WHEN Weitling was in England a few weeks ago he was in better health, spirits, and fortune than when here a few years since. He stated that he had made great progress in the English language by the study, when on his voyage to America, of the 'Practical Grammar' given him by Mr. Holyoake; but that, since his return to Europe, the Prussian police had seized it as a seditious book. He was presented with the Logic of Facts' and Public Speaking and Debate,' to occupy the vacant hours back to America. He expressed his intention of reviewing them in his journal in America; but, having to wait a short time for the vessel sailing, he looked into them, and, procuring paper, wrote a letter to the author, dated 'London Docks,' containing words of enthusiasm which, coming from him who has dared so much and written so well, constitutes an encouragement which vicissitude would not deprive of power. And more than these fraternal words, it contained an estimation of the value of knowledge as an agent of reform, by which the Times newspaper would benefit by taking cognizance of in its German controversies.

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The only copy of his Gospel of the Poor Sinners' he had brought to England he left with Mr. Holyoake. This work was intended-so says the second preface-to be published at Zurich, in Switzerland, in the year 1843, and accordingly the manuscript was put to press. Scarcely, indeed, had half of it been printed when, in an attack by night in the open street, the authorities succeeded in Weitling's arrest, and the confiscation of every book and paper found in his domicile. The consequences were fifty weeks' confinement, banishment from Switzerland, transportation to Prussia, and there, again, banishment and transportation to England. The confiscated printed sheets of his work were destroyed.

Meanwhile his friends succeeded in saving almost entirely the manuscript, then already in the hands of the authorities. With the intention of publishing it, and of assisting him whilst in prison, this manuscript was sold to Mr. Jenny, in Berne, who afterwards published it.

The confinement he suffered was in a separate cell. There he had plenty of time to study the gospel, especially as it was for some weeks the only book he was permitted to read. There, in comparing many passages, he found arguments of which he had not thought before. This gave him the idea of altering the whole classification of the work as it was composed before, which idea he executed in London, after his release, and was assisted by Mr. Ryall in rendering it into English.

About that time the first edition of Mr. Jenny again gave rise to persecution. A hundred copies of it were confiscated at Zurich, and their possessors imprisoned and sent out of the country. Hereby, the manuscript of the second edition, then not yet printed, also came near being confiscated; it was fortunately not found where it was deposited at the very time of the domiciliary visit.

The so-called radical government of the Canton of Zurich, in republican Switzerland, made, in the beginning of the year 1846, a law against the Communists, which law on the 25th of March of that year was almost

unanimously confirmed by the Grand Council of this State. According to this law, all those who, by means of the press or by associations, strive to propagate Communism, shall be punished with the maximum of a fine of 1000 Switzer francs and two years' confinement. We hope, writes Weitling, no true Communist will be hindered by this from propagating and defending his convictions by all possible means within his reach. Before that time, Communism had been lawlessly persecuted: to the republican and radical government of Zurich appertains the distinction of being the first government in the world to pass a law against the new doctrine.

Besides three German and an English edition, there has been a French and Norwegian translation made. The Gospel of the Poor Sinners' is entitled a Rational and Communistical Commentary on the New Testament, with arguments from two thousand Bible texts.

THE BEE.

G. J. H.

"THAT within a small body should be contained apparatus for converting the "virtuous sweets" which it collects into a kind of nourishment for itself, another for the common brood, a third for the royal, glue for its carpentry, wax for its cells, poison for its enemies, honey for its master, with a proboscis almost as long as the body itself, microscopic in its several parts, telescopic in mode of action, with a sting so infinitely sharp that, were it magnified by the same glass which makes a needle's point seem a quarter of an inch, it would yet itself be invisible, and this, too, a hollow tube-that all these varied operations and contrivances should be enclosed within half an inch of length, and two grains of matter, while in the same "small room" the "large heart" of at least thirty distinct insects is contained-is surely enough to crush all thoughts of atheism and materialism.'-Quarterly Review.

Why should these wonders crush all thoughts of materialism?' The marvels of material substance are the text of the preacher. What does it matter to materialism whether the sting of the bee is a manufactured article, the work of infinite intelligence and power, or a natural product, the inevitable consequence of material action, under peculiar circumstances? That the sting is material is not denied; and if the stingmaker-if it had one-be not material also, what is he or it? If the point of the bee's sting be so extremely minute, as described by the Review, that even when subjected to magnifying power of an enormous extent, it is still invisible, though unquestionably existing, and as unquestionably material, what can any man know, or even conceive, of any other substance or non-substance, not material, which performs functions impossible to matter in the economy of the universe? But what are the functions which this imaginary non-materiality performs? If science be of any value, it is now all but demonstrably proved that they can neither be vital nor mental-neither constructive, conservative, nor destructive: matter is equal to all these, without any assistance whatever. Crush materialism,' forsooth! can you crush the materiality of the mind? Can you crush the conclusion at which Mr. Smee has arrived-that the

brain is merely an electric battery? Has his theory no more foundation in truth than an Arabian fiction? Can it be denied that the nerves are the media by which sensations are conveyed from the outer world to the inner microcosm of the brain, there to be stored for elaboration and future use? Now, the nerves being material, the sensations conveyed along them from the material world must, by a parity of reasoning, be material also, however incomprehensible such a proposition may be; and I readily admit that it is incomprehensible and astounding. To crush materialism' we must do as Byron says-wear our heads, denying that we wear them. For to carry material heads on our shoulders, with material brains inside them, furnished with ideas and sensations obtained through material media, and yet to deny materialism, as materialists understand it, is, to say the least, absurd. As I view the world-perhaps with a jaundiced eye-it is taking vast strides towards materialism. Science and thought are alike tending the same way-they can tend no other, as I think. At one time in the history of mankind everything that was mysterious or not understood was ascribed to invisible, immaterial agency. As men grew older and wiser they began to look to natural causes for an explanation of natural phenomena. First of all the elements of air, fire, and water were robbed of their tutelar deities-then the affections and dispositions-until the last which remains is the Deity of the Universe, and that is fast being consigned to the tomb of all the Capulets.'

The reviewer, however large his mind or searching his intellect, cannot conceive the infinitively small space occupied by the circumference of the extreme point of the bee's proboscis; and much more is it beyond the grasp of any mind to conceive the minutia of the drop of poison which passes through that point when the insect inflicts its sting. If the wonders of matter, which we do know, are beyond our comprehension, what can we hope to know of that which is not matter, of which we know nothing? I take it for granted that no man of intelligence, more especially one of scientific attainments, will contend, at this time of day, for the actual and literal creation or making of matter out of nothing, by a governing intelligence of the universe. The idea is too absurd to be entertained for a moment. However, whether matter was created out of nothing or out of something, or is necessarily self-existent, is of no consequence-apart from its properties, if I may use such a solecism, it is nothing. Supposing an intelligent non-material being to be co-existent with matter, it cannot control material action in detail, whatever it may do in the aggregate; because, the detail of material action, or the modus operandi of matter, is a consequence of the properties which pertain to it. For instance, supposing matter to be self-existent, but that at some time or the other the intelligent governor of the universe to have taken it in hand to control and direct it to the extent of which it was capable: now, inasmuch as matter will under certain circumstances become crystallised, and under other certain circumstances become organised, or take organic forms, in virtue of its inherent properties, it is evident that the only control which an intelligent governor of the universe can have over matter must be of a moral, and not of a physical character. The physical character, or condition of all material forms, is an inevitable consequence

of the physical properties inherent in matter. If it be objected to this, that I am begging the whole question, and taking for granted that which has to be proved, I take leave to deny it. It is a foregone conclusion, both that matter does take crystalline forms under certain physical conditions; and also that matter takes organic shapes, or becomes organised, under certain other physical conditions, though the conditions necessary to produce organic forms are very imperfectly, if at all, known to man. I have said, that the only control which a governing intelligence can have over the material world, must be of a moral character; but it is well known, now-a-day, that moral action, or effect, is the necessary consequence of physical condition, or cause: the one is as dependent on the other as shadow is upon substance. I am utterly unable, therefore, to find either room or vocation for an intelligent governing power in the universe. If there be such, it has a sinecure. To be able to crush all thoughts of atheism and materialisin,' a man must first master, and rightly comprehend, the opinions of atheists and materialists, and then, and not till then, he will pause before he commences.

W. C.

SIMILARITIES BETWEEN CHRIST AND ZOROASTER

THE 'Ardai Viraf Nameh; or, the Revelations of Ardai Viraf.' Translated from the Persian and Gwyeratee versions. With notes and illustrations. By J. A. Pope. 1816.-In the preface of this book are fully set forth the similarities between Christ and Zoroaster. The preface says, 'It is impossible to venture a conjecture concerning the precise era of Zoroaster; some believe that he appeared the first time in the time of Abraham; others make him contemporary with Moses, but the Parsees of Western India only speak with certainty of his second appearance, which they state to have come to pass in the reign of Kishtasp, whom they also style Gushtasp, about the 486th year before the Christian era, and during the time of the Jewish captivity.' The Jews, therefore, probably brought the seeds with them of their Christian mythology, from their sojourn in the East. We shall see how exactly particulars in the early part of the two religions concur. The preface says, 'The following verbal tradition of the birth and parentage of their prophet is handed down, and implicitly believed, by the present race of Parsees. The father of Jesus was a carpenter. The son, in the Apocryphal Testaments, is represented to have made models of birds.' The preface says, 'The reputed father of Zeratush was a modeller or maker of images then worshipped by the Persians, and without issue, and extremely poor, yet for the goodness, and uprightness of his life, was selected by God to be the reputed father of the prophet.' Here we have Joseph. The conception, however, was different; but in it we see the origin of the sacrament and transubstantiation.

The preface continues-To effect this purpose, an angel was sent to him, who presented him a glass of wine, which he persuaded him to drink, and his wife soon after conceived and bore a son.' Therefore, in drinking wine, the disciples of Jesus drink the life of their master. His origin was wine in the Persian nativity of Zoroaster, which was not remembered in the annunciation of the angel to Mary.

Next we have the visit of the Magi, and the interference of Herod. About this time, a tradition led the Persians to expect a prophet, who would be the founder of a new religion; and, as the father of Zeratush,' continues the preface, 'had been vain enough to boast of his having received the glass of wine from the angel, the wise men pitched upon his son as the expected prophet; which, coming to the ears of the king, he ordered the infant to be destroyed, but the hands of his destroyers were arrested by a divine impulse. The infant was then exposed to the fury of wild beasts, but they did him no harm. But this did not convince the king of his divine mission, and he became more enraged, and he ordered the infant to be taken to a narrow pass in the mountains, and that herds of cattle should be driven through and over him, with the view of trampling him to death; but the first cow that came carefully placed itself over the infant, and continued in that posture until the whole had passed. He was then thrown, by the king's orders, into the flames, but came out unhurt. The king at length became sensible of his divine origin, and consented that he should live without further molestation. But God took him up into heaven, until he thought the king and nation sufficiently punished for their obstinacy and impiety, when he sent him down with the laws, which were adopted with avidity by the whole Persian nation, and known by the name of the Magian, or more properly the Masdian,

Thus the infancy and divinity of Zoroaster was severely tested by many trials, till the king was convinced. Zoroaster was not the cause, as in the case of Jesus, of the massacre of the Innocents. Nor did he undergo crucifixion, and leave the powers of this world to triumph over him, but is said to have triumphed over them before his departure from earth, and then to have returned in a second coming. This Jesus promised but never effected; he fled into Egypt and came back again, when the king was dead, but crucified under Pontius Pilate, and his ascension into heaven reported, his second coming in spite of assurances and the wish to satisfy all antecedents has never been realised.

There are many critics who ascribe similarities to be found in different religions-some chronologically succeeding, and some geographically very far distant-not to plagiarisms, but to certain ideas which float in the common mind of man, and produce identical fruit in due season. It is to this universal religious idea that the Rev. Mr. Maurice, in his Boyle lecture, would give a centre of unity in the Christian religion. The critical idea is well expressed by Humboldt in his Cosmos.' Speaking of the sameness of the different myths on the origin of mankind (Bohn's edition, vol. i., p. 304), ascribing the generation of the whole human race to the union of one pair. The general prevalence of this myth has caused it to be regarded as a traditionary record transmitted from the primitive man to his descendants. But this very circumstance seems to prove that it has no historical foundation, but has simply arisen from an identity in the mode of intellectual conception, which has everywhere led man to adopt the same conclusion regarding identical phenomena-in the same manner as many myths have doubtlessly arisen, not from any historical connection existing between them, but rather from an identity in human thought and imagination.'

W. J. B.