divisible, and capable of infinite combination or arrangement of the particles-we see no reason in flying to supernaturalism for an explanation of the ultimate causes which produce the results we witness, such an appeal inevitably increasing, and not lessening, our difficulties, making Us rather bear those ills we have, A very common objection to this theory is, that, " Granting, for the sake of argument, the probability of a gradual change from simple to complex in the organised world, up to the present period, how is it, seeing that the same properties are still possessed by matter, and are eternal, unchanging, that we do not see instances of spontaneous formations of men and animals now, which it is asserted took place at one time long antecedent?" This, as it is supposed, insuperable objection, we will reply to before proceeding further. In the first place, then, we do not contend, in order to support our theory, for a spontaneous, unforced action (to use Walker's definition) by a portion of matter at any period; but, on the contrary, are of opinion that those particles of matter which formed the first organic body, at the remotest epoch in the world's existence (supposing it not to be eternal), were compelled, by the then condition of other portions, to take that form whatever it might be; which form continued without change, so long as the circumstances favourable for its development in the first instance remained the same, or were not changed sufficiently to materially interfere with its existence; that it adapted itself to alterations in the surrounding circumstances which were continually taking place; and, in process of time, resulted in a form so distinct from the first, as, without the intermediate modifications, to warrant the supposition that it never could have been produced from, or had any connexion with, it. These opinions it will, from time to time, be the object of the writer to show, are based upon generally admitted and indisputable facts. Secondly, that it would be equally reasonable to inquire, why ignorant, savage man does not make use of the appliances of civilized life to increase his comforts, and secure himself from the vicissitudes of his nomadic life, without his first going through the various changes incidental to his progress to the condition occupied by his more advanced brother, as to expect matter to change from molecular to the most complicated organic form, without first taking the numberless conditions we know to be intermediate between those antipodes. For, as in the inorganic world we have gases, fluids, solids; so in the organic-very simple, less simple-complex, more complex, &c., which gradation is continued, to our social condition: for we have our birth, infancy, semi-maturity, our maturity; and with states as with all else. There is a universal principle in existence of gradual, never-ceasing change; and the vulgar notion that man forms the last link in a chain which will never be continued beyond him is the consequence of interested teachings, which have kept men listening to opinions, instead of examining facts and drawing deductions. For the reason which obviously presents itself why man has not undergone any extensive organic alteration since his residence here is, that no change of sufficient importance to endanger his existence as a species has taken place in the condition of the elements by which he has been surrounded during that period, and which alone could produce such a result; but that he has at different times and in different ways been modified by circumstances will be shown in future numbers. Thirdly, that supposing matter to have been in a condition at some period to produce perfect man, independently of any other organiza tion (which, as we have explained before, we do not imagine or contend for), it does not follow that it should be in the same condition now, because its innate properties are the same; else, by a parity of reasoning it may be urged, that inasmuch as the ichthyosaurus, plesiosaurus, pterodactylus, and other antediluvian animals, once lived upon this globe, which was then eminently fitted for such existences -one of the strong arguments for our theory made manifest by geology— that it must necessarily be in a condition to support them now, although it is well known such is not the case. Again, would it not be as reasonable to demand, why it does not produce granite, micha-schist, chalk, &c., now, as well as at a previous period? The result of experience and experiment satisfactorily shows that the earth has had its changes and progressions; and what is true of the whole must be true of the parts, and vice versa. Another strong objection still remains; viz., the supposed possession of an immaterial principle by man; which, if true, cannot be the result of material influences, and entirely over throws our position ;-of this we will speak next week. W. C. sn't move an inch out of my cell without aolers at my heels. I see no objection to my writing to you for your own or any one Ises edification you please. The governor nay, if he pleases, read all I write; but the magistrate, Mr. Herepath, informed me that t is not his wish, nor that of his brother nagistrates, to draw the rein too tightly, or nnecessarily fetter my mind. He added, bat anything written against the Christian eligion, &c., would be stopped; but this, of course, will not hinder me from writing anyhing truly respectable; so that the Socialists may still hear from me now and then. Should ike Lyall's or Buckland's writings on geology, f comeatable.* Just received yours, and couldn't drink my soup or eat my bit of pancake for joy. It took away my appetite; but don't be alarmed, that will come again, I promise ye. Will do all that you advise. Petition immediately. Should like to hear some account of ball [at John Street]. Another public meeting, that's ight, keep the game alive, but be careful to come off winners. Long to see how you proreed, but fail you can't. Tell the noble army of martyrs that their kind sympathy makes fight the burthen of imprisonment. Let me ee, on Saturday, I shall have been four weeks here; four deducted from fifty-two, leaves forty-eight. Come, we are going on bravely. Affectionately yours, THEOLOGY.-When we coolly examine the pinions of men, we are surprised to find, that in those, which they regard as the most essental, nothing is more uncommon than the use of common sense; or, in other words, a deree of judgment sufficient to discover the most simple truths, to reject the most striking absurdities, and to be shocked with palpable ontradictions. We have an example of it in theology, a science revered in all times and countries, by the greatest number of men; an object they regard as the most important, the most useful, and the most indispensable to the happiness of societies. Indeed, with little examination of the principles, upon which this pretended science is founded, we are forced to acknowledge, that these princigies, judged incontestable, are only hazardous uppositions, imagined by ignorance, propa Any persons having the above, and willing to them, would greatly oblige C. S.'s friends, by ing them at Mr. Hetherington's, Wine Office urt, Fleet Street; or a note stating the circumstance would be equally acceptable, and meet with immeate attention. gated by enthusiasm or knavery, adopted by timid credulity, preserved by custom, which never reasons, and revered solely because not understood. "Some," says Montagne, “make the world think that they believe what they do not; others, in greater number, make themselves think that they believe what they do not, not knowing what belief is." In a word, whoever will deign to consult common sense upon religious opinions, and bestow in this inquiry the attention that is commonly given to objects, we presume interesting, will easily perceive, that these opinions, have no foundation; that all religion is an edifice in the air. That it represents, in every country, to the different nations of the earth, only romances void of probability, the hero of which is himself composed of qualities impossible to combine; that his name, exciting in all hearts respect and fear, is only a vague word, which men have continually in their mouths, without being able to affix to it ideas or qualities, which are not contradicted by facts, or evidently inconsistent with one another. The idea of this being, of whom we have no idea, or rather, the word by which he is designated, would be an indifferent thing, did it not cause innumerable ravages in the world. Prepossessed with the opinion, that this phantom is an interesting reality, men, instead of concluding wisely from its incomprehensibility, that they are not bound to regard it; on the contrary infer, that they cannot sufficiently meditate upon it, that they must contemplate it without ceasing, reason upon it without end, and never lose sight of it. Their invincible ignorance, in this respect, far from discouraging them, irritates their curiosity; instead of putting them upon guard against their imagination, this ignorance renders them decisive, dogmatical, imperious, and even exasperates them against all, who oppose doubts to the reveries which their brains have begotten. What perplexity arises, when it is required to solve an insolvable problem! Restless meditations upon an object, impossible to understand, in which, however, he thinks himself much concerned, cannot but put man in a very ill humour, and Let interest, vanity, and ambition, co-operate produce in his head dangerous transports. ever so little with these dispositions, and society must necessarily be disturbed. This is been the theatres of the extravagances of the reason that so many nations have often senseless dreamers, who believing, or publishing their empty speculations as eternal truths, have kindled the enthusiasm of princes and people, and armed them for opinions, which they represented as essential to the glory of the deity, and the happiness of empires. In all parts of our globe, intoxicated fanatics have been cutting each other's throats, lighting funeral piles, committing, without scruple and even as a duty, the greatest crimes, and one's self is the first element of a great an free mind. Men keep back their opinionsleave the field to a few, and then compla of the monotony they themselves make. Whe the majority of men can be induced to ente the arena of mental conflict, it will not b to suffer from sameness, but to feel astonish ment at the variety. Difference is the daugh ter of comparison; and legion the mother every great truth, it being always inducte from many facts. A FEW WORDS TO THE SILENT.-It is a important duty we owe to society to ex press, on all proper occasions, our thought But it is often difficult to induce persons do so, who, nevertheless, acknowledge th truth of the foregoing proposition. The cas may be reasoned thus: If I believe my view to be superior to those entertained by an other person, I must feel ambitious to expre them; but if I do not think so, still should freely express them, that they may stand fall, according to their worth or worthlessnes All opinions should be freely launched on t ocean of the world; the storm of its dres laugh" will never wreck them, if truth their cargo-if error only, the sooner th sink the better. He who fears to speak thoughts, proclaims three things; either th he has no confidence in their correctness, or his own ability to explain them, or that he h on hand a stock of vanity which he appr hends may be mortified. No person shou not perfectly assured; and it is criminal hold opinions, of the justness of which he withhold from society that which would ben fit it; and to feel mortification or annoyan when our errors are shown, is unworthy inquiring mind. It is to suppose ourselv infallible, not to be prepared for the exposu of our mistakes; and to shrink from the exhibition, is to be secretly in love with erro while we profess to be searching after truth G. J. H. LEGAL RELIGION.-It is not necessary for lawyer, who conducts a prosecution for bla phemy, to be religious himself, in order to consistent, it is quite sufficient that he b lieves in the law and the profits. A MINUTE'S ADVICE TO THE DIFFIDENT. Many persons will express themselves freely in one assembly, who will say nothing in another; loud in the country, silent in the town ; confused at home, unembarrased away. Why is all this?-one would think that truth was the creature of custom and place. Persons subject to the variation of feeling always painful, to which we have made reference, should remember, that though water will boil at different temperatures at different elevations, conviction, like mathematical theorems, if true in one place, are true in another. All individualisms should fade before truth; we should forget ourselves in its contemplation, and, like Demosthenes, contrive that our bearers forget the speaker, and the reader the writer, under the influence of the subject. If satisfied of the truth of your opinions, do not vary with the locality you occupy, but freely quest: "Give my best thanks to AN IVESTIGATO and say that his friendly strictures shall appear, w let them be known. If you think your views some remarks of my own, if possible, which are fully spread in your new sphere-a com- have called forth. Say, besides, that I shall be g mon apprehension-be careful you are not to receive here some more such criticisms, from i assuming too much; all men are essentially Criticisms or communications addressed to t different, have of necessity received diffe-Editor, care of Mr. Hetherington, Wine-Office Cou rent impressions; and your ideas are likely, Fleet Street, will be attended to. nay, certain, to vary from all other persons. All reflecting men repose on their own views -hold them independently. As action is the first element of oratory, so confidence in NOTICE TO CORRESPONDENTS. The following is inserted at Mr. Southwell's to time." Printed by G. J. HOLYOAKE, 179, Broomhall Stre Saturday, February 19, 1842, ORACLE OF REASONCH Or, Philosophy Vindicated. BECULAR UNION "FAITH'S EMPIRE IS THE WORLD; ITS MONARCH, GOD; ITS MINISTERS, THE PRIESTS; No. 10.] EDITED FOR CHARLES SOUTHWELL, DURING HIS IMPRISONMENT, TO WHAT DO THINGS SEEM THE learned, enthusiastic, and laborious trans- [PRICE 1d. varied, clerical cooks understand this-Hugh Armstrong, the preaching Irishman, Follows close in Edward Irving's van: So those who will take matter and spirit, m do not see why they should. They are the proclaiming alike from the monition of sens children of reality without knowing it. But and the warnings of hopeless suffering, th poets "must stand down; their case will not credulity is in its right declination, and t come on to-day." We have to do with the philosophy of " things as they are," is approac men of the world who are not, nor ever willing its culmination. be, poetical. Let the pauper-wretch plead The just shall live by faith, said a saint before the parson-magistrate for relief-his rhapsodist, but forgot to say how-a piece spiritualised affections, all so many tortures. information that would be most invaluable The divinity may beam in his eyes; the these Cavanagh times. Not only can mysterious sympathy between himself, his not live by faith, but faith itself cann dying wife, and famishing miserable children" Faith," says Coleridge, "without prind (all boasted evidences of the supernatural and ever-loving spirit) are mocked at. His soul, all fire, rushes to his head; his brain burns in agony; his heart is an icicle, and he of the immortal soul is dragged to the gloomy mausoleum of poverty-the poor-housewhere, instead of the Lord looking down in his dreams, Grim Death sits over his pallet of straw, and the angels who carry him to Abraham's bosom are they who drag his carcass to the dead-house. In the contemplation of such scenes, adoration is struck dumb. Religion dies a natural death, or "by the visitation of god," as the verdict would be, and Faith, like lead in the sea, sinks down into the deepest caverns of unbelief: the refuge, the welcome asylum of outraged humanity. "Of thirteen children only one is left (said a poor old woman to Alderman Kelly, the other day in Guildhall), and she is transported; I have travelled here from Hunslet, to see her for the last time; see my nakedness and rags (stretching out her gaunt withered and bony arms before the court); father, mother, brother, sister, children, all gone; I have no friend left but god, and I begin to think he is rather hard upon me in my old age.' Misery had done its work; groundless piety was expiring, where it evidently had been most tenaciously cherished. The Mussulman is not more devout than the true Catholic; nor the boa constrictor more fatal in its crushings than is popery in its influence on the reasoning faculties, but suffering teaches lessons where reason could not impart truth. Hear the Rev. Mr. Hearne, a Catholic priest, "he stood by the bed sides of thousands of poor wretches, out of whose mouth neither he, his exhortations, prayers, cross, nor crucifix, could prevent the words of blasphemy from escaping." This should teach priests, that when they lay their paralising bands on knowledge, they should banish misery, for both are mighty potent teachers of the vanity of faith. "Facts must be the progenitors of theory," cry modern moralists. Hence their production in support of ours. Others, nume rous as Leaves of the forest when summer is green, t ples (on which to ground it) is but a flatte as T are waiting to follow in the same train, all lengthened prime; that, like the universe, |