similar excellence. Let every facility be afforded to enable such men to exercise their due influence upon public opinion, and thus create a veritable "Young England," and our "Dear, dear Land"-"This precious stone set in the silver sea"will be made worthy of the great names, and the illustrious memories with which it is consecrated. We may realize that which has hitherto been little more than a vain and empty boast: we have but to resolve it, and England may truly teach the Nations how to live, and become the "Admiration of the World." I heartily concur in the scheme which you have propounded and if my humble efforts can be of any assistance, will cordially co-operate for its promotion. Mr. Thomas Cooper.

Yours truly,

THOMAS SHORTER.

To Correspondents.

**Correspondents will please address, "Thomas Cooper, 5, Park Row, Knightsbridge, Lon

*,,

don."

J. ROFF-Will this writer have the kindness to favour me with his full address?

A. TOZER.-I will use what little influence I possess, privately; but the purposes of this periodical do not permit me to employ it, in assisting him.

JOSHUA WOOD, Stockport.-His request concerning the Apocryphal Gospels' shall have due consideration.

T. G. M.-The 'Red' Lyric is too red, in its present form. Will the writer favour me with his address?

SHEFFIELDIENSIS.-Obliged by all his good wishes. I hope to visit Sheffield in the course of the year; but my engagements in London render that impossible before next June. The poetry is respectfully declined.

VON GOETHE.-The writer is undoubtedly correct; but, if he will think, he will see the necessity of agitating for Manhood Suffrage, as a right nevertheless; that is a part of education.

JAMES CAMERON.-Robertson's History of Scotland only treats of the later period: but it must be read. 'Latin without a Master'-a very cheap pamphlet, to be had of any bookseller,— will answer his purpose. The poetry is respectfully declined.

WORKING MAN.'-The writer has, in several instances, misunderstood my meaning! and I, most affectionately entreat him to weigh the question deeply within his own mind-whether he writes in the spirit of Him whose disciple he professes himself to be?

T. W. G. Leicester; HENRY SMITH.-J. M. J.-D. C. Carlisle.-Their poetry is respectfully declined.

"Constant Reader." Etruria, Potteries. The Messrs. Chambers have issued Book-keeping by Single and Double Entry,' at 2s. It is said to be an excellent book.

L. and H. Wakefield; H. R. York; W. G. Ipswich. Much obliged: some handbills shall be sent, as directed, very soon.

F. G. Shelton; W. J. Leicester; J. A. L. Birmingham; T. J. C. Wolverhampton. Favours received, insertion next week.

Lectures, in London, for the ensuing Week.

66

SUNDAY, Feb. 3, at 7, Hall of Science, (near Finsbury Square) City Road. Gospel History: the Resurrection and Ascension of Jesus"-Thomas Cooper. At 7, Literary Institution, John-street, Fitzroy Square. "Celebration of the Birthday of Thomas Paine." (See Advt. on last page.)

MONDAY, Feb. 4, at half-past 8, Mechanics' Institute, Gould Square, Crutched Friars. "Life and Genius of Oliver Goldsmith"-T. H. Rees. At a quarter to 9, Finsbury Hall, 66, Bunhill Row: same subject same lecturer. (People who like short discourses should hear these!) At half-past 8, Pentonville Athenæum, 17, Chapel-street. "Chemistry, with Experiments"-A. G. Rix.

WEDNES., Feb. 6. at half-past 8, Mechanics' Institute, Gould Square. "Life and Genius of Sir William Jones"-Thomas Cooper.

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SOURCE OF VICE.-It is the fashion to charge all our ills on the corruption of human nature; it would have been correct to charge them upon the vice of social institutions. Look around you! how much capacity do you see kept out of its proper place, and therefore depraved; how much activity degrading itself into turbulence from the want of a legitimate and natural object to pursue. The passions are constrained to pass through an impure medium, and there they become changed. Is there anything surprising in this? If you place a healthy man in an infected atmosphere, he will inhale death.-Louis Blanc.

THINKINGS, FROM LAWRENCE STERNE.

AFFECTED GRAVITY.-Observe that man-with what an inflexible sanctitude of deportment he sustains himself as he advances-every line in his face writes abstinence; every stride looks like a check upon his desires; see, I beseech you, how he is cloaked up with sermons, prayers, and sacraments; and so bemuffled with the externals of religion, that he has not a hand to spare for a worldly purpose; he has armour at least; why does he put it on? Is there no serving God without all this? Must the garb of religion be extended so wide to the danger of its rending? Yes, truly, or it will not hide the secret; and what is that? That the saint has no religion at all!

PRIDE. With regard to the provocations and offences, which are unavoidably happening to a man in his commerce with the world, take it as a rule-as a man's pride is, so is always his displeasure; as the opinion of himself rises, so does the injury, so does his resentment: 'tis this which gives edge and force to the instrument which has struck him, and excites that heat in the wound which renders it incurable. The proud man,-see! he is sore all over: touch him, 'you put him to pain: though, of all others, he acts as if every mortal was void of sense and feeling, yet he is possessed with so nice and exquisite a one himself, that the slights, the little neglects, and instances of disesteem, which would scarce be felt by another man, are perpetually wounding him, and oft times piercing him to his very heart.

Pride is a vice which grows up in society so insensibly; steals in unobserved upon the heart upon so many occasions; forms itself upon such strange pretensions; and, when it has done, veils itself under such a variety of unsuspected appearances, sometimes even under that of humility itself; in all which cases, self-love, like a false friend, instead of checking, most treacherously feeds this humour, points out some excellence in every soul to make him vain, and thinks more highly of himself than he ought to think ;—that, upon the whole, there is no one weakness into which the heart of man is more easily betrayed, or which requires greater helps of good sense and good principles to guard against.

FORGIVENESS OF INJURIES.-It is the mild and quiet half of the world, who are generally outraged and borne down by the other half of it; but in this they have the advantage; whatever be the sense of their wrongs, that pride stands not so watchful a sentinel over their forgiveness, as it does in the fierce and froward; we should, all of us, I believe, be more forgiving than we are, would the world but give us leave; but it is apt to interpose its ill offices in remissions, especially of this kind: the truth is, it has its laws, to which the heart is not always a party; and acts so like an unfeeling engine in all cases without distinction, that it requires all the firmness of the most settled humanity to bear up against it.

PITY. In benevolent natures, the impulse to pity is so sudden, that, like instruments of music which obey the touch, the objects which are fitted to excite such impressions, work so instantaneous an effect, that you would think the will was scarce concerned, and that the mind was altogether passive in the sympathy which her own goodness has excited. The truth is, the soul is generally in such cases so busily taken up, and wholly engrossed by the object of pity, that she does not attend to her operations, or take leisure to examine the principles on which she acts. BEAUTY.—Beauty has so many charms, one knows not how to speak against it ; and when it happens that a graceful figure is the habitation of a virtuous soul, when the beauty of the face speaks out the modesty and humility of the mind, and the justness of the proportion raises our thoughts up to the heart and wisdom of the great Creator, something may be allowed it, and something to the embellishment which sets it off; and yet, when the whole apology is read, it will be found at last, that beauty, like truth, never is so glorious as when it goes the plainest.

INDOLENCE.-Inconsistent soul that man is !-languishing under wounds which he has power to heal!-his whole life a contradiction to his knowledge !—his reason, that precious gift of God to him-(instead of pouring in oil) serving but to sharpen his sensibilities, to multiply his pains, and render him more melancholy and uneasy under them!-Poor unhappy creature, that he should do so! Are not the necessary causes of misery in this life enow, but he must add voluntary ones to his stock of sorrow: struggle against evils which cannot be avoided, and submit to others, which a tenth part of the trouble they create him, would remove from his heart for ever?

Wearily,

Like a sound from the Dead Sea shrouded in glooms,
With breaking of hearts, chains clanking, men groaning,
Or chorus of ravens that croak among tombs,
It comes with a mournful moaning,

Crying, "Weep!"
Yoke-fellows listen,

Till your tearful eyes glisten:

"Tis the voice of the Past-the dark, guilty Past,
Sad as the shriek of the midnight blast.

Weep tears, to wash out the red, red stains,
Where earth was fatted

By brave hearts that rotted,

And life ran a deluge of hot bloody rains:

Weep, weep, weep!

Fearfully,

From many a worn, noble spirit, that breaks

In the world's solemn shadows, deep down in life's vallies;
From mine, forge, and loom, trumpet-tongued it awakes
On the soul wherein Liberty rallies,-

Crying, "Work !"
Yoke-fellows listen,

Till your earnest eyes glisten:

'Tis the voice of the Present! It bids us, my brothers,
Be free-and then work for the freedom of others ;-
For the Many-a holocaust, long, to the Few,

O work while ye may,

O work while 'tis day,

And cling to each other, united and true:
Work, work, work!

OF GREATNESS.-If I am asked who is the greatest man? I answer the best; and if I am required to say who is the best? I reply he that has deserved most of his fellow-creatures. Whether we deserve better of mankind by the cultivation of letters, by obscure and inglorious attainments, by intellectual pursuits calculated rather to amuse than inform, than by strenuous exertions in speaking and acting, let those consider who bury themselves in studies unproductive of any benefit to their country or fellow-citizens. I think not.-Sir William Jones.

CRITICAL EXEGESIS OF GOSPEL HISTORY,

ON THE BASIS OF STRAUSS's 'LEBEN JESU.'

A SERIES OF EIGHT DISCOURSES; DELIVERED AT THE LITERARY INSTITUTION, JOHN STREET, TOTTENHAM COURT ROAD, AND AT THE HALL OF SCIENCE, CITY ROAD, ON SUNDAY EVENINGS, DURING THE WINTERS OF 1848-9, AND 1849-50.

II. THE BAPTISM AND TEMPTATION OF JESUS.

(Continued from last number.)

It has already been remarked that we have other historical evidence(that of Josephus)-for the existence and ministry of John the Baptist, besides the narratives of the Four Evangelists. John is termed a Nazarite, by Matthew and Luke; but the religious rite he administered marks him as evidently one of the Essenes,-of whose frequent lustrations, or purifications by water, you will remember, something was said in the first discourse. These practices were apparently founded on some figurative expressions of the prophets, which came to be understood literally: God therein requiring from the Israelites a washing and a purification from their iniquity, and promising that He will himself cleanse them with water. (Isaiah, i. 16; Ezekiel, xxxvi. 25; Jeremiah, ii. 22.) The prevailing idea of the Jews was, that Messiah would not appear until his people repented; and forth came John, filled with religious enthusiasm, crying Repent, for the kingdom of Heaven is at hand'-believing that in those times of commotion he discerned sure signs of Messiah's comingand calling on the people to shew their 'repentance' by conforming to the external act of purification, as an open confession that they intended, thenceforth, to live a new and holy life.

6

According to our Gospels, the coming of the kingdom of heaven' was associated, by John, with a Messianic individual who would 'baptise with the Holy Ghost and with fire;' and the first three Gospels state the case as if John the Baptist understood this Messianic individual to be Jesus of Nazareth. But what doubts arise within us as to the fact that John proclaimed Jesus to be the Messiah, when we compare the first three Gospels with the fourth!

Be it remembered that, according to Luke, the mothers of John and Jesus were cousins, and made supernaturally aware of the destination of their sons; and the Baptist, while in the womb, seemed to acknowledge the greatness of Jesus. Matthew says nothing of their family acquaintance; but he would seem to have some latent knowledge of it, since he says, -"John forbade him, saying, I have need to be baptised of thee; and comest thou to me ?" The baptism takes place; and then the spirit of God is described as descending upon Jesus, in the form of a dove. how different is this to the relation in the fourth Gospel!" And John bare record, saying, I saw the spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him. And I knew him not: (verse 33, and see the same expression in verse 31: John i. ch.) but he that sent me to baptise with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see, &c. And I saw, and bare record, &c."

But

How is it possible to reconcile these varying statements? If the Baptist did not know Jesus, either personally or as the Messiah, until the sign was given of 'the spirit descending from heaven like a dove -of what value were all the supernatural communications made to the mothers of thetwo? What expenditure of means without purpose, has been attributed to the Almighty, in Luke's narrative: what an utter ignorance of every part of

it relating to the birth of the Baptist is manifested by John! Do we not see that we are not reading the records of plenary inspiration' here? Have we anything more than the contradictions of different legends ?

But the difficulties increase,-for in the 11th chapter of Matthew, (v. 2,) and in the 7th chapter of Luke, (v. 18,) we are told that, considerably after Christ's baptism and all the supernatural signs attending it,-John hearing of the ministry of Jesus, sends some of his disciples to him to ask if he were the Messiah ! How strange is this, after what has gone before! Nay, does not the conduct of the Baptist look like rivalry and seem to manifest a wish to detain men from following the Messiah,-since he continues to baptise, and to retain his primitive character, after he has declared Jesus to be the Messiah? Such conduct is not consistent with the statement that he had made that declaration. He cannot have made it; for if he had, he would have attached himself to Jesus. That no such attachment existed is most probable, if the characters of the Baptist and Jesus be contemplated. The reflections of Strauss on this subject are so sagacious that I cannot forbear to quote them :-

"How could the man of the wilderness, the stern ascetic, who fed on locusts and wild honey, and prescribed severe fasts to his disciples, the gloomy, threatening preacher of repentance, animated with the spirit of Elias-how could he form a friendship with Jesus, in every thing his opposite? He must assuredly, with his disciples, have stumbled at the liberal manners of Jesus, and have been hindered by them from recognizing him as a Messiah. Nothing is more unbending than ascetic prejudice; he who, like the Baptist, esteems it piety to fast and mortify the body, will never assign a high grade in things divine to him who disregards such asceticism. A mind with narrow views can never comprehend one whose vision takes a wider range, although the latter may know how to do justice to its inferior; hence Jesus could value and sanction John in his proper place, but the Baptist could never give the precedence to Jesus, as he is reported to have done in the Fourth Gospel. The declaration of the Baptist (John iii. 30.), that he must decrease, but Jesus must increase, is frequently praised as an example of the noblest and sublimest resignation. The beauty of this representation we grant; but not its truth. The instance would be a solitary one, if a man whose life had its influence on the world's history, had so readily yielded the ascendant, in its own æra, to one who came to eclipse him and render him superfluous. Such a step is not less difficult for individuals than for nations, and that not from any vice, as egotism or ambition, so that an exception might be presumed (though not without prejudice) in the case of a man like the Baptist; it is a consequence of that blameless limitation which, as we have already remarked, is proper to a low point of view in relation to a higher, and which is all the more obstinately maintained if the inferior individual is, like John, of a coarse, rugged nature."

But, if we cannot receive as historical the statement that John the Baptist declared Jesus to be the Messiah, do the gospel narratives permit us to regard the Baptism itself, of Jesus by John, as an historical fact? To conceive the incident as a real one, a cultivated and reflecting mind must feel to be very difficult. How is it reconcileable with the idea of the Holy spirit as the divine, all-pervading Power, that he should move from one place to another, like a finite being, and embody himself in the form of a dove? And then, the idea that the visible heavens must divide themselves, to allow of his descent from his accustomed seat-evidently belongs to the unscientific time when the dwelling-place of Deity was imagined to be above the vault of heaven. The ancients' heavens,' what are they? The atmosphere of the moderns. And who, in our age, can entertain such a notion as that of the Deity uttering articulate tones, in Syriac or Hebrew, or in the peculiar speech of any nation?

It is true that some of the more philosophic Fathers, such as Origen and Theodore of Mopsuestia, contended that the aggregate of supernatural circumstances here presented, were to be regarded as a vision, and not a reality." But the statement of Luke, especially, does not admit of such