THE J p Q
HARRISON
COLLECTION OF
NINETEENTH CENTURY
BRITISH SOCIAL HISTORY
Harrison
AP
4
.R217
vol.11
BRIGHAM YOUNG UNiyEBSir/, ■ -. ...;...-...
IWh^-
^
THE
3^easroner
AMD
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
To promote the eflficieney of the Reasoner as an organ of Propagandism, one Friend subscribes 10s.
weekly, another 53., one 2s. monthly, others Is. each weekly— and so on according to ability and ear-
nestness. An annual contribution of 1 s. from each reader would be easy, equitable, and sufficient. What
is remitted, in whatever proporiion, is acknowledged here and accounted lor at the end of the Volume.
Acknowledged in No. 32, 1621s. 6d. — W. R, Liverpool, 40s.— J. E. Sinyard,
Bradford, 2s. 6d. — W. C, per ditto, ditto, Is. — R. Wilson, North Owram, Is. —
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— W. S., per Mrs. Watson, Is.— Total, 1672s. These sums ought to have been
added to the list last week; but Mr. Holyo:.ke had the items with him.
GUIDE TO THE LECTURE ROOM.
Literary Institution, John Street, Fitzroy Square.
— May 25th [5], Alexander Campbell, ' On the For-
matioa of Character.'
Hackney Literary and Scientific Institution,
Mermaid Assembly Rooms.— May 28th [8], George
Oawson, M.A., ' On Old Times and Old Ways.'
Hall of Science, City Road. — May 25th [ri],
Samuel M. Kydd, ' National Greatness.'
Institute of Progress, 10.\, Upper George-street,
Sloane-square. — May 23rd [8], a Discussion. 25th
[7i], a lecture.
Kclectic Institute, Denmark Street, Soho. —
Every Friday [84], Mr. J. B. O'Brien, ' Home and
Foreign Politics.' Every Sunday [74J, on ' Moral
and Social Science.'
Free Inquirers' Society. British Coffee Rooms,
Edgeware Uoad. — May 25th [7], a lecture.
Areopagus Coffee and Heading Room, 59, Church
Lane, Whitechapel. — Every Sunday, Monday, and
Wednesday (S), a Lecture or Discussion.
Ijl TRUELOVE'S Periodical and Publication
1' Depot, 22, John-street, Fitzroy-square, ad-
joining the Literary and Scientific Institution.
E. T. is now selling the followicg works, many of
them at reduced prices : — 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
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The Vestiges of Creation, complete 2 6
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Voices of Freedom and Lyrics of Love, by
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Justinus Kerner 1 6
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The Labour Question, by Michel Chevalier,
and the Addresses of Louis Blanc at the
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of 1848. By Louis Blanc 1
The new Ecce Homo, by Blumenfeld .... 0
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0 6
0 6
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Romanism the Religion of Terror, and
Sects and Sectaries, by S. P. Day, for-
merly a Monk each 0 2
Shortly will be published DEATH-BED
REPENTANCE, its fallaciousness and
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Just published, Two Letters to Dr. Cumming
on the subject of bis lecture, entitled God in Sci-
ence, by W. D.
E. T. has constantly on sale a large collection of
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E. T. returns his best thanks to his friends for
their patronage, and hopes, by attention to their
orders and moderate charges, to merit their con-
tinued support and recommendation.
Newspapers sent to all parts of tbe country to
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plete sets, can procure them from the publisher, or
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Bible. In 1 vol., neat cloth boards, price 4 6
Discussion on God, in 1 vol., cloth 1 10
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(Or in parts af 6d. each.)
Popular Tracts, by Robert Dale Owen, in
1 vol., cloth boards 2 6
The Bible of Reason, or Scriptures of Ancient
and Modem Authors. 1 thick vol.Svo. c. let. 7 6
Godwin's Political Justice, 1 vols, bound
in one, cloth lettered 5 0
Mirabaud's System of Nature, 2 vols, bound
in one, cloth lettered 5 0
Volney's Ruins of Empires and Law of
Mature, with three engravings. 1 vol., ^
cloth lettered 3 0
CTo be had in Five parts at 6d. each, or in 15
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
1 The Freethinker's Magazine, in 7 Nos. at 2d.,
I and 2 Nos. at 6d.
London : James Watson, 3, Queen's Head Pas.
sage. Paternoster -row.
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
The Labour Question, by ilichel Chevalier,
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
Historic Pages from the French Revolution
of 1848. By Louis Blanc 1 0
The new Ecce Homo, by Blumenfeld .... 0 9
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
Sects and Sectaries each 0 2
Shortlvwill be published DEATH-BED
REPENTANCE, its fallaciousness and
absurdity ; a new edition, rewritten by
Robert Cooper, of Manchester 0 2
The Communist Chronicle, byGoodwyn Barmby 6
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.
E. T. has constantly on sale a large collection of
all the best pdlitical, social, and infidel publications.
Newspapers sent to all parts of the country to
order. Bookbinding with economy and despatch.
Works published by J. Watson.
THE LIBRARY of REASON, containing a series
of articles from the works of ancient and
modem 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, I 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 JModem Authors. 1 thick vol.Svo. c. let. 7 6
Godwin's Political Justice, 2 vols, bound
in one, cloth lettered 6 0
London : James Watson, 3, Queen'a Head Pas-
sage, Pateinoster-row.
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.
To promote the efficiency of the Reasoner as an organ of Propagandism, one Friend subscribes 10s.
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nestness. An annual contribution of 1 s. from each reader would be easy, equitable, and sufficient. What
is remitted, in whatever proportion, is acknowledged here and accounted lor at the end of the Volume.
To the previous acknowledgments for Vol. X. we have to add 278s. from J.
W., making a total of 1950s., which concludes the list for Vol. X. Next week we
shall give the subscriptions towards the new volume.
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,
Sloane-square. — June 13th [8], a Discussion. 15th,
[7J], a lecture.
National Hal], 242, High Holborn.— June 15th
[8], P. W. Perfitt, 'Early Reformers in Italy.'
Eclectic Institute, Denmark Street, Soho. —
Every Friday [8^], 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 (8), a Lecture or Discussion.
City Forum Coffee House, 6o, Red Cross Street.
— Every Sunday, Monday, and Thursday [8J], 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 I^fQUIRY.
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 bis agents.
Owen and Bacheler's Discussion on the Ex-
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Bible. In 1 vol., neat cloth boards, price
Discussion on God, in 1 vol., cloth
Ditto ditto in a wrapper
Discussion on the Bible, 1 vol., cloth
Ditto ditto in a wrapper
(Or in parts at 6d. each.)
Popular Tracts, by Robert Dale Owen, in
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and Modern Authors. 1 thick vol.Svo. c. let.
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in one, cloth lettered
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in one, cloth lettered
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(To be had in Five parts at 6d. each, or in 15
numbers at 2d. each.)
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The Revolution which began in Heaven : a
Dramatic Vision ot Time, by H. Lucas . .
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and 2 Nos. at 6d.
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Ditto ditto wrapper
London : James Watson, 3, Queen's Head
sage, Pateinoster-row.
4 6
I 14
1 2
3 8
2 0
2 6
7 6
5 0
5 0
3 0
1 6
I 0
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Pas-
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.
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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.
ADVERTISEMENTS.
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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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here and accounted lor the at end of the Volume.
THE PAST VOLUME.
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igj^ 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 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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THE LIBRARY of REASON, containing a series
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Now Publishing, Price Is. 6d.,
THOUGHTS ON THE NATURE OP MAN,
THE PROPAGATION OF CREEDS, AND
THE FORMATION OF HUMAN CHARAC-
TJiR. By a Physician.
'This is a valuable work,' — British Controver-
sialist.
' An able production.' — Investigator.
'A systematic collection ot facts.' — Present Age.
'An excellent compendium.' — Reasoner.
' The writer illustrates his subject oy citations
from a vast array of authors, ancient and modern.'
— Critic,
' The author has very ably supported his propo-
sitions by reference to many authorities whose
names stand high as theologians.' — Expositor.
London : Joseph Clayton, 265, Strand ; and, by
order, from all other booksellers.
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-
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prkti^ the atitewy rale «f kagi^ the
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Whfle h« «ae |i ifiit the Rfgiiffiw, the Scr. Mr. Drew
"i oaaMaaMMaUe fw the rrafiig Jrti, aad, ae the cu«t'«C'"i'-"
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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.
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 14
Ditto ditto in a wrapper 1 2
Discussion on the Bible, 1 vol., cloth 3 8
Ditto ditto in a wrapper 2 0
(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 Modern Authors. 1 thick vol.Svo. c. let. 7 6
Godwin's Political Justice, 2 vols, bound
in one, cloth lettered 6 0
Mirabaud's System of Nature, 2 vols, bound
in one, cloth lettered 5 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 6d. each, or in 15
numbers at 2d. each.)
Shelley's Queen Mab, with all the notes, 1
vol., cloth lettered 1 fl
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 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. 8 0
Ditto ditto Few Days in Athens,
1 vol., cloth lettered I 6
Ditto ditto wrapper 1 0
London : James Watson, 3, Queen's Head Fas-
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.
Works published by J. Watson,
THE LIBRARY of REASON, containing aseries
of articles from the works of ancient and
modem authors in favour of FREE INQUIRV.
22 Nos. stitched in a wrapper, witli 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 ot God and the Authenticity of the
Bible. In 1 vol., neat cloth boards, price 4 6
Discussion on God, in 1 vol., cloth 1 14
Ditto ditto in a wrapper 1 2
Discussion on the Bible, 1 vol., cioth 3 8
Ditto ditto la a wrapper 2 0
(Or in parts at 6d. each.)
Popular Tracts, by Robert Dale Owen in
1 vol., cloth boards 2 6
The Bib!e of Reason, or Scriptures of .Ancient
and \.'odern Authors. 1 thick voI.S%'0. 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 5 0
Volney's Ruins of Empires and Law of
Nature, with three ei gravings. I vol.,
cloth Uttered 3 0
(To be had in Five parts at 6d. each, or in 15
numbers at 2d. each.)
Shelley's Queen Jlab, with all the notes, 1
vol., cloth lettered 1 6
Ditto ditto wrapper I 0
Trevelyau's Liitter to Cardinal Wiseman .. 0 1
The Revolution which began in Heaven : a
Dramatic Vision ot Time, by H. Lucas .. 0 6
The Freeihinker's Magazine, in 7 Nos. at 2d.,
and 2 Xos. 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 t 6
Ditto ditto wrapper 1 0
London ; James Watson, 3, Queen's Head Pas-
sage, Pateinosterrow.
Now Publishing, Price Is. 6d.,
rrnOUGHTS ON THE NATUR.-i: OF MAN,
I THE PROPAGATION OF CREEDS, .AND
THE FORMATION OF HUMAN CHARAC-
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.
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remittances, according to ability or earnestness. An annual contribution of Is. from each reader
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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,
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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.
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(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-
lected, revised, and edited by the author — including some valuable treatises never
before published, on temperance, dietetics, vegetarianism, national education,
criticism, and biblical exegesis. All the texts and contexts of Scripture bearing
on the wine controversy will be chronologically displayed, with various translations,
ancient, modern, and original, each text illustrated with notes.
The final arrangements respecting the form, plan, and contents of the works of
Dr. Lees, have now been made, and it only remains that the friends of the project
for their publication should complete their canvass for subscribers. They will
contain an accurate portrait of the author, engraved by Linton, several illustrative
engravings and diagrams, and a beautifully coloured picture of St. Martin's
stomach in health and disease.
The entire edition will be published, uniform, in three volumes, post octavo,
neatly and firmly bound and lettered, price to subscribers 16s. This edition will
be divided into two series — either of which may be ordered separately. Volumes
1 and 2 will form the first, or 'Temperance,' series — incluiiug the discussions
and essay on diet, temperance, physiology, and the Scriptural wine question, price
to subscribers, 10s.
The second, or Truth-seeJcer, series, containing the philosophical and exe-
getical essays, and a popular system of logic, or the method, means, and matter of
argument, will form the third volume, price 6s. Subscribers' copies will be issued
as early in the summer of 1851 as possible, and be forwarded, carriage free, to all
the large towns.
After the subscription list is closed, the three volumes can only be obtained
together, and the price will be advanced to £1.
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
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here and accounted for at the end of the Volume.
Acknowledged in No. 270, 529s.— J. W., 20s.— Andrew Smith, Gateshead, 2s.
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— August 17th [74], Henry Knight, ' Sunday Ser.
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Hail of Science, City Road.— August 17th [7iJ,
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National Hall, 242, High Holborn.— Aug. 17th,
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Every Friday [8^], Mr. J. B. O'Brien, ' Home and
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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.
ADVERTISEMENTS.
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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.
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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.
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'.'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,
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Progress of the People in Association, Social
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very, Practical Knowledge, and Practical Science
— the Progress of Free jVction in Thought and
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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.
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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.
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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.
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— Every Sunday, Monday, and Thursday [8^], a
Discussion.
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Road East. — Every Tuesday and Thursday even-
ing [8], a Discussion.
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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
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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,