerable  name.  All  this  story  about  Scott  and  Emerson's  portrait  is 
false.  I  remember  very  well  at  my  first,  and,  alas  !  last  interview  with  David  Scot'* 
in  company  with  Dr.  Samuel  Brown  of  Edinburgh,  how  generously  and  aff'ec- 
tionately  he  spoke  of  Emerson,  after  I  had  been  into  his  studio  and  seen  Emerson's 
portrait.    I  remember,  also,  that  we  spoke  about  the  portrait  itself,  which,  so  far 


ILc 


THE  REASONER.  175 


from  being  an  ideal  representation,  in  the  offensive  sense  which  this  critic  speaks 
of,  was  a  perfect  embodiment  of  the  internal  and  external  man,  Emerson.  Scott 
could  not  have  taken  pains  to  hide  the  'insincere  aspect'  of  Emerson,  to  soften 
down  his  'petty  fringing,'  for  if  he  had- had  any  idea  that  these  base  features  were 
any  part  of  Emerson's  character,  he  would  never  have  painted  the  canvass  with 
his  portrait.  Of  all  men  that  I  have  ever  known,  Scott  was  the  greatest  hater  of 
j  seeming,  and  was  utterly  incapable  of  fraud.  He  could  neither  paint,  nor  speak, 
nor  act  lies;  and  Emerson  sat  for  his  portrait  at  Scott's  own  request.  It  is  well 
known,  too,  that  Scott  did  not  like  portrait  painting,  and  considered  it  below  the 
region  of  that  high  art  to  which  he  aspired.  He  is  not  likely  therefore  to  have 
invited  Emerson  to  sit  to  him,  if  he  had  thought  of  him  as  this 
critic  states  he  did.  Those  who  knew  Emerson  best,  loved  him  most.  So 
far  from  having  an  '  insincere  aspect,'  his  whole  manners  and  appearance  in  pri- 
vate life  were  open  and  noble.  Whosoever  could  look  into  the  eyes  of  Emerson, 
and  charge  him  with  insincerity,  must  himself  be  a  very  questionable  character, 
and  I,  for  one,  would  not  trust  him  with  change  for  a  farthing.  The  truth  is,  that 
many  persons,  like  this  of  the  Critic,  had  looked  for  an  earthly  king  in  the  new 
Messiah,  and  were  disappointed,  like  the  gross  and  sensual  Jews,  that  his  person 
was  not  equal  to  their  expectations.  They  were  ignorant  that  the  spirit  is  no 
respecter  of  form,  but  dwells  alike  resplendent  in  Jesus  and  in  Socrates.  They 
wanted  an  Apollo  to  show  in  their  drinking  rooms,  as  the  lion  of  a  season  ;  and 
because  he  was  but  a  plain  country  gentleman,  and  could  not  fall  in  with  their 
humour  of  good  fellowship,  and  talk  literary  scandal  with  them,  they  thought  they 
could  mar  his  character  by  playing  the  Billingsgate  bully  against  him. 

T  am  really  sorry  and  pained  to  use  such  language  as  this;  but  it  is  true,  and  I 
believe  the  occasion  calls  for  it.  The  charge  of  double  entendres,  which  follows 
next  in  the  catalogue  of  this  critic's  budget  of  falsehood,  would  be  below  notice  if 
it  were  not  calculated  to  do  harm  where  Emerson  is  not  known.  That  he  frequently 
uses  old  theological  terms  with  new  meanings  there  can  be  no  doubt,  but  that  he 
ever  used  them  with  an  intention  to  deceive,  or  '  pander  to  the  prejudices  of  his  au- 
dience, is  not  true.  No  one  but  a  person  wilfully  blind,  could  mistake  him  in  this 
respect.  These  old-fashioned  terms  hide  deep  truths,  which  Emerson  recognised, 
althou$;h  not  in  the  limited  sense  which  theologians  understarul  by  them  ;  and  he 
showed  these  theologians  that  their  own  terminology  had  a  universal  meaning,  and 
that  he  had  a  right  to  use  it  in  giving  utterance  to  his  thoughts.  But  if  any  man 
were  deceived  by  these  utterances,  it  was  his  own  fault;  for  the  bold  denial  of 
theological  dogma  which  accompanied  them,  was  proof  sufficient  that  Emerson 
was  playing  no  double  game.  Neither  did  he  ever  sacrifice  the  whole  '  pith,  prin 
ciple,  marrow,  and  meaning  of  his  discourse  to  suit  his  audience  ;'  but  he  was  a  man 
of  discernment,  and  often  hesitated  which  of  two  lectures  he  should  give,  that  he 
might  give  the  one  best  adapted  to  their  capacity  ;  for  he  had  learned  the  melan- 
choly truth,  that  English  audiences  generally  were  deficient  in  culture,  and  utterly 
unable  to  appreciate  his  best  discourses.  And  because  he  was  too  wise  to  throw 
his  pearls  before  hogs,  he  is  set  down  by  this  critic  as  a  sneak  and  a  liar ;  and  I  can 
only  account  for  so  extraordinary  a  delusion,  by  supposing  that  the  said  critic  sees 
the  reflex  of  his  own  moral  visage  in  that  of  Emerson,  and  mistakes  the  one  for 
the  other.     So  I  leave  him. 

January  Searle. 


176  THE  REASONER. 


THE    WORKS    OF    DR.    LEES. 


A  Subscription  Edition  has  been  announced  of  the  works  of  Dr.  Lees,  col- 
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ancient,  modern,  and  original,  each  text  illustrated  with  notes. 

The  final  arrangements  respecting  the  form,  plan,  and  contents  of  the  works  of 
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for  their  publication  should  complete  their  canvass  for  subscribers.  They  will 
contain  an  accurate  portrait  of  the  author,  engraved  by  Linton,  several  illustrative 
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stomach  in  health  and  disease. 

The  entire  edition  will  be  published,  uniform,  in  three  volumes,  post  octavo, 
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Names  of  subscribers  will  be  received  by  the  secretary  of  the  publication  com- 
mittee, or  by  any  of  the  following  gentlemen : — Mr.  Cunlifife,  Temperance  Hall, 
Bolton;  Mr.  Newcombe,  Temperance  Office,  Leicester;  Mr.  Rae, 30,  St.  Enoch's 
Square,  Glasgow;  Mr.  J.  C.  Booth,  Temperance  Missionary,  Huddersfield;  John 
Guest,  Esq.,  Moorgate,  Rotherham;  Joseph  Cowen,  jun.,  Esq.,  Blaydon,  Newcastle- 
on-Tyne;  Frederick  Hopwood,  Esq.,  Hull ;  Mr.  C.  Tisdall,  jun.,  5,  Church.Street, 
Kensington,  London;  Mr.  W.  Gawthorpe,  52,  Princes  Street,  Manchester;  Mr. 
G.  J.  Holyoake,  Reasoner  Office. 

The  following  gentlemen  are  subscribers,  and  will  permit  their  names  to  be 
placed  on  the  committee : — Dr.  Gourley,  London  ;  A.  Courtney,  Esq.,  Surgeon, 
R.N.,  Ramsgate ;  James  Gaskill,  Esq.,  Hulme,  Manchester ;  William  Bradley, 
Esq.,  Stockport;  John  Balbirnie,  Esq.,  M.A.,  M.D.,  Grafenburg  House,  Malvern; 
the  Rev.  Lawrence  Panting,  M.A.,  Vicar  of  Chebsey. 

T.  H.  Babrek,  Secretary. 

Central  Committee  Office,  52,  Princes  Street,  Manchester. 

INTIMATIONS. 


Next  week  Mr.  Holyoake  will  resume  his  Provincial  Reports,  continuing  with 
Dundee  and  the  visit  to  the  Rev.  George  GilfiUan's  chapel. 

The  Lancaster  Guardian  has  inserted  all  Mr.  Holyoake's  letters ;  and  a  writer  in 
the  Lancaster  Gazette,  who  is  scandalised  that  so  much  public  discussion  should  be 
held  on  the  subject,  has  himself  commenced  in  that  journal  '  Letters  on  Infidelity.' 
Mr.  Holyoake  will  reply  to  him. 


THE  REASONER.  177 


(SramiivUiaK  ai  i^t  l^rtSi, 


Thb  'Times'  and  the  Taxes  on  Knowledge. — The  Association  for  the 
Repeal  of  the  Taxes  on  Knowledge  have  issued  a  circular,  dated  July  28  th,  re- 
questing that  all  petitions  for  the  above  object  be  sent  in  immediately,  as  in  a  few 
days  Mr.  Milner  Gibson  will  call  the  attention  of  the  House  of  Commons  to  the 
subject.  The  circular  is  accompanied  by  a  Report  of  the  Select  Committee  of 
the  House  of  Commons — very  favourable  to  the  repeal  of  the  taxes  ;  also  with  a 
reprint  from  the  Times  of  July  26th,  from  wliich  we  extract  the  following  remarks  : 
— 'The  Select  Committee  on  Newspaper  Stamps  have  delivered  themselves  of 
their  opinion  with  commendable  brevity,  plainness,  and  force.  Beginning  with  a 
review  of  the  law,  whether  relating  to  stamps  or  to  transmission  of  papers  by  post, 
they  notice  some  singular  inconsistencies  and  ambiguities,  sufficiently  and  pain- 
fully familiar  to  all  who  are  interested  in  the  press.  Their  recommendations  are 
simple  and  decisive.  They  propose  to  abolish  the  stamp ;  to  substitute  a  postage 
for  newspapers  and  all  other  printed  matter,  not  exceeding  a  penny  for  a  weight 
equal  to  that  of  the  largest  existing  newspaper ;  and  to  protect  the  original  pub- 
lishers of  intelligence  with  a  short  privilege  of  copyright.  These  recommenda- 
tions are  as  just  to  ourselves  and  otherpurveyorsof  intelligence  as  they  are  conducive 
to  the  public  convenience.  It  is  a  matter  of  common  sense  about  as  undeniable 
as  any  axiom  in  science,  that  the  abolition  of  a  very  onerous  tax  must  be  a  benefit 
both  to  the  producer  and  to  the  consumer;  and  our  own  experience  certainly  has 

not  led  us  to  a  different  conclusion The  committee  observes,  and  it  is  almost 

a  truism,  that  apart  from  fiscal  considerations,  public  intelligence  can  hardly  be  a 
matter  which  it  is  desirable  to  tax.  It  would,  indeed,  be  strange  if  it  were.  A 
tax  on  news  is  nothing  more  or  less  than  a  tax  on  the  use  of  the  eyes  and  the  ears, 
a  tax  on  the  employment  of  the  mind,  a  tax  on  the  improvement  of  the  understand- 
ing, a  tax  on  knowledge,  a  tax  on  events,a  tax  on  our  social  existence,  on  our  common 
interests,  and  our  mutual  sympathies.  The  royal  assent  has  just  been  given  to 
the  abolition  of  a  tax  on  those  useful  apertures  through  which  we  admit  the  light 
of  the  sky,  the  vital  air,  and  the  sight  of  the  world  around  us.  What,  indeed, 
could  be  said  for  a  tax  which  operated  as  an  inducement  to  sit  in  the  dark,  to  stop 
ventilation,  and  to  shut  out  the  face  of  nature  and  of  man  ?  But  only  next  to  that 
is  a  tax  which  operates  in  precisely  the  same  manner  on  the  apertures  of  the  mind. 
Consider  how  it  works.  A  fearful  epidemic  invades  the  country — a  man  must 
pay  a  penny  for  being  acquainted  with  the  fact;  it  approaches  his  town — another 
penny  for  that  piece  of  information ;  it  may  be  averted  by  preventives  and  miti- 
gated by  remedies — any  accession  to  his  knowledge  on  these  critical  points  is 
charged  a  penny  more;  Her  Majesty  opens  Parliament  with  a  speech  containino- 
some  important  intimations — he  is  taxed  a  penny  for  reading  it;  a  statesman  makes  a 
speech  announcing  a  great  policy — every  reader  pays  his  penny  for  being  edified 
thereby ;  a  colliery  accident  destroys  a  hundred  men,  and  scatters  misery  over  the 
land — the  colliers  of  the  next  parish  must  pay  a  penny  to  profit  by  the  caution  ;  it 
is  a  penny  to  be  forewarned  of  an  eclipse,  or  to  have  it  explained.  This  of  course 
is  thoroughly  indefensible,  except  on  the  old  familiar  ground,  that  money  must  be 
got  one  way  or  another.  Post  nummus  virtus.  First  the  Treasury,  then  public 
improvement.  It  appears  that  the  tax  raises  about  £350,000  a-yeai-.  Whether 
any  considerable  portion  of  that  could  be  procured  by  a  penny  stamp  on  such 
papers,  and  such  only,  as  pass  through  the  post,  every  time  of  their  transmission^ 
is  more  than  we  can  venture  to  say.' 


178  THE  REASONER. 


The  London  City  Mission. — Ogle  Street  District  is  probably  the  most  influen- 
tial one  in  the  whole  of  the  metropolis.  It  is  the  centre  of  infidel  organisation  for 
the  kingdom  nt  large.  In  most  of  the  cities  and  towns  of  our  native  land  where 
infidelity  prevails  its  influence  may  be  distinctly  traced.  This  arises  from  the 
fact  that  so  many  of  its  inhabitants  attend,  or  are  connected  with,  the  John  Street 
infidel  hall,  or  'Literary  Institution'  as  it  is  called.  The  well-known  infidel 
organisation  termed  '  The  West  End  London  Shoemakers  '  make  this  their  place 
of  rendezvous.  In  politics  they  are  Chartists  of  the  Democratic  Socialist  order, 
and  professedly  they  meet  to  discuss  political  questions  ;  but  atheism,  deism,  or 
scepticism  in  some  of  its  forms,  is  usually  mixed  up  with  every  political  debate. 
A  Christian's  blood  well  nigh  runs  cold  with  horror  at  the  blasphemies  which  are 
sometimes  uttered  here.  "When  the  writer  visited  this  place  to  ascertain  how  its 
attendants  were  employed  on  a  Sabbath  evening,  he  found  from  200  to  300  indi- 
viduals present.  At  the  doors  stood  a  person  with  a  large  supply  of  cheap 
atheistical,  infidel,  and  democratic  publications,  for  which  there  was  a  ready  sale. 
The  'service'  in  this  'infidel  chapel '  was  commenced  -with  the  aid  of  the  melody 
of  a  fine-tone i  organ,  which  aided  a  choir  of  12  male  and  female  singers,  while 
they  sung  a  hymn  to  the  praises  of  infidel  Socialism.  Then  followed  a  lecture 
which,  according  to  the  announcement,  was  on  '  Mazzini  and  the  Patriots  of  Italy,' 
but  which,  in  reality,  was  only  an  argument  to  degrade  the  Lord  Jesus,  by  atter/ipt- 
ing  to  prove  that  such  men  as  Mazzini,  Carlile,  Tom  Paine  [such  is  Christian 
courtesy],  and  Robert  Owen,  were  quite  equal  to  Him,  and  were,  indeed,  '  the 
Christs  of  the  world  !' — Ninth  Annual  Report  of  the  London  City  Mission. 

The  Sceptic  Explained. — Belief  consists  in  accepting  the  affirmations  of  the 
soul;  unbelief  in  denying  them.  Some  minds  are  incapable  of  scepticism.  The 
doubts  they  profess  to  entertain  are  rather  a  civility  or  accommodation  to  the 
common  discourse  of  their  company.  They  may  well  give  themselves  leave  to 
speculate,  for  they  are  secure  of  a  return.  Once  admitted  to  the  heaven  of 
thought,  they  see  no  relapse  into  night,  but  infinite  invitation  on  the  other  side. 
Heaven  is  within  heaven,  and  sky  over  sky,  and  they  are  encompassed  with 
divinities.  Others  there  are  to  whom  the  heaven  is  brass,  and  it  shuts  down  to 
the  surface  of  the  earth.  It  is  a  question  of  temperament,  or  of  more  or  less  im- 
mersion in  nature.  The  last  class  must  needs  have  a  reflex  or  parasite  faith  ;  not  a 
sight  of  realities,  but  an  instinctive  reliance  on  the  seers  and  believers  of  i-ealities. 
The  manners  and  thoughts  of  believers  astonish  them,  and  convince  them  that 
these  have  seen  something  which  is  hid  from  themselves.  But  their  sensual  habit 
would  fix  the  believer  to  his  last  position,  while  he  as  inevitably  advances;  and 
presently  the  unbeliever,  for  love  of  belief,  turns  the  believer.  Great  believers 
are  always  reckoned  infidels,  impracticable,  fantastic,  atheistic,  and  really  men  of 
no  account.  The  spiritualist  finds  himself  driven  to  express  his  faith  by  a  series 
of  scepticisms.  Charitable  souls  come  with  their  projects,  and  ask  his  co-operation. 
How  can  he  hesitate  !  It  is  the  rule  of  mere  comity  and  courtesy  to  agree  where 
you  can,  and  to  turn  your  sentence  with  something  auspicious,  and  not  freezing 
and  sinister.  But  he  is  forced  to  say,  '  0,  these  things  will  be  as  they  must  be; 
what  can  you  do  ?  These  particular  griefs  and  crimes  are  the  foliage  and  fruit  of 
such  trees  as  we  see  growing.  It  is  vain  to  complain  of  the  leaf  or  the  berry ;  cut 
it  off,  it  will  bear  another  just  as  bad.  You  must  begin  your  cure  lower  down.' 
The  generosities  of  the  day  prove  an  intractable  element  for  him.  The  people's 
questions  are  not  his;  their  methods  are  not  his;  and  against  all  the  dictates  of 
good  nature,  he  is  driven  to  say,  he  has  no  pleasure  in  them. — Emerson. 


THE  REASONER. 


179 


)n    ttie   ^in   at   (Satns   ta    Ct)urc^. 


BY    JULIAN. 


[Concluded  from  last  number.] 


Formalists  and  sectarians  of  every 
description  are  a  drag  and  incubus  on 
the  progress  of  society,  and  the  deca- 
dence of  such  a  church  with  such  up- 
holders is  a  thing  rather  to  be  rejoiced 
in.  There  are  few  men  with  but  an 
ordinary  share  of  intelligence  and  can- 
dour that  do  not,  could  they  confess  it, 
feel  half  ashamed  to  countenance  by 
their  attendance  the  performance  of  this 
weekly  farce.  We  may  allow  that  one 
man  out  of  a  thousand  may  justifiably 
be  seen  attending  church.  A  useful 
lesson  may  be  taught,  and  many  whole- 
some ideas  suggested,  by  witnessing  the 
barrenness,  formality,  and  saintly  affec- 
tation, characteristic  of  these  Sabbath 
assemblies  of  so-called  Christians.  To 
moralise  over  such  a  spectacle  may  be 
productive  of  good.  Yet  surely  it  were 
better  that  the  occasion  for  such  reflec- 
tions were  done  away  with,  and  that  the 
remaining  nine  hundred  and  ninety-nine 
betook  themselves  to  manifesting  the 
spirit  of  Christianity  in  their  most  in- 
ward thoughts  and  actions,  instead  of  a 
parrot-like  repetition  of  the  sayings  of 
its  founders.  Of  their  own  soul  these 
followers  of  routine  are  intensely  igno- 
rant ;  and  yet  of  God  they  can  talk  with 
a  glibness  and  flippancy  bordering  on 
the  profane.  Now  of  themselves  they 
might  know  much,  and  the  more  they 
do  know  the. less  will  be  their  estimation 
of  creeds  and  dogmas — still  less  will 
they  be  disposed  to  prate  and  gabble  of 
that  spirit  which  now  they  neither  know 
nor  feel. 

We  have  stated  that  there  is  not  a 
shadow  of  authority  in  scripture  for  this 
observance,  and  referred  inquirers  to 
two  works  recently  published  which 
appear  decisive  on  this  point.  It  is  not 
now  our  intention,  did  even  space  afford, 
to  enter  into  an  argument  based  upon 
dogmas  which  find  with  us  no  acceptance. 
Were  we  even  unable  to  show  that  the 
Sabbath  was  not  enjoined  by  scripture, 
but  that  the  New  Testament  gave  over- 
whelming evidence  in  its  favour,  it  could 


not  alter  our  position.  As  embodying 
in  many  respects  the  moral  obligations 
and  religious  perceptions  of  both,  the 
Bible  must  equally  command  the  admi- 
ration and  respect  of  Christian  and  free- 
thinker. Yet  it  did  not  create  these 
perceptions,  still  less  can  it  dictate  to  or 
supersede  them.  There  can  be  no 
greater  mistake  than  to  imagine,  as 
most  formalists  affect  to  do,  that  be- 
cause I  reject  its  supernatural  claims,  I 
am  therefore  released  from  any  moral 
obligations.  No  power  whatever  can 
break  the  ties  which  impel  me  to  strive 
to  realise  my  highest  perceptions  of 
truth  and  love.  The  Bible,  with  all 
other  good  books  and  men,  are  useful 
and  beneficial  only  in  so  far  as  they 
stimulate  and  provoke  the  exertion  of 
our  moral  and  intellectual  faculties. 
We  have  never  yet  found  those  who 
asserted  that  the  Bible  has  a  superna- 
tural power  in  awakening  that  inquiry 
and  reflection  which  results  in  some 
deliberate  conviction.  Neither  if  we 
had  found  any  bold  enough  to  do  so 
would  we  believe  them,  for  the  state  of 
churches  and  church-goers,  together 
with  our  own  consciousness,  gives  the 
lie  to  such  an  assertion.  If  it  has  no 
such  power,  then  its  claims  to  superna- 
tural inspiration  are  a  mere  *  mockery, 
delusion,  and  a  snare.'  Clergymen  and 
priests  insist  much  upon  its  power  to 
do  so  if  read  in  a  '  proper  spirit.'  But 
who  does  not  see  that  this  is  simply 
begging  the  question  ?  There  are  many 
books  of  which  the  same  may  be  said, 
but  we  have  not  yet  seen  such  works 
extolled  or  held  up  by  the  clergy  as  su- 
pernaturally  inspired.  Neither  a  peru- 
sal of  the  scriptures,  nor  yet  a  belief  in 
their  supernatural  claims,  will  infallibly 
confer  the  *  proper  spirit.'  So  far  from 
this,  the  setting  forth  of  such  a  power 
has  a  tendency  to  destroy  the  principle 
upon  which  conviction  should  be  based. 
If,  unhappily,  the  reader  has  but  a  very 
obtuse  perception  of  moral  truth  or 
beauty,  how  does  this  to  him  awful  claim 


180 


THE  REASONER. 


of  supernatural  inspiration  affect  Lim  ? 
He   feels    more   or  less   compelled   to 
simulate  this  '  proper  spirit,'  and  does 
so  to  the  best  of  his  ability.    It  is  un- 
necessary  to  enlarge  upon  the  conse- 
quences of  this  mental  hypocrisy,  which, 
dating  from  the  time  of  Christ  himself, 
and  slumbering  through  the  dark  ages, 
now  shows  itself  so  strong  in  all  churches. 
The  sin  of  this  hypocrisy  is  in  a  similar 
ratio  to  the  mental  development  of  indi- 
viduals and  nations.    And  regai-ding  it 
in  this  light,  we  see  no  reason  to  regret 
the  decay  of  churches  and  priestly  in- 
fluence.    The   more   we   realise  within 
ourselves  the  spirit  of  Christ's  teachings, 
the  more  we  shall  deprecate  the  idea  of 
referring  to  it  as  a  manifestation  of  mi- 
raculous power,  or  to  the  writings  of 
his  apostles  as  supernaturally  inspired. 
Such  a  dogma,  if  beneficial  under  any 
circumstances,  is  fitted  only  for  those — 
and  they  are  yet  too   numerous — who 
fear  that  their  moral  convictions  would 
be  weak  and  unstable  without  it,  and 
who,  impelled  by  this  fear,  must  seek 
some  factitious  extraneous  support.  But 
it  cannot  be  a  healthy  aid  whose  ten- 
dency is  to  benumb  all  power  of  inde- 
pendent thought.     If  it  is  a  good  thing 
to  help  a  man,  it  is  an  infinitely  better 
thing  to  enable  him  to  help  himself.   It 
is   this  state  of   normal  enlightenment 
which  we  would  abrogate.     We  would 
see  independent  and  earnest  conviction 
from  within  take  the  place  of  this  public 
mock-worship.     A  prolongation  of  this 
state  of    pupilage,   however  necessary 
and  natural  in  its  day,  is  not  now  a  thing 
to  be  desired.     An  infant  never  out  of 
its  nurse's  arms  is  in  danger  of  losing 
the  use  of  its  limbs.     'In  morals  it  is 
something  to  gain  external  right  con- 
duct, even  if  there  be  as  yet  no  internal 
love  of  goodness  or  insight  into  its  na- 
ture.    It  is  a  highly  valuable  result  if 
a  man    avoid  falsehood   and   impurity, 
though  he  may  know  no  better  reason 
than  his   father's  or  his  priest's   com- 
mand.    But  there  is  not  only  no  spiri- 
tual object  in  his  worshipping  God  solely 
because  a  father  or  a  priest  commands 
it,  but  the  very  statement  is  intrinsically 
absurd.      That  is  not    worship   at   all 
which  is  rendered  in  obedience  to  mere 
dictation,  for  worship  is  a  state  ot  the 
affections,  and  these  are  not  under  the 
control  of  the  will.'* 

*  Newman's  'Soul.'  London:  Chapman. 


In   such  a  class  as  is  here  spoken  of 
we  may  safely  rank  all  church-goers,  with 
very  few  exceptions.      These   compose 
the  limited  number  who  are  not  mere 
followers   of  routine,   who   think   they 
have   a   better  motive    in    going   than 
merely  in  obedience  to  a  priest's  com- 
mand, and  who  might  really  feel  some 
remorse  were  they  to  absent  themselves. 
Yet  even  among  these  doubts  will  in- 
trude.    For  ourselves  we  can  say  that 
long  before  we  had  the  slightest  mis- 
givings about  the   sacredness  of    this 
duty,  we  have  felt  how  insupportably 
formal  and  full  of  pharisaical  seeming 
was  the  whole  ceremony.    It  was  only 
by  an  almost  entire  self-abstraction  we 
could   satisfy  ourselves  that  we  had  in 
the  slightest  degree  performed  any  re- 
ligious duty.     In  the  early  ages  matters 
were  entirely  different.     There  was  then 
a  bond  of  brotherhood  between  Chris- 
tians, not  in  name  only  but  in  feeling. 
This  reality  among  those  who  keep  up 
the  form  has  long  since  passed  away, 
but   the    form   itself    is    all   the   more 
eagerly  clung  to.     Why  should  intelli- 
gent and  sincere   men  countenance  by 
their  attendance   this   piece   of    empty 
mummery  and  saintly  hypocrisy  ?     An 
earnest  and  ingenuous  mind  can  but  ill 
deceive   itself.      Despite  the   creed   in 
which   he   has  been  nurtured,  strange 
thoughts    will    suggest    themselves  in 
church.     What  fellowship  have  I  with 
the  worshippers  here  assembled,  or  they 
with    me  ?     Beyond    that    love    which 
prompts  me  to  wish  well  to  all  men, 
what  real  sympathy  exists  between  us 
that  should  call  me  hither?     We  feel 
out  of  place  in  such  an  assembly,  and  if 
we  earnestly  examine  ourselves  we  find 
that  the  admission  of  the  fact  involves 
no  sin — no  emotion  of  which  we  are,  or 
ought  to  be,  ashamed.     We/eel  no  sym- 
pathy— why  then  should  we  do  ourselves 
the  wrong  of  affecting  any  by  our  cere- 
monial attendance  ?     Can  we  not  trust 
ourselves  ?    Are  we  less  lovers  of  truth 
and  justice  because  we  have  been  brought 
to  discern  all  that   is   pharisaical  and 
absurd  in  this  superstitious  mummery  ? 
We  feel  assured  that  such  reflections 
are  far  from  uncommon;  and,  despite 
our  previous   training,    the  suggestion 
will  at  last  force  itself  upon  us,  could 
God  have  commanded  a  ceremony  which 
we  find  so  utterly  repugnant  to  our  own 
nature?    Minds  confident  in  their  own 


THE  REASONER. 


181 


purity  and  integrity  will  carry  out  such 
reflections  into  a  rigid  inquiry,  and 
finally  withdraw  in  disgust  from  an  ob- 
servance so  replete  with  hypocrisy  and 
pretension.  But  superstitious  fears 
overawe  the  timid — they  have  not  the 
courage  to  inquire.  It  is  a  deeper  source 
of  regret,  however,  if  we  come  to  believe, 
as  many  now  do,  that  the  great  mnjority 
have  not  the  honesty  to  do  so.  No  law, 
human  or  divine,  requires  us  to  hold 
any  terms  with  cant  and  affectation. 
The  days  have  gone  by  in  which  the 
prosecution  of  freethinkers  for  their 
opinions  could  be  safely  indulged.  The 
clergy  and  laity  generally  have  learnt 
caution  from  repeated  failure,  and  now 
shun  any  encounter.  From  attacking 
others  they  have  come  to  be  attacked. 
Emerson  somewhere  observes,  that 
when  the  docti'ine  of  love  pules  and 
whines,  the  doctrine  of  hatred  should  be 
preached.  It  is  time  that  those  who 
think  so  should  preach  it — the  commu- 
nity are  sure  to  be  the  gainers.  A  ten- 
der regard  for  the  convictions  of  others 
is  very  estimable — we  do  not  undervalue 
it.  To  have  any  worth,  however,  it 
must  be  sincere  —  overstrained,  this 
feeling  easily  degenerates  into  formality 
and  indifferentism.  Why  should  we 
stickle  much  in  our  choice  of  words  ? 
Any  one  who  examines  the  numerous 
writings,  lay  and  clerical,  against  free- 
thinkers, must  acknowledge  that  they 
have  never  done  so.  Neither  for  this 
do  we  blame  them.  They  abused  and 
villified  opinions  which  it  is  to  be  hoped 
they  really  imagined  were  deserving  of 
it.  We  have  then  no  right  to  complain, 
more  especially  as  they  became,  in  spite 
of  themselves,  fellow-workers  in  the 
same  cause.  Their  defence  of  what  is 
indefensible  has  provoked  inquiry,  and 
we  wish  no  more.  Both  may  be  earnest, 
but  those  convictions  only  claim  our 
esteem  which  appear  as  resulting  from 
the  highest  intelligence. 

To  those  who  have  examined  the  state 
of  the  church,  it  is  sufficiently  evident 
that  this  observance  has  long  been  on 
the  decline.  Votaries  of  custom,  for- 
malists, hypocrites,  and  parish  schools, 
are  now  its  principal  supporters.  With 
some,  habit  has  sanctified  the  ceremony, 
until  it  has  become  a  second  nature. 
Any  inquiry  into  its  pi-opriety  they 
would  look  upon  as  impious.  Sunday 
after  Sunday  they  joui-ney  hither,  not  to 


have  their  souls  really  awakened,  or 
their  sympathies  kindled  towards  their 
fellow-men,  but  to  maintain  an  appear- 
ance of  piety  and  respectability  which 
deceives  no  one.  Yet  some  there  are, 
we  know,  who  would  flatter  themselves 
that  in  so  doing  they  are  commendable 
as  setting  a  good  example  I 

The  Sabbath  must  be  regarded  by  its 
upholders  as  a  special  dispensation  of 
Providence,  vouchsafed  to  meet  the  pe- 
culiar exigenciesof  these  would-be  saints. 
Hypocrisy  in  religion  could  hardly 
maintain  its  ground  without  it ;  and 
they  must  undoubtedly  feel  that,  how- 
ever lightly  we  can  afford  to  regard  it, 
it  is  all  the  world  to  them.  What  an 
edifying  commentary  on  the  phrase, 
'  religion  in  the  soul,'  does  the  conduct 
of  such  Pharisees  suggest!  We  read  of 
Christ  scourging  the  money-changers, 
and  clearing  them  out  of  the  temple; 
but  what  is  this  to  the  herculean  labour 
which  would  now  await  his  second  ad- 
vent! 

We  deem  the  time  to  have  come  when 
all  true  men,  all  who  feel  aught  of  the 
spirit  of  Christianity,  should  expose  the 
rottenness  of  this  farce  which  is  weekly 
enacted  before  the  eyes  of  an  awakening 
and  inquiring  public.  Sabbath  obser- 
vance has  not  the  slightest  claim  to  our 
sympathy  or  respect.  As  a  criterion  of 
religious  feeling  or  sincerity  it  is  worse 
than  valueless.  We  would  sooner  be- 
lieve a  man  to  be  honest  and  sincere  in 
his  convictions  who,  upon  principle,  re- 
fused to  countenance  this  cei-emony, 
than  we  would  credit  a  man  with  the 
same  qualities  because  he  did  so.  They 
follow  it  on  purely  business  grounds. 
The  fashion  is  a  '  respectable  '  one,  by 
which  they  hope  to  acquire  among  a 
certain  class  some  sort  of  reputation  for 
religion,  and  they  look  upon  it  as  essen- 
tially necessary  to  their  '  status  '  in  so- 
ciety to  attend  some  Christian  place  of 
■worship.  With  such  specious,  sordid 
motives  existing  for  their  attendance,  it 
were  unwise  to  expect  much  honesty  or 
sincerity  of  opinion  in  the  characters  of 
those  attending.  What  wonder  if  an 
earnest  mind  feels  out  of  place  in  church ! 
A  pious  Christian  he  may  be,  and  one 
who  is  not  ashamed  of  the  spirit  of  the 
gospel  of  Christ ;  but  there  is  no  deny- 
ing the  fact  that  he  does  feel  ashamed 
of  the  pertinacious  obstinacy  with  which 
the  sample  he  there  meets  cling  to  the 


182 


THE  REASON ER. 


letter  and  neglect  the  spirit.  Founded, 
as  this  practice  now  is,  on  a  cold,  selfish, 
and  worldly  prudence,  its  estimation  by 
spiritual  and  earnest  minds  is  becoming 
every  day  more  equivocal.  Sabbatarians 
talk  much  of  infidelity,  atheism,  etc., 
and  are  not  sparing  in  their  abuse  of 
those  who  would  see  this  ceremonious 
farce  done  away  with.  But  there  is  no 
infidelity  equal  to  their  own  in  daring 
to  couple  the  name  of  God  with  such  a 
mockery.  Religion  in  such  hands  is 
the  direst  form  of  infidelity  now  preva- 
lent. They  would  exalt  all  forms  to  the 
detriment  of  the  soul.  They  blaspheme 
against  the  spirit  of  man.  They  look 
upon  its  suggestions  with  distrust  and 
suspicion.  The  tendency  of  their  ritual 
and  dogmas  is  to  crush  it — and  yet  it  is 
such  dry-as-dust  anatomies  as  these  who 
would  have  us  think  them  competent  to 
set  a  good  example ! 

Sharp  and  powerful  stimulants  are 
required  to  arouse  men  sunk  in  spi- 
ritual lethargy.  There  can  be  no  greater 
mistake  than  to  suppose  that  your  or- 
thodox church-goer  is  easily  stirred. 
Earnestness  ov  enthusiasm  is  no  part  of 
his  character.  It  is  our  duty  to  provoke 
by  unsparing  argument  and  ridicule, 
that  antagonism  which  will  excite  atten- 
tion, and  give  rise  to  inquiry.  They  no 
longer  deceive  intelligent  men :  let  us 
render  it  impossible  that  they  can  de- 
ceive themselves.  The  best  and  only 
example  a  man  can  show,  must  be  evi- 
denced in  his  every  day  lite  and  conver- 
sation. No  other  example  is  worth  fol- 
lowing, and  no  other  would  benefit  me. 
With  such  an  example,  church-guing 
has  not  the  smallest  concern.  Its  influ- 
ence is  directly  antagonistic  to  it.  If 
church-goers  are  guilty,  priests  are  no 
less  so.  Their  teachings  lack  life,  as 
they  themselves  do  faith.  '  The  test  of 
the  true  faith  should  certainly  be  it8 
power  to  charm  and  command  the  soul, 


as  the  laws  of  nature  control  the  acti- 
vity of  the  hands,  so  commanding  that 
we  should  find  pleasure  and  honour  in 
obeying.  The  faith  should  blend  with 
the  light  of  rising  and  setting  suns, 
with  the  flying  cloud,  the  singing,  fo 
birds  and  the  breath  of  flowers.  Bat 
now  the  priest's  sabbath  has  lost  the 
splendour  of  nature.  We  are  glad  when 
it  is  done.  We  can  make,  we  do  make, 
even  sitting  in  our  pews,  a  far  better, 
holier,  sweeter  for  ourselves.' 

The  growing  contempt  and  indiflie- 
rence  for  all  church  forms  is  only  natu- 
ral. Uver  intelligent  minds  the  priest 
has  lost  all  shadow  of  control.  We 
know  all  that  he  will  say — we  may  even 
believe  that  part  of  what  he  says  is  true. 
One  slight  defect  exists  which,  with  all 
our  charity,  we  cannot  overcome.  It 
seems  impossible  to  us  that  he  himself 
can  do  so.  '  The  highest  truth,  if  pro- 
fessed by  one  who  believes  it  not  in  his 
heart,  is  to  him  a  Zt'e,  and  he  sins  greatly 
by  professing  it.'*  Such  lifeless  mum- 
meries are  slowly  but  surely  working 
their  own  cure  in  the  increasing  disgust 
and  aversion  with  which  they  affect  us. 
We  dislike  their  pretensions  to  divine 
teaching.  We  recognise  more  true  di- 
vinity in  the  every-day  world  around 
us,  and  amongmen  of  no  sectarian  creed. 

These  priests  are  behind  the  age, 
which  has  discarded  them.  The  church 
is  attacked  from  within  and  without  by 
Christians  and  unbelievers.  Only  by 
the  outspoken  sincerity  of  earnest  minds 
can  the  upholders  of  such  a  system  ever 
be  made  to  see  the  error  of  their  ways. 
To  churchmen  and  church-goers,  there- 
fore, these  remarks  are  addressed  ;  and 
that  the  perusal  may  profit  them  is  the 
earnest  desire  of  their  friend  and  well- 
wisher. 

•  Arnold's  '  Christian  Life.' 


THE  REASONER.  183 


Our  platform. 


From  nrbich  anv  earnest  opponent  may  controvert  our  opinions,  and  from  which  any  may  expound  riews 
not  coincident  with  our  own,  ii  tending  to  the  Rationalisation  of  Theolegy. 

ANSWER  TO  HENRY  NORRINGTON. 


Sir, — It  is  only  by  the  sayings,  teachings,  and  actions  of  Christ,  we  conceive, 
that  he  should  be  judged;  and  we  have,  in  the  article  'Aspects  and  Expedients  of 
Christianity,'  endeavoured  to  give  the  moral  objections  to  Christianity.  Goodness 
and  virtue  are  quite  irrespective  of  Jesus  ;  therefore,  we  cannot  destroy  those 
qualities  by  any  objection  to  him.  "We  are  they  who  endeavour  to  save  goodness 
and  virtue  from  the  adulteration  which  takes  place  in  their  admixture  with  Chris- 
tianity. We  wish  people  would  believe  in  goodness  and  virtue,  would  take  them 
up  and  follow  them,  rather  than  take  up  the  cross  and  follow  Jesus. 

The  sayings,  teachings,  and  actions  of  Christ  are  about  devils,  hell-fire,  and  a 
God  dooming  the  vast  majority  of  his  creatures  to  eternal  torment.  Mr.  Norring- 
ton  has  not  told  us  what  his  belief  in  Christ  is.  At  first  Mr.  Norrington  seems 
to  stick  to  the  sayings,  teachings,  and  actions  of  Christ.  But  in  the  fourth  para- 
graph, we  are  told  Jesus  only  left  behind  him  an  influence  and  spirit.  When  you 
come  to  the  spirit  of  a  thing,  there  is  an  end  of  all  argument.  Each  man  takes 
the  spirit  to  be  what  he  likes  ?  If  we  are  not  to  judge  Christianity  by  the  letter, 
what  are  we  to  judge  it  by.  Mr.  Norrington  at  first  seems  to  accuse  us  of  not 
judging  it  by  the  letter,  and  then  he  tells  us  we  are  not  to  judge  it  by  the  letter. 
W  e  cannot  make  out  whether  he  admits  the  gospels  to  be  a  proper  report  of  Jesus. 
If  they  are  not,  we  are  to  be  guided  by  the  spirit  of  Mr.  Norrington,  or  what  he  or 
any  other  chooses  to  lay  down  as  the  spirit  of  Christianity.  In  fact  we  should  have 
a  host  of  spirits,  and  no  realities,  to  combat.  Jesus  is  as  explicit  as  possible  in  '  I 
come  not  to  send  peace,  but  the  sword,'  and  he  follows  it  by  a  discourse  all  to  the 
same  purpose.  We  say,  if  such  were  to  be  the  efi'ects  of  his  doctrines,  he  was  the 
cause  of  them,  and  better  have  never  come  into  the  world  for  such  an  object.  Mr, 
Norrington  admits  these  were  the  efi'ects  of  his  doctrines.  We  should  say  with 
such  a  prospect  before  him,  Jesus,  if  he  had  been  a  good  man,  should  have  imme- 
diately desisted  from  preaching  his  doctrines.  In  fact,  if  any  such  mischief  were 
the  result  of  any  man's  preaching,  had  he  any  sensibility  he  would  die  of  despair. 
We  completely  ignore  Mr.  Norrington's  historical  fact,  that  the  promulgation  of 
good  sets  people  together  by  the  ears.  We  never  heard  people  fought  about  the 
ten  commandments  or  any  book  of  morality,  or  moral  philosophy,  or  laws  enacted 
against  crimes.  People  are  enraged  when  any  one  comes  and  tells  them  doubtful 
things  ;  and  this,  we  say,  was  the  preaching  of  Jesus.  Their  moral  feelings  were 
outraged  when  sons  were  told  to  forsake  their  fathers,  and  all  other  family  relations 
were  to  be  broken,  merely  to  follow  him.  Deep  religious  scruples  must  have  been 
shocked  by  being  called  upon  to  follow  the  son  of  a  carpenter  as  a  god.  Any 
man's  feelings  might  be  violated,  if  any  stranger  came  into  his  family  and  per- 
suaded any  members  of  it,  wife  or  children,  that  they  were  to  worship  him,  or 
some  other  man  in  whose  behalf  he  was  preaching,  and  that  the  said  wife  and  chil- 
dren were  to  leave  their  home  or  afi'ections.  He  would  equally  be  alarmed  and 
opposed  to  it,  if  such  teaching  was  taken  in  the  sense,  as  Christ's  kingdom  was  by 
the  disciples,  that  Christ  was  immediately  to  rule  over  the  earth,  and  the  family  in 
question  were  to  join  in  any  political  enterprise  of  the  sort.  Why  cannot  Mr. 
Norrington  worship  virtue  and  goodness, instead  of  Jesus,  as  the  personification  of 
them  ?     It  is  perhaps  unfair  to  ask  us  to  judge  of  the  Bible  and  Christ  in  the  same 


184  THE  REASONER. 


impartial  manner,  that  we  form  opinions  of  other  documents  and  characters. 
Everybody  is  offended  when  we  attempt  it.  We  do  not  know  what  Grecian  or 
Roman  history  Mr.  Norrington  has  read,  to  think  that  Jesus  should  be  classed 
equal  to  their  heroes.  He  should  read  Newman's  '  Phases  of  Faith,'  and  learn  to 
judge  the  character  of  Jesus  with  more  freedom  and  more  truth. 

M.  A.,  OXONIENSIS. 


CONFESSIONS     OF    A    QUAKER. 

Sir, — I  read  an  article  in  your  paper  of  the  9th  of  July  on  '  Advice  to  those  who 
go  to  Church  against  their  will.'  Your  advice  on  that  subject  (in  my  opinion)  is 
good,  and  should  you  deem  the  following  statement  of  any  further  benefit,  you  are 
at  liberty  to  make  what  use  of  it  you  think  proper. 

Having  been  born  a  member  of  the  Society  of  Friends,  and  brought  up  in  their 
faith  and  worship,  I  was,  while  young,  under  the  necessity  of  attending  their  place 
of  worship  (or  church);  and,  as  early  impressions  are  very  powerful,  I  was  led  to 
believe  that  it  was  my  duty  to  my  God  to  continue  in  that  path.  When  I  came  to 
manhood  I  was  satisfied,  in  my  own  mind,  that  it  was  my  duty,  therefore  I  con- 
tinued in  it:  a  sense  of  duty  compelled  me  to  continue,  and  many  were  the 
sacrifices  I  made  to  be  regular  in  my  attendance  at  their  places  of  worship,  and 
few  were  more  regular.  But  I  now  often  look  back  with  sorrow  and  regret  at 
the  time  that  was  spent  in  that  way  which  might  have  been  spent  much  more  use- 
fully. Yet  I  continued  until  about  forty-five  years  of  age ;  it  was  then  too  late  to 
make  up  for  time  lost.  About  this  time  a  friend  informed  me  of  a  lecture  that 
was  to  be  delivered  in  this  town  (Derby)  by  a  Social  Missionary,  Henry  Layland 
Knight  (brother-in-law  to  Lloyd  Jones).  I  went  to  hear  him,  and  offered  a  little 
opposition;  after  that  L.  Jones  lectured  here,  and,  not  being  disposed  to  condemn 
any  one  unheard,  I  went  to  his  lecture,  which  made  some  impression  on  me. 
After  him  came  R.  Buchanan,  who  delivered  a  course  which  I  attended,  and  was 
further  convinced.  The  principles  advocated  at  these  lectures  were  then  spoken 
of  as  diabolical.  Hearing  such  dreadful  accounts  concerning  them,  I  was  induced  to 
examine  for  myself.  I  got  the  New  Moral  World  and  read  it,  got  acquainted  with  a 
few  Socialists,  and  the  more  I  examined  these  matters  the  more  I  was  convinced 
of  their  truth.  After  R.  Buchanan's  lecture,  J.  Brindley  (our  old  friend,  where 
is  he  now  ?)  made  his  appearance  on  the  platform —  this  brought  on  the  four 
nights'  discussion  between  him  and  L.  Joues.  Committees  were  appointed  on 
both  sides.  One  of  the  Socialist  Committee  could  not  attend,  and  I  was  asked  to 
take  his  place,  to  which  I  consented.  This  was  previous  to  my  being  publicly 
known  as  a  Socialist.  I  will  leave  the  reader  to  judge  of  the  surprise  shown  by 
the  orthodox,  and  particularly  the  Society  of  Friends,  many  of  whom  were  present, 
when  I  first  made  my  appearance  in  public  as  one  of  L.  Jones's  Committee.  But 
there  I  was  for  four  nights — this  was  certainly  coming  out  rather  boldly;  however, 
I  can  now  say  that  I  never  repented.  This  led  to  my  being  disowned  by  the 
Society  of  Friends.  At  that  time  1  was  carrying  on  a  small  business,  and  it  is 
possible  that  some  few  might  have  been  prevented  trading,  but  I  cannot  point  out 
any  one  case.  I  will  not  pretend  to  say  that  it  would  be  wise  for  every  one  to  act 
in  the  way  I  did,  but  as  a  general  rule  I  think  it  advisable.  But  any  one  acting 
so  must  be  doubly  careful  in  his  conduct  and  conversation.  For  what  would  be 
overlooked  in  one  of  the  orthodox,  would  be  considered  as  the  fruit  of  Socialism. 


THE  REASONER.  185 


It  is  said  in  the  Bible  in  effect  '  seek  first  the  kingdom  of  God  and  his  righteoas- 
ness,  and  all  things  necessary  shall  be  added  unto  you.'  Bat  this  is  not  true. 
After  trying  it  for  so  many  years  these  things  were  not  added ;  but,  on  the  con- 
trary, when  I  left  off  attending  places  of  worship,  and  gave  up  praying  (which  I 
had  sincerely  practised),  these  necessai-y  things  began  to  be  added,  and  have  con- 
tinued to  increase. 

It  is  clear  that  the  Christian  God  did  not  punish  me ;  and  it  is  as  clear  to  me 
now,  that  he  had  nothing  to  do  in  the  matter,  even  if  there  is  such  a  being.  Had 
it  been  my  lot  to  have  made  greater  sacrifices,  I  should  now  feel  well  paid  in  the 
peace  of  mind,  comfort,  and  happiness  that  I  am  now  in  possession  of,  which  I 
was  a  stranger  to  in  years  past  and  gone  ;  and  if  they  could  return,  and  it  was  at 
my  option,  I  would  not,  no,  not  for  the  world,  pass  those  times  over  again. 

Derby.  B.  Hagen. 


[Readers  who  know  bow  often  we  have  been  indebted  to  the  generous  enthusiasm 
of  our  correspondent  for  aiding  the  circulation  of  our  works  in  Derby,  will  read 
with  pleasure  this  manly  letter,  Hervey  (if  I  remember  rightly)  said  he  had  no 
hope  of  people  above  forty  years  of  age  ever  coming  to  believe  in  the  circulation 
of  the  blood,  and  that  no  instance  occurred  in  his  lifetime  of  any  medical  man 
above  that  age  coming  to  his  conclusions.  Had  Mr.  Hagen  lived  in  Hervey's 
days,  he  would  have  been  encouraged  by  one  disciple  above  that  conservative  age. 
—Ed.] 

THE  NEGRO  EXAMINED  BY  MR.  YARDLEY. 


Sir,— The  following  scene,  which  reflects  disgrace  upon  the  administration  of  jus- 
tice, recently  took  place  at  the  Thames  Police  Court.  Two  women  of  abandoned 
character  were  placed  at  the  bar,  charged  with  robbing  a  negro  seaman,  belonging 
to  an  American  ship,  of  a  coat.  After  the  prosecutor  was  sworn  in  the  usual  form, 
Mr.  Yardley,  the  Magistrate,  suddenly  asked  him,  '  Of  what  religion  are  you — are 
you  a  Christian  ?'  '  No,  I  am  not  a  Christian;  I  follow  the  sea.'  '  Do  you  profess 
no  religion,  then?'  asked  the  Magistrate.  God's  image  carved  in  ebony  only 
stared  in  bewilderment  at  the  question.  '  Do  you  never  go  to  church  ?'  *  Yes  ; 
sometimes  I  go  to  church,  in  New  York.'  *  What  do  you  go  for  ?'  '  I  go  to  see 
the  people  .'  *  Is  that  all  you  gc  for  ?  Do  you  hear  what  is  said  V  '  Yes.' 
'  Well,  what  do  you  hear  ?'  '  I  hear  the  man  talk  to  the  people.'  'And  what  you 
hear  makes  no  impression  on  you  ?'  Another  stare  of  bewilderment  was  the  only 
reply.  The  Magistrate  looked  puzzled  for  a  moment,  and  again  addressed  the 
wondering  negro :  '  Then  you  have  no  religious  belief  whatever?'  The  negro 
looked  as  if  wondering  what  disorder  the  Magistrate  was  alluding  to ;  and  shook 
his  head,  '  Then  I  cannot  take  your  oath.  The  women  are  discharged.  Stay, 
who  does  the  coat  belong  to  ?'  '  To  the  prosecutor,  your  worship,'  said  the  officer. 
'Then  give  it  to  him.'  The  women  stepped  laughing  from  the  bar;  of  course 
impressed  with  the  value  of  religious  belief. 

As  nearly  as  my  memory  serves,  the  above  was  the  conversation  ;  but  I  vouch 
for  its  being  the  substance  of  what  passed.  As  the  parties  left  the  Court  the 
Magistrate  smiled  as  if  at  his  own  wondrous  sagacity.  Had  the  man  been  in- 
terrogated on  his  notions  of  truth  in  relation  to  judicial  investigation,  the  ends  of 
justice  would  have  been  better  served  than  by  this  ridiculous  exhibition. 

M.  A.  L. 


186  THE  REASONER. 


KOSSUTH,    AxND    THE    MAGYARS    OF    OLD. 

Many  works  have  been  recently  published  upon  the  Hungarian  war  of  self-defence, 
but  none  of  them  have  tbi-own  any  light  upon  the  sanguinary  events  of  our  ancient 
history,  from  1527,  under  the  government  of  the  house  of  Habsburg,  which  serve 
to  explain  the  present. 

The  illustrious  patriots,  Bethlen,  Botskay,  Tcikoly,  Francis,  and  George  Rkkoczy 
have  waged  many  a  war,and  fought  battles,  in  order  to  secure  political  and  religions 
freedom. 

No  author  has  undertaken  to  set  forth  the  relations  of  Hungary  to  the  amal- 
gamated provinces  of  Austria.  Hence  the  impossibility  of  obtaining  a  clear  in- 
sight into  the  sanctity  of  our  outraged  rights.  The  public  know  only  the  glory 
of  our  hard-fought  battles,  and  sad  downfall  of  our  country's  cause.  The  Magyar 
fought  like  the  lioness:  he  fought  for  self-defence,  and  not  for  revolution;  yet  he 
was  accused  by  the  followers  of  the  house  of  Habsburg  of  high  treason,  and  he 
met  with  the  mercy  which  wild  beasts  show  their  prey.  The  Magyar  fought  and 
bled,  not  for  new  and  immature  ideas,  nor  for  exclusive  privileges,  but  in  a  holy 
struggle  against  the  house  of  Habsburg  seeking  to  trample  under  foot  the  rights 
of  the  nation,  and  to  annihilate  the  constitution  of  a  thousand  years,  derived  from 
the  ancient  dynasty  of  Arpad.  The  Magyar  protested  against  the  imposition  of 
an  absolute  government.  He  defied  tyranny,  and  sacrificed  for  tyranny  and  the 
common  weal  80.000  of  the  noblest  children  of  the  soil. 

The  soul  of  my  assassinated  country  summons  me,  the  innocent  blood  of  many 
thousand  of  my  brethren  cries  to  me  from  the  grass  upon  their  graves,  and  calls 
upon  me  to  enlighten  the  world,  and  all  true  friends  of  a  free  people,  on  the  cause 
of  their  death.  In  the  appendix  will  be  found  a  narrative  of  the  adventures  of 
Kossuth  after  his  retreat  into  Turkey.  This  duty  I  have  endeavoured  to  fulfil  in 
my  work. 

The  fate  of  my  unhappy  fatherland  ought  to  be  a  warning  and  a  lesson  to  all 
free  people  unremittingly  to  defend  their  rights,  and  to  struggle  for  every  handful 
of  their  native  soil  against  tyranny  and  despotism,  which  merit  to  be  hated  by 
every  upright  man.  S.  Szeeedy. 

[All  able  to  promote  this  undertaking  by  obtaining  subscribers,  are  solicited  to 
send  the  list  of  subscriptions,  early  in  August,  to  Mr.  Thornton  Hunt,  at  the 
office  of  the  Leader,  10,  Wellington-street,  Strand,  London,  or  to  the  editor  of  the 
Reasoner.  The  price  of  the  work  to  subscribers  will  be  3s.  A  list  lies  at  our 
publisher's. — Ed.] 

THE    WESLEYAN    CONFERENCE    NOW    ASSEMBLED    IN    NEW- 
CASTLE-ON-TYNE. 

(copy  of  a  placard  fkom  that  town.) 
Newcastle  abounds  with  persons  who  have  not  only  been  educated,  but  are  well 
paid  for  teachino  and  defending  Christianity.  At  present,  through  the  meeting 
of  the  Wesleyan  Conference  in  our  town,  this  class  of  persons  are  more  numerous 
than  usual.  We  have  assembled  amongst  us  the  flower  of  the  Methodist  Church. 
It  is  customary  for  these  ministers  of  the  gospel,  both  in  this  and  other  towns,  to 
make  their  pulpits  ring  with  denunciations  of  unbelievers  and  of  their  principles, 
while,  at  the  same  time,  they  are  well  aware  that  the  rules  of  their  churches  de- 
prive their  opponents,  under  the  penalties  of  the  law,  from  either  offering  reply  or 


THE  REASONER. 


18< 


explanation.  Such  being  the  case,  I  beg  to  inform  these  gentlemen  that  a  farour- 
able  opportunity  nov  presents  itself  tor  them  to  hear  their  religion  called  in 
question,  and  their  arguments  refuted.  On  Monday  evening  George  Jacob 
Holyoake,  editor  of  the  Reasoner,  defended  atheism  before  a  large  audience.  To- 
night he  will  show  that  '  Catholicism,'  which  Protestants  so  much  oppose,  '  is  the 
actual  type  of  the  churches  around  ns.'  Hundreds  of  the  working  classes  attend 
these  lectures,  and  listen  with  pleasure  to  the  st.itemeuts  put  forth.  The 
consequences  are,  that  some  are  confounded,  and  many  convinced.  I  seriously  ask 
these  Wesleyan  ministers  whether  it  would  not  be  much  better,  under  such  cir- 
cumstances, for  them  to  come  forth  and  show  the  hoUowness  of  their  opponents' 
principles,  and  the  soundness  of  their  own  ?  If  they  believe  they  have  the  truth, 
what  occasion  have  they  to  shun  investigation  ?  Is  not  controversy  one  of  the 
great  means  by  which  we  elicit  truth  ?  Have  we  not  the  right  to  suspect  the 
sincerity  of  those  who,  having  the  ability  and  opportunity  of  discussing  their 
principles,  yet  strive  all  they  can  to  avoid  it  ?  Let  them,  then,  come  forward  at 
once.  Mr.  Holyoake  will  not  act  as  Mr.  Charles  Larkin  recently  acted  in  the 
Lecture  Room,  while  opposing  atheism — will  not  deprive  his  audience  of  the 
liberty  of  interrogation.  Not  only  will  he  answer  all  relevant  questions,  but  he 
i  will  gladly  allow  discussion,  especially  If  it  be  conducted  in  a  spirit  of  fairness, 
andwith  a  sincere  desire  to  obtain  truth. 
Newcastle,  Wednesday,  July  30th,  1851. 


A  Townsman. 


GUIDE  TO  THE  LECTURE  ROOM. 

Literary  Institution,  John  Street.  Fitzroy  Square. 
— August  10th  [7i],  Samuel  K\dd,  'Relative 
Value  of  Agriculture  and  Manufactures.' — 12th 
[8ij,  Ui«cussion  in  the  Coffee  Room.  Question, 
'  The  Respective  ilerits  of  Free  Trade  and  Pro- 
tection.' 

Hall  of  Science,  City  Road.— August  10th  [ri], 
•  lecture. 

National  Hall,  242,  High  Holborn.— Aug.  10th, 
[8],  P.  W.  Perfitt  will  lecture. 

Eclectic  Institute,  Denmark  Street,  Soho.  — 
Every  Friday  [8J],  Mr.  J.  B.  O'Brien,  '  Home  and 
Foreign  Politics.'  Every  Sunday  [ril,  on  '  Moral 
and  Social  Science.' 

Areopagus  Cotfee  and  Reading  Room,  59,  Church 
i  Lane,  Uhitechapel. — Every  Sunday,  Monday,  and 
Wednesday  (S),  a  Lecture  or  Discussion. 

City  Forum  Coffee  House,  6o,  Red  Cross  Street. 
—  Every  Sunday,  Monday,  and  Thursday  [8^],  a 
Discussion. 

Commercial  HaU,  Philpot  Street,  Commercial 
Road  East. — Every  Tuesday  and  Thursday  even- 
ing [8],  a  Discussion- 
City  Road  Discussion  Society,  22,  City  Boad. — 
D'scussion  every  Wednesday  evening.  Subject, 
'  Is  there  a  Natural  Religion  V 

ADVERTISEMENTS. 

POPULAR  WORKS. 

Theodore  Parker  on  Matters  Pertaining  to 
Religion.     1  vol.  cloth  boards I     9 

Cooper's    Purgatory   of    Suicides.      1    vol. 

cloth   lettered  3    6 

To  be  had  in  Parts  and  Numbers. 
Cooper's  Wise  Saws  and  Modem  Instances. 

2  vols,  cloth  lettered 5     0 

Cooper's  Baron's  Yuie  Feast.     Wrapper..      1     6 
Cooper's  Eiaht  Letters  to   the  Young  Men 

of  the  Working  Classes 0     6 

Cooper's  Journal.     1  vol.  cloth    3     0 


Do.     Captain  Cobler,  or  the  Lincolnshire 

Insurrection.     1  vol 2  6 

Cerebral  Phvsioloev  and  Materialism.    Bv 

W.  C.  EngledueV-M.D '.      o  4 

Doubts  of  Infidels   o  3 

Paine's  Political  Works.      2  vols,  in  one..     5  0 

—  Theological  Works.    1  vol.  cloth. .. .     3  0 

—  Rights  of  Man 1  3 

—  American  Crisis 1  6 

—  Common  Sense    0  6 

—  Letter  to  the  .4bbe  Raynal    0  6 

—  Letters  to  the  Citizens  of  the  United 
States Q  4 

—  Public  Good 0  4 

—  Agrarian  Justice 0  2 

—  First  Principles  of  Government  ....     0  2 

—  English  System  of  Finance   0  3 

—  Abolition  ol  Royalty 0  3 

life  of  Paine,  by  W.  J.  Linton   0  6 

Portrait  of  Paine,  engraved  on  Steel 1  0 

The    English   Republic,  edited  by  W.  J. 

Linton.     Nos.  1  to  ",  each  at  0  6 

Byron's  Vision  of  Judgment    0  3 

Southey's  Wat  Tyler  .T 0  2 

Essay  on  the  Functions  of  the  Brain 0  2 

London :  James  Watson,  3,  Queen's  Head  Pas 
sage.  Paternoster -row. 

WoKKiNG  Men  a>d  Shopkbbpkbs! 

If  you  wish  to  learn  the  true  causes  of  the  Distress 

of  Labour  and  of  the  Misdirection  of  Trade, 

read 

XOTES     TO     THE     PEOPLE, 

Publishing  every  Saturday, 
Containing  40  columns  of  close  phot,  besides  wrap- 
per, for  Two  Pexcb, 
BY     ERNEST    JONES, 
Of  the  Middle  Temple,  Barrister  at-Law. 
Published  by  R.  Paver,  47,  Holywell  St.,  Strand, 
London ;  and  to  be  had  through  the  Booksellers. 


188  THE  REASONER. 


In  a  reply  to  Dr.  Watts,  of  Manchester,  the  Leeds  Mercury  (we  believe  it  is)  has 
the  following  editorial  paragraph  : — '  When  it  appears  that  persons  holding  views 
like  those  of  Robert  Owen,  which  are  in  the  strongest  possible  opposition  to 
Christianity — that  Mr,  Holyoake,  the  zealous  apostle  of  atheism — that  Mr.  W.  J. 
Fox,  M.P.,  whose  recent  work  avows  the  doctrines  of  pantheism,  are  all  combined 
to  advocate  a  system  of  education  professing  to  exclude  religion — is  it  not  fair, 
nay,  is  it  not  strictly  necessary,  to  conclude,  that  the  schools  thus  commenced 
must  really  and  dbsoluUly  exclude  religion,  and  that  they  may  even  be  taught  by 
the  most  determined  infidels?  If  this  is  not  a  fair  and  a  necessary  conclusion,  we 
must  suppose  these  gentlemen  to  be  recommending  a  system  which  would  exclude 
themselves  P 

*  A  few  Sabbaths  since,'  writes  a  correspondent  from  Rondout,  on  the  Hudson, 
'our  minister  was  impressing  upon  his  hearers  the  duty  of  a  greater  regard  for  the 
services  of  the  day  of  thanksgiving,  set  apart  by  the  governor,  and  was  informing 
them  that  on  that  day  he  would  preach  a  sermon  at  that  place,  and  he  wished  them 
all  to  attend,  to  render  in  a  proper  manner  acknowledgments  fo"r  the  many  benefits 
of  health,  bountiful  harvests,  &c.  Here  a  little  wiry  man  in  a  blue  coat,  with 
metallic  buttons,  and  a  very  elevated  collar,  popped  up  from  his  seat,  and  squeaked 
out:  "Dominie,  I  wish  you  would  give  the  tater  rot  a  leetle  tech  in  that  sarmon  o' 
your'n.  It's  been  dreadful  bad  with  us." ' — American  Leader  (a  newspaper  imita- 
tion of  the  English  Leader). 

A  Sheffield  correspondent  (Mr.  Buck)  informs  us  that  the  *  Last  Trial  by  Jury 
for  Atheism  '  has  been  admitted,  with  a  little  opposition,  into  the  library  of  the 
Young  Men's  Association,  Likewise,  that  the  placard  relating  to  the  above  work 
has  been  posted  on  the  walls  of  Sheffield. 

Mr.  Newton,  of  Stockport,  who  does  not  send  his  address,  may  obtain  our  pub- 
lished works  by  application  to  any  of  the  Stockport  news-vendors.  The  Lancaster 
Letters  are  printed  in  the  Reasoner,  Nos.  9,  10,  and  11,  Vol,  XI, 

A  monk  of  the  order  of  St.  Augustin,  in  a  sermon  addressed  to  the  wealthy,  and 
published  at  Padua  in  1675,  says  the  following  good  thing  for  the  monks  of  another 
order : — *  Treasures  do  not  perish  when  they  are  put  into  the  bags  of  the  poor. 
Franciscans !  on  the  contrary,  they  are  kept,  they  are  preserved,  they  are  ren- 
dered immortal.' 

Mr,  Fox  informs  us,  that  on  Sunday,  the  20th  instant,  the  poem  entitled  *  Bel- 
dagon  Church,'  by  Ernest  Jones,  recently  quoted  in  the  Reasoner,  was  read  by  a 
minister  of  the  gospel  to  a  large  congregation  assembled  on  Kennington  Common. 

An  article  in  Household  Words,  of  June  the  28th,  entitled  '  A  few  Convention- 
alities,' opens  with  this  rich  morsel : — '  A  child  inquired  of  us,  the  other  day,  why 
a  gentleman  always  said  his  first  prayer  in  church,  in  the  crown  of  his  hat  ?  We 
were  reduced  to  the  ignominious  necessity  of  replying  that  we  didn't  know — but  it 
was  the  custom.'     We  do  not  think  the  answer  can  be  improved. 

The  Tablet  has  stated  that  Dr.  Paul  CuUen,  late  of  the  editorial  staff  conducting 
a  Roman  '  Review,'  in  which  the  Copernican  system  was  denounced  on  scientific 
and  also  on  distinctly  religious  grounds,  now  repudiates  the  responsibility  of 
that  article,  and  gives  his  full  adhesion  to  the  planetary  system  in  vogue. 

London  :  Printed  by  Holyoake  Brothers,  3,  Queen's  Head  Passage,  Paternoster-row;  and  Published 
by  J.  Watson,  3,  Queen's  Head  Passage,  Paternoster-row. — Wednesday,  August  6th,  1851. 


AND 

THEOLOGICAL     EXAMINER. 

They  who  believe  that  they  have  Truth  ask  no  favour,  save  that  of  being  heard:  they  dare  the 
judgment  of  Mankind  :  refused  Co-operation,  they  invoke  Opposition,  for  Opposition  is  their 
Opportunity. — Editor. 

VISIT  TO  DUNDEE  &  THE  REV.  GEORGE  GILFILLAN'S  CHAPEL. 


It  was  told  to  me  that  great  disappointment  existed  in  Dundee  on  account  of  my 
never  having  answered  specially  the  charges  brought  against  me  by  Mr.  Robert 
Buchanan  and  Mr.  Lloyd  Jones,  in  the  last  number  of  the  Spirit  of  the  Age.  Since 
then  time  has  disproved  many  of  the  allegations  for  me,  and  quite  to  the  satisfaction 
of  the  critics  of  this  district.  The  other  allegations  were  mostly  founded  in  error, 
and  were  such  that,  could  they  have  been  established,  they  would  have  been  at  the 
time  the  Spirit  of  the  Age  ceased,  when  it  was  of  much  more  importance  for  the 
party  who  preferred  them  so  late,  to  have  preferred  them  then.  Out  of  respect  to 
those  to  whom,  on  some  grounds,  my  explanations  were  due,  T  must  say  that  they 
lose  sight  of  the  true  ground  of  personal  controversy  who  expect  it  to  be  pursued 
for  individual  gratification.  The  only  ground  on  which  personal  discussions  can 
be  justified,  is  that  of  vindicating  or  establishing  some  public  principle,  and  when 
that  public  principle  is  established  or  vindicated,  to  occupy  public  attention  any 
farther  on  the  matter  is  a  misuse  of  the  privilege  of  controversy,  and  open  to  the 
imputation  of  proceeding  from  vanity,  egotism,  querelousness,  or  disappointment. 
The  letters  of  Messrs.  Jones  and  Buchanan  were  occasioned  by  a  Reasoner  Tract, 
written  against  the  opposition  offered  by  the  Weekly  Tribune  to  the  Leader  news- 
paper. But  when  that  opposition  had  ceased,  and  the  Weekly  Tribune  was  with- 
drawn, it  would  have  been  simply  bad  taste  to  have  added  another  word.  Mr. 
Buchanan  and  Mr.  Jones  had  a  perfect  right  to  offer  any  justification  they  pleased 
of  themselves,  and  even  to  retaliate  upon  me  if  they  saw  fit,  but  that  was  no  reason 
for  my  pursuing  a  controversy  on  private  grounds  when  the  public  end  was 
accomplished  for  which  it  was  commenced. 

In  the  same  manner  some  few  persons  have  mistaken  our  silence  respecting 
Parson  Lot's  article  in  the  Christian  Socialist.  It  certainly  was  a  great  temptation 
to  enter  into  controversy  with  him  and  the  party  whom  he  defended.  His  repu- 
tation, his  ability,  Kis  candour,  his  eloquence,  and  the  character  of  the  coadjutors 
who  accept  him  as  their  leader,  would  make  controversy  with  him  an  honour  as 
well  as  a  pleasure.  More  than  this,  the  points  he  urged  seemed  written  on  pur- 
pose for  us  to  refute  ;  but  we  were  again  warned  that  the  sole  end  of  public  con- 
troversy is  not  private  gratification  or  party  victory,  but  the  public  good.  In  this 
case  the  public  might  regard  it  as  a  scandal  that  two  societies,  having  the  same 
social  end  in  view,  should  appear  as  the  opponents  of  each  other.  Much  as  we 
love  controversy,  and  indeed  seek  opposition  as  our  opportunity,  we  must  ever 
observe  a  healthy  rule  in  its  indulgence,  and  avoid  it  wherever  it  may  be  misunder- 
stood. When  opportunity  shall  offer,  free  from  ambiguity,  we  shall  not  be  slow 
to  embrace  it. 

The  placard  issued  in  Dundee  began  by  saying, '  Lectures  by  Q.  J.  Holyoake,  of 
London,  editor  of  the  Reasoner,'  and  then  that  '  the  Freethinkers  of  Dundee  had 


b 


[No.  272]  [No.  13,  Vol.  XI.] 

(.ONE  PENNY.! 


190  THE  REASONER. 


invited  Mr.  Holyoake  to  deliver  a  course  of  lectures  on  the  subjects  '  (named).  At 
the  bottom  of  the  bill,  instead  of  saying  '  Discussion  was  invited' — a  form  of  ex- 
pression which  gives  to  some  the  notion  of  vaunt  or  challenge — they  employed 
these  words :  '  At  the  close  of  the  lectures  time  will  be  allowed  for  any  reverend 
gentleman  to  controvert  the  lecturer's  statements.'  Circulars  were  sent  to  forty 
resident  ministers — neither  was  this  in  the  form  of  a  challenge,  but  was  expressed 
in  the  manner  of  information  given.  Thus :  '  Rev.  Sir, — The  author  of  the  en- 
closed pamphlet  [the  '  Logic  of  Death  ']  is  about  to  visit  Dundee,  to  deliver  lectures 
in  advocacy  of  the  views  maintained  in  these  pages.  The  Freethinkers  in  town 
hope  you  will  attend  and  reply  to  any  of  his  statements  which  you  may  consider 
erroneous.  The  dates  and  subjects  will  be  duly  announced  by  advertisement.— 
David  Gardener,  Bookseller,  Seagate.' 

The  style  of  a  placard,  when  you  first  appear  in  a  strange  town,  is  important — 
it  is  the  letter  of  recommendation  by  which  the  public  judge  you.  A  well  printed 
bill,  simply  and  clearly  stated — well  set  out  by  the  printer,  is  the  safest  as  well  as 
the  most  effective.  In  one  town  where  the  Hall  applied  for  by  my  friends  had 
been  refused,  a  notice  of  the  fact,  mentioning  the  name  of  the  proprietor  in  an 
unpleasant  manner,  was  appended  to  the  bottom  of  the  bill.  It  was  exceedingly 
disagreeable  to  me  to  disown  what  had  been  done  by  friends  who  had  served  me, 
and  it  was  disagreeable  to  be  supposed  that  I,  a  stranger,  took  upon  myself  to  assail 
a  gentleman  utterly  unknown  to  him,  because  he  had  not  seen  fit  to  let  the  stranger 
his  Hall. 

Those  religionists  who  have  the  art  of  making  religion  disagreeable  abound  in 
Scotland,  where  they  practice  that  art  with  much  address.  The  farther  you  pene- 
trate into  the  interior,  the  more  oppressive  the  atmosphere  of  piety  becomes.  On 
my  first  Sunday  in  Dundee,  I  stepped  into  a  coffee  house — the  tables  were  loaded 
with  books.  'Ah  !'  the  reader  exclaims,*  then  there  was  some  light,  entertaining 
literature  to  relieve  the  Sabbath  intervals  between  porridge  and  preaching.'  Not 
so  fast,  good  reader.  I  found  every  volume  to  be  an  Evangelical  Magazine, 
warranted  not  to  contain  a  joke  in  fifty  years.  Hearing  there  was  an  accessible 
news-room,  I  rushed  in  search  of  it,  and  found  luckily  that  the  door  had  been  left 
unlocked  while  the  attendant  had  gone  to  the  kirk.  But  I  fared  no  better  there. 
Of  Scotch  newspapers,  there  were  plenty,  but  is  there  a  more  solemn  thing  on 
earth  than  a  Scotch  newspaper  ?  They  seem  all  to  be  edited  by  a  minister,  or  by 
somebody  who  is  afraid  of  the  minister.  My  eye  falling  on  two  Scotch  reviews, 
here,  thought  I,  there  will  be  at  least  something  critical, though  it  may  be  heavy; 
but,  alas  !  they  too  were  religious  reviews,  in  which  every  critic  seemed  to  be  also 
a  minister,  and  to  review  nothing  but  religious  books,  which  he  infallibly  con- 
sidered the  best  of  possible  performances.  All  ministers  in  Scotland  must  be 
clever,  for  whatever  they  do  or  don't  do  seems  alike  excellent  beyond  any  English 
measure.  As  nothing  could  be  made  of  the  news  room  I  tried  the  windows ;  but 
not  a  vessel  moved  on  the  Tay,  or  a  vehicle  through  the  street.  Yes,  there  was 
one — a  hearse ;  from  which  I  learned  that  a  Scotchman  dead  enjoyed  the  privilege 
of  a  one-horse  chaise  on  a  Sunday— denied  to  the  living,  who  would  no  doubt  much 
better  enjoy  it. 

It  was  a  privilege  to  me  go  to  Dundee,  as  it  afforded  me  the  opportunity  of 
hearing  the  Rev.  George  GilfiUan  preach — an  opportunity  I  did  not  fail  to 
embrace.  At  any  time  I  would  go  a  journey  to  hear  a  minister  preach  who  has 
admitted  Emerson  to  his  pulpit,  which  Gilfillau  did,  for  Emerson  lectured  in  his 
chapel  when  in  Dundee.     But,  in  this  instance,  curiosity  to  hear  Gilfillau  himself, 


THE  REASONER.  19] 


for  his  own  sake,  was  to  ine  a  great  attraction.  He  appeared  taller  in  the  pulpit 
than  on  the  platform  in  Exeter  Hall.  His  personal  appearance  is  much  in  his 
favour  when  in  his  gown.  He  looked  to  me  like  what  I  supposed  Samuel  to  have 
looked,  when  a  young  man.  I  have  heard  nothing  like  his  preaching  sin.-e  I  hesrd 
Ebenezer  Elliot  make  speeches  to  the  Scribes  and  Pharisees  of  the  Slieffis-d 
Mechanics'  Institution.  But  Elliot  had  the  fire  of  the  prophet  and  the  sublimity 
too;  Gilfillan  has  certainly  intervals  of  inspiration,  but  they  are  varied  and  marred 
by  a  pronunciation  that  would  be  fatal  to  any  order  of  advocacy  to  which  men 
show  less  indulgence  than  they  do  to  religious  advocacy.  There  were  passages  in 
his  sermon,  which,  if  one  might  take  the  liberty  he  takes  in  his  Portrait  Galleries, 
one  should  describe  as  a  cross  between  a  railway  whistle  and  the  sailors'  whoop, 
when  that  vociferous  fraternity  turn  the  capstan  in  concert.  Anxious  as  I  was  to 
hear  all,  there  was  much  that  I  could  not  possibly  make  out,  and  some  of  the  con- 
gregation owned  to  me  to  experiencing  equal  difficulty. 

The  text  he  took,  which  at  this  distance  of  time  I  cannot  quote,  was  one  from 
which  he  proposed  to  preach  three  sermons,  turning  upon  three  propositions — 
1.  O/GoA.  2.  By  God.  3.  To  God.  Certainly  the  Scriptures  will  not  soon  be 
exhausted,  if  this  mode  of  preaching  from  them  becomes  universal.  The  chapel 
has  a  pleasant  aspect  in  the  interior.  A  dome  in  the  centre,  painted  of  the  unholy 
colour  of  light  blue,  reflects  a  mild  and  not  at  all  a  *  dim  religious  '  light  over  the 
gathering.  The  majority  of  the  gallery  occupants  were  young  people,  who  looked 
remarkably  cheerful  for  miserable  sinners.'  Some  of  the  lasses  wore  cerulean 
veils,  and  their  fair  faces  and  bright  eyes,  full  of  innocence  and  purity,  were 
enough  to  make  an  observer  disbelieve  in  original  sin  for  a  month.  But  the  place 
was  a  striking  illustration  how  much  a  little  science  would  improve  Dundee  divi- 
nity. The  day  was  hot  and  every  window  was  closed,  and  not  a  ventilator  to  be 
seen  or  felt  anywhere.  Many  seemed  distressed  before  the  close,  and  short  coughs 
from  weak  lungs  began  to  be  heard.  I  suppose  the  poor  creatures  took  it  for 
spiritualisation — me  it  oppressed  as  a  disagreeable  and  injurious  animalisation, 
such  as  the  sanitary  reformers  are  now  happily  banishing  from  tailors'  workshops, 
and  even  courts  and  alleys.  Some  told  me  that  the  morning  sermon  related  to  us. 
The  one  I  heard  seemed  to  be  directed  at  us.  The  reverend  preacher  quoted  a 
modern  infidel  writer,  but  1  could  not  guess  who,  nor  did  I  ever  meet  with  what 
was  quoted  from  him.  I  went  to  hear  what  1  had  to  contend  against  in  Dundee, 
and  I  came  away  comforted.  The  discourse  was  at  us,  and  about  us,  and  heddx  us, 
and  around  and  over  and  under  us,  but  never  seemed  to  touch  us.  While  this  sort 
of  preaching  continues  we  shall  be  safe  enough.  It  neither  reaches  those  with  us, 
nor  instructs  nor  arms  those  against  us,  and  we  may  go  on  explaining  our  case  in 
peace — not  being  even  called  upon  for  a  defence,  by  the  way.  Our  course  is  yet 
onward  without  digression.  The  enemy  shows  no  front  of  battle.  Let  us  take 
care  that  we  improve  the  season  of  peace,  which  will  not  last  for  ever. 
Another  notice  will  complete  the  memorandums  of  Dundee. 

G.  J.  HOLYOAKE. 

ENGLISH    EDITION    OF    GALL'S    WORKS. 


The  want  of  an  English  translation  of  Gall's  '  Physiology  of  the  Brain  '  has  long 
been  keenly  felt  by  British  Phrenologists.  We  can  hardly  doubt  that,  had  this 
work  been  rendered  available  to  the  English  reader  at  the  period  of  its  publication 
in  France,  it  would  long  since  have  been  generally  recognised  among  us  as  the 


192  THE  REASONER. 


true  and  only  physiology  of  the  brain  ;  so  clear  and  philosophical,  so  beautiful,  so 
eloquent,  so  forcible  are  all  Gall's  descriptions  and  reasonings,  and  so  numerous 
are  the  pi'oofs  he  adduces  of  the  several  organs.  But  even  now,  above  half  a  cen- 
tury since  their  discovery,  the  anatomy  of  Gall  has  indeed  begun  to  be  taught  in 
the  medical  schools  in  addition  to,  yet  not,  as  I  conceive  it  ought  to  be,  to  the 
entire  exclusion  of  the  antiquated  and  barbarous  sliciugs  and  exhibition  of  various 
parts,  under  the  fanciful  and  meaningless  names  required  by  the  examiners  at  the 
different  colleges ;  such  as  the  striated  body,  semicircular  band,  optic  bed,  camel's 
foot,  black  place,  lyre,  pen,  &c.,  &c.;  while  his  physiology  is  only  partially  ad- 
mitted by  some,  and  by  others  totally  ignored  or  repudiated. 

Deeply  impressed  with  these  considerations,  I  made  a  careful  translation  of 
Gall's  work,  in  six  volumes,  8vo.,  some  years  ago,  but  have  hitherto  been  deterred 
by  the  expense  in  bringing  it  out.  Latterly,  however,  I  have  been  9o  strongly 
urged  to  publish  it  by  subscription,  that  I  have  determined  to  do  so  as  soon  as  I 
have  obtained  subscribers  enough,  at  two  guineas  a  copy,  to  cover  a  reasonable 
proportion  of  the  outlay  ;  compressing  the  whole  into  two  handsome  8vo.  volumes, 
in  a  clear  bold  type,  with  the  addition  of  an  epitome  of  the  Anatomy,  not  included 
in  Gall's  8vo.  edition,  and  a  supplement  containing  a  notice  of  the  organs  added 
by  Dr.  Spurzheim  and  others ;  and  incorporating  with  the  letter-press  wood-cuts 
of  all  the  plates  referred  to  in  the  body  of  the  work  that  have  hitherto  been  pub- 
lished exclusively  in  folio,  with  the  quarto  edition,  in  a  form  so  expensive  as  to  be 
entirely  beyond  the  reach  of  the  riiajority  of  readers.  I  shall  thus,  I  hope,  render 
my  translation  in  every  way  worthy  of  the  great  original ;  and  I  trust  that  every 
phrenologist — every  cerebral  physiologist  will  co-operate  with  me  in  bringing  this 
magnificent  work  fairly  before  the  English  public,  important  as  it  is  to  the  medical 
man,  to  the  lawyer,  to  the  physiologist ;  important,  that  is,  to  every  one  who  mSy 
be  called  upon  to  treat  or  to  legislate  upon  a  case  of  disordered  intellect;  indis- 
pensable to  him  who  would  study  the  source  of  the  moral  and  intellectual  faculties, 
the  conditions  of  their  manifestation,  and  the  mode  of  discovering  their  organs, 

Edmond  S.  Symes, 

[Those  of  our  readers  disposed  to  take  a  copy  or  copies,  will  oblige  by  intimating 
the  same,  sending  name  and  address  at  their  earliest  convenience,  to  Mr.  Symes, 
77,  Grosvenor  Street,  London, — Ed,] 


MR.    HOLYOAKE'S    LECTURES. 


DuEiNG  the  past  week  Mr.  Holyoake  has  lectured  in  South  Shields  and  New- 
castle-upon-Tyne. The  Wesleyan  Conference,  which  is  being  assembled  in  that 
town,  offered  an  unusual  opportunity  for  useful  discussion  ;  but,  though  an  army 
of  soldiers  of  the  cross  were  present,  none  could  be  induced  to  do  battle  for  Zion. 
A  friend,  well  known  to  the  rationalists  of  Whitehaven,  has  died  suddenly  in  the 
town.  When  taken  to  buiial,  the  service  was  refused  on  account  of  the  liberality 
of  his  opinions,  which  has  produced  much  excitement  in  the  town.  Added  to  that 
accasion  by  the  late  magisterial  decision,  Mr.  Holyoake  has  gone  down  to  White- 
haven to  deliver  lectures  on  the  subject.  Lectures  for  Tuesday  and  Wednesday 
evenings  of  this  week  have  been  announced  to  be  delivered  in  the  Theatre. 


THE  REASONER.  193 


(Syamixutiaxx  at  tl)t  \BrtS9. 

Operations  of  the  Religious  Tract  Society. — We  extract  the  following 
from  the  speech  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Saifery,  delivered  at  a  meeting  held  in  the 
Merchants'  Hall,  Glasgow,  Bailie  Gourlay  in  the  chair: — The  rev.  gentleman 
began  by  remarking  on  the  extraordinary  progress  of  the  London  Tract  Society. 
In  the  first  year  of  its  existence,  the  income  of  the  Society  was  £467 ;  last  year, 
its  income,  including  the  proceeds  of  its  sales,  exceeded  £60,000;  in  the  first  year 
of  its  history  the  Society  issued  200,000  tracts  in  one  language;  last  year  it  issued 
20,887,064  tracts  and  books  in  110  languages,  making  a  total  of  549,000,000  tracts 
and  book  sissued  since  the  Society  commenced  its  operations.  Yet,  lastyear,  the  issues 
of  the  infidel  press  in  London  alone  amounted  to  30,000,000  publications,  so  that  while 
this  society  was  the  only  one  raising  anything  like  a  bulwark  against  that  flood-tide 
of  evil  which  threatened  to  engulph  the  land,  its  issues  were  10,000,000  behind 
the  infidel  press  of  London.  And  infidels  wer^  not  only  multiplying  their  publi- 
cations, but  they  were  adapting  those  publications  to  all  the  various  orders  of  men. 
For  the  vulgar  and  profane  they  had  a  literature  gross,  sensual,  and  revolutionary, 
but  for  the  educated  and  refined  they  had  a  bland  and  serpentine  scepticism.  Mr. 
Safi"ery  then  described  in  detail  many  of  the  plans  by  which  infidels  were  endea- 
vouring to  disseminate  their  pernicious  doctrines,  and  quoted  from  an  infidel 
publication  a  sublime  eulogy  upon  the  Sacred  Volume,  which  was  only  introduced 
by  the  writer  as  the  prelude  to  an  insidious  attack  upon  the  Divine  authority  of  the 
volume,  which  he  afi'ected  to  admire.  Mr.  Safifery  also  alluded  to  the  large  number 
of  shops  open  on  Sabbath  days  as  well  as  other  days  for  the  exclusive  sale  of  infidel 
publications,  and  to  the  extensive  circulation  of  those  works.  In  Manchester  alone 
a  monthy  atheistical  publication  attained  a  regular  sale  of  20,000  copies.  And  it 
was  alarming  to  find  that  infidels  were  pushing  to  a  great  extent  the  gratuitous 
distribution  of  tracts.  Some  time  since,  when  he  (Mr.  Saffery)  was  going  from 
London  to  Norwich,  there  was  in  the  same  carriage  a  gentleman  with  a  bundle  of 
tracts  in  his  hand,  and  by  his  side  a  large  bag,  from  which  he  replenished  his  sup 
plies  as  they  became  exhausted.  At  every  station  he  threw  out  some  of  these 
tracts,  and  in  the  course  of  the  journey  he  presented  one  to  him  (Mr.  S.)  He 
imagined  it  to  be  a  religious  tract,  but  on  looking  at  it  was  much  struck  at  finding 
that  it  broadly  and  boldly  advocated  atheism,  as  the  only  antidote  to  the  fear  of 
death.  In  answer  to  an  inquiry  which  he  made,  he  was  informed  that  all  the  tracts 
which  had  been  distributed  at  the  stations  and  elsewhere  were  of  the  same  character 
He  asked  the  gentleman  what  object  he  could  have  in  circulatin-g  tracts  of  such 
a  tendency,  and  in  course  of  conversation  he  received  this  reply  : — '  We  shall  never 
be  able  to  overthrow  the  institutions  of  this  country,  so  long  as  they  are  guarded 
by  your  Christianity.'  When  at  Irvine,  last  week,  he  was  told  by  a  clergyman  there 
that  even  in  that  small  town  the  gratuitous  circulation  of  infidel  tracts  had  come 
under  his  observation.  Entering  the  house  of  a  member  of  his  congregation  he 
found  two  tracts,  not  only  of  an  infidel  tendency,  but  grossly  immoral ;  and  on 
inquiry,  he  found  that  they  had  been  left  by  a  pedlar,  who  was  in  the  habit  of  leaving 
a  tract  with  every  one  who  purchased  from  him.  In  British  India  there  was  at 
the  present  time  a  spirit,  of  inquiry  abroad,  and  a  heaving  of  the  public  mind, 
preparatory  to  the  casting  off  of  ancient  superstitions.  Infidels  were  observing 
the  crisis,  and  were  diligently  improving  it,  by  distributing  their  publications  in 
thousands  and  tens  of  thousands.  The  very  day  after  the  Exhibition  was  opened,  he 
was  accosted  by  a  gentleman  in  French,  who  handed  him  a  tract  in  French,  which 


*194  THE  REASONER. 


he  took  home  in  the  impression  that  the  gentleman  was  one  of  the  Christian 
foreigners  to  whom  the  Society  had  given  tracts  for  distribution.  The  title  of  the 
tract  was,  '  There  is  no  God  but  Nature,'  and  the  substance  of  it  was  this — the 
impulses  of  nature  are  God's  voice  in  man,  and  obedience  to  his  passions  is  his 
first  and  highest  duty. — Glasgow  Chronicle,  July  23. 

The  '  ATHENi:uM's  '  Estimate  of  Robert  Owen. — We  are  reminded  by  the 
printed  petitions  of  the  House  of  Parliament  of  the  continued  existence  and 
activity  of  Mr.  Robert  Owen.  It  is  now  nearly  fifty  years  since  this  enthusiastic 
reformer  undertook  the  management  of  Lanark  Mills.  The  efiiects  produced  there 
in  less  than  ten  years  on  a  somewhat  rude  and  apparently  intractable  race  by  the 
wise  and  kindly  policy  pursued  towards  them,  made,  as  soon  as  they  were  generally 
known,  a  great  sensation  among  the  advocates  of  popular  education.  Few  men 
have  ever  received  more  flattering  caresses  from  princes  and  statesmen  than  were 
for  some  years  lavished  on  the  successful  manager  of  the  Scotch  cotton-mills  : 
we  may  also  add,  that  perhaps  equally  few  of  those  who  have  really  conferred 
benefits  on  mankind  have  suffered  greater  neglects  in  their  old  age  than  have 
fallen  to  his  share.  Yet,  nothing  seems  to  shake  the  benevolent  reformer's  con- 
fidence in  his  peculiar  theories.  What  he  told  the  world  thirty  years  ago,  he  now 
repeats  to  the  Parliament  of  England.  He  has,  he  says,  discovered  the  one  social 
panacea — the  certain  cure  for  '  ignorance,  poverty,  disunion,  vice,  crime,  and  their 
attendant  miseries :'  and  this  discovery  he  offers  to  lay  before  a  committee  of 
*  scientific  and  experienced  men  of  business  in  the  various  great  departments  of 
life.'  Scientific  and  practical  men  may  smile  at  his  proposal : — knowing  that 
Mr.  Owen's  peculiar  plans  and  ideas  have  been  long  before  the  world — that  the 
latter  have  undergone  twenty  years  of  popular  discussion,  and  that  the  former 
have  been  practically  tried  in  a  score  of  places  in  England,  Ireland,  and  America, 
with  the  universal  result  of  failure.  But  when  these  points  are  remembered  to 
his  discredit,  it  should  not  be  forgotten  that  we  owe  to  his  fervour  and  philanthropy 
our  present  system  of  infant  training— and  that  to  him  in  a  great  measure  is  to 
be  ascribed  the  more  humane  and  reasonable  methods  of  teaching  which  distin- 
guish our  present  schools  from  those  of  the  last  generation.  There  is  still  a  debt 
of  justice  due  to  Mr.  Owen.  We  have  no  wish  to  see  Parliament  grant  a  commis- 
sion of  inquiry  into  his  social  and  philosophical  theories — that  they  are  inappli- 
cable is  in  part  at  least  shown  by  their  uniform  non-success  :  yet  we  cannot  but 
admire  the  consistent  enthusiasm  which  has  outlived  the  countenance  of  the  great, 
the  sympathy  of  the  many,  and  the  sterling  devotion  of  the  few.  Mr.  Owen  gave 
a  new  value  to  'kindness  '  as  an  element  of  training;  and  when  ever  he  quits  the 
scene  he  will  leave  the  world  gentler,  and  in  some  things  wiser,  than  he  found  it. 
— AthencBum,  July  19,  1851. 

CiKCDLATioN  OF  Voltaire's  Works. — '  If,'  says  the  AssemhUe, '  a  new  man  had 
been  found  sufficiently  intelligent  to  understand  how  that  coup  d'etat  was  to  the 
advantage  of  liberty,  and  sufficiently  bold  to  attempt  it,  there  would  have  been  a 
chance,  though  not  a  certainty,  of  success,  for  the  minds  of  men,  it  must  not  be 
forgotten,  were  deeply  prejudiced.  The  evil  was  in  the  prevailing  ideas.  The 
movement  of  the  opposition  was  anti-religious,  at  least  as  much  as  anti-monarchical. 
From  1817  to  1824,  31,000  copies  of  the  works  of  Voltaire  had  been  published, 
24,500  of  J.  J.  Rousseau,  and  10,000  of  Pigault-Lebrun.  They  were  glorious 
times  for  M.  Touquet ;  and  Paul  Louis  Courier,  as  well  as  M.  Beranger,  had 
attacked  religion  as  well  as  the  Monarchy.' 


I 


THE  REASONER. 


195 


^r.  ?|er6ert  ^^tnttt'S  Cficorg  at  Human  ?|ajjpinc^3/ 


BY    F.    B.    BARTON. 


' Happiness,'  says  Mr.  Spencer, ' consists 
in  the  due  satisfaction  of  the  desires ;' 
and  that  there  can  be  no  satisfaction 
unless  man  is  in  harmony  with  his  po- 
sition. In  proporiion,  then,  as  man's 
desires  are  few  and  simple  is  the  proba- 
bility of  the  attainment  of  happiness. 
But  in  proportion  as  his  desires  become 
various  and  complex,  and  indefinitely  in- 
creasing, will  the  attainment  of  happiness 
be,  not  only  difficult,  but  impossible. 

A  man  of  undeveloped  mind — a  savage 
or  a  peasant  in  a  civilised  country — has 
few  and  simple  desires,  and  they  are 
easily  satisfied;  this,  however,  is  not  so 
true  of  the  peasant  as  the  savage.  But 
in  proportion  as  the  mind  becomes 
cultivated  and  developed — as  the  feelings, 
the  imagination,  and  the  reason  become 
refined — as  the  capacities  enlarge  and 
knowledge  increases — -the  desires  will 
increase  in  number  and  complexity,  and 
as  fast  as  one  desire  is  gratified  another 
will  arise,  and  so  on  indefinitely.  Hence 
the  higher  the  state  of  mental  development, 
the  higher  the  state  of  civilisation,  the 
greater  the  difficulty  in  satisfying  the 
unceasing  desires,  and  the  greater  the 
discontent  and  misery. 

Consequently,  civilised  man,  whose 
mind  is  in  a  state  of  constant  development, 
can  never  be  in  harmony  with  his  po- 
sition (as  a  savage  or  peasant  may  be), 
because  his  wants  and  desires  indefinitely 
increase  ;  and  the  more  they  are  gratified 
the  more  the  J  increase.  He  is  always,  in  his 
imagination  and  desires,  in  advance  of  his 
circumstances.  '  Man  never  is,  but  al- 
ways to  be,  blest.^  In  fact,  from  the  very 
nature  of  man  as  a  progressive  being  (as 
is  the  supposition),  he  must  always  be 
in  a  state  of  progression.  He  can  never 
be  satisfied,  never  come  to  a  stajid  still; 
he  must  ever  be  seeking  to  advance,  and 
consequently  can  never  be  happy,  as  he 
can  never  satisfy  all  his  desires,  never 
become  completely  in  harmony  with  his 
position. 

Hence  it  is,  that  seeing  the  hopeless- 
ness of  attaining  satisfaction  and  happi- 
ness in  his  present  state  of  existence, 

*  This  article  relates  to  a  work  by  Mr. 
Herbert  Spencer,  which  all  the  press  has 
agreed  to  call  '  able,'  entitled  '  Social  Sta- 
tics.'    Published  by  Chapman. 


man  is  found  almost  universally  indulg- 
ing the  hope  of  a  future  life  after  death, 
in  which  all  his  desires  shall  be  gratifi^ed 
and  he  shall  be  in  perfect  harmony  with 
his  position.  Anexpectation,which,jadg- 
ing  from  our  experience  in  man's  con- 
stitution, we  must  consider  altogether 
visionary. 

Again :  'Happiness,'  we aretold.'con- 
sists  in  the  due  exercise  of  all  the 
faculties.  Man  must,  therefore,  to  be 
happy,  have  liberty  to  exercise  aU  his 
faculties,  so  that,  in  so  doing,  he  does 
not  interfere  with  the  similar  liberty  of 
others.  *  All  must  have  rights  to  liberty 
of  action,  hence  arises  necessarily  a 
limitation.'  Yes;  and  this  limitation 
must  necessarily  more  or  less  interfere 
with  perfect  liberty  of  action  (which  is 
thus  proved  not  to  exist),  and  conse- 
quently with  the  full  gratification  of  the 
desires.  A  cannot  have  full  liberty  to 
gratify  all  his  desires,  because  if  he  has, 
he  interferes  with  the  liberty  and  desires 
of  C  and  D;  consequently,  A's  happi- 
ness is  interfered  with  and  diminished 
by  C  and  D.  The  same  is  true  of  C's 
happiness  as  regards  A  and  D,  and  so 
on  as  regards  all  the  members  of  a  com- 
munity. 

Man,  whether  in  a  savage  or  civilised 
state,  appears  to  be  constituted  to  be 
more  or  less  selfish — i.e.,  to  consider  his 
own  interests  and  happiness  more  than 
those  of  others.  He  will,  therefore, 
more  or  less  interfere  with  the  desires 
and  happiness  of  others  in  order  to 
realise  his  own,  or  he  will  have  his 
own  desires  and  happiness  interfered 
with  by  others.  If  man's  selfishness  be 
denied,  or  it  be  supposed  to  be  in  course 
of  diminution — which  we  apprehend  it 
would  be  difficult  to  prove,  for  civilisa- 
tion, by  promoting  the  love  of  ease,  pro- 
motes selfishness — still  we  cannot  ima- 
gine a  highly-developed  mind,  with  many 
and  complex  desires,  having  no  desires  but 
those  which  he  can  gratify  without  inter- 
fereing  with  the  desires  of  others.  He 
must,  therefore,  feel  desires  which  he 
cannot  gratify  and  yet  cannot  eradicate; 
he  must, therefore,  practise  self-dinial2Lnd. 
make  sacrifices,  which  involve  more  or  less 
of  loss  and  pain,  and  so  far  his  happiness 
is  diminis/ied.  Again :  Mr,  Spencer  con- 
siders that  man  is  perpetually  tending 


196 


THE  REASONER. 


to  complete  harmony  with  his  position, 
which  he  will  ultimately  reach,  and 
thus  that 'evil  will  disappear.'  I  con- 
fess I  see  no  proof  of  this ;  the  proof 
lies  all  the  other  way.  There  is  one 
'great  fact,'  already  referred  to,  which 
upsets  this  position — that  a  state  of  high 
mental  development,  the  characteristic  of 
civilisation,  is  always  found  accompanied 
by  a  perpetually-increasing  amount  of 
wants  and  desires :  so  that  desire  and 
imagination  are  ever  in  advance  of  the 
position  attained,  and  consequently  con- 
tent, to  say  nothing  of  happiness,  can 
never  be  realised.  The  '  complete  hai*- 
mony'  supposed,  therefore,  can  never 
exist. 

The  instances  adduced  of  man's '  adap- 
tability '  to  circumstances  are,  to  say 
the  least,  very  unsatisfactory,  and  show 
rather  a  deterioration  than  any  approach 
to  '  perfectibility.'  It  is  said  that '  man 
becomes  fleet  and  agile  in  the  wilderness, 
and  inert  in  the  city — attains  acute 
vision,  hearing,  and  scent  when  his 
habits  of  life  call  for  them,  and  gets  these 
senses  blunted  when  they  are  less  need- 
ful ;'  i.e.,  man,  in  a  state  of  civilisation, 
loses  his  natural  powers,  and  so  becomes 
deficient  and  mutilated — a  sufficient 
proof  to  me  that  he  has  transgressed  a 
law  of  nature,  and  is  suffering  the  punish- 
ment of  his  disobedience.  The  'agility 
of  the  wilderness '  induces  vigorous 
health ;  the  '  inertness  of  the  city  '  leads 
to  feebleness  of  constitution  and  pre- 
mature decrepitude.  It  is  true,  necessity 
sharpens  man's  ingenuity,  and  occasions 
the  invention  of  contrivances  to  supply 
the  loss  or  defect  of  natural  powers. 
Thus  the  optician  furnishes  us  with 
glasses,  the  dentist  with  teeth,  the  wig- 
maker  with  hair,  and  the  deterioration 
of  our  locomotive  powers  is  supplied  by 
vehicles  and  railways.  But  surely  no 
one  will  contend — like  the  fox  in  the 
fable,  who,  having  lost  his  Uu\,  wished 
to  prove  it  was  better  to  be  without  one 
— that  these  contrivances  are  adequate 
compensation  for  the  loss  of  the  natural 
powers  ;  loss  and  inconvenience  have  been 
sustained,  which,  as  they  lessen  enjoy- 
ment, must  diminish  happiness.  The 
loss  or  deficiency  of  natural  powers  being 
granted,  it  is  admitted  that  man  is  in 
process  of  deterioi-rjon.  The  iusta)ices 
of  the  drunkard,  (lie  opium-eater,  the 
smoker,  and  snufl'-taker  are  still  more 
unfortunate,  and  show  the  weakness  of 
the   foundation  on  which   the  author's 


theory  rests.  These  instances  are  ad- 
duced to  show  *  how  the  system  gradually 
acquires  power  to  resist  what  is  noxious.' 
Nothing,  according  to  the  authority  of 
physiologists  and  the  testimony  of  ex- 
perience, can  be  more  erroneous.  It  is 
true,  that  the  irritating  effects  of  unna- 
tural stimulants  at  length  cease  to  be 
felt  at  those  avenues,  whose  warning 
voice  has  been  neglected ;  but  the 
noxious  agent  is  gradually  affecting  the 
constitution,  till  disease  supervenes,  and 
death  vindicates  the  violated  law  of 
nature.  This  is  notoi'iously  the  case 
with  the  confirmed  drunkard  and  opium- 
eater.  Smoking  and  snuffing,  though 
not  so  noxious,  cannot  but  be  injurious  ; 
for  nature  expostulates  on  their  first 
introduction  into  the  system.  The  same 
is  true  of  all  unnatural  stimulants.  If 
there  are,  as  is  generally  insisted  upon 
by  physiologist?,  certain  conditions 
under  which  alone  vigorous  health  can 
be  realised,  man,  although  he  may  by 
habit  blunt  his  perceptions  of  the 
noxious  influences  silently  at  work,  can 
never  be  placed  in  circumstances  at 
variance  with  these  conditions  without 
suffering  more  or  less  in  his  health  and 
duration  ot  life.  I  refer  Mr.  Spencer 
to  some  striking  instances  against  his 
theory  of  adaptability  adduced  by  Dr. 
J.  Johnson,  in  his  work  on  '  Change  of 
Aiz','  when  speaking  of  'goitre  and  cretan- 
ism,'  'the  pellagra,'  and  the  horrible 
effects  of  the  malaria  of  the  Roman 
marshes  on  the  native  inhabitants.  It 
deserves  notice,  also,  that  the  Americans 
of  the  United  States  are  generally  an 
unhealthy  people,  and  do  not  seem  yet 
acclimatised  after  at  least  two  centuries. 
I  would  especially  call  Mr.  Spencer's 
attention  to  the  pi-evalence  of  ill-health, 
disease,  and  premature  death,  under  our 
present  civilisation,  as  facts  strongly  at 
variance  with  his  theory  of  adaptability. 
The  evils  are  justly  considered  by  physio- 
logists as  the  natural  results  of  the  viola- 
tion of  the  laws  of  nature,  which  laws, 
though  they  may  apparently  be  evaded 
for  a  time,  are  sure  ultimately  to  vin- 
dicate their  power,  despite  the  alleged 
influence  of  time  and  habit.  Man  is 
constituted  for  constant pht/sical  activity, 
which,  by  the  law  of  nature,  supposes 
but  little  mental  exercise,  for  they  are 
not  found  to  be  consistent.  Civilisation 
runs  directly  counter  to  this  law  of  man's 
being,  for  its  characteristics  are  seden- 
tary employment  and  mental  application, 


THE  REASONED. 


197 


the  evil  efifects  of  which  are  increased 
by  luxurious  diet  and  unnatural  stimu- 
lants. Instead,  therefore,  of  vigorous 
health  and  longevity  (see  Captain  Cook's 
account  of  the  New  Zealanders),  we 
have  feeble  constitutions,  innumerable 
diseases,  and  premature  death.  The 
grand  characteristic  and  error  of  civili- 
sation is  the  development  of  the  nervous 
system  at  the  expense  of  the  muscular 
system — ^just  the  reverse  of  what  nature 
intended  in  framing  the  human  consti- 
tution. The  natural  result  is  an  exces- 
sive susceptibility  of  the  brain  and  ner- 
vous system,  which  occasions,  not  only  a 
long  train  of  bodily  disorders,  but  a 
great  number  of  mental  maladies. 
Hence  nervousness,  hypochondria,  in- 
sanity, and  suicide,  which  are  prominent 
characteristics  of  civilised  life,  and 
which  appear  to  be  on  the  increase. 
Hence,  also,  irritability  of  temperament, 
so  fruitful  in  domestic  and  social  dis- 
orders ;  unnatural  crimes,  as  mothers 
poisoning  their  children  and  wives  their 
husbands ;  hence  the  insane  craving 
after  excitement,  and  the  love  of  the 
horrible  and  the  terrible;  hence  ex- 
traordinary schemes  and  extravagant 
theories;  hence  many  of  the  religious 
and  political  movements,  which  savour 
strongly  of  monomania.  All  these  evils 
seem  evidently  traceable  to  excessive 
nervous  susceptibility,  which  all  the 
influences  of  civilisation  combine  to 
create  and  encourage.  A  striking  proof 
how  contrary  are  the  general  influences 
of  civilisation  to  the  laws  of  nature,  so 
far  as  health  of  mind  and  body  are  con- 
cerned, is  found  in  the  fact,  that  civili- 
sation not  only  makes  men  morbidly 
sensitive  to  natural  impressions,  but 
creates  moral  and  social  evils  which  are 
still  more  intolerable  to  this  excessive 
susceptibility;  so  that  a  double  amount  of 
mischief  is  created.  It  is  as  though  a 
man  were  not  only  divested  of  clothing 
but  denuded  of  his  cuticle,  and  his  more 
sensitive  cutis  constantly  exposed  to 
the  irritating  agency  of  briars  and 
nettles.  1  am  aware  that  it  will  here 
be  said,  that  the  evils  of  man's  present 
position  are  admitted,  but  that  that  does 
not  afiect  the  argument  in  hand,  as  he 
is  in  a  transition  state,  gradually  on  his 
way  to  a  complete  adaptation  to  his 
position,  and  that  all  the  evils  com- 
plained of  are  in  course  of  extinction. 
Of  this  I  am  sorry  to  say  I  can  see  no 
evidence,  but  quite  the  reverse.     Let  it 


be  remembered,  that  man  was  originally 
created,  as  our  author  admits,  in  har- 
mony with  his  position — that  he  lived 
in  accordance  with  the  laws  of  his  nature, 
and  lead  a  life  of  physical  activity  and 
of  simple  habits,  and  was  consequently 
healthy  and  contented — that,  in  course 
of  time,  he  forsook  the  habits  that  were 
in  accordance  with  his  constitution,  and 
adopted  habits  of  an  artificial  character 
that  were  contrary  to  the  'primary  and 
and  essential  laws  of  his  nature,  and 
consequently  became  genei-ally  un- 
healthy, discontented,  and  often  miser- 
able. 

He  has  gone  from  nature  to  art,  from 
health  to  disease,  from  contentment  to 
misery.  Does  this  look  anything  like  a 
gradual  progress  from  imperfection  to 
perfection  ?  Does  it  not  rather  look  like 
a  retrogression  from  good  to  evil  ?* 
What  probability  is  there  that  man 
will  ever  again  live  in  accordance  with 
those  laws  which,  whatever  modifications 
may  have  taken  place  in  his  constitution, 
cannot  be  violated  with  impunity,  as  he 
is  constantly  reminded  by  those  physical 
and  mental  sufierings  to  which  all  of 
every  class  in  civilised  life  are  more  or 
less  subject  ?  What  probability  is  there 
that  man  will  forsake  the  artificial,  the 
luxurious,  the  enervating,  for  the  simple, 
the  physical,  the  strengthening  ?  Is  it 
not  more  in  the  order  of  nature  that  he 
should  go  on  in  the  course  he  has 
adopted,  and  become  more  artificial, 
more  luxurious,  more  enervated — in 
other  words,  that  his  nervous  susceptibility 
will  increase,  and  thei'efore  the  numerous 
physical  and  moral  evils  that  flow  from 
tiidt  prolific  source,  when  all  the  agen- 
cies that  act  upon  this  susceptibility  are 
continually  on  the  increase  ?  There 
appears  to  me  to  be  abundant  evidence 
that  this  is  really  the  case.  When  was 
there  ever  more  cerebral  excitement, 
more  mental  application  and  anxiety — 
whenever  more  religious,  political,  and 
social  agitation — whenever  more  loud 
and  general  complaints  of  political  and 
social  evils — whenever  the  pressure  of 
excessive  population  more  severely  felt 
— whenever  more  pauperism  and  crime 
— whenever  more  violent  and  unnatural 
crimes — whenever  a  greater  repugnance 

*  We  readily  admit  that  civilisation  has 
many  advantages,  but  we  consider  that 
none  of  its  gifts  can  be  placed  in  competi- 
tion with  health  and  contentment. 


IDH 


THE  REASONER. 


to  physical  exertion — a  greater  inven- 
tion and  application  of  machinery  to 
supersede  manual  labour,  or  more  con- 
trivances for  superseding  physical  exer- 
cise —  whenever  a  greater  desire  to 
ohtnin  wealth  in  the  shortest  and  easiest 
method,  by  speculation,  by  gambling,  in 
order  to  enjoy  ease  and  luxury  ?  Never 
surely  was  there  a  time  when  more 
general  and  active  agencies  were  at  work 
for  exalting  the  nervous  sensibility  and 
lessening  the  physical  activity. 

All  medical  writers  agree  that  the 
nervous  susceptibility  of  the  human  sys- 
tem is  greatly  on  the  increase,  that  conse- 
quently neverdid  nervous  disorders  more 
prevail,  or  more  dyspepsia,  more  hypo- 
chondria. Never  were  medical  men 
more  numerous,  whether  physicians, 
surgeons,  dentists,  oculists,  aurists,  &c.; 
never  more  chemists,  never  more  quack 
medicines  sold.  Hospitals,  asylums  for 
the  insane  and  idiotic,  for  the  deaf,  dumb, 
and  blind,  are  increasing — but  not  halt" 
so  fast  as  the  demand  for  them  is  in- 
creasing. 

All  these  facts  testify  to  the  increase 
of  disease.  This  will,  perhaps,  be  denied ; 
but,  independently  of  the  significant 
signs  just  enumerated,  it  is  admitted  by 
those  most  competent  to  form  a  judg- 
ment on  the  subject,  that  if  some 
diseases — as  leprosy,  the  sweating  sick- 
ness, &c. — have  disappeared,  new  ones 
have  arisen,  as  that  Protean  and  com- 
prehensive disorder  termed  nervousness, 
also  dyspepsia,  cholera,  influenza,  dis- 
eases of  the  heart — hence  sudden  deaths 
are  greatly  on  the  increase.  Even  the 
much-vaunted  vaccination  gives  evidence 
of  diminished  power  to  ward  ofif  the 
small-pox,  which  is  now  often  fatal  to 
persons  of  middle  age  as  well  as  to  chil- 
dren. 

I  know  it  will  be  urged  that  the  pro- 
bability of  lite  has  increased.  I  have 
not  space  fully  to  discuss  this  point,  but 
can  only  express  my  doubt  of  the  vali- 
dity of  the  evidence  on  which  this  fact 
rests.  It  is  not  fair  to  come  to  a  decision 
on  this  point  from  comparing  the  tables 
of  deaths  very  accurately  kept  in  the 
present  time  with  those  of  a  period  when 
they  were  not  kept  at  all,  or  very  im- 
perfectly kept,  it  is  well-known  that 
tables  of  mortality  kept  at  different 
places  differ  considerably.*    Be  this  as 

*  Dr.  Southwood  Smith  considers  '  it 
may  be   presumed,  that  the  duration   of 


it  may,  if  we  grant  that  the  duration  of 
life  has  increased,  it  may  yet  be  true,  as 
Dr.  J.  Johnson  observes,  that  disease 
has  increased ;  for  '  certain  kinds  of 
maladies  may  affect  great  multitudes  of 
people  without  materially  abridging  the 
span  of  human  life.'  Persons  may  live 
a  long  period  under  chronic  disorders 
and  under  the  constant  or  frequent  endur- 
ance of  much  suffering.  This  is  true  of 
nervous  disorders,  which  yet  involve  an 
infinite  amount  of  mental  distress  and 
physical  discomfort  and  debility.  It  is 
surely,  generally  speaking,  better  to  be 
cut  off  in  the  prime  of  life  by  a  plague  or 
by  war  than  to  linger  through  many 
years  of  pain  and  suffering,  a  torment  to 
one's  self  and  a  source  of  distress  to  all 
one's  relations  and  friends. 

So  far,  then,  from  there  being  any 
proof  of  man's  progressing  to  a  state  in 
complete  harmony  with  his  position, 
and  of  the  ultimate  removal  of  evil, 
there  appears  to  be  overwhelming  evi- 
dence that  man,  from  the  increasing 
susceptibility  of  his  constitution  and  the 
increasing  evils  and  difficulties  of  his 
circumstances,  must  become  more  and 
more  at  variance  with  his  position, 
and  that  evil  and  misery  will  conse- 
quently become  aggravated.  The  law  of 
nature  respecting  evil  appears  to  be,  not 
that  it  tends  to  disappear,  but  that  it 
merely  changes  its  character,  and  will, 
therefore,  always  continue  in  one  form 
or  an  other.  It  is  found,  also,  to  be  a  law 
of  nature  that  good  is  not  absolute,  but 
is  always  attended  with  some  evil.  How, 
then,  without  a  reversal  of  a  law  of 
nature,  can  we  expect  that  evil  can  pos- 
sibly disappear  ? 

The  only  way  to  diminish  evil  is  to 
lessen  man's  susceptibility  to  it.  This 
appears  to  be  man's  state  in  his  primitive 
position  of  physical  activity  and  simple 
habits,  to  which  there  is  no  probability 
that  he  will  return.  But,  under  civili- 
sation, with  increasing  evil  and  increas- 
ing susceptibility  to  it,  the  prospect 
before  us  is  evidently  that  of  the  increase, 
not  of  the  disappearance,  of  evil. 

I  should  feel  much  obliged  to  Mr. 
Spencer  if  he  will  solve  the  difficulties 
which  appear  to  me  to  attach  to  his 
theory  of  human  happiness. 

life  at  Rome,  1300  years  ago,  was  very 
much  the  same  as  it  is  throughout  Europe 
at  the  present  day.' — Philosofhy  of  Health. 
This  does  not  look  much  like  improvement. 


THE  REASONER.  199 


Our  ^3Iat(0rm. 

From  which  any  earnest  opponent  may  controvert  our  opinions,  and  from  which  any  may  expound  views 
not  coincident  with  our  own,  if  tending  to  the  Rationalisation  of  Theology. 

MR.  CHILTON'S  ANSWER  TO  HENRY  NORRINGTON. 


Sib, — In  replying,  in  compliance  with  your  wish,  to  Mr.  Henry  Norrington's 
letter  (ante,  No.  268),  in  which  he  charges  you  with  mistaking  Christianity,  I  must 
be  understood  as  doing  so  upon  its  merits,  and  without  reference  to  anything 
which  you  might  have  said  or  written  on  the  subject. 

The  Spirit  in  which  Mr,  N.'s  letter  is  dictated  is  all  that  could  be  desired;  but 
his  opinion  of  what  constitutes  Christianity  is,  to  me,  somewhat  incomprehensible. 
Mr.  N.  says  he  '  fears  you  sometimes  mistake  your  position,  and  confound  the  thing 
called  Christianity  with  the  sayings,  teachings,  and  actions  of  Christ.'  The  '  say- 
ings, teachings,  and  actions  of  Christ,'  as  recorded  in  the  New  Testament,  are  the 
only  grounds  that  exist  for  Christianity.  Out  of  the  New  Testament — as  in  the 
fragments  (thanks  to  Christians,  fragments  only)  of  Celsus,  Porphyry,  Julian,  &c, 
— Christ  cuts  but  a  very  sorry  figure.  'What  your  [the  editor's]  moral  objections 
to  Christianity  can  be  I  cannot  conceive,'  says  Mr.  Norrington.  '  The  spirit  of  all 
Christ's  teachings  is  pure  and  heavenly.  If  your  opinions  (continues  Mr.  N.)  are 
formed  by  what  is  said  of  Christ,  then  your  moral  objections  must  exist  in  great 
abundance.'  You,  I  presume,  like  every  one  else,  have  formed  your  opinions 
of  the  moral  value  of  Christ's  teachings  by  what  it  is  iaid  in  the  New  Testament 
Christ  taught.  Where  else  you  could  obtain  any,  or  better,  information  on  the 
subject,  I  do  not  know.  From  whence  did  Mr.  Norrington  obtain  the  ground  for 
his  belief  that  the  '  spirit  of  all  Christ's  teachings  is  pure  and  heavenly/  if  not 
from  the  New  Testament?  and  if,  from  the  same  source,  'moral  objections  in 
great  abundance  '  may  be  obtained,  are  not  you  (the  editor)  justified  in  teaching  that 
Christianity  is  a  worthless  thing  as  respects  this  world,  whatever  might  be  its 
value  as  respects  another,  in  which,  however,  you  have  no  faith  ? 

Mr.  Norrington  says, '  Christ  never  wrote  anything  for  posterity,  nor  commanded 
anything  to  be  written ;  but  he  left  behind  him  an  influence  and  spirit  that  admits 
of  eternal  progress,  and  modifies  all  external  institutions.'  I  am  not  aware  that 
Christ  ever  wrote  anything  for  his  contemporaries.  Now,  as  Christ  'never  wrote 
anything  for  posterity,'  it  is  manifest  that  all  we  can  know  of  him  or  his  teachings 
must  be  either  traditional  or  what  has  been  written  by  a  second  party.  The 
Church  of  Rome  professes  to  be  the  depository  of  certain  traditions  respecting 
Christ,  which  she  says  were  received  by  her  directly  from  the  apostles;  but  as 
Mr.  Norrington  says  Catholicism  is  not  Christianity,  I  shall  pass  them  over  as  of 
DO  value.  There  remains  then  only  the  writings  of  the  New  Testament  to  tell  us 
anything  of  Christ  or  his  teachings ;  and  if  the  validity  of  these  is  impugned — 
there  being  no  other  source  of  information  on  the  subject — there  is  at  once  an  end 
of  Christianity  as  a  moral  code,  owing  its  origin  to  a  man  called  Christ,  and  as 
being  God-intended  as  a  rule  of  life  for  this  world  and  as  a  passport  for  another 
life  to  come. 

Mr.  Norrington  says,  '  If  such  a  being  [as  Christ]  were  met  with  in  Grecian  or 
Roman  history  he  would  be  the  constant  object  of  laudation.  Then  why  refuse  him 
his  just  meed  of  praise  and  reverence  because  his  followers  have  deified  hxm, put  into 
his  mouth  words  that  he  never  spoke,  attributed  to  him  actions  that  he  never  performed, 
a>id  made  him  responsible  for  all  the  miserable  sophistries  and  dogmas  which  they  have 
invented?^   What  exclusive  source  of  information  on  this  subject  has  Mr.  Norring- 


200  THE  REASONES. 


ton,  that  he  speaks  so  .confidently  of  the  wholesale  adulteration  of  the  history  of 
Christ  as  contained  in  the  New  Testament?  Neither  Mr.  Norrington  nor  any 
one  else  has  a  right  to  coolly  ignore  important  statements  in  an  historical  or  semi- 
historical  work,  without  bringing  ample  evidence  justifying  such  a  course,  which 
Mr.  N.  has  not  done.  When  the  editor  calls  in  question  the  moral  value  of 
Christianity,  it  is  with  exclusive  reference  to  the  Christianity  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment :  it  is  neither  this  man's  view  nor  that  man's  view  of  what  Christianity  ought 
to  be,  but  his  own  view  of  what  it  is  made  to  be  by  those  who  had  a  personal  know- 
ledge of  Christ,  and  who  say  they  heard  and  saw  what  they  record ;  and  upon  this 
ground  Mr,  N.  himself  admits  there  exist  reasons  for  moral  objections  in  abun- 
dance. 

Mr.  Norrington  says  '  Catholicism  is  not  consistent  Christianity.'  What  is  con- 
sistent Christianity  ?  Is  there  any  such  thing — has  thereeverbeen— or  is  it  possible 
there  ever  could  be,  and  society  hang  together  ?  Mr.  N.  says  he  is  a  '  rationalist ' — 
are  rationalists  agreed  as  to  what  is  consistent  Christianity  ?  The  impression  on  my 
mind,  from  what  rationalistic  views  have  come  before  me,  is  that  rationalists  con- 
sider Christianity  to  be  a  name  which  men  are  at  liberty  to  give  to  any  metaphysical  or 
theological  opinions  they  may  hold,  provided  a  code  of  pure  morality  forms  one  of 
the  ingredients  in  the  scheme.  I  may  be  wrong,  and  should  like  to  be  set  right  if 
I  am  so.  I  should  like  to  know  what  essential  part  the  Christ  of  the  gospels  plays 
in  the  moral  code  of  a  rationalist,  and  what  claim  rationalists  have  to  the  title  of 
Christians.     Mr.  Norrington  would  oblige  by  explaining. 

In  conclusion,  I  would  remark  that  as,  in  estimating  the  moral  value  of  Chris- 
tianity, so  in  determining  its  most  perfect  type  amongst  existing  sects,  the  editor 
has  gone  to  the  epistles  and  gospels  to  learn  what  is  Christianity.  And  if,  as  a 
consequence  of  such  investigation,  he  considers  Catholicism  the  most  perfect  type 
of  New  Testament  Christianity,  I  have  no  doubt — for  I  have  never  heard  him  on 
the  subject — that  he  has  many  and  cogent  reasons  for  such  conclusion. 

July  21,  1851.  W.  Chilton. 


IRRELIGIOUS    BOOKS 


Sir, — I  read  with  great  pleasure  your  lecture  on  '  Irreligious  Books,'  reported 
in  the  Carlisle  Journal.  The  question  is  one  which  is  very  much  discussed  at  the 
councils  of  our  Mechanics'  Institution  here.  The  wrong  committed  by  a  I'ule  ex- 
cluding irreligious  books  is  not  confined  to  infidels,  but  extends  here  to  all  religious 
thinkers  who  are  in  the  minority — and  as  it  happens  that  one  class  has  the  major 
influence  at  the  Institution  at  one  time,  and  another  at  another  time,  the  whole  of 
the  religious  public,  betimes,  and  the  tSeculari&ts  aX  all  tiroes,  suffer  inconsequence. 
The  cause  of  much  of  this  is,  what  was  intended  as  a  plain  injunction  has  become 
quite  an  enigma — and  the  questions  of  what  are  religious  and  irreligious  books,  are 
the  most  difiicult  we  have  got  to  settle.  In  the  midst  of  this  a  new  light  has  broken 
in  upon  the  conscientious — namely,  that  although  privately  they  hold  a  certain 
book  religious,  yet,  as  the  rule  was  sanctioned  publicly,  it  would  be  unfair  to  intro- 
duce the  book  unless  they  found  the  public  would  let  it  pass  the '  Index  Expurga- 
torius,'  which  would  necessitate  a  public  meeting  over  the  head  of  a  great  propor- 
tion of  all  new  books.  Unfortunately  this  is  not  convenient,  and  because  one  can- 
not conveniently  have  his  book  adjudged,  he  and  society  lose  by  the  squaring  of 
his  conscience  to  this  clumsy  rule.  If  ever  there  was  a  drag  on  progress,  or  a 
weapon  fitted  to  cut  on  all  sides — enemies  and  friends — it  is  one  of  this  kind,  and 
will  surely  not  long  survive  the  growing  good  sense  of  all  classes.  S. 


THE  REASONER.  201 


RATIONALISM   AND  ITS  ASSURANCES. 


Sir, — While  hearing  you  lecture  in  Paisley,  the  following  thoughts  presented 
themselves  to  my  mind  more  forcibly  than  usual.  Beside  their  importance  to  my- 
self, I  find  they  are  objections  with  Roman  Catholics  to  the  Reasoner.  Your 
manner  of  treating  such  objections  would  be  desirable. 

How  can  any  one  deduce  a  certain  creed  of  morality  from  the  system  you  ad- 
vocate ?  Actions  have  enduring  and  infinite  effects :  human  powers  of  judging  them 
are  limited  and  transitory.  It  is  easy  to  advocate,  to  judge  according  to  capacity — 
not  so  easy  to  trust  the  worth  of  our  decisions.  To  me  it  is  plain,  if  the  effects 
of  every  action  be  infinite,  the  finite  adjudicator  has  no  time  to  calculate  its  worth 
or  weigh  its  comparative  value  with  an  immense  number  of  other  things  possible 
for  him  to  do;  and  therefore  he  can  never  arrive  at  a  satisfactory  conclusion.  So 
far  as  he  can  see,  a  number  of  actions  may  be  worthless,  yet  they  shall  so  modify 
futurity  that  posterity  may  pronounce  them  the  most  fortunate  events  that  could 
have  happened ;  while  others,  apparently  great  and  pompous,  lose  themselves  like 
rivers  in  sands. 

Is  he  not,  then,  who  is  led  by  faith,  happier  than  the  Rationalist  ?  He  who 
believes  the  infinite  God  alone  can  and  has  revealed  the  secret  of  morals  in  their 
connection  with  the  infinite  universe — who  is  not  led  by  a  pilot  he  distrusts,  but 
throughout  the  short  period  of  his  life  is  unteazed  by  doubt — enjoys  his  dogmatic 
conclusions  with  a  confidence  and  zest  the  inquirer  vainly  looks  for.  T. 

[Our  correspondent  fails  to  conceive  our  case.  It  is  not  necessary  '  to  deduce 
a  certain  creed  of  morality  from  the  system  we  advocate.'  There  is  already  much 
morality  in  the  world  never  practised ;  one  reason  of  it  we  take  to  be,  that  men 
look  for  it  in  books  of  faith  rather  than  in  the  nature  of  things.  "What  we  advocate 
is  their  looking  to  nature  for  moral  direction,  where  men  find  a  ground  for  it  which 
is  intelligible  and  associated  with  consequences  which  recommend  it.  We  may 
not  be  able  to  see  the  infinite  consequences  of  our  actions.  No  matter  for  that. 
We  detei-mine  to  do  a  thing  because  of  the  consequences  as  far  as  we  can  see  them. 
Whether  the  man  of  Faith  is  happier  than  the  Inquirer  depends  upon  the  kind  of 
happiness  a  Christian  prefers.  The  Ostrich  is  happy  when  it  hides  its  head  from 
threatened  danger,  but  happier  is  the  Eagle  who  faces  it  and  fights  it.  The  Sot  is 
happy  who  drowns  his  cares ;  but  happier  is  he  who  keeps  sober,  meets,  and 
masters  them.  It  cannot  be  true  that  the  Christian  who  walks  by  faith  is  happier 
than  he  who  walks  by  Sight,  for  no  man  walks  by  Faith  when  he  has  Sight  to  walk 
by.— Ed.] 

ON    THE     QUEENWOOD     PETITION. 

Sir, — In  your  last  number,  along  with  the  Petition  of  the  Central  Board  of  the 
Rational  Society,  you  published  some  remarks,  condemnatory  of  its  tone.  To  in- 
duce legislative  inquiry  it  was  essential  that  some  wrong  must  be  stated,  for  which 
the  ordinary  course  of  law  did  not  provide  an  efficient  remedy ;  and,  as  is  stated 
in  the  Petition,  the  gentlemen  with  whom  it  originated  did  not  think  it  at  all  likely 
that  law  proceedings  would  result  in  anything  satisfactory.  The  allegations  of  the 
Petition  have  therefore  been  confined  as  closely  as  possible  in  our  power  to  the 
facts  of  the  case.  In  your  remarks  you  admit  the  facts,  but  object  to  the  mode 
of  putting  them  forward.  The  only  person  directly  charge  with  wrong  is  Mr. 
John  Finch.  By  giving  insertion  to  the  foregoing  you  will  oblige  myself  and 
colleagues.  J.  Ckamp,  V.P. 


202 


THE  REASONER. 


/■ 


NAMING     CHILDREN. 

Sir, — The  fact  of  your  having  baptised  or  named  three  children  in  public 
assembly  in  your  late  visit  to  Glasgow,  as  mentioned  in  the  Reasoner,  is,  I  think, 
somewhat  inconsistent  with  your  rejection  of  all  religions  and  religious  creeds, 
and  demands  some  explanation  of  the  grounds  on  which  you  rest  such  a  practice; 

"What  is  it  but  the  vain  imitation  of  the  religious  world,  with  whom  the  practice 
is  in  consonance  with  their  professions  ?  but  with  those  who  think  as  you  do  it  is 
destitute  of  meaning,  answering  no  useful  purpose,  and  therefore  worthless. 

It  appears  to  me  an  exhibition  of  weak  pride  on  the  part  of  the  parents,  and 
inability  on  the  part  of  all  to  act  consistently,  who  countenance  such  proceedings. 

Glasgow.  TiMON. 


[To  do  nothing  that  a  Christian  does  because  he  does  it,  as  Timon  appears  to 
argue,  would  oblige  one  not  to  eat  because  the  Christian  eats.  Thig  might  be 
*  consistent,'  but  it  would  be  rather  troublesome.  I  did  not  baptise  (none  of  us 
ever  did)  any  children.  I  only  gave  them  names  publicly,  and  that  at  the  request 
of  any  parents  when  they  asked  for  it.  It  can  be  converted  into  a  pledge  of  duty 
on  their  part.  It  is  only  when  a  parent  requests  that  I  comply  with  it.  As  a 
mere  ceremony  I  regard  it  as  useless. — Ed.] 


A    SUCCESSFUL    ESCAPE. 


SiK, — My  present  opinions  are  adverse  to  frequenting  '  houses  of  God,'  and  they 
caused  me  a  strenuous  combat  to  obtain  the  privilege  of  my  choice  in  the  matter. 
When  I  divulged  the  real  state  of  my  mind  on  religion  to  my  father,  and  why  I 
could  not  attend  church,  the  subject  passed  oflF  with  his  observing  that  '  some  day 
I  should  find  I  was  wrong  ;'  but  when  the  following  Sunday  came,  and  he  insisted 
on  my  going  to  church,  I  remonstrated,  by  which  I  gained  my  right. 

Another  very  awkward  position  for  an  atheist  to  be  in,  is  when  the  family  have 
been  accustomed  to  say  grace.  It  was  my  duty  to  say  grace  before  dinner  every 
Sunday.  I  have  been  obliged  to  modify  my  '  grace,'  and  remove  the  usual  sense 
altogether.  The  few  '  unthankful '  words  I  uttered,  coupled  with  the  indifiFerence 
which  I  manifested,  induced  my  father  to  say  it  himself,  and  so  I  got  clear. 

These  difficulties  I  have  mastered,  but  others  oppress  me,  which  all-conquering 
time  only  can  relieve.  One  cause  of  vexation  to  me  is,  that  I  am  prohibited 
attending  the  Sunday  eveniRg  lectures  in  London,  although  I  may  perchance 
reach  Webber  Street.  At  present  this  is  my  greatest  anxiety.  When  I  can 
obtain  this  liberty,  I  hope  to  follow  some  plans  I  have  in  contemplation  for 
acquiring  knowledge. 

Most  decidedly  I  am  of  opinion  that  each  person  should  think  for  himself,  and 
be  allowed  to  act  accordingly,  providing  such  conduct  be  upright  and  tending 
to  the  well-being  of  mankind.  Why  should  not  the  atheist  be  allowed  the  free- 
will the  Christian  so  much  stickles  for  ? 

B.B. 


THE  REASONER. 


203 


MORAL     COMPENSATION 


Sir, — Will  you  explain  the  difference,  in  point  of  morality,  between  the  atone- 
ment you  propose  to  Church-going  infidels  and  the  penances  oi  the  Romish  Church, 
and  oblige  One  of  your  Constant  Readers. 

[The  penances  of  the  Romish  Church  are  penances,  I  take  tbem,  chiefly  for  sins 
of  indulgence  ;  the  retaliation,  not  '  atonement,'  of  which  I  spoke,  was  for  sins  of 
coercion,  the  acts  of  others. — Ed.] 


To  promote  the  efficiency  of  the  Reasoner  as  an  organ  of  Propagandism,  one  friend  subscribes  10s. 
weekly,  another  5s.,  one  2a.  monthly,  others  Is.  each  weekly— others  intermediate  sums  or  special 
remittances,  according  to  ability  or  earnestness.  An  annual  contribution  of  Is.  from  each  reader 
would  be  easy,  equitable,  and  suificient.  What  is  remitted,  in  whatever  proportion,  is  acknowledged 
here  and  accounted  for  at  the  end  of  the  Volume. 


Acknowledged  in  No.  270,  529s.— J.  W.,  20s.— Andrew  Smith,  Gateshead,  2s. 
—■William  Hensley  (per  do.).  Is.— Michael  Turnbull  (per  do.),  ls.~Martin  Pear- 
son (per  do.),  Is. — Thomas  Meek  (per  do.),  Is.— A  Friend  (per  Mr.  Crothers, 
Newcastle-on-Tyne),  5s. — William  Crabtree,  Is.— Veritas,  Is.— Edwin  Scoley,  Is. 
—Hugh  Martin,  8d.— Jones,  Monmouthshire,  2s.  6d.— G.  E.  Taylor,  Sheffield,  Is. 
—J.  H.  (per  Mr,  Watson),  2s.— C.  F.  NichoUs  (annual),  Is.— Found  (per  Mr. 
Watson),  is.— Total,  57 Is.  2d. 


GUIDE  TO  THE  LECTURE  ROOM. 

Literary  Institution,  John  Street,  Fitzroy  Square. 
— August  17th  [74],  Henry  Knight,  '  Sunday  Ser. 
mons  versus  Sunday  Science.' — 19th  [8^],  Dis- 
cussion in  the  Coffee  Boom,  Question,  '  The 
Respective  Merits  of  Free  Trade  and  Protection.' 

Hail  of  Science,  City  Road.— August  17th  [7iJ, 
a  lecture. 

National  Hall,  242,  High  Holborn.— Aug.  17th, 
[8],  P.  W.  PerStt  will  lecture. 

Eclectic  Institute,  Denmark  Street,  Soho.  — 
Every  Friday  [8^],  Mr.  J.  B.  O'Brien,  '  Home  and 
Foreign  Politics.'  Every  Sunday  [7i],  on  '  Moral 
and  Social  Science.' 

Areopagus  Coffee  and  Reading  Room,  59,  Church 
Lane,  Whitechapel. — Every  Sunday,  Monday,  and 
Wednesday  (8),  a  Lecture  or  Discussion. 

City.  Forum  Coffee  House,  60,  Red  Cross  Street. 
— Every  Sunday,  Monday,  and  Thursday  [84],  a 
Discussion. 

Commercial  Hall,  Philpot  Street,  Commercial 
Road  East. — Every  Tuesday  and  Thursday  even- 
ing [8],  a  Discussion. 

Oity  Road  Discussion  Society,  22,  City  Road. — 
Discussion  every  Wednesday  evening.  Subject, 
'  Is  there  a  Natural  Religion?' 

ADVERTISEMENTS. 

POPULAR  WORKS. 

Theodore  Parker  on  Matters  Pertaining  to 
Religion.     1  vol.  cloth  boards I     9 

Cooper's    Purgatory  of   Suicides.      1   vol. 

cloth   lettered 3    6 

To  be  hard  in  Parts  and  Numbers. 
Cooper's  Wise  Saws  and  Modern  Instances. 

2  vols,  cloth  lettered 5    0 

Cooper's  Baron's  Yule  Feast.     Wrapper..      1     6 
Cooper's  Eipht  Letters  to  the  Young  Men 

ot  the  Working  Classes 0    6 

Cooper's  Journal.     1  vol.  cloth    3     0 

Do.    Captain  Cobler,  or  the  Lincolnshire 


Insurrection.     1  vol 2  6 

Cerebral   Physiology  and  Materialism.     Bv 

W.  C.  Engledue,  M.D ".  0  4 

Doubts  of  Infidels   0  3 

Paine's  Political  Works.     2  vols,  in  one..  5  0 

—  Theological  Works.    1  vol.  cloth 3  0 

—  RightsofMan 1  3 

—  American  Crisis 1  6 

—  Common  Sense    0  6 

—  Letter  to  the  Abbe  Raynal    0  6 

—  Letters  to  the  Citizens  of  the  United 
States 0  4 

—  Public  Good 0  4 

—  Agrarian  Justice 0  2 

—  First  Principles  of  Government  ....  0  2 

—  English  System  of  Finance  0  3 

—  Abolition  of  Royalty 0  2 

life  of  Paine,  by  W.  J.  Linton   0  6 

Portrait  of  Paine,  engraved  on  Steel 1  0 

The    English   Republic,  edited  by  W.  J. 

Linton.     Nos.  1  to  7,  each  at  0  6 

Byron's  Vision  of  Judgment    0  3 

Southey's  Wat  Tyler 0  2 

Essay  on  the  Functions  of  the  Brain 0  2 

London:  James  Watson,  3,  Queen's  Head  Pas- 
sage, Paternoster-row. 

Working  Men  and  Shopkeepers! 

If  you  wish  to  learn  the  true  causes  of  the  Distress 

of  Labour  and  of  the  Misdirection  of  Trade, 

read 

NOTES     TO     THE     PEOPLE, 

Publishing  every  Saturday, 

Containing  40  columns  of  close  print,  besides  wxap- 

per,  for  Two  Pence, 

BY     ERNEST     JONE.S, 

Of  the  Middle  Temple,  Barrister  at-Law. 

Published  by  R.  Pavey,  47,  Holywell  St.,  Slrand> 

London ;  and  to  be  had  through  the  booksellers. 


204 


THE  REASONER. 


<Bnv  C^jpm  page. 


The  Leader,  of  July  19th,  contains  an  article  entitled  *A  Prudish  Lord.'  We 
have  not  space  to  quote  it,  but  it  deserves  the  attention  of  our  readers  and  the 
working  men  who  are  moving  against  the  absurd  tyranny  therein  described,  and 
ought  to  be  encouraged. 

We  have  received  a  long  letter  from  Edwin  Scoley,  of  Peterborough,  who  in- 
forms us  that  he  exhibits  in  his  shop  window  a  list  of  freethinking  publications  for 
sale,  including  the  '  Age  of  Reason,'  *  Logic  of  Death,'  and  Reasoner.  Mr.  Scoley 
is  a  shoemaker,  and  says  he  has  met  with  disadvantages  in  trade  through  thus 
giving  publicity  to  his  principles. 

We  have  transmitted  to  the  commissioners,  superintendents  of  classes,  and 
other  officials  connected  with  the  Crystal  Palace,  copies  of  the  tract  entitled  '  The 
Workman  and  the  International  Exhibition,'  originally  published  in  No.  65  of 
the  Leader. 

The  extortions  from  the  Friends,  by  distraint  for  ecclesiastical  purposes,  from 
1700  to  1850,  amount  to  £1,136,125;  and  it  is  computed,  on  good  authority,  that 
the  spoliation  of  Friends'  property  in  one  hundred  and  ninety-five  years  for 
ecclesiastical  purposes  amounts  to  £1,316,000.  The  account  from  1700  to  1850  is 
taken  from  authentic  documents,  annually  printed  by  direction  of  the  yearly 
meeting. 

At  Gregory's  Hotel,  Cheapside,  may  be  seen  a  picture  of  Shelley  amid  the  Ruins 
of  Rome.  It  was  first  painted  at  a  cost  of  £100.  Mrs.  Shelley,  Leigh  Hunt,  and 
others,  considered  it  to  contain  a  good  likeness  of  the  poet.  The  scene  is  the 
baths  of  Caracalla,  where  Shelley  composed  his  '  Prometheus  Unbound.'  Severn, 
the  artist,  resided  many  years  near  the  spot.     The  picture  is  for  sale. 

The  '  Oldham  Social  Society '  meets  the  first  Sunday  in  every  month  at  the 
house  of  Mr.  Edward  Rye,  Red  Lion  Inn,  Bottom-of-moor,  at  7  o'clock  p.m.  This 
Society  has  ordered  six  dozens  of  the  tract  entitled  the  'Logic  of  Death'  through 
various  booksellers,  and  intend  to  furnish  all  Clergymen  and  Dissenting  Ministers 
with  one  each.  Mr.  Beswick  sent  one  to  the  clergyman  who  has  the  charge  of  his 
soul.      The    rev.    gentleman    edified  his    followers  with  three   lectures  upon   it. 

In  a  speech  at  a  Bible  meeting  at  Cheltenham  (so  the  Derby'Mercury  reports)  the 
Rev.  Francis  Close  said, '  There  were  some  very  smart  ladies  went  to  his  church — 
ladies  with  beautiful  pink  bonnets  and  very  fine  ribands,  and  dressed  in  all  sorts  of 
finery;  and  some  of  these  ladies  were  in  the  habit  of  coming  out  of  his  church,  and 
dropping  into  the  plate  little  neatly-folded  packets  done  up  in  brown  paper.  Now 
he  might  mention  it  as  a  statistical  fact,  that  there  was  never  found  in  any  one  of 
these  little  packets  any  of  the  current  coin  of  the  realm  more  valuable  than 
copper.' 

It  is  said  that  a  small  piece  of  rosin  dipped  in  the  water  which  is  placed  in  a 
vessel  on  a  stove  will  add  a  peculiar  property  to  the  atmosphere  of  the  room, 
which  will  give  great  relief  to  persons  troubled  with  a  cough.  The  heat  of  the 
stove  is  sufficient  to  throw  oflf  the  aroma  of  the  rosin,  and  gives  the  same  relief 
that  is  afforded  by  the  combustion  of  the  rosin.  It  is  preferable  to  combustion, 
because  the  evaporation  is  more  durable.     The  same  rosin  may  be  used  for  weeks. 

London:  Printed  by  Holyoake  Brothers,  3,  Queen's  Head  Fassag;e,  Paternoster-row;  and  Published 
by  J.  Watson,  3,  Queen's  Head  Passage,  Paternoster-row.— Wednesday,  August  13th,  1851. 


ANB 

THEOLOGICAL     EXAMINER. 

They  who  believe  that  they  have  Truth  ask  no  favour,  save  that  of  bein$c  heard:  they  dare  the 
judgment  of  Mankind  :  refused  Co-operation,  they  invoke  Opposition,  for  Opposition  is  their 
Opportunity. — Editok. 

THE  LECTURES  IN   DUNDEE.— A  '  SLOW '  YOUNG  MAN  READS 

AN  ESSAY." 


The  lectures  in  Dundee  were  delivered  in  the  Thistle  Hall.  The  audiences 
increased  as  the  course  proceeded.  Finding  that  the  editor  of  the  Dundee  Courier 
had  attacked  the  Chartist  programmists,  I  walked  down  to  the  office  of  that  gen- 
tleman, and  desired  to  know  '  whether  he  would  insert  a  reply  from  me,  who,  as  a 
member  of  the  Assembly  who  passed  the  Programme,  was  a  party  concerned  ?'  He 
said  '  he  could  not  tell  till  he  had  seen  my  reply.'  I  answered, '  I  knew  that  very 
well — no  editor  could  answer  otherwise  under  the  circumstances.  I  only  wished 
to  ascertain  whether  he  had  any  moral  objection  to  inserting  it,  before  I  prepared 
it.  It  was  my  business  to  make  it  such  as  he  could  insert ;  and  if  I  failed  in  that, 
I  was  quite  willing  that  he  should  alter  or  reject  it.'  Everybody  told  me  it  was  of 
no  use  going  to  him  and  of  no  use  writing  to  him,  for  he  would  not  put  it  in — he 
never  took  any  notice  of  any  communications  from  the  people.  *  No  matter,'  I 
answered, '  it  was  my  duty  to  send  a  reply,  and  his  to  decline  it  if  he  saw  fit.'  The 
same  night  I  read  my  reply  to  an  audience  of  seven  hundred  people,  I  am  bound 
to  say  that  the  editor  treated  it  with  courtesy  ;  every  comma  of  it  duly  appeared 
in  the  next  Courier.  It  has  since  been  quoted  in  the  Leader,  the  Star,  and  other 
newspapers. 

The  hearers  at  the  lectures  were  occasionally  tumultuous ;  but  there  was  this 
advantage,  you  did  know  when  they  understood  you.  Some  audiences  will  give  no 
sign  of  this ;  you  might  as  well  address  a  luggage  train  as  address  them.  You 
can  no  more  tell  whether  they  comprehend  you  any  more  than  a  carriage  of  coals 
or  a  bale  of  cotton.  The  hiss  of  the  honest  fellow  is  as  great  a  relief  as  that  of 
the  dumb  speaking;  it  is  an  indication,  a  land-mark  by  the  way.  If  either 
applause  or  complaint  is  indiscriminate,  if  it  becomes  in  any  sense  immoderate, 
silence  is  much  better.  Such  manifestations  have  neither  sense,  taste,  nor  direc- 
tion in  them.  But  when  manifestation  of  feeling  is  judicious  it  is  a  beacon  or 
encouragement. 

The  disputants  at  the  two  last  lectures  in  Dundee  were  numerous  enough  to 
create  some  comedy.  One  rather  'slow' young  man  read  a  speech,  which  of  course, 
being  prepared  before  I  had  spoken,  was  not  very  remarkable  for  relating  to  the 
subject.  As  I  saw  he  had  a  gift  for  reading  the  same  thing  every  night,*  I  oflfered 
to  print  it  for  him  in  the  Reasoner,  and  received  it  for  that  purpose.  I  have  to 
apologise  that  the  press  of  matter  arising  out  of  the  Lancaster  Controversy  has 
delayed  its  appearance  till  now.  The  reader  will  find  it,  I  am  afraid,  rather  dull. 
I  tried  to  condense  it,  but  found  that  impracticable,  and  I  present  it  as  forwarded 
to  me  by  the  writer.     It  is  as  follows : — 

'  I  confess  to  you,  my  friends,  that  I  am  no  bigot  in  religion ;  so  far  am  I  from 

*  He  actually  sent  me  a  note  to  ask  jne  to  read  it  a  second  night  to  the  audience. 


[No.  273.]  INo.  14,  Vol.  XI. 

[ONE  PENNY.l 


206  THE  REASONER. 


being  so,  I  can  assure  you  that  if  Mr.  Holyoake  will,  by  dint  of  reasonini?,  give  me 
demonstrative  evidence  that  there  is  no  God — if  he  give  me  clear  proof  that  there 
is  not  such  a  being — I  shall  this  night,  or  any  other  night,  be  converted  to  atheism. 
My  parents  were  both  members  of  the  orthodox  Protestant  church,  and  instilled 
into  my  mind,  when  a  child  and  boy,  that  Christianity ^was  true.  I  was  compelled 
to  attend  the  same  church  as  themselves.  About  the  period  when  I  was  twelve 
years  of  age,  I  had  neither  proof  that  the  Scriptures  were  true  nor  false.  I  went 
then  regularly  to  church,  but  I  confess  that  my  mind  had  no  clear  evidence  that 
the  Scriptures  were  true  or  false.  Notwithstanding  all  the  teaching  of  my  parents 
and  of  ministers,  reason,  like  the  sun,  began  to  break  through.  After  having  at- 
tended divine  service  three  times  on  a  Sunday,  after  leaving  church  on  each  occa- 
sion T  found  that  so  incredulous  was  I  that  I  was  not  satisfied  with  the  bare  asser- 
tions either  of  the  minister  or  my  parents.  I  felt  within  me  a  desire  to  inquire 
for  myself;  and  though  neither  at  that  time  did  I  profess  infidelity,  or  atheism,  or 
Christianity,  I  began  to  train  and  cultivate  and  strengthen  my  reason  and  judg- 
ment—  and  I  confess  I  did  feel  within  me  a  willingness  to  believe  what  had  evidence 
in  its  favour,  and  to  disbelieve  what  was  clearly  proved  to  be  false.  Such  being 
the  principles  on  which  I  acted  in  the  formation  of  my  creed  in  regard  to  every 
subject  that  came  under  my  observation,  you  will  not  presume  to  deny  that  these 
principles  were  reasonable  and  right.  You  then  may  be  anxious  to  know  what  is 
my  creed.  [I  certainly  had  not  the  slightest  anxiety.]  What  are  my  opinions 
after  a  period  of  eight  or  nine  years  has  been  increasing  my  knowledge  and  expe- 
rience, and  brought  many  subjects  to  the  bar  of  an  unbiassed  judgment?  Well, 
if  it  is  not  presuming  on  your  patience,  I  would  say,  in  as  few  words  as  possible, 
that  I  have  considered  all  the  atheistical  arguments  in  favour  of  that  system,  and 
I  have  to  confess  that  they  have  never  satisfied  me  that  there  is  not  a  God ;  and  I 
further  confess  that,  at  this  time,  I  cannot  convince  myself  that  the  Scriptures  of 
the  Old  and  New  Testaments  arc  false — but,  at  the  same  time,  I  will  confess  that 
sensible  evidence  of  their  being  all  truth  was  wanting  to  me  also  (I  mean  by  sen- 
sible evidence,  that  evidence  which  convinces  me  that  you,  Mr.  Holyoake,  are 
seated  on  that  platform).  Now,  since  the  arguments  of  the  atheist  in  favour  of 
his  system  do  not  convince  my  judgment  that  atheism  is  true,  nor  the  arguments 
of  divines  that  the  Scriptures  have  sensible  and  demonstrative  evidence  of  their 
truth,  what,  "  10  be  consistent  with  my  principles,"  should  be  my  creed?  Am  I 
to  say  that  the  Scriptures  are  false,  when  I  have  no  sensible  and  demonstrative 
evidence  that  they  are  false  ?  No,  surely.  On  the  other  hand,  am  I  to  say  they 
are  true  without  having  the  same  evidence  that  they  are  so  ?  No,  surely.  Such 
is  the  conclusion  you  will  expect  me  to  have  come  to,  "  to  be  consistent  with  my 
principles."  Well,  am  I  to  remain  fixed  in  the  unbelief  of  both  systems,  without 
resolving  to  inquire  further  regarding  both  ?  No.  As  the  diflferent  systems  are 
contradictory  to  each  other,  both  cannot  be  true;  and  if  Christianity  be  true 
atheism  must  be  false,  and  if  atheism  be  true  Christianity  must  be  false.  But,  as 
the  evidence  of  sense  apparently  cannot  be  given  to  confirm  either  as  truth,  it  is 
for  me  to  say  I  think  such  and  such  is  true,  and  I  think  such  and  such  is  false, 
as  circumstantial  evidence  in  the  proof  of  either  system  is  to  be  found.  My  friends, 
are  we  going  up  to  London  to  see  the  Great  Exhibition  that  is  now  open  in  that  city, 
claiming  a  title  to  ordinary  intelligence  and  some  experience?  On  seeing  for  the  first 
time  some  complicate  piece  of  machinery,  I  would  be  of  very  little  doubt  as  to  some 
facts  regarding  it.  Indeed  there  are  some  such,that  if  I  did  not  believe  I  would  risk  my 
name  for  mental  sanity.  I  refer  to  the  belief  that  such  acouiplicate  piece  of  machinery 


THE  REASONER. 


207 


was  formed  of  human  hands,  contrived  and  designed  by  a  human  mind.  Now,  sup- 
pose the  inventor  and  maker  of  it  to  be  in  a  distant  country  (he  can't  be  in  America 
and  England  at  the  same  time — in  other  words,  that  I  can't  see  him  with  my 
senses),  can  I,  notwithstanding  his  present  invisibility  to  my  senses,  be  of  the  least 
doubt  of  its  having^  a  human  being  for  its  maker  and  designer?  Surely  not;  now 
then  I  call  such  satisfactory  and  reasonable  evidence  to  me,  though  not  possessed 
of  the  evidence  of  the  senses.  Permit  me  to  give  another  simple  illustration. 
Suppose  I  possessed  some  heritable  property  in  Edinburgh,  and  such  uninhabited; 
suppose  a  dozen  of  robbers  had  resolved  to  break  into  this  property  ;  suppose  that 
there  were  jewels  of  great  value  in  the  interior  of  this  property,  at  a  certain  time 
they  (the  robbers)  had  gathered  together  for  the  purpose  of  devising  how  they 
might  most  easily  accomplish  their  object.  Some  friend  of  mine  had  noticed  them 
about  the  premises,  and  from  their  suspicious  appearance  he  suspected  their  in- 
tention, and  consequently  beg:in  to  set  watch  on  the  property  himself.  At  last,  as 
expected,  the  robbers  are  observed  by  him  at  the  quiet  hour  of  midnight,  he  un- 
observed by  them.  My  friend  instantly  despatches  a  messenger  to  my  residence, 
say  in  Dundee.  I  am  in  bed,  a  knock  comes  to  my  door,  the  door  is  opened,  the 
messenger  hastily  communicates  the  intelligence  to  me.  Now  to  act  with  wisdom. 
"What  should  be  my  conduct  in  a  case  of  this  kind  ?  Because  I  do  not  have  the 
evidence  of  my  senses  that  this  man's  statements  are  true,  am  I  to  lie  contentedly 
down  again  in  my  bed,  asking  the  messenger  to  satisfy  me  first  by  the  evidence  of 
sense  that  he  is  speaking  the  truth  ?  Such  would  be  the  height  of  folly.  Surely  as 
the  case  affects  myself,  I  should  not  rest  till  I  had  gone  over  to  Edinburgh,  in  case 
(as  it  was  not  an  impossibility)  it  might  be  true,  that  thereby  I  may  protect  my 
jewels  and  property.  Now  such  is  just  the  plan  I  would  take  with  the  Scriptural 
message  and  information  it  gave  me.  Suppose  everlastiug  happiness  to  be  the 
property  and  the  valuable  jewels ;  suppose  heaven  (by  which  I  mean  some  portion 
of  space  in  the  universe  where  this  happiness  is  to  be  enjoyed)  to  be  the  place 
where  the  property  is  ;  this  earth  suppose  to  be  my  residence,  the  Bible  the  mes- 
senger. Well,  this  messenger,  addressing  me  as  a  man,  says  ''  You  aie  a  being  in 
whom  is  a  soul  that  will  exist  for  ever  and  ever.  A  being  called  God  made  you; 
he  is  all-powerful,  therefore  it  is  quite  reasonable  to  believe  everything  to  be  pos- 
sible with  him.  If  you  do  what  I  ask  you,  you  will  be  happy  for  ever  and  ever  ;  if 
you  do  not,  you  will  be  miserable  throughout  eternity  to  come,"  Now  if  I  can't 
prove,  and  if  no  one  person  or  persf^^ns  can  prove  to  me,  that  the  Scriptures  are 
telling  me  lies,  and  as  it  concerns  myself  it  behoves  me,  from  the  desire  of  ever- 
lasting happiness  and  from  the  terror  of  everlasting  misery,  to  err  on  the  safe  side. 
And  if  these  Scriptures  ask  me  to  do  nothing  but  what  is  reasonable  and  right — if 
they  do  not  ask  me  to  do  anythiiig  that  would  either  injure  myself  or  my  fellow- 
men,  I  ought  to  do  it,  unless,  observe,  I  have  the  clearest  and  most  indubitable 
evidence  that  these  Scriptures  are  untrue.  I  think,  then,  that  it  is  the  part  of  a 
wise  and  sensible  man  to  obey  their  commands  immediately  in  the  meantime, 
since  he  can't  prove,  nor  have  proved  to  him,  that  they  are  false.  And  that  lest 
they  should  be  true,  I  think  that  the  belief  of  the  whole  of  these  Scriptures  tends 
to  the  greatest  happiness  man  can  enjoy  on  earth,  apart  altogether  from  eternal 
happiness  ;  and  their  commands,  if  all  obeyed,  would  purify  and  render  holy  our 
depraved  hearts,  enable  us  to  bear  the  ills  of  time,  and  give  us  still  to  everlasting 
joys.  Still,  to  be  reasonable,  if  he  has  not  any  evidence  of  their  truth  he  should 
cherish  a  spirit  of  honest  inquiry ;  and  if  he  finds  circumstantial  evidence  in  be- 
holding what  I  think  are  the  works  of  God — what  some  here  may  think  the  spon- 
taneous and  necessitous  result  of  material  creation — corroborating  the  assertions 


208  THE  REASONER. 


of  scripture,  his  confidence  in  their  truth  should  become  stronger  and  stronger, 
and  vice  versa.  But  until  he  has  the  clearest,  sensible  evidence  of  their  falsehood, 
is  he,  as  a  wise  man,  justified  in  disregarding  and  disobeying  the  commands  of 
Scripture  ?  I  can  see  no  evidence  for  the  truth  of  atheism,  but,  on  the  contrary, 
in  myself,  on  earth,  on  sea,  and  in  the  heavens  do  I  find  reasonable  evidence  cor- 
roborating the  assertions  of  Scripture.  I  think,  then,  that  the  Scriptures  of  the 
Old  and  New  Testaments  are  the  word  of  the  same  God  who  is  the  everlasting 
Lord — the  creator  of  angels  and  men,  who  made  the  beasts  of  the  earth  and  made 
man*  in  his  own  image ;  and  though  he  denounces  sufferings  eternal  on  the  dis- 
obedient, still  to  all  who  will  obey  him  everlasting  life  and  happiness.  And  this 
every  man  can  ask  if  he  will,  and  God  has  said  that  he  who  asketh  in  his  way 
shall  receive.  I  am  in  favour  of  free  inquiry,  but  heart-honesty  and  candour 
should  accompany  it.' 

The  reply  to  all  this  the  reader  will  easily  supply  for  himself.  I  put  it  on  re- 
cord as  a  specimen  of  what  is  done  by  those  into  whose  hands  the  ministers  of 
Dundee  are  content  to  leave  the  defence  of  Christianity. 

After  our  young  friend  of  the  written  speech,  two  or  three  other  disputants 
appeared,  and  many  objections  were  urged  to  what  I  had  advanced.  On  the  last 
night  Mr.  Davison  and  another  gentleman  were  promised  hearings,  after  a  due 
opportunity  had  been  afforded  to  the  local  clergy  and  other  Christians.  When 
the  time  came  for  them  to  speak  the  hour  was  late,  and  our  chairman,  to  whose 
energy  we  had  been  much  indebted,  was  inflexible,  and  dissolved  the  meeting.  I 
very  much  regretted  this,  as  I  was  anxious  to  hear  Mr.  Davison.  The  disap- 
pointed speakers  rushed  to  the  platform,  and  the  meeting  after  them.  And  many 
loud  reproaches  resounded  through  the  hall.  The  chairman  pushed  one  disputant 
off  the  platform  and  got  into  a  struggle  with  the  second  ;  but  Mr.  Davison  was  as 
resolute  in  arms  as  in  argument,  and  very  properly  resisted.  I  forced  myself  be- 
tween the  chairman  and  him,  and  with  moral  force,  blended  with  as  much  physical 
as  I  could  exercise,  I  pushed  back  the  chairman  and  drew  my  opponent  forward. 
To  which  the  chairman  was  a  consenting  party,  for  he  was  strong  enough  to  have 
pushed  us  both  off.  By  this  time  all  the  lights  but  one  were  put  out.  The  re- 
maining one  was  just  in  front  of  the  rostrum,  and,  like  a  policeman's  '  bull's  eye ' 
in  a  crowd,  revealed  to  the  meeting  a  crowdtd  platform,  which  might  have  served 
Martin  for  a  model  of  Chaos.  '  The  time  is  up  and  over,'  cried  the  proprietor  or 
agent  of  the  room.  '  What,'  I  demanded,  '  will  be  the  consequence  of  our  con- 
tinuing ?'  'It  will  be  a  guinea,'  answered  the  troubled  factor.  'I  will  pay  the 
guinea,'  I  rejoined,  *  but  these  gentlemen  must  be  allowed  to  speak  though  we 
stay  here  all  night.'  I  then  sat  down  on  the  table,  that  being  the  only  con- 
spicuous seat  in  front  of  the  meeting,  and  assumed  to  myself  the  chairmanship. 
Before  me  the  audience  spread  themselves  out  in  the  darkness  of  the  hall  like  the 
surges  of  the  Tay  in  a  night  storm,  loud,  angry,  dark,  uncertain,  and  tumultuous. 

As  soon  as  silence  was  restored,  the  more  noisy  of  the  two  opponents  who  de- 
manded a  hearing  had  nothing  to  say  when  called  upon.  Mr.  Davison,  when  he 
could  speak,  declined  because  he  thought  the  hour  too  late,  and  the  meeting  too 
unsettled  to  be  instructed,  in  which  he  was  right.  Having  vindicated  his  right  to 
be  heard,  he  was  contented.  The  meeting  resumed  its  good  humour,  general  satis- 
faction was  expressed,  the  extra  guinea  was  not  demanded,  and  twenty  or  thirty  of 
us  adjourned  after  twelve  o'clock  to  celebrate  Mr.  Owen's  birthday  over  lemonade, 
no  coffee  being  obtainable  at  so  late  an  hour.  G.  J.  Holyoake. 

*  Our  friend  is  a  little  confused  here.  This  compliment  was  never  paid  to  the 
beasts  before. — G.  J.  H. 


i 


THE  REASONER. 


209 


(!^):amtnattxm  of  ti)e  \3rti9* 


MojDEs  OF  Interesting  the  Populace. — It  is  idle  to  look  back  upon  the  time 
— if  such  time  there  ever  was — when  the  labouring  classes  could  be  confined  to 
their  daily  labour,  leaving  to  their  superiors  the  government  of  the  nation.     Pro- 
bably such  a  state  of  things  never  existed ;  the  history  of  all  times  and  all  coun- 
tries exhibits  instances  of  the  interference  of  the  people  in  public  affairs,  by 
outbreaks  unjust,  fierce,  and  destructive  in  proportion  to  the  ignorance  of  the 
multitude,  and  always  fraught  with  an  aggravation  of  the  very  evils  they  were 
intended  to  remove.    But  it  is  sufficient  for  the  present  purpose  that  such  a  state 
of  things  is  incompatible  with  the  political  institutions  of  this  country,  and,  in  fact, 
does  not  exist.    The  Chartist  and  the  Socialist  zealously  diffuse  their  opinions  far 
and  wide  ;  they  have  erected  halls  and  established  places  of  meeting,  in  which  they 
discourse  to  thousands ;  they  invite  persons  of  adverse  opinions  to  listen  to,  and 
freely  discuss,  the  expositions  of  their  principles.     The  Socialists,  especially,  com- 
prise in  the  plan  of  their  societies  some  of  the  most  useful  and  attractive  objects 
of  Mechanics'  Institutions  ;  they  have  lectures  on  the  sciences,  they  have  music, 
and,  in  some  cases,  other  classes ;  and  they  add  to  these  the  occasional  attraction 
of  tea-parties,  accompanied  by  dancing.     The  number  of  members  of  Socialist 
institutions  in  London  is  much  smaller  than  that  of  members  of  Mechanics' 
Institutions,  but  the  attendance  at  their  lectures,  discussions,  and  festive  meetings 
is  much  greater  than  at  the  lectures  and  ordinary  meetings  of  Mechanics'  Institu- 
tions ;  and  this  is  believed  to  arise  principally  from  the  fact  that  the  rival  institu- 
tion offers  to  the  workmen  those  things  the  exclusion  of  which  from  Mechanics' 
Institutions  (especially  the  right  of  free  inquiry)  renders  them,  if  not  distasteful, 
at  least  uninteresting  to  him.    When,  therefore,  the  mechanic  is  told,  that  if  he 
wishes  to  hear  the  rights  and  duties  of  men,  as  members  of  society,  systematically 
expounded  and  temperately  discussed,  he  cannot  be  gratified  at  the  Mechanics' 
Institution,  surely  it  is  equivalent  to  saying — 'You  are  curious  to  learn  something 
respecting  the  economy  of  civil  society,  and  to  be  assured  of  what  we  assert,  that 
what  now  forms  its  cement  is  its  best  security  :  we  withhold  from  you  all  informa- 
tion on  these  subjects;  but  at  the  Socialist  hall  opposite  they  will  strive  to  prove 
to    you   how    unnatural    is    that   economy,   and  worthless    that    security.'     Or 
again  :  he  has  heard  men  propose  a  change  in  the  constitution  of  his  country.     He 
is  led  to  believe  that  his  interests  are  deeply  concerned  in  the  project;  he  has 
neither  the  time,  the  funds,  nor  the  habits  required  to  study  published  disquisitions 
about  it,  but  he  would  be  pleased  to  have  the  views  of  a  few  intelligent  men  who 
have  been  at  the  pains  to  acquaint  themselves  with  the  matter  exhibited  to  him. 
No ;  he  is  told — '  We  explain  to  you  the  physical  sciences ;  we  demonstrate  to  you 
the  atomic  theory ;  we  show  you  the  orbits  of  the  planets ; — but  the  nature  and 
advantages  of  our  political  constitution,  a  question  which  every  newspaper  more 
or  less  raises,  and  which  is  obtruded  upon  you  and  made  a  motive  for  your  con- 
duct at  every  election,  shall  not  be  taught  or  discussed  here :  nevertheless  the 
Chartists  in  the  next  street  handle  it  quite  freely,  and  will  spare  no  pains  to 
induce  you  to  adopt  their  opinions.'     Thus  we  content  ourselves  with  deploring 
the  errors  of  the  lab"ouring  classes,  instead  of  striving  to  remove  those  errors  even 
when  ready  means  of  doing  so  present  themselves  to  us. — Report  of  Mechanics' 
Institutions,  by  Thomas  Coates  (pp.  29-31).     Society  for  the  Diffusion  of  Useful 
Knowledge.     1841. 


210  THE  REASONER. 


Total  Eclipse  of  the  Industry  of  all  Nations  ! — Should  the  Great  Ex- 
hibition be  repeated  a  few  years  hence,  the  Machinery  department  may  perhaps 
be  enriched  with  an  invention  which  will  put  the  nose  ot  Friar  Eicon's  Brazen 
Head  quite  out  of  joint.  Mr.  Alfred  Smee,  nuthor  of  a  work  on  '  Electro-Biology,' 
has  just  published  another  volume,  entitled  '  The  Process  of  Thought,'  wherein  be 
says,  that — 'From  the  laws  which  have  been  already  detailed,  it  is  apparent  that 
thought  is  amenable  to  fixed  piinciples.  By  taking  advantage  of  these  principles, 
it  occurred  to  me  that  mechanical  contrivances  might  be  formed  which  should 
obey  similar  laws,  and  give  those  results  which  some  may  have  considered  only 
obtainable  by  the  operation  of  the  mind  itself.'  In  plain  terms,  Mr.  Smee  con- 
ceives it  possible  to  construct  a  thinking  apparatus  ;  and  he  actually  talks  of  a 
'rational'  and  a ' differential  machine,'  by  whose  combined  action  he  proposes  to 
imitate  the  operations  of  the  mind.  If  Mr.  Smee  can  bring  these  contrivances  of 
his  to  bear,  he  will  confer  a  great  boon  upon  the  insane;  as  those  who  have  lost 
their  wits  will  then  perhaps  be  enabled  to  have  artificial  brains  made  for  them,  as 
easily  as  a  person  who  has  sutTered  amputation  is  supplied  with  a  wooden  leg. 
Advertisements  will  invite  our  attention  to  'An  Entirely  New  Description  of 
Intellectual  Faculties,'  or  'A  New  Discovery  in  Braia?,'  or  Mr.  So  and  So's 
'Patent  Cerebral  Succedaneum,  Warranted  Never  to  Decay  or  Fall  Out.'  The 
progressive  perfection  of  mental  machinery  will  render  it  applicable  to  purposes 
of  greater  and  greater  delicacy,  and  we  shall  have  automatic  poets  and  musicians — 
mechanical  Shaksperes  and  Beethovens — actuated  by  steam  and  electricity,  instead 
of  genius;  and  excelling  live  bards  and  composers  as  much  as  a  power  loom  excels 
a  hand  loom.  Cabinets  will  be  literally  constructed,  by  au  improvement  in 
cabinet-making,  and  the  functions  of  Parliament  will  be  executed  by  instruments 
evolving  legislative  wisdom. — Punch. 

Eastern  Unitarian  Christian  Society. — The  thirty-eighth  Anniversary 
of  this  society  was  held  on  the  26th  ult.,  at  the  Old  Meeting,  Gaol  Street.  The 
Rev.  Henry  Knott,  of  Bury  St,  Edmund's,  delivered  a  discourse  before  the  asso- 
ciation, after  which  the  congregation  adjourned  to  a  luncheon  at  the  Crown  and 
Anchor.  The  interest  of  the  meeting  was  considerably  enhanced  by  the  presence 
of  George  Dawson,  Esq.,  the  Revds.  J.  Cronipton,  F.  Macdonald,  etc.  The  re- 
port of  the  association  was  read  by  the  secretary,  J.  W.  Dowson,  Esq.  A  new 
feature  of  interest  presented  itself  in  the  recommendation  of  the  establishment  of 
a  local  missionary,  chapel  libraries,  &c.  An  interesting  discussion  ensued  on 
some  views  advanced  by  the  Rev.  J.  CrOmpton,  who  strongly  inculcated  the  duty 
of  encouraging  a  more  catholic  spirit,  and  suggested  that  by  discontinuing  the  sec- 
tarian term  Unitarian,  an  opening  would  be  made  for  the  admission  of  those  who 
were  prevented  from  joining  the  association  in  consequence  of  its  title.  The  sub- 
ject, however,  dropped  without  any  resolution  being  formally  put.  In  the  even- 
ing a  party  of  about  130  ladies  and  gentlemen  sat  down  to  tea  in  the  Corn  Ex- 
change, the  Rev.  Henry  Squire  in  the  chair.  Mr.  George  Dawson,  in  his  usual 
terse  and  vigorous  style,  addressed  the  meeting,  touching  upon  a  great  variety  of 
topics,  and  among  others  that  of  the  Great  Exhibition,  of  the  results  of  which  he 
did  not  entertain  very  high  expectations  He  objected  to  the  parade  of  the  names 
of  the  employers  to  the  exclusion  of  the  working  men,  and  he  complained  that 
there  were  no  representatives  of  the  people  at  the  opening.  The  Re  v.  J.  Crompton 
addressed  the  meeting  at  some  length  on  the  subject  of  the  fugitive  slave  law  in 
America;  and  a  resolution  condeuinaiory  of  the  law  was  carried  unanimously. 


THE  RBASONER.  211 


d^e    Pr0flrE55    at   tijc    HEntcIUct. 


Of  all  the  valuable  works  which  Mr.  Chapman  has  given  to  the  public,  none  are 
more  valualile  than  Robert  Mackay's  'Progress  of  the  Intellect.'  Sdiolarlj',  ye^ 
enthusiastic — contemplative,  yet  vigorous — his  powers  work  together  with  a  fusion 
rare  in  one  so  gifted.  His  book  is  alike  free  from  dogmatism  or  rhetoric;  he 
neither  abuses  others'  orthodoxy  nor  apologises  for  his  own  heresy  ;  he  is  too  much 
in  earnest  to  wander  from  the  road  on  such  errands.  But  he  analyses  the  very 
marrow  of  religion,  philosophy,  and  belief,  with  the  relentless  searchingness  of 
one  who  is  determined  not  to  rest  while  there  is  one  ray  of  Truth  to  light  his 
work.  And  his  results  are  presented  in  language  clear  as  mountain  air,  and 
radiant  with  intellectual  beauty.  Never,  perhaps,  was  heresy  more  entrancing,  or 
philosophy  more  majestic. 

Ill  health  prevents  me  from  attempting  even  the  humblest  analysis  of  the  book; 
but  I  have  extracted  some  of  its  finest  passages  for  the  benefit  of  those  who  may 
be  unable  to  afford  its  high  price.  It  needs  only  to  add,  that  its  main  object  is  to 
aid  in  determining  the  Philosophy  of  Mythology— Greek,  Hebrew,  and  Chrictian. 
The  work  is  in  two  volumes,  and  is  divided  into  ten  parts,  as  follows  : — 

I.  Intellectual  Religion  VII.  Hebrew   Theory  of  Retribution 

II.  Ancient  Cosmogony  and  Immortality 

III.  Notion  of  God,  Metaphysically  VIII.  Notion  of  a  Supernatural   Mes- 

IV.  Notion  of  God,  Morally  siah 

V.  On  the  Theory  of  Mediation  IX.  Christian  Forms  and  Reforms 

VI.  Hebrew  Theory  of  Mediation  X.  Speculative  Christianity 

The  first  extract  is  condensed  from  the  Preface,  and  will  indicate  the  author's 
aim  in  his  own  words.  The  second  is  a  condensation  of  Section  7,  on  Intellectual 
Religion.  The  foot-notes  are  abundant  throughout  the  work,  and  refer  to  the 
numerous  authors  of  all  times  and  countries,  whom  Mr.  Mackay  calls  to  bear 
witness  to  '  the  progress  of  the  intellect,'  and  the  majesty  of  truth. 

Panthea. 


MYTHOLOGY  OF  MODERN  SOCIETY.  influence  has  now  been  partially  re- 
The  study  of  mythology  seems  to  be  moved,  we  are  able  to  see  more  clearly 
nearly  abandoned  amongst  us  except  as  its  sources  and  effects.  The  understand- 
a  trifling  matter  of  school  routine.  We  ing,  like  the  eye,  requires  instruments 
value  ourselves  on  knowledge  of  facts,  to  work  with,  and  even  now  the  severest 
and  parade  our  indifference  for  fables,  experimentalist  is  greatly  indebted  to 
Yet  this  is  affecting  a  superiority  to  imagination  for  the  means  of  gaining 
which  we  have  little  riglit.  and  expressing  his  conclusions.  Some- 
While  we  smile  at  past  follies,  the  thing  of  the  painful  and  arbitrary  is  in- 
mythical  element  still  holds  its  ground,  separable  from  all  forms  of  thought,  and 
not  only  in  the  opinions  but  even  in  the  mythology  is  a  useful  warning  against 
philosophy  of  the  present.  the  error  which  was  its  essence,  that  of 
In  this  consists  the  lasting  interest  of  assigning  reality  to  impressions,  of  ccn- 
what  is,  by  way  of  eminence,  called  my-  founding  the  inner  sense  with  the  ex- 
thology.  It  is  but  the  exaggerated  re-  ternal  development, 
flection  of  our  own  intellectual  habits.  The  most  serious  consequence  of  piis- 
An  extreme  instance  is  understood  more  understanding  the  forms  of  ancient 
easily  than  that  which  is  familiar  on  a  thought  and  expression  is  the  estrange- 
diminished  scale.  In  times  when  the  ment  between  religious  theory  and  corn- 
mythical  element  predominated,  extend-  mon  practice  characteristic  of  our  dny. 
ing  over  many  subjects  from  whence  its  St.  Paul  arrived  at  his  idea  of  a  justify- 


212 


THE  REASONER. 


ing  faith  hy  reversing  the  natural  course 
of  thought;  he  argued  from  conceptions 
to  facts  instead  of  from  facts  to  concep- 
tions. The  dogmatical  theology  derived 
from  him  has  busied  itself  more  with 
his  conceptional  machinery  than  his 
essential  meaning.  Hence  the  wide 
gulf  between  action  and  belief,  which 
diverge,  not  only  in  their  moral  applica- 
tion, but  in  theoretic  principle.  Action 
assumes  the  natural  relation  of  cause 
and  effect,  while  religious  profession  is 
•wholly  mystical ;  the  latter  is  based  on 
a  notion  of  magic,  the  other  on  that  of 
science.  The  practical  issue  of  the  con- 
tradiction is  compromise ;  to  make  up 
for  lack  of  performance  by  unjustifiable 
appeals  to  Jupiter ;  adopting  a  principle 
for  Sundays  different  from  that  sug- 
gested by  every-day  experience,  neither 
heartily  accepting  the  new  philosophy 
nor  remaining  consistently  faithful  to 
the  old.  To  bring  morals  and  religion 
together  by  reconciling  faith  and  prac- 
tice, all  that  would  seem  to  be  required 
is  to  ascertain  what  the  nature  of  the 
divine  government  really  is ;  and  if  it 
be  impossible  there  to  discover  any  in- 
consistency, at  once  to  discard  the  ano- 
maly gratuitously  introduced  into  hu- 
man thought  and  practice. 

It  seems  but  too  clear  that  the  only 
way  to  better  things  lies  through  the 
labyrinth  of  theological  controversy.  In 
order  to  convince  ourselves  of  what  re- 
ligion is,  we  must  first  become  fully 
aware  of  what  it  is  not.  To  the  public 
such  discussions  are  naturally  distaste- 
ful, and  that  not  only  on  account  of  the 
abstruse  nature  of  the  questions  raised, 
and  probably  also  from  an  instinctive 
appreciation  of  their  comparative  worth- 
lessness,  but  in  the  presumption  that 
the  official  depositories  of  the  sacred 
oracles,  knowing  already  all  that  can  be 
known  about  them,  are  fully  equal  and 
faithful  to  their  trust.  But  the  prin- 
ciple of  deputation  may  be  carried  too 
far.  It  is  not  every  physician,  even 
supposing  him  to  be  fully  master  of  his 
profession,  who  will  venture  to  prescribe 
an  unpalatable  remedy.  If  we  neglect 
our  own  spiritual  interests,  we  cannot 
be  surprised  if  they  miscarry.  That 
they  have  so  is  clear,  since  the  trustees 
are  at  issue  among  themselves,  and  many 
of  them  openly  abandon  their  charge 
and  church.  Ir,  is  hard  to  be  called  to 
do  personally   what   we   imagined   had 


already  been  effectually  done  by  deputy, 
but  there  is  no  alternative.  It  is  like 
being  enrolled  for  the  militia,  trouble- 
some but  necessary.  Yet,  after  all,  the 
task,  if  resolutely  taken  up,  will  be  found 
easier  than  we  thought. 

In  this,  as  in  many  other  cases,  the 
real  difficulty  is  not  in  the  subject,  but 
in  fallacies  of  perverted  ingenuity.  Men 
deify  brutes,  their  fellow-beings,  their 
own  ideas.  In  the  break-up  of  old  faiths 
some  fall  back  upon  a  worship  of  form, 
while  others  take  refuge  in  wild  senti- 
mentality. There  are  people  whose  re- 
ligion consists  in  self-torture;  who  ex- 
clude themselves  from  the  world,  or 
think  to  please  God  by  giving  up  to 
what  they  suppose  to  be  his  service 
something  whose  loss  is  felt  to  be  in- 
jurious to  their  health  or  business;  by 
consecrating  a  day  out  of  the  week  to 
peculiar  ceremonies,  by  fasting  or  other 
penance.  Such  extravagances  result 
from  misconceiving  the  character  of  the 
Deity  and  the  relation  in  which  we  stand 
to  him  ;  from  forgetting  that  religion 
tasks  the  whole  man — not  exacting  a 
service  of  mere  sentiment  or  imagina- 
tion which  reason  disowns,  but  directing 
all  the  faculties  to  act  in  unison  for  the 
agent's  good.  The  ancients  were  as  the 
eagle  intently  gazing  on  what  he  wants 
strength  to  reach  :  we  are  the  owls 
blinking  at  the  first  daylight,  which, 
however,  we  are  slowly  learning  to  sup- 
port. Our  spiritual  light  is  still  sadly 
dimmed  by  Gothic  windows  and  still 
more  Gothic  traditions;  but  clouds  do 
not  extinguish  the  light  of  heaven,  re- 
ligion will  outlive  theology,  its  lamp  will 
be  kindled  afresh  and  burn  brighter 
than  before. 


INTELLECTUAL    RELIGION. 

The  basis  of  all  our  real  knowledge  is 
the  reliance  we  place  on  the  constancy 
and  precision  of  nature.  Nothing  could 
be  truly  learned,  nor  any  value  attached 
to  experience,  but  for  the  invariable 
connection  of  cause  and  effect,  and  the 
certainty  and  fixity  of  the  laws  of  crea- 
tion. When  providential  government 
is  admitted  to  be  regular  and  unde- 
viating,  then,  and  then  only,  is  an  unli- 
mited field  of  exertion  and  education 
opened  to  the  intellect. 

Even  the  Chaldees  would  have  aban- 
doned their  observatories  in  despair  if 


i 


THE  REASONER. 


213 


they  had  really  credited  the  miracle  of 
the  dial  of  Ahaz,  and  there  would  be 
little  prospect  of  obtaining  any  certainty 
in  regard  to  the  laws  of  meteorology  if 
real  eflBcacy  could  be  supposed  to  attach 
to  occasional  petitions  for  rain  or  fine 
weather. 

Science  is  the  intellectual  tribute  to 
religion,  for  its  office  is  essentially  sub- 
servient to  religious  and  moral  practice, 
the  knowledge  of  the  true  being  imme- 
diately convertible  into  the  doing  of  the 
right.     The  systematised  records  of  ex- 
perience, to  which  we  give  the  name  of 
science,  are   unsatisfying   to   man  as  a 
merely  contemplative  being,  but  exactly 
suited   to   his  wants   as  an  active  and 
moral  one.     They  teach  him,  not  what 
is  absolutely  true,  but  what  is  true  rela- 
tively to  himself.     He  imbibes  from  ex- 
perience a  general  sense  of  obligation 
simultaneously  with  the  perception  of 
truth,  at  first  by  that  involuntary  sug- 
gestion  which   resembles   instinct,  and 
afterwards  through  deliberate  and  self- 
conscious     inferences.       Nature,     both 
within  and  without,  has  ever  a  definite 
aim,  and  inevitably  makes  him  feel  the 
powerful  instrumentality  by  which  she 
ensures  the  general  accomplishment  of 
her  object.     He  is  surrounded  by  incite- 
ments on  the  one  hand  and  by  checks 
and   limitations   on    the   other  —  being 
hemmed  in,  as  it  were,  by  circumstances, 
so  as  to  be  in    some  degree  protected 
from  injuring  himself  or  others  by  wan- 
ton or  involuntary  indiscretions.     But, 
until  the   understanding   is   developed, 
the  economy  of  his  being  is  unsafe  and 
imperfect.      A   man's    most  important 
education  begins  at  the  maturity  of  his 
faculties,  the  time  at  which  it  is  commonly 
supposed   to   end — when,   for   the   first 
time,  he  becomes  fully  aware  of  the  mean- 
ing  and   intimate    connection    between 
truth  and  duty,  and  when,  from  elemen- 
tary pupilage,  he   may   be   said   to   be 
launched  into  the  great   school  of  the 
universe,  where  knowledge,  self-interest, 
and  sentiment,  co-operating,  lead  him 
more  securely  in  the  path  of  duty  and 
philosophy. 

At  first,  all  science  appears  merged 
in  religion;  afterwards,  religion  is,  as  it 
were,  swallowed  up  in  science.  In  pro- 
portion as  men  become  familiar  with 
the  details  of  causation,  language  ceases 
to  indulge  in  the  vague  generalities  of 
religious  poetry,  and  is  ever  more  precise 


and  less  mystical  as  knowledge  becomes 
more  accurate  and  full.     Every  grade  of 
knowledije  has  its  appropiiate  expres- 
sion.    Thus,  what  to  an  oriental  mystic 
would   be  a  plague   of  Egypt,  or   out- 
pouring of  divine  wrath,  gradually  as- 
sumes   the    more    homely   name   of  a 
simoom   or  blight,   and    by   a   modern 
naturalist  is  further  particularised  as  a 
peculiar  development  of  electricity,  an 
attack    of    animalcules    or    fungi.      In 
both  modes  of  expression  a  divine  mover 
is  equally   contemplated  —  for   no   one 
more  deeply  feels   the   necessity  of  an 
intelligent   cause   than   the   student   of 
nature,  who  sees  throughout  her  empire 
a  code  of  uniform  procedure,  ascertain- 
able, and  therefore  dictated  by  reason. 
The   more  this  agency  is  defined  and 
understood,  the  more  is  its  reality  felt 
and   its    wisdom  appreciated.      Nay,  it 
may  be  said  that  the  religious  sentiment 
can  be  matured  only  through  scientific 
cultivation,  since  the  more  we  know  the 
more   we   venerate,  and   the   reverence 
which  is  the  joint  result  of  sentiment 
and    knowledge  can   alone   survive   the 
attacks    of    change   or   time,   as    being 
never  chained  to  an  obsolete  opinion  or 
an   immoral   practice.     The   causes   of 
the  degeneracy   of    science   have   been 
always  the  same   as   those  which   per- 
verted   religion.     They   consist  in   the 
estrangement  of  the  one  from  the  other, 
and  of   both   from    the   understanding. 
Science  and  religion  miscarried  partly 
through  the  subjection  of  the  intellect  to 
the  senses,  partly  through  the  involun- 
tary pride  which  induced  the  mind  to 
insulate  its  results,  and  to  rely  prema- 
turely upon  itself.     The   prejudices   of 
the  senses  and  the  prejudices  of  opinion 
were  equally  unfavourable  in  both  cases. 
The   ancients  failed    in    their    science 
because  they  paid  more  regard  to  words 
and  notions  than  to  things,  and  in  their 
religion  because  they  believed  they  had 
become  acquainted   with  the  universal 
cause  when  they  assigned  to  it  an  exis- 
tence and  a  name,  or  sought  an  alliance 
with    it    in    mystical    rapture.      They 
either  hoped,  like   Moses,  to   obtain  a 
manifestation  of  the  deity  to  the  eye,  ot- 
to  create    an    adequate   image   of   him 
within  the  bounds  of  the  isolated  under- 
standing.    It  was  only  through  the  ima- 
gination that  they  could  hope  tp  pass 
the  interval  between  earth  and  heaven, 
for  as  yet  there  was  no  solid  pathway 


2U 


THE  REASONER. 


for  the  reason.  They  had  a  vague  feel- 
ing that  the  universe  is  governed  by- 
eternal  laws  of  justice;  but  the  impres- 
sion was  only  a  rude  antici]ifition  of  the 
leaitimate  discovery,  an  inference  from 
the  analogy  of  human  government — and 
therefore  often  confounded  with  arbi- 
trary volition  or  chance — not  from  an 
acquaintance  with  the  government  of 
nature.  Even  if  they  could  have  been 
aware  of  the  existence  of  natural  law  in 
its  true  meaning,  they  knew  not  how  to 
study  or  decypher  it,  so  that  it  was  still 
a  mystery  inoperative  as  a  guide  to  deli- 
berate choice  and  action.  The  stoical 
maxim,  'to  live  agreeably  to  nature,' 
was  the  nearest  approach  of  antiquity  to 
a  perfect  moral  code :  its  defect  was  the 
impossibility  of  applying  it  when  the 
study  of  nature  was  arrested,  and  when 
anticipated  notions  were  assumed  as 
final  ciiteria  of  truth  and  right.  Vi- 
sionary theories  were  thus  adopted  by 
rival  sects,  and,  while  each  had  its 
element  ot  truth,  the  Stoic  erred  on  one 
side  as  much  as  the  Epicurean  on  the 
other.  If  nature  be  a  tyftem  ot  regula- 
rity and  hiw,  we  must,  in  order  to  live 
agreeably  to  it,  become  acquainted  with 
its  laws;  in  other  words,  we  must  gain 
experience,  and  that  not  only  in  the 
ordinary  sense  of  practical  or  worldly 
wisdom,  but  in  its  methodised  form  as 
science — the  intellectual  part  of  religion 
being  only  the  gaining  accurate  expe- 
riences, reduced  to  general  principles  so 
as  to  be  readily  available,  and  accom- 
panied by  such  a  clear  view  of  the 
resulting  obligations  as  may  ensure  the 
realisation  of  its  lessons.  Relijiion, 
including  morality,  is  therefore  no  more 
than  well-directed  education  ;  and  as 
the  basis  of  all  education  n)ust  be  the 
notion  formed  respecting  the  sources 
ot  knowledge  and  sanctions  of  duty,  the 
first  great  education  question  is  the 
essentially-religious  one,  how  or  upon 
what  principles  is  the  world  governed? 
or  rather,  is  it  governed  upon  any  prin- 


ciple, since  observances  of  prayer  and 
belief  in  miracles  inevitably  tend  to 
countenance  the  idea  that  the  divine 
go'fernment  is  no  more  than  a  capricious 
exercise  of  grace  and  favour  ?  Every 
duty, once  ascertained, becomes  obviously 
a  rtligions  duty,  and  the  same  sacred 
character  appertains  to  every  process 
for  discovering  its  criteria  with  more 
ease  and  precision.  That  there  should 
have  ever  been  a  doubt  about  the  real 
evidences  of  these  criteria  can  only  have 
resulted  from  a  delusion  such  as  that 
which  makes  a  savage  fall  down  before 
the  block  of  his  own  manipulation. 
The  foundations  of  the  right  and  good 
must  be  sought  for  in  the  legislation  of 
nature,  as  the  limits  of  social  propriety 
are  laid  down  in  municipal  regulations. 
Those  general  arrangements  which,  per- 
ceived either  in  ibe  physical  or  moral 
world,  baffle  inquiry  into  their  causes, 
are  provisionally  assumed  as  law.s  of 
nature,  that  is,  as  ultimate  expressions 
of  adivine  volition,  conveying  to  us  such 
a  partial  knowledge  of  the  universal 
orcier  as  may  be  a  suflBcient  guide  in 
cases  beyond  the  reach  of  instinct.  The 
first  elements  of  the  task  of  discovering 
them  are  easy,  but  its  range  is  the  in- 
tellectual business  ot  eternity.  On  the 
preliminary  scene  of  the  dranm  ot  men- 
tal dovelopnient  each  individual  pursues, 
with  more  or  less  aid  from  precedinj^ 
experience,  his  appointed  task, a  humble 
one  perhaps  in  itself,  yet  glorious  when 
con.'-idered  as  part  of  an  endless  career 
of  improvement,  a  contribution  to  that 
eternal  monument,  the  great  wonder  of 
the  modern  world,  which,  though  often 
exposed  like  those  of  Babel  or  Memphis 
to  interruption  and  dilapidation, is  unlike 
them  and  the  philosophical  and  religious 
systems  of  which  ihty  may  be  regarded 
as  types,  for  ever  repaired  and  renewed, 
slowly  but  surely  rising  towards  the  un- 
oflended  heavens  through  the  co-opeia- 
tiou  ot  diversified  tribes  and  tongues. 


[To  be  concluded  in  next  number.] 


THE  REASONER. 


215 


Our  piaKarm. 


From  which  any  earnest  opponent  may  controvert  our  opinion?,  and  from  which  any  may  expound  views 
not  coincident  with  our  own,  it  tending  to  the  Rationalisation  of  TUeologv, 

THE     FREE     V/]LL     OF     CHRIST. 

Sib, — In  Reasoncr  No.  270,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Fleming  endeavours  to  free  the  Divine 
character  from  imputation  with  reference  to  the  crucifixion  of  Christ.  This 
reverend  gentleman  states  that  the  Death  of  Christ  was,  on  his  part,  voluntary, 
free,  and  self-chosen,  and  therefore  cannot  tell  against  the  Divine  character;  by 
which  we  are  to  understand  that  Deity  could  not  possess  that  purity  ascribed  to 
him  and  have  caused  or  compelled  Christ's  death.  Now  as  it  was  voluntary  on 
Christ's  part,  if  he  had  thought  fit  the  crucifixion  might  not  have  taken  place,  and 
consequently  the  world  have  been  unredeemed  unto  this  day.  Then  what  is  to 
become  of  the  saying  continually  heard  from  the  pulpits,  namely, '  without  shed- 
ding of  blood  there  is  no  remission  of  sins?' 

Mr.  Fleming,  in  representing  Christ's  death  as  self-chosen,  represents  it  as 
unnecessary,  because  that  which  is  inevitable  cannot  be  voluntary ;  he  therefore 
contradicts  both  theology  and  Christ's  own  words,  where  he  says  to  his  disciples 
*0h  fools,  and  slow  of  heart.  Ousht  not  Christ  to  have  suffered  these  things?' 
And  '  beginning  at  Moses  and  all  the  Prophets,  he  expounded  unto  them  in  all  the 
Scriptures  the  things  concerning  himself.'  If  his  death  was  voluntary  and  might 
not  have  been,  then  the  whole  of  the  Prophesies  referring  thereto  might  have  been 
false,  and  consequently  could  not  be  any  foundation  for  the  inspiration  of  the  Scrip- 
tures. But  Christ  seemed  to  be  of  a  different  opinion  as  to  the  voluntaryism  of 
his  death,  when  he  said  'Father,  if  it  be  possible,  let  this  cup  pass  from  me;' 
clearly  showing  that  so  far  as  he  was  concerned  he  would  rather  not  have  suf- 
fered, and  that  he  died  because  it  was  not  possible  for  him  to  avoid  it.  But  our 
spiritual  pastors  tell  us  of  the  promise  that  the  seed  of  the  woman  shall  bruise  the 
serpent's  head.  The  Pi-ophet  Isaiah  speaks  more  like  an  historian  than  a  prophet, 
where  he  says  '  unto  us  a  child  is  born,'  and  that  he  was  wounded  for  our  transgres- 
sions, bruised  for  our  iniquities,  that  the  chastisement  of  our  peace  was  upon  him, 
and  with  his  stripes  we  are  healed.  It  is  said  that  the  parting  his  garments  was  to 
fulfil  the  Scriptures,  that  Christ  chose  one  of  the  twelve,  being  a  devil,  the  son  of 
perdition,  and  that  Satan  entered  into  him  for  the  purpose.  Will  Mr.  Fleming 
say  there  was  any  voluntaryism  in  all  this  on  the  part  of  Christ  Jesus?  If  not, 
then  he  must  find  some  other  foundation  on  which  to  defend  the  divine  attributes. 

Mr.  Fleming  would  seem  to  teach  that  God's  secret  decrees  could  not  influence 
the  moral  conduct  of  men.  Then  will  he  tell  us  how,  seeing  that  the  soldiers 
should  part  Christ's  garments  and  cast  lots  on  his  vesture,  they  could  do  other- 
wise; or  that  when  the  Romans  had  to  pierce  his  side  and  give  him  vinegar  to 
drink,  they  could  do  otherwise  ?  Why,  we  are  told  by  Christ  that  those  things 
were  done  that  the  Scriptures  might  be  fulfilled.  It  cannot  alter  the  necessity  of 
the  case  that  the  actors  might  be  ignorant  of  God's  secret  purposes,  for  whatever 
might  be  their  motives  the  divine  purposes  of  God  could  not  be  averted  by 
mortals. 

Will  Mr.  Fleming  show  how  Deity  can  positively  know  that  such  and  such 
events  mil  come  to  pass,  that  men  will  think  and  act  in  a  certain  manner,  and  that 
these  events  can  possibly  not  come  to  pass  ?  Christ  said  that  these  things  mast 
needs  be  (meaning,  I  suppose,  these  events  and  actions);  and  if  they  were  to  be, 
I  suppose  the  actors  were  compelled  to  obey  God's  revealed  will,  or  they  would 
have  been  in  opposition  to  his  secret  purpose;  they  must  therefore  have  been  dis- 


216 


THE  REASONER. 


,posed  to  do  what  was  planned  according  to  the  eternal  counsels  of  God  before  the 
world  began — where,  in  some  cases,  the  very  men  are  pointed  out.  In  fine,  Mr. 
Fleming,  in  admitting  that  God  had  secret  purposes  and  decrees  on  the  greatest 
events,  and  on  the  death  and  resurrection  of  Christ,  admits  that  if  the  Scriptures 
be  true,  Christ  had  no  voluntary,  free,  spontaneous  self-choice  in  the  matter,  and 
God  therefore  could  not  be  Love,  Truth,  and  Justice  on  his  (Mr.  Fleming's) 
grounds.  I  submit  then,  in  conclusion,  that  such  reasoners  as  Mr.  Fleming 
must  ever  fail  to  convince  the  atheist  of  the  attributes  of  Deity  from  Scripture, 
or  of  the  falsehood  of  that  moral  philosophy  which  objects  to  the  crucifixion  of  a 
child  by  its  parent.  X. 

FURTHER  REPLY  TO  MR.  NORRINGTON. 


Sir, — I  do  not  know  to  what  class  of  Christians  your  correspondent,  Henry 
Norrington,  belongs.  I  infer  from  his  letter  that  he  does  not  believe  the  Bible  to 
be  a  revelation  from  a  God  as  generally  understood.  I  infer  that  he  rejects  what 
is  inconsistent  with  his  own  feelings  of  truth.  Now  in  this  case  I  cannot  see  that 
the  Bible  (only  so  far  as  it  contains  moral  truth)  can  be  of  more  value  than  any 
other  book.  He  writes  in  a  liberal  spirit,  and  is  worthy  all  courtesy  and  attention. 
He  conceives  that  your  abilities  are  misapplied.  For,  says  he, '  In  attempting  to 
destroy  Christianity  you  must  remember  you  are  destroying  all  the  goodness  and 
virtue  that  it  embraces,  as  well  as  its  supposed  evils.'  A  quotation  from  your 
'Logic  of  Death  '  will,  I  think,  refute  this  statement.  On  the  fifth  page  he  will  find 
— '  To  me  it  is  an  axiom  that  there  is  nothing  higher  than  morality  :  therefore, 
whatever  I  find  in  the  Bible  below  morality  (and  I  find  much),  I  reject — what  I 
find  above  it,  I  suspect — what  I  find  coincident  with  morality  (whether  in  the 
Old  Testament  or  the  New),  I  retain.  I  make  Morality  a  standard.  It  is  there- 
fore that  I  call  myself  a  Moralist  rather  than  a  Christian.  It  seems  to  me  that 
there  is  nothing  in  Christianity  which  will  bear  the  test  of  discussion  or  the  face 
of  day,  nothing  whereby  it  can  lay  hold  of  the  world  and  move  it,  which  is  not 
coincident  with  morality.  Therefore  morality  has  all  the  strength  of  Christianity 
without  the  mystery  and  bigotry  of  the  Bible.' 

If  instead  of  this — 'Instinct,  and  all  but  universal  assent,  proclaim  the  Great 
First  Cause ;  and  an  opinion  so  widely,  deeply,  and  long  assented  to,  has  its 
foundations  in  a  truth  that  cannot  be  safely  ignored ' — he  had  said  'Man's  igno- 
rance and  curiosity  have  called  into  being  Gods  and  rulers  of  this  world  (for  there 
are  Lords  many  and  Gods  many),  which  invocation,  becoming  popular  and  of 
selfish  interest  to  the  people,  backed  by  a  multitude  of  men  called  priests  (who 
live  upon  the  credulity  ot  the  people)  who  have  instilled  this  dogma  into  the 
minds  of  men  from  their  earliest  youth,  that  it  has  become  to  be  received  by  fet- 
tered minds  almost  as  an  instinct ' — I  think  this  would  have  been  nearer  the  mark. 

He  says  that  infidelity  is  preferable  to  devils,  hell  fire,  and  the  like — which  he 
will  find  taught  in  the  Bible.  He  seems  to  forget  that  Christianity  had  its  birth 
in  immorality.  Does  he  not  remember  the  miraculous  conception  ?  unnatural, 
impossible,  and  contrary  to  all  scientific  knowledge.  Does  he  forget  that  God's 
vengeance  was  appeased  by  a  vicarious  sacrifice — or  will  he  say  that  these  are  not 
parts  of  Christianity,  when  the  mass  of  Christians  hold  them  as  the  bulwark  of 
their  faith  ?  E. 

[We  wish  papers  on  the  Independence  of  Morality,  setting  forth  the  grounds 
thereof,  which  will  form  the  most  useful  answer. — Ed.] 


=;. 


THE  REASONER. 


217 


THE  BIBLE  AN  ARCH^OLOGICAL  CURIOSITY. 

SiE, — The  Archseological  Institute  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland  held  their 
annual  meeting  in  Bristol  this  year.  Amongst  other  papers  read  in  the  sections  was 
one  by  E.  A.  Freeman,  Esq.,  of  Trin.  Coll.,  Oxon,  on  the  '  Preservation  and  Re- 
storation of  Ancient  Monuments,'  in  wliich  he  laid  down  as  a  principle  that  it  was 
nothing  short  of  pure,  unmitigated  Vandalism  to  interfere  in  anyway  with  ancient 
works  of  art— whether  they  were  castles,  churches,  temples,  sculptures,  or  anything 
of  the  kind— to  restore  them,  or  to  remove  them  from  their  original  position  in 
situ,  with  a  view  to  their  preservation.  He  denounced  Lord  Elgin  in  severe 
terms,  and  by  no  means  approved  of  Layard's  proceedings,  although  it  is  known, 
from  the  nature  of  the  material,  that  a  few  showers  of  rain  would  effectually  re- 
move all  traces  of  sculpture  from  the  Niraroud  marbles 

Well,  sir,  you  will  perceive  from  what  follows  that  this  opinion  of  Mr.  Free- 
man is  an  established  principle  with  arcbseologists  generally.  They  venerate  the 
past  to  such  a  degree  that,  whatever  may  be  its  faults,  they  would  not  mend  them 
for  the  world:  'touch  not,  handle  not,' is  their  motto.  A  Mr.  Warner  read  a 
paper  on  Tyndale's  New  Testament,  after  which  a  Member,  in  the  course  of  other 
remarks,  said, '  He  had  seen  an  advertisement,  some  years  since,  of  a  Bible — a  new 
translation  of  the  Bible — with  20,000  emendations ;  why,  in  this,  errors  might 
creep  in,  not  only  of  doctrine,  but  of  philological  criticism.  Their  duty  as  Chris- 
tians and  as  archaeologists  would  lead  them  to  oppose  that  translation.'  After 
which  J.  S.  Harford,  Esq.,  D.C.L.,  of  Blaze-castle,  near  Bristol,  said  that,  as 
President  of  the  Archaeological  Institute  on  this  occasion,  he  should  not  be  dis- 
charging his  duty  to  the  public  were  he  not  to  express  his  conviction  that  with 
respect  to  the  authorised  translation  of  the  Bible,  there  was  the  most  deep  re- 
verence for  that  translation,  not  only  throughout  the  members  of  the  Church  of 
England,  but  of  the  great  body  of  Dissenters,  and  that  if  there  was  a  proposal 
brought  forward  for  a  new  translation,  as  far  as  his  knowledge  of  the  sentiments 
both  of  the  Church  and  of  the  great  body  of  Dissenters  went,  he  was  convinced  it 
would  meet  with  the  strongest  and  most  unqualified  opposition.  He  would  speak 
but  humbly  as  a  scholar,  but,  as  far  as  his  acquaintance  with  the  Greek  language 
went,  he  could  not  conceive  a  translation  so  faithful  to  the  sense  of  the  original 
as  their  authorised  translation.  He  was  peifectly  aware  that  there  were  many 
particular  expressions  where  some  slight  alteration  might  be  introduced  with 
advantage,  but  he  would  oppose  any  proposition  of  the  kind,  because  they  were  not 
in  general  important  points,  and  therefore  any  alteration  of  the  translation  in  such 
a  way  might  lead  to  a  great  many  more,  and  produce  the  effects  which  had  been 
very  properly  objected  to.  He  had  made  these  few  observations  because  he  felt 
that,  perhaps,  some  impression  might  go  forth  to  the  public,  from  the  observations 
of  the  learned  member  of  the  institute,  which  he  was  sure  he  did  not  mean  to 
convey,  that  there  was  amongst  the  members  of  the  institute  a  disposition  for  such 
inquiry. 

Now,  sir,  after  reading  the  above,  am  I  not  justified  in  considering  the  Bible  an 
archaeological  curiosity  ?  The  authorised  versions  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments 
have  the  hoar  of  two  centuries  upon  them,  and  they  are  dedicated  to  that '  triple- 
piled-ass,'  James,  as  Pemberton  designates  him.  For  two  hundred  years  millions 
have  been  placing  implicit  confidence  in  the  power  of  a  certain  book,  said  to  con- 
tain God's  word,  and  no  mistake,  to  secure  them  an  eternity  of  happiness  when  they 
die ;  but  this  book  is  now  said  to  contain  twenty  thousand  errors,  and  some  of  them  of 


218 


THE  REASONER. 


the  greatest  moment.  '  What  of  that  ?'  say  the  archseologists  ; '  if  you  correct  those 
20,000  errors  you  are  not  sure  you  will  not  leave  or  make  others.  Leave  the  book 
alone.  You  shall  not  touch  it.  Renovation  is  desecration.  The  errors  and  ruins 
of  the  past  are  our  exclusive  property — we  j-everence  and  adore  them — the  greater 
the  ruin  the  greater  the  beauty;  and  any  infidel  attempt  to  restore  the  Bible  to 
that  pui'ity  which  increased  knowledge  of  the  languages  in  which  it  was  written 
(which  would  now  be  an  easy  task)  shall  "  meet  with  our  strongest  and  most  un- 
qualifed  opposition. "  We  will  guard  its  errors  with  jealous  care;  and  if  men 
should  come  to  despise  it  as  a  lie,  because  of  those  errors,  we  will  love  it  the  more 
because  it  is  a  lie  of  the  past;  and  would  rather  see  it  perish  from  off  the  face  of  the 
earth  than  a  single  word  or  point  should  be  altered  in  it!'  Oh  wonderful  savans! 
Oh  venerable  Dryasdusts!  "You  may  as  well  entomb  yourself  in  an  Egyptian 
catacomb,  in  the  vain  hope  that  the  world  will  stop  revolving  because  of  your 
absence  from  the  light,  as  imagine  that  anything  will  any  more  be  held  so  sacred 
as  to  be  exempt  from  criticism  and  exposure  and  correction,  if  needs  be.  The 
amended  Bible  has  been  published  for  some  time,  and  I  feel  pleasure  in  saying 
that  I  have  found  some  Christians  who  are  not  archaeologists,  and  who  think  it  a 
commendable  thing  to  correct  any  errors  that  may  be  discovered  in  the  translation 
of  what  they  consider  the  word  of  God.  Mr.  Harford  is,  par  excellence,  one  who 
would  have  all  education  based  on  the  Bible,  and  yet  who  would  oflfer  his  *  strongest 
and  most  unqualified  opposition'  to  any  attempt  to  impart  secular  education,  or  to 
correct  the  errors  in  the  clsss-book  he  would  force  upon  all  parties!  Mr.  H. 
has  been  a  candidate  for  a  seat  in  parliament  once  oi*  twice — how  admirably 
qualified  for  the  office  I 
Bristol,  August  2, 1851.  W.  Chilton. 


THEY    BELONG     TO     US, 


SlE, — On  Sunday  morning,  June  29t,h,  the  Reverend  Mr.  Duncan,  while 
preaching  in  the  Presbyterian  Chapel,  North  Shields,  uttered  the  following  in- 
comprehensible sentence: — 'The  Temperance  Movement,  the  Peace  Move- 
ment, and  Sanitary  Reform,  are  all  atheistic  in  their  character(!).  The  whole 
is  an  attempt  to  take  the  regeneration  of  man  out  of  God's  hands.'  It  is  pain- 
ful to  hear  remarks  like  these  from  educated  men;  they  place  themselves  in  the 
position  of  the  dog  in  the  manger — they  will  not  work  in  the  cause  of  human  pro- 
gress themselves.  The  spirit  of  Mr.  Duncan's  sermon  amounted  to  this,  that 
heaven  was  not  for  the  industrious  labourers  in  the  cause  of  human  progress,  but 
for  lazy  believers,  who  sit  in  their  easy  chairs  waiting  for  the  millennium  coming. 
It  is  a  pity  that  the  reverend  gentleman  should  have  lived  so  long  and  not  disco- 
vered the  truth  of  the  adage, '  God  helps  none  but  those  who  help  themselves.* 

John  Richards. 


[We  are  certainly  indebted  to  Mr.  Duncan  for  assigning  three  such  excellent 
movements  to  us. — Ed.] 

REPORT     FROM     POPLAR. 


Sir, — Though  I  have  for  some  time  been  silent,  I  have  not  been  altogether  idle. 
Since  I  last  communicated  with  you  I  have  regularly  taken  four  copies  weekly  of 


THE  REASONER. 


'219 


the  Reasoner,  one  of  which  I  preserve  for  binding,  the  other  three  being  circulated. 
The  trncts  are  read  with  much  interest.  There  are  now  three  booksellers  in 
Poplar  in  the  windows  of  whose  shops  the  Reasoner  may  be  seen — Elliott  of  Penny- 
fields,  Brown  of  High  Street,  Stout  of  Victoria  Place,  West  India  Eoad.  One  of 
these  told  me,  some  time  ago,  that  he  was  frequently  asked  to  dispose  of  iny  copies 
(he  supplies  me)  from  the  window ;  and  I  debired  him  at  all  times  to  sell  them 
when  asked,  and  get  me  others. 

I  shall  certainly  adopt  your  suggestion  of  taking  my  own  private  copy  in 
monthly  parts.  I  frequently,  in  accepting  of  a  religious  tract  from  the  distributors 
at  the  railway  stations  and  elsewhere,  give  a  Reasoner  in  exchange.  Indeed  I  sel- 
dom go  out  without  a  few  in  my  pocket  for  distribution. 

L. 


J^faSancr  Prnjjagantfa. 


To  promote  the  ellciency  of  the  Rensnner  as  an  organ  of  Propajandisra,  one  frienJ  subscribes  lOs. 
weekly,  ano;her  53.,  one  2s.  monthly,  others  Is.  each  weekly— otiiers  intermediate  sums  or  special 
reraittanees,  according  to  ability  or  earnestness.  An  annual  enntribution  of  Is.  from  each  reader 
would  he  easy,  equitable,  and  sufficient.  What  is  remitted,  in  whatever  proportion,  is  acknowledged 
here  and  accounted  lor  at  the  end  of  the  Volume. 


Acknowledged  in  No.  272,  57l3.  2d.— Mr.  Todd,  Newcastle-on-Tyne,  Is.— Mr. 
Bedlington,  Middlesbro',  23. — George  Watson,  do.,  2s. — George  Grant,  do..  Is. — 
A  Friend,  do.,  Is. — Piobert  Thursfield,  do..  Is. — A  Friend,  do.,  Is. — John  Wilson, 
Stockton-on-Tees,  23.— James  Gray,  Is.  4d. — Total,  583s.  6d. 


GUIDE  TO  THE  LECTURE  ROOM. 

Literary  Institution,  John  Street,  Fitzroy  Square. 
— August  21th  [7i],  Robert  Cooper,  'The  Mon- 
ster Nuisance  of  the  Age— what  is  it?' — 26th  [8,^], 
Discussion  in  the  Coffee  Room.  Question,  '  The 
Respective  Merits  of  Free  Trade  and  Protection.' 

Hall  of  Science,  City  Road. — August  24th  [7^], 
a  lecture. 

National  Hall,  242,  High  Holborn.— Aug.  24th, 
[8],  P.  W.  Perfitt  will  lecture. 

Eclectic  Institute,  Denmark  Street,  Soho.  — 
Every  Friday  [8J],  Mr.  J.  B.  O'Brien,  '  Home  and 
Foreign  Politics.'  Every  Sunday  [7^],  on  '  Moral 
and  Social  Science.' 

Areopagus  Cotfee  and  Reading  Room,  59,  Church 
Lane,  VV'hitechapel, — Every  Sunday,  Monday,  and 
Wednesday  (8),  a  Lecture  or  Discussion. 

City  Forum  Coffee  House,  60,  Red  Cross  Street. 
—  Every  Sunday,  Monday,  and  Thursday  [8iJ],  a 
Discussion. 

Commercial  Hall,  Philpot  Street,  Commercial 
Road  East. — Every  Tuesday  and  Thursday  even- 
iiig  [8],  a  Discussion. 

City  Road  Discussion  Society,  22,  City  Road. — 
Discussion   every  Wednesday  evening. 

ADVERTISEMENT. 

POPULAR  WORKS. 

Theodore  Parker  on  Matters  Pertaining  to 
Religion.     1  vol.  cloth  boards 1     9 

Cooper's    Purgatory  of   Suicides.      1    vol. 

cloth   lettered 3    6 

To  be  had  in  Parts  and  Numbers. 


Cooper's  Wise  Saws  and  Modern  Instances. 

2  vols,  cloth  lettered 5  0 

Cooper's  Baron's  Yule  Feast.  Wrapper..  1  6 
Cooper's  Eifiht  Letters  to   the  Young  Men 

of  the  Working  Classes 0  6 

Cooper's  Journal.     1  vol.  cloth    3  0 

Do.     Captain  Cobler,  or  the  Lincolnshire 

Insurrection.     1  vol 2  6 

Cerebral   Physiology  and  Materialism.     Bv 

W.  C.  Engledue,  M.D ".  0  2 

Doubts  of  Infidels   o  3 

Paine's  Political  Works.      2  vols,  in  one..  5  0 

—  Theological  Works.    1  vol.  cloth .  3  0 

—  Rights  of  Man 1  2 

—  American  Crisis 1  6 

—  Common  Sense    0  6 

—  Letter  to  the  Abbe  Raynal    o  6 

—  Letters  to  the  Citizens  of  the  United 
States 0  4 

—  Public  Good 0  4 

—  Agrarian  Justice 0  2 

—  First  Principles  of  Government  ....  0  2 

—  English  System  of  Finance  0  3 

—  Abolition  of  Royalty 0  2 

Life  of  Paine,  by  W.  J.  Linton   0  6 

Portrait  of  Paine,  engraved  on  Steel 1  0 

The    Knglish    Ri-public,  edited  by  W.  J. 

Linton.     Nos.  1  to  7,  each  at   0  6 

Byron's  V^ision  of  Judgment    0  2 

Southey's  Wat  Tyler 0  3 

Essay  on  the  Functions  of  the  Brain 0  2 

London ;  James  Watson,  3,  Queen's  Head  Pas- 
sage, Pateinoster-row. 


220 


THE  REASONER. 


<Bxir  Open  ^age. 


The  Times,  of  Feb.  28th,  1844,  remarked — 'We  have  been  favoured  with  a  copy 
of  a  pamphlet  entitled  "  An  Appeal  to  the  Members  of  the  Society  for  Promoting 
Christian  Knowledge,  on  doctrinal  changes  lately  introduced  into  the  series  of 
tracts  circulated  under  their  authority."  The  author's  censures  are  levelled 
against  a  tract — or,  more  properly  speaking,  against  the  Society  for  countenancing 
a  tract — written  by  the  Bishop  of  Chester,  on  the  "  Doctrine  of  Justification  by 
Faith  only,"  which  is  said  to  exhibit  a  view  of  that  doctrine  wholly  at  variance 
with  that  taken  by  the  great  body  of  Anglican  divines.  It  should  be  remembered, 
then,  that  a  society  constituted,  as  this  is,  on  purely  voluntary  principles,  and 
composed  of  members  of  all  shades  of  opinions,  must  necessarily  conduct  its 
operations  on  very  different  principles  from  those  on  which  a  church  is  entitled  to 
act.  A  church  governs  its  members — a  society  is  governed  by  them.  In  the 
former,  the  several  degrees  of  dignity  secure  order  and  obedience — in  the  latter,  a 
layman  is  on  an  equality  with  a  bishop.  It  is  obvious,  therefore,  that  where  dif- 
ferences of  opinions  exist — and  in  what  society  do  they  not  ? — those  who  hold  them 
must,  if  they  would  work  together,  consent  to  lay  aside  their  points  of  dispute,  and 
confine  themselves  to  those  upon  which  they  are  agreed.  If  they  do  otherwise, 
they  cease  to  be  a  society.  We  say  this  is  what  common  sense  suggests:  but,  un- 
fortunately, the  heat  of  controversy  stimulates  a  more  arbitrary  course,  and  aims 
at  securing  the  predominance  of  one  or  other  party  at  the  expense  of  the  common 
consistency.  Yet  who  does  not  see  that  such  a  course  as  this  must  be  the  ruin  of 
any  society,  and  especially  of  one  which  professes  to  teach  Christian  knowledge  ? 
People  will  say — "First  of  all,  gentlemen,  settle  among  yourselves  what  is  Chris- 
tian knowledge,  and  then  we  shall  be  happy  to  listen  to  you."  The  Society,  we 
believe,  consists  exclusively  of  members  of  the  Church  of  England— is  thtre 
really  no  point  of  doctrine  or  practice  which  they  can  promulgate  in  common  ?' 

On  the  second  day  of  the  Peace  Congress  at  Exeter  Hall,  the  Rev.  Henry 
Garnett  said—'  Even  within  the  last  few  days  he  had  seen  a  missionary  pamphlet, 
in  which  the  necessity  of  an  army  to  support  the  missionaries  on  the  coast  of 
Africa  was  urged  with  all  the  power  of  the  writer.  He  could  not  help  asking  him- 
self, upon  reading  it,  what  sort  of  a  religion,  what  sort  of  Christianity  was  that 
which  required  to  be  enforced  at  the  point  of  the  bayonet  ?' 

Will '  A  Minister's  Son  '  favour  us  with  his  name  and  address. 

A  District  of  the  National  Charter  Association  has  been  formed  at  Hoxton, 
called  the  '  Hoxton  Chartist  Locality.'  The  meetings  take  place  every  Thursday 
evening,  at  a  quarter  past  eight  o'clock,  at  the  Hope  Coffee  House,  18,  Bridport 
Place,  New  North  Road. 

Of  German  epigrams.  Dr.  Bowring  renders  these  examples  : — 

'You  wish  for  age,  yet  fear  to  die ; 
Is  pain,  then,  sweeter  than  tranquility  ?' 

'  Many  have  died  on  valour's  field, 
And  many  a  man  disease  has  killed; 
But  lust,  and  wine,  and  luxury  call 
To  death's  dark  mansion  more  than  all.' 


London;  Printed  by  Holyoake  Brothers,  3,  Queen's  Head  Passage,  Patemoster-row ;  and  Published 
by  J.  Watson,  3,  Queen's  Head  Passage,  Paternoster-row.— Wednesday,  August  20th,  1851. 


AND 

THEOLOGICAL     EXAMINER. 


They  who  believe  that  they  have  Truth  ask  no  favour,  save  that  of  being  heard :  they  dare  the 
judgment  of  Mankind  :  refused  Co-operation,  they  invoke  Opposition,  for  Opposition  is  their 
Opportunity. — Editor. 

MR.  G.  J.  HOLYOAKE'S  LECTURES  IN  WHITEHAVEN. 


(from    the   '  WHITEHAVEN    HEEALD.') 

Me.  Holyoake  from  London,  editor  of  the  Reasoner,  has  been  delivering  a  course 
of  lectures  in  the  Theatre,  in  this  town,  during  the  present  week  (ending  August 
16.)  The  first  lecture  was  delivered  on  Tuesday  evening,  and  was,  as  stated  in  the 
advertisement,  an  '  Examination  of  the  moral  innocency  of  speculative  opinions 
where  conscientiously  entertained,  with  a  view  to  determine  how  far  a  man  may 
dissent  from  the  religious  belief  of  his  neighbours,  and  yet  live  in  Truth  and  die 
in  Peace;'  and  the  second  was  delivered  on  the  evening  following  (Wednesday), 
the  subject  being  '  Catholicism  the  actual  type  of  the  churches  around  us,  and 
their  influences  upon  society  examined.' 

First  Lecture. 
Mr.  Holyoake  commenced  his  first  lecture  by  stating  the  difficulty  he  expe- 
rienced in  presenting  a  new  subject  to  his  auditory,  in  doing  justice  to  the  integrity 
of  individual  conviction  without  wounding,  what  ought  never  to  be  wounded  wan- 
tonly, the  conscientious  opinions  of  others.  His  purpose  was  to  show  that  a  certain 
moral  innocence  attached  to  all  opinions,  and  that  an  honest  man  might  hope  to 
live  in  truth  and  die  in  peace, though  difi'ering  with  his  neighbours  upon  speculative 
points.  The  history  of  religious  opinion  in  this  country,  said  Mr.  Holyoake, 
showed  that  this  truth  had  been  acknowledged  some  two  centuries  ago  throughout 
Europe,  though  but  imperfectly  comprehended  in  the  present  day.  The  dominant 
church  in  the  days  of  Luther  held  the  opinions  Luther  represented,  to  originate 
not  in  conscience  so  much  as  in  wickedness.  But  the  patient  endurance  of  the 
martyrs  in  imprisonment  and  in  death  at  length  established  the  conviction  that, 
though  these  men  might  be  erroneous  in  their  views,  they  must  be  sincere  or  they 
•would  cease  to  suffer  voluntarily.  The  long  succession  of  struggles  in  the  name 
of  various  forms  of  dissent,  from  the  Established  Church  down  to  the  Unitarian 
body — at  once  the  pride  of  heresy  though  the  shame  of  the  church — sufficiently 
attested  that,  though  we  might  regret  the  eccentricities  of  private  judgment,  there 
was  no  longer  any  question  as  to  the  earnestness  of  conviction  manifested  by  these 
parties.  Bunyan,  the  tinman,  had  excited  astonishment  by  the  vagaries  of  his 
soul  as  well  as  by  his  matchless  allegory,  the  '  Pilgrim's  Progress,'  They  might 
deny  the  wisdom  of  his  faith,  but  they  could  not  deny  the  honesty  with  which  he 
held  it  when  he  endured  twelve  years'  imprisonment  in  its  vindication.  The  new 
and  reluctant  truth  was  then  forced  upon  Europe,  that  the  errors  of  opinion  might 
coexist  with  perfect  sincerity.  After  the  martyrs  came  the  philosophers,  who 
established  that  snch  was  the  nature  of  the  human  understanding,  that  assent  to  a 
proposition  was  always  governed  by  the  law  of  evidence — that  the  man  who  avowed 
his  disbelief  of  a  given  proposition,  which  he  felt  to  be  untrue,  was  as  honest 
and  as  virtuous  as  he  who  proclaimed  his  accordance  with  what  was  estab- 
lished to  his  satisfaction.  In  such  cases  in  which  the  evidence  on  both  sides 
of  the  proposition  seemed  equally  balanced,  doubt  became  inevitable,  and  what 


£No,  274.]  INo.  15,  Vol.  XI.] 

[ONE  PENNY.l 


222 


TBE  REASONER. 


was  inevitable  was  innocent.     When   this  came  to  be  perceived,   divines   then 
commenced  a  classification  of  opinions.     They  no  longer  applied  one  incoherent 
and  opprobrious  epithet  to  those  who  differed  from  them,    but   endeavoured  to 
describe  them  by  that  term  which  expressed  the  exact  degree  of  their  dissent. 
The  church  was  as  much  indebted  to  the  establishment  of  this  truth  as  freedom  of 
opinion,  and  divines  learned  how  to  proportion  argument  so  as  to  effect  conviction, 
and  the  people  learned  moderation  and  even  respect  for  those  who  conscientionsly 
differed  from  them.     Mr.  Holyoake  then  addressed  the  application  of  the  principle 
he  had  endeavoured  to  establish  to  the  conduct  pursued  by  the  Christian  of  every 
denomination,  who  always  founded  his  preference  for  his  own  faith  to  its  apparent 
reasonableness  over  all  others,  showing  that  we  instinctively  made  reasonableness 
the  mark  of  our  preference  in  self-protection  and  in   truth.     Mr.  Holyoake  at- 
tached particular  importance  to  the  fact  that  some  eminent  bishops,  Whately  and 
Hampden,  philosophers  like  Mackintosh,  divines  like  Chalmers,  and  civilians  like 
Newman,  had  admitted  that  morality  to  a  certain  extent  was  independent  of  re- 
ligion, and  had  a  natural  foundation  of  its  own.     It  might  be  that  this  morality 
was  inferior  to  that  deducible  from  religious  grounds,  but  the  possibility   of  it 
could  no  longer  be  denied.     It  therefore  followed  that  those  who  said  the  Rational- 
ist was  without  morality,  could  only  mean  that  he  was  without  their  morality.     It 
was  clear  that  he  had  grounds  tor  morality,  founded  upon  the  nature  of  things. 
Secularists  was  perhaps   the  proper  designation  of  all  who  dissented,  extremely 
from  the  religious  opinions  of  the  day.     They  were  as  anxious  as  the  religious 
men  that  order  shoull  prevail,  truth  should  be  cherished,  and  justice  observed, 
but  the  difference  consisted  in  tracing  the  reason  on  which  their  ethics  reposed  to 
human  nature  and  the  constitution  of  things.     At  the  conclusion  of  the  lecture, 
which  was  listened  to  without  the  slightest  interruption,  various  questions  were 
put  to  the  speaker  tending  to  elicit  objections  to  the  views  of  the  querists.     Mr. 
Holyoake  gave  his  answers  to  such  questions  as  seemed  relevant  to  the  subject 
of  his  lecture,  and  explained  that  if  he  should  enter  upon  topics  foreign  to  the 
subject  announced  for  discussion,  the  public  would  have  a  right  to  complain.     He 
was  bound  to  preserve  his  own  consistency  as  a  guarantee  of  his  intentions  to  keep 
faith  with  the  public.  « 

Second  Lecture. 
On  the  second  night  Mr.  Holyoake  began  by  adverting  to  (he  test  which  philo- 
sophers were  agreed  upon  as  to  the  truth  of  opinion  in  a  demonstrable  sense, 
namely,  when  a  subject  had  been  fully  discussed  in  a  fair  field  of  inquiry  and 
come  to  be  generally  adopted  afterwards.  A  proposition  might  be  true  though 
not  subjected  to  this  ordeal — the  human  chances  of  its  truth  were  greater  to  them 
where  this  course  was  pursued.  In  all  matters  relating  to  eternal  interests,  where 
the  risks  of  belief  were  so  imminent  and  the  final  issue  so  distant,  it  did  seem  to 
him  (the  lecturer)  of  the  utmost  importance  that  the  freest  debate  should  be  in- 
voked in  self-protection.  The  Roman  Catholic  Church  was  the  oldest  church  of 
Europe,  the  most  coherent  in  doctrine  and  compact  in  organisation.  True,  special 
Scriptural  texts  could  not  perhaps  be  quoted  in  favour  of  each  one  of  its  tenets, 
but  they  seemed  all  to  arise  in  enevitable  inference  from  New  Testament  doctrine — 
and  every  form  of  faith  was,  alter  all,  inference— creed  was  but  the  expression  of 
religious  conclusion.  Catholicism  proceeded  on  the  principle  of  Authority,  and 
worked  by  three  agents,  Terror,  Inquisition,  and  Persecution.  Reason,  trusted 
throughout,  was  the  only  proper  antagonist  of  Catholicism :  it  was  easy  to  see 
how  the  Authority  of  the  Catholic  Church  was  copied  in  all  churches  around  us. 
As  the  follower  of  St.  Peter  he  puts  you  down  in  the  name  of  the  Church,  so  the 


THE  REASONER.  223 


Lutheran  pats  you  down  in  the  name  of  saving  FaiA,  and  the  Dissenter  did  it  in 
the  name  of  saving  Grace ;  the  Unitarian  in  the  name  of  Heart-feeling,  and  the 
Pantheist  in  the  name  of  Sentiment.  Thus  all  churches  were  types  of  one  great 
original.  In  the  clinging  to  miracle  and  prophecy,  so  common  in  Christian  con- 
troversy, we  saw  the  preference  for  authority  over  reason.  He  (the  lecturer)  was 
no  antagonist  of  Authority  per  se.  His  object  was  to  substitute  the  authority  of 
Reason  for  that  of  mere  names.  He  then  proceeded  to  explain  that  since  the  days 
when  a  visible  Hell  floated  upon  the  Arno,  that  the  same  principle  of  terror  had 
been  cherished  among  Christian  sects,  the  Unitarians  being  the  only  eminent  body 
of  Christians  in  whom  humanity  triumphed  over  dogma,  and  gave  its  voice  against 
the  doctrine  of  eternal  punishment.  Our  pulpits  in  words  imitated  the  Catholic 
Church  in  its  pictures,  and  spoke  to  us  the  terrors  that  Rome  painted.  All  pro- 
ceeded to  use  the  formula  of  Herbert  Spencer  on  the  principle  of  changing  conduct 
instead  of  character.  No  one  could  travel  from  town  to  town  in  this  great  country 
and  not  discover  that  an  Inquisition  into  opinion  was  the  characteristic  of  all 
orthodox  churches.  People  could  be  counted  in  every  meeting,  who  were  put  in 
dread  on  account  of  the  books  they  read,  the  lectures  they  heard,  the  friends  they 
met.  We  laboured  under  a  priestly  surveillance  at  once  the  disgrace  of  the  church 
and  the  shame  of  the  people.  How  was  it  if  Christianity  was  a  source  of  love  and 
gentle  speech,  that  he  who  could  not  accept  its  doctrines  was  met  with  so  much 
rudeness  ?  Intercourse  or  controversy  with  Christians  ought  to  be  both  safe  and 
pleasant,  especially  with  clergymen  who  added  the  re6nement  of  education  to  the 
graces  of  the  true  faith.  Yet  he  had  melancholy  proof  everywhere  that  it  was 
dangerous  to  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  Christian.  Loss  of  station  to  the  gentleman, 
loss  of  place  to  the  workman,  loss  of  social  recognition  generally  were  too  com- 
monly the  bitter  fruits  reaped  from  the  prevalence  of  the  Christian  doctrine — prov- 
ing too  clearly  that  persecution  was  an  integral  element  in  Christianity,  arising 
from  the  conviction  that  there  was  but  one  way  to  heaven,  which  naturally  stimu- 
lated all  who  believed  themselves  in  the  possession  of  that  secret,  to  the  coercion 
of  others  into  the  way  in  which  they  saw  fit  to  walk.  The  lecturer  then  defended 
the  doctrine  of  Reason  against  the  charge  of  leading  to  Anarchy,  and  was  listened 
to  throughout  with  great  attention.  Some  questions  were  put  by  the  audience. 
Such  as  were  relevant  Mr.  Holyoake  replied  to;  but  his  answers  were  apparently 
unsatisfactory  to  some  of  the  questioners,  who  did  not,  however,  conduct  tbemselTes 
in  a  very  creditable  manner. 


[Mr.  Holyoake  writes  that  he  was  in  much  more  personal  danger  in  Whitehaven 
than  in  Lancaster.  An  account  of  the  proceedings  in  this  place  will  appear.  Mr. 
Holvoake  has  returned  to  London,  but  proceeds  next  week  to  Lancashire.  On 
Monday,  Tuesday,  and  Wednesday  last  he  lectured  in  the  Calton  Convening  Rooms, 
Edinburgh.'] 

DELAY     NOT     FAILURE. 


'  Whatevee  is,  is  right;'  and  therefore  we  mast  consider  even  error  right  while 
it  has  power  to  exist ;  but,  by  the  same  rule,  the  opposition  of  those  who  fight 
against  error  must  also  be  right,  or  it  would  not  have  existence.  These  facts 
should  be  constantly  borne  in  mind;  and,  in  combating  error,  the  attack  should  be 
made  with  the  comforting  assurance  that,  even  in  present  failure,  the  foundation 
is  being  laid  for  future  success — for,  in  the  course  of  our  opposition  to  error,  we 
are  prepared  for  the  truth  to  be  attained  by  triumph. 

On  a  superficial  view  of  the  matter,  it  seems  astonishing  that  an  institution  so 
lull  of  error  as  the  Church  of  England  should  exist  at  this  moment ;  but,  on  test- 


224 


THE  REASONER. 


ing  the  matter  by  the  rule  just  cited,  the  wonder  must  give  place  to  a  conviction  of 
its  existence  from  necessity.  This  admits  of  a  very  simple  explanation.  If, 
immediately  on  the  discovery  of  error  in  a  great  systom,  that  system  were 
demolished,  in  the  confusion  consequent  thereon,  instead  of  being  relieved  of  the 
absolute  amount  of  error  contained  in  the  system  overthrown,  the  community 
would  probably  be  saddled  with  a  new  system  equally  erroneous,  though  perhaps 
in  a  different  direction.  Whereas,  by  a  lengthened  investigation  and  gradual 
accumulation  of  evidence,  the  fallacies  of  the  institution  are  clearly  and  minutely 
exposed,  and  we  are  enabled  to  found  a  system  in  which  the  errors  which  disfi- 
gured the  former  one  shall  be  carefully  avoided.  We  should  never,  therefore, 
grow  tired  of  opposing  error;  the  delay  of  our  success  merely  shows  that  the 
proper  time  has  not  yet  arrived,  and,  in  the  meanwhile,  we  are  increasing  our 
ability  to  make  good  use  of  victory  when  we  shall  be  in  a  position  to  obtain  it. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  Church  of  Rome  was  the  means  of  effecting 
great  good  at  the  time  of  its  establishment  in  England,  and  since  that  period ;  but 
the  good  of  this  world  is  comparative,  and  it  is  a  long  process  from  one  degree  to 
the  next.  In  time,  the  Church  of  Rome  lost  its  character  in  the  eyes  of  certain 
men,  who  straightway  set  about  organising  and  carrying  on  an  opposition  to  its 
influence.  That  opposition  was,  to  a  certain  extent,  successful,  but  not  before  an 
immensity  of  labour  and  suffering  had  been  bestowed  on  the  task.  The  Church  of 
Rome,  albeit  not  destroyed,  was  disclaimed,  and  Protestantism  was  established  in 
this  country. 

'  Let  every  soul  be  subject  unto  the  higher  powers,  for  there  is  no  power  but  of 
God ;  the  powers  that  bo  are  ordained  of  God.  Whosoever,  therefore,  resisteth 
the  power,  resisteth  the  ordinance  of  God  ;  and  they  that  resist  shall  receive  to 
themselves  damnation.'  These  are  Saint  Paul's  words.  But  the  first  Protestants 
considered  themselves  justified  in  withholding  their  obedience  from  the  Church  of 
Rome,  on  the  ground  of  its  innumerable  errors  and  absurdities — notwithstanding 
which  fact,  their  successors  in  the  present  day  insist  strongly  on  the  observance  of 
the  injunction  towards  themselves,  although  we  are  able  to  detect  quite  as  much, 
if  not  more,  error  in  the  Church  of  England  than  their  predecessors  discovered  in 
the  Church  of  Rome.  But  we,  in  this  age,  have  the  same  right  to  attack  the  Church 
of  England  as  they  had  to  attack  the  Church  of  Rome  in  theirs,  and  we  have  their 
own  example  to  support  our  claim.  It  is  clear,  however,  that  the  Church  of 
England  has  a  mission  to  perform, and  therefore  it  still  exists.  But  the  resistance 
to  the  Church  of  England  has  a  mission  likewise,  and  therefore  it  continues. 
What  are  the  missions  to  be  worked  out  jointly  by  the  church  and  its  opponents? 
What  is  the  explanation  of  the  apparently  inconsistent  fact,  that  both  error  and 
its  foes  are  alike  necessary  at  the  same  time  ? 

The  Church  of  Rome  conferred  a  benefit  on  the  world,  inasmrch  as  it  prepared 
the  way  for  the  purer,  though  not  pure,  Protestant  faith.  Protestantism,  of  which 
the  Church  of  England  is  the  representative,  in  like  manner  has  elevated  the 
minds  of  men  above  its  own  level.  Dissent  has  sprung  up,  and  with  it  opposition 
to  the  establishment.  But,  as  yet,  the  establishment  has  survived  ;  the  opposition 
has  been  unable  to  effect  its  overthrow.  But  this  by  no  means  tends  to  demonstrate 
the  final  supremacy  of  the  establishment.  It  rather  proves  that  as  yet  we  are  not 
prepared  for  the  liberty  which  would  result  from  the  downfall  of  the  church. 
It  proves  that  there  is  still  something  for  the  church  to  do,  still  something  for  its 
opponents  to  learn — that  the  church  still  has  power  to  exist,  because  its  opponents 
have  not  yet  the  power  to  raise  up  a  better  system  in  its  place.  But  it  also  proves 
that  we  should  waste  no  time  ;  the  greater  our  efforts  to  understand  and  to  expose 
the  errors  of  the  establishment  the  sooner  the  establishment  will  cease,  and  the 
better  we  shall  be  able  to  found  a  system  worthy  to  succeed  it.  Equita. 


THE  REASONER.  225 


dBramixiKtian  at  tfte  )3re£0. 


The  Mormon  Prophet. — A  new  work  has  been  recently  published,  entitled 
'The  Mormons;  or,  Latter-day  Saints.  With  Memoirs  of  the  Life  and  Death  of 
Joseph  Smith,  the  "  American  Mahomet."  '  Reviewing  which  the  Athenceum  ob- 
serves : — Had  a  Rabelais  or  a  Swift  told  tho  story  of  the  Mormons  under  the  veil 
of  allegory,  the  sane  portion  of  mankind  would  probably  have  entered  their  protest 
against  the  extravagance  of  the  satirist.  The  name  of  the  mock  hero,  the  ignorance 
and  want  of  character  of  his  family,  the  low  cunning  of  his  accomplices  in  the 
fraud,  the  open  and  shameless  vices  in  which  he  indulged,  and  the  extraordinary 
success  of  the  sect  founded  by  his  enthusiasm — would  all  have  been  thought  too 
obviously  conceived  with  a  view  to  ludicrous  effects.  Joseph  Smith  is  indeed  a 
curious  comment  on  the  age.  His  revelations  should  be  a  lesson  to  the  orthodox 
in  both  hemispheres.  That  the  Smiths — the  family  of  the  prophet— were  far  below 
the  usual  level  of  intelligence  in  America,  is  not  denied  by  their  followers.  That 
their  private  lives  would  not  bear  looking  into,  they  themselves  admitted.  With 
a  Danton-like  audacity,  the  new  prophet  at  once  and  for  ever  silenced  such  enemies 
as  adduced  his  ignorance,  his  vices,  and  his  debts  as  militating  against  his  pro- 
phetic character,  by  acknowledging  all  these  to  the  fullest  extent,  and  extracting 
from  them  an  argument  in  favour  of  his  larger  share  of  divine  grace.  A  prophet 
who  could  not  spell — a  Bible  full  of  the  grossest  errors  of  grammar — might  seem 
strange  anomalies  to  the  children  of  this  world  ;  but  Joseph  reminded  his  disciples 
— as  George  Fox  had  done  on  a  similiar  occasion^that  Go*d  does  not  stand  in  need 
of  human  learning — probably  never  having  heard  how  finely  South  had  already 
disposed  of  the  fallacy  when  he  replied,  '  If  God  do  not  stand  in  need  of  human 
learning,  still  less  does  He  stand  in  need  of  human  ignorance.'  But,  it  is  alleged, 
if  the  Book  of  Mormon  be  a  forgery,  it  is  not  the  forgery  of  a  man  utterly  devoid 
of  letters.  This  is  true.  Gibbon  doubted  whether  Mohammed  could  write;  yet 
it  is  confessed,  even  by  Christian  scholars,  that  the  Koran  is  one  of  the  most 
eloquent  of  books,  and  the  very  model  of  pure  and  nervous  Arabic.  Now,  in  spite 
of  its  errors  of  grammar  and  its  absurdities  of  doctrine,  the  Book  of  Mormon  is  a 
clever  book.  It  exhibits  no  slight  acquaintance  with  history  and  archaeology, 
and  has  a  facility  of  invention  not  to  be  hoped  for  in  the  works  of  a  man  entirely 
illiterate.  But  then  arises  the  question — Did  Joseph  Smith  write  it?  We  set 
aside  the  story  of  the  supposed  finding  of  the  golden  plates  from  which  he  told  his 
dupes  that  he  translated  it — not  because  we  feel  bound  to  reject  the  idea  of  ancient 
writings  being  discoverable  in  America — but  from  an  entire  unacquaintance  with 
any  mode  by  which  an  unlettered  man  could  faithlully  translate  the  terms  of  a 
forgotten  language.  On  this  point  there  has  been  much  discussion  in  America; 
and  the  evidence  in  explanation  of  the  fraud  practised  by  Smith  is,  in  our  opinion, 
complete  and  satisfactory.  The  real  author  of  the  Book  of  Mormon  was,  it  appears, 
a  Rev.  Solomon  Spaulding — who  wrote  it  in  the  first  instance  as  a  romance.' — 
Athenceum,  August  16th,  1851. 

New  Dress  of  Women. — The  women  of  America  are  justly  assuming  inde- 
pendence as  to  dress.  The  Leader  has  rendered  interesting  accounts  of  their  new 
taste  in  costume,  and  the  comments  it  calls  forth.  The  Leader  of  Saturday, 
August  16,  adds  this  comment  on  the  'Bloomer  Revolt:' — Is  not  this  anarchy 
frightful  ?  Next  we  shall  see  Englishmen  wearing  garbs  that  best  suit  their  aspect 
and  avocations;  shopmen  democratically  giving  up  the  attempt  to  be  mistaken  for 
Lords  and  Baronets ;  even  Lords  probably,  such  is  the  depravity  of  human  nature, 


226  THE  REASONER. 


giving  up  the  attempt  to  look  like  waiters ;  working-men  content  to  look  like 
working-men,  and  not  like  seedy  gentlemen  employing  the  most  inept  of  tailors; 
girls  content  to  look  lovely,  and  various  as  the  tints  of  their  hair;  and  the  world 
in  general  content  to  become  picturesque.  No;  that  cannot  be  ;  to  be  picturesque 
is  what  no  Englishman  would  ever  submit  to  be  thought — vulgak.  Beauty  is  for 
the  theatre,  the  painter's  studio,  and  other  haunts  of  vice.  Respectability  is  always 
ugly  :  if  it  for  an  instant  ceases  to  be  so,  it  begins  to  doubt  itself.  In  the  United 
States  they  are  not  tormented  by  these  considerations,  because  they  are  Republicans, 
and  Republicans  are  never  respectable.  Handsome  is  that  handsome  does  :  if 
English  wives  were  to  become  handsome,  away  with  conjugal  fidelity,  with  our 
institutions,  our  monarchy,  &c.  You  cannot  remove  one  inch  of  the  social  fabric 
without  pulling  down  the  whole — so  firmly  is  it  built !  Englishmen,  then,  will 
continue  to  dress  themselves  like  bricks — all  alike. 

Divine  Socialism. — The  term  '  Socialism  '  is  not  now  regarded  with  the  horror 
it  once    was    in    this  country,  although  it  has,   certainly,   been   used  to  signify 
the  wildest  and  most  irrational   system   of  morals   and   policy.    The   object   of 
'Divine  Socialism,'  by  Newman  Hall,  B.A.,  is  to  nndo  the  mischief  which  has 
arisen  to  society  from  the  miserable  conduct  of  Christians  from  the  earliest  times 
to  the  present,  and  who,  so  far  from  being  that  which  they  have  but  caricatured, 
have  led  multitudes  to  suspect  and  disown  Christianity  altogether.     This  is  not  to 
be  wondered  at.     We  think  Mr.  Hall  would  have  done  well  to  have  pointed  out 
more  forcibly  the  great  evils  which  have  been  inflicted  by  priesthoods  of  all  classes; 
for  instance,  what  can  be  thought  of  religion  itself  if  the  Wesleyan  ministers,  in 
their  tyranny  over  the  people,  are  to  be  taken  as   its   proper   exponents?     The 
greatest  evil  of  the  ministerial  order  has  been  the  possession  of  power,  which, 
somehow,  they  never  know  to  use  with  propriety,  thereby  disgusting  numbers 
within  and  without  the  church,  and  driving  the  masses  from  them  into  the  for- 
mation of  systems  of  their  own  on  the  principle  of  '  Every  man  his  own  priest' 
How  comes  it  that  the  working  classes  of  this  country  belong  neither  to  the  church 
nor  to  the  chapel  ?     Is  Christianity  at  fault,  or  its  professed  disciples  and  minis- 
ters ?     We  read  of  Christ  that '  the  common  people  heard  him  gladly.'     Is  it  so 
now  ?     Look  at  the  conduct  of  the  papal  ecclesiastics  at  Rome  at  the  present 
moment,  tyrannising  over  the  souls  and  bodies  of  their  fellow-creatures  as  if  they 
were  brute  beasts.     What  is  the  consequence  at  Rome  ?     The  people  are  all   in- 
fidels to  the  faith ;  and  as  for  the  Pope,  the  head  of  the  system,  with  his  resistance 
to  toleration  in  Spain,  he  is  regarded,  not  as  the  representative  of  Christ,  but  as  a 
drivelling  fanatic.     Yet  we  have  the  admirers  of  the  Pope  in  this  country,  who 
can  see  no  fault  in  him,  most  of  whom  are  of  the  priestly  order.     We  sincerely 
wish  success  to  Mr.  Hall's  object  in  writing  this  book,  that  of  promoting  the  ad- 
vance of  a  safe,  social  reformation,  and  of  a  manly,  unsectarian  Christianity;  but  we 
would  just  hint  to  him,  and  others  with  like  objects,  that,  if  they  wish  their  works 
to  make  way  among  the  masses,  they  must  oflfer  them  at  a  cheaper  price.     If  Mr* 
Hall  thinks  that  those  for  whom  his  little  work  is  designed  will  give  eightpence 
for  it,  in  order  to  have  their  prejudices  removed,  he  is  simply  mistaken.     The 
infidel  writers  of  the  present  day  understand  the  power  of  cheapness,  and  we  are 
certain  that  a  work  of  the  size  of '  Divine  Socialism  '  would  have  been  issued  by 
them  for  threepence  or  fourpence.     Such  a  work  as  '  Divine  Socialism,'  to  do  any 
good,  ought  to  circulate  by  the  million ;  but  those  for  whom  it  is  intended  will  look 
twice  at  eightpence  before  they  part  with  it  for  even  *  Divine  Socialism.' — Bir- 
mingham Mercury. 


THE  REASONER. 


221 


C^e   pragve^^   at   tlit   intellect. 


[Concluded  from  last  number.] 


The  work  in  which  philosophy  and  re- 
ligion co-operate  is  effectually  promoted 
only  when  the  mind  is  humble,  distrust- 
ful of  itself,  and  trained  in  conformity 
with  these  conditions.  If  it  attempts  to 
forestall  the  industry  of  future  ages 
by  premature  theories  and  creeds,  to 
idolise  its  notions  and  entities,  and 
whether  on  scientific  or  religious  grounds 
to  treat  its  acquired  experiences  as  final, 
its  progress  is  arrested  at  the  point 
where  it  parted  from  philosophy,  like  a 
degenerate  artist  who  unconsciously  for- 
sakes nature  in  the  spirit  of  mannerism 
and  self-repetition.  All  notions  are 
subjective,  and  between  human  truth 
and  error  there. is  only,  strictly  speak- 
ing, the  diflference  of  a  greater  or  less 
degree  of  subjectivity.  The  more  sub- 
jective class  of  ideas  belong,  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  mind,  to  what  is  called  the 
mythic  age,  but  are,  in  fact,  abundantly 
brought  forth  by  the  uneducated  or  ill- 
educated  intellect  in  all  ages.  By  cor- 
recting the  inferences  of  the  senses  by 
reason,  and  those  of  reason  by  confront- 
ing them  with  nature — by  distinguishing 
the  knowledge  thus  obtained  as  contain- 
ing diffei-ent  degrees  of  probability  or 
certainty— we  obtain,  not  indeed  that 
absolute  truth  which  the  experience  of 
the  world  has  proved  to  be  unattainable, 
but  that  knowledge  of  causes  and  conse- 
quences which  conduces  to  our  preser- 
vation and  promotes  our  advancement. 
Education  is  the  formation  of  the  intel- 
lectual habits,  not  by  that  method  which 
ruined  the  ancient  philosophical  schools, 
and  which  is  still  countenanced  by  mo- 
dern opinion — '  the  instilling  truths  ' — 
forthis  presumes  that  we  possess  truth  to 
an  extent  transcending  human  capability; 
but  rather  training  the  mind  to  the  dispo- 
sition and  ability  to  seek  truth,  to  acquire 
that  philosophic  spirit  which  has  been 
said  to  be  more  valuable  than  any 
limited  acquisitions  of  philosophy,  and 
for  this  end  to  be  prepared  to  surrender 


to  the  spirit  of  truthfulness  whatever  ac- 
quired inferences  have  from  time  dege- 
nerated into  prejudices  and  an  obstinate 
adherence  to  which  has  always  been  its 
greatest  impediment. 


FAITH. 


Religion  and  science  are  inseparable. 
No  object  in  nature,  no  subject  of  con- 
templation, is  destitute  of  a  religious 
tendency  and  meaning.  If  religion  be 
made  to  consist  only  in  traditional  and 
legendary  forms,  it  is,  of  course,  as  dis- 
tinguishable from  science  as  the  Mosaic 
cosmogony  from  geology;  but  if  it  be 
the  ascensio  mentis  in  Deum  per  scalas 
creatarum  rerum* — the,  evolving  the 
grounds  of  hope,  faith,  and  duty  from 
the  known  laws  of  our  being  and  the 
constitution  of  the  universe — religion 
may  be  said  to  include  science  as  its 
minister;  and  antiquity,  which  beheld  a 
divinity  in  all  things,  erred  only  in  mis- 
taking its  intelligible  character,  and  in 
making  it  a  mere  matter  of  mystic  specu- 
lation. In  a  more  limited  sense,  religion 
may  be  contrasted  with  science  as  some- 
thing beyond  and  above  it,  as  beginning 
where  science  ends,  and  as  a  guide 
through  the  realms  of  the  unknown. 
But  the  known  and  the  unknown  are 
intimately  connected  and  correlative.  A 
superstructure  of  faith  can  be  securely 
built  only  on  the  foundations  of  the 
known.  Philosophy  and  religion  have 
one  common  aim  ;  they  are  but  different 
forms  of  answer  to  the  same  great  ques- 
tion, that  of  man  and  his  destination. 
Though  differing  in  name,  character,  and 
language,  their  mission  is  similar;  and 
they  grew  up  under  varying  circum- 
stances to  supply  the  same  want.  When 
the  human  understanding  was  first 
roused  to  contemplate  the  problem  of 

*  The  ascension  of  the  mind  to  God 
by  the  ladder  of  created  things. 


228 


THE  REASONER. 


its  destination,  it  must  have  been  in- 
stantly impressed  with  a  sense  of  its 
helplessness  and  incapacity  to  furnish 
from  its  own  resources  a  satisfactory 
solution.  The  problem  must  have  been 
abandoned  in  despair  if  it  had  not  been 
cleared  up  by  the  intervention  of  heaven. 
Those  consolatory  suggestions  of  ever- 
present  nature,  which  convey  even  to 
the  savage  a  rough  answer  to  the  great 
difficulty,  together  with  the  most  neces- 
sary elements  of  religious  truth,  were 
hailed  on  their  first  announcement  with 
an  avidity  proportionate  to  the  want  of 
them,  and  deferentially  received  and 
adhered  to  as  divine  intimations.  The 
growth  of  philosophy  was  checked  by  the 
premature  establishment  of  religions. 
These  had  grown  out  of  a  kind  of  imper- 
fect and  unconscious  philosophy,  and 
clothed  in  the  poetic  language  of  an 
early  age  had  been  reduced  to  a  per- 
manent system  of  dogmas  and  mythi, 
calculated  for  a  time  to  amuse  and  satisfy 
the  doubts  and  aspirations  of  mankind. 
But  religion,  divorced  from  philosophy, 
became  obsolete  and  inefficient.  The 
great  problem  of  nature  recurred,  and 
stronger  and  more  intelligible  evidence 
was  required  to  justify  the  important 
results  which  religion  had  anticipated. 
Philosophy,  properly  so  called,  arose 
along  with  scepticism — when  men  were 
emboldened  to  appeal  from  authority  to 
reason,  to  estimate  the  value  ot  evidence, 
and  to  analyse  the  results  of  experience. 
There  is  a  virtuous  scepticism  as  well  as 
a  necessary  faith — doubt,  '  that  best 
prism  of  the  truth's  rays,'  is  a  part  of 
true  religion  as  well  as  of  true  philoso- 
phy, and  the  proudest  boast  of  its  modest 
and  patient  spirit  is  to  be '  ever  learning,' 
though  never  arriving  at  (perfect)  truth. 
The  wise  of  ancient  as  well  as  of  modern 
times  deeply  felt  the  imperfect  character 
of  all  merely  human  knowledge ;  they 
professed  to  be  only  as  children  gather- 
ing pebbles  on  the  shores  of  the  ocean 
—  to  see  darkly,  as  through  a  glass, 
or  vision,  or  out  of  the  obscurity  of  a 
cavern.  But  the  priestly  sage  was  dis- 
posed to  register  his  more  cherished  in- 
ferences of  faith  and  hope  in  formularies 
too  presumptuou>ly  rigid,  to  claim  for 
them  eternity  ai.d  infallibility,  and  so 
place  them,  as  snpjjorted  by  superhuman 
authority,  aloof  and  apart  from  all  other 
acquisitions,  and  from  the  natural  revela- 


tion out  of  which  they  really  Bpmng. 
Tradition,  implicitly  received,  took  away 
from  religion  its  power  of  conforniity  to 
the  progress  of  human  wants,  and  fixed 
it  in  a  mould  both  fanatical  and  pedantic. 
Philosophy  challenged  this  intellectual 
thraldom,  and  undertook  to  achieve  for 
itself,    upon    independent    grounds,    a 
faith  more  in  harmony  with  knowledge. 
But  its  efibrts,  though  noble,  were  to  a 
great  extent  frustrated  by  a  misconcep- 
tion of  its  object.     A  divine  and  infalli- 
ble creed  could  not  be  entirely  replaced 
by  the  humbler  pretensions  of  a  rational 
one,  and  philosophy  was  baffled  when  in 
its  early  attempts  it  aimed  at  that  cer- 
tainty which  religion  had  vainly  pledged 
itself  to  supply.   Yet  philosophy,  though 
nursed  in  scepticism,  has  eventually  won 
both  a  certainty  and  a  faith — a  faith  in 
many  respects  more  durable  than  that 
idly  inherited  from  tradition.     The  same 
experience  which  teaches  rational  beings 
to   look   beyond   the   immediate  to  the 
remote,  furnishes  them  with  grounds  of 
confidence   and  encouragement  for  the 
task.     Religion  claims  all  the  faculties 
as    tributaries,   and    even    imagination 
may,   under    due   restrictions,  help   to 
exalt  humanity,  by  raising  it  above  the 
limits   of  the   actual   and   by   giving  a 
more    vivid    expression    to    its    hopes. 
Faith  is,  to  a  great  extent,  involuntary — 
it  is  a   law   or  faculty  of  our  nature, 
operating    silently    and    intuitively    to 
supply  ttie  impeiiections  of  knowledge. 
The  boundary  between  faith  and  know- 
ledge is  indeed  hard  to  distinguish.     We 
are  said  to  know  our  own  impressions — 
to    believe  in    their   reality,  or   in   the 
existence  of  a  substantial  cause  of  them. 
It  follows  that  the  immediate  as  well  as 
the  more  remote  interences  from  pheno- 
mena are  the  blended  fruit  of  faith  and 
knowledge — and  that  though  faith,  pro- 
perly  speaking,  is  not  knowledge,  but 
the    admission     of     certain    inferences 
beyond  knowledge,  yet  it  is  almost  inj- 
possible,  in  tracing  back  the  operations 
of  the  mind,  to  Bud  any,  even  the  most 
elementary,  inference   which   is   not  in 
some  degree  a  compound  of  both,  and 
which  may  not  ultimately  be  resolved 
into  a  consistent  belief  in  the  results  of 
experience.     Faith,  being  thus  the  inse- 
parable   companion    and    offspring    of 
knowledge,  is,  like  it,  liable  to  modifica- 
tion and  correction — that  which  we  call 


THE  REASONER. 


229 


our  knowledge  of  the  ultimate  purpose 
of  existence  being,  in  fact,  only  a  belief 
or  inference  from  experience,  which 
would  lose  its  rational  value  if  it  were 
supposed  to  be  so  complete  and  infallible 
as  to  exempt  us  from  the  necessity  of 
further  reflection.  All  human  know- 
ledge must  partake  of  the  imperfection  of 
the  faculties  through  which  it  is  derived, 
and  the  limited  and  unsatisfactory  cha- 
racter of  what  we  know  leaves  a  wide 
and  most  important  void  to  be  filled  up 
by  our  belief.  But  the  more  imperfect 
our  knowledge  the  more  necessary  it 
becomes  to  examine  with  suspicion  the 
foundations  of  the  faith  so  closely  con- 
nected with  it.  Faith,  as  opposed  to 
credulity  and  to  that  blind  submission 
to  inexplicable  power  which  usurped  its 
name  in  the  East,  is  an  allegiance  of  the 
reason  ;  and  as  '  the  evidence  of  things 
unseen '  stands  on  the  verge  of  mysticism, 
its  value  must  depend  on  the  discretion 
with  which  it  is  formed  and  used.  Like 
all  the  other  faculties,  the  belief  requires 
to  be  educated;  as  the  feet  are  taught  to 
walk,  the  lips  and  tongue  to  speak,  so 
the  capacity  of  belief  must  be  taught 
how  to  build  securely,  yet  not  arrogantly, 
on  the  data  of  experience.  Faith  is  not 
that  belief  of  St.  Augustine  whose  merit 
increased  with  the  absurdity  of  the  pro- 
position, nor  that  which  attributed  to 
the  instigation  of  God  the  real  or  pro- 
jected murder  of  an  only  son.  An 
irrational  faith  grew  out  of  the  opposite 
irrational  extreme  of  incredulity,  when 
men  refused  to  believe  the  truth  unless 
authenticated  by  sensuous  evidence  that 
confounded  their  understandings.  True 
faith  is  a  belief  in  things  probable — it  is 
the  assigning  to  certain  inferences  a 
hypothetical  objectivity,  and  upon  the 
conscious  acknowledgment  of  this  hypo- 
thetical character  alone  depends  its  ad- 
vantage over  fanaticism,  its  moral  value 
and  dignity.  Between  the  opposite 
risks  of  credulity  and  scepticism  it  must 
be  guided  by  those  broad  principles  of 
reason  which  all  the  faculties  require 
for  their  x-egulation.  Reason  alone  can 
in  each  case  determine  where  credulity 
begins,  and  fix  the  limit  beyond  which 
the  mind  should  cease  to  assign  even 
a  qualified  objectivity  to  its  own  imagi- 
nations. In  its  advanced  stages,  faith 
is  a  legitimate  result  of  the  calculation 
of  probabilities ;  it  may  transcend  expe- 


rience, but  can  never  absolutely  contra- 
dict it.  Faith  and  knowledge  tend 
mutually  to  the  confirmation  and  en- 
largement of  each  other — faith,  by  veri- 
fication, being  often  transformed  into 
knowledge,  and  every  increase  of  know- 
ledge supplying  a  wider  and  firmer  basis 
of  belief.  Faith,  as  an  inference  from 
knowledge,  should  be  consistently  in- 
ferred from  the  whole  of  knowledge; 
since,  when  estranged  and  isolated,  it 
loses  its  vitality,  and  the  estrangement 
is  as  effectual  when  it  is  hastily  and 
unfairly  inferred  as  where  it  is  wholly 
gratuitous.  The  same  experience  which 
is  the  source  of  knowledge  being,  there- 
fore, the  only  legitimate  foundation  of 
faith,  a  sound  faith  cannot  be  derived 
from  the  anomalous  and  exceptional.  It 
is  the  avidity  for  the  marvellous,  and 
the  morbid  eagerness  for  a  cheap  and 
easy  solution  of  the  mysteries  of  exis- 
tence— a  solution  supposed  to  be  implied 
in  the  conception  of  an  arbitrary  and 
unintelligible  rule — which  has  ever  re- 
tarded philosophy  and  stultified  religion. 
Faith  naturally  arises  out  of  the  regular 
and  undeviating.  The  same  tinerring 
uniformity  which  alone  made  experience 
possible,  was  also  the  first  teacher  of  the 
invisible  things  of  God.    It  is  this 

'  Elder  Scripture,  writ  by  God's  own  hand- 
Scripture  authentic,  uncorrupt  by  man,' 

which  is  set  before  every  one  without 
note  or  comment,  and  which  even  Holy 
Writ  points  out  as  the  most  unques- 
tionable authority  by  which  both  in 
heaven  and  earth  the  will  of  God  is 
interpreted  to  mankind.  If  man  is  not 
permitted  to  solve  the  problem  of  exis- 
tence, he  is  at  least  emboldened  to  hope 
and  to  infer  so  much  from  its  actual 
conditions  as  to  feel  confident  as  to  its 
results.  Faith  takes  up  the  problem 
exactly  where  knowledge  leaves  it;  and  as 
from  confounding  the  objects  of  the  two 
have  arisen  the  discords  of  sects  and  the 
puzzles  of  philosophy,  so  the  discovery 
of  their  true  relations  and  limits  enables 
the  mind  to  reconcile  and  account  for 
the  controversies  of  the  past,  and  in 
some  measure  to  penetrate  the  mysteries 
that  occasioned  them.  Faith,  the  neces- 
sary evidence  of  the  seen  as  well  as  the 
unseen,  is  the  assumed  basis  of  all  in- 
ferential knowledge,  for  it  is  the  only 
assurance  we  have  of  the  reality  of  the 


230 


THE  REASONER. 


world  ia  which  we  move  and  live.  The 
external  something  whose  existence  we 
presume  but  cannot  prove  as  the  cause 
of  our  sensations,  is  as  much  an  object  of 
faith  as  the  unseen  Deity,  or  as  the 
anticipated  renewal  of  our  existence. 
Habitually,  but  unconsciously,  we  de- 
pend on  faith  in  every  perception  and 
every  act,  in  every  inquiry  after  truth 
and  every  expectation  of  a  practical 
result.  Faith,  thus  essential  to  material 
comfort  and  support,  is,  like  the  pulses 
of  the  heart,  involuntary  and  intuitive. 
But,  educated  in  the  simplest  things,  the 
believing  faculty  becomes,  in  its  ulterior 
development,  an  instrument  for  effecting 
the  highest  as  well  as  the  most  ordinary 
purposes  of  our  being,  and  opens  to 
every  one,  as  it  did  to  Columbus,  a  new 
world.  Life,  intellectually  as  well  as 
physically,  is  like  '  a  star  hovering  on 
the  horizon's  verge,  between  night  and 
morning,'  and  we  stand  at  the  parting  of 
the  two  roads  imagined  by  the  great 
idealist",  Parmenides — between  the  ideal 
and  the  real,  the  seeming  and  the  true. 
On  one  hand  is  the  infatuation  of  the 
senses,  leading  to  uncertainties  of 
opinion  ;  on  the  other,  faith,  secure 
under  the  control  of  reason.  In  the 
progress  of  thought,  as  the  notional  and 
external  becomes  moi-e  and  more  an 
object  of  distrust,  the  ideal  proportion- 
ably  increases  in  dignity  and  significance, 
and  we  feel  through  faith  to  belong  more 
to  the  invisible  and  future  than  to  the 
tangible  and  immediate.  In  the  golden 
age,  the  two  were  undistinguished  from 
each    other.     Evidence    was   then   felt 


rather  than  understood,  and  faith  almost 
intuitive — the  rationalist  and  religionist 
were  one.  When  the  tree  of  knowledge 
was  separated  from  the  tree  of  life,  a 
dark  and  forlorn  interval  succeeded, 
during  which  human  nature  underwent 
long  struggles  of  revolt  and  disquietude. 
More  correct  views  of  our  migratory  and 
divided  citizenship  redeem  us  from  this 
downfall,  and  restore  the  intellectual 
balance.  By  faith,  the  companion  of 
knowledge,  the  contradictory  tendencies 
of  our  twofold  nature  are  explained  and 
reconciled.  The  condition  of  the  world, 
the  purposes  of  providence  are  no  longer 
an  impenetrable  mystery.  By  faith  we 
may  be  at  once  idealists  and  materialists, 
yet  neither  sensual  nor  mystical.  While 
we  stood  upon  our  mere  knowledge  good 
seemed  inextricably  mixed  up  with  evil, 
our  world  disfigured  by  a  fall,  and  even 
knowledge  itself  doubtful  or  impossible. 
We  lived  in  a  world  of  phantoms,  and 
all  existence,  even  our  own,  might  be 
made  problematical.  Idealism  redeems 
the  imperfections  of  our  knowledge, 
through  the  intervention  of  belief.  By 
faith,  or  that  transcendental  view  which 
the  spirit  of  religion  superadds  to  science, 
the  distant  is  brought  near,  the  tempo- 
rary is  made  continuous,  the  finite  infi- 
nite. What  was  relatively  true  is  no 
longer  absolutely  credible.  We  see  evil, 
yet  believe  in  universal  good;  we  see 
diversity,  but  believe  in  unity ;  we  are 
surrounded  by  change  and  death,  yet 
cling  to  the  certainty  of  eternal  stability 
and  life. 


THE  REASONER.  231 


:ontrovert  our  opinions 
?n,  if  tending  to  the  R: 

PROGRESS  OF  FREETHINKING  IN  BEDLINGTON. 


From  which  any  earnest  opponent  may  controvert  our  opinions,  and  from  whicli  any  may  expound  views 
not  coincident  with  our  own,  if  tending  to  the  Rationalisation  of  Theology. 


SiE, — For  some  time  past  the  pulpits  of  this  place  have  rung  the  usual  changes 
in  refutation  of  infidelity,  and  doubters  of  every  shade,  from  the  Socinian  to  the 
Atheist,  have  been  delivered  over  to  Satan  with  as  little  remorse  as  a  bailifT  would 
serve  a  writ  upon  an  unfortunate  debtor.  At  last  a  champion  for  the  faith  ap- 
peared in  the  person  of  Mr.  Wood,  who,  arrayed  in  all  the  armour  of  the  elect, 
publicly  proclaimed  that  he  would  drive  infidelity  from  the  place  in  twelve  months. 
Mr.  Wood  commenced  lecturing  on  the  evidences  of  Christianity,  and  invited 
the  freethinkers  to  come  and  ask  him  questions,  that  the  opportunity  might  be 
afforded  him  of  removing  their  objections.  One  person,  an  able  and  well-informed 
man,  but  no  public  speaker,  asked  him  some  questions ;  and  Mr.  W.,  taking 
advantage  of  his  opponent's  inability  to  address  a  public  audience,  held  up  his  ideas 
to  ridicule,  and  boasted  that  he  would  demolish  all  infidels  as  easily  as  he  had  the 
one  who  had  already  questioned  him.  Mr.  Wood  then  undertook  to  show  that  the 
Bible  was  in  accordance  with  all  scientific  truth — especially  with  the  teachings  of 
geology  and  astronomy.  Mr.  Mill  having  been  lecturing  on  these  subjects  in  the 
neighbourhood,  Mr.  Wood  stated  that  he  would  prove  him  insane.  Mr.  Mill  ac- 
cordingly attended,  and  having  objected  to  many  things  advanced,  especially  the 
exposition  of  the  first  chapters  of  Genesis,  Mr.  Wood  invited  him  to  a  discussion 
on  the  genuineness  and  authenticity  of  the  whole  Bible,  and  appointed  that  day 
fortnight  for  the  commencement  of  the  debate. 

At  the  appointed  time  Mr.  Wood  gave  a  lecture.  He  commenced  by  stating  that 
the  Jews  had  three  books,  or  rather  classes  of  books— the  Law,  the  Prophets,  and  the 
book  of  Hymns  or  Psalms.  That  Jesus  had  frequently  cited  passages  from  them, 
and  referred  to  them  as  containing  a  revelation  from  God;  and  hence  they  had  not 
only  the  authority  of  Moses  and  the  prophets,  but  of  Christ  also.  That  Josephus 
and  other  authors  had  quoted  from  them,  and  given  it  as  their  opinion  that  the 
books  were  from  God.  That  the  Jews  were  not  a  credulous  people,  and  could  not 
have  been  imposed  upon,  and  that  they  would  suffer  death  rather  than  alter  their 
sacred  books.  The  agreement  of  the  books  one  with  another,  and  their  remarkable 
preservation,  was  another  proof  of  their  divinity.  That  all  the  good  of  the  present 
time  had  resulted  from  the  Bible.  Priestcraft  and  infidelity  were  falling,  and 
would  soon  be  forgotten.  Mr.  Wood  concluded  by  saying  that  he  had  more 
charity  for  the  Red  Republicans  (those  social  butchers,  as  he  termed  them,  of 
France),  than  he  had  for  the  man  who  would  take  the  Bible  from  us — and  that  he 
had  the  least  charity  of  all  for  those  who  mangled  and  curtailed  the  word  of  God, 
taking  one  portion  and  rejecting  another,  just  as  it  suited  their  own  ideas. 

Mr.  Mill,  in  reply,  said  that  he  feared  he  should  have  but  very  little  charity 
from  his  opponent,  as  he  had  sifted  the  Bible  to  the  best  of  his  ability,  had  rejected 
whatever  appeared  to  him  to  be  bad,  but  had  never  refused  a  good  thought,  no 
matter  who  had  said  it.  His  opponent  had  given  them  the  arguments  generally 
given  for  the  genuineness  of  the  Bible,  he  (Mr.  M.)  would  furnish  him  with  a  reply. 
The  authority  of  Jesus,  Josephus,  and  others  was  first  disposed  of,  and  then  the 
other  arguments  advanced.  Mr.  Wood  attempted  a  reply  without  success.  Mr, 
Mill  rejoined  with  arguments  of  great  variety  and  force,  which  compelled  his 
opponent  to  admit  that  he  was  unable  to  reply* 

Two  other  meetings  took  place,  but  Mr.  Wood  could  never  again  be  brought  to 
debate,  and  finally  gave  up  all  further  contest  with  the  sceptics.  Z. 


232 


THE  REASONER. 


MEANINGS,  NEW  AND  OLD,  OF  THE  TERM  ATHEIST. 


[Discussing  with  a  friend  the  other  day  the  meanings,  modern  and  ancient,  of  the 
term  Atheist,  induced  the  following  note  to  be  written  by  him  subsequently.  It 
may  be  of  use  in  directing  the  inquiries  of  others.] 

Dear  Jacob, — I  find  you  are  both  right  and  wrong  in  the  matter  of  the  word 
atheist.  The  Greeks  have  an  adjective,  atkeatos,  which  means  *  blind  to,'  '  not 
seeing.'  I  do  not,  however,  find  a  substantive  answering  to  our  word  atheist. 
But  there  is  an  adverb,  atheei,  which  means  '  without  the  aid  of  God  ;'  the  prefix  a 
does  mean  'not.'  So  far  you  are  right.  But  you  are  wrong  in  your  logic.  You 
said  we  ought  not  to  go  back  to  the  ancient  meaning  of  words  when  the  modern 
meaning  was  opposed  to  it.  I  assented.  But,  in  this  instance,  the  ancient  mean- 
ing— that  is,  of  atheates — comes  nearest  to  the  word  which  I  think  you  wish  to 
apply  to  yourself,  namely,  that  you  are  one  '  blind  to '  or  '  not  seeing '  a  God. 
So  that  to  employ  the  word  in  this  sense  would  subject  you  to  these  misapprehensions 
you  seek  to  avoid  ;  as  the  herd  do  not  apprehend  by  the  term  atheist  a  man  '  not  see- 
ing' God,  but  a  man  who  wilfully  denies  the  existence  of  God  from  sinister  motives, 
and  who,  in  denying  God,  denies  virtue,  truth,  honesty,  justice,  and  all  those  noble 
qualities  which  go  to  make  up  a  great  and  good  man. 

You  want,  therefore,  either  a  new  word  or  a  new  definition  of  the  old  word.  If 
you  adhere  to  the  true  etymological  meaning,  you  will  not  be  understood ;  if  you 
accept  the  modern,  which  you  will  not,  you  will  commit  a  great  error.  Choose, 
therefore,  though  the  choice  be  difficult. 

In  my  Latin  lexicon,  irreligious  is  the  word  given  to  define  an  atheist,  which 
means  'ungodly,'  'irreligious,'  '  undevout.'  This,  of  course,  involves  a  definition 
of  irreligion,  ungodliness,  and  opens  up  the  question  afresh. 

Walker  says — '  Atheist,  one  who  denies  a  God.'  The  meaning  I  should  be  dis- 
posed to  give  would  be  '  not  a  theist ;'  but  this  would  not  meet  your  case,  for, 
though  not  a  theist,  you  are  not  (see  Walker's  definition)  an  atheist. 

There  is  another  view  of  this  word,  and  I  fancy  that  is  what  you  are  driving  at. 
Does  not  atheist,  in  reality,  as  applied  by  yourself  to  yourself,  mean  one  who  does 
not  believe  in  a  God?  Is  it  not  belief  or  disbelief  which  is  in  question  here,  not 
negation  or  assertion  ?  But  then  you  do  neither.  You  do  not  say  '  I  believe  in 
God,'  neither  do  you  say  'I  do  not  believe  in  God;'  you  simply  say  'I  see  no 
reason  to  belive  in  God.  He  may  exist — I  do  not  perceive  that  he  does.  Conse- 
quently, though  I  cannot  be  said  to  assert,  neither  do  I  deny,  the  existence  of  God.' 
You  are  one  who  might  say  nescii  deos,  but  not  nego  deog,  there  being  an  important 
diflference  in  the  verbs — one  implying  a  want  of  knowledge  on  the  subject,  the  other 
expressing  absolutely  a  knowledge  that  the  gods  are  not. 

I  have  just  found  atheos—sa,id  to  be  'without  God,'  'denying  the  Gods  ' — in 
general, '  ungodly,  godless.' 

Camden  Town.  Eugene. 


[*  Jacob'  thinks  the  course  to  be  taken  is  to  use  the  term  Secularists  as  indicating 
general  views,  and  accept  the  term  Atheist  at  that  point  at  which  Ethics  declines 
alliance  with  Theology ;  always,  however,  explaining  the  term  Atheist  to  mean 
'  not  seeing  God  '  visually  or  inferentially — never  suflfering  it  to  be  taken  (as  Chal- 
mers, Foster,  and  many  represent  it)  for  anti-theism,  that  is,  hating  God,  denying 
God,'  as  '  hating'  implies  personal  knowledge  as  the  ground  of  dislike,  and  'deny- 
ing '  implies  infinite  knowledge  as  the  ground  of  disproof. — Ed.] 


THE  REASONER. 


233 


PROGRESS    AT    THE    PHILPOT    STREET    INSTITUTION. 
COMMERCIAL    ROAD. 


Sir, — I  have  been  solicited  by  our  friends  here  to  report  to  the  Reasoner  the 
progress  we  have  made,  and  are  still  making,  in  the  cause  of  freethought.  The 
Philpot  Street  Institution  is  a  small  one,  but,  through  the  exertions  of  our  valuable 
friend,  J.  P.  Adams,  and  the  gentlemen  who  compose  the  committee,  it  is  rendered 
as  useful  as  any  similar  institution  in  the  metropolis.  Public  discussions  are 
held  on  Tuesday  and  Thursday  evenings,  which  are  very  numerously  attended. 
The  proceedings  here  of  late  have  much  disturbed  the  tranquillity  of  the  pious  of 
the  neighbourhood ;  in  consequence  of  which  the  ministers  of  the  surrounding 
chapels  have  been  using  their  influence,  and  doing  all  in  their  power  to  close  our 
place  of  meeting. 

But,  in  spite  of  their  efforts  and  intimidations,  our  landlord,  in  a  spirit  that  puts 
Christian  toleration  to  the  blush,  answered,  when  asked  to  refuse  us  the  use  of  his 
hall — '  As  I  let  my  hall  to  Christians  that  they  may  preach  against  infidelity,  I 
cannot  do  less  than  allow  freethinkers  an  opportunity  for  reply.' 

Finding  we  were  not  to  be  silenced  in  that  manner,  they  resolved  to  try  what 
the  power  of  argument  would  do  ;  so  every  night  of  discussion  we  have  clergymen 
and  others  to  oppose  us,  and  long  and  animated  are  the  debates.  The  other 
evening  the  Rev.  Mr.  Phillips,  of  Northampton,  with  whom  you  discussed  some 
three  years  ago,  paid  us  a  visit.  In  the  course  of  his  address  he  informed  us  that 
infidels  and  free  thinkers  were  *  a  set  of  mean,  dishonest  fellows,'  and  that  they 
knew  it,  but  had  not  the  honesty  to  confess  it.  The  unanimous  disapprobation  of 
the  audience  showed  the  rev,  gentleman  that  he  enjoyed  the  opinion  alone. 

We  had  a  discussion  lately  upon  the  subject,  '  What  are  the  Prospects  and 
Promises  of  Materialism  ?'  Several  clergymen  were  present,  and  the  debate  was 
an  interesting  and  instructive  one.  At  the  conclusion  Dr.  Brooks  delivered  an 
able  speech,  and  argued  with  much  force  the  superiority  of  the  doctrine  of  mate- 
rialism over  spirituality,  and  said  that  his  personal  experience  had  taught  him 
that  it  was  from  material,  and  not  spiritual,  things  men  were  to  look  for  wisdom 
and  improvement.  The  discussions  are  conducted  upon  the  principle,  so  often 
enforced  in  the  Reasoner,  of  allowing  a  fair  and  impartial  hearing  to  all,  and  con- 
ceding the  same  sincerity  of  intention  to  our  opponents  as  we  claim  for  ourselves. 

We  have  on  the  committee  well-tried  workers  in  the  cause  of  political  and  re- 
ligious liberty,  and  with  the  co-operation  of  the  members,  we  hope  to  extend  our 
sphere  of  action,  increase  our  numbers,  and  enlarge  the  institution,  and,  by  a  good 
staff  of  lecturers,  organise  an  effective  freethinking  propagandism  for  this  part  of 
the  town.  Henry. 

JEHOVAH  DESTROYED  BY  HIS  ATTRIBUTES. 


Sir, — In  considering  the  existence  of  Jehovah,  we  must  do  so  relatively  to  his 
entire  being;  and  if  we  find  that  any  of  those  attributes  which  are  necessarily 
ascribed  to  him  to  constitute  him  a  God  are  incompatible  with  each  other,  or  that 
the  possession  of  one  effectually  precludes  the  possession  of  another,  we  shall  be 
inevitably  forced  to  the  conclusion  that  a  being  with  such  powers  and  faculties 
does  not,  and  cannot,  exist  Theologians  have  invariably  depicted  God  as  an  ab- 
solute being,  possessing  intelligence  and  omniscience  j  but  it  will  appear,  upon  a 
mere  glance,  which  appearance  will  be  confirmed  by  protracted  thinking,  that  as 


231 


THE  REASONER. 


an  intelligent  being  must  be  a  progressive  being,  it  can  neither  be  absolute  nor 
omniscient.  Intelligence  includes  the  idea  of  comparison  and  induction;  and 
we  may,  for  the  sake  of  argument,  assume  the  existence  of  a  being  possessing  un- 
limited knowledge,  but  as  soon  as  an  intelligent  act — that  of  comparing  and  in- 
ferring  takes  place  in  his  mind  it  gives  rise  to  a  new  idea,  adds  to  his  stock  of 

knowledge,  annihilates  his  omniscience,  and  proves  him  to  be  a  progressive  being. 
As  therefore,  a  progressive  being  cannot  be  an  absolute  being — for  the  idea  of 
pro»ression  presupposes  relation  to  time,  circumstances,  and  conditions — it  follows 
as  a  matter  of  course  that  an  absolute,  intelligent  being  does  not,  and  cannot,  exist. 

Again,  we  may,  for  the  sake  of  admitting  his  omniscience  as  it  respects  the 
future,  assume  the  existence  of  an  absolute  being  determined  not  to  compare  his 
ideas  for  the  production  of  a  new  one,  but  from  the  position  he  would  occupy  at 
any  period  of  his  existence  he  would  necessarily  have  an  idea  of  the  events  trans- 
piring at  that  time,  and  he  could  not  recall  the  memory  without  a  comparison 
taking  place,  and  forcing  his  mind  to  an  inference.  To  suppose,  then,  the  existence 
of  such  a  being  determined  not  to  compare  ideas,  we  must  also  suppose  him 
determined  not  to  recall  the  memory  of  the  past,  an  act  which  would  at  once  des- 
troy his  omniscience  as  respects  the  infinite  past,  and  also  a  part  of  his  intelligence, 
for  it  is  a  law  which  holds  ti-ue  of  mind,  that  unless  it  recalls  the  memory  of  events 
that  have  already  transpired  they  are  soon  forgotten.  But  some  may  exclaim, '  the 
finite  cannot  grasp  the  infinite.'  Admitted  ;  but  a  law  which  holds  true  of  a  finite 
mind  must  be  infinitely  more  true  of  an  infinite  one — and,  indeed,  the  very  fact  of 
never  recalling  the  ideas  of  the  past  is  proof  positive  of  their  being  forgotten. 

In  a  previous  paragraph  we  have  premised  that  an  absolute  being  cannot  be 
intelligent,  for  intelligence,  as  we  have  already  observed,  includes  comparison  and 
induction,  and  renders  its  possessor  a  progressive  being.  The  distinguishing 
characteristic  of  an  absolute  being  is,  that  he  cannot  be  affected  either  by  time, 
circumstances,  or  conditions;  whereas  a  progressive  being  must  be  affected  by 
them  all  to  constitute  him  a  progressive  being.  It  is  only  by  time,  circumstances, 
and  conditions  acting  upon  an  individual  that  he  can  pass  from  one  state  to 
another,  either  physically,  mentally,  or  morally.  This  passing  from  stage  to  stage 
takes  place  in  virtue  of  an  individual's  intelligence,  and  wherever  we  find  intelli- 
gence we  must,  from  its  very  nature,  also  find  progression — a  progression  either 
in  virtue  and  knowledge,  or  in  ignorance  and  vice.  As,  therefore,  a  progressive 
being  can  never  remain  the  same,  and  as  an  absolute  being  must  always  be  '  the 
same  yesterday,  to-day,  and  for  ever,'  it  follows  most  incontestibly  that  a  progres- 
sive being  can  never  be  an  absolute  one. 

We  thus  find,  by  a  plain  and  unsophisticated  course  of  reasoning,  that  although 
an  intelligent  being  must  be  a  progressive  being,  he  cannot  be  omniscient,  and 
that  a  progressive  being  cannot  be  absolute  ;  it  therefore  follows  that,  as  our  idea 
of  God  is  the  representative  of  an  obsolute  being  possessing  both  intelligence 
and  omniscience,  we  are  necessarily  forced  to  the  conclusion  that  his  existence 
is  an  impossibility. 

Mile  End.  Samcel  Foolet. 

READING  THE  BIBLE  A  PENAL  OFFENCE  IN  TUSCANY. 

Extract  from  the  Register  of  the  deliberations  of  the  Council  of  the  Prefecture 
of  the  Department  of  Florence.     Sitting  of  the  16th  of  May,  1851 : — 

Whe7-eag,  It  is  proven  that,  on  the  evening  of  the  7th  day  of  this  present  month, 
Fiddle  Zetti,  the  Count  Pierre  Guicciardini,  Csesar  Magrini,  Angiolo  Guarducci, 


THE  REASONER. 


235 


Charles  Solaini,  Sabatino  Borsiero,  and  Joseph  Guerra,  were  seated  round  a  table 
in  the  house  of  the  said  Fidele;  and  • 

Whereas,  It  appears,  from  the  confession  of  the  accused  themselves,  that  at  the 
same  moment  the  Count  Guicciardini  was  reading  and  commenting  upon  a  chapter 
of  the  Gospel  of  St.  John,  in  the  Italian  translation  attributed  to  Jean  Diodati ;  and 

Whereas,  There  are  sufficient  pooofs  that  this  reading  and  commentary  had  no 
other  intent  than  to  inspire  sentiments  and  religious  principles  contrary  to  those 
of  the  Apostolical  Roman  Catholic  faith; — 

Therefore,  In  consideration  of  the  second  article  of  the  decree  of  the  25th  April, 
1851,  the  Council  adjudges  imprisonment  for  six  months,  to  the  Count  Guicciardini 
at  Volterra,  Csesar  Magrini  at  Montieri,  Angiolo  Guarducci  at  Gaincarico,  Fidele 
Zetti  at  Orbitello,  Charles  Solaini  at  Ciniquiana,  Sabatino  Borsiero  at  Kocca  Strada, 
anil  Joseph  Guerra  at  Fiombino. 

Corrected  copy.     For  the  Secretary. 

A.  Lambuchi,  First  Commissioner. 


GUIDE  TO  THE  LECTURE  ROOM. 

Literary  Institution,  John  Street,  Fitzroy  Square. 
— August  31st  [7iJ,  a  lecture.— Sept.  3rd,  [SA], 
Discussion  in  the  Coffee  Kooni.  Question,  '  The 
Respective  Merits  of  Free  Trade  and  Protection.' 

Hall  of  Science,  City  Road. — (Undergoing  im- 
provements) 

National  Hall,  242,  High  Holborn.— Aug.  31st, 
[8],  P.  \V.  ?er6tt  will  lecture. 

Eclectic  Institute,  Denmark  Street,  Soho.  — 
Every  Friday  [8i],  Mr.  J.  B,  O'Brien,  '  Home  and 
Foreign  Politics.'  Every  Sunday  [7i],  on  '  Moral 
and  Social  Science.' 

Areopagus  Coffee  and  Reading  Room,  59,  Church 
Lane,  Whitechapel. — Every  Sunday,  Monday,  and 
Wednesday  (8),  a  Lecture  or  Discussion. 

City  Forum  Coffee  House,  60,  Red  Cross  Stseet. 
—  Every  Sunday,  Monday,  and  Thursday  [8^],  a 
Discussion. 

Commercial  Hall,  Philpot  Street,  Commercial 
Road  East. — Every  Tuesday  and  Thursday  even- 
iiig  [8],  a  Discussion. 

City  Road  Discussion  Society,  22,  City  Road. — 
Discussion  every  Wednesday  evening. 

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Amativeness,  or  the  Evils  and  Remedies  of  Exces- 
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and  Advice  to  the  Married  and  Single. 

Love  and  Parentage,  applied  to  the  Improve- 
ment of  Offspring 0     3 

Matrimony ;  or  Phrenology  and  Physiology 
applied  to  the  selection  of  congenial  com- 
panions for  life 0    3 

Memory  and  Intellectual  Improvement,  ap- 
plied to  Self- Education   0    5 

Lessons  on  Physiology.  Designed  for  the 
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Lessons  on  Phrenology.     Dasigned  for  the 

use  of  children  and  youth  0    6 

Intemperance  and  Tight  Lacing 0     3 

Hereditary  Descent  —  its   Laws  and  Facts 

applied  to  Human  Improvement 0    9 

Physiology,  Animal  and  Mental,  applied  to 
the  Preservation  of  Health  of  Mind  and 
Body    0  10 

Tobacco— its  Effects  on  the  Body  and  Mind     0     2 

The  whole  of  the  abone  tracts,  neatly  bound  in 
cloth  hoards,  price  5s. 

London :  Sold  wholesale  and  retail  by  J.  Watsoni 
3,  Queen's  Head  Passage,  Paternoster  Row- 
Mr.  A.  Heywood,  Oldham  St.,  Manchester, 


236  THE  REASONER. 


<Btir  Open 


We  observe  by  a  prospectus,  which  has  been  issued  under  good  auspices,  that  it 
is  proposed  to  establish  a  '  People's  Institute  for  Westminster  and  Pimlico,'  to 
be  devoted  to  the  '  promotion  of  Secular  Education  and  the  furtherance  of  Demo- 
cratic Progress.'  Among  the  trustees  we  find  the  names  of  Mr.  Charles  Lush- 
ington,  M.P.,  Mr.  Lawrence  Heyworth,  M.P.,  and  Mr.  T.  S.  Buncombe,  M.P.  A 
committee  has  been  formed,  Mr.  Vansittart  Neale  has  accepted  the  treasnrership, 
and  Mr.  Edmond  Stallwood  has  been  appointed  secretary.  They  propose  to 
establish  a  People's  Institute  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Westminster  improvements, 
the  proposed  site  being  in  Upper  Tachbrook  Street — a  plot  of  ground  admirably 
adapted  for  the  purpose,  and  already  in  the  possession  of  working  men.  It  pos- 
sesses a  ninety-nine  years'  lease,  on  which  the  promoters  propose  to  erect  a  Hall, 
with  the  necessary  appurtenances,  by  means  of  one  thousand  shares  at  £1  each 
(transferable),  payable  by  instalments  of  not  less  than  three  pence  per  week  per 
share  ;  any  person  to  be  at  liberty  to  take  up  as  many  shares  as  he  or  she  may 
think  proper;  but  in  order  to  ensure  the  Institute's  continuance  in  the  possession 
and  interest  of  the  industrial  classes,  no  person  (be  their  shares  one  or  many) 
will  have  or  exercise  more  than  one  vote  in  the  direction  of  its  affairs.  Shares 
can  be  obtained,  on  application  to  the  secretary,  any  day  at  Bridge  Kow  Wharf, 
Pimlico. 

In  the  Kreuz  Zeitung  of  the  8th  of  July,  the  organ  of  the  Prussian  State  Church, 
the  following  pithy  bit  occurs,  very  characteristic  of  the  paper  and  the  party  it 
represents.  The  article  from  which  it  is  extracted  is  entitled  '  Democracy,  Cholera, 
and  the  Potato  Blight.'  Thus  it  runs — '  Death  is  the  wages  of  sin.  Every  age 
has  its  peculiar  sins  and  peculiar  punishments.  At  present  democratic  principles 
have  attacked  the  mind  of  the  people,  cholera  their  blood,  and  the  potato  blight 
their  means  of  subsistence.  We  do  not,  however,  want  knowledge  of  these  things 
— we  want  repentance.  Let  the  people  return  to  the  living  God,  and  he  will  have 
mercy  upon  them.  Conversion  can  alone  save  us.' — The  Daily  News,  commenting 
on  this  burst  of  piety,  very  correctly  terms  it  *  hideous,  brazen-faced  hypocrisy — 
ruffian  cant — swaggering,  insolent  Pharisaism.'  And  yet  it  contains  the  quintes- 
sence of  Christianity. 

The  person  who  wrote  to  Mr.  Holyoake  in  Newcastle,  signing  himself  'An 
Admirer,'  must  send  his  name  and  address  before  his  communication  can  be  even 
of  private  service. 

Mr.  Knowles's  subscription  for  Mr.  Zeredy's  book  will  be  handed  to  the  editor 
of  the  Leader. 

A  German  author  has  prepared  translations  of  the  chief  passages  in  the  *  History 
of  the  Last  Trial  by  Jury  for  Atheism,'  to  be  published  in  a  new  German  work 
entitled  '  Congenial  Voices  from  England  and  France,' 

Mr.  Lawton  informs  us  that  'On  the  27th  of  July  a  general  meeting  of  the 
Sheffield  Branch  of  the  Rational  Society  was  held,  at  which  a  petition  to  Parliament 
on  the  subject  of  Harmony  Hall,  somewhat  similar  to  that  from  the  Central  Board 
which  appeared  in  your  columns,  was  unanimously  adopted.  I  sent  it  to  our 
Member,  Mr.  Parker,  for  presentation,  and  he  has  informed  me  by  letter  that  he 
duly  pi-esented  the  same.' 

The  word  '  man,'  to  which  a  note  is  attached  on  page  208  in  the  last  namber, 
should  have  been  printed  them.    As  it  stands  the  note  is  unintelligible. 

London:  Printed  by  Holyoake  Brothers,  3,  Queen's  Head  Passage,  Patemoster-row;  and  Published 
by  J.  Watson.  .1,  Queen's  Head  Passage,  Paternoster- row. — Wednesday,  August  27th,  ISSl. 


^^t  Mtu^ontv 


AND 

THEOLOGICAL     EXAMINER. 


They  who  believe  that  they  have  Truth  ask  no  favour,  save  that  of  being  heard :  they  dare  the 
judgment  of  Mankind  :  refused  Co-operation,  they  invoke  Opposition,  for  Opposition  is  their 
Opportunity. — Eoitor. 

ADVENTURES    IN    WHITEHAVEN. 


Freethinkers  have  said  that  the  professions  of  Christianity  are  belied  by  its 
practices — that  even  when  it  utters  the  words  of  peace  its  spirit  is  the  spirit  of 
strife.  Freethinkers  have  said  that  Christianity  is  incompatible  with  Liberty,  in- 
compatible with  Progress,  incompatible  with  Fraternity.  '  Calumniators  on 
principle  !'  ci'ie&  the  pious  partisan.  '  False  !'  shouts  the  gentle-souled  student  of 
the  Sermon  on  the  Mount.  '  Haters  of  every  thing  holy  1'  exclaims  the  exact 
Preacher— '  the  Christian,  in  whatever  station,  exemplifies  and  promotes  unity 
among  men  :  he  is  ever  forward  to  promote  good  offices  and  good  works.'  A  short 
narrative  of  the  events  in  Whitehaven  on  the  occasion  of  my  recent  visit  there 
may  throw  useful  light  on  these  professions. 

Some  years  ago,  when  mere  enthusiasm  was  supposed  sufficient  for  the  advocacy 
of  a  cause,  a  Social  Missionary  went  down  to  this  town  and  created  a  somewhat 
premature  astonishment  by  issuing  a  placard  giving  the  inhabitants  the  interest- 
ing information  that  the  Devil  and  Socialism  were  in  Whitehaven.  The  good 
people  were  in  no  want  of  this  assurance,  as  they  were  already  of  opinion  that  the 
Devil  was  the  official  propagator  of  that  system  ;  and  when  they  were  told  it  upon 
the  authority  of  one  of  our  own  placards,  they  resolved  to  treat  the  matter  in  a 
Christian  spirit,  and  the  magistrates  of  the  town  seconding  their  laudable  endea- 
vours, windows  were  broken,  lives  endangered;  and  the  natural  penalty  of  the 
'  sensational '  policy,  a  panic,  seized  those  who  acquiesced  in  it,  and  fear  and  utter 
inaction  have  been  the  fruits. 

On  the  occasion  referred  to,  the  Cumberland  Pacquet  applauded  'the  display  of 
feeling  on  the  part  of  the  populace,  so  creditable  to  their  love  of  religion,  morality, 
and  social  order.''  For  an  entire  wefik  this  '  creditable  '  display  continued — fire  was 
set  in  a  dangerous  manner  to  the  premises  of  one  of  the  friends.  And  many  were 
the  letters  addressed  to  the  newspapers  by  persons  who  had  to  repudiate  Social 
views  in  order  to  exempt  themselves  from  the  violence  of  the  mob.  This  was  a 
triumph  of  the  enemy  which  of  all  others  I  can  last  forget  and  forgive 

The  panic  occasioned  by  these  outrages  lasted  till  the  period  of  my  visit.  Indeed 
no  one  had  ventured  into  the  town  since  the  Riots  as  the  advocate  of  Rationalistic 
opinion.  A  mob  who  had  once  tasted  the  pleasure  of  riot,  encouraged  by  the 
authorities,  do  not  soon  relinquish  such  a  luxury.  And  the  present  temper  of  the 
magistracy  was  shown  in  the  decision  on  Hughan's  case,  whose  assailant  they 
justified.  Upon  learning  this  I  offered  to  go  down  there  and  lecture  upon  that 
unusual  magisterial  proceeding,  but  my  offer  was  declined  more  on  the  ground  of 
the  danger  and  the  cost.  Finding  myself  soon  after  likely  to  be  northwards  I 
renewed  my  offer  on  terms  within  available  means.  A  friend  who  took  an  active 
part  in  the  arrangement  (of  whom  I  shall  have  more  to  communicate)  burst  a 
blood  vessel  and  died  instantaneously  a  week  before  my  arival.     The  animosity 


INo.  2/5.]  [No.  16,  Vol.  XI.] 

[ONE  PENNY.l 


238 


THE  REASONER. 


shown  to  the  living  was  not  spared  the  dead,  and  the  burial  service  was  refused  to 
Lennon's  remains.  To  himself,  to  his  friends,  who  shared  his  opinions,  this  was 
of  no  consequence,  but  the  spirit  of  it  was  an  outrage  to  his  wife  and  family.  On 
this  occurrence  excitement  was  renewed,  and  coarse  and  cruel  things  were  said  by 
the  religious.  The  populace  who  throng  the  Bulwarks,  remem  bering  the  licence 
granted  them  before  by  the  magistrates,  and  which  had  to  be  censured  by  Sir 
James  Graham,  the  Secretary  of  State  at  the  time,  indicated  their  intention  of 
renewing  the  old  scenes  at  my  lectures — a  distinction  which  I  certainly  did  not 
covet.  On  arriving  in  the  town  on  the  7th  instant,  I  found  that  everybody  who 
approached  me  had  visible  in  his  countenance  or  in  his  speech  the  most  dismal 
apprehensions.  Of  the  reality  of  some  unusual  dread  I  was  assured,  by  the  fact 
that  the  women  shared  it.  Hitherto  I  had  found  them  under  such  circumstances 
to  be  the  last  to  utter  a  word  of  discouragement  in  danger,  but  here  they  diflFused 
panic  around  them.  The  men  had  much  to  contend  against  in  this  way.  Some 
houses  I  was  assured  had  been  like  houses  of  mourning  ever  since  my  offer  to 
come  to  Whitehaven  had  been  accepted — and  towards  Tuesday  night  women 
who  had  addressed  me  courteously  on  previous  days,  no  longer  spoke  or  looked  at 
me,  and  I  purposely  avoided  the  houses  of  all  I  knew,  to  whom  I  seemed  some 
evil  genius.  Indeed  I  was  sorry  for  them.  So  pale  and  anxious  was  the  aspect 
they  wore  that  there  was  no  mistaking  their  terror.  The  ignorant  and  desperate 
Irish  population  were  dreaded,  as  their  prejudices  were  known  to-be  above  the 
reach  of  reason,  and  a  colliery  population  (of  Lord  Lonsdale's,  if  I  remember 
rightly)  were  no  less  dreaded.  It  was  in  vain  that  I  urged  that  the  charges  for 
admission  (3d.  to  the  Gallery,  6d.  to  the  Pit,  and  Is.  to  the  Boxes)  would  keep 
them  away.  The  answer  was  they  would  force  the  door.  If  they  do,  I  rejoined, 
they  cannot  reach  the  stage  to  interrupt  the  Lecture.  'But  they  say  they  will  come 
armed  with  stones  to  throw  them  down  on  the  lecturer,  the  chairman,  and  whoever 
is  on  the  stage,'  was  the  gratifying  information  I  received.  Thinking  that  so 
much  ingenuity  ought  not  to  lack  appropriate  exercise,  T  arranged  to  be  my  own 
chairman,  that  the  fortunate  objects  of  their  aim  being  diminished  to  unity,  it 
might  be  more  to  their  credit  if  they  hit  it.  Many  stories  repeated  to  me  of  the 
strength,  ferocity,  and  unmanliness  of  our  expected  assailants  confirmed  these  re- 
ports of  their  intentions.  Corroborations  too  came  from  more  imposing  quarters 
than  rumour.  The  proprietor  of  the  Theatre,  departing  from  the  course  he  bad 
pursued  in  some  recent  lettings  of  the  place,  ^Srrote  to  demand  previous  payment, 
*  as  he  had  been  given  to  understand  there  was  likely  to  be  a  disturbance.'  '  Sup- 
pose we  should  be  prevented  using  the  place  the  second  night,  would  yon  demand 
payment  for  both  ?'  '  Certainly,'  was  the  answer, '  and  we  demand  payment  for  both 
now  before  entered  upon.'  Payment  was  of  course  made.  When  in  Newcastle- 
on-Tyne  a  party  of  religious  Whitehaven  people,  accidently  meeting  at  Johnson's 
Hotel,  assured  me  that  I  should  not  be  heard  in  their  town,  and  that  it  was  of  no 
use  that  I  went.  One  gentleman  present  came  to  me  privately  and  said  *  do  not 
let  these  persons  alarm  you.'  '  Certainly,'  I  said, '  they  ■^ill  not  deter  me.  Were  I 
to  be  deterred  by  these  kind  of  alarmists  I  should  never  go  anywhere.'  But  as 
they  were  respectable  men  in  congregational  connection,  and  not  of  the  mob,  the 
ramification  of  opposition  seemed  to  pervade  all  classes.  One  man  stepped  into  the 
shop  of  a  respectable  tradesman  in  the  town  of  Whitehaven  after  I  reached  the 
town,  and  said  that  the  Theatre  would  be  pulled  down  that  night,  the  night  of 
the  first  lecture.  At  the  last  hour  things  began  to  wear  an  agreeable  aspect.  A 
piece  of  news  arrived,  namely,  that  the  sergeant  of  police  had  been  heard  saying 


THE  REASONER.  239 


that '  there  would  be  blood  and  slaughter  in  the  Theatre  that  night,  and  he  should 
order  his  men  to  keep  out  of  the  way,  as  they  were  not  going  to  get  their  heads 
broken.'  I  was  behind  the  scenes  when  this  pleasant  bitof  intelligence  was  brought 
in.  It  was  certainly  a  great  comfort  to  those  who  paid  police  rates  to  hear  of  this 
public  spirited  speech.  Those  who  relied  on  the  police  for  the  preservation  of 
the  peace  of  the  town,  and  the  protection  of  strangers  in  it,  were  delighted  at  the 
cheering  prospect  thus  held  out  of  assistance.  If  would  be  fine  times  with  the 
disorderly  and  the  anarchists  if  that  discriminating  sergeant  were  Commissioner 
of  Police  for  the  metropolis.     Colonel  Mayne  ought  not  to  allow  such 

A  gem  to  blush  unseen, 

And  waste  his  sweetness  on  Whitehaven  air. 

However,  in  justice  to  the  police  corps,  let  me  say  that  this  sergeant's  superior 
showed  a  somewhat  different  spirit.  The  superintendent  of  police  was  waited 
upon  at  my  request,  by  a  respectable  inhabitant,  and  a  request  made  for  two 
policemen  to  be  placed  at  the  doors.  He  said  two  would  be  on  duty  on  that  beat, 
and  pass  the  doors  every  five  minutes,  and  he  himself  would  look  in  as  often  as  his 
duties  allowed.  Did  I  feel  afraid  ?  asked  some  friends.  I  answered, '  Perhaps  I 
should,  but  as  my  engagement  was  to  Lecture  and  not  to  fear,  1  thought  I  was 
excluded  from  the  privilege  of  feeling  apprehension.'  I  maintained  that  there  never 
could  be  a  quarrel  unless  there  were  two  parties  to  it,  and  that  I  was  not  going  to 
be  one.  My  experience  has  shown  me  that  men  of  rudest  natures  can  never  break 
out  into  outrage  at  once — they  wait  for  some  pretext  or  provocation,  and  if  you  do 
not  afford  this  they  must  go  home  disappointed.  Upon  this  I  relied.  With  re- 
spect to  reports  I  advised  my  friends  not  to  listen  to  them,  to  treat  them  with 
incredulity,  and  preserve  a  quiet  but  determined  bearing.  For  every  one  to  go 
and  tell  every  one  that  an  attack  was  expected,  was  to  make  a  disturbance  inevit- 
able. We  should  have  been  obliged  to  get  up  a  disturbance  ourselves  to  prevent 
the  public  suffering  from  disappointment. 

It  has  been  the  case  that  some  of  our  friends  have  spoken  at  the  Bulwarks,  where 
the  idle  and  disorderly  assemble  in  too  gi'eat  a  proportion  for  any  good  to  be  done, 
or  even  peace  preserved.  Thus  an  unwise  connection  is  established  between  us 
and  the  mob.  Seeing  the  uncultivated  and  vulgar  natures  of  the  opponents  with 
which  I  had  to  deal,  I  took  the  method  of  combating  them  through  their  own  pre- 
judices. A  friend  in  Newcastle-on-Tyne,  of  some  insight  in  these  matters,  had 
ordered  me  a  white  silk  hat.  Its  newest  gloss  of  unworn  brightness  was  upon  it. 
I  put  this  on,  and  also  anew  coat,  which  my  itinerant  wardrobe  happened  fortunately 
to  afford,  and  immediately  sallied  out  alone  to  inspect  the  camps  of  the  enemy, 
and  to  show  myself  to  the  foe.  I  knew  that  there  is  a  divinity  doth  hedge  a  gentle- 
man as  well  as  a  king,  and  that  appearance  would  find  a  response  where  principle 
would  find  none.  Nor  was  I  deceived.  The  local  mobs  made  way  for  me,  twenty 
yards  before  I  approached  them,  and  those  who  would  have  knocked  me  down  had  I 
worn  a  '  shocking  bad  hat,'  stepped  involuntarily  out  of  the  way.  They  respected 
my  attire  who  would  have  had  no  mercy  on  myself  or  my  views.  As  I  was  re- 
spectable they  thought  I  might  have  friends,  that  it  might  not  prove  so  safe  to 
assault  me.     A  '  seedy  '  dress  would  have  ruined  me. 

An  hour  before  the  time  of  commencing  the  first  lecture  I  was  at  the  Theatre — 
saw  all  the  lights  ready  and  the  doors  all  manned  (by  a  group  of  able  friends  just 
out  of  sight),  so  that  no  hiatus  could  occur  which  might  give  the  enemy  an  ad- 
vantage. Strong  men,  who  ought  to  have  been  present  at  the  lecture,  stayed  away 
through  fear.     Others  approached  our  encampment  cautiously,  reconnoitreing  the 


240  THE  REASONER. 


foe  from  the  angles  of  Irish  Street,  and  only  made  advances  when  all  seemed 
quiet.  But  a  sufficient  body  of  friends,  whose  affections  on  this  occasion  I  tested 
by  the  strength  of  their  arms,  came  forward  bravely  and  manned  the  doors,  and 
diffused  themselves  over  the  Theatre  in  those  parts  where  the  Christians  were 
thickest,  and  held  themselves  ready  either  to  listen  to  the  lecture  or  help  a  re- 
fractory neighbour  into  the  street  as  the  case  might  require.  Wherever  two  or 
three  Christians  were  gathered  together,  there  were  we  in  the  midst  of  them.  I 
owed  my  safety  to  the  address  and  courage  of  my  friends  in  this  way.  As  soon  as 
I  had  seen  the  posts  occupied,  I  carefully  examined  the  resources  of  the  Theatre 
for  fortification,  defence,  or  retreat,  and  I  am  now  in  a  condition  to  afford  to  any 
Company  of  Players,  who  may  have  an  eye  to  Thespian  honours  in  Whitehaven, 
the  most  accurate  information  as  to  the  fittings  of  the  Green-room,  the  portability 
of  the  scenes,  and  the  state  of  the  bolts  on  the  doors  or  through  the  doors,  with  a 
ground  plan  of  the  premises  around.  The  precautions  I  took  would  have  been 
superfluous  in  a  Christian.  The  true  believer,  having  a  mansion  in  his  Father's 
house,  sees  in  death  but  an  agreeable  change  of  residence — but  to  others  not  so 
certain  as  to  a  celestial  estate.  Manslaughter  amounts  to  an  entire  disinhentance, 
and  therefore  they  decline  that  casaalty  when  obtmded  on  them  prematurely. 

Gr.  J.  HOLTOAKE. 

[To  be  completed  next  week.] 
BROTHER  DICK  FULFILLETH  A  REVELATION. 


OuB  enthusiastic '  Brother  Dick '  desires  us  to  make  known  the  following  address 
from  his  pen  :  — 

Hottentots,  French,  Esquimaux,  British,  Xew  Zealanders,  Germans,  Turks,  and 
Indians,  are  all  brothers.  Man  is  wholly  fallen.  What  is  the  cause  of  his  fall  ? 
Is  it  not  carnality  ?  What  is  the  cause  of  carnality  ?  And  the  remedy  ?  Carnal 
food  makes  man  carnal  ?  The  word  carnal  comes  from  the  Latin  word  caro, 
camis — flesh.  Is  it  then  not  reasonable  to  believe  that  flesh-food  makes  a  man 
fleshly  or  carnal  ?  Is  a  carnal  man  a  godly  man  ?  Is  he  fit  to  appear  for  final 
judgment  ?  Did  God  make  any  life  to  be  sacrificed  ?  How  long  are  we  to  forget 
that  Jesus  was  nailed  to  the  cross  on  Calvary  I  He  trampled  upon  carnality,  and 
died  pure  and  holy.  Heathen  and  Christian  are  brothers,  and  can  understand 
this.     And  may  God  have  mercy  on  us  all !     Do  we  believe  in  God  ? 

Are  we  not  steeped  in  shame  ?  Now  is  the  time  to  seek  the  canse  thereof,  and 
having  got  that,  let  us  rid  ourselves  of  all  that  is  bad.  Why  not  live  in  continual 
sunshine  ?  The  cause  of  all  is  self — at  the  heart.  Carnality — a  word  many  dis- 
like to  hear;  why?  because,  like  the  writer,  they  have  suffered  from  that  fearful 
vice.  The  canse  of  carnality  is  known  to  all.  Flesh-food  makes  man  fleshly;  he 
thereby  is  not  whole ;  he  dies  before  his  time.  No  man  can  stop  half-way  in  the 
search  of  Truth — he  must  go  on.  Relaxation  is  bad — the  reaction  must  be  felt 
afterwards.  How  then  arrive  at  the  Truth  ?  Get  rid  of  carnality,  and  the  battle 
is  gained.  Can  we  forget  how  nobly  Christ  fought  and  died  ?  Flesh  makes  us 
fleshly.  May  God  soon  make  us  pure  and  holy.  Great  father  have  mercy  on  us  ! 
Now  is  the  appointed  time  ;  now  is  the  day  of  salvation  !  The  time  is  come  when 
the  world  must  fall  down  and  confess  its  faults  before  God  ! 

Meeting  every  Sunday,  at  11  a.m.,  at  67,  Great  Russell  Street,  Bloorasbury. 
Brother  C.  M.  Dick  will  speak.  The  Revelations  must  be  fulfilled.  [Of  course 
they  must. — Ed.] 


THE  REASONER. 


241 


(Sysminntian  at  t^t  \Btti9» 


Sketches  in  Scotland,  by  Thomas  Cooper. — From  communications  of  Mr. 
Cooper,  in  the  Leader  and  Northern  Star,  entitled  '  Notes  of  Travel  and  Talk,"  we 
take  the  following  extracts  from  his  Scottish  experiences : — We  landed  at  Ardros- 
san  by  eight  in  the  evening  (leaving  Belfast  at  one  in  the  afternoon  of  Saturday), 
and  in  less  than  two  hours  I  was  in  the  streets  of  Glasgow,  and  was  welcomed  by 
the  hospitality  of  my  friend  Mr.  Clarke,  a  Unitarian  minister.  I  had  never  been 
in  Scotland  before  ;  and  though  I  had  heard  much  of  the  beauty  of  Edinburgh,  no 
one  had  ever  praised  the  appearance  of  Glasgow  in  my  bearing.  I  therefore  saw 
its  Argyle  Street,  its  Exchange,  and  its  squares  aud  streets  to  the  west  with  the 
utmost  surprise.  I  do  not  hesitate  to  say  that  the  western  part  of  Glasgow  is 
more  stately  and  better  built  than  any  town  in  England  except  London.  It  is 
true  that  the  contrast  between  'the  wynds  of  the  old  town,  and  these  superb  parts 
of  the  new,  is  very  notable;  but  the  contrasts  in  London  are  fully  as  remarkable. 
The  first  entire  day  I  spent  in  Scotland  being  a  rainy  Sunday,  all  who  are  well 
acquainted  with  the  country  will  have  some  guess  of  my  misery,  especially  as  I 
had  no  talking  duty  to  attend  to.  What  sombre  looks — what  dismal  clanking  of 
the  single  bells  in  the  churches — what  a  dreary  closing  of  every  shop  and  house 
— what  long  solemn  drawling  in  most  lugubrious  minors,  under  the  name  of  *  psalm 
tunes,'  as  you  pass  the  kirks — what  troops  of  people  all  wending  solemnly  to  the 
kirk,  and  looking  neither  to  the  right  hand  nor  to  the  left !  I  wandered  hither  and 
thither,  gazing  at  the  buildings,  till  I  was  wet  and  faint  (for  I  never  can  control 
my  curiosity  when  I  enter  a  fresh  city) — and  I  sought  a  place  of  entertainment, 
but  none  could  I  find  open  :  nothing  to  be  had  either  to  eat  or  drink — it  was — awful 
word  in  Scotland — '  the  Sabbath  !'  I  began  to  feel  as  bitter  as  the  Scotch  Sabbath 
itself,  and  looked  about  for  a  cab ;  but  I  had  to  plod  my  dreary  way  down  many 
a  street  before  I  found  one,  and  then  away  T  went,  and  esconced  myself  among  my 
friend  Clarke's  books.  I  was  in  and  out  of  Glasgow  for  more  than  three  weeks, 
passing  four  times  to  talk  at  Paisley,  and  sundry  other  times  to  talk  at  Barrhead, 
Kilbarchan,  and  Campsie.  In  Glasgow  itself  I  addressed  audiences  five  times  in 
the  Unitarian  chapel,  and  once  in  the  Lyceum,  Nelson  Street.  I  soon  found  the 
intellectual  atmosphere  to  be  verv  difierent  from  that  of  Belfast.  It  was  no  longer 
diflBcult  to  make  oneself  understood,  or  touch  the  chord  of  sympathy ;  but  I  was 
evidently  talking  to  a  critical  people.  I  had  the  same  impression  all  the  way 
through  Scotland;  and  everywhere  I  was  surrounded  by  working  men  who  gave 
powerful  indications  of  mind — though  I  did  not  think  every  individual  I  met  free 
from  wrongheadedness,  nor,  above  all,  conceit.  Indeed  there  is  too  much  vain 
talk  about  '  our  Scotch  education,'  and  a  most  ungracious  and  discourteous  under- 
valuing of  the  mental  training  of  the  English.  Of  course  this  is  to  be  found 
among  those  Scotchmen  who  have  never  been  out  of  Scotland.  It  is  time  all  these 
foolish  prejudices  were  laid  aside.  Scotchmen  ought  to  know  that  throughout  the 
whole  length  and  breadth  of  England  working  men  are  as  eager  for  education 
and  in  as  great  numbers,  too,  as  the  working  men  to  be  found  anywhere  north 
of  the  Tweed.  But  their  prejudice  is  not  confined  to  the  notion  of  their  superior 
education.  The  majority  of  the  Scotch — ay,  even  they  who  are  professed  free- 
thinkers—evince such  a  tenderness  respecting  their  *  Sabbath,'  that  if  you  happen 
to  hum  a  line  of  a  song  or  to  whistle  on  the  Sunday,  they  look  as  if  they  were 
about  to  swoon.  You  tell  them  that  you  regard  their  notion  of  the  Sunday  as 
absurdly  tyrannous,  and  creative  of  hypocrites.     They  do  not  deny  it ;  but  they 


242 


THE  REASONER. 


answer  with  a  stolid  solemnity  that  provokes  your  mirth, '  Ay,  but  it  is  our  Scottish 
Sabbath  !' — and  there  they  think  the  conversation  ought  to  end.  One  of  the  most 
vinegar  instances  of  Sabbatarianism  that  I  met  in  Scotland,  was  at  Paisley.  The 
friend  who  had  been  commissioned  to  invite  me  to  talk  there  directed  me  to  a 
Temperance  Hotel.  On  the  Sunday,  having  spent  the  forenoon  in  writing  letters 
in  my  sleeping  room  (not  being  allowed  to  write  them  elsewhere),  I  went  down 
stairs,  towards  two  o'clock,  and  said  cheerfully, '  Now,  landlord,  what  have  you  got 
for  dinner?'  The  man's  face  became  three  inches  longer!  'Dinner,  sir,'  he 
answered,  'do  you  not  ken  it's  the  Sabbath  ?'  The  words,  and  the  man's  look, 
were  so  strange  that  I  asked  him,  in  my  perplexity,  what  he  said,  although  I  had 
heard  him  plainly  enough.  He  repeated  his  question,  and  I  could  not  help,  some- 
how or  other,  appealing  to  his  satanic  majesty  whether  such  a  question  was  not 

strange.     '  "What  the  d ,'  said  I,  '  has  the  Sabbath  to  do  with  my  dinner  ?     Do 

you  think  an  Englishman  is  to  go  without  his  dinner,  because  it  is  what  you  call 
the  Sabbath  ?'  He  looked  unutterable  things,  but,  without  saying  more,  went  into 
the  kitchen,  and  began  conversing  in  a  low  tone  with  the  landlady.  Very  soon  he 
beckoned  me,  and  when  I  had  rejoined  him  he  said  in  a  mysterious  tone, '  Ye  ken 
if  ye'll  stay  till  the  people  are  gone  to  the  kirk  I'll  get  ye  a  steak !'  I  was  in  danger 
of  laughing  in  his  face,  though  he  looked  inexpressibly  serious.  When  his  com- 
pany (who  had  been  sitting  silently  in  various  rooms,  discussing  biscuits,  tracts, 
and  teetotal  drinks)  had  disappeared,  the  steak  was  brought  up.  I  asked  wag- 
gishly, if  he  could  not  give  me  a  drop  of  porter.  '  Nay,  nay,'  he  replied  very 
firmly,  '  nae  porter.'  The  man  was  truer  to  his  teetotalism  than  to  his  sour 
Sabbatarianism,  after  all !  His  conscience  was  bound  by  appearances  in  one  case, 
and  it  led  to  hypocrisy.  In  the  other  it  was  guided  by  conviction,  and  he  preserved 
his  truth.  Of  course  I  did  not  trouble  him  with  my  company  again.  The  following 
Sunday  when  I  had  to  be  at  Paisley  again,  I  went  to  the  principal  inn,  and  there 
dinner  was  served  up,  and  all  things  went  on  as  they  do  in  any  English  hotel. 
The  lesson  was  not  lost  upon  me.  I  took  care  never  to  be  sourly  circumstanced 
again  while  in  Scotland.  It  is  this  gloomy,  slavish,  soul -grinding  doctrine  and 
practice  of  Sabbatarianism,  which  raises  one's  combativeness  perpetually  in  Scot- 
land. As  for  a  little  conceit  of  their  *  education,'  why  I  suppose  we  must  excuse 
it.  Englishmen  have  also  their  conceit ;  and  so  '  let  that  pass.'  The  sturdy  in- 
dependence of  some,  and  the  natural  cheerfulness  of  the  many,  among  the  Scotch, 
makes  one  wonder  that  this  irksome  bondage  is  borne  so  long.  The  rise  of  the 
'  Free  Kirk,'  too,  they  say,  has  tightened  the  general  bondage — for  the  new  sect 
vies  with  the  old  in  setting  the  exam  pie  of  strictness.  I  heard  that  some  parties  had 
been  summoned  before  the  authorities  in  Arbroath,  and  fined  for  walking  out  on 
the  Sunday  !  Perhaps  it  is  to  be  desired  that  such  instances  should  increase — 
even  till  they  attempt  to  nail  up  people's  doors  and  windows  on  the  Sunday.  May 
the  Scotch  have  enough  of  it,  say  I — till  they  end  it ! 

Exeter  Hall. — This  fine  building,  situated  in  the  Strand,  at  the  Surrey  foot 
of  Blackfriars  Bridge,  was  founded  by  Nell  Gwynne,  in  1672,  as  an  asylum  for 
Mad  Missionaries,  but  when  the  Castlemaine  party  came  into  power  it  was  turned 

into  a  play-house  and  continued  so  for  many  years During  May  certain  days 

are  set  apart  for  the  exhibition  of  the  Howling  Dervishes,  and  crowds  are  attracted 
by  their  performance.  At  present  there  are  suppers  and  singing  every  night  after 
the  theatres.  The  hall  may  be  hired  for  Bals  Masques,  Poses  Plastiques,  and 
similar  diversions  by  application  to  the  secretary. —  The  Month,  by  Albert  Smith. 


THE  REASONER. 


243 


Se^ug,  anif  rt)e  Maval  ^iSjpecW  of  Cfjrtdttantts* 


BY   W.   J.   B. 


Matthew  tells  us,  in  his  4th  chapter,that 
'  From  that  time  Jesus  began  to  preach, 
and  to  say,  Repent,  for  the  kingdom  of 
heaven  is  at  hand.'  We  can  see  nothing 
remarkable  in  this  declaration ;  we  think 
it  very  much  wanting  in  plainness.  He 
does  not  tell  his  hearers  what  they  were 
to  repent  of;  he  tells  them  why  they 
are  to  repent — because  '  the  kingdom  of 
heaven  is  at  hand.'  He  here  deals  in 
equivocation  or  error.  If  that  memo- 
rable enigma,  the  *  kingdom  of  heaven,' 
were  to  stand  for  any  event  which  might 
happen,  it  was  an  equivocation  ;  if  it 
was  meant  as  it  was  taken,  that  some 
glorious  time  was  to  succeed  for  the 
Jews — or,  in  reality,  that  heaven  was  to 
come  down  upon  earth — it  was  a  mistake, 
which  has  been  corroborated  by  more 
than  eighteen  hundred  years  of  disap- 
pointment. 

How  are  we  to  interpret  repentance? 
We  can  only  interpret  it  by  what  imme- 
diately follows — by  the  method  pursued 
with  the  first  converts.  Peter  and  An- 
drew, brothers,  were  fishing  :  Jesus  tells 
them  to  give  up  fishing.  James  and 
John  were  mending  their  nets  with  their 
father :  Jesus  called  them,  and  they  im- 
mediately left  the  ship  and  their  father, 
and  followed  him.  Now  we  might  call 
this  a  repentance  of  good  works.  If  this 
kind  of  thing  was  re-enacted  in  our  day, 
men  would  say  it  would  be  more  moral 
for  the  first  pair  to  have  stuck  to  their 
fishing,  instead  of  being  seduced  by  the 
expectation  held  out  of  catching  men.  We 
think  the  second  pair  should  have  con- 
tinued mending  their  nets,  particularly 
as  it  appears  they  had  a  father  to  sup- 
port. They  did  not  repent  of  their  filial 
duty,  and  they  would  be  found  at  their 
post  of  duty  when  the  kingdom  of  heaven 
came,  whether  in  the  shape  of  heaven 
coming  to  earth  or  their  going  in  their 
death  to  heaven.  We  do  not  see  the 
value  of  faith  in  this  instance.  Peter 
was  actually  catching  fish,  which  employ- 


ment he  leaves  at  the  idea  of  catching 
men,  without  even  asking  what  is  meant 
by  catching  men.  It  clearly  appeared 
that  he  was  easily  caught. 

Jesus  seems,in  many  respects,  to  have 
overlooked  the  definiteness  of  conduct 
and  speech  which  it  became  him  as  a 
moralist  to  enforce  by  his  own  example. 
From  his  miscellaneous  bearing,it  would 
appear  that  no  one  else  was  to  show 
anger  or  call  names,  but  he  was  privi- 
leged to  give  names  to  things  and  shower 
abuse  on  his  brethren.  Others  were  to 
bless  their  enemies,  and  to  do  good  to 
those  who  did  them  ill ;  but  he  was  to 
revenge  himself,  and  confer  eternity  of 
punishment  on  those  who  spoke  against 
or  did  not  believe  in  him.  We  ask 
whether  his  was  not  a  religion  of  fear, 
not  of  love,  and  therefore  immoral  ?  Is 
not  anger  immoral  ?  and  fearing  to  give 
oflfence  is  the  feeling  of  slaves  towards  a 
tyrant. 

One  evangelist  tells  us  a  story  of 
what  happened  on  the  occasion  of  his 
crucifixion,  which  brings  to  mind  a 
striking  peculiarity  of  Jesus.  Accord- 
ing to  Luke,  the  two  thieves  debated  the 
divinity  of  Christ.  The  ruling  passion 
strong  in  death,  Jesus  caught  at  a  con- 
vert, and  promised  him  that  day  he 
should  be  with  him  in  Paradise.  Was 
this  the  only  barren  result  of  revelation, 
and  his  crucifixion  on  the  cross,  and  his 
stay  on  earth,  that  he  brought  home  a 
friend — and  such  a  friend — the  first 
fruits  of  preaching  ofiered  by  the  son  to 
the  father  ?  Now  what  we  wanted  was 
an  example  of  his  moral  doctrine,  proof 
whereby  we  might  believe  in  the  efficacy 
of  it.  Jesus  let  this  last  opportunity 
pass  as  before;  one  was  to  be  saved 
because  he  believed  in  him,  the  other 
was  to  be  damned  because  he  did  not. 

But  we  have  not  so  much  to  do  with 
this  new  religion  as  with  the  moral 
aspect  of  it.  Here  was  an  occasion  to 
bless  his  enemies  and  forgive  sinners ! 


241 


THE  REASONER. 


He  should  have  said,  '  Though  the  one 
has  had  grace  to  believe  without  seeing, 
yet  the  other  is  equally  saved  by  my 
death.  I  came  to  bless  my  enemies, 
and  not  curse  them ;  I  came  to  return 
good  for  evil,  even  good  for  ignorance, 
error,  or  incredulity.  As  I  have  t;iught 
that  my  father  in  heaven  treats  alike  the 
good  and  the  bad,  as  the  father  on  earth 
behaved  to  his  prodigal  son,  so  shall  I 
be  glad  to  see  my  enemy  in  Paradise 
as  well  as  my  friend.  Did  not  I  say 
"  Father,  forgive  them,  for  they  know 
not  what  they  do  V  should  I  not  there- 
fore forgive  him  who  qannot  know  what 
he  does  ?' 

We  would  give  ministers  of  the  Gos- 
pel this  piece  of  advice — to  follow  what 
they  are  fond  of  styling  the  practical  of 
the  morality  of  the  Gospel.  We  would 
advise  them  to  study  what  can  be  done 
in  conversion  by  distributing  the  loaves 
and  the  fishes  after  the  manner  of  Chiist. 
Though  they  cannot  work  miracles,  yet 
they  have  plenty  to  give  away.  They 
act  too  much  the  part  of  Dives,  and  the 
people  do  not  even  see  the  crumbs  which 
fall  from  the  rich  man's  table;  much 
less  are  many  thousands  fed  at  their 
hands  from  the  loaves  and  fishes  they 
are  able  to  collect.  We  would  advise 
them  to  turn  the  sacrament  into  a  real 
celebration,  as  seems  to  have  been  its 
purport — a  supper  of  remembrance.  As 
far  as  the  poor  are  concerned,  there 
would  be  some  sense  in  saying  '  This  is 
true  Christianity,  which,  except  a  man 
believe,  he  cannot  be  saved ;'  for  who 
can  be  saved  in  time  without  subsis- 
tence ? 

Many  of  the  remarks  of  Jesus  call  for 
the  most  unqualified  exercise  of  faith  to 
credit  them.  The  cases  are  similar  to 
that  of  the  Mormon  who  said,  what  was 
the*use  of  his  walking  over  the  Missis- 
sippi, when  his  people  believed  that  he 
could  do  it  ?  Under  such  circumstances 
their  faith  was  much  more  to  their  credit 
than  if  he  did  it.  They  could  believe 
no  more  if  they  saw  him  walk  on  the 
water.  In  the  same  inanuer  we  need 
discipline  on  being  told  by  Christ  that 
the  penitent  thiet  should  be  with  him 
that  day  in  Paradise,  when  he,  we  are 
told  by  the  churrli,  had  to  descend  into 
Hell  at  the  same  time.  But  to  dwell 
chiefly  on  moial  aspects,  and  moral 
inconclusivenesses.      Considering   what 


power  of  working  miracles  Christ  pos- 
sessed, what  implicit  trust  he  inculcated 
in  the  Providence  of  the  falling  sparrows, 
it  was  curious  that  the  son  of  man  had 
not  where  to  lay  his  head.  Had  that 
father  who  had  provided  holes  for  foxes 
and  nests  for  birds,  forgotten  beds  for 
his  children,  for  whom  he  was  to  provide 
meat  and  drink  so  abundantly  ?  A  case 
warranting  distrust  was  that  where  we 
find  that  the  Fulfiiler  of  the  Scriptures 
took  refuge  for  the  night  on  board  a  ship, 
and  a  storm  arose  which  woke  the  crew 
from  their  sleep.  There  is  a  species 
of  immorality  in  all  this  inconclusive- 
ness  on  a  matter  of  so  much  moment  in 
a  prudential  point  of  view.  Again,  when 
Jesus  tells  the  son  to  follow  him,  who 
should  have  buried  his  father,  the  thing 
is  open  to  important  misconception,  and 
seems  a  violation  of  the  command  of  un- 
doubted excellence — '  honour  thy  father 
and  mother.'  When  the  devils  said, 
'  why  do  you  come  to  torment  us  before 
our  time  ?'  it  seems  as  if  his  mission 
were  to  torment.  It  is  a  wonder  people 
can  sit  down  and  hear  such  an  account 
read,  Sunday  after  Sunday,  and  call 
Christ  the  sinless\man. 

The  inhabitants  in  one  district  did  not 
wish  to  see  any  more  miracles  performed, 
and  with  a  forbearance  which  he  preached 
but  did  not  practice,  they  respectfully 
begged  he  would  depart  out  of  their  coast. 
In  the  instructions  he  gave,  when  he 
sent  forth  the  twelve,  he  might  teach 
them  to  be  wise,  but  he  certainly  did  not 
to  be  harmless.  They  were  prepared  to 
bite  as  serpents,  and  we  may  believe  it 
from  subsequent  results,  if  you  did  not 
take  warning  and  get  out  of  their  way. 
Their  serpent  wisdom  was  indeed  to  be 
butintellectual — they  were  to  be  as  harm- 
less as  doves.  But  men  whose  wisdom  is 
modelled  on  the  serpent's,  find  curious 
and  questionable  modes  ot  harmlessness 
in  the  development  and  maintenance  of 
their  spiritual  power.  He  told  them 
they  need  not  provide  anything,  they 
were  worthy  of  their  meat.  They  were 
to  live  on  any  persons  they  liked,  but  if 
such  persons  would  not  receive  them,  it 
would  be  more  tolerable  for  Sodomites 
than  for  them  in  the  day  of  judgment. 
We  think  this  was  very  politic,  and 
easily  accounted  for  their  taking  up  the 
profession — but  we  ask  if  it  were  moral 
in  Jesus?     They  should  have   blessed 


THE  REASONER. 


245 


those  who  would  not  receive  them. 
Fancy  every  tramper  saying  he  came  to 
preach  the  kingdom  of  heaven  to  us,  and 
therefore  he  must  have  board  and  lodg- 
ing— should  we  refuse  it,  consigning  us 
to  hell  fire  ! 

This  was  a  sort  of  ordination  sermon 
to  the  apostles,  without  any  practical 
word  of  peace  in  it.  We  know  what 
effect  it  has  had  on  those  who  have  en- 
joyed the  privileges  of  apostolical  suc- 
cession. We  would  ask  if  these  were 
the  glad  tidings  to  preach  to  all  men  ? 
Besides,  the  instructions  were  as  contra- 
dictory as  any  of  those  delivered  by 
Charles  James,  Bishop  ot  London.  They 
were  to  beware  of  men,  yet  they  were 
not  to  care  for  them.  They  were  to  be 
scourged  and  put  to  death ;  yet,  before 
they  had  gone  over  the  cities  of  Israel, 
he  was  to  come— meaning,  of  course,  that 
his  kingdom  was  to  be  established.  He 
informed  them  they  were  to  cause  the 
brother  to  deliver  up  the  brother  to 
death,  the  father  the  child,  and  the 
children  to  put  their  parents  to  death. 
And  they  were  to  be  hated  of  all  men. 
They  were  quite  mistaken,  he  said,  if 
they  thought  he  had  come  to  send  peace 
on  the  earth.  They  thought,  as  some 
people  think  now,  he  meant  what  he  said 
in  the  sermon  on  the  mount.  Yet  what 
can  we  make  of  that  sad  and  too  memo- 
rable passage  ?  '  Think  not  that  I  am 
come  to  send  peace  on  the  earth  ;  I  came 
not  to  send  peace,  but  a  sword.  For  I 
am  come  to  set  a  man  at  variance  against 
his  father,  and  the  daughter  against  her 
mother,  and  the  daughter-in-law  against 
her  mother-in-law  ;  and  a  man's  foes 
shall  be  they  of  his  own  household.  He 
that  ioveth  father  or  mother  more  than  me 
is  not  worthy  of  me ;  and  he  that  Ioveth 
son  or  daughter  more  than  me  is  not 
worthy  of  me.'  There  is  good  reason  to 
distrust  all  doctrine,  by  whomsoever 
preached,  that  justifies  this  sort  of  he- 
ralding. 

Jesus,  from  comparatively  very  insuf- 
ficient reasons,  and  before  he  began  to 
explain  why,  addresses  Scribes,  Phari- 
sees, and  lawyers  in  the  harshest  lan- 
guage. We  ask  if  they  preached  any 
such  doctrine  as  Jesus  did  ?  Did  they 
say  they  came  to  bring  a  sword  into  the 
world,  or  preach  doctrines  that  might 
destroy  all  social  and  family  relations  ? 
Their  political  character  was  the  pre- 


servation of  peace  at  any  price,  and  some 
unity  in  religion  and  among  the  people. 
Christians  talk  of  their  ftelings  ;  had 
not  the  Jews — the  Pharisees,  Sadducees, 
lawyers,  Scribes,  &c.— feelings  ?  Was 
it  not  a  flagrant  injury  to  their  feelings 
to  be  told  the  mission  of  one  who  must 
seem  to  them  as  an  adventurer  was  to 
introduce  internecine  division  into  the 
nation,  and  possibly  endanger  the  purest 
and  holiest  feelings  of  the  family,  which 
had  hitherto,  in  the  estimation  of  the 
world, constituted  the  cement  of  morality 
and  society  ?  Was  it  pleasant  to  be 
told,  not  only  the  above,  but  that  their 
city  and  nation  would  be  destroyed,  and 
eternal  burnings  were  reserved  for  them, 
who  in  his  disordered  imagination  he 
spoke  of  so  opprobriously  because  they 
did  not  believe  in  him  ?  Was  it  not 
insult  enough  to  ask  them  to  believe  in 
him,  who  proclaimed  what  in  their  esti- 
mation were  immoral  doctrines?  But, 
allowing  them  strong  religious  feelings 
as  well  as  Christians — and  nobody  de- 
nies but  they  had — was  it  not  insulting 
them  in  the  tenderest  point  to  ask  them 
to  give  up  their  God,  whom  they  thought 
superhuman,  and  to  worship  a  man,  the 
son  of  a  carpenter,  and  have  their  sins 
forgiven  by  fishermen  ?  Not  only  their 
history  and  their  customs  were  violated 
by  such  pretensions  in  Jesus,  but  their 
laws  were  infringed  by  his  doctrines  and 
his  miracles.  Do  not  these  constitute 
what  is  called  the  feelings  of  persons  ? 
Are  they  not  shaped  by  habit,  by  history, 
ancestry,  and  by  legislation  ?  Not  only 
did  Jesus  delight  in  what  must  seem  to 
his  respectable  hearers  as  abuse,  but  he 
took  pleasure  in  confounding  the  Jews, 
and  acting  counter  to  their  prejudices. 
Such  were  most  of  his  answers,  so  con- 
trived that  the  Jewish  inquirers  should 
injure  themselves  either  with  the  Ro- 
mans or  the  populace.  Of  the  like  des- 
cription, and  worse  in  regard  to  their 
religious  scruples,  was  his  telling  them 
they  should  drink  his  blood,  when  he 
must  have  known  that  they  were  forbid- 
den by  their  law  to  taste  of  the  blood  of 
animals,  much  less  human  blood.  As 
a  natural  consequence,  many  left  him  at 
such  sayings. 

'  Ye  know  not  what  manner  of  spirit 
ye  are  of ;  lor  the  son  of  man  is  not 
come  to  destroy  men's  lives,  but  to  save.' 
This  was  Jesus's  answer  to  his  disciples 


246 


THE'REASONER. 


for  proposing  to  call  down  fire  from 
heaven  on  a  Samaritan  village  which 
had  refused  to  receive  him.  We  think 
the  disciples  reasoned  justly  from  the 
Old  Testament  and  what  Jesus  had  told 
them  of  himself.  If  God,  by  his  angels, 
had  before  brought  down  such  punish- 
ment on  a  rebellious  city,  why  could 
not  Jesus  do  the  same,  who  said  he  had 
the  same  power,  and  threatened  much 
worse  consequences  for  much  slighter 
offences  against  his  will  ?  It  is  evident 
how  they  took  his  sayings  and  teachings, 
and  that  he  had  misled  them.  The  ig- 
norance with  which  he  charged  them 
was  his  rhetorical  fault.  It  is  quite 
evident  how  his  disciples  construed  his 
power  and  intentions,  and  even  after  he 
was  dead  saw  it  in  that  light.  Peter, 
ready  with  the  sword  during  his  life, 
after  it  struck  a  man  dead  for  a  very 
venial  offence.  It  is  the  only  instance 
recorded,  but  shows  what  manner  of 
spirit  they  were  of,  which  manner  of 
spirit  they  persisted  in  thinking  was 
Jesus's.  They  were  the  best  judges ; 
and  if  they  received  his  teachings  and 
sayings  in  a  wrong  spirit,  the  danger  of 
them  is  clearly  proved  to  us.  It  is  no- 
thing to  say  he  would  not  do  it.  Any 
such  modern  Messiah  we  should  declare 
a  mischievous  teacher,  one  that  could 
not  inspire  his  own  disciples  with  a  right 
spirit. 

Whately  says  Jesus's  instructions  to 
his  disciples  when  he  sent  them  forth, 
that  those  should  burn  who  did  not 
receive  them,  has  been  the  great  argu- 
ment for  persecution  ever  since.  Chris- 
tians have  reasoned.  Better  disbelievers 
should  endure  burning  at  once  than  for 
ever,  or  a  few  be  burned  as  an  example, 


than  a  great  many  be  burned  for  ever — 
or  better  be  extirpated,  that  they  be  no 
more,  and  only  those  left  who  will  receive 
us  and  be  saved. 

Why  did  not  one  so  kind  and  gentle, 
as  Jesus  is  by  some  painted,  at  once  put 
the  truth  of  Christianity  beyond  all  doubt 
or  rejection  by  evidence  of  that  univer- 
sal character  which  commands  the  adhe- 
rence of  men,  and  so  save  mankind 
from  local  persecution  and  future  judg- 
ment ?  All  we  can  say  is  that  the 
councils  of  God  ordered  it  otherwise. 
But  this  is  to  remove  the  question  beyond 
the  province  of  human  reason  entirely, 
and  to  give  up  the  proper  moral  and 
human  defence  of  Christ's  system. 

We  can  sympathise  with  John  the 
Baptist,  who,  in  prison,  doubted  the 
authenticity  of  Jesus's  mission  from 
heaven.  He  doubted  when  he  heard  of 
his  works.  The  works  did  not  seem  to 
him  sufficient,  or  were  of  that  character 
that  they  might  have  as  well  belonged 
to  a  false  prophet  as  a  true.  It  was 
Christ's  want  of  success  which  probably 
struck  John,  and  that  sort  of  success 
which  John  might  have  expected  would 
have  delivered  him  from  prison.  But 
the  promised  kingdom  never  came,  and 
the  Baptist  lost  his  head  before  he  had 
to  pass  an  opinion  on  Jesus's  kingdom 
ending  in  his  crucifixion.  When  Jesus 
sent  to  say  that  he  raised  up  the  dead, 
we  think  the  Baptist's  head  had  a  prior 
claim  to  have  been  put  upon  its  shoulders. 
But  Jesus  could  never  exert  his  power 
by  a  more  palpable,  adroit,  politic,  or 
just  act  than  by  the  vindication  of  his 
pretension  and  defence  of  his  decapitated 
forerunner. 


THE  REASONER.  247 


©ur  ^Blatfarm. 

From  which  any  earnest  opponent  may  controvert  our  opinions,  and  from  which  any  may  expound  views 
not  coincident  with  our  own,  if  tending  to  the  Rationalisation  of  Theology. 


PAGANISM'S     NEW    FACE, 


[After  Mr.  Holyoake's  second  lecture  in  Edinburgh,  on  *  Catholicism  the  Type 
of  the  Churches  around  us,'  he  received  the  following  letter.  We  shall  be  glad  to 
receive  from  Valerius  his  proposed  Tract.] 

Sir, — In  your  lecture  yesterday  evening,  you  gave,  I  think,  as  the  reason  for  the 
first  success  of  Christianity,  the  conviction  impressed  by  its  first  apostles,  and 
entertained  by  the  Pagans  to  whom  they  preached  it,  that  it  (Christianity)  was 
more  reasonable  thdia  the  older  religious  systems  it  was  advanced  to  supplant. 

Now,  although  such  a  statement  is  no  doubt  in  a  general  sense  quite  true,  and 
though  it  suits  very  well  the  tenor  of  your  excellent  lecture  of  yesterday  evening, 
yet  you  ought  to  be  aware  that  the  true  reason  for  the  success  and  spread  of  Chris- 
tianity is  to  be  found  in  its  origin,  and  that  its  origin  is  clearly  to  be  traced  to 
Paganism.  In  short,  if  we  examine  into  the  matter,  we  shall  find  that  Christianity 
is  just  Paganism  with  a  new  face. 

As  to  time,  the  origin  of  Christianity  is  just  so  far  posterior  to  the  fall  of  the 
Roman  empire  as  we  should  expect  it  to  be  on  the  supposition  that  Christianity 
was  the  same  religion  (viz..  Paganism)  revived  under  entirely  new  political  and 
sacerdotal  auspices.  As  to  place,  the  origin  of  Christianity  is  not  to  be  searched 
for  in  Judea,  as  the  abounding  geographical  and  other  errors  in  the  New  Testament 
of  themselves  almost  prove;  but  in  Alexandria,  where  a  fresh  school  of  philosophy 
sprang  from  the  ashes  of  the  Roman  and  Grecian  systems  of  philosophy  and 
religion. 

The  Therapeutin  monks  (the  Essenes),  who,  before  any  such  thing  or  system  as 
Christianity  had  an  embodiment  as  Christianity,  certainly  did  exist  as  a  body  of 
scholastic  religionists  ;  and  they  were,  beyond  doubt,  the  authors  of  all  our  New 
Testament  epistles  except  that  of  John,  which,  there  is  good  evidence  to  show,  was 
written  long  subsequent  to  the  establishment  of  what  we  call  Christianity.  The 
probabilities  are  greatly  in  favour  of  the  belief,  that  under  the  personification  of 
Jesus  Christ  these  Essenes  embodied  a  metaphysical  doctrine,  or  else  an  astrono- 
mical idea.  At  all  events,  it  is  quite  clear,  and  admitted  I  believe  by  at  least  one 
continental  biblical  expositor,  that  no  Jew  originated  the  story  of  Jesus  Christ. 

The  points  to  which  1  have  adverted  are  of  great  importance,  and,  as  it  seems  to 
me,  cut  at  the  root  of  Christianity  altogether.  The  serious  fact  once  proved — 
and  there  are,  if  not  ample,  at  least  very  formidable  evidences  in  its  favour — that 
the  story  of  Jesus  Christ  is  a  myth  of  the  Alexandrian  school  of  philosophy,  the 
whole  of  the  miracles  and  prophecies  fall  to  the  ground  at  once,  and  a  chal- 
lenge of  historical  criticism  is  presented  to  the  evidencists  of  Christianity. 

Minds  are,  indeed,  so  differently  constituted  that  it  may  not  seem  so  to  you. 
You  may  conceive  that  to  lop  off  the  branches  is  a  more  hopeful  effort  than  to  aim 
at  the  giant  roots  of  that  tremendous  upas  tree  whose  shadow  darkens  Chritendom, 
And  in  one  sense  you  are  very  right.  To  a  popular  assembly  it  is  undoubtedly 
better  to  lecture  as  you  do  well  lecture. 

But,  to  a  certain  class  of  minds,  the  point  of  view  I  have  indicated  is  that  from 
which  Christianity  ought  perhaps  to  be  attacked.  In  your  paper  it  has  sometimes 
been  so  attacked,  and  this  I  hope  may  be  repeated. 


248  THE  REASONER. 


For  my  own  part,  I  shall  be  happy,  if  it  suits  your  editorial  arrangements,  to 
write  an  article  on  the  origin  of  Christianity,  in  which  I  shall  endeavour  to  show 
that  it  (Christianity)  is  Paganism  revived  under  new  auspices.  The  article  might 
be  embodied  in  one  of  your  Reasoner  tracts,  or  otherwise ;  but  I  am  not  anxious  to 
displace  any  other  writer  in  your  excellent  paper,  and  I  suppose  you  have  by  you 
more  articles  than  you  can  insert. 

I  enclose  my  card  with  my  present  address  (after  the  15th  of  Sept.  it  will  be  dif- 
ferent) ;  but  I  think  it  worth  while  to  tell  you,  that  I  am  one  of  a  too  numerous 
class  of  young  professional  men  whose  prospects  in  life  depend,  more  or  less,  on 
their  assumed  allegiance  to  the  dogmas  of  the  day,  and  who  dare  not  publish  their 
true  opinions,  at  least  with  their  names  attached  to  them.  Were  you  not  right  in 
saying, as  you  did  last  evening,  that  the  Christian  system  is  essentially  persecuting 
in  its  spirit? 

Edinburgh,  Aug.  20,  1851.  Valerids. 


CHARLES  GEORGE  HARDING. 


Sir, — Will  you  permit  me  to  say  a  word  for  our  departed  mutual  friend,  Charles 
George  Harding?  An  earnest  soldier  of  Democracy,  brave,  intelligent,  disinte- 
rested, and  devoted,  he  was,  as  you  know  well,  ever  ready  with  his  purse,  his  pen, 
and  his  time  to  work  in  that  good  cause  in  whose  ultimate  triumph  he  so  firmly 
believed.  In  1847,  alone  and  unaided,  be  set  on  foot  the  Republican,  a  journal  in 
which  will  be  found  great  earnestness,  great  candour,  true  chivalry,  and  a  more 
than  ordinary  intelligence.  Essentially  a  man  of  the  people,  Charles  Harding 
wrote  for  the  people,  uttering  their  then  thoughts  and  feelings  in  their  own 
language.  Gentle,  graceful,  affectionate,  yet  strong  and  firm,  possessed  of  unfail- 
ing good  temper  and  unwearied  zeal,  he  passed  through  life  a  useful  servant  and  a 
sterling  ornament  of  our  party.  With  a  mind  free  from  all  superstition,  without 
orthodox  beliefs  of  any  kind,  Republican  in  politics  and  Rationalist  in  religion, 
yet  full  of  belief  in  the  great  truths  of  nature,  full  of  reverence  of  the  great  men 
and  great  thoughts  of  humanity,  he  lived  and  died  (alas !  too  young)  an  honourable 
man  and  a  noble  citizen.  His  was  one  of  those  happily  balanced  minds  which 
never  fret  at  difficulties,  but  work  on,  ever  stedfast  and  ever  believing.  His  was  one 
of  those  genial  hearts  which  see  more  of  gladness  in  human  life  than  sorrow,  with- 
out selfishly  ignoring  that  sqrrow,  sympathising,  kindly,  generous,  true.  Where 
work  was  to  be  done,  there  in  the  midst  of  it  was  Charles  Harding ;  where  sym- 
pathy was  needed,  from  the  fountains  of  his  warm  heart  it  sprang  up  clear  and 
fresh  and  abounding. 

But,  alas  !  the  seeds  of  that  fatal  disease  which  robbed  us  of  Robert  Nicoll  were 
implanted  in  his  system  ;  and  on  the  22nd,  only  twenty-six  years  old,  after  great 
Buffering,  gently  and  unmurmuringly  borne,  he  died  true  to  his  early  and  cherished 
convictions,  and  firm  in  his  faith  in  our  great  cause.  I  know  you  will  mourn  with 
me  the  loss  of  one  who  would  have  fought  so  manfully  in  the  coming  strife  ; 
and  over  his  grave  drop  the  tear  of  sincere  but  unavailing  regret ;  and  in  your 
heart,  as  I  in  mine,  as  all  his  friends  will  in  theirs,  inscribe  his  name  with  those  of 
the  true  and  good,  whose  memories  wo  hold  in  honour  and  remember  with  affection, 
and  whose  example  helps  to  sustain  us  in  the  arduous  path  we  pursue, 

August  2G,  1851.  Geokob  Hooper. 


THE  REASONER.  249 


INTERESTING   STATE  OF    SHEFFIELD. 


The  following  communication,  entitled  '  Evangelicalism  in  its  Results,'  we  take 
from  the  Morning  Chronicle.  Our  Sheffield  friends  would  render  a  very  different 
account  of  the  cause  of  the  scepticism  stated  : — 

Sir, — The  struggle  between  High  Church  and  Low  Church  appears  now  to  be 
deepening  in  intensity,  as  though  each  party  had  hope  of  being  able  to  expel  the 
other.  Up  to  this  time  the  conflict  has  been  maintained  chiefly  upon  theological 
grounds,  and  the  combatants  have  been  almost  exclusively  from  among  the  ranks  of 
the  clergy,  the  laity  being  content  to  be  well-nigh  silent  spectators.  The  question, 
however,  it  appears  to  me,  has  also  a  social  aspect,  which  should  not  be  overlooked. 
A  remarkable  illustration  of  what  I  mean  has  just  been  afibrded  at  Sheffield,  to 
which  I  propose  now  to  direct  the  attention  of  your  readers.  It  has  been  the 
fortune  of  that  town  to  be  for  many  years  under  the  control  of  evangelical  influence 
to  a  greater  extent,  perhaps,  than  any  other  place  of  the  same  size  in  the  kingdom 
Dr.  Sutton,  who  has  died  within  the  last  few  months,  was  vicar  for  forty-six  years 
and  under  him  the  evangelical  system,  with  all  its  appliances  of  missionary  meet 
ings,andladies'committees,  Dorcas,  district- visiting,  soup,  child-bed  societies,  &c, 
&c.,  had  full  swing.  From  end  to  end  of  the  town  the  clergy  of  this  school  had 
it  their  own  way.  Among  the  twenty-four  or  twenty-five  churches  of  Sheffield  and 
its  suburbs,  about  one  half  were  appointed  directly,  and  the  other  half  virtually, 
by  the  vicar.  And  what  has  been  the  result  of  this  undisturbed  sway  of  evan- 
gelicalism through  so  long  a  period?  Contentment  its  advocates  would  surely 
expect,  and  the  supremacy  of  practical  religion.  Very  diff^erent  is  the  answer 
furnished  by  the  course  of  events.  During  the  simulated  fever  of  the  last  few 
months,  which  in  its  theological  character  was  simply  a  combination  of  the  Low 
Church  party  with  infidelity,  to  destroy  the  personal  opponents  of  the  former, 
Sheffield  has  been  vigorously  protesting  against  the  regimen  to  which  it  has  been 
subjected.  The  whole  intelligence  of  the  place  is  united  in  favour  of  Mr.  Trevor, 
a  chaplain  whom  the  late  Dr.  Sutton  had  been  striving  to  keep  out  on  the  charge 
of  Tractarian  tendencies,  and  who  is  now  fighting  his  battle  in  the  courts  of  law. 

And  while  this  is  the  condition  oi  the  more  educated  classes,  that  of  the  poorer 
classes  is  what  all  of  every  religion  must  deplore.  In  the  workhouse  at  Sheffield 
there  are  now  nearly  2,000  inmates,  of  whose  spiritual  condition  the  following 
is  the  summary  account  furnished  by  the  undeniable  evidence  of  their  own  testi- 
mony : — 1407  (that  is,  three-fourths  of  the  whole)  have  '  declined  to  acknowledge 
themselves  of  any  religious  persuasion,*  and  thirteen  have  openly  avowed  that 
they  are  of  none.'    [Letter  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Poor  Law  Commission.] 

Such,  sir,  is  the  result  of  nearly  half  a  century  of  evangelical  teaching.  Am  I 
not  right  in  saying  that  the  dispute  between  the  two  parties  in  the  Church  ceases 
to  be  a  theological,  and  has  already  become  a  social  and  economical,  one  ?  If  the 
legislature  and  the  laity  do  not  desire  to  see  an  infidel  population  growing  up 
among  us,  they  must  no  longer  aff'ord  their  patronage  to  evangelicalism,  Gene- 
vanism,in  its  own  native  mountains,  has  merged  into  Unitarianism ;  and  the  same 
result,  or  something  worse,  may  perhaps  occur  here. 

August  23, 1851.  Spectator. 

*  This  independence  on  the  part  of  poor-house  residents  does  them  great  credit.  In 
agricultural  districts  they  are  commonly  intimidated  out  of  their  opinions. — Ed.  of  R. 


PHONETICS  VERSUS  SUNDAY. 


Sir, — A  few  weeks  ago  a  number  of  working  men  in  Galashiels  formed  them- 
selves into  a  class  for  the  purpose  of  receiving  instruction  in  phonography.  A 
school-room  was  obtained,  and  they  met  once  a-week  after  the  labours  of  the  day, 
and  were  making  satisfactory  progress  in  this  useful  art,  when,  to  their  great 
surprise,  the  Dominie  who  had  granted  the  use  of  the  school-room  told  them  they 
could  have  it  no  longer,  because  (observe  the  reason)  in  a  number  of  the  Phonetic 
Journal  which  had  been  left  on  the  table  on  a  previous  evening  he  found  an  article 
recommending  those  who  were  able  and  had  opportunity,  to  teach  the  principles 
and  practice  of  the  spelling  reform  on  the  Sunday.  This  godly  man  is  a  member 
of  the  established  Kirk  of  Scotland.  W.  S. 


STOCKPORT    AGENCY. 

Sir, — On  the  '  Open  Page '  of  the  Reasoner  1  see  that  some  Mr.  Newton  has 
been  making  application  to  know  where  he  might  obtain  your  publications  in 
Stockport.  I  desire  you  to  state  in  the  Reasoner,  for  the  information  of  Mr. 
Newton  and  others  making  similar  applications  from  this  neighbourhood,  that 
John  Hindle  will  be  happy  to  supply  all  liberal  and  freethinking  publications  at 
his  establishment,  9,  Bridge  Street  Brow,  Stockport. 

You  may  insert  my  name  on  the  wrapper  of  the  Monthly  Parts,  as  one  willing 
to  correspond  for  the  extension  of  the  circulation  of  the  Reasoner. 

In  the  Monthly  Part  wrapper  Mr.  Newton  may  see  names  of  other  agents  as 
well  as  my  own.  John  Uindle. 

NEW    WORKING   MAN'S    BIBLE. 


Sir,— Messrs.  W,  and  R.  McPhun,  Glasgow,  are  distinguished  publishers  of 
religious  literature.  They  have  just  now  issued  a  working  man's  family  Bible  for 
one  pound — notes  by  Scott  and  Henry,  condensed  by  Professor  Eadie,  who  writes 
a  preface,  and  new  notes  are  supplied  by  the  Rev.  W.  McGilviray.  Though  we 
have  got  to  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century,  there  is  not,  in  the  explanations 
to  the  first  chapter  of  Genesis,  one  single  reference  to  Geology,  a  science  which 
has  demonstrated  that  the  literal  meaning  of  that  chapter  is  quite  fabulous.  But 
that  is  not  all;  in  their  chronological  table  we  are  told  the  creation  is  4004  years 
before  Christ— and  in  an  explanation  to  the  Flood  we  are  told  the  fossile  remains 
of  eminences  clearly  prove  it. 

A  bit  of  Geology  looks  very  handsome  when  there  is  no  necessity  to  explain  away 
an  old  popular  meaning ;  but  mountain  fossils,  if  further  questioned,  will  have 
small  propensity  to  talk  of  Noah's  flood,  and  be  as  apt  to  take  us  back  forty  millions 
of  years  as  four  thousands.  Professor  Eadie  and  his  reverend  colleague  ought  to 
know  that  this  is  not  the  thing  to  combat  the  Rationalism  the  preface  to  said  Bible 
dreads. 

Messrs.  McPhun  also  attack  Catholicism  in  a  new  publication,  the  Scottish 
Protestant,  a  penny  weekly  periodical.  The  front  woodcut  is  generally  from  the 
most  outrageous  corner  of  the  chamber  of  horrors.     The  editor  has  a  goodly  stock 


1 


THE  REASONER. 


251 


of  nicknames  and  interjections,  and  there  is  a  vulgarity  about  the  whole  would 
ruin  an  infidel  publisher  in  a  short  time — yet  this  is  the  progress  of  religious  de- 
fence in  Glasgow. 

Barrhead,  August  18th,  1851.  J.  T.  S. 

3Reasianer  Propagauira. 

To  promob:  the  efficiency  of  the  Reasoner  as  an  organ  of  Propa^andism,  one  friend  subscribes  lOs. 
weekly,  another  5s.,  one  2s.  monthly,  others  Is.  each  weekly— others  intermediate  sums  or  special 
remittances,  according  to  ability  or  earnestness.  An  annual  contribution  of  Is.  from  each  reader 
would  be  easy,  equitable,  and  sufficient.  What  is  remitted,  in  whatever  proportion,  is  acknowledged 
here  and  accounted  for  at  the  end  of  the  Volume. 


Acknowledged  in  No.  273,  583s.  6d. — A  Friend,  from  the  land  of  Burns,  20s. — 
Thomas  PorcliflFe,  Lepton,  Is. — Richard  Berry,  do.  (per  Mr.  Porcliffe),  Is. — P.  P. 
M.,  Greenwich,  2s.  6d. — John  Gurney,  Long  Buckley,  Is. — J.  C,  Is.  6d. — J.  L.,  Is. 
— J.  W.  Allen,  London,  Is. — Per  Willis  Knowles,  Hyde  (some  weeks  since),  2s. — 

A.  T.  E.,  Is J,  S.,  Oxford,  2s.  6d.— E.  W.,  23.  6d.— J.  W.  C,  2s.  61.— Isaac 

Newton,  2s.  6d. — John  Russell,  Barrhead,  Is.  6d.— Mr.  Binyon,  6d.— Total  627s.  6d. 


GUIDE  TO  THE  LECTURE  ROOM. 

Literary  Institution, John  St.,FitzroySq.— Sept.  7 
[74],  Henry  Knight,  '  Estate  of  the  Christian  and 
that  of  the  Infidel  compared.'  Sept.  lOth,  [84], 
Discussion  in  the  Coffee  Room.  Question,  '  What 
are  the  best  means  of  improving  the  condition  of 
the  working  classes  ?' 

Hall  of  Science,  City  Road.— Sep.  7,  Closed  for 
alteration. 

National  HaU,  242,  High  Holborn.— Sept.  7th, 
[8],  P.  W.  Perfitt  will  lecture. 

Eclectic  Institute,  Denmark  Street,  Soho.  — 
Every  Friday  [84],  Mr.  J.  B.  O'Brien,  '  Home  and 
Foreign  Politics.'  Every  Sunday  [74],  on  '  Moral 
and  Social  Science.' 

Areopagus  Coffee  and  Reading  Room,  59,  Church 
Lane,  Whitechapel. — Every  Sunday,  Monday,  and 
Wednesday  (3),  a  Lecture  or  Discussion. 

City  Forum  Coffee  House,  60,  Red  Cross  Street. 
— Every  Sunday,  Monday,  and  Thursday  [84],  a 
Discussion. 

Commercial  Hall,  Philpot  Street,  Commercial 
Road  East. — Every  Tuesday  and  Thursday  even- 
ing [8],  a  Discussion. 

City  Road  Discussion  Society,  22,  City  Road. — 
Discussion  every  Wednesday  evening. 

ADVERTISEMENTS. 

POPULAR  WORKS. 

Theodore  Parker  on  Matters  Pertaining  to 
Religion.     1  vol.  cloth  boards 1     9 

Cooper's    Purgatory   of   Suicides.      1   vol. 

cloth  lettered 3    6 

To  be  had  in  Parts  and  Numbers. 
Cooper's  Wise  Saws  and  Modem  Instances. 

2  vols,  cloth  lettered 5    0 

Cooper's  Baron's  Yule  Feast.     Wrapper. .      1     6 
Cooper's  Eipht  Letters  to  the  Young  Men 

of  the  Working  Classes 0     6 

Cooper's  Journal.     1  vol.  cloth    3     0 

Do.     Captain  Cobler,  or  the  Lincolnshire 

Insurrection.     1  vol 2    6 

Cerebral  Physiology  and  Materialism.     By 

W.  C.  Engledue,  M.D ".      0     2 

Doubts  of  lundels   0    3 

Paine's  Political  Works.     2  vols,  in  one..     5    0 

—  Theological  Works.    1  vol.  cloth. ...     3     0 

—  Rights  of  Man 1     2 

—  American  Crisis 1     6 


—  Common  Sense    0  6 

—  Letter  to  the  Abbe  Raynal    0  6 

—  Letters  to  the  Citizens  of  the  United 
States 0  4 

—  Public  Good 0  4 

—  Agrarian  Justice 0  2 

—  First  Principles  of  Government  ....  0  2 

—  English  System  of  Finance   0  3 

—  Abolition  of  Royalty 0  2 

Life  of  Paine,  by  W.  J.  Linton   0  6 

Portrait  of  Paine,  engraved  on  Steel 1  0 

The    English    Republic,   edited  by  W.  J. 

Linton.     Nos.  1  to  7,  each  at  0  6 

Byron's  Vision  of  Judgment    0  2 

Southey's  Wat  Tyler 0  3 

Essay  on  the  Functions  of  the  Brain 0  2 

London ;  James  Watson,  3,  Queen's  Head  Pas- 
sage, Pateinoster-row. 

FOWLER'S      WORKS. 

MR.  BARKER'S  EDITION  OF  FOWLER'S 
WORKS,  reprinted  and  published  by  George 

Turner,  Stoke-upon-Trent,  Staffordshire. 

Just  ready,  price  2d.,  the  4th  edition  of 

Amativeness,  or  the  Evils  and  Remedies  of  Exces- 
sive and  Perverted  Sexuality,  including  Warning 
and  Advice  to  the  Married  and  Single. 

Love  and  Parentage,  applied  to  the  Improve- 
ment of  Offspring 0    3 

Matrimony ;  or  Phrenology  and  Physiology 
applied  to  the  selection  of  congenial  com- 
panions for  life 0     3 

Memory  and  Intellectual  Improvement,  ap> 
plied  to  Self- Education  o    5 

Lessons  on  Physiology.  Designed  for  the 
use  of  children  and  youth  o    3 

Lessons  on  Phrenology.     Dasigned  for  the 

use  of  children  and  youth  0     6 

Intemperance  and  Tight  Lacing o    3 

Hereditary  Descent  —  its  Laws  and  Facts 
applied  to  Human  Improvement 0    9 

Physiology,  Animal  and  Mental,  applied  to 
the  Preservation  of  Health  of  Mind  and 
Body    0  10 

Tobacco — its  Effects  on  the  Body  and  Mind    0    2 

The  whole  of  the  abure  tracts,  neatly  bound  in 
cloth  boards,  price  5s. 

London  ;  Sold  wholesale  and  retail  by  J.  Watson, 
3,  Queen's  Head  Passage,  Paternoster  Row. 
Mr.  A.  Heywood,  Oldham  St.,  Manchester. 


'.'52  THE  REASONER. 


(But  Ojieit  Page. 


The  British  organisation  of  the  Evangelical  Alliance  has  announced  a  fifth  annual 
conference  to  be  held  in  London,  at  which  Professor  Martin  is  to  read  a  paper  on 
the  Aspects  of  Infidelity  as  affecting  our  own  country.  The  state  and  prospects  of 
Evangelical  Religion  in  countries  in  which  the  French  Language  is  spoken  to  be 
brought  under  the  consideration  of  the  Conference,  in  papers  prepared  by  Napoleon 
Roussel,  on  Infidelity  in  France ;  M,  Grandpierre,  on  Sabbath  Desecration  in 
France  J  M.  Burnier,  on  Infidelity  in  Switzerland.  The  British  Banner  pompously 
says, '  The  meeting  will  be  the  most  important  ever  held  in  this  or  any  other  land 
in  present  or  former  times.  The  publication  of  its  great  body  of  papers  will  be 
an  era  in  Christian  literature.  The  meeting  itself  will  constitute  the  chief  event  of 
the  memorable  year  1851.  Whether  viewed  in  relation  to  Pantheism,  or  to  Popery, 
or  to  Infidelity,  or  to  Evangelism,  it  is  in  our  view  full  of  glorious  promises.' 

The  twenty-second  Thousand  of  the  '  Logic  of  Death '  is  in  the  hands  of  our 
publisher. 

In  recording  the  death  of  Mr.  David  Hetherington,  we  omitted  to  notice  (owing 
to  not  being  aware  of  it),  that  he  left  a  wife.  She  returned  to  her  parent's  home, 
and  we  are  informed  that  on  the  14th  of  August  she  became  a  mother,  and  that 
herself  and  son  are  doing  well. 

We  thank  Mr.  P.  for  his  report  of  the  discussion  at  the  Bowit  Chapel,  Preston, 
on  Mr.  Hamilton's  lecture  upon  the '  True  Grod  '  and  the  '  True  Priest.' 

Mr.  Cook,  of  Bristol,  has  lately  forwarded  Reasoners  to  thirty  ministers  of  that 
city. 

'  The  Apocryphal  Psalm  attributed  to  the  Hebrew  Melodist,  David,  but  not 
believed  to  be  his,'  with  which  we  have  been  favoured  by  a  correspondent,  hasa- 
tone  of  levity  which  we  wish  to  avoid  in  the  Reasoner. 

Mr.  Shillito,  of  York,  desires  his  name  to  be  taken  from  our  list  of  booksellers 
who  supply  the  Reasoner,  which  appears  on  the  wrapper  of  our  Monthly  Part. 
We  trust  our  friends  in  every  town  will  ascertain  for  us  personally  whether  any 
objection  exists  on  the  part  of  any  Agent  to  our  publishing  his  name.  We  shall 
carefully  omit  all  such  instances. 

J.  P.,  of  Helburn  Colliery,  is  informed  that  the  'Atheist  Silenced'  and  the 
'Theist  Silenced'  may  probably  be  obtained  from  the  secretary  of  the  Social  In- 
stitution, Old  Garrat  Road,  Manchester.     None  can  be  had  in  London. 

As  Mr.  MacDade's  young  friend  is  suffering  from  ill  health,  we  do  not  think 
the  publication  of  the  case,  however  interesting,  is  justifiable  while  he  is  in 
that  state  :  it  might  augment  his  aberration  to  find  himself  the  subject  of  public 
curiosity. 

L.  S.  B.,  of  Halifax,  J.  Clarke,  and  W.  Storer,  of  Nottingham,  who  sent  sub- 
scriptions lately  and  have  neglected  to  forward  addresses,  will  please  do  so,  as  the 
said  subscriptions  are  due  to  them  again  by  the  terms  on  which  they  were  asked  for. 
We  have  had  applications  recently  for  complete  sets  of  the  Reasoner.  Any 
friends  having  volumes  1,  2,  and  8,  to  spare  will  oblige  by  informing  us.  Being 
the  only  record  of  the  class  of  opinions  it  represents  during  the  period  of  its  ex- 
istence, the  Reasoner  has  begun  to  acquire  historical  value  in  the  eyes  of  the  curious. 
Eight  shillings  have  been  received  for  tracts  from  the  John  Street  Tract  Society, 
from  friends  in  A.,  K.,  per  'Epicurus.'  The  money  has  been  handed  to  the  secretary. 

London:  Printed  by  Holyoake  Brothers,  3,  Qu^n's  Head  Passage,  Paternoster-row;  and  Published 
by  J.  Watson.  1,  Queen's  Head  Passage,  Paternoster-row. — Wednesday,  September  3rd,  1861. 


AND 

THEOLOGICAL     EXAMINER. 

They  who  believe  that  they  have  Truth  ask  no  favour,  save  that  of  being  heard;  they  dare  the 
judgment  of  Mankind  :  refused  Co-operation,  they  invoke  Opposition,  for  Opposition  is  their 
Opportunity. — Eoitok. 

ADVENTURES  IN  WHITEHAVEN. 


(concluded.) 
Certainly  I  did  not  want  to  fight  the  people  of  Whitehaven — if  I  had,  I  should 
have  taken  an  Amphitheatre  instead  of  a  theatre,  and  invited  them  one  at  a  time 
into  the  ring.  I  went  to  reason  with  them.  It  was  no  part  of  my  taste  to  die  in 
Whitehaven.  I  was  not  sure  whether  the  town  was  worth  the  trouble.  Next,  it 
would  have  exposed  me  to  the  objections  of  friends,  who  would  have  thought  the 
step  premature.  Besides,  when  a  man  is  to  be  killed  in  an  irregular  way,  he  ought 
to  be  indulged  in  so  trifling  a  matter  as  to  his  choice  of  the  place  and  the  selection 
of  his  own  Calcrafts. 

The  first  lecture  was  well  received.  The  audience  included  ladies — the  gallery 
was  filled,  the  pit  moderately,  and  the  boxes  were  just  inhabited.  What  was  said 
the  reader  has  already  seen  quoted  from  the  Whitehaven  Herald,  whose  excellent 
report  has  done  much  to  disarm  the  prejudice  of  the  intelligent  part  of  the  town. 
My  subject  was  '  An  Examination  of  the  Moral  Innocency  of  Speculative  Opinion, 
even  the  most  extreme,  when  conscientiously  entertained,  with  a  view  to  ascertain 
how  far  a  man  might  dissent  from  the  Religious  opinions  of  his  neighbours  and 
yet  hope  to  live  in  Truth  and  die  in  Peace ;'  the  latter  part  having  reference  to 
the  death  of  Lennon.  My  expectations  were  verified  as  to  the  audience.  They 
were  astonished  at  not  being  outraged,  and  they  saw  that  a  speaker  might  effect 
conviction  without  putting  the  '  Devil'  on  his  placard.  I  put  a  distinct  case  before 
them.  One  they  could  not  fight,  and  one  they  could  not  reason  against,  and  all 
the  discussion  amounted  to  was  a  few  feeble  speeches  and  a  few  reluctant  admis- 
sions. The  trick  was  tried  of  asking  me  if  I  believed  the  Bible  to  be  the  revealed 
will  of  God  ? — Whether  I  believed  in  the  Resurrection  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ? 
etc.,  etc.  I  answered  that  they  should  know  my  opinions  on  those  subjects  quickly 
enough  should  I  have  an  opportunity  of  speaking  upon  them  in  Whitehaven.  For 
the  present,  while  I  was  obliged  by  the  expression  of  their  curiosity,  I  must  con- 
fine myself  to  the  subject  on  my  placard,  or  the  public  would  complain  that  under 
the  pretext  of  speaking  on  one  subject  I  had  introduced  others.  It  might  gratify 
me  and  them  to  talk  about  anything  else,  but  there  was  something  higher  than 
gratification,  and  that  was  good  faith ;  and  as  nothing  more  had  to  be  said  on  the 
proper  topic  of  the  night,  I,  thanking  them  for  their  attention,  closed  the  meeting, 
when  the  forms  of  debate  had  occupied  us  perhaps  three-quarters  of  an  hour. 

After  this  lecture  was  over  and  peace  seemed  to  resume  her  sway,  a  well  accre- 
dited report  came  into  head  quarters  that  a  band  of  disappointed  desperadoes,  re- 
gretting their  mischance  the  preceding  night  through  my  taking  an  unexpected 
turn  up  fresh  streets,  had  resolved  to  waylay  me  and  do  me  the  honour  of  breaking 
my  head. 

The  lecture  on  the  next  night  was  *  Catholicism  the  Type  of  the  Churches  around 


[No.  276.]  INo.  17,  Vol.  XI.] 

[ONE  PENNY.! 


254  THE  REASONER. 


us.'  Our  fortifications  were  the  same  as  before,  and  the  order  of  the  audience  was 
as  mai'ked  as  during  the  lecture  of  the  preceding  night;  but  those  able  to  discuss 
remained  silent,  and  abandoned  the  debate  to  those  whose  intellect  lay  in  their 
fists.  A  conspicuous  object  in  the  side  gallery,  wearing  a  white  coat  and  a  loose 
arm  (a  galvanic  arm  I  say,  for  it  swung  round  incessantly  and  irregularly,  appa- 
rently of  its  own  accord),  was  the  sedate  figure  of  Mr.  Stuart  Porter,  Wesleyan 
local  preacher,  who  vociferated  with  every  gyration  of  the  ulna  till  he  infected  all 
around  him — and  at  last  some  one  of  his  own  friends  took  St,  Paul's  advice,  and 
stopped  his  voice  by  stopping  his  mouth,  i.  e.,  by  laying  a  heavy  hand  on  that 
volganic  organ.  While  this  was  going  on  a  grey-headed  Christian  got  into  furious 
action  on  his  own  account  in  front  of  the  gallery,  and  threw  his  arms  about  in  a 
frantic  manner.  I  thought  his  intention  was  to  throw  stones — his  behaviour  was 
such  as  might  be  designed  to  cover  that  species  of  appeal  to  my  judgment.  'You 
damned  villain,'  he  exclaimed  as  he  warmed,  '  you  said  there  was  no  God.'  Not 
sure  whether  he  was  drunk  with  the  Holy  Spirit,  or  any  other  exciseable  spirit 
(they  both  pay  duty),  I  said  '  Sir,  I  think  you  are  slightly  mistaken.  When  did  I 
say  so  ?'  He  answered,  '  You  said  last  night  "  if  there  be  a  God,"  which  meant 
that  you  did  not  believe  there  was.'  Finding  he  had  sense  enough  to  be  malicious, 
I  suggested  that  since  Theism  was  admitted  to  be  a  question  of  probability,  it  be- 
came the  believer  to  use  the  same  language,  as  he  did  not  lay  claim  to  certain 
knowledge  on  the  subject.  My  language,  therefore,  was  neutral,  and  could  not 
and  did  not  absolutely  imply  what  he  alleged.  He  was  right  as  to  the  fact,  but 
not  as  to  the  expression  of  my  opinion.  Rudeness,  however,  being  more  to  his 
taste  than  logic,  he  answered  as  before — '  Ah,  you  damned  villain,  you  said  there 
was  no  God.'  The  Wesleyan  preaciier  had  by  this  time  got  his  mouth  at  liberty, 
and  he  joined  in  the  roar  with  this  venerable  saint,  and  they  divided  the  honours 
of  the  debate  between  them.  As  often  as  they  were  exhausted  I  said  a  few  words 
in  answer  to  a  gentleman  in  a  side  box,  who  had  adopted  no  less  a  creed  than  the 
whole  of  the  New  Testament.  While  this  melo-drama  was  enacting  inside,  some 
of  my  friends  were  soliciting  the  assistance  of  the  police  to  remove  the  disturbers. 
But  the  police  refused  with  expressions  which  showed  they  hoped  a  disturbance 
might  take  place.  Several  persons  reported  that  one  of  the  sergeants  (Bradly  I 
think  his  name  was)  produced  his  handcuflfs  at  the  door  and  incited  the  bystanders 
to  riot,  saying  '  the  women  had  more  courage  than  the  men.  Would  they  stand 
by  and  let  any  blackguai'd  fellow  come  there  and  sny  there  was  no  God  ?'  And 
the  worthy  sergeant  seasoned  his  pious  and  judicious  exhortation  by  an  appropriate 
oath.  I  have  desired  the  evidence  of  this  speech  to  be  reduced  to  writing  and 
authenticated;  which,  if  done,  I  will  take  care  comes  under  the  notice  of  the 
parties  M'ho  are  responsible  for  this  kind  of  conduct.  A  policeman  on  the  follow- 
ing day  assured  me  that  he  did  not  think  sergeant  B.  would  act  so — but  as  there 
were  three  clergymen  magistrates  he  might  calculate  on  their  sanction.  The 
superintendent,  he  was  sure,  would  protect  all  parties  equally.  No  help,  however, 
being  obtainable  at  the  Theatre  from  the  police,  we  managed  our  own  affairs.  The 
noisy  we  let  talk  uninterrupted  till  the  sound  of  their  own  voice  became  a  disgrace 
to  them.  Two  persons  walked  on  the  stage  to  enjoy  the  advantages  of  a  closer 
intercourse  wiih  me  ;  but,  suspecting  the  enjoyment  might  not  be  mutual,  I  refused 
o  answer  any  question  till  they  resumed  their  proper  places.  The  second  man 
who  clambered  on  the  stage  had  an  incoherent  look  with  him,  and  seemed  to 
meditate  some  personal  attention  to  me.  I  assured  him  that  I  was  sensible  ef  the 
consideration  he  showed  me  by  the  trouble  he  was  taking  to  come  to  me,  bat  I 


THE  REASONER.  255 

could  receive  no  communicatiou  from  a  stranger  which  was  not  public,  and  what 
was  public  I  could  hear  better  at  a  distance.  Shortly  after  I  dissolved  the  meet- 
ing, and  closing  a  spring  hat  up  which  I  had  worn  that  night,  I  put  on  my  travel- 
ling cap,  and  my  body-guard  taking  me  a  new  route  home,  we  eluded  the  gentle- 
men who  were  good  enough  to  lay  wait  for  me  in  Upper  Roper  Street. 

Thus  the  rule  of  offering  no  provocation  and  yielding  to  no  intimidation,  carried 
us  through.  The  utmost  expression  of  legitimate  opinion  was  exercised,  and  the 
reports  in  the  Whitehaven  Herald  is  a  public  record  of  what  character  our  views 
are.  The  magistracy  and  clergy  and  townspeople  have  now  before  them  an  ex- 
ample of  the  advocacy  we  attempt,  and  no  doubt  on  another  occasion  will  see  that 
we  are  entitled  at  least  to  that  civil  protection  which  the  State  guarantees  to  all 
peaceable  and  propagandist  parties.  It  was  frequently  said  during  the  progress  of 
the  lectures  that  the  town  would  be  free  if  they  could  be  got  through.  It  does  not 
appear  to  me  that  any  further  danger  is  to  be  apprehended  if  the  conduct  pursued 
is  constantly  unprovocative,  explicit,  respectful,  and  firm. 

G.  J.  HOLYOAKE. 

DEATH  OF  MR.  JOHN  LENNON,  OF  WHITEHAVEN. 


I  DOUBT  not  there  are  few  localities,  where  there  exists  any  portion  of  our  friends, 
that  have  not,  at  one  period  or  other,  felt  the  loss  of  some  valued  coadjutor  in  the 
cause  of  freedom  of  opinion.  "We  begin  now  to  know  too  often  and  too  painfully 
what  it  is  to  lose  a  fellow- worker  in  the  great  cause  of  human  progression.  Our 
friends  around,  I  trust,  will  bear  with  me  if  I  be  a  little  minute  in  the  detail  of 
Mr.  John  Lennon's  death.  He  was  no  common  man,  and  his  demise  and  burial 
(as  was  his  life)  have  been  an  exciting  feature  in  our  local  annals.  '  John  Lennon  ' 
is  a  name  familiar  to  the  ear  of  old  and  young,  rich  and  poor,  in  the  town  where  he 
resided.  For  years  he  had  been  known,  not  only  at  home,  but  in  the  various 
ports  he  visited  as  a  sea-faring  man,  for  his  incessant,  unflinching,  and  able  advo- 
cacy of  what  appeared  to  him  to  be  truth.  The  clergy,  the  medical  profession — 
for  he  was  as  conversant  in  chemistry  as  he  was  in  theology — and  the  public  at 
large  knew  Mr,  Lennon  as  a  sincere,  consistent,  and  untiring  propagandist  of 
Rational  principles;  and  they  knew  him  also  as  a  man  of  tried  morality.  Our 
solace  for  his  loss  is  here  ;  to  think  of  these  things  is  our  consohition,  as  it  is,  also, 
on  the  other  hand,  our  grief.  The  last  important  act  of  our  friend's  life  was  the 
anxious  aid  he  gave  towards  getting  Mr.  Holyoake  down  to  Whitehaven.  His 
sudden  death,  from  the  rupture  of  some  vessel  during  a  fit  of  coughing — the 
primary  cause  of  which  was  the  lingering  effects  of  a  cold— unhappily  prevented 
his  living  to  enjoy  the  anticipated  reward  of  his  anxious  exertiou. 

Owing  to  the  well-known  principles  of  Mr.  Lennon,  and  the  extraordinary 
announcement  of  the  Curate  of  St.  James's  Church,  that  the  usual  funeral  service 
could  not  be  read  over  the  body,  in  consequence  of  the  opinions  entertained,  when 
living,  by  our  deceased  friend — an  intense  excitement  existed  in  the  town  on  the 
day  of  interment.  The  assemblage  of  people  was  unparalleled — a  tribute  to  the 
fact  of  our  friend  not  having  died  without  a  name.  When  the  relatives  and  others 
reached  the  grave,  without  any  previous  arrangement,  two  of  our  friends  spoke  to 
the  people,  impulsively;  the  latter  g»ing  to  show,  by  various  passages  from  Scrip- 
ture, in  reply  to  a  statement  afloat '  that  God  had  taken  Mr.  Lennon  off  as  a  judg- 
msnt',  that  the  opposite,  from   the  authority  of  the  Bible,  must  be  the  case,  and 


256  THE  REASONER. 


that  our  friend's  sudden  release  was  in  reality  a  signal  mark  of  mercy  on  the  part 
of  the  Deity  towards  him.  Contrary,  I  presume,  to  the  anticipation  of  the  clerical 
gentleman  concerned,  the  result  has  been  precisely  what  our  deeply-regretted 
brother  would  have  wished.  His  desire  was  well  known ;  and  it  is  consolatory  to 
think  that,  with  the  approval  of  his  widow,  what  was  our  departed  friend's  request, 
through  the  act  of  the  clergyman  himself  should  so  happily  have  taken  place  at 
his  burial.  All  has  been  well,  under  the  circumstances ;  and  it  has  prepared  the 
way  for  others  to  imitate  the  example. 

None  better  deserved  the  melancholy  honour  of  being  the  first  so  to  be  interred 
among  us  than  the  deeply-lamented  friend  who  has  gone.  Mr.  Lennon  was  in  his 
38th  year,  a  muscular  and  apparently  extremely  healthy  man.  He  was  a  total  ab- 
stainer on  principle,  without  any  pledge,  and  was  decidedly  a  most  valuable  man 
to  the  friends  in  this  town ;  he  has  died  regretted  and  respected  by  his  friends, 
and  by  the  unprejudiced  of  all  classes  of  the  community.  A  widow  and  three 
little  children  are  left  to  meet  the  warfare  of  a  competitive  world. 

August  15, 1851.  •  Z. 

[This  notice  is  from  the  pen  of  a  "Whitehaven  correspondent.  T  sought  an  op- 
portunity of  calling  on  Mrs.  Lennon  myself,  and  found  that  the  reports  made  to 
me  as  to  her  personal  worth  were  no  doubt  capable  of  being  corroborated.  Indus- 
trious and  reputable,  she  will  make  patient  and  honest  exertion  to  support  her 
family.  The  eldest  boy  might  be  placed  out  to  learn  some  trade,  and  a  few  pounds 
would  accomplish  that  object,  and  1  ask  our  friends,  who  may  be  able  to  help,  to 
send  me  a  few  subscriptions  for  that  purpose.  Friends  in  Whitehaven  have 
done  and  do  what  they  can,  but  some  further  tribute  is  due  to  the  widow  and 
children  of  such  a  man  as  Lennon,  of  whom  I  found  all  classes  spoke  well  as  to 
his  ability  and  morality. — G.  J.  Holyoake.] 

SYMBOLISM. 

In  the  absence  of  a  written  language,  or  of  forms  of  expression  capable  of  convey- 
ing abstract  ideas,  we  can  readily  comprehend  the  necessity,  among  a  primitive 
people,  of  a  symbolic  system.  That  symbolism  in  a  great  degree  resulted  from 
this  necessity,  is  very  obvious ;  and  that,  associated  with  man's  primitive  religious 
systems,  it  was  afterwards  continued,  when  in  the  advanced  stage  of  the  human 
mind  the  previous  necessity  no  longer  existed,  is  equally  undoubted.  It  thus 
came  to  constitute  a  kind  of  sacred  language,  and  became  invested  with  an  esoteric 
significance  understood  only  by  the  few.  With  the  mass  of  men,  the  meaning  of 
the  original  emblem,  or  the  reason  for  its  adoption,  the  necessity  for  its  use  being 
superseded,  was  finally  forgotten,  or  bnt  in.perfectly  remembered.  A  superstitious 
reverence,  the  consequence  of  long  association,  and  encouraged  by  a  cunning 
priesthood,  nevertheless  continued  to  attach  to  the  symbol,  which,  from  being  the 
representation  of  an  adorable  attribute  or  manifestation  of  God,  became  itself  an 
object  of  adoration.  Such,  it  seems  to  me,  was  the  origin  of  idolatry,  in  its  com- 
mon or  technical  sense.  We  may  take  an  example  :  the  Sun,  the  dispenser  of  heat 
and  light,  the  vivifier,  beneficent  and  genial  in  its  influences,  the  most  obvious,  as  it 
is  the  most  potent  and  glorious  object  in  the  natural  creation,  fitly  and  almost  uni- 
versally emblematised  the  Frst  Principle.  With  its  annually  returning  strength 
the  germs  quickened,  the  leaves  and  blossoms  unfolded  themselves;  and  beneath 
its  glow  the  fruits  ripened,  and  the  earth  was  full  of  luxuriance  and  life.  Under 
this  aspect  it  was  God  the  Life-giver,  God  the  Beneficent. — American  Archaeological 
Researches,  No.  1.    By  E.  G.  Squier,  A.M.,  New  York. 


THE  REASONER.  257 


&y&minatian  at  t^t  l^rtii. 


The  Heretic  Stoker. — A  correspondent  of  the  Athenceum  gives  the  following 
account  of  the  blessing  of  a  steam  engine  by  the  Archbishop  of  Pistoia,  on  the 
opening  of  a  Railway  Station  at  that  place  on  the  12th  of  July  last :— A  space  on  the 
rail  was  cleared  in  front  of  a  raised  dais— and  the  engine,  decorated  with  a  pro- 
fusion of  flowers,  was  brought  up  to  receive  its  benediction.  Presently  the  archi- 
episcopal  carriage  with  its  four  laced  livery  servants  arrived ;  and,  after  a  short 
time  occupied  in  robing,  the  Archbishop,  in  mitre  and  flowing  robes — preceded  by 
priests  bearing  folio  volumes,  and  lighted  candles,  and  holy  water-pots,  and  um- 
brellas, and  other  blessing  tools — came  out  on  the  platform,  and  addressed  himself 
to  the  task  assigned.  He  began  to  chant  some  form  from  a  large  volume,  and  the 
attendant  priests  from  time  to  time  to  shout  responses;  but,  whether  from  the  mis- 
management of  the  steam  by  a  heretic  British  stoker,  or  whether,  in  the  language 
of  times  more  in  keeping  with  the  ceremony  in  performance,  the  devil  was  bodily 
present  in  the  unhallowed  machine — so  it  was,  that  the  huge  monster  took  his 
blessing  very  fractiously;  and  from  a  minute  after  the  commencement  of  the  per- 
formance to  its  conclusion  never  ceased  to  blow  forth  steam,  and  roar  and  spit  and 
scream  in  a  manner  that  utterly  overpowered  the  utmost  eflForts  of  voice  of  those 
engaged  in  blessing  it.  To  make  the  matter  still  worse,  the  band,  which  was 
stationed  at  some  distance  down  the  platform,  and  which  was  shut  out  from  sight 
of  what  was  going  on  by  the  surrounding  crowd,  supposed  on  hearing  this  irreverent 
behaviour  on  the  part  of  the  engine  that  the  function  was  concluded — and  struck 
up  as  loud  a  polka  as  they  could  in  order  if  possible  to  make  themselves  heard 
above  the  noisy  monster.  The  scene  produce  may  be  imagined.  The  Archbishop 
might  be  seen  by  the  nodding  of  his  head  and  the  movement  of  his  jaws  to  be  mak- 
ing bravely  on  with  his  work  against  all  difficulties.  The  one  priest  who  could 
see  the  book  from  which  the  bishop  read,  and  watched  his  finger  travel  down  the 
page,  signalled  to  the  others  when  to  roar  their  response.  They  laughed  to  each 
other,  put  their  fingers  in  their  ears,  and  bellowed  their  utmost — in  vain.  Thus, 
however,  the  blessing  was  achieved ;  and  the  ill-behaved  machine  was  hurried  off 
by  its  keepers  still  sputtering  and  shrieking  under  the  holy-water  application  like 
a  veritable  child  of  the  evil  one. 

Important  Movement  in  Calcutta. — The  suspension  of  the  State  allowance 
to  the  temple  of  Juggernauth,  and  some  cases  which  have  been  decided  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  recently  passed  Toleration  Act  (No.  21  of  1850),  have  given  rise 
to  an  anti-missionary  movement  among  the  orthodox  Hindoos  at  Calcutta.  At  all 
three  Presidencies  an  English  education  is  considered  by  all  classes  of  natives  as 
the  shortest  road  to  wealth,  and  the  only  cheap  English  education  obtainable  is 
that  afforded  by  the  mission  schools.  Many  thousands  of  native  children  are  ac- 
cordingly educated  at  these  institutions,  and  now  and  then  (though  such  an  occur- 
rence is  wonderfully  rare)  a  Hindoo  youth  is  converted,  much  to  the  scandal  of  the 
native  community.  Many  of  these  outcasts,  on  arriving  at  years  of  discretion,  are 
desirous  of  returning  to  the  religion  of  their  fathers,  but  they  have  hitherto  been 
prevented  from  so  doing  by  the  impossible  severity  of  the  mode  of  expiating  loss  of 
caste  (wandering  48  years  as  an  ascetic)  hitherto  insisted  on.  A  great  meeting 
of  orthodox  Hindoos  has  accordingly  been  held  at  Calcutta,  for  the  purpose  of  sub- 
stituting a  milder  form  of  expiation.  It  was  stated  at  the  meeting  that  there  were  fifty 


258 


THE  REASONER. 


Christian  converts  at  Calcutta,  who  would  return  to  the  Hindoo  creed  as  soon  as 
the  milder  form  of  penance  was  assented  to.  There  is  little  doubt  that  it  will  be 
so  eventually.  All  things  considered,  the  number  of  converts  to  Christianity  made 
in  Bengal  and  Western  India  is  astonishingly  small.  In  the  Bombay  Presidency 
there  are  (according  to  the  almanack)  about  fifty  missionaries  of  various  denomina- 
tions, yet  a  conversion  is  very  seldom  heard  of.  The  island  of  Bombay  itself  con- 
tains an  insulated  native  population  of  about  500,000,  who  are  remarkably  free 
from  caste  prejudices,  and  have  lived  under  an  English  Government  for  nearly  two 
centui'ies,  yet  there  are  not  half  a  dozen  native  communicants  to  be  found  in  Bombay. 
This  result  is  very  discouraging  when  contrasted  with  the  rapid,  extended,  and 
permanent  success  obtained  by  the  Jesuit  missionaries  of  the  European  Power  that 
preceded  us  in  Western  India. — Daily  faper. 

The  Religion  of  Protestants. — The  Bible,  I  say,  the  Bible  only,  is  the  re- 
ligion of  Protestants  !  Whatsoever  else  they  believe  besides  it  and  the  plain, 
irrefragable,  indubitable  consequences  of  it,  well  may  they  hold  it  as  a  matter  of 
opinion ;  but  as  matter  of  faith  and  religion,  neither  can  they  with  coherence  to 
their  own  grounds  believe  it  themselves,  nor  require  the  belief  of  it  of  others,  with- 
out most  high  and  most  schisraatical  presumption.  I,  for  my  part,  after  a  long 
and  (as  I  verily  believe  and  hope)  impartial  search  of  '  the  true  way  to  eternal 
happiness,'  do  profess  plainly  that  I  cannot  find  any  rest  for  the  sole  of  my 
foot  but  upon  this  rock  only.  I  see  plainly  and  with  my  own  eyes  that  there  are 
popes  against  popes,  councils  against  councils,  some  fathers  against  others,  the 
same  fathers  against  themselves,  a  consent  of  fathers  of  one  age  against  a  consent 
of  fathers  of  another  age.  Traditive  interpretations  of  Scripture  are  pretended; 
but  there  are  few  or  none  to  be  found:  no  tradition  but  only  of  Scripture  can 
derive  itself  from  the  fountain  but  may  be  plainly  proved  either  to  have  been 
brought  in  such  an  age  after  Christ,  or  that  in  such  an  age  it  was  not  in.  In  a 
word,  there  is  no  sufficient  certainty  but  of  Scripture  for  any  considering  man  to 
build  upon.  This,  therefore,  and  this  only,  I  have  reason  to  believe;  this  I  will 
profess ;  according  to  this  I  will  live,  and  for  this,  if  there  be  occasion,  I  will  not 
only  willingly  but  gladly  lose  my  lite,  though  I  should  be  sorry  that  Christians 
should  take  it  from  me.  Propose  me  anything  out  of  this  book,  and  require 
whether  I  believe  it  or  no,  and,  seem  it  never  so  incomprehensible  to  human  reason, 
I  will  subscribe  it  with  hand  and  heart,  as  knowing  no  demonstration  can  be 
stronger  than  this  :  God  has  said  so ;  therefore  it  is  true.  In  other  things  I  will 
take  no  man's  liberty  of  judgment  from  him,  neither  shall  any  man  take  mine 
from  me.  I  will  think  no  man  the  worse  man,  nor  the  worse  Christian  :  I  will 
love  no  man  the  less  for  difiering  in  opinion  from  me  ;  and  what  measure  I  mete 
to  others  I  expect  from  them  again.  I  am  fully  assured  that  God  does  not,  and, 
therefore,  that  men  ought  not  to  require  any  more  of  any  man  than  this:  to  believe 
the  Scripture  to  be  God's  word;  to  endeavour  to  find  the  true  sense  of  it;  and  to 
live  according  to  it. —  Chillingwortk. 

Missionary  Labjurs  in  India, — When  the  Hindoos  called  a  man  Christian, 

they  for  the  most  part   meant  that  he  was   a   Drunkard! For  one    really 

converted  Christian  as  the  fruit  of  Missionary  labour,  the  drinking  practices 
of  the  English  had  made  ONE  thousand  drunkards. — Archdeacon  Jeffries,  of 
Bombay. 


THE  REASONER. 


259 


aaealfins^    from   matauXa^'A    Crttttal   ©jSgagS, 


THE     STATIONARINESS    OF    THEOLOGY. 

There  are  branches  of  knowledge  with 
respect  to  which  the  law  of  the  human 
mind  is  progress.  In  mathematics, 
when  once  a  proposition  has  been  de- 
monstrated, it  is  never  afterwards  con- 
tested. Every  fresh  story  is  as  solid  a 
basis  for  a  new  superstructure  as  the 
original  foundation  was.  Here,  there- 
fore, there  is  a  constant  addition  to 
the  stock  of  truth.  In  the  inductive 
science  again,  the  law  is  progress.  Every 
day  furnishes  new  facts,  and  thus  brings 
theory  nearer  and  nearer  to  perfection. 
There  is  no  chance  that  either  in  the 
purely  demonstrative,  or  in  the  purely 
experimental  sciences,  the  world  will 
ever  go  back  or  even  remain  stationery. 
Nobody  ever  heard  of  a  reaction  against 
Taylor's  theorem,  or  of  a  reaction  against 
Harvey's  doctrine  of  the  circulation  of 
the  blood. 

But  with  theology  the  case  is  very  dif- 
ferent. As  respects  natural  religion — re- 
velation being  for  the,  present  altogether 
left  out  of  the  question — it  is  not  easy 
to  see  that  a  philosopher  of  the  present 
day  is  more  favourably  situated  ihan 
Thales  or  Simonides,  He  has  before 
him  just  the  same  evidence  of  design 
in  the  structure  of  the  universe  which 
the  early  Greeks  had.  We  say  just  the 
same  ;  for  the  discovery  of  modern 
astronomers  and  anatomists  have  really 
added  nothing  to  the  force  of  that  argu- 
ment which  a  reflecting  mind  finds  in 
every  beast,  bird,  insect,  fish,  leaf,  flower, 
and  shell.  The  reasoning  by  which 
Socrates,  in  Xenophon's  hearing,  con- 
futed the  little  atheist  Aristodemus,  is 
exactly  the  reasoning  of  Paley's  Natural 
Theology.  Socrates  makes  precisely  the 
same  use  of  the  statues  of  Polycletus  and 
the  pictures  of  Zeuxis  which  Paley 
makes  of  the  watch.  As  to  the  other 
great  question,  the  question,  what  be- 
comes of  man  after  death,  we  do  not  see 
that  a  highly   educated  European,  left 


to  his  unassisted  reason,  is  more  likely 
to  be  in  the  right  than  a  Blackfoot  In- 
dian, Not  a  single  one  of  the  many 
sciences  in  which  we  surpass  the  Black- 
foot  Indians  throws  the  smallest  light 
on  the  state  of  the  soul  after  the  animal 
life  is  extinct.  In  truth  all  the  philoso- 
phers, ancient  and  modern,  who  have 
attempted, without  the  help  of  revelation, 
to  prove  the  immortality  of  man,  from 
Plato  down  to  Franklin,  appear  to  us  to 
have  failed  deplorably. 

Then,  again,  all  the  great  enigmas 
which  perplex  the  natural  theologian  are 
the  same  in  all  ages.  The  ingenuity  of 
a  people  just  emerging  from  barbarism 
is  quite  sufficient  to  propound  them. 
The  genius  of  Locke  or  Clarke  is  quite 
unable  to  solve  them.  It  is  a  mistake 
to  imagine  that  subtle  speculations 
touching  the  Divine  attributes,  the  oi-igin 
of  evil,  the  necessity  of  human  action, 
the  foundation  of  moral  obligation,  imply 
any  high  degree  of  intellectual  culture. 
Such  speculation,  on  the  contrary,  are 
in  a  peculiar  manner  the  delight  of  in- 
telligent childi'en  and  of  half.  The  number 
of  boys  is  not  small  who,  at  fourteen, 
have  thought  enough  on  these  questions 
to  be  fully  entitled  to  the  praise  which 
Voltaire  gives  Zadig,  '  II  en  savait  ce 
qu'on  ou  a  su  dans  tons  les  ages  ;  c'est- 
a-dire  fort  pen  de  chose.'  The  book  of 
Job  shows  that,  long  before  letters  and 
arts  were  known  to  Ionia,  these  vexing 
questions  were  debated  with  no  common 
skill  and  eloquence,  under  the  tents  of 
the  Idumean  Emirs  ;  nor  has  human 
reason,  in  the  course  of  three  thousand 
years,  discovered  any  satisfactory  solu- 
tion of  the  riddles  which  perplexed 
Eliphaz  and  Zophar. 

Natural  theology,  then,  is  not  a  pro- 
gressive science.  That  knowledge  of  our 
origin  and  of  our  destiny  which  we  de- 
rive from  revelation  is  indeed  of  very 
difi'erent  clearness,  and  of  very  different 
importance.      But  neither  is   revealed 


260 


THE  REASONER. 


religion  of  the  nature  of  a  progressive 
science.  All  Divine  truth  is,  accord- 
ing to  the  doctrine  of  the  Protestant 
Churches,  recorded  in  certain  books. 
It  is  equally  open  to  all  who,  in  any  age, 
can  read  these  books  ;  nor  can  all  the 
discoveries  of  all  the  philosophers  in  the 
world  add  a  single  verse  to  any  of  those 
books.  It  is  plain  that  in  divinity  there 
cannot  be  a  progress  analogous  to  that 
which  is  constantly  taking  place  in  phar- 
macy, geology,  and  navigation.  A  Chris- 
tian of  the  fifth  century  with  a  Bible 
is  neither  better  nor  worse  situated  than 
a  Christian  of  the  nineteenth  century 
with  a  Bible,  candour  and  natural  acute- 
ness  being,  of  course,  supposed  equal. 
It  matters  not  at  all  that  the  compass, 
printing,  gunpowder,  steam,  gas,  vac- 
cination, and  a  thousand  other  discove- 
ries and  inventions,  which  were  un- 
known in  the  fifth  century,  are  familiar 
to  the  nineteenth.  None  of  these  dis- 
coveries and  inventions  has  the  smallest 
bearing  on  the  question  whether  man  is 
justified  by  faith  alone,  or  whether  the 
invocation  of  saints  is  an  orthodox 
practice.  It  seems  to  us,  therefore,  that 
we  have  no  security  for  the  future  against 
the  prevalence  of  any  theological  error 
that  ever  has  prevailed  in  time  past 
among  Christian  men.  We  are  con- 
fident that  the  world  will  never  go  back 
to  the  solar  system  of  Ptolemy ;  nor  is 
our  confidence  in  the  least  shaken  by  the 
circumstance,  that  even  so  great  a  man 
as  Bacon  rejected  the  theory  of  Galileo 
with  scorn ;  for  Bacon  had  not  all  the 
means  of  arriving  at  a  sound  conclusion 
which  are  within  our  reach,  and  which 
secure  people  who  would  not  have  been 
worthy  to  mend  his  pens  from  falling 
into  his  mistakes. 

But  when  we  reflect  that  Sir  Thomas 
More  was  ready  to  die  tor  the  doctrine 
of  transubstantiation,  we  cannot  but  feel 
some  doubt  whether  the  doctrine  of 
transubstantiation  may  not  triumph 
over  all  opposition.  More  was  a  man  of 
eminent  talents.  He  had  all  the  infor- 
mation on  the  subject  that  we  have,  or 
that,  while  the  world  lasts,  any  human 
being  will  have.  The  text,  '  This  is  my 
body,'  was  in  his  New  Testament  as  it 
is  in  ours.  The  absurdity  of  the  literal 
interpretation  was  as  great  and  as  ob- 
vious in  the  sixi-eenth  century  as  it  is 
now.      No    progress  that    science    has 


made,  or  will  make,  can  add  to  what 
seems  to  us  the  overwhelming  force  of 
the  argument  against  the  real  presence. 
We  are,  therefore,  unable  to  understand 
why  what  Sir  Thomas  More  believed 
respecting  transubstantiation  may  not 
be  believed  to  the  end  of  time  by  men 
equal  in  abilitjes  and  honesty  to  Sir 
Thomas  More.  But  Sir  Thomas  More 
is  one  of  the  choice  specimens  of  hu- 
man wisdom  and  virtue ;  and  the  doctrine 
of  transubstantiation  is  a  kind  of  proof 
charge.  A  faith  which  stands  that  test 
will  stand  any  test.  The  prophecies  of 
Brothers  and  the  miracles  of  Prince 
Hohenlohe  sink  to  trifles  in  the  com- 
parison. 

One  reservation, indeed,mnst  be  made. 
The  books  and  traditions  of  a  sect  may 
contain,  mingled  with  propositions  strict- 
ly theological,  other  propositions  pur- 
porting to  rest  on  the  same  authority, 
which  relate  to  physics.  If  new  dis- 
coveries should  throw  discredit  on  the 
physical  propositions,  the  theological 
propositions  will  share  in  that  discredit. 
In  this  way,  undoubtedly,  the  progress  of 
science  may  indirectly  serve  the  cause 
of  religious  truth.  The  Hindoo  mytho- 
logy, for  example,  is  bound  up  with  a 
most  absurd  geography.  Every  young 
Brahmin,  therefore,  who  learns  geogra- 
phy in  our  colleges,  learns  to  smile  at 
the  Hindoo  mythology.  If  Catholicism 
has  not  suflfered  to  an  equal  degree  from 
the  Papal  decision  that  the  sun  goes 
round  the  earth,  this  is  because  all  in- 
telligent Catholics  now  hold,  with  Pascal, 
that,  in  deciding  the  point  at  all,  the 
church  exceeded  her  powers,  and  was, 
therefore,  justly  left  destitute  of  that 
supernatural  assistance  which,  in  the 
exercise  of  her  legitimate  functions,  the 
promise  of  her  founder  authorised  her 
to  expect. 

This  reservation  affects  not  at  all  the 
truth  of  our  proposition,  that  divinity, 
properly  so  called,  is  not  a  progressive 
science. 

A  very  common  knowledge  of  history, 
a  very  little  observation  of  lite,  will  suf- 
fice to  prove  that  no  learning,  no  saga- 
city, affords  a  security  against  the 
greatest  errors  on  subjects  relating  to 
the  invisible  world.  Bayle  and  Chilling- 
worth,  two  of  the  most  sceptical  of  man- 
kind, turned  Catholics  from  sincere  con- 
viction.     Johnson,  incredulous  on   all 


THE  REASONER. 


261 


other  points,  was  a  ready  believer  in 
miracles  and  apparitions.  He  would 
not  believe  in  Ossian  ;  but  he  was  wil- 
ling to  believe  in  the  second  sight.  He 
would  not  believe  in  the  earthquake  of 
Lisbon ;  but  he  was  willing  to  believe 
in  the  Cock  Lane  ghost. 

For  these  reasons  we  have  ceased  to 
■;Tonder  at  any  vagaries  of  superstition. 
We  have  seen  men,  not  of  mean  intellect 
or  neglected  education,  but  qualified  by 
their  talents  and  acquirements  to  attain 
eminence  either  in  active  or  speculative 
pursuits,  well  read  scholars,  expert 
logicians,  keen  observers  of  life  and 
manners,  prophesying, interpreting,  talk- 
ing unknown  tongues,  working  mira- 
culous cures,  coming  down  with  mes- 
sages from  God  to  the  House  of  Com- 
mons. We  have  seen  an  old  woman, 
with  no  talents  beyond  the  cunning  of  a 
fortune-teller,  and  with  the  education  of 
a  scullion,  exalted  into  a  prophetess,  and 
surrounded  by  tens  of  thousands  of  de- 
voted followers,  many  of  whom  were, 
in  station  and  knowledge,  immeasurably 
her  superiors ;  and  all  this  in  the  nine- 
teenth century ;  and  all  this  in  London. 
Yet  why  not  ?  For  of  the  dealings  of 
God  witla  man  no  more  has  been  revealed 
to  the  nineteenth  century  than  to  the 
first,  or  to  London  than  to  the  wildest 
parish  in  the  Hebi'ides.  It  is  true  that, 
in  those  things  which  concern  this  life 
and  this  world,  man  constantly  becomes 
wiser  and  wiser.  But  it  is  no  less  true 
that,  as  respects  a  higher  power  and  a 
future  state,  man,  in  the  language  of 
Goethe's  scoffing  fiend, 

— '  bleibt  stets  von  gleichem  schlag ; 
Und  ist  so  wunderlich  als  wie  am  ersten 
tas.'* 


THE    CHARACTER    OF    CRANMEE. 

The  plot  failed  ;  Popery  triumphed  ; 
and  Cranmer  recanted.  Most  people 
look  on  his  recantation  as  a  single 
blemish  on  an  honourable  life,  the  frailty 
of  an  unguarded  moment.  But,  in  fact, 
his  recantation  was  in  strict  accordance 
with  the  system  on  which  he  had  con- 
stantly acted.     It  was  part  of  a  regular 

*  Which,  so  far  as  we  are  able  to  inter- 
pret, means — 

— '  remains  the  same  alway  ; 

As  wondrous  now  as  on  its  earliest  day, 


habit.  It  was  not  the  first  recantation 
that  he  had  made  ;  and,  in  all  probability, 
if  it  had  answered  its  purpose,  it  would 
not  have  been  the  last.  We  do  not 
blame  him  for  not  choosing  to  be  burnt 
alive.  It  is  no  very  severe  reproach  to 
any  person  that  he  does  not  possess 
heroic  fortitude.  But  surely  a  man  who 
liked  the  fire  so  little  should  have  had 
some  sympathy  for  others.  A  persecutor 
who  inflicts  nothing  which  he  is  not 
ready  to  endure  deserves  some  respect. 
But  when  a  man  who  loves  his  doctrines 
more  than  the  lives  of  his  neighbours 
loves  his  own  little  finger  better  than  his 
doctrines,  a  very  simple  argument  d 
fortiori  will  enable  us  to  estimate  the 
amount  of  his  benevolence. 

But  his  martyrdom,it  is  said, redeemed 
everything.  It  is  extraordinary  that  so 
much  ignorance  should  exist  on  this 
subject.  The  fact  is  that,  if  a  martyr 
be  a  man  who  chooses  to  die  rather  than 
to  denounce  his  opinions,  Cranmer  was 
no  more  a  martyr  than  Dr,  Dodd.  He 
died  solely  because  he  could  not  help  it. 
He  never  retracted  his  recantation  till 
he  found  he  had  made  it  in  vain.  The 
Queen  was  fully  resolved  that,  Catholic 
or  Protestant,  he  should  burn.  Then  he 
spoke  out,  as  people  generally  speak  out 
when  they  are  at  the  point  of  death  and 
have  nothing  to  hope  or  to  fear  on  earth. 
If  Mary  had  suffered  him  to  live,  we 
suspect  that  he  would  have  heard  mass 
and  received  absolution,  like  a  good 
Catholic,  till  the  accession  of  Elizabeth, 
and  that  he  would  then  have  purchased, 
by  another  apostasy,  the  power  of  burn- 
ing men  better  and  braver  than  himself. 

We  do  not  mean,  however,  to  repre- 
sent Cranmer  as  a  monster  of  wicked- 
ness. He  was  not  wantonly  cruel  or 
treacherous.  He  was  merely  a  supple, 
timid,  interested  courtier,  in  times  of 
frequent  and  violent  change.  That 
which  has  always  been  represented  as 
his  distinguishing  virtue,  the  facility 
with  which  he  forgave  his  enemies,  be- 
longs to  the  character.  Slaves  of  his 
class  are  never  vindictive,  and  never 
grateful.  A  present  interest  effaces 
past  services  and  past  injuries  from  their 
minds  together.  Their  only  object  is 
self-preservation ;  and  for  this  they  con- 
ciliate those  who  wrong  them,  just  as 
they  abandon  those  who  serve  them. 
Before  we  extol  a  man  for  his  forgiving 


262 


THE  REASONER. 


temper,  we  should  inquire  whether  he 
is  above  revenge  or  below  it. 

Somerset  had  as  little  principle  as  his 
oadjutor.  Of  Henry,  an  orthodox  Catho- 
lic, except  that  he  chose  to  be  his  own 
Pope,  andofElizabeth,  who  certainly  had 
no  objection  to  the  theology  of  Rome,  we 
needsay nothing.  Thesefour  persons  were 
the  great  authors  of  the  English  Refor- 
mation. Three  of  them  had  a  direct  in- 
terest in  the  extension  of  the  royal  pre- 
rogative. The  fourth  was  the  ready 
tool  of  any  who  could  frighten  him.  It 
is  not  difficult  to  see  from  what  motives, 
and  on  what  plan,  such  persons  would 
be  inclined  to  remodel  the  Church.  The 
scheme  was  merely  to  transfer  the  full 
cup  of  sorceries  from  the  Babylonian 
enchantress  to  other  hands,  spilling  as 
little  as  possible  by  the  way.  The  Ca- 
tholic doctrines  and  rites  were  to  be 
retained  in  the  Church  of  England.  But 
the  King  was  to  exercise  the  control 
which  had  formerly  belonged  to  the 
Roman  Pontiff.  In  this  Henry  for  a 
time  succeeded.  The  extraordinary 
force  of  his  character,  the  fortunate  situ- 
ation in  which  he  stood  with  respect  to 
foreign  powers,  and  the  vast  resources 
which  the  suppression  of  the  monaste- 
ries placed  at  his  disposal,  enabled  hira 
to  oppress  both  the  religious  factions 
equally.  He  punished  with  impartial 
severity  those  who  renounced  the  doc- 
trines of  Rome,  and  those  who  acknow- 
ledged her  jurisdiction.  The  basis, 
however,  on  which  he  attempted  to  estab- 
lish his  power  was  too  narrow  to  be 
durable.  It  would  have  been  impossible 
even  for  him  long  to  persecute  both 
persuasions.  Even  under  his  reign  there 
had  been  insurrections  on  the  part  of 
the  Catholics,  and  signs  of  a  spirit 
which  was   likely  soon   to  produce  in- 


surrection on  the  part  of  the  Protes- 
tants. It  was  plainly  necessary,therefore, 
that  the  Crown  should  form  an  alliance 
with  one  or  with  the  other  side.  To  re- 
cognise the  Papal  supremacy,  would 
have  been  to  abandon  the  whole  design. 
Reluctantly  and  sullenly  the  government 
at  last  joined  the  Protestants.  In  form- 
ing this  junction,  its  object  was  to  pro- 
cure as  much  aid  as  possible  for  its 
selfish  undertaking,  and  to  make  the 
smallest  possible  concessions  to  the  spirit 
of  religious  innovation. 

From  this  compromise  the  Church  of 
England  sprang.  In  many  respects,  in- 
deed, it  has  been  well  for  her  that,  in  an 
age  of  exuberant  zeal,  her  principal 
founders  were  mere  politicians.  To  this 
circumstance  she  owes  her  moderate 
articles,  her  decent  ceremonies,  her  noble 
and  pathetic  liturgy.  Her  worship  is 
not  disfigured  by  mummery.  Yet  she 
has  preserved,  in  a  far  greater  degree 
than  any  of  her  Protestant  sisters,  the 
art  of  striking  the  senses  and  filling  the 
imagination  in  which  the  Catholic  Church 
so  eminently  excels.  But,  on  the  other 
hand,  she  continued  to  be,  for  more  than 
a  hundred  and  fifty  years,  the  servile 
handmaid  of  monarchy,  the  steady  enemy 
of  public  liberty.  The  divine  right  of 
kings,  and  the  duty  of  passively  obeying 
all  their  commands,  were  her  favourite 
tenets.  She  held  those  tenets  firmly 
through  times  of  oppression,  persecu- 
tion, and  licentiousness  :  while  law  was 
trampled  down;  while  judgment  was 
perverted  ;  while  tlie  people  were  eaten 
as  though  they  were  bread.  Once,  and 
but  once,  for  a  moment,  and  but  for  a 
moment,  when  her  own  dignity  and 
property  were  touched,  she  forgot  to 
practice  the  submission  which  she  had 
taught. 


THE  REASONER.  263 


Our  ^Slatfcfrm. 

From  which  any  earnest  opponent  may  controvert  our  opinions,  and  from  which  any  may  expound  views 
not  coincident  with  our  own,  if  tending  to  the  Rationalisation  of  Theology. 

THE  LEADING  IDEA  AND  PROGRESS  OF  THE  NEW  GERMAN 
CHURCH  OF  HUMANITY. 


Sir, —  You  will  excuse  the  longer  intermission  of  ray  Reformatory  Sketches,  it 
being  caused  by  my  departure  from  your  country.  I  shall  be  glad  if  you  will 
allow  me  to  finish  them  here,  and  to  continue  them  by  others  on  our  international 
relations. 

Having  given,  in  my  last  letter,  the  abbreviated  copy  of  one  of  the  newest 
manifestoes  issued  by  the  Germano-Catholic  branch  of  our  reform  in  Germany,  I 
proceed  now  to  the  other  branch,  which  arose  from  the  Protestantism,  and  the 
most  characteristical  associations  of  which  are  called  by  themselves  'frcie gemeinden'' 
— free  congregations.  They  agree  with  the  former  in  assisting  the  religious  self- 
emancipation  of  mankind,  but  they  are  distinguished  by  the  more  consequent  and 
bolder  development  of  the  great  reformatory  idea  of  the  present  time.  That  idea 
is,  in  our  opinion,  none  other  than  this  :  the  abolishing  of  that  dualism  which  has 
divided,  since  tlie  beginning  of  the  history  of  the  world,  the  universum  on  this  side  and  the 
other  side.  All  religions,  without  any  exception,  have  been  founded  on  this  very 
illusion ;  and  the  eighteen  hundred  years  of  the  Christendom  are  but  too  suf- 
ficient to  prove  that  even  itself  is  included.  The  universum  is  one — there  is  no 
room  for  a  particular  residence  of  one  or  many  gods  ;  and,  if  there  must  be  a  God, 
he  can  be  nothing  else  than  the  immanent  spirit  of  this  universum,  or  the  whole 
universum  itself.  If  there  must  be  a  God!  But  this  is  the  question,  '  To  be,  or 
not  to  be  !'  The  most  advanced  of  our  'freie  gemeinden'  are  beyond  that  ques- 
tion, leaving  all  that  which  originated  out  of  that  dualism — as  heaven,  hell,  God, 
devil,  and  all  other  things — to  the  churches  or  religions  oi"  the  time  past.  They 
are  antagonists  of  all  those  religions ;  and  religion  itself,  understood  in  its  very 
historical  notion,  is  for  them  a  thing  which  should  be  abolished — abolished  by  the 
power  of  knowledge.  If  they  use  yet  that  word,  it  is  only  in  the  quite  new  signi- 
fication, as  in  their  watchword — religion  of  humanity,  or  religion  of  freethonght ; 
all  notion  of  transcendental  being  is  taken  away. 

So,  founded  on  the  cosmical  unity  of  the  universum,  on  its  immanent  life  and 
laws  of  life- -founded  on  nature,  reason,  history,  science,  knowledge — founded  first 
of  all  on  the  true  and  real  nature  and  history  of  mankind — the  principal  endea- 
vouring of  the  'freie  gemeinden'  is,  theoretically,  the  cultivating  and  propagating 
of  that  new  idea  and  contemplation  of  the  world,  and,  practically,  the  regenerating 
of  all  social  and  political  situations  by  the  power  of  that  idea. 

That  these  endeavourings,  under  the  pressure  of  our  present  political  conditions, 
can  be  nothing  but  painful  and  outward  insignificant  essays,  is  clear;  but  there  is 
one  reason  more  that  the  movement  of  this  branch  proceeds  slowly,  and  more 
slowly  than  even  that  of  the  other  branch.  This  reason  is  the  consequence  and 
resoluteness  itself  of  its  reformatory  idea.  The  greater  part  of  men  like  much 
more  the  twilight  of  half-progress  than  the  sunlight  of  decided,  bold,  and  complete 
progress.  The  greater  part  excuse  their  own  immaturity  and  irresolution  by  the 
cant  phrase  '  it  goes  too  far.' 

We  have  in  Germany  about  four  hundred  congregations  of  the  Germano- 
Catholic  branch,  some  of  which  contain  a  thousand  members — that  of  Vienna 
four,  and  that  of  Breslau  in  Silesia  ten,  thousand.     The  congregations  of  the  other 


264  THE  REASONER. 


branch  are  but  a  few,  the  most  in  Saxo- Prussia;  the  most  advanced  are  those  of 
Halle  and  Nordhausen,  both  near  the  birth-place  of  Luther,  viz.,  Eisleben.  That 
of  Nordhausen  has  a  thousand  members. 

They  all  have  quitted  the  churches — this  having  been  their  first  and  most 
decided  step.  They  form  now  independent  societies ;  and  the  latter  go  so  far  that 
they  have  abandoned  any  ecclesiastical  character,  confining  themselves  to  be 
human  associations,  and  to  have  at  best  one  of  their  members  as  speaker  or 
lecturer,  without  prejudice  as  to  the  equal  right  of  discussion  and  lecturing  of  all 
who  are  able.  Their  meetings,  in  which  any  theme  that  belongs  to  the  sphere  of 
human  knowledge  is  treated,  are  held  on  Sundays,  mostly  beginning  and  conclud- 
ing by  quartettes  of  man's  song.  The  members  belong  for  the  most  part  to  the 
poorer  classes,  possessing  not  too  much  for  the  compensation  of  their  speakers, 
who  are  all  men  who  have  accomplished  their  theological  studies,  and  the  greater 
part  of  whom  have  abandoned  the  career  of  public  officers. 

As  for  the  literature  of  these  congregations,  they  have  produced  plenty  of 
writings  and  books,  and  they  have  many  journals  which  propagate  their  principles 
throughout  the  whole  country.  The  best  journals  of  the  Germano-Catholic  branch 
appear  in  Breslau  ;  the  best  of  the  '  freie  gemeinden,'  which  is  especially  dedicated 
to  the  development  and  most  consequent  perfecting  of  the  new  reformatory  idea, 
is  the  so-called  Neue  Reform,  zur  foerderung  der  Religion  der  Menschlich  Keit  (New 
Reform,  to  the  Furthering  of  the  Religion  of  Humanity),edited  by  G.  A.Wislicenus, 
the  chief  representative  of  this  other  branch,  and  speaker  of  the  congregation  of 
Halle. 

I  trust  your  readers  will  excuse  the  faults  I  make  in  yoar  language,  as  well  as 
the  shortness  and  imperfection  of  these  sketches  themselves.  I  am  travelling,  and 
therefore  have  not  that  tranquillity  of  mind,  which  alone  is  the  creator  of  better 
works.  My  intention  was  to  give  at  least  a  true  and  correct  sketch  of  that  move- 
ment of  my  fatherland,  which,  in  my  opinion,  is  congenial  to  that  advocated  by 
your  journal.  I  greet  you  and  all  your  coworkers  for  the  propagation  of  men's 
self-emancipation  by  the  means  of  free-inquiry  and  knowledge,  and  I  thank  you 
very  heartily  for  the  kindness  you  have  proved  to  me  by  introducing  me  to  the 
circle  of  your  readers. 

Paris,  1851.  Gael  Schou,. 


MR.  HOLYOAKE'S  LECTURE  IN  SOUTH  SHIELDS. 


Sir, — Your  late  lecture  at  South  Shields,  I  hear  it  said,  was  able,  and  delivered 
in  a  fair  spirit,  but  that  the  ground  of  the  lecture  was  mere  assumption;  for  if 
Catholicism  be  the  true  type  of  New  Testament  Christianity,  how  is  it  that  Papists 
themselves,  and  the  Jesuits,  prevent  the  circulation  and  reading  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment ? 

Newcastle-on-Tyne.  X. 


[The  Catholics  see  that  the  Scriptures  present  at  least  apparent  contradictions 
which  the  illiterate  may  wrest  to  their  own  destruction,  and  therefore  seek  to  keep 
the  Bible  in  the  hands  of  the  church. — Ed.] 


THE  REASONER.  265 


THE    REV.   MR.    PHILLIPS 


SiK, — I  perceive  a  statement  in  No.  274  of  the  Reasoner,  that  I  said,  at  a  public 
meeting  in  London,  '  that  infidels  and  freethinkers  were  a  set  of  mean,  dishonest 
fellows ;  and  that  they  knew  it,  but  had  not  the  honesty  to  confess  it.' 

Your  correspondent  must  have  misunderstood  me,  or  been  misinformed  as  to 
what  1  stated,  or  has  intentionally  misrepresented  me  ;  neither  the  sentiments  nor 
the  language  of  the  above  qustation  belong  to  me.  It  is  by  no  means  difficult  for 
a  zealot  of  any  party  to  mistake  and  give  currency  to  his  own  inferences,  as  the 
statements  of  others.  I  think  that  you  would  feel  surprised  at  hearing  that  I  had 
made  so  sweeping  a  statement.  My  infidel  neighbours  know  that  my  usual  modes 
of  thought  and  utterance  do  not  find  expression  in  the  above.  I  will  endeavour  to 
say  at  the  Institution,  shortly,  what  I  have  written. 

Northampton.  Thomas  Phillips. 


[We  certainly  were  '  surprised '  when  we  received  the  report  of  the  language 
ascribed  to  Mr.  Phillips.  On  a  former  occasion  (ante  No.  38)  we  bore  testimony  to 
his  courtesy.  We  are  bound,  however,  to  say,  in  justice  to  our  correspondent, 
that  he  maintains  his  assertion,  and  offers  to  bring  corroboration  of  his  statement. 
Our  impression  is,  that  there  is  some  error  as  to  Mr.  Phillips's  identity,  and  that 
some  one  else  has  been  mistaken  for  him. — Ed.] 

ORIGINALITY— A   LESSON  TO  REFORMERS  AS  WELL  AS 
ARCHITECTS. 


A  DAT  never  passes  without  our  hearing  our  English  architects  called  upon  to  be 
original,  and  to  invent  a  new  style  :  about  as  sensible  and  necessary  an  exhortation 
as  to  ask  of  a  man  who  has  never  had  rags  enough  on  his  back  to  keep  out  cold  to 
invent  a  new  mode  of  cutting  a  coat.  Give  him  a  whole  coat  first,  and  let  him 
concern  himself  about  the  fashion  of  it  afterwards.  We  want  no  new  style  of 
architecture.  Who  wants  a  new  style  of  painting  or  sculpture  ?  But  we  want 
s6me  style.  It  is  of  marvellously  little  importance  if  we  have  a  code  of  laws  and 
they  be  good  laws,  whether  they  be  new  or  old,  foreign  or  native,  Roman  or  Saxon, 
Norman  or  English  laws.  But  it  is  of  considerable  importance  that  we  should 
have  a  code  of  laws  of  one  kind  or  another,  and  that  code  accepted  and  enforced 
from  one  side  of  the  island  to  the  other,  and  not  one  law  made  ground  of  judg- 
ment in  York  and  another  in  Exeter.  And  in  like  manner  it  does  not  matter  one 
marble  splinter  whether  we  have  an  old  or  new  architecture,  but  it  matters  every- 
thing whether  we  have  an  architecture  truly  so  called  or  not;  that  is,  whether  an 
architecture  whose  laws  might  be  taught  at  our  schools  from  Cornwall  to  Nor- 
thumberland, as  we  teach  English  spelling  and  English  grammar,  or  an  architecture 
which  is  to  be  invented  fresh  every  time  we  build  a  workhouse  or  a  parish  school. 
There  seems  to  me  to  be  a  wonderful  misunderstanding  among  the  majority  of 
architects  of  the  present  day  as  to  the  very  nature  and  meaning  of  Originality,  and 
of  all  wherein  it  consists.  Originality  in  expression  does  not  depend  on  invention 
of  new  words,  nor  originality  in  poetry  on  invention  of  new  measures ;  nor  in 
painting  on  invention  of  new  colours  or  new  modes  of  using  them.  The  chords  of 
music,  the  harmonies  of  colour,  the  general  principles  of  the  arrangement  of  sculp- 
tural masses,  have  been  determined  long  ago,  and,  in  all  probability,  cannot  be 


266 


THE  REASONER. 


added  to  any  more  than  they  can  be  altered.  Granting  that  there  may  be  such 
additions  or  alterations  are  much  more  the  work  of  time  and  of  multitudes  than  of 
individual  inventors.  We  may  have  one  Van  Eyck,  who  will  be  known  as  the 
introducer  of  a  new  style  once  in  ten  centuries,  but  he  himself  will  trace  his  inven- 
tion to  some  accidental  bye-play  or  pursuit,  and  the  uses  of  that  invention  will 
depend  altogether  on  the  popular  necessities  or  instincts  of  the  period.  Originality 
depends  on  nothing  of  the  kind.  A  man  who  has  the  gift  will  take  up  any  style 
that  is  going,  the  style  of  his  day,  and  will  in  that  be  great,  and  make  everything 
he  does  in  it  look  as  fresh  as  if  every  thought  of  it  had  just  come  down  from 
heaven.  I  do  not  say  that  he  will  not  take  liberties  with  his  materials  or  with  his 
rules  :  I  do  not  say  that  strange  changes  will  not  sometimes  be  wrought  by  his 
eflforts  or  his  fancies  in  both.  But  those  changes  will  be  instructive,  natural, 
facile,  though  sometimes  marvellous;  they  will  never  be  sought  after  as  things 
necessary  to  his  dignity  or  his  independence :  and  those  liberties  will  be  like  the 
liberties  that  a  great  speaker  takes  with  the  language — not  a  defiance  of  its  rules 
for  the  sake  of  singularity,  but  inevitable,  uncalculated,  and  brilliant  consequences 
of  an  effort  to  express  what  the  language  without  such  infraction  could  not. 

There  may  be  times  when,  as  I  have  above  described,  the  life  of  an  art  is  mani- 
fested in  its  changes  and  in  its  refusal  of  ancient  limitations  :  so  there  are  in  the 
life  of  an  insect ;  and  there  is  great  interest  in  the  state  of  both  the  art  and  the 
insect  at  those  periods  when,  by  their  natural  progress  and  constitutional  power, 
such  changes  are  about  to  be  wrought.  But  as  that  would  be  both  an  uncomfort- 
able and  foolish  caterpillar  which,  instead  of  being  contented  with  a  caterpillar's 
life  and  feeding  on  caterpillar's  food,  was  always  striving  to  turn  itself  into  a 
chrysalis;  and  as  that  would  be  an  unhappy  chrysalis  which  should  lie  awake  at 
night  and  roll  restlessly  in  its  cocoon  in  efforts  to  turn  itself  permanently  into  a 
moth  ;  so  will  that  art  be  unhappy  and  unprosperous  which,  instead  of  supporting 
itself  on  the  food  and  contenting  itself  with  the  customs  which  have  been  enough 
for  the  support  and  guidance  of  other  arts  before  it  and  like  it,  is  struggling  and 
fretting  under  the  natural  limitations  of  its  existence,  and  striving  to  become  some- 
thing other  than  it  is.  And  though  it  is  the  notability  of  the  highest  creatures  to 
look  forward  to,  and  partly  to  understand  the  changes  which  are  appointed  for 
them,  preparing  for  them  beforehand  ;  and  if,  as  is  usual  with  appointed  changes, 
they  be  into  a  higher  state,  ever  desiring  them  and  rejoicing  in  the  hope  of  them, 
yet  it  is  the  strength  of  every  creature,  be  it  changeful  or  not,  to  rest  for  the  time 
being,  contented  with  the  conditions  of  its  existence  and  striving  only  to  bring 
about  the  changes  which  it  desires  by  fulfilling  to  the  uttermost  the  duties  for 
which  its  present  stato  is  appointed  and  continued. — Lamp  of  Obedience,  p.  186. 
By  John  Ruskin. 


DISMAL  STATE  OF  BLAIRGOWRIE. 


H.  M.,  writing  from  the  '  foot  of  the  Gram])ians  '  complains  that  '  superstition  and 
dark  delusion?  '  abound  in  those  parts,  and  that  there  are  no  Institutions  for  im- 
parting instruction  to  the  people,  not  a  Library  worth  the  trouble  of  consulting. 
But  he  adds,  we  have  the  '  Established  Ohurch,  the  Episcopalians,  the  Roman 
Catholics,  Seceders,  Independents,  Mormonites,  and  the  (mis-called)  Free  Church.' 
Our  correspondent  is  in  a  small  way  of  business,  and  by  dint  of  perseverance 
supports  a  family  of  three  children.     The  kind  Sabbatarians  will  not  suffer  their 


THE  REASONER. 


267 


children  to  associate  with  his  because  he  is  known  to  entertain  atheistical  opinions. 
He  asks  whether  he  shall  play  the  hypocrite  and  take  his  children  to  church,  in 
order  to  avoid  the  slur  cast  upon  them,  or  (to  use  his  own  words)  '  continue  in  the 
same  cheerful  line  he  has  been  doing  this  many  a  year.'  We  think  the  conscien- 
tious and  'cheerful  line '  the  one  our  correspondent  should  continue  to  pursue. 


GUIDE  TO  THE  LECTURE  ROOM- 

LiteraryInstitution,JohnSt.,FitzroySq.— Sept.14 
[7^],  Henry  Knight,  'Woman;  — is  her  mind 
understood  by  man?'  Sept.  lOth,  [8A],  Dis- 
cussion in  the  Coffee  Room.  Question,  '  What 
are  the  best  means  of  improving  the  condition  of 
the  working  classes  ?' 

Hall  of  Science,  City  Road.— (Closed  for  altera- 
tion./' 

National  Hall,  242,  High  Holborn.— Sept.  14th, 
[8],  P.  W.  Perfitt  will  lecture. 

British  Coffee  Rooms,  Edgeware  Road— Sept. 
14th  [7],  Mr.  Benny,  'The  God  of  the  Bible  versus 
the  God  of  Nature.' 

Eclectic  Institute,  Denmark  Street,  Soho.  — 
Every  Friday  [8J],  Mr.  J.  B.  O'Brien,  '  Home  and 
Foreign  Politics.'  Every  Sunday  [7^],  on  '  Moral 
and  Social  Science.' 

Areopagus  Coffee  and  Reading  Room,  59,  Church 
Lane,  Whitechapel. — Every  Sunday,  Monday,  and 
Wednesday  (S),  a  Lecture  or  Discussion. 

City  Forum  Coffee  House,  6o,  Red  Cross  Street. 
—Every  Sunday,  Monday,  and  Thursday  [8^],  a 
Discussion. 

Commercial  Hall,  Philpot  Street,  Commercial 
Road  East.— Every  Tuesday  and  Thursday  even- 
ing [8] ,  a  Discussion. 

City  Road  Discussion  Society,  22,  City  Road.— 
Discussion  every  Wednesday  evening, 

ADVERTISEMENTS. 

A  Cheap  Weekly  Organ  for  the  Trades. 

THE  NOTES  TO  THE  PEOPLE, 

Publishing  every  Saturday, 
Contain  40  columns  of  close  print  besides  wrapper 

for  TWOFENCB. 

BY    EBNEST    JONES. 

Working  men  and  trades'  bodies  are  invited  to 
send  statements  of  their  grievances,  of  every 
attempted  reduction,  and  of  every  act  of  oppression 
.perpetrated  against  them  by  their  employers. 

Reports  of  the  weekly  proceedings  of  the  trades, 
and  notices  of  their  forthcoming  meetings,  will,  if 
sent,  be  gratuilously  inserted,  as  it  is  intended  to 
make  this  work  a  comprehensive  organ  ot  defence 
for  THE  Employed  aghnst  the  Kmployer. 

No.  1  is  now  reprinted,  with  a  classified  index  of 
the  first  seventeen  numbers. 

Re.id  No.  ig  for  *  Doings  of  the  Rich  at  Lough- 
borough,' and 
The   Wae  op  the   Purses,   or   Wholesale 

AHD  Retail, 
being  a  leg«on  for  the  middle  class  and  working 
class,  s«  illustrated  by  the  history  of  the  London 
Tailor*. 

As  this  work  is  ready  to  be  sent  by  the  booksellers' 
parcels  every  Wednesday  for  each  ensuing  Satur- 
day, agents  have  in  no  case  any  excuse  for  not 
supplying  subscribers  regularly  with  their  weekly 
copies. 

London  :  Pavey,  47,  Holywell  Street,  Strand. 


LITERARY  INSTITUTION,  JOHN  STREET, 
FITZROY  SQUARE.— Mrs.  C.  H.  Dexter 
will  deliver  an  address  to  the  Women  of  England 
in  favour  ot  a  Dress  Reform,  on  Monday  evening, 
September  15th. 

The  lady,  the  wife  of  an  artist,  who  has 
recently  introduced  this  improvement  in  costume 
to  the  notice  of  her  fair  countrywomen,  has 
already  appeared  in  the  metropolis  alone,  and 
has  not,  we  are  told,  met  with  a  single  rude  obser- 
vation. She  is  habited  in  deep  mourning,  which 
gives  the  costume  a  very  genteel  appearance.  The 
dress  is  of  black  crape,  falling  below  the  knee; 
trousers  of  black  silk,  very  full,  and  drawn  round 
the  ankle  with  elastic  cord,  which  allows  them  to 
hang  gracefully  over  a  cashmere  boot  with  military 
heel ;  corded  silk  jacquette,  trimmed  with  crape, 
over  which  is  thrown,  '  en  neglige,'  a  crape  scarf; 
the  headdress,  which  is  between  a  hat  and  a  bonnet, 
is  made  of  drawn  crape  and  silk,  without  trim- 
ming ;  it  is,  however,  exceedingly  tasty  and  ele- 
gant, and  extremely  becoming  :  the  only  ornaments 
worn  are  jet  bracelets  and  a  jet  anchor,  which 
confines  the  jacquette  below  the  waist.  The  dress 
is  altogether  easy  and  graceful,  and  seems  com- 
pletely to  put  out  of  countenance  the  'Lady  street- 
sweepers  of  London.'     Vide  public  press. 

SYLLABUS  OF  THE  LECTUnE. 

The  right  of  woman  to  assert  her  right,  at  least 
in  dress — The  inconvenience  of  the  present  costume 
— Its  injurious  effect  upon  health— The  dresses  of 
the  ancients— The  effect  of  the  prejudices  of  the 
past  upon  the  opinions  of  the  present — The  general 
tendency  of  modern  improvements  —  A  strong 
declaration  in  favour  of  the  dress  movement,  with 
its  anticipated  benefit  to  the  Mothers,  Wives,  and 
Daughters   of  Etigland! 

Mrs.  C.  H.  Dexter  will  gratify  her  friends  and 
admirers  by  appearing  upon  this  occasion  in  the 
Modern  Female  Costume! 

To  commence  at  half- past  Eight.  Admission  to 
Hall,  2d.;  Gallery,  3d.^ __._„_„________ 

MOVEMENT — INFORMATION — ENTER- 
TAINMENT, 

THE     LEADER, 
A  complete  Weekly  Newspaper,  price  6d. 

For  all  Political  movements— the  manoeuvres  of 
Parties  at  home,  the  combinations  of  Courts, 
Diplomatists,  and  Armies  abroad — the  movements 
of  Peoples  in  the  struggle  to  achieve  and  enlarge 
their  freedom :  For  all  shapes  of  Progress— the 
Progress  of  the  People  in  Association,  Social 
Reform,  and  Education — the  Progress  of  Disco- 
very, Practical  Knowledge,  and  Practical  Science 
— the  Progress  of  Free  jVction  in  Thought  and 
Spiritual  Development:  For  all  that  is  going  on  in 
the  world  of  Books  and  Art,  in  the  Drama,  in 
Peijsonal  News,  in  tne  changes  of  Trade  and 
Industry,  in  Law  and  Police,  and  in  Adventures 
far  and  wide  :  For  a  plain  treatment  of  every  sub- 
ject in  direct  terms  :  For  a  free  utterance  of 
opinion,  open  to  all — 

S  K  E     T  H  E     L  E  A  D  E  R  . 
Published  at  10,  Wellington  Street,  Strand;   and 

deliverea  in  every   part   of  the  country  evMy 

Saturday  afternooii. 


268 


THE  REASONER. 


Our  (Bpsn  liage. 


A  TRAVELLER,  sannteriDg  through  the  Lake  districts  of  England  some  years  ago, 
arrived  at  a  small  public-house  just  as  a  postman  stopped  to  deliver  a  letter.  A 
young  girl  came  out  to  receive  it.  She  took  it  in  her  hand,  turned  it  over  and 
over,  and  asked  the  charge  ?  It  was  a  large  sum — no  less  than  a  shilling.  Sigh- 
ing heavily,  she  observed,  that  it  came  from  her  brother,  but  that  she  was  too  poor 
to  take  it  in,  and  she  returned  it  to  the  postman  accordingly.  The  traveller  was  a 
man  of  kindness,  as  well  as  of  observation.  He  offered  to  pay  the  postage  himself; 
and  spite  of  more  reluctance  on  the  girl's  part  than  he  could  well  understand,  he 
did  pay  it,  and  gave  her  the  letter.  No  sooner,  however,  was  the  postman's  back 
turned,  than  she  confessed  that  the  proceeding  had  been  concerted  between  her 
brother  and  herself — that  the  letter  was  empty — that  certain  signs  on  the  direction 
conveyed  all  that  she  wanted  to  know — and  that,  as  they  could  neither  of  them  afford 
to  pay  the  postage,  they  had  devised  this  method  of  franking  the  intelligence 
desired.  The  traveller  pursued  his  journey ;  and  as  he  plodded  over  the  Cum- 
berland fells,  he  mused  upon  the  badness  of  a  system  which  drove  people  to  such 
straits  for  means  of  correspondence,  and  defeated  its  own  objects  all  the  time. 
With  most  men,  such  musings  would  have  ended  before  the  close  of  the  hour,  but 
'this  man's  name  was  Rowland  Hill;  and  it  was  from  this  incident,  and  these 
reflections,  that  the  whole  scheme  of  penny  postage  was  derived.' 

Mr.  Martin,  of  Birmingham,  is  informed  that  his  intricate  Essay  will  not  be 
used  by  us,  and  has  been  reposted. 

We  have  had  the  pleasure  of  receiving,  from  the  Rev.  John  Layhe,  the  Seven- 
teenth Report  of  the  Ministry  to  the  Poor  in  Manchester.' 

The  interesting  letter  on  '  Popular  Christianity,'  by  *  A  Minister's  Son,'  the 
reply  of  Mr.  Norrington,  and  the  letter  of  a  '  Foreign  Republican,'  will  appear 
shortly. 

The  communication  of  J.  D.  N.  has  not  proved  insertable,  but  future  articles 
may  be. 

'  Exeter '  will  find  that  Mr.  Newman,  and  some  other  theists,  accept  the  ground 
of  '  adaptation, '  and  he  who  offers  it  &a  a  substitute  for  '  design  '  must  consider 
their  view  in  connection  with  it. 

J.  I.,  Dublin,  is  informed  that  before  long  we  shall  be  able  to  issue  the  series  he 
asks  after.  For  what  he  now  needs  the  Chambers'  list  is  the  best  that  he  can 
consult. 

As  men  are  wisely  wary  of  trusting  their  purses  or  their  persons  to  other's  keep- 
ing, much  more  should  they  refuse  to  trust  their  souls.  T. 

Mrs.  C.  H.  Dexter  will  Lecture  on  September  15th,  at  John  Street,  on  'Reforma- 
tion in  Female  Dress  ' — wearing  herself  the  Bloomer  Costume. 

'  The  True  Origin,  Object,  and  Organisation  of  the  Christian  Religion,  by 
Franeois  Dupuis,'  has  been  translated  by  Mr.  Southwell.  Dupuis'  name  is  suf- 
ficient to  attract  all  who  are  curious  as  to  the  historical  character  of  Christianity. 

The  following  is  a  copy  of  an  advertisement:— 'Evangelical  Alliance;  Infidelity 
prize  essays.  Royal  18mo,  eloth,  3s.  "  The  Shadow  of  Death,"  and  "  The  Creed  of 
Despair  :"  two  prize  essays  on  Infidelity  among  the  working  classes,  given  by  the 
Evangelical  Alliance.     By  Charles  Smith,  printer,  and  Matthew  Spears.' 

London:  Printed  by  Holyoake  Brothers,  3,  Queen's  Head  Passage,  Patemoster-row ;  and  Published 
by  J.  Watson.  J,  Queen's  Head  Passage,  Paternoster-row.— Wednesday, September  lOth,  1851. 


THEOLOGICAL     EXAMINER. 

They  who  believe  that  they  have  Truth  aak  no  favour,  save  that  of  being  heard:  they  dare  the 
judgment  of  Mankind  :  refused  Co-operation,  they  invoke  Opposition,  for  Opposition  is  their 
Opportunity. — Editok. 

PAMPHLETS    OF     OPPONENTS.* 

VI. 

Hebe  we  have  an  excellent  example  of  the  good  effect,  and  great  benefit  to  the 
cause  of  truth,  produced  by  campaigns  of  public  lecturing  and  discussion.  Atten- 
tion is  commanded,  opposition,  *  our  opportunity,'  is  compelled,  and  the  officials  of 
Christianity  are  induced  to  come  forward  to  state  their  own  case  and  to  expose  its 
deficiencies  of  evidence  or  of  moral  dignity.  '  The  most  dangerous  enemies  of 
established  opinions,'  says  Hazlitt,  'are  those  who,  by  always  defending  them,  call 
attention  to  their  weak  side.'  Two  clergymen  of  the  established  church,  in  conse- 
quence of  Mr,  Holyoake's  lectures  in  the  good  town  of  Nottingham,  advance  to 
the  rescue,  and  without  directly  professing  to  reply  to  his  statements,  bring  forward 
what  they  can  of  apology  for  the  Bible  and  Christian  doctrine,  and  of  denunciation 
and  imputation  against  unbelievers;  bear^itness  in  a  very  satisfactory  manner  to 
the  undeniable  decrease  of  faith  in  this  country  ;  and  evince  alarm  for  their  own 
congregations  and  parishioners,  by  whom  we  hope  these  two  pamphlets  will  be 
carefully  read. 

There  is  positively  not  a  single  new  argument  of  any  sort  in  any  part  of  Mr. 
Brooks's  discourse  ;  and  those  which  he  employs  have  been  refuted  and  exposed 
so  often,  that  a  detailed  repetition  will  be  wearisome  and  useless  to  the  readers  of 
the  Reasoner.  After  a  passing  blow  at  the  Church  of  Rome,  which  of  course  he 
declares  to  be  the  Babylon  of  the  Apocalypse,  and  the  scarlet  woman,  &c.,  the 
reverend  vicar  asserts  his  belief,  f'-om  the  prevalence  and  increased  boldness  of 
infidelity,  that  this  is  '  the  last  time,'  and  that  the  second  coming  of  Christ  is  at 
hand  (pp.  1-5).  Eighteen  hundred  years  ago,  or  thereabouts,  the  Apostle  John, 
or  the  author  of  the  epistle  which  is  attributed  to  him,  said  the  same  thing : 
'Little  children,  it  is  the  last  time;  and  as  ye  have  heard  that  antichrist  shall 
come,  even  now  there  are  many  antichrists :  whereby  we  know  that  it  is  the  last 
time'  (1  John,  c.  ii.,  v.  18).  So,  notwithstanding  Mr.  Brooks's  reliance  on  the  '  sure 
word  of  prophecy,'  he  may  possibly  turn  out  to  be  equally  misled  by  the  signs  of 
the  times  as  the  saint  and  apostle  was,  with  regard  to  the  near  approach  of  the 
day  of  judgment,  the  millennium,  or  whatever  it  is  that  is  expected. 

Then  we  find  some  of  the  staple  proofs  (!)  of  the  genuineness  of  the  gospels, 
which,  even  if  rigidly  conclusive,  would  in  no  way  increase  the  probability  of  their 
authenticity.  We  know  nothing  of  the  character  or  attainments  of  Matthew, 
Mark,  Luke,  and  John,  which  should  lead  us  to  believe  that  they  would  be  more 

*  A  Discourse  on  Infidelity,  by  the  Rev.  J.  W.  Brooks,  M.A.,  "Vicar  of  St,  Mary's, 
Nottingham.    London  :  Wertheim  and  Co. 

The  Bible  and  Infidelity.     Three  Lectures  delivered  at  the  Assembly  Rooms,  Not-  |. 
tingham,  by  the  Rev.  T.  CoUisson,  A.B.,  Curate  of  New  Radford.    Wertheim  and  Co 


[No.  277.3  [No.  18,  Vol.  XI.] 

[ONE  PENNY.l 


270  THE  REASONER. 


careful  in  their  narration  of  events  than  other  writers  of  their  time  and  of  many 
succeeding  centuries,  during  which  miraculous  stories  were  common  and  popular, 
and  the  use  of  pious  frauds  and  fictions  was  avowed  and  defended  by  Christian 
saints  and  doctors.  Leslie's  argument  of  the  four  criteria  has  been  examined  in 
former  numbers  of  the  Eeasoner :  but  in  addition  to  the  proofs  of  the  fallacy  of 
the  criteria  therein  adduced,  it  may  be  mentioned,  that  in  many  Roman  Catholic 
countries  numerous  memorials,  such  as  crutches,  wax  models  of  eyes,  and  ears, 
and  attested  inscriptions  and  documents,  will  be  found  suspended  in  the  churches 
in  testimony  to  miraculous  cures  wrought  by  the  relics  of  saints — in  short,  cases 
possessing  all  the  four  criteria,  and  which  Mr.  Brooks  must  either  acknowledge  to 
be  pious  frauds,  or  become  a  Papist  at  once,  in  obedience  to  miraculous  evi- 
dence. 

Our  author  next  informs  his  congregation  and  readers  of  some  objections  which 
he  has  ascertained  to  be  'favourite'  with  unbelievers  (p.  15).  One  of  these 
*  favourite  objections  to  the  Bible'  is,  that  it  is  '  the  invention  of  priests,  merely 
to  promote  priestcraft  and  kingcraft !'  Mr.  Brooks  assures  us  that  it  is  a  well- 
known  fact  that  bad  and  ambitious  kings  '  do  not  love  and  read  the  Bible  ;'  and 
'  as  to  priestcraft,'  says  he,  '  there  is  such  a  thing;  go  to  Rome,  to  Romanists,  and 
to  Romanisers' — for  be  it  understood  that  Mr.  Brooks  is  one  of  the  extreme  Low 
Church  party,  and  classes  together  'Romanists,  Tractarians,  and  all  other  worldly 
ministers ;'  and  in  another  passage  of  his  discourse  laments  over  '  the  existence 
and  prevalence  of  infidels  and  scoffers  and  blasphemers,  of  Socinians,  Papists, 
and  Tractarians ;'  thus  not  sparing  a  large  body  of  the  most  active,  sincere,  and 
well-intentioned  ministers  of  his  own  church,  merely  on  account  of  their  differing 
with  him  and  his  party  on  some  minor  points  of  doctrine  and  discipline.  After 
such  an  instance  of  feelings  promoted  by  evangelical  faith  even  within  the  fold  of 
the  church,  what  treatment  can  we  outcasts  and  rebels  expect  ? 

Mr.  Brooks  asserts  (p.  17),  that  '  infidels  require  us  to  believe  things  far  more 
difficult'  (than  miracles)  ;  '  they  deny,  for  example,  that  God  created  the  universe  ; 
yet  call  on  us  to  believe  that  matter  is  eternal,  and  originally  possessed  intellect, 
volition,  and  creative  or  miraculous  power,  i.  e.,  that  dead,  inert  matter,  did  of 
itself  spontaneously  produce  all  sorts  of  organised  animals  and  plants — man, 
also,  with  his  noble  intellect  and  soul'  (p.  17).  This  is  an  error;  for  he  says  that 
he  has  'just  read  statements  substantially  agreeing '  with  this  in  the  '  Logic  of 
Death,' '  written  by  that  poor  infidel  Holyoake,  who  was  lecturing  here  a  few  weeks 
since.'  Nothing  like  this  will  be  found  in  the  '  Logic  of  Death.'  That  the  atheist 
does  consider  matter  to  be  eternal,  is  perfectly  correct ;  and,  for  that  very  reason, 
no  atheist  could  make  use  of  such  a  term  as  that  matter  '  originally  possessed,'  or 
'  originally  was' — whatever  is  eternal  has  no  origin,  beginning,  or  end.  And  what 
does  Mr.  Brooks  mean  by  '  dead,  inert  matter  ?'  How  much  longer  is  that  extra- 
ordinary expression  to  be  repeated  ?  Dead,  inert  matter  !  Have  theologians  no 
eyes,  no  ears?  Do  not  rivers  run  unceasingly  ?  Do  supernatural  hands  supply 
their  sources,  or  compel  their  progress  to  the  sea,  or  is  it  not  rather  the  material 
properties  of  water  that  cause  these  vigorous  actions  ?  Do  not  the  winds  blow, 
and  by  natural  and  kuown  causes  ?  Air  and  water,  then,  are  neither  immaterial 
nor  inactive,  dead  or  inert.  Are  no  changes  in  progress  on  the  surface  of  the 
earth  ?  does  the  sea  not  alter  the  coast,  and  time  and  weather  change  the  aspect 
and  structure  of  the  mountains?  Are  earthquakes,  in  Mr.  Brooks's  opinion,  the 
work  of  devils,  or  gods,  or  some  other  members  ot  the  supernatural  family  ?  or 
do  they  also  furnish  proofs  that  matter  is  not  inert  or  inactive  ?    Ascending  to  the 


THE  REASONER.  271 


grander  phenomena  of  nature,  where  or  what  is  the  supernatural  motive  power  of 
the  solar  system  ?  Is  gravity  a  god,  or  may  we,  with  Br.  Nichol,  a  Christian  phi- 
losopher and  author  of  the  '  Architecture  of  the  Heavens,'  conclude  that '  it  is  an 
ultimate  proj  erty  of  matter?'  Is  electricity  an  immaterial  or  supernatural  entity, 
or  is  it  a  property  of  matter?     Dead,  inert  matter  ! 

'  Organised  plants  and  animals,  man  also,  with  his  noble  intellect,'  are  not  now 
at  least  produced  by  supernatural  causes ;  and  the  atheist,  without  positively 
asserting  that  there  must  have  been  a  beginning  to  life  in  this  earth,  argues  that  if 
a  plant,  an  animal,  or  a  man,  can  be  produced  at  this  time  without  supernatural 
interference,  so  also  a  first  plant,  a  first  animal,  or  a  first  man,  may  have  been  na- 
turally produced  in  this  earth  under  the  right  circumstances — circumstances  which 
probably  cannot  occur  in  the  present  condition  of  our  globe.  Our  difficulties,  and 
our  ignorance,  are  not  in  the  least  dispelled — but,  on  the  contrary, complicated  and 
increased — by  the  adoption  of  the  ancient  belief  in  a  supernatural  contriver  and 
maker,  who,  after  existing  from  eternity  in  absolute  void  and  solitude,  suddenly 
proceeded  to  create  the  universe  out  of  nothing,  or  out  of  himself. 

The  Rev.  Mr.  CoUisson,  in  his  first  lecture,  makes  use  of  the  '  design'  argument, 
and,  like  his  friend  the  vicar,  expatiates  on  the  '  inertness '  of  matter  as  proving 
the  existence  of  a  God  !  What  we  have  already  said  with  regard  to  this  point, 
will  therefore  apply  to  Mr.  Collisson  as  well.  In  fact,  Mr.  Collisson's  three 
lectures,  occupying  much  more  space,  and  making  much  more  pretension  to  logical 
demonstration  than  Mr.  Brooks's  discourse,  afford  even  more  cases  of  groundless 
assertion.  As  a  sample  of  the  last-mentioned  quality,  we  will  take  the  peroration 
of  his  third  lecture, '  on  the  causes  of  infidelity.'  One  of  these  causes  he  defines 
to  be  '  immorality  of  life,'  and  he  exhorts  the  unbelievers  among  his  audience  in 
the  following  language  : — '  Do  not  then, you  that  are  infidels,  persist  in  your  present 
unhappy  and  ruinous  condition,  but  seek  of  God  that  new  heart  which  you  have 
reason  to  believe  he  will  bestow  on  those  that  ask.  Depend  upon  it,  however  sweet 
pres^ent  indulgence  and  loose  living  may  seem  to  some,  there  are  no  joys  sin  can 
yield  equal  to  those  of  a  good  conscience,  and  a  mind  at  peace  with  God.  Be 
assured,  indulgence  in  sensuality  carries  ruin  with  it,  leaves  a  sling  behind  it,  and 
will  certainly  terminate  in  misery,'  &c. 

The  only  excuse  for  this  is,  that  it  is  so  thoroughly  and  universally  traditional 
among  Christians,  that  we  may  well  understand  how  it  is  that  some  of  them  become 
sincerely  couvinced  of  the  substantial  truth  of  this  charge  of  immorality  against 
unbelievers,  though  contradicted  by  facts  of  past  and  present  history.  Caricatures 
of  us  have  been  drawn  by  the  priests  in  their  weekly  easels,  the  pulpits,  and  passed 
off  as  portraits.  A  false  thing  must  be  a  bad  thing,  and  cannot  tend  to  make  men 
wiser,  better,  or  happier ;  a  true  thing,  or  any  approximation  to  truth,  cannot  lead 
to  evil  of  any  species. 

Mr.  Collisson,  in  his  first  lecture,  tries  to  prove  the  genuineness  and  authenticity 
of  the  Old  and  Xew  Testaments,  and  certainly  some  of  his  arguments  have  to  us 
at  least  the  charm  of  novelty.  For  example  (p.  13),  '  The  name  Jove  was  that 
familiarly  known  among  the  ancients  as  the  name  of  the  Supreme  Deity.  It  is 
remarkable  how  closely  this  approaches  to  the  name  Jehovah,'  &c.  'In  the 
heathen  mythology,  you  find  a  great  deal  about  the  exploits  of  Hercules.  Now  in 
the  early  parts  of  Bible  history,  though  we  have  no  record  of  any  such  extraor- 
dinary and  incredible  achievements  as  are  ascribed  to  Hercules,  yet  we  have  this 
statement  plainly  declaring  the  existence  of  such  monstrous  forms  of  the  human 


TfTBt  BBJkSOSIES. 


K  iiiiMi  9ATS,*  Gca.  tL,  4.** 
or  Sjubbsv,  ««o,aq^bt fatal  Am  ^loaai 
■In.'  Ikiygirt^  I  !!■■>■# 
<he  aenBd  lBcfeneiB«B  Oe  DirmB  Aa- 
T*  BO  «sf  ^f  ■«—  to  tke  eiUMti  «e  ksvB 
=Kk  Icctoic  ttoc  ■  SK  Mf^^K^x.  OTMnnng 
MM  Mi  ICflMi  to  iy  Mr. 
S.B. 


A  SCMMAKr  OF  TBB  THSOU)GT  OF  FULTO. 


joL 


:tofcvt( 


''-»f  to  &^  Ml  fBt  to  orfva  fifep  ia  ofee- 
k^  to  *•*«■■■  QmnArtM  fat  Ac 


todoM. 
» «r  CMdl,  Md  CMMt  W  Oe 
'  rfwrr,  aai  them  Me  wc 

il  BiiiiiiMi  iiiiaiiB  itiit 
^  >»*•  «f  a«r  ■rij.lifcMH,  «^ick  precwJi  fnm  the 


of  evil,  vkkfc  alvmjs 


:'s"s;tkat'm9om^  to  fffiroai  tl^Md  to 

Idb  Md  life ;  Md  tkat  wUe  «•  five  in 

f  love  s  coaliwil  eoahat  to 


-r.-l.I. 


)ev«d  ft  riaUe;  Alt  Oe 
■d  ikat  tharaky  «• 


AedcadiUI  rteifMa;  Oii  tken  daO  be  s 
idef  tke  vidaed,  vhere  aea  AaU 
-•Wcfc  ifaD  ke  Ike  eecMiM  of 


THE  REASONER-  273 


d^anttnatuin  of  f^e  ^vtii. 


Baptist  Riots  ix  Jamaica. — Spanish  Town,  Jamaica,  has  been  the  scene  of 
considerable  excitement,  owing  to  the  attempts  of  a  number  of  the  Baptist  con- 
gregations to  obtain  possession  of,  or  to  destroy,  the  dwelling-house  and  chapel  of 
the  ReT.  J.  M.  Phillippo.  It  appears  that  during  an  absence  of  Mr.  Phillippo  in 
England,  some  years  ago,  a  Mr.  Dowson  was  sent  to  occupy  his  place,  who  took 
adTantage  of  his  position  to  secure  to  himself  the  affections  of  a  large  body  of  the 
people.  On  Mr.  Phillippo's  return  he  expected  to  obtain  possession  of  the  mis- 
sion-premises ais  his  right,  6ut  as  t/u  people  had  built  the  chapel  arid  ktmm  dug  mut- 
gxTud  themselves  possessed  of  an  absolute  control  over  the  property,  aad  ^riskaA  to 
gire  it  to  Dowson.  The  matter  was  then  thrown  into  the  courts  of  law,  and  ulti- 
mately came  before  the  Court  of  Chancery;  it  was  decided  in  Mr.  Phillippo 's  favour, 
inasmuch  as,  though  congregations  have  a  right  to  elect,  they  have  no  right  to  d^ptai^ 
a  pastor.  The  people,  in  their  simplicitu,  neither  could  nor  would  compniiaiid  tiub ; 
they  determined  to  consider  their  opinion  as  the  law,  and  to  enforce  it  vi  et  armia. 
Accordingly  on  December  31,  1850,  a  large  multitude  riotously  assembled  in  the 
chapel,  and  from  thence  proceeded  to  the  house,  where  they  began  to  cut  dow» 
the  trees,  break  the  banisters,  knock  out  the  windows,  and  give  other  decisive 
proofs  that  they  would  do  what  they  liked  with  their  own.  Mr.  PhiUippo  stood 
his  ground  riith  that  intrepidity  tor  which  he  was  conspicuous  in  the  days  of  slavery, 
and  sent/or  the  magistrates.  A  number  of  persons  were  seized  for  the  riot  and  de- 
predation, and  were  brought  to  trial  before  Mr.  Justice  Stephenson  on  June  18th, 
1851.  The  trial  lasted  two  days.  A  verdict  of  guilty  was  returned,  and  though 
their  offence  was  punishable  with  transportation,  yet,  in  consideration  of  their 
comparative  ignorance  of  law,  the  judge  passed  a  mild  sentence.  The  ringleader 
is  to  be  imprisoned  and  kept  to  hard  labour  in  the  general  penitentiary  for  twelve 
months,  and  the  rest  tor  nine  months,  with  the  exception  of  one,  whose  term  is 
only  three  months.  This  sentence  was  altogether  unexpected  ;  a  scene  of  mourn- 
ing, lamentation,  and  woe  was  the  result.  Crowds  followed  to  the  prison,  and  from 
thence,  on  sudden  impulse,  rushed  to  the  mission-house.  The  work  of  destruction 
began  furiously ;  all  that  could  be  destroyed  in  a  short  time,  both  of  the  house 
and  its  furniture,  was  destroyed.  The  military  were  called  out — the  riot  act  was 
read ;  and  at  the  time  the  paper  left  from  which  we  derive  our  information  (the 
Kingston  Jloming  Journal')  the  whole  town  was  in  a  state  of  alarm.  Thaae  events 
cannot  but  distress  every  Christian  mind.  Mr.PAUlippo  Mai^lf  must  deeply  feel  them. 
Many,  of  course,  will  secy,  why  did  he  not  jrawv,  oad  tkms  fnwnt  such  collisions?  But 
we  have  no  doubt  that,  in  the  long  run,  the  peac«  and  prosperity  of  churches  will 
be  best  secured  by  the  present  enforcement  of  the  law,  however  disagreeable  the 
lesson  or  the  process  of  teaching. — From  a  correspondent  of  the  Bristol  Mercury. 
[W.  C.  would  like  to  know  the  Kev.  Mr.  Fleming's  opinion  of  the  conduct  of  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Phillippo,  when  judged  by  the  following  views  of  the  Sermon  on  the 
Mount :  Matt,  v.,  9,  39,  40,  44  ;  vi.,  25-34.  Also,  whether  the  scenes  described 
may  be  taken  as  evidence  of  missionary  success  ?] 

Mr.  Ruskin's  REuaiors  Strictures. — Vital  as  is  the  religious  question,  it 
seems  with  Mr.  Ruskin  to  overweigh  every  other.  We  find  his  notions  on  this  head 
pushed  to  an  excess:  he  insists  on  faith,  as  if  it  were  more  important  in  the 
pursuit  of  Art  than  in  any  other  following  of  life  ;  when,  in  fact,  it  is  equally  re- 
qoisite  in  all.  It  is  most  dangerous  to  dogmatise  on  these  things  as  our  author 
does,  as  the  intellect  cannot  be  proved  to  depend  on  the  moral  faculty,  and  it  is 


I  274 


THE  REASONER. 


possible  for  an  inGdel  to  have  far  grenter  understanding  than  many  a  learned  and 
religious  man ;  whence  it  would  result  that  his  power  would  be  much  greater  in 
Science  or  Art,  supposing  his  mind  applied  to  their  pursuit.  We  admit  that  to 
be  the  highest  state  of  man  which  combines  the  most  intellect  and  the  most  re- 
ligion; we  do  not  allow  there  can  be  no  true  intellect  in  Art  where  there  is  no 
religion.  The  real  question  is  that  of  the  result  of  works — whether  they  tend  to 
do  good  or  evil.  We  believe  that  a  work  may  do  the  greatest  harm,  and  yet  be 
perfect  in  itself  as  the  result  of  intellect.  How  many  good  and  beautiful  ideas, 
how  much  of  true  poetic  feeling  that  finds  something  to  love  in  all  nature  and 
good  Art,  have  been  exposed  to  ridicule  by  being  forced  to  an  absurd  result  ?  The 
truth  never  suiFers  more  than  from  those  who  in  their  enthusiasm  so  describe 
and  apply  it,  as  to  make  it  seem  a  parody  on  itself:  and  if  we,  sympathising  with 
Mr.  Kuskin,  yet  feel  alarmed  at  his  dogmata,  what  must  be  the  result  with  those 
who  think  his  views  altogether  wrong?  Ridicule,  nothing  but  ridicule, scorn  flung 
into  the  face  of  divine  truth,  because  the  Author  will  exaggerate  her  features.  We 
say  vital  religion  is  of  great  benefit  in  the  following  of  Art— Mr.  Ruskin  that 
there  can  be  no  true  Art  without  it.  Let  him  mark  the  difference.  Ours  is  an 
opinion  that  may  be  respected  as  such ;  perhaps  may  influence  even  those  who 
did  not  agree  with  it.  Mr.  Ruskin's  is  a  dogma  which  many  can  disprove.  Both 
statements  arise  from  the  same  principle,  but  which  is  likely  most  to  serve  the 
cause  of  Truth  ? — Architectural  Quarterly  Review,  July  1st. 

Archdeacon  Hare's  Mission  of  the  Comforter.  —  '  It  is  grievously 
common  among  divines  to  close  their  eyes  against  the  light  of  conscience,  and 
against  that  idea  of  justice  and  right,  which  is  one  of  the  pole-stars  of  the  human 
mind,  and  to  pare  and  screw  down  the  notion  of  justice  into  accordance  with  the 
scheme  of  propositions  which  they  have  built  up  into  their  theological  system.  It 
has  been  contended  indeed  by  many,  that  we  can  have  no  correct  conception  of 
justice,  except  what  we  derive  from  the  Bible  :  so  fond  are  men  of  pampering 
their  sloth  and  self-sufficiency  by  assuming  that  they  have  the  only  key  to  all 
knowledge  in  their  hands,  and  that  everything  else  is  naught.  But,  without  stop- 
ping to  argue  against  this  debasing  fallacy  which  all  history,  and  philosophy  and 
poetry,  and  the  laws  of  all  nations,  refute,  or  to  show  how  the  reverse  is  implied  in 
every  page  of  the  Bible  itself,  speaking,  as  it  everywhere  does,  to  the  reason  and 
the  conscience,  it  is  sufficient  to  call  to  mind  that  sublime  question,  "Shall  not  the 
Judge  of  all  the  world  do  right  ?"  that  is,  "  Shall  not  He  do  what  shall  be  recog- 
nised to  be  right  by  man's  reason  and  conscience  ?"  This  question,  be  it  remem- 
bered, is  one  which  man  was  permitted  to  ask ;  nor  do  we  read  that  it  was  re^'arded 
as  presumptuous,  but,  on  the  contrary,  that  the  Judge  of  all  the  earth  vouchsafed 
to  give  ear  to  it,  and  to  justify  his  ways.' — Note  2,  p.  370.  [So  Archdeacon  Hare 
does  not  object  to  our  putting  the  God  of  the  Bible  on  his  trial,  and  judging  him 
by  the  natural '  idea  of  justice  and  rij.'ht.'     A  valuable  concession.— E.  B.] 

Dogmatism. — Maintain  a  constant  watch  at  all  times  against  a  dogmatic  spirit: 
fix  not  your  assent  to  any  proposition  in  a  firm  and  unalterable  manner  till  you 
have  some  firm  and  unalterable  ground  for  it,  and  till  you  have  arrived  at  some 
clear  and  sure  evidence — till  you  have  turned  the  proposition  on  ajl  sides,  and 
searched  the  matter  through  and  through,  so  that  you  cannot  be  mistaken.  And 
even  where  you  think  you  have  full  grounds  for  assurance,  be  not  too  early  nor 
too  frequent  in  expressing  this  assurance  in  too  peremptory  and  positive  a  manner, 
remembering  that  human  nature  is  always  liable  to  mistake. —  Watt$, 


THE  REASONER. 


275 


Clje  CanbersSCon  of  ^itaStaStuS  ta  t^e  iBa^ammttim  aacItflCon. 


There  had  arrived  at  Pera  a  foreigner, 
whom  I  shall  call  Eugenius.  His  os- 
tensible object  was  to  acquire  the  ancient 
lore  of  the  East,  in  return  for  which  he 
most  liberally  dealt,  out  the  new  creed  of 
the  West.  I  cannot  better  describe  him 
than  as  the  antipode  to  Father  Ambro- 
gio.  For  as  the  one  was  a  missionary 
of  a  society  for  the  propagation  of  be- 
lief, so  was  the  other  an  emissary  of  a 
sect  for  the  diffusion  of  disbelief.  He 
meditated,  indeed,  a  pilgrimage  to  the 
Holy  Land,  but  with  the  view  to  prove 
more  scientifically  the  fatuity  of  all 
things  holy.  Reason,  philosophy,  and 
universal  toleration  were  the  only  ob- 
jects of  his  reverence ;  and  some  of  his 
tenets,  which  I  picked  up  by  the  way, 
had  in  them  a  something  plausible  to 
my  mind,  and,  if  not  true,  seemed  to  my 
inexperience  ben  trovati.  He  conceived 
that  there  might  exist  offences  between 
man  and  man,  such  as  adultery,  murder, 
&c.,  of  a  blacker  die  than  the  imperfect 
performance  of  certain  devout  practices 
— eating  pork  steaks  in  Lent  included; 
and,  above  all,  he  thought  that  what- 
ever number  of  crimes  a  man  might,  on 
using  his  utmost  diligence,  crowd  in  the 
short  span  of  this  life,  they  still  might 
possibly  be  atoned  for  in  the  next  by 
only  five  hundred  thousand  million  of 
centuries  (he  would  not  abate  a  single 
second)  of  the  most  excruciating  tor- 
ture ;  though  this  period  was  absolutely 
nothing  compared  with  eternity.  As  to 
his  other  tenets,  they  were  too  heinous 
to  mention. 

Ere  father  Ambrogio  was  aware  that 
Eugenius  broached  such  abouiinable 
doctrines  he  had  introduced  me  to  him 
in  the  quality  of  drogueman,  or  rather 
of  cicerone;  and  the  tone  in  whicii  I 
was  received  might  have  made  the  father 
suspect  that  all  was  not  right.  But  the 
father's  range  of  intellectual  vision  ex- 
tended not  further  than  his  own  nose, 
and  that  was  a  snub  one. 

'  It  was  you  quibbling,  sophistical 
Gre  ks,  cried  Eugenius,  laughing, '  who, 
proud,  at  the  commencement  of  the 
Christian  era,  of  your  recently  imported 
gnosticism,  perverted  by  its  mystic  doc- 
trine the  simple  tenets  of  Christianity. 
It  was  you  who,  ever  preferring  the  im- 


probable and  the  marvellous  to  the  na^ 
tural  and  the  probable,  have  contended 
for  takino  in  a  literal,  and  therefore  in 
an  absurd  sense,  a  thousand  expressions 
which  in  the  phraseology  of  the  East 
were  only  meant  as  figurative  and  sym- 
bolical ;  and  it  was  you  who  have  set  the 
baneful  example  of  admitting,  in  reli- 
gious matters,  the  most  extraordinary 
deviations  tVom  the  course  of  nature  and 
from  human  experience,  on  such  partial 
and  questionable  evidence,  as,  in  the 
ordinary  affairs  of  man,  and  in  a  modern 
court  of  justice,  would  not  be  received 
on  the  most  common  and  probable  oc- 
currence.' 

Father  Ambrogio,  who  conceived  that 
every  reflection  upon  the  Greeks  must 
be  in  favour  of  the  Romans,  was  de- 
lighted with  this  speech,  and,  as  he  went 
away,  earnestly  recommended  to  me  to 
treasure  up  in  my  memory  all  the  saga- 
cious sayings  of  the  wise  man  whom  I 
had  the  happiness  to  serve. 

But  it  was  not  long  before  he  changed 
his  mind.  The  very  next  day,  when  T 
called  on  Eugenius,  I  found  padre  Am- 
brogio in  most  angry  discussion  with 
him  about  the  doctrine  of  divine  cle- 
mency, which  the  friar  could  not  abide. 
Eugenius  at  last  was  obliged  to  say,  in 
his  laughing  way,  that  since  the  father 
appeared  so  incurably  anxious  for  end- 
less punishment,  all  he  could  do  for  him 
was  to  pray  that,  by  a  single  exception 
in  his  favour,  he  at  least  might  be 
damned  to  all  eternity.  Father  Ambro- 
gio, who  never  laughed,  and  who  hated 
Eugenius  the  more  for  always  laughing, 
upon  this  speech  left  the  room  ;  but  the 
next  time  he  met  me  alone  he  very 
seriously  cautioned  me  against  one  who, 
he  was  sure,  must  be  a  devil  incarnate. 

*  If  so,'  thought  I,  '  he  preaches 
against  his  own  tradei^  and  his  princi- 
pal is  little  obliged  to  him  for  making 
his  dominion  a  mere  leasehold,  instead 
of  a  perpetuity.'  Meanwhile  I  resolved 
not  to  be  too  sure,  and,  when  Eugenius 
took  off'  his  clothes,  watched  whether  I 
could  perceive  the  cloven  toot.  Nothing 
appearing  at  all  like  it,  and  his  disposi- 
tion seeming  gentle,  obliging,  and  hu- 
mane, 1  began  to  be  fond  ot  his  company 
— until,  from  liking  the  man,  I  uutor- 


276 


THE  REASONER. 


tunately  by  degrees  came  not  to  dislike 
Bome  parts  of  the  doctrine  of  which  he 
was  the  apostle. 

Eugenius  differed  in  one  respect  from 
his  brethren  of  the  new  school.  While 
they  wished  to  subvert  all  former  sys- 
tems in  toto,  ere  they  began  to  re-edify 
according  to  their  new  plan,  he,  on  the 
contrary,  only  contended  for  the  appeal 
to  reason  on  points  of  internal  faith, 
and  urged,  in  external  practices,  the 
propriety  of  conforming  to  the  esta- 
blished worship;  and  this,  not  from 
selfish  but  philanthropic  motives :  '  for,' 
said  he, '  while  the  vulgar  retain  a  pecu- 
liar belief,  they  will  close  their  eyes  and 
hearts  against  whatever  practical  good 
those  wish  to  do  them  who  join  not  in 
their  creed  ;  and  should  they,  in  imita- 
tion of  their  betters,  give  up  some  of 
their  idle  tenets — unable  immediately, 
like  those  they  imitate,  to  replace  the 
checks  of  superstition  by  the  powers  of 
reason — they  will  only  from  bad  lapse 
into  worse,  let  loose  the  reins  to  their 
passions,  and  exchange  errors  for  crimes.' 

Now,  in  conformity  to  this  doctrine  of 
my  master,  what  could  be  clearer  than 
that  it  behoved  me,  where  the  Koran 
was  become  the  supreme  law — as  a  quiet 
orderly  citizen,  zealous  in  support  of  the 
establishment — with  all  possible  speed 
to  become  a  Mohammedan  ?  Should 
there  happen  to  be  any  personal  advan- 
tage connected  with  this  public  duty  ; 
should  my  conforming  to  it  open  the 
door  to  places  and  preferments  from 
which  I  otherwise  must  remain  shut 
out ;  should  it  raise  me  from  the  rank 
of  the  vanquished  to  that  of  the  victors, 
and  enable  me,  instead  of  being  treated 
with  contempt  by  tbe  Turkish  beggai-, 
to  elbow  the  Greek  prince,  was  that  my 
fault  ?  or  could  it  be  a  motive  to  abstain 
from  what  was  right,  that  it  was  also 
profitable  ? 

The  arguments  appeared  to  me  so 
conclusive,  that  1  had  only  been  watch- 
ing for  an  opportunity  to  throw  off  the 
contemptuous  appellation  of  Nazarene, 
and  to  become  associated  to  the  great 
aristocracy  of  Islamism,  some  time 
before  the  fair  Esnie  lent  the  peculiar 
grace  of  her  accent  to  its  Allah,  Illah, 
Allah;  and  though,  for  the  credit  of 
uiy  sincerity,! could  wish  my  conversion 
not  exactly  to  liave  taken  place  at  the 
particular  moment  at  which  the  light  of 
truth  happened  to  shine  upon  me,  yet. 


all  things  considered,  I  thought  it  wiser 
not  to  quibble  about  punctilios,  than  to 
be  sewed  in  a  sack,  and  served  up  for 
breakfast  to  some  Turkish  shark. 

Thus  it  was  that  the  doctrine  of  pure 
reason  ended  in  making  me  a  Moham- 
medan ;  but  with  a  pang  I  quitted  for 
the  strange  sound  of  Selim  my  old  and 
beloved  name  of  Anastasius,  given  me 
by  my  father,  and  so  often  and  so  sweetly 
repeated  by  my  Helena. 

I  was  scarce  a  Mohammedan  skin 
deep,  when  I  again  met  padre  Ambro- 
gio,  whom  since  my  affair  with  Esm6  I 
had  entirely  lost  sight  of,  and  who  knew 
not  my  apostasy. 

'Son,'  said  he  in  a  placid  tone,  'we 
are  all  at  times  prone  to  passion.  I 
myself,  meek  as  you  now  see  me,  have 
had  my  unguarded  moments;  but  it  is 
impossible  that  you  should  not  wish  to 
achieve  the  glorious  work  so  well  begun. 
Suppose,  therefore,  we  resume  our 
spiritual  exercises.  You  are  already  so 
far  advanced  in  the  right  road,  that  we 
cannot  fail  ultimately  to  make  you  an 
exemplary  Roman  Catholic' 

'  Father,'  answered  I,  '  what  may  ul- 
timately happen  it  is  not  in  man  to 
foresee:  meantime,  since  we  met  last, 
another  trifling  impediment  has  arisen 
to  my  embracing  the  Latin  creed.  I  am 
become  a  Moslemin.' 

At  this  unlooked-for  obstacle,  father 
Ambrogio  started  back  full  three  yards. 
'Holy  Virgin!'  exclaimed  he,  'how 
could  you  make  such  a  mistake  ?' 

Not  caring  to  assign  the  true  cause  ; 
'  I  wanted,'  said  I, '  to  secure  in  the 
next  world  a  little  harem  of  black-eyed 
girls.' 

At  this  speech  father  Ambrogio 
fetched  a  deep  sigh  ;  and  began  to  muse, 
looking  alternately  at  his  habit  and  at 
mine.  'Well!'  said  he,  after  a  pause ; 
'  at  least  you  no  longer  are  a  Greek,  and 
that  is  something ;'  and  hereupon  he  de- 
parted— wondering,  I  suppose,  where  in 
his  paradise,  Mohammed  meant  to  dis- 
pose of  the  angels  whose  eyes  were  blue. 

I  never  was  very  ambitious  of  learn- 
ing, but  my  new  godfather,  a  formal 
Turkish  grey-beard,  could  not  brook  my 
total  ignorance  of  my  new  religion. 
'  You  are  not  here  among  Scheyis,'  said 
he,  '  who,  under  the  name  of  Moham- 
medans, live  the  lives  of  yaoors,  drink 
wine  as  freely  as  we  swallow  opium,  and 
make  as  little  scruple  of  having  in  their 


THE  REASONER. 


277 


possession  paintings  of  pretty  faces,  as 
if  at  the  day  of  judgment  they  were  not 
to  find  sonls  for  all  those  bodies  of  their 
own  creating.  You  are  —  Allah  be 
praised  ! — among  strict  and  orthodox 
Sunnees ;  and  howerer  an  old  believer 
may  have  had  time  to  forget  his  creed, 
a  yonng  neophyte  should  hav&  it  at  his 
fingers'  ends. 

So  I  had  to  learn  my  catechism  afresh. 
Great  indeed  was  my  inclination  to  ex- 
postulate :  but  all  I  could  obtain  was  to 
be  provided  with  a  teacher  who,  lor  my 
twenty  paras  a  lesson,  should  put  me  in 
the  way  of  passing  over  the  bridge 
Seerath  as  speedily  as  possible.  And 
this  I  was  promised. 

Nothing,  therefore,  could  exceed  my 
surprise,  when  in  walked  the  gravest  of 
the  whole  grave  body  of  doctors  of  law 
— the  very  pink  and  quintessence  of  true 
believers  ;  one  who  would  not  miss  say- 
ing his  namaz  regularly  four  times  a 
day,  three  hundred  and  sixty  days  in 
the  year,  for  all  the  treasures  of  the 
Devas :  who,  to  obtain  the  epithet  of  the 
hafeez,  had  learnt  his  whole  Koran  by 
heart  unto  the  last  stopj  and  who,  not 
satisfied  with  praying  to  God  like  oiher 
people,  had  linked  himself  to  a  set  of 
dancing  derwishes,  for  the  sole  purpose 
of  addressing  the  Deity  with  more  effect 
in  a  sugar-loaf  cap,  and  spinning  round 
the  room  like  a  top : — a  personage  who, 
in  a  devout  fit,  would  plump  down  upon 
his  knees  in  the  midst  of  the  most 
crowded  street,  without  turning  his  head 
round  before  he  had  finished  the  last 
reekath  of  his  orison,  if  all  Con'^tanti- 
nople  were  trembling  in  an  earthquake; 
who,  considering  all  amusements  as 
equally  heinous,  made  no  difference 
between  a  game  of  chess  or  mangala  and 
illicit  attentions  to  one's  own  great- 
grandmother,  and  once,  in  bis  devout 
fury,  with  his  enormous  chaplet  posi- 
tively demolished  Karagheuz  in  the 
midst  of  all  his  drollery :  a  personage 
who,  at  the  end  of  the  Ramadan,  looked 
like  a  walking  spectre,  and  the  very  last 
time  of  this  fast  absolutely  doubled  its 
length,  only  for  having  snuffed  up  with 
pleasure,  before  the  hours  of  abstinence 
were  over,  the  fumes  of  a  kiebab  on  its 
passage  out  of  a  cook-shop  :  a  personage 
who  had  an  absolute  horror  of  all  repre- 
sentations of  the  human  figure — those  of 
St.  Mark  on  the  Venetian  sequin  only 
excepted  :  a  personage,  in  fine,  who  al- 


ready was  snrnamed  in  his  own  district 
the  wely  or  saint ;  and  whom  all  his 
neighbours  were  dying  to  see  dead,  only 
that  they  might  hang  their  rags  round 
his  grave,  and  so  get  cured  of  the  ague. 

When  this  reverend  mooUah  first 
made  his  appearance,  his  face  was  still 
bedewed  with  tears  of  sympathy,  occa- 
sioned by  a  most  heart-rending  scene  of 
domestic  woe,  which  his  charitable  hand 
had  just  assuaged.  In  an  adjoining 
street  he  had  found,  stretched  out  on  the 
bare  pavement,  a  whole  miserable  family 
— father,  mother,  brothers,  sisters,  to- 
gether with  at  least  a  dozen  children  of 
tender  age — in  a  state  of  complete  star- 
vation. The  very  description  of  such  a 
piteous  sight  harrowed  up  my  soul. 
Lest,  however,  the  holy  man  should  incur 
a  suspicion  of  having  been  betrayed  into 
a  weakness  so  reprehensible  as  that  of 
pity  for  the  human  species — for  which 
he  felt  all  the  contempt  it  deserved,  and 
which  he  never  presumed  to  solace  under 
any  of  the  visitations  inflicted  by  Pro- 
vidence— I  should  add  that  the  wretched 
objects  of  his  present  compassion  were 
of  that  less  reprobated  sort,  the  canine 
species  !  They  belonged  to  those  troops 
of  unowned  dogs  which  the  Turks  of 
Constantinople  allow  to  live  in  their 
streets  on  the  public  bounty,  in  order  to 
have  the  pleasure  of  seeing  them  bark 
at  the  Christians,  whom  their  Frank 
dress  betrays.  To  these,  and  other 
beings  of  the  irrational  genus,  were  con- 
fined the  benefactions  of  my  tutor;  but 
if  his  own  species  had  few  obligations  to 
acknowledge  from  him,  he  was  recorded 
as  having  purchased  the  liberty  of  three 
hundred  and  fifty  canary  birds  in  cages, 
granted  pensions  to  the  baker  and 
butcher  tor  the  maintenance  of  fifty 
cats,  and  left  at  least  a  dozen  dogs,  whom 
he  found  on  the  pave,  handsomely  pro- 
vided tor  in  his  will. 

No  sooner  was  my  venerable  instructor 
comfortably  seated  on  his  heels  in  the 
angle  of  my  sola,  than,  looking  around 
him  with  an  air  of  complacency,  as  if 
he  liked  my  lodgings,  he  told  me,  to  my 
infinite  satisfaction,  that,  provided  he 
only  took  his  station  there  for  two  hours 
every  day,  he  pledged  himself  before 
the  end  of  the  first  year  to  instruct  me 
thoroughly  in  all  the  diversities  of  the 
four  orthodox  rituals  —  the  Hanefy, 
Schafey,  Haabaly,  and  Maleky ;  toge- 
ther with  all  that  belonged  to  the  ninety- 


278 


THE  REASONER. 


nine  epithets  of  the  Deity,  represented 
by  the  ninety-nine  beads  of  the  chaplet. 
In  the  space  of  another  twelvemonth  he 
ventured  to  hope  that  be  might  go  over 
with  me  the  principal  difference  between 
the  two  humlred  and  eighty  most  ca- 
nonical mufessirs  or  commentators  on 
the  Koran,  as  well  as  examine  the  two 
hundred  and  thirty-five  articles  of  the 
creed,  concerning  which  theologians  dis- 
agree; and  in  the  third  year  of  our 
course  he  promised  to  enable  me  com- 
pletely to  refute  all  the  objections  which 
the  Alewys  and  other  disuenters  made 
to  the  Sunnee  creed  ;  and  to  give  me  a 
general  idea  of  the  tenets  of  the  seventy- 
two  leading  heretical  sects,  from  that  of 
Ata-hakem-Mookanna,  or  the  one-eyed 
prophet  with  the  golden  mask,  to 
Khand-Hassan  the  fanatic  who  eat  pork 
and  drank  wine  in  the  public  market- 
place like  any  Christian  :  so  as,  through 
dint  of  so  much  diligence,  on  the  fourth 
and  last  year  to  have  nothing  to  do  but 
to  go  over  the  whole  again,  and  imprint 
it  indelibly  on  my  memory.  By  way  of 
a  little  foi-etaste  of  the  method  of  dis- 
putation in  which  he  promised  toinstruct 
me,  he  took  up  one  of  the  controverted 
points;  first  raised  his  own  objections 
against  it ;  and  then — as  he  had  an  in- 
dubitable right  to  do  with  his  undisputed 
property  —  again  completely  overset 
them  by  the  irresistible  force  of  his  ar- 
guments; after  which,  having  entirely 
silenced  his  adversary,  he  rose,  equally 
proud  of  the  acuteness  of  his  own  rhe- 
toric, and  charmed  with  the  sagacity 
with  which  I  had  listened. 

The  truth  is,  I  had  fallen  asleep ;  for 
which  reason,  when  I  suddenly  awoke 
on  the  din  of  his  argumentation  ceas- 
ing, I  shook  my  head  with  a  profound 
air,  and  by  way  of  showing  how  much 
in  earnest  I  meant  to  be,  with  a  very 
wise  look  said  I  could  not  give  my  un- 
qualified assent  until  I  heard  both  sides 
ot  the  question.  Thus  far  I  had  heard 
neither. 

This  determination  rather  surprised 
my  doctor,  who  seemed  to  have  relied 
on  my  faculty  of  implicit  credence. 
'Hear  both  sides  of  the  question  !'  ex- 
claimed he,  in  utter  astonishment. 
'  Why,  that  is  just  the  way  never  to 
come  to  a  conclusion,  and  to  remain  in 
suspense  all  the  days  of  one's  life  ?  Wise 
men  first  adopt  an  opinion,  and  then 
learn  to  defend  iti  For  my  part  I  make 
it  a  rule  never  to  hear  but  one  side  ;  and 


so  do  all  who  wish  to  settle  their  belief.' 
The  thing  had  never  occurred  to  me 
before ;  but  I  thought  it  had  .in  it  a 
something  plausible,  which  at  any  rate 
made  me  resolve  not  to  lengthen  the 
four  years'  course  by  idle  doubts.  Ac- 
cordingly in  the  three  first  lessons  I 
agreed, "''J  every  thing  the  doctor  said  or 
meant  to  say,  even  before  he  opened  his 
mouth,  and  only  wondered  how  things 
so  simple,  for  instance,  as  the  Prophet's 
ascent  to  the  third  heaven  on  the  horse 
Borak,  with  a  peacock's  tail  and  a 
woman's  face  (I  mean  the  horse),  could 
be  called  in  question.  Unfortunately, 
when  in  the  fourth  lesson  the  moollah 
asserted  that  Islamism  was  destined  ul- 
timately to  pervade  the  whole  globe,  a 
preposterous  longing  seized  me  to  show 
my  learning.  I  asked  how  that  could 
be,  when,  as  Eugenius  had  asserted,  an 
uninterrupted  day  of  several  months 
put  the  fast  of  the  Ramadan  wholly  out 
of  the  question  near  the  poles  ?  This 
difficulty,  which  the  doctor  could  not 
solve,  of  course  put  him  in  a  great  rage. 
He  reddened,  rubbed  his  forehead,  re- 
peated my  query,  and  at  last  told  me  in 
a  violent  perspiration,  that  if  I  mixed 
travellers'  tales  with  theology,  he  must 
give  up  my  instruction. 

I  was  too  happy  to  take  him  at  his 
word ;  instantly  paid  what  I  owed  for 
the  lessons  received  ;  and  begged  hence- 
forth to  remain  in  contented  ignorance. 
Lest,  however,  I  should  appear  petulant 
to  my  godfather,  1  went  and  desired  him 
to  find  me  a  moollah  that  was  reasonable. 
'  A  moollah  that  is  reasonable  I'  ex- 
claimed an  old  gentleman  present,  who 
happened  to  belong  to  the  order  him- 
self, '  Why,young  man,  that  is  a  most 
unreasonable  request.  The  Koran  itself 
declares  the  ink  of  the  learned  to  be 
equal  in  value  to  the  blood  of  martyrs ; 
and  where  will  a  single  drop  be  shed  in 
disputation,  if  all  agree  to  be  reason- 
able ?  But  come,'  added  he,  laughing, 
*  I  will  undertake,  without  a  fee,  to  teach 
you  in  one  word  all  that  is  necessary  to 
appear  a  thorough-bred  Moslemin  ;  and 
if  you  doubt  my  receipt,  you  may  even 
get  a  fethwa  of  the  Mufty,  if  you  please, 
to  confirm  its  efficacy.  Whenever  you 
meet  with  an  infidel,  abuse  him  with  all 
your  might,  and  no  one  will  doubt  yon 
are  yourself  a  staunch  believer.'  1  pro- 
mised to  follow  the  advice. — Anastasius; 
or,  Momoira  of  a  Greek,  pp.  140-9. 


THE  REASONER.  279 


Otir  ^giatfarm. 

From  tt^hich  any  earnest  opponent  may  controvert  our  opinions,  and  from  which  any  may  expound  views 
not  coincident  with  our  own,  if  tending  to  the  Rationalisation  of  Theology. 

THE     REPLY    OF     MR.    NORRINGTON. 


Sir, — My  motive  for  writing  to  you  on  a  late  occasion  was  not  to  engage  in  any 
controversy,  but  simply  to  affirm  what  I  conceived  to  be  the  truth,  and  to  show 
that  a  believer  in  God  and  in  the  goodness  of  Christ  need  not  necessarily  be  super- 
stitious, and  that  he  may  be  the  friend  of  progress  and  of  the  utmost  freedom  of 
inquiry. 

I  am  not  committed  to  any  opinions,  for,  as  reason  and  experience  enlarge,  we 
know  not  what  new  views  may  break  in  upon  our  minds  to  prove  the  futility  of 
former  conceptions.  If  'M.  A.,'  or  Mr.  Chilton,  had  said  anything  to  convince  me 
that  I  maintained  a  false  position,  I  should  be  ready  to  record  the  change  of 
sentiment. 

In  my  letter  I  contended  that  it  appeared  to  me  that  you  judged  of  Christianity 
by  modern  theology,  which  theology  is  not  supported  by  Christ  or  his  apostles.  I 
contended  that  orthodoxy  and  Catholicism  are  not  consistent  Christianity,  and 
that  the  morality  of  Christ  was  pure  and  heavenly. 

My  views  respecting  these  points  are  unchanged,  but  some  remarks  of  '  M.  A.'s' 
and  Mr.  Chilton's  deserve  notice.  '  Goodness  and  virtue,'  says  *  M,  A.,' '  are  irre- 
spective of  Jesus ;  therefore  we  cannot  destroy  these  qualities  by  any  objection  to 
him.'  It  is  true  that  they  are  irrespective  of  Jesus,  as  well  as  of  every  other 
teacher;  but  this  is  not  a  good  reason  why  we  shall  not  cherish  his  memory,  and 
identify  him  to  a  great  extent  with  those  noble  qualities  which  he  so  well  developed. 
To  me,  and  I  hope  to  many  others,  Christ  is  the  best  representative  of  moral  and 
spiritual  excellence ;  and  although  the  destruction  of  the  man  would  not  be  the 
destruction  of  the  virtue  and  goodness  associated  with  him,  yet  surely  their  efficacy 
would  be  impaired  and  their  progress  retarded.  Men  and  measures,  in  some 
degree,  always  go  together ;  and  when  the  man  is  found  defective,  the  measure 
sufifers  suspicion.  Prove  Cobden  selfish^  and  you  injure  the  principle  of  free 
trade;  prove  Blanco  White  capricious,  and  you  injure  rationalism  ;  prove  Paine 
a  drunkard,  and  you  injure  deism  ;  prove  Holyoake  dogmatic,  and  you  injure  free 
thought.  Believing  this,  I  cannot  behold  the  character  of  Christ  impugned  with- 
out protesting. 

'  The  sayings,  teachings,  and  actions  of  Christ  are  about  devils,  hell-fire,  and  a 
God  dooming  the  vast  majority  of  his  creatures  to  eternal  torments '  (*M.  A.'). 
Wherever  the  words  devil  and  hell  are  found  in  the  Testament,  they  are  capable 
of  rational  interpretation.  As  *M.  A.'  undoubtedly  professes  to  be  a  rationalist 
as  well  as  myself,  he  is  equally  bound  to  accept  the  meaning  most  consistent  with 
good  sense  and  probability — and,  in  fact,  he  has  no  right  to  take  those  absurd 
interpretations  which  in  his  heart  he  utterly  despised,  and  which  have  made 
religion  contemptible.  Does  he  not  know  that  liberal  Christians,  especially  Unita- 
rians, have  long  discarded  the  popular  superstitions  connected  with  this  highly- 
figurative  language,  and  that  they  have  shown  that  these  words,  when  viewed  in 
their  proper  light  and  with  reference  to  the  time  and  place  in  which  they  were 
first  employed,  have  nothing  in  them  but  what  may  be  explained  on  the  principles 
of  natural  religion  and  sound  philosophy  ? 

'  Are  the  Gospels  a  proper  report  of  Jesus  ?'  In  the  main,  I  should  say,  'Yes. 
'  But,'  it  may  be  asked,  '  where  are  we  to  distinguish  between  the  true  and  the 


280  THE  REASONER. 


false  V  I  candidly  confess  I  do  not  know.  Every  man  must  judge  for  himself, 
and  be  persuaded  in  his  own  mind.  But  observe  the  distinction,  mentioned  in  my 
former  letter,  between  moral  truth  and  historic  relation — the  first  essentially  and 
necessarily  true,  the  last  the  subject  of  doubt  and  evidence.  The  writers  were,  of 
course,  subject  to  all  the  influences  which  affect  the  mind ;  and  as  they  lived  in  an 
age  when  every  extraordinary  natural  event  was  attributed  to  miraculous  agency, 
and  when  belief  in  supernaturalism  and  preternaturalism  was  common,  the  Gospels 
must  undoubtedly,  with  all  other  ancient  books,  have  considerable  latitude  of 
interpretation.  Strauss  hits  the  point  when  he  says, '  We  often  take  that  to  be 
true  history  which  is  only  an  idea.'  In  all  books,  even  of  modern  date,  there  is  a 
mixture  of  truth  and  error.  The  objection  that  because  some  part  of  an  historical 
detail  is  improbable  or  impossible  therefore  the  whole  is  untrue,  may  be  brought 
against  every  historic  work.  If  my  friendly  opponents  were  to  allow  that  Plutarch, 
RoUin,  and  Gibbon  were  true,  I  should  not  by  this  admission  suppose  that  they 
pledged  themselves  to  every  one  of  their  statements,  or  read  them  without  just 
discrimination.  Let  me  and  others  be  judged  with  equal  charity  when  we  say  the 
Gospels  will  give  us  a  true  idea  of  Christ. 

'  M.  A.'  affects  not  to  understand  what  I  mean  by  the  spirit  of  a  thing  indepen- 
dent of  the  letter.  An  occasional  severity  in  Howard  or  Oberlin  would  not  de- 
stroy the  characteristic  of  their  lives — benevolence.  Testimony  and  tradition,  all 
but  universal,  proclaim  the  goodness  and  purity  of  Jesus;  and  thus,  in  our  dis- 
crimination of  what  is  recorded  of  him,  the  spirit  of  the  man  should  influence  our 
judgment.  I  must  request '  M.  A.'  to  apply  to  Mr.  Chilton  to  relieve  his  obtusity, 
who  says, '  The  spirit  in  which  my  first  letter  is  dictated  is  all  that  can  be  desired ;' 
and  yet  Mr.  C.  comes  forth  as  the  objector  to  the  letter.  The  distinction  between 
spirit  and  letter  is  much  better  perceived  than  described ;  and  it  does  not  follow, 
because  we  are  not  able  to  define  a  thing,  that  we  cannot  appreciate  it. 

It  would  be  expecting  too  much  from  you,  Mr.  Editor,  to  suppose  that  yon  could 
afford  space  for  a  discussion  as  to  the  effect  which  the  advocacy  of  new  doctrines 
and  truths  has  at  first  upon  mankind.  'M.  A.'  altogether  denies  that  the  promul- 
gation of  good  produces  temporary  confusion  and  disorder.  Assertion  against 
assertion  is  valueless.  In  this  matter  the  history  of  all  reforms  must  be  our 
teacher;  and  to  these  I  appeal  for  the  confirmation  of  my  statements.  If  the  ten 
commandments  had  not  been  objected  to,  nor  any  moral  code,  you  would  not  now 
have  to  fight  for  free  thought  and  the  Charter.  Science,  politics,  morality,  religion, 
can  all  number  their  martyrs. 

*  M.  A.'  thinks  it '  unfair  to  ask  for  judgment  of  the  Bible  and  Christ  in  the  same 
impartiiil  manner  that  we  judge  of  other  documents  and  characters,  because* 
everybody  is  offended  when  it  is  attempted.'  Certainly  a  very  poor  excuse ! 
Because  ti.e  mass  of  professing  Christians  are  bibliolators,  the  book  must  not  be 
estimated  according  to  its  intrinsic  value  !  To  quote  from  that  book, '  The  fear  of 
man  worketh  a  snare.'  It  is  evidently  unfair  to  say  a  thing  is  worth  less  than  it 
is,  because  others  say  it  is  worth  more  than  it  is.  The  argument  goes  to 
strengthen  the  position  I  first  took — that  freethinkers  are  too  apt  to  be  led  by  the 
accidents  and  corruptions  of  Christianity  from  the  consideration  of  the  thing 
itself. 

I  think  that  if  my  opponents  had  kept  the  thought  in  their  mind  that  my  letter 
was  written  with  peculiar  reference  to  the  orthodox  opinions  respecting  religion 

•   '  M.  A.'  can  here  see  the  difference  between  spirit  and  letter.  Which  must  I  take  ? 


THE  REASONER. 


281 


and  Christ,  they  would  have  spared  some  of  their  remarks  as  inapplicable  and 
unnecessary.     Modern  theology  is  the  caricature  of  Christianity. 

'  "What  is  consistent  Christianity  ?'  (Mr.  C.)  It  certainly  does  not  consist  in 
opinions,  but  rather  in  the  new  commandment  of  Christ — '  By  this  shall  all  men 
know  that  ye  are  my  disciples  if  ye  have  love  one  to  another.'  To  me  it  appears 
independent  of  dogmas,  and,  in  one  sense,  even  of  Christ.  Christianity  is  the 
catholic,  the  universal.  '  The  absolute  ground  of  everything  is  unknown,'  says 
Coleridge;  and  what  can  be  strictly  comprehended  and  described  must  be  less  than 
the  mind  that  can  comprehend  and  describe  it.  I  may  as  well  ask  Mr.  C,  What 
is  the  nature  of  all  the  moral  qualities  ?  He  can  give  me  a  definition  that  shall 
only  be  partly  true,  and  with  that  we  must  rest  contented.  Mahometans,  like 
Christians,  are  divided  into  many  sects.  Is  there  then  no  such  thing  as  Mahome- 
tanism  ?  In  all  cases  of  conscience  every  man  is  his  own  master,  and  if  he  be 
happy  and  satisfied  with  himself,  and  faithful  to  his  own  idea,  he  performs  his  part 
in  creation.  Henrt  Nobbington. 

THE      POPULAR      CHRISTIANITY. 


LETTER    FIRST. 

Sir, — Having  just  bought  and  read  No.  268  of  your  journal,  and  finding  in  it 
statements  which  appear  to  me  objectionable,  because  relatively  and  absolutely 
untrue — in  the  absence  of  other  answers  expressing  the  same  sentiments  as  mine 
own,  I  should  feel  glad  should  you  think  my  communication  worthy  a  column  for 
your  readers. 

I  would  wish  to  state,  that  I  have  never  before  offered  my  thoughts  to  the  public 
— that  I  would  have  it  remembered,  it  may  be  owing  to  the  advocate  rather 
than  to  the  absence  of  truth  in  the  conclusions  advocated,  that  there  should  be  im- 
perfections and  not  so  clear  elucidation  and  forcible  defence  of  religious  truth  as 
the  subject  admits.  I  would  that  others  with  larger  outfit  and  opportunity  more 
frequently  defended  their  views  in  your  publication. 

To  the  monotheist,  truth  must  exist  in  the  absolute  mind;  and  the  guarantee  is, 
that  this  mind  has  revealed  some  portions  of  it. 

I  doubt  not  your  character  merits  the  admiration  it  has  called  forth.  I  am  well 
aware  your  moral  attainments  are  highly  regarded  by  some  wise  and  pious  men. 
Others  will  doubtless  mourn,  since  your  energies,  perseverance,  and  talents  are 
not  directed  to  the  promulgation  of  religion.  Should  you  possess  the  truth,  you 
are  better  employed ;  should  you  not,  your  endeavours  will  but  brighten,  or  at 
least  hasten  on  for  the  multitude,  that  intellectual  daylight  which  has  doubtless 
burst  upon  a  favoured  few. 

Should  God  exist,  you  cannot  but  be  a  '  co-worker;'  for,  to  me.  He  even  maketh 
all  things  to  praise  him,  to  be  productive  of  happiness — murder,  deceit,  yea  excess 
of  every  kind — how  much  more  your  efforts  !  Should  any  Christian  object  to  this 
let  him  read,  who  bows  to  it,  the  passage — '  He  maketh  the  wrath  of  man  to  praise 
him,  and  the  remainder  of  that  wrath,'  which  would  not  praise  him,  *  doth  he 
restrain.'  To  the  philosophic  Christian  we  must  say  the  intention  of  the  letter 
does  not  embrace  the  proof,  which  might  be  given,  of  this  which  may  appear  to 
some  an  unwarrantable  statement. 

I  would  not  that  too  much  sympathy  were  expressed  and  felt  at  the  apparent 
prospect  of  your  'lost  condition.'  The  providence  of  God,  founded  in  wisdom  and 
justice — or  in  mercy,  comprehending  both — is  a  much  wiser  government  than  an 
unworthy  fear  of  hell  or  a  selfish  hope  of  heaven  would  reveal.    I  would  remind 


282  THE  REASONER. 


some,  earnest  bat  comparatively  thoughtless  upon  this  point,  how  to  gain  the 
wisest  answer  to  this  question  of  damnation  and  salvation,  and  refer  them  to  that 
answer,  breathing  of  divinity  always  fresh  from  the  hills  of  Nazareth,  to  the 
question,  '  Lord,  are  there  few  that  be  saved  ?' '  strive  to  enter  in  at  the  straight 
gate,'  &c.  Christ  well  knew  the  paramount  necessity  of  '  working  out  your  own 
salvation' — personal,  painful  effort;  he  well  knew  that  he  who  had  'endured 
hardness  as  a  good  soldier ' — the  synonyme  with  'strive  to  enter  in,'  &c. — finds 
such  satisfactory  answer  in  the  work,  through  God's  ordination,  that  any  professed 
revelation  of  earth,  or  heaven,  or  hell  could  not  frighten  or  gainsay.  Christ  has 
yet  to  teach  us,  or  rather  we  have  yet  to  learn,  that  he  whose  mind  is  deep  rooted 
in  the  sea  of  truth,  and  especially  consecrated  truth,  makes 

*  The  pillar'd  firmament  appear  like  rottenness. 
And  earth's  basis  built  on  stubble  ! 

Under  any  circumstances,  Christianity  points  to  a  common  focus  in  which  the 
Christian  and  the  sceptic  alike  might  meet;  and  were  it  not  for  the  common  dis" 
trust  of  truth  but  too  manifest  with  the  orthodox  believer  and  unbeliever,  it  would, 
I  think,  be  more  clearly  seen  by  both,  I  mean  the  morality  of  man.  I  mean  the 
union  of  hearts  beating  with  manly  and  generous  sentiments  strong  in  virtue  and 
intelligence,  and  '  making  the  angels  of  heaven  to  rejoice  '  over  many  sinners,  re- 
penting of  the  unworthy  and  the  base,  and  issuing  through  the  gates  of  sorrow  and 
remorse  to  the  joys  of  heroic  and  manly  minds.  One  sinner  born  anew  to  man  is  a 
sight  only  less  glorious  than  the  *  new  birth  '  of  Christ's  '  children  of  the  highest.' 

It  is  not  now  our  object  through  your  journal  to  address  your  readers  on  this 
subject ;  let  it  now  suffice  to  remark  that  a  more  peaceful,  elevated  strife — war,  if 
you  prefer  the  term — might,  by  enlarged  experience,  &c.,  open  our  mutual  percep- 
tions of  things  divinely  human,  and  perhaps  through  them  we  should  tempt  the 
morning  air  of  heaven,  which  might  surprise  our  wondering  reverence  into  a  yet 
more  vigorous  and  healthy  glow  of  things  divinely  holy. 

I  feel  I  must  apologise  for  not  keeping  to  the  spirit  of  my  text.  I  opened  by 
declaring  I  conceived  objections  to  statements  in  your  journal,  and  have  inadver- 
tently slipped  into  other  congenial  strains.  I  approve  of  motives  where  I  do  not 
coincide  with  opinions.  I  admire  mistaken  men  who  do  not  appear  to  me  to  teach 
the  truth.  I  am  sorry  there  is  much  I  differ  with  in  the  three  letters  of  this 
number,  and  that  my  objections  to  the  rationalism — not  to  reason  itself — of  the 
third  should  be  as  numerous  as  they  are  to  the  spurious  orthodoxy  of  the  first.  I 
would  rather,  sir,  they  had  been  concentrated  in  your  own  production,  and  perhaps 
1  may  expect  your  thoughts  in  dealing  with  the  third,  supposing  my  answers  may 
involve'  to  yourself  unsatisfactory  arguments.  I  feel  I  am  claiming  too  much 
attention  to  state  what  it  is  I  object  to,  and  the  reasons,  in  one  number;  and  will 
therefore  confine  myself  to  the  former,  and,  with  your  sanction,  will  take  an  early 
opportunity  ot  dealing  with  the  latter. 

In  letter  one,  it  may  startle  some  of  your  readers  that  my  first  objection 
should  be  to  your  title,  as  'the  modern  apostle  of  atheism.'  I  do  not 
so  consider  you.  I  object,  secondly,  to  the  affirmation  that  you  oppose  merely 
'  the  opinions  and  practices  of  men,'  and  not  Christianity  as  taught  to  be  so  by  a 
great  majority  of  evangelical  ministers,  who  dare  not  many  of  them  philosophise 
their  own  opinions — hence  bring  discredit  upon  Christianity.  And,thirdly,  to  the 
explanation  of  God  as  Creator.  Points  which  you  have  answered  it  is  needless  I 
should  dwell  upon. 

In  letter  two  (your  answer),  my  first  objection  is  to  what  appears  to  me  your 


THE  REASONER. 


283 


partial  and  narrowed  view  of  the  laws  affecting  the  human  understanding.  To  the 
bold  statement  I  have  heard  you  make,  that  belief  is  a  matter  of  evidence  simply — 
that  a  just,  satisfactory,  forcible,  and  truihful  appeal  to  the  inteWect,  salis/actujy  to 
any  really  healthy  mind,  is  sufficient,  independent  of  the  state  of  the  moral,  not  to 
speak  of  the  religious,  feelings.  Secondly,  to  your  idea  of  the  eternity  of  matter, 
at  least  if  intimate  in  anything  like  its  present  form.  Thirdly,  to  your  idea  of  the 
self-existent,  independent  power  of  natuie;  also  to  the  inference  you  draw,  that  of 
self-action.  Carlyle's  quotation,  with  great  deference  to  his  talents,  I  think  erro- 
neous and  injurious.  It  is  a  nobler  thought,  demonstrable,  to  view  an  Almighty 
Creator,  and  not  an  almighty  manufacturer  of  the  universe. 

With  your  rational  correspondent  I  am  at  fault — firstly,  that  he  should  say,  not 
only  '  in  attempting  to  destroy  Christianity;'  but  had  he  said  you  were  actually 
destroying  the  name  and  recollection  of  Christ  from  off  the  earth,  I  then  object  to 
the  statement  that  '  you  must  remember  you  are  destroying  all  the  goodness  and 
virtue  which  it  embraces,  as  well  as  its  supposed  evils.'  Also  to  the  reasons  he 
gives  for  his  belief  in  God,  as  being  unsatisfactory;  and  think  there  are  better  dis- 
covered and  to  be  given.  He  represents  the  Protestant  bodies  as  not  acknow 
ledging  the  right  of  private  judgment;  and  that  a  belief  in  the  doctrines  of  depra- 
vity, the  trinity,  &c.,  naturally  and  necessarily  lead  to  the  Church  of  Rome,  which 
I  think  a  mistake.  How  he  totally  misunderstands  the  commonest  teachings  of 
orthodoxy,  by  representing  it  as  characterised  by  an  enunciation  of  a  doctrine  of 
the  wickedness  of  human  reason.  Lastly,  I  am  at  fault  with  him  in  his  represen- 
tations of  Christ  as  a  teacher. 

Should  any  of  your  correspondents  think  I  ought  to  have  answered  objections 
in  stating  them,  I  would  remind  him  that  these  are  subjects  not  well,  if  hastily, 
answered — by  me,  at  least.     Were  it  otherwise,  I  would  gladly  have  done  so. 

A  MiMSTjill  a  i)ON. 


[The  publication  of  this  letter  may  be  taken  by  our  correspondent  as  an  answer 
of  our  willingness  that  he  shall  complete  his  development  of  his  views  of  Popular 
Christianity, — Ed.] 


GUIDE  TO  THE  LECTURE  ROOM. 

Literary  Institution, John  St.,  FitzroySq.— Sept. 
21st  [7ii.  Samuel  Kydd,  '  Society  in  Fiance, 
and  its  Social  EviU.  Sept.  23rd,  [8J],  dis- 
cussion in  the  Coffee  Room.  Question,  '  What 
are  the  best  means  of  improving  the  condition  of 
the  working  classes?' 

Hall  of  Science,  City  Road. — (Closed  for  altera- 
tion.; 

National  Hall,  242,  High  Holborn.— Sept.  21st, 
[8],  P.  VV.  Perfitc,  '  Mormonism.' 

British  Coffee  Rooms,  Kdgeware  Road — Sept. 
21st  [7J,  Henry  T.  Long,  'The  Poetry  of  Demo- 
cracy: "The  Purgatory  of  Suicides."  ' 

Eclectic  Institute,  Denmark  Street,  Soho. — 
Every  Friday  [84],  Mr.  J.  B.  O'Brien,  '  Home  and 
Foreign  Politics.'  Every  Sunday  [7^,  on  '  Moral 
and  Social  Science.' 

Areopagus  Coffee  and  Heading  Room,  59,  Church 
Lane,  Whitechapel.— Every  Sunday,  Moniiay,  and 
Wednesday  {S),  a  Lecture  or  bisoussion. 

City  Forum  Coffee  House,  t)0,  Ked  Cross  Street. 
—  Every  Sunday,  Monday,  and  Thursday  [8^],  a 
Discussion. 

Commercial  Hall,  Philpot  Street,  Commercial 
Boad  East.— Every  Tuesday  and  Thursday  even- 
ing [8],  a  Discussion. 

City  Road  Discussion  Society,  22,  City  Road. — 
Oiecussion  every  Wednesday  evening. 


ADVERTISEMENT. 

MOVEMENT — INFORMATION — ENTER- 
TAINMENT. 

THE     LEADER, 

A  complete  Weekly  Newspapei'.  price  6d. 

For  all  Political  movements — the  manoeuvres  of 
Parties  at  home,  the  combinations  o(  Courts, 
Diplomatists,  and  Armies  abroad — the  mnvements 
of  Peoples  in  the  struggle  to  achieve  and  enlarge 
their  freedom :  For  all  shapes  ot  Progress— the 
Progress  of  the  People  in  Associatinn,  Social 
Relorm,  and  Education— (he  Progress  ol  Disco- 
very, I'raccical  Knowledge,  and  I'ractical  s^cicnce 
— the  Progress  of  Free  Action  in  Tliought  and 
Spiritual  Development:  For  all  that  is  going  on  in 
the  world  of  Books  and  Art,  in  the  Drama,  in 
Personal  jNevvs.  in  tne  changes  of  Trade  and 
Industry,  in  Law  and  Police,  and  in  Adventures 
far  and  wide  :  For  a  plain  treatment  of  every  sub- 
ject in  direct  terras  :  For  a  Iree  utterance  of 
opinion,  open  to  all — 

SEE     THE     LEADER. 
Published  at  10,  Wellington  Street,  Strand;   and 

delivered  in  every  part  of  the  country   every 

Saturday  afternoon. 


284  THE  REASONER. 


Our  <9j)m  Page 

The  New  York  Tribune  has  the  following :— How  to  Deaw  the  Sinners. — 
Several  years  ago  we  were  a  resident  of  North- Western  Louisiana,  near  the  con- 
fines of  Texas.  The  people  there  as  a  general  thing  were  not  much  given  for  re- 
ligion. An  itinerant  preacher  happened  to  go  along  in  the  neighbourhood  during 
the  dearth  of  religion,  and  set  about  repairing  the  walla  of  Zion  in  good  earnest. 
But  his  success  was  poor.  Not  over  half  a  dozen  could  be  got  together  at  his 
Sunday  meetings.  Determined,  however,  to  create  an  interest  before  leaving  the 
neighbourhood,  he  procured  printed  handbills,  and  had  them  posted  up  in  every 
conspicuous  place  in  the  district,  which  read  to  the  following  effect : — 'Religious 
Notice. — Rev.  Mr.  Blaney  will  preach  next  Sunday,  in  Dempsey's-grove,  at  10 
o'clock  a.m.,  and  at  4  p.m.,  Providence  permitting.  Between  the  services,  the 
preacher  will  run  his  sorrel  mare,  Julia,  against  any  nag  that  can  be  trotted  out 
in  this  region,  for  a  purse  of  500  dollars.' — This  had  the  desired  effect.  People 
flocked  from  all  quarters,  and  the  anxiety  to  see  the  singular  preacher  was  even 
greater  than  the  excitement  following  the  challenge.  He  preached  an  eloquent 
sermon  in  the  morning,  and  after  dinner  he  brought  out  his  mare  for  the  race. 
The  purse  was  made  up  by  five  or  six  of  the  planters,  and  an  opposing  nag 
produced.  The  preacher  rode  his  little  sorrel,  and  won  the  day,  amid  the  deafen- 
ing shouts,  screams,  and  yells  of  the  delighted  people.  The  congregation  all 
remained  to  the  afternoon  service,  and  at  its  close  more  than  200  joined  the  church; 
some  from  motives  of  sincerity,  some  for  the  novelty  of  the  thing,  some  from  ex- 
citement, and  some  because  the  preacher  was  a  good  fellow.  The  finale  of  the  affair 
was  as  flourishing  a  society  as  could  be  found  in  the  whole  region  thereabouts. 

There  is  a  book  just  published  worth  perusal — it  is  a  novel  in  two  vols.,  called 
'John  Drayton,  the  early  life  of  a  Liverpool  Engineer,'  and  is  a  well-intentioned 
book,  I  think,  although  the  author  does  try  to  convey  to  his  readers  a  sort  of 
impression  that  all  Chartists  beat  their  wives,  and  that  all  irreligious  men  are 
immoral,  superstitious,  and  unhappy.  Still  he  really  does  seem  to  think  that  it  is 
so,  or  ought  to  be  so ;  and  it  is  gratifying  to  see  that  people  are  beginning  to  be 
conscious  of  the  large  amount  of  unbelief  among  the  intelligent  and  educated 
labouring  men,  and  to  be  alarmed  at  it.  The  author  mentions  the  Reasoner 
several  times, '  The  wise  and  erudite  Reasoner,  manufacturing  pert  doubts  of  the 
truth  of  religion,  and  repeating  difficulties  long  ago  killed  and  buried.'  An 
infidel  workman  from  Glasgow  is  depicted  as  sitting  in  a  Temperance  Hotel  (Mr. 
Spurr's,  I  suppose),  with  the  last  number  of  the  Reasoner,  and  the  'respectable 
Dispatch '  by  his  side.  The  hero  of  the  tale,  who  at  first  is  deluded  by  the  unbe- 
lieving Glaswegian  and  the  Reasoner,  is  converted  by  some  very  wishy  washy,  twad- 
dling sentiment,  to  which  it  is  really  hopeful  to  see  the  devout  reduced.      E.  B. 

J.  Scott  is  informed,  that  the  publication  of  the  names  of  those  who  give 
publicity  to  and  sell  the  Reasoner,  has  already  commenced  on  the  wrapper  of  the 
Monthly  Parts.  We  shall  be  happy  to  add  Mr.  Scott's  name  to  the  list,  with  his 
permission.     Thanks  for  the  other  suggestion. 


Monthly  Parts  of  the  Reasoner  are  uniformly  ready  in  a  double  Supple- 
mentary Wrapper  every  Magazine  day.  Volumes  of  the  Reasoner  are  made  up 
(and  can  be  had  bound)  Half  Yearly. 

London  :  Printed  by  Holyoake  Brothers,  3,  Queen's  Head  Passage,  Patemoster-row ;  and  Published 
by  J.  Watson.  1,  Queen's  Head  Passage,  Paternoster-row. — WedBesday,September  17tb,  1861. 


AND 

THEOLOGICAL     EXAMINER. 

They  who  believe  that  they  have  Truth  ask  no  favour,  save  that  of  being  heard:  they  dare  the 
judgment  of  JMankind  :  refused  Co-operation,  they  Invoke  Opposition,  for  Opposition  is  their 
Opportunity, — Editob. 

RECENT  LECTURES   IN   NEWCASTLE-ON-TYNB  &  GALASHIELS. 

Modern  preaching  is  the  art,  first  of  saying  nothing,  and  then  of  meaning  no- 
thing :  in  other  words,  it  is  the  art  of  saying  only  that  which  is  prescribed  in  the 
doctrinal  routine,  and  of  not  intending  even  that  in  any  practical  sense.  Such  is 
the  character  of  the  sectarian  preaching  of  Newcastle-on-Tyne.  The  Rev.  Mr. 
Pottinger  has  published  another  discourse  on  the  '  Truth  or  Falsehood  of  Christi- 
anity,' repeating  curious  platitudes  such  as  are  confined  to  lower  types  of  orthodox 
sects.  The  Rev,  Mr.  Binney,  of  London,  has  preached  a  '  Sermon  to  Young  Men,' 
a  remarkable  contrast  to  the  local  effusions  of  the  town  in  vigour,  good  sense,  and 
fairness  of  statement-  Mr.  Binney  is  a  native  of  Newcastle-on-Tyne,  and  de- 
servedly a  favourite  with  the  inhabitants.  On  one  night  I  examined  his  sermon, 
and  hope  to  be  able  to  print  some  notice  of  it  here. 

The  People  mentions  that  a  letter  has  been  sent  by  the  Right  Rev.  Dr.  Maltby, 
with  a  subscription  in  aid  of  the  erection  of  a  Presbyterian  place  of  worship  in 
Newcastle— the  Rev.  Doctor  being  '  painfully  aware  of  the  spiritual  destitution  of 
Newcastle,  of  its  increasing  population,  and  of  the  pains  which  have  been  taken  to 
disseminate  Infidelity  and  Socialism.'  There  are  signs  of  practical  organisation  in 
self-defence  against  Superstition  in  Newcastle — such  as  will  require  another  sub- 
scription from  the  good  Bishop  of  Durham.  The  continued  absence  of  the  Rev. 
J.  H.  Rutherford  from  the  discussion  to  which  he  so  vauntingly  challenged  me,  is 
producing  its  fruits  of  reaction  against  his  cause.  That  one  so  enthusiastic  and 
so  well  able  to  do  battle  for  Zion  sLould  frequent  all  obscure  places  in  preference 
to  appearing  in  the  arena  he  once  so  valorously  selected  for  himself,  is  a  matter  of 
dangerous  wonder  to  those  who,  not  being  able  to  appear  in  person  in  defence,  ex- 
pect their  preachers  to  defend  their  opinions  for  them. 

The  Rev.  Mr.  Green  is  another  instance,  of  which  I  reminded  the  Newcastle 
public.  A  gentleman  on  his  behalf  said  that  inability  to  endure  the  excitement 
of  discussion  was  the  cause.  Of  this  he  manifested  no  sign  when  he  made  the 
demonstration  before  me,  which  led  to  the  appointment  of  the  discussion.  When 
the  above  reason  for  his  declining  the  debate  he  had  proposed  was  repeated,  I 
said,  then  let  him  choose  a  Newspaper,  a  Magazine,  or  a  Pamphlet,  and  answer 
me  in  his  closet  at  his  leisure.  He  continues  to  preach :  he  therefore  is  able  to 
think  and  to  talk,  and  might  dictate  if  not  write.  The  Young  Men's  Christian 
Society  no  longer  wishes  controversy.  I  reminded  them  that  having  met  another 
person  was  not  meeting  me,  as  they  proposed,  and  if  one  discussion  had  satisfied 
them,  they  could  not,  as  we  do,  look  to  discussion  as  an  ally — they  must  regard  it 
as  a  foe,  as  something  to  be  avoided.  Mr.  Stringer  of  that  society  appeared  on  two 
nights,  if  I  remember  rightly,  and  urged  some  objections  with  eflaciency. 

But  our  lectures,  though  they  produced  no  defence  on  the  part  of  Wesleyans, 
were  not  without  effect.    The  Conference  in  that  town  furnished  no  champion  to 


[No.  278.]  INo.  19,  Vol.  ii.] 

[ONE  PENNY.! 


286  THE  REASONER. 


do  battle  for  Zion.  Chivalry  has  sui'ely  departed  from  piety,  since  the  Bturdy  sons 
of  Wesley  suflFer  their  faith  to  be  impugned,  in  the  midst  of  their  assembled  re- 
presentatives, without  one  word  of  reply.  Methodism,  it  seemed,  delegated  its 
protection,  at  least  tacitly,  to  a  religious  Jael,  who  appeared  on  the  stage  with 
the  sure  nail  of  the  Lord,  to  be  driven  home,  not  by  the  master,  but  the  mistress 
of  assemblies.  There  liveth  in  Newcasle-on-Tyne  one  Mary  Reed,  and  she 
cha"mpionised  Zion  in  a  style  that  merits  more  space  than  I  can  find  this  week- 
We  must  vouchsafe  Mrs.  Mary  a  special  appearance  in  our  historical  panorama 
of  the  saints  of  this  century,  weekly  presented  in  the  Reasoner. 

One  of  the  fruits  of  the  lecture  in  Galashiels,  of  which  a  report  appeared  in  the 
Leader*  was  a  sermon  by  the  Rev.  James  Smith,  which  he  curiously  entitled  '  On 
Atheism,  or  the  denial  of  the  Father  and  the  Son,  was  foretold  in  Scripture  to  be 
the  Religion  of  the  "  last  days.'"  The  Ministers  in  this  district  would,  I  was  told, 
have  attended  the  lecture  with  the  very  proper  view  of  disputing  any  erroneous 
position  that  might  be  advanced;  but,  consulting  their  Elders  first,  those  prudent 
officers  decided  that  it  would  be  of  no  use  their  ministers  attending,  as  there 
could  be  no  discussing  with  one  who  rejects  Theism.  But,  unless  my  eyes  de- 
ceived me,  some  of  those  same  Elders  came  themselves,  tempted,  it  is  to  be  feared, 
by  the  unsleeping  enemy  of  Souls,  who  finds  time  to  prowl  up  and  down  even 
Galashiels,  seeking  whom  he  may  devour. 

If,  on  this  great  question  of  Secular  Instruction,  I  was  there  to  advocate  hurtful 
notions,  the  Clergy  ought  to  have  been  present  to  have  counteracted  them,  but  if  I,  a 
visitor,  was  there  to  promote  a  good  work,  they  ought,  both  in  courtesy  and  duty, 
to  have  been  there  to  help.  It  is  an  instance  often  occurring  of  Ministers  being 
in  advance  of  their  flock,  for  in  this  case  we  should  have  the  honour  of  their 
presence  and  the  advantage  of  their  aid,  if  their  good  Elders  had  been  a  little  more 
thoughtful  or  a  little  moi-e  generous.  G.  J.  Holyoake. 

FURTHER  READINGS  FROM  MACKAY.f 


'  As  a  man  may  be  intellectually  a  child  long  after  he  has  ceased  to  be  so  phy- 
sically, so  nations  comparatively  enlightened  contain  many  individuals  who  are 
but  the  spoiled  children  of  civilisation,  contributing  nothing  to  its  progress,  and 
who  more  or  less  belong  to  that  intellectual  infancy  of  mankind  which  has  been 
called  the  mythic  age.' 

We  are  dividing  into  two  great  parties — the  one  religious,  the  other  irreligious; 
and  people  who  think  must  make  up  their  minds  to  belong  to  one  or  another. 
Religion  has  been  encouraged  by  the  state, religion  has  become  the  fashion  in  society, 
and  the  result  is  that  men  in  whom  we  cannot  refuse  to  acknowledge  learning 
and  talents  have  become  bigoted  and  superstitious.  In  what  other  way  can  we 
account  for  the  numbers  who  have  increased  the  ranks  of  superstition,  progressing 
in  Puseyism,  and  perfecting  in  Popery.  It  is  the  fault  of  govei-nment,  who  have 
encouraged  religious  education  in  every  sect,  and  discountenanced  secular — who 
have  assisted  the  erection  of  churches  and  chapels,  and  yielded  to  the  fictitious 
famine  cry  of  more  bishops  and  parsons  in  a  church  and  profession  that  hunger 

*  This  lecture  occurred  before  the  Newcastle  ones,  but  the  notice  of  it  has  been  de- 
layed unavoidably. 

t  '  Progress  of  the  Intellect,'  by  R.  W.  Mackay. 


THE  REASONER.  287 


after  emoluments  as  -well  as  the  gratification  of  spiritual  necessities.  More,  more 
is  the  cry,  an!  the  move  they  have  the  moi-e  they  will  v,-ant.  The  results  of  com- 
petition often  are,  in  worldly  things,  that  the  public  have  to  pay  more ;  and  the 
variety*cf  churches  and  sects  each  require  more  funds  to  support  their  separate 
interest.  The  government  not  only  gives  to  all  classes  of  priesthood,  but, 
instead  of  preventing  by  law,  it  proclaims  that  the  wealth  of  the  nation  is  to  be  the 
honoured  prey  of  wolves  in  spiritual  sheep's  clothing.  We  equally  blame  those  who 
profess  spiritual  and  sentimental  religion,  whilst  they  ignore  common  creeds  and 
cant  about  formalism.  Awaken  these  nondescript  emotions  in  the  human  mind,  and 
it  will  attach  itself  to  some  reality  in  life.  You  may  alter  the  superstructure, 
but  all  religion  has  the  same  foundation,  and  the  idea  will  be  built  upon  in  every 
form.  We  seem  to  have  arrived  at  the  state  described  by  our  author,  when  the 
spoiled  children  of  civilisation  would  bring  us  back  to  the  mythic  age.  Succeed- 
ing passages  of  the  author  seem  to  refer  to  those  whose  belief  cannot  be  explained 
by  themselves,  but  who  defend  religion  in  general,  as  innate  and  natural  to  man- 
kind, and  transfer  their  spiritual  and  sentimental  emotions  within  to  whatever  ob- 
jects without  they  like — philosophers  of  this  school  and  the  most  humble  believer 
declaring  alike  that  reason  and  common  sense  have  nothing  to  do  with  faith  and 
religion. 

*  A  man  is  never  perfectly  sane  or  perfectly  matured.  In  every  stage  he  shows 
more  or  less  of  that  tendency  to  self-delusion  most  conspicuous  in  the  earliest 
recollections  of  his  race,  and  which  was  rendered  inevitable  by  his  undisciplined 
avidity  for  the  marvellous,  and  his  incapacity  to  distinguish  sensations  from  ex- 
ternal facts.  Let  the  inward  thoughts  be  assumed  to  be  faithful  copies  or  pic- 
tures of  external  objects,  and  all  mythologies  may  instantly  claim  to  rank  as  truths, 
inasmuch  as  they  truly  represent  what  once  existed  as  mental  conceptions;  every 
gratuitous  creation  of  fancy  or  unsupported  generalisation  of  the  intellect  takes  its 
place  as  a  reality  in  time  and  place  in  history  and  science.'  *  Again,  the  natural 
man  is  full  of  childish  curiosity,  but  is  easily  repelled  by  the  task  of  investigation, 
and  satisfied  with  reasons  insufEcient  or  false.  He  finds  it  easy  to  wonder,  but 
difficult  to  understand.  He  justifies  his  ignorance  by  insisting  on  the  miraculous. 
The  ready  resource  of  a  first  cause  at  once  silences  doubt  and  supersedes  inquiry.' 

Though  the  author  uses  the  word  religion  as  vaguely  as  those  whom  he  condemns, 
we  have  the  religion  of  the  heart  characterised.  '  Religion  often  appears  to  be  a 
mere  sentimeut,.because  the  reason  by  which  it  should  be  disciplined  requires  long 
cultivation,  and  can  only  gradually  assume  its  proper  prominence  and  dignity.  The 
faculties  are  seldom  combined  in  its  avowed  service;  and  from  its  consequent  mis- 
direction has  been  inferred  the  impossibility  of  finding  within  the  limits  of  the 
mind  an  effectual  religious  guide.  It  has  even  been  said  that  religion  has  pro- 
perly nothing  to  do  with  the  head,  but  is  exclusively  an  exercise  of  the  heart  3nd 
feelings;  that  all  the  teaching  or  education  which  can  properly  be  called  religious 
consists  in  the  formation  of  the  temper  and  behaviour,  the  infusing  devotional 
feeling,  and  the  implanting  of  Christian  principles.  In  other  words,  the  highest 
faculty  of  the  mind  is  not  required  in  the  service  of  him  who  bestowed  it.  Through 
this  narrow  view  the  sentiments  are  overexcited,  the  judgment  becomes  propor- 
tionately languid  and  incapable,  the  connection  between  the  theory  and  practice  of 
duty  is  unobserved,  and  dogmas  are  blindly  learned  without  regard  to  their  origin 
or  meaning.  Superficial  religion  has  everywhere  the  same  results ;  it  fluctuates 
between  the  extremes  of  insensibility  and  superstition,  and  exhibits  in  this  respect 


a  curious  parallel  to  the  analogous  catastrophe  of  notional  philosophy.  The  un- 
educated feeling  has  only  the  alternative  of  unquestioning  credulity,  or  of  sacrific- 
ing and  abrogating  itself.  This  is  the  universal  dilemma  of  artificial  creeds — 
their  votaries  divide  into  formalists  and  sceptics,  Pharisees  and  Sadducees.  Cal- 
vinism in  our  own  days,  has  swung  back  to  Rationalism,  and  the  symbolical  forms 
of  ancient  religion  are  pronounced  by  a  competent  observer  (Plutarch)  to  have 
generally  led  to  these  contradictory  extremes.' 

*  The  Jews,  as  a  nation,  were  hopelessly  illiterate ;  even  the  art  of  writing  was  a 
rare  accomplishment  among  the  lower  classes  in  the  age  of  the  apostles.' 
Matthew,  Mark,  and  John  probably  did  not  know  how  to  write.  Jesus,  also,  was 
most  likely  equally  ignorant.  It  is  said  of  him  that  he  wrote  on  the  ground,  as  if 
to  tell  us  that  he  knew  more  than  the  apostles  did.  But  they  do  not  tell  us  that 
he  wrote  manuscript,  and  therefore  probably  they  could  not  read,  otherwise  they 
would  have  delivered  to  us  the  only  composition  of  Jesus,  which  would  have  made 
him  equal  in  that  respect  to  his  prototype  Moses,  who,  we  are  told,  did  write. 
Dr.  Giles  has  given  proof  that  in  the  Old  Testament  they  did  not  know  addition, 
and  Matthew  showed  himself  innocent  of  arithmetic  when  he  declared  thirteen  to 
make  fourteen.  That  Matthew  could  not  read  is  also  probable,  from  the  strange 
work  he  makes  of  quotations  from  the  Old  Testament. 

Mackay  observes — '  The  Eabbis,  whose  learning  consisted  of  a  wilderness  of 
formal  observances  and  quibbling  interpretations  handed  down  by  oral  tradition, 
succeeded  to  the  ancient  authority  of  priests  and  prophets;  and  the  Talmud  is  an 
exhibition  of  what  had  passed  for  wisdom  among  the  most  distinguished  of  the 
nation  for  many  hundred  years  prior  to  its  being  committed  to  writing  at  Babylon 
or  Jerusalem.'  If  oral  tradition  was  then  committed  to  writing,  it  is  probable  that 
was  the  time  the  Old  Testament  was  written,  as  Dr.  Giles  says. 

Mackay  tells  us — '  As  proof  of  the  puerility  of  the  Jews  in  their  notions  of  the 
literary  criticism,  it  is  only  necessary  to  recollect  that  the  book  of  Enoch,  an 
evident  imitation  of  Daniel,  written  under  Herod  the  Great,  is  seriously  quoted  by 
the  apostle  Jude  as  composed  by  the  "  seventh  from  Adam." '  Estranged  from 
foreign  contract,  and  confined  to  the  one  only  circle  of  mystic  theology,  Jewish 
literature  was  but  another  name  for  the  Mosaic  law;  and  its  interpreters,  the 
Rabbi  and  the  Scribe,  claimed  an  infallibility  and  authority  over  the  laity  superior 
even  to  that  of  the  inspired  writers  on  whom  they  commented,  or  of  the  law  itself. 
In  one  instance,  a  Rabbi  is  appealed  to  as  umpire,  to  settle  a  disputed  point  of 
theology  between  God  and  the  angels;  and  Rabbi  Solomon  Jarchi  declares,  that 
'  if  a  Rabbi  should  teach  that  the  left  hand  is  the  right,  and  the  right  the  left,  we 
are  bound  to  believe  him.'  The  reader  will  not  fail  to  perceive  the  resemblance 
between  the  Jewish  and  Roman  Catholic  churches.  The  latter  sets  itself  above 
the  Scriptures,  and  requires  obedience  to  its  authority,  as  Mackay  relates  in 
a  note  an  anecdote  of  Lanfranc,  who,  corrected  by  his  superior,  changed  his  Latin 
pronunciation  from  a  right  to  a  wrong  quantity,  and  of  the  University  of  Paris, 
who  adopted  an  instance  of  bad  grammar  because  a  passage  of  the  Bible  had  been 
BO  translated.  Miserable  indeed  must  be  the  mii,a  who  gives  up  his  conscience 
and  independence  to  another.  Yet  these  are  the  chains  of  slavery  hugged  by 
Puseyites  and  Romanists.  What  reliance  can  be  placed  upon  the  moral  conduct 
of  a  man  who  may  know  what  is  truth  and  what  is  right,  yet  must  yield  his  opinion 
and  his  practice  to  the  dictates  of  his  church  or  his  priest? 

W.  J.  B. 


THE  RBABONEH. 


289 


(SvKmiixKtian  at  i^t  \Brt^9. 


Old  Clo',  Old  Clo'. — Did  you  never  hear,  with  the  mind's  ear  as  well,  that  fateful 
Hebrew  prophecy — I  think  the  fatefullest  of  all— which  sounds  daily  through  the 
streets,  *  On'  clo',  On'  clo'  ?'  A  certain  people  once  upon  a  time  clamorously  voted* 
by  overwhelming  majority,  'Not  he;  Barabbas,  not  he!  Him,  and  what  he  is, 
and  what  he  deserves,  we  know  well  enough  :  a  reviler  of  the  chief  priests  and 
sacred  chancery  wigs,  a  seditious  heretic,  physical  force  Chartist,  and  enemy  of 
his  country  and  mankind.  To  the  gallows  and  the  cross  with  him  !  Barabbas  is 
our  man ;  Barabbas,  we  are  for  Barabbas.'  They  got  Barabbas.  Have  you  well 
considered  what  a  fund  of  purblind  obduracy,  of  opaque  flunkeyism  grown 
truculent  and  transcendent — what  an  eye  for  the  phylacteries,  and  want  of  eye  for 
the  eternal  nobleness — sordid  loyalty  to  the  prosperous  Semblances  and  high 
treason  against  the  Supreme  Fact — such  a  vote  betokens  in  these  natures  ?  For 
it  was  the  consummation  of  a  long  series  of  such  ;  they  and  their  fathers  had  long 
kept  voting  so.  A  singular  people,  who  could  both  produce  such  divine  men,  and 
then  could  so  stone  and  crucify  them  ;  a  people  terrible  from  the  beginning. 
Well,  they  got  Barabbas  ;  and  they  got,  of  course,  such  guidance  as  Barabbas  and 
the  like  of  him  could  give  them ;  and,  of  course,  they  stumbled  ever  downwards 
and  devilwards,  in  their  truculent,  stiff-necked  way ;  and — and,  at  this  hour,  after 
eighteen  centuries  of  sad  fortune,  they  prophetically  sing  '  Ou'  clo' '  in  all  the 
cities  of  the  world.  Might  the  world,  at  this  late  hour,  but  take  note  of  them  and 
understand  their  song  a  little  ! — Carlyle  :  Latter- Day  Pamphlets, 

Essentials  of  a  Union  foe  Mechanics. — The  Lyceums  of  Ancoats,  Chorlton- 
on-Medlock,  and  Salford,  have  realised  the  three  essentials  of  Mechanics'  Institu- 
tions: — 1.  Cheapness,  which  both  insures  their  advantages  reaching  those  who 
chiefly  need  them,  and,  by  enlarging  their  sphere  of  usefulness,  increases  their  pe- 
cuniary resources.  2,  Self  •Government,  which  prevents  their  objects  being  per- 
verted, as  sometimes  happens,  from  the  real  interests  of  the  members  to  suit  the 
personal  or  party  ends  of  those  who  established  them.  3.  Amusement  and  Instruc- 
tion. Such  an  admixture  that,  whilst  the  more  aspiring  eeeker  after  knowledge  is 
aided  and  advanced,  is  especially  calculated  to  interest  and  benefit  the  humbler 
and  more  ignorant.  Female  Instruction,  Newspapers,  &c. — Report  of  Mechanics' 
Institutions,  p.  44.     Society  for  the  Diffusion  of  Useful  Knowledge.     1841. 

Polite  Litekature. — A  Tipperary  priest,  the  Rev.  John  Ryan,  writing  to  the 
editor  of  a  local  paper  upon  the  question  of  feting  the  two  county  members  (Messrs. 
Scully  and  Maher),  concludes  his  epistle  with  a  flourish  to  the  following  effect : — 
'  I  am  right  glad  that  the  "Ecclesiastical  Titles  Bill "  has  become  the  law  of  the 
land.  This  bill  or  law  will  work  miracles  in  favour  of  the  religion  of  St.  Patrick 
and  the  Gospel  of  Christ,  the  Son  of  God.  It  will  prove  to  be  •'  the  beginning  of 
the  end."  Why  do  I  say  this  ?  For  this  all-sufficient  reason — It  will  make  every 
rational  man  and  woman  in  the  kingdom  who  are  outside  the  pale  of  the  church  of 
God — the  Roman  Catholic  church — begin  to  think  and  reflect.  Such  thinking  and 
rational  persons  will  find  on  one  side  the  English  Government  and  the  miserable, 
puny,  politically-forsworn  and  apostate  wretch,  John  Russell,  and  on  the  other 
God  Almighty.  This  abandoned  miscreant,  John  Russell,  when  he  undeservedly 
obtained  the  premiership  of  these  islands,  forgot,  and  still  seems  to  forget,  that 
there  is  a  God  in  Heaven  to  whom,  before  any  and  every  other  being,  he  is,  and 
will  be,  accountable.' — Time». 


290  TBB  RBASONER, 


A  Prater  foe  Sia vert.— The  New  York  Anti-Slavery  Standard  reports  tlie 
following  prayer  to  have  been  lately  offered  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Bachman,  a  Lutheran 
clergyman.  The  occasion  of  its  delivery  is  not  stated : — '  We  beseech  thee, 
Almighty  God,  in  behalf  o(  that  institution  which  recognises  the  rights  and  respon- 
sibilities of  the  master,  and  the  obligations  and  duties  of  the  servants.  We 
thank  thee  that  in  thy  divine  and  holy  word  thou  hast  laid  down  rules  for  the  go- 
vernment of  both,  so  that  the  former  may  not  become  an  oppressor,  or  the  latter 
be  led  on  by  wicked  passions  and  evil  advisers  to  rise  up  in  rebellion  against  his 
lawful  master,  protector,  vind/riend.  We  pray  that  we  may  be  the  humble  instru- 
ments in  thy  hand  of  shedding  the  light  of  thy  gospel  over  the  minds  of  a  benighted 
race.  That  the/oUy  of  those  who  would  reduce  them  beyond  the  level  of  humanity, 
and  incapable  of  understanding  or  receiving  the  truths  of  Christianity,  may  be 
made  manifest  by  the  orderly  deportment,  the  affectionate  obedience,  and  the 
devoted  piety  of  its  humble  servant,  who — whilst  he  is  identified  with  a  race  of 
higher  intelligence,  who  will  be  his  protectors  and  guides — approaches  also  the 
altar  of  the  same  God,  feels  that  he  has  an  equal  interest  in  the  atoning  blood  of 
the  same  Saviour,  and  that,  after  having  mutually  performed  their  duties  in  their 
several  stations  in  their  families  on  earth,  they  may  have  an  assured  hope  of  being 
reunited  in  a  land  of  light,  of  happiness,  and  immortality,  in  the  regions  of  eternal 
glory.' 

Mb.  Rxtskin's  Works. — Mr.  Ruskin  discovers  that  external  objects  are  beauti- 
ful because  they  are  types  of  divine  attributes.  In  the  first  volume  of  the  '  Modern 
Painters '  we  were  startled  by  hearing  of  the  divine  mission  of  the  artist,  of  the 
religions  office  of  the  painter,  and  how  Mr.  Turner  was  delivering  God's  message 
to  man.  What  seemed  an  oratorical  climax,  much  too  frequently  repeated,  proves 
to  be  a  logical  sequence  of  his  theoretical  principles.  All  true  beauty  is  religious; 
therefore,  all  true  art,  ■which  is  the  reproduction  of  the  beautiful,  must  be  religious 
also.  Every  picture  gallery  is  a  sort  of  temple,  every  great  painter  a  sort  of  pro- 
phet. If  Mr.  Ruskin  is  conscious  that  he  never  admires  anything  beautiful  in 
nature  or  art,  without  a  reference  to  some  attribute  of  God,  or  some  sentiment  of 
piety,  he  may  be  a  very  exalted  person,  but  he  is  no  type  of  humanity.  If  he 
asserts  this,  we  must  be  sufficiently  courteous  to  believe  him — we  must  not  sus- 
pect that  he  is  hardly  candid  with  us,  or  with  himself;  but  we  shall  certainly  not 
accept  hira  as  a  representative  of  the  genus  homo.  He  finds  '  sermons  in  stones,' 
and  sermons  always — 'books  in  the  running  brooks,'  and  always  books  of  divinity. 
Other  men  not  deficient  in  reflection  or  piety  do  not  find  it  thvLS.^  Blackwood's 
Magazine,  Sept.  1851. 

Virtue. — Did  the  whole  of  virtue  lie  in  a  conformity  to  the  divine  will,  then 
nothing  could  bo  felt  or  apprehended  as  virtuous  but  in  as  far  as  the  will  of  God 

appeared  in  it Now,  with  every  allowance  for  the  rapidity  which  is  ascribed  to 

the  habitual  processes  of  the  mind,  it  does  appear  very  obvious  that  justice  directly 
and  instantly  announces  its  own  moral  rightaess  to  the  eye  of  an  observer — that  it 
is  felt  to  be  virtuous  without  any  reference  of  the  mind  to  God  at  all,  and  was  so  felt 
at  the  first,  without  any  prior  education  in  the  jurisprudence  of  heaven,  or  any 
thought  of  a  mandate  from  heaven's  sovereign.  Though  earth  had,  with  all  its 
present  accommodations  and  with  the  actual  constitution  which  man  now  has,  been 
placed  beyond  the  limits  of  his  sovereignty,  still  he  would  have  carried  a  sense  of 
moral  distinctions  along  with  him,  and  met  with  objects  of  moral  appi"obation — even 
with  a  mind  desolated  of  all  its  conceptions  of  a  God. — Dr.  Chalmers:  Mo^-al 
Philosophy,  p.  413. 


THE  EEASONER. 


291 


Cl^e   Ctbfl  Hifl^t^    of   Setorf, 


The  oonstitnlion,  It  is  said,  ig  essentially 
Christian  ;  and  therefore  to  admit  Jews 
to  office  is  to  destroy  the  constitution. 
Nor  is  the  Jew  injured  by  being  excluded 
from  political  powei-.  For  no  man  has 
any  right  to  power.  A  man  has  a  right 
to  his  property ;  a  man  has  a  right  to 
be  protected  from  personal  injury. 
These  rights  the  law  allows  to  the  Jew  j 
and  with  these  rights  it  would  be  atro- 
cious to  interfere.  But  it  is  a  mere 
matter  of  favour  to  admit  any  man  to 
political  power;  and  no  man  can  justly 
complain  that  he  is  shut  out  from  it. 

We  cannot  but  admire  the  ingenuity 
of  this  contrivance  for  shifting  the 
burden  of  the  proof  from  those  to  whom 
it  properly  belongs,  and  who  would,  we 
Buspecr,  find  it  rather  cumbersome. 
Surely  no  Christian  can  deny  that  every 
human  being  has  a  right  to  be  allowed 
every  gratification  which  produces  no 
harm  to  others,  and  to  be  spared  every 
mortification  which  produces  no  good  to 
others.  Is  it  not  a  source  of  mortifica- 
tion to  a  class  of  men  that  they  are  ex- 
cluded from  political  power  ?  If  it  be, 
they  have,  on  Christian  principles,  a 
right  to  be  freed  from  that  mortiSoation, 
unless  it  can  be  shown  that  their  exclu- 
sion is  necessary  for  the  averting  of  some 
greater  evil.  The  presumption  is  evi- 
dently in  favour  of  toleration.  It  is  for 
the  persecutor  to  make  out  his  case. 

The  strange  argument  which  we  are 
considering  would  prove  too  much  even 
for  those  who  advance  it.  If  no  man 
has  a  right  to  political  power,  then 
neither  Jew  nor  Gentile  has  such  a  right. 
The  whole  foundation  of  government  is 
taken  away.  But  if  government  be  taken 
away,  the  property  and  the  persons  of 
men  are  insecure ;  and  it  is  acknowledged 
that  men  have  a  right  to  their  property 
and  to  personal  security,  if  it  be  right 
that  the  property  of  men  should  be  pro- 
tected, and  if  this  can  only  be  done  by 
means  of  government,  then  it  must  be 


right  that  government  should  exist. 
Now  there  cannot  be  government  unless 
some  person  or  persons  possess  political 
power.  Therefore  it  is  right  that  some 
person  or  persons  should  possess  political 
power.  That  is  to  say,  some  person  or 
persons  must  have  a  right  to  political 
power. 

It  is  because  men  are  not  in  the  habit 
of  considering  what  the  end  of  govern- 
ment is,  that  Catholic  disabilities  and 
Jewish  disabilities  have  been  suffered  to 
exist  so  long.  We  hear  of  essentially 
Protestant  governments  and  essentially 
Christian  governments,  words  which 
mean  just  as  much  as  essentially  Pro- 
testant cookery,  or  essentially  Christian 
horsemanship.  Government  exists  for 
the  purpose  of  keeping  the  peace,  for  the 
purpose  of  compelling  us  to  settle  our 
disputes  by  arbitration  instead  of  set- 
tling them  by  blows,  for  the  purpose  of 
compelling  us  to  supply  our  wants  by 
industry  instead  of  supplying  them  by 
rapine.  This  is  the  only  operation  for 
which  the  machinery  of  government  is 
peculiarly  adapted,  the  only  operation 
which  wise  governments  ever  propose  to 
themselves  as  their  chief  object.  If 
there  is  any  class  of  people  who  are  not 
interested,  or  who  do  not  think  them- 
selves interested,  in  the  security  of  pro- 
perty and  the  maintenance  of  order, 
that  class  ought  to  have  no  share  of  the 
powers  which  exist  for  the  purpose  of 
securing  property  and  maintaining  order. 
But  why  a  man  should  be  less  fit  to  ex- 
ercise those  powers  because  he  wears  a 
beai'd,  because  he  does  not  eat  ham, 
because  he  goes  to  the  synagogue  on 
Saturdays  instead  of  going  to  the  church 
on  Sundays,  we  cannot  conceive. 

The  points  of  difference  between 
Christianity  and  Judaism  have  very 
much  to  do  with  a  man's  fitness  to  be  a 
bishop  or  a  rabbi.  But  they  have  no 
more  to  do  with  his  fitness  to  be  a  ma- 
gistrate, a  legislator,  or  a   minister   of 


263 


THE  REASONER. 


finance,  than  -with  his  fitnesB  to  be  a 
cobbler.  Nobody  has  ever  thought  of 
compelling  cobblers  to  make  any  decla- 
ration on  the  true  faith  of  a  Christian. 
Any  man  would  rather  have  his  shoes 
mended  by  a  heretical  cobbler  than  by  a 
person  who  had  subscribed  all  the  thirty- 
nine  articles,  but  had  never  handled  an 
awl.  Men  act  thus,  not  because  they  are 
indiflferent  to  religion,  but  because  they 
do  not  see  what  religion  haa  to  do  with 
the  mending  of  their  shoes.  Yet  reli- 
gion has  as  much  to  do  with  the  mending 
of  shoes  as  with  the  budget  and  the  army 
estimates.  We  have  surely  had  several 
signal  proofs  within  the  last  twenty  years 
that  a  very  good  Christian  may  be  a 
very  bad  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer. 

But  it  would  be  monstrous,  say  the 
persecutors,  that  Jews  should  legislate 
for  a  Christian  community.  This  is  a 
palpable  misrepresentation.  What  is 
proposed  is,  not  that  the  Jews  should 
legislate  for  a  Christian  community,  but 
that  a  legislature  composed  of  Christiana 
and  Jews  should  legislate  for  a  commu- 
nity composed  of  Christians  and  Jews. 
On  nine  hundred  and  ninety-nine  ques- 
tions out  of  a  thousand,  on  all  questions 
of  police,  of  finance,  of  civil  and  crimi- 
nal law,  of  foreign  policy,  the  Jew,  as  a 
Jew,  has  no  interest  hostile  to  that  of 
the  Christian,  or  even  to  that  of  the 
Churchman.  On  questions  relating  to 
the  ecclesiastical  establishment,  the  Jew 
and  the  Churchman  may  difi'er.  Bat 
they  cannot  difier  more  widely  than  the 
Catholic  and  the  Churchman,  or  the  In- 
dependent and  the  Churchman.  The 
principle  that  Churchmen  ought  to  mo- 
nopolise the  whole  power  of  the  state 
would  at  least  have  an  intelligible  mean- 
ing. The  principle  that  Christiana 
ought  to  monopolise  it  has  no  meaning 
at  all.  For  no  question  connected  with 
the  ecclesiastical  institutions  of  the 
country  can  possibly  come  before  parlia- 
ment, with  respect  to  which  there  will 
not  be  as  wide  a  difference  between 
Christians  as  there  can  be  between  any 
Christian  and  any  Jew. 

In  fact,  the  Jews  are  not  now  excluded 
from  political  pouer.  They  possess  it; 
and  as  long  as  they  are  allowed  to  accu- 
mulate large  fortunes,  they  must  possess 
it.  The  distinclioa  which  is  sometimes 
made  between  ci/il  privileges  and  poli- 
tical power  is  a  distinction  without  a 
difference.  Privileges  are  power.     Civil 


and  political  are  synonymous  words,  the 
one  derived  from  the  Latin,  the  other 
from  the  Greek.  Nor  is  this  mere  verbal 
quibbling.  If  we  look  for  a  moment  at 
the  facts  of  the  case,  we  shall  see  that 
the  things  are  inseparable,  or  rather 
identical. 

That  a  Jew  should  be  a  judge  in  a 
Christian  country  would  be  most  shock- 
ing. But  he  may  be  a  juryman.  He 
may  try  issues  of  fact;  and  no  harm  is 
done.  But  if  he  should  be  suffered  to 
try  issues  of  law,  there  is  an  end  of  the 
constitution.  He  may  sit  in  a  box 
plainly  dressed,  and  return  verdicts. 
But  that  he  should  sit  on  the  bench  in  a 
black  gown  and  white  wig,  and  grant  new 
trials,  would  be  an  abomination  not  to 
be  thought  of  among  baptised  people. 
The  distinction  is  certainly  most  philo- 
sophical. 

What  power  in  civilised  society  is  bo 
great  as  that  of  the  creditor  over  the 
debtor?  If  we  take  this  away  from  the 
Jew,  we  take  away  from  him  the  security 
of  his  property.  If  we  leave  it  to  him, 
we  leave  to  him  a  power  more  despotic 
by  far  than  that  of  the  king  and  all  his 
cabinet. 

It  would  be  impious  to  let  a  Jew  sit  in 
parliament.  But  a  Jew  may  make 
money;  and  money  may  make  members 
of  parliament.  Gattan  and  Old  Sarum 
may  be  the  property  of  a  Hebrew.  An 
elector  of  Penryn  would  take  ten  pounds 
from  Shylock  rather  than  nine  pounds 
nineteen  shillings  and  elevenpence  three 
farthings  from  Antonio.  To  this  no 
objection  is  made.  That  a  Jew  should 
possess  the  substance  of  legislative 
power,  that  he  should  command  eight 
votes  on  every  division  as  if  he  were  the 
great  Duke  of  Newcastle  himself,  is  ex- 
actly as  it  should  be.  But  that  be  should 
pass  the  bar  and  sit  down  on  those  mys- 
terious cushions  of  green  leather,  that 
he  should  cry  '  hear '  and  '  order,'  and 
talk  about  being  on  his  legs,  and  being, 
for  one,  free  to  say  this  and  to  say  that, 
would  be  a  profanation  sufficient  to  bring 
ruin  on  the  country. 

That  a  Jew  should  be  privy-councillor 
to  a  Christian  king  would  be  an  eternal 
disgrace  to  the  nation.  But  the  Jew 
may  govern  the  money-market,  and  the 
money-market  may  govern  the  world. 
The  minister  may  be  in  doubt  as  to  his 
scheme  of  finance  till  he  has  been 
closeted  with  the  Jew.    A  congress  of 


THB  RBA80NER. 


293 


sovereigns  may  be  forced  to  summon 
the  Jew  to  their  asaistanoe.  The  scrawl 
of  the  Jew  on  the  back  of  a  piece  of 
paper  may  be  worth  more  than  the  royal 
word  of  three  kings,  or  the  national  faith 
of  three  new  American  republics.  But 
that  he  should  put  right  honourable 
before  his  name  would  be  the  most 
frightful  of  national  calamities. 

It  was  in  this  way  that  some  of  our 
politicians  reasoned  about  the  Irish  Ca- 
tholics. The  Catholica'ought  to  have  no 
political  power.  The  sun  of  England  ia 
set  for  ever  if  the  Catholics  exercise 
political  power.  Give  the  Catholics 
everything  else;  but  keep  political  power 
from  them.  These  wise  men  did  not 
see  that,  when  everything  else  had  been 
given,  political  power  had  been  given. 
They  continued  to  repeat  their  cuckoo 
song,  when  it  was  no  longer  a  question 
whether  Catholics  should  have  political 
power  or  not,  when  a  Catholic  Associa- 
tion bearded  the  Parliament,  when  a 
Catholic  agitator  exercised  infinitely 
more  authority  than  the  Lord  Lieu- 
tenant. 

If  it  is  our  duty  as  Christians  to  ex- 
clude the  Jews  from  political  power,  it 
must  be  our  duty  to  treat  them  as  our 
ancestors  treated  them,  to  murder  them, 
and  banish  them,  and  rob  them.  For 
in  that  way,-  and  that  way  alone,  can  we 
really  deprive  them  of  political  power. 
If  we  do  not  adopt  this  course,  we  may 
take  away  the  shadow,  but  we  must  leave 
them  the  substance.  "We  may  do 
enough  to  pain  and  irritate  them  ;  but 
we  shall  not  do  enough  to  secure  our- 
selves from  danger,  if  danger  really 
exists.  Where  wealth  is,  there  power 
must  inevitably  be. 

The  English  Jews,  we  are  told,  are 
not  Englishmen.  They  are  a  separate 
people,  living  locally  in  this  island,  but 
living  morally  and  politically  in  commu- 
nion with  their  brethren  who  are  scat* 
tered  over  all  the  world.  An  English 
Jew  looks  on  a  Dutch  or  Portuguese  Jew 
as  his  countryman,  and  on  an  English 
Christian  as  a  stranger.  This  want  of 
patriotic  feeling,  it  is  said,  renders  a 
Jew  unfit  to  exercise  political  functions. 

The  argument  has  in  it  something 
plausible ;  but  a  close  examination  shows 
it  to  be  quite  unsound.  Even  if  the  al- 
leged facts  are  admitted,  still  the  Jews 
are  not  the  only  people  who  have  pre- 
ferred their  sect  to  their  country.    The 


feeling  of  patriotism,  when  '3ociety  is  in 
a  healthful  state,  springs  up,  by  a  natu- 
ral and  inevitable  associadon,  in  the 
minds  of  citizens  who  know  that  they 
owe  all  their  comforts  and  pleasures  to 
the  bond  which  unites  them  in  one  com- 
munity. But,  under  a  partial  and  op- 
pressive government,  these  associations 
cannot  acquire  that  strength  which  they 
have  in  a  better  state  of  things.  Men 
are  compelled  to  seek  from  their  party 
that  protection  which  they  ought  to  re- 
ceive from  their  country,  and  they,  by  a 
natural  consequence,  transfer  to  their 
party  that  affection  which  they  would 
otherwise  have  felt  for  their  country. 
The  Huguenots  of  France  called  in  the 
help  of  England  against  their  Catholic 
kings.  The  Catholics  of  France  called 
in  the  help  of  Spain  against  a  Huguenot 
king.  Would  it  be  fair  to  infer,  that  at 
present  the  French  Protestants  would 
wish  to  see  their  religion  made  dominant 
by  the  help  of  a  Prussian  or  English 
army  ?  Surely  not.  And  why  is  it  that 
they  are  not  willing,  as  they  formerly 
were  willing,  to  sacrifice  the  interests  of 
their  country  to  the  interests  of  their 
religious  persuasion  ?  The  reason  is 
obvious  :  they  were  persecuted  then,  and 
are  not  persecuted  now.  The  English 
Puritans,  under  Charles  the  First,  pre- 
vailed on  the  Scotch  to  invade  England. 
Do  the  Protestant  Dissenters  of  our 
time  wish  to  see  the  church  put  down 
by  an  invasion  of  foreign  Calvinists  ?  If 
not,  to  what  cause  are  we  to  attribute 
the  change  ?  Surely  to  this,  that  the 
Protestant  Dissenters  are  far  better 
treated  now  than  in  the  seventeenth 
century.  Some  of  the  most  illustrious 
public  men  that  England  ever  produced 
were  inclined  to  take  refuge  from  the 
tyranny  of  Laud  in  North  America. 
Was  this  because  Presbyterians  and 
Independents  are  incapable  of  loving 
their  country  ?  But  it  is  idle  to  multi- 
ply instances.  Nothing  is  so  offensive 
to  a  man  who  knows  anything  of  history 
or  of  human  nature  as  to  hear  those  who 
exercise  the  powers  of  government  ac- 
cuse any  sect  of  foreign  attachments. 
If  there  be  any  proposition  universally 
true  in  politics  it  is  this,  that  foreign 
attachments  are  the  fruit  of  domestic 
misrule.  It  has  always  been  the  trick 
of  bigots  to  make  their  subjects  mise- 
rable at  home,  and  then  to  complain 
that  they  look  for  relief  abroad ;  to  divide 


society,  and  to  wonder  that  it  ia  not 
united  ;  to  govern  as  if  a  section  of  the 
state  were  the  whole,  and  to  censure  the 
other  sections  of  the  state  for  their  want 
of  patriotic  spirit.  If  the  Jews  have  not 
felt  towards  England  like  children,  it  is 
because  she  has  treated  them  like  a 
step-mother.  There  is  no  feeling  which 
more  certainly  develops  itself  in  the 
minds  of  men  living  under  tolerably 
good  government  than  the  feeling  of 
patriotism.  Since  the  beginning  of  the 
world,  there  never  was  any  nation,  or 
any  large  portion  of  any  nation,  not 
cruelly  oppressed,  which  was  wholly  des- 
titute of  that  feeling.  To  make  it  there- 
fore ground  of  accusation  against  a  class 
of  men,  that  they  are  not  patriotic,  is 
the  most  vulgar  legerdemain  of  sophis- 
try. It  is  the  logic  which  the  wolf  em- 
ploys against  the  lamb.  It  is  to  accuse 
the  mouth  of  the  stream  of  poisoning 
the  source. 

If  the  EnglishJews  really  felt  a  deadly 
hatred  to  England,  if  the  weekly  prayer 
of  their  synagogues  were  that  all  the 
curses  denounced  by  Ezekiel  on  Tyre 
and  Egypt  might  fall  on  London,  if,  in 
their  solemn  feasts,  they  called  down 
blessings  on  those  who  should  dash  our 
children  to  pieces  on  the  stones,  still, 
we  say,  their  hatred  to  their  country- 
men would  not  be  more  intense  than 
that  which  sects  of  Christians  have  often 
borne  to  each  other.  But  ini  fact  the 
feeling  of  the  Jews  is  not  such.  It  is 
precisely  what,  in  the  situation  in  which 
they  are  placed,  we  should  expect  it  to 
be.  They  are  treated  far  better  than 
the  French  Frotestuits  were  treated  in 
the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries, 
or  than  our  Puritans  were  treated  in 
the  time  of  Laud.  They,  therefore,  have 
no  rancour  against  the  government  or 
against  their  countrymen.  It  will  not 
be  denied  that  they  are  far  better  affected 
to  the  state  than  the  followers  ot  Coligni 
or  Vane.  Eut  they  are  not  so  well 
treated  as  the  dissenting  sects  of  Chris- 
tians are  now  treated  in  England;  and 
on  this  account,  and,  we  firmly  believe, 
on  this  account  alone,  they  have  a  more 
exclusive  spirit.  Till  we  have  carried 
the  experiment  farther,  we  ought  not  to 
conclude  that  they  cannot  be  made  Eng- 
lishmen altogether.  The  statesman  who 
treats  them  as  aliens,  and  then  abuses 
them  for  not  entertaining  all  the  feel- 
ings of  natives,  is  as  unreasonable  as 


the  tyrant  who  punished  their  fathers  for 
not  making  bricks  without  straw. 

Rulers  must  not  be  suffered  thus  to 
absolve  themselves  of  their  solemn  re- 
sponsibility. It  does  not  lie  in  their 
mouths  to  say  that  a  sect  is  not  patriotic. 
It  is  their  business  to  make  it  patriotic. 
History  and  reason  clearly  indicate  the 
means.  The  English  Jews  are,  as  far 
as  we  can  see,  precisely  what  our  govern- 
ment has  made  them.  They  are  pre- 
cisely what  any  «ect,  what  any  class  of 
men,  treated  as  they  have  been  treated, 
would  have  been.  If  all  the  red-haired 
people  in  Europe  had,  during  centuries, 
been  outraged  and  oppressed,  banished 
from  this  place,  imprisoned  in  that,  de- 
prived of  their  money,  deprived  of  their 
teeth,  convicted  of  the  most  improbable 
crimes  on  the  feeblest  evidence,  dragged 
at  horses'  tails,  hanged,  tortured,  burned 
alive,  if,  when  manners  became  milder, 
they  had  still  been  subject  to  debasing 
restrictions,  and  expoa«d  to  vulgar  in- 
sults, locked  up  in  particular  streets  in 
some  countries,  pelted  and  ducked  by 
the  rabble  in  others,  excluded  everywhere 
from  magistracies  and  honours,  what 
would  be  the  patriotism  of  gentlemen 
with  red  hair?  And  if,  under  such  cir- 
cumstances, a  proposition  were  made  for 
admitting  red-haired  men  to  office,  how 
striking  a  speech  might  an  eloquent  ad- 
mirer of  our  old  institutions  deliver 
against  so  revolutionary  a  measure ! 
*  These  men,'  he  might  say,  '  scarcely 
consider  themselves  as  Englishmen. 
They  think  a  red-haired  Frenchman,  or 
a  red-haired  German,  more  closely  con- 
nected with  them  than  a  man  with  brown 
hair  born  in  their  own  parish.  If  a 
foreign  sovereign  patronises  red  hair, 
they  love  him  better  than  their  own  na- 
tive king.  They  are  not  Englishmen: 
they  cannot  be  Englishmen  :  nature  has 
forbidden  it :  experience  proves  it  to  be 
impossible.  Right  to  political  power 
they  have  none;  for  no  man  has  a  right 
to  political  power.  Let  them  ecjoy 
personal  security;  let  their  property  be 
under  the  protection  of  the  law.  But  if 
they  ask  for  leave  to  exercise  power  over 
a  community  of  which  they  are  only 
half  members,  a  community  the  consti- 
tution of  which  is  essentially  dark- 
haired,  let  us  answer  them  in  the  words 
of  our  wise  ancestors,  Nolumus  leges 
Angliae  mutari.' —  Macaulay^s  Critical 
and  Historical  Essayt,  vol.  l,pp.  295-304. 


THE  REASONER.  295 


©xir  ^latfann. 

From  which  any  earnest  opponent  may  controvert  our  opinions,  and  from  which  any  may  expound  views 
not  coincident  with  our  own,  if  tending  to  the  Rationalisation  of  Theelegy. 

CAN     SCEPTICS    BE     PHILANTHROPISTS? 


SiE, — Miss  Mary  Carpenter,  of  Bristol,  is  a  daughter  of  the  late  well  known 
Dr.  Lant  Carpenter,  Unitarian  Minister  of  that  city,  and  sister  of  the  celebrated 
physiologist.  Dr.  William  Carpenter.  This  lady  has  considerable  scientific  attain- 
ments, but  is  better  known  and  valued  here  for  her  earnest  and  unremitting 
efforts  for  the  education  and  enlightenment  of  the  dregs — the  very  dregs — of  our 
semi-civilised  communities — the  '  perishing  and  dangerous  classes,'  as  she  truly 
styles  them.  In  aid  of  her  exertions  she  has  called  in  the  assistance  of  the  press 
to  arouse  attention  to,  and  create  a  public  opinion  in  favour  of,  the  cause  she  has 
so  much  at  heart,  and  has  published  a  small  work  entitled  '  Heforrnatory  Schools 
for  the  Children  of  the  Perishing  and  Dangerous  Classes  and  for  Juvenile  Offenders.' 
It  is  not  my  intention  to  examine  this  work  in  your  pages — what  I  have  said  above 
and  the  title  of  the  book  will  sufficiently  for  my  purpose  show  its  object ;  but 
what  I  wish  to  do  is  to  enter  my  protest,  as  one  of  a  class,  against  the  '  first 
principles '  declared  by  Miss  Carpenter  to  be  essential  in  the  reformation  of  the 
perishing  and  dangerous  classes,  as — good  and  gentle  and  earnest  though  the 
author  be — doing  me  and  others  who  think  with  me  a  great  injustice. 

Miss  Carpenter  says — '  First,  and  above  all,  there  must  be  in  the  minds  of  those 
who  carry  out  the  work  [the  said  reformation]  a  strong  faith  in  the  immortality  of 
the  human  soul,  the  universal  and  parental  government  of  God,  and  the  equal  value 
in  his  sight  of  each  one  of  these  poor  perishing  young  creatures  with  the  more 
exalted  of  our  race.'  I  object,  in  the  first  place,  that  a  '  strong  faith  in  the  immor- 
tality of  the  human  soul '  is  not  '  above  all '  things  necessary,  nor  is  it  at  all  neces- 
sary or  wanting  to  qualify  men  for  the  task  of  reforming  and  teaching  their 
unfortunate  fellows.  All  that  is  necessary  is  active  benevolence,  and  a  firm  con- 
viction that  all  men,  women,  and  children  are  equally  alike  entitled  to  enjoy  the 
utmost  happiness  which  their  organisations  will  admit  of;  and  this,  not  because 
they  are  immortals  held  for  a  while  in  mortal  bonds,  but  simply  and  entirely 
because  they  are  here  without  their  own  consent,  and  have  thus  a  natural  and 
indestructible  claim  to  be  treated  with  justice  and  kindness  by  those  who  were 
here  before  them,  and  who  possess  the  means  and  the  opportunities  for  inculcating 
virtue,  and  stimulating  to  habits  of  industry  and  usefulness.  I  will  mention  but 
one  illustrious  example  of  the  truth  of  my  position  and  the  falseness  of  Miss  Car- 
penters. I  will  but  mention  the  revered  name  of  Robert  Owen,  the  philanthropist, 
who  has  doTie  more  and  striven  more  for  the  good  of  his  kind  generally,  but  of  the 
down-trodden  and  slaving  millions  particularly,  than  any  living  man  or  woman  ;  and 
who,  whatever  may  be  his  opinions  on  the  subject,  has  certainly  never  been  influ- 
enced or  incited  to  his  generous  course  by  a  '  strong  faith  in  the  immortality  of 
the  human  soul,'  &c.,  but  solely  by  an  incessant  and  unqueucbable  desire  to  see  all 
men  comfortable,  virtuous,  and  happy — in  this  world. 

To  the  second  member  of  the  sentence — namely,  faith  in  'the  universal  and 
parental  govei-nment  of  God' — I  object,  that  such  belief,  if  logically  acted  out, 
would  prevent  any  attempts  being  made  to  better  the  condition  of  unfortunate  and 
erring  mortals.  For,  inasmuch  as  human  parents  are  assumed,  as  a  general  rule, 
to  treat  their  children  according  to  their  deserts — chastening  some  and  rewarding 


others — so,  by  a  parity  of  reasoning,  if  we  take  the  position  laid  down  by  Miss 
Carpenter,  that  all  mankind  are  under  the  parental  government  of  God,  when  we 
see  some  men  virtuous,  prosperous,  and  happy,  and  others  vicious,  poor,  and 
miserable,  we  should  conclude  that  the  former  are  what  they  are  by  God's  special 
favour,  and  the  latter  are  what  they  are  by  his  special  disfavour,  and  that  to  in- 
terfere in  any  way  with  such  arrangement  would  be  to  defy  the  Deity,  or  at  least  to 
assume  that  we  were  wiser  and  better  than  he. 

To  the  remaining  member  of  the  sentence — that '  each  one  of  these  poor  perishing 
young  creatures  '  is  of  '  equal  value'  in  the  eyes  of  God  '  with  the  most  exalted  of 
our  race' — I  object,  that  the  very  terms  prove  the  fallacy  it  contains.  If  there  are 
young  creatures  perishing  in  the  midst  of  others  who  are  safe  and  flourishing,  all 
being  equally  under  the  eyes  and  superintendence  of  the  Deity,  it  is  proof,  the 
strongest  that  could  be  furnished,  proof  demonstrative,  that  God  does  not  care  for 
or  equally  value  the  poor  and  vicious  with  the  rich  and  virtuous,  or  he  would  in- 
stantly destroy  the  disparity  between  them — '  ye  shall  know  the  tree  by  its  fruits.' 

With  the  sincerest  respect  for  the  amiable  lady  with  whom  I  have  felt  myself 
compelled  to  differ,  and  with  heartfelt  wishes  for  her  success, 

Bristol,  Sept  5,  1851.  W.  C. 

SUPERHUMAN    POWER. 


SlB, — I  trust  you  will  allow  me  to  square  the  number  of  my  letters  to  yon  (vide 
Nos.  231,  238,  248).  My  last, February  26,  you  characterised  as '  disjointed.'  But  it 
was  an  avowed  *  medley ;'  and  I  think  there  are  worse  styles  than  the  desultory 
one,  of  which  parts  may  be  noticed  by  one,  and  others  by  another,  of  a  different 
taste  and  habit  of  estimation. 

I  have  now  to  submit  to  you  a  new  point — of  probability ;  for  it  is  not  capable 
of  demonstration,  in  itself,  either  way — that  '  The  idea  of  a  Ood  could  not  have 
originated  without  sufficient  cause.'  I  expect  to  be  met  here  with  a  belief  in 
appearances  of  departed  spirits ;  to  which  I  answer,  that,  not  crediting  a  tenth  part 
of  common  '  ghost  stories,'  I  have  no  doubt  that  some  things  claiming,  or  establish- 
ing, connection  with  what  has  existed  as  man  on  this  earth,  have  hundreds  of 
times  appeared ;  and,  if  I  have  any  personal  reason,  or  by  receipt  of  good  evi- 
dence, for  believing  it,  I  can  aver  to  you  or  your  readers,  if  you  will  be  so  candid 
as  to  believe  me,  that  it  was  perfectly  unconnected  with  vulgar  terror.  Still,  even 
this  might  be  a  corruption  of  the  former  belief :  it  may  assist,  it  cannot  oppose. 
And  who  could  have  obtained  credence  for  the  former  without  sufficient  reason  ? 
Would  even  a  grandson  believe,  without  inquiry,  that  his  grandfather  had  known 
something,  and  such  a  thing,  which  generations  before  him  had  never  entertained 
the  idea  of?  Here,  sir,  putting  it  in  the  light  of  probability  only,  I  pause  for  a 
reply. 

America  was  unknown,  unless  by  superficial  visits  of  the  '  North-men' (Norwe- 
gians, Swedes,  &c.),  as  they  report,  in  the  ninth  and  tenth  centuries,  for  perhaps 
3000  years.  If  the  natives  there  had  been  found  without  any  tradition  or  opinion 
of  superhuman  power,  what  a  heavy  argument  would  it  not  have  been  (in  my  view) 
for  anti-theism.     Then,  let  the  opposite  fact  have  its  just  weight. 

Paley's  simile  of  a  *  watch'  I  humbly  think  sufficient  for  probability— such  as 
is  accepted  in  cases  where  opposition  does  not  arise.  To  go  further  might  be  what 
Johnson  terms '  milking  the  bull,'  though  I  never  admit  mere  sarcasm  to  be 


THE  REASONER.  297 


argument.  From  a  work  of  your  own,  sir,  it  appears  that  a  Monsieur  St. 
Hilaire  affirms  that '  the  function  of  things  is  determined  hy  their  existence  and 
arrangement.'  I  have  no  more  objection  to  this  than  to  the  title  of  a  French 
book  which  was,  I  believe,  prosecuted  in  the  last  century — '  Man  a  Machine.'  The 
most  accomplished  machine  I  know ;  but  I  do  not  know  that  he  was  without  a 
making  power. 

The  function  of  a  Bridle  is  determined  by  its  existence  and  arrangement — of  no 
specific  use  but  to  restrain  the  mouth  of  an  animal.  But  what  law  determined  its 
existence  and  arrangement?  Not  the  sagacious  coalescence  of  leather  and  steel, 
nor  their  knowledge  of  a  horse's  nature.  Man  was  as  a  God  there  to  all  these; 
but  man  is  very  far  from  knowing  or  being  fully  able  to  accomplish  everything,  and 
analogy  goes  back  to  the  impression  of  his  forefathers. 

Dr.  Clarke's  observation,  that  without  theism  '  Nothing  must  have  determined 
the  existence  of  all  things,'  is,  I  think,  something  more  than  a  quibble  ;  whilst  I 
respectfully  beg  it  to  be  observed,  that  I  use  the  words  'superhuman  power'  in  the 
largest  sense,  not  attempting  definition.  I  see  by  the  same  work  that  Aristotle 
said, '  if  there  was  nothing  bat  matter,  there  must  have  been  an  infinite  succession 
of  causes,  which  is  absurd.' 

Having  alluded  before  to  Cicero,  and  you  having  given  some  extracts  from  his 
writings  since,  allow  me  to  conclude  with  a  translation  of  the  passage  I  meant, '  0 
prcBclarum  diem,'  &c.,  at  the  end  of  his  treatise  on  '  Old  Age.' 

'  0  I  glorious  day !  when  I  shall  depart  to  that  divine  congregation  and  assem- 
blage of  spirits,  and  quit  this  troublous  and  polluted  scene.  For  I  shall  go  not 
only  to  those  great  men  of  whom  I  have  before  spoken,  but  also  to  my  own  son 
Cato,  than  whom  never  was  better  man  born  nor  more  distinguished  for  filial  piety ; 
whose  body  was  buried  by  me,  whereas  on  the  contrary  it  was  fitting  that  mine 
should  have  been  by  him.  But  his  soul  not  deserting  me,  but  oft  looking  back, 
no  doubt  departed  to  those  regions  whither  it  saw  that  I  myself  was  destined  to 
come.  Which,  though  a  distress  to  me,  I  seemed  patiently  to  endure,  not  that  I 
bore  it  with  indifference,  but  I  comforted  myself  with  the  recollection  that  the 
separation  and  distance  between  us  would  not  long  continue.  For  these  reasons 
old  age  is  tolerable  to  me,  and  not  only  not  irksome,  but  even  joyous.  But  if  I  err  in 
this,  that  I  believe  the  souls  of  men  to  be  immortal,  I  willingly  err ;  nor  do  I  wish 
that  whilst  I  live  this  delightful  error  Bhonld  be  wrested  from  me.' 

London,  Sept.  12th,  1851.  J.  D.  Parry,  M.A.,  Camb. 

CATHOLICISM  THE  TYPE  OF  THE  CHURCHES  AROUND  US. 


The  following  letter  appeared  in  the  Northern  Star  of  August  30,  in  reference  to 
Mr.  Holyoake'a  lectures  on  Catholicism.  '  Christopher's  '  reply  appeared  Sept.  6th. 

MR.   G.   J.   HOLTOAKE   IN   SCOTLAND. 

Sir, — Mr.  Holyoake  has  been  delivering  lectures  here,  in  which  he  shows  much 
folly,  little  logic,  and  no  democratic  wisdom.  One  of  his  lectures  was  headed 
'  Roman  Catholicism — the  type  of  all  churches  around  us,  all  of  which  preserve  its 
features,  though  they  reject  its  name.'  The  battle-field  of  democracy  is  now  the 
continent  of  Europe,  where  its  sons  and  daughters  languish  by  thousands  in  the 
loathsome  dungeons,  and  none  more  so  than  those  of  the  Papacy;  and  yet  this 
man,  pretending  to  be  a  democrat,  comes  forward  as  the  apologist  and  clumsy  white- 
washer  of  this  Papal  tyranny,  by  representing  it  as  the  only  type  of  'British 
churches,'  or,  as  he  says, '  of  all  the  churches  around  us.'    What  church  around 


298  THE  REASONER. 


us  has,  as  Gavazzi  says,  the  bones  of  its  impenitent  broken  by  ropes  and  screws, 
the  flesh  torn  by  torture,  or  burnt  with  fire,  the  blood  falling  through  the  filter 
drop  by  trop  ?  What  church  employs  spies  under  the  name  of  confessors,  and 
makes  children  accuse  their  parents  and  parents  bring  their  children  to  the  scaffold? 
It  is  no  church,  but  an  impostor,  and  the  vilest  of  despotism!  And  although  its 
chief  has  but  lately  reascended  his  throne  over  the  trunkless  bodies  of  his 
subjects,  giving  their  murderers  his  blessing — his  worthless  blessing.  And  al- 
though he  and  little  Napoleon  and  all  the  despots  of  continental  Europe  are  in 
league  against  the  people  of  Europe,  this  pretender  to  democracy  comes  forward 
virtually  as  the  apologist  of  Roman  Catholicism.  Democrat  he  cannot  be — tool  "of 
Austria,  of  the  Jesuits,  or  of  Rome  he  cannot  be — he  is  not  worth  their  purchase. 
What  he  is  I  neither  know  nor  care,  but  the  apologist  of  the  Papacy  can  be  no 
democrat.  One  of  thk  People. 

MR.    HOLYOAKE    AND    '  ONE    OF    THE    PEOPLE.' 

Mb.  Editor, — Allow  me  to  state  my  opinion  of  G.  J.  Holyoake's  lecture  en- 
titled '  Catholicism,  the  type  of  all  the  churches  around  us,'  in  answer  to  'One  of 
the  People,'  in  the  Northern  Star,  of  the  30th  ult.  Having  heard  the  lecture  on 
three  several  occasions,  and  seen  it  in  MS.,  I  assert  with  confidence  that  it  con- 
tained not  one  passage  which  could  be  tortured  into  a  support  of  the  reflections 
made  by  your  correspondent.  '  One  of  the  People '  attempts  to  impress  the  work- 
ing classes  with  the  notion  that  Mr.  Holyoake  goes  about  tl*  country  in  his  capa- 
city of  lecturer,  as  the  '  apologist  of  Papal  tyranny,'  as  the  '  tool  of  Austria  or 
the  Jesuits,'  only  that  '  he  is  not  worth  their  purchase.'  '  One  of  the  People  ' 
cites  the  title  of  the  lecture  in  question  to  sustain  his  attempt,  leaving  the  lecture 
itself  untouched.  The  lecture  has  been  delivered  to  audiences  in  London,  and 
several  large  towns  and  cities ;  discussed  on  platforms,  reported  and  commented 
on  by  provincial  newspapers,  and  it  had  been  well  if  your  correspondent's  depre- 
ciating commentary  had  been  accompanied  with  a  few  extracts  In  the  lecture 
referred  to  Mr.  Holyoake  described  *  Catholicism  as  the  unresting  opponent  of 
fiee  thought  and  progress  ;  and  urged  that  as  Catholicism  is  based  on  the  authority 
of  names  in  opposition  to  reason,  it  was  quite  impossible  for  progressionists  to  bold 
terms  with  it — they  being  diametrically  opposed  to  its  principles. 

These  are  sentiments  '  not  worth  the  purchase  of  Austria,'  certainly.  The 
lecture  described  the  professors  of  Catholicism  as  striving  to  maintain,  at  all 
hazards,  infallible  authority  over  afi'airs  both  temporal  and  spiritual,  and  as  employ- 
ing three  agents  to  ensure  their  primary  object — viz.,  Terror,  Inquisition,  and 
Persecution.  An  exposition  of  this  kind  is  not  likely  to  be  paid  for  very  liberally 
by  the  Jesuits, '  One  of  the  People  '  may  rest  assured.  Mr.  Holyoake  said  he  would 
exempt  from  all  persecution  those  entertaining  the  doctrines  of  the  Church  of  Rome, 
but  recommended  that  every  fair  and  argumentative  means  should  be  taken  to 
counteract  tlie  tendency  of  those  doctrines,  which  be  said  were  *  pernicious  and 
dangerous,  and  calculated  to  ci-eate  distrust  and  alarm.'  Can  it  be  that '  One  of 
the  People'  confined  his  attentions  to  the  mere  title  of  the  lecture,  as  he  terms 
these  wise  cautions  to  thefriendof  progress  'a  clumsy  apology  for  Papal  tyranny  ?' 

Some  few  months  since  Mr.  Holyoake  published  his  examination  of  Father 
Pinamonti's  horrible  work,  entitled  '  Hell  open  to  Christians,'  which  had  the  eflect 
of  suppressing  the  publicity — if  not  the  sale— of  that  work  in  London.  Surely 
'  One  of  the  People'  must  have  led  a  life  of  solitude,  or  he  might  (and  it  is  net  ex- 
pecting too  much  of  one  who  advises  the  people),  have  learned  something  of  Mr. 
Holyoake's  views,  before  he  entered  on  their  total  condemnation. 


THE  REASONER. 


299 


Mr.  Holyoake  invites  discussion  after  each  lecture  be  delivers.  He  has  done  so 
after  delivering  the  lecture,  '  Catholicisna  the  Type  of  the  Churches  around  us,' 
and  has  usually  found  his  chief  opponents  in  members  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
ChtfrchjWho  certainly  did  not  mistake  the  lecturer  for  an  allr,  but  as  one  opposed 
to  them,  and  exerted  themselves  to  destroy  the  influence  he  had  created  against 
their  religion. 

My  conclusion,  sir,  is,  that  any  claims  Mr.  Holyoake  has  to  be  considered  a 
democrat  are  assuredly  not  invalidated  by  the  lecture  questioned  by  '  One  of  the 
People.'  Chkistophes. 

To  promote  the  effldency  of  the  Reasoner  as  an  oreran  of  Propagandism,  one  friend  subscribes  ins. 
weekly,  another  5e.,  one  23.  monthly,  others  Is.  each  weekly— others  intermediate  sums  or  special 
remittances,  according  to  ability  or  earnestness.  An  annual  contribution  of  Is.  from  each  reader 
would  he  easy,  equitable,  and  sufficient.  What  is  remitted,  in  whatever  proportion,  is  acknowledged 
here  and  accounted  for  at  the  end  of  the  Volume. 


Acknowledged  in  No.  275,  627s.  6d. — James  Meredith,  Gwehelog,  Is. — Dr. 
Uttley,  Burnley  (annual),  lOs.— J.  W.,  10=.— Mr.  Gibb,  Brighton,  Is.— Typo., 
Ulverston,  2i.  6d.— James  Evans,  Sheffield,  20s. — From  Coventry,  per  Mr.  Shnf- 
flebottom  :  E.  Roe,  23.  Cd.;  J.  Lynes.  2?.;  E.  Turner,  Is. ;  H.  Band,'  Is.;  W.  May,ls.; 
C.  ShuflBebottom,  Is.  6d.:  C.  Freeman,  Is. — Arnold  Hamlet  and  Wilkinson 
Burslam  were  appointed  to  receive  subscriptions  in  aid  of  the  Reasoner  Fund  by 
the  Council  of  the  Manchester  Social  Society,  and  they  forward  20s.  from  the  fol- 
lowing persons  :  Mr.  Crabtree,  03. ;  Luke  Merry,  Is.  ;  Abraham  Ridge,  Is.  ; 
Francis  Shanley,  1:?.;  Mr.  Burton.  Is.;  Mr.  Thompson,  Is;  Arnold  Hamlet.  Is; 
Wilkinson  Bui-slam,  Is.;  Mr.  Caldwell,  Is.;  William  Bullock,  Is.;  William 
Melrose,  Is.;  Charles  Leese.  Congleton.  Is.;  Richard  Keen,  Is.;  Thoiiiao  Powell, 
6d. ;  John  Collett,  6d. ;  Mr.  Pegg,  6d. ;  William  Knight,  6d. ;  Mr.  Shepherd,  4d. ; 
Mr.  Johnson,  3d.;  Mr.  Strahan,  2d.;  A  Friend,  Id.;  A  Friend,  2d. — James 
Gray,  Is. — Veritas,  6d. — Mr,  Allison,  Is. —  J.  Foulds,  Glasgow,  Is. — Total,  705s.  6d. 


^^  Mr.  Holyoake,  during  the  past  fortnight,  has  lectured  in  Padiham,  Colne, 
Burnley,  Manchester,  Todmorden,  and  Blackburn.  To  some  of  these  places  he  has  to 
return,  and  to  fuliil  engagements  in  Oldham,  Stockport,  and  other  places. 


GUIDE  TO  THE  LECTURE  ROOM. 

Literary  Institution, John  St..  Fitrroy  ?q. — Sept. 
28th  [7i],  Henry  Knight,  'Religion!  its  Origin, 
Aim,  and  End.'  Sept.  30th  [Sj],  Discussion  in  the 
Coffee  Room.  Question, '  What  are  the  best  means 
of  improving  the  condition  of  the  working  classes  ? ' 

National  Hall,  242,  High  Holborn.— Sept.  28th, 
[8],  P.  VV.  Perfitt,  '  Siormonism.' 

British  Coffee  Rooms,  Edgeware  Road. — Sept. 
28th  [7],  Mr.  S.  Bowen,  '  Religious  Tract  Litera. 
tare.' 

Institute  of  Progress,  10a,  Upper  George  St., 
dloane  Square. — Friday  evenings  [S],  Discussion. 
;iunday  evenings  [7],  a  Lecture. 

Eclectic  Institute,  Denmark  Street,  Soho.  — 
Every  Friday  [SJ],  Mr.  J.  B.  O'Brien,  '  Home  and 
Foreign  Politics.'  Every  Sunday  [7A],  on  '  Sloral 
and  Social  Science.' 

Areopagus  Cotfee  and  Reading  Room,  59,  Church 
Lane,  Whitechapel. — Every  Sunday,  MonJay,  and 
Wednesday  (3),  a  Lecture  or  Discussion. 

City  Forum  Coifee  House,  60,  Red  Cross  Street. 
—Every  Sunday,  Monday,  and  Thursday  [8i],  a 
Discussion. 

Commercial  Hall,  Philpot  Street,  Commercial 
Road  East. — Every  Tuesday  and  Thursaay  even- 
ing [8],  a  Discussion. 

City  Road  Discussion  Society,  22,  City  Road. — 
Discussion  every  Wednesday  evening. 


ADVERTISEMENT. 


POPULAR  WORKS. 

Theodore  Parker  on  Matters  Pertaining  to 

Religion.     1  vol.  cloth  boards 1  9 

Paine's  Political  Works.     2  vols,  in  one..  6  0 

—  Theological  Works.    1  vol.  cloth. . ..  3  0 

—  Rights  of  Man 1  2 

—  American  Crisis 1  6 

—  Common  Sense    0  6 

—  Letter  to  the  Abbe  Raynal    0  6 

—  Letters  to  the  Citizens  of  the  United 
States 0  4 

—  Public  Good 0  4 

—  Agrarian  Justice 0  2 

—  First  Principles  of  Government  ....  0  2 

—  English  System  of  Finance  0  3 

—  Abolition  ot  Royalty 0  2 

Life  of  Paine,  by  W.  j.  Linton   0  6 

Portrait  of  Paine,  engraved  on  Steel 1  0 

The    English    Republic,  edited  by  W.  J. 

Linton.     Nos.  1  to  7,  each  at  0  6 

BvTon's  Vision  of  Judgment    0  2 

Southey's  Wat  Tyler 0  3 

tssav  ou  the  Fuuctions  of  the  Brain 0  2 


London:  James  Watson,  3,  Queen's  Head 
sage,  Paumoster-row. 


Fas- 


300  THE  REASONER. 


(But  Optn  ^aae. 

The  remarkable  picture  of  St.  John  Pi'eaching  in  the  Wilderness,  painted  by  Mr. 
Haberzettel,  member  of  the  Imperial  Academies  of  St.  Petersburgh  and  Rome,  of 
■which  we  have  spoken  in  some  early  numbers  of  the  Reasoner,  is  about  to  be  pub- 
lished. A  Lithographic  Print  is  being  prepared  from  the  original  painting,  which 
contains  twenty-seven  figures  larger  than  life.  The  picture  has  received  high 
commendations  from  accredited  judges,  both  in  London  and  at  Rome,  where  it 
■was  painted,  as  also  from  the  London  and  Italian  Press.  It  is  intended  to  publish 
the  Print  the  same  size  as  Raphael's  Transfiguration,  by  Morghen,  twenty  inches 
by  twenty-eight  inches,  and  •will  be  executed  in  the  best  style  by  the  first  artists. 
Subscribers'  names  received  by  Messrs.  Paul  and  Dominic  Colnaghi  and  Co.,  13 
and  14,  Pall  Mall  East,  publishers  to  her  Majesty.  The  picture  is  to  be  seen  in 
Litchfield  House,  No.  13,  St.  James's  Square.  The  original  drawing  from  ■which 
the  prints  are  to  be  taken  is  to  be  seen  in  the  Russian  division  of  the  Crystal  Palace. 

A  society  has  been  formed,  called  the  Northampton  Association  of  Secular 
Freethinkers,  who  wish  to  celebrate  the  formation  of  the  association  by  having  Mr. 
Holyoake  to  deliver  one  or  two  lectures,  who  will  visit  Northampton  in  October. 
Mr.  Phillips  has  commenced  a  course  of  lectures  in  that  town,  upon  Sceptics  and 
Scepticism.  His  first  was  on  '  Voltaire,'  the  second  and  third  on  '  Byron,  the 
Peer,  Poet,  and  Sceptic,'  and  the  fourth  on  the  '  Light  of  Nature '  (open  for  dis- 
cussion). That  on  '  Voltaire  '  was  good,  and  characterised  by  a  greater  amount  of 
liberality  and  impartiality  than  is  usually  displayed  by  persons  holding  opinions 
like  Mr.  Phillips's,  and  it  gave  general  satisfaction.  Those  on  '  Byron  '  were  not 
BO  satisfactory.  He  adopted  a  new  mode  of  criticism.  He  deduced  the  character 
of  the  man  from  his  writings ;  and,  as  he  picked  out  the  worst  he  could  find,  of 
course  he  made  him  out  bad  enough. 

Thomas  Bickerton  is  informed  that  stamps  are  preferable  to  coin  for  transmititing 
subscriptions. 

Three  clergymen  carried  on  a  controversy  in  a  theological  journal  as  to  the 
simplest  and  clearest  mode  of  explaining  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity.  The  discussion 
appearing  likely  to  become  interminable,  the  editor  at  last  declared  it  closed,  and 
after  paying  some  compliments  to  each  of  the  disputants,  but  objecting  to  all  their 
explanations  as  too  obscure,  appended  an  elucidation  of  his  own,  which  was  gene- 
rally considered  as  having  rendered  the  mystery  still  more  mysterious,  and,  in 
fact,  as  more  obscure  than  those  to  which  he  himself  demurred.  The  Rev.  C. 
Colton,  author  of  Lacon,  wrote  the  following ^"ew  d^esvrit  on  the  occasion: — 

'  Cleve,  Dennis,  Carpenter  agree, 
And  fully  prove  a  Trinity  ; 
For  in  their  writings  all  may  see. 
Not  one  incomprehensible,  but  three. 
But  Flindell  deemed  the  task  undone. 
So  finished  what  these  scribes  begun  ; 
And  showed  more  clearly  than  the  sun. 
Not  three  incomprehensible,  but  one.' 

Dr.  B one  day  told  Home  Tooke  that  he  had  just  witnessed  an  exemplifica- 
tion of  the  Trinity,  for  he  had  seen  three  men  in  a  gig.  *  Pooh,  pooh,'  said  the 
etymologist,  *  that  is  no  exemplification  at  all ;  you  ought  to  have  seen  one  man  in 
three  gigs.' 

London:  Printed  by  Holyoake  Brothers,  3,  Queen's  Head  Passage,  Patemoster-row ;  and  Published 
by  J.  'Watson.  3,  Queen's  Head  Passage,  Paternoster-row. — Wednesday, September  34tb,  1851. 


fftr  Utu^ontv 


THEOLOGICAL     EXAMINER. 


They  who  believe  that  they  have  Truth  ask  no  favour,  save  that  of  being  heard:  they  dare  the 
judgment  of  Mankind  :  refused  Co-operation,  they  invoke  Opposition,  for  Opposition  is  their 
Opportunity. — Editor. 

A  WEEK  IN  EAST  LANCASHIRE,  PADIHAM,  COLNE,  AND 
BURNLEY. 


The  audience  at  Padiham  was  ample.  Mr.  Utley,  surgeon,  of  Burnley,  was  called 
to  the  chair.     The  lecture  was  upon  '  Organisation.'    No  debate  followed. 

At  Colne,  at  Burnley,  at  Todmorden,  at  other  places,  small  audiences  were  an- 
ticipated by  some.  For  myself,  I  expected  differently ;  and  we  had  numerous 
assemblages  everywhere.  For  the  last  year  and  half  I  have  scarcely  addressed  a 
small  audience  till  I  no  longer  believe  in  them.  In  Colne,  the  numbers  would 
have  been  no  fewer,  and  of  a  more  thoughtful  quality,  had  the  charge  been  greater. 
With  respect  to  Burnley  it  has  become  a  necessity  to  double  the  admissions,  in 
order  to  reduce  the  numbers  to  the  limits  of  order,  hearing,  and  health. 

In  Colne  we  had  questioning  and  discussion  interminable  every  evening.  On 
the  Tuesday  night,  Mr.  Hiram  Utley,  of  Burnley,  being  present,  he  was  called  to 
the  chair.  On  the  third  night,  a  working  man  (whose  name  I  have  lost),  one  of 
our  Chartist  friends,  presided. 

On  the  first  two  nights  a  tall,  rude  man — a  species  of  Scotch  Brindley — put 
questions,  that  species  of  questions  which  resembled  those  specified  by  Archbishop 
Whately,  who,  when  he  had  '  to  take  into  consideration  a  man's  learning  or  ability, 
the  question  asked  was  as  to  the  food  necessary  for  his  support;  or  his  stature,  if 
you  were  inquiring  into  his  qualifications  as  a  statesman ;  or  the  amount  of  his 
property,  if  you  were  inquiring  into  his  state  of  health;  or  his  muscular  strength, 
if  the  question  were  as  to  his  moral  character.'  When  I  had  discoursed  on  the 
Church's  defects,  he  demanded  to  know  its  age.  The  Christians  present,  though 
numerous,  did  not  appear  to  see  any  irrelevance  in  this  proceeding.  As  it  ever 
is  with  the  ignorant,  who  are  ruder,  more  inconsiderate  and  exacting  than  the  cul- 
tivated, our  questioner  would  insist  on  my  answering  'yes  or  no'  to  every  question 
— even  before  I  understood  i^  At  length  I  put  to  him,  in  my  turn,  a  question, 
viz.,  "  Is  the  parallax  of  the  moon  a  trapezium  of  a  parallelopiped  ?'  and  I 
demanded  '  yes  or  no.'  After  some  evasion  and  stammering  he  answered  *  yes  or 
no,'  meaning  first  it  was,  then  it  was  not.  It  was  a  question  certainly  which  few 
could  answer  readily,  and  it  taught  him  that  it  was  easier  to  be  rude  to  another 
than  Ijo  behave  intelligently  himself,  and  that  no  man  could  answer  instantly  to 
what  he  did  not  comprehend.  On  the  third  night  he,  as  he  had  done  before,  so 
mis-stated  my  words  and  explanations,  that  I  told  him  he  was  not  entitled  to  any 
more  notice  from  me.  Nor  did  I  answer  him  more.  Encouraged  by  Christians 
present,  especially  by  a  Mr.  Earnshaw,  apparently  a  respectable  Christian,  he  con- 
tinued to  speak  in  a  gross  and  personal  manner.  I  simply  explained  to  the 
audience  that  incoherence  or  incontinence  of  speech,  wherever  manifested,  showed 
a  man  to  be  irresponsible  for  his  words,  and  to  continue  to  recognise  such  opposi- 
tion, would  be  to  expose  oneself  to,  and  justify,  the  lowest  order  of  opponency. 


[No.  879.] 


[ONE  PENNY.! 


INo.  20,  Vol.  XI.] 


302  THE  REASONER. 


For  more  than  half  an  hour  the  speaker  indulged  in  every  species  of  misrepre- 
Bentation  and  every  form  of  rudeneBS,  sometimes  calling  me  '  fool,'  sometimes 
*  liar.'  Many  respectable  Christians  gave  this  display  their  applause  and  encou- 
ragement. They  did  not  seem  to  believe  the  possibility  of  my  listening  to  it  all 
without  interruption,  and  when  he  had  done  to  offer  no  reply,  but  call  upon  the 
next  speaker,  which  I  did.  The  effect  of  it,  in  the  end,  they  felt  as  a  greater 
reproach  to  them  than  any  reply  I  could  have  made. 

We  were  favoured  with  a  speech  or  two  by  Mr.  Taylor,  a  Wesleyan  local 
preacher — the  same  one  who,  on  a  former  occasion,  opposed  Mrs.  Martin,  who, 
having  made  some  objections  to  Christ  encouraging  his  disciples  on  one  occasion 
to  buy  a  sword,  Mr.  Taylor  objected,  saying  it  was  the  sword  of  the  spirit  to  which 
Christ  referred,  when  Mrs.  Martin  begged  to  know  whether  that  was  the  sword 
with  which  Peter  cut  the  man's  ear  off.  In  my  case,  Mr.  Taylor  laboured  to  show 
that  he  entirely  coincided  with  me ;  that  he  meant  by  God  precisely  what  I  meant 
by  nature,  and  thought  that  I  should  not  hesitate  about  a  word,  but  use  the  term 
God.  1  suggested  to  him  that  he  might  set  the  example  (since  words  seemed  to 
him  to  be  but  terms  of  courtesy)  and  call  himself  an  atheist.  I  expect  to  hear, 
when  I  next  go  to  Colne,  that  Mr.  Taylor,  'Wesleyan  local  preacher  and  Atheist,^  is 
in  the  habit  of  discoursing  to  Christian  congregations.  He  told  me  I  should  come 
ip  wish  to  die  in  peace.  He  (Mr.  Taylor)  had  read  in  one  of  my  works  that 
Voltaire  had  expressed  such  a  wish  on  his  death  bed.  I  answered  that  he  had, 
bu^  he  expressed  it  to  a  priest  whom  he  desired  to  leave  him  that  he  might  die  in 
peace.  Peace  not  being  possible  while  the  priest  was  present,  and  so  it  proved 
with  mai^kind.  We  had  to  remove  that  functionary  in  order  to  secure  private  or 
public  peace. 

Turning  from  religious  argument,  for  handling  which  he  will  not  have  to  account 
for  many  talents,  he  said  it  had  been  whispered,  but  he  did  not  believe  it ;  how- 
ever I  ought  to  know  it,  it  was  said  in  Colne  that  I  was  to  have  two  pounds  for 
each  lecture.  I  corrected  him,  and  told  him  it  was  two  guinea*,  not  two  pounds. 
He  seemed  taken  back  with  my  explicitness,  and  the  audience,  who  began  to  think 
his  speech  an  impertinence,  exclaimed  against  it.  I,  however,  demanded  that  he 
should  be  heard  out,  for  there  was  not  anything  that  Mr.  Taylor  or  any  one  else 
could  say  which  I  would  not  sit  cheerfully  to  bear.  When  he  had  done,  1  explained 
that  I  asked  for  the  remuneration  I  had  named,  which  was  no  more  than  I  could 
earn  in  other  ways  ;  and  as  the  Reasoner  commonly  coat  me  BOs.  or  more  per  week, 
when  the  generous  help  of  others  had  been  counted,  and  would  until  it  sold  6000, 1 
had  a  right  to  payment  for  my  labour;  I  probably  did  as  much  work  for  nothing 
as  any  local  or  ordained  minister  in  the  country.  But  I  did  not  rest  the  matter 
there.  My  labour  as  to  a  lecture  did  not  begin  nor  end  in  a  lecture  room,  and  I 
incurred  risks  other  lecturers  did  not,  nnd,  besides,  a  lecture  was  a  bargain  with 
each  hearer,  and  if  he  did  not  think  that  he  had  had  value  received  for  his  admis- 
sion  money,  let  him  not  come  again.  It  is  due  to  the  Christians  to  say  that  they 
one  and  all  acquiesced  in  the  justice  of  these  remarks,  and  even  Mr.  Earnshaw 
distinctly  joined. 

The  next  appearance  of  our  Scotch  friend  was  at  Burnley  ;  the  following  account. 
I  copy,  with  slight  emendations  (in  brackets),  from  the  Blackburn  Standard: — 

*  On  the  evening  of  Thursday  last,  Mr.  Holyoake  delivered  a  lecture  in  the  Tem- 
perance Hall,  Hammerton  Street,  Burnley,  to  a  numerous  audience.  Mr.  Hiram 
Utley,  surgeon,  occupied  the  chair,  and  Mr.  George  Edwards,  bookseller,  was  on 
the  platform  on  the  occasioq.     The  subject  of  the  lecture  was  "  Why  do  the  clergy 


THE  REASONER.  303 


avoid  discussion,  and  why  do  their  opponents  seek  it?"  and  had   previously  been 
announced  by  placard.     Every  clergyman  and  minister  had  also  been  furnished 
■witfh  a  circular  announcing  the  lecture  and  requesting  their  attendance,  but  we  did 
not  observe  that  any  one  had  responded  to  the  challenge.     Mr.  Holyoake  arrived 
shortly  before  eight  o'clock,  and  was  immediately  introduced  to  the  meeting  by  the 
chairman.     He  commenced  his  discourse  by  briefly  stating  the  subject  announced, 
and  endeavoured  to  maintain  his  positions  by  adducing  personal  experience  and 
his  own  convictions  in  proof  of  the  following  propositions  : — I.  The  clergy  avoid 
discussion  through  fear  of  giving  their  opponents  importance.     II.  They  avoid  it 
through  fear  of  being  outraged  in  it.     HI.  They  avoid  it  because  they  do  not  know 
j  how  to  control  it.     IV.  They  avoid  it  because  they  fear  it.     V.  They  avoid  it 
I  because  they  do  not  understand  it.     Most  of  the  remarks  were  of  a  very  general 
I  character,  and  presented  few  points  for  discussion,  except  to  the  clergy  themselves, 
j  none  of  whom  were  present.     His  own  peculiar  views  of  Christianity  were  almost 
wholly  unnoticed,  except  in  a  short  digression,  in  which  he  adverted  to  a  "  Law  of 
I  the  Human  Mind,"  first  stated  by  Helvetius,  and  since  fully  developed  by  Mr. 
Bailey,  of  Sheffield.     At  the  close  of  the  lecture  Mr.  Holyoake  expressed  his  wil- 
lingness to  answer  any  inquiries  which  might  be  made  respecting  the  subject  of 
the  evening's  discourse,  upon  which  a  Mr.  McGregor,  a  Scotchman,  at  present 
residing  near  Colne,  got  upo'h  the  platform  and  prepared  to  make  some  remarks 
on  the  subject.     Mr.  Holyoake  then  informed  the  audience  that  he  had  listened  to 
the  same  gentleman's  observations  at  Colne,  a  few  nights  ago,  and  did  not  consider 
him  [for  reasons  he  explained]  entitled  to  a  reply ;  and  he  would  pursue  the  same 
course  on  the  present  occasion,  whatever  construction  the  meeting  might  put  upon 
it.     Some  confusion  here  arose,  but  after  a  little  delay  Mr.  McGregor  commenced 
his  observations,  which  occupied  upwards  of  half  an  hour  in  their  delivery,  and 
seemed  to  have  little  coherence,  and  not  to  be   very  relevant  to  the  purpose;  be- 
sides his  broad  Scotch  accent  prevented  him  from  being  well  understood.     During 
his  speech  the  meeting  was  in  a  state  of  indescribable  uproar,  some  calling  out  for 
the  speaker  to  be  put  down,  and  others  equally  vociferous  for  him  to  go  on.     A 
defect  in  his  utterance  also  increased  the  confusion  in  the  audience,  whilst  his 
manners  on  the  platform  were  peculiarly  offensive.     He  seemed  to  be  suffering 
from  catarrh,  and  his  fingers  almost  incessantly  did  the  office  for  his  nasal  organ 
which  would  have  fallen  to  the  ordinary  lot  of  most  persons'  pocket  h:indkerchiefs. 
Mr.  McGregor,  however,  now  and  then  made  a  shrewd  hit,  and  was  inconsequence 
loudly  cheered  by  his  friends,  whilst  his  opponents,  on  the  other  hand,  exhausted 
all  the  sounds  of  which  the  human  voice  is  capable.   During  his  remarks  he  charged 
Mr.  Holyoake  with  uttering  a  "  wilful  lie"  respecting  the  cause  of  the  death  of  his 
child  during  the  time  he  was  confined  in  prison;  upon  which  the  chairman  offered 
a  medical  opinion,  with  which  Mr.  Charles  Owen  expressed  himself  wioily  dis- 
satisfied.    Another  scene  of  uproar  then  commenced,  during  which  some  one  put 
out  a  portion  of  the  lights,  and  a  rush  was  made  for  the  door.     On  its  subsidence 
Mr.  Owen  made  some  further  observations  in  opposition  to  Mr.  Holyoake's  state- 
ments, and  objected  to  the  term  "  brutal "  which  had  been  applied  to  bis  remarks. 
Mr.  Holyoake  then  explained,  and  had  no  objection  to  retract  the  words  [as  Mr. 
Owen  had  disclaimed  the  feeling  conveyed  by  his  tone.]     Mr.  McGregor  again  at- 
tempted to  address  the  meeting,  but  was  unable  to  obtain  a  hearing.     At  this  stage 
of  the  proceedings  the  chairman,  being  called  to  a  midwifery  case,  vacated  the  chair, 
upon  which  several  persons  rushed  upon  the  platform;  and  Mr.  Rushworth,  hav- 
ing to  some  extent  restored  order,  informed  Mr.  Holyoake  that  he  had  been  en- 


304 


THE  REASONER. 


deavouring  to  uproot  Christianity,  but  had  not  produced  a  single  article  to  sub- 
stitute in  its  place:  "he  [Mr.  Rushworth]  had  listened  attentively,  but  he  did  not 
think  he  had  got  twopennyworth  for  his  twopence;"  and  he  considered  Mr.  Holy- 
oake  a  "  profound  fool  "  for  so  treating  his  hearers.  Mr.  Holyoake  made  a  short 
reply  [simply  explaining  that  all  persons  observant  of  what  logically  belonged,  would 
consider  him  inconsequential  if  he  took  the  course  the  speaker  required],  and  was 
followed  by  Mr.  John  Place,  the  biologist,  who  was  of  opinion  that  the  subject  of  the 
lecture  had  been  entirely  overlooked.  Another  scene  of  confusion  here  arose, 
during  which  Mr.  Holyoake  made  his  exit  from  the  Hall  by  the  back  door,  attended 
by  Mr.  Edwards,  and  was  greeted  by  the  audience  with  a  loud  cheer  on  his  de- 
parture. Mr.  McGregor  then  attempted  to  offer  some  further  explanations,  and 
amidst  much  confusion  and  uproar  read  a  sentence  or  two  from  one  of  Mr.  Holy- 
oake's  publications.  By  this  time  many  of  the  audience  had  left  the  room,  and 
several  of  those  who  remained  commenced  lighting  their  pipes  and  cigars.  A  cloud 
of  smoke  soon  filled  the  Hall,  and  rendered  it  less  agreeable  to  the  senses  than 
before  ;  but  Mr.  McGregor  seemed  "  nought  abashed  "  by  the  fumes,  and  concluded 
his  remarks  by  observing  that  "  those  who  live  in  glass  houses  should  not  throw 
stones."  We  understand  Mr.  Holyoake  intends  to  give  two  more  lectures  in 
Burnley,  and  will  confine  himself  entirely  to  an  exposition  of  his  views  respecting 
Christianity,  and  what  he  thinks  ought  take  the  place  of  the  present  system  of 
religion.' 

This  is  the  end  of  the  Blackburn  Standard's  report.  The  Manchester  Examiner 
and  Times  has  also  given  a  notice,  recounting  the  points  of  the  lecture.  The  pro- 
ceedings in  Blackburn  subsequently  rank  with  the  events  in  Lancaster  and  White- 
haven, and  will  be  detailed  as  soon  as  all  the  newspaper  reports  are  to  hand. 

G.  J.  Holyoake. 


EFFECT    OF    CIRCUMSTANCES 


'  The  secret  strength  of  things  that  governs  thought.'— Shelley. 

(After  the  manner  of  Wordsworth.) 

Ye  sullen  rocks  and  leaden-coloured  clouds, 

Ye  heavy-headed  trees,  that  movek  ss  stand 

Around  the  stagnant  pool  with  weeds  o'ergrown  ; 

What  vital  power  breathes  from  your  inner  works, 

That  thus  draws  forth  the  threads  of  human  thought. 

And  heaves  the  breast  with  sighs  ?     We  are  not  made 

To  stand  apart  from  aught  that's  in  the  world  : 

For  at  some  moment  doth  the  infinite  soul 

Of  life  and  substance  claim  attention  fixed, 

And,  by  recoil  of  feelings  gushing  home, 

Wake  the  deep  quire  of  memory  and  grief; 

Or,  by  some  hidden  sympathy,  attest 

That  man  with  nature's  every  stape  is  kin ; 

Stars,  stones,  dead  trunks — some,  flame  bright  flower— some,  dost ! 

— Monthly  Repository,  p.  415.    1835. 


THE  REASONER. 


305 


C!5j:amiiiatt0u  of  ilft  prcjSs. 

Da.  VAtTGHAN's  Sermons. — Considei-able'knowledge  of  human  nature,  and  the 
earnestness  which  arises  from  a  strong  conviction,  expressed  in  a  close  and  power- 
ful style,  are  the  literary  characteristics  that  separate  this  volume  from  the  mass  of 
sermons.  A  more  remarkable  distinction  is  in  the  subjects  Dr.  Vaughan  handles. 
These  frequently  raise  questions  that  are  now  dividing  theologians,  or  treat  of 
matters  that  are  exciting  the  laity  and  disturbing  the  churches.  Whether  it  arises 
from  the  advance  made  in  physical  science,  which  is  apt  to  give  a  material  tone 
to  the  mind,  or  from  that  activity  of  intellect  but  absence  of  faith  which  seems  to 
distinguish  society  in  its  full  maturity  and  decline,  or  from  the  logical  and  trying 
spirit  of  the  age,  there  is  no  doubt  but  that  many  things  once  implicitly  received 
by  believers,  or  scornfully  rejected  by  sceptics,  are  now  considered  in  a  philoso- 
phical and  critical  point  of  view,  not  to  confute  but  to  explain.  And  whatever 
may  be  alleged  against  the  orthodoxy  of  those  who  do  these  things,  many  of  the 
doers  are  more  piously  minded  than  those  who  assail  them.  The  controversy 
which  divided  the  faithful  at  Edinburgh  when  Mr.  Humphrey  Clinker  first  arrived 
there,  is  now  going  on  in  other  places,  though  the  dispute  on  the  eternity  of  Hell 
punishments  may  be  conducted  in  a  different  ir.anner.  The  embodiment  of  moral 
evil  in  the  form  of  a  person  or  persons  is  another  question  that  employs  the  minds 
of  thinking  men,  whose  inquiries  pass  beyond  doctrines  and  sectarian  dogmas  to 
the  fundamental  principles  of  revelation.  The  nature  of  human  nature — the  con- 
sequences of  the  fall,  and  the  mode  in  which  it  operates  upon  mankind  generally — 
is  another  moot  topic,  but  on  which  possibly  attracts  less  consideration  than  future 
punishments  or  the  '  personality  of  the  Tempter,'  as  having  a  more  limited  bearing. 
The  fall  is,  so  to  speak,  a  theological  question  ;  the  others  are  not  necessarily  con- 
fined even  to  Christianity.  A  spirit  of  evil  and  a  future  state  belongs  to  all  religions. 
Besides  these  topics.  Dr.  Vaughan  treats  of  some  subjects  that  have  either  a 
practical  interest — as  education,  or  a  bearing  upon  passing  topics — as  the  character 
of  the  priest.  Two  or  three  sermons  are  upon  less  special  subjects,  but  treated 
with  a  closeness  and  applicability  which  gives  character  and  interest  to  what  in  its 
nature  belongs  to  the  commonplace  sermon.  The  religious  opinions  of  Dr. 
Vaughan  are  strictly  Protestant  according  to  the  Church  of  England,  with  a  lean- 
ing to  the  Evangelical  party,  but  without  that  tendency  towards  cant  which 
sometimes  accompanies  Zow-church.  His  views  are  orthodox,  of  the  old  school 
of  orthodoxy,  before  philology,  ethnography,  and  kindred  studies,  had,  in  the 
hands  of  the  German  critics,  appeared  to  render  some  explanation  of  certain 
passages  in  Scripture  necessary,  and  to  raise  doubts  as  to  whether  the  whole  was 
verbatim  et  literatim  to  be  received  as  inspired.  To  both  these  opinions  Dr. 
Vaughan  is  opposed.  When  the  Scripture  speaks  of  the  Devil  as  a  person,  we 
must  receive  him  as  such — that  is,  such  a  person  as  satisfies  theologians,  for  the 
definition  of  person  might  be  hard  to  settle.  The  '  possession  '  is  an  actual  pos- 
session. The  herd  of  swine  is  to  be  implicitly  received ;  and  proves  not  only  '  the 
personality  of  the  Tempter,'  but  that  there  are  '  legions  '  of  devils.  Any  attempt 
to  resolve  eternity  into  a  long  duration  or  indefinite  time  is  to  be  rejected  :  we 
must  take  the  few  references  to  a  future  state  as  they  stand,  and  then  we  are  shut 
out  from  all  conclusions  save  one — the  eternity  of  future  punishment.  In  a  logical fi 
sense,  this,  no  doubt,  is  the  most  conclusive.  When  the  whole  text  is  received  as 
inspired  throughout.  Scripture  becomes  an  infallible  guide.  If  any  portion  may 
be  rejected  as  of  human  composition,  human  judgment  must  be  called  in  to  decide 


306 


THE  REASONER, 


upon  what  is  and  what  is  not  inspired,  the  fallible  deciding  upon  the  infallible. 
This  part  of  the  subject  is  not  so  much  raised  as  assumed  by  Dr.  Vaughan :  his 
arguments  are  chiefly  directed  to  meet  specious  objections,  especially  that  of 
reasoning  from  our  condition  to  the  condition  of  beings  above  us.  So  exceedingly 
difficult,  however,  is  the  whole  theme,  that  Dr.  Vaughan  cannot  avoid  falling  into 
that  very  line  of  argument  which  it  is  the  direct  purpose  of  his  discourses  to  con- 
demn. This  is  his  explanation  of  the  nature  of  future  punishments : — '  The  notion 
of  the  possibility  of  a  future  restoration  of  the  wicked  to  the  happiness  of  the  just 
has  been  fostered,  we  cannot  doubt,  by  an  unworthy  conception  of  the  nature  of 
their  punishment.  If  that  punishment  consisted  only  or  chiefly  in  the  infliction 
of  external  suSering  ;  if  the  awful  images  by  which  the  Scriptures  have  sought  to 
bring  home  to  the  human  understanding  the  realities  of  that  retribution — images 
of  chains  and  stripes,  of  a  delivery  to  the  tormentors,  of  an  undying  worm  and  an 
unquenchable  fire — were  to  be  literally  interpreted,  and  regarded  as  constituting 
the  whole  of  that  misery  which  they  faintly  typify ;  then,  certainly,  the  sentence 
might  vary  in  its  duration  with  each  individual  case,  and  admit  in  every  instance 
of  an  ultimate,  however  remote,  termination.  If  the  essence  of  the  wrath  to  come 
were  the  infliction  of  a  certain  amount  of  retaliation,  proportioned  to  the  number 
or  complexion  of  the  sins  in  each  case  to  be  revenged,  it  might  be  limited  in  extent 
as  well  as  in  severity,  and  its  cessation  might  at  once  restore  the  sufferer  to  a  repose 
which  it  alone  had  interrupted.  But  if  the  true  account  of  its  nature  be  widely 
diflferent ;  if  it  be  more  correctly  described  as  a  reaping  after  sowing,  a  harvest 
gradually  matured,  a  receiving  back  of  things  done  in  the  body,  an  eating  of  the 
fruit  of  our  own  ways — and  these  are  representations  of  it  familiar  to  every  reader 
of  the  Scriptures — if,  in  short,  the  tormentors  then  to  be  encountered  are  the  sim 
themselves ;  the  habits  of  mind  formed  in  this  life  ;  the  evil  lustings  which  possessed 
us  here,  and  to  which  all  gratification  will  be  there  for  ever  denied;  the  reproaches 
of  an  evil  conscience,  which  no  hope  of  repentance  or  amendment  can  then  allay 
or  palliate ;  the  remembrance  of  opportunities  irrecoyerably  lost,  of  time  and  talents 
irremediably  wasted,  of  grace  fatally  resisted,  and  now  abhorred  as  well  as  with- 
drawn; if  thought  be  thus  the  chief  minister  of  vengeance,  the  sinner  his  own  tor- 
mentor, and  the  absence  rather  than  the  presence  of  God  tho  main  instrument  of 
His  wrath;  what  room  is  then  left  for  a  diminution  or  cessation  of  punishment  ? 
what  agency  can  then  be  imagined  capable  of  effecting  a  moral  change  which 
Christ  and  His  Spirit  long  offered  in  vain?  what  gradual,  what  sudden  softening 
of  a  hardened  heart  can  then  effect  a  result  imposc-ible  but  on  the  supposition  of 
holiness — a  holiness  never  of  spontaneous  gi'owth,  and  in  this  case  delil)erate]y 
refused  while  conscience  still  retained  its  vitality  ?  Without  holiness  no  man  can 
see  the  Lord;  without  holiness,  happiness  is  a  contradiction,  an  impossibility: 
misery  is  in  the  mind,  not  in  the  circumstances  :  misery  can  only  be  removed  by 
the  removal,  alleviated  by  a  diminution,  of  moral  evil ;  and  that  removal,  that 
diminution,  can  only  be  effected  with  the  consent,  with  the  will,  of  the  moral  being 
who  is  its  subject.  A  compulsory,  an  imposed  sanctification,  is  none:  yet  what 
machinery  can  be  then  in  operation  to  effect  any  other  ?  When  these  things  are 
remembered,  the  supposition  of  a  reversible  doom,  an  exhaustible  perdition,  a 
changing  eternity,  will  become  as  unreasonable  as  it  is  unscriptural.'  Nothing  can 
\e  more  philosophical  than  this ;  it  is  an  application  of  the  law  of  consequences 
upon  the  largest  scale.  Yet,  surely,  if  we  may  quench  the  '  fire' altogether,  and 
turn  the  '  worm' into  an  allegory,  there  seems  no  reason  why  the  same  method 
may  not  be  applied  to  other  expressions  of  a  similar  kind. — Spectator. 


THE  RBA80NER. 


307 


Betentt    of    t^e    Cibil    ^isffts    of   ^tlftiSti. 


[Fhom  the  New  York  Tribune  — ihe 
Times  of  America  (so  different  in  libe- 
rality to  onr  own  Times) — we  take  the 
following  defence  of  the  civil  rights  of 
those  not  able  to  believe  in  a  Supreme 
Being.  Our  readers  will  desire  to  pos- 
sess these  articles  in  a  more  permanent 
form  than  the  newspaper  admits.] 

A  physician  was  arrested  at  Lowell  a 
few  days  since,  charged  with  a  gross 
crime  perpetrated  upon  a  woman  while 
in  a  state  of  mesmeric  trance,  or  suspen- 
sion of  the  will,  which  he  had  produced. 
He  was  brought  before  a  magistrate,  the 
woman  and  her  husband  being  the  wit- 
nesses against  him.  It  appeared,  how- 
ever, that  neither  of  the  two  believed  in 
the  being  of  a  God,  and  accordingly  the 
prisoner  was  discharged  from  the  accu- 
sation and  allowed  to  go  unpunished. 
It  was  not  proved  in  evidence,  as  we 
understand,  that  the  witnesses  were  ha- 
bitnal  liars,  whose  testimony  cottld  in 
no  case  be  relied  on  :  nothing  was  done 
to  impeach  their  veracity,  or  cast  doubt 
on  the  fact  that  Such  an  outrage  had 
been  committed  as  they  alleged.  The 
sole  ground  for  pronouncing  them  un- 
worthy of  credence,  and  for  declaring 
the  legal  innocence  of  the  miscreant, 
was  that  they  did  not  believe  in  the  ex- 
istence of  a  Supreme  Being. 

We  have  in  our  time  known  many 
persons  whose  misfortune  it  was  to  have 
a  similar  want  of  conviction  as  to  this 
universa,!  article  of  faith,  but  we  have 
never  found  them,  as  a  class,  less  re- 
liable, less  honest,  less  true,  than  other 
respectable  members  of  the  community. 
A  few  have  been  bad,  and  many  exceed- 
ingly disagreeable,  but  some  of  the  most 
estimable  persons  we  have  ever  met 
with,  men  of  great  kindness  and  cour- 
tesy, and  of  the  highest  sense  of  honour, 
have  called  themselves  atheists.    Un- 


doubtedly they  were  sincere  In  so  doing; 
and  the  fact,  as  far  as  they,  and  the  con- 
sistency and  vigour  of  their  minds  were 
concerned,  was  lamentable.  But  to  say 
that  they  would  lie  or  steal  more  readily 
than  other  men,  that  they  were  worse 
fathers,  friends,  citiz6ns,  would  be  a 
great  mistake.  Indeed,  there  have  been 
such  men  whose  word  their  neighbours 
would  confide  in  with  more  readiness 
than  in  that  of  others  who  called  them- 
selves Christians. 

Why,  then,  should  such  persons  not 
be  allowed  to  testify  before  the  Courts  ? 
Why  should  justice  be  baulked,  because 
a  good  and  an  honest  man,  whom  no- 
body would  in  private  suspect  of  giving 
false  witness,  cannot  profess  to  believe 
in  a  fundamental  doctrine  of  religion  ? 

The  meaning  of  an  oath,  in  which  God 
is  called  to  attest  the  truth  of '  the  wit- 
ness's allegation,  is  this :  If  I  swear 
falsely  may  God  punish  me  by  dam- 
nation. The  Supreme  Being  is  invoked 
to  note  the  words  of  the  witness  and 
condemn  him  if  they  are  not  true.  The 
penalty  is  punishment  eternal.  For, 
when  the  oath  was  first  used  such  pii- 
nishment  was  so  common  an  article  of 
faith  as  the  belief  in  a  Deity.  And  yet 
there  are  now  many  who  do  not  hold  it, 
not  only  professed  Universalists,  but  of 
other  religious  denominations.  But  they 
are  not  excluded  from  the  witness-box 
in  consequence.  Were  the  rule  strictly 
applied,  they  must  also  be  rejected,  since 
the  man  who  does  not  believe  God  will 
punish  him  for  a  lie,  is  just  as  likely  to 
tell  one  as  the  man  who  does  not  believe 
there  is  a  God  at  all.  For  neither  has 
the  fear  of  the  divine  wrath  before  his 
eyes. 

It  appears  to  us  that  the  invocation 
of  the  Divine  Being  as  a  pledge  of  truth, 
might  as  wisely  and  safely  be  omitted 


308 


THE  REASONER. 


from  the  formalities  of  justice  as  from 
the  ordinary  intercourse  of  men.  It  is 
not  necessary  for  the  purposes  of  daily 
life  and  business,  and  why  should  it  be 
where  one  stands  up  to  testify  in  a  mat- 
ter concerning  the  honour  or  life  of  his 
fellow  ?  Let  all  proper  formalities  be 
observed ;  guard  such  evidences  with 
suflScient  legal  penalties  for  falsehood; 
receive  all  the  testimony  afifecting  the 
veracity  of  a  witness ;  but  do  not  let  the 
law  prescribe  that  a  man  who  would  be 
implicitly  believed  everywhere  else,  shall 
not  even  be  heard  in  a  Court  because  he 
ditfers  from  other  men  on  a  doctrine  of 
theology,  no  matter  how  great  the  im- 
portance of  that  doctrine  in  the  view  of 
others.  The  truth  is,  that  the  practice 
of  making  religious  belief  a  test  of 
judicial  credibility  is  a  relic  of  those 
barbarous  days  when  women  were  drown- 
ed to  prove  that  they  were  not  witches,  or 
required  to  walk  unscorched  on  burn- 
ing coals  to  show  that  they  had  not 
violated  a  commandment.  Then  charac- 
ter in  every  respect  was  tested  by  or- 
thodoxy, and  he  who  dared  affirm  that 
he  held  not  every  point  of  the  general 
belief,  was  regarded  as  worse  than  a 
heathen  and  a  publican.  But  now  it  is 
universally  admitted  that  a  man  is  not 
necessarily  bad  even  because  he  may 
happen  to  be  an  infidel,  but  that  he  may 
still  be  upright  and  estimable  in  every 
capacity.  The  truth  is  practically  esta- 
blished that  pioral  qualities  are  depen- 
dent rather  on  the  general  moral  stand- 
ard of  the  community,  and  that  on  the 
whole,  men  are  not  worse  nor  better  than 
the  neighbours  they  associate  with,  in- 
dependent of  the  abstract  opinions  they 
may  entertain. 

Such  being  the  case,  it  seems  impos- 
sible that  this  principle  should  long  re- 
main in  force  in  legal  matters,  abolished 
as  it  has  been  in  other  relations  of  men. 
And  such  an  application  of  it  as  this  at 
Lowell  must  go  far  towards  its  erasure 
from  the  statute  book. 


[The  Albany  Register  commented  upon 
this  article  in  the  following  fashion  ; — 

*  We  alluded  biiefly  yesterday  to  the 
ungodly  teachings  of  the  New  York  Tri- 
bune, as  exemplitied  in  its  warm,  hearty 
commendations  ot  the  many  virtues  pos- 
sessed by  its  atheistic  friends.  It  needed 
not  such  commendation  to  show  the  cha- 


racter of  much  of  the  Tribune's  most 
sedulously-inculcated  doctrines.  Under 
the  guise  of  great  philanthropy  and  sym- 
pathy with  the  unfortunate,  the  scope 
and  aim  of  its  teachings  seem  to  be  to 
impress  its  readers  with  the  belief  that 
Christianity  is  a  failure,  that  however 
useful  it  might  have  been  in  former  times 
it  is  not  adapted  to  the  wants  of  the  pre- 
sent, which  needs  something  better, 
something  more  in  accordance  with  the 
spirit  of  modern  progress.  The  Tribune 
now  is  but  little  more,  so  far  as  its  ethics 
and  schemes  for  the  regeneration  of 
mankind  are  concerned,  than  a  re-hash 
of  the  Paris  Globe  and  other  organs  of 
exploded  St.  Simonism  eighteen  or 
twenty  years  ago.'] 

In  a  following  number  (for  July  30th) 
the  New  York  Tribune  makes  this  reply 
to  the  above  paragraph  : — 

Such  things  as  the  above  are  full  of 
encouragement  for  every  labourer  in  the 
arduous  but  not  ungrateful  work  of  root- 
ing out  old  absurdities  and  wrongs,  and 
establishing  common  sense  and  justice 
in  their  stead.  For  when  the  advocates 
of  the  former  have  no  better  way  of  sus- 
taining their  cause  than  such  exceeding 
meanness  and  falseness  as  the  Register 
here  manifests — when  they  shirk  the 
questions  proposed  for  discussion,  and 
merely  assail  the  character  and  aims  of 
their  opponents,  it  is  a  clear  admission 
of  their  impotence  in  the  sphere  of  rea- 
soning, and  shows  that  they  have  in  fact 
given  up  the  controversy. 

Let  us  recall  to  our  readers  what  it  is 
that  the  Register  oracularly  sets  down  as 
practical  atheism.  A  man  had  com- 
mitted a  gross  outrage  upon  a  woman 
under  circumstances  of  remarkable  atro- 
city. The  woman  and  her  husband 
brought  a  complaint  against  him,  they 
being  the  only  witnesses.  On  the  ex- 
amination it  appeared  that  neither  of 
them  believed  in  the  being  of  a  God. 
Therefore  the  magistrate  decided,  ac- 
cording to  the  law,  that  their  testimony 
was  worthless,  and  released  the  mis- 
creant. There  was  no  doubt  either  in 
his  mind  or  in  those  of  the  neighbours, 
that  the  crime  had  been  committed,  and 
yet  the  criminal  was  allowed  to  go  as  if 
his  innocence  were  undisputed. 

We  contended  that  the  law  which  for- 
bade the  evidence  of  this  husband  and 
wite  to  be  entertained  was  an  unwise 


THE  REASONER. 


309 


and  an  unjust  one,  and  entered  very 
briefly  into  the  general  argument  against 
it.  The  Register,  apparently  unable  to 
show  the  argument  to  be  erroneous,  or 
that  our  conclusions  were  not  justified 
by  the  facts,  embraces  the  opportunity 
repeatedly  to  accuse  the  Tribune  of  prac- 
tical atheism  in  order  to  feed  an  amiable 
feeling  of  animosity  which  it  entertains 
against  innovating  ideas  in  general,  and 
this  journal  in  particular.  We  make 
no  complaint  of  this,  for  as  we  had  no 
share  in  the  contributions  by  which  the 
Register  w&s  started,  we  have  no  right  to 
advise  as  to  its  course.  But  we  may  be 
permitted  to  suggest  to  our  cotemporary 
that  if  his  reading  of  the  Tribune  and  of 
modern  doctrines  had  been  as  thorough 
and  a  little  more  correct  than  his  studies 
in  the  Parisian  Globe  and  St.  Simonism, 
he  would  have  known  that  this  charge 
of  constructive  atheism  and  hostility  to 
Christianity,  which  he  launches  against 
us,  has  ceased  to  have  an  effect  with  the 
public,  and  especially  with  the  religious 
portion  of  it.  Too  many  ideas  on  which 
time  has  since  conferred  its  brightest 
approval  have  been  branded  as  atheistic, 
too  many  measures  of  unmixed  benefi- 
cence have  been  set  down  as  infidel  for  the 
world  to  be  again  deceived  by  such  epi- 
thets. Galileo,Columbus,Jenner,Harvey, 
were  condemned  as  infidels  by  the  leaders 
of  conservative  opinion  in  their  day,  not 
to  mention  the  examples  from  the  his- 
tory of  theology  and  philosophy — and 
the  facts  about  them  have  been  widely 
read  and  pondered.  And  now  the  yelp- 
ing of  puppies  or  the  screeching  of  owls 
can  frighten  men  about  as  easily  as  the 
shout  of  infidel  and  anti-Christian  can 
alarm  sensible  persons  whose  habit  is  to 
investigate  and  think  for  themselves. 
That  shout  was  long  since  raised  against 
the  Tribune  in  vain,  and  we  presume 
that  at  this  day  the  considerable  and  in- 
creased body  of  readers  wfio  believe 
with  us  that  the  essential  principles  of 
Christianity  ought  to  be  applied  to  the 
distribution  of  land  (land  monopoly 
being  abolished),  and  the  organisation  of 
productive  labour,  of  commerce,  and  of 
domestic  industry  and  consumption,  as 
well  as  that  other  large  body  of  readers 
who  take  the  Tribune  that  they  may 
know  what  is  going  on  in  the  world,  will 
not  now  be  seriously  diminished. 
Accordingly,  if  the  Regiiler  haa  any- 


thing to  say  to  us,  we  invite  it  to  the 
manly  arena  of  discussion,  which  it  will 
find  much  more  useful  and  creditable 
than  the  flinging  about  of  epithets  and 
false  accusations. 

Tn  order  to  show  that  we  are  not  alone 
in  our  view  of  the  question  of  admitting 
infidels  to  testify  in  courts  of  justice,  we 
make  the  following  extract  from  an 
article  in  the  Utica  Observer  of  Satur- 
day : — 

'  The  Register,  if  it  will  brush  up  its 
memory,  will  find  that  in  its  unmanly 
and  unworthytreatment  of  the  Tribune's 
article,  it  was  libelling  the  character  of 
its  own  Millard  Fillmore.  As  early  as 
1832  the  attention  of  Mr.  Fillmore,  then 
as  now,  a  judicious,  sound,  and  practical 
thinker,  was  called  to  the  manifest  in- 
justice of  the  religious  test,  and  a  bill 
was  introduced  (by  him,  I  believe)  on 
the  1st  of  February,  1832,  in  the  follow- 
ing words,  "  No  person  shall  be  deemed 
incompetent  as  a  witness  in  any  court 
matter  or  proceeding  on  account  of  his 
or  her  belief,  or  for  the  want  of  any  re- 
ligious belief;  nor  shall  any  witness  be 
questioned  as  to  his  or  her  religious 
belief ;  nor  shall  any  other  testimony  be 
received  thereto,  either  before  or  after 
such  witness  may  be  sworn." 

'  The  press  of  other  important  busi- 
ness which  had  a  preference,  prevented 
the  wise  and  judicious  provisions  of  that 
bill  from  becoming  a  law.  But  the  sub- 
ject was  not  dropped,  and  Mr.  Fillmore, 
in  a  series  of  able  papers,  over  the  sig- 
nature of  "  Juridicus,"  published  in  the 
BuQ'alo  Patriot  in  the  winter  of  1831, 
ably  advocated  and  invoked  public  atten- 
tion to  the  necessity  of  such  a  provision. 
The  limits  of  this  paper  will  not  permit 
the  making  of  copious  extracts  from  the 
able  pen  of  "  Juridicus,"  but  I  will  en- 
deavour to  give  an  outline  of  his  argu- 
ment. After  tracing  the  history  of  the 
religious  test  from  the  "  dark  ages  when 
men  were  punished  for  opinion's  sake," 
and  when  the  rule  of  exclusion  extended 
to  all  who  were  not  under  the  "  obliga- 
tions of  our  religion^'  down  to  the  pre- 
sent time,  he  says,  "  it  is  not  a  little  re- 
markable that  every  change  has  been  in 
favour  of  admitting  persons  to  testify 
who  were  before  excluded.  The  narrow 
feelings  of  prejudice  and  bigotry  have 
gradually  given  way  to  more  enlight- 
ened »ad  llberftl  views,  and  since  the 


310 


THE  REASONER. 


doctrine  has  received  the  assent  of  all 
intelligent  minds,  that  men  do  not  de- 
serve to  be  punished  on  account  of  the 
peculiarity  of  their  religious  faith,  it  is 
strange  that  they  continue  to  deprive 
themselves  of  the  benefit  of  their  neigh- 
bour's testimony  merely  because  hia 
faith  in  certain  unknown  things  is  a  little 
weaker  or  stronger  than  theirs.  *  * 
' "  The  fear  oi  future  punishments  for 
false  swearing  has  much  less  influence 
on  the  great  majority  of  the  people  than 
may  be  at  first  imagined.  No  specific 
punishment  for  the  breach  of  an  official 
oath  is  prescribed  by  our  law — sheriffs, 
judges,  justices,  constables,  and  other 
officers  take  an  oath  faithfully  to  dis- 
charge the  duties  of  their  respective 
offices — a  violation  of  their  oath  is  moral 
perjury.  Yet  in  the  great  majority  of 
cases  it  is  no  sooner  taken  than  forgot- 
ten— it  is  scarcely  thought  of  as  an 
obligation — it  is  taken  by  the  reeipient 
as  a  mere  ceremony  to  show  that  he  in- 
tends to  enter  upon  the  duties  of  hia 
office.  Custom-house  oaths  and  test 
oaths  are  still  stronger  instances  of  the 
almost  perfect  indifference  with  which 
false  swearing  is  regarded,  where  there 
is  no  other  penalty  than  the  punishment 
to  be  inflicted  by  the  Supreme  Being  for 
false  swearing.  It  is  clear  that  by  the 
constitution,  the  most  stubborn  infidel  is 
eligible  to  the  highest  office  in  the  state. 
He  may  be  elected  governor,  or  ap- 
pointed to  the  office  of  chancellor,  or 
judge  of  the  Supreme  Court, and  his  in- 
fidelity is  no  disqualification  whatsoever. 
And  in  times  of  war  when  not  only  the 
property  of  one  man  but  the  Uvea  and 
property  and  happiness  of  a  million  and 
a  half  of  souls  may  depend  upon  the  in- 
tegrity aud  patriotism  of  that  man  who 
has  the  direction  and  command  of  the 
public  force.  I  say  at  that  perilous 
crisis  this  same  man  who  would  not  be 
permitted  to  testify  in  a  justice's  court, 
is,,  by  the  constitution,  comnjander-in- 
chief  of  our  arms  aud  admiral  of  our 


navies.  But  again,  by  the  constitution 
of  the  state,  your  governor  may  be  a 
professed  atheist,  whose  oath  by  the 
laws  of  the  state  would  not  be  received 
to  convict  a  man  of  assault  and  battery 
or  petit  larceny,  and  yet  by  the  same 
constitution,  the  same  governor  has  the 
power  of  pardoning  the  criminal  for  the 
highest  crimes  after  conviction. 

'"But  how  are  you  to  know  what  a 
witness's  religious  opinions  are?  You 
must  find  it  in  the  declarations  of  the 
witness.  A  Is  introduced  as  a  witness — 
he  stated,  without  being  under  oath,  or 
feeling  any  apprehension  of  having  in- 
flicted upon  him  the  pains  and  penalties 
of  perjury,  that  he  did  not'  believe  in  a 
Supreme  Being.'  The  court  concluded 
that  be  had  spoken  the  truth,  and  that 
the  fact  was  established  that  he  did  not 
believe,  and  he  having  spoken  the  truth 
in  this  instance  with  strong  temptations 
to  tell  a  falsehood  and  no  restraints  to 
prevent  it,  therefore  they  arrived  at  this 
natural  and  logical  conclusion,  that  if  he 
should  be  put  under  oath  and  be  thereby 
subjected  to  the  infamy  and  punishment 
inflicted  for  perjury,  that  he  would  most 
assuredly  testify  falsely,  and  therefore 
he  should  not  be  permitted  to  testify 
further.  In  brief,  he  has  told  the  truth 
when  not  under  oath,  and  this  induces  a 
legal  presumption  that  he  would  commit 
perjury  if  put  under  oath,  and  therefore 
he  should  not  be  sworn  at  all.  But  look 
at  this  absurdity  in  another  point  of 
view.  The  honest,  honourable,  upright 
man,  who  would  not  tell  an  untruth  to 
save  his  right  arm,  whether  under  oath 
or  not,  when  questioned  as  to  his  belief, 
though  it  varies  from  the  common  stand- 
ard, freely,  candidly,  and  fearlessly  con- 
fesses it  and  is  rejected,  while  the  dis- 
honest, lying  hypocrite,  denies  what  hia 
real  sentiments  are,  tells  a  falsehood, 
and  is  admitted  to  testify." ' 

Perhaps  the  Register  will  now  favour 
the  public  with  an  article,  branding  Pre- 
sidtiut  FillinQre-as  a  practical. atheist. 


THE  REASONER.  311 


©ur  ^3Tat(0nn. 

Prom  which  any  earnest  opponent  may  controvert  our  opinions,  and  from  which  any  may  expound  views 
not  coincident  with  our  own,  if  tending  to  the  Rationalisation  of  Theology. 

CHRISTIANITY   VERSUS   INFIDELITY. 


Sib, — Some  infidels  with  whom  I  have  conversed  assert  that  they  are  nn&ble  to 
believe  the  divine  revelation,  because  its  proofs  are  not  certain  like  the  proofs  of 
physical  science,  which  are  absolutely  and  mathematically  conclusive. 

This  argument  will  not,  however,  bear  investigation.  No  philosopher  would 
look  for  impossibilities  ;  and  we  might  as  well  expect  water  to  burn,  as  look  for  an 
impossible  kind  of  proof.  Every  philosopher  will  at  once  admit,  that  the  nature 
of  evidence  must  be  adapted  to  the  nature  of  its  object,  and  that,  if  this  adaptation 
is  broken  in  upon,  there  will  be  no  evidence  at  all ;  for  evidence  is  no  more  inter- 
changeable than  objects.  If  mathematical  evidence  is  demanded,  the  attention 
must  be  limited  to  mathematical  disquisitions.  The  subject  must  bo  quantity.  If 
it  is  desired  to  pursue  a  moral  investigation,  mathematics  must  be  relinquished, 
and  moral  evidence  alone  be  regarded.  The  subject  must  be  the  relations  which 
subsist  between  intelligent  beings.  It  would  be  quite  as  wise  to  apply  a  rule  in  ethics 
to  the  calculation  of  an  eclipse  as  to  call  for  Euclid  when  we  want  to  know  our 
duty,  or  to  submit  the  question  '  whether  God  has  spoken  '  to  the  test  of  a  problem 
in  the  conic  sections.  How  could  any  prove  mathematically  that  bread  nourishes 
men,  and  that  fever  kills  them  ?  Yet  we  are  as  firmly  convinced  of  the  truth  of 
these  propositions  as  of  any  mathematical  demonstration  whatever;  and  should  I 
call  them  in  question,  my  neighbours  would  either  pity  me  as  an  idiot  or  shut  me 
up  as  a  madman.  It  is,  therefore,  a  great  mistake  to  suppose  that  there  is  no 
satisfactory  or  certain  evidence  but  what  is  reducible  to  mathematics. 

Objections  against  a  thing  fairly  proved  are  of  no  weight.  The  proof  rests  upon 
our  knowledge,  but  the  objections  rest  upon  our  ignorance.  It  is  true  that  moral 
demonstrations  and  religious  doctrines  may  be  attacked  in  a  very  ingenious  and 
plausible  manner,  because  they  involve  questions  on  which  our  ignorance  is 
greater  than  oar  knowledg-e.  But  still  our  knowledge  is  knowledge,  or,  in  other 
words,  our  certainty  is  certainty.  In  mathematical  reasoning  our  knowledge  is 
greater  than  our  ignorance — we  argue  from  what  we  really  know.  When  it  is  proved 
that  the  three  angles  of  every  triangle  are  equal  to  two  right  angles,  there  is  an  end 
of  doubt,  because  there  are  no  materials  for  ignorance  to  work  up  into  phantoms; 
yet  that  knowledge  is  really  no  more  certain  than  knowledge  on  any  other  subject. 
There  is  also  deception  in  this  matter.  The  detect  complained  of  is  supposed  to 
exist  in  the  nature  of  the  proof,  whereas  it  exists,  for  the  most  part,  in  the  inind  of 
the  inquirer.  It  is  impossible  to  tell  how  far  the  influence  of  human  depravity  ob- 
scures the  light  of  human  reason  ;  but  we  know  that  the  obscurity  is  great.  For 
instance,  can  any  one  imagine  that  a  man  who  has  been  long  addicted  to  stealing 
feels  the  force  of  reasoning  against  theft  as  strongly  as  a  man  of  true  honesty  ?  or 
that  an  habitual  thief  feels  as  much  abhorrence  of  his  own  trade  and  character  as  a 
man  who  never  committed  an  act  of  theft  in  his  whole  life  ?  Can  it  be  denied  that 
the  practice  of  any  crime  gradually  weakens,  and  frequently  destroys,  the  sense  of 
its  turpitude?  This  is  a  strong  fact,  that  philosophy  is  bound  to  explain.  To  me 
it  is  clear  as  the  day,  that  vice  has  debauched  the  intellect  of  such  a  man;  for 
it  is  indisputable  that  the  considerations  which  once  filled  him  with  honour 
produce  now  no  more  impression  upon  him  than  they  would  produce  upon  a  horse. 


312  THE  REASONER. 


Why  ?  Has  the  vice  changed  ?  Have  the  considerations  changed  f  No.  The 
vice  is  as  pernicious  and  the  considerations  are  as  strong  as  ever.  But  his  power 
of  perceiving  truth  is  diminished  by  his  vice ;  for  had  he  not  fallen  into  it,  the 
considerations  would  have  remained,  and,  should  he  be  saved  from  it,  they  would 
resume  their  original  force  upon  his  mind.  Reflect  for  one  moment,  how  hard  it 
is  to  persuade  men  of  the  virtues  of  others,  against  whom  they  are  prejudiced ! 
You  shall  bring  no  proof  of  the  virtues  which  the  prejudice  shall  not  resist  or 
evade  ;  remove  the  prejudice, and  the  proof  appears  invincible.  Why  ?  Have  the 
virtues  changed  ?  Has  the  proof  been  strengthened  ?  No  ;  but  the  power  of  per- 
ceiving truth  is  increased,  or,  which  amounts  to  the  same  thing,  the  impediment 
to  perceiving  it  is  taken  away.  If,  then,  there  are  bad  passions  among  men,  and  if 
the  object  of  divine  revelation  is  to  control  and  rectify  them,  it  follows  that  a  man 
to  whom  the  revelation  is  proposed  will  be  blind  to  its  evidence  in  exact  propor- 
tion to  the  perverting  influence  of  those  passions.  And  were  the  human  mind  free 
from  corruption,  there  is  no  reason  whatever  to  think  that  a  moral  argument 
would  not  be  as  conclusive  as  a  mathematical  argument  is  now,  and  that  the  prin- 
ciples of  moral  and  religious  science  would  not  command  an  assent  as  instantaneous 
and  peremptory  as  that  which  is  commanded  by  mathematical  axioms. 

The  tables  may  be  even  turned  upon  the  infidel,  by  showing  that  the  evidence  of 
physical  science  is  not  without  its  difficulties,  and  that  objections  can  be  urged 
against  mathematical  demonstration  more  puzzling  and  unanswerable  than  any 
objections  against  moral  evidence. 

To  prove  that  physical  science  is  not  without  its  difficulties,  let  us  take  a 
common  case.  The  Newtonian  system  of  the  world  is  so  perfectly  settled  that  no 
scholar  presumes  to  question  it.  Go,  then,  to  a  peasant  who  never  heard  of 
Newton,  or  Copernicus,  or  the  solar  system,  and  tell  him  that  the  earth  moves 
round  its  axis  and  round  the  sun.  He  will  stare  at  you,  to  see  whether  you  are 
not  jeering  him  ;  and  when  he  sees  you  are  in  earnest,  he  will  laugh  at  you  for  a 
fool.  Ply  him  now  with  mathematical  and  astronomical  reasoning,  he  will  answer 
you,  that  he  believes  his  own  eyesight  more  than  your  learning,  and  his  eyesight 
tells  him  that  the  sun  moves  round  the  earth ;  and  as  for  the  earth's  turning  round 
upon  his  axis,  he  will  say,  that  he  has  often  hung  a  kettle  over  the  kitchen 
fire  at  night,  and  when  he  came  back  in  the  morning  it  was  hanging  there  still, 
but  had  the  earth  turned  round  the  kettle  would  have  been  turned  over,  and  the 
contents  spilled  over  the  floor.  You  are  amused  with  the  peasant's  simplicity, 
but  you  cannot  conviace  him.  His  objection  is,  in  his  own  eyes,  insurmountable ; 
he  will  tell  the  affair  to  his  neighbours  as  a  good  story,  and  they  will  all  agree  that 
he  fairly  and  completely  shut  the  philosopher's  mouth.  It  may  be  replied  that 
'  the  peasant  was  introduced  into  the  middle  of  a  mature  science,  and  that,  not 
having  learned  its  elements,  he  was  unsupplied  with  the  principles  of  correct 
judgment.'  True ;  but  that  very  solution  overthrows  infidelity.  A  freethinker, 
when  he  hears  some  great  doctrine  of  Christianity,  lets  off  a  small  objection,  and 
runs  away  laughing  at  the  folly,  or  railing  at  the  imposture,  of  all  who  venture  to 
defend  a  divine  revelation.  He  gathers  his  brother  unbelievers,  and  they  unite 
with  him  wondering  at  the  weakness  or  the  impudence  of  Christians.  He  is  in  the 
very  situation  of  the  peasant ;  he  bolts  into  the  heart  of  a  grand  religious  system 
— he  has  never  adverted  to  its  first  principles ;  and  then  he  complains  that  the 
evidence  is  bad.  But  the  fault  in  neither  case  lies  in  the  evidence ;  it  lies  in  the 
ignorance  or  obstinacy  of  the  objector.  The  peasant's  ground  is  quite  as  firm  as 
the  infidel's.    The  proof  of  the  Newtonian  system  is  to  the  former  as  distant, 


THE  REASONEH. 


313 


subtle,  and  cloudy  as  the  proof  of  revelation  can  be  to  the  latter ;  and  the  objection 
of  the  one  is  as  good  as  the  objection  of  the  other.  If  the  depravity  of  men  had 
as  much  interest  in  persuading  them  that  the  earth  is  not  globular  and  does  nol 
move  round  the  sun  as  it  has  in  persuading  them  that  the  Bible  is  not  true,  a 
mathematical  demonstration  would  fail  of  converting  them,  although  the  demon- 
strator were  an  angel  of  God  ! 

Let  us  next  proceed  to  observe  that  there  are  objections  to  mathematical 
evidence  more  puzzling  and  unanswerable  than  can  be  alleged  against  moral 
reasoning.  Now  it  is  mathematically  demonstrated  that  space  is  infinitely  divisible, 
that  is,  has  an  infinite  number  of  parts  :  a  line,  then,  of  half  an  inch  long,  has  an 
infinite  number  of  parts.  Who  does  not  see  an  absurdity  in  this  ?  Try  the  diffi- 
culty another  way.  It  requires  some  portion  of  time  to  pass  any  portion  of  space. 
Then  as  the  half  inch  has  an  infinite  number  of  parts,  it  requires  an  infinite 
number  of  portions  of  time  for  a  moving  point  to  pass  by  the  infinite  number  of 
parts ;  consequently  it  requires  an  eternity,  or  something  like  it,  to  move  half  an 
inch! 

The  accuracy  of  the  demonstration,  that  space  is  infinitely  divisible,  is  not  ques- 
tioned ;  and  yet  the  result  deduced  is  in6nitely  absurd.  Yet  these  difficulties  do 
not  make  men  sceptical  as  to  philosophy ;  why  then  should  men  become  sceptical 
as  to  religion  on  account  of  lesser  difficulties  ?  Surely  it  must  be  on  account  of 
the  depravity  of  the  human  heart,  as  before  stated  ;  a  depravity  which  shows  the 
necessity  of  its  being  regenerated  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  without  which  we  are  assured 
(by  holy  writ)  none  can  understand  the  mysteries  of  redemption  here,  or  attain  to 
happiness  in  a  future  state.  A  Tbue  Keasoneb. 

[We  certainly  are  not  among  those  who  sin  in  demanding  mathematical  proof. 
We  should  be  very  content  with  much  less.  The  letter  of  our  correspondent  has 
a  certain  ability,  which  entitles  it  to  the  attention  of  our  readers,  and  at  the 
same  time  a  flippancy  of  assumption  which  must  excite  a  smile.  The  writer  has 
been  very  unhappy  in  the  class  of  sceptics  he  has  fallen  in  with — if  he  has  fairly 
described  them.  We  suspect,  however,  that  our  '  True  Reasoner'  is  but  a  novice 
either  in  attack  or  defence,  as  he  has  neither  mastered  our  case,  nor  comprehended 
that  spirit  of  justness  which  is  the  best  part  of  the  pretensions  of  his  own  faith. 
—Ed.] 


THE  DISTINCTIVE  FEATURES  OF  MORALITy  AND  RELIGION. 

SiE, — As  you  wish  for  papers  on  the  independence  of  morality,  I  have  taken 
my  pen  for  the  purpose  of  giving  expression  to  a  few  thoughts  upon  the  above 
subject. 

The  distinguishing  features  of  morality  are,  first,  that  in  the  drawing  up  of 
rules  for  practical  observance  it  takes  into  consideration  the  effects  of  human 
action  ;  and,  secondly,  that  in  the  correction  of  immoral  practices,  it  always  keeps 
in  view  the  causes  of  such  practices.  It  will  thus  be  seen  that,  although  it  is 
utterly  impossible  to  frame  a  perfect  code  of  moral  laws,  we  have  something  by 
which  we  can  test  our  every  action  and  our  every  word.  It  compels  us  to  ascer- 
tain, as  far  as  possible,  the  most  minute  effects  of  all  we  do  and  say,  so  that,  for 
the  future,  we  may  avoid  doing  or  saying  anything  that  will  prove  injuricua  to 
ourselves  or  others.  It  also  lays  upon  us  the  necessity  of  studying  human  nature 
and  its  relation  to  external  objects  for  the  purpose  of  becoming  acquainted  with 


314 


TBE  REASONER. 


the  springs  of  action,  so  that  when  we  atteinpt  to  correct  immoral  prkctices,  we 
may  not  plunge  into  the  error  of  punishing  an  individual  for  that  which  was  the 
necessary  effect  of  certain  causes,  but  at  once  proceed  to  modify  those  causes,  or 
to  effect  their  entire  removal.  Here,  then,  is  work  enough  to  keep  in  active  and 
healthy  exercise  all  our  intellectual  faculties  and  moral  sentiments — exercise  that 
will  at  once  ennoble  us  as  human  beings,  and  produce  a  state  of  society  where  all 
is  love  and  peace. 

The  main  feature  of  religion,  as  it  has  been  well  described  by  Madame 
D'Arusmont,  late  Frances  Wright,  is  that  it  demands  '  a  belief  in,  and  homage 
rendered  to,  existences  unseen  and  causes  unknown,'  It  does  not  appeal  to  man's 
reason,  but  seeks  to  enslave  him  by  working  upon  his  fears  and  bribing  him  with, 
to  all  appearance,  a  mere  phantom,  Man's  reasoning  faculties  can  only  be  brought 
into  healthy  exercise  by  having  something  tangible  to  work  upon,  ?nd  they  utterly 
fail  in  any  attempt  to  grasp  the  unseeable  and  the  unknowable.  This  one  feature 
alone  had  so  warped  the  universal  judgment  of  mankind  by  diverting  their  atten- 
tion from  the  true  basis  of  moral  action,  that  centuries  upon  centuries  must 
elapse  ere  we  shall  be  free  from  the  miseries  thus  produced. 

Rules  for  human  conduct  have  been  blended  with  almost  every  religions  system  ; 
but  those  rules,  instead  of  being  framed  upon  the  true  basis  of  morality,  have 
rested  too  much  or  entirely  upon  the  mere  will  of  the  founders,  and  it  not  unfre- 
quently  happens  that  some  of  those  laws  and  regulations  have  an  immoral  ten- 
(jency — Christ's  sermon  on  the  mount,  which  contains  practical  rules  of  his  life 
given  by  himself.  In  the  fifth  chapter  of  Matthew,  and  at  the  forty-second  verse, 
he  is  represented  as  saying,  *  Give  to  him  that  asketh  thee,  and  from  him  that  would 
borrow  of  thee  turn  not  thou  away.'  But  what  would  be  the  result  of  the  carrying 
out  of  this  law  ?  There  is  not  the  slightest  qualification,  but  it  positively  commatids 
the  giving  to  those  that  ask ;  and  it  would,  therefore,  constitute  the  greatest  incen- 
tive to  imposture  and  mendicity.  True  morality,  on  the  other  hand,  would  insti- 
tute an  inquiry  into  the  case  and  circumstances  of  the  individual  asking,  in  order 
that  the  giver  and  the  public  might  be  protected  from  deception.  Christ's  law, 
making  no  such  provision,  would  encourage  the  vagrant  and  prove  injurious  to  the 
best  interests  of  the  community.  We  thus  see  that  religious  laws  for  the  regula- 
tion of  our  lives  may  have  a  moral  or  an  immoral  tendency  according  to  the  igno- 
rance or  the  wisdom  of  the  lawgiver;  and  it  will  be  impossible  for  the  devotees  of 
any  particular  religions  system  to  modify  or  obliterate  any  single  law  without,  at 
the  same  time,  repudiating  the  authority  of  its  founder. 

I  might  make  further  extracts  from  the  doctrines  of  Christ,  but,  in  this  instance, 
one  case  is  as  good  as  a  thousand.  However,  I  have  said  enough  to  show  that 
morality  and  religion  are  distinct  in  their  natures,  and  that  they  rest  upon  founda- 
tions totally  diverse ;  whilst  it  will  also  be  seen  that  an  individual  may  be  a  true 
Christian,  and  yet  in  one  instance,  at  least,  an  immoral  man. 
Mile  End.  Samuel  Poolet. 

A  'CLERICAL  SUBSCRIBER'  AISD  THE  'CRITIC 


SiR^ — Christians  rarely  comprehend  their  creed  as  a  whole,  and  many  express 
surprise  when  it  is  unfolded  to  them.  The  following,  from  the  letter  of  a  '  Clerical 
Subscriber'  to  the  Critic,  may  convince  sentimental  Christians  that  Christianity 
has  another  element  besides  that  of  love.  He  is  objecting  to  a  recent  review  of  a 
book  entitled  '  Life  and  Death,'  whose  object,  he  says,  is  to  get  rid  '  of  the  uncom- 


M 


THE  REASONER. 


SI5   ij 


fortable  doctrine  of  the  eternal  punishment  of  the  wicked,  by  maintaining  tl»at  of 
their  utter  annihilation.'  '  Clerical  Subscriber'  has  no  desire  that  Christians  should 
delude  themselves.  He  quotes  Bishop  Pearson  to  settle  the  matter.  The 
following  is  the  paragraph  entire  : — 

'Wherefore  I  conclude  that  the  wicked  shall  rise  to  everlasting  ponishment,  con- 
tinuing both  in  soul  and  body  under  the  wrath  of  God,  and  the  torments  proceed- 
ing from  it,  never  to  be  quitted  of  them  by  annihilation,  which  is  our  first  assertion 
against  the  covert  dottrine  of  the  Socinians.'  Whether  the  bishop  be  right,  let 
the  words  of  Christ,  quoted  by  him,  help  your  critic  to  judge.  '  Depart  from,  ye 
cursed,  into  everlasting  fire  ;'  and  lest  any  one  should  imagine  that  the  fire  shall  be 
eternal,  but  the  torments  not,  it  follows,  'and  these  shall  go  away  into  everlasting 
punishment,  but  the  righteous  into  life  eternal.'  Charles  F.  Nicholls. 


ATHEISTICAL    OPEN    AIR    PREACHING 


Sia, — The  following  appeared  recently  in  the  Morning  Chronicle  : — '  Certain 
people  have  lately  been  making  aloud  outcry  at  Cardinal  Wiseman's  preaching  in 
a  cul  de  sac  to  its  inhabitants,  nearly  all  Irish  Roman  Catholics.  May  I  venture  to 
call  to  their  attention,  hoping  they  will  show  an  equal  vigilance,  some  open-air 
preaching  of  another  description,  going  on  elsewhere  in  Loudon  ?  Every  Sunday 
evening  there  are  persons  lecturing  at  the  Victoria-park  (and  I  believe  at  other 
places  in  and  near  London)  in  defence  of  atheism.  The  person  from  whom  this 
information  is  derived  went  the  Sunday  before  last  to  hear  them.  He  heard  two 
men  speak  on  the  subject — the  one  a  young  man,  evidently  in  a  consumption,  whom 
he  desciibes  as  being  very  clever  and  fluent;  the  other  a  Jew,  who  ridiculed  reve- 
lation altogether.  He  professed  to  have  a  great  knowledge  of  the  original  lan- 
guage of  the  Bible,  and  said  that  oar  translation,  in  its  prophetical  passages,  was 
not  true  to  the  Hebrew— not,  he  said,  that  that  signified,  as  the  Hebrew  was  a 
forgery.'  A. 


GUIDE  TO  THE  LECTURE  ROOM. 

Literary  Institution,  John  St.,  FitzroySq. — Oct. 
5th  57i],  Ebeneter  Syme,  'Is  there  a  Life  after 
De»th?'  Oct.  7th  [SJ],  Discussion  in  the  Coffee 
Room.  Question, '  What  are  the  best  means  ot  im- 
proving the  condition  of  the  working  classes?' 

National  Hall,  242,  High  Holborn.— Oct.  5th, 
[8],  P.  W.  Perfitt  will  lecture. 

British  Coffee  Kooms,  Edgeware  Road. — Oct. 
5th  [7],  Henry  T.  Long, '  Philosophy  and  Religion 
of  Shakspere.' 

Wardour  St.,  Soho.— Oct.  2nd  [8],  J.  J.  Berer, 
'  The  Progress  and  Triumph  of  Democracy.' 

Hall  of  Science,  City  Koad.  —  Oct.  »th  [71.  a 
lecture,  '  The  World  of  the  Future.' 

Institute  of  Progress,  10a,  Upper  George  St., 
Sloane  Square. — Friday  evenings  [8 J,  Discussion. 
^Sunday  evenings  [7],  a  Lecture. 

Eclectic  Institute,  Denmark  Street,  Soho.  — 
Every  Friday  [8^],  Mr.  J.  B.  O'Brien,  '  Home  and 
Foreign  Politics.'  Every  Sunday  [7ii,  on  '  Moral 
and  Social  Science.' 

Areopagus  Coffee  and  Reading  Room,  59,  Church 
Lane,  Whitechapel. — Every  Sunday,  Monday,  and 
Wednesday  (8),  a  Lecture  or  Discussion. 

City  Forum  Coffee  House,  6o,  Red  Cross  Street. 
—  Every  Sunday,  Monday,  and  Thursday  [8iJ],  a 
Discussion. 

Commercial  Hall,  Philpot  Street,  Commercial 
Road  East. — Every  Tuesday  and  Thursday  even- 
ing [8],  a  Discussion. 

City  Road  Discussion  Society,  22,  City  Road. — 
Discussion  every  Wednesday  evening. 


ADVERTISEMENT- 


POPULAR  WORKS. 

Theodore  Parker  on  Matters  Pertaining  to 

Religion.     1  vol.  cloth  boards 1 

Paine's  Politiciil  Works.      2  vols,  in  one..  6 

—  Theological  Works.    1  vol.  cloth. ...  3 

—  Rights  of  Man i 

—  American  Crisis l 

—  Common  Sense    o 

—  Letter  to  the  Abbe  Raynal    o 

—  Letters  to  the  Citizens  of  the  United 
States 0 

—  Public  Good 0 

—  Agrarian  Justice 0 

—  First  Principles  of  Government  ....  0 

—  English  System  of  Finance  0 

—  Abolition  of  Royalty o 

Life  of  Paine,  by  W.  J.  Linton   o 

Portrait  of  Paine,  engraved  on  Steel 1 

The    English    Republic,  edited  by   W.  J. 

Linton.     Nos.  1  to  7,  each  at  0 

Byron's  Vision  of  Judgment    0 

Southey 's  Wat  Tyler 0 

Essay  on  the  Functions  of  the  Brain. .....  0 

Cooper's  Journal.     1  vol.  cloth    3 

Cerebral  Physiology  and  Materialism.    By 

W.  C.  Engledue,  M.D ".  o 

Doubts  of  Inndels   o 


London ;  James  Watson,  3,  Queen's  Head  Fas- 
sage,  Paternoster -row. 


316  THE  RBASONER. 


Otir  <9peit  |9a3e. 


Dr.  Cahill,  who  has  lately  made  himself  so  notorious  by  a  speech  in  which  he  ex- 
ulted over  the  supposed  *  frantic  desire  '  of  the  French  to  '  plunge  their  swords  into 
the  hearts  of  the  English,'  lately  made  use  of  the  following  exquisite  pleasantry  at 
a  public  meeting  in  Ireland,  reported  in  the  Tablet.  He  was  speaking  of  the  at- 
tempts made  by  Protestant  clergymen  in  Connemara  to  convert  the  Catholic 
peasantry,  and  accused  them  of  employing  bribery  in  aid  of  their  apostolic  labours. 
'  The  scale  of  prices,'  says  Dr.  Cahill,  '  in  times  of  famine  and  fever  are  3s.  6d. 
for  a  child  above  seven  years  of  age,  5s.  for  a  grown  girl,  and  7s.  6d.  for  a  man 
able  to  read  the  Bible.  They  are  also  sometimes  supplied  with  good  food  and 
clothing — some  have  been  known  to  get  as  much  as  7s.  a  week,  with  coals  and 
candles;  all  this  they  have  a  good  prospect  of  receiving  during  their  natural  lives 
in  this  world,  and  I  may  add  that  they  will  most  certainly  be  supplied  with  coals 
for  eternity  in  the  world  to  come.' 

Veritas,  of  Sunderland,  writes  : — '  A  few  friends  here  are  distributing  Reasoners 
and  copies  of  the  "  Logic  of  Death."  We  have  had  no  lectures  since  you  were 
here,  with  the  exception  of  Mr.  Gamsby's  lecture  in  reply  to  Mr.  Lamb.  I  have 
furnished  several  clergymen  with  copies  of  the  Reasoner,  and  intend  to  go  on  with 
the  clergy  till  I  am  certain  every  clergyman,  of  whatever  persuasion,  in  this  town 
knows  that  there  is  such  a  publication.  I  have  already  presented  copies  to  the 
Revs.  W.  Woodcock,  Wesleyan  ;  A.  A.  Rees,  founder  of  the  Reesites;  P.  Kear- 
ney, Catholic ;  S.Turner,  Calvinist;  H.  Peters,  Rector  of  Sunderland;  W.  Ken- 
nicott,  Monkwearmouth  Church;  W.  H.  Palmer,  Incumbent  of  St.  Andrew's; 
R.  Skipsey,  St.  Thomas's  Church ;  Dr.  Patterson,  Presbyterian.  I  also  sent  a 
copy  to  the  Superior  of  the  Convent  of  the  "  Sisters  of  Charity,"  likewise  to  Sister 
Marshall,  of  the  same  Convent.  Now  I  think  if  a  few  more  would  work  in  this 
way,  it  might  be  productive  of  a  great  amount  of  good,  ultimately  enabling  us  to 
get  properly  organised,  gaining  for  us  the  respect  of  our  opponents,  and  probably, 
when  having  lectures,  furnishing  us  with  crowded  audiences.' 

In  our '  Guide  to  the  Lecture  Room,'  the  lecture  at  John-street  on  Oct.  5th  is  by 
the  Rev.  Ebenezer  Syme  (recently  Unitarian  minister  at  Sunderland),  who  speaks 
in  answer  to  the  question, '  Is  there  a  Life  after  Death  ?'  his  subject  being  *  Moral 
and  Scientific  Aspects  of  Immortality.' 

'  Let  the  furniture  and  domestic  utensils  of  the  rich  and  the  poor,'  says  Mr. 
Wornum  in  his  remarks  upon  the  elevation  of  the  taste  of  the  people,  '  differ  only 
in  material,  not  in  qualities  of  taste ;  so  that  the  cottage  of  the  peasant  may,  not- 
withstanding its  frugal  simplicity,  be  as  refined  and  as  cheerful  in  its  degree  as  the 
more  gorgeous  palace  of  the  prince.  The  potter's  clay  is  as  capable  of  displaying 
the  forms  of  beauty  as  was  ever  the  marble  of  Paros,  or  the  famed  bronze  of 
Corinth  or  Delos,  or,  as  is  now,  the  purest  gold  of  Brazil.  The  Egyptian  potter, 
more  than  3000  years  ago,  produced  with  his  simple  earth  forms  as  beautiful  as  all 
the  wealth  and  art  of  Greece  and  Rome  combined  have  ever  produced  since.  And 
what  is  the  fatality  that  hangs  over  us  that  our  poor  alone  should  be  wholly  de- 
barred from  the  enjoyment  of  the  beautiful  ?' 


Monthly  Parts  of  the  Reasoner  are  uniformly  ready  in  a  doable  Supple- 
mentary Wrapper  every  Magazine  day.  Volumes  of  the  Reasoner  are  made  up 
(and  can  be  had  bound)  Half  Yearly. 

London:  Printed  by  Holyoake  Brothers,  3,  Queen's  Head  Passage,  Paternoster-row;  and  Published 
by  J.  Watson.  3,  Queen's  Head  Passage,  Paterno»ter-row.— Wednesday,  October  lit,  1851, 


^m^" 


THEOLOGICAL     EXAMINER. 


They  who  believe  that  they  have  Truth  ask  no  favour,  save  that  of  being  heard:  they  dare  the 
judgment  of  Mankind  :  refused  Co-operation,  they  invoke  Opposition,  for  Opposition  is  their 
Opportunity. — Edito«. 


MRS.    MARY     REED     APPEARETH 


One  of  the  opponents  to  which,  tacitly  at  least,  those  chivalrous  soldiers  of  Zion, 
the  clergy  and  ministers  of  Newcastle-on-Tyne,  abandon  the  defence  of  the 
Church,  is  Mrs.  Mary  Reed,  a  short,  stout,  matronly,  motherly,  loquacious  woman, 
about  fifty  years  of  age.     The  old  lady's  opening  speech  was  thus  expressed : — 

'  Mr.  Chairman,— I  wish  to  make  a  few  remarks.  I  desire  to  put  a  few  serious 
questions  to  Mr.  Holyoake.  I  demand — for  the  satisfaction  of  myself,  for  the 
satisfaction  of  this  audience,  and  for  the  satisfaction  of  the  whole  world — what  is 
the  nature  of  Mr.  Holyoake's  individual  essence?  Whence  came  he?  Whither 
is  he  going  ?  Where  did  he  get  his  powers  ?  Has  he  got  a  heart  ?  What  is  the 
nature  of  his  brain  ?  Who  gave  him  reason  ?  Who  gave  him  intellect  ?  Let  him 
answer  these  important  questions  before  he  says  there  is  no  God.  Before  I  sit 
down,  I  will  put  another  question.  Let  me  ask  Mr.  Holyoake,  in  the  name  of  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  whether  he  will  confess  that  he  is  a  great  sinner.  If  he  will,  I 
will  show  him  the  plan  of  salvation— I  will  point  him  to  the  cross  of  him  who 
taketh  away  the  sins  of  the  world.  My  friend,  there  is  yet  time  to  repent.  Christ 
shed  his  precious  blood  for  you,  and  he  is  ever  ready  and  willing  to  forgive.  The 
Lord  have  mercy  on  your  soul.' 

I  replied  that  she  had  asked  me  more  questions  than  I  could  well  answer  at  once, 
I  must  therefore  beg  time  to  consider  them,  which  pacified  Zion's  modern  Joan  of 
Arc  for  that  night.  But  at  the  end  of  the  nest  lecture  the  old  lady  appeared  again, 
exclaiming,  in  vehement  tones — 

'  I  rise  to  press  Mr.  Holyoake  for  an  answer  to  the  questions  I  put  to  him  on 
the  last  night  he  lectured.  God  has  revealed  to  me  that  he  has  a  precious  soul  to 
save,  and  I  warn  him  to  fly  from  the  wrath  to  come.  I  call  upon  the  Lord  of 
Hosts  to  save  this  man  (jumping  on  her  seat,  and  turning  round  to  her  audience). 
I  call  upon  every  Christian  in  this  place  to  join  me  in  praying  to  the  God  of 
grace  (in  a  state  of  great  excitement).  God  the  Father,  God  the  Son,  and  God  the 
Holy  Ghost,  have  mercy  on  Holyoake.  God  of  Abraham,  God  of  Isaac,  God  of 
Jacob,  have  mercy  on  Holyoake's  soul.'  Here  a  gentleman  stepped  forward,  and 
kindly  requested  her  to  desist.  After  much  persuasion,  she  consented.  While 
she  was  delivering  this  prayer,  the  audience  frequently  ejaculated  amen,  some  in 
earnest  and  some  in  irony. 

The  next  morning,  as  I  was  standing  in  a  bookseller's  shop,  Mrs.  Reed  presented 
herself  there  also,  and  producing  a  quantity  of  bank  notes  in  what  appeared  to  be 
a  night-cap,  she  demanded  to  hire  the  hall  to  preach  in,  in  reply  to  me.  She  re- 
quired of  me  to  meet  her.  I  consented  to  hear  what  she  had  to  say,  provided  she 
would  put  no  more  questions  to  me,  nor  expect  me  to  reply — to  do  which  appro- 
priately I  certainly  felt  myself  inadequate.     She  consented,  and  what  is  more  than 


[No.  280.]  lNo.21,  Vol.  XI.] 

[ONE  PENNY.l 


318  THE  REASONER. 


I  expected,  kept  her  word.     The  next  day  the  Wesleyan  Conference  read  upon  the 
walls  the  following  placard : — 

*  Mary  Reed,  a  chosen  messenger  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  will  preach  a  Sermon  (God 
willing),  on  Tuesday  next,  August  5th,  1851,  at  half-past  7  in  the  evening,  in  the 
Lecture  Room,  Nelson  Street.  A  general  invitation  is  given  to  all  Christian 
ministers,  and  also  to  Mr.  Holyoake.  Ye  ambassadors  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  come 
forth  "  to  the  help  of  the  Lord,  to  the  help  of  the  Lord  against  the  mighty,"  lest 
ye  should  come  under  the  sentence.  Cursed  are  the  inhabitants  who  came  not  to 
the  help  of  the  Lord,  to  the  help  of  the  Lord  against  the  mighty.  Having 
received  authority  from  the  higher  powers,  should  any  one  rudely  attempt  to  stop 
my  mouth,  while  delivering  God's  message,  they  may  be  taken  hold  of  by  the 
police,  and  put  out.  To  the  pure  all  things  are  pure,  but  to  the  impure  there  is 
nothing  pure.  As  Mr.  Holyoake  cannot  answer  my  questions,  he  must  allow  that 
he  has  been  defeated,  as,  according  to  his  bill,  he  promised  that  he  would  answer 
any  question  proposed.  May  the  Lord  use  the  weak  things  of  the  world  to  con- 
found the  mighty,  and  may  the  gospel  of  Christ  be  the  power  of  God  to  the  salva- 
tion of  immortal  souls.  And,  while  I  give  free  admission,  I  seek  no  higher 
honour  than  that  which  cometh  from  God.  The  love  of  Christ  constraineth  me  to 
invite  both  Jews  and  Gentiles.  I  look  at  this  subject  in  the  light  of  eternity,  and 
seek  no  other  favour  from  man  than  to  have  a  patient  hearing — allowing  any 
Christian  minister,  after  my  subject  is  over,  to  discuss  with  Mr.  Holyoake. 
Remember  the  prayer  of  the  Divine  Redeemer — "  Father,  forgive  them  ;  for  they 
know  not  what  they  do."  ' 

I  fulfilled  my  promise,  and  went  to  the  lecture  or  sermon,  which  act  ought  to  be 
credited  by  opponents  to  the  account  of  my  docility — for  there  is  nothing  in  the 
way  of  weariness  to  be  undergone  after  hearing  Mary  Reed.  A  gentleman  in  New- 
castle has  favoured  me  with  the  following  memoir  of  this  evangelical  heroine  :— 
'  Mary  Reed  is  married  ;  she  is  now  living  with  her  second  husband.  As  far  as  I  can 
learn  she  makes  a  very  good  wife.  She  is  very  clean  in  her  habits,  and  acts  like 
other  females  in  the  common  affairs  of  life.  It  is  only  under  the  influence  of  reli- 
gion that  she  displays  these  flights  of  fanaticism.  She  believes  she  is  inspired 
from  above.  She  pretends  to  have  special  revelations  from  God.  The  commands 
of  the  Bible  have  a  more  personal  allusion  to  her  than  to  any  other  person.  It 
was  under  one  of  these  spiritual  influences  that  my  attention  was  directed  to  her. 
About  two  years  ago  I  observed  one  of  her  placards  on  the  walls  of  our  town, 
wherein  she  informed  the  Jews  that  the  Lord  of  Hosts  had  commanded  her  to  go 
and  preach  in  their  synagogue.  My  curiosity  became  excited,  and  I  resolved  upon 
going  to  hear  her.  On  my  arrival  at  the  appointed  place,  I  found  her  taking  up 
her  position  outside  the  temple,  the  Jews  having  prevented  her  occupying  the  in- 
terior. Around  her  was  assembled  a  large  concourse  of  people,  composed  chiefly 
of  females,  with  a  sprinkling  of  old  men  and  young  ones.  By  her  side  stood  a 
young  woman,  the  servant  of  Mary,  holding  a  Bible  as  large  as  she  could  grasp 
and  as  much  as  she  could  carry.  From  this  huge  book— which  was  ponderous 
enough  to  contain  all  Mary's  revelation  and  the  Apostle's  besides — did  she  preach 
for  an  hour  and  a  half.  I  forget  the  exact  words  of  the  text,  but  they  r6lat«d  to  a 
command  which  she  had  received  from  the  Lord  to  deliver  his  message  to  the 
Jews  in  Newcastle-on-Tyne.  In  her  sermon  she  spoke  to  a  great  length  on  the 
crucifixion  of  Christ,  and  on  the  wickedness  and  cruelty  of  the  Jews  in  putting 
the  Lord  and  Saviour  to  death.' 

On  entering  the  Lecture  Hall  one  night,  after  Mary's  germon,  some  perion 


THE  REASONER.  819 


handed  me  the  following  note: — 'Sir, —  Mary  Reed,  of  divine  inspiration,  has 
declared  amongst  her  Christian  friends  that  you,  at  her  own  house,  declared  that 
you  doubted  your  system  being  true,  and  that  yoa  on  your  knees  begged  that  she 
would  pray  to  God  to  save  you.  Sir,  I  ask,  in  the  first  place,  did  you  on  your 
knees,  in  her  house,  beseech  her  to  pray  for  you  ?  Secondly,  did  you  say  that  you 
are  in  error,  and  wished  to  be  put  right  ?  for  I  think  that  discovering  the  error  is 
half  the  cure.'  It  was  hardly  necessary  to  say  that  this  was  all  false.  But  it 
appeared  subsequently  that  two  persons  had  been  and  personated  me,  and  wrong- 
fully imposed  on  the  old  lady,  who  Brmly  believes  that  I  really  came  to  her,  though 
I  was  in  London  at  the  time. 

Newcastle-upon-Tyne  is  a  questionable  credit  to  religion,  and  Dr.  Maltby  ought 
to  give  his  next  subscriptions  conditionally  that  some  effort  be  made  by  the  local 
shepherds  to  suppress  such  exhibitions  as  poor  Mary  Reed  makes  in  the  name  of 
Christianity — an  exhibition  which,  from  her  docility,  they  might  easily  suppress. 

G.  J.  HoLYOAKE. 

W.    J.    FOX    ON    GODLESS    EDUCATION.* 


'  I  DO  not  intend  this  morning  to  go  into  the  merits  of  the  scheme  for  the  new  Irish 
colleges,  but  simply  to  examine  into  an  objection  raised  against  them,  both  by 
Protestants  and  Catholics,  that  the  education  proposed  to  be  imparted  there  is  a 
"  godless  education." 

'What  sort  of  an  objection  is  this  ?  What  is  the  godlessness  ?  Both  Inglis  and 
O'Connell  mean  thereby  the  absence  oj  priests.  Unless  there  are  prietts  in  the 
colleges  there  is  no  God  in  the  education.  The  priest  is  the  representative  of 
Deity.  Does  Deity  require  such  representation  ?  Deity  represents  itself,  and  is, 
in  all  that  constitutes  the  substance  of  education.  There  is  Deity  everywhere  or 
nowhere.  In  the  stars  of  heaven,  in  the  flowers  of  the  field,  in  the  depths  of 
caverns,  on  the  shores  of  the  sea  or  the  mountains  of  earth,  in  the  interests  of 
society  and  the  records  of  history — in  all  these  there  is  Deity,  self-repre- 
sented. If  there  be  truth  in  the  view  that  Divinity  is  everywhere,  pervading 
all  things,  then  the  objection  is  to  the  whole  subject-matter  of  education — there- 
fore, to  Deity  himself;  and  the  attempt  of  priests  is  to  prevent  Deity  from  teaching 
infidelity  by  the  works  of  his  hands.' 

Mr.  Fox  then  described  the  elevating  and  religious  tendencies  of  science,  adding 
— '  Must  not  the  truth  thus  everywhere  apparent  be  much  more  powerful  than  the 
remarks  of  doubting  opinion  by  which  it  may  be  accompanied  ?  Can  they  destroy 
the  tendency  of  the  whole  ?'  He  illustrated  this  by  a  translation  of  Newton's 
Principia  by  som.e  Italian  Jesuits,  who  accompanied  it  with  a  preface,  saying,  that 
as  Newton's  premises  were  opposed  to  scripture,  of  course  his  book  was  not  cor- 
rect. But  who  cared  for  the  preface  ?  '  So  must  it  ever  be.  Science  follows  its 
own  course,  and  takes  a  ground  very  high  above  the  power  of  human  nature  to 
alter.  Exclude  all  heretics  from  scientific  teaching !  Why,  where  would  science 
have  been  if  this  course  had  been  pursued  in  former  times  ?  What  great  men 
have  been  perfectly  orthodox  ?  The  Galileos,  the  Newtons — where  have  they  been 
but  in  the  category  of  heresy  ?  But,  if  heretical  professors  are  not  deemed  fit  to 
be  entrusted  with  the  work  of  education,  why  stop  at  colleges  ?    There  is  much 


•  Memoranda  of  a  lecture  (of  applicability  in  1851)  delivered  at  South  Place  Chapel, 
June  29tb,  1845. 


320  THE  REASONER. 


education  that  has  nothing  to  do  with  colleges.  Exclude  heretics  from  the  legis- 
lature. Nay,  why  stop  there  ?  Establish  a  censorship  of  the  press — let  no  book 
appear  that  is  not  orthodox.  Why  stop  there  ?  Go  to  the  museums.  The  fossils 
tell  strange  tales  of  life  that  existed  on  this  earth  centuries  before  the  days  of 
Adam,  and  that  was  swept  away  long  before  the  flood  of  Moses.  Go  to  the 
British  Museum,  and  expel  thence  the  heretical  fossil,  the  sceptical  skeleton,  and 
the  infidel  megatherium.' 

'  In  these  colleges  it  is  proposed  that  there  should  be  a  Catholic  priest  to  take 
care  of  the  Catholic  souls,  a  Presbyterian  minister  to  take  care  of  the  Presbyterian 
souls,  and  a  Church  of  England  clergyman  to  take  care  of  the  Church  of  England 
souls.  That  is  to  say,  there  are  to  be  three  conflicting  inquisitions  instead  of 
one  inquisition.  Under  such  threefold  care  the  scriptures  will  probably  be  used 
much  as  they  were  by  the  poor  negro,  who,  when  asked  by  the  missionary, "  Sambo, 
do  you  make  use  of  your  Bible?"  replied,  "0  yes,  massa,  I  whet  my  razor  on  it 
every  morning."  So  will  they  every  morning  whet  their  theological  knives  on  it 
for  sectarian  controversy.  Can  such  instructors  know  what  instruction  really  is, 
or  what  religion  really  is  ?  Religion  must  not  be  forced  on  humanity,  or  inocu- 
lated like  a  disease.  To  be  real,  it  grows  out  of  all  life,  all  truth,  all  history — 
appeals  to  heaven  and  earth  to  tell  the  glory  of  God.  If,  in  astronomy,  the  vast- 
ness  of  the  universe,  with  its  myriads  of  stars  and  worlds  all  revolving  in  their 
own  orbits  in  harmony  and  beauty,  impress  on  the  mind  the  feeling  of  sublimity — 
why,  that  is  religion.  If,  in  geology,  the  contemplation  of  the  work  of  ages  in  the 
gradual  development  of  the  earth,  infuses  solemnity  into  thought,  or  suggests  the 
idea  of  unbounded  existence — this  is  religion.  If  the  beauty  of  earth  acts  on  sense 
and  soul,  exciting  both  to  life — why,  that  is  religion.  If,  in  the  study  of  the  ten- 
dencies of  human  nature,  the  great  Past  suggests  the  Future  ;  or  if  a  sense  springs 
up  of  the  Right  and  True,  and  their  realisableness  in  human  life — why,  that  is  re- 
ligion. And  the  infidel  teacher  of  science,  in  spite  of  his  own  theory,  is  a  teacher  of 
religion,  and  cannot  be  made  more  so  by  the  intervention  of  any  priest  or  bishop 
whatsoever.  All  this  outcry  is  for  fear  creeds  should  be  injured.  Nature — there 
is  truth,  and  there  should  the  mind  seek  it.  Priests  are  most  unfit  to  be  trusted 
with  the  work  of  education. 

'  The  true  priests  are  not  sectarian  ones.  Poets  and  philosophers — they  are  the 
best  teachers;  they  are  God  and  Nature's  priests,  enchaining  the  souls  and  hearts 
of  their  hearers  with  their  lessons  of  fuith  and  truth.  Their  persons  may  be  in 
prison,  and  their  reputation  a  prey  to  calumny  ;  but  they  are  the  hope  and 
promise  of  mankind,  the  heroes  and  redeemers  whose  mission  it  is  to  lead  the 
world  onward  in  its  destined  progression.'  S.  D.  C. 


A.D.    1852:    A   FORECAST. 


Priestism,  as  our  readers  will  readily  believe,  we  hate  intensely,  especially  where 
it  is  in  unchecked  ascendancy;  but,  with  all  our  hatred  of  the  thing,  we  look  for- 
ward with  dismay  to  that  moment,  now  not  far  distant,  when  the  manhood  of 
nations  shall  at  length  have  it  in  its  gripe — prostrate,  terrified,  shrieking,  and  im- 
potent. It  has  courted  a  violent  fate,  and,  in  all  likelihood,  will  have  it. — Noncon- 
formist, September  10,  1851. 


THE  REASONER.  321 


d^aratnattou  of  t^t  press. 


Fathbk  Newman  on  Rjelics  and  Miracles. — Aris's  Birmingham  Gazette 
gives  a  report  of  Dr.  Newman's  last  lecture,  in  which  the  following  passage  ap- 
pears : — '  Certainly  the  Catholic  Church,  from  east  to  west,  from  north  to  south,  is, 
according  to  our  conceptions,  hung  with  miracles.  The  store  of  relics  is  inexhausti- 
ble; they  are  multiplied  through  all  lands,  and  each  particle  of  each  has  in  it  a  dor- 
mant, perhaps  an  energetic,  virtue  of  supernatural  operation.  At  Rome  there  is  the 
true  cross,  the  crib  of  Bethlehem,  and  the  chair  of  St.  Peter.  Portions  of  the  crown 
of  thorns  are  kept  at  Paris  ;  the  holy  coat  is  shown  at  Treves ;  the  winding-sheet  at 
Turin ;  at  Monza  the  iron  crown  is  formed  out  of  a  nail  of  the  cross ;  and  another 
nail  is  claimed  for  the  Duomo  of  Milan;  and  pieces  of  our  lady's  habit  are  to  be 
seen  in  the  Escurial.  The  Agnus  Dei,  blessed  medals,  the  scapular,  the  cord  of 
St.  Francis,  all  are  the  medium  of  Divine  manifestations  and  graces.  Crucifixes 
have  bowed  the  head  to  the  suppliant,  and  Madonnas  have  bent  their  eyes  upon 
assembled  crowds.  St.  Januarius's  blood  liquefies  periodically  at  Naples;  and  St. 
Winifred's  well  is  the  scene  of  wonders  even  in  an  unbelieving  country.  Women 
are  marked  with  the  sacred  stigmata ;  blood  has  flowed  on  Fridays  from  their  five 

wounds,  and  their  heads  are  crowned  with  a  circle  of  lacerations I  will  avow 

distinctly  that  putting  out  of  the  question  the  hypothesis  of  unknown  laws  of 
nature  (which  is  an  evasion  from  the  force  of  any  proof),  I  think  it  impossible  to 
withstand  the  evidence  which  is  brought  for  the  liquefaction  of  the  blood  of  St. 
Januarius  at  Naples,  and  for  the  motion  of  the  eyes  of  the  pictures  of  the  Madonna 
in  the  Roman  States.  I  see  no  reason  to  doubt  the  material  of  the  Lombard 
crown  at  Monza;  and  I  do  not  see  why  the  holy  coat  at  Treves  may  not  have  been 
what  it  professed  to  be — I  firmly  believe  that  portions  of  the  true  cross  are  at 
Rome  and  elsewhere,  that  the  crib  of  Bethlehem  is  at  Rome,  and  the  bodies  of  St. 
Peter  and  St.  Paul  also.  I  believe  that  at  Rome  too  lies  St.  Stephen,  that  St. 
Matthew  lies  at  Salerno,  and  St.  Andrew  at  Amalfi.  I  firmly  believe  that  the 
relics  of  the  saints  are  doing  innumerable  miracles  and  graces  daily,  and  that  it 
needs  only  for  a  Catholic  to  show  devotion  to  any  saint  in  order  to  receive 
especial  benefits  from  his  intercession.  I  firmly  believe  that  saints  in  their  life- 
time have  before  now  raised  the  dead  to  life,  crossed  the  sea  without  vessels,  mul- 
tiplied grain  and  bread,  cured  incurable  diseases,  and  stopped  the  operation  of  the 
laws  of  the  universe  in  a  multitude  of  ways.  [Freethinkers  will  be  pleased  with 
Father  Newman  for  speaking  so  explicitly.] 

TheHistohyofa  VisiONAEY. — 'He  spoke  of  his  Doctrine  to  this  man  and  that, 
but  the  most  treated  it  with  ridicule,  with  indifference :  in  three  years,  I  think,  he  had 
gained  but  thirteen  followers After  some  three  years  of  small  success,  he  in- 
vited forty  of  his  chief  kindred  to  an  entertainment;  and  there  stood  up  and  told 
them  what  his  pretension  was  :  that  he  had  this  thing  to  promulgate  abroad  to  all 
men,  that  it  was  the  highest  thing,  the  one  thing :  which  of  them  would  second 
him  in  that  ?  Amid  the  doubt  and  silence  of  all,  young  Ali,  as  yet  a  lad  of  sixteen, 
impatient  of  the  silence,  started  up  and  exclaimed  in  passionate,  fierce  language, 
That  he  would !  The  assembly,  among  whom  was  Abu  Thaleb,  All's  father,  could 
not  be  unfriendly  to  Mahomet ;  yet  the  sight  there,  of  one  unlettered  elderly  man^ 
with  a  lad  of  sixteen,  deciding  on  such  an  enterprise  against  all  mankind,  appeared 
ridiculous  to  them;  the  assembly  broke  up  id  laughter "Mahomet naturally 


322  THE  REASONER. 


gave  offence  to  the  Koreish,  Keepers  of  the  Caabah,  superintendents  of  the  Idols" 
(by  his  crude  and  visionary  notions,  whose  greenness  was  so  unpalatable  to  the 
hoary  superintendents).     One  or  two  men  of  influence  had  joined  him :  the  thing 

spread  slowly,  bat  it  was  spreading He  went  on  speaking  to  who  would  listen 

to  him ; gaining  adherents  in  this  place  and   that.     Continual   contradiction, 

hatred,  open  or  secret  danger,  attended  him By  and    bye  all  his  adherents 

had  to  quit  Mecca,  and  seek  refuge  in  Abyssinia,  over  the  sea.  The  Koreish  grew 
ever  angrier;  laid  plots,  and  swore  oaths  among  them,  to  put  Mahomet  to  death 

with  their  own  hands But  it  was  not  to  end  so.     In  the  thirteenth  year  of  his 

mission,  finding  his  enemies  all  banded  against  him,  forty  sworn  men,  one  out  of 
every  tribe,  waiting  to  take  his  life,  and  no  continuance  possible  at  Mecca  for  him 
any  longer,  Mahomet  fled  to  the  place  then  called  Yathreb,  where  he  had  gained  some 
adherents  :  the  place  they  now  call  Medina,  or  "  Medinat  al  Nabi,  the  City  of  the 
Prophet,"  from  that  circumstance.  It  lay  some  two  hundred  miles  ofi',  through 
rocks  and  deserts  ;  not  without  great  difficulty,  in  such  mood  as  we  may  fancy,  he  j 
escaped  thither  and  found  welcome.  The  whole  East  dates  its  era  from  this  Flight,  I 
Hegira,  as  they  name  it :  the  year  1  of  this  Hegira  is  622  of  our  era,  the  fifty-third 
of  Mahomet's  life.  He  was  now  becoming  an  old  man ;  his  friends  sinking  around 
him  one  by  one ;  his  path  desolate,  encompassed  with  danger :  unless  he  could 
find  hope  in  his  own  heart,  the  outward  face  of  things  was  but  hopeless  for  him. 
It  is  BO  with  all  men  in  the  like  case.  Hitherto  Mahomet  had  professed  to  publish 
his  religion  by  the  way  of  preaching  and  persuasion  alone.  But  now,  driven 
foully  from  his  native  country,  since  unjust  men  had  not  only  given  no  ear  to  his 
earnest  Heaven's  message,  the  deep  cry  of  his  heart,  bat  would  not  even  let  him 
live  if  he  kept  speaking  it — the  wild  Son  of  the  Desert  resolved  to  defend  himself 
like  a  man  and  Arab.  If  the  Koreish  will  have  it  so,  they  shall  have  it.  Tidings, 
felt  to  be  of  infinite  moment  to  them  and  all  men,  they  would  not  listen  to  these; 
would  trample  them  down  by  sheer  violence,  steel,  and  murder :  well,  let  steel  try 
it  then!  Ten  years  more  this  Mahomet  had;  all  of  fighting,  of  breathless  im- 
petuous toil  and  struggle  ;  with  what  result  we  know The  word  this  man  spoke 

has  been  the  life-guidance  now  of  one  hundred  and  eighty  millions  of  men  these 
twelve  hundred  years.' — CarlyWs  Lectures  on  Heroes. 

Chbistian  Jews  and  Jewish  Christianity. — The  religious  world,  as  it  is 
called,  requires  to  be  made  a  moral  world.  Let  professors  demonstrate  their  own 
Christianity  before  they  talk  of  evangelising  mankind.  '  Do  as  ye  would  be  done 
unto  '  is  of  the  very  soul  and  essence  of  Christianity.  That  is  no  Christian  legis- 
lature which  declares  the  elected  Jew  incapable  of  a  seatou  account  of  his  religion. 
That  is  no  Christian  meeting  which  cares  more  for  the  profession  of  dogma  than 
for  sincerity,  tolerance,  and  charity.  There  is  a  good  deal  yet  to  be  done  to  make 
us  a  Christian  nation.  The  Pope's  hierarchy  will  not  do  it.  Building  new 
churches  by  hundreds  will  not  do  it.  Partial  and  exclusion  laws  will  not  do  it. 
Platform  speeches  and  boastings  will  not  do  it ;  nor  associations  for  converting  the 
heathen.  We  must  set  about  it  in  another  way ;  must  try  the  practical,  instead  of 
the  dogmatical ;  emulate  the  virtues  of  other  religionists  instead  of  damning  their 
souls,  or  refusing  their  civil  rights;  and  substitute  something  of  an  honest  love  of 
truth  for  an  insatiate  rage  to  propagate  our  peculiar  opinions. — Publicola,  in 
Weekly  DinpaUh,  Sept.  7, 1861. 


THE  REASONER. 


S23 


C^e  SJtftIc  teit  of  ^upenStttinn  appltelr  to  t^e  EeltgCon  of  titlS  Countrg 


BT   T.   B.   BAKTON. 


Superstition  is  the  belief  In,  and 
worship  of,  imaginary  supernatural 
beings,  which,  having  no  real  existence, 
are  not  able  eithei^to  benefit  oi*  injure 
the  worshippers.  The  non-existence  of 
such  imaginary  objects  of  worship,  is 
proved  by  their  not  giving  any  indubit- 
able and  palpable  evidence  of  their  exist- 
ence and  power.  They  do  not  give  any 
'  outward  and  visible  sign'  that  they  hear 
supplication,  answer  prayer,  or  assist 
those  that  apply  for  their  aid.  The 
heathen  nations,  cotemporary  with  the 
ancient  Jews,  were  reproached  for  their 
superstition  by  the  Jewish  prophets, 
because  they  worshipped  and  trusted  in 
idols  of  wood  and  stone,  which  '  have 
eyes  but  saw  not,  mouths  but  spoke  not, 
and  ears  but  heard  not' — which  were  al- 
together '  lying  vanities,'  totally  unable 
to  assist  those  who  trusted  in  them. 
The  same  prophets  pointed  out  the  su- 
periority of  Jehovah,  the  object  of  the 
Jewish  worship,  over  the  idols  of  the 
heathen,  from  the  circumstance  of  his 
being  a '  living  God,'  who  proved  his  ex- 
istence and  power  by  signs  and  wonders 
in  favour  of  his  chosen  people — who 
heard  aud  answered  their  prayers,  and 
wrought  deliverance  for  them  in  all  their 
difficulties  and  distresses. 

The  God  of  the  Jews  was  on  very 
familiar  terms  with  the  principal  per- 
sonages amongst  the  Jewish  nation.  He 
talked  with  Adam  and  Eve.  He  dined 
with  Abraham  off  veal,  butter,  and  milk 
and  cakes  (Gen.  18).  With  Moses,  we 
are  told,  he  '  spake  face  to  face,  as  a  man 
speaketh  to  his  friend.'  As  an  especial 
favour,  it  is  stated  that  he  exhibited  to 
Moses,  with  reverence  be  it  spoken,  his 
'  back  parts  '  (Exod.  33).  On  one  occa- 
sion, we  are  informed  that  Moses  and 


Aaron,  and  the  seventy  of  the  elders  of 
Israel,  '  taw  the  God  of  Israel,  and  there 
was  under  his  feet,  as  it  were,  a  paved 
work  of  sapphire  stone;'  *  they  saw 
God,  and  did  eat  and  drink'  (Exod.  24). 
To  the  Israelites,  during  their  journey- 
ing from  Egypt  to  Canaan,  the  presence 
of  the  Jehovah  was  made  known  by  a 
cloudy  pillar  in  the  day  time,  and  by  a 
pillar  of  fire  at  night.  When  the  Israel- 
ites offended  Jehovah  they  were  punished 
by  plagues,  fiery  serpents,  earthquakes, 
and  defeat  in  battle.  Thus  the  Israel- 
ites are  represented  to  have  had  good 
evidence  of  the  existence  and  power  of 
the  Deity  they  worshipped.  All  other 
nations  but  themselves  are  spoken  of  as 
superstitious,  because  the  objects  of  their 
worship  were  not  realities — were  only 
imaginary  beings,  who  did  not  answer 
the  prayers  of  their  worshippers,  nor 
aid  them  when  they  sought  their  assist- 
ance and  protection  (See  Isaiah  44, 
Psalm  115).  Let  the  criterion  furnished 
by  the  Bible  itself  be  borne  in  mind 
when  we  wish  to  distinguish  superstition 
from  true  religion,  let  this  criterion  be 
applied  to  the  prevailing  religion  of  this 
country  in  order  to  ascertain  whether  it 
is  true  religion  or  only  superstition.  Is 
there  any  superstition  at  the  present  day 
amongst  those  professing  the  religion  of 
the  Bible  ?  '  Yes,'  most  educated  and 
enlightened  persons  will  reply,  '  the 
Roman  Catholics  are  superstitious,  they 
worship  images  and  departed  saints  who 
have  no  existence,  or  at  least  are  not  able 
to  hear  the  prayers  that  are  made  to 
them,  nor  to  help  those  who  seek  their 
assistance.  The  Methodists  and  Irving- 
ites  are  superstitious,  for  they  believe  in 
visions  and  miracles;  that  Providence 
interferes  in   a  miracaloua  maaner  in 


3l>4 


THE  REASONER. 


behalf  of  particular  individuals,  and  on 
the  most, trivial  occasions,  although  they 
have  no  evidence  of  such  supernatural 
interferences — none  like  that  appealed 
to  by  Moses  and  Christ  in  vindication  of 
the  existence  and  power  of  the  Deity 
■whose  worship  and  will  they  taught.' 
Roman  Catholics,  Methodists  and  Ir- 
vingites,.  are  considered  by  the  more  en- 
lightened and  sensible  as  the  victims  of 
ignorance  and  of  excited  imagination  and 
feeling,  and  as  thus  induoed  to  receive 
as  truth  and  reality  that  which  is  error 
and  falsehood.  Hence  they  believe  in 
and  worship  the  creations  of  their  ima- 
gination instead  of  the  realities  of  true 
religion.  But  let  us  inquire  further. 
Are  not  those  who  consider  themselves 
free  from  superstition,  who  account 
themselves  the  more  enlightened  and 
rational,  also  guilty  of  the  very  super- 
stition which  they  condemn  in  others? 
Taking  the  criterion  of  the  Bible  for 
our  guide,  I  say  they  are  equally  guilty 
of  superstition.  The  more  enlightened 
and  rational  amongst  Christians  are  con- 
tinually praying  to  a  Being  who  does  not 
give  any  evidence  that  he  hears  their 
prayers.  They  profess  to  rely  on  his 
providence  and  protection  in  all  their 
difl&culties  and  misfortunes,  although  he 
exhibits  no  proof  that  he  can  and  will 
afford  the  interference  and  aid  which 
they  seek.  Like  the  idols  of  the  ancient 
heathen,  the  object  of  their  worship 
does  not  answer  when  they  cry  unto  him, 
nor  vouchsafe  deliverance  when  they 
invoke  his  protection.  There  is  no  voice, 
no  answer,  no  appearance,  no  miracle, 
audible  or  visible  manifestation  of  the 
divine  presence  and  power,  as  was  the 
case  (according  to  the  Bible)  when  the 
ancient  Jews  worshipped  Jehovah  under 
the  direction  of  Moses.  Church  of 
England  people  assemble  every  Sunday 
in  the  church,  and  '  cry  unto  the  Lord' 
most  lustily,  but  he  pays  no  attention  to 
them.  They  vociferate  Sunday  after 
Sunday  '  Lord  have  mercy  upon  us,' 
'Christ  have  mercy  upon  us,'  '0  Lord 
hear  us,'  '  We  beseech  thee  to  hear  us, 
good  Lord  ;'  but  the  Lord  gives  no  evi- 
dence that  he  henrs  them ;  he  makes  no 
reply;  he  exhibits  no  manifestation  of 
his  presence. 

Church  people,  therefore,  according 
to  the  criterion  iurnished  by  the  Bible 
itself,  are  idolatrous  and  superstitious ; 


they  worship  not  a  reality,  not'  the  living 
God,'  but  a  fiction  of  the  imagination,  a 
'  lying  vanity,'  which  does  not  hear  them, 
and  therefore  cannot  answer;  which  has 
no  power,  and  therefore  cannot  save ; 
like  the  idols  of  old,  which  the  Jewish 
prophets  characterised  as  '  lying  vani- 
ties,' because  they  answered  not  the 
prayers  of  their  worshippers,  nor  saved 
them  when  they  sought  their  protection, 
t.  e.,  they  gave  no  visible  sign  of  their 
existence  and  power.  Nor  does  the  ob- 
ject now  worshipped  by  all  Christians, 
and,  therefore,  they  are  all  superstitious 
idolators. 

Christiana  and  infidels  have  often  had 
discussions  together  on  the  truth  and 
falsehood  of  religion,  either  through  the 
press  or  by  means  of  "personal  disputa- 
tion :  bat  to  discuss  the  subject  by  words 
is  waste  of  time — the  truth  or  falsehood 
of  religion  is  a  matter  to  be  decided,  not 
by  words,  not  by  reasoning  and  argu- 
ments, but  by  facts.  If  the  Deity  whose 
cause  is  vindicated  really  exists,  if  he  is 
a  '  living  God,'  he  will  prove  his  exist- 
ence and  power  by  certain  and  infallible 
external  signs,  that  shall  set  the  matter 
at  rest  at  once.  This  is  the  course  which 
the  God  of  the  Bible  is  represented  to 
have  taken  when  his  existence  and 
power  were  doubted  or  disputed  by  the 
idolatrous  heathen.  A  striking  example 
of  this  is  furnished  by  the  prophet 
Elijah,  when  he  vindicated  the  cause  of 
Jehovah  against  the  pretensions  of  the 
worshippers  of  Baal.  He  did  not  argue 
the  matter,  he  did  not  bandy  words  with 
the  priests  of  Baal ;  he  took  a  far  more 
sensible  and  satisfactory  method  to  de- 
cide the  question — he  appealed  to  fact. 
'  How  long,'  said  Elijah  to  the  Israelite, 
'  halt  ye  between  two  opinions  ?  If  the 
Lord  be  God,  follow  him  ;  but  if  Baal, 
then  follow  him.'  He  then  proposed 
that  each  party  should  sacrifice  to  the 
object  of  their  worship,  and  '  that  God 
which  answered  by  fire,  let  him  be  God.' 
'And  all  the  people  answered  and  said 
it  is  well  spoken.' 

The  priests  of  Baal  first '  called  on  the 
name  of  Baal  from  morning  even  unto 
noon,  saying,  O  Baal,  hear  us  (as  Chris- 
tians now  do,  saying, '  O  Christ  hear  us,' 
'  O  Lord  hear  us').  But  there  was  no 
voice  nor  any  that  answered,'  where- 
upon Elijah  began  to  mock  them,  say- 
ing, '  Cry  aloud,  for  he  is  God ;  either 


he  is  talking,  or  he  is  pursuing,  or  he  is 
in  a  journey,  or  peradventare  he  sleep- 
eth  and  must  be  awaked.'  Upon  this 
the  priests  of  Baal  became  frantic  with 
anger  and  desperation,  and  cut  them- 
selves with  knives  and  lancets  till  the 
blood  gushed  out  upon  them  (supposing 
Baal  was  to  be  propitiated  by  blood- 
shedding,  as  the  God  of  Christians  is 
represented  to  be),  and  they  cried  aloud 
from  noon  till  evening,  still  there  '  was 
neither  voice  nor  any  to  answer,  nor  any 
that  regarded.'  Elijah  then  sacrificed 
to  Jehovah,  and  invoked  his  interference 
to  vindicate  his  existence  and  power, 
saying,  '  Lord  God  of  Abraham,  Isaac, 
and  of  Israel,  let  it  be  known  this  day 
that  thou  art  God  in  Israel,  and  that  I 
am  thy  servant,  and  that  I  have  done 
all  these  things  at  thy  word.  Hear 
me,  O  Lord,  hear  me,  that  this  people 
may  know  thou  art  the  Lord  God,  and 
that  thou  hast  turned  their  heart  back 
again.'  Immediately  a  visible  proof  was 
given  that  the  prayer  had  been  heard  and 
accepted,  for  '  the  fire  of  the  Lord  fell 
and  consumed  the  burnt  sacrifice  and 
the  wood  and  the  stones  and  the  dust, 
and  licked  up  the  water  that  was  in  the 
trench.  And  when  all  the  people  saw 
it,  they  fell  on  their  faces  ;  and  they  said, 
the  Lord  he  is  the  God,  the  Lord  he  is 
the  God.' 

Let  the  Christian  priests  of  the  pre- 
sent day  submit  the  truth  of  their  reli- 
gion to  the  same  test  as  that  proposed 
by  Elijah;  let  them  call  upon  their  God, 
in  the  face  of  those  who  doubt  or  disbe- 
lieve, to  give  some  evident  and  indisput- 
able signs  of  his  existence  and  power. 
Why  should  not  the  same  test  be  ap- 
plied now  to  decide  the  question  as  was 
employed  in  the  time  of  Elijah  ?  What 
was  evidence  then  would  be  evidence 
now.  If  the  object  of  worship  is  still 
the  same,  if  he  is  'unchangeable'  and 
'without  shadow  of  turning 3'  if  his 
character  and  power  are  exactly  the 
same  as  they  were,  the  means  he  con- 
sidered necessary  in  the  time  of  the 
ancient  Jews  to  vindicate  his  existence 
and  supremacy,  he  will  consider  neces- 
sary to  employ  at  the  present  time  to 
convince  those  that  doubt,  and  refute 
those  that  deny.  Or  if  any  other  kind 
of  evidence  is  necessary,  he  would  not 
hesitate  to  employ  it  to  set  the  matter 
at  rest  for  ever. 


Does  any  enlightened  or  sensible  man 
believe  that  if  the  Christian  priests  of 
the  present  day  were  to  resort  to  the 
test  of  Elijah,  they  would  receive  sijnilar 
evidence  of  the  existence  and  power  of 
the  God  of  the  Bible  whom  Christians 
worship  ?  Does  any  one  believe  that 
miraculous  fire  would  come  from  heaven, 
or  that  an  audible  answer  would  be  re- 
turned to  the  invocation  of  the  Deity, 
requesting  his  interference  to  prove  his 
existence  and  power  ?  No  man  of  com- 
mon sense  would  expect  any  such  mira- 
culous evidence.  The  Christian  priests 
might  cry  from  morn  till  noon,  and  from 
noon  till  evening,  as  the  priests  of  Baal 
did,  but  there  would  be  no  miraculous 
manifestation,  no  fire,  'no  voice  nor  any 
other  that  answered,'  no  more  than  there 
is  when  the  Deity  is  invoked  so  ear- 
nestly every  Sunday  in  our  churches 
and  chapels.  And  would  not  this  ab- 
sence of  all  sign  or  answer  on  the  p^irt 
of  the  object  thus  invoked,  prove  that 
this  object  of  worship  had  really  no  ex- 
istence except  in  the  imaginations  of  the 
worshippers,  just  as  much  as  the  ab- 
sence of  all  sign  or  answer  on  the  part 
of  Baal  to  the  invocation  of  his  worship- 
pers proved  that  the  object  thus  invoked 
had  no  real  existence  ?  The  inference 
cannot  be  fairly  evaded.  What  was  de- 
cisive evidence  in  the  one  case,  must  be 
equally  so  in  the  other.  If  we  are  re- 
quired to  have  the  same  faith  as  those 
who  lived  in  the  time  of  miraculous  in- 
terposition, surely  we  have  a  right  to 
require  the  same  evidence.  We  are 
told  the  age  of  miracles  is  past.  We 
require  no  ghost  to  tell  us  that.  This  is 
admitted  by  believers  themselves — it  is 
an  awkward  admission ;  but  they  are 
forced  to  make  it  in  the  absence  of  all 
rational  evidence  to  the  contrary.  Those 
who  profess  to  believe  most  devoutly  in 
the  miracles  of  Moses  and  Christ,  have 
no  faith  in  any  modern  pretensions  to 
miracles.  They  condemn  them  as  evi- 
dence of  imposture,  or  deride  them  as 
tokens  of  superstition  and  credulity. 
This  is  not  consistent,  for  if  miracles 
ever  were  wrought  in  behalf  of  the  reli- 
gion of  the  Bible,  why  should  they  ever 
have  ceased  ?  Surely  they  are  as  much 
required  now  as  ever  they  were.  Be- 
lievers are  ready  enough  to  complain  of 
the  dififusion  and  increase  of  infidelity 
which  is  now  assuming  the  darker  hue 


328 


THE  REASONER. 


of  atheism.  Have  miraolee  ceased  be- 
cause the  Deity  does  not  think  fit  to 
work  them,  or  because  the  belief  in  them 
originates  in  ignorance  and  credulity, 
and  the  age  is  too  enlightened  to  coun- 
tenance them  ?  Surely  most  persons  of 
any  enlightenment  or  common  sense  will 
adopt  the  latter  conclusion — that  mira- 
cles had  no  other  origin  than  human 
ignorance  and  credulity,  and,  therefore, 
as  knowledge  and  reason  have  increased 
and  become  more  prevalent  and  power- 
ful, belief  in  miracles  has  in  the  same 
proportion  decreased  and  become  weak- 
ened. Judging  from  the  progress  of 
unbelief,  who  can  doubt  that  the  time 
will  come  when  unbelief  in  miracles  will 
prevail  entirely  ? 

We  find  throughout  the  whole  of  the 
Bible,  in  the  New  Testament  as  well  as 
the  Old,  that  the  Deity  is  represented  as 
vindicating  his  existence  and  power  by 
miraculous  evidence.  There  is  no  inti- 
mation given  in  the  Scriptures  that  this 
species  of  evidence  would  ever  cease. 
But  we  know  it  has  ceased  ;  nothing  of 
the  kind  occurs  now  that  is  worthy  of 
the  belief  of  any  enlightened  or  rational 
person,  and,  therefore,  we  are  justified 
in  concluding  that  the  miraculous  evi- 
dence referred  to  did  really  never  exist. 
The  belief  in  it  arose  from  superstitious 
credulity  being  imposed  upon  by  those 
more  enlightened,  who  employed  decep- 
tion and  jugglery  in  order  to  obtain 
wealth  and  power  at  the  expense  of  their 
ignorant  and  deluded  votaries. 

The  religion  of  the  Bible  is  thus  proved 
to  be  a  superstition.  There  is  no  evi- 
dence of  the  existence  or  power  of  the 
God  of  the  Bible  that  is  now  worshipped 
by  Christians.  Like  the  idols  of  the 
ancient  heathen,  or  the  images  of  modern 
saints,  when  invoked  or  supplicated  he 
gives  no  evidence  of  possessing  any 
power  to  hear  or  to  interfere.    There 


'  is  no  voice  nor  any  to  anawer.'  If  an 
Act  of  Parliament  were  passed  to-mor- 
row denying  the  existence  and  abolishing 
the  worship  of  the  God  of  the  Bible,  he 
would  take  it  very  quietly,  and  '  die 
without  a  sign.'  If  another  God  and 
worship  were  substituted,  Jehovah 
would  not  be  found  to  vindicate  his  su- 
premacy and  omnipotence,  as  he  is  re- 
presented to  have  done  amongst  the 
ancient  Jews,  by  signs  and  wonders,  by 
plagues  and  earthquakes  and  tempests 
and  destroying  angels.  Who  can  doubt, 
if  the  belief  in  the  Christian's  God  were 
abolished  to-morrow,  and  Brahma  or 
Siva  or  Mohammed  were  substituted  in 
his  place,  and  the  articles  of  faith  and 
mode  of  worship  changed  accordingly, 
that  all  things  would  proceed  as  before 
— that  natui'e  would  pursue  her  Touted 
course — day  and  night,  summer  and 
winter,  seed  time  and  harvest,  would 
take  place  as  usual  ?  The  heavens  would 
give  their  showers  and  sunshine,  and  the 
earth  its  increase ;  political  reform  would 
still  advance,  and  the  inhabitants  of  the 
three  kingdoms  become  proportionably 
prosperous  and  happy.  Such  being  the 
case,  the  established  religion  beingproved 
to  be  superstition,  producing  no  good 
whatever  to  its  professors,  but,  on  the 
contrary,  a  great  deal  of  evil,  causing 
mental  degradation,  slavish  fears,  con- 
tentions, di  visions,uncharitableness,  and, 
above  all,  entailing  an  enormous  expense 
of  many  millions,  extorted  through  su- 
perstition or  through  legal  oppression, 
which  expenditure  might  be  so  much 
more  profitably  employed  in  giving  the 
people  a  sound,  intellectual,  and  moral 
education,  and  in  promoting  their  tem- 
poral welfare,  so  great  and  so  many 
being  the  evils  of  the  established  reli- 
gion, surely  it  is  time  it  were  abolished 
and  destroyed  for  ever  and  tor  ever. 
Amen. 


THE  REA.SONEa.  827 


Our  piatfann. 

Prom  which  any  earnest  opponent  may  controvert  our  opinions,  and  from  which  any  may  expound  viewa 
not  coincidaat  with  our  own,  if  tending  to  the  Rationalisation  of  Theology. 

CHRIST'S  DEATH  HUMANLY  JUSTIFIABLE. 


Sib, — The  closely-reasoned  article  signed  'X,'  in  7?ca«(3n«rNo.l4,  Yol.XI.,'written 
in  reply  to  Mr.  Fleming,  turns  upon  the  point  as  to  whether  Christ's  death  was 
voluntary,  free,  and  self-chosen,  or  designed,  brought  about,  and  compelled  by 
God  the  Father.  Mr.  Fleming  argues  that  it  was  Toluntary,  and  therefore  could 
not  tell  against  the  Divine  character.  Thus  he  admits  that  the  Divine  character 
would  be  involved  if  the  death  of  the  Son  had  taken  place  in  consequence  of,  and 
in  accordance  with.  Divine  arrangements.  '  X '  attempts,  and  as  I  think  succeeds, 
in  proving  that  the  doctrine  of  Mr.  Fleming  is  unscriptural,  and  cites  scripture  to 
maintain  that  the  death  of  Christ  Jesus  was  not  voluntary,  that  it  was  a  sacrifice, 
previously  foretold,  made  by  the  Father  in  heaven  for  man  expressly,  and  fulfilled 
to  the  letter  of  prophecy. 

'  X  '  concludes  his  article  by  submitting  that  '  such  reasoners  as  Mr.  Fleming 
must  ever  fail  to  convince  the  atheist  of  the  attributes  of  Deity  from  scripture,  or 
of  the  falsehood  of  that  moral  philosophy  which  objecit  to  the  cmcifixion  of  a  child  hy 
his  o%vn  parent?  '  X  '  is  happy  in  his  scripture  readings  with  respect  to  the  pro- 
phecy of  the  crucifixion  and  the  fulfilment  of  it,  even  to  certain  particulars  ap- 
parently unimportant :  such  as  the  soldiers  dividing  Christ's  garments  among 
them  by  casting  lots,  giving  him  vinegar  to  drink,  and  piercing  his  side  with  a 
spear.  'X'  asks,  could  the  soldiery  do  otherwise,  seeing  it  had  been  pre-ordained 
they  should  do  these  things  ?  Mr.  Fleming  thinks  Christ's  executioners  culpable 
for  what  they  did;  the  last  remark  of  'X  '  seems  to  exonerate  them. 

With  respect  to  the  morality  of  a  parent  being  the  author  of  his  own  child's 
crucifixion,  that  depends  upon  circumstances.  In  a  human  sense,  at  certain  pe- 
riods, it  has  been  thought  an  indispensable,  noble  self-sacrifice  on  the  part  of  a 
parent.  Spartan  mothers  sacrificed  their  sons  for  honour  and  liberty — Pagan 
philosophers  sacrificed  themselves  for  their  principles,  and  as  an  example  to  their 
disciples ;  and  who,  in  these  selfish  times,  shall  charge  those  Spartan  mothers  and 
Pagan  philosophers  with  immorality,  seeing  how  ignorant  we  are  of  the  estima- 
tion in  which  honour  and  liberty  were  held  by  those  mothers,  and  truth  by  those 
philosophers ;  seeing  how  little  we  know  of  the  cause  and  of  the  value  of  such 
sacrifices,  and  how  little  we  are  acquainted  with  that  same  feeling  of  disinterested- 
ness which  made  them  inevitable  ?  In  times  when  an  enlightened  people  had  to 
defend  themselves  on  all  sides  from  barbarous  invaders,  who  came  in  overpowering 
numbers,  self-sacrifice  was  a  virtue ;  when  forlorn  hope  was  hourly  the  fate  of  the 
patriot,  and  a  great  people  reposed  on  the  devotedness  of  the  few — then  it  was 
that  the  magnanimity  of  the  few  struck  terror  into  the  many.  Had  it  not  been 
for  the  sacrifice  of  Leonidas  and  his  followers  at  Thermopylae,  the  Greek  people 
had  never  learned  to  despise  the  numbers  of  the  Persians,  had  never  known  the 
majesty  of  self-reliance,  had  never  felt  that  might  by  which  they  conquered.  "Who 
shall  say  that  in  those  sacrifices  wisdom  and  morality  were  not  united  with  valour? 
'  Make  a  good  meal,  soldiers,'  cried  the  hero  of  Thermopylie  on  the  morning  of 
th«  fight,  '  for,'  he  added,  '  to-night  we  sup  with  Pluto  !' — and  they  perished  all, 
save  one  man.  Again,  when  the  aged  father  of  the  Horatii  heard  that  one  of  his 
sons  had  fled,  the  others  being  slain,  he  was  filled  with  indignation.     The  mes- 


328  THE  REASONER. 


senger  attempted  to  excuse  the  son,  saying,  '  What  other  resource  had  he  than 
flight, overpoweredfas  he  was  by  three  combatants?'  *  A  glorious  death,'  replied 
the  old  Horatius.  Nor  let  it  be  thought  that  those  heroes '  wantonly  sacrificed  life ;' 
the  better,  not  always  the  oldest,  soldier  prevailed  in  the  council  of  the  battle 
field, '  where  good  advice  gave  way  to  better.'  Nor  were  the  livts  sacrificed 
worthless  lives  ;  the  best  and  the  manliest  were  placed  in  the  hottest  part  of  the 
fight.  So  with  the  philosophers,  they  did  not  perish  for  trifles  but  for  truths 
which  had  cost  them  long  years  to  develop,  and  which  they  felt  assured  would  live 
after  them.  A  great  principle  was  to  be  introduced  to  serve  the  world,  and  a  phi- 
losopher's death  was  the  price  of  its  acceptance  :  a  great  sin  was  to  be  judged  and 
done  away  with,  and  the  insolent  and  wicked  crucified  the  moralist.  All  these 
sacrifices  and  martyrdoms  served  to  give  a  tone  to  general  morality,  for  such  noble 
devotedness  made  even  the  selfish  and  cruel  pause  and  set  an  example  of  good  and 
just  action  to  good  men.  It  may  be  said  that  the  various  scientific  inquiries  into 
the  nature  of  man  so  popular  in  these  days,  took  their  rise  in  the  writings  of 
those  Pagan  philosophers  who  sacrificed  their  lives  to  their  convictions,  and  in  their 
deaths  gave  emphasis  to  what  they  uttered,  and  at  the  same  time  attracted  and 
fixed  the  attention  and  the  consideration  of  a  stolid  world. 

Thus  we  may  safely  arrive  at  the  conclusion,  that  a  parent  sacrificing  his  child 
under  certain  circumstances  may  be  justifiable,  or  at  least  reconcileable. 

The  death  of  Christ,  if  considered  as  a  sacrifice  for  the  doctrine  which  he  advo- 
cated, is  strictly  reconcileable  with  examples  which  could  be  cited  from  the  history 
of  almost  every  nation.  Nor  is  it  difficult  to  understand  why  a  son,  and  an  only 
son,  should  be  devoted  to  a  cause  believed  to  be  sacred  and  paramount  over  all 
other  considerations.  Such  a  choice  would  be  made  to  impress  those  for  whose 
good  the  sacrifice  was  intended  with  a  knowledge  of  the  interest  entertained  for 
their  welfare,  and  of  the  importance  attached  to  the  doctrine  sought  to  be  incul- 
cated by  those  who  made  so  great  a  sacrifice  for  its  advancement. 

Christopher. 


MR.    GEORGE     THOMPSON    ON    ATHEISM 


Sib, — You  may  know  Mr.  G.  Thompson  better  than  I  do;  may  have  heard  or 
read  more  of  his  speeches,  and  may  thereby  be  able  to  form  a  juster  estimate  of  his 
worth  than  I  can ;  but  if  a  speech  which  he  delivered  at  Bristol  on  the  4th  inst., 
on  the  subject  of  American  Slavery,  may  be  taken  as  a  fair  sample  of  his  speeches 
generally,  then  I  must  say  that  they  are  open  to  objection.  He  abused  every  one 
who  did  not  agree  with  him :  the  chairman,  a  member  of  the  Society  of  Friends,  as 
worthy  a  man  as  ever  breathed,  he  '  pitied'  as  '  infatuated ;'  our  friend  John  Angell 
James  he  denounced  as  a  time-server;  Dr.  Baird  he  designated  a  'sacerdotal  ruf- 
fian;' and  every  slaveholder,  without  distinction,  he  considered  as  worse  than  '  a 
thousand  horse-stealers '  rolled  into  one.  What  think  you  of  the  following  from 
a  man  who  inveighed  against  others  for  having  '  blasphemed  Christianity  ?'  *  He 
would  never  countenance  the  lie  that  man  could  hold  property  in  man  [this  the 
chairman  did  not  do — he  recommended  "  speaking  the  truth  in  love."]  He  (Mr,  G. 
T.)  would  meet  the  chairman  at  the  last  dread  day  of  judgment,  and  he  would  show, 
him  that  as  the  slaveholder  looked  his  last  glimpse  before  going  to  his  merited  per- 
dition it  would  be  to  thank  the  man  who  told  him  what  he  was  and  what  he  was 
doing,  and  who  would  have  saved  him,  not  by  bedaubing  him  with  untempered 
mortar,  but  by  speaking  the  truth.' 


THE  REASONER.  329 


I  should  not  have  gone  out  of  my  way  to  notice  Mr.  Thompson's  tirade  against 
American  slaveholders  and  their  abettors,  whose  principles  and  conduct  I  hate 
most  thoroughly,  but  that  he  began  his  remarks  by  belying  atheism.  '  He  com- 
menced by  referring  to  his  youthful  advocacy  of  the  cause  of  slave  emancipa- 
tion in  the  British  colonies.  He  opposed  slavery  then  as  he  did  now,  not 
because  it  existed  under  British  rule,  but  because  it  was  slavery ;  not  because 
it  was  a  deep  and  damning  stain  on  the  English  government  and  people ;  but 
because  it  was  a  crime  against  humanity,  an  insult  to  God,  the  highest  practical 
form  of  unadulterated  Atheism,  for  one  human  being  to  claim  property  in  another. 
Mr.  Thompson  boasted  that  ke  '  thundered  out 'his  denunciations  of  American 
slavery  'in  John  Bull  English,'  and  always  liked  to  hear  '  a  spade  called  a  spade.' 
Well,  then,  in  the  plain  John  Bull  English,  which  Mr.  Thompson  so  much  admires, 
I  tell  him,  that  when  he  said  that '  the  highest  practical  form  of  unadulterated 
atheism  '  was  '  for  one  human  being  to  claim  property  in  another,'  he  erred — 
that  the  'highest  practical  form  of  unadulterated  atheism,'  is  consistent  only  with 
the  most  perfect  liberty  of  mind  and  body  of  every  human  being,  compatible  with 
the  safety  and  interests  of  society  ;  that  atheists  not  only  abhor  and  iight  against 
body-enslavers,  but  mind-enslavers  also ;  and  that  there  is  no  such  pernicious, 
freedom-crushing  principles  or  precepts  as  the  following  to  be  found  in  the  moral 
code  of  atheism  :  '  Let  every  soul  be  subject  unto  the  higher  powers.  For  there  is  no 
power  but  of  God  :  the  powers  that  be  are  ordained  0/ good.  "Whosoever  therefore 
resisteth  the  power,  resisteth  the  ordinance  of  God :  and  they  that  resist  shall  receive 
to  themselves  damnation.  For  rulers  are  not  a  terror  to  good  works,  but  to  the 
evil.  Wilt  thou  then  not  be  afraid  of  the  powers,  do  that  which  is  good,  and  thou 
shalt  have  praise  of  the  same :  for  he  is  the  minister  of  God  to  thee  for  good.  But 
if  thou  do  that  which  is  evil,  be  afraid  ;  forhebeareth  not  the  sword  in  vain  :  for  he 
is  the  minister  of  God,  a  revenger  to  execute  wrath  upon  him  that  doeth  evil.'  Mr. 
Thompson  claims  freedom  for  the  slave  on  the  ground  that  slavery  is  opposed  to 
the  genius  of  Christianity.  What  can  the  most  rabid  and  cruel  slaveholder  that 
ever  lived  want  stronger  than  the  above,  and  a  dozen  other  similar  passages  which 
are  to  be  found  in  the  New  Testament,  in  justification  of  his  cruelty  and  injustice, 
and  in  condemnation  of  any  resistance  thereto  ?  The  most  strongly  marked, 
most  frequently  enforced  precept  of  the  New  Testament  is  abject  servility  to  power 
and  authority ;  and  that  not  always  because  forbearance  and  non-resistance  are 
virtues,  but  because  masters  and  magistrates  are  appointed  of  God,  and  that  any 
resistance  to  their  authority  is  a  resistance  of  God's  ordinances — thus  justifying 
and  making  righteous  the  most  abominable  tyrannies  and  cruelties  when  practised 
by  masters  and  magistrates,  and  visiting  with  the  pains  of  hell  all  resistance  thereto. 

Bristol,  Sept.  6,  1851.  W.  Chilton. 


THE  CHARACTER  OF  JESUS  CHRIST 


SiE, — The  department  of  the  Reasoner  headed  '  Platform,'  is  really  a  very  com- 
mendatory one,  as  ultras  (of  all  shades)  are  considered  as  conceding  freedom  of 
thought  in  expounding  their  tenets  ;  you  will  therefore,  I  beg,  give  insertion  to  a 
few  observations  I  have  to  make  on  an  article  signed  '  W.  J.  B,'  in  your  journal  of 
the  23rd  of  July  last,  on  the  above  topic.  Your  contributor  attacks  the  character 
and  the  tendencies  of  Jesus  Christ  in  measured  terms,  and  denies  him  merit,  even 
in  a  humanitarian  point  of  view.     I  consider  '  W.  J.  B.'s'  arguments  unfounded, 


330 


THE  REASONER. 


besides  thinking  that  to  act  as  he  does  is  bad  policy,  even  in  a  business-like  manner 
of  viewing  the  subject. 

It  is  a  haughty  attempt,  at  any  rate,  to  deny  to  the  founder  of  the  Christian  re- 
ligion even  the  common  and  general  qualifications  and  attributes  of  human  nature, 
and  thus  to  stamp  with  utter  imbecility  or  roguery  those  millions  who  sincerely 
have  praised  and  revered  him.  To  that  extent,  surely,  men  are  never  wrong. 
Amongst  the  first  and  principal  attributes  of  Jesus  Christ,!  always  considered  his 
devotedness  and  sacrifice  of  every  interest  to  his  opinions  and  principles,  because, 
'W.  J.  B,'  may  know  as  well  as  any  one,  that  the  governor-general  of  Judea  would 
have  found  some  place  or  situation  for  a  talented  Jew,  who  might  have  embraced 
the  interests  of  the  mother  country  (!)  It  surely  would  not  have  been  the  taste 
of  any  common  mind  to  choose  poverty  and  privation  to  battling  for  the  interests 
of  an  oppressed  and  enslaved  people.  Cromwell,  Luther,  Mahomet,  had  always 
their  snug  Sunday  dinner,  <fec.  Jesus  Christ  had  not  where  to  Jay  his  head.  And 
it  is  against  such  a  character  '  W.  J.  B.'  directs  his  wit  and  sarcasm.  It  is  easier 
to  denounce  than  to  imitate  the  vine  of  Nazareth.  He  wept  over  the  miseries  of 
his  times;  we  make  a  laughing-stock  of  them.* 

Besides,  as  I  said,  I  consider  '  W.  J.  B.'s'  modu$  operandi  bad  policy.  Well,  and 
if  Jesus  Christ  was  not  even  a  good,  a  superior  being,  what  then  ?  Negations  will 
never  construct  anything.  We  want  some  characters  for  our  reverence,  our  adora- 
tion, if  I  may  say  so,  which  is  one  amongst  the  organs  of  man.  Will  '  W.  J.  B.' 
point  out  some  other  character,  to  whom  mankind  may  look  to  a  matter  of 
solace,  comfort,  strength?  Will  he  put  up  Plato  or  Socrates  as  such?  But  it 
will  take  him  a  long  while  to  impress  this  on  the  peasants  and  the  people  of 
Europe.  Still  they  have  all  some,  albeit  somewhat  faulty,  knowledge  of  Christ. 
If  '  W.  J.  B.'  will  take  this  from  man,  he  must  be  prepared  to  give  something  or 
somebody  else  instead.  Eobert  Owen  said  well — '  don't  combat  error,  state  truth.' 
Out  of  negations  no  position  can  ever  arise,  I  repeat. 

A  Foreign  Republican  and  Subscbibeb. 

THE  INDEPENDENCE  OP  MORALITY. 


Sib, — There  is  not  such  a  thing  as  the  independence  of  morality  in  the  whole  of 
God's  universe ;  morality  is  in  all  cases  subservient  to  Christianity,  and  dependent 
upon  it.  Where  there  is  no  Christianity,  there  cannot  of  necessity  be  strict  morality. 
The  Bible  contains  a  code  of  morality  of  so  strict  a  nature,  as  to  stamp  it  with 
this  impress,  'The  most  moral  book  extant' — there  cannot  be  morality  of  a  higher 
standard  than  is  required  by  Christianity.  The  Christian  is  the  only  strictly  moral 
man  :  there  may  be  much  in  the  man  who  is  not  a  Christian,  that  may  appear  to  the 
man  of  the  world  to  be  morality,  but  when  compared  with  the  requirements  of 
Christianity  are  unquestionably  the  reverse,  that  is  to  say,  only  it  is  conventional 
morality.  The  Christian  religion  requires  honesty,  justice,  sobriety,  temperance, 
virtue,  chastity,  purity,  brotherly  love,  meekness,  humility,  and  the  like ;  of  all 
its  professors,  it  prohibits  licentiousness,  adultery,  covetousness,  vanity,  gluttony, 
selfishness,  and  immorality,  in  any  shape  or  form  whatever.  I  might  refer  to  many 
passages  in  the  sacred  Scriptures  for  illustrations  of  my  statements  ;  but  I  will 
not  intrude  on  your  space,  but  would  wish  all  persons  to  carefully  peruse  Nos.  9, 

•  Our  correspondent  quite  mistakes  '  W.  J.  B.'s'  argument. 


THE  REASONER. 


331 


10,  11,  and  13  of  the  Rome*  where  a  fuller  eiplanation  of  the  subject,  and  many 
such  references,  will  be  found,  by  a  person  who  signs  himself  '  Brittannicus,'  with 
whose  sentiments  I  most  cordially  agree.  My  firm  opinion  is,  that  apart  from 
Christianity  there  can  be  no  strict  morality.  H.  G.  Wintle. 

SUBSCRIPTIONS  FOR  MRS.  LENNON. 


Thomas  Hull,  Padiham,  Is.;  Dr.  Utley,  Burnley,  os.;  W.  E.  B.,  London,  lOs. ; 
Veritas,  Sunderland,  Is.;  Walter  Sanderson,  Galashiels,  Is.;  A  few  Friends  at 
Heaton,  'per  Mr.  John  "White,  Bradford,  lOs. ;  Thomas  Watts,  Islington,  5s. 
Total,  £1  13s. 


[This  subscription  has  not  yet  reached  £5,  which  I  trust  it  shortly  will.  The 
sums  acknowledged  from 'W.  E.B.'  and 'The  Friends  at  Heaton,'  were  accompanied 
by  cordial  and  generous  expressions  of  interest  towards  the  family  of  Mr.  Lennon, 
with  thanks  even  that  the  matter  had  been  brought  under  their  notice.  These  sen- 
timents are  no  doubt  shared  by  others  who  have  not  yet  found  an  opportunity  of 
remitting  any  expression  of  their  opinion. — Ed.] 


GUIDE  TO  THE  LECTURE  ROOM. 

Literary  Institution,  John  St.,  Fitzroy  Sq.— Oct. 
12th  [7 i],  Henry  Knight, 'Christ,  his  True  Cha- 
racter.' Oct.  14th  [8|j,  Discussion  in  the  Coffee 
Boom.  Question, '  \Vhat  are  the  best  means  of  im- 
proving the  condition  of  the  working  classes  ?' 

National  Hall,  242,  High  Holborn.— Oct.  12th, 
[8],  P.  \V.  Perfitt  will  lecture. 

Wardour  St.,  Soho.— Oct.  9th  [8],  H.  T.  Holy- 
oake,  '  General  Progress." 

Hall  of  Science,  "City  Road.— Oct.  12th  [7]. a 
leeture,  Walter  Cooper. 

Institute  of  Progress,  10a,  Upper  George  St., 
Sloane  Square. — Friday  evenings  [8],  Discussion. 
Oct.  l-ith  [7],  Peter  Jones,  'Phrenology.' 

Eclectic  Institute,  Denmark  Street,  Soho. — 
Every  Friday  [8^],  Mr.  J.  B.  O'Brien,  '  Home  and 
Foreign  Politics.'  Every  Sunday  [7^],  on  '  Jloral 
and  Social  Science.' 

Areopagus  Coffee  and  Reading  Room,  59,  Church 
Lane,  Uhitechapel. — Every  Sunday,  Monday,  and 
Wednesday  (S),  a  Lecture  or  Discussion. 

City  Forum  Coffee  House,  6o,  Red  Cross  Street. 
—  p; very  Sunday,  Monday,  and  Thursday  [8^],  a 
Discussion. 

Commercial  Hall,  Philpot  Street,  Commercial 
Road  East. — Every  Tuesday  and  Thursday  even- 
ing  [8],  a  Discussion. 

City  Road  Discussion  Society,  22,  City  Road. — 
Discussion   every  Wednesday  evening. 


ADVERTISEMENTS. 


POPULAR  WORKS. 

A  Pew  Days  in  Athens,  1  vol.,  cloth.    By 

Frances  Wright 1 

Ditto,  in  a.  wrapper 1 

F.  Wright's  Popular  Lectures,  1  vol 3 

(To  be  had  in  Parts  and  Numbers.) 

Bible  of  Reason,  1  vol.,  c'oth   7 

The  Enghoh  Republic,  1  to  10 each  0 


Notes  on  the  Population  Question 0  6 

Clark's  Letters  to  Dr.  Adam  Clarke,  1  vol., 

cloth    6  0 

Labour's  Wrongs  and  Labour's  Remediei, 

1  vol 2  0 

Paine's  Poems 0  3 

Life  ot  Volney 0  2 

Life  of  Voltaire    0  2 

Life  ot  Shelley 0  2 

Shelley's  Masque  of  Anarchy 0  3 

—  Queen  Wab,  1  vol.,  boards    ........  1  6 

—  ditto                ditto        wrapper 1  0 

Cooper's  Infidel's  Text  Bock,  1  vol 3  6 

(To  be  had  in  tliirteen  numbers  at  twopence.) 

—  Scriptures  Analysed o  8 

Scripturian's  Creed.     By  Citizen  Davies    . .  0  2 

London:  James  Watson,  3,  Queen's  Head  Pas- 
sage, Paternoster -row. 

JOSEPH  BARKER'S  WORKS. 

Just  published.  No.   1,  price  One  Penny,  to  be 
continued  weekly,  until  complete, 

'LECTURES    ON    THE    CHURCH    OF 
ENGLAND  PRAYER-BOOK.' 

Channing's  Works,  complete  in  6  vols., 

cloth,  lettered  8  0 

Norton's   Reasons   against  Trinitarianiim, 

1  vol.,  boards    1  4 

Taylor  on  Original  Sin,  1  vol \  4 

Law's  Serious  Call,  1  vol 1  4 

The  Violet,  a  collection  of  Poems  for  all 

Times 0  4 

Democratic  Hymns  and  Songs 0  4 

Barker's  Hired  Ministry,  1  vol 1  0 

Fowler's  Works,  in  1  vol.,  cloth  boards. ...  5  0 

CAll  the  Tracts  can  be  had  separately.) 
Spurzheim'i  Natural  Laws  of  Man  (nearly  ready). 

Published  by  G.  Turner,  Stoke-upon-Trent ; 
J.  Watson,  3,  Queen's  Head  Passage,  Paternosttr 
Row;    A.  Heywood,  Oldham  Street,  Manchester. 


A  wetkly  periodical,  conducted  by  R.  Oastler. 


3S2 


THE  REASONER. 


<9ur  «9prn  |9age. 

Dr.  Habbis,  President  of  Cbeshunt  College,  says,  in  his  sermon  of  the  '  Christian 
Citizen,'  that  we  are  living  in  a  moral  necropolis,  a  city  of  the  dead — that  in 
London  there  are — 

12,000  children  always  training  in  crime,  gradnating  in  vice,  to  reinforce  and 

perpetuate  the  great  system  of  iniquity. 
3,000  persons  are  receivers  of  stolen  property. 
4,000  are  annually  committed  for  criminal  offences. 
10,000  are  addicted  to  gambling. 
20,000  to  beggary. 

30,000  are  living  by  theft  and  fraud. 

The  statistics  of  evil  are  ever  on  the  increase.    Out  of  fourteen  gin  shops,  it  was 
ascertained  that,  in  one  week,  there  went  into  them — 
142,453  men,  1 

10!],593  women,         >   or  19,245  into  each  of  the  14  houses,  during  one  week. 
18,391  children,      J 
There  are  in  London  not  less  than — 
80,000  females  receiving  the  wages  of  prostitution. 

400  panderers  and  procuresses,  who  live  by  inveighling  girls,  between  the 
ages  of  11  and  15  years,  for  the  purposes  of  prostitution. 
2,700  cases  of  disease,  arising  from  prostitution,  were  admitted  into  three  hos- 
pitals, in  children  between  the  ages  of  11  and  15  years. 
8,000  of  these  victims  of  pollution  die  annually ! 
Taken  up  for  drunkenness — 

In  1831     ...     males,  19,748     ...     females,  11,105     ...     total,  31,353 

In  1832     ...         „       20,304 12,332     ...        „      32,636 

In  1833     ...         „       18,268     ...  „        11,612     ...       „      29,880 


Total  in  three  years 


93,869 


Mr.  Collet  requests  ns  to  inform  our  readers,  that  the  office  of  the  Association 
for  Promoting  the  Repeal  of  the  Taxes  on  Knowledge  is  removed  to  20,  Great 
Coram  Street,  Brunswick  Square,  where  the  Committee  meet  every  Wednesday 
evening. 

Mr.  Forbes  Kidd  desires  us  to  notice  that  the  Smiths  and  Hammermen  in 
London  have  resolved  to  form  themselves  into  an  Association  for  the  purpose  of 
conducting  their  respective  trades  by  combining  their  capital,  talent,  aud  industry. 
Meetings  are  held  at  the  Progression  Coffee  House,  17,  Ryder's  Courtj  Leicester 
Square,  every  Tuesday  evening,  for  the  purpose  of  forming  the  laws,  and  explain- 
ing the  principles  of  association,  and  enrolling  members. 

Mr.  Griffins  informs  us  that  the  Primitive  Methodists  of  Peterborough  accepted 
a  volume  of  the  Reasoner  from  Mr.  Scholey  towards  the  erection  of  a  new  chapel. 
One  of  the  preachers  promised  to  give  the  value  of  it  towards  the  collection,  keep- 
ing the  Reasoner  for  his  own  perusal. 


Monthly  Parts  of  the  Reasoner  are  uniformly  ready  in  a  double  Supple- 
mentary Wrapper  every  Magazine  day.  Volumes  of  the  Reasoner  are  made  up 
(and  can  be  had  bound)  Half  Yearly. 

London:  Printed  by  Holyoake  Brothers,  3,  Queen's  Head  Passaj^e,  Paternoster-row;  and  Published 
by  J.  Watson.  3,  Queen's  Head  Passage,  Paternoster- row. — Wednesday,  October  8th,  1861, 


i 


t  Wita&ontv 


THEOLOGICAL     EXAMINER. 


They  who  believe  that  they  have  Truth  ask  no  favour,  save  that  of  being  heard:  they  dare  the 
judgment  of  Mankind  :  reftued  Co-operation,  they  invoke  Opposition,  tor  Opposition  is  their 
Opportunity. — Editor. 


LECTURES    AND    DISCUSSIONS 

IN     EDINBURGH,     SOUTH     SHIELDS,     STOCKTON-ON-TEES,     MILES     PLATTING,    MAN- 
CHESTER,  TODMORDEN,   AND    BURNLEY. 


The  lectures,  three  in  number,  in  Edinburgh  were  delivered  in  the  Calton  Con- 
vening Koom,  a  pleasant  room  to  speak  in.  Each  night  the  audiences  increased, 
and  included  many  different  classes  of  society  whom  it  was  an  honour  to  meet. 
Mr.  Gillespie  was  one  of  the  number  one  night,  but  he  did  not  take  any  part  in 
discussion.  The  disastrous  proceedings  conducted  in  the  name  of  freethinking 
some  years  ago  in  that  city  have  obscured  any  just,  and  prevented  any  patient,  view 
of  our  principles  ;  and  I  gladly  embraced  the  opportunity  of  endeavouring  to  pre- 
sent them  in  a  less  personal,  less  antagonistic,  and  more  dispassionate  light.  In 
the  end,  better  feeling  perhaps  prevailed,  but  the  commencement  was  sad  enough. 
When  the  first  lecture  was  over,  nobody  essayed  to  speak — the  silence  that  ensued 
seemed  impervious,  and  continued  so  a  quarter  of  an  hour.  Innocent  of  the  special 
temper  of  my  dumb  hearers,  I  entered  into  explanations  of  the  points  of  my 
address  open  to  assault  from  the  Christian  point  of  view,  to  make  as  easy  as  evident 
the  mode  of  attack  open  to  them.  Little  did  I  dream  of  the  volcano  of  speech 
which  slumbered  around  me.  Shortly  the  vent  was  forced — the  lava  poured  from 
all  sides.  Every  second  man  proved  a  violent  orator;  they  rose  up  like  dram 
shops,  which,  in  very  religious  districts  in  Scotland,  appear  almost  as  thick  as 
alternate  houses. 

Some  speeches  were  expressed  with  great  bitterness.  Beginning  with  expressions 
that  in  compassion  might  have  become  Jesus  when  he  mourned  over  Jerusalem,they 
proceeded  to  an  agony  of  ascerbity,  A  gentleman  present  afterwards  described 
some  of  the  speakers  as  manifesting  '  a  ghastly  courtesy  and  a  quivering  respect,' 
so  vindictive  were  they.  But  on  the  second  and  third  nights  they  saw  that  the 
reproaches  uttered  did  not  apply  to  me,  and  they  grew  pacific  and  courteous. 
From  the  preceding  description  I  have  to  except  a  reverend  gentleman  whose 
name  I  have  lost,  the  Unitarian  minister  of  Edinburgh,  who  stated  his  objections 
in  that  admirable  spirit  which  the  cultivated  (they  are  not  all  equally  agreeable) 
members  of  that  persuasion  usually  display. 

While  in  the  Teignmouth  district — where,  as  I  can  testify,  the  German  Ocean 
makes  a  delicious  bath  in  the  month  of  August — I  had  an  opportunity  of  lecturing 
in  South  Shields.  There  is  an  excellent  Hall  there,  well  ventilated  and  usefully 
contrived.  I  should  have  lectured  there  a  second  time,  but  the  Hall  could  not  be 
had  on  a  Sunday.  The  good  Christians  of  that  town  would  consider  it  a  desecra- 
tion of  the  day.  Yet  they  are  not  over  fastidious  in  moral  respects.  South  Shields 
abounds  in  detestable  streets ;  yet  the  Christians  there  tolerate  these.  The  Irish- 
looking  and  St.  Giles's  holes,  in  which  hundreds  of  human  beings  live,  where  hu- 


[No.  281.]  INo.  22,  Vol.  XI. 

[ONE  PENNY.l 


334  THE  REASONER. 


manity  ought  never  to  be  found,  are  tolerated.  Stench,  fever,  death  assail  you  at 
every  step,  through  a  long  line  of  execrable  houses.  The  South  Shields  Christians 
tolerate  them  all,  but  they  will  not  tolerate  an  educational,  a  political,  or  ethical 
lecture  on  the  Sunday.     When  will  Christianity  grow  moral  ? 

Also,  for  the  first  time,  I  had  the  pleasure  of  lecturing  in  Stockton-on-Tees. 
There  is  room  (I  do  not  say  there  is  need)  for  the  expansion  of  ideas  in  that  town, 
for  the  main  street  is  wide  enough  for  a  public  meeting  to  walk  up  it  arm  in  arm, 
without  interfering  with  the  traffic.  About  a  quarter  past  eight,  on  the  night  of 
the  lecture,  we  had  an  accession  to  the  audience  of  a  boat  load  of  friends  from 
Middlesbro',  who  had  hired  a  steamer  and  come  up  the  Tees  to  the  lecture.  The 
discussion  after  was  chiefly  maintained  by  Catholics,  who  objected  very  emphati- 
cally, as  they  have  done  in  nearly  all  places,  to  that  lecture  which  the  Northern 
Star  describes  as  paid  for  by  the  Jesuits,  or  Austria,  or  Rome,  or  somebody,  the 
correspondent  of  the  Star  does  not  exactly  know  whom. 

Since  this  period  a  '  Mr.  A.  H.  Lamb,  from  the  Glasgow  and  Edinburgh  Uni- 
versities,' has  published  a  sixpenny  pamphlet '  On  the  Being  of  a  God,' delivered 
in  the  Town  Hall,  Middlesbro', '  to  which  are  added,'  so  says  the  title-page, 
*  Answers  to  Mr,  Jacob  Holyoake's  objections  to  Dr.  Paley's  Natural  Theology.' 
It  seems  something  shocking  to  be  attacked  by  a  member  of  tivo  universities,  but 
it  may  prove  a  useful  excitement  now  the  cold  weather  is  setting  in.  On  the  20th, 
21st,  and  22nd,  it  has  been  arranged  for  me  to  lecture  in  reply,  in  the  Town  Hall 
of  Middlesbro'. 

Last  week  I  reached  London  for  four  days,  where  I  found  such  an  accumulation 
of  work  wanting  my  attention,  that  I  am  anxious  to  close  my  journeyings  for  this 
year.  About  the  24th  instant  I  shall  reach  town,  and  excepting  an  occasional  lec- 
ture in  Brighton,  Northampton,  Coventry,  and  Leicester,  I  shall  dwell  under  the 
shadow  of  St,  Paul's, 

The  first  volume  of  the  '  Cabinet  of  Reason'  (some  time  ago  alluded  to)  is  in  the 
press,  and  several  sheets  worked  oflF  and  cast.  Prospectuses  and  show  cards  ought 
to  be  out  by  this  time.  The  essay  on  the  work  of  Professor  Newman  on  the 
'  Soul,'  after  which  many  persons  have  inquired,  is  nearly  ready  for  delivery. 
Next  week  we  hope  to  announce  it.  Other  arrangements  are  maturing,  which  in 
due  time  will  find  publicity. 

1  attended  the  meeting  of  the  Parliamentary  Reform  Association,  at  the  open- 
ing of  its  Manchester  campaign,  to  ascertain,  by  personal  intercourse  and  obser- 
vation, what  of  political  hope  was  to  be  entertained  in  that  quarter,  and  I  think 
much  may  be  entertained.  They  will  do  the  right  thing,  if  they  receive  general 
support  from  the  working  people.  Sir  Joshua  Walmsley,  who  is  the  inspiration 
of  the  movement,  may  be  trusted  to  mean  what  he  says,  and  what  he  says  is 
expansive. 

While  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Manchester,  I  lectured  to  the  members  of  the 
Miles  Platting  Mechanics'  Institution,  on  '  The  Systems  of  Pestalozzi  and  Jacotot, 
in  relation  to  Scholastic  Discipline,'  where  many  ladies  were  present. 

At  the  Garratt  Road  Institution,  Manchester,  I  lectured  four  times,  and  on  the 
third  Sunday  read  the  Prefatory  Pieces  before  the  lectures  of  Mr,  Thornton  Hunt, 
The  Manchester  audiences  were  excellent.  I  never  paid  so  pleasant  a  visit  to 
Manchester  before.  It  is  disreputable  that  Manchester  should  not  have  a  better 
institution  than  the  Garratt  one,  and,  if  I  can  find  the  time,  I  will  take  some  per- 
sonal trouble  that  it  shall  have  one,  which  is  quite  possible.  However,  much 
credit   is    due   to  the  only  men  in   Manchester    who,  notwithstanding    limited 


THE  REASONER.  S35 


means,  do  work  to  the  extent  of  their  ability.  For  myself,  I  was  never  treated  more 
kinctly  or  paid  more  freely  by  any  Executive  than  by  that  of  this  Social  Institution. 
On  the  second  Sunday  night,  an  intelligent  Catholic  gentleman  maintained  a 
spirited  discussion,  the  best  we  have  had  there  for  some  time.  Two  little  children 
whose  names  were  not  written  for  me  (or  I  should  preserve  them),  were  brought 
me  to  name  after  the  second  morning  lecture.  They  were  the  daughters  of  two 
brothers. 

The  lecture  at  Todmorden  was  the  first  I  had  delivered  in  that  agreeable  valley. 
The  place  of  speaking  was  in  the  Odd  Fellows'  Hall.  The  discussion  after  was 
decidedly  the  most  pleasing  of  any  I  ever  held  in  Lancashire.  The  opponent  was 
Mr.  Holding,  a  Wesleyan  local  preacher.  His  fine  voice  falling  on  the  ear  like  a 
trumpet,  and  the  justness  of  his  remarks,  made  the  evening  both  entertaining  and 
profitable.    The  points  raised  were  the  relative  claims  of  imagination  and  reason. 

Gr.  J.  HOLYOAKE. 

[To  be  concluded.] 

[Mr.  Holyoake  has  been  called  to  Birmingham  by  the  dangerous  illness  of  his 
father,  but  is  to  lecture  in  Preston  on  Sunday,  the  12th,  and  in  Accrington  on  the 
13th  and  14th.  (This  is  written  on  the  iOth.)  We  have  the  whole  of  the  corres- 
pondence between  Hiram  Uttley,  Esq.,  Surgeon,  of  Burnley,  Mr.  G.  J.  Holyoake 
and  the  Rev.  Dr.  Bayley,  of  Accrington,  which  will  appear  early.] 


MR.  SOUTHWELL'S  LECTURES  IN  GLASGOW. 


We  have  received  a  letter  from  *  Cleon,'  of  Glasgow,  inquiring  why  we  have  not 
published  a  report  sent  us  of  Mr.  Southwell's  proceedings  in  that  town.  By  the 
way,  why  does  not  '  Cleon '  give  us  his  name  ?  We  are  always  inattentive  to 
anonymous  correspondents,  unless  their  communications  have  some  mark  of  in- 
trinsic excellence  in  them.  We  take  this  opportunity  of  saying  that  a  former  letter 
of '  Cleon's,'  upon  Responsibility,  was  received,  and  will  be  inserted.  It  seemed 
to  require  some  notice,  which  there  has  been  no  time  to  bestow,  and  that  has  caused 
the  delay.  Besides  'Cleon,'  a  gentleman  in  Glasgow,  a  friend  of  ours,  has  written, 
describing  the  omission  of  notices  of  Mr.  Southwell's  lectures  as  '  amounting  to  a 
crime.'  We  have  so  much  respect  for  the  gentleman  who  says  so,  that  an  ex- 
planation is  hereby  given.  If  a  crime,  it  is  one  for  which  we  have  no  objection  to 
answer.  The  omission  originated  in  a  simple  circumstance.  The  only  report  of 
lectures  which  reached  the  Reasoner  office  was  a  rather  lengthy  one,  signed 
'  George  Millar,'  and  penned  throughout  in  his  hand-writing.  But  the  examination 
of  the  first  half  dozen  sentences  satisfied  me  that  it  was  not  his  composition.  I 
saw  Mr.  Southwell's  hand  in  every  line.  This  would  have  been  no  reason  for  not 
printing  it  had  the  matter  been  good.  Mr.  Southwell  has  the  power  of  writing 
reports  which  we  should  be  pleased  with  the  privilege  of  printing,  for  he  neither 
wants  vigour  nor  wit;  but  sometimes  he  puts  his  wit  to  a  malicious  use,  and  that 
was  the  case  in  this  pseudo-Millar  report.  It  abounded  in  personal  reflections 
upon  Mr.  Lloyd  Jones,  Mr.  Walter  Cooper,  and  the  Christian  Socialists,  in  Mr. 
Southwell's  favourite  style  of  imputation.  Now  it  would  do  nobody  any  good,  and 
afford  nobody  any  pleasure,  to  re-open  a  controversy  on  Mr.  Lloyd  Jones  in  the 
Reasoner.  He  asked  to  be  left  alone.  The  promise  was  given,  and  we  have  kept 
that  word.    We  have  since  even  omitted  some   honourable    acknowledgments 


336  THE  REASONER. 


which  we  wished  to  make,  and  which  were  due  to  him,  for  his  exertions  in  way  the 
of  Social  Reform,  that  our  solicited  neutrality  might  not  be  infringed.  Criticism, 
which  some  think  our  pastime,  is  on  the  contrary  only  entered  upon  as  a  tribute, 
which  we  pay  to  a  man's  power  or  influence ;  but  there  is  no  reason  to  suppose  that 
Mr.  Walter  Cooper  would  look  upon  it  in  that  light,  and  therefore  we  declined  to 
inti'oduce  him  into  the  field  of  controversy.  "With  respect  to  the  Christian  So- 
cialists, our  readers  know  how  much  they  misconstrued  our  former  notices  of  them. 
What  arose  in  personal  respect  (which  is  still  unchanged)  seemed  to  them  to  arise 
in  opposition.  We  therefore  declined  further  controversy  till  some  '  more  con- 
venient season.'  To  sufifer  Mr.  Southwell  to  recommence  it  would  be  the  same  as 
doing  it  by  proxy,  and  would  look  like  an  artifice  to  continue  through  others  what 
we  professed  to  avoid  ourselves. 

These  were  personal  i-easons  for  omitting  the  report  in  question.  Besides  these 
there  was  reason  to  believe  that  the  *  Communists  of  Glasgow,'  on  whose  behalf 
the  report  was  signed,  did  not  coincide  with  the  sentiments  it  expressed ;  nor  do 
I  think  that  it  would  be  passed  as  their  report  at  any  general  meeting  of  them. 

There  was  in  the  report  some  notice  of  Mr.  Southwell's  lectures  which  I  intended 
to  extract  and  insert ;  but  the  report  arrived  as  I  was  leaving  by  railway,  and  I 
left  it  behind  me  in  the  haste  of  the  hour,  and  when  I  procured  it,  it  was  too  late  for 
part  of  it  to  be  useful,  and  I  threw  it  aside,  waiting  for  another  more  subsequent 
report,  which  has  not  since  been  sent, 

'  For  two  months  past  has  Mr.  Southwell  been  delivering  three  weekly  lectures 
to  full  audiences  in  the  Communist  Hall,  and  each  lecture  has  been  succeeded  by 
earnest  and  well-conducted  controversy ;  besides,  Mr.  Southwell  has  had  two  public 
discussions  (challenges)  with  very  competent  men,  in  the  Lyceum  Rooms  of  the 
city,  on  the  Existence  of  Deity,  and  has  again  been  challenged  by  a  gentleman, 
stated  to  be  one  of  the  most  acute  linguist  controversialists  in  Glasgow,  to  a  con- 
troversy on  the  question  of  the  materiality  or  immateriality  of  the  soul.  This 
challenge  has  been  accepted  by  Mr.  Southwell.  Notwithstanding  the  public  ex- 
citement which  has  followed  these  lectures  and  discussions,  the  press  has  remained 
silent.  The  discussions  occupied  four  nights — the  debate  three  hours  each  night. 
The  Lyceum  discussions  have  been  most  decorously  heard  by  from  five  to  six  hun- 
dred persons,  an  indication  that  the  workiag  men  of  Glasgow  are  anxious  to  think 
for  themselves,  and  ultimately  to  attain  individualism  of  view — apart  from  state 
influences — in  the  matter  of  theology.  Mr.  Southwell  has  also  been  well  received 
at  Greenock,  where  he  has  been  employed  to  give,  and  has  given,  two  lectures  on 
the  Papacy — a  subject  rife  at  this  moment.' 

We  extract  the  preceding  facts  from  the  letter  of  our  friendly,  we  might  say 
*  criminal,'  correspondent,  to  whom,  and  to  our  Glasgow  readers,  we  trust  this  ex- 
planation will  be  satisfactory.  G.  J.  Holyoake. 

THE  DEATH  OF  MRS.  ELIIVIA  MARTIN. 


We  have  the  sad  intelligence  to  communic&,te,  of  the  death  of  Mrs.  Martin,  which 
took  place  on  Wednesday  afternoon  at  Finchley.  The  news  reached  me  at  Bir- 
mingham. My  engagements  for  Preston  and  Accrington  I  at  once  suspended,  and 
came  to  town  on  Saturday  afternoon  to  fulfil  those  last  requests  whicl  she  did  me 
honour  to  leave  in  my  hands.  All  the  respect  in  my  power  to  pay  is  due  to  one  who 
fought  so  well  on  our  side  as  Mrs.  Martin  has  done.  I  can  say  no  more  now.  On 
Saturday  some  particulars  may  appear  in  the  Leader,  and  next  week  the  Reasoner 
will  contain  what  cannot  now  be  written.  G.  J.  Holyoake. 


THE  REASONER.  337 


(SFamtnattxiu  af  tlje  press. 


Anecdote  of  the  Rev.  Horace  Holley. — This  gentleman,  saya  the  Boston 
Investigator,  who  was  a  Unitarian  preacher  in  this  city  many  years  ago,  was  probably 
the  most  eloquent  minister  that  Boston  ever  had.  He  always  preached  extem- 
poraneously, and,  being  a  finished  elocutionist  and  a  man  of  great  talent,  was  very 
popular  and  drew  large  audiences.  As  a  pulpit  orator,  the  Unitarians  never  had 
a  minister  that  would  begin  to  compare  with  Horace  Holley — the  next  best  was 
John  Pierpont,  his  successor.  Mr.  Holley  was  a  liberal  man  for  his  day,  as  will 
be  seen  by  the  following  anecdote  of  him  which  we  find  in  the  Trumpet: — A  Society 
in  Braintree  invited  Mr.  Holley  to  preach  a  dedicatory  sermon,  while  several 
clergymen,  whose  opinions  were  in  sympathy  with  those  of  the  pastor  elect,  were 
engaged  to  take  part  in  the  ordination  services.  These  gentlemen,  alarmed 
at  the  celebrity  of  Mr.  Holley,  and  dreading  the  counter-influence  which  his 
preaching  would  exert  against  their  own,  called  on  him  in  a  body,  a  very  short 
time  previous  to  the  day  appointed,  and  requested  him  to  decline  performing  the 
service  for  which  he  was  engaged.  Mr.  Holley  expressed  great  surprise  at  their 
request,  and  begged  to  know  on  what  ground  it  was  made.  They  replied,  the 
ground  was  distinctly  this :  that  he  was  not  a  believer  in  the  divinity  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  and  that  therefore  they  could  not  conscientiously  unite  in  a  joint 
service  with  him  on  that  occasion.  After  some  remarks  on  the  difficulty,  if  not 
impossibility,  of  ever  procuring  perfect  uniformity  of  opinion  among  those  who 
engaged  in  the  services  on  such  occasions,  Mr.  Holley  said,  '  Pray,  gentlemen,  let 
me  inquire  if  your  own  belief  on  this  subject  is  bo  mutually  correspondent  as  you 
imagine,  and  as  would  fairly  justify  you  in  making  of  me  this  unusual  request. 
Does  each  of  you  firmly  and  unequivocally  believe,  that  the  being  called  Jesus 
Christ,  who  lived,  and  walked  about,  and  ate,  and  drank,  and  died,  on  this  earth, 
was  verily  the  eternal  God,  the  great  First  Cause  of  ail  things  ?'  On  their  at  first 
hesitating  to  reply,  he  addressed  himself  separately  to  each  of  them,  and  received 
answers  from  them  all.  One  of  them  professed  not  to  be  exactly  prepared  to 
answer  the  question ;  another  said  he  did  not  entirely  believe  in  the  divinity  of  Christ 
according  to  the  terms  stated  by  Mr.  Holley;  another  declared,  that  he  believed 
it  in  a  certain  sense;  while  the  fourth  unhesitatingly  said,  '  Yes,  I  believe  that  he 
was  very  God  of  very  God.'  '  Very  well,  gentlemen,'  replied  Mr.  Holley ;  '  you 
see  that  your  own  minds  are  as  yet  far  from  agreeing  on  this  subject,  and  if  you 
will  take  your  time  to  discuss  it,  and  let  me  know  when  you  all  perfectly  coincide, 
I  will  then  be  ready  to  make  my  answer  to  your  proposal.'  They  retired  in  silence, 
but  they  never  called  upon  him  for  a  similar  purpose. 

Education  and  Instbuction. — Schools  can  scarcely  be  said  to  educate :  they 
can  instruct,  they  can  instruct  in  religion  as  in  arithmetic  or  geography;  they  can 
furnish  therefore  materials  for  education  to  work  upon  ;  and  they  can  do  something 
within  very  narrow  limits,  but  on  some  essential  points,  towards  the  formation  of 
moral  principles,  and  the  regulation  of  language  and  conduct.  But  when  they  pro- 
fess to  educate — I  am  speaking  now  of  day-schools  for  the  poor — when  they  profess 
to  educate,  in  other  words,  to  supersede  almost  or  altogether  the  office  and  the  res- 
ponsibility of  the  parent,  then  they  transgress  their  proper  province,  and  must  no 
longer  complain  if  they  are  tried  by  a  standard  which,  however  unjust,  they  have 
themselves  challenged.     Those  who  have  long  used  an  exaggerated  language  as  to 


338 


THE  REASONER. 


the  miracles  to  be  wrought  by  an  extension  of  education — in  other  words,  by  the 
multiplication  of  schools — have  no  right  to  remonstrate  against  that  interpretation 
of  their  words  which  would  make  it  an  act  of  infidelity  or  of  profaneness  to  omit 
from  their  system  the  direct  inculcation  of  religious  truth.  If  all  schools  professed 
to  educate,  then  from  none  could  religious  instruction  be  excluded,  in  none  could 
it  be  optional  or  even  subordinate.  A  school  based  on  any  other  than  a  definite 
system  of  religious  teaching  would  then  be  an  affront  to  the  understanding  as  well 
as  the  conscience  of  the  place  or  the  country  in  which  it  was  set  up.  But  is  there 
not,  in  fact,  room  for  a  distinction  which  would  justify  the  claim  of  a  wider 
latitude  ?  Where  the  young  are  entirely  separated,  during  long  and  continuous 
periods,  from  the  personal  superintendence  of  their  parents ;  where  they  are 
formed  into  societies  composed  of  strangers  and  managed  by  strangers,  their  in- 
tercourse with  home  being  thenceforth  of  an  occasional  if  not  desultory  kind;  it 
is  obvious  that  in  such  cases,  if  education  (in  the  highest  and  truest  sense  of  the 
word)  is  to  be  carried  on  at  all,  it  must  be  carried  on,  in  part  at  least,  at  school: 
and  the  school  which  fails  in  the  direct  inculcation  of  the  truths  and  requirements 
of  revelation,  is  as  defective,  as  culpable,  as  that  which  should  disregard  the  health 
or  the  morals  of  those  committed  to  its  discipline.  But  there  is  another  case  with 
which  the  question  of  national  education  is  more  frequently  and  practically  con- 
cerned. There  are  schools  in  which  the  teacher  does  not  wholly  supersede,  for  any 
one  day,  the  exercise  of  parental  discipline.  The  child  starts  from  home  in  the 
morning,  visits  home  ordinarily  at  noon,  returns  home  in  the  evening.  Only  the 
hours  of  actual  work  are  spent  at  school.  Now  surely,  in  a  case  like  this,  nothing 
but  the  neglected  and  degraded  condition  of  so  many  English  homes  could  even 
suggest,  as  an  indispensable  necessity,  the  transfer  to  the  schoolmaster  of  the  re- 
ligious responsibilities  of  the  parent.  Who  among  the  higher  classes  of  society 
would  scruple  to  send  his  child  to  an  astronomical  or  historical  lecturer,  on  the 
ground  that  no  directly  religious  instruction  would  be  combined  with  the  informa- 
tion to  be  receivced?  Nor  do  I  see  why  the  extension  or  multiplication  of  such  lec- 
tures professing  to  communicate  nothing  but  secular  knowledge,  professing  to  leave 
entirely  to  the  parent  or  the  pastor  the  religious  insTiruction  and  training  of  the 
child,  should  make  that  an  act  of  profaneness  or  of  indifference,  which,  up  to  a 
certain  point,  all  allow  to  be  safe  and  Christian.  Such  is  precisely  the  position  oc- 
cupied by  a  day-school,  in  which  religious  instruction  is  not  given  but  has  only 
room  left  for  it. — Dr.  Vaughan. 

The  Last  Tbial  by  Juey. — This  is  an  account  of  the  trial  and  imprisonment 
of  Mr.  Holyoake  in  1842-3.  We  have  read  it  with  pleasure  and  profit,  because  of 
its  being  a  well-written  history  of  a  noble  struggle.  No  matter  what  the  opinions 
were  which  called  forth  such  rancorous  and  bitter  law  ;  no  matter  if  Mr.  Holyoake 
assailed  all  that  most  of  us  hold  dear  of  Christianity ;  his  was  a  case  of  conscience, 
and  he  was  entitled  to  that  respect  which  is  due  to  all  true  believers,  of  whatever 
sect,  creed,  or  no-creed.  We  believe  that  he  was  wrong  in  his  theology,  and  pre- 
sented the  not  unfrequent  case  of  one  who  judged  the  soundness  of  a  doctrine  by 
the  conduct  of  its  professors  [This  is  not  true. — Ed.];  much  in  the  manner  of 
some  who  would  destroy  all  law  because  there  are  tome  bad  ones,  or  all  government 
because  there  may  be  corrupt  governors.  We  hope  that  the  policy  which  would 
coerce  the  intellect  is  fast  becoming  obsolete  ;  and  that  the  trial  of  which 
this  little  book  gives  so  good  an  account  will  indeed  prove  to  be  'the  last.' — The 
People. 


THE  REASONER. 


339 


^ifturc^  0f  ^eII— t^cir  Source  anil  inSiumct. 


BY  CHEISTOFHEB. 

'Things  unknown  are  the  true  and  natural  subjects  of  Imposture;  their  strangeness 
gets  them  credit,  which  exempts  them  from  ordinary  discus-sion.' — Montaigne. 


The  early  painters  of  Italy  were  em- 
ployed almost  exclusively  in  the  illus- 
tration of  Catholic  legends  and  gospel 
text.  Amongst  the  first  subjects  pre- 
scribed by  the  priest,  were  pictures  of 
hell.  These  pictures  became  so  common 
in  Italy,  and  other  countries  governed 
by  the  same  creed,  that  it  was  barely 
possible  to  stir  abroad  in  city  or  hamlet 
without  being  reminded  of  that  infernal 
place,  its  amiable  inhabitants,  delectable 
properties,  and  beneficent  regulations. 
The  same  subject  continued  to  be 
painted,  more  or  less  ingeniously,  until 
art  reached  its  climax  in  Michael  An- 
gelo;  and  even  that  great  man  lent  his 
genius  to  realise  hell's  fabled  horrors. 
A  conglomeration  of  viper,  snake,  toad, 
vulture,  dragon,  bat,  crocodile,  and  flying 
fish,  was  set  up  with  unblushing  effron- 
tery as  a  correct  portrait  of  his  Satanic 
Majesty,  just  as  he  would  appear  when 
in  the  act  of  pouncing  upon  his  prey, 
even  those  unhappy  wights  whose  beha- 
viour on  earth  had  not  been  approved  of 
by  their  parish  clergyman.  His  nonde- 
script majesty  was  represented  as  keep- 
ing a  large  army,  composed  of  indivi- 
duals of  a  character  with  himself,  bar- 
ring some  immaterialvariationSjprobably 
introduced  for  the  purpose  of  making 
distinctions  betwixt  the  several  compa- 
nies, just  as  we  distinguish  one  regiment 
of  soldiers  from  another  by  their 
distinctive  habiliments.  Thus,  there, 
were  devils  black,  blue,  yellow,  green, 
and  red;  some  with  tails  and  horns, 
others  without;  some  with  claws,  and 
others  with  hoofs.  Yet  they  varied  but 
little  in  the  main  :  they  were  all  ill-con- 
trived and  hideous  enough  to  contem- 
plate, and  they  all  spouted  wild  fire  from 
their  mouths  and  nostrils  with  the  same 
horrible  facility,  so  that,  seen  in  the  dis- 
tance on  a  murky  night,  we  can  imagine 
they  would  present  an  appearance  as 
terrible  as  an  army  of  Christians  en- 
gaged after  the  fashion  of  modern  war- 
fare. 

Early  expounders  of  the  gospel  in 
paint  not  only  signalised  themselves  by 
caricaturing  his  majesty  the  devil  and 
his  faithful  followers,  they  even   went 


so  far  as  to  represent  the  vanquished 
monarch's  residence,  daubing  'eternal 
Damnation  gulf '  on  the  walls  of  the 
churches,  both  inside  and  outside,  in 
order  that  the  timid  might  know  what 
sort  of  a  home  to  expect  in  the  event  of 
their  giving  offence  to  their  spiritual 
masters. 

One  cannot  help  tracing  the  simili- 
tudes betwixt  the  hell  of  the  old  painters 
and  that  of  our  modern  Ranters.  In 
coarse  and  vulgar  details,  and  offensive 
personal  particulars,  there  is  a  striking 
resemblance.  Nor  were  those  early  re- 
presentations of  the  fiery  furnace  exclu- 
sively confined  to  sacred  edifices.  We 
are  assured  by  historians,  that  the  joy- 
ous inhabitants  of  sunny  Italy  had  to 
tolerate  spectacles  of  this  kind  in  their 
spring-time  festivals.  We  have  the  par- 
ticulars of  a  festival  which  the  inhabi- 
tants of  the  suburb  of  San  Friano  were 
preparing  on  the  1st  of  May,  about  the 
year  1340. 

The  fiery  gulf  was  to  have  been  re- 
presented '  in  boats  on  the  Amo,  when 
it  chanced  that  the  bridge  of  the  Carraga, 
which  was  then  of  wood,  gave  way 
beneath  the  weight  of  the  multitude 
who  had  crowded  upon  it  to  see  the  spec- 
tacle. Many  lives  were  lost ;  and  Buf- 
falmacco  [the  painter]  himself  escaped 
only  because,  at  the  very  moment  when 
the  bridge  fell  on  the  machinery  in- 
tended to  represent  hell  in  boats  on  the 
Arno,  he  had  gone  from  the  place  to 
purchase  certain  articles  required  for 
the  show.'*  Londoners  of  this  day 
would  think  it  very  eccentric  of  the 
people  of  t'hiswick  if  they  were  to  get 
up  a  spectacle  of  hell  upon  the  Thames. 
Fancy  a  score  of  superannuated  coal 
barges,  well  cargoed  with  burning  brim- 
stone, tar,  pitch,  gunpowder,  and  resin, 
devoted  to  that  purpose,  these  to  come 
floating  down  the  river  under  the  ma- 
nagement of  a  few  score  of  bewildered 
boatmen  a  little  the  worse  for  drink; 
and  then  fancy  as  many  clergymen 
threatening  the  people  on  the  tow-path 

•  See  Vasari,  Life  of  Buffalmacco ;  also 
Vinelli,  Rom.  Ed.  of  Vasari. 


340 


THE  REASONER. 


with  a  lodgment  in  another  hell  on  a 
much  more  extensive  scale,  if  they  de- 
clined coming  down  handsomely  with  the 
pence.  Fancy  an  attempt  of  this  kind 
being  made  in  sober,  serious  earnestness, 
the  bedeviled  boatmen  cutting  their 
clumsy  capers  around  the  floating  fire, 
and  the  priests  running  to  and  fro,  and 
crying  out,  as  if  '  mad  or  drunk,'  and 
we  get  some  idea  of  the  tricks,  the  in- 
sults, to  which  a  people  of  great  natural 
gifts  were  subjected  by  the  priest  in 
days  of  old.  Common  sense  has  dis- 
pensed with  the  brimstone ;  the  dabblers 
in  real  pitch  and  tar  have  slunk  away, 
but  there  are  not  wanting  those  who 
still  threaten,  which  is  almost  as  objec- 
tionable as  the  old  style  of  demonstra- 
tion on  the  river  Arno.  For  the  money, 
we  may  have  a  more  genteel,  business- 
like, way  of  collecting  that  needful  com- 
modity in  England,  but  there  is  no  doubt 
that  it  is  collected  in  sums  quite  as  large 
as  formerly,  and  avowedly  for  the  same 
object ;  the  only  difference  is,  we  are  not 
allowed  to  see  the  devils  (alias  drunken 
boatmen),  nor  smell  the  brimstone. 

To  return  to  the  pictorial  exhibitions 
of  the  Infernal  Pit.  We  have  before  us 
the  description  of  one  painted  by  Andrea 
Orgagna,  about  the  year  1376,  in  the 
church  of  Santa  Croce  at  Florence. 
Orgagna,  if  we  are  to  judge  by  this 
work  of  his,  must  have  sympathised 
heartily  with  his  subject — must  have 
been  just  the  reverse  of  a  generous, 
forgiving,  disinterested  painter.  In  the 
first  place,  he  crowded  his  friends  in  Pa- 
radise, among  the  rest  Clement  VI.  It 
may  be  remarked,  this  pontiff  was  a 
patron  and  great  admirer  of  the  artist. 
Likewise  among  the  blessed  is  one 
Messer  JJino  del  Garbo,  the  artist's 
physician.  On  the  other  side,  among 
the  condemned,  is  one  Guardi,  the  beadle 
of  Florence,  who  had  in  his  official  ca- 
pacity distrained  the  painter's  goods  for 
a  debt.  This  poor  fellow  '  the  devils 
drag  along  by  a  hook;'  the  judge  who 
presided,  and  the  notary  who  acted  in 
the  case,  are  sharing  the  same  treatment. 
But,  worse  than  all,  near  to  the  last 
group,  the  devils  have  hold  of  a  distin- 
guished man,  named  Cecco  d'Ascoli,  an 
eminent  mathemaiician,  poet,  and  phy- 
sician, who  was  publicly  burnt  in  Flo- 
rence for  heresy  on  the  16th  of  Septem- 
ber, 1327.  And  mark,  it  is  recorded 
that  the  physician,  the  painter's  friend. 


Dino  del  Garbo,  who  has  a  place  In  para- 
dise, was  the  accuser  of  the  physician 
whom  the  painter  has  thrown  into  hell.* 

Leaving  the  pitiful  and  malignant 
effort  of  Orgagna,  and  the  thousand 
cruder,  though  not  less  malignant,  at- 
tempts of  the  early  painters  to  people 
the  everlasting  bonfire,  we  will  pass  over 
a  period  of  about  one  hundred  years, 
which  brings  us  to  that  Jupiter  of 
painters  Michael  Angelo.  In  the  Sistine 
Chapel  is  the  Last  Judgment,  by  his 
hand.  The  composition  consists  of  about 
two  hundred  figures.  '  The  groups  of 
the  condemned,  and  the  astonishing 
energy  and  variety  of  the  struggling 
and  suspended  forms,  are  most  fearful: 
and  it  is  quite  true  that  when  contem- 
plated from  a  distance  the  whole  repre- 
sentation fills  the  mind  with  wonder  and 
mysterious  horror.'f 

We  have  before  us  an  Italian  print  of 
the  whole  picture,  and  a  large  copy  in 
oil  of  one  of  the  groups  condemned. 
We  say,  speaking  only  from  feeble 
copies,  never  did  we  think  it  possible  to 
torture  the  human  frame  into  a  semblance 
of  such  utter  agony  and  despair  as  it  is 
made  to  assume  in  the  pictures  before 
us,in  the  faces  and  forms  of  the  falling 
damned,  and  in  those  which  are  already  in 
the  clutchesof  the  infernal  crew  who  have 
charge  of  the  boat  on  the  river  below, 
which  is  seemingly  of  molten  lead. 

The  Spanish,  German,  Flemish,  and 
Dutch  painters,  were  even  more  apt  at 
infernal  pictures  than  the  Italian.  Ru- 
bens has  an  altar-piece  at  Antwerp,  en- 
titled the  '  Fall  of  the  Damned,'  which 
represents  thousands  of  devils  and 
human  beings  of  every  conceivable  cha- 
racter. These  come  tumbling  down  into 
the  fiery  abyss ;  clouds  of  them,  as  far 
as  the  eye  can  roach,  is  one  immense, 
apparently  moving  mass  of  human 
agony.  This  picture  (some  have  hinted) 
the  artist  intended  for  a  caricature,  al- 
though he  said  to  that  effect  to  his  pious 
employers ;  and,  indeed,  few  can  help 
laughing  at  some  of  the  figures.  The 
devils  seem  worked  almost  to  death — 
crushed  beneath  the  weight  of  alder- 
manic  looking  wretches,  who  are  so 
heavily  laden  with  fat  as  to  require  as- 
sistance.   The  whole  of  the  forms  are 

•  Vasari,  Life  of  Orgagno,  and  note. 
Bohn. 

t  Mrs.  Jameson. 


THE  REASONER. 


341 


quite  naked  ;  and  the  women,  who  form 
the  majority,  of  a  very  lewd  description. 
The  picture  is  atrociously  vulgar  and 
indecent,  for  the  devils  are  playing  all 
sorts  of  hellish  tricks  with  their  victims, 
most  revolting  to  contemplate.  There  is 
a  sort  of  dog  Cerberus  chained  at  the 
entrance  of  the  pit  or  cavern,  playing 
the  part  of  porter.  This  animal  is  en- 
dowed with  seven  dragon-like  heads, 
with  huge  maws,  several  of  which  are 
bolting  human  beings  with  as  much  in- 
difference as  ignorant  people  in  England 
swallow  quack  boluses.  On  the  outside 
of  the  cathedral  at  Antwerp,  where  this 
picture  is  exhibited,  is  a  carved,  gilt,  and 
painted  hell,  which  has  a  very  striking 
effect,  the  damned  being  carved  to  the 
life,  and  presenting  a  great  variety  of 
mortal  agony. 

A  contemporary  of  Rubens,  named 
Brughel,  devoted  the  whole  of  his  life  to 
painting  the  same  description  of  sub- 
jects, and  sold  them  very  readily.  This 
gentleman  must  have  been  the  delight  of 
ecclesiastics,  as  he  was  the  terror  of 
women  and  children.  His  companion, 
in  consideration  of  his  amiable  disposi- 
tion, distinguished  him  by  the  delicate 
cognomen  of  *  Hellish  Brughel.'  To 
this  title  we  have  no  desire  to  add  any- 
thing, providing  it  be  understood  to 
signify  that  he  to  whom  it  was  applied 
was  of  a  nature  vulgar  and  depraved. 
More  recently,  that  morbid,  but  learned 
artist,  Barry,  treated  the  members  of  the 
Society  of  Arts  in  London  to  a  display 
of  brimstone.  His  picture  occupies  one 
side  of  the  hall  in  the  Adelphi.  There 
the  morose  painter  has  literally  crammed 
elysium  with  noteables,  including  some 
of  his  own  acquaintance,  while  others, 
whose  Uvea  had  presented  an  unamiable 
contrast  to  the  imaginative  tyrant  of  the 
pencil,  are  seen  tumbling  headlong  down 
to  the  other  place. 

Formerly,  the  livery  in  which  the 
victims  of  the  Inquisition  in  Spain  and 
her  colonies  walked  in  procession,  did 
penance,  or  suffered  death  by  fire,  were 
daubed  all  over,  both  the  conical  cap  and 
long  robe,  with  devils,  imps,  and  tongues 
of  fire. 

In  all  the  various  pictures  of  this  kind 
we  have  met  with  (several  hundreds), 
the  most  predominant  feature  is  that 
which  the  ancient  philosophers  would 
have  designated  a  brutal  fury,  mani- 
fested in  the  triumph  of  cowardice  and 


cruelty.  The  devils  are  hut  men  de- 
based by  vile  passions  to  tho  level  of  the 
meanest  brutes ;  their  victims  (the 
damned)  present  to  us  human  nature 
sunk  to  the  lowest  state  of  impotence, 
beyond  all  pity  and  all  consideration. 
Belief  in  the  reality  of  such  scenes  of 
woe  would  tend  to  stifle  every  laudable 
aspiration,  and  make  men  callous  to  all 
earthly  improvement.  Fools  and  cowards 
are  for  the  most  part  afflicted  with  fore- 
bodings of  such  a  future,  and  to  such 
tortures  are  terrible  indeed.  The  Stoics 
of  old  said  tortures  were  terrible  only 
to  cowards  and  fools ;  but  those  Stoics 
had  little  conception  of  the  tortures  fa- 
miliar to  Christians.  If  tortures,  or  the 
prospect  of  them,  were  terrible  only  to 
the  imbecile,  what  man  possessing  a 
spark  of  humanity  would  not  scorn  to 
invent  phantoms  to  terrify  the  weak  and 
helpless  ?  In  how  many  instances  might 
it  not  be  said  that  fools,  cowards,  and 
idiots  have  been  the  dreadful  conse- 
quences of  religious  persecution  ?  When 
the  church  in  her  malice  set  up  the 
dreaded  rack,  opened  the  boiling  caul- 
drons, and  spread  out  the  pitched  shirts, 
she  made  many  who  were  of  simple  and 
harmless  natures  into  fools,  cowards, 
and  idiots.  Many  a  parish  rate  has  been 
levied  to  support  poor  helpless  wretches 
whose  afflictions  might  have  been  traced 
to  the  sight  of  cruel  exhibitions  in  Chris- 
tian torture  chambers.  Innocent  chil- 
dren fly  from  the  scowl  of  the  ruffian, 
and  the  nnsophisticated  virgin  turns 
pale  in  the  presence  of  the  villain ;  so 
the  loveliest  and  the  gentlest  of  human 
kind  are  the  sure  victims  of  unnatural 
sights.  Such  have  ever  been  the  ready 
prey  of  the  pestilent  priest. 

We  little  reckon  on  the  dreadful  in- 
fluence exercised  by  fear  over  human 
nature.  In  times  of  pestilence  and  war 
infants  perish  in  the  womb  ;  and  women 
who  would  be  examples  of  fortitude  and 
'  ministering  angels'  in  all  ordinary  af- 
flictions, perish  from  mere  apprehension 
of  unnatural  wrongs  or  sudden  ills,  which 
no  skill  can  avert,  and  which  no  amount 
of  patience  can  subdue.  So  with  hideous 
pictures  of  hereafter  torments;  they 
haunt  alike  the  pillow  of  the  matron  and 
the  maid,  and  fill  with  fearful  dreams 
the  slumbers  of  the  child ;  and  the  rosy 
hours  of  youth  are  oft  made  wretched 
by  the  anxieties  of  age,  and  childhood 
loses  half  its  charms.    Death  should 


842 


THE  REASONER. 


indeed  be  rectoned  a  calamity,  and  birth 
a  misfortune,  by  those  who  give  credence 
to  the  prognostications  of  Christian 
priests.  Is  there  a  weakness  in  all  hu- 
manity?— there  the  priest  triumphs.  In 
moments  when  the  body  lies  broken  by 
repeated  misfortunes,  or  when  disease 
rages  in  every  vein,  the  frightful  theme 
of  hell,  rendered  with  all  the  aggrava- 
tion of  Christian  license,  might  create 
apprehension  in  the  most  philosophic. 
No  eye  could  look  upon  that  prison  house 
of  fire  and  retain  its  human  functions. 
Could  the  mind  realise  eternal  bondage 
in  such  a  place,  the  heart  would  cease  to 
beat — stifled  within  the  breast.  Even  in 
the  remoteness  of  the  future,  contem- 
plating 80  much  cruelty,  *  Charity  is 
dumb,  and  virtue's  self  stands  scarcely 
unappalled.' 

The  only  satisfaction  to  be  found  in 
tracing  the  history  of  these  ideas  of 
future  punishments  is,  we  discover  no 
one  fact  to  support  them.  *  The  dreams 
of  sick  men'  put  into  shape,  and  forced 
into  repute  by  human  ingenuity,  are  all 
we  find ;  and  we  do  not  want  proof  that 
human  ingenuity  may  be  prostituted  to 
almost  any  purpose,  and  that  it  is  no 
very  great  difliculty  to  persuade  a  great 
part  of  mankind  to  give  credit  to  very 
strange  things.  The  Italian  people  have 
ever  been  afflicted  by  hordes  of  itinerant 
preachers,  whose  discourses  commonly 
partake  of  a  character  with  our  Ranters. 
They  are  mostly  very  ignorant,  and 
commonly  hold  forth  at  street  corners 
and  bye  ways,  the  staple  ingredients  of 
of  their  orations  being  stale  traditions 
of  the  locality  rendered  with  so  much 
felicity  by  the  painters  we  have  cited. 
Thus,  in  addition  to  the  pictorial  treats, 
poor  Italy  has  been  favoured  with  verbal 
explanations.  But,  as  a  Swedish  gentle- 
man observed  of  Italians  more  than  a 
hundred  years  ago,  *  The  torments  of 
the  other  world  so  often  thundered  in 
their  ears,  might  be  a  curb  to  a  people 
less  acute,  less  hacknied  in  dissimula- 
tion, and  less  concerned  to  doubt  of  such 
a  state.' 

It  is  no  matter  for  surprise  that  even 
in  England  people  have  become  familiar- 
ised with  a  place  which  has  so  long  been 
the  theme  of  painters,  poets,  sculptors, 
and  divines.  Hell  has  become  a  vulgar 
household  word.  There  is  not  a  ruffian 
but  who  oftimes,  in  levity  or  in  anger. 


wishes  his  friend  or  foe  a  place  in  the 
hottest  part  thereof;  not  a  faulty  child 
but  is  forewarned  of  its  torments  ;  not  a 
Christian  priest  but  labours  to  strengthen 
the  hideous  fabrication. 

The  purgatory  of  the  Roman  Church 
is  less  hopeless  than  the  sinner's  doom, 
as  accredited  by  Protestants.  The  Pro- 
testant divine  ignores  that  clause  intro- 
duced by  his  scarlet  rivals,by  which  a s<iul 
may  even  be  redeemed  from  hell  by  the 
performance  of  certain  rites  on  payment 
of  money.  Though  it  may  be  those  rites 
were  invented  to  enrich  the  church,  they 
smack  of  mercy  to  those  who  have  faith 
in  them  ;  but  the  doom  of  the  English- 
man's church  is  irrevocable.  The  wealth 
of  Great  Britain  could  not  purchase  one 
unhappy  sinner  a  drop  of  water  to  ap- 
pease his  raging  thirst,  nay,  not  even 
furnish  him  the  privilege  to  make  known 
his  sufferings  ;  he  is  as  one  condemned  to  a 
perpetual  rack  with  his  tongue  cut  out. 
Thus  we  see  that  the  Roman  Catholic  ac- 
count of  hereafter  punishment  is  more 
considerate  and  humane  than  the  Pro- 
testant's. 

Father  Pinamonti,  in  his  work  '  Hell 
Opened  to  Christians'  (examined  a  short 
time  since  by  the  editor  of  this  paper), 
gave  us  to  understand  that  Ais  fraternity 
had  no  disposition  to  break  up  the  vene- 
rable piece  of  machinery ;  and  it  is 
known  to  all  that  that  graceless  brother- 
hood, the  Ranters,  consider  a  sermon 
tame  indeed  which  does  not  include  an 
half  hour's  steaming  declamation  on  the 
ecstatic  bliss  of  being  steeped  in  to  the 
lips  in  fire.  That  must  be  a  strange 
place  indeedjthe  bare  idea  of  which  makes 
a  man  fume  and  hiss  and  rave  and  rant, 
and  present  those  distressing  symptoms 
peculiar  to  Ranters. 

There  is  no  important  difference  be- 
tween the  ceed  of  the  Ranter  and  High 
Churchman.  The  latter  wears  a  placid 
mask-like  face,  reads  from  a  book  in 
measured  syllables,  and  elucidates  his 
theme  as  complacently  as  if  it  were  a 
classical  fiction  of  intei'est  only  to  the 
scholar  and  the  gentleman.  He  is  heard 
without  emotion,  and  when  his  discourse 
is  ended,  his  hearers  go  to  their  repasts 
with  no  sort  of  anxiety  on  their  minds. 
We  need  hardly  add  that  it  is  with  this 
large,  respectable  class  of  preachers  that 
the  rising  generation  will  have  to  dis- 
cuss the  doctrine  of  hereafter  punish- 
ments. 


THE  REASONER.  343 


Prom  which  any  earnest  opponent  m  ly  controvert  our  opinions,  and  from  which  any  may  expound  view* 
not  coincident  with  our  own,  if  tending  to  the  Rationalisation  of  Theology. 

THE  LATE  JOSEPH   SPEKCE,  OP  HEATON. 


Sir, — On  the  second  of  June  last  died  Joseph  Spence,  of  Heaton,  near  Brad- 
ford, Yorkshire,  aged  75  years. 

He  was  one  of  that  extensively  spread  but  misrepresented  sect  which  is  every- 
where spoken  against  as  '  infidel.'  When  about  twenty-five  years  old,  he  became 
a  member  otthe  sect  of  'particular  Baptists,'  and  continued  to  be  a  respected  mem- 
ber for  nearly  thirty  years.  About  this  period  the  memorable  strike  of  the  wool- 
combers  and  weavers,  for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  a  rise  in  their  wages,  took 
place,  and  continued  for  upwards  of  half  a  year;  and  before  or  about  its  termina- 
tion about  eighty  banks  broke,  and  a  panic,  perhaps  the  severest  within  the 
memory  of  any  man  now  living,  took  place,  the  result  of  which  was  excessive  dis- 
tress among  the  working  classes.  Our  friend  Spence  was,  along  with  thousands 
more,  involved  in  the  general  distress  arising  from  want  of  employment ;  yet  such 
was  his  attachment  to  his  religious  prepossessions,  that  be  determined  to  discharge 
some  arrears  due  from  him  for  his  chapel  sittings,  though  his  family  should  suffer 
from  it,  and  want,  as  they  did,  some  of  the  pressing  necessaries  of  life.  He  paid 
his  chapel  debt,  told  his  simple  tale  of  woe,  and  received  the  pity  of  the  pew  rent 
takers  in  return. 

The  destitute  condition  of  his  family  at  this  time,  combined  with  other  matters, 
induced  our  friend  Spence  to  reflect  seriously  on  his  prospects,  both  physical  and 
religious;  and  he  began  to  think  that  it  was  as  much  his  duty  to  provide  for  the  wants 
of  the  body  as  for  those  of  the  soul.  He  was  resolved  not  to  subject  himself  to  the  re- 
proach of  St.  Paul,  who  says  that  a  man  who  does  not  provide  for  his  own  is  worse  than 
an  infidel.  The  incessant  clamour  of  religious  bodies  for  pecuniary  support  for 
the  soul,  and  the  depreciating  manner  in  which  care  for  the  body  was  treated,  pro- 
duced a  fearless  inquiry  into  the  reasons  on  which  their  claims  were  based,  and 
the  result  was  his  emancipation  from  the  trammels  and  terrors  of  superstition. 
He  lived  for  twenty  years  a  moral  and  consistent  life,  and  died,  as  he  had  lived, 
without  fear  and  with  an  unspotted  reputation. 

Our  friend  Spence  was  a  kind  husband,  a  tender  father,  and  an  excellent  neigh- 
bour. After  he  separated  himself  from  the  religious  sect  of  which  he  had  been 
a  member  for  so  long  a  period,  he  became  extremely  solicitous  for  information, 
and  would  travel  frequently  four  or  five  miles  of  an  evening  to  attend  public  meet- 
ings or  lectures.  He  has  travelled  fifteen  or  twenty  miles  on  a  Sunday  to  public 
meetings  for  religious  discussion,  with  an  appetite  that '  grew  with  what  it  fed  on.' 
The  ideas  he  acquired  during  the  last  twenty  years  of  his  life  appeared  to  afford 
him  much  consolation,  and  his  end  was  peace.  Even  his  religious  acquain- 
tance and  neighbours,  though  regretting  the  waywardness  of  his  views,  uniformly 
spoke  with  respect  of  his  moral  qualities  and  personal  kindness.  During  the 
latter  part  of  his  life,  and  when  suffering  from  affliction,  he  expressed  his  desire 
that  no  religious  ceremony  should  be  performed  over  him,  as  he  was  aware  that  in 
some  cases  ministers  of  the  gospel  indulged  in  unwarrantable  remarks  on  the 
death  of  an  unbeliever.  His  daughter  and  her  husband  were  both  religious,  but 
behaved  to  the  old  man  during  his  illness  with  great  kindness.  A  nephew  of  our 
friend  Spence,  about  six  months  before  he  died,  and  while  suffering  from  illness, 
introdaced  a  young  gentleman   who  was  studying  divinity  at   Edinburgh,  who 


344  THE  REASONER. 


advised  Spence  to  endeavour  to  change  bis  opinions  and  embrace  the  student's,  as 
such  a  change  was  the  only  means  to  enjoy  happiness.  'And  I,'  said  the  old  man, 
'  should  like  you  to  embrace  my  opinions,  as  they  only  can  confer  solid  happiness.' 
This  was  said  so  cheerfully,  that  the  student  said  no  more ;  but  being  afterwards 
asked  if  he  thought  that  Spence  was  happy,  the  student's  answer  was  that  he 
though  he  was. 

The  well-known  profession  of  our  friend  Spence  on  religious  subjects,  and  the 
openness  with  which  he  invited  inquiries  as  to  the  state  of  his  mind  prior  to  his 
death,  prevented  the  circulation  of  the  usual  stories  of  an  infidel's  death-bed  repen- 
tance; and  such  was  the  morality  of  his  habits  that  the  pious  Christians  could 
find  no  peg  on  which  to  hang  the  slanderous  tale  of  a  vicious  life  and  a  dreadful 
death.  Joseph  Pickaed. 


EXTRAORDINARY  DISTRIBUTIOIS  OF  THE  'REASONER.' 


SiE, — Two  lectures  have  been  recently  delivered  in  this  town,  one  on  'God's 
Order  in  respect  to  Man,'  by  the  Rev.  George  Steward,  and  another  on  '  Divine 
Revelation,'  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Beaumont.  Both  these  gentlemen  belong  to  the 
Wesleyan  body,  and  have  lately  grown  very  popular  by  their  advocacy  of  Church 
Reform,  and  the  strong  sympathy  they  have  exhibited  for  those  whom  the  Con- 
ference has  expelled.  On  both  nights  the  meeting  was  large,  consisting  chiefly 
of  religious  persons  from  the  various  sects  and  denominations.  As  regards  the 
character  of  the  lectures,  they  difiered  little  from  those  generally  delivered  by 
ministers.  They  combatted  an  infidelity  which  had  no  existence,  and  answered 
objections  which  were  never  made.  They  declaimed  where  they  should  have  en- 
deavoured to  prove,  and  denounced  where  they  should  have  striven  to  convince. 
They  touched  on  no  departments  of  knowledge  without  committing  the  most  egre- 
gious mistakes.  Not  only  did  they  abound  in  errors  in  history,  science,  and 
theology,  but  many  of  their  passages  contained  the  most  glaring  inconsistencies. 
They  pretended  to  be  liberal  yet  they  breathed  a  spirit  of  intolerance ;  they 
preached  modesty,  yet  they  displayed  the  greatest  presumption  ;  they  enforced 
habits  of  correctness,  yet  they  frequently  contradicted  themselves;  they  showed 
a  supreme  contempt  for  atheism,  yet  they  neither  understood  the  meaning  of  its 
principles  nor  the  nature  of  its  policy ;  they  uttered  the  most  common-place  re- 
marks for  the  profoundest  of  truths,  and  ascribed  theories  and  assertions  to  their 
opponents  which  they  utterly  repudiate.  The  objections  of  these  ministers  were 
neither  ably  conceived,  wisely  designed,  nor  cleverly  expounded.  In  tone,  temper, 
and  argument,  they  were  more  adapted  to  the  past  than  the  present.  You  felt 
that  they  would  be  extraordinary  lectures  were  their  performance  equal  to  their 
pretensions.  You  rose  from  their  delivery  more  disgusted  than  delighted,  more 
confirmed  in  your  principles  than  convinced  of  their  errors.  Yet,  with  all  their 
faults,  they  serve  a  purpose.  They  proved  how  little  could  be  said  in  favour  of 
religion,  even  by  two  of  its  most  educated  and  hired  supporters. 

Having  given  you  a  brief  description  of  the  lectures,  allow  me  to  call  your 
attention  to  those  who  listened  to  them.  If  the  character  of  the  former  was  bad, 
the  conduct  of  the  latter  was  worse.  This  may  appear  strange  to  some,  but  the 
whole  affair  may  be  stated  in  a  few  words.  On  each  night  a  person  was  employed 
to  distribute  the  Reasoner  to  those  leaving  the  Hall.  At  first  he  was  kindly  assisted 
by  one  of  the  door-keepers,  that  gentleman  being  so  ignorant  of  the  Reasoner's 
principles  as  to  imagine  he  was  promoting  the  circulation  of  a  religious  publica- 


THE  REASONER.  345 


tion.  But,  on  his  discovering  the  mistake,  which  was  soon  brought  about  by  the 
exclamations  of  the  bystanders,  he  instantly  flew  into  a  passion.  "What  must  be 
done  ?  This  was  too  much  for  a  Christian  to  bear.  It  is  very  horrible  to  read 
atheistical  works,  but  to  aid  in  their  distribution  amongst  a  religious  audience  is 
one  of  those  sins  which  is  not  forgiven  in  this  world,  nor  in  that  which  is  to  come. 
In  this  extremity  a  voice  is  heard — not  a  voice  from  heaven,  but  a  voice  from  the 
crowd.  '  Put  him  out,'  exclaimed  a  pious  brother.  So  the  boy  was  ordered  into 
the  street,  with  the  remark, '  We  will  have  no  infidelity  here  ;  we  have  to  pay  for 
the  room,  and  no  person  shall  occupy  it  but  ourselves.'  The  latter  part  of  this 
assertion  was  exceedingly  foolish,  as  the  boy  had  never  attempted  to  enter  the 
room.  He  was  ordered  to  stand  on  one  side  of  the  passage,  a  command  which 
he  strictly  observed,  where  he  could  not  offer  the  least  obstruction.  On  his  reach- 
ing the  streets,  he  met  with  a  kinder  reception.  There  stood  around  the  door  a 
number  of  freethinkers,  who  quickly  rendered  him  all  the  assistance  they  could. 
But  here  occurred  a  scene  which  I  shall  never  forget.  On  his  presenting  the 
Reaaoner,  the  wildest  passions  were  awaked,  and  the  grossest  language  employed. 
We  are  told  by  the  Christians  that  they  are  naturally  depraved,  that  none  are 
righteous,  no  not  one  ;  and  certainly  they  did  much  on  this  occasion  to  verify 
these  pious  sayings.  Some  received  the  Reasoner  in  the  language  of  insult,  others 
threw  it  back  in  the  face  of  the  giver;  many  tore  it  into  pieces,  and  trampled  it 
under  their  feet;  and  nearly  all  displayed  a  spirit  of  bigotry  and  intolerance.  On 
my  passing  through  the  streets  a  short  time  after,  I  found  them  literally  strewed 
with  Reasoners  that  had  been  torn  and  thrown  away.  In  fine,  these  Christian  and 
truth-seeking  persons  on  their  way  home  had  scattered  them  north,  east,  west,  and 
south. 

You  here  perceive  that  religious  intolerance  is  not  confined  to  Whitehaven.  It 
may  exhibit  itself  more  violently  in  that  town,  but  it  exists  wherever  Christianity 
exists.  One  is  a  natural  consequence  of  the  other.  Our  opponents  may  stoutly 
deny  the  truth  of  these  assertions.  They  may  gravely  inform  us  that  Chris- 
tianity is  love,  that  it  is  averse  to  bigotry,  that  it  repudiates  persecution,  that  it 
condemns  all  such  conduct  as  described  in  this  letter.  But  we  ask  them  for  proof. 
Can  they  refer  us  to  a  single  nation  professing  Christianity  that  has  not  perse- 
cuted, tortured,  and  destroyed  ?  Can  they  point  us  to  a  single  sect,  either  at  home 
or  abroad,  that  does  not  exhibit  a  spirit  of  intolerance  ?  Intolerance  and  Chris- 
tianity walk  hand  in  hand — like  the  substance  and  the  shadow,  where  one  goes 
the  other  will  follow.  For  my  own  part,  I  am  fond  of  beholding  such  scenes  as 
these,  so  long  as  they  are  confined  to  tearing  and  trampling  on  the  Reasoner.  To 
my  mind  they  are  ominous  of  something  better.  Nothing  exhibits  so  much  the 
weakness  of  our  opponents.  Men  generally  grow  intolerant  when  unable  to  argue, 
and  fly  to  persecution  when  they  cannot  convince.  Let  it  be  our  object  to  set  a 
better  example.  If  they  present  us  with  a  tract,  let  us  kindly  receive  it;  and  if 
we  find  it  contains  error,  as  kindly  expose  it.  Let  us  look  upon  them  as  mistaken 
men  who  have  been  corrupted  by  education,  and  led  astray  by  false  principles.  If 
they  tear  our  pamphlets  and  spurn  our  instruction,  let  us  not  despair,  but  rather 
adopt  the  advice  of  the  poet — 

'  Teach  them  as  if  you  taught  them  not. 
And  things  propose  as  new  as  things  forgot.' 

Newcastle-on-Tyne,  Sept.  5,  185L  A  Newcastle  Atheist. 


346  THE  REASONER. 


LORD  PALMERSTON  ON  FREE  EXPRESSION  OF  OPINION. 


At  a  dinner  given  to  the  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs  at  Tiverton,  on  the  15th 
of  September,  that  nobleman  (being  in  one  of  his  happiest  moods)  repeated  many 
fine  things  which  he  had  before  had  occasion  to  tell  sundry  distinguished  foreign- 
ers who  had  come  to  see  the  Exhibition  in  Hyde  Park.  His  lordship's  observa- 
tions related  to  the  political,  religious,  and  social  condition  of  the  English  people. 
He  was  especially  boastful  of  one  fact,  which  was  that  the  gigantic  Exhibition 
would  be  brought  to  a  close  without  having  caused  the  slightest  '  internal  commo- 
tion or  interruption  to  social  order,'  and  he  dilated  on  the  repose  England  had 
enjoyed  from  the  absence  of  revolutions,  which  had  been  the  bane  of  continental 
nations.  He  grew  eloquent  on  the  impartial  manner  of  administering  justice  in 
this  country.  He  said  justice  was  administered  here  '  without  favour  or  affection,' 
and  *  without  influence  to  sway  it.'  He  commented  on  the  absence  of  the  military 
in  our  streets,  and  the  peace  being  kept  by  a  few 'civil  policemen,' who  carry 
'  little  sticks  in  their  hands  instead  of  sabres  by  their  sides ;'  he  took  particular 
credit  to  the  government,  of  which  he  is  the  pillar,  for  their  readiness  and  ability 
in  removing  abuses  as  soon  as  any  are  discovered  and  have  received  mature  deli- 
beration ;  and  he  further  went  on  to  expatiate  on  the  most  desirable  state  of  things 
now  existing  in  this  happy  land,  complimenting  the  English  people  in  general  on 
possessing  an  extraordinary  amount  of  good  sense,  goodness  of  heart,  and  many 
other  noble  qualities.  And  the  captivating  Minister  for  Foreign  Affairs  told  his 
Tiverton  admirers  that  he  had  told  all  those  things  to  many  illustrious  foreigners 
in  the  course  of  the  summer,  assuring  them  that  such  a  friendly  disposition,  exist- 
ing both  on  the  part  of  the  governors  and  the  governed,  was  the  cause  of  such 
charming  order  which  prevailed  everywhere  in  England,  and  which  had  struck  the 
aforesaid  illustrious  foreigners  with  such  agreeable  surprise ;  and  he  remarked  the 
Americans  in  particular  were  agreeably  disappointed  and  charmed  with  the  deli- 
cate way  we  have  of  managing  all  our  affairs,  political,  religious,  and  social.  And 
one  reason  above  all  others  which  the  eloquent  head  of  Foreign  Affairs  gave  for 
this  delectable  state  of  things,  was  the  privilege  enjoyed  by  Englishmen  of  giving 
free  expression  to  their  opinions.  These  are  the  noble  lord's  words  : — '  Then,  I 
said,  another  reason  for  this  happy  state  is  this,  that  every  man  here  is  at  liberty 
to  express  his  opinions,  whatever  they  be.  If  he  is  wrong,  he  is  met  by  those  who 
are  right;  if  he  is  right,  he  convinces  those  who  are  wrong.  The  conflict  of 
opinion  is  a  quiet  warfare  always  going  on,  and  leads  to  the  happiest  results.' 

And  thus  the  noble  lord  ran  on,  and  his  well-fed  audience  thought  they  never 
heard  such  a  heavenly  oration  in  all  the  days  of  their  lives.  They  had  not  the 
slightest  idea  till  the  delectable  discourse  of  their  accomplished  guest  what  a 
glorious  thing  it  was  to  be  a  Briton.  The  last  piece  of  information  about  freely 
and  openly  avowing  one's  opinions, '  whatever  they  be,'  left  nothing  to  be  desired. 
The  feasters  thought  they  had  purchased  the  privilege  of  dining  with  his  lord- 
ship far  too  cheaply,  and  in  goodness  of  heart  they  conceived  all  sorts  of  beautiful 
designs  in  silver  and  gold ;  snuff  boxes,  tea  services,  and  things  of  that  sort,  floated 
before  their  eyes  as  suitable  presents  to  that  distinguished  personage. 

To  the  last  cause  assigned  by  Lord  Palmerston  for  the  charming  political  and 
social  atmosphere  of  Albion,  we  wish  to  call  particular  attention.  We  are  pleased 
the  great  Exhibition  will  pass  off  without  occasioning  any  disturbance — we  never 
expected  such  a  calamity.  We  esteem  that  policy  which  keeps  the  military  within 
barracks,  when  they  would  only  create  a  riot  if  they  were  let  loose  in  the  streets ; 


THE  REASONER, 


347 


■we  admire  civil  policemou,  for  we  like  to  be  set  moving  by  a  genteel  and  conside- 
rate process ;  we  think  '  a  little  stick  '  a  weapon  sufficiently  formidable  with  which 
to  entrust  such  policemen,  for  persuasion  is  better  than  force  :  we  should  like  to 
give  the  government  credit  for  putting  down  abuses,  but  we  think  that  body  mOre 
apt  at  creating  abuses  than  in  putting  them  down.  We  believe  the  English  people 
to  possess  many  noble  qualities,  and  Lord  Palmerston  right  in  acknowledging  them. 
We  have  very  little  to  urge  against  anything  the  noble  lord  said  to  his  foreign 
guests,  or  to  the  people  at  Tiverton  ;  what  he  said  was  very  well,  very  well  said, 
very  amiable,  and  very  excusable  after  a  good  dinner.  Many  good  things  are  said 
in  after  dinner  speeches,  and  afterwards  forgotten.  Lord  Palmerston  said  good 
things  after  the  dinner  at  Tiverton  about  '  the  free  expression  of  opinion,'  and  we 
have  a  particular  desire  that  what  he  said  on  so  important  a  subject  shall  not  be 
forgotten.  He  said, '  the  people  of  England  have  perfect  liberty  to  express  their 
opinions,  whatever  they  be.'  Let  freethinkers  and  reformers  of  all  kinds  remember 
Lord  Palmerston's  words.  We  have  no  desire  to  contradict  his  lordship,  and  we 
trust  he  will  never  do  anything  to  contradict  himself.  Christopher. 

EtaStiuer  projiaganifa. 

To  promote  the  eflSciency  of  the  Reasoner  as  an  organ  of  Propagandism,  one  friend  subscribes  Ifls. 
weekly,  another  5s.,  one  2s.  monthly,  others  Is.  each  weekly— others  intermediate  sums  or  special 
remittances,  according  to  ability  or  earnestness.  An  annual  contribution  of  Is.  from  each  reader 
would  be  easy,  equitable,  and  sufficient.  What  is  remitted,  in  whatever  proportion,  is  acknowledged 
here  and  accounted  for  at  the  end  of  the  Volume. 


Acknowledged  in  No.  271,  705s.  6d.— Mr.  Sievewright,  Derby,  2s. — R.  Paterson, 
2s.— W.  B.,  Camden  Town,  2s.  6d.— Mr.  Hunter,  5s. — Per  Mr.  Wynn,  of  Astiton- 
under-Lyne,  from  friends  in  that  neighbourhood,  as  follows:  — J.  Hudfield,  Is.  6d.; 
W.  Meadowcroft,  Is.  6d. ;  L.  Greenwood,  Is. ;  J.Greenwood,  Is.;  C.  Greenwood, 
Is.;  B.  Greenwood,  Is.;  W.  Horner,  Is.;  W.  Carter,  Is.;  E.  Lawton,  Is.;  W. 
Orme,  Is.;  W.  Pollitt,  Is.;  E.  Greaves,  Is.;  B.  Swire,  Is.;  J.  Stafford,  Is.;  G. 
Wynn,  Is.;  J.  Leech,  Is.;  T.  Oldham,  Is. ;  S.  Shawcross,  Is. ;  J.  Hepworth,  Is.; 
T.  Wilcocks,  6d. ;  A.  Artingstall,  6d. ;  B.  Scott,  6d.;  J.  Mellor,  6d. ;  J.  Bolton, 
6d.;  S.  Smith,  6d.;  J.  Higson,  6d.— Mr.  Henshaw,  Manchester  Is.— Total,  741s.  6d. 


GUIDE  TO  THE  LECTURE  ROOWl. 

Literary  Institution, John  St.,  Fitzroy  Sq. — Oct. 
19th  (7i],  Ernest  Jones,  '  Hungary  in  the  Past.' 
October  21st  [SJ],  Discussion  in  the  Coffee  Room. 
Question,  '  What  are  the  best  means  of  im- 
proving the  condition  of  the  working  classes  ?' 

National  Hall,  242,  High  Holborn.— Oct.  19th, 
[8],  P.  W.  Perfitt  will  lecture. 

Wardour  St.,  Soho.— Oct.  16th  [8],  Mr.  John  B. 
Leno,  '  Education.' 

Hall  of  Science,  City  Road. —  Oct.  19th  f?], 
Thomas  Shorter,  '  How  to  prevent  Pauperism.' 

Institute  of  Progress,  10a,  Upper  George  St., 
Sloane  Square. — Friday  evenings  [8],  Discussion. 
Oct.  19th  [7],  Thornton  Hunt,  Esq., '  Where  is  the 
People's  Land  and  the  People's  Food  ?' 

Eclectic  Institute,  Denmark  Street,  Soho.  — 
Every  Friday  [8^],  Mr.  J.  B,  O'Brien,  '  Home  and 
Foreign  Politics.'  Every  Sunday  [74],  on  '  Moral 
and  Social  Science.' 

Areopagus  Coffee  and  Ueading  Room,  59,  Church 
Lane,  Whitechapel.— Every  Sunday,  Monday,  and 
Wednesday  (8),  a  Lecture  or  Discussion. 

City  Forum  Coffee  House,  60,  Red  Cross  Street. 
—  Every  Sunday,  Monday,  and  Thursday  [8^],  a 
Discussion. 

Commercial  Hall,  Philpot  Street,  Commercial 
Road  East. — Every  Tuesday  and  Thursday  even- 
ing [8],  a  Discussion. 


ADVERTISEMENT. 

POPULAR  WORKS. 

A  Few  Days  in  Athens,  1  vol.,  cloth.    By 

Frances  Wright 1  6 

Ditto,  in  a  wrapper I  0 

F.  Wright's  Popular  Lectures,  1  vol 3  0 

(To  be  had  in  Parts  and  Numbers.) 

Bible  of  Reason,  1  vol.,  cloth  7  6 

The  English  Republic,  1  to  10 each  0  6 

Notes  on  the  Population  Question 0  6 

Clark's  Letters  to  Dr.  Adam  Clarke,  1  vol., 

cloth    5  0 

Labour's  Wrongs  and  Labour's  Remedies, 

1  vol 2  0 

Paine's  Poems 0  3 

Life  of  Volney 0  2 

Life  of  Voltaire    0  2 

Life  of  Shelley 0  2 

Shelley's  Masque  of  Anarchy 0  3 

—  Queen  Mab,  1  vol.,  boards    1  6 

—  ditto  ditto        wrapper 1  0 

Cooper's  Infidel's  Text  Book,  1  vol 2  6 

(To  be  had  in  tnirteen  numbers  at  twopence.) 

—  Scriptures  Analysed 0  8 

Scripturian's  Creed.    By  Citizen  Davies    . .  0  2 

London :  James  Watson,  3,  Queen's  Head  Pas- 
sage, Paternoster -row. 


348 


THE  REASONER. 


Our  <9jim  page. 


Mr.  John  BoWen  writes : — Some  weeks  ago  you  informed  the  Paddington  readers 
of  the  Reasoner  that  they  could  be  supplied  at  my  establishment.  At  that  time 
my  sale  was  eight  copies  weekly  ;  since  that  time  they  have  been  continually  ex- 
posed to  public  view,  with  bill  of  contents  at  my  door.  The  result  is  that  my  sale 
is  now  from  twenty-six  to  thirty  copies  weekly.  I  have  likewise  sold  ten  dozens 
of  the  '  Logic  of  Death.'  This  has  been  done  in  a  part  of  the  town  where  formerly 
if  you  wanted  the  Reasoner,  you  had  to  order  it  beforehand,  and  thence  see  it  taken 
from  a  drawer  like  some  forbidden  thing. 

It  is  related  of  an  old  , Highland  woman,  who  came  trudging  an  immense 
distance  over  the  hills,  having  heard  that  Lord  John  Russell  was  to  be  at  the 
kirk  on  Sunday  last.  What  thinks  the  reader  was  her  errand  ?  She  had  heard  that 
Lord  Johnny  was  the  '  Prime  Meenister  '  of  all  England,  and  she  '  expeckit  to 
hear  him  hold  forth  in  a  shoobleme  discourse. ' 

W.  Whitehead  may  obtain  the  Freethinher's  Magazine,  The  other  answer  will  be 
given  on  Mr.  Holyoake's  return  from  the  country. 

L.  M.  S.  The  best  course  to  pursue  is  to  ask  Mr.  B.  Wale  (we  are  interesled  to 
know)  his  authority  for  the  statement  respecting  Modern  Socialists. 

Lady  Capel's  Wharf.  Since  the  neighbours  of  this  correspondent  are,  as  he 
states,  illiterate  people,  perhaps  it  would  not  be  well  to  bandy  words  with  theoi ; 
left  to  their  own  reflections,  they  may  come  to  think  and  act  more  justly. 

The  Christian  Socialist,  o(  October  4th,  contains  a  very  able  article,  entitled  '  The 
Ladies'  Guild,'  of  value  to  those  interested  in  the  formation  of  '  Associated  Homes.' 

The  Boston  Investigator  says  : — Not  long  since,  in  South  Carolina,  a  clergyman 
was  preaching  on  the  disobedience  of  Jonah,  when  commanded  to  go  and  preach  to 
the  Ninevites.  After  expatiating  for  some  length  of  time  on  the  truly  awful  con- 
sequence of  disobedience  to  the  Divine  commands,  he  exclaimed  in  a  voice  of  thun- 
der, that  passed  through  the  congregation  like  an  electric  shock,  '  and  are  there 
any  Jonahs  here  ?'  There  was  a  negro  present  whose  name  was  Jonah ;  who, 
thinking  himself  called  on,  immediately  arose,  and,  turning  up  his  white  eye  to  the 
preacher,  with  his  broadest  grin,  and  best  bow,  very  readily  answered,  'Here  be  one, 
Massa  V 

The  Boston  Investigator  says : — A  Frenchman,  who  had  lately  arrived  in  this 
country,  attended  a  short  time  since  an  '  anxious  meeting,'  in  a  neighbouring  town, 
and,  as  is  customary  at  such  places,  was  asked  the  question — '  Have  you  ever  been 
born  again  ?'  He  replied,  with  much  gravity,  *  No,  saire,  I  have  not,  my  fader 
died  before  I  vas  told  it  vas  necessary,  so  I  never  have  had  an  opportunity. 


^'^  Monthly  Parts  of  the  Reasoner  are  unifonply  ready  in  a  double  Supple- 
mentary Wrapper  every  Magazine  day.  Volumes  of  the  Reasoner  are  made  up 
(and  can  be  had  bound)  Half  Yearly. 

j^""  For  all  other  notices  of  Business,  Correspondence,  Propagandism,  Lists  of 
Agents,  Duties  of  Readers,  on  Writing  for  the  Press,  &c.,  see  Supplementary 
(double)  Wrapper  of  Monthly  Parts. 

London:  Printed  by  Holyoake  Brothers,  3,  Queen's  Head  Passage,  Paternoster-row;  and  Published 
by  J.  Watson.  3,  Queen's  Head  Passage,  Paternoster-row. — Wednesday,  October  15th,  1851, 


1 


AND 

THEOLOGICAL     EXAMINER. 

They  who  believe  that  they  have  Truth  ask  no  favour,  save  that  of  being  heard:  they  dare  the 
judgment  of  Mankind  :  refused  Co-operation,  they  invoke  Opposition,  for  Opposition  ia  their 
Opportunity. — Editob. 


THE  DEATH  OF  MRS.  EMMA  MARTIN. 


[We  have  lost  the  most  important  woman  that  stood  on  our  side  ;  but  one  whose  ex- 
ample was  such  as  may  cause  her  place  to  be  supplied— and  the  highest  order  of  example 
is  that  which  perpetuates  its  own  force.  Mrs.  Emma  Martin  died  at  her  country 
reisdence,  HoUyville  Cottage,  Finchley  Common,  on  Wednesday  afternoon,  October  8th, 
1851,  in  the  presence  of  her  second  husband,  her  second  daughter  Louisa,  and  her  medical 
attendant,  Mr.  George  Bird.  Anxious  that  her  family  might  not  be  distressed,  she 
concealed  from  all  the  approach  of  death  till  half  an  hour  before  it  happened,  when  she 
said  to  her  husband,  « It  is  all  over.'  Seeing  the  violent  grief  which  he  and  Louisa 
manifested,  she,  after  she  had  become  unable  to  speak,  waved  her  hand  deprecat- 
ingly  of  their  sorrow,  and  expressive  of  her  desire  that  they  should  not  give  way  to  it. 

For  the  past  year  she  had  suffered  from  '  Phthisis,'  the  secondary  disease  being  de- 
scribed as  '  Pheurao-thorax.'  When  in  London  a  fortnight  before  her  death,  I  devoted 
one  of  the  four  days  of  my  stay  in  town  to  a  visit  to  Finchley.  As  we  entered  her  room 
(Mrs.  Holyoake  was  with  me),  Mrs.  Martin  wept.  It  was  impossible  not  to  see  that 
suffering  had  made  fatal  inroads  upon  her  when  she,  so  unused  to  tears,  wept  at  the 
sight  of  friends.  I  never  saw  her  look  so  beautiful.  Here  dark  black  eyes  were 
radiant  with  fire,  and  the  hectic  vermilion  which  suffused  her  cheeks  imparted  a  super- 
natural beauty  to  her  expression.  Strauss's  '  Life  of  Jesus '  lay  upon  her  bed.  She  had 
the  second  volume  in  her  hand.  She  said  she  had  been  examining  it,  and  she  conversed 
about  it  critically  for  some  minutes — when  her  intermittent  breath  permitted.  Her 
chief  remark  was,  that  it  was  less  direct  and  cogent  than  it  might  have  been,  and  much 
that  Strauss  sought  to  explain  rationally  was  not  worth  the  trouble. 

On  leaving,  I  promised  to  see  her  in  three  weeks,  intending  to  abridge  ray  journey 
within  that  period,  ray  impression  being  that  I  should  then  return  before  her  death,  as 
I  remarked  to  a  friend  on  returning  home.     She  died  eight  days  after. 

Some  time  before  she  explained  to  me  particulars  she  wished  observed  in  case  of  her 
death,  and  she  stipulated  that  her  likes  and  dislikes  should  be  respected  at  hc;r  grave. 
Neither  from  persons  nor  Societies  who  had  neglected  her,  or  had  been  unfriendly  to 
her,  would  she  accept  attentions  when  dead  which  had  been  withheld  when  living. 
(Here  courage  and  independence  never  forsook  her.)  These  requests  were  strictly  ful- 
filled, and  as  she  wished  me  to  speak  at  her  grave  I  did  so. 

On  Sunday,  the  12th,  I  again  went  to  Finchley.  As  I  removed  the  lid  from  the 
coffin,  the  family  stood  round,  when  the  scene  of  distress  which  occurred  was  as  painful 
as  witnessing  a  second  death.  And  so  uncontrolable  was  the  grief  experienced,  that  it 
was  found  necessary  to  prevent  Mr.  Joshua  Hopkins,  Louisa,  and  Mrs.  Holyoake 
(between  whom  and  Mrs.  Martin  there  subsisted  the  attachment  of  sisters)  from  being 
present  at  the  funeral. 

Mrs.  Martin  has  left  four  daughters,  Elizabeth,  Louisa, Emma,  and  Manon,  named  so 
after  Madame  Roland. 


[No.  282.]  [No.  23,  Vol  XI.] 

[ONE  PENNY.] 


350 


THE  REASONER. 


The  funeral  took  place  on  Tuesday  afternoon,  October  14th,  at  Highgate  Cemetery. 
Elizabeth,  Emma,  Mr.  William  Hopkins,  and  myself,  occupied  the  first  mourning  coach. 
Mr.  George  Wood,  Mr.  James  Watson,  publisher,  •  Undeciraus,'  '  Eugene,'  and  Mr. 
Langabeer,  occupied  the  second.  Mr.  George  Bird,  the  medical  attendant  (a  valued 
friend  of  the  family)  was  prevented  by  professional  engagements  from  being  present. 
I  obtained  permission  to  buy  the  grave  in  the  name  of  friends  of  the  Reasoner,  who 
were  anxious  to  give  this  public  proof  of  their  estimation  of  Mrs.  Martin,  and  her 
many  friends  in  the  provinces  will  also  wish  to  share  in  the  last  grateful  duty  of  erecting 
a  tablet  to  her  memory. 

As  the  visitor  enters  the  Cemetery  (from  Kentish  Town),  in  Swain's  Lane,  he  observes 
on  the  right  a  narrow  walk  through  close  trees — it  leads  to  the  unconsecrated  ground. 
On  issuing  from  the  verdant  defile  there  is  on  the  left  an  elevated  spot,  overlooking  the 
country  round.  In  the  centre  is  a  cluster  of  trees.  Close  under  the  shade  of  those 
trees  we  laid  her,  and  by  the  side  of  the  grave  spoke  the  words  which  follow.] 


The  sentiments  to  be  expressed  here  can  add  nothing  to  that  known  and  felt  by  those 
who  stand  around.  But  sometimes  relief  comes  in  sorrow,  by  telling  that  to  each  other 
which  we  ourselves  do  know.  Besides,  the  nature  of  this  occasion  lends  authenticity 
to  that  which  may  be  repeated  to  others,  caring  to  know  what  are  our  thoughts  at  this 
hour. 

The  story  we  have  to  tell,  is  brief  and  sad.  A  life  so  useful,  closed  at  39  years,  is 
sad  ;  yet  the  sadness  has  a  joy  with  it.  For  '  life  is  as  a  drama,'  and,  as  Mrs.  Martin 
herself  used  to  repeat,  '  it  matters  not  how  long  it  has  been  acted,  but  how  well.^  How 
well  she  performed  her  part  we  know,  and,  on  that  ground,  rejoice.  An  opening,  beau- 
tiful in  energy  and  passion,  followed  by  a  struggle  ever  chequered,  and  the  end  a 
tragedy — but  the  end  was  an  example,  and  carried  with  it  a  noble  moral.  Such  is  the 
history  of  her  from  whom  we  part  this  day. 

A  childhood  of  religious  training  and  secular  neglect,  alternately  distracted  and  confined 
a  spirit  it  could  not  guide,  and  Emma  Martin,  endowed  with  fine  powers  and  with  the 
capacity  of  free-thought,  was  taught  to  accept  this  world  as  a  transition  state,  where 
there  awaits  each  inhabitant  a  Providence-apportioned  human  lot,  to  which  is  annexed 
the  inexorable  condition  of  a  dogmatic  and  unchangeable  creed.  Her  early  writings 
present  the  suggestive  spectacle,  common  among  the  higher  order  of  minds,  of  one 
theoretically  eulogistic  of  her  own  captivity,  and  impulsively  escaping  from  it  with 
unconscious  gladness.  But  her  lot,  no  less  than  her  creed,  was  destined  to  be  renounced 
by  her.  Allied  to  a  husband  (found  in  the  religious  circle  in  which  she  was  reared  in 
Bristol)  whose  company  it  was  a  humiliation  to  endure,  she  ultimately,  even  when  she 
was  the  mother  of  three  children,  refused  to  continue  to  submit  to  it.  This,  though 
afterwards  made  a  reproach  to  her,  was  so  justifiable,  that  even  her  religious  friends 
found  no  fault  with  it.  Her  '  Remembrances '  of  this  period  are  best  expressed  in  her 
own  words  : — 

But  hours  of  agony  and  years  of  pain 

Have  been  my  portion  in  this  weary  life  ; 

'Tis  well  the  past  may  ne'er  return  again, 

Whatever  be  my  future  care  or  strife. 

After  long  struggling  (such  as  only  a  mother  can  maintain)  to  support  her  children 
unaided,  she  was  united  to  another  husband  (Mr.  Joshua  Hopkins),  her  former  one  yet 
living.  Though  no  marriage  ceremony  was  performed,  or  could  be  performed  (such  is  the 
moral  state  of  our  law  which  denies  divorce  to  all  who  are  wronged,  if  they  happen  to  be 
also  indigent),  yet  no  affection  was  ever  purer,  no  union  ever  more  honourable  to  both 


THB  REASONER.  351 


parties,  and   the  whole  range  of  priest-made  marriages  never  Included  one  to  which 
happiness  belonged  more  surely,  upon  which  respect  could  dwell  more  truly. 

Our  first  knowledge  of  Mrs.  Martin  was  as  an  opponent  of  Socialism.  But  as  soon 
as  she  saw  intellectual  truth  in  it,  she  paused  in  her  opposition  to  it.  Long  and  serious 
was  the  conflict  the  change  in  her  convictions  caused  her  ;  but  her  native  love  of  truth 
prevailed,  and  she  came  over  to  the  advocacy  of  that  she  had  so  resolutely  and  ably 
Jissailed.  And  none  who  ever  offered  us  alliance  rendered  us  greater  service,  or  did  it 
at  greater  cost.  Beautiful  in  expression,  quick  in  wit,  strong  in  will,  eloquent  in  speech, 
coherent  in  conviction,  and  of  stainless  character,  she  was  incomparable  among  public 
women.  She  was  one  of  the  few  among  the  early  advocates  of  English  Socialism  who  saw 
that  the  combat  against  religion  could  not  be  confined  to  an  attack  on  forms  of  faith — 
to  a  mere  comparison  of  creeds,  and  she  attached  only  a  secondary  importance  to  the 
abuses  of  Christianity,  where  she  saw  that  the  whole  was  an  abuse  of  history,  reason, 
and  morality.  Thus  was  she  cut  off  from  all  hope  or  sympathy  from  her  former  connec- 
tions, and  she  met  with  but  limited  friendships  among  her  new  allies.  She  saw  further 
than  any  around  her  what  the  new  Communism  would  end  in.  She  saw  that  it  would 
establish  the  healthy  despotism  of  the  affections,  in  lieu  of  the  factitious  tyrannies  of 
custom  and  parliament.  She  embraced  the  Communist  theory  because  she  saw  no  licen- 
tiousness was  included  in  it ;  and  she  drew  an  austere  line  between  liberty  and  license* 
which  made  her  repulsive  to  all  the  vague  (a  rather  large  class  in  all  new  parties).  But 
what  was  thoroughly  innocent  she  wished  to  be  frankly  avowed,  and  lived  out  modestly. 
And  here  again  she  was  almost  alone.  For  those  who  were  unable  to  see  clearly  where 
the  line  of  demarcation  lay,  were  afraid  of  being  drawn  too  far — for  not  understanding 
themselves,  they  were  naturally  alarmed  lest  they  should  be  misunderstood  by  others  ; 
and  Mrs.  Martin  presented  all  her  life  the  paradox  of  being  at  once  the  terror  of  the 
timid  and  the  bold.  Only  those  understood  her  character  who  came  within  the  sphere 
of  her  influence,  or  discerned  it  by  insight.  Over  the  whole  country  there  are  many 
who  will  hear  of  her  death  as  a  public  calamity,  and  she  had  some  cherished  friendships 
among  those  who  are  only  attracted  by  genius  or  won  by  worth  ;  but  they  were  of  such 
persons  as  could  not  well  be  near  her,  and  she  died  at  Finchley  Common  comparatively 
alone,  in  that  retreat  which  she  had  sought  in  her  energy  and  in  her  pride,  disdaining 
that  opponents  should  witness  that  suffering  they  had  no  wish  to  alleviate.  Able  to  die 
in  the  principles  in  which  she  lived,  she  sunk  (just  as  the  first  rays  of  prosperity  began 
to  break  on  her  life),  too  wise  to  murmur,  and  too  brave  to  fear.  The  nature  of  her 
opinions,  which  arose  in  conviction  and  not  in  antagonism,  will  best  be  seen  in  two 
passages  from  her  writings  at  two  remarkable  periods  of  her  life. 

In  1835  she  wrote  in  the  Bristol  Literary  Magazine,  which  she  edited, '  Infidelity  is 
the  effusion  of  weak  minds,  and  the  resource  of  guilty  ones.  Like  the  desolating 
simoom  of  the  desert,  it  withers  everything  within  its  reach,  and  as  soon  as  it  has  pros- 
trated the  morality  of  the  individual,  it  invades  the  civil  rights  of  society.' 

In  1844,  in  the  Seventh  of  her  Weekly  Addresses  to  the  Inhabitants  of  London,  of 
which  it  was  the  36,000th issued,  she  wrote, '  When  Christianity  arose  it  gathered  toits 
standard  the  polished  Greek,  the  restless  Roman,  the  barbarous  Saxon,  but  it  was  suited 
only  to  the  age  in  which  it  grew.  It  had  anathemas  for  the  bitter  hearted  to  hurl  at 
those  they  chose  to  designate  "  God's  enemies."  It  had  promises  for  the  hopeful, 
cautions  for  the  prudent,  charity  for  the  good.  It  was  all  things  to  all  men.  It  became 
the  grand  leader — of  the  ascetic  to  the  convent,  of  the  chivalrous  to  the  crusade,  of  the 
cruel  to  the  Star  Chamber,  of  the  scholar  to  the  secret  midnight  cell,  there  to  feed  on 
knowledge,  but  not  to  impart  it.  But  at  last  its  contentionad  doctrines  bade  men  look 
elsewhere  for  pence — for  some  less  equivocal  morality,  some  clearer  doctrines,  some  surer 
truth.'    In  this  belief  she  lived,  worked,  and  taught,  and  in  this  belief  she  died. 


352 


THE  REASONER. 


And  passing  to  the  kingdom  of  the  inscrutable  Future,  whose  credentials  could  she 
better  take  with  her  than  those  she  had  won  by  her  courage  and  truthfulness  ?  Should 
they  be  Pagan,  Buddhist,  Mahometan,  Christian,  or  of  morose  sectarian  shade  ?  Creden- 
tials Foiled  with  age,  torn  in  strifes,  stained  with  blood  !  On  the  threshold  of  the  un- 
defined Future,  where  all  who  have  gone  before  are  afar  off  and  out  of  sight,  where 
none  can  accompany  us  to  counsel  or  inform,  where  each  enters  a  stranger  and  alone^ 
what  passport  can  be  so  authentic  as  a  love  of  humanity  undartened  by  hate,  a  passion 
for  truth,  always  pure — the  tribute  of  labour  that  never  rested,  and  a  conscience  that 
cherished  no  guile  ? 

Will  any  who  calumniate  the  last  hours  of  Freethinkers  utter  the  pious  fraud  over  this 
narrow  bed,  and  the  memory  of  Emma  Martin  be  distorted,  as  have  been  those  of 
Paine  and  Voltaire  ?  Does  the  vision  of  these  outrages  glare  upon  this  grave  ? — 
outrages  too  ignoble  to  notice,  too  painful  to  recognise?  Heed  them  not:  believe 
them  not !  Let  not  the  Christian  insult  her  whom  only  the  grave  has  vanquished.  Let 
him  not  utter  the  word  of  that  triumph  over  the  dead,  before  whom  living  his  coward 
tongue  would  falter.  Let  his  manliness  teach  him  truth,  if  his  creed  has  failed  to 
teach  him  courtesy. 

As  a  worker  for  human  improvement,  Mrs.  Martin  was  as  indefatigable  as  efficient. 
From  the  time  when  she  published  '  The  Exiles  of  Piedmont,'  to  the  issue  of  her  Essay 
on  '  God's  Gifts  and  Man's  Duties,' and,  later  still,  she  wrote  with  ardour,  always  mani- 
festing force  of  personal  thought, and,  what  is  more  unusual  in  the  writings  of  women, 
jtrength  and  brevity  of  expression.  Her  lectures  were  always  distinguished  by  the 
tnstructiofi  they  conveyed,  and  the  earnestness  with  which  they  were  delivered ;  and  in 
courage  of  advocacy,  and  in  the  thoroughness  of  view,  no  woman,  except  Frances 
Wright,  is  to  be  compared  with  her;  and  only  one,  whose  name  is  an  affectionate  house- 
hold word  in  our  land*  (greater,  indeed,  in  order  of  power),  resembles  Mrs.  Martin  in 
largeness  and  sameness  of  speculation,  and  the  capacity  to  treat  purely  social  and 
womanly  questions.  She  had  that  strength  of  will  which  rules  in  all  spheres,  but  ever 
chastened  by  womanly  feeling.  She  had  an  affectionate  nature  which  astonished  those 
who  knew  her  in  private,  as  much  as  her  resolution  often  astonished  those  who  knew  her 
in  public.  Indeed,  she  was  the  most  womanly  woman  of  all  the  public  advocates  of 
'  Women's  Rights.'  Her  assertion  of  her  claim  to  interfere  in  public  affairs,  was  only 
a  means  of  winning  security  from  outrage  for  the  domestic  affections.  She  would  send 
the  mother  into  the  world  ;  not  in  the  desertion  of  motherly  duties,  but  to  learn  there 
what  the  motherly  duties  are — which  are  not  to  submit  in  ignorance  to  suckle  slaves, 
but  to  learn  how  to  rear  free  men,  and  intelligent  and  pure  women. 

To  some  these  will  sound  as  the  words  of  eulogy,  which  admiration  utters  and  friend- 
ship believes,  but  they  will  be  found  to  bear  investigation.  Deeming  that  the  profession 
of  an  accoucheur  was  properly  one  for  women ,  she  qualified  herself  for  it  with  that  intel  - 
lectnal  conscientiousness  which  distinguished  her.  She  attended  lectures,  spent  days  and 
nights  in  hospitals  for  months  together,  and  went  through  a  long  and  pa^tient  practice. 
To  all  pursuits  she  united  the  Scholar's  conscience  to  the  Reformer's  emulation.  To 
her  own  party  she  was  an  inspiration,  and  had  more  leisure  and  means  been  allotted  her, 
her  resources  and  invention  would  have  added  largely  to  its  influence.  She  would  have 
heen  our  Madame  Roland,  whom  she  greatly  admired  and  much  resembled  in  character, 
talent,  and  the  ambition  of  a  wise  empire.  Yet  in  that  very  respect  in  which  society 
owes  her  most,  it  will,  such  is  it«  prejudice,  acknowledge  the  least.  Yet,  thanks  to  her 
exertions,  the  reign  has  been  shortened  of  thatRetaliative  Theology,  which,  like  a  dark 
cloud,  spreads  itself  over  existence  and  obscures  the  sunlight  of  human  duty.  When  Death 


*  Harriet  Martineau. 


THE  REASONER.  353 


asserts  his  inexorable  dominion,  and  the  anguish  of  separating  affection  blanch  the  cheeks, 
when  even  the  dumb  brute  betrays  inarticulate  sympathy ;  in  the  presence  of  Death,  where 
the  grossest  natures  are  refined,  where  rude  lips  spontaneously  distil  the  silvery  words  of 
sympathy,  and  the  unfeeling  volunteer  acts  of  mercy — in  that  hour  when  tyranny  itself 
pauses  in  its  pursuit  of  vengeance,  when  the  tempest  of  passion  is  stilled,  and  the  injured 
forgive,  and  hate  is  subdued  to  love,  and  insensibility  to  affection,  can  that  be  the 
moment  chosen  by  a  '  God  of  Love'  in  which  to  commence  the  execution  of  a  purpose 
which  humanity  could  not  conceive  without  terror,  nor  contemplate  without  dismay  ? 
Ah  !  what  do  we  not  owe  to  a  woman  who,  like  Emma  Martin,  takes  the  heroic  side,  and 
teaches  us  in  her  last  hour,  the  truth  of  a  gentler  faith  7  And  if  we  do  but 
pierce  beneath  the  antagonism  from  which  all  development  issues,  we  shall  see  how, 
both  with  the  Christian  and  the  Freethinker,  the  same  intention  is  ever  at  the  bottom. 
We  perceive  a  principle  from  different  points,  trace  it  to  diB'erent  roots,  explain  it  in  a 
different  language,  maintain  it  for  different  reasons,  and  foresee  for  it  different  conclu- 
sions :  butjthe  conflict  continued,  sometimes  darkly,  sometimes  wildly,  is  for  owe  morality 
and  for  one  truth  ;  and  if  there  be  in  the  end  a  Judge  who  looks  with  an  equal  eye  on  all, 
he  will  not  fail  to  discern  the  motive  and  pardon  the  means. 

We  may  estimate  very  highly  the  singular  example  Mrs.  Martin  set  by  the  opinions 
she  developed  and  the  firmness  with  which  she  maintained  them — so  unusual  in  the 
history  of  women.  Sympathy  is  the  great  sustainer  of  all  that  is  human,  and  it  is  the 
air  which  woman  breathes.  To  step  out  of  the  current  of  opinion  at  the  call  of  truth 
into  the  narrow  circle  of  personal  conviction,  and  accept  the  accidental  and  tardy  appre- 
ciation of  the  few,  in  lieu  of  the  ready  regard  of  millions,  is  a  sacrifice  that  few  are 
equal  to ;  but  it  is  one  which  converts  life  into  a  poem  ;  it  is  the  tribute  which  only 
superior  natures  make  to  mankind  ;  it  is  one  which  posterity  remembers,  and  for  which 
the  freed,  for  all  time,  devoutly  thank  the  giver.  Mrs.  Martin  is  added  to  the  calendar 
of  those  who  have  served  the  people,  who  in  life  and  death  have  been  their  teachers.  Her 
last  wish  was  that  none  should  mourn  for  her — her  last  hope  that  none  should  rest  in  the 
cause  to  which  she  devoted  herself.  Let  any  who  would  honour  her  memory  learn  tha 
same  cheerful  courage,  and  render  some  like  service  with  like  intrepidity. 


[As  in  Scotland  and  England  several  times  false  '  Recantations'  have  been  published 
of  Mrs.  Martin,  and  '  Death-bed  Repentances '  got  up  and  circulated  by  the  religious, 
this  short  memorial  will  be  of  use  as  an  authentic  history  uf  her  last  days.  It  will  be 
issued  in  a  separate  form  for  the  convenience  of  those  friends  who  may  wish  to  circu- 
late it  among  the  clergy  whom  Mrs.  Martin  combatted  in  so  many  places.] 


GOD     ON    EVERYBODY'S    SIDE. 


«  God  on  our  side'  is  the  universal  cry.  Each  of  two  conflicting  nations  conse- 
crates its  flags;  and  whichever  conquers  sings  a  Te  Deum.  Attila  conceived 
himself  to  have  a  'divine  claim  to  the  dominion  of  the  earth:'  the  Spaniards 
subdued  the  Indians  under  plea  of  converting  them  to  Christianity  ;  hanging  thir- 
teen refractory  ones  in  honour  of  Jesus  Christ  and  his  apostles :  and  we  English 
justify  our  colonial  aggressions  by  saying  that  the  Creator  intends  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  race  to  people  the  world ! — Spencer's  Social  Statics. 


354 


THE  REASONER. 


fSyamUiatian  at  t!je  |3reds. 


The  Saint  and  the  Fisherman. — St.  Columba  is  the  patron  saint  of  the 
salmon,  and  many  a  good  turn  has  he  done  them.  For  instance,  at  Rose  Isle, 
where  you  lost  that  fine  fish  yesterday,  instead  of  the  two  falls  you  see  now,  there  once 
WHS  but  one  step  from  the  top  to  the  bottom;  and  you  may  easily  conceive  that  no 
fish  that  ever  was  spawned  could  take  the  leap.  But  the  tender-hearted  saint, 
grieving  at  their  fruitless  toil,  and  pitying  their  battered  sides  as  they  fell  back  into 
the  whirling  cauldron  below,  prayed  away  a  good  piece  of  the  rock,  and  gave  them 
that  easy,  comfortable  Staircase  which  you  see  this  day.  In  good  truth,  St.  Columba 
was  a  very  worthy  saint  when  his  bristles  were  not  up;  but  Irish  saints  are  apt  to  be 
peppery,  and  I  am  sure  Job  himself  could  not  be  expected  to  stand  the  loss  of  his 
dinner.  Still  I  must  confess  that  the  story  I  am  going  to  tell  is  not  quite  so  much 
to  the  saint's  credit  as  the  last  was.  Hungry  and  tired  was  the  worthy  saint,  as 
he  came  down  that  steep,  rugged  pathway,  that  leads  from  the  Captain's  Rock. 
Hard  at  work  had  he  been  all  day, '  preaching  of  sermons  and  singing  of  psalms,' 
and  many  were  the  heathens  he  had  converted,  and  many  were  the  wild  Irishmen 
that  he  had  clipped  of  their  wings.  But  lips,  though  holy,  must  still  be  fed;  and 
as  Cockburn's  Hotel  was  not  then  established  at  Ballyshannon,  the  saint  began  to 
have  serious  misgivings  about  his  dinner,  when,  to  his  joy,  he  saw,  seated  on  the 
wing  of  that  Danish  eel-weir  (where  I  saw  you  the  other  day,  looking  so  like  a  Le- 
prechaun), a  jolly  fisherman,  and  at  his  feet  a  goodly  number  of  glittering  salmon. 
'  Bestow  thine  alms,  stranger,'  said  the  saint ;  *  bestow  a  salmon  for  the  sake  of  our 
Lady  on  a  poor  saint,  who  stands  an  excellent  chance  of  going  to  bed  supperless.' 
The  man  must  have  been  a  presbyterian  or  a  poor-law  guardian,  that  is  certain,  for 
he  told  the  holy  man  to  go  work  for  his  livelihood.  Could  flesh  and  blood  stand 
that  ?  Work  for  his  livelihood  I  when  the  saint  had  already  baptized  more  hea- 
thens than  the  sinner  had  hairs  on  his  head  ;  and  St.  Columba  an  Irish  saint,  too  ! 
It  would  have  been  quite  consistent  with  his  country  had  he  upped  with  his  pilgrim- 
staff,  and  broken  the  man's  heretical  head ;  but  St.  Columba  thought  that  this 
would  be  uncanonical.  He  always  was  a  stickler  for  church  discipline,  so  he 
pulled  out  his  book  and  he  cursed  him  heartily  instead :  he  cursed  him  by  hanging 
and  drowning,  he  cursed  him  by  fire  and  water,  and  (which  was  somewhat  super- 
fluous) he  cursed  the  throw  for  his  sake ;  and  having  thus  given  him  a  cast  of  his 
clerical  office,  he  passed  on  in  holy  meditation.  The  next  man  who  came  down 
that  rocky  path  saw  a  terrible  sight.  The  uncharitable  fisherman,  who  had  hooked 
his  fly  in  a  tree  above  his  head,  had  climbed  up  to  free  it,  and  his  foot  slipping, 
his  neckband  kerchief  had  performed  the  oflace  of  a  hempen  cravat;  while,  the  fire 
be  had  lighted  to  broil  his  fish,  having  consumed  the  foot  of  the  tree,  the  whole 
had  bent  forward  into  the  stream,  leaving  the  dead  bodybobbing  up  and  down 
in  the  current  like  a  fisherman's  float;  and  in  that  throw,  beautiful  and  tempting 
as  it  seems,  and  numerous  as  are  the  ignorant  and  unbelieving  tyros  who  have  wet 
their  lines  there,  not  one  single  salmon  has  risen  from  that  time  to  this.  '  There, 
what  do  you  think  of  such  a  curse  as  that  ?  St.  Columba  was  no  fool  of  a  saint,  I 
assure  you.'' — '  What  must  we  think  of  such  a  religion  as  this,'  said  the  matter-of- 
fact  Scholar, '  whose  very  legends  teach  revenge,  and  whose  holy  deeds  are  murder  ?' 
Now  the  Scholar,  who  had  come  from  the  Black  North,  was  a  bitter  Protestant, 
and  hated  holy  water  to  a  degree  exceeded  by  one  gentleman  only,  who  shall  be 
nameless;  he  did  not  above  half  like  the  parson's  cut  at  the  Presbyterians,  and 
was  savage  accordingly.  '  Steady,  there — steady,  my  little  Derry  Prentice,'  said 
the  captain  ;  '  the  floor  has  cracks  in  it.  Besides,  you're  wrong ;  the  church  can 
bless  as  well  as  curse.  St.  Columba  did  get  a  dinner  that  day  from  Cassidy  of 
Bundornn,  and  in  recompense  secured  the  entail  of  that  fishery  to  him  and  his 
family  for  ever  ;  and  you  know  that  the  man  who  gave  us  leave  to  fish  there  is  a 
Cassidy  every  inch  of  him,  to  this  day;  and,  moreover,  the  river  there  is  in  season 
eleven  montlis  in  the  year.  Saints  have  gratitude  I' — The  Erne,  its  Legends  and 
its  F/y-fishing.    By  the  Kev.  H.  Ncwland.     Chapman. 


THE  REASONER. 


355 


CTje  aSabernmtnt  af  t^t  2.a&)3  of  Mature. 


BY    F.    B.    BARTON,  B.A. 

[We  continue  the  publication  of  these  admirable  essays  by  Mr.  Barton,  and  from 
time  to  time  we  shall  present  other  '  Reasoner  Tracts '  from  MSS.  he  has  done  us 
the  honour  to  forward  to  us.  Some  of  these  essays  were  Lectures  originally 
delivered  at  South-place  Chapel,  London.  Their  thoroughness  of  view,  great 
clearness  of  statement,  and  succinct  illustration,  it  is  not  necessary  that  we  point 
out  to  the  reader,  who  will  agree  with  us,  that  these  papers  are  valuable  contribu- 
tions to  the  literature  of  the  questions  discussed  in  this  journal. — Ed.] 
'  The  fool  hath  said  in  his  heart  there  is     ance   of  chance  arises   from  our  igno- 


no  God.'  This  passage  is  frequently 
quoted  in  reference  to  the  folly  of 
atheism  ;  and  certainly  if  by  atheism  is 
meant  the  belief  that  all  that  we  see  in 
nature  is  the  result  of  chance — of  a  for- 
tuitous concourse  of  atoms — nothing 
could  be  so  absurd  as  atheism.  Nothing 
can  be  more  evident  than  that  law  and 
order  prevail  in  nature — that  every  spe- 
cies of  matter,  organic  or  inorganic,  is 
impressed  with  certain  laws,  according  to 
which  all  its  properties  and  movements 
are  regulated.  Every  germ  or  seed 
produces  that  animal  or  plant  which  it 
is  constituted  to  produce,  and  no  other. 
The  lioness  never  brings  forth  a  lamb, 
nor  the  cow  a  lion  ;  the  acorn  never  be- 
comes a  beech,  nor  the  beech  never  an 
oak :  each  produces  invariably  its  own 
species.  The  planets,  though  moving  in 
infinite  space,  preserve  their  orbits  with 
undeviating  regularity.  Even  comets, 
that  were  long  thought  to  be  exempt 
from  all  law  and  order,  are  now  disco- 
vered to  be  subject  to  law  as  much  as 
the  planets,  and  the  periodic  return  of 
many  of  them  to  the  earth  can  be  pre- 
dicted with  as  much  certainty  as  that  of 
the  other  heavenly  bodies.  The  weather 
is  perhaps  the  most  variable,  and  appa- 
rently lawless,  thing  in  nature,  and  yet 
that  is  governed  by  certain  laws,  for 
though  we  cannot  predict  the  weather  of 
a  certain  day,  it  is  found  that  taking  a 
month,  an  average  can  be  ascertained  of 
the  quantity  of  rain  that  will  fall,  the 
number  of  fine  or  wet  days,  and  the 
points  of  the  compass  from  which  the 
prevailing  winds  will  blow.  This  proves 
that  even  the  'chartered  libertine,'  as 
Shakspere  calls  the  wind,  is  subject  to 
law.  And  when  the  laws  on  which  the 
weather  depends-  are  better  known,  we 
may  be  able  to  predict  its  nature  to  a 
day.  There  is  no  such  thing  as  chance 
in  the  operations  of  nature.  All  appear- 


rance.  There  may  seem  sometimes  to 
be  no  regular  cause,  only  because  we 
cannot  perceive  it.  To  a  person  igno- 
rant of  the  game  of  chess,  watching 
those  who  are  playing  it,  the  moves  ap- 
pear to  be  made  at  random — without 
any  reason  or  purpose — and  yet  they 
are  all  the  result  of  rule  and  calculation. 
As  Pope  says,  all  chance  direction 
which  thou  canst  not  see.  Paley  gives 
the  following  instance  : — If  two  persons 
set  out  at  the  same  time  from  two  far 
distant  places,  say  London  and  York, 
and  proceed  on  the  same  road,  it  is  evi- 
dent they  must  meet,  and  yet  if  each  is 
ignorant  of  the  other's  purpose  and 
movements,  the  meeting  will  have  the 
appearance  of  chance,  although  under 
the  circumstances  it  could  not  possibly 
have  happened  otherwise.  As  there  is 
no  chance  or  contingency  in  the  opera- 
tions of  nature,  so  there  are  no  excep- 
tions to  nature's  laws.  The  laws  of 
nature  are  universal  and  invariable,  the 
circumstances  being  the  same.  For 
example,  water  under  that  degree  of 
atmospheric  pressure  which  exists  on 
the  level  of  the  sea,  freezes  and  boils  at 
the  same  temperature  in  China,  France, 
Peru,  and  England,  and  there  is  no  ex- 
ception to  the  regularity  with  which  it 
exhibits  these  appearances,  when  all  its 
other  conditions  are  the  same.  This 
last  qualification  must  be  constantly  at- 
tended to,  in  all  departments  of  nature.' 
If  water  is  carried  to  the  top  of  a  moun- 
tain twenty  thousand  feet  high,  it  will 
boil  at  a  lower  temperature  than  212° 
(the  usual  temperature  for  boiling)  :  but 
this  effect  takes  place  also  according  to 
fixed  and  invariable  principles.  The 
pressure  of  the  atmosphere  is  much  less 
at  the  top  of  a  high  mountain  than  at 
the  level  of  the  sea,  and  cousequeutly 
the  water  boils  at  a  lower  temperatui-e 
than   212".     The   nature   of  water,  and 


366 


THE  REASONER. 


the  law  respecting  the  boiling  of  water, 
are  still  the  same,  but  the  conditions 
being  changed,  the  results  undergo  a 
modification. 

The  laws  of  nature  are  invariable  ; 
whenever  they  appear  to  undergo  an  ex- 
ception, it  arises  from  a  change  of  cir- 
cumstances under  which  the  law  ope- 
rates, causing  a  different  result  from 
what  usually  occurs,  {.  e.,  which  occurs 
when  the  law  operates  under  the  usual 
circumstances,  and  free  from  any  coun- 
teracting cause.  Thus  the  law  of  humau 
■reproduction  is  that  one  child  shall  be 
produced  at  a  birth,  but  cases  often  occur 
of  two,  and  sometimes  three  and  even 
four  children  being  born  at  once ;  so  it 
is  the  law  in  the  case  of  birth,  that  when 
twins  are  born  they  shall  be  quite  sepa- 
rate and  distinct,  and  yet  a  well-known 
instance  has  occurred  where  twins  were 
bound  together  by  a  ligament. 

Now  in  all  these  cases  there  was  no 
exception  to  the  law  of  nature,  but  the 
usual  operation  was  counteracted  and 
modified  by  some  opposing  circumstance, 
and  if  we  could  have  seen  this  counter- 
acting influence,  we  should  have  known 
that  the  result  could  not,  according  to 
the  laws  of  nature,  possibly  have  been 
otherwise. 

It  is  the  law  of  water  to  run  stralghter 
down  a  smooth  declivity,  but  if  it  meets 
with  an  obstacle  its  course  will  deviate 
from  the  straighter  line.  Thus,  then,  it 
appears  that  in  every  department  of 
nature  law  and  order  prevail,  and  that 
the  laws  of  nature  are  universal  and 
invariable;  the  circumstances  being  the 
same,  the  results  never  alter.  In  deny- 
ing, therefore,  the  existence  of  a  personal 
intelligent  Deity,  we  do  not  admit  that 
there  is  any  chance,  contingency,  or  dis- 
order in  nature—  we  do  not  deny,  but 
absolutely  aflirm,  the  constant  and  uni- 
versal operation  of  law  and  order.  This 
we  do  because  it  is  a  matter  of  fact,  of 
obvious  and  daily  experience.  So  far 
■we  know,  but  beyoud  this  we  do  not 
know.  If  it  be  said  a  law  must  have  a 
law-maker,  we  reply,  we  use  the  term 
'  law'  only  to  imply  a  regular  and  estab- 
lished course  ot  things — in  opposition 
to  all  chance,  irregularity,  and  disorder  ; 
we  see  the  effect,  the  cause  we  do  not 
see,  and  therefore  cannot  know.  It  may 
be  said  that  '  law  and  order'  seem  to 
refer  to  mind,  to  intelligence ;  we  answer, 
we   know  ot  no  mind,  no  intelligence, 


independent  of  brain,  or  some  cerebral 
organisation.  Wherever  we  see  any 
manifestations  of  mind  or  intelligence, 
we  always  find  it  accompanied  with  a 
brain  or  nervous  organisation  of  some 
kind,  from  which  it  appears  to  proceed, 
of  which  it  seems  an  inherent  property; 
therefore,  as  far  as  our  experience  goes, 
we  are  justified  in  concluding  that 
mind  and  brain  are  inseparable,  i.  «.,  that 
where  mental  powers  are  exhibited 
there  must  exist  a  brain  or  organisation 
whence  these  powers  are  derived.  If, 
therefore,  the  laws  of  nature  originate 
from  a  mind,  that  mind  must  be  the  pro- 
perty of  a  brain,  i.  e.,  the  divine  intelli- 
gence must  proceed  from  a  cerebral  or- 
ganisation, and  the  Deity  must  be  ma- 
terial ;  and  if  material,  what  becomes  of 
the  infinitude  usually  attributed  to  him  ? 
what  becomes  of  his  omnipresence  ? 
Besides,  if  the  Deity  were  a  material 
organisation  he  would  be  visible — he 
would  become  an  object  of  sense,  which 
it  is  admitted  he  is  not.  The  argument 
is  shortly  this.  If  there  is  a  divine 
mind  whence  all  creation  and  its  laws 
have  proceeded,  there  must  be  a  brain, 
an  organisation  to  which  this  mind  be- 
longs, of  which  it  is  a  property,  and  then 
the  Deity,  like  man,  must  be  material, 
and  must  be  an  object  of  sense.  But  no 
such  thing  is  perceptible  to  our  senses, 
nor  is  it  pretended  that  he  can  be,  or  has 
ever  been,  so  perceptible;  therefore  we 
are  justified  in  asserting  that  we  do  not 
know  any  such  being,  for  knowledge  can 
only  be  acquired  through  the  senses — 
what  is  not  so  acquired,  except  mathe- 
matical demonstration,  can  only  be  pro- 
bability or  possibility — not  certainty, 
not  knowledge.  All  we  know,  because 
all  we  see,  is  that  there  are  certain 
effects,  the  objects  and  influences  of 
nature — that  everything  in  nature  has  a 
definite  constitution,  and  is  subject  to 
certain  laws — that  all  the  operations  of 
nature  proceed  in  a  regular,  established 
course;  and  therefore  we  say  they  are 
governed  by  laws — using  the  term  '  laws' 
to  denote  order  and  regularity,  in  oppo- 
sition to  chance  and  disorder.  All  we 
know  are  effects — the  cause  or  causes  of 
their  effects  we  do  not  know.  We  speak, 
indeed,  of  certain  effects  being  the  re- 
sult ot  gravitation,  or  affinity,  or  elec- 
tricity ;  but  we  do  not  know  the  cause 
ot  gravitation,  or  of  affinity,  or  of  elec- 
tricity.    We  see  that  a  magnet  attracts 


THE  REASONER. 


357 


iron,  but  we  do  not  why  it  does  bo — all 
we  can  say  is,  that  it  is  its  nature  so  to 
do.  What  do  you  gain  by  saying  an 
invisible  being,  whom  you  call  God,  gave 
this  property  of  attracting  iron  to  the 
magnet  ?  Did  you  ever  see  this  God  ? 
No.  Did  you  ever  hear  him  ?  No. 
How  then  do  you  know  his  existence  ? 
You  cannot  tnow  it — it  is  merely  a  sup- 
position or  conjecture ;  and  why  make 
the  supposition?  It  is  said  that  the 
things  that  exist  must  have  had  a  cause. 
Well  then,  if  all  that  exists  came  from 
a  being  you  call  God,  whence  came  God  ? 
What  caused  his  existence?  It  is  re- 
plied, He  is  without  a  cause ;  he  is  self- 
existent  and  eternal.  But  how  can  this 
be,  if  whatever  exists  must  have  had  a 
cause  ?  If  something  must  be  self-exis- 
tent and  eternal,  why  may  not  matter 
and  all  its  properties  be  that  something  ? 
Matter  and  its  properties  we  know  do 
exist.  Of  the  being  you  call  God  we 
know  nothing.  His  existence  is  con- 
jectured, to  solve  a  difficulty,  to  account 
for  what  exists.  But  of  what  use  is  it  to 
conjecture,  to  imagine  a  cause  of  which 
we  know  nothing,  and  which  must,  in 
strict  logic,  be  referred  to  some 
other  cause.  To  account  for  the  exis- 
tence of  what  is  termed  the  first  cause, 
we  must  imagine  another  cause,  and  so 
on  without  end,  without  ever  coming  to 
any  satisfactory  conclusion.  Granting 
the  difficulty  of  imagining  anything 
eternal,  anything  without  a  cause,  if 
something  must  be  supposed  to  be  eter- 
nal, why  not  suppose  matter  and  its  pro- 
perties to  be  eternal  ?  This  supposition 
is  surely  no  more  difficult  than  the  sup- 
position that  an  unknown  being  called 
God  is  eternal.  Why  not  rest  satisfied 
with  what  is  known,  with  what  is  visible 
— why  speculate  in  the  unknown  and 
invisible  ? 

Matter  and  its  properties  we  know  do 
exist — their  cause  we  do  not  know ;  and 
what  does  it  signify  that  we  know  not 
whence  matter  originated  ?  How  would 
it  benefit  us  to  know  this  ?  Nothing 
whatever.  All  our  concern  is  with  the 
existence  and  agency  of  matter  and  its 
properties.  These  we  may  perceive, 
these  we  may  investigate  and  become 
acquainted  with,  and  make  our  know- 
ledge subservient  to  oar  welfare  and 
happiness. 

So  far  from  there  being  any  folly  in 
denying  the  existence  of  an  invisible,per- 


sonal  Deity, the  folly  appears  to  me  to  lie 
in  insisting  upon  the  existence  of  such  a 
being,  of  whom,  being  invisible  and  be- 
yond all  possibility  of  intercourse,  we 
can  know  nothing. 

If  the  denial  of  such  a  being  as  God 
is  generally  supposed  to  be,  involved  the 
necessity  of  denying  the  existence  of  law 
and  order,  then  indeed  what  is  termed 
atheism  would  be  the  greatest  folly  pos- 
sible, because  nothing  can  be  more  evi- 
dent than  the  constant  operation  of  law 
and  order  in  the  constitution  of  nature. 
And  this  is  the  absurdity  and  injustice 
of  the  believers  in  a  supernatural  God. 
They  charge  those  who  reject  this  belief 
with  attributing  all  the  objects  and  ar- 
rangements of  nature  to  chance,  whereas 
they  do  no  such  thing ;  they  admit  the 
constant  operation  of  law  and  order,  but 
they  feel  compelled  to  confess  that  they 
do  not  know  whence  they  are  derived ; 
the  cause  is  hidden,  and  therefore  they 
speculate  not  upon  the  nature  of  an  un- 
known cause,  but  concern  themselves 
only  with  the  effects  which  exist  and 
operate  around  them.  They  perceive 
that  all  things  are  under  the  direction  of 
certain  laws,  and  the  nature  and  opera- 
tion of  these  they  endeavour  to  discover, 
as  knowing  that  in  the  knowledge  and 
observance  of  these  laws  the  welfare  and 
happiness  of  mankind  will  be  most  ef- 
fectually realised. 

There  can  surely  be  no  folly  in  con- 
fessing ignorance  where  nothing  can  be 
known,  but  there  is  great  folly  and  pre- 
sumption in  pretending  to  knowledge 
where  it  is  professedly  unattainable. 

There  is,  therefore,  no  folly  in  deny- 
ing a  God,  i.  e.,  an  invisible  personal 
being ;  but  there  is  a  graver  charge  made 
against  atheism,  and  that  is,  that  by  de- 
nying the  superintendence  and  govern- 
ment of  a  Supreme  Being  it  removes 
every  restraint  upon  vice,  every  induce- 
ment to  virtue,  and  opens  the  gate  to  all 
immorality  and  disorder.  But  this  charge 
is  entirely  false,  and  proceeds  altogether 
from  an  erroneous  view  of  the  subject. 
If  it  be  admitted  that  there  are  universal 
and  infallible  laws  in  operation,  the  con- 
fession of  ignorance  of  the  origin  of 
these  laws,  of  the  cause  which  instituted 
and  sustains  them,  makes  no  difference 
in  the  practical  operations  of  their  laws. 
The  laws  of  nature  act  constantly  and 
infallibly ;  obedience  to  them  produces 
pleasure,   disobedience  pain — they   are 


358 


THE  REASONER. 


sanctioned  by  reward  and  punishment. 
This  is  all  that  can  be  required  for  the 
beneficial  operations  of  a  law.  The  ope- 
ration of  a  law  is  not  affected  by  our  igno- 
rance of  the  author  of  it.  We  are  not  the 
less  finder  the  government  of  a  country 
because  we  are  not  acquainted  with  the 
name  and  character  of  the  ruling  autho- 
rity. The  grand,  the  only  point,  is  that 
there  be  laws  in  operation — that  they  be 
enforced  by  sufficient  penalties. 

Bishop  Butler  observes, '  An  author  of 
nature  being  supposed,  it  is  not  so  much 
a  deduction  of  reason  as  a  matter  of  ex- 
perience, that  we  are  thus  under  his 
government;  under  his  government  in 
the  same  sense  as  we  are  under  the  go- 
vernment of  civil  magistrates.  Because 
the  annexing  pleasure  to  some  actions 
and  pain  to  others,  and  giving  notice  of 
this  appointment  beforehand  to  those 
whom  it  concerns,  is  the  proper  formal 
notion  of  government.  Whether  the 
pleasure  or  pain  which  thus  follows  upon 
our  behaviour  be  owing  to  the  author 
of  nature's  acting  upon  us  every  mo- 
ment, in  which  we  feel  it,  or  to  his  having 
at  once  contrived  and  executed  his  own 
part  in  the  plan  of  the  world,  makes  no 
alteration  as  to  the  matter  before  us. 
For  if  civil  magistrates  could  make  the 
sanctions  of  their  laws  take  place,  with- 
out interposing  at  all,  after  they  had 
passed  them,  without  a  trial  and  the 
formalities  of  an  execution — if  they  were 
able  to  make  their  own  laws  execute 
themselves,  or  every  offender  to  execute 
them  upon  himself — we  should  be  just  in 
the  same  sense  under  their  government 
then  as  we  are  now  ;  but  in  a  much 
higher  degree  and  more  perfect  manner. 
If  God  annexes  delight  to  some  ac- 
tions and  uneasiness  to  others  with  an 
apparent  design  to  induce  us  to  act  so 
and  so,  then  he  not  only  dispenses  hap- 
piness and  misery,  but  also  rewards  and 
punishes  actions.  If,  for  example,  the 
pain  which  we  feel  upon  doing  what 
tends  to  the  destruction  of  our  bodies — 
suppose  upon  too  near  approaches  to 
fire,  or  upon  wounding  ourselves — be 
appointed  by  the  author  of  nature  to  pre- 
vent our  doing  what  thus  tends  to  our 


destruction;  this  is  altogether  as  much 
an  instance  of  his  punishini^  our  actions, 
and  consequently  of  our  being  under 
his  government,  as  declaring  by  a  voice 
from  heaven  that  if  we  acted  so  he  would 
inflict  such  pain  upon  us,  and  inflicting 
it  whether  it  be  greater  or  less.'  So  far 
Bishop  Butler.  Now  it  is  evident  that  it 
makes  no  difference  as  to  the  operation 
of  the  laws  of  nature  whether  we  sup- 
pose them  to  proceed  from  an  '  author 
of  nature,'  from  a  supernatural  person 
or  intelligence,  or  whether  we  profess  to 
know  nothing  of  the  origin  of  these  laws, 
nothing  of  any  author  or  supernatural 
governor,  but  merely  that  such  laws 
exist  and  operate  upon  us — i.e.,  that 
certain  substances  are  constituted  to  af- 
fect us  in  a  particular  manner; — fire 
will  not  the  less  burn  us,  nor  a  knife 
the  less  wound  us,  because  we  do  not 
attribute  the  powers  they  possess  of  in- 
juring us  to  a  divine  author  or  a  super- 
natural creator. 

It  must  be  remembered  that  we  use 
the  term  *  law,'  not  in  its  literal  and 
usual  sense  as  implying  a  lawgiver  or 
governor,  but  merely  to  denote  that 
the  operations  and  influences  of  nature 
follow  a  regular  and  established  course 
— that  every  substance,  organised  or 
unorganised,  possesses  a  definite  con- 
stitution with  its  peculiar  properties, 
and  stands  in  a  certain  relation  to  every 
other  substance.  Thus  fire  stands  in 
such  a  relation  to  animal  and  vegetable 
substances  as  to  injure  and  destroy  them 
— a  knife  stands  in  such  a  relation  to 
animals  as  to  cut  and  kill  them.  The 
laws  of  nature  are  facts  referring  to  the 
constitution  of  natural  objects  and  in- 
fluences, and  their  relation  to  each  other. 
And  it  would  be  well  always  to  view 
them  in  this  light,  as  the  most  simple 
and  intelligible.  By  referring  the  va- 
rious agencies  of  nature  to  a  supernatural 
lawgiver  or  governor,  the  subject  be- 
comes mixed  up  with  considerations 
which  have  no  necessary  connection  with 
it,  and  which  tend  only  to  introduce 
mystification,  perplexity,  and  inconBts- 
tency. 


THE  REASONER.  359 


e9ur  ^Dlatroim. 

From  which  any  earnest  opponent  may  controvert  our  opinions,  and  from  which  any.may  expound  views 
not  coincident  with  our  own,  if  tending  to  the  Rationalisation  of  Theology. 

JUDGMENT    OF     CHRISTIANITY. 


Sir, — In  Reasoner  No.  277,  page  279,  a  correspondent  says,  •  that  it  appeared 
to  "  him  "  that  you  judged  of  Christianity  by  modern  theology.'  Now,  sir,  I  really 
think  this  correspondent  (Mr.  Norrington)  must  have  committed  an  error,  not 
wilfully  perhaps,  but  (as  Christians  generally  do)  innocently.  That  you  may  have 
judged  Christianity  by  morality  I  admit,  but  I  know  not  that  you  judged  it  by 
'  modern  theology.'  What  is  modern  theology  ?  For  my  part,  I  believe  it  is  only 
by  the  '  sayings,  teachings,  and  actions  '  of  those  who  '  profess  and  call  themselves 
Christians,'  that  the  system  they  advocate  can  be  judged. 

I  was  thoroughly  trained  in  the  belief  and  doctrines  of  the  Church  of  England. 
Charity,  lovingkindness,  chastity,  &c.,  were  held  up  to  me  as  worthy  my  practice ; 
and  so  they  are.  In  my  nineteenth  year  I  learned  that  I  was  one  of  those  unna- 
tural things  called  a  natural  child.  I  had  been  kept  in  ignorance  of  this  fact.  I 
began  to  think  and  inquire  what  I  had  done.  I  found  I  had  done  nothing  in  it,  and 
yet  there  was  a  persecuting  system  which  branded  me — '  visiting  the  sins  of  the 
father  (and  the  mother,  I  suppose)  upon  the  child.'  These  are  fine  morals,  thought 
I.  I  looked  to  Christianity — to  laws  made  by  Christians  in  a  Christian  country. 
Alas !  what  relief  found  I  for  my  wounded  feelings  ?  None,  sir,  none.  Did  I 
want  parental  advice — I  was  shut  out  from  it.  Did  I  require  a  mother's  tender 
attention  on  a  sick  bed — it  could  not  be  granted  me.  Did  I  want  to  utter  the  en- 
dearing words  of  father,  mother,  brother,  sister— still  was  I  denied;  and  although 
this  stigma  on  human  nature,  this  insult  to  injury,  might  not  have  originated  with 
Christ,  I  find  that  neither  him  nor  his  followers  have  ever  done  anything  to  remove 
so  opprobrious  and  persecuting  a  distinction  from  off  the  many  millions  so  disad- 
v.antageously  born.  Corpus  Delicti. 

LECTURES     AND     DISCUSSIONS 

IN     EDINBURGH,     SOUTH     SHIELDS,     STOCKTON-ON-TEES,     MILES     PLATTING,    MAN- 
CHESTER,   TODMORDEN,   AND    BURNLEY. 


[continued.] 
My  lecture,  on  my  return  to  Burnley,  the  second  time,  was  thus  noticed  in  one 
of  the  papers,  the  name  I  forget: — '  On  Tuesday  evening,  Mr.  G.  J.  Holyoake 
delivered  a  lecture  on  the  "  Social  Aspects  of  Christianity,"  in  the  Temperance 
Hall ;  Mr.  G.  Edwards,  bookseller,  in  the  chair.  The  lecturer  disclosed  his  views 
at  some  length  and  without  reserve  ;  and  a  discussion  afterwards  ensued,  in  which 
Mr.  Charles  Owen,  Mr.  Taylor,  of  Colne,  and  Mr.  McGregor  (a  previous  opponent 
of  Mr.  Holyoake),  Mr.  William  Carter  and  Mr.  James  Dearden,  local  preachers, 
Mr.  John  Riley,  and  Mr.  Rushworth,  took  part,  Mr.  Holyoake  replying  to  their 
various  objections.  With  the  exception  of  a  little  exciting  language  from  Mr. 
Rushworth,  the  discussion  was  temperately  maintained,  and  Mr.  Holyoake  promised 
to  give  in  his  next  lecture  a  more  extended  reply  to  some  of  his  opponents.' 

A  fuller  report,  prepared  by  a  gentleman  present  for  the  press,  was  as  follows : — 

Mr.  George  Edwards,  on  introducing  Mr.  Holyoake  to  the  meeting,  expressed 

his  desire  that  good  order  might  be  observed,  and  explained  why  the  Rev.  Mr. 

Wilson  was  not  in  attendance  ou  the  occasion,  as  was  expected.     The  lecturer 

commenced  by  observing  that  he  always  felt  glad  to  address  a  tbinkiug  audience, 


360 


THE  REASONER. 


but,  from  the  conduct  of  many  Christians  in  that  place,  he  had  not  formed  a 
favourable  opinion  of  those  in  Burnley.  He  always  submitted  his  remarks  and 
opinions  to  the  criticism  of  his  hearers,  and  the  clergy  ought  to  do  the  same  in 
their  places  of  worship.  Religious  people  thought  infidelity  opposed  to  morality, 
but  it  was  not  so.  He  considered  the  aspects  of  Christianity  to  be  chiefly  immoral, 
and  he  objected  to  the  so-called  morality  of  the  Bible,  on  the  ground  of  its  pro- 
ducing contrary  effects  upon  different  persons.  Christianity  had  been  tried  for 
1800  years,  and  its  effects  were  not  satisfactory.  He  did  not  charge  all  existing 
evil  upon  it — far  from  it ;  but  he  considered  it  as  an  important  cause  of  the  errors 
of  mankind.  Its  advocates,  in  their  day  of  power,  had  taken  good  care  not  to 
allow  any  other  system  to  have  a  fair  trial,  so  that  fair  comparison  with  its  oppo- 
nent system  was  difficult.  The  sins  confessed  to  God,  and  that  co-existed  with 
piety,  he  considered  one  of  the  strongest  proofs  of  the  impotency  of  Christianity. 
The  Bible  was  considered  to  be  the  word  of  God,  and  yet  few  agree  about  it.  The 
inquisitors  compelled  Galileo  to  square  his  astronomy  to  the  Bible  system,  and  the 
Scotch  once  refused  to  eat  potatoes  because  it  was  not  commanded  in  the  Bible. 
In  this  sense  he  considered  the  Bible  immoral,  for  it  prevented  progress,  and  all 
opinions  and  measures  had  to  be  depressed  to  the  level  of  the  Bible  code.  He 
denied  that  free  will  ever  existed,  and  denounced  the  belief  in  Providence  as  tend- 
ing to  retard  energy,  forecast,  and  industry.  The  doctrine  of  Free  Will  gave  rise 
to  a  sad  immorality,  and  produced  a  perfect  chaos  in  all  the  affairs  of  life.  Man's 
opinions  were  formed  for  him  and  not  hy  him,  and  hence  the  injustice  in  sup- 
posing that  God  will  punish  eternally.  Eternal  punishment  was  held  out  as  a 
terror  to  mankind  by  the  clergy,  who  were  considered  by  the  State  as  a  staff  of 
police  in  black,  and  the  Devil  he  considered  to  be  the  cat  of  theology.  Character 
could  only  be  changed  by  introducing  new  ideas,  and  this  change  of  ideas  was  the 
great  object  of  all  education;  hence  the  futility  of  attempting  to  change  the  cha- 
racters of  children  by  coercion  and  punishment.  All  the  moral  code  of  the  Bible 
might  be  found  in  Oriental  moralists,  and,  if  Chambers's  tract  on  Confucius  be  con- 
sulted, much  that  Christ  taught  and  said  will  be  found  there.  He  considered  the 
'  Sermon  on  the  Mount '  as  of  a  decidedly  immoral  and  impracticable  tendency.  He 
thought  the  truth  lay  in  the  reverse  of  many  of  its  statements,  and  he  for  one  had 
not  been  blessed  when  men  persecuted  him.  Much  that  Christ  said,  he  being  a 
Jew,  marked  him  as  a  superior  man  ;  but  he  did  not  consider  his  general  example 
a  safe  one  to  follow.  He  considered  him  to  have  acted  unwisely  on  many  occasions, 
especially  before  Pilate.  His  whole  career  was  one  which  created  suspicion 
amongst  the  Jewish  rulers,  and  when  he  assumed  to  himself  regal  honours  he  com- 
mitted a  crime  against  the  Roman  law,  for  which  he  suffered.  To  consider  Christ 
as  God  made  the  matter  worse,  for  what  he  did  as  God  is  no  example  for  man  ; 
besides,  knowing  his  divine  nature,aDd  being  sure  of  entering  Paradise,would  render 
him  capable  of  bearing  suffering  which  exceed  the  capabilities  of  human  nature. 
He  considered  Christ's  teaching  contradictory  and  inconclusive ;  and  if  the  ques- 
tion '  why  ?'  was  asked  at  the  close  of  its  precepts,  the  New  Testament  returned 
no  philosophical  answer.  He  rejected  that  book  in  which  all  sects  and  parties 
found  grounds  for  their  differences,  and  considered  it  high  time  for  a  better  system 
to  take  effect.  He  concluded  by  stating  that  he  had  now  laid  his  case  open  for  the 
criticisms  of  his  audience,  and  would,  in  his  next  lecture,  lay  down  the  outlines  of 
suchasystem  as  he  considered  best  to  be  adopted  in  place  of  the  present  Christianity. 
The  chairman  now  stated  the  time  allowed  for  discussion,  to  which  Mr.  Charles 


THE  REASONER.  361 


Owen,  church-rarden  for  St.  James's  Charch,  demurred;  but  the  meeting  ulti- 
mately agreed  to  adhere  to  the  time  announced. 

Mr.  Taylor,  of  Colne,  then  rose,  and  pointed  out  the  absurdity  of  an  atheist 
assuming  the  existence  of  God,  which  Mr.  Holyoate  had  done  in  his  lecture.  He 
had  no  business  to  assume  a  God,  if  he  would  be  consistent.  He  considered  Christ 
to  be  a  perfect  example  to  us,  since  he  was  tempted  in  all  things,  like  ourselves  ; 
nor  did  a  belief  in  providence  operate  immorally,  since  it  presupposed  all  possible 
exertions  in  ourselves,  of  which  the  case  of  Christ  on  the  pinnacle  of  the  temple 
was  an  example.  Mr.  T.  went  on  to  make  some  further  remarks  on  the  little  skill 
required  to  make  objections. 

Mr.  Owen  then  objected  to  Mr.  Holyoake's  view  of  eternal  punishment,  and 
could  not  see  the  unjustness  of  God  punishing  those  who  never  ashed  him  for  for- 
giveness. Man  never  forgives  until  contrition  is  evinced  by  ofienders,  and  why 
should  God  ? 

Mr.  James  Dearden,local  preacher,objected  to  Mr.  Holyoake's  statements  respect- 
ing the  treatment  of  children,  and  considered  them  contradictory  and  improper. 

Mr.  Rushworth  thought  it  his  bounden  duty  to  come  to  the  meeting  and  oppose 
Mr.  Holyoake.  His  family  had  advised  him  not  to  come,  but  he  was  determined 
not  to  be  absent.  He  was  astonished  that  the  lecturer  should  come  hither  and 
state  what  Sir  Isaac  Newton  never  said,  what  Paine  never  spoke,  and  what  Voltaire 
never  dared  to  utter.  If  there  is  no  God,  what  is  the  use  of  Mr.  H.'s  coming 
hither.  If  Sir  Isaac  Newton  stood  beside  him,  he  would  not  flinch  ;  he  feared  no- 
body, and  cared  for  none.  Mr.  H.,  no  doubt,  considered  himself  a  wise  man,  but 
he  considered  him  as  wise  as  any  other  jackass.  (During  these  remarks,  Mr. 
Rushworth  gesticulated  furiously,  clapped  his  hands  over  the  head  of  the  lecturer 
and  shook  his  fists  in  his  face.  Great  uproar  ensued,  during  which  some  one 
called  out  they  would  hear  no  more.  Mr.  R.  said  he  was  like  '  a  giant  refreshed 
with  new  wine  '  [which  latter  respect  might  be  true],  and  he  would  malce  them  hear. 
Upon  some  of  his  friends  interferring,  however,  Mr.  R.  sat  down. ) 

Mr.  John  Riley,  in  a  connected  and  earnest  address,  which  did  him  great  credit, 
considering  his  youth,  substantiated  the  truth  of  Christianity,  by  adducing  the  pro- 
phecies relating  to  Christ,  and  their  fulfilment.  He  adduced  thirty-seven  prophe- 
cies of  this  description,  and  considered  that  Christ's  prophecies  respecting  the 
destruction  of  Jerusalem  as  an  indisputable  proof  of  his  divinity ;  whilst  the  dis- 
persion of  the  Jews  was  a  standing  evidence  of  the  truth  of  the  Old  Testament 
prophecies. 

Mr.  Rushworth  again  rose,  declaring  he  would  not  be  put  down  by  either  the 
chairman,  the  meeting,  or  any  one  else.  Great  confusion  ensued,  during  which  the 
meeting  decided  not  to  hear  him ;  and,  upon  a  word  from  Mr.  William  Carter 
local  preacher,  be  sat  down. 

After  a  short  discussion  as  to  whether  Mr.  McGregor  should  speak  at  this  stage 
of  the  proceedings,  Mr.  Holyoake  rose  to  reply  to  the  objections  seriatim.  '  He  did 
not  agree  with  Mr.  Taylor  that  it  was  an  easy  thing  to  find  fault;  it  was  much 
easier  to  make  faults,  but  to  find  them  was  an  art.  Nor  did  he  think  the  example 
of  Christ  could  be  followed,  since  he  was  considered  to  be  so  dissimilar  to  ourselves. 
He  denied  tha,t  fallible  man  could  be  responsible  to  God,  who  knew  he  -would  fail; 
and  hence  he  interred  Mr.  Owen's  view  was  erroneous.  He  qualified  his  statement 
in  reply  to  Mr.  Dearden ;  and  with  respect  to  Mr.  Riley,  to  whom  he  paid  a  well- 
deserved  compliment,  observed  he  did  not  see  the  connection  between  moral  truth 
and  prophecies  with  their  fulfilment.     All  religions  had  their  Bibles,  their  mira- 


362  THE  REASONER. 


cles,  their  prophecies,  &c.,  which  each  firmly  believed  to  be  divine.  What  was 
called  prophecy  merely  proved  that  one  man  had  more  foresight  into  the  future, 
from  judging  of  the  nature  of  things,  than  another.  Mr.  Holyoake  replied  to  many 
other  matters  previously  cited,  apparently  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  bulk  of  the 
audience. 

Mr.  McGregor  then  rose,  and  said  he  did  not  think  a  Scotchman  ever  objected  to 
eat  potatoes,  unless  something  better  was  to  be  had.  He  did  not  find  that  Christ 
refused  to  answer  Pilate  the  question  '  what  is  truth  ?'  it  was  Pilate  who  turned 
away.  He  did  not  think  any  body  of  Christians  believed  the  whole  of  the  Bible 
to  be  inspired,  nor  did  he  (sensation).  There  were  many  things  said  there  by  bad 
men,  which  was  not  God's  word ;  and  whenever  he  found  the  Apostles  contradict- 
ing God,he  believed  God  and  let  them  go.  He  did  not  find  in  the  Bible  that  God  was 
ever  below  us;  there  could,therefore  ,be  no  depression  of  man  to  his  standard,  Henever 
found  that  Christ  claimed  to  be  king  of  the  Jews,  and  Pilate  says  ^e  found  no  fault  in 
him.  He  did  not  find  Providence  making  men  idle  and  vicious,  for  Paul's  words  yet 
stand  good — '  If  any  man  will  not  work,  neither  shall  he  eat.'  He  considered  Mr. 
Holyoake's  objections  to  miracles  of  no  weight,  for  he  did  not  see  the  connection 
between  raising  a  man  from  the  dead  and  making  a  steam-engine.  Mr,  McG. 
behaved  better  this  night  than  before. 

Mr.  William  Carter  expressed  himself  dissatisfied  with  Mr.  Holyoake's  reply. 
He  considered  a  miracle  to  be  something  done  contrary  to  the  laws  of  nature, 
which  making  a  steam-engine  could  not  be.  He  would  like  to  ask  what  was  lost 
by  being  a  Christian  ?  He  considered  it  wrong  to  condemn  Christianity  because 
of  the  inconsistent  lives  of  Christians. 

[Mr.  Holyoake  had  not  done  anything  of  the  kind,  but  he  made  no  reply,  leaving, 
as  is  his  custom,  the  last  words,  whatever  they  may  be,  to  his  opponents.] 

To  prevent  the  audience  being  so  numerous  or  of  so  noisy  a  composition  as  be- 
fore, a  higher  price  of  admission  was  charged,  and  the  advantage  in  point  of  order 
and  instruction  was  great.  The  second  night,  and  the  appearance  of  the  Rev. 
Woodville  Woodman,  will  be  narrated  another  week. 

The  controversy  concerning  the  Blackburn  lectures  is  still  proceeding  in  the 
Preston  and  Blackburn  newspapers,  which  will,  in  a  connected  form,  be  shortly  in- 
troduced to  the  readers  of  the  Reasoner.  G.  J.  Holyoake. 


TO    FRIENDS    ON    FARMS, 


Mr.  George  Vasey,  with  whose  name  many  social  reformers  are  acquainted, 
has  just  published  '  Delineations  of  the  Ox  Tribe ;  or,  the  Natural  History  of 
Bulls,  Bisons,  and  Buffaloes,  exhibiting  all  the  known  species  and  the  more  remark- 
able varipties  of  the  Genus  Bos,'  illustrated  with  seventy-two  engravings,  by  the 
author.  The  primary  object  of  the  work,  is  to  give  as  correct  and  comprehensive 
a  view  of  the  animals  composing  the  ox  tribe,  as  the  present  state  of  our  know- 
ledge will  admit,  accompanied  by  authentic  figures  of  all  the  known  species  and 
the  more  remarkable  varieties. 

Although  this  genus  (comprising  all  those  Ruminants  called  buffaloes,  bisons, 
and  oxen  generally)  is  as  distinct  and  well  characterised  as  any  other  genus  in  the 
animal  kingdom,  yet  the  facts  which  are  at  present  known  respecting  the  various 
species  which  compose  it,  are  not  sufficiently  numerous  to  enable  the  naturalist  to 
divide  them  into   sub-genera.     This   is  abundantly  proved   by   the  unsuccessful 


THE  REASONER. 


363 


result  of  those  attempts  which  have  already  been  made  to  arrange  them  into  minor 
groups.  Nor  can  we  wonder  at  this  want  of  success,  when  we  consider  that  even 
many  of  the  species  usually  regarded  as  distinct  are  by  no  means  clearly  defined. 

The  second  object,  therefore,  of  this  trdatise,  is  (by  bringing  into  juxta-position 
all  the  most  important  facts  concerning  the  various  individual  specimens  which 
have  been  described,  and  by  adding  several  other  facts  of  importance  which  have 
not  hitherto  been  qpticed)  to  enable  the  naturalist  to  define,  more  correctly  than 
has  yet  been  done,  the  peculiarities  of  each  species. 

A  third  object  is  to  direct  the  attention  of  travellers  more  particularly  to  this 
subject ;  in  order  that,  by  their  exertions,  our  information  upon  this  class  of  ani- 
mals may  be  rendered  more  complete. 

A  new  and  important  feature  in  the  present  monograph,  is  the  introduction  of 
a  table  of  the  number  of  vertebraa,  carefully  constructed  from  an  examination  of 
the  actual  skeletons,  by  which  will  be  seen  at  a  glance  the  principal  osteological 
differences  of  species  which  have  hitherto  been  confounded  with  each  other. 

In  the  present  work  no  description  has  been  given  without  investigation ;  no 
statement  made  which  cannot  be  substantiated;  no  fact  advanced  which  cannot  be 
verified ;  the  engraved  figures  are  correct  delineations  of  form  and  texture,  ideal 
beauty  and  artistic  effect  being  considered  subordinate  to  truth  ;  even  the  minutest 
details  have  been  scrutinised  by  comparison  with  the  living  animal,  or  the  best 
specimens  in  the  museums.'  We  notice  this  work,  of  which  our  agricultural 
friends  will  be  glad  to  hear.  G.  J.  H. 


GUIDE  TO  THE  LECTURE  ROOM. 

Literary  Institution,  John  St.,  Fitzroy  Sq. — Oct. 
26th  [7],  Henry  Knight,  'God -what  is  it?' 
October  28th  [Sjj,  Discussion  in  the  Coffee  Room. 
Question,  '  What  are  the  best  means  of  im- 
proving the  condition  of  the  working  classes  ?' 

National  Hall,  242,  High  Holborn.— Oct.  26th, 
[8],  P.  W.Perfitt  will  lecture. 

Hall  of  Science,  City  Road. —  Oct.  26th  [7], 
Thomas  Cooper,  '  Roman  History.' 

Institute  of  Progress,  10a,  Upper  George  St., 
Sloane  Square. — Friday  evenings  [8],  Discussion. 
Oct.  26th  [7],  Thornton  Hunt,  'Where  is  the 
People  and  its  Freedom  ?' 

Eclectic  Institute,  Denmark  Street,  Soho.  — 
Every  Friday  [8J],  Mr.  J.  B.  O'Brien,  '  Home  and 
Foreign  Politics.'  Every  Sunday  [74],  on  '  Moral 
and  Social  Science.' 

Areopagus  Coffee  and  Reading  Room,  59,  Church 
Lane,  Whitechapel. — Every  Sunday,  Monday,  and 
Wednesday  (8),  a  Lecture  or  Discussion. 

City  Forum  Coffee  House,  60,  Red  Cross  Street. 
— Every  Sunday,  Monday,  and  Thursday  [8iJ],  a 
Discussion. 

Commercial  Hall,  Philpot  Street,  Commercial 
Road  East. — Every  Tuesday  and  Thursday  even- 
ng  [8],  a  Discussion. 

ADVERTISEMENTS. 

JOSEPH  BARKER'S  WORKS. 

Just  published,  No.  1,  price  One  Penny,  to  be 

continued  weekly,  until  complete, 

•LECTURES    ON    THE    CHURCH    OF 

ENGLAND  PRAYER-BOOK.' 

Channing's  Works,   complete  in  6   vols., 

cloth,  lettered   8    0 

Norton's   Reasons   against  Trinitarianism, 

1  vol.,  boards    1     4 

Taylor  on  Original  Sin,  1  vol 1     4 

Law's  Serious  Call,  1  vol I     4 


The  Violet,  a  collection  of  Poems  for  all 

Times 0    4 

Democratic  Hymns  and  Songs 0    4 

Barker's  Hired  Ministry,  1  vol 1     0 

Fowler's  Works,  in  1  vol.,  cloth  boards. ...     5    0 

CAU  the  Tracts  can  be  had  separately.) 

Spurzheim's  Natural  Laws  of  Man  (nearly  ready). 

Published  by  G.  Turner,    Stoke-upon-Trent. 

J.  Watson  3,  Queen's  Head  Passage,  Paternoster 

Bow;  A.  Hey  wood,  Oldham  Street,  Manchester. 

Publishing  by  B.  D.  Cousins,  Helmet  Court,  337i, 
Strand,  London, 

ESSAYS  ON  THE  HUMAN  CHARACTER, 
by  Robert  Owen.     Price  Is.,  post-free  ls.4d. 

Six  Lectures  on  Charity,  by  Robert  Owen. 
Price  6d.,  if  by  post  8d. 

The  True  Origin,  Object,  and  Organisation  of 
the  Christian  Religion.  Translated  from  the 
French  of  Franfiois  Uupuis,  by  Charles  Southwell. 
Price  Is.,  if  by  post  Is.  4d.  Postage  stamps  may 
be  remitted  to  the  above  name  and  address. 

Good  Sense,  or  Natural  Ideas  opposed  to  Ideas 
that  are  Supernatural.  Translated  from  the  '  Bon 
Sens'  of  the  Cure  Meslier.  Bound  and  lettered, 
price  2s.,  post-free.  The  same,  stitched  in  a  neat 
wrapper,  for  Is.,  if  by  post,  Is,  4d. 

CLIO  RICKMAN'S  LIFE  OF  THOMAS 
PAINE,  with  a  portrait  (a  very  scarce  book).    6s. 

The  Christian  Mythology  Unveiled,  in  a  series 
of  Lectures,  by  Logan  Mitchell,  Esq.  In  19  num- 
bers at  3d.,  or  handsomely  bound  &  gilt  lettered  6s. 

' "  The  Christian  Mythology  Unveiled  "  is  ad- 
mirably written,  and  in  every  respect  it  is  valuable. 
It  evinces  learning,  acuteness,  strong  reasoning 
powers,  with  excellent  feelings,  and,  in  all  its 
parts,  it  shows  the  author  to  have  been  a  man  of 
taste,  with  an  elegant  and  highly-cultivated 
mind.  We  should  be  very  glad  to  see  it  cir- 
culated in  cheap  numbers,  for  the  enlightenment 
of  the  middle  classes  and  the  much-abused  and 
despised  tower  orders.' — Weekly  Dispatch, 


364  THE  REASONER. 


Me.  J.  P.  Adams  •writes : — '  The  readers  of  the  Reasoner  are  aware,  from  the  notices 
which  appeared,  that  propagandist  efforts  have  been  made  during  the  past  sum- 
mer by  open  air  addresses,  especially  in  the  vicinity  of  Victoria  Park.  The  com- 
mittee conducting  these  meetings  have  reason  to  believe  that  they  have  been  the 
means  of  adding  considerably  to  the  number  of  those  favourable  to  the  views  ad- 
vocated in  the  Reasoner,  and,  pleased  with  their  success,  they  propose,  as  an  ap- 
propriate finale  to  their  labours,  a  Social  Tea  Party  and  Entertainment,  for  which 
purpose  they  have  engaged  the  Hall  of  Science,  City  Road,  for  Monday  evening, 
November  17th  ;  and  as  most  of  their  new  friends  will  join  them  on  this  occasion, 
they,  with  the  permission  of  the  editor,  earnestly  invite  the  presence  of  those  old 
and' tried  friends,  whose  contributions  to  the  i?easo»K?r  have  rendered  such  valuable 
aid  in  the  work  of  reformation.  The  committee  will  use  every  exertion  to  make 
the  gathering  worthy  of  the  occasion,  and  have  already  received  promises  of  at- 
tendance from  many  well-known  for  their  advocacy  of  kindred  opinions.  Mr. 
Thornton  Hunt  has  consented  to  preside,  and  the  musical  department  is  confided 
to  Mr.  John  Lowry,  who  will  enliven  the  proceedings  with  his  original  and  pro- 
gressive songs.  Tickets  can  be  had  of  Mr.  J.  Watson,  3,  Queen's  Head  Passage, 
and  Mr.  E.  Truelove,  Literary  Institution,  John  Street.  Those  friends  who  may  be 
desirous  of  addressing  the  assembly  will  please  to  communicate  with  John  P.Adams, 
Hon.  Secretary,  I,  King  Street,  Stepney.' 

The  Christian  Socialist,  of  Satui'day  last,  in  a  generous  welcome  of  Kossuth, 
observes  : — '  Kossuth  is  that  which  is  rarest  of  all  things  now-a-days,  a  believer  ;  a 
believer  not  in  a  mere  "superintending  Providence,"  not  in  a  mere  benevolent 
Deity,  but  in  a  living,  personal,  national  God.  In  almost  all  of  his  appeals,  you 
will  find  him  asking  victory,  not  from  skill  or  force,  but  from  the  "  God  of  the 
Magyars.'''  The  reader  will  please  to  lay  particular  emphasis  upon  the  word 
'  Magyars,^  for  without  them,  as  Kossuth  knows  very  well,  his  cause  would  have 
come  badly  off. 

Lady  Mary  Wortly  Montague  remarks  in  her  Letters,  Vol.  I.,  Letter  12  : — 'I 
could  not  help  laughing  at  the  Nuns  of  St.  Lawrence  showing  me  a  wooden  head 
of  our  Saviour,  which  they  assured  me  spoke  during  the  siege  of  Vienna ;  and,  as 
a  proof  of  it,  bid  me  remark  his  mouth  which  had  been  open  ever  since.' 

The  English  Republic  for  October  was  published  as  usual,  and  is,  as  usual,  an 
excellent  number,  containing  matter  also  which  we  hope  to  find  occasion  to  contro- 
vert. 

Mr.  Meredith's  book  has  been  sent.  No  letter  has  arrived  from  Mr.  Lord,  of 
Todmorden. 

We  have  received  No.  35  of  the  Zoist  for  October.  It  contains  a  steel  plate  of 
St.  Ewald. 

The  new  number  of  the  Westminster  and  Foreign  Quarterly  contains  several 
articles  of  great  interest  to  the  readers  of  the  Reasoner,  especially  a  reply  to 
Rogers's  'Reason  and  Faith.' 

Mr.  Holyoake  left  London  again  for  Lincoln  on  Saturday,  to  proceed  to  York  on 
Sunday,  and  to  Middlesbro'  on  Monday,  expecting  to  reach  Accrington  on  Friday, 
Preston  on  Sunday,  returning  to  London  on  Monday,  to  fulfil  an  engagement  to 
lecture  on  Education  in  the  Town  Hall,  Brighton,  on  Tuesday,  the  28th. 


London:  Printed  by  Holyoake  Brothers,  3,  Queen's  Head  Passaije,  Paternoster-row;  and  Published 
by  J.  Watson,  3,  Queen's  Head  Passage,  Paternoster-row. — VVednesday,  October  22nd,  1851. 


AND 

THEOLOGICAL     EXAMINER. 

They  who  believe  that  they  hare  Truth  ask  no  farour,  save  that  of  being  heard:  they  dare  the 
judgment  of  Mankind  :  refused  Co-operation,  they  invoke  Opposition,  for  Opposition  is  their 
Opportunity. — Eoitok. 

LECTURES  IN  STOCKPORT  AND  CORRESPONDENCE  FROM  COLNE. 


Stockport,  thanks  to  its  spirited  shareholders,  who  have  to  contend  against  un- 
expected opposition,  still  retains  its  excellent  Hall.  The  Manchester  Hall  is  to  be 
a  library,  the  Oldham  Hall  is  a  Casino,  but  sold  to  the  teetotallers — but  Stockport 
still  enjoys  the  advantage  of  the  Lyceum  (its  new  name),  which  is  also  used  by 
the  magistrates  as  a  county  court.  I  delivered  three  lectures  in  it.  One  on  '  Po- 
pular Education — or  what  every  Man  ought  to  know,'  two  on  speculative  topics.  Mr. 
"Williams  and  other  Chartist  speakers  took  part  in  debate,  the  opposition  part  of 
which  was  at  times  pertinent  and  animated.  A  Catholic,  who  continued  seated, 
also  made  a  speech,  but  he  did  not  seem  to  care  much  for  his  church,  as  he  did 
not  rise  to  defend  it.  Stockport  delights  in  one  Mr.  Fogg,  a  universal  genius,  who 
writes  epitaphs,  epics,  sells  porter,  coal,  and  poetry,  and  makes  bad  speeches. 
Fogg  would  be  a  fortune  to  a  dull  people,  but  is  thrown  away  on  Stockport,  which 
does  not  appreciate  him.  After  various  interjections  he  persisted  in  speaking, 
when  Mr.  Cranks  desired  to  be  heard  on  a  point  of  order;  and  when  Fogg  had 
done,  I  said,  *  As  that  gentleman  refused  to  attend  to  the  chairman,  he  can  have 
no  claim  that  anybody  else  should  attend  to  him.  He  who  disowns  the  authority 
of  the  president  of  the  meeting,  justifies  the  meeting  in  not  paying  deference  to 
him — he  disqualifies  himself  in  the  most  public  manner  from  being  heard.  And 
I,  therefore,  call  upon  another  gentleman  to  address  us.'  Fogg  was  disquieted  and 
silent. 

Colne  is  disturbed  in  its  peace.  Mr.  Earnshaw  sufifereth  in  mind  touching  the 
fortunes  of  Mr.  McGregor,  and  has  addressed  a  letter  to  the  editor  of  the  Preston 
Guardian,  saying  : — '  Sir, — I  am  quite  sure  your  impartiality,  as  a  public  journal- 
ist, will  give  a  place  in  your  next  publication  to  a  few  observations  I  beg  to  offer 
on  a  paragraph  in  the  Preston  Guardian  of  the  20th  instant,  among  the  local  news, 
headed  Burnley,  referring  to  Mr.  0.  J.  Holyoake's  lecture.  In  the  latter  part  of 
the  paragraph  before  alluded  to,  it  is  stated  that  when  Mr.  McGregor  presented 
himself  at  the  lecture  at  Burnley  to  reply,  Mr.  Holyoake  rose  and  said,  "  that 
whatever  the  gentleman  might  say  he  could  not  reply  to  him,  for  on  two  previous 
evenings  at  Colne  the  same  speaker  occupied  the  meeting  with  a  great  number  of 
irrelevant  remarks." 

'  I  was  present  at  the  second  and  third  lectures  given  by  Mr.  Holyoake  at  Colne, 
and  gave  myself  the  trouble  to  take  copious  notes  of  what  he  said,  and  the  follow- 
ing abstract  from  these  notes  will  show  that  Mr.  McGregor's  objections  and  ques- 
tions were  strictly  to  the  point  at  issue : — On  the  first  night  Mr.  Holyoake  was 
forced  to  admit  that  he  did  not  understand  the  language  of  Christians  in  many 
things ;  for  instance,  when  they  spoke  of  a  God,  and  that  God  was  a  spirit.  He 
said  he  did  not  know  whether  the  opinion  held  by  Christians  was  right  or  wrong. 


[No.  283.]  INo.  24,  Vol  XI.] 

[ONE  PENNY.] 


366 


THE  REASONEB. 


(I  was  not  present  the  first  lecture,  but  this  matter  was  discussed  again  after  the 
third  lecture.)  On  the  second  night,  Mr.  Holyoake  having  stated  that  the  Church 
of  Rome  was  the  most  scriptural,  consistent,  open,  honest,  and  straightforward, 
and  the  oldest  of  any  Christian  denomination  in  Europe,  Mr.  McGregor  showed, 
from  the  bulls  of  two  or  three  different  popes,  and  other  authorities,  that  Popery 
was  neither  scriptural,  consistent,  nor  straightforward.  Whilst  Mr.  McGregor 
was  showing  it  was  not  the  oldest,  Mr.  Holyoake  denied  having  said  so,  and  when 
it  was  proved  that  he  had  said  so,  he  retracted  the  assertion.  On  the  third  night, 
after  Mr.  Holyoake  concluded,  Mr.  McGregor  reviewed  the  three  lectures, 
proving  that  a  great  many  of  Mr.  Holyoake's  assertions  were  untrue,  and  that 
though  Mr.  Holyoake  professed  to  rely  only  upon  facts  and  experience,  and  to 
believe  nothing  without  evidence,  yet,  when  the  truth  of  his  statements  wns  denied, 
and  proof  demanded,  he  never  even  attempted  to  prove  them;  and  whilst  Mr. 
Holyor.ke  and  his  committee  professed  great  regard  for  candour  and  charity, 
Mr.  McGregor  showed  how  in  several  instances  they  had  disregai-ded  charity, 
candour,  and  even  truth.  A  little  before  the  meeting  broke  up,  Mr.  Holyoake 
spoke  of  his  persecutions  and  sufferings,  and  stated  to  the  meeting  that  one  of  his 
children  died  from  inanition  and  starvation  whilst  he  was  in  gaol.  Mr.  McGregor 
showed  that  this  statement  w-as  untrue,  since,  according  to  the  account  given  in  the 
book  published  by  Mr.  Holyoake,  it  would  appear  that  the  mother  and  child  re- 
moved to  a  family  where  several  were  ill  of  a  contagious  fever,  which  soon  seized 
the  child,  and  of  which  she  died.  Much  surprise  was  caused  by  Mr.  Holyoake 
offering  no  explanation  of  this,  and  the  chairman's  somewhat  abruptly  declaring 
the  meeting  to  be  at  an  end. 

'Under  these  circumstances,  I  am  much  astonished  at  the  boldness  with  which 
the  statements  I  have  before  referred  to  were  made  at  the  meeting  in  Burnley. 

'  Colne,  24th  Sept.,  1851.  '  J.  Eaknshaw.' 

As  soon  as  I  had  time  I  sent  the  following  reply 

TO   THE   EDITOR   OE   THE   *  PRESTON   GUARDIAN.' 

Six, — There  is  an  Italian  proverb  which  says,  *  every  medal  has  its  reverse,' 
meaning — to  every  question  there  are  two  sides.  Your  correspondent  in  Colne 
can  never  have  thought  of  this,  or  he  would  not  have  penned  his  letter  touching 
my  lectures  in  the  Piece-Hall  of  that  town. 

No  doubt  I  used  the  word  '  irrelevant '  in  speaking  at  Burnley,  but  the  chief 
reason  I  assigned  for  not  replying  to  the  person  referred  to  was,  that '  he  seemed 
to  me  to  be  irresponsible  for  his  words.'  If  I  i-efused  to  debate  with  a  person 
because  of  his  irrelevancy  merely,  discussion  would  be  impossible  in  Colne,  of 
which  Mr.  Earnshaw  was  both  witness  and  instance. 

A  person,  after  my  first  lecture,  inquired  of  me  if  I  had  not  said  '  I  could  not 
understand  the  language  of  Christians.'  I  answered  '  I  had,'  meaiiing  there  was 
some  of  the  language  of  Christians  that  I  could  not  understand.  The  speaker  then 
said, '  If  I  could  not  understand  their  language,  I  could  not  tell  whether  they  were 
right  or  wrong.'  I  replied, '  Truly  I  could  not  in  the  respects  in  ivhich  I  could  not 
understand  them.'  In  what  way  this  amounts  to  saying  that  '  I  could  not  tell 
whether  the  opinion  of  Christians  [implying  their  whole  doctrine]  wa^  right  or 
wrong,'  I  leave  your  readers  to  judge.  But  Mr.  Earnshaw  tells  us  he  was  not 
present  on  the  night  when  this  took  place,  and  yet  he  writes  upon  what  he  cannot 
be  a  competent  reporter.  Is  it '  relevant'  in  Colne  for  people  to  write  public  letters 
of  criticism  upon  what  takes  place  in  their  absence  ? 


THE  REASONER.  S67 


The  Roman  Church  I  described  '  as  \iemg,I thought,  the  oldest  European  church.' 
In  reply  to  -wliich  it  was  said  that  other  churches  preceded  it,  overlooting  that  I 
said  '  it  was,  I  thought,  the  oldest  (in  the  sense  of  existent)  of  the  European 
churches.'  My  lecture  being  not  upon  ancient  churches,  but  upon  the  'Churches 
around  us'  now.  It  was  said  that  I  did  not  use  the  words  '  I  think  it  is  the 
oldest.'  I  answered  I  certainly  did.  Two  or  three  persons  said  '  no'  (this  is  what 
your  '  relevant'  correspondent  calls  a  proof).  I  added,  as  that  was  my  meaning,  I 
would  (if  I  had  omitted  them)  supply  those  words.  This  is  what  Mr.  Earnshaw 
describes  as  '  retracting  '  an  assertion.  Then  I  observed  that  the  point  in  dispute 
was  not  the  age,  but  the  leading  features  of  doctrine  of  the  Roman  Church  as  re- 
peated in  the  churches  of  the  day.  But  no  discussion  could  I  obtain  on  the  real 
points  at  issue,  so  '  relevant'  were  Colne  disputants. 

Let  any  one  refer  to  the  report  in  the  Blackburn  Standard  of  the  conduct  at 
Burnley  of  the  person  whose  mouthpiece  Mr.  Earnshaw  makes  himself,  and  say 
whether  that  is  a  man  whom  I  ought  to  be  called  upon  to  reply  to  repeatedly. 
During  two  ni;ihts  I  answered  him  notwithstanding  his  rudeness,  vulgarity,  and 
misrepresentations.  On  the  third  night,  and  not  till  then,  I  said  he  waa  certainly  one 
of  those  persons  not  responsible  for  the  use  of  words,  so  incoherent  was  his  em- 
ployment of  them.  To  continue  to  answer  such  a  person,  was  to  subject  myself  to 
the  lowest  order  of  opponency.  I  therefore  declined  to  reply  to  him  further,  that 
an  opportunity  might  be  afforded  for  some  gentleman  to  speak,  by  whom  serious 
and  educated  Christians  would  consent  to  be  judged.  This  was  why  I  did  not  reply 
to  Mr.  McGregor  again — nor  did  I  notice  him  at  Burnley,  althoagh  he  reappeared 
there  three  nights. 

What  Mr.  Earnshaw  reports  of  observations  made  by  this  individual  as  not  re- 
plied to,  I  still  leave  unnoticed  for  the  reason  alleged.  Mr.  Earnshaw  says, '  much 
surprise  was  caused'  bymy  not  answering.  Can  this  be  true  ?  After  I  had  said 
that  I  should  not  reply  to  Mr.  McGregor  any  more,  the  audience  would  have  been, 
or  ought  to  have  been  '  surprised  '  if  I  had.  Is  this  another  of  Mr.  Earnshaw's 
relevances  to  expect  me  to  reply  after  I  had  declared  I  should  not  1 

But  Mr.  Earnshaw  omits  one  thing  which  he  should  have  mentioned — namely, 
that  I  said  several  times  that  if  any  gentleman  present  choosed  to  take  up  any 
objection  made,  and  put  it  to  me  on  his  own  personal  responsibility,  I  would 
answer  it.  Mr.  Earnshaw  understood  this  very  well,  for  he  rose  and  asked  if  I 
would  answer  him  one  question  which  I  had  refused  to  answer  to  Mr.  McGregor  ? 
— and  I  answered  Mr.  E.,  and  I  would  have  done  the  same  by  any  other  Chi'is- 
tian  present.  So  that  if  my  explanations  were  not  full  it  was  not  my  fault.  It 
would  have  afforded  me  pleasure  to  have  said  that  any  who  would  read  the  passage 
from  the  '  History  of  the  Last  Trial  for  Atheism  '  referred  to,  would  see  how 
erroneous  was  the  statement  Mr.  Earnshaw  reproduced. 

Out  of  respect  to  the  readers  of  the  Guardian  I  make  this  reply,  which  otherwise 
I  should  not  feel  called  upon  to  notice  at  all.  G.  J.  H. 


Whether  my  reply  has  appeared  in  the  Guardian  I  do  not  know;  but  as  the 
editor  has  great  fairness  I  suppose  it  has,  unless  he  deems  Mr.  Earnshaw  unlikely 
to  interest  his  readers  any  further. 

Bting  called  to  London  so  suddenly  in  consequence  of  Mrs.  Martin's  death,  I 
had  to  break  engagements  in  Preston  and  Accrington.  I  wrote  to  both  towns,  un- 
dertaking to  pay  for  the  hire  of  the  Halls,  the  placards,  and  all  expenses  incurred 


368 


THE  REASONER. 


on  my  account.  There  was  not  time  to  get  out  placards  announcing  my  absence, 
and  the  audience  in  Preston  were  informed  at  the  doors.  In  Accrington,  bills  were 
put  out  announcing  the  postponement. 

Being  asked  when  at  Colne  by  some  persons,  who  professed  to  be  in  communica- 
tion with  Mr.  John  Brindley,  of  Tarvin  Hall,  whether  I  would  meet  that  gentle- 
man, I  answered  that  I  would,  provided  he  consented  to  debate  some  useful  pro- 
positions. Asked  to  draw  up  mine,  I  prepared  the  following,  but  I  have  not  heard 
further  on  the  matter,  nor  did  I  expect  I  should  : — 

Mr.  Holyoake  will  maintain  the  affirmative  of  both  these  propositions  against 
Dr.  John  Brindley,  of  Tarvin  Hall. 

T.  That  the  eternal  punishment  of  men  for  the  intelligent  disbelief  of  Chris- 
tianity (the  doctrine  both  of  the  Scriptures  and  the  orthodox  Sects)  is  immoral. 

II.  That  we  have  not  sufficient  evidence  to  believe  in  the  existence  of  a  Supreme 
Being  independent  of  Nature.  Q,  J.  Holtoake. 

JOHN  OF   TUAM  PREACHING  IN  LONDON. 


Dr.  M'Hale,  the  Roman  Catholic  Archbishop  of  Tuam,  has  been  preaching  at 
the  Roman  Catholic  chapel  in  Rosomon  Street,. Clerkenwell.  The  Rev.  the  Arch- 
bishop preached  from  the  altar,  taking  his  text  from  St.  Luke,  the  11th  chapter. 
The  sermon  had  chiefly  reference  to  the  Virgin  Mary.  He  said  the  form  of  prayer 
called  '  the  rosary,'  owes  its  origin  to  the  celebrated  St.  Dominick,  who  when 
Europe  was  orer-run  with  infidelity  and  vice,  was  raised  up  by  the  Almighty. 
The  sectaries,  or  heretics  of  that  time,  inveighed  with  peculiar  bitterness  against 
the  blessed  Virgin,  However  peculiar  in  other  respects,  there  has  been  one  feature 
common  to  all,  distinguishing  well  the  parent  from  which  they  sprung,  and  that 
error  has  existed  from  the  time  of  Nestorius,  who  first  raised  his  impious  voice 
against  the  blessed  Virgin,  refusing  to  call  her  the  'Mother  of  God.'  Nestorius 
retired,  and  the  Almighty  avenged  his  infidelity  by  occasioning  his  tongue  to  be 
eaten  out  with  worms  (great  sensation,  and  counting  of  beads  amongst  the  congre- 
gation), St.  Dominick  knowing  well  what  reverence  was  due  to  her  who  was  pro- 
nounced by  the  angel  sent  by  God  himself  as  blessed,  instituted  a  form  of  prayer, 
consisting  of  15  decades,  representing  the  15  mysteries  of  the  Christian  religion,  5 
joyous  ones,  5  sorrowful  ones,  and  5  trium  phant  ones. 

"When  the  enemies  of  the  Cross  sought  to  upset  Christianity  in  Europe,  and  to 
destroy  every  remnant  of  civilisation  which,  it  is  admitted,  was  the  ofifspring  of  the 
Catholic  church,  and  for  this  purpose  had  combined  their  scattered  forces  into  one 
formidabe  fleet  in  the  Mediterranean,  then  the  princes  and  the  Pope  and  the  chief 
men  of  Europe  found  it  necessary  to  combined  their  forces  also.  They  met  in  the 
Mediterranean,  and  the  famous  battle  of  Lepanto  ensued.  Upon  that  occasion  the 
formidable  fleet  of  the  enemy  was  dispersed,  and  the  arms  of  the  Christians  were 
crowned  with  success.  That  battle  attests  for  over  the  efficacy  of  that  form  of 
prayer  which  this  day  is  recommended  to  your  adoption  and  devotion.  In  con- 
clusion, I  beg  of  you  all  to  recommend  yourselves  in  a  peculiar  manner  to  the 
blessed  Virgin.  And  as  it  is  at  the  hour  of  death  that  the  blessed  Virgin  peculiarly 
shows  her  aid,  then  we  may  apply  the  words  of  St,  Bernard,  'If  you  are  tossed  on 
the  waves  of  despair,  invoke  Mary ;  if  you  are  elated  with  the  spirit  of  pride, 
invoke  Mary ;  if  you  are  threatened  with  the  gulf  of  sensuality,  invoke  Mary.' 
'  Mary,'  he  says,  '  signifies  the  star  of  the  sea,'  and  as  we  are  sailing  on  the  tem- 
pestuous ocean,  and  our  friends  are  looking  at  the  haven  at  which  they  have  arrived, 
anxious  for  our  arrival  at  the  port,  we  ought  to  look  to  that  star  which  has  been 
the  guide  of  those  who  have  outridden  thp  storm. 


THE  REASONER.  369 


%amtnatt0it  nf  tlje  |3rr55. 


Religious  Scettples  sgsttltinq  ik  Murder. — A  most  extraordinary  crime 
was  committed  in  the  Theatre  des  C^Iestins,  at  Lyons,  on  Monday  night  week, 
during  the  performance.  Just  after  the  curtain  rose  for  the  second  act  of  Adrienne 
Lecouvreur  a  slight  cry  was  heard  in  the  principal  gallery,  and  it  was  followed  by 
extraordinary  agitation.  The  cry  was  uttered  by  a  young  woman  who  had  been 
stabbed  in  the  breast  with  a  larg  poignard  knife  by  a  man  seated  behind  her.  Her 
blood  spurted  on  the  persons  nearest  to  her,  and  she  was  immediately  conveyed  to 
a  saloon,  where  a  medical  man  paid  her  every  attention,  but  all  his  efforts  were 
unavailing,  and  in  a  few  minutes  she  expired.  The  assassin,  who  made  no  attempt 
to  escape,  was  secured.  He  is  a  young  man  named  Jobard,  aged  20,  clerk  to  M. 
Thiebaud,  a  tradesman  of  Dijon.  Having  embezzled  some  money  belonging  to  his 
master,  he  feared  detection,  and  resolved  to  get  rid  of  life.  But  having  received 
a  very  religious  education,  he  could  not  reconcile  himself  to  the  idea  of  suicide, 
because,  as  he  says,  he  would  have  had  no  time,  after  striking  the  fatal  blow,  to 
demand  pardon  of  God.  Accordingly  he  determined  to  commit  a  crime  which 
should  cause  him  to  be  sent  to  the  scaffold ;  the  period  which  would  elapse  between 
the  perpetration  of  it  and  his  execution  being  sufficient,  he  said,  to  enable  him  to 
make  his  peace  with  the  Almighty.  He  hesitated  some  time  as  to  who  should  be 
his  victim.  First,  he  says,  he  thought  of  killing  the  President  of  the  Republic,  on 
his  visit  to  Dijon ;  but  the  reflection  that  that  would  bring  disgrace  on  his  mother, 
who  lived  in  the  town,  prevented  him.  Then  he  entertained  the  idea  of  murdering 
a  priest  as  he  was  returning  from  celebrating  mass,  and  had  said  to  himself  that 
such  a  crime  would  not  compromise  the  victim's  salvation,  as  he  would  probably 
then  be  in  a  state  of  grace ;  but  this  idea  he  also  abandoned.  At  last  he  resolved 
to  kill  a  woman,  but  without  fixing  on  any  one  in  particular.  He  thereupon  de- 
termined to  go  to  Paris,  but  instead  of  taking  the  railway  train  for  that  city  he 
took  the  steamer  to  Lyons.  Immediately  after  his  arrival  he  bought  a  large  poignard 
knife,  and  then  proceeded  to  a  house  of  ill-fame  with  the  intention  of  killing  some 
girl ;  but  his  courage  failed  him.  He  then  proceeded  to  the  theatre.  He  quietly 
witnessed  the  first  act  of  the  piece;  and  on  the  commencement  of  the  second  drew 
forth  his  knife.  He  carelessly  picked  his  nails  with  it  for  a  moment  or  two,  and 
then  suddenly  plunged  it  with  all  his  force  into  the  left  part  of  the  breast  of  the 
victim .  Her  husband,  who  was  seated  by  her  side,  not  seeing  the  blood,  cried, '  What 
have  I  done  that  you  strike  my  wife  ? '  'Nothing, '  said  the  murderer,  with  great  sang 
froid.  '  Nothing ;  I  don't  even  know  you.'  The  unfortunate  woman  had  strength  to 
pluck  the  knife  from  the  wound,  and  she  was  then  removed.  She  was  the  wife  of 
M.  Ricard,  professor  of  mathematics  in  the  Lycee  of  Limoges,  and  daughter  of  the 
proviseur  of  the  same  college.  She  had  been  married  six  months,  and  was  enceinte. 
She  and  her  husband  had  only  arrived  the  previous  evening  at  Lyons  from  Limoges, 
on  their  way  to  visit  some  relatives  at  Avignon. — News  of  the  World, 

Unitarian  Quackerism. — If  the  Abrahams,  Jacobs,  Gideons,  Davids,  and  Solo- 
mons of  mankind  wish  to  have  many  wives  and  concubines,  it  is  their  God  who 

gives  them  to  them  or  allows  it If  the  Jews  wish  to  slaughter  all  the  men, 

women,  and  children  of  Canaan,  and  'leave  not  a  soul  alive,'  it  is  their  God  who 
leads  them  through  seas  and  rives,  on  dry  land,  who  feeds  and  clothes  them  forty 
years  in  a  desert,  suspends  the  laws  of  the  universe,  and  tramples  on  justice  and 
every  sympathy  and  feeling  of  human  brotherhood,  to  enable  them  to  do  the  bloody 


370 


THE  REASONER. 


work.  Do  you  father  the  penal  code,  the  aggressive  extirniinating  wars  recorded  in 
Jewish  history  upon  your  God  ?  Such  a  being  is  to  me  a  devil,  and  I  can  no  more 
honour  and  respect  him  than  I  can  Vishnu,  Moloch,  Jupiter,  Mars,  or  Bacchus. 
Away  with  such  a  being  from  the  earth  Will  you  say  that  a  wise  and  good  God,  in 
giving  to  man  a  law  of  life,  appeared  to  Abraham,  Moses^  David,  Isaiah,  Paul,  Luke, 
and  a  few  others,  whom  he  selected  for  the  purpose,  and  inspired  them  to  write  out 
his  last  will  and  testament,  in  a  language  which  not  one  in  a  million  of  the  human 
family  ever  did,or  ever  could,hear  and  understand ;  and  then  retired  from  further  in- 
tercourse with  men,  and  left  them  to  find  out  what  was  in  that  record,  as  best  they 
might  ?  That  an  infallible  rule  of  faith  and  practice  !  I  believe  God  has  given  to 
man  an  infallible  rule  of  faith  and  practice.  This  revelation  was  not  given  in 
dreams,  visions,  and  direct  oral  communications,  &c.  This  volume  was  not  writ- 
ten on  paper  or  parchment,  nor  did  any  human  agency  have  any  hand  in  writing  or 
preserving  the  laws  therein  recorded.  But  it  is  written  on  the  physical,  mental, 
social,  and  moral  constitution  of  every  man ;  not  in  Hebrew,  Greek,  Latin,  or 
English,  but  in  a  language  welUknown  and  common  to  every  human  being. — H. 
G.  Wright,  in  the  American  Liberator. 

Missionary  versus  God.— At  a  recent  meeting  of  the  London  Missionary 
Society  at  Bristol,  the  Rev.  W.  Harbutt  stated  the  following  as  a  fact  in  his  own 
expei'ience  in  the  Samoan  group  of  the  isles  of  the  Pacific  : — '  The  progress  made 
was  truly  gratifying.  All  had  left  idolatry  and  professed  Christianity.  Two 
thousand  members  were  in  their  churches,  and  two  hundred  teachers  were  now 
labouring  in  the  work.  Their  observance  of  the  Lord's  day  was  most  entire;  he 
never  saw  at  the  present  day  a  single  canoe  put  into  the  water  on  the  sabj>alh.  He 
didn't  say  they  all  loved  the  sabbath,  but  those  who  did  not  love  it  showed  a  kindly 
regard  for  the  feelings  of  those  who  did.  As  an  illustration  he  would  state  a  fact. 
On  one  day  in  the  year,  and  at  a  certain  hour  on  that  day,  a  particular  tide  flows 
into  the  island,  bringing  with  it  large  shoals  of  a  fish  called  by  the  natives  pololo, 
into  every  opnetng  in  the  island.  It  is  always  eight  days  after  the  full  moon  in 
the  month  of  November.  It  happened,  as  it  must  occasionally,  that  this  tide  fell 
on  Sunday.  They  were  very  fond  of  these  fish,  and  they  came  to  him  to  ask  what 
they  were  to  do,  as  the  tide  came  on  the  Lord's  day,  and  if  they  did  not  get  the 
fish  on  that  day  they  would  be  unable  to  do  so  again  for  364  days  ?  He  told  them 
to  use  their  own  minds;  but  they  pressed  him  to  give  his  opinion.  He  asked 
them  if  they  could  do  without  them?  They  said  "  Yes,  but  we  like  them."  He 
replied,  "  I  know  you  like  them,  but  if  you  can  do  without  them  there  is  no  neces- 
sity that  you  should  have  them,  and  it  is  works  of  necessity  and  of  mercy  alone  we 
are  taught  to  do  on  the  sabbath."  With  that  they  left  him.  In  the  morning,  for 
the  tide  flowed  in  at  day-break,  he  looked  out  on  the  shore  which  he  could  see  from 
his  house  fov  a  great  distance,  but  not  one  was  to  be  seen  gathering  fish.  That  was 
not  all,  the  people  of  the  neighboui'ing  villages,  hearing  that  they  had  taken  no  fish 
for  themselves,  sent  some  to  them,  so,  say  you,  they  kept  their  sabbath  and  had 
their  fish  too.  No,  but  they  told  them  that  as  they  had  broken  the  sabbath  in 
gathering  them  they  could  not  accept  them.' — [God  sent  the  fish  on  a  Sunday,  refus- 
ing to  send  them  on  Saturday,  or  postpone  their  visit  to  Monday ;  but  his  servant, 
the  missionary,  said  it  would  be  sinful  to  gather  them  on  Sunday  though  God  did 
choose  to  send  them  on  that  day.     Did  God  sin  in  sending  them  on  Sunday  ?] 

The  Lord's  Pkayer. — M.  Sadhir,  the  Viennese  humourist,  demanded,  on  his 
tiial,  whether  it  was  treasonable  to  repeat  the  Lord's  Prayer,  for  the  words  'deliver 
us  from  evil'  might  be  construed  into  a  prayer  to  get  rid  of  the  Government! 


THE  RBA80NER. 


371 


^fiz  ©trtJcrnmcnt  at  tf)e  aaiosl  of  Mature 
ir. 

BY    F.    B.    BARTON,  B.A. 


It  is  therefore,  I  think,  much  to  be  re- 
gretted that  Combe  in  his  excellent  work 
on  the  '  Constitution  of  Man,'  in  which 
he  so  ably  develops  the  laws  of  nature, 
continually  refers  to  the  '  Author  of  Na- 
ture,' '  the  Creator,'  '  the  Divine  Being,' 
evidently  as  a  person  or  being  distinct 
from  nature,  as  the  originator  and  direc- 
tor of  these  laws;  and  thus  he  hampers 
and  perplexes  himself  with  a  continual 
attempt  to  make  the  laws  of  nature  har- 
monise with  the  infinite  moral  attributes 
usually  ascribed  to  the  Creator — very 
seldom,  if  ever,  I  believe,  to  the  satisfac- 
tion of  his  readers. 

It  seems  to  me  utterly  vain  to  attempt 
to  reconcile  the  present  system  of  nature 
with  the  infinite  benevolence,  wisdom, 
and  power  usually  ascribed  to  the  Crea- 
tor. The  existence  of  evil  evinces  that 
the  supposed  author  of  nature  is  either 
deficient  in  wisdom,  benevolence,  or 
power;  either  he  willed  the  existence  of 
evil,  and  then  he  is  not  infinitely  benevo- 
lent,or  hedid  notwill  theexistence  of  evil, 
and  then  its  existence  shows  a  deficiency 
of  wisdom  and  power.  An  imperfect  sys- 
tem could  not  proceed  from  a  perfect 
being.  The  much-agitated  question  of 
the  '  origin  of  evil '  has  in  fact  been 
created  by  the  supposition  of  a  perfect 
being  as  the  author  of  nature.  First  a 
perfect  being  is  supposed,  and  then  it  ia 
attempted  to  reconcile  the  obviously-im- 
pertect  system  of  nature  with  the  perfec- 
tions of  this  assumed  being.  A  perfect- 
ly vain  and  fruitless  task !  But  if  the 
system  of  nature  be  viewed  by  itself, 
without  any  reference  to  a  divine  author, 
or  an  all-perfect  creator  —  merely  as 
an  isolated  system  of  facts — no  compa- 
rison could  be  made,  no  reconciliation 
would  be  necessary,  and  the  system  of 
nature  would  be  regarded  as  the  neces- 
sary result  of  some  unknown  cause — a 
combination  of  good  and  evil,  and  no 
more  to  be  censured  or  wondered  at  for 
being  what  it  is,  than  any  single  sub- 
stance or  fact  inmature  excites  censure 
or  surprise  on  account  of  its  peculiar 
constitution. 

The  assumption  of  a  supernatural 
being  as  the  author  and  director  of  the 
laws   of  nature,   appears  to  me   to  be 


attended  with  several  mischievous  re- 
sults ;  first,  you  make  every  infringe- 
ment of  the  laws  of  nature  an  offence 
against  the  supposed  divine  legislator, 
which,  to  a  pious  and  conscientious  mind, 
must  give  rise  to  distressing  remorse 
and  the  necessity  of  expressing  sorrow 
and  penitence ;  so  that,  in  addition  to  the 
bodily  suffering  or  the  moral  distress 
resulting  from  the  violation  of  a  physical 
or  moral  law,  there  is  the  mental  dis- 
quietude from  the  fear  of  having  in- 
curred the  displeasure  of  the  divine  law- 
giver ;  BO  that  two  punishments,  observe, 
are  incurred  instead  of  one.  Indeed 
Combe  refers  expressly  to  two  punish- 
ments for  every  act  of  disobedience  to 
the  divine  laws.  For  be  considers  that 
the  penalties  of  a  future  state  of  retribu- 
tion may  act  as  motives  to  promote 
obedience  to  the  natural  laws,  as  if  the 
penalties  resulting  from  the  laws  them- 
selves ought  not  alone  to  be  sufficient. 
He  says,  'Before  religion — a,c.,a  superna- 
tural religion — can  yield  its  full  practical 
fruits  in  this  world,  it  must  be  wedded 
to  a  philosophy  founded  on  the  laws  of 
nature;  it  must  borrow  light  and  strength 
from  them,  and  in  return  communicate 
its  powerful  sanc'i-us  towards  enforcing 
obedience  to  their  dictates  (p.  11)— ^  e., 
obedience  to  the  laws  qf  nature  in  this 
world  may  be  enforced  by  the  penalties 
threatened  by  supernaturalism  in  a  fu- 
ture state;  so  that  under  this  view,  a 
man  who  has  injured  his  health  and 
shortened  his  life  by  intemperance  is 
not  thereby  to  be  considered  sufficiently 
punished,  but  he  is  further  to  expect 
eternal  torments  in  a  future  state  of  re- 
tribution. A  view  certainly  calculated 
to  make  the  divine  legislator  appear  in 
a  very  cruel  and  vindictive  light. 

If  the  penalties  incurred  from  the  viola- 
tion of  the  laws  of  nature  are  to  be  con- 
sidered as  punishments  inflicted  by  a 
supernatural  being  to  ensure  obedience 
to  these  laws,  they  alone  ought  to  be 
sufficient  for  this  purpose;  if  they  are 
not  sufficient,  but  if  it  is  necessary  to 
threaten  also  severer  punishments  in  a 
future  state,  then  the  laws  of  nature  are 
useless,  as  inoperative,  and  ought  to  be 
repealed,   and  the    divine    government 


373 


THE  REA80NER. 


carried  on  only  by  means  of  the  penalties 
of  a  future  state.  It  is  most  absurd  to 
institute  two  sets  of  punishments—  a  less 
and  a  greater — for  the  same  offence. 
This  view  surely  makes  tUe  divine  go- 
vernment a  very  inconsistent  and  bung- 
ling affair.  It  appears  to  me  impos- 
sible to  make  the  view  of  the  natural 
laws,  physical  or  moral,  which  regards 
them  as  coming  from  a  supernatural 
legislator,  consistent  with  the  belief  of  a 
future  state  of  retribution. 

Again  :  under  this  view  the  penalties 
incurred  will  often  be  very  unjust,  op- 
pressive, and  cruel,  as  where  persons  are 
placed  in  circumstances  that  compel  them 
to  violate  the  laws  of  nature — as  when  they 
are  obliged  to  pursue  some  unwholesome 
employment  which  injures  their  health 
and  shortens  their  lives,  or  where  the 
penalty  is  incurred  by  an  accident, — as 
where  a  person  breaks  a  leg  or  an  arm, 
or  is  killed  by  a  fall;  or  where  a  person 
is  materially  or  fatally  injured  in  en- 
deavouring to  save  another  person  from 
injury  or  death.  In  such  cases  as  these, 
to  represent  the  unavoidable  pain  or 
death  incurred,  or  undergone  for  an  act 
of  benevolence,  as  a  punishment  inflicted 
for  a  transgression  of  the  laws  of  God, 
the  divine  legislator  is  to  violate  all 
our  notions  of  justice  and  right,  to  say 
nothing  of  goodness  or  mercy,  and  to 
represent  the  divine  being  as  grossly 
unjust  and  cruelly  vindictive. 

Combe  represents  the  laws  of  nature 
— considered  aS  ordained  by  a  super- 
natural legislator,  who  is  supposed  to  be 
distinguished  by  every  moral  attribute 
in  an  infinite  degree — as  far  inferior  in 
wisdom,  justice,  and  mercy,  to  the  laws 
of  human  institution.  Human  laws  con- 
sider the  motives  of  actions.  If  a  man 
is  compelled  to  kill  a  fellow-creature — 
i.e.,  if  he  does  so  in  self-defence — or  if 
the  injury  of  death  he  occasions  is  the 
result  of  accident,  he  is  not  punished. 
But  the  laws  of  nature  make  no  excep- 
tions ;  they  enter  into  no  moral  con- 
siderations. If  a  man  violates  the  laws 
of  nature  from  necessity,  or  ignorance, 
or  mistake,  it  makes  no  difference — he 
still  suffers  the  penalty ;  nay,  if  he  does  so 
in  endeavouring  to  perform  the  most  mere- 
torious  moral  action — as  to  save  the  life  of 
a  fellow-creature—  he  is  nevertheless  pu- 
nished— i.e.,  if  the  suffering  or  death 
thus  incurred  comes  from  a  divine  law- 
giver.    Combe  admits  the  independence 


of  the  laws  of  noture — i.e.,  that  he  who 
violates  the  natural  or  organic  laws  will 
be  punished,  however  much  he  may  ob- 
serve the  moral  law,  and  that  the  most 
virtuous  man  may  perish  if  he  goes  to 
sea  in  a  crazy  vessel  with  an  ignorant 
captain.  But  surely  this  view  of  the 
natural  laws  shows  they  do  not  proceed 
from  an  intelligent  moral  governor,  with 
whom  one  would  naturally  suppose 
mojal  considerations  would  be  para- 
mount. 

Again  :  if  all  suffering,  however  un- 
avoidably incurred,  is  to  be  regarded  as 
a  punishment  from  the  divine  legislator, 
to  attempt  to  alleviate  or  remove  the 
suffering  thus  incurred  would  be  to  fly 
in  the  face  of  the  divine  authority,  by 
endeavouring  to  set  aside  the  punish- 
ment it  had  inflicted;  just  as  it  would 
be  an  opposition  to  the  authority  of 
human  laws  to  rescue  a  prisoner  from 
custody  or  deliver  a  culprit  from  punish- 
ment. 

Under  the  view  of  the  government  of 
the  laws  of  nature  which  refers  them  to 
the  institution  and  direction  of  a  super- 
natural being,  the  sincerest  religion, 
the  strictest  obedience  to  the  will  of 
God,  would  be  shown  by  leaving  those 
who  suffeied  from  their  violation  of  the 
laws  of  Nature — whether  intentional  or 
accidental — to  their  pain  and  misery  as 
a  just  penalty,  which  it  would  be  im- 
piety, a  resistance  of  the  divine  will,  to 
attempt  to  remove  or  alleviate.  A  view 
certainly  not  calculated  to  promote  com- 
passion and  humanity  for  the  suffering 
and  distressed.  To  regard  the  laws  of 
nature  as  instituted  and  sustained  by  a 
supernatural  intelligent  governor  in- 
volves the  subject  in  inextricable  con- 
fusion and  difficulty.  The  two  views 
cannot  be  made  to  harmonise.  The  laws 
of  nature,  under  this  view,  are  inferior  to 
the  laws  of  man.  They  are  full  of  in- 
justice and  cruelty.  The  only  way  to 
avoid  the  difficulties  and  inconsistencies 
arising  from  referring  the  laws  of  nature 
to  a  supernatural  governor  is  to  view 
them  as  they  really  are — i.  e.,  as  certain 
facts  operating  according  to  an  esta- 
blished course.  The  existence  of  the 
facts  we  know,  their  origin  we  know  not. 
Nor  does  it  matter.  We  find  that  we 
are  placed  in  a  certain  relationship  to 
the  various  substances  and  influences  of 
nature; — it  is  our  interest,  as  we  desii-e 
to  avoid  pain  and  realise  pleasure,  to 


I 


THE  REASONEB. 


873 


take  care  that  this  relationship  is  bene- 
ficial, and  not  injurious  to  us, — i.  e.,  we 
must  observe  the  laws  which  govern  this 
relationship.  There  is  a  manifest  rela- 
tionship between  our  lungs  and  the  at- 
mosphere we  breathe;  if  the  atmos- 
phere is  plire,  we  breathe  freely  and 
pleasantly — if  impure,  our  lungs  are  in- 
juriously affected,  and  our  respiration 
becomes  difficult  and  painful.  It  matters 
not  whence  the  laws  of  nature  originate, 
it  is  sufficient  that  we  know  and  observe 
them.  In  the  penalties  which  their  vio- 
lation gives  rise  to,  there  is  sufficient 
motive  to  promote  their  observance ;  or 
if  not,  it  does  not  appear  likely  that  the 
belief  that  those  laws  and  their  penalties 
are  enjoined  by  a  supernatural  governor, 
under  the  sanctions  of  additional  and 
severer  penalties  in  a  future  state  after 
death,  will  be  more  operative  in  enforcing 
obedience.  Man  is  constituted  to  be 
more  affected  by  what  acts  upon  his 
senses  and  bodily  sensations  immedi- 
ately, than  by  what  acts  through  the 
imagination,  which  points  to  a  distant 
and  uncertain  period  of  operation.  Pre- 
sent, material  rewards  and  punishments 
are  likely  to  be  more  impressive  and 
actuating  than  those  which  are  remote 
and  spiritual. 

If  a  man  is  not  induced  to  quit  intem- 
perate habits  by  the  penalties  he  suffers  in 
his  health,  the  prospect  of  premature 
death,  the  loss  of  character  and  respec- 
tability, and  the  means  of  subsistence, 
it  is  not,  I  think,  likely  that  he  will  be 
induced  to  reform  by  the  threat  of  pu- 
nishment in  a  future  state  after  death, 
which  punishment,  be  it  observed,  ac- 
cording to  the  preachers'  doctrine,  may 
be  avoided  by  repentance  on  the  bed  of 
death,  to  which  period  he  will  most  pro- 
bably defer  the  relinquishment  of  his 
vice  and  promises  of  amendment — i.e., 
when  he  can  no  longer  practise  the  vicious 
habit — which  postponement  is  observed 
to  be  a  very  common  case.  The  single 
and  notorious  fact  that  the  most  profli- 
gate or  criminal  life  will  not  preclude 
the  attainment  of  the  everlasting  happi- 
ness of  heaven,  provided  repentance  and 
faith  in  the  atonement  of  Christ  are  felt 
at  the  period  of  death — even  though  that 
death  be  inflicted  by  the  laws  of  the 
country — is  to  me  a  sufficient  refutation 
of  the  assertion  of  the  moral  influence 
of  a  belief  in  a  future  state  of  retribution. 
When  we  speak  of  the  laws  of  nature, 


be  it  remembered,  we  mean  only  certain 
facts  which  operate  in  a  regular  and 
established  manner;  and  when  we  speak 
of  the  penalties  which  are  incurred  by  a 
violation  of  these  laws,  we  mean  the  pain 
or  injury  that  is  suffered  when  we  neg- 
lect the  relationship  which  exists  be- 
tween ourselves  and  the  substances  and 
influences  of  nature — as  when  we  attempt 
to  walk  on  ice  not  sufficiently  thick  to 
bear  our  weight,  or  approach  too  near 
fire  and  become  scorched  or  burnt.  We 
refer  not  to  any  moral  governor,  or 
supernatural  legislator,  as  the  author  of 
these  laws  and  the  inflictor  of  their 
penalties.  We  know  of  no  such  being, 
we  only  know  the  laws  and  their  penal- 
ties. But,  though  we  do  not  admit  the 
existence  of  a  supernatural  governor  or 
legislator — for  we  have  no  evidence  of  the 
existence  of  such  a  being — we  fully  and 
readily  acknowledge,  what  no  one  in  his 
senses  can  deny,  that  laws  exist  and  ope- 
rate, and  that  therefore  we  live  under  law 
and  government — ^justasmuchso,as  if  we 
acknowledged  a  supernatural  governor 
and  legislator ;  but  we  admit  only  pre- 
sent, sensible,  or  material  and  certain 
rewards  and  punishments,  and  not  those 
that  are  invisible,  spiritual,  remote,  and 
uncertain  ;  and  therefore  we  consider  we 
admit  the  most  important  and  most  ef- 
fectual sanctions  and  motives  of  the  two. 
That  man  is  under  the  government  of 
physical  laws  cannot  admit  of  a  doubt. 

His  physical  constitution  is  placed 
in  a  certain  relationship  to  physical  sub- 
stances and  influences — this  relationship 
is  pleasurable  or  painful  accordingly  as 
these  substances  and  influences  promote 
man's  health  and  safety,  or  his  injury 
and  destruction.  Pain  or  uneasiness  is 
the  warning  that  the  physical  laws  are 
being  violated  ;  pleasure  and  enjoyment 
the  reward  of  their  fulfilment,  and  the 
encouragement  to  obedience.  If  a  man 
over-exercises  his  brain,  and  does  not 
sufficiently  exercise  his  muscles — as  is 
too  often  the  case  with  the  mental  and 
sedentary  employments  of  our  pi-esent 
state  of  society — the  punishment  of  the 
violation  of  nature's  law,  which  enjoins 
a  certain  portion  of  muscular  exercise 
for  the  preservation  of  health,  strength, 
and  cheerfulness,is  experienced  in  bodily 
weakness  and  weariness,  and  in  the  ex- 
cessive sensibility  of  the  nervous  system 
— whence  arises  irritability  and  despon- 
dency,  in  fact  a  general  disorder    of 


374 


THE  RE  A  SON  ER. 


mind  and  body.  Every  one  long  kept 
in  confinement  at  a  sedentary  occupation 
feels  weary,  mentally  and  bodily,  and 
the  desire  for  exercise  and  fresh  air, 
■which  increases  the  longer  it  is  deferred, 
is  the  voice  of  nature  calling  for  these 
requisites  of  health  and  enjoyment.  How- 
perceptible  is  this  among  children,  in 
whom  the  desire  for  muscular  exercise 
is  always  strong,  when  they  have  been 
confined  for  several  hours  in  a  close 
Bchool-room  !  how  they  rush  out  into  the 
play-ground  to  give  exercise  to  their 
cramped  limbs  and  breathe  the  fresh  and 
stimulating  atmosphere  of  nature  ! 

Again  ;  intemperance  in  eating  and 
drinking  injures  the  digestive  apparatus, 
and,  in  time,  disorders  the  whole  system 
— and  confirmed  ill-health  and  prema- 
ture death  are  the  final  penalties.  "When- 
ever we  do  anything  injurious  to  our 
physical  system,  nature  always  warns  us 
of  danger  by  causing  uneasiness  or 
pain  ;  if  this  warning  is  disregarded,  the 
pain  is  increased  until  permanent  in- 
jury is  the  result,  and  then,  when  exis- 
tence becomes  a  burden,  death  kindly 
relieves  us  of  our  pain  and  misery.  Man 
is  certainly  under  the  constant  and  strict 
government  of  the  physical  laws ;  it  is 
true,  he  is  able  to  violate  them,  and 
thus  incur  danger  and  destruction  ;  but 
this  is  true  of  all  laws — even  the  precepts 
of  religion,  sanctioned  though  they  are 
by  a  belief  in  the  infinite  punishments 
of  a  future  state  inflicted  under  the 
authority  of  an  omnipotent  being,  it  is 
admitted  by  religionists  themselves,  are 
continually  and  openly  violated  ;  hence 
what  is  considered  the  most  awful  sanc- 
tion and  the  most  powerful  motive  to 
obedience  cannot  ensure  implicit  sub- 
mission to  the  laws  thus  sustained.  It 
is  certainly  a  remarkable  fact,  that  man 
alone  of  all  organised  existences  is  able 
to  break  through  those  laws  on  the  ob- 
servance of  which  depend  his  welfare 
and  happiness.  Inanimate  organisations 
all  follow  implicitly  the  laws  of  their 
nature.  The  brute  creation,  character- 
ised as  it  is  by  various  qualities  or  pas- 
sions, obeys   unerringly  the  laws    laid 


down  by  its  instincts,  and  enjoys  all  the 
happiness  of  which  its  nature  is  capable. 
But  man,  distinguished  as  he  is  by  the 
superior  faculty  of  reason,  is  able  to 
violate  the  laws  of  his  nature,  and  thus 
become  miserable  and  prematurely  shor- 
ten his  life.  This  tendency  in  man  to 
act  so  much  against  his  own  interest,  it 
is  to  be  hoped  will  be  lessened  and  ulti- 
mately eradicated  by  his  becoming  en- 
lightened in  the  laws  of  his  nature, 
and  placed  in  circumstances  that  shall 
promote  and  not  counteract,  as  is  now 
the  case,  his  obedience  to  these  laws. 

But,  notwithstanding  man's  power  and 
tendency  to  violate  the  laws  of  nature,  it 
cannot  be  doubted  that  he  is  in  a  great 
measure,  generally  speaking,  prevented 
from  doing  many  things  injurious  to  his 
health  and  destructive  of  his  life  by  the 
penalties  of  these  laws — he  is,  in  many 
respects,  under  the  government  of  na- 
ture's laws,  and  it  is  perceived  that  as 
he  becomes  enlightened  in  the  nature 
and  operation  of  these  laws  he  is  more 
careful  to  obey  them. 

More  is  now  known  of  the  laws  of 
health,  and  they  are  more  generally 
attended  to  at  the  present  time  than  at 
any  previous  period  ;  hence  the  public 
health  improves,  and  the  average  dura- 
tion of  lite  has  very  much  increased 
within  the  present  century,  as  is  proved 
by  statistical  returns  and  the  large  pro- 
fits realised  by  insurance  offices.  But 
while  it  is  admitted  that  man  is  under 
the  government  of  physical  laws,  it  will 
be  asked,  what  provisiun  is  made  by  the 
laws  of  nature  for  man's  moral  govern- 
ment ?  for  that,  after  all,  is  the  prin- 
cipal thing — that  man  should  possess  an 
elevated  moral  character,  and  govern 
his  sentiments  and  conduct  by  the  laws 
of  the  highest  virtue — and  that  hence 
the  importance  of  religion,  which  fur-  i 
nishes  the  most  powerful  motives  to  the 
realisation  of  the  most  elevated  moral 
principles. 

I  am  inclined  to  demur  to  the  asser- 
tion that  morality  is  the  principal  thing, 
or  that  physical  health  and  sti'ength  are 
of  secondary  and  inferior  importance. 


THE  RBASONER. 


375 


Prom  which  any  earnest  opponent  may  controvert  our  opinions,  and  from  which  any  may  expound  views 
not  coincident  with  our  own,  if  tending  to  the  Rationalisation  of  Theology. 

CRITICISMS  OP  CORRESPONDENTS  ON  THE   CHARACTER  OF 

CHRIST. 

Sir, — There  ai-e  some  assertions  made  in  a  recent  Reasoner,  by*  A  Foreign  Re- 
publican and  Subscriber,'  in  answer  to  W.  J.  B.,  which  seem  to  require  an  answer. 
I  do  not  see  that  to  prove  people  wrong  in  their  object  of  worship  is  'to  stamp  them 
with  utter  imbecility  or  roguery.'  All  philosophers,  prophets,  and  reformers 
have  spoken  against  the  superstition  of  their  country,  and  will  it  be  said  that  they 
imputed  to  believers  '  imbecility  or  roguery  V  They  were  not  afraid  of  such 
charges  when  made, as  they  have  been  made;  and  the  result  has  been,  that  many 
were  put  to  death  for  the  offence  they  then  gave  to  people.  Socrates  himself  was 
an  example,  though  he  was  moderate  compared  with  Christ,  who  made  coarse  im- 
putations upon  the  Jews  for  not  listening  to  him  and  disregarding  the  time- 
honoured  institutions  of  their  country,  believed  in  by  so  many.  All  Christians 
were  against  the  superstitions  of  all  the  rest  of  the  world,  and  did  not  scruple  to 
charge  priests  and  followers  with  imbecility,  if  not  with  roguery,  for  supporting 
their  own  religions.  I  do  not  approve  of  all  the  Christians  did  and  said,  but  they  had 
perfect  right  to  give  their  opinion  as  to  the  objects  of  Pagan  worship.  Christian  ad- 
vocates are  never  more  pleased  than  to  have  to  defend  the  originators  of  Chris- 
tianity and  themselves  against  the  charge  of  imbecility  or  roguery.  Neverthe- 
less, that  does  not  prevent  freethinkers  from  showing  there  is  no  trust  to  be  placed 
in  the  divinity  of  Christ,  his  miracles,  and  the  prophecies  of  him.  But  when  it  is 
explained  that  some  Rationalists  are  superstitious  and  idolatrous  in  their  absurd 
reverence  for  Jesus,  they  cry  out,  *  Do  you  accuse  us  of  imbecility  or  roguery  ?' 
I  have  not  denied  to  the  founder  of  the  Christian  religion  even  the  common  attri- 
butes of  human  nature  ;  on  the  contrary,  asserted  that  he  was  as  other  men  under 
the  same  circumstances.  According  to  what  we  are  told  of  him  in  the  gospels,  he 
was  what  we  should  call  a  rather  vulgar  agitator,  who  talked  some  good,  with  a 
much  greater  balance  of  nonsense. 

The  '  Foreign  Republican's'  objection  to  atheism  and  atheists  would  be  more 
valid.  It  is  allowed  that  there  have  been  very  few  who  have  said  there  are  no  gods. 
Yet  some  philosophers  have  said  so,  and  it  is  no  argument  against  the  truth  ot 
what  they  said  that  it  proved  millions  wrong,  and  either  rogues  or  imbecile.  Mil- 
lions, therefore,  have  been  wrong  over  and  over  again  in  other  matters  besides  re- 
ligion ;  but  that  does  not  say  they  were  all  wrong  to  the  full  extent  of  roguery  and 
imbecility.  We  think  people  are  mistaken  in  their  estimate  of  Jesus.  It  is  a 
last  lingering  superstition.  They  cease  to  consider  him  divine  in  nature,  and  now 
they  would  have  him  divine  in  character.  Idealising  him  may  not  do  much  harm, 
but  if  we  are  to  take  the  letter  of  the  gospels,  or  even  the  spirit  of  the  whole,  a 
la  Norrington,  we  think  it  capable  of  doing  harm  as  ever,  though  perhaps  of 
another  kind.  As  to  the  Roman  governor-general  of  Judea  recognising  the  Jewish 
son  of  a  carpenter,  is  as  likely  as  his  own  story  that  he  refused  the  brilliant  offers 
of  the  devil.  It  would  be  much  more  likely  that  we  should  have  sent  for  Sir 
William  Thorn,  or  the  Americans  for  Joseph  Smith,  in  order  to  make  the  most  of 
them,  as  that  Pilate  should  have  taken  official  notice  of  Christ. 

It  seems,  from  an  extract  in  the  Reasoner  of  the  same  date  as  '  Foreign  Repub- 
lican's' letter,  that  Mahomet  did  not  always  have  a  Sunday's  dinner,  until  he  won 


37« 


THE  REASONER. 


it  at  the  point  of  the  sword.  Jesus,  howerer,  had  more  good  dinners  than  he 
would  have  got  by  sticking  to  the  plane;  and  if  he  had  nowhere  to  lay  his  head,  it 
was  his  own  fault,  when  he  had  only  to  ask  his  father  for  food  or  lodging.  It 
shows  that  Jesus  was  not  much  in  want  when  he  complained  in  his  travels  of 
want  of  lodging,  an  occurrence  which  has  often  happened  to  the  writer  himself 
when  travelling  in  Judea — may  happen  to  anyone — and  is  not  a  great  hardship  in  a 
warm  climate.  The  disciples  all  slept  too  well  in  the  Mount  of  Olives  by  night. 
Jesus  is  not  to  be  compared  with  any  one  of  the  thousands  who  have  to  lie  in  the 
streets  of  London  all  night,  or  under  an  arch.  We  may  laugh  at  this  exaggerated 
assumption  of  misertes  that  are  attempted  to  be  made  evidence  of  his  superiority, 
and  to  found  upon  it  his  divinity.  But  we  are  far  from  laughing  at  the  miseries  of 
those  times.  We  deplore  those  times,  these  times,  or  any  times  when  people  were 
exposed  to  such  an  agitator  as  Jesus,  and  such  charlatanry  as  Christianity.  Never- 
theless, we  cannot  but  feel  a  sense  of  the  ridiculous  in  reading  such  stories  as  thos« 
in  the  gospels,  and  the  escapades  of  Jesus,  Peter,  and  Co,  walking  the  waters, 
riding  asses,  and  supposing  themselves  kings,  princes,  and  judges  of  the  world 
here  and  hereafter. 

Next  we  have  in  *  Foreign  Republican '  the  common  error  of  supposing  that 
when  we  overturn  an  idol  we  are  bound  to  set  up  another  in  its  place.  Our  warfare 
is  against  all  idolatry  and  superstition.  Dr.  Arnold  says  reverence  is  idolatry  and 
insanity,  if  directed  towards  an  improper  object.  We  cannot  give  '  Foreign  Re- 
publican' any  man  to  adore.  There  are  plenty  of  characters  much  better  for  reve- 
rence than  Jesus's.  We  every  day  meet  with  them.  Newman,  a  modern  religious 
writer,  has  told  us  that  Fletcher,  of  Madely,  made  a  much  greater  impression  on 
him  than  Jesus. 

Socrates  we  think  much  superior  to  Jesus  in  his  life,  and  especially  in  his  death. 
We  never  read  of  the  latter  without  being  moved,  whilst  the  trial  and  crucifixion 
of  Jesus  seem  an  absurdity.  We  think  the  morality  of  Shakspere  much  superior 
to  Christ's. 

Mahommedans  do  not  want  Mahomed  as  a  divinity.  The  Pagans  could  re- 
verence the  sun,  and  we  think  any  adoration  of  the  mysteries  of  nature  superior 
to  the  pretensions  of  the  son  of  a  carpenter,  born  of  a  virgin  and  crucified.  We 
should  be  proud  to  demolish  such  a  superstition,  but  we  certainly  have  nothing  but 
morality  to  give  in  return.  About  morality,  as  G.  C.  Lewis,  M.P.,  says,  there  is 
no  doubt  in  comparison  with  religion ;  the  one  changes,  the  other  never  changes — 
we  may  progress  in  the  one,  but  we  make  none  in  the  other.  Religions,  he  says, 
are  ever  oscillating;  Macaulay  the  same;  and  David  Hume  fears  that  mankind 
will  be  only  drawn  from  one  absurdity  to  another.  However,  the  Reasoner,  I 
believe,  never  had  '  a  business-like  view  of  the  subject,'  for  on  account  of  commer- 
cial considerations  they  never  have  spared  any  superstition — and  for  that  reason, 
probably,  the  Reasofier  has  no  great  circulation,  and  would  be  a  loss  if  many  did  not 
subscribe  to  it  besides  taking  it  in.  I  believe  its  policy,  nevertheless,  is  very  good 
policy,  and  that  it  is  very  fair  having  a  Platform  upon  which  each  may  battle  for 
his  superstitions ;  and  though  I  dislike  Jesus  humanly  as  well  as  divinely,  I  make 
common  cause  with  those  who  are  against  the  dogmas  of  Christianity.  I  believe 
*  F.  R.'  and  Mr.  Norrington  equally  with  myself  reject  the  divinity  of  Christ,  the 
prophecies,  miracles,  &c.;  and  we  are  not  troubled  by  the  curious  catalogue  of 
dogmas,  about  which  the  church  is  divided — a  catalogue  thus  enumerated  by  G.  C. 
Lewis,  in  his  book  *  On  the  Influence  of  Authority  in  Matters  of  Opinion  :' — •  The 
doctrine  of  the   Trinity ;  the  relations  of  the  three  divine  persons,  and  their 


THE  REASONER.  377 


common  essence  or  substance;  the  union  of  the  divine  and  human  natures  in  the 
Saviour,  and  the  procession  of  the  Holy  Ghost ;  the  eucharistic  sacrament ;  the 
communion  of  the  laity  in  both  kinds,  and  the  alleged  substantial  change  and  real 
presence  in  the  consecrated  elements  ;  also  as  to  the  nature  and  operation  of  grace 
and  good  works,  and  the  theory  of  original  sin,  regeneration,  justification,  and 
predestination  ;  church  authority,  tradition,  general  councils,  the  power  of  the 
Pope  and  of  national  churches,  episcopal  government,  ecclesiastical  ceremonies 
and  vestments,  monastic  vows,  ordination,  celibacy  of  the  clergy,  auricular  confes- 
sion, purgatory,  baptism,  individual  inspiration,  &c.' 

I  should  have  understood  what  Mr.  Norrington  meant  by  spirit,  had  I  not 
thought  he  contradicted  himself  by  referring  to  the  writings  concerning  Jesus  in 
the  four  gospels.  As  to  the  assertion  that  I  knew  of  no  revolution  produced  by 
morals,  as  he  asserted  it  first,  he  should  have  proved  it.  I  have  no  fear  of  mo- 
rality independent  of  Jesus  ;  I  think  it  has  flourished  without  Jesus,  and  has  only 
been  hurt  by  religion.  Is  the  controversy  about  morality  at  the  present  day  ? 
No,  it  is  rather  about  anything  else  in  the  catalogue  of  dagmas  I  have  given. 
Almost  the  only  good  thing  that  Jesus  ever  said,  was  that  morality  and  salvation 
were  quite  independent  of  any  belief  in  him.  To  say  the  contrary  is  to  contra- 
dict an  eternal  truth.  "W.  J.  B.,  Oxon. 

POLEMICAL     INTELLIGENCE. 


Sir, — Glasgow,  the  great  commercial  metropolis  of  the  west,  is  rapidly  achiev  - 
ing  distinction  for  public  and  private  debates  in  connection  with  theology  and 
politics.  Indeed,  controversial  discourses,  and  public  and  private  discussions, 
from  pulpit  and  platform,  on  the  streets  and  in  the  workshops,  seem  to  be  at 
present  the  all-pervading  mania.  The  question  of  the  Divine  Existence  has  en- 
joyed here  little  repose  within  the  last  eighteen  months.  Notwithstanding  the 
city  walls  have  been  placarded  so  continuously  with  bills  announcing  lectures  and 
public  debates  on  the  Being  of  a  God,  public  interest  at  this  moment  remains 
undiminished;  in  truth,  it  seems  to  bo  rather  increasing  in  intensity.  Since  Mr. 
Southwell's  arrival  amongst  us,  two  months  ago,  he  has  held  three  public  engage- 
ments with  the  enemy,  and  a  fourth  is  to  be  entered  upon  shortly.  Christians 
of  varied  creeds  are  throwing  down  the  gauntlet  to  Mr.  Southwell  as  fast  as  cir- 
cumstances enable  him  to  pick  it  up.  The  last  public  debate  was  between  Mr. 
James  Adams  (delegate  for  Glasgow  to  the  Chartist  Convention  of  1848),  and  Mr. 
Charles  Southwell,  held  in  the  Lyceum  Rooms  on  the  evenings  of  Monday  and 
Wednesday,  29th  September,  and  October  1st.  The  question  debated  was — 'Have 
we  reason  to  believe  in  the  existence  of  a  God — perfectly  good,  wise,  and  powerful?' 

Mr,  Adams  opened  the  debate  the  first  evening,  and  gave  the  following  defini- 
tions of  terms  he  employed : — 

The  term  God. — A  being,  a  person,  a  subject  in  which  perceptions  centre,  and 
from  which  volitions  flow. 

Perfect  goodness. — A  disposition  to  do  all  that  perfect  wisdom  dictates  and  per- 
fect power  can  accomplish. 

Perfect  wisdom. — The  possession  of  a  knowledge  of  all  knowable  things. 

Perfect  power.  —  The  ability  to  accomplish  all  that  perfect  goodness,  in  the 
light  of  perfect  wisdom,  desires. 

And  then  he  added,  that  this  perfectly  good,  wise,  and  powerful  Being  is  a  spirit, 


378 


THE  REASONER. 


an  immaterial  Being,  having  no  properties  in  common  with  matter,  but  altogether 
a  distinct  substance,  a  substance,  too,  of  which  as  much  may  be  known  as  can  be 
known  of  matter.  Mr.  Adams  then  went  on  to  explain  the  nature  of  the  evidence, 
which  he  said  was  not  that  of  mathematical  demonstration — not  the  evidence  of 
testimony — not  the  evidence  of  sense — but  the  balancing  of  probabilities. 

I  shall  here  subjoin  a  list  of  reasons  which  he  adduced  as  forming  the  substratum 
of  his  speeches. 

Firstly. — The  almost  universal  prevalence  of  the  belief  in  the  truth  of  the  pro- 
position. 

Secondly. — The  manifestations  of  benevolent  and  wise  design  in  nature,  as  far 
as  we  are  able  to  trace  her  operations. 

Thirdly. — The  origin  and  present  condition  of  man  cannot  be  rationally  account- 
ed for  upon  any  other  hypothesis. 

Fourthly. — That  to  suppose  the  proposition  true  accords  with  all  our  experi- 
ence, while  to  suppose  it  false  belies  all  humaa  experience. 

Fifthly. — That  no  atheistical  theory  of  the  universe  ever  advanced  could  stand 
a  philosophical  investigation. 

Sixthly. —  That  atheism  intends  to  extinguish  conscience,  unbridle  human  lust, 
and  destroy  morality. 

Seventhly. — That  on  a  denial  of  the  proposition  have  been  founded  the  most 
heartless,  cruel,  and  barbarous  systems  of  political  economy  ever  propounded,  and 
the  adoption  of  which  by  the  politicians  of  this  country  has  caused  all  our  social 
evils  so  far  as  they  are  traceable  to  iniquitous  legislation. 

Such  were  the  reasons  which  Mr.  Adams,  the  pupil  and  admirer  of  Immanuel 
Swedenbourgh,  adduced  in  vindication  of  a  God's  existence.  Mr.  Southwell  de- 
nominated them  seven  assertions.  Mr.  Southwell  adduced  the  argument  of  Epi- 
curus with  great  effect,  which  at  last  compelled  the  admission  from  Mr.  Adams 
that  his  God  was  limited,  his  power  was  bounded  by  his  goodness.  Both  dis- 
putants displayed  throughout  great  ability  and  friendliness  of  spirit.  The  audi- 
ences were  respectable  and  numerous,  numbers  having  come  from  considerable 
distances,  although  both  evenings  were  rather  wet.  A  sprinkling  of  ladies  was 
present,  and  all  ended  with  harmony  and  decorum. 

37,  West  College  Street,  October  7,  1851.  James  Wilkie. 

MR.  HAGEN  TO  '  A  TRUE  REASONER.' 


Sir, — In  the  Reasonevy  No.  279, 1  find  an  article  by  you,  entitled  '  Christianity 
V.  Infidelity,'  wherein  you  endeavour  (and  apparently  with  great  satisfaction  to 
yourself)  to  prove  that  Christianity  is  established  on  a  firm  basis,  and  infidelity  on 
a  rotten  one.  To  those  who  are  guided  by  faith  your  statements  may  appear  good, 
not  so  to  those  who  are  otherwise  guided.  I  agree  with  you  that  there  are  many 
things  true  that  do  not  require  a  mathematical  proof ;  but,  1  would  ask  yon,  are 
they  in  opposition  to  reason  ?  Christianity  assumes  that  because  our  '  first 
parents'  ate  of  '  the  forbidden  fruit,'  that  all  mankind  have,  in  consequence, 
become  sinners.  An  old  countryman  (whom  a  certain  orthodox  friend  of  mine 
tried  to  convince  that  sin  was  occasioned  by  our  first  parents  eating  of  that  fruit) 
was  so  startled  by  it,  that  he  lifted  up  his  head  and  exclaimed,  '  Woy,  I  hanna  non 
on  it.'  Will  reason  bear  you  out  that  Christ  was  not  the  son  of  a  mortal  man? 
Will  reason  bear  you  out  that  because   Christ's   blood  was  shed  on  the  cross,  it 


THE  REASONKR.  379 

opened  a  door  for  sin  to  he  banished  tlie  ^rorld  ?  Again,  will  reason  bear  you  out 
that  because  Christ  (the  innocent)  suffered  (offering  himself  a  ransom),  that  God 
would  accept  that  as  an  offering  for  the  sins  of  the  whole  world  ? 

These  appear  to  me  to  be  the  foundations  upon  which  Christianity  is  built.  It 
will  be  of  no  use  for  you  to  assert  that  these  things  are  true,  unless  you  show 
them  to  be  morally  true.  You  say,  '  Objections  against  a  thing  fairly  proved  are 
of  no  weight.'  "What  do  you  mean  by  this  ?  Is  it  that  you  consider  Christianity 
fairly  proved  ?  Again,  yon  say  *  The  proof  rests  upon  our  knowledge,  but  the  ob- 
jections rest  upon  our  ignorance.  It  is  true  that  moral  demonstrations  and  reli- 
gious doctrines  may  be  attacked  in  a  very  ingenious  manner,  because  they  involve 
questions  on  which  our  ignorance  is  greater  than  our  knowledge.  But  still  our 
knowledge  is  knowledge,  or,  in  other  words,  our  certainty  is  certainty,'  I  cannot 
deny  that  'knowledge  is  knowledge,'  &c.,  but  what  information  does  that  give  me? 
Respecting  '  ignorance,'  I  suppose  you  intend  to  convey  that  infidels  are  ijtnorant 
of  the  principles  of  Christianity,  as  you  say  in  another  place  '  He  is  in  the  very 
situation  of  the  peasant ;  he  bolts  into  the  very  heart  of  a  grand  religious  system 
— he  has  never  adverted  to  its  first  principles,  and  then  he  complains  that 
the  evidence  is  bad,  but  the  fault  in  neither  case  lies  in  the  evidence, 
it  lies  in  the  ignorance  or  the  obstinacy  of  the  objects.'  I  perhaps  know  as 
much  of  Christianity  as  yourself,  having  been  one  for  forty-five  years,  and  an 
infidel  fifteen  (by  far  the  happiest  part);  therefore  have  seen  both  sides,  which  is 
the  only  true  way  of  judging;  and  I  suspect  whether  you  have  been  a  Christian 
much  more  than  half  the  time  I  was.  Does  reason,  then,  say  yon  ouglit  to  be  the 
best  judge  ?  Why  may  I  not  be  an  authority  against  it  as  well  as  you  for  it? 
Both  my  experience  and  my  judgment  lead  me  to  differ  from  you,  especially  as  to 
the  juvenility  of  imputation  which  makes  the  staple  of  your  letter. 

Derby,  Oct.  5,  1851.  Benjamin  Hagen. 

£^  The  '  Words  Spoken  at  the  Grave  of  Mrs.  Emma  Martin,'  which  appeared 
in  the  last  number  of  the  Eeasoner,  will  be  reprinted  in  a  separate  form  for  distri- 
bution, and  will  be  ready  by  Saturday  next. 


GUIDE  TO  THE  LECTURE  ROOM. 

Literary  Institution,  John  St.,  Fitzroy  Sq. — Nov. 
2nd  [7],  Ttiomas  Cooper,  '  Roman  History.'  4th 
[SJ],  Discussion  in  the  Coffee  Room. 

National  Hall,  242,  High  Holborn.— Nov.  2nd 
[8j,  P.  W.  Perfitt  will  lecture. 

Hall  of  Science,  City  Road. —  Nov.  2nd  17], 
Robert  Cooper,  'The  Power  of  the  People  for  Self- 
Emancipation.' 

Institute  of  Progress,  10a,  Upper  George  St., 
Sloane  Square. — Friday  evenings  [8],  Discussion. 


ADVERTISEMENT. 

POPULAK  WORKS. 

A  Few  Days  in  Athens,  1  vol.,  cloth.    By 

Frances  Wright 1     6 

Ditto,  in  a  \n-apper 1    0 

F.  Wright's  Popular  Lectures,  1  vol 3     0 

(To  be  had  in  Parts  and  Numbers.) 

Bible  of  Reason,  1  vol.,  cloth  7    6 

The  English  Republic,  I  to  10 each  0     6 

Notes  on  the  Population  Question 0     6 

Clark's  Letters  to  Dr.  Adam  Clarke,  1  vol., 

cloth    5    0 

Nov.  2nd  [7],  a  lecture.  j  Labour's  Wrongs  and  Labour's  Bemedies, 

Eclectic  Institute,    Denmark    Street,    Soho. —   j       1  vol 2     0 

Every  Friday  [Sj],  Mr.  J.  B.  O'Brien,  '  Home  and  i  Paine's  Poems 0    3 

Foreign  Politics.'     Every  Sunday  [7^],  on  '  Moral  1  Life  of  Volney 0    2 

and  Social  Science.'                                                      ■  Life  of  Voltaire    0    2 

Areopagus  Coffee  and  Reading  Room,  59,  Church   ;  Life  of  Shelley 0    2 

Lane,  Whitechapel. — Every  Sunday,  ilou Jay,  and   |  Shelley's  .^lasque  of  Anarchy 0     3 

Wednesday  (3),  a  Lecture  or  3>iscussion.                     •       —     Queen  Mab,  1  vol.,  boards    1     6 

City  Foriim  Coffee  House,  6o,  Red  Cross  Street.  }      — "    ditto               ditto        wrapper 1     0 

— Every  Sunday,  Monday,  and  Thursday  [Si],  a  '  Cooper's  Infidel's  Test  Book,  1  vol 2     6 

Discubsion.  "  '         '       CTo  be  had  in  tnirteeu  numbers  at  twopence.) 

Commercial  Hall,  Philpot   Street,  Coramercial  

Boad  East.— Every  Tuesday  and  Thursday  even-  !       London:  James  Watsou,  3,  Queen's  Head  Pas- 
lag  [3],  a  Discussion.                                                    sage.  Paternoster  row. 


380  THE  REASONER. 


Our  Open  |3age. 


Me.  Owen  having  placed  at  the  disposal  of  the  Social  Propaganda  a  number  of 
copies  of  the  address  which  he  delivered  at  the  City  of  London  Tavern  in  August, 
1817,  and  which  excited  great  attention  at  the  time — the  committee,  desirous  to 
distribute  these  addresses  to  the  best  advantage,  will  forward  copies  to  any  parties 
applying  for  them,  on  receiving  two  postage  stamps  for  each  copy,  to  cover  postage. 
Copies  may  also  be  had,  gratis,  of  Mr.  Watson,  Queen's  Head  Passage,  and  of  Mr. 
Truelove,  at  the  Institution,  John  Street.  Communications  to  be  addressed  to 
Mr.  Henry  A.  Ivory,  Hon.  Secretary,  52,  College  Place,  Camden  Town. 

Mr.  Ruddock,  of  Leeds,  writes: — 'I  am  very  happy  to  inform  you  that  free- 
thought  is  on  the  increase  in  Leeds.  We  are  adding  to  our  numbers  every  week. 
We  are  taking  a  large  room.  We  have  a  <liscussion  on  hand  at  present  with  our 
friend  Mr.  Smith  and  a  town  Missionary  of  the  name  of  Barber,  which  is  having 
its  desired  eflfect.  It  is  talked  of  in  every  workshop  in  Leeds.'  Mr.  Ruddock  haa 
published  a  small  bill,  at  his  own  cost,  advertising  the  Reasoner. 

'  The  Temperance  Hall,  Bradford,  was  erected  by  public  subscription  through 
the  means  of  galas,  rural  fetes,  and  private  donations.  Mr.  Sturge,  of  Birming- 
ham, gave  £10  towards  it,  upon  the  conditions  that  it  should  be  conducted  on  the 
principles  of  perfect  religious  liberty — that  is,  open  to  all  parties.  Other  gentle- 
men followed  in  the  same  way,  and  the  Hall  for  a  time  was  conducted  on  that 
generous  principle.  We  had  Mrs.  Martin  in  it  for  a  week.  She  shook  the  pillars 
of  Zion  in  such  a  manner  that  they  have  not  been  able  to  recover  their  foundation 
since  (although  they  are  built  upon  a  rock).  The  heaving  to  and  fro  has  been  seen 
in  the  various  controversial  subjects  that  the  ministers  have  taken  up.'  Thus 
writes  Mr.  Rider,  who  lately  applied  for  the  Hall  for  a  lecture  for  Mr.  Holyoake, 
and  was  refused.  The  teetotallers  ought  to  look  to  it,  for  at  present  that  body 
seems  to  abstain  from  liberality  altogether. 

Mr.  Barker,  Superintendent  of  the  Leeds  town  Mission,  lectured  in  that  town 
on  Sunday  the  12th  inst.,  against  the  '  Logic  of  Death.'  We  understand  the  good 
lecturer  was  vituperative. 

In  a  work  entitled  the '  Shores  and  Islands  of  the  Mediterranean,'  it  is  remarked 

<  A  Turk  has  none  of  that  shame  which  keeps  the  religion  of  so  many  Christians 

so  sadly  in  the  background;  he  scoffs  at  no  man's  devotions,  nor  does  he  suppose  it 
possible  that  anybody  will  scoff'  at  his.  There  is  a  less  favourable  view  to  take  of 
the  matter,  which  is  not  altogether  without  truth.  The  Turk  looks  on  himself  as 
80  immeasurably  above  the  Christian  that  it  will  no  more  occur  to  him  to  alter  his 
habits  because  they  were  not  understood  or  sympathised  with  by  others,  than  it 
would  to  us  to  change  ours,  because  the  birds  of  the  air  or  beasts  of  the  field  might 
wonder  at  them.  At  the  same  time  the  thing  itself  is  praiseworthy,  and  it  would 
be  well  if  something  like  it  were  more  common  among  ourselves.' 

A  writer  in  the  Boston  Trantcript  makes  the  following  reference  to  Mr.  W.  Lloyd 
Garrison,  the  sturdy  abolitionist : — '  We  contemplate  the  dealings  of  the  Almighty, 
not  in  the  spirit  of  arraingment,  but  of  wonder.  He  has  taken  from  this  world,  in 
the  midstof  their  days  and  of  their  usefulness,  men  eminent  for  their  fervent  piety; 
and  yet  the  devil  is  still  permitted,  not  only  to  walk  up  and  down  in  the  earth,  but 
to  edit  abolition  newspapers.' 


London:  Printed  by  Holyoake  Brothers,  3,  Queen's  Head  Passage,  Paternoster- row;  and  Published 
by  J.  Watson,  3,  Queen's  Head  Passage,  Paternoster-row.— Wednesday,  October  29th,  1851. 


AND 

THEOLOGICAL     EXAMINER. 

They  who  believe  that  they  have  Truth  ask  no  favour,  save  that  of  being  heard:  they  dare  the 
judgment  of  Mankind  :  refused  Co-operation,  they  invoke  Opposition,  for  Opposition  is  their 
Opportunity, — Editok. 

THE  REV.  W.  WOODMAN  AT  THE  BURNLEY  LECTURES. 


BuBNLEi  is  great  in  poets.  The  following  is  a  recent  example  of  the  lyric  and 
religious  muse  (copied,  I  am  told)  from  a  neighbouring  church-yard.  Whether 
written  before  or  after  death  does  not  appear.  The  latter  I  should  say,  judging 
from  the  nature  of  the  matter.  The  '  head '  of  the  family  thus  addresses  his 
surviving  spouse : — 

Weep  not  for  me,  my  dearest  dear, 

I  am  not  dead,  but  sleeping  here  ; 

With  patience*  wait,  prepare  to  die, 

And  in  a  short  time  you'll  come  to  I. 

For  my  part  I  think  their  orators  about  on  a  par  with  their  poets,  judging  from 
the  extraordinary  specimens  I  have  met  with  in  debate.  But  on  the  third  night 
the  order  was  unlike  anything  we  have  experienced  in  that  cinder-strewn  town. 
My  consideration  of  the  'Moral  Aspects  of  Christianity'  involved  objections  to — 
the  word  of  God  ;  the  power  of  belief ;  the  eternal  sentence  ;  the  morality  of  the 
East;  the  career  of  Christ;  the  doctrine  of  Providence.  The  kind  of  discussion 
which  took  place  about  this  lecture  (it  can  hardly  be  said  to  be  upon  it)  has  already 
been  recorded. 

On  reaching  the  railway  station  on  the  third  night  of  lecturing,  a  gentleman  (a 
stranger)  whispered  to  me,  'A  clergyman  will  be  imported  to-night  to  meet  you.' 
After  the  lecture,  which  was  virtually  upon  the  *  Moral  Aspects  of  Atheism,'  a 
gentleman  unmuffled  himself,  claimed  to  offer  objections,  and  was  invited  to  the 
platform.  He  astonished  me  by  saying  at  the  commencement,  that  he  was  not 
going  to  discuss  the  lecture,  and  commenced  what  was  evidently  a  premeditated 
disquisition  upon  matter  and  spirit.  He  said  that  we  had  '  met  before;'  but  I  did 
not  betray  any  recognition  of  that  circumstance,  and  looked  up  at  him  like  one 
who  gazed  upon  vacancy.  When  he  had  done  I  called  upon  the  next  speaker  to 
proceed.  As,  however,  the  meeting  wished  me  to  attend  to  this  gentleman  in  par- 
ticular, we  discussed  for  the  space  of  an  hour,  but  at  no  time  did  I  call  him  by  his 
name,  nor  did  it  transpire  to  the  meeting.  My  repugnance  to  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Woodman  was  very  great,  on  account  of  his  treatment  ot  Mrs.  Martin  in  London, 
of  which  we  gave  a  report  at  the  time.  Among  other  things,  on  this  occasion  he 
said  he  would  challenge  me  to  a  discussion — Ist.  On  the  Existence  of  a  Supreme 
Being.  2nd.  The  Immortality  of  the  Soul.  3rd.  The  Divinity  of  the  Word. 
The  conditions  being  the  usual  Swedenborgian  ones,  I  declined  them,  and  the 
audience  seemed  to  acquiesce  in  the  grounds  of  my  refusal.  On  the  whole  Mr. 
Woodman  behaved  on  this  night  courteously.  He  also  professed  in  the  end  to 
have  learned  more  that  he  could  respect,  of  the  nature  of  our  views,  than  he  had 

*  The  case  is  hardly  one  in  which  impatience  is  felt. 


[No.  284. J  [No.  25,  Vol.  XI.] 

[ONE  PENNY.l 


382  THE  REASONER. 


before  become  acquainted  with,  and  offered  me  his  hand  publicly,  which  I  accepted 
in  the  spirit  in  which  he  tendered  it.  Respecting  what  he  advanced  in  argument, 
Mr.  Woodman  must  have  been  playing  fast  and  loose  with  me — tempting  me  by 
innocent  Swedenborgian  platitudes  to  agree  to  discuss  with  him,  that  afterwards 
he  might  come  down  upon  me  in  all  his  strength.  I  cannot  think  that  the  sample 
of  argument  to  which  he  treated  me  that  night  is  a  fair  specimen  of  the  store  he 
must  have  in  reserve.  I  would  try  to  produce  fragments  of  his  speeches,  but  a 
better  opportunity  I  suppose  will  occur,  for  after  the  vaunting  which  runs  through 
all  their  periodical  writings,  they  will  yet  surely  accept  discussion  on  some  equit- 
able and  honourable  terms. 

Returning  from  Middlesbro',  of  which  I  have  an  account  to  render,  I  called  at 
Leeds  to  see  our  friends  there — Messrs.  Bowes,  Ruddock,  and  others.  The  society 
of  Rational  Progressionists  have  secured  a  new  Hall,  and  a  very  pleasant  one, 
which  has  a  small  gallery,  a  separate  entrance,  and  a  good  situation.  It  will  hold 
four  or  five  hundred  people.  It  is  being  fitted  up  in  a  plain  and  inexpensive 
manner,  and  will  soon  be  ready  for  public  use. 

At  Accrington  the  audience  was  numerous — beyond  any  one's  expectation  in  the 
town.  The  room  was  crowded  to  suffocation,  and  there  being  no  ventilation  pos- 
sible, the  speaking  was  both  fatiguing  and  hurtful.  The  Rev.  C.  Williams  made 
desultory  observations  but  declined  discussion,  announcing  his  intention  to  make 
a  formal  reply  to  the  lecture  in  the  following  week.  Another  reverend  gentleman 
just  spoke  to  say  why  he  did  not  speak.  The  evening  was  chiefly  occupied  by 
laymen.  As  the  audience  was  comprised  of  strangers  uninformed  as  to  our  prin- 
ciples, it  will  be  worth  while  revisiting  Accrington  to  lay  some  consecutive  exposi- 
tions before  them. 

The  letter  last  week  given  in  reply  to  that  of  Mr.  Earnshaw,  did  appear  in  the 
Preston  Guardian.  A  copy  of  that  paper  has  been  forwarded  to  me  by  Mr.  Edwards, 
of  Burnley.  G.  J.  Holtoake. 

ASSOCIATION  FOR  PROMOTING  THE  REPEAL  OF  THE  TAXES 
ON  KNOWLEDGE. 


SiE, — Enclosed  is  a  copy  of  our  financial  report  up  to  Michaelmas.  It  has  been 
made  up  earlier  than  usual,  as  it  will  be  necessary  to  commence  agitating,  imme- 
diately, in  favour  of  the  motion  to  be  introduced  in  the  House  of  Commons,  and 
which  may  probably  be  brought  forward  at  an  early  period  of  the  Sessions.  The 
report  of  the  proceedings  of  the  Association,  and  of  the  state  of  the  question, 
will  be  issued,  as  usual,  in  the  beginning  of  the  new  year.  In  the  meantime  I  am 
instructed  to  urge  on  you  the  necessity  of  assisting  the  committee  in  every  way 
which  your  means  will  allow ;  and  beg  to  suggest  that  the  following  things  should 
be  done  by  all  who  are  able  : — 

1.  Subscriptions  to\i6 promised  immediately ,  and  paid  as  early  as  convenient. 

2.  Petitions  to  be  got  up,  and  signed,  as  numerously  as  possible,  for  early  pre- 
sentation next  Session. 

3.  Public  meetings  to  be  held  whenever  that  course  is  practicable. 

4.  Letters  to  be  written  to  the  Board  of  Inland  Revenue  whenever  any  irregu- 
larity is  observed  in  the  administration  of  the  law. 

All  who  are  willing  to  give  their  personal  assistance,  or  have  any  information  to 
communicate,  are  requested  to  apply  to  the  Secretary;  if  personally,  on  Wednes- 
day mornings,  between  10  and  2,  or  on  Wednesday  evenings,  after  8  o'clock. 

20,  Great  Coram  Street,  Brunswick  Square.  C  D.  Collet,  Sec. 


THE  REASONER. 


383 


Financial  Report  from  the  13th  of  February,  1851,  to  Michaelmas,  1851. 


Addiscott,  "W. 
Allan,  T,  (Edinburgh) 
Ashurst,  W. 

B.,  J 

Baldwin,  J.  (Birmingham) 

Bond,  W.   .. 

Bonnick,  J, 

Bowkett,  Dr. 

Bunting,  C.  J. 

Carloss,  W.  T. 

Cassell,  J. 

Christie,  W. 

Clarke,  C.C. 

Cobden,  R.,  M.P.     .. 

Collection  at  St.  Martin'«  Hall 

Cuthbert.J. 

Dixon,  W. 

Edwards,  P. 

Epps,  Dr. 

Ewart,  W.,  M.P.     .. 

Finch,  J.   .. 

Gibson,  T.  M.,  M.P. 

Hall,  A.      .. 

Hargreaves,  W.        ,, 

Harrison,  S. 

Hickson,  W.  E. 

Jackson,  A.  (Derby) 

Larken,  Rev.  E, 

Le  Blond,  R. 

Advertising  .. 

Lectures  . .  . . 

Porterage  . .  . . 


RECEIPTS. 

£0  10     0     Lectures 


1  1 
3  3 
0  10 
5  0 
0  10 

0  1 

1  0 


0 
0 
6 
1 
1 
5 
1 
0 
0 
I 
1 
5 
0 
10 
0 
5 
1 
1 
0 

1 

5 


Lee,  Dr. 

Linley,  W. 

Lombe,  E. 

Lushington,  C,  M.P. 

Members'  shilling  subscriptions 

Mill,  J.  S. 

Mills,  J. 

Mollett,  I.  F. 

Mudie,  C. 

Novello,  J.  A. 

Piercy,  W, 

Place,  F. 

ReasonerFund : — Trevelyan,  A., 
Edinburgh,  £2 ;  Holyoake, 
G.  J.  (through),  £2  Is.  6d-, 
being  the  last  instalment  of 
£25  subscribed  in  sixpences 

Saull,  W.  D, 

Smith,  J.  (Bingley) 

Soames,  J.  ..  .. 

Turner,  J. 

Walhouse,  E.  .. 

Westerton,  C. 

Wilkinson,  W.  A.     . . 

Williams,  W.,  M.P. 


9 
1 
1 
100 
2 
3 
1 
0 


0 
1 
0 
0 

18 
0 
4 
0  10 


4 

1 

6 

0 

10 

0 

5 

0 

0 

0 

4 

0 

0 

2 

6 

1 

0 

0 

0 

10 

0 

5 

0 

0 

1 

I 

0 

208  16    0 


EXPENDITUJIE. 

£9    9     6     Travelling  expenses  of  the  sc- 
26     6    6        eretary  to  Manchester,  Liver- 
6     0     7        pool,«fec...  ..  ..500 

20  13     6     Writing  ..  ..150 

32     7     0    Debts  of  the  Newspaper  Stamp 

Abolition  Committee  . .   46  16  10 

Balance  in  hands  of  treasurer  . .     9  11     4 


208  16     0 


Printing 

Rent   of  office,    £18  15s. ;  rent 
of  rooms  for  public  and  spe- 
cial meetings,  £13  5s.  . .  32     0    0 
Stationery                  ..             ..     6  19  10 
Sundries      ..              ,,             ..    13    5  11 

Examined  and  found  correct,  October  13,  1851. 

Samuel  Hakrison,  Barnsbury-park,  Islington. 
P.  A.  Tatlor,  Carey-lane. 

[Above  we  give  the  financial  report  of  the  Association  for  Promoting  the  Repeal 
of  the  Taxes  on  Knowledge.  We  are  certainly  nearer  than  last  year  to  the  ac- 
complishment of  that  desirable  object,  but  we  have  no  reason  to  believe  that  Lord 
John  intends  to  follow  the  recommendation  of  the  Committee ;  he  will  probably 
do  that  which  costs  him  least  trouble.  Every  exertion  that  is  in  the  people's 
power  should  be  brought  to  bear  upon  the  Treasury.  Among  our  readers  we  can 
reckon  some  propagandists  who  can  do  something  in  this  way.  We  recommend 
them,  if  in  the  country,  to  write  to  the  secretary,  offering  their  services ;  if  they 
are  in  London,  they  had  better  call  on  a  Wednesday  evening,  at  eight  o'clock. 
We  are  sure  that  every  assistance  that  is  offered  will  now  be  put  in  requisition,  as 
the  question  stands  in  that  position  in  which  popular  clamour  would  be  able  to 
advance  it  very  effectively.  The  readers  of  the  Reasoner  have  set  an  example  by 
sending  a  most  liberal  contribution  to  the  funds,  and  we  trust  they  will  follow  up 
this  beginning  by  personal  exertions  :  their  motto  should  be,  '  Think  nothing  done 
while  aught  remains  to  do.' — Ed.] 


384 


THE  REASONER. 


'JESUS    AS    A    MAN.' 

In  the  Investigator  of  August  13,  under  the  caption  *  Jesus  as  a  Man,'  I  find  one 
correspondent  willing  to  admit,  as  an  historic  fact,  that  such  a  man  as  Jesus 
Christ  existed.     That  he  never  existed,  is  to  me  evident  from  the  following  facts  : — 

1.  His  personal  existence  was  denied  as  matter  of  fact  by  the  most  philoso- 
phical, cool,  and  matter-of-fact  portion  of  the  primitive  Christians,  and  in  the 
argument  sustained  by  an  appeal  to  matter  of  historic  fact. 

2.  There  is  not  a  solitary  instance  of  the  personal  existence  of  any  distinguished 
reformer  being  denied,  and  his  would  not,  had  he  existed. 

3.  The  passages  quoted  from  profane  historians  to  prove  his  existence,  have  all 
been  demonstrated  to  be  interpolations  and  forgeries,  and  so  admitted  by  the  ablest 
polemics  and  divines, 

4.  Saul  of  Tarsus,  afterwards  called  Paul,  (what  for  ?)  who  insisted  on  *  a  Christ 
crucified,'  on  his  own  testimony  saw  him  only  in  mesmeric  vision;  and  the  writ- 
ings ascribed  to  Paul  were  not  received  till  408  as  canonical  by  the  church. 

5.  The  four  Gospels  are  not  four  independent  histories  of  Jesus  Christ,  but  are 
derived  from  a  document  of  unknown  authorship  as  their  origin,  found  flotant  in 
Egypt  and  connected  with  the  worship  of  Manes  and  the  Christ  of  India,  and  ex- 
tant two  hundred  and  sixty  years  before  the  common  era. 

6.  The  entire  Catholic  clergy  rest  as  to  authority  alone  upon  the  church,  Leo  X. 
calling  the  entire  history  of  Christ  a  mere/able. 

7.  The  rejected  Gospels  were  the  more  primitive,  and  so  contemptible  for  their 
puerilities  and  errors  that  they  were  rejected,  while  the  accepted  Gospels  were  less 
primitive,  written  long  after  in  more  modern  Greek,  and  became  canonical  by  a 
miracle.  Some  write  as  if  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  were  a  veritable  history — a 
reliable  narrative  of  facts.  He  should  remember  that  the  whole  affair,  the  Gos- 
pels, Acts,  and  Epistles,  are  but  the  device  of  monks  accommodating  all  to  a  fic- 
titious person,  a  man  of  straw,  the  Christ  of  India  as  the  Christ  of  Palestine. 

8.  The  account  of  the  resurrection  is,  in  point  of  fact,  in  more  than  a  dozen 
particulars,  for  ever  irreconcilable. 

9.  The  things  told  to  make  the  resurrection  and  crucifixion  wonderful,  are 
egregious  and  false.  A  terrible  angel  could  not  be  seen  inside  and  outside  of  the 
sepulchre — by  the  same  person  not  at  the  same  time  and  at  the  same  time — there 
was  not  darkness  over  the  whole  earth  for  the  space  of  six  hours. 

10.  The  experimental  piety  realised  in  sentiment,  dreams,  trances,  and  prophecy, 
is  found  in  all  religions,  and  now  accounted  for  scientifically,  conclusively,  and 
absolutely  on  natural  principles  —  a  part  and  parcel  of  our  common  humanity. — 
ViNDEX,  in  the  Boston  Investigator. 

NOTICE. 

Next  week  the  Reasontr  will  contain  the  '  History  of  Two  Nights  in  Blackburn,' 
with  all  the  correspondence  relative  thereto,  between  Mr.  Holyoake,  the  Improve- 
ment Commissioners,  and  the  Preston  papers.  This  notice  is  given  for  the  con- 
venience of  booksellers  who  have  asked  to  be  informed  of  the  time  of  its  publica- 
tion, that  they  might  be  able  to  order  it.  We  have  been  asked  to  print  it  in  a 
separate  form  for  circulation  in  Blackburn  and  its  neighbourhood;  but  as  it  will 
occupy  almost  an  entire  Reasoner,  it  may  be  considered  as  already  in  a  separate 
form  at  one  penny. 


THE  RBASONER.  ggg 


€Pramtnati0tt  of  t^t  l^reis. 

Dbfence  op  Metaphysics.— a  correspondent  of  the  Bristol  Mercury,  under  the 
signature  of '  Catholicus,'  writes  as  follows  in  reference  to  some  remarks  which 
fell  from  an  accomplished  gentleman  of  that  city  at  a  recent  soiree  at  the 
Philosophical  Institution  :— Dr.  Symons  drew  a  contrast  between  the  advantages 
which  result  from  the  pursuit  of  physical  and  of  metaphysical  itudies  (including 
under  the  latter  term  all  that  is  vaguely  known  sometimes  as  metaphysical,  some- 
times as  moral  science),  and  told  us  that  one  had  to  do  with  consciousness  the  other 
had  not.  Now  this  distinction,  sir,  I  respectfully  submit,  is  erroneous.  Did  con- 
sciousness not  exist  physical  science  would  cease  as  well  as  mental :  for  colour 
size,  form,  weight,  density,  ererything,  in  short,  of  which  physical  science  is  con- 
versant, is  known  to  us  only  through  our  consciousness.  No  doubt  that  the  senses 
by  which  we  communicate  with  the  outer  world  play  a  part  in  the  one  case  which 
they  do  not  in  the  other ;  but  consciousness  is  necessary  alike  to  the  naturalist  and 
the  metaphysician,  and  the  only  distinction  is  in  the  object  of  the  consciousness 
and  the  mode  of  its  influence.  The  accomplished  doctor  then  drew  an  elaborate 
simile  between  the  votaries  of  metaphysical  studies  and  men  who  are  ever 
striving  to  acale  some  mountain  passes,  but  ever  striving  in  vain,  for  each  newly 
discovered  tract  but  ends  in  disappointment,  mocking  the  foolish  men  and  leav- 
ing them  no  nearer  their  desired  end  than  their  sires  or  grandsires  were.  But  is  this 
the  case  with  metaphysical  science  ?  Is  this  often-repeated  charge  clearly  proved? 
If  it  be  true,  as  undoubtedly  it  is,  that  there  are  questions  to  the  solution  of  which 
we  are  no  nearer  than  were  the  Idumseau  Arabs  before  the  tents  of  Job  or  the 
earliest  of  Grecian  thinkers,  does  it  follow,  or  is  it  really  the  case,  that  this  is  the 
predicament  of  the  whole  science  ?  Surely,  in  the  haste  of  the  moment,  Dr.  Symons 
forgot  that  many  of  those  truths  which  were  received  as  absolutely  new  by  the 
most  accomplished  men  of  Athens,  as  they  gathered  around  the  most  marvellous 
of  all  heathen  men  in  the  market-place  or  the  painted  porch,  are  now  familiar  to 
every  boarding-school  girl,  and  are  intimately  and  essentially  woven  into  our 
ordinary  language  and  our  daily  habits  of  thought ;  surely  he  forgot  that  many  of 
those  truths  which  Aristotle  discourses  with  so  much  skill,  and  which  he  deemed 

too  hard  for  the  young  man  to  comprehend,  are  now  well  known  to  all nay  more 

that  difficulties  which  perplexed  his  giant  intellect  have  since  been  solved  and  no 
longer  raise  a  doubt;  surely  he  forgot  that  this  progress  no  less  marks  the 
annals  of  modern  than  of  ancient  philosophy — that  realism  has  disappeared  from 
amongst  thinkers,  destined  to  return  only  when  Galileo  shall  be  proved  in  error  as 
to  the  motion  of  the  earth — that  boundaries  of  logic  have  been  advanced — that  the 
writings  of  Butler  have  for  ever  established  some  interesting  points  in  morals. 
But  there  is  another  charge  yet  in  store.  Metaphysical  science,  it  is  said,  is  sterile 
and  bears  no  fruit  to  man;  it  may  train  the  mind  so  as  to  reader  its  application 
to  other  studies  more  easy,  but  this  is  all  that  it  can  do.  But,  sir,  is  the  acquisition 
of  truth  no  sufficient  end,  no  worthy  fruit  of  study  to  a  being  in  whom  is  implanted 
a  love  of  truth?  Is  no  science,  no  knowledge  worthy  of  cultivation  of  which  the 
result  is  not  something  which  we  may  see  and  touch  and  taste  and  exhibit  in  the 
Crystal  Palace  ?  Heaven  forbid  that  we  should  ever  set  ap  to  ourselves  such  a  stan- 
dard of  value  as  this !  But,  do  as  we  will,  so  long  as  men  feel  that  they  are  moral 
beings  they  will  crave  more  or  less  earnestly  after  ethical  science,  by  a  law  of  their 
nature  which  seems  to  me  to  warrant,  if  it  be  not  an  obligation  to,  the  pursuit  of 
it ;  so  long  as  they  feel  that  material  things  are  not  the  only  existences  to  which 


386 


THE  REASONER. 


they  stand  related  will  there  be  metaphysical  science,  more  or  less  developed.  I 
have  no  wish  whatever  to  disparage  physical  science,  but  would  only  query  whether 
it  be  wise  to  make  its  elevation  dependent  upon  the  dispraise  of  metaphysical 
studies.|I  have  no  wish,  as  I  have  no  fear,  of  seeing  Englishmen  devoting  all  their 
time,  like  certain  of  their  neighbours,  to  transcendental  metaphysics :  but,  on  the 
other  hand,  I  should  lament  to  see  all  our  studies  governed  by  a  dreary  utilitarian- 
ism, and  checked  by  the  oft-repeated  question  of  cui  bono  f  As  in  morals  we  should 
not  be  ever  inquiring,  '  Will  this  or  that  action  be  expedient  to  ourselves  in  its 
results?'  so  in  science  we  should  not  be  too  inquisitive  as  to  what  will  be  the  material 
blessings  with  which  each  study  will  repay  our  pursuit  of  itj  but  we  should  follow 
alike  after  what  is  good  and  what  is  true. 

Equality. — "We  shall  scarcely  meet  with  a  single  great  event  in  the  lapse  of  700 
years  which  has  not  turned  to  the  advantage  of  equality.  The  crusader  and  the 
wars  of  the  English  decimated  the  nobles  and  divided  their  possessions;  the  erec- 
tion of  communities  introduced  an  element  of  democratic  liberty  into  the  bosom  of 
feudal  monarchy;  the  invention  of  fire-arms  equalised  the  peasant  and  the  noble  on 
the  field  of  battle;  printing  opened  the  same  resources  to  the  minds  of  all  classes; 
the  post  was  organised  so  as  to  bring  the  same  information  to  the  door  of  the  poor 
man's  cottage  and  to  the  gate  of  the  palace  ;  and  Protestantism  proclaimed  that  all 
men  are  alike  able  to  find  the  road  to  heaven.  The  discovery  of  America  offered  a 
thousand  new  paths  to  fortune,  and  placed  riches  and  power  within  the  reach  of  the 
adventurous  and  obscure.  The  various  occurrences  of  national  existence  have  every- 
where turned  to  the  advantage  of  democracy ;  all  men  have  aided  it  by  their  exer- 
tions; thosewho  have  intentionally  laboured  in  its  cause  and  those  who  have  served 
it  unwittingly,  those  who  have  fought  for  it  and  those  who  have  declared  them- 
selves its  opponents,  have  all  been  driven  along  in  the  same  track,  have  all 
laboured  to  one  end,  some  ignorantly  and  some  unwillingly — all  have  been  blind  in- 
struments in  the  hands  of  God.  It  is  not  necessary  that  God  himself  should  speak 
in  order  to  disclose  to  us  the  unquestionable  signs  of  his  will ;  we  can  discern  them 
in  the  habitual  course  of  nature,  and  in  the  invariable  tendency  of  events.  I  know, 
without  a  special  revelation,  that  the  planets  move  in  the  orbits  traced  by  the 
Creator's  fingers. — De  Tocguevilln. 

A  '  Devine  '  Witness. — At  the  Clare  petty  sessions  a  case  of  forcible  pos- 
session was  tried.  Patrick  Devine,  of  Prosperous,  was  examined. — Court :  How 
old  are  you? — Witness:  Fourteen  off. — Do  you  know  the  nature  of  an  oath? — No. 
— Do  you  know  that  there  is  any  punishment  in  the  other  life  for  false  swearing? — 
No,  begor. — Do  you  know  that  if  you  live  wickedly,  or  irreligiously,  or  that  if  you 
commit  a  moral  sin  and  die  without  repenting  of  it,  you  will  be  damned  ? — Not  a 
word  at  all  at  all.— Did  you  ever  hear  of  hell  ?— Of  hell ;  not  at  all. — Nor  of 
Heaven  ?— Bad  scran  to  the  word.— Have  you  heard  of  God  ? — I  have,  a  little. — 
And  you  have  never  heard  of  hell  or  heaven  ? — Oh,  not  a  sintence. — Can  you  read 
or  write  ? — Not  a  word. — Did  you  ever  go  to  school  ? — 1  did. — For  how  long  ? — 
A  fortnight. — Have  you  been  instructed  to  make  those  answers? — I  hav'nt;  I  may 
as  well  tell  your  worship  at  once,  I  don't  know  anything  about  heaven  or  hell- 
about  this  life  or  the  other ;  the  fact  is  I  know  nothing  at  all  at  all. — Where  do 
you  go  to  prayers ?— To  the  chapel;  where  else  ?— Sir  Maltby  :  I  do  not  believe 
one  word  of  what  you  have  stated.  If  you  have  attended  to  what  yon  must  have 
heard  in  the  chapel,  you,  no  doubt,  are  sufiSciently  well  instructed.  I  repeat  that 
I  do  not  credit  a  single  word   you  have  expressed. —  Weekly  Paper. 


THE  REASONER. 


387 


C^c   ^^arttt   Cate  t'^iem. 


In  his  masterly  address,  Mr.  Combe 
rendered  great  service  to  the  cause  of 
education;  but  he  did  more  than  this, he 
spoke  in  a  noble  and  earnest  manner  of 
men  who  have  had  to  labour  against  op- 
probrium and  misrepresentation,  and 
who  now,  by  means  of  their  own  energy 
and  power,  are  the  representatives  of  the 
highest  influences  that  are  operating  in 
British  society. 

All  who  are  acquainted  with  the  works 
of  Mr.  Combe,  must  be  aware  that  on 
theological  topics  there  is  not  much  dif- 
ference between  his  opinions  and  those 
of  the  Unitarians  and  Deists,  of  whom, 
in  the  matter  we  quote,  he  speaks  so 
highly.  Yet,  his  position  is  to  us  strange 
and  unaccountable.  He  is  influencing 
the  people  to  an  extent  not  surpassed  by 
any  other  man.  His  books  are  circu- 
lated in  all  districts  ;  they  are  read  and 
re-read  by  artisans  and  labourers ;  Mid 
in  most  instances  the  readers  are  led  by 
the  might  of  his  arguments  to  relinquish 
the  doctrines  in  the  belief  of  which  they 
have  been  trained,  and  to  forsake  the 
traditional  churches  it  was  their  ambi- 
tion to  support.  Yet,  while  he  is  thus 
undermining  the  influence  of  the 
churches,  and  while,  in  addition,  he  is 
creating  unbelief  in  the  minds  of  thou- 
sands, with  respect  to  the  absurd  claim 
of  plenary  inspiration,  which  is  made  on 
behalf  of  the  Scriptures,  he  has  never 
directly  questioned  or  opposed  that 
claim  of  plenary  inspiration,  or  been 
other  outwardly  than  a  conformist  to 
the  churches.  Some  of  the  dogmas  of 
the  churches  he  has  directly  opposed; 
but  that  chief  dogma,  the  supreme  au- 
thority of  old  books,  on  which  all  the 
popular  dogmas  depend,  and  from  which 
they  draw  what  life  they  have,  he  has 
not  questioned.  The  unbelief  of  Mr. 
Combe  may  be  inferred  from  all  his 
works,  but   not  otherwise  known.     He 


does  not  slate  it  In  plain  terms  ;  indeed, 
we  should  occasionally  assume  that  he 
was  a  believer,  from  his  care  to  recon- 
cile some  of  his  views  with  the  state- 
ments of  Scripture,  or  from  his  care  to 
suggest  that  some  other  interpretation 
is  required ;  we  should  assume  him  to 
be  a  believer  from  these  causes,  and 
also  from  his  constant  support  of  the 
orthodox  systems,  were  we  not  pre- 
vented by  the  tenor  of  his  works,  which 
axe-lige  goes  to  the  root  of  the  orthodox 
tree,  hews  it  down  as  a  thing  in  which 
Mr.  Combe  has  no  faith,  as  a  thing  for 
which  he  has  only  loathing  and  a  most 
destructive  contempt.  We  were  pleased 
with  his  remarks  respecting  the  enligh- 
tened men  who  are  teaching  us  how  to 
think,  and  how  to  live — those  remarks 
were  indicative  of  less  reserve  and 
caution  than  Mr.  Combe  has  been  in  the 
habit  of  showing;  but  we  should  rejoice 
if  he  would  go  still  farther.  Leigh 
Hunt  has  done  nobly  in  the  publication 
of  his  views.  If  Mr.  Combe  would  do 
likewise,  he  would  make  an  additional 
claim  on  the  gratitude  of  his  friends. 
It  seems,  however,  to  be  the  fashion 
just  now,  to  cover  over  real  hostility  to 
orthodoxy  by  an  outward  seeming  respect 
for  it.  Mr.  Simpson,  at  the  recent 
meeting,  could  utter  jokes  at  the  ex- 
pense of  the  clergy,  but  he  was  very  de- 
ferential in  his  treatment  of  the  source 
whence  the  clergy  profess  to  derive  their 
authority.  Why  not  go  to  the  root  at 
once  ;  if  the  priestly  superstructure  has 
been  reared  on  a  foundation  of  sand, 
why  not  say  so?  and  not,  when  speaking 
of  that  which  is  felt  to  be  an  imposture, 
mimic  the  tones  of  the  pulpit.  Mr. 
Simpson  explained  the  nature  of  revela- 
tion ;  we  have  misjudged  him  wofully  if 
he  does  not  know  that  there  is  an  ever- 
living  revelation  of  God  in  the  human 
soul.     Why  did  he  not  say  so,  and  not 


388 


THE  RBASONER. 


leave  u8  to  infer  that  the  only  revela- 
tions of  which  he  was  cognisant  were 
those  contained  in  nature  and  the  Bible  ? 
When  he  was  treating  this  point,  we 
looked  around  us  on  the  faces  near,  and 
discovered  such  an  air  of  incredulity  as 
would  have  done  good. to  Mr.  Simpson 
had  he  seen  it.  We  felt,  and  others 
felt,  that  he  had  mistaken  his  audience. 
He  may  be  quite  certain,  that  any  audi- 
ence he  will  get  around  him  in  Glasgow 
will  permit  him  to  make  a  clean  breast 
of  it,  and  this  he  should  do  under  any 
circumstance. — Editor  of  Glasgow  Free- 
man.'] 


The  Shorter  Catechism  is  not  a  direct 
revelation  from  God.  It  is  a  series  of 
inferences,  or  interpretations  from  Scrip- 
ture, drawn  in  the  seventeenth  century, 
by  mortal  men  like  ourselves,  in  an  age 
which  knew  little  of  science,  because 
little  science  then  existed — which  be- 
lieved in  witchcraft,  whose  manners 
were  barbarous,  and  whose  minds  were 
fiercely  excited  by  civil  and  religious 
disputes.  In  particular,  it  was  an  age 
in  which  little  was  known  of  eastern 
languages,  manners,  and  institutions, 
and  which  was  therefore  imperfectly 
qualified,  compared  with  the  modern, 
to  discover  the  true  meaning  of  Scrip- 
ture, and  correctly  to  interpret  it.  I 
ask  then  are  we,  and  all  our  posterity, 
to  be  forced  to  bow  to  the  interpretations 
of  such  men,  as  if  they  were  inspired 
and  infallible  guides  ?  A  right  to  inter- 
pret Scripture  for  ourselves  constitutes 
the  very  foundation  of  Protestantism, 
and  what  does  this  imply  ?  Not  that 
the  majority  have  a  right  to  force  their 
interpretations  on  our  consciences;  but 
the  reverse,  that  the  humblest  individual 
is  to  be  protected  in  following  the  dic- 
tates of  his  own  judgment,  however 
widely  he  may  differ  from  his  neigh- 
bours, provided  he  do  them  no  harm. 
The  proposal  to  allow  the  minority  to 
withdraw  their  children  when  the  Cate- 
chism is  taught,  is  a  mere  mockery  and 
an  evasion,  while  the  majority  assert 
their  right  to  tax  the  Roman  Catholics, 
Episcopalians,  Baptists,  Unitarians, 
Glassites,  Swedenborgians,  Quakers, 
Jews,  and  all  other  sects,  for  teaching 
the  Shorter  Catechism  in  schools,  merely 
because  they  regard  it  as  an  epitome  of 
divine  truth.     These  other  sects  main- 


tain that,  in  their  eyes,  and  according 
to  their  consciences,  it  contains  perni- 
cious errors,  and  it  is  no  answer  to  them 
for  the  majority  to  say,  after  you  have 
paid  the  tax,  you  may  withdraw  your 
children  from  the  school  if  you  please ! 
This  is  adding  insult  to  injury.  Reverse 
the  proposal,  and  bring  in  a  bill  to  tax 
the  Protestants  for  teaching  the  Roman 
Catholic  Catechism  in  schools  common 
to  both,  with  liberty  to  them  to  with- 
draw their  children  ;  would  not  this  be 
met  by  a  universal  howl  of  execration 
on  account  of  its  impudence  and  injus- 
tice ?  But  the  character  of  the  proposal 
is  not  changed  merely  by  changing  per- 
petrators and  the  victims.  It  is  as  scan- 
dalous an  injustice  when  practised  by 
Protestants  against  Catholics  as  if  done 
by  Roman  Catholics  against  Protestants. 
It  is  exceedingly  difficult  to  enable  per- 
sons who  have  been  trained  to  regard 
the  Shorter  Catechism  and  the  Confes- 
sion of  Faith  as  indubitably  correct  in- 
terpretations of  Scripture,  to  look  on 
them  as  mere  human  productions,  liable, 
like  all  other  works  of  man,  to  error 
and  imperfection.  But  profound  rea- 
soners,  although  firmly  attached  to  the 
Bible,  have  viewed  them  in  this  light. 
Bishop  Watson  (who  defended  the  Biblp 
against  Gibbon  and  Paine)  says,  that 
when  preparing  to  discharge  his  duties 
as  Regius  Professor  of  Divinity  in  the 
University  of  Oxford,  '  I  reduced  the 
study  of  divinity  into  as  narrow  a  com- 
pass as  I  could,  for  I  determined  to  study 
nothing  but  my  Bible,  being  much  con- 
cerned about  the  opinions  of  councils, 
fathers,  churches,  bishops,  and  other 
men  as  little  inspired  as  myself.  I  never 
troubled  myself  with  answering  any  ar- 
guments which  the  opponents  in  the  di- 
vinity schools  brought  against  the  arti- 
cles of  the  church ,  nor  ever  admitted  their 
authority  as  decisive  of  a  difficulty,  but  I 
used  on  no  such  occasions  to  say  to  them, 
holding  the  New  Testament  in  my  hand. 
En  Sacrum  codicem !  Here  is  the  foun- 
tain of  truth,  why  do  you  follow  the 
streams  derived  from  the  sophistry,  or 
polluted  by  the  passions,  of  man?' 
Again  he  says,  *  I  certainly  dislike  the 
imposition  of  all  creeds  by  human  au- 
thority; though  I  do  not  dislike  them 
as  useful  summaries  of  what  their  com- 
pilers believe  to  be  true  either  in  natural 
or  revealed  religion.'  Again — '  What 
are  the  Catechisms  of  theRomish  Church, 


THE  REASONER. 


389 


of  the  English  Church,  of  the  Scotch 
Church,  and  of  all  other  churches,  but  a 
set  of  propositions  which  raen  of  diflferent 
natural  capacities, educations,  prejudices, 
have  fabricated  (sometimes  on  the  anvil 
of  sincerity,  oftener  on  that  of  ignorance, 
interest,  or  hypocrisy)  from  the  divine 
materials  furnished  by  the  Bible.'   These 
are  the  words  of  one  of  the  most  able 
and  learned  defenders  of   Christianity 
and  the  Bible  whom  England  has  pro- 
duced.    In  the  North  British   Review, 
for  February,  1847,  Dr.  Chalmers  wrote 
— *  As  things  stand  at  present,  our  creeds 
and  confessions  have  become  effete,  and 
the  Bible  a  dead  letter ;  and  that  ortho- 
doxy which  was  at  one  time  the  glory, 
by  withering  into  the  inert  and  lifeless, 
is  now  the  shame  and  reproach,  of  all 
our  churches.'     Are  not   these  the  na- 
tural  consequences   of   the   creeds   and 
confessions,  which  the  clergy  have   too 
generally    substituted    for    the    Bible, 
having    become    inconsistent   with    the 
science,  literature,  and  feelings  of  the 
age  ?     Archbishop   Whately   says — '  In 
reference  to  the  religious  improvement 
of  those  under  our  especial    care,   we 
should  recollect  that  we  are  not,  as  you 
well  know,  appointed   to   the   office  of 
guides  to  be  followed  by  a  credulous  and 
unthinking  multitude,  to  whom  we  are 
to  dictate  with  absolute  authority  what 
they  are  to  believe  and  do,  solely  upon 
our  word.     Our  office,  on  the  contrary, 
is  to  give  what  is  properly  called  reli- 
gious instruction — to  enlighten  and  guide 
the  judgment  of  men,  who  ought  to  use, 
and  who  will  use  and  act  on  their  own 
judgment.'     If,  then,  men  Lave  a  right 
to  use  and  act  on  their  own  judgment 
in  matters  of  faith,  as  this  excellent  pre- 
late so  clearly  expresses,  how  can  the 
majority  of  our  Scottish  sects  be  for  a 
moment  listened  to  when  they  propose 
to  tax  the  minority  to  teach  a  catechism 
which  their  judgment  and  consciences 
disclaim  ?     The  objections  of  the  sects 
before  named  to  the  Church  of  Scotland's 
Catechism  rest  on  the  ground  that,  in 
their  opinion,  it  does  not  contain  a  sound 
interpretation  of  Scripture ;  but  there  is 
another  class  of  men,  not  yet  designated 
by  any  special  name,  or  recognised  as  a 
sect,  but  whose  numbers,  mental  attain- 
ments, social  position,  zeal  for  religion, 
and  pure  morality,  entitle  them  to  some 
consideration,  who  strenuously  object  to 


the  introduction  of  the  catechism  into 
common  schools,  on  the  ground  that  it 
is  inconsistent,  not  only  with  the  Scrip- 
ture, but  with  a  direct  order  of  God's 
providence  as  revealed  in,  and  actually 
exercised  through   the  instrumentality 
of  nature ;  and   who,  therefore,  regard 
the  standards  of  the  Church  as  grand  ob- 
stacles to  the  moral,  religious,  and  intel- 
lectual progress  of  the  nation.    It  may 
be  asked,  who  are  these  men  ?    I  answer 
that  it  is  impossible  to  go  into  the  society 
of  educated  persons,  of  whatever  rank, 
and  to  hear  them  converse  confidentially 
and  earnestly  on  the  high  topics  of  man's 
religious  nature    and    destiny,   without 
discovering  that    the   convictions  of  a 
large  number  of    them   have   left    the 
standards,  and  that  they,  some  to  the 
greater  and  some  to  the  lesser  extent, 
desire  to  see  them  either  abrogated  or 
reformed,   as   a  measure   indispensable 
to  the  Emancipation  of  the  intellects  of 
the  nation  when  acting  in  the  domain  of 
religion,  from  the  trammels  of  the  six- 
teenth and  seventeenth  centuries.    Nay, 
it  is  notorious  that  in  the  Church  itself 
such   desires  exist,  and  that  there  are 
great  and  good  minds  among  the  clergy 
who  feel  their  souls  imprisoned  in  the 
narrow  casements   of  these   antiquated 
formulas.      In    the    United    States    of 
America  this  emancipation  has  been  par- 
tially realised,  and  with  what  results  ? 
In  Massachusets,  formerly  the  seat  of  the 
sternest  orthodoxy  that  ever  reigned  on 
earth,  the  ancient  standards  have  been 
abandoned.    Has  irreligion  taken  their 
place  ?    No.    There  has  been  an  increase 
of  religious  zeal,  of  churches,  of  schools, 
(in  which  no  creeds  are  taught,)  and  a 
marked   advance    in    social  peace,  reci- 
procal goodwill,  refinement,  intelligence, 
and  civilisation.     In  Pennsylvania  there 
was  a  numerous  body  of  Presbyterians, 
who  used  the  Scottish  standards  in  their 
churches   and   their   schools.     In   1830 
I  found  that  this  sect  had  split  in  two — 
the  majority  insisted  on  reforming  the 
standards,  the  minority  resisted,  and  a 
grand  disruption  was  the  consequence. 
The    seceding    majority   asserted   their 
mental  freedom,  and,  instead  of  lapsing 
into  indifference,  their  zeal,  kindled  by 
intellectual    independence,    led,    as    in 
Massachusets,  to  an  increase  of  churches, 
congregations,  and  schools.  In  Philadel- 
phia, the  Society  ot  Friends  also  have 


390 


THE  REASONER. 


had  a  disruption,  the  great  majority- 
having  passed  into  more  liberal  views  of 
faith  than  their  ancestors  held.  In 
Germany  the  standards  of  the  16th  and 
17th  centuries  have  long  been  aban- 
doned by  the  great  majority  of  edu- 
cated Protestants;  and  in  that  country 
a  larger  advance  in  civilisation  has  been 
made  -within  the  last  thirty  years  than 
a  century  before.  In  England  the  Church 
18  daily  sending  off  secessions  to  Roman 
Catholicism  on  the  one  hand,  and  to 
Unitarianism  or  Deism  on  the  other. 
And  one  grand  characteristic  of  these 
movements  is,  that  the  individuals  en- 
gaged in  them  are  profoundly  and  sin- 
cerely religious.  They  have  foundered 
upon  the  inconsistencies  of  the  Church's 
standards  ;  and  the  weaker  and  more 
emotional  minds  have  taken  shelter  with 
Rome  in  the  domain  of  unreasoning 
authority,  while  the  bolder  and  more 
energetic  thinkers  have  struck  oflF  into 
the  regions  of  natural  religion.  The 
men  now  alluded  to  are  wholly  unlike 
Hume,  Voltaire,  and  Paine,  who  attacked 
Christianity  as  an  invention  of  priests. 
The  deserters  from  the  standards  are 
sincerely  pious.  It  is  necessary  only  to 
mention  the  names  of  Francis  Newman, 
James  Martineau,  Theodore  Parker,  and 
George  Dawson,  as  specimens  of  the 
more  general  class  of  liberal  religious 
men  who  object  to  the  standards.  In 
England  this  class  has  a  quarterly  re- 
view (the  Prospective),  and  an  extensive 
and  rapidly-increasing  literature,  as  the 
exponents  of  its  opinions;  and  they  have 
many  approvers  in  Scotland.  I  ask, 
therefore,  have  men  of  this  stamp,  no 
consciences  and  no   rights  ?     Is   it   no 


outrage  to  tax  them  to  teach  standards 
which  they  regard  as  national  evils,  and 
against  which  every  faculty  of  their 
minds  rebels  ?  Are  they  the  subverters 
and  destroyers  of  social  order,  or  the 
enlightened  advocates  of  freedom  and 
progress  ?  To  be  able  to  reply  to  these 
questions,  you  need  only  recal  for  a 
moment  the  names  of  the  leaders  in  our 
struggle  for  parliamentary,  financial, 
and  judicial  reform,  for  free  trade,  and 
for  our  best  measures  for  social  improve- 
ment. Are  they  the  liberals  in  religious 
creeds,  or  are  they  the  class  of  which 
Robert  H.  Inglis  in  England,  and  Dr. 
Caudlish  in  Scotland,  may  be  fairly  taken 
as  the  types,  who  have  been  the  grand 
movers  in  these  and  other  beneficial 
measures  ?  Let  me  not,  however,  be 
misunderstood.  I  state  no  objection  to 
the  standards  as  rules  of  private  judg- 
ment, and  I  sincerely  respect  every  man 
in  admiring  them,  who  by  experience 
finds  them  conducive  to  his  own  salva- 
tion. The  freedom  which  I  claim  I 
grant  to  all.  I  am  ready  to  shake  hands 
with  every  sincerely  religious  man,  and 
to  hail  him  as  an  honour  to  his  country, 
provided  he  carry  out  his  professions  in 
his  actions,  and  respect  men  of  other 
faiths  as  he  desires  that  they  should 
respect  him  and  his.  It  is  only  when  he 
converts  his  own  standards  into  chains 
of  iron,  and  insists,  in  the  name  of  God, 
on  his  right  to  bind  with  them  the  con- 
sciences of  his  neighbours,  that  I  call  on 
you,  and  on  all  who  love  justice,  to  op- 
pose him. — From  an  Address  by  George 
Combe,  delivered  in  the  City  Rail,  Glas- 
gow. 


THE  REASONER.  391 


Our  ^Slatlaim. 

From  which  any  earnest  opponent  may  controvert  our  opinions,  and  from  which  any  may  expound  views 
not  coincident  with  our  owa,  il  tending  to  the  Rationalisation  of  Theolegv. 


SUPERHUMAN  POWER.— THE  DESIGN  ARGUMENT. 


Sir, — If  I  understand  Mr.  Parry's  argument  in  No.  278,  when  e  says,  'Paley'a 
simile  of  a  "  watch  "  1  humbly  think  sufficient  for  probability,'  it  is,  that  a  man 
who  should  for  the  first  time  in  his  life  find  a  watch  (never  having  before  heard  or 
dreamt  of  the  existence  of  such  a  machine  and  its  uses),  the  probabilities  are 
that  he  would,  upon  examining  it,  readily  and  certainly  ascertain  how  it  was  made, 
and  for  what  purpose.  It  may  not,  perhaps,  be  amiss,  much  as  the  design  argu- 
ment has  been  discussed,  to  consider  this  'probability,'  taking  Paley's  own  posi- 
tion and  language  for  our  text.     Paley  says  : — 

*  In  crossing  a  heath,  suppose  T  pitched  my  foot  against  a  stone,  and  were  asked 
how  the  stone  came  to  be  there,  I  might  possibly  answer  that,/or  ant/thing  I  knew 
to  the  contrary,  IT  HAD  LAiir  thebe  roa  ever  ;  nor  would  it,  perhaps,  be  very 
easy  to  show  the  absurdity  of  this  answer.  But  suppose  I  had  found  a  watch  upon 
the  ground,  and  it  should  be  inquired  how  the  watch  happened  to  be  in  that  place, 
I  should  hardly  think  of  the  answer  I  had  before  given — that,  for  anything  I  knew, 
the  watch  might  have  always  been  there.  Yet  why  should  not  this  answer  serve 
for  the  watch  as  well  as  for  the  stone?  Why  is  it  not  as  admissible  in  the  second 
case  as  in  the  first?  For  this  reason,  and  for  no  other,  namely,  that  when  we 
COME  TO  inspect  THE  WATCH  we  perceive  (what  we  could  not  discover  in  the 
stone)  that  its  several  parts  are  framed  and  put  together  for  a  purpose ;  that  is  to 
say,  that  they  are  so  formed  and  adjusted  as  to  produce  motion,  and  that  motion  so 
regulated  as  to  point  out  the  hour  of  the  day.^ 

In  inquiring  into  the  value  of  the  '  probability '  contained  in  Paley's  simile  of 
the  watch,  it  is  of  the  first  consequence  that  it  should  be  clearly  perceived  that 
Paley  supposes,  or  assumes,  himself  to  be  in  entire  ignorance  both  of  the  origin 
of  stones  and  of  watches.  Of  the  stone  he  says, '  for  anything  I  know  to  the  con- 
trary,' &c. ;  and  of  the  watch,  •  when  we  come  to  inspect  the  watch  we  perceive,' 
&c.,  indicating  that  not  until  he  had  inspected  the  watch  did  he  know  anything 
of  it.     Paley  was  both  consistent  and  correct  to  this  extent. 

Upon  meeting  with  a  stone  upon  a  heath,  Paley  assures  ns  he  could  not  hope  by 
any  examination  of  it  to  tell  either  how  it  came  there,  or  how  long  it  had  lain 
there ;  in  fact,  that,  for  all  he  could  hope  by  examining  it  to  learn  to  the  contrary 
it  might  have  lain  there  for  ever;  that  iF,we  will  suppose,  ever  since  the  beginning 
of  the  world,  and  not  from  all  eternity.  But  supposing  Paley  found  a  watch  upon 
the  ground,  upon  taking  up  the  watch  and  examining  it — let  it  be  remembered,  he 
never  having  before  either  seen  or  heard  of  such  an  instrument  and  its  uses — 
he  immediately  discovers,  from  the  evidence  contained  within  itself,  and  from  no 
other  source,  that  it  is  an  artificial  machine  for  marking  the  progress  of  time,  and 
that  it  must,  at  some  period  anterior  to  his  finding  it  on  the  ground,  have  been  in 
the  workshop  of  the  artist.  Paley  does  not  merely  perceive  that  it  is  a  machine, 
but  he  discovers,  also,  without  an  efifort,  what  it  was  made  for— 'Wh&t  was  the  ruling 
motive  and  object  in  the  mind  of  the  maker. 

Considering  the  many  accidents  to  which  watches  in  general  are  liable,  even 
when  taken  the  greatest  of  care  of,  much  more  when  allowed  to  lie  on  the  ground 
— such  as  breaking  of  the  main-spring  or  chain,  exposure   to  cold,  or  even  the 


393  THE  REA80NER. 


ordinary  running  down  to  which  they  are  daily  subject — and  any  one  of  which 
common  occurrences  it  is  legitimate  and  perfectly  fair  argument  to  assume  might 
have  been  the  fate  of  Paley's  watch,  I  do  not  know  which  is  most  to  be  admired, 
Paley's  boldness  or  his  admirers'  simplicity.  What  if  the  watch  was  stopped 
when  he  found  it — run  down,  we  will  say,  but  the  key  attached  to  it — would  he  have 
known  then  what  the  watch  was  intended/or  ?  Would  the  key  have  told  its  own 
tale  ?  Would  he  on  seeing  the  key  have  known  there  must  be  a  hole  in  which  it 
would  fit,  and  have  set  about  looking  for  it,  and  when  he  had  found  it  forthwith 
proceed  to  wind  up  the  watch  and  set  it  going  ?  Are  any  of  these  suppositions 
probable ;  and  are  there  not  many  other  difficulties  of  the  same  sort,  which  will 
suggest  themselves  to  every  reflective  mind — assuming,  of  course,  the  watch  to 
have  been  stopped  ? 

As  watches  are  not  always  stopped,  this  watch  of  Paley's  jwigiA^have  been  just 
wound  up  as  he  came  along,  and  have  slipped  out  of  the  hand  of  its  owner  into 
the  grass  instead  of  into  the  fob ;  in  which  case  we  will  assume  that  it  would  go 
on  without  stopping  for  twelve  or  even  tw6nty-four  hours.  How  many  readers  of 
this  journal,  inhabitants  though  they  be  of  the  most  mechanical  country  the  world 
ever  saw,  are  prepared  to  declare  that  they  would  in  the  space  of  twenty-four 
hours  accurately  define  the  nature  of  any  machine  whatever  that  might  be  placed 
before  them,  the  nature  and  principle  and  purport  of  which  should  be  entirely  dif- 
ferent to  anything  they  had  ever  seen  or  heard  of  before  ?  Yet  this  is  Paley's 
position  with  the  watch  and  the  stone :  he  knew  nothing  of  the  stone,  and  the 
stone  would  not  tell  him  anything ;  he  knew  nothing  of  watches,  but  the  watch 
told  him  everything. 

The  answer  which  Dr.  Paley  says  he  '  might  possibly  '  have  given  respecting  a 
stone  which  he  found  upon  a  heath,  it  is  very  certain  Dr.  Buckland  would  not  have 
given  ?  And  why  9  Because  Dr.  Buckland  knows  as  much  about  stones,  of  which 
Dr.  Paley  was  profoundly  ignorant,  as  Dr.  Paley  knew  about  watches  before  he 
wrote  his  book  upon  Natural  Theology.  It  follows,  consequently,  that  if  Paley 
had  known  no  more  of  watches  than  he  did  of  stones,  he  would  have  given  an 
equally  absurd  answer  respecting  them  that  he  did  respecting  stones ;  his  was  not 
assumed  ignorance  with  respect  to  the  stone,  he  was  ignorant ;  but  he  had  a  previous 
knowledge  of  watches,  and  perhaps,  as  Ensor  suggests,  carried  one  in  his  fob. 
There  were  to  him  no  *  sermons  in  stones,'  but  the  watch  told  him  the  time  of  day 
directly. 

I  will  not  extend  these  remarks  futher  at  present,  but  will  wait  and  see  if  they 
give  rise  to  any  comments ;  I  have,  however,  one  further  illustration  to  oflTer  of  the 
absurdity  and  inconclusiveness,  to  say  nothing  of  its  disingenuousness,  of  the  de- 
sign argument.  There  have  been  several  apparently  well  authenticated  instances 
published  of  men  who,  knowing  nothing  whatever  of  the  manufacture  of  watches 
and  musical-boxes,  or  their  uses,  having  found  one  or  the  other,  supposed  it  to  be  a 
living  organism — and  there  is  every  reason  why  this  should  be  the  case  under  the 
circumstances,  even  granting  that  the  published  instances  to  which  I  have  referred 
were  not  facts.  It  has  been  stated  on  unquestionable  authority,  though  I  cannot  now 
find  it,  that  some  rude,  unlettered  people  have  considered  that  books  spoke  when 
they  heard  missionaries  read  from  them  ;  and  why  should  they  not  imagine  that 
watches  talked,  when  they  could  hear  a  continuous  audible  sound  proceed  from  them? 

It  requires  but  one  well-authenticated  ase  of  intelligence  failing  to  find  evident 
design,  through  previous  inacquaintance  with  the  subject,  where  another  intel- 
ligence discovers  design,  through  previous  acquaintance,  to  destory  the  natural 


THE  REASONER.  393 


theological  argument,  past,  present,  or  to  come.  This  one  in«tance  it  was  reserved 
for  Paley  himself  to  furnish  in  his  answer  respecting  the  stone:  for  geologists 
profess  to  see  as  much  evidence  of  design  in  stones  as  Paley  did  in  watches, 

Bristol,  Oct.  5th,  1851.  W.Chilton. 

P.S. — I  have  just  seen  the  Westminster  for  October,  and  partly  read  an  article 
on  *  Life  and  Immortality,'  which  I  hope  to  have  an  opportunity  of  noticing  some 
other  time.  There  are,  however,  some  passages  in  the  said  article,  respecting 
*  design,'  so  closely  resembling,  in  fact  almost  identical  with,  some  of  the  illustra- 
tiong  in  the  foregoing  (though  used  for  the  very  opposite  purpose),  that  a  suspicion 
of  plagiarism  on  my  part  might  not  be  unreasonably  supposed  to  arise  in  the  minds 
of  some,  if  I  were  not  to  state  that  I  did  not  see  the  Review  for  some  days  subse- 
quently to  my  despatching  the  above  remarks. — W.  C,  Oct.  lOth. 

MR.    MILLAR'S    LATE    REPORT. 


Sir,— The  Reasoner,  as  a  chronicle  of  freethinking,  ought  never  to  have  been 
used  as  a  medium  for  such  a  cowardly  attack  as  is  made  in  No.  22  on  one  who  has 
no  means  of  defence,  save  that  which  is  entirely  under  your  control,  and  which 
you  appear  to  be  determined  will  only  be  devoted  to  records  of  your  own  personal 
adventures  and  perigrinations.  Your  excuses  for  not  inserting  the  report  of  Mr. 
Southwell's  lectures  forwarded  by  me,  are  a  species  of  insidious  poison  distilled  for 
what  purpose  I  can  only  surmise.  You  pretend  that  it  was  out  of  consideration 
for  Lloyd  Jones,  although  the  insinuations  which  you  introduce  into  your  remarks 
are  calculated  to  produce  more  uneasiness  than  anything  contained  in  the  report. 
But  why  should  Lloyd  Jones,  or  any  other  public  man,  be  '  left  alone  ?'  If  acting 
in  a  public  capacity  he  must  be  subject  to  public  criticism  ;  but  according  to  you 
he  might  pursue  the  most  damaging  policy  towards  our  cause,  and  because  of  a 
promise  made  by  George  Jacob  Holyoake  he  must  be  'left  alone.' 

As  to  the  composition  of  the  report,  it  can  be  easily  explained.  It  originated 
at  a  meeting  of  our  committee  and  friends,  who,  being  anxious  that  some  better 
organisation  of  the  friends  of  freethinking  should  be  brought  about,  agreed  to  sug- 
gest it  through  the  iJeasoner.  At  the  time,  as  I  was  busily  employed  working,  Mr. 
Southwell  was  requested  to  draw  up  a  draft  of  a  report.  Mr.  Southwell  did  so — 
gave  it  to  me  to  alter  or  improve  it  to  my  mind,  or  otherwise  use  it  as  I  thought 
proper.  A  portion  of  the  draft  prepared  by  him  was  taken  and  adopted,  a  portion, 
and  the  largest  portion,  was  written  by  myself.  This  is  the  complete  history — the 
truth,  the  full  truth,  and  nothing  but  the  truth — about  the  affair.  I  adopted 
what  I  agreed  with,  and  became  the  only  responsible  party,  which  I  still  am,  and 
am  willing  to  defend  everything  therein  contained.  Mr.  Southwell  never  saw  the 
report  as  sent,  and  does  not  how  know  all  that  it  contains.  What  good  purpose  could 
be  served  by  dragging  this  before  the  public  I  know  not,  but  these  are  the  facts  of 
the  case,  and  can  be  substantiated  by  several  of  our  friends  here.  How  it  was  got 
up  was  no  secret  at  Glasgow. 

The  personal  reflections  on  Christian  Socialism  are  anything  but  disparaging. 
If  we  are  to  keep  silence,  because  what  we  say  may  be  miaconstrued,  you  had 
better  stop  the  Reasoner  at  once. 

The  real  honest  Christian  Socialist  I  esteem  as  highly  as  you  can,  and  if  you 
again  read  the  communication  you  will  Bud  that  I  throw  no  odium  on  them.  My 
object  was  to  warn  the  readers  of  the  Reasoner  against  a  class  of  Jesuitical  humbugs 
who,  having  no  regard  to  principle,  seek  to  gain  influence  over  the  public  mind 


394 


THE  REASONER. 


by  the  most  dcstestable  chicanery — who  behind  the  mask  of  communism  conceal 
the  odious  features  of  worse  than  Jewish  usurers.  I  used  in  regard  to  them  no 
name;  those  whom  the  cap  fitteth,  let  them  wear  it — certainly  not  the  true  Chris- 
tian Socialists,  I  think. 

As  regards  Walter  Cooper,  I  hold  him  in  the  highest  estimation,  and  I  have 
much  pleasure  in  saying  that  his  advocacy  of  Social  Reform,  so  far  as  he  had 
an  opportunity  in  Glasgow,  did  honour  to  his  head  as  well  as  the  largeness  of  his 
heart.  In  my  last,  I  merely  threw  out  some  surmises  as  to  what  would  be  the  eflfect 
if  certain  plans  were  proposed ;  but  I  am  certain  nothing  that  was  said  was  at  all 
disparaging  to  him. 

As  to  the  report  being  one  that  woald  not  be  approved  of  by  the  '  Communists 
of  Glasgow,'  the  only  way  of  testing  that  was  by  printing  it.  One  thing  I  am 
certain  of  is  that  it  would  be  passed  at  any  general  meeting  of  the  Glasgow  Com- 
munist Society,  and  I  have  no  objection  that  it  be  submitted  to  them,  and  will  risk 
my  reputation  on  the  result. 

If  anything  it  contains  could  bear  the  construction  of  maliciousness,  on  me,  and 
me  alone,  rests  the  stigma,  from  which  I  hope  to  be  able  to  exonerate  myself. 

This  much,  sir,  I  think  necessary  in  vindication  of  my  own  reputation,  as  well 
as  in  justice  to  Mr.  Southwell,  who  has  been  so  unjustly  treated  in  your  article. 

All  that  I  request  is  that  1  may  be  heard  in  defence  from  your  '  Platform,'  from 
which  any  earnest  opponent  can  be  heard. 

On  one  thing,  at  all  events,  I  am  determined,  that  is  that  unless  some  explana- 
tion is  made,  the  matter  will  not  rest  here.  However,  trusting  to  your  sense  of 
justice,  I  remain  in  hopeful  suspense, 

George  Millab. 

The  Committee,  having  heard  the  above  read,  hereby  attest  to  its  truth  in  every 
particular.  James  Dodds,  President. 

John  McKenzie. 
William  Daig. 

GEOaOE  MoBQISON. 

James  MoLean. 


[The  imputations  of  this  letter  we  take  to  be  mere  expressions  of  feeling  under  excite- 
ment, which  the  writer  will  probably  not  repeat  in  cooler  moments.  We  therefore 
attach  no  importance  to  them,  and  make  no  reply  to  them.  If  our  correspondent  is 
indeed  restricted  to  such  means  of  defence  as  are  under  our  control,  he  will  yet  find 
them  amply  sufficient  for  his  purpose.  We  very  freely  accord  him  the  utmost  syllable 
of  his  defence.  Having  the  pleasure  of  knowing  Mr.  Millar,  and  having  pernonal  as 
well  as  public  reasons  to  respect  him,  we  took  some  reason  to  explain  that  the  report  we 
declined  (and  which  contained  passages  which  surprised  us  as  coming  from  him)  was 
not  really  written  by  him.  This  exoneration  of  him  which  we  made,  he  pleased  to 
represent  as  a  '  cowardly  attack.'  That  he  put  his  name  to  a  report  which  was  not  his, 
in  essential  respects,  was  no  fault  in  our  eyes.  Every  secretary  or  chairman  of  a  meet- 
ing has  continually  to  sign  addresses  and  reports  he  does  not  write,  and  for  which  he  ia 
never  considered  personally  responsible.  Nor  should  I  ever  have  noticed  the  circum- 
stance if  I  had  not  been  obliged  to  notice  the  report,  and  forced  to  explain  why.  To 
decline  its  insertion  without  an  explanation  was  not  permitted  to  me,  and  it  is  rather 
too  bad  to  call  upon  me  to  give  my  reasons  (Mr.  Millar  himself  asked  for  them  in  a 
private  letter),  and  then  to  interpret  my  doing  so  into  the  '  distilment  of  insidious 


THE  REASONER. 


395 


poison.'  My  conjecture  about  the  origin  of  the  report  turns  out  to  be  quite  true,  and 
we  are  quite  sure  that  the  majority  of  our  readers  will  not  be  of  opinion  that  '  truth  is 
any  libel.'  We  have  no  intention  of  offering  any  defence  of  what  we  said  on  a  former 
occasion.  We  abide  by  those  explanations,  and  there  is  an  end  of  the  matter.  The 
reader  has  seen  the  little  we  said  (only  when  we  were  asked  to  say  it),  and  he  now  sees 
whatever  Mr.  Millar  chooses  to  say  upon  it.  He  can,  therefore,  judge  between  us. 
The  accusation  of  '  Jesuitical  humbugs,'  'detestable  chicanery,'  &c.,  indicate  to  the 
reader  the  kind  of  discussion  which  we  have  avoided.  A  discussion  which  would  do  us 
more  harm  (by  reason  of  its  injustice)  than  any  censures  Mr.  Millar  may  visit  us  with, 
which,  however,  from  our  respect  for  him,  we  are  very  sorry  to  incur. — G.  J.  H.] 

Upa^DHcr  ^rnjjasauira. 

To  promote  the  eflSciency  of  the  Reasoner  as  an  organ  of  Propagandism,  one  friend  subBcribes  lOs. 
weekly,  another  5a.,  one  2s.  monthly,  others  Is.  each  weekly— others  intermediate  sums  or  special 
remittances,  according  to  ability  or  earnestness.  An  annual  contribution  of  Is.  from  each  reader 
would  be  easy,  equitable,  and  sufficient.  What  is  remitted,  in  whatever  proportion,  is  acknowledged 
here  and  accounted  for  at  the  end  of  the  Volume. 


Previously  acknowledged  in  No.  281,741s.  6d, — J.  Clarke  and  W.  Storer,  Is. — 
J.  Body,  Is. — Gr.  R.  Vine,  Is.— J.  Robinson,  Leicester,  per  Mr.  Billson,  fis. — J. 
Boyce,  Is.  For  '  Shaksperes,'  per  J,  Bowes,  Leeds,  123. — T.  Bedlington,  Middlesbro', 
10s.— H.  L.,  5s.    Total,  777s.  6d. 

This  week  is  pablished,  price  Threepence,  in  a  wrapper,  *  The  Philosophic  Type 
of  Religion  '  (as  developed  by  Professor  Newman  in  his  work  upon  the  'Natural 
History  of  the  Soul,')  Stated,  Examined,  and  Answered,  by  George  Jocob 
Holyoake. 

This  week  is  ready,  price  One  Penny,  the  Last  Days  of  Mrs  Emma  Martin — 
that  is,  the  '  Words  Spoken  at  her  Grave,'  with  a  short  Biography,  slightly  enlarged 
since  its  appearance  in  the  Reasoner. 

!^°*  Monthly  Parts  of  the  Reasoner  are  uniformly  ready  in  a  double  Supple- 
mentary Wrapper  every  Magazine  day.  Volumes  of  the  Reatoner  are  made  up 
(and  can  be  had  bound)  Half  Yearly. 


GUIDE  TO  THE  LECTURE  ROOM. 

Literary  Institution,  John  St.,  Fitzroy  Sq, — Nov. 
gth  [7],  Ernest  Jones,'  Hungary  &  Kossuth.'  11th 
[8^],  Discussion  in  the  Coffee  Room. 

National  Hall,  242,  High  Holborn.— Nov.  9th 
[8],  P.  W.Perfitt  will  lecture. 

Hall  of  Science,  City  Road. —  Nov,  Qth  f7], 
Thomas  Cooper,  '  Roman  History.' 

South  London  Hall,  Webber  Street,  Blackfriars 
Road.— Nov.  9th  [74] ,  Robert  Cooper,  '  The  World 
of  the  Future,  or  the  Destiny  of  the  Millions.' 

Institute  of  Progress,  10a,  Upper  George  St., 
Sloane  Square. — Friday  evenings  [8],  Discussion. 
Nov.  9th  [7],  a  lecture. 

Eclectic  Institute,  Denmark  Street,  Soho.  — 
Every  Friday  [8i],  Mr.  J.  B.  O'Brien,  '  Home  and 
Foreign  Politics.'  Every  Sunday  [7i],  on  '  Moral 
and  Social  Science.' 

Areopaeus  Coffee  and  Reading  Room,  59,  Church 
Lane,  WHtechapel. — Every  Sunday,  Monday,  and 
Wednesday  (8),  a  Lecture  or  Discussion. 

City  Forum  Coffee  House,  6o,  Red  Cross  Street. 
— Every  Sunday,  Monday,  and  Thursday  [8i],  a 
Discubsion. 

Commercial  Hall,  Philpot  Street,  Commercial 
Road  East. — Every  Tuesday  and  Thursday  even- 
><>g  [S]i  ^  Discussion. 


ADVERTISEMENT. 

POPULAR  WORKS. 

A  Few  Days  in  Athens,  1  vol.,  cloth.    By 

Frances  Wright 1  6 

Ditto,  in  a  wrapper 1  0 

F.  Wright's  Popular  Lectures,  1  vol 3  o 

(To  be  had  in  Parts  and  Numbers.) 

Bible  of  Reason,  1  vol.,  cloth  7  6 

The  English  Republic,  1  to  10 each  0  6 

Notes  on  the  Population  Question O  6 

Clark's  Letters  to  Dr.  Adam  Clarke,  1  vol., 

cloth    5  0 

Labour's  Wrongs  and  Labour's  Remedies, 

1  vol 2  0 

Paine's  Poems O  3 

Life  of  Volney 0  2 

Life  of  Voltaire    0  2 

Life  of  Shelley 0  2 

Shelley's  Masque  of  Anarchy 0  3 

—  Queen  Mab,  1  vol.,  boards    1  6 

—  ditto                ditto        wrapper 1  0 

Cooper's  Infidel's  Text  Book,  1  vol 2  6 

(To  be  had  in  tnirteen  numbers  at  twopence.) 

—  Scriptures  Analysed o  8 

Scripturian's  Creed.     By  Citizen  Davies   ..  2  0 

London :  James  Watson,  3,  Queen's  Head  Pas- 
sage, Pateinoster-row. 


396 


THE  REASONER. 


Our  Ojprn  ^age. 


The  Nonconformist,  of  Oct.  1st,  remarks  : — '  If  man  be  no  longer  a  superfluity,  lie 
must  not  be  treated  politically  as  such.  The  people  are  not  a  mass,  but  a  multitude 
— and  they  are  not  to  be  legislated  for,  but  the  sum  of  their  individual  suffrages  to  be 
embodied  in  law.  Law  has  handed  over  a  diocese  to  a  bishop,  a  parish  to  a  priest, 
and  a  district  to  a  tax-gatherer  without  the  slightest  regard  to  the  will  of  the  souls 
dwelling  therein — only  where  law  has  been  broken,  has  the  individual  been  recog- 
nised. Thus  all  man's  interests  have  been  circumscribed,  all  his  faculties  crippled, 
and  therefore  his  value  impaired.  But  a  new  element  is  at  work  in  these  islands. 
This  half  a  century  will  not  be  as  the  last.  Man  will  attain  his  proper  value,  not 
by  the  transference  of  numbers  from  one  hemisphere  to  another,  as  of  weights 
from  the  right  scale  to  the  left,  but  by  the  inspiration  of  self-knowledge.  Once 
impregnate  the  "  masses  "  with  the  truth  that  all  men  are  essentially  equal,  and  that 
each  has  a  right  to  whatever  is  essentially  human,  and  that  dull,  inorganic  lump 
will  break  up  into  so  many  distinct  entities,  recognising  in  each  other  an  indefinite 
value  and  indefeasible  claims.  Then  in  the  market-place,  in  the  church,  and  in 
the  state — 

Man  to  man 
Will  brothers  be,  and  a'  that.' 

The  following  are  George  Cornwall  Lewis's  words  on  the  influence  of  authority 
in  matters  of  opinion  (pp. 73-4) : — 'The  diversity  of  Christian  creeds  is  the  more  ap- 
parent when  contrasted  with  the  uniformity  upon  moral  questions  which  prevails 
throughout  the  civilised  world.  Amongst  all  civilised  nations,  a  merely  uniform 
standard  of  morality  is  recognised ;  the  same  books  on  ethical  subjects  are  con- 
sulted for  the  guidance  of  life,  and  if  the  practice  differs,  the  difference  is  not,  in 
general,  owing  to  a  diversity  of  theoretical  rules  of  conduct.  It  will  be  observed, 
that  the  great  controversies  between  the  Christian  sects  either  turn  upon  questions 
which  have  no  direct  bearing  upon  human  conduct  (such  as  the  doctrines  of  the 
Trinity  and  Transubstantiation),  or  upon  forms  of  church  government  and  disci- 
pline, which  are  matters  of  positive  institution.  They  rarely  turn  upon  the  moral 
doctrines  which  are  involved  in  Christianity.  Upon  these  there  is  a  prevailing 
tendency  and  an  approximation  to  an  agreement.  Scientific  opinions  follow  a 
certain  law  of  progressive  development.  While  error  is  gradually  diminished, 
truth  is  established  by  a  continually  enlarging  consensus,  like  the  successive 
circles  made  upon  the  surface  of  water.  Opinion,  however,  in  the  several  Chris- 
tian churches,  with  respect  to  their  distiactive  tenets,  is  rather  variable  than  pro- 
gressive. It  oscillates  backwards  and  forwards,  but  does  not  tend  by  a  joint  action 
to  a  common  centre.' 

In  Dr.  Arnold's  lectures  on  Modern  History  (pp.  209  10),  he  says: — 'The  ex- 
cellence of  veneration  consists  purely  in  its  being  fixed  upon  a  worthy  object; 
when  felt  indiscriminately,  it  ia  idolatry  or  insanity.  To  tax  any  one,  therefore, 
with  want  of  reverence  because  he  pays  no  respect  to  what  we  venerate,  is  either 
irrelevant,  or  is  a  mere  confusion.'  • 

The  member  of  the  Manchester  Branch  writes  upon  a  subject  upon  which  nothin 
more  must  be  said,  if  the  pinciple  he  advises  us  to  act  upon  is  to  be  observed. 

Loudon:  Printed  by  Holyoake  Brothers,  3,  Queen'a  Head  Passage,  Paternoster-row;  and  Published 
by  J.  Watson,  3,  Queen's  Head  Passage,  Paternoster-row. — Wednesday,  November  6th,  1851. 


AND 

THEOLOGICAL     EXAMINER. 

They  who  believe  that  they  have  Truth  ask  no  favour,  save  that  of  being  heard:  they  dare  the 
judgment  of  Mankind  :  refused  Co-operation,  they  invoke  Opposition,  for  Opposition  is  their 
Opportunity. — Editor. 

THE  HISTORY  OF  TWO  NIGHTS  IN  BLACKBUKN. 


The  friends  in  Blackburn,  who  drew  up  the  placard  of  the  Lectures,  headed  it  by 
a  sentence  from  Ernest  Jones  (an  admirable  one  in  the  place  in  which  Mr.  Jones 
spoke  it).  It  was  this — '  Truth  plays  on  an  iron  harp.'  "Whether  the  authorities 
of  Blackburn  thought  that  I  was  going  to  treat  them  to  some  metallic  tones  I  know 
not ;  but  they  treated  my  presence  among  them  as  though  I  was  a  very  great  pro- 
ficient in  playing  on  this  discordant  instrument.  The  Assembly  Room  engaged 
for  the  lectures  (the  room  in  which  the  magistrates  hold  their  meetings)  was 
denied  in  a  very  unusual  manner. 

The  not  unfavourable  report  of  the  lecture  in  Burnley,  at  which  Mr.  McGregor 
appeared,  which  has  been  quoted  in  Reasoner  No.  279,  was  taken,  as  was  stated, 
from  the  Blackburn  Standard.  And  just  over  that  paragraph  in  the  same  column 
stood  the  following  extraordinary  morsel  of  composition : — '  We  understand  that  an 
infidel  lecturer,  of  the  name  of  Holyoake,  had  taken  the  Assembly  Room  for  the 
purpose  of  delivering  two  lectures,  in  the  course  of  the  present  week ;  but  the 
Commissioners,  as  soon  as  they  ascertained  the  nature  of  the  man's  mission  in  this 
neighbourhood,  very  properly  ordered  that  the  use  of  the  room  should  not  be  granted 
for  such  a  purpose.  In  order  that  our  readers  may  form  some  idea  of  this  de- 
mented creature's  principles,  we  quote  the  following  blasphemous  passage  from  the 
last  number  of  the  Reasoner,  a  pitiful  periodical,  of  which  he  is  the  editor.  In 
describing  a  "row"  which  took  place  on  the  occasion  of  his  appearance  lately  at 
Whitehaven,  he  says — "  While  this  was  going  on,  a  grey-headed  Christian  got  into 
furious  action  on  his  own  account  in  front  of  the  gallery,  and  threw  his  arms  about 
in  a  frantic  manner.  *  You  damned  villain,'  he  exclaimed  as  he  warmed,  '  you  said 
there  was  no  God  ?'  Not  sure  whether  he  was  drunk  with  the  Holy  Spirit,  or  any 
other  exciseable  spirit,  (they  both  pay  duty,)  I  said,  '  Sir,  I  think  you  are  slightly 
mistaken.' "    Are  the  people  of  Blackburn  disposed  to  listen  to  such  a  wretch  ?' 

Whether  this  paragraph  was  written  in  justification  of  the  step  taken  by  the 
Commissioners  I  know  not,  but  it  seemed  like  it.  It  was  written  on  the  afternoon 
of  my  arrival  in  Blackburn,  and  printed  before  my  first  lecture  was  delivered;  and 
it  was  the  first  public  intimation  given  that  the  Commissioners  had  been  the  par- 
ties to  interfere,  of  which  we  had  no  public  proof  till  the  Standard,  in  its  indiscreet 
haste,  supplied  it. 

The  next  morning  I  walked  down  to  the  Standard  office,  and  said  to  a  young  gen- 
tleman at  the  counter,  '  I  wish  to  invest  5d.  in  your  entertaining  paper,  in  which 
your  literary  artist  delineates  me  as  a  wretch  ;  but  I  trust  the  likeness  is  not  after 
life.'    '  I  don't  think  it  is,  sir,'  was  the  polite  reply. 

Under  the  head  of  '  Freedom  of  Opinion  in  Blackburn,'  the  Mmiehcster  Ex- 
aminer and  Times  reported  that  on  Tuesday  and  Thursday  evenings  last,  Mr. 
Holyoake,  of  London,  was  announced  to  lecture  in  the  Assembly  Room,  Heaton 


fNo.  285]  ^No.  26,  Vol.  XI.] 

[ONE  PENNY.l 


398  THE  REASONER. 


Street,  the  friends  of  that  gentleman  having  agreed  to  pay  twice  the  usual  sum  de- 
manded for  the  use  of  the  room,  and  also,  on  request,  half  of  it  (£1)  in  advance. 
To  the  great  astonishment  of  Mr.  Holyoake  and  his  numerous  friends  in  Black- 
burn the  Improvement  Commissioners  refused  to  let  him  have  the  room,  giving 
him  neither  explanation  as  to  such  strange  conduct,  nor  offering  to  give  his  friends 
compensation  for  the  loss  and  inconvenience  which  they  would  be  put  to  in  engag- 
ing another  commodious  apartment,  and  in  prjjiting  the  necessary  placards,  &c., 
announcing  to  the  public  the  alteration  of  the  place  of  meeting.  On  Thursday  Mr. 
Holyoake  addressed  a  letter  toW.  Hoole,  Esq.,  the  chairman  of  the  Commissioners, 
inquiring  whether  such  a  step  had  met  with  his  approbation,  or  whether  he  con- 
demned such  an  ungentlemanly  proceeding.-  The  answer  to  the  letter  was  not 
written  by  Mr.  Hoole,  but  was  forwarded  through  the  collector  of  rates,  and  was 
to  the  eflfect  that  the  inquiries  of  Mr.  Holyoake  should  be  referred  to  the  proper 
committee.' 

The  letter  I  addressed  to  Mr.  Hoole  was  as  follows : — 

'  TO  WILLIAM  HOOLE,  ESQ.,  CHAIRMAN  OF  THE  IMPKOVEMENT  COMMISSIONERS, 

BLACKBURN. 

*  Sir, — You  are  doubtless  aware  that  the  Assembly  Room,  in  Heaton  Street, 
which  had  been  duly  taken  by  my  friends  for  the  delivery  in  of  lectures  by  myself, 
was  refused  on  application  for  the  key  on  the  day  of  the  first  lecture ;  although  a 
deposit  had  been  taken  by  the  agent  of  the  room,  and  placards  had  been  issued  by 
my  friends,  relying  on  the  good  faith  of  the  proprietors  of  the  place.  This  is 
certainly  a  breach  of  faith,  such  as  gentlemen  are  not  accustomed  to  show  to  work- 
ing men,  who  were  in  this  case  chiefly  the  engaging  parties — passing  over  the  dis- 
courteous treatment  of  a  stranger,  who  had  never  given  oflfence  in  any  way  to  any 
gentleman  or  inhabitant  of  Blackburn.  As  you,  sir,  are  chairman  of  the  Improve- 
ment Commissioners,  whom  the  Blackburn  Standard  intimates  have  taken  this 
step,  may  I  ask  on  public  grounds  if  it  has  your  approval — the  approval  of  one 
hitherto  understood  to  be  the  friend  of  good  faith  and  free  expression  of  conscien- 
tious opinion  ?  '  I  have  the  honour  to  be,  sir,  your  obedient  servant, 

'  Talbot  Inn,  Blackburn,  September,  1851.  '  G.  J.  Holyoake.' 

The  reply  of  Mr.  Hoole  was  as  follows  : — 

*  TO    G.    J,    HOLYOAKE,    ESQ. 

'  Sir, — The  Chairman  of  the  Improvement  Commissioners  has  handed  to  me  your 
letter  addressed  to  him,  and  has  directed  me  to  lay  it  before  the  proper  committee. 

'  I  refused  you  the  key  in  consequence  of  hearing  from  many  Commissioners 
and  others  that  I  had  done  wrong  in  letting  you  the  room.  I  understood  you 
wanted  it  for  a  scientific  lecture,  but  I  was  deceived.  I  shall  lay  your  letter  before 
the  committee.  *  I  remain,  sir,  yours  respectfully, 

'  Blackburn,  Sept.  18th,  1851.  '  G.  Illingworth.' 

Besides  the  serviceable  notice  quoted  from  the  Manchester  Examiner  and  Times, 
the  Preston  Chronicle  gave  a  fuller  account,  and  the  Preston  Guardian  a  fuller 
one  still : — 

'  Mr.  Holyoake's  Lectures. — For  a  length  of  time  the  friends  of  Mr.  Holy- 
oake in  Blackburn  have  been  anxious  for  that  gentleman  to  deliver  a  course  of 
lectures  in  that  town.  It  was  eventually  decided  that  he  should  give  two  lectures 
this  week — one  on  Tuesday  evening,  on  the  "Moral  Innocency  of  Speculative 
Opinions,"  and  the  other  on  Thursday  evening,  on  "  Catholicism,  the  Type  of  the 
Churches  around  us."  The  lecturer  arrived  in  Blackburn  on  Tuesday,  but  he  had 
no   sooner  entered  the  town  than  he  was  informed  that  the  Improvement   Com- 


THE  REASONER.  399 


missioners  would  not  allow  him  the  use  of  the  Assembly  Room,  although  Mr. 
lUingworth,  the  agent  of  the  Commissioners,  h  ui  not  only  let  him  the  room,  but 
hail  actually  leceived  2O3.  in  part  payment  of  the  rent.  The  consequence  was 
that  a  fresh  lootn  had  to  be  engaged,  and  placards  issued  announcing  that  Mr. 
Holyoake  would  lecture  in  a  large  room  in  Ainsworth  Street,  occupied  by  the 
members  of  the  Mutual  Instruction  Society.  In  this  place  the  gentleman  deli- 
vered his  first  address,  and  in  his  introductory  remarks  he  said  that  Blackburn 
was  the  first  town  which  had  refused  him  the  use  of  a  room  when  he  or  his  friends 
had  properly  engaged  it.  It  spoke  little  for  the  Christian  liberality  of  the  Com- 
missioners. He  then  proceeded  with  his  lecture,  at  ^he  conclusion  of  which  a 
short  discussion  took  place.  On  Thursday  last  his  second  lecture  was  delivered, 
after  which  an  animated  discussion  ensued  between  Mr.  Alexander  Wood,  Mr. 
Thomas  Higham,  and  the  lecturer.' 

At  the  request  of  some  influential  inhabitants  in  the  town,  I  addressed  letters  to 
the  Preston  Gttardian  and  the  Preston  Chronicle,  in  both  of  which  journals  the 
following  communication  appeared: — 

'  Sir, — Permit  me  to  communicate  a  circumstance  which  has  just  occurred  in 
Blackburn,  which  concerns  the  leputation  ot  that  town,  and  will  not  be  without 
interest  to  the  public  in  other  places. 

*  Some  friends  of  mine,  chiefly  icorking  men,  invited  me  to  deliver  two  lectures 
to  them,  on  the  "  Moral  Innocency  of  Speculative  Opinions,  when  conscientiously 
entertained,"  and  on  "  Catholicism,  considered  as  the  Type  of  the  Churches  a,vo\xn^ 
us."  For  this  purpose  they  engaged  the  Assembly  Room ;  a  high  price  was 
charged ;  a  sovereign  taken  as  deposit  money  ;  the  subjects  of  the  lectures  were  told 
to  the  agent  of  the  Commissioners  (Mr.  lUiugworth),  and  the  name  of  the  lec- 
turer also,  and  no  question  was  raised.  Placards  wei-e  duly  issued ;  but,  on  the  morn- 
ing of  the  first  lecture  the  key  of  the  room  was  refused.  On  arriving  in  the  town, 
I  at  once  went  to  Mr.  lUiiigworth's  office,  and  to  his  private  house,  but  could  get 
no  explanation  and  uo  key,  and  1  was  obliged  to  issue  new  bills  at  a  late  hour,  and 
I  had  to  speak  in  a  room  so  badly  ventilated  that  I  have  been  unwell  ever  since. 

'  I  wish,  sir,  to  inquire  whether  it  is  the  custom  of  the  gentlemen  in  Blackburn 
(I  am  told  that  the  Improvement  Commissioners  sxe  gentlemen)  thus  to  break  faith 
with  working  men ;  or  thus  to  treat  a  stranger,  who  never  gave  them,  or  any 
inhabitant  of  Blackburn,  cause  of  ofifence  in  any  way  ?  Surely  this  is  not  precisely 
the  example  which  gentlemen  ought  to  set,  or  the  kind  of  moral  lesson  which  can 
elevate  the  character  of  the  working  classes,  or  exalt  the  reputation  of  the  town. 
I  feel  it  right  to  appeal,  both  against  the  personal  discredit  sought  to  be  put  upon 
myself,  and  the  loss  entailed  upon  those  who  engaged  me — which,  I  maintain,  are 
not  capable  of  justification  by  any  reference  to  my  character,  connections,  subjects, 
writings,  or  speeches.  '  I  am,  sir.  yours  refepectfuUy, 

*  Talbot  Inn,  Blackburn,  Sept.  18,  1851.  Geokge  Jacob  Holyoakb. 

I  sent  a  copy  of  the  same  letter  to  the  editor  of  the  Blackburn  Standard,  but  I 
believe  it  was  never  inserted.     The  letter  I  sent  to  this  editor  had  the  following: — 

*  P.S.  —  In  reference  to  the  paragraph  you  quote  from  the  Reasoner,  where 
it  is  related  that  an  aged  Christian  in  the  Whitehaven  Theatre  called  me  a 
"  damned  villain,"  to  whom,  in  reply,  I  simply  said,  "Sir,  I  think  you  are  mistaken," 
you  apply  to  me  the  epithet  of  "  wretch.''  Such  an  answer  to  such  an  outrage 
hardly  warrants  such  a  description  as  you  give  of  me,  nor  does  the  italicised 
matter  which  you  quote  (if  the  whole  narrative  be  read)  justify  your  epithet.' 

The  kindness  of  the  personal  friends  in  Blackburn  was  such  as  used  to  be  exhi 


:1 


400  THE  REASONER. 


bited  in  the  early  days  of  Social  advocacy,  -which  one  rarely  meets  with  now.  But 
of  the  disputants,  they  were  the  most  imputative  of  any  which  for  a  long  time 
have  fallen  in  my  way.  Afterwards  they  all  manifested  a  friendly  feeling,  but  at 
first  Catholic  and  Protestant  were  alike  accusative  and  suspicious.  But  from  the 
provincial  press,  from  the  gentlemen  connected  with  the  Preston  Guardian  and 
Preston  Chronicle,  1  received  fair  and  even  generous  civilitieSj  as  the  communi- 
cations to  these  journals  (to  be  quoted)  will  show. 

It  had  an  awkward  appearance  for  the  contemporary  press  to  present  favourable 
reports  of  the  Blackburn  lectures.  Their  unanimity  could  not  be  without  some 
foundation,  and  the  Blackburn  Standard  felt  uneasy  at  the  comparisons  made  by 
the  public,  and  accordingly  it  submitted  to  its  readers  the  following  extraordinary 
explanation : — 

'  We  ofier  no  apology  to  our  readers  for  the  absence  of  any  report  of  the  infidel 
lectures  recently  delivered  in  this  town.  We  are  quite  aware  that  some  of  our 
contemporaries  in  this  and  adjoining  counties  have  given  considerable  prominence 
to  the  so-called  "  reasonings  "  of  Mr.  Holyoake.  He  appears  to  have  misled  the 
reporters  by  his  plausibility  of  manner.  It  would  not  suit  his  purpose  to  disclose  to 
the  public  the  full  enormity  of  his  creed  and  principles.  Those  who  have,  like  our- 
selves, examined  his  Rcasoner  (so  denominated,  we  presume,  on  the  principle  of 
lucus  a  non  lucendo)  will  readily  agree  with  us  in  heartily  reprobating  the  diabolical 
system  of  which  that  infamous  publication  is  the  exponent.  The  mild  and  gen- 
tlemanly lecturer  can,  in  the  character  of  editor,  indulge  in  the  foulest  and  most 
blasphemous  terms  of  abuse  of  which  the  English  language  is  capable.  Such  pesti- 
lent doctrines  as  he  ventures  to  print  would  never  be  patiently  listened  to  for  a  mo- 
ment by  any  man  claiming  to  be  considered  a  rational  being  or  a  decent  member  of 
society.' 

The  editor  of  this  journal  certainly  has  a  gift  for  being  in  the  wrong.  What  an 
advantage  it  is  not  to  know  what  you  are  writing  about !  You  can  say  what  you 
please  with  perfect  confidence.  Had  this  gentleman  attended  the  lectures  he 
would  not  have  had  the  courage  to  have  penned  a  paragraph  so  untrue.  Even  the 
editor  of  the  Blackburn  Standard  could  not  pen  this  paragraph  without  some  mis- 
givings, so  he  sought  to  strengthen  it  by  discoursing  on  Bloomerism,  which  phe- 
nomenon he  ascribed  to  the  Reasoner.  Hearthisingenious historian  : — '  The  "  lady" 
(Mrs.  Dexter)  who  has  been  lecturing  about  female  dress  reform  in  London,  and 
who  has  exemplified  the  matter  practically,  is  well  known  to  those  members  of  the 
press  who  have  dived  into  the  dens  of  infidelity  in  which  the  metropolis  abounds. 
The  "John  Street  Institution,"  in  which  the  lecture  was  delivered,  is  one  of  a 
number  of  infidel  institutions  regularly  advertised  in  the  Reasoner  and  similar 
publications.  This  fact  alone  throws  a  suspicion  on  the  movement,  which  is  by  no 
means  a  novelty  in  England,  It  was  regularly  adopted,  more  than  a  dozen  years 
ago,  at  the  Socialist  Hall,  Liverpool,  when  scores  of  females  joined  in  the  dances 
at  that  scene  of  iniquity  attired  in  a  precisely  similar  costume.  This  fact  can  be 
vouched  for.  The  present  revival  of  this  hybrid  style  of  dress  will  be  found  to 
originate  with  the  same  party.  It  is  admirably  designed,  if  it  should  ever  become 
popular,  to  contribute  to  that  demoralisation  of  habit,  and  that  contempt  of  de- 
cency, which  are  but  too  consonant  with  infidel  principles.  No  English  "  lady  " 
will  ever  condescend  to  assume  this  impudent  badge  of  social  degradation.' 

If  this  be  true,  that  the  Freethinking  party  originated  the  present  agitation  on 
dress  reform,  their  connections  must  be  very  well  organised,  and  their  adroitness 
commendable.     We  must  have  had  a  correspondence  with  Mrs.  Colonel  Bloomer, 


THE  REASONER.  401 


and  induced  that  lady  to  make  the  experiment  first  in  America,  that  the  reimporta- 
tion of  the  revived  habit  might  wear  the  appearance  of  a  transatlantic  novelty. 

The  Socialists  of  London  readily  listened  to  Mrs.  Dexter's  proposal  to  lecture, 
not  because  she  was  one  of  them,  which  she  was  not,  but  because  of  their  willing- 
ness to  promote  any  useful  reformation.  On  the  night  on  which  Mrs.  Dexter's 
engagement  was  agreed  to  I  happened  to  be  in  the  chair,  and  I  was  at  some 
trouble  to  explain  to  that  lady  the  anxiety  we  experienced  lest  an  injudicious  ad- 
vocacy should  throw  an  air  of  levity  or  ridicule  on  what  was  in  itself  a  desirable 
change.  To  Mr.  Owen  and  his  friends,  indeed,  belong  the  credit  of  having  been 
first  to  call  public  attention  to  the  absurdity  and  physical  injury  associated  with 
the  conventional  costume  of  both  sexes;  but  neither  they  nor  the  Freethinking 
party  are  responsible  for  the  levity  and  injudiciousness  ot  illustration  with  which 
the  recent  revival  of  that  advocacy  has  been  in  many  instances  characterised,  both 
in  placard  and  on  the  platform.  The  paragraph  quoted  above  from  the  Black- 
burn Standard  has  been  reproduced  in  various  journals,  but  it  never  would  have 
been  written  had  the  writer  been  well  informed  upon  the  subject. 

The  next  public  information  connected  with  the  refusal  of  the  Blackburn 
Assembly  Room  was,  I  am  informed,  in  the  shape  of  a  placard,  put  out  without  any 
knowledge  on  my  part,  in  that  town,  defensive  of  myself,  but  by  whom  to  this  day 
I  am  unaware.  Next  a  small  bill  appeared,  reprinting  trom  the  Preston  Chronicle 
the  discussion  upon  the  matter  at  a  meeting  of  the  Improvement  Commissioners. 
The  following  report  is  taken  from  the  Preston  Guardian  of  Oct.  4 : — '  Yesterday 
the  usual  monthly  meeting  of  the  Commissioners  was  held  at  the  Sessions  Room, 
Heaton  Street,  Mr.  James  Parkinson  in  the  chair.'  After  various  cases  cited,  the 
report  says — *  The  next  subject  which  claimed  the  attention  of  the  Commissioners 
was  the  late  unfortunate  misunderstanding  between  them  and  Mr.  Holyoake,  of 
London.  In  order  to  give  our  readers  the  whole  facts  of  the  case,  it  will  be  neces- 
sary to  publish  the  following  letters,  copies  of  which  were  forwarded  to  the  Com- 
missioners through  W.  Hoole,  Esq.     The  first  is — 

'"  TO  WILLIAM  HOOLE,  ESQ.,  CHAIBMAN  OF  THE  IMPROVEMENT  COMMISSIONEES, 

BLACKBURN. 

'"Sir, — You  are  doubtless  aware  that  the  Assembly  Room,  in  Heaton-street, 
which  had  been  duly  taken  by  my  friends,  for  the  delivery  in  of  two  lectures  by 
myself,  was  refused  on  application  for  the  key,  on  the  day  of  the  first  lecture ; 
although  a  deposit  had  been  taken  by  the  agent  of  the  room,  and  placards  had 
been  issued  by  my  friends,  relying  on  the  good  faith  of  the  proprietors  of  the  place. 
This  is  certainly  a  breach  of  faith  such  as  gentlemen  are  not  accustomed  to 
show  to  working  men,  who  were  in  this  case  chiefly  the  engaging  parties,  passing 
over  the  discourteous  treatment  of  a  stranger,  who  had  never  given  offence  in  any 
way  to  any  gentleman  or  inhabitant  of  Blackburn. 

''•'As  you,  sir,  are  chairman  of  the  Improvement  Commissioners,  whom  the 
Blackburn  Standard  intimates  have  taken  this  step,  may  I  ask,  on  public  grounds, 
if  it  has  your  approval — the  approval  of  one  hitherto  understood  to  be  the  friend 
of  good  faith,  and  free  expression  of  conscientious  opinion  ? 

' "  I  have  the  honour  to  be,  sir,  your  obedient  servant, 

' "  Talbot  Inn,  Blackburn,  Sept.,  1851.  *  '*  G.  J.  Holyoake." 

'  To  this  letter,  a  reply  was  sent  to  Mr.  Holyoake  by  Mr.  Illingworth,  collector 
of  rates,  and  the  individual  who  let  the  room,  stating  that  the  subject  of  Mr, 
Holyoake's  epistle  would  be  laid  before  the  proper  committee.  The  second  letter 
written  to  the  Commissioners  by  the  editor  of  the  Reasoner,  read  thus  : — 


402 


THE  REASONER. 


«  «  TO  WILLIAM   HOOLE,  ESQ.,  CHAIRMAN  OF  THK  IMPROVEMENT    COMMISSIONERS", 

BLACKBURN. 

'"Sir^ — The  recent  communication  from  me,  which  (through  Mr.  lUingworth) 
you  are  pleased  to  say  you  will  lay  before  the  Improvement  Commissioners,  was 
one  addressed  to  you  personally, 

' "  The  statement  I  would  submit  to  that  body  is  as  follows ;  and  I  shall  (and 
the  persons  also  whom  I  represent)  take  it  as  a  favour  if  you  will  lay  it  before  them. 
'"When  the  persons  waited  upon  Mr.  lUingworth,  your  agent,  to  take  the 
Assembly  Room,  Mr.  lUingworth  asked  what  the  lectures  were  to  be  upon  for 
which  the  room  was  wanted.     He  was  told  that  they  were  to  be  upon  '  Speculative 
Opinion,'  and  were  '  to  be  delivered  by  Mr.  Holyoake,  of  London.' 

'  "  How  he,  therefore,  could  understand  them  (as  he  alleges  in  your  letter  to  me) 
to  be  *  scientific  '  lectures,  it  is  hard  to  conceive,  and  as  he  charged  £1  per  night, 
10s.  more  than  he  has  charged  in  some  recent  cases,  he  must  have  had  some  idea 
of  the  subjects,  or  why  did  he  tax  them  80  per  cent,  higher  than  the  lecture  of  Dr. 
Watts,  for  instance,  on  education  ? 

' "  As  he  let  the  room  without  scruple  or  qualifying  remark,  and  accepted  £\  as 
deposit  money,  my  friends  issued  placards  and  summoned  me,  relying  on  the  good 
faith  which  gentlemen  are  always  understood  to  keep  in  their  bargains,  and  which, 
as   a  matter  of  moral  example,  they  are  accustomed  to  keep  with  the  working 
classes.     Yet  on  the  day  on  which  my  first  lecture  was  to  be  delivered,  the  key  of 
the  room  was  refused,  both  to  the  parties  engaging  it  and  myself.     Such  a  step  as 
this  was  never  taken  with  regard  to  myself  before  in  any  town,  or  with  respect  to 
any  building,  during  twelve  years  of  public  lecturing, 

* "  In  consequence  of  the  denial  of  the  Assembly  Room,  we  had  to  issue  new 
placards  and  place  persons  to  direct  people  to  a  new  room  which  we  had  to  engage. 
It  was  half-past  six  at  night  before  we  had  our  notices  out,  and  the  irregularity  of 
the  proceeding  and  the  unsuitability  of  the  room,  to  which  we  were  driven,  caused 
the  audience  on  both  nights  to  be  much  smaller  than  we  should  otherwise  have 
met,  and  also  of  a  different  character ;  as  neither  ladies  nor  the  middle  classes 
could  be  expected  to  attend  an  obscure  and  unhealthy  room,  from  which  my  own 
health  suffered  much — as  the  audience  became  aware.     It  was  a  place  into  which 
1  would  not  (it  being  immoral  in  a  sanitary  sense)  invite  a  crowd  of  persons,  under 
any  avoidable  circumstances.     Besides,  the  public  judge  speculative  doctrine  by 
its  associations,  and  when  found  under  obscure  or  disadvantageous  advocacy,  they 
ascribe  the  circumstances  to  the  principles  themselves ;  thus,  we  suffered  a  moral 
discredit  which  ought  not  to  have  been  put  upon  us. 

•"On  these  accounts,  I  ask  of  the  Improvement  Commissioners  the  following 
compensation : — 
In  printing  bills  rendered  useless...  ...  ...  ...  ...  £0     7    0 

Posting  ditto     ...  ...  ...  ...  ...  ...  ...     0     3     0 

Loss   through    new   anangements    and  diminished    attendance,   each 

night,  £2       ...  ...  ...  ...  ...  ...  ...4     0     0 

Deposit  ...  ...  ...  ...  ...  ...  ...100 


£5  10     0 

Believing  that  the  room  we  engaged  was  refused  by  your  agent  under  some  misap- 
prehension, and  tliat,  if  all  the  circumstances  had  been  known  to  you,  you  would 
not  have  ordered  that  step  to  be  taken,  I  leave  this  claim  to  the  adjudication,  to  the 
honour  of  the  Improvement  Commissioners. 


THE  REASONER.  403 


'"At  one  time  I  thought  to  forward  this  statement  through  a  solicitor,  and 
actually  gave  instructions  to  Mr.  Clough  for  that  purpose,  but  found  that  a  ques- 
tion of  law  was  likely  (during  its  progress)  to  awaken  feelings  of  personal  antagon- 
ism on  one  side  or  the  other,  which  I  would  as  much  deplore  as  you  would  dis- 
like. I  therefore  restrict  myself  to  this  course ;  and  in  the  above  claim  have  not 
put  down  one  sixpence  in  antagonism  or  retaliation.  The  damage  is  under  rather 
than  over-stated,  «s  inquiry  into  the  facts  will,  I  think,  show.  This  application  is 
preferred  both  on  my  own  part  and  on  the  part  of  those  who  engaged  the  room, 
who  will  acquiesce  in  what  I  have  written,  and  to  both  parties  your  award  will  be 
final. 

'"Upon  receiving  information  of  your  decision,  I  will  instruct  a  friend  in 
Blackburn  to  receive  the  sum  you  shall  instruct  to  be  paid. 

* "  I  have  the  honour  to  be,  sir,  your  obedient  servant, 

' "  Geo.  Jacob  Holtoake."  ' 

'The  claim  of  Mr.  Holyoake  was  referred  to  the  Highway  Committee,  and  the 
result  was  as  follows  : — "  Mr.  lUingworth  having  let  the  Assembly  Room  to  two 
persons  in  behalf  of  Mr.  Holyoake,  for  the  purpose  of  delivering  two  lectures,  and 
having  subsequently  refused  them  the  key  in  consequence  of  having  been  remon- 
strated with  by  various  commissioners  and  other  respectable  inhabitants  of  the 
town,  the  subject  of  the  lectures  being  considered  by  them  objectionable,  and  Mr. 
Holyoake  having  claimed  £5  10s.  as  compensation  for  the  loss,  resolved,  that  it  be 
recommended  to  the  Commissioners  to  return  to  the  people  who  took  the  room  the 
deposit  money,  20s.,  and  to  pay  10s.  for  printing,  &c.,  of  the  bills  which  were 
rendered  useless.  W.  Hoole,  chairman."  A  discussion  arose  upon  the  claim, 
and  the  Committee's  resolution,  but  it  merely  elicited  facts  already  known  to  the 
readers  of  the  Guardian,  except  one,  that  Mr.  Hoole,  at  the  solicitation  of  several 
Commissioners  and  a  few  respectable  inhabitants,  refused  the  use  of  the  Assembly 
Room.     The  report  of  the  committee  was  adopted.' 

A  correspondent  of  the  Preston  Chronicle  addressed  to  the  editor  the  following 
communication  : — 

'  Sir, — If  persons  will  take  a  course,  so  fraught  with  the  antipathy  of  a  well- 
disposed  public,  as  that  of  Mr.  Holyoake,  they  must  abide  the  consequences.  It 
would  indeed  be  a  bad  omen  if  such  were  not  the  case, 

*  With  respect  to  the  refusal  of  the  Assembly  Room,  referred  to  by  Mr.  Holyoake 
in  the  Chronicle  of  the  20th  ult.,  he  seems  to  argue  that  there  was  nothing  to 
justify  such  refusal.  He  says — "  I  feel  it  right  to  appeal,  both  against  the  per- 
sonal discredit  sought  to  be  put  upon  myself,  and  the  loss  entailed  upon  those  who 
engaged  me — which,  I  maintain,  are  not  capable  of  justification,  by  any  reference 
to  my  character,  connections,  subjects,  writings,  or  speeches."  Now,  if  a  principle 
be  good,  it  will  bear  carrying  out.  Let  us  try  his.  Suppose  the  manager  at  one 
of  our  large  mills  was  to  give  permission  to  a  party  to  make  some  experiments  or 
give  lectures  in  some  part  of  the  premises,  under  an  impression  that  by  so  doing 
he  was  not  in  any  way  jeopardising  his  master's  property  or  reputation.  When, 
however,  his  master  is  acquainted  with  such  arrangement,  he  at  once  says  that 
these  experiments  or  lectures  are  of  such  a  character  that — however  inconsistent 
it  may  appear — he  cannot,  with  due  regard  to  his  property  and  reputation,  do 
otherwise  than  annul  any  such  arrangement  made  without  his  cognizance. 
Would  any  reasonable  being  blame  him  for  thus  protecting  the  one  and  defending 
the  other  ? 

*  In  reply  to  Mr.  Holyoake's  question  as  to  whether  it  is  the  custom  of  the 


404 


THE  REASONER. 


gentlemen  of  Blackburn  thus  to  break  faith  with  the  working  men,  I  wonld  main- 
tain that  their  conduct  in  this  case  cannot,  with  all  Mr.  Holyoake's  plausibility, 
be  fairly  charged  with  such  imputation. 

'  Blackburn,  Sep.  25,  1851.  '  Fair  Play.' 

I  am  perfectly  prepared  to  abide  by  any  fair  consequences  of  my  '  course,'  but 
'Fair  Play'  ought  not  to  be  the  person  to  call  upon  me  to  abide  by  wwfair  conse- 
quences. If  the  manager  of  a  mill  had  given  a  person  leave  to  experiment  on  his 
premises,  knowing  the  nature  of  the  experiments,  as  was  the  case  with  the  agent  of 
the  Commissioners,  the  manager  would  be  bound  to  compensate  the  experimenter 
when  he  broke  bis  word  for  any  loss  he  had  occasioned  the  said  experimenter  by 
giving  him  his  word.     That  is,  he  would  do  so  if  he  was  a  friend  oi  fair  play. 

Next,  a  friend  of  the  editor  of  the  Blackburn  Standard  came  to  the  rescue  in 
that  paper  of  October  8th,  after  this  fashion  : — 

'  Dear  Sir,' — On  referring  to  a  copy  of  Mr.  G.  J.  Holyoake's  letter  to  the  Black- 
burn Improvement  Commissioners,  in  the  Preston  Chronicle,  I  find  he  states, "  the 
public  judge  speculative  doctrine  by  its  associations."  Premising  that  this  seems 
to  me  the  most  sensible  remark  in  the  whole  of  his  long  complaint,  I  would  briefly 
act  upon  it,  and  for  a  moment  examine  some  of  the  associations  and  views  held  by 
the  lecturer,  and  which,  of  course,  must  meet  the  approval  of  those  who  retained 
him  for  the  meeting.  Before  doing  this,  however,  let  me  ask  for  what  purpose 
were  the  Commissioners  created  ?  Have  they  not  to  levy  rates  for  the  improve- 
ment of  the  town  ?  And,  if  in  times  of  distress  amongst  our  operatives,  some  of 
their  body  have  given  vent  to  murmurs  which  palpably  betray  their  inculcation  by 
paid  orators,  and  generally  their  tendency  to  slight  both  religion  and  order — is  it 
not  the  duty  of  the  Commissioners  not  to  countenance,  in  any  manner,  one  who 
would  implant  in  the  minds  of  the  rising  generation  the  principles  of  infidelity — 
believing  as  they  do  that  to  make  a  man  a  good  citizen  it  is  essential  that  you 
should  make  him  a  good  Christian  ? 

'  But  Holyoake  may  dispute  these  premises,  and  say  that  they  were  not  sufficient 
reasons  for  refusing  the  room  !  In  that  case  I  would  retort,  you  wish  to  show  the 
innocency  of  speculative  opinion  I — so  do  the  Commissioners! — it  is  speculative 
opinion  that  caused  them  to  refuse  you  to  lecture  in  the  Assembly  Room  !  But  to 
return  to  the  associations  and  views  of  the  promoters  and  defenders  (in  this 
instance)  of  speculative  doctrine.  I  have  before  me  a  copy  of  the  JReasoner,  No. 
18,  vol.  XI.,  wherein  he  is  attempting  to  rebut  some  lectures  that  were  given 
against  his  doctrines,  by  certain  clergymen  in  Nottingham.  In  page  271,  finding 
himself  hard  pushed  by  one  of  them,  he  thus  writes,  "The  atheist,  without  j»o«i- 
tiveli/  asserting  that  there  must  have  been  a  beginning  to  life  on  earth,  argues  that 
his  difficulties  and  ignorance  are  not  in  the  least  dispelled — but,  on  the  contrary, 
complicated  and  increased — by  the  adoption  of  the  ancient  belief,  (that  is,  the 
ancient  Christian)  in  a  super?ia(ural  contriver  and  maker,  who,  after  existing  from 
eternity  in  absolute  void  and  solitude,  suddenly  proceeds  to  create  the  u?iiverse  out  of 
nothing,  or  out  of  himself." 

'  I  could  multiply  instances,  but  I  shudder  to  write  upon  such  awful  and  blas- 
phemous ridicule  on  an  all-wise  God,  and  I  am  almost  ashamed  to  gravely  put  the 
question  (in  the  nineteenth  century)  were  not  the  Commissioners  justified  in  their 
refusal  of  the  Assembly  Room  ? 

'In  conclusion,  let  me  quote  from  the  prize  Essay,  "  The  Glory  and  Shame  of 
Britain,"  a  few  words  of  advice  to  the  working  class — "  It  is  high  time  that  the 
working  classes  inquired  into  the  character  and  principles  of  the  men  who  aspire 


THE  REASONER.  405 


to  be  their  guides  in  social  reform.  On  the  stage  of  public  life  there  are  men  who 
flatter  the  people  the  more  easily  to  cheat  them,  whose  prime  passion  is  selfishness, 
whose  only  religion  is  hatred  of  all  religion,  and  whose  political  creed  is  destitute  of 
every  peculiarity  save  extravagance ; — but  there  are  also  men  of  tried  character 
and  noble  principles,  who  are  too  honest  to  flatter  even  as  the  price  of  popularity, 
and  whose  abilities  are  equal  to  any  task  they  may  undertake.  These  are  the 
people's  friends  ;  in  these  let  the  people  trust." 

'Blackburn,  October  4th,  1851.  '  Sckutator.' 

This  letter  deserves  no  serious  reply.  The  paragraph  quoted  from  the  Reasoner, 
charged  upon  me  as  awful  and  blasphemous  ridicule  on  an  all-wise  God,  which  it 
is  not,  was  not  written  by  me,  but  by  a  gentleman  whose  initials  it  bears. 

The  last  defence  was  from  '  A  Commissioner,'  who  complains  in  the  Blackburn 
Standard,  of  Oct.  8, '  that  certain  letters  from  Mr.  Holyoake  are  introduced  into  the 
reports  of  the  proceedings  of  the  Improvement  Commissioners  which  appear  in  the 
Preston  papers  of  Saturday,  "as  if  the  same  had  been  read  or  produced  at  the  meeting." 
It  is  certainly  correct  that  the  correspondence  in  question  was  not  read  ;  and  the 
allusion  made  to  the  matter  at  the  meeting  was  of  the  most  slight  and  cursory 
character.  The  publication  of  the  letters  under  such  circumstances  is  quite 
unusual.' 

The  last  letter  which  has  appeared  on  this  subject,  was  the  following,  taken  from 
the  Preston  Chronicle  of  Oct.  25,  being  my  answer  to  the  Commissioners  and  their 
defenders : — 

'  Sir, — Before  this  time  I  should  have  Bolicited  the  insertion  of  some  answer  to 
the  reports  of  the  proceedings  of  the  Blackburn  Improvement  Commissionersj 
which  appeared  in  your  paper  of  the  4th  inst.,  hkd  not  the  death  of  Mrs.  Martin 
suspended  my  provincial  duties,  and  called  me  to  the  sacred  task  of  vindicating 
her  memory  over  her  grave.     Even  now  I  am  only  able  to  write  a  hurried  letter. 

Certainly,  sir,  the  Improvement  Commissioners  of  Blackburn  are  the  most 
extraordinary  body  of  gentlemen  in  the  country,  and  Mr.  Hoole,  their  chairman,  is 
not  the  least  remarkable  member.  Although  my  communication  was  addressed 
to  Mr.  Hoole  in  his  official  capacity,  and  was  in  every  sense  public,  he  appears 
neither  to  have  laid  it  before  the  body,  for  whom  he  received  it,  nor  has  he  even 
acknowledged  its  receipt.  Mr.  Hoole,  I  am  told,  is  a  gentleman  of  omnipresent 
functions — schoolmaster,  magistrate,  and  chairman — and  I  did  expect  that  he  would 
have  added  common  courtesy  to  his  other  attainments.  The  only  intimation  I 
now  have  that  the  Commissioners  have  ever  had  my  claim  under  consideration,  is 
from  the  columns  of  your  paper,  and  that  of  your  contemporary,  and  the  public 
and  myself  are  indebted  to  the  activity  of  your  reporter  for  that  knowledge. 
Although  my  letter  ended  praying  for  information  as  to  the  decision  of  the  Com- 
missioners, up  to  this  hour  I  have  had  no  answer  from  that  body.  Whether  I  am 
to  take  the  report  of  the  Preston  papers  as  their  official  reply,  I  know  not.  If  so, 
the  Improvement  Commissioners  impose  upon  your  reporter  a  duty  very  unusual 
— that  of  conveying  their  decisions  to  all  applicants  for  their  judicial  attentions — 
and  the  Preston  Chronicle  and  Guardian  are  official  supplements  to  the  records  of 
the  Improvement  Commissioners  of  Blackburn. 

'  But,  sir,  there  is  more  than  discourtesy  in  this  matter.  I  do  not  think  that 
Mr.  Hoole  has  acted  honourably  towards  me  or  the  public.  It  appears  that  it  was 
upon  his  advice  that  the  Assembly  Room  was  refused  me.  By  what  right  does 
this  gentleman,  professing  to  be  the  friend  of  freedom  of  opinion,  deny  to  me  the 
utterance  of  ray  conscientious  sentiments  ?     Mr.  Hoole  is  one  of  those  who  believe 


406 


THE  REASONER. 


that  we  shall  all  one  day  stand  before  the  bar  of  God,  to  answer  for  the  opinions 
entertained  in  this  life.  Then  upon  what  plea  of  kindness  does  he  attempt  to 
force  me  to  hold  his  opinions,  by  refusing  me  the  opportunity  of  inquiring  as  to 
which  are  the  right  ones  ?  Bat  if  Mr.  Hoole  feels  called  upon,  as  a  Christian,  to 
prevent  me  being  heard,  I  presume  he  does  not  feel  called  upon,  as  a  Christian,  to 
do  me  an  injury.  Yet  he  has  done  this.  He  caused  me  to  lose  my  health,  to 
suffer  discredit  and  an  important  loss  of  proceeds;  and,  what  I  think  more  dis- 
honourable still,  he  has  also  stifled  my  complaints  by  not  laying  before  the  Com- 
missioners my  claim  for  compensation.  Is  Mr.  Hoole  turning  to  a  Roman 
Catholic,  that  he  fears  private  judgment,  and  seeks  to  suppress  public  opinion  ? 
We  have  the  best  proof  that  Mr.  Hoole  is  not  well  satisfied  with  the  course  he  has 
pursued,  or  we  should  have  heard  from  him  before  in  his  own  defence.  The  pub- 
lic well  know  that  that  gentleman  is  not  accustomed  to  keep  silence  when  he  thinks 
himself  in  the  right. 

•  I  have  shown,  in  my  communication  to  the  Commissioners,  that  Mr.  TUingworth 
knew  very  well  what  he  was  about  when  he  let  the  room ;  and  my  statement  has 
not  been  denied, and  will  not  be  denied.  Their  agent,  therefore,  was  not  "deceived;" 
and  they  were  bound,  as  gentlemen,  to  abide  by  his  act,  or  to  make  me  compensa- 
tion. The  special  grounds  on  which  I  ask  for  recompense  are  not  disputed,  nor  is 
the  amount  of  the  claim  disputed ;  if  this  could  be  done,  it  doubtless  would  be. 
The  public  will  therefore  judge  between  us,  and  decide  whether  I  have  been  treated 
honourably  in  the  matter.  I  cannot  believe  that  the  Highway  Committee  ever 
had  my  communication  to  Mr.  Hoole  under  their  consideration,  or  they  never 
would  have  made  the  recommendation  of  offering  one  pound  ten,  when  in  truth, 
and  in  public  opinion  also,  we  were  entitled  to  five  pounds  ten. 

'  A  court  of  law  would,  I  feel  assured,  have  made  a  far  different  award  ;  but  I 
preferred  the  more  friendly  course  of  appealing  to  the  honour  of  the  Commis- 
sioners, and  if  this  is  their  decision,  which  I  can  hardly  believe,  of  course  I  shall 
abide  by  it ;  but  I  will  not  think  so  ill  of  the  Christians  of  Blackburn  as  to  suppose 
that  is  a  decision  that  will  give  them  satisfaction,  or  reflect  any  credit  on  their 
cause. 

'  I  take  no  notice  of  the  letter  of  "  Scrutator,"  in  the  Blackburn  Standard  of 
October  4th.  If  he  writes  on  behalf  of  the  Commissioners,  let  him  say  so,  and  I 
will  reply  to  his  letter.  If  he  writes  on  his  own  account,  let  him  give  his  name, 
and  then  I  will  answer  him.  I  say  the  same  to  "  Fair  Play,"  who  appears  in  your 
paper  of  the  4th.  Even  then  these  writers  will  not  succeed  in  drawing  me  into  a 
discussion  upon  the  character  of  my  opinions  while  they  obscure  the  essential 
question  of  private  honour  and  good  faith,  upon  which  the'  public  attention  is 
fixed  in  the  conduct  of  Mr.  Hoole  and  his  brother  Commissioners.  Let  this  point 
be  cleared  up,  and  then  they  will  find  me  ready  enough  to  enter  upon  others ;  but 
let  this  be  settled  first. 

'  Christians  have  a  right  to  protect  themselves  against  my  opinions, if  they  think 
them  injurious ;  but  let  them  do  it  in  an  honourable  manner.  If  they  break  faith 
with  me,  let  them  make  me  compensation.  If  they  choose  to  interfere  with  my 
proceedings,  let  them  do  it  in  a  manly  way — let  them  not  be  both  bigoted  and  mean. 

•I  have  forwarded  a  similar  letter  to  your  local  contemporary;  but  I   think  it 
due  to  the  publicity  you  have  equally  and  generously  given  to  the  case  of  a  stranger 
inhospitably  treated  to  send  you  a  letter  also,  for  the  information  of  your  readers, 
who  may  desire  to  learn  all  the  features  of  this  strange  Blackburn  proceeding. 
'  I  have  the  honour  to  be,  sir,  your  obedient  servant, 

'  Middlesborough,  Tuesday,  Oct.  28,  1851.  '  George  Jacob  Holtoake.' 


THE  REASONER. 


407 


The  late  Mr.  Lennon.  — We  are  happy  to  announce,  in  concluding  this 
volume,  that  the  subscription  of  £5  for  the  family  of  the  late  Mr.  Lennon,  of 
Whitehaven,  is  completed  by  the  aid  of  W.  J.  B.,  A.  T.,  and  W.  E.  B.  The  fol- 
lowing  are   the   remaining   acknowledgments: — Acknowledged  No.  280,  p.  331: 

£1  ISs.— Arthur  Trevelyan,  £1.— T.  W.,  2s.  6d.— S.  G.  Whiteman,  Is J.  Stoth, 

Is. — Thomas  Billington,  Is. — W.  E.  B.  (second  subscription),  10s. — W.  J.  B. 
£1  lis.  6d.;  total,  £5. 

IJeaSuncr  ^rnjiaaautJa. 

To  promote  the  efficiency  of  the  Reasoner  as  an  organ  of  Propagandism,  one  friend  subscribes  lOs. 
weekly,  another  5s.,  one  2s.  monthly,  others  Is.  each  weekly — others  intermediate  sums  or  special 
remittances,  according  to  ability  or  earnestness.  An  annual  contribution  of  Is.  from  each  reader 
would  be  easy,  equitable,  and  sufficient.  What  is  remitted,  in  whatever  proportion,  is  acknowledged 
here  and  accounted  for  at  the  end  of  the  Volume. 


Previously  acknowledged  in  No.  284,  777s.  6d. — W.-J.  B.  (10s.  weekly), for  Nos. 
265  to  285  inclusive,  20  weeks,  200s. — A  Friend  to  Reason,  for  September  and 
October,  40s. — J.  W.,  15s. — Jobert's  Philosophy  of  Geology,  given  by  Dr.  Lees, 
2s.  6d. — Thomas  Bickerton,  Leeds,  Is. ;  total,  1035s.  The  subscriptions  to  the 
volume  amount  to  £51  15s.     A  balance-sheet  will  be  inserted  next  week. 


GUIDE  TO  THE  LECTURE  ROOM. 

Literary  Institution,  John  St,,  Fitzroy  3q. — Nov. 
I6th  [7], Thomas  Cooper, '  Roman  History.'  18th 
[84j,  Discussion  in  the  Coffee  Room. 

Hall  of  Science,  City  Road.— Nov.  l6th  f7], 
G.  J.  Holyoake,  '  Can  the  Atheist  be  Moral  ?' 

National  Hall,  242,  High  Holhorn.— Nov.  :6th 
[8],  P.  \V.  Perfitr,  'Archbishop  Cranmer.' 

South  London  Hall,  Webber  Street,  Blackfriars 
Road.— Nov.  23  [7i], '  Manchester  School  of  Cob- 
den,  Bright,  &c.' 

Institute  of  Progress,  10a,  Upper  George  St., 
Sloane  Square. — Friday  evenings  [8],  Discussion. 
Nov.  16th  [7],  a  lecture. 

Eclectic  Institute,  Denmark  Street,  Soho. — 
Every  Friday  [8^],  Mr.  J.  B.  O'Brien,  '  Home  and 
Foreign  Politics.'  Every  Sunday  ["i],  on  '  Moral 
and  Social  Science.' 

Areopagus  Coffee  and  Reading  Room,  59,  Church 
Lane,  Whitechapel. — Every  Sunday,  Monday,  and 
Wednesday  (8),  a  Lecture  or  Discussion. 

City  Forum  Coffee  House,  6o,  Red  Cross  Street. 
—Every  Sunday,  Alonday,  and  Thursday  [8^],  a 
Discusision. 

Commercial  Hall,  Philpot  Street,  Commercial 
Road  East. — Every  Tuesday  and  Thursday  even- 
ing [8],  a  Discussion. 

Mr.  Gardner's  School  Room,  Preston. — The 
Friends  of  Political  and  Social  Reform  meet  every 
Sanday  at  2  p.m. 

ADVERTISEMENTS. 

POPULAR  WORKS. 

A  Few  Days  in  Athens,  1  vol.,  cloth.    By 
Frances  Wright 1     6 

Ditto,  in  a  wrapper 1     0 

F.  Wright's  Popular  Lectures,  1  vol 3     o 

(To  be  had  in  Parts  and  Numbers.) 

Bible  of  Reason,  1  vol.,  cloth 7    6 

The  English  Republic,  1  to  10 each     0    6 

Notes  on  the  Population  Question 0     6 

Clark's  Letters  to  Dr.  Adam  Clarke,  1  vol., 

cloth    5    0 

Labour's  Wrongs  and  Labour's  Remedies, 

1  vol 2    0 


Paine' s  Poems 0  3 

Life  of  Volney 0  2 

Life  of  Voltaire    0  2 

Life  of  Shelley 0  2 

Shelley's  Masque  of  Anarchy 0  3 

—  Queen  Mab,  1  vol.,  boards    1  6 

—  ditto                ditto        wrapper 1  0 

Cooper's  Infidel's  Text  Book,  1  vol 2  6 

(To  be  had  in  thirteen  numbers  at  twopence.) 

—  Scriptures  Analysed 0  8 

Scripturian's  Creed.    By  Citizen  Davies   ..  2  0 

London:  James  Watson,  3,  Queen's  Head  Pas- 
sage, Paternoster -row. 

HALL  OF  SCIENCE,  Near  Finsbury  Square, 
City  Road. — East  London  Society  of  Rea- 
soners. — The  Committee  and  Friends  ot  the  above 
Society  have  engaged  the  Hall  of  Science,  City 
Road,foraTEA  PARTY&  PUBLIC  MEETING, 
on  Monday  evening,  Nov.  17,  1851,  to  celebrate 
the  success  of  their  labours  in  Bonner's  Fields, 
Victoria  Park,  and  its  vicinity. 

The  principal  leaders  of  the  movement  will  be 
present,  Thornton  Hunt,  Esq.,  in  the  chair.  A 
report  of  the  Society's  proceedings  during  the  past 
year  will  be  read,  and  the  meeting  will  be  addressed 
by  the  following  gentlemen :  Mr.  W.  D.  Saul!, 
BIr.  James  Watson,  Mr.  G.  J.  Holyoake,  Mr. 
Thomas  Cooper,  Mr.  Robert  Cooper,  Dr.  Brooks. 

1  he  Committee  have  the  pleasure  to  state  that 
Mr.  John  Lowry,  whose  musical  talent  is  so  well 
known,  has  consented  to  attend  and  enliven  the 
proceedings  with  his  progressive  songs. 

Tea  on  table  at  Sis  o'clock.  Tickets,  9d.  each, 
to  be  had  of  Mr.  Watson,  3,  Queen's  Head  Pas- 
sage, Paternoster  Row ;  Mr.  E.  Truelove,  John 
Street,  Fitzroy  Square;  Mr.  Whiteli,  Lecture  Hall, 
Commercial  Road  East  ;  Mr.  Draper,  Areopagus 
Coffee  House,  Church  Lane,  Whitechapel;  Mr. 
Andrews,  South  London  Hall,  Webber  Street, 
Blackfriars  Road  ;  at  the  Literary  Institution, 
Morpeth  Street,  Bethnal  Green ;  and  of  the  Com- 
mittee, on  Sundays,  in  Bonner's  Fields. 

Those  friends  who  do  not  take  Tea  will  be  ad- 
mitted to  the  Hall  at  8  o'clock,  on  payment  of  2d. 


408 


THE  REASONER. 


Our  Ojpm  ^ase. 


On  Sunday  evening  next,  Mr.  G.  J.  Holyoake  will  lecture  at  the  Hall  of  Science, 
City-road.     Subject — *  Can  the  Atheist  be  Moral  ?' 

"We  frequently  receive  notices  of  lectures  for  our'  Guide  to  the  Lecture  Room ' 
too  late.  All  such  notices  should  reach  us  on  the  Saturday  before  our  day  of  pub- 
lication. Mr.  James  Campbell's  lecture  in  Manchester,  on  the  '  Life  and  Writings 
of  Mrs.  Martin,'  was  omitted  on  this  account. 

Edward  Grubb,  Esq.,  the  teetotal  lecturer,  has  been  engaged  by  the  Christians 
of  Colne  in  the  Piece  Hall.  In  one  lecture  he  promised  to  '  refute  the  objections 
of  atheists  or  other  infidels.'  Does  not  Mr.  Grubb  know  that  infidels  are  not 
atheists  ? 

Does  any  reader  remember  any  divines  of  eminence  who  regard  theology  as  a 
Science  ?    We  should  like  the  passages. 

Mr.  Chilton  has  for  sale  for  a  friend,  Mirabaud's  System  of  Nature,  3  vols.,  hf. 
bd.,  Davison's  Edition,  1820;  The  Deist,  2  vols.,  bd.,  Carlile,  1819;  Paine'sThev- 
logical  Works,  1  vol.,  hf.  bd.,  Carlile,  1819.     All  as  good  as  new;  price,  12s. 

Now  published,  price  Threepence,  in  a  wrapper,  •  The  Philosophic  Type  of  Re- 
ligion '  (as  developed  by  Professor  Newman  in  his  work  upon  the  '  Natural  History 
of  the  Soul,')  Stated,  Examined,  and  Answered,  by  George  Jacob  Holyoake. 

Now  ready  also,  price  One  Penny,  the  Last  Days  of  Mrs.  Emma  Martin — that 
is,  the  'Words  Spoken  at  her  Grave,'  with  a  short  Biography,  slightly  enlarged 
since  its  appearance  in  the  Reasoner. 

The  Prospectus  of  the  '  Cabinet  of  Reason '  will  appear  next  week. 

Volume  Eleven  of  the  Reasoner  will  be  ready,  bound  in  cloth,  in  a  few  days. 

'A  constant  Purchaser,'  Sheffield,  who  wishes  to  know  the  names  of  any  Charit- 
able Institution  of  the  Catholics  in  York,  he  having  a  sister  whom  he  supposes  to 
be  there,  had  better  write  to  Mr.  Brown,  bookseller,  4,  Collier  Gate,  York,  whom, 
we  think,  will  be  able  to  answer  his  inquiries,  and  willingly  do  so  if  able. 

A  correspondent  has  lately  inquired,  '  What  was  the  oath  taken  by  the  late 
Richard  Carlile,  and  its  effect  ?'  We  referred  his  note  to  our  publisher,  who 
answers : — '  As  to  the  oath  taken  by  Mr.  Carlile  when  he  applied  for  a  preacher's 
license,  I  do  not  recollect  his  printing  it,  and  believe  it  is, the  usual  oath  tendered 
to  every  one  applying  for  a  license  ;  ^preach.  It  is  a  great  mistake  to  suppose 
any  change  took  place  in  his  sentiments,  further  than  the  scope  given  to  those  who 
symbolise  the  Bible  instead  of  taking  it  in  its  literal  form.' 

A  friend, '  J.  K.  Y.,'  lately  presented  us  with  two  Bibles  to  sell  for  the  benefit  of 
the  '  Reasoner  List.'  The  proceeds  of  one  has  been  acknowledged,  the  remaining 
copy  is  a  serviceable  and  respectable  looking  work,  in  a  binding  warranted  ortho- 
dox. As  this  publication  will  be  very  scarce  when  Cardinal  Wiseman  displaces 
our  bishops,  we  trust  some  prudent  Protestant  will  buy  it  at  4s.  or  less.  We 
have  placed  it  in  the  hands  of  our  publisher. 


END    OF    VOL.    XI. 


London:  Printed  by  Holyoake  Brotherg,  3,  Queen's  Head  Passage,  Patemoster-row ;  and  Published 
by  J.  Watson,  3,  Queen's  Head  Passage,  Paternoster-row, Wednesday,  November  12th,  1851,