from our courtesy, and we are indisposed to make any further concession, where to speak truth and in plain terms is perhaps now become necessary to the salvation of the Established Church, and even of the Constitution of our Fathers! Puritanism is abroad-revived uuder various forms-but vigorous, consistent, new-strung, and like a giant refreshed by long slumber. That it should be aided by Churchmen-that it should be sanctioned by a single Bishop, is among the extraordinary inconsistencies which have distinguished the "march of intellect" (DOWNWARD-Qy.) for the last thirty years, and can only be paralleled by reference to its former march, when triumphant fanaticism laid low and prostrate the altar and the throne!

"We believe that the Wiltshire orator spoke too truly, when he claimed the Bishop of the Diocese as a steady supporter of the Society for several years and we lament it-the more especially on account of the numerous complaints which have reached us, touching his Lordship's lack of conrtesy to his own parochial clergy. We despise pride-that false and spurious pride which is rarely found in men of distinguished birth and rank, who are too proud to require the degradation of those around them as a means of sustaining their own rightful pre-eminence, and know not how otherwise to maintain it. A proud Churchman, whatever be his rank, appears to us to be an anomaly, and an anomaly against which we should feel no delicacy in designating in the strongest terms which fall within the limits of Christain charity! Every faithful servant and minister of the Church, be he high or low, stands upon one and the same platform. Subordination of rank tends to the order and well being of the whole-it places no one at such a distance from another as to weaken, much less to break the chain of brotherhood!

"We may be misinformed, although this is seldom the case, as we never depend upon single evidence-that we may be so in the present case we sincerely hope-but even this will not intefere with our general reasoning or with the steady conviction of what is due from one member of the Church towards another. We will only in conclusion observe that every gentlemen who addresses another by letter is entitled to an answer-and that a man, who, presuming on his rank, SYSTEMATICALLY declines to answer those which are addressed to him, is guilty of a breach of courtesy as little defensible by the usages of mankind as it is consonant with the humility prescribed by our holy religion. But the evil does not end here -We have authenticated cases before us of Clergymen having incurred grievous losses, and of inconveniences and impediments arising out of neglect in the details of a diocese, for which no better reason has been assigned than the letters connected with them had never been read-nor even opened! We wouid only suggest, and that with all due respect to the high quarter towards which our animadversions are addressed, that if the direct duties of the most sacred office with which mortal man can be invested are too heavy to admit of being discharged with all the strictness to which they are conscientiously entitled, the portion deducted for the support and exclusion of Schismatical Society should not at least be resumed, until the sacrifice of the one be no longer necessary to the due; exercise of the other."

This article needs no comment from my pen. I have chosen here to make the Bible Advocates expose each other. The following advertisement, taken from "The New Times and Representive" (Alas! poor Representative! I pity thee for having so de

graded thyself as to seek shelter in such company!) of Saturday last, speaks volumes as to the real character of the Bible and Bible idolators :

"TO THE CHRISTIAN PUBLIC.

"The COMMITTEE of the BRITISH and FOREIGN BIBLE SOCIETY having, for years, adopted a line of conduct utterly subversive of the Institution's fundamental laws, incompatible with the highest interests, and opposed to the loudly expressed opinion of the Christian Public; and having thereby occasioned the total separation of a most valuable part of North Britain some time since and a further secession which was announced on Monday, in their Meeting-and also a proposition made by very highly respectable Members, at the anniversary of a County Auxiliary in the South, last week, to dissolve its connexion with the Parent Society, (a step which is meditated in other parts) unless an immediate reformation takes place in its management. A PUBLIC MEETING will be held at the Freemason's Tavern, on Friday, the 15th Instant, at Eleven o'Clock, where several Clerical Members of the Committee, as well as Dissenting Ministers, have engaged to attend, for the purpose of considering what measures may be most prudent to adopt, in the present alarming

crisis of the said Institution. The Chair to be taken at Twelve o'Clock precisely

"N. B. There are books ready printed for the information of the company assembled, which evidently prove the truth of the above assertions, but it is thought prudent not to publish them until the result of the Meeting is known, lest Christianity should suffer through the gross errors which may most probably be again propagated, to uphold the Committee's credit, as there were in the Apocryphal controversy."

This advertisement is full proof of the rotten and useless foundation of the Bible Society. Here is a word of God that is only to be put into circulation by knavery and fools' pence; and here are the knaves exhorting each other to beware of their conduct, lest Christianity suffer; that is, in plain language, lest God suffer. Is not this an admission, that God and Christianity are theories fabricated by such men for the gain that can be made of them? Is not gain, or the filthy luere, the universal idol, visible, as the ruling motive in the issuers of this advertisement? The Bible Society has proved as complete a bubble as any of the Joint Stock Bubble Companies that have been lately fabricated. All' the money subscribed has been money sunk by the subscribers without the production of the least effect to that end for which they have subscribed. They have circulated Bibles; but have they one Christian the more for that circulation? All were Christians before that circulation commenced; but since the commencement of that circulation, the constant cry has been-the danger of the Church. One of the Bishops had foresight enough to see, that the Bible Society would bring the Bible into disrepute. It is in disrepute, and the Society has done and is doing

much to accomplish it. They feel the mischief done, in their view of mischief, and each blames the other as the author. There is internal discord among these holy men. They accuse each other of corrupting the Canonical Jewish Scriptures, by circulating with them the Apocryphal Jewish Scriptures, and of misapplying the funds, in large salaries, of the subscriptions for the sole purpose of circulating the Bible. The cry of gain is raised among them: and had they been wiser, they would have seen that gain was the first motive, though a mistaken view, of forming the Bible Society. The Koran Society thrives without subscriptions. I sell the Koran; but who thinks of buying a Bible? From what I hear of the state of the bookselling trade in London, I infer, that I take as much money for avowedly irreligious books, as all the booksellers in London put together take for avowedly religious books. I confine the inference to the London sale and to the purchase of complete new books in the booksellers' shops. The Age of Reason' is the best selling standard theological book in the country. From the number of copies which go out, it must be spreading far and wide. Thus the Bible Society is not only assailed by a powerful external enemy; but it is evidently dying from the effect of internal discord. When men, working in the cause of an omnipotent god, that is impotent enough to need such auxiliaries, disagree, the circumstance is a proof that they are impostors; and the subscribers to the Bible Society will be wise to make a better use of their pence than to support such men.

6

Pray, Mr. Drummond, do you not think that the writer in the "John Bull" is at heart as much of an Infidel as I am? Can you see any motive in his sort of defence of the Established Church, but that of gain in the sale of his paper among a certain portion of the Clergy of that Church and those whom that portion can influence? Can you not see, that the Bible is a book, is such a word of God, that cannot defend itself, nor be defended effectually by those who support it? Have you read any critical examinations of the Bible? Have you fairly examined the controversies between the Theists and the Materialists? If not, I call upon you, as upon one whom I would fain believe to be honest, to suspend your judgment until you do examine. I invite you to come forth from this caballing, intriguing, and disgraceful body, the Bible supporters, and to distinguish yourself as a sincere searcher after truth, and as an espouser of that which, after investigation, you sincerely believe to be true. RICHARD CARLILE.

62, Fleet Street, Sept. 14, 1826.

THE FANATICS BEAT IN NOTTINGHAM.

DEAR SIR,

I HAVE the pleasure to inform you, that the Victory is ours, and that we have succeeded in establishing free discussion in the most fanatical and bigoted town in England. Yes, we are conquerors. Mr. Watson, when we were in Cold Bath Fields Prison, in answer to my remark, that prejudice and ignorance were so fast rooted in the minds of the people, that I feared their condition would never be better; would say, "Oh! do not. despair perseverance on our part will work wonders." I have had positive proof of it in one month. When I first came to Goosegate, Nottingham, I was dared to go out by the fanatics. I defied their threats. I have gone out when there has been more than two hundred throwing their curses and prayers alternately at me; but I was well convinced, if I stayed within, it would be much worse. The most bigoted would now be my friends, would gladly form an acquaintance with me, and invite me to their houses. Even my old landlord, Mr. Barber, has turned a customer. The table is turned: We must proclaim peace in Nottingham. Victory is ours. The women are beginning to inquire, and we may soon expect to hear the greater part of them are Materialists. I have, removed a few doors higher up in the same street to a more commodious house, where I hope to continue to vend useful publications without interruption. I have no doubt, but I shall yet do well. Our enemies blush at their own conduct towards me, and say, that they will now try to protect me from the more ignorant., Respectfully, S. WRIGHT.

Subscriptions for Messrs. PERRY, CAMPION, and CLARKE, confined in the Giltspur Street Compter, received at 62, Fleet Street, since last advertisement :

SIR,

TO MR. CARLILE.

WHAT IS GOD? No. I.

Deus est quod cunque vides quocunque moveris.

I HAVE always admired your philosophical opinions, and respected your boldness in publishing them, and I particularly like the observations on friend William Allen's pamphlet. To the question, however, that you have put to him,-WHAT IS GOD? I am now about to reply, and I trust your liberality will cause you to insert my answer, even if it should differ from your own opinion, as it is by free enquiry that truth is elicited.

There are two meanings to the word God, one represents the God of Nature, and is an inference from our perceptions of surrounding phenomena: the other is the God of Grace or of Superstition, and is founded on an irregular use of the imagination, and on a false view of philosophy, which priests and panders of power have converted into a bloodthirsty and nefarious traffic. With this said God of Grace I have nothing to do at present, I reserve the consideration thereof to another time, and I now proceed to explain my notion of the God of Nature or soul of the universe, and I hope that my views will be found to be strictly philosophical, as I admit of nothing in my proof of him but logical argument. When I have developed my system of the universe, I trust I shall be able to explain how the many subsidiary powers of nature came to be tributary Gods, and to form the basis of the polytheistical theology. I admit that my proofs are metaphysical in the real, though not in the absurd sense of that word. For as Physicks signify the science that relates to the phenomena of nature, or the things in the nature's house (from quais and owoc), so metaphysics are understood to relate to the things beyond the house of nature (from μera, puois and ouros) as other words they imply a deeper research into the causes of phenomena.

In my enquiry WHAT IS GOD? I begin with the question, what is matter? Then I ask, what is motion? and lastly, what is the mover? For I hold it is evident from the whole of my experience and observation, that matter does not originate moon, nor does motion originate itself, but that there is a source of motion in that capacity or principle that we call mind. In this, I assure you, my -old friend William Allen is correct. But in saying this, I have offered no solutions of my questions, what is matter-what is motion, and what is mind? Now laying aside all the false notions of the schools, all the scholastic subtilties I learned at Cambridge, and all the religious jargon with which mother church crams her Vol. XIV. No. 10.