a bold front as to defy both persecution and | tive energy, capable of forming a chrystal, is prosecution. The cause of infidelity is the incapable of forming an eye, a brain, or a cause of truth, and must prevail." This letter hand-how, finally, they know that lime or mud has extended to a greater length than I in- can produce a worm, a serpent, or a crocodile, tended; allow me to remark in conclusion, that and not produce a man. If they cannot I think that opposing superstition was one of "How" satisfactorily, in the name of modesty the objects of our society; the founder him- and truth let them say so, and no longer insoself in by-gone times has set the example; lently palm upon the credulous their pious even now occasionally he does so, though not inventions as undoubted facts. "The heavens strongly enough for many of his disciples. declare the glory of god, and the firmament That the objects of the society included some- showeth his handywork," saith the psalmist ; thing more than this, I freely admit, but that but begging the psalmist's pardon, the heavens this was considered a stepping-stone to that declare nothing but moons, suns, and starry something more, all acquainted with the his-hosts, while the "dark blue sky" shows neither tory of our society must be aware. I do not believe that theological discussion will prevent us from obtaining money to establish some colonies; capitalists would lend their money to the devil himself, if he could give them as good security and greater interest than they could obtain elsewhere. There is nothing to fear on that account, and as the "politics and religions" of the world are wrong let both be opposed in so far as they are in error, and then shall we go forth conquering and to conquer, and leave the world better than we found it. Trusting that you may live long to assist in the great work,

I remain, yours in the cause,
J. C. F.

IS THERE A GOD?

XIV.

more nor less than dark blue sky. How strange
that men should still be so hoodwinked by
priests as to accept ignorance of what is, as
"confirmation strong" of what is not, and
credulously receive as solvent of the universal
difficulty one that is ten thousand times greater.
It is a rule of sense as well as of logic, that of
two difficulties it is wise to choose the least-
but there is little wisdom in theology and those
who teach its "solemn nonsense,'
"when they
strenuously assert there must have been, or
rather must be an uncreated god who designed
and created the universe, because the idea of an
uncreated universe is inconceivable; so that
according to such wiseacres, an uncreated
spirit is conceivable enough, quite a trifle to
believe in, but uncreated matter shocks the
nerves of their faith. It is plain that the study
of nature is insufficient for the discovery of a
god, and all that has been written about the
"clear evidences of design in the universe," is
mere moonshine. Now upon that rock the
Atheist takes his stand; for to him the visible
or invisible relations of Christians with Christ
are of no more consequence than the same re-
lations of Mohammedans with Mohammed, or
the Jews with Moses; to him all such ima-
ginary relationships are the work of priests,
who first obtained and still hold authority, by
nicknaming "divine oracles," human inventions.
Atheists feel what is so beautifully expressed
by the poet Wordsworth-

The impulse from a vernal wood
Will teach us more of man,
Of moral evil and of good,

Than all SUCH sages can.

"In whatever direction we pursue our researches, whether in space or time, we every where discover clear marks of creative intelligence."-LYEL. He that made the eye, shall he not see? He that made the ear, shall he not hear? It is demanded by Theists, with an air of triumph, as though Atheists contended that he who Wade the eye could not see, or he who made the ear could not hear. What they DO deny is, that sophists, however dexterous, can prove that anything has been absolutely made by a he, a she, or an it, in short, by an intelligent being, of the masculine, feminine, or neuter gender. To admit that the eye was made or designed to see, would be, in effect, to give up the whole question; a virtual abandonment of But vernal woods teach not final causes, as Atheism; for that which is made, must have had they are termed, nor do the dark and pathless a maker, and clear marks of creative intelligence forests whisper god. Nothing but human demonstrate independent intelligence capable imaginations, the dangerous offspring of igof creating. All then theologians have to do norant hopes and fears, fortifies the belief or 13, simply to prove that human or inferior or- supposition that the material universe sprung ganisms, in short, anything from pebbles to out of some inconceivable, immaterial essence. planets, were designed or created. Let them Such monstrous fancies are not countenanced leave railing, and honestly tell how they know by the study of nature, which gives the lie to the universe was made-how they know there is the arrogant assumptions of theologians. It a first cause, itself uncaused-how they know gives the lie to the assumption, that matte that unassisted matter is incapable of pro- must have been created, and verifies the teachGucing those effects at which wondering folly ings of an Eastern sage, that "the thing that marvels-how they know that matter by its na-hath been, it is that which shall be; and that

analogists have endeavoured to establish the
"fact," that "all things are double one against
another, and god hath made nothing imperfect,"
which fact will be best answered by other facts
of a less suspicious character. King Edward
the second was deposed by the intrigues of a
wife and her paramour, thrust into the Tower,
where some ruffians held the unfortunate
monarch down on a bed, and thrusting a tube
up his fundament, passed a red-hot iron into
his bowels; none who heard could ever forget
the aged king's shrieks of agony while his
bowels were consuming.
What will the gen
tlemen sophists of the Butler school, double
against that act of horror, what in heaven or
hell is the good that even a god could do to com-
pensate such evil? Surely it was not, cannot
now be, in the eye of reason, "all for the best,"
that an aged, inoffensive, and far from un-
amiable monarch, should have his bowels
burnt to cinders by order of an adulterous
wife and her cruel paramour. How is the
existence of a good and almighty god to be
reconciled with the permission of such horrible
enormities? The nations would be edified it
religious analogists would reconcile their fact,
that god has made nothing imperfect, with
their preaching about the imperfections of our
mortal nature; their FACT, that all things
double one against the other, with their
pathetic lamentations about Christ crucified to
ransom and redeem a ruined world; their
FACT, that god is a god of inexorable justice,
with their pulpit harangues about sin and in-
justice; and, finally, their FACT, that god's ten-
der mercies are over all his works, with their
whining cant about the miseries of human life.
If there be a god, Peter rightly said, "verily,
and of a truth, he is no respecter of persons,
Thousands, nay, millions of unhappy beings
have been torn asunder by wild horses, sown
up in sacks and flung to wild beasts, sawn into
slips, buried alive, flogged, flayed, and starved
to death, so that the earth, manured by the
blood and bones of its inhabitants, has dis
played the appalling and sickening sight of one
vast human shamble! True, oh, Peter, your
god is no respecter of persons, mowing down,
with ruthless JUSTICE, the noble with the mean,
the wise with the foolish, the innocent ten-
der babe with the guilty blood-stained tyrant.
That royal tiger, Henry the eighth, died in his
bed, with a strong, "hope of a joyful resurrec
tion;" the gallant, the great, Henri Quatre, foll
by the poinard of the extra-religious Ravail-
lac; Cæsar, it may be said, justly paid the
penalty of his ambition; but what is to be

which is done, it is that which shall be done; and there is no new thing under the sun." It gives the lie to the assumption, that the reasoning faculty, or mental conditions, could not proceed from what they choose to call irrational atoms. It gives the loud lie to the most impudent of assumptions, that "all is for the best," in a world which savage beasts and yet more savage men have deluged with crime, blood, and misery. Let the triumphs of a Cæsar, a Zingis, a Timour, an Alaric, an Attila, and a Napoleon, tell their bloody tale. Let the bones of the slaughtered for the glory of religion and the honour of god, attest that all is not for the best; but the great truth that all is of necessity in itself, neither for the best nor for the worst, but in relation to humanity, a compound of good and evil, folly and wisdom, justice and injustice, the proportions of which necessarily fluctuate with the fluctuations of civilization. It is probable there is less of actual evil suffered, and more of actual good enjoyed now than at a former period, for the simple reason, that opinion bas to a certain extent been enlarged and purified by experience, but the nations are not yet prepared to beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; not yet cured of superstition and the accursed spirit it engenders, a spirit that delights in persecution, war, and rapine-a spirit which, in its mildest form, is the deadliest enemy to freedom and virtue. Then bow in the face of endless proofs, that the universe if designed could not have been designed wisely, can Theists maintain that they every where discover the clear marks of creative intelligence?" In a former paper upon this subject, I have ventured to assert, that "to the Atheist a moth in the candle's flame, or a poor fly in the fangs of a spider, is a proof that the world could not have been created by a being infinitely wise, infinitely good, and infinitely powerful ;" an assertion which may at first seem hard, if not presumptious, but if fairly examined, it will be found that the denial of it involves a moral contradiction. An infinitely wise and infinitely good god would design perfect moral as well as physical excellence, while infinite power could not fail in the execution; so that those who say that all was designed by god, and in the same breath acknowledge the existence of evil will, if reasonable people, be constrained to admit that he (god) cannot be infinitely wise, infinitely good, and infinitely powerful. But here another difficulty presses and affrights the believer, which is, the danger of thinking disrespectfully of deity; for all be- double", against the glorious suicide of lievers in a god, at least all I have met with, Cato, or the cowardly assassination of immoragree with Plutarch and Lord Bacon, that it tal Cicero. Nor would it be one whit less is better not to think of god at all than to think edifying or useful, if analogists and "all for the evil of him. Sound advice, but how to be fol- best" men, would reconcile with god's wisdom, lowed by Atheists, it is impossible to under-child-birth agonies, abortional mistakes, with stand. I am aware that the Butler school of the endless train of torturing diseases, "Besh

seems heir to." Hume has remarked, that a] and I cordially recommend it to the attention wise providence, by a wave higher or a wave of the readers of the Oracle.

Matter

At

moves by its own energy." When we speak of energy, we usually mean power or force directed for a specific purpose, to accomplish a desirable object, and of course is inseparably connected with mental phenomena. This, it is almost needless to say, is not the idea intended to be conveyed by the author, because he concludes the sentence by saying, that it moves "by necessary consequence of its heterogeneity,' which I conceive to be nearer the truth. present matter is divided into forty or fifty simple substances, out of which small number philosophers assert all the innumerable varieties of form, colour, quality, condition, &c., to be compounded. Here we may see what stu pendous results may proceed from apparently trifling causes. We perceive changes so varied that any portion, however large, that the mind of man is capable of grasping, is so inconceivable small in comparison to the whole, as to afford no adequate notion of it-all of which is produced from a few units. If this be the fact, we may next inquire, how this is effected, or at any rate, how it would appear to be effected?

lower, might, without any visible disturbance Although agreeing with the idea of the of natural operations, have buried Cæsar and writer of the above extract, I do not with the his fortunes; nor can I conceive how the har-language he has used, when he says, monies of nature would have been seriously disturbed, if a wise god or providence had thought proper to design less suffering and more enjoyment, less hypocrisy and more sincerity, fewer rapes, frauds, pious and impious butcheries; with far more peace and happiness. By burying Cæsar with his fortunes, the liberties of Rome and millions of lives might have been spared; an overruling providence could easily have done that. By a little less of the brute, and a little more of the rational, in human brains, the earth might have been a paradise; and so it would be easy to proceed, ud infinitum, with what might have been, and what might be, IF. a wise god or providence controlled the operations of nature. But I am of opinion, that all would be better employed in understanding what is than what might have been, or might be, IF nature was not nature, reason not reason, and absurdity not absurdity. Gibbon, in his notice of Zoroaster,* observes, that "the great and fundamental article of the system, was the celebrated doctrine of the two principles, a bold and injudicious attempt of Eastern philosophy, to reconcile the existence of moral and physical vil with the attributes of a beneficent creator and governor of the universe." Now it is a lame attempt of theologians to escape the injudiciousness of Zoroaster, which it is the secret of their exertions to subdue, for it is impossible to convince the reason of mankind that there is no such thing as physical or moral evil; THAT the world, whatever it may seem to the unilluminated, is absolutely perfect; and therefore, the belief in one god infinitely wise, infiitely good, and infinitely powerful, is both reasonable and consistent, and that from the analogies of things in this world may be fairly deduced a state of immortal bliss in some other.

C. S.

THEORY OF REGULAR GRADATION.

XII.

"Matter moves by its own energy, by a necessary
consequence of its heterogeneity. The diversity of
motion, constitutes alone the diversity of matter.
We distinguish beings from one another, only by
the different impressions or motions which they
communicate to our organs."-GOOD SENSE.
THE above is from a work often quoted in the
Usk above is from a work often quoted in 11,
but published by Cousins as "Good Sense,"
and is translated from the French; it is the
best exposition of Atheism I have met with,

Page 54, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.

Fifty-four elements are presented to us by nature; of these, only four are employed in the elaboration of all the wonderful creations of living matter. Flowers and perfumes, leaves and wood, food and poisons-flesh, bone, fat, hair, feathers-when the chemist comes to look at all these, he finds such wonderful diversity is the result, not of the employment of a multiplicity of elements, but of the combination of a very few, in varied proportions, and under the influence of vital agency; for, having resolved organic matter into its ultimate elements, we in vain endeavour so to recombine them as to form what we set out with. We can resolve wheat-flour, for instance, into carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, and bydrogen; but we in vain attempt to reproduce wheat-flour, or anything remotely approaching to it, by any possible artificial re-union of these four elements; and accord

ingly it has sometimes been supposed that some error must of necessity contaminate our reasoning upon these matters; but the truth is, that the cause of our failure apparently lies in our utter inability so to present these elements to each other as they doubtless are presented to each other in the organs and vessels of living beings. Although, therefore, we can prove by irrefragable evidence, that the elements of sugar are carbon and water, we certainly cannot re-make sugar by any purely artificial combination of those bodies; and this, in all probability, for no other reason than that we want the command of the circum

stances under which the carbon and water, and inert, produce motion of themselves, when or, in other words, the carbon, the hydrogen, placed in a fit situation to act upon one another. and the oxygen, are presented to each other in For instance: phosphorus, when exposed to the miraculous organisation of the plant. Yet air, immediately takes fire. Meal and water, is nothing easier than to show that by feeding when mixed, ferment. Thus dead matter be a plant with carbon, and with water, or its gets motion of itself. Matter has then the elements, these will so combine within its power of self-motion; and nature, to act, has vessels, as actually to constitute sugar. In no need of a mover, whose pretended essence fact, it all amounts to this: that the same ele- would hinder him from acting. Whence comes ments which in orgnaic bodies are united in man? What is his origin? Is he then the ternary and quarternary combinations (that is, effect of a fortuitous concourse of atoms! three or four together), have in inorganic Did the first man spring, ready formed, from bodies, a singular tendency to combine in the dust of the earth? I know not. Man binary proportions (that is, two and two to- appears to me, like all other beings, a produc gether). For instance, carbonate of ammonia is tion of nature. I should be equally embar an artificial product, and gelatin is a natural or rassed to tell, whence came the first stones, organic product; the ultimate elements are the the first trees, the first lions, the first elephants, same in both, namely, carbon, oxygen, hydro- the first ants, the first acorns, &c., as to e gen, and nitrogen: in the artificial compound plain the origin of man. We are incessantly the carbon and oxygen are so united as to told to acknowledge and revere the hand of form carbonic acid, and the nitrogen, and hydro- god, of an infinitely intelligent and powerful gen constitute ammonia; so that carbonic acid maker, in so wonderful a work as the human and ammonia are binary compounds, and they machine. I readily confess, that the human are the proximate components of carbonate of machine appears to me surprising. But as ammonia, which is also a binary compound. man exists in nature, I am not authorised to But in gelatin (or common glue), which is say, that his formation is above the power of exclusively an organic product, the same ulti-nature. mate elements are united in one quarternary formation, when to explain it, I am told, that whole; and if I decompose glue, I can resolve a pure spirit, who has neither eyes, feet, hands, it into carbonate of ammonia: but I cannot head, lungs, mouth, nor breath, made man by therefore convert carbonate of ammonia into taking a little clay, and breathing upon it. glue, because I cannot subject carbon, hydroOne atom of matter cannot meet gen, nitrogen, and oxygen (its ultimate ele- another by chance; this meeting is the effect of ments) to each other's action, under circum-permanent laws [modes], which cause every stances which shall in any way correspond with those in which gelatin was formed."*

* * *

But I can much less conceive of this

being necessarily to act as it does, and hinder it from acting otherwise, in given circum stances. To talk of the fortuitous concourse of atoms, is to attribute some effects to chance; it is to say nothing, except that we are ignorant. of the laws [modes], by which bodies act, meet, combine or separate."

From this, then, it would appear that it is only our imperfect knowledge which prevents our producing organic forms, with all their vital energies, precisely as we find them in nature, and of course, if it be our ignorance only which presents a barrier to our forming Not only does certain elements when mised wheat from the simple elements of which it is or associated together exhibit the phenomena known to be composed, and not the want of of motion as described in the quotation; but supernatural power, it follows, that an incapa- animal form and life would seem to resul city to make man, also, must result from the from the decomposition of animal and vege same cause. So that here we have strong table substances, which is nothing more than grounds to hope, that man may ultimately the various elements separating from each other manufacture man from the "raw material," and entering into new associations; which of as the market may require, and thus pre-course includes action or motion. vent a redundancy of population, unless From the foregoing, I would infer that there should be a prohibitory duty, suficient to crush his industry, established by the "collective wisdom." May not the rising generation see a monument erected in Westminster, or St. Paul's to the memory of Frankenstein?

I again quote from "Good Sense," and with pleasure acknowledge my obligations: "Should any deny that motion is essential and necessary to matter they cannot, at least, help acknowledging, that bodies, which seem dead

Magazine of Popular Science, vol. iii. p. 1.

local motion (general motion there cannot be) is a result arising from the difference in form and size of the various molecules or atoms of matter, as well, perhaps, as from the influence of attraction; which necessarily produces a changing or shifting of position of those not in a state of rest, or comparative rest, from the aggregation of attraction, as we suppose stons and metals to be. But even these are con tinually feeling the effects arising from contact with the air, water, &c.; every particle of which is continually changing its position u relation to other particles, as may be seen by