As a still stronger proof that not only the Jews, but also the Persians, by their decrees (allowing them to be genuine) only believed the Jewish God, on a similar ground with the one they were in the habit of worshipping themselves, may be adduced from the 7th chapter of Ezra, which contains the decree of Artaxerxes; they do not make a decree to build a house for the "Creator and Governor of the universe."-No!-for at the 15th verse he is styled," the God of Israel, whose habitation is in Jerusalem." And in the 19th verse, we find he is even called "the God of Jerusalem." Here it is evident they only believed the Jehovah of the Jews, to be similar to the Oromasdes of their own! In fact, whenever the Persians is made to speak, it is always the "God of Israel, God in Jerusalem, your God, or, thy God." But when the writer speaks, it is always," the God of our Fathers, the Lord our God, &c." The evidence in this case, that can be adduced from the Books of Ezra and Nehemiah, is worth all the rest in the Bible, for this reason, because they are written in quite a different style to all the preceding, for the author, or authors, have no pretensions to inspiration, or revelation, for though they often pray to their God, it appears he never condescended to answer them! and surely this was a time they stood in need of his assistance, as much as they had ever done before ! but he is wholly regardless, for the words,-" And the Word of the Lord came unto me saying," never occurs all through those books.

Here, then, we have proof, that at three distant periods of time, the Jews represented their God by an image, and worshipped him in a building, or Temple, the same as all other nations and tribes did, and that the idea of their having received a revelation from the "Creator and Governor of the universe," is an assumption! unwarranted by the Bible and the Jews, aud 'altogether a belief of a much later date!

As a still farther proof (if it be necessary) that they thought no more of their God than of others, is, first, allowing Moses to have set up their God directly after their arrival in the wilderness, (which evidently was not the case) they either wholly forsook their God, and joined the religion and worship of the gods of those tribes they dwelt among, and consequently received no revelation respecting any other god ;-or, secondly, they did not set up their God Jehovah till after the time mentioned in 2nd kings xxiii. 13,-which according to the Bible account, must have been many years after Solomon had built his famous Temple; and even allowing that Solomon built this temple for the worship of the God Jehovah! yet it is evident, that he, and all their kings (or Priests) down even to Josiah, only worshipped him in common with the other gods mentioned in the above chapter, for it expressly says there, that Josiah destroyed the places which "Solomon the king of Israel had builded for Ashtoreth, the abomination of the Zidonians, and for Chemosh- the abomination of the Moabites, and for Milcom the abominations of the Children of Ammon."-Mr. Thompson may take which of these positions he pleases, for both are against him, if he take the first, it is only a proof they worshipped gods in common with other tribes, and consequently if they received a revelation, all others did! or, secondly, in their belief of a God, they only imitated the other tribes, and when they had established laws, to suit themselves with rites and ceremonies, and a Priesthood, and formed themselves into a sect, (as I before stated) they then set up a god of their own!

Here, then, is a cause, and the only adequate cause, to account for the Jews, believing in a god!

Since this man cannot demonstrate the metaphysical nature or existence of a God, separate from, or superior to nature; it appears to me, that the worshipping of any supposed god, either on the deistical or Christian

ground, is nothing more than a species of superstition! consequently, when (in the Bible) I read the contemptible tales, the imbecile tricks, the silly dialogues, and other matters ascribed to the Jehovah God, I blush for Mr. Thompson, when he assures us they "contain a knowledge of things which God alone could impart to man by revelation ;" and I blush for my countrymen, when I reflect, that in this enlightened age, they believe that such nonsense and absurdities were dictated by a mind more than human.

Should you deem this worth insertion in your Republican, I may ere long send you my opinion on the nationality, and present dispersed state of the Jews. I remain, Sir,

With great respect,

Yours, &c.

T. R. BAILEY POTTS.

CHRISTIANITY IN NOTTINGHAM.

MRS. WRIGHT appears to be in the midst of a Christian storm. She is menaced with all sorts of religious vengeance, and that includes the whole range of evils that can be inflicted. The Nottingham Christians destroy her property, as far as they can, in breaking the front of her shop, and threaten vengeance on her person, if they catch her alone. But she goes bravely on, and will do a great deal of good in that town. The outcry is raised, and useful publications are selling there at a large rate. We want such a person in every town in the country. Knowledge can only be communicated by the shocking and removing of prejudices, and it is quite amusing to see the advantage, the power, which a mind free from bad prejudice has over one that is not free. A little proof of the kind may be found in the following anecdotes sent by Mrs. W.:

"I have Fairburn's caricature of "A King-Fisher" in the window, and our Nottingham wiseacres point to it, and, with a sigh, ask each other if ever they saw any thing half so horrifying. Only see! This is the way they make fun and ridicule of our blessed Saviour!'- What!' cries a third, is that God? Well, what wickedness! I wonder they don't put the Devil in the window and call it God.'

་

"Three women were standing at the window looking at the portrait of Paine. Well,' said the first, pointing to Paine, you see what a hardened villain that looks; that is just as all infidels look. Now, look at this,' pointing to Mr. Carlile, he is a Christian; what a fine, open countenance he has got, to what those wretched infidels have.' Why,' said the third, don't you see? That is Carlile, one of the worst of all infidels; don't you see he has had six years' imprisonment for it? Well,' said the one that had before been calling Carlile a handsome Christian, I thought he was a brazened-looking fellow.' This is Nottingham judgment of infidels.

"S. WRIGHT."

To the Editor of the Republican.

SIR, Nottingham, Aug. 19, 1826. MRS. WRIGHT's display of your publications for open sale is a novel thing in this town, hitherto, they have only been dealt in as a sort of smuggled article, a kind of contraband goods; and all the power, which Christians can put in requisition to her annoyance, is employed against her. She has raised the fervour of enthusiasm, and the curiosity of the inquisitive. She has gained the hatred of fanaticism, and the approbation of the libe+ ral. She has got the censure of the ignorant, and the praise of the wise. She has the sneers of the hypocrite, and the counte→ nance of the upright;

The horrid imprecations, the profane curses, which are heaped upon this woman's head, is alarming, and were it not for the protection of friends, she would ere this have fallen a victim to the fury of fanaticism, and thus have added another crime to the black catalogue of Christian vices. Enthusiasm! where are thy bounds? Christians! where is your mercy? Your deeds are registered in the imperishable rolls of infainy. Your minds have not been formed in Nature's brightest mould, and Reason dis, owns you as her sons. You wear but the exterior garb of virtue, your boasted professions accord not with your wicked practices. The mists of superstition obstruct your sight, your minds are absorbed in delusion and bewildered in error. The lamp of wis dom seldom illuminates your path.

Alas! Christians! your religion is the nauseous draught, the intoxicating poison which stupifies the mind, and sours the sweet waters of life. Your religion may please the lovers of novelty, your dreams may gratify the itching ears of the vulgar, but knowledge is the only foundation of morality. Christians! because Mrs. Wright has attacked your religious prejudices, you would gladly consign her to the throes of eternal misery!

Prejudice! thou art the baneful ivy that entwines itself round the stately oak of inflexible truth. Thou art the canker of the mind. It is this prejudice that stimulates the votaries of religion to prosecute all that impugn their doctrine and oppose their principles.

Persecution will always establish that the more firmly which it was intended to destroy, and it is about to be tried in this town, if the sons of corruption attempt to suppress the free exercise of public opinion, at least, it is so threatened, and we are well assured that a correspondence is carrying on with the most bigoted in this town and Pritchard of London. Our fate is as yet unknown; but Old Brassy has given information of his intention to proceed as the law directs.

I happened to be in the shop a short time after " Old Brassy! was gone, and in comes another lawyer, accompanied with a

pillar of " Old Mother Church." After looking fearfully round,
as if afraid to be contaminated by the mere entrance into the
shop, in they bounced, and the pillar of the church accosted her
with "Well, Mrs. Wright, you have had Lawyer Hopkinson to
see you this morning, hav'n't you, eh!" This was the first sen-
tence that fell from his precious lips. To which Mrs. W. calmly
answered: Yes, Sir." We were about to resume our conver-
sation, when the limb of the law, put in a kind of rejoinder, with
"Well, and what did he say to you?" Nothing, Sir."
"No-
thing!" exclaimed the astonished lawyer. "No, Sir, nothing,
except that he was about to furnish me with a more eligible situ-
ation, that is a larger house." This was by no means intelligible
to the learned gentleman, so he was given to understand that it
was a prison. Surely, you don't intend to run into trouble,
and get into prison again, do you Mrs. Wright? Why, I am told
you don't believe in the Scriptures, you deny the existence of
God, and the Devil, and Hell, and" here the lawyer was inter-
rupted by the pillar with "Yes, yes, this must be put a stop to."
Mrs. W. thanked him for the high honour he was about to confer
on her. And then fixing their penetrating eyes upon me, en-
quired if I was of Mrs. W. and Paine's belief. I told them my
belief was, that religion is a vice, that it was founded upon error,
and supported by fraud, the Scriptures were of human invention
and not of divine origin; man would depart from ignorance and
revert to knowledge; he would retire from falsehood and advance
to truth, as his mind became enlarged by learning, and enlight-
ened by philosophy; this religion was an enemy to all moral
improvement, and had spread ruin and its concomitant crime; it
had scattered the seeds of misery, carried the torch of discord,
and spread the leaven of strife; if they did persecute, it was our
intention not to be dismayed by it, it would not appal our cou-
rage; no difficulties would induce us to renounce our project;
we intended to achieve the victory and establish free discussion.
And when Mrs. W. told him she had the promise of at least
twenty, which is a fact, to fill her place, he immediately clapped
his spectacles upon his nose, and his eyes

"Like stars did seem to start from their sockets,
His knotted and combined locks did part,
And each particular hair did stand erect,
Like quills upon the fretful porcupine."

Those who have witnessed the representation of "The Merchant of Venice," and seen Shylock drop his knife and scales, may, form a faint idea of their looks. In vain did they again attempt to summons resolution enough, to discuss the arguments contained in Landaff, a book which these learned gentlemen recommended to my notice. I could repeat a great part of the leading arguments contained in his "Apology for the Bible," having frequently read it, but they cut the matter short with "Well, I

never read it myself, and I can't pretend to argue about religion, I believe it to be true." Likely that you do, Gentlemen, and you would have believed the doctrine of Mahomet, if it had been taught you, in your earliest infancy:--

They then stared at one another,

And each fool nodded at his-brother;

until, like Hamlet's Ghost, they suddenly disappeared.

I must now introduce to your notice" Molly Simpson," who has been catering for our amusement during the past week. Don't startle, courteous reader, it is not a petticoat Molly that I nean; but a kind of animal that walks erect, with just sense enough to deliver a letter, when it is properly directed, and about as useful as an automaton could be made to be, with a little further improvement in mechanism. Though he wears breeches to cover the nudity of his nature, he is still in the leading strings of his wife, and therefore known by the homely appellation of Molly Simpson. Poor fellow, he is food for our mirth, and a proper object for a good humoured laugh. Whether he is a candidate for Bedlam, is a point we will not undertake to discuss.

"What unlucky prodigies have befallen us, a snake fell from the tiles through the sky-light. The flies have covered our houses as the locusts did the plains of Asia. All remark the singular appearance of the moon. The extraordinary colour of the clouds has been the theme of general conversation, we all know, that these things were ominous of some dire event, all was breathless expectation, until the calamity which was about to befal us was fully known and published to the world. At length, on the 16th day of August, in the year of our Lord, 1826, and in the town of Nottingham, it was discovered by one Jonathan, a Coroner, who lives at the Tower of Babel, and by him engraven on the planet Mercury, that Mrs. Wright had opened a shop in Goose Gate, and Carlile was about to come to Nottingham. This eased our minds. The enigma was solved, every one is alarmed and preparing for the worst.

My old maiden Aunt is so alarmed, that she vows she dare not live in the town, if these things be suffered to exist. If you can point out any place for her and the tabby to be secure, You would oblige

WILLIAM HARRIS.

To the Editor of "The Republican."

SIR, Nottingham, Aug. 29, 1826. THERE is dreadful work going on at Nottingham. My shop was broken open five or six times on Monday night, with several attempts to drag me out, which certainly would have been done but for my friends. The Christians got so furious, between nine and ten o'clock, that we found it necessary to call in the police.