us go ask the boy himself, who will bring THERE was also at Jerusalem one the truth to light. 9 Then the Lord Jesus going down stood over the head of the dead boy, and said with a loud voice, Zeinunus, Zeinunus, who threw thee down from the house-top? 10 Then the dead boy answered, Thou didst not throw me down, but such a one did. 11 And when the Lord Jesus bad those who stood by take notice of his words, all who were present praised God on accouut of that miracle. 12 On a certain time the Lady St. Mary had commanded the Lord Jesus to fetch her some water out of the well; 13 And when he had gone to fetch the water, the pitcher, when it was brought up full, brake; 14 But Jesus spreading his mantle gathered up the water again, and brought it in that to his mother; 15 Who being astonished at this wonderful thing, laid up this, and all other things which she had seen in her memory. 16 Again on another day the Lord Jesus was with some boys by a river, and they drew water out of the river by little channels, and made little fish-pools. 17 But the Lord Jesus had made twelve sparrows, and placed them about his pool on each side, three on a side. 18 But it was the sabbath-day, and the son of Hanani, a Jew, came by, and saw them making these things, and said, Do ye thus make figures of clay on the sabbath? And he ran to them, and broke down their fish-pools. 19 But when the Lord Jesus clapped his hands over the sparrows which he had made, they fled away chirping. 20 At length the son of Hanani coming to the fish pool of Jesus to destroy it, the water vanished away, and the Lord Jesus said to him, 21 In like manner as this water has vanished, so shall thy life vanish; and presently the boy died. 22 Another time, when the Lord Je sus was coming home in the evening with Joseph, he met a boy, who ran so hard against him, that he threw him down; 23 To whom the Lord Jesus said, As thou hast thrown me down, so shalt thou fall, nor ever rise. 24 And that moment the boy fell down, and died. CHAP. XX. 4 Sent to school to Zaccheus to learn his letters, and teaches Zaccheus. 13 Sent to another schoolmaster, 14 refuses to tell his letters, and the schsolmaster going to whip him his hand withers and he dies. named Zaccheus, who was a school master; 2 And he said to Joseph, Joseph, why dost thou not send Jesus to me, that he may learn his letters? 3 Joseph agreed and told St. Mary; 4 So they brought him to that master; who, as soon as he saw him wrote ogt an alphabet for him, 5 And he bad him say Aleph; and when he had said Aleph, the master bad him pronounce Beth. 6 Then the Lord Jesus said to him, Tell me first the meaning of the letter Aleph, and then I will pronounce Beth. 7 And when the master threatened to whip him, the Lord Jesus explained to him the meaning of the letters Aleph and Beth; 8 Also which were the straight figures of the letters, which the oblique, and what letters had double figures; which had points, and which had none; why one letter went before another; and many other things he began to tell him, and explain, of which the master himself had never heard, nor read in any book. 9 The Lord Jesus farther said to the master, Take notice how I say to thee; then he began clearly and distinctly to say Aleph, Beth Gimel, Daleth, and so on to the end of the alphabet. 10 At this the master was so surprised, that he said, I believe this boy was born before Noah ; 11 And turning to Joseph he said, Thou hast brought a boy to me to be taught, who is more learned than any master. 12 He said also to St. Mary, This your son has no need of any learning. 13 They brought him then to a more learned master, who when he saw him, said, say Aleph : 14 And when he had said Aleph, the master bad him pronounce Beth; to which the Lord Jesus replied, Tell me first the meaning of the letter Aleph, and then I will pronounce Beth. 15 But this master, when he lift up his hand to whip him, had his hand presently withered, and he died. 16 Then said Joseph to St. Mary Henceforth we will not allow him to go out of the house; for every one who displeases him is killed. CHAP. XXI. 1 Disputes miraculously with the doctors in the temple, 7 on law, 9 on astronomy, 12 on physics and metaphysics. 21 Is worshipped by a philosopher, 28 and fetched home by his mother. A ND when he was twelve years old they brought him to Jerusalem to the feast; and when the feast was over, they returned, 2 But the Lord Jesus continued be. hind in the temple among the doctors and elders, and learned men of Israel; to whom he proposed several questions of learning, and also gave them answers; 3 For he said to them, Whose son is the Messiah? They answered, The son of David: 4 Why then, said he, does he in the spirit call him Lord? when he saith, The Lord said to my Lord, sit thou at my right hand, till I have made thine enemies thy footstool. 5 Then a certain principal Rabbi, asked him, Hast thou read books? 6 Jesus answered, he had read both books, and the things which were contained in books. 7 And he explained to them the books of the law, and precepts and statutes, and the mysteries which are contained in the books of the prophets; things which the mind of no creature could reach. 8 Then said that Rabbi, I never yet have seen or heard of such knowledge! what do you think that boy will be? 9 When a certain astronomer, who was present, asked the Lord Jesus, Whether he had studied astronomy? 10 The Lord Jesus replied, and told him the number of the spheres and heavenly bodies, as also their triangular, square, and sextile aspect; their progressive and retrograde motion; their size and several prognostications; and other things, which the reason of man had never discovered. 11 ¶ There was also among them a philosopher well skilled in physic and natural phylosophy, who asked the Lord Jesus, Whether he had studied physic? 12 He replied, and explained to him physics and metaphysics, 13 Also those things which were above and below the power of nature; 14 The powers also of the body, its humours and their effects; 15 Also the number of its members, and bones, veins, arteries, and nerves; 16 The several constitutions of the body, hot and dry, cold and moist, and the tendencies of them; 17 How the soul operated upon the body; 18 What its various sensations and faculties were; 19 The faculty of speaking, anger, desire; 20 And lastly, the manner of its composition and dissolution; and other things, which the understanding of no creature had ever reached. 21 Then that philosopher arose, and worshipped the Lord Jesus, and said, O Lord Jesus, from henceforth I will be thy disciple and servant. 22 While they were discoursing on these and such like things, the Lady St. Mary came in, having been three days walking about with Joseph, seeking for him. 23 And when she saw him sitting among the doctors, and in his turn proposing questions to them, and giving answers, she said to him, My son, why hast thou done thus by us? Behold I and thy father have been at much pains in seeking thee. 24 He replied, Why did ye seek me? Did ye not know that I ought to be employed in my father's house? 25 But they understood not the words which he said to them; 26 Then the doctors asked Mary. whether this were her son? And when she said, He was, they said, O happy Mary, who hast borne such a son! 27 Then he returned with them to Nazareth and obeyed them in all things. 28 And his mother kept all these sayings in her mind; 29 And the Lord Jesus grew in stature and wisdom, and favour with God and Man. CHAP. XXII. 1 Conceals his miracles, 2 studies the law, 3 and is baptised. NOW from this time Jesus began to conceal his miracles and secret works, 2 And gave binself to the study of the law, till he arrived to the end of his thirtieth year; 3 At which time the father publicly owned him at Jordan, sending down this voice from heaven, This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased; 4 The Holy Ghost being also present in the form of a dove. 5 This is he whom we worship with all reverence, because he gave us cur life and being, and brought us from our mother's womb; 6 Who for our sakes, took a human body, and hath redeemed us, that so he might embrace us with everlasting mercy, and shew his free, large, bountiful grace and goodness to us. 7 To him be glory and praise, and power, and dominion, from henceforth and for evermore. Amen. ¶The end of the whole Gospel of the Infancy, by the assistance of the supreme God, according to what we found in the original, TO MR. R. CARLILE, DORCHESTER GAOL. DEAR SIR, Stockport, November 21, 1824. ACCEPT the enclosed sum of money from your Stockport friends, as a small token of the respect we owe to you for your unwearied exertions in the cause of free discussion. We wish it had been more; but small as it is, we know it will be useful to you: we know likewise, that money is the grand moving principle and constitutes one of the strongest weapons of defence. We congratulate you on the progress of your principles in our immediate neighbourhood. There is scarcely a week passes, but we hear of some one or other released from the trammels of bigotry and superstition, and guided into the road which leads to human happiness. A system of government like the one we have the misfortune to live under, where virtue is punished as though it were criminal, where vice in many instances is exalted to the highest offices in state, and where such wretches as the Bishop of Clogher are permitted to be at large, after having been detected in and found guilty of a crime the most revoltiug to human nature, is extolled as the envy of surrounding nations and the admiration of the whole world! For my part, I think very differently. I think it is the scorn of surrounding nations and the derision of the whole world. When we reflect that you have been immured in a dungeon for five years and upwards, that you have been robbed to no inconsiderable amount, that your wife and sister have shared an imprisonment with you, that the brave Mrs. Wright is likely to fall a victim to her very mild imprisonment, and that others have suffered and still are suffering durance vile, merely for selling a book or books which question the good foundation of all religions; who can reflect upon such scenes without saying, that they are a foul, a damning blot upon the Christians, and a disgrace to the age in which we live? Where is the man that has a spark of humanity in his breast who would not willingly step forward and lend his feeble assistance to put a stop to such disgraceful scenes? But though you have suffered a long and solitary imprisonment, and though your future imprisonment is now at the mercy of that cold calculating bigoted Peel, whose mercy is like that of his God which knows no bounds, yet, amidst all these calamities, your virtuous mind is tranquil and composed. Yet you can even in your dungeon enjoy that inward satisfaction, that peace of mind, which your persecutors can never feel; for as the poet truly says, The man that virtue does not bind, I cannot close this letter without noticing the "Newgate Magazine," edited by your brave Shopmen. It is a fine philosophical work, and strikes a mortal blow at their persecutors. It ought to be read by every real lover of truth; but I will say no more about it, as a perusal of it will be its best recommendation. Wishing you health and happiness, and may you and all who are suffering incarceration for holding opinions which you nor they can avoid, soon be restored to their families and friends, is the fervent wish of the Subscribers, and Yours, in true friendship, WILLIAM BLACKSHAW, Subscription from Stockport for Mr. Carlile. W. Blackshaw Was called a Deist, 10 But am no Theist. W. Cheetham W. P. R. Barnes 20510 OOOHOO HOTTOHOOOOO. 10 0 6 1 0 1 1 1 0 1 1 0 2 0 3 2 Martin Blackett 20 0 6 4 J. Sherwin 0 3 SIR, Dorchester Caol, December 4, 1824. It is a pleasure to me to find, that my Stockport friends are not yet weary of me, and that their countenance at least promises to be co-extended with the persecutions continued by the Christians. I am now set in for a sixth year of imprisonment; but I can assure you, that my resolution is stronger, and my spirits higher, to bear up against it, than was the case five years ago. I feel, that persecution strengthens me; and there are moments when I am writing or reflecting upon the subject, which make the view of my past imprisonment delightful. I find, that the interest in my writing goes on increasing, and bids fair in another year or two to procure me a handsome income. Hitherto, or since my imprisonment, the returns for what I have written and published have done no more than cover the expences; but I am now about to make an effort to turn the scale. Finding "The Republican" is running into new channels, I know enough of the art of publication to know, that such is the time to push it; because I feel assured of a growing interest. With the exception of your neighbourhood, it has had a trifling increase almost every where since the last batch of prosecutions, and I am now going to call upon every friend to try and gain me new subscribers. If every present subscriber could find another, I should find a handsome fixed income of at least ten or twelve pounds per week. This would make mě independent of all aid from subscriptions, and put my presses in rapid motion for the forthcoming of other works. Those who can afford it would do me much more solid good by buying a double number of the Republican weekly, and by lending it to new readers, than in subscribing a weekly sixpence in money. Or if they found me another subscriber, the good done would be the same. I am not on the footing of another bookseller: advertisements beyond my own publication do me no good; and this because, nearly all the London and country booksellers have been so cautioned, threatened, and frightened by the priests, about taking orders for my books, that for the present they shrink from doing it. One respectable house in London, that stood out to the last, has lately been obliged to yield. I have reasons to think, that the whole of |