Correspondence. SIR,―The excellent article in No. 20 of your Journal, on the subject of Associative Labour will, I hope, be extensively read and deeply pondered on by the working-men here, in the Staffordshire Potteries. In no part of the kingdom is the deplorable conflict between Capital and Labour carried on with greater virulence than it is in this district. Masters and men are for ever at war with each other, and all mutual confidence is destroyed. Just now, there is plenty of employment and no idle hands are in the market, because the spring orders from America are being executed. These orders came in so heavily, and pressed so hard upon the master Potters, that the working-men determined to take their advantage of the moment; and consequently a general' strike' for higher wages took place from one end of the Potteries to the other. The men were resolute, and at last the masters were obliged to accede to the proposed terms. By and bye trade will be slack, the labour-market will be full, the unemployed will bid against the unemployed, and wages will of course fall. Then, the masters will have their turn, and endeavour to recover at the ebb-tide what they lost at the flood. And the fruits of this desolating competition are discontent, vindictive unsocial feeling, pauperism, and starvation. Talk of Peace Societies and international arbitration instead of war! Yes, these are admirable movements, and all good men must wish them 'God speed'; but what we want most is some power that shall allay the strife amongst the trading classes at home, and 'set at one' those two elements of commerce-Labour and Capital. This, I believe, might be effected by substituting Association for Competition; and would the working classes reflect on their position, they would soon discover that the remedy for a large majority of the evils they endure is in their own hands. Surely some four or five hundred might practise a little self-denial, now labour is plentiful, in order to raise a sufficient capital that would enable them to carry on a business on their own account. I know that many are beginning to fancy there is something radically wrong in the system, and would be but too happy to "reform it altogether"; only they don't seem to understand how to begin, or have not the courage to commence an agitation on the subject. As a proof that there is dissatisfaction with the present arrangements, I need but mention, that a short time ago, a working potter proposed to his fellows that they should try and compel their employer to exhibit his books to them with a full statement of his profits accruing every month, and that an average of wages should be struck by that scale. This, however clumsy a proposition it may be, shows that we are thinking about the matter of Labour and Capital down here. In time, perhaps, we shall get hold of the right end of the stick. Feeling certain you will render us what help you can in this vital question, I remain, Sir, yours most respectfully, ONE OF THE PEOPLE IN THE POTTERIES. Mr. Thomas Cooper. To Correspondents. Correspondents who wish their communications to reach me at once, will please ad dress" Thomas Cooper, at Mr. Barlow's, Bookseller, 2, Nelson Street, Newcastle-onTyne." This address will serve from June 1st to June 16th. Let it be understood, however, that all letters sent to my home "5, Park Row, Knightsbridge, London," will be duly forwarded to me. James Finler; 'Humanitas'; M. L. Shrewsbury; Occleve the Younger'; Samuel Amour; Barnsley Franklinian." Their poetry is most respectfully declined. 66 D. C.-He will find his most important question answered in No. 7. of this Journal, page 102. Un Incrédule,' Paisley. Will this correspondent favour me with his real address, that I may write to him privately? W. BARBER.-Obliged to him for the correction, that it is not a new house which the Associated Builders are erecting for Mr. Neale, in May Fair; but a large one which they are completely repairing. C. CRISP. Obliged to him. I have made a note of the matter for use, very shortly. GEORGE HARDY.-Of course, John Bright, M. P. for Manchester was the man. Ignoramus' (a strange signature-but it is the correspondent's own). The lines are not a quotation, but Gerald Massey's own. LEARNER.' Let him try again. He will do better next time. THINKINGS FROM THOMAS PAINE. TESTIMONY TO CHRIST.-He was a virtuous and an amiable man. The morality that he preached and practised was of the most benevolent kind; and though similar systems of morality had been preached by Confucius, and by some of the Greek philosophers, may years before; by the Quakers since; and by many good men in all ages, it has not been exceeded by any. CAUSE OF CHRIST'S DEATH.-That such a person as Jesus Christ existed, and that he was crucified, which was the mode of execution at that day, are historical relations strictly within the limits of probability. He preached most excellent morality and the equality, of man; but he preached also against the corruptions and avarice of the Jewish priests, and this brought upon him the hatred and vengeance of the whole order of priesthood. The accusation which those priests brought against him, was that of sedition and conspiracy against the Roman government, to which the Jews were then subject and tributary; and it is not improbable that the Roman government might have some secret apprehension of the effects of his doctrine as well as the Jewish priests; neither is it improbable that Jesus Christ had in contemplation the delivery of the Jewish nation from the bondage of the Romans. Between the two, however, this virtuous Reformer and Revolutionist lost his life. HUMBLE PARENTAGES.-It is somewhat curious, that the three persons whose names are the most universally recorded, were of very obscure parentage. Moses was a foundling; Jesus Christ was born in a stable; and Mahomet was a mule-driver. The first and the last of these men were founders of different systems of religion: but Jesus Christ founded no new system. He called men to the practice of moral virtues, and the belief of one God. The great trait in his character is philanthropy. THE TRUE THEOLOGY.-That which is now called natural philosophy, embracing the whole circle of science, of which astronomy occupies the chief place, is the study of the works of God, and of the power and wisdom of God in his works, and is the true theology. As to the theology that is now studied in its place, it is the study of human opinions, and of human fancies concerning God. It is not the study of God himself in the works that he has made, but in the works or writings that man has made. It is a fraud to call the sciences human invention; it is only the application of them that is human. Every science has for its basis a system of principles as fixed and unalterable as those by which the universe is regulated and governed. Man cannot make principles; he can only discover them. Since then man cannot make principles, from whence did he gain a knowledge of them, so as to be able to apply them, not only to things on earth, but to ascertain the motion of bodies so immensely distant from him as all the heavenly bodies are? From whence, I ask, could he gain that knowledge, but from the study of the true theology? GOD, THE GREAT TEACHER.-It is from the study of the true theology that all our knowledge of science is derived, and it is from that knowledge that all the arts have originated. The Almighty Lecturer, by displaying the principles of science in the structure of the universe, has invited man to study and to imitation. It is as if he had said to the inhabitants of this globe, that we call ours, "I have made an earth for man to dwell upon, and I have rendered the starry heavens visible, to teach him science and the arts. He can now provide for his own comfort, AND LEARN FROM MY MUNIFICENCE TO ALL, TO BE KIND TO EACH OTHER. Of what use is it, unless it be to teach man something, that his eye is endowed with the power of beholding to an incomprehensible distance, an immensity of worlds revolving in the ocean of space? Or of what use is it that this immensity of worlds is visible to man? What has man to do with the Pleiades, with Orion, with Sirius, with the star he calls the North Star, with the moving orbs he has named Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Venus, and Mercury, if no uses are to follow from their being visible? A less power of vision would have been sufficient for man, if the immensity he now possesses were given only to waste itself, as it were, on an immense desert of space glittering with shows. IN the tears of the morning And smiles of the sun, The green earth's adorning Told Spring had begun : THE FAMINE-SMITTEN. The woods donn'd their beauty, wrought And soft winds and kisses, brought Rich in light, with sweet sound, Their starry spray round; Laugh'd out, pink-and-golden; But where is that infant band Whose hearts like plumed powers Leap'd up from the sod Raining music in showers As guesting a god? Alas! they are sleeping Dear blossoms of Love! Where green grass is creeping, With musical gladness The golden air swells, But there's mourning and madness For Famine hath smitten Their pride of life low, And agony's written On heart, brain, and brow! Sweet from the boughs the birds Where they lay in their dearth:- The sounds of life o'er them; They felt not, nor needed The hot tears wept for them! But to see earth's flowers springing While Pomp in joy's rosy bowers They died, while men hoarded Yet the corn on the hill Waves its showery-gold crown,— Still nature's lap fills With the good heav'n rains down! Hark! mirth rings from palace, In hell there'll be laughter! Oppressors of men ! They have risen from your shadows; There be stern days a-coming- The long-nurs'd storms wak'ning! On heaven blood shall call Earthquake with pent thunder; And shackle and thrall Shall be riven asunder! It will come ! it shall come ! GERALD MASSEY. A LAY OF FREE-THOUGHT. Let the sycophant bow to the Lords of the land, Let the hypocrite crawl to the cross with his prayer, Tho' tyrants still rule, and tho' slaves still obey, And tho' crushed and despised we at present may be ; Yet the flood's on the flow that shall sweep wrong away; And the poor and oppressed shall arise and be free. For knowledge shall come, like the sun in his might, Careering along o'er the hut and the hall,Dispelling the mist and the gloom of the night; And the sword, crown, and mitre for ever shall fall! Номо. LOOK UP, YE TOILING MILLIONS! Look up, ye toiling millions! There are better days in store, When the shackles that enslave you Shall be loosed for evermore. Your long-enduring patience Shall receive its just reward, ↑ In universal freedom, Which no armed hosts shall guard. Look up, ye toiling millions! 'Tis a great and glorious causeMan's moral reformation, And th' enthroning equal laws : The tyrant-chosen rulers Who have dared to spurn your power, Now feel its force and tremble ; Then look upward from this hour! There's a lion-hearted band, Wide unfurled for sovereign peace, Till the cry of Wrong shall cease. Look up, ye toiling millions! 'Tis the Great Eternal's word- Shall receive no slaughter-prize; And will crush it in the end. Never think your labour vain, J. W. KING. 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. ROB the Gospel of the Atonement' says the orthodox believer, ‘and you rob Christianity of its core. If I have no longer the precious sacrifice of my Saviour's blood to rely upon, I am without a refuge. If there be no Mediator between God and Man, there is no hope of deliverance for my sin-sick soul.' 6 And is it not most weak and irrational in thee to give up all hope for thy sin-sick soul and its deliverance, for lack of a Mediator between God and thee? What sort of a God is it that thou dost worship, if their needs a Mediator between Him and thee? Is there anything god-like about such an object of worship? Are His attributes consistent, if He be Almighty and yet cannot forgive the offence of a human worm, of His Own freewill and without an atonement? The precious sacrifice of thy Saviour's blood'! Why, is it the pouring out of a red fluid, which has been formed by the digestion of bread and meat and vegetables, that can alone satisfy an Infinite Existence for transgression, not of the being who suffers, but of the other unnumbered millions of the world? If thy brother had offended thee would not thy nature feel it to be more noble to forgive freely, without a human slaughter? And do you really form to yourself a God for worship with a less exalted nature than your own? 'But God is the governor of the Universe. He must preserve the harmony of His attributes. His perfect Justice must be satisfied before He can shew mercy to the transgressor:-for He is holy!' I hear thee, priest! We know thy solemn and mysterious croak well, old Bo-peep behind the altar-where thou hast stood for ages affrighting grownup children with horrible pictures of a Divinity who to preserve this 'harmony of His attributes' can plunge millions into the flames of endless torture and be happy Himself to all eternity; and Who cannot admit any to share His happiness that have offended Him, unless blood be shed as an atonement! He knows of the torture of hell's helpless tenantry: He hears their' weeping and wailing': He sees their 'gnashing of teeth'; and He knows of their remorse for guilt; but He is happy amidst it all: He cannot forgive them: they must burn and suffer for ever; for He must preserve the 'harmony of His attributes'! Strange harmony. Does the most reprobate man that ever existed possess so horrible a nature? What! be happy while helpless worms writhe in endless agony? worms that He brought into existence without their will? who never asked to exist? and whom he knew would tenant hell-fire for ever, evén while He was creating them? O priest, thou art either very blind and irrational, or very false and wicked! There is no God like that. He is a monster of thy own forming the feigned instrument of thy tyranny over men's minds-the grand staple of thy merchandise and trade with man's peace and happiness, of which precious possessions his ignorance has too long enabled thee to cheat him! 'But how then came this widely-diffused notion of an Atonement into the world? Why is it that the records of every ancient nation tell of this doctrine? It is as widely-diffused as the idea of various deities.' Just so; and it arose from the same source: the infancy of man's nature. And, furthermore, like the doctrine of Deity, the doctrine of Atonement has undergone countless modifications consonant with Man's progression from childhood towards manhood-from mere pruriency of sensation, passion, and imagination tovards reason. Men's early gods were the sun and moon and mountains and trees and rivers and ocean and thunder and lightning-personified. Man saw them--knew nothing of their laws-and attributed to them his own passions and feelings, anger and revenge and wrath, or love and pity and goodness, by turns. The thunder terrified him-the storm wasted him the flood threatened him—the darkening of the sun's face, or the moon's, by eclipse, alarmed him. His gods were offended: he must propitiate them; as he was wont to propitiate his fellow-man who was stronger than he. The overflowing of a river had destroyed his flocks: the river was a god and demanded them: some of the firstlings of the flock must be sacrificed in future to appease the river's anger. The lightning smote a child: the god of thunder-the high god was wroth,and demanded the child in future some children must be sacrificed to appease the anger of the thunder-god. Rude tribes became nations with an approach towards settled polity: the gods, as well as governments must have their officers: the deities their separate temples and altars: the altars their appointed victims at stated seasons-that the favour of the gods might rest on the nation. The Greeks were too imaginative to give up the notion of many deities (except their leading minds, the philosophers;) but they speedily gave up the abhorrent idea of human sacrifices. In old India it exists still, as it has existed for thousands of years: the car of Juggernaut, the Ganges river-god, have still their hundreds of victims. Old Egypt inclined rather to the inculcation of preserving human life, and |