there cannot, I think, be two opinions. Mr. Roebuck, on a recent occasion, thus described the object contemplated in the formation of Mechanics' Institutions:"Some time since, there was a great and a good, a beneficent and a benevolent man. I am sure I may so speak of Dr. Birkbeck. He saw the new element which was introduced into society, and he wisely said, 'Let us see if we cannot enlist this new element in favour of good government, peace, and happiness.' And for that purpose he endeavoured to introduce Mechanics' Institutes. He did so-for what purpose? For this, sir:As in ordinary life we get combined powers to serve our other interests; as we have clubs and various other means to provide for our physical and our social recreations,' he said; 'let us combine the many-headed monster, as it is called, of the people. Each in his small might maintains that which we desire to advance; let him contribute to the education of his class, thus combining that which the increased knowledge of mankind has enabled us to do: bringing together all our separate powers in that which is called a Mechanics' Institute: thus bringing together the various and varied interests of society to the maintenance and the increase of knowledge.'

The object aimed at was praiseworthy: it has only been partially realized. Mechanics' Institutions have not combined all the various and varied interests of society for the increase of knowledge; yet they have not been without their uses; they have been and are serviceable to the middle classes. The working classes seldom think of joining a Mechanics' Institution; but, so far as my experience enables me to judge, they prefer institutions for themselves. And if the Progress Unions you desire to establish will tend to combine the various and varied intelligence of the working classes, they will be of great service to the present and future generations. Some questions have taken deep root in the public mind, and require distinct movements on their behalf. The Suffrage is one of these questions. But my being a member of the National Charter Association, would not at all prevent me from being a member of the Progress Union. My association with other men of the party of progress, would not lesson, but increase, my usefulness as a Chartist, as it would tend to deepen and widen my knowledge, and for that reason increase my ability to do good.

My arrangements for some months to come prevent me from devoting my whole time to carrying out what I must call your broad and comprehensive plan for the improvement of English society. Yonr intentions meet with my most hearty approval, and so far as my time and circumstances will allow, I will gladly assist in the formation of Progress Unions. I am, dear Sir, yours faithfully, Mr. Thomas Cooper.

To Correspondents.

SAMUEL M. KYDD.

**Correspondents will please address, "THOMAS COOPER, 5, Park Row, Knightsbridge,

London."

W. L.-The course of Orations, on Wednesday evenings, at the Mechanics' Institute, Gould-sq., will occupy Jan. 16, 23, 30, and Feb. 6, instead of the dates stated in last No. M. O. Much obliged. I have sent out, to various country agents, 40,000 small handbills; but I yet need the addresses of Agents in Norwich, Plymouth, Devonport, Portsmouth, Bath, Halifax, Bradford, York, Wakefield, Barnsley, Macclesfield, and Derby. If any News-agent in these towns (or any other considerable towns) will be kind enough to send me his address, and the name of his London bookseller, I shall be glad to enclose him some small handbills in his weekly parcel. Agents are also respectfully iuformed that plenty of large posters will be printed weekly, and if they are not furnished with them, I will take care that they shall be--if they will kindly send me notice.

A. W., Birmingham; T. S., Manchester; W. T., Hexham; and E. W. J., Chelsea.-I will, in an early number, draw up a list of questions, in history, morals, politics, &c., out of which Discussion and Mutual Improvement Classes may select some of their subjects; but, surely, a little ingenuity will enable members of such classes to devise questions sufficiently fertile for discussion.

F. H., Exeter. No wonder that you were prejudiced against glorious old Greece, by reading the prejudiced Tory, Mitford. Your prejudices against Mazzini and Kossuth, Ledru Rollin and Louis Blanc, must, surely, have been gathered from the Times. If you had weighed their own defences, from time to time, of their own actions and characters, -if you had candidly noted their procedures,―your conclusions would have been very different. I fear the air of your old city is unfavourable to real Progress. You will have everything to learn over again, if you get among the working-men of the manufacturing districts.

THINKINGS, FROM ISAAC BARROW.

INDUSTRY.-A noble heart will disdain to subsist like a drone upon honey gathered by others' labour, like a vermin to filch its food out of the public granary, or like a shark to prey upon the lesser fry; but will rather outdo his private obligations to other men's care and toil, by considerable service and beneficence to the public; for there is no calling of any sort, from the sceptre to the spade, the mangement whereof with any good success, any credit, any satisfaction, doth not demand much work of the head, or of the hands, or of both. Is a man a governor, or a superior in any capacity, what is he but a public servant doomed to continual labour, hired for the wages of respect and pomp to wait on his people; and he will find that to wield power innocently, to brandish the sword of justice discreetly and worthily, for the maintainance of right and encouragement of virtue, for the suppression of injury and correction of vice, is a matter of no small skill and slight care; and he that is obliged to purvey for so many, and so to abound in good works, how can he want business? How can he pretend to a writ of ease?

SLOTH. It is with us as with other things in nature, which by motion are preserved in their native purity and perfection, in their sweetness, in their lustre, rest corrupting, debasing, and defiling them; if the water runneth, it holdeth clear, sweet, and fresh; if the air be fanned by winds, it is pure and wholesome; but from being shut up it groweth thick and putrid; if metals be employed, they abide smooth and splendid; but lay them by, and they soon contract rust; if the earth be belaboured with culture, it yieldeth corn; but lying neglected, it will be overgrown with brakes and thistles, and the better the soil is, the ranker weeds it will produce: all nature is upheld in its being, order, and state, by constant agitation; every creature is incessantly employed in action conformable to its designed end and use; in like manner the preservation and improvement of our faculties depend on their constant and wholesome exercise.

VOLUNTARY LABOUR, taken in due place and season, doth save much exertion afterward; and moderate care enables a man commonly to pass his life with ease, comfort, and delight: whereas, idleness frequently doth let slip opportunities and advantages which cannot with ease be retrieved, and letteth things fall into a bad case, out of which they can hardly be recovered.

THE PREJUDICED. The prejudiced are apt to converse but with one sort of men, to read but one sort of books, to come in hearing but of one sort of notions; the truth is, they canton out to themselves a little Goshen in the intellectual world, where light shines, and as they conclude, day blesses them: but the rest of the vast expansum they give up to night and darkness, and so avoid coming near it. They confine themselves to some little creek, not venturing out into the great ocean of knowledge, to survey the riches that nature has stored other parts with, no less genuine, no less solid, no less useful, that what is to be found within their own little spot.

SPORTS.-How assiduously intent and eager may we observe men to be at sports; how soon will they rise to go forth to them; with what constancy and patience will they toil in them all the day; how long will they sit poring on their games, dispensing with their food and sleep for it. But how much in such cases do men forget what they are doing, that sport should be sport, not work; to divert and relax us, not to employ and busy us; to take off our minds a little, not wholly to take them up; not to exhaust or tire our spirits, but to refresh and cheer them, that they may return with renewed vigour to more grave and useful occupation. MAN'S NATURE.-The wisest observers of man's nature have pronounced him to be a creature gentle and sociable, inclinable to, and fit for conversation, apt to keep good order, to observe rules of justice, to embrace any sort of virtue if weil managed, if instructed by good discipline, if guided by good example, if living under the influence of wise laws and virtuous governors. Fierceness, rudeness, craft, malice, all perverse and intractable, all mischievous and vicious dispositions do grow among men (like weeds in any, even the best, soil), and overspread the earth, from neglect of good education; from ill-conduct, ill-habits, ill-example; but man's soul hath appetites and capacities, by which, well-guided and ordered, it soars and climbs continually in its affection and desire towards Divine Perfection.

THE HOPES OF '48.

LET kingcraft clap its gory hands,
And oligarchy smile;

Let priestcraft raise its vulture voice,
And shriek a curse the while;
Let hot reaction swiftly come,

With vengeance robed in state,-
And strive to slay, with rope and gun,
The hopes of '48 !

Let mammon-greed its golden links
Draw closer day by day,

And madly seek to force from all
Allegiance to its sway.

We dare them all-kings, mammon-slaves,
And oligarchs elate!

They cannot-all united-blast
The hopes of '48 !

In the hearts of Europe's Toilers

These hopes have made their home;
Nor Russian force in Hungary,

Nor Gallic fraud in Rome,
Nor cunning diplomatic skill—
That courteous mask of hate-
Can plunder the unfranchised
Of the hopes of '48 !

You may seize the men who breathe them
Too loud above their breath;

You may send their armed defenders
A sharp or lingering death;
Shoot them by scores;-You but arrest
And not avert your fate;
For that martyr-blood is the seal ye set
To the hopes of '48 !
EUGENE

"'TWAS CHRISTMAS EVE!"

"TWAS Christmas Eve!

In the palace, where Knavery
Crowds all the treasures the fair world can render;

Where spirits grow rusted in silkenest slavery,

And life is out-panted in golden-garbed splendour ;-
In gladness and glory, Wealth's darlings were meeting,
And jewel-clasp'd fingers linked softly again;

New friendships were twining, and old friends were greeting,
And young hearts were bound by God's own golden chain!

"Twas Christmas Eve! In a poor man's hovel
Were huddled in silence a skeleton family;

Church-bells were laughing in musical revel:

They heard the loud mockery with brows throbbing clammily:
All in the merry time there they sat mourning

Two sons-two brothers-in penal chains bleeding!

Their hearts wander'd forth to the never-returning,

Who rose on their vision, pale, haggard, and bleeding!

"Twas Christmas Eve! For the great'-as in duty-
Taste pandered, and ruby wine wooed on the board;
Eyes smiled in feigned glory on frail forms of beauty,
And lying lips flattered the thing called a "Lord;"
Love-kisses sobbed out 'twixt the rollick and rout,
And Hope went forth reaping her long-promised treasure:
What matter, tho' hearts may be breaking without?
Their groans are unhcard in the palace of Pleasure!

"Twas Christmas Eve; but the poor ones heard

No neighbourly welcome-no kind voice of kin !
They looked at each other, but spoke not a word,—
While through cranny and crevice the sleet drifted in.

In a desolate corner, one, hunger-killed, lies!

And a mother's hot tears are the bosom-babe's food!
Ah! wonder, ye Senators, full-fed and wise,-—

Such misery nurseth crime's dark viper-brood!

Men-angel-imaged in Nature's fair mint

Oh, where is your God-spark-the signet divine--
The freedom of soul, Immortality's print?

We are tyrants and slaves, bound in one deadly twine:
That a few like to Gods may stride over the earth,
Millions, born to heart-murder, are given in pawn!
Oh, when cometh Liberty's world-cheering birth-
She who waiteth with eager wings beating the dawn?

False Priests, dare ye say 'tis the will of your God,
(And veil Jesu's message in dark sophistry,)
That these millions of paupers should bow to the sod?
Up, up, trampled hearts! it's a lie, it's a lię!

They may carve "State" and "Altar" in characters golden,
But Tyranny's symbols are ceasing to win!
Be stirring, O People! your scroll is unfolden-
Bright, bright, be the deeds ye emblazon therein !

GERALD MASSEY.

BOAT SONG.

I'M in my boat, I'm in my boat,
Come ply the merry oar;
Oh, how I love my craft to float
And hear the ocean roar.

No land-mark ever meets my eye;
'Tis noble to be free;

My heart can never heave a sigh
When I am on the sea.

The broad sunbeam's reflected gleam
Protects me in the day;

The beacon light doth guard the night,
When danger's in the way.
And if abroad I spy a sail,

A welcome friend is she;
There's love upon the passing gale
When I am on the sea.

The sea-gull flaunts his wings above,
The wild duck swims below;
All feel 'tis free the sea to rove,

To mark its ebb and flow.

I woo the sea-gull's flight on high,
And love his minstrelsy;
There's music in his ocean cry,

Because the sound is free.

Oh, tyrant man the earth doth span,
And names each spot a home;
Upon its face he claims the chase,
Forbidding one to roam.
The broad, blue sea is ever free,
No despot stems its tide;
It owns no call, 'tis free to all--
'Tis Nature's wedded bride.

S. M. KYDD.

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.

BY THOMAS COOPER,

Author of 'The Purgatory of Suicides.'

1. THE BIRTH AND CHILDHOOD OF JESUS.

(Continued from last number.)

Matthew says that Mary, who "was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, was found with child of the Holy Ghost" that Joseph, "being a just man, and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privily;" but that the angel of the Lord visited him in a dream, and assured him of the divine origin of the child in her womb-and that then Joseph took Mary unto him as his wife, but "knew her not till she had brought forth her first-born son." Luke goes farther back: Gabriel is described as being sent to Mary, the "virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph," and telling her that she shall conceive by the power of the Holy Ghost.

I shall not dwell long on this relation. Nothing but a desire to encourage truthful investigation compels me to touch a subject so unfitted for a public discourse. The legend is unnatural; for a virtuous woman could not have concealed her condition from her betrothed, but would have hastened to inform him of the divine message, in order, at once, to prevent her own humiliation from discovery, and his injurious suspicions. All this was felt by the early Fathers, and they therefore accepted the version of the 'Protevangelion of James,' and the 'Gospel of the Nativity of Mary'—two of the Apocryphal Gospels which have been preserved, and a translation of which was republished by William Hone, a few years ago. These Gospels give the character of protector, instead of husband, to Joseph, and allege that, whilst he was absent on business, Mary was visited by an angel; and that when he returned, found her with child, and called her to an account, not as her husband, but as the guardian of her honour, she had forgotten the words of the angel, and protested, with tears, her ignorance of the cause of her pregnancy! That Joseph was perplexed and determined to remove her secretly from under his protection; but an angel appeared to him in a dream and reassured him by an explanation. That the matter was then brought before the priest, and both Joseph and Mary, being charged with incontinence, were condemned to drink the 'bitter water' (described in Numbers v. ch. 18 v.); but, as they remained uninjured by it, they were declared innocent.

6

However probable all this might appear to the Fathers, it can receive no belief from us. We return to Matthew and Luke, and find ourselves in the same conviction of the unnaturalness of the legends, when taken together; and if separated, Luke does not seem to have known anything of the after appearance of Gabriel to Joseph, nor does Matthew discover any knowledge of the prior appearance of the angel of the Lord to the Virgin. Besides, we have the testimony of the Jews themselves that they brought the names Gabriel,' 'Michael,' Raphael,' from Babylon, on their return from captivity. Could an idolatrous nation discover truths sooner than the people of God? 'Gabriel that stands in the presence of God:' the Divine Being surrounded with a court of grand officers, like an earthly monarch; and these officers despatched on high messages from the throne! Who does not perceive, in this nineteenth century, that we are not dealing with verities here, but with antiquated legends? Well does Strauss observe that "the phenomena in the natural world and the transitions in human life, which were formerly thought to be wrought by God himself through ministering angels, we are now able to explain by natural causes; so that a belief in angels is without a link by which it can attach itself to rightly apprehended modern ideas; and it exists only as a lifeless tradition." From whence sprung the legend that Jesus was conceived in a supernatural manner? From the belief that the Messiah must fulfil his ancient types: the great mythical idea of the Jewish people. In the Apocryphal Gospel of the Nativity of Mary this idea is so fully expressed, that a quotation will be better than any independent remarks. In this Apocryphal writing, Joachim, the father of Mary, also sees an angel, who informs him that Anna his wife, who was barren, shall bear a child; and the celestial messenger thus reasons with him:—

"For the first mother of your nation, Sarah, was she not barren even till her eightieth year? and yet even in the end of her old age she brought forth Isaac, in whom the promise was made of a blessing to all nations.

"Rachel also, so much in favour with God, and beloved so much by holy Jac ob, con