The audience.-"No it is not fair!”

L.-Well you see they can question, but not reply; it all turns on this point: now we have discussed till they evade,-those who agree with the resolution, shew it by holding up both hands.

The whole mass rose with acclamation. Seven voted against the resolution.

The Lecturer's notes on the other meetings will appear next month.

THE DISCUSSION.

Our readers will be looking for some account of the Discussion between Mr. Holyoake and Mr. Grant; we believe that arrangements are now (while we write,) being carried out to prepare for Thursday, January 13th, as the time of commencement. By the same time we hope to have the Holyoake and Grant Correspondence (the proper introduction to the Discussion,) completed; those who have had only Finger-Post, No. 1, containing the first part of the correspondence, may complete the set, by ordering Nos. 3 and 4. The whole will also be sewed together and may be had for sixpence.

No. 2 Finger-Post, "IT'S ALL OVER," or the last words of Mrs. Martin, is now ready; and may be ordered of all Booksellers: published by Ward and Co., price twopence.

Those who have read the Bible and the People for the last two years, need not be informed what are the principles of this Periodical, and new readers will understand when we say, that it is devoted to the maintenance of Evangelical Protestantism: for the coming year, 1853, it will chiefly be devoted to an examination of modern forms of popular Infidelity; and will, therefore, generally both state and defend the leading principles of the Gospel, and their relations to this life. The Editor confidently appeals to those who know his principles and appreciate his purposes, to aid

in all possible way the extension of the circulation of The Bible and the People.

Infidelity has never attained the dignity of permanence, as being long represented by any organ of opinion, the most permanent periodical (we are acquainted with) of this sort, has been dug out of the grave and kept alive by a list of shillings, and its permanency is only in name; its princi ples have lately been rechristened: whilst we do not forget that Christians have innumerable periodicals, general, local, and denominational, yet the help evoked by repeated objurgation to keep afloat one frail bark of Secularism, has suggested to us the idea of an appeal to the Christian reader for help in a similar way, and the more so because our position is now safe, and the opportunity of usefulness is largely opening before us. Three earnest individuals giving an occasional donation, together with the annual shillings of less wealthy subscribers, producing a shilling list that secured the permanence and extension of The Reasoner. We have attained our present position mainly through the generous support of one individual; and though the burden is now being lightened, the Editor looks with confidence to the readers of The Bible and the People, to remove it altogether, and aid the impulse already received, by which this Periodical shall be circulated through workshops, factories, schools, and congregations, which may now be done with the greater confidence and satisfaction by all Evangelical Christians, as attention will be directed to those essential truths in which we agree, especially so far as they are attacked and misrepresented, which we adopt as our chosen line of usefulness. There are three ways in which we ask the help of our readers and the Christian public generally.

First, by the purchase of our two previous volumes, which are useful for Private, School, and Mechanics' Libraries.

Secondly, by forming a SHILLING LIST, to be announced in the Periodical, and devoted to its extension and efficiency; by the payment of advertisements, distribution of circulars, as well as for gratuitous distribution. Contributions may be sent in the shape of postage-stamps, or as money-orders addressed to the undersigned. Friends in various towns could unite together and send any contributions in one sum, with the names and proportion of each contributor.

Thirdly, our friends can aid us, by distributing Prospectuses which we shall be happy to supply to any requesting it: six stamps would pay the postage of a goodly number as a parcel.

These three suggestions are offered only to such as sympathise with our object, and are anxious to render efficient, an organ exclusively devoted to the advocacy of Christianity against that Infidelity which aims at the working-classes.

N.B. As a popular Infidel writer commenced sometime ago to print the moral remains of the Bible, thus conceding to us some few good things; we propose in an early number to commence "THE MORTAL REMAINS OF SECULARISM-being a post-mortem examination of the old and new developements of Socialism, Secularism, and Proteanism." BREWIN GRANT.

Birmingham, Dec., 1852.

I.

CHRIST'S RELIGION.

"Probe all things; hold fast that which is good."-1 THESS. v. 21.

CHRISTIAN RESPONSIBITITY: versus
INFIDEL DOCTRINES.

THE DOCTRINE OF CIRCUMSTANCES, AS TAUGHT BY MR. HOLYOAKE, SHEWN TO BE FALSE IN PRINCIPLE AND IMMORAL IN ITS TENDENCY.

VIRTUE is the safeguard of society, the basis of true liberty: by its rule, nations are made happy and kingdoms stand strong: whatever, therefore, tends to weaken its obligations, or subvert its authority, however plausible it may appear, or eloquently it may be pleaded, ought to be regarded with suspicion, and dealt with as an enemy to the well-being of the community, and antagonistic to those great principles by which the happiness and freedom of a people are maintained and secured. The time is come in the history of moral progress which has occurred in the history of political advancement and military conquest, when every man has been expected to do his duty: the foes of truth are busily and actively engaged, flushed with the hopes of a speedy victory, and the summary consignment of what they call old worn-out theological dogmas to the grave of eternal oblivion. They suppose they have become wise because they dare to question the priest, and publicly controvert ancient creeds and opinions. Men in past ages they suppose were novices, children in understanding compared with them, allowing themselves to be frightened into all kinds of strange beliefs, and trembling before sights which would not at all affect them nor lead them to change their views, even if they were called to witness them with their own eyes: nobody shall induce them to believe what appears unreasonable, no, not even Sinai itself, with its fire and smoke, could ever make them believe that to be true which reason suggested as false; surely these men must have very peculiar susceptibilities and organizations, they seem not to be affected as others, after all they have a very determined will, and are not so much the creatures of circumstances as they sometimes imagine.

E

Christianity, if a truth, according to the doctrine of Mr. Holyoake, is one which nobody need care about, it is so unimportant that it may be classed amongst such truths as, stones are hard, glass is brittle, &c.; yet unimportant as it is, he seems to consider it worth his while to speak and write against it; why makes he so much ado if it be a thing so utterly worthless? Why does he dispute and travel hither and thither wasting his strength and exhausting his energies if it be a thing so mean and contemptible? Let it alone, if it is believed it surely can do no harm and he may spare his pains.

Mr. Holyoake plumes himself on having discovered that Christianity is a fiction, and that Atheism is a truth; well these things are more easily said than proved: but suppose Atheism to be a truth, what then; will men be made better and happier by this discovery? Mr. Holyoake supposes that, by the exhuming of Atheistic principles and the burying of Christianity, men will be wiser and better, and that the good time frequently spoken of will speedily come. He proposes to make men better by telling them there is no God, no future life, that they have no higher destiny than the brute, that all their high aspirations after something more enduring are mere imaginings and idle dreams; and that man, when he closes his eyes on this world, sinks into eternal unconsciousness. Now with respect to these doctrines improving society let the past speak and the present withhold not its verdict; let the common sense of men decide, whether, if Atheism were received as a truth by men generally, they would be more honest, more conscientious, and more virtuous: are such principles calculated to stem the tide of evil and produce a feeling of brotherhood, man with man, and nation with nation? Will these principles tend to promote order and right feeling amongst all classes, and ultimately emancipate the down-trodden and enslaved of all colours dwelling in all lands; arming them with a moral power irresistible as the winds and mighty as the waves, which sweep across the trackless deep? Our answer is emphatically and decidedly, no: such principles must sink men lower instead of raising them higher, their tendency is to foster the selfish and base passions which are found nestling within the precincts of the human soul, and, therefore, instead of leading men on towards the goal of human perfectibility, and inciting them to continued effort in order to the subjugation of what is evil, and the developing and strengthening of what is humane and good; they induce them to rest satisfied with their moral and spiritual condition, and allow them, with less compunction of conscience, to practice what their vicious tastes and inclinations may suggest. Is it reasonable to suppose that the evils which exist in society are to be remedied and counteracted by inculcating the dogma of irresponsibility, asserting that it is men's misfortune when they do wrong, and their more perfect organization when they do right, so that both praise and blame are out of the question; and, consequently, all rewards and punishments must be out of place; and, therefore, our pensions and public gifts, our assize courts and penal settlements must be decidedly unnecessary; involing an outlay of means, well meant it may be, but wrongly applied. Society then, according to this doctrine is and has been for the last six

• Mr. Holyoake does not say so now.-EDITOR.

thousand years on a false basis, its principles of government have been contrary to enlightened reason, and, therefore, totally subversive of those high ends which it was intended they should accomplish. Let the judges, magistrates, and statesmen of our day listen to this, according to the principles of Secularism, of which Mr. Holyoake professes to be the enlightened exponent, these gentlemen have outraged reason when they have proceeded to inflict pains and penalties on the lawless and disobedient; because it was their misfortune they possessed an imperfect organization, and, therefore, they were not the responsible parties; these gentlemen, then, ere they presume to decide with respect to the merits or demerits of such individuals ought first to call in the aid of a skilful manipulator, and professor of organical philosophy, that they may know their mental susceptibilities and dominant tendencies; accompanied with a rigid investigation into the peculiar circumstances under which they were born and brought up; in order to ascertain with certainty and accuracy, when their responsibility begins, and where it ends.

Practically, this doctrine ignores man's sense of right and wrong: the upbraidings of conscience which men sometimes experience are to be attributed only to the fear which the priests have inspired; their organization and the circumstances which surround them make them what they are, they did not make themselves, they had no control over the place and state into which they were introduced, therefore, they cannot blame themselves; neither ought they to be blamed by others; so that this very important doctrine, instead of favouring improvement, actually makes men slaves; the hapless victims of an irresistible fatality, chaining them down to the condition of the brute. How is it possible then that society could progress were these principles to take a firm hold of it, it would be madness to expect it: Paganism and Roman Catholicism tend to darken the mind and fetter the understanding, but their results, revolting as they have been in every age, would be surpassed in atrocity by the principles of Atheistic Secularism were they practically adhered to and acted upon throughout society.

What principles then are these with which to seek to regenerate the world and influence the millions now in heathen darkness, to overthrow despotism, monopoly, and every species of fraud and injustice: no God, no hereafter, death an eternal sleep, the conduct of man necessitated, therefore, no responsibility; these are the sublime principles with which Secularists hope to remodel society, and bring about the brotherhood of nations; as well might a man expect to gather grapes of thorns as expect doctrines, such as these, to work out those great social and moral changes, which the good and great of every land are seeking to effect.

It must be plain to every man of common understanding, that these principles are so contrary to all that reason and experience teach, that were it not for that strange infatuation which seizes the minds of men when they resolve on banishing from their thoughts all ideas of a Supreme Ruler, they could not by possibility advocate doctrines so repugnant and degrading, and so completely subversive of all that tends to raise the human character to that state of moral purity and intellectual greatness, which its high endowments are capable of; and to which, under the influence of a holy religion, it is destined to attain.