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n damned bad one; and when I use the word damned, I do not use it in the offensive sense of the Christian; but I mean a character condemned, and which must be condemned by every honest thinking man.

In defence or explanation of character, one is driven to make it altogether a matter of self: and as I get very little praise or flattery from the world, I must at least do myself justice. But be it remembered, that amidst all my enemies in the House of Commons, in the presence of Wilberforce, Bankes, and Peel, my unimpeached moral character was proclaimed, in the year 1823, and there was not a Member to rise to make an objection to the proclamation. Be it also remembered, that in Nov. 1825, Mr. Peel called on the King in Council to subscribe to a document, the warrant for the remission of the recognizances which the Court of King's Bench had imposed upon me, on the expressed condition, that very favourable circumstances as to my character had come to the King's knowledge, in consequence of which he had been pleased to do so and so. There are very few men, standing in the relation in which I stand to the King and the House of Commons, seeking to change thoroughly the character of their offices, who can present testimonials of moral character of this kind. Grosvenor Henson may say it is because I am and have been a spy. Honest men, who value truth, and seek to do well, will know better.

A letter which will follow this from a friend at Bristol, addressed to Mr. Gilbert, with the post-scriptural observation of Mr. Taylor, substitute for much that I should otherwise have had to say of Mr. Gilbert's letter; but thus much, in a general way, I will say, that Mr. Gilbert's retreat into his pulpit, to deliver alleged evidences before those who know not how to dispute them, and who, if they were there who did know how, dare not there dispute them, is but a sorry way to sweep infidelity from the earth. Let him do as the Rev. Mr. Alliott did with the Jew, Rabbi Hart Simmonds, let Mr. Gilbert invite me to fill his pulpit of a Sunday morning, and let him refute me if he can on the Sunday evening; and I will give him credit for sincerity in his warfare with infidelity. I ask no more from him, than I offer to him, if he will come to London. I have a pulpit and a little chapel at his service. And as a general offer, I will hold myself ready to come to Nottingham at a week's notice, whenever the spiriterrant may move Mr. Gilbert to meet me in public discussion. RICHARD CArlile.

TO JOSEPH GILBERT, MINISTER OF THE GOSPEL,

AT NOTTINGHAM.

REV. SIR,-As a reader of THE LION, I have gained some knowledge of your conduct towards Mr. Carlile, and, from your letter

to the editor of the Mercury, I am enabled to draw some conclusions on your motives, your hopes and fears respecting the public discussion solicited on his part, though never intended on yours, on the existence of Christ, and the Christian's God.Your chief motive was popularity, which you endeavoured to obtain by an ostentatious display of courage and ability, that you never really possessed, by which you hoped to impose on your followers; but your fears for the result, compelled you to resort to means, cowardly and contemptible; for, it is evident to every man of penetration, that you never intended to enter on the discussion. And why not? For one plain reason, you dared not. Your opponent was armed with reason and common sense, he had no shield but truth, no weapons but facts, dates, and realities. His shield was polished, and you were before the mirror of truth, where the cant, ignorance, and sophistry of your arguments, would have been reflected and exposed to public view, and the veil being removed, you would have been estimated by the real standard of your worth, which is easily discovered by every man who reads your letter. How contemptibly base are your insinuations at the close of your letter. You say, "they tell me, that Mr. Carlile is beneath the notice of a man pretending to character, &c. &c." How much this is like the Billingsgate fish-fag, who is ever ready to insinuate and call names. And pray, Mr. Gospel Vender, to what mighty character do you pretend? Be pleased to explain that, and the public will then be able to judge, whether he is above, equal to, or beneath your notice. That he is guilty of vending books, written by men of sterling ability, profound learning, and extensive comprehension, every man of sense will admit; books, which, if universally read, and their contents reflected on, and compared with the doctrine you preach, (you know and dread) would soon leave you no congregation. With what priestlike assassination do you stab his character in the following words, "but if he lends his name to publications, the tendency of which he would shrink from embodying in practice!" If he does, he is a bad man. But if, (how convenient the word,) he does not, what are you for the assertion? If you are an open enemy, if a just or honourable man, why not name the publications? You go on to say, "I may assert, without fear of contradiction, that there is not a father, a husband, a brother, a man, sane and sound in the empire, whose first indignant impulse would not be"-to do what-what you say you can't genteelly express." A more black or baser insinuation against the character of man was never heard than this, and must recoil on its author by every man who reads your letter. I am a father, a husband, a brother, and even a grandfather, with a very numerous family of sons and daughters; I have read the whole, or the greater part of Mr. Carlile's publications, and to be particular, I have read his "Every Woman's Book,"

and I know of nothing in it or them, but what is moral, argumentative, and modest, except the quotations which the authors select from the Bible, and I am ready to prove, that there is nothing that the pen ever wrote, or the painter ever drew, more immodest, obscene, cruel, or vindictive, than can be found in that book, from which you take your ministry, and which you read and recommend to your congregation. As a proof that others think as I do, in the last Bristol Mercury, of September 9, we find the following paragraph:-"A member of the legal profession in this city, lately had occasion to call upon a gentleman of the most exemplary character and piety, for the purpose of swearing him to an affidavit, and requested the loan of a Bible for that purpose. I have no such book in my house, said the gentleman emphatically, to the astonished lawyer, for sir, I have a family of daughters."

Name the books to which you allude, and prove your assertions. What man, after reading the Bible publicly, dare talk of gentility or modesty? Produce what you think so blameable in Mr. Carlile expose the man-show him up in his true colours, and let the world judge fairly of his conduct, but don't stab him in the dark, and let us then see if he be that contemptible wretch you paint him, or if you are not, "I can't genteelly say what."

You say it would be a folly in you to meet Mr. Carlile and defend the religion you profess, publicly, at Mr. Kendall's yard before hundreds, which I admit; because, there, your arguments were liable to be refuted, and your hearers would hear both sides of the question, and you boast that the pulpit is still open to you, from whence you propose to give "a course of lectures, in which, you trust, the atheistical arguments will be satisfactorily met, and the Evidence of Christianity proved." If you do refute the one and do the other, I will withdraw my present ungenteel opinion of you, and become your disciple; but to do it, you must first deliver fairly to your audience all the arguments of the Infidel, or how can you refute them? And this you dare not do, from fear of the consequences on your congregation. And where is the necessity of your lecturing to true believers, unless you think they are tinctured by Carlile's doctrine? If you are a real soldier of Christ, an authorised messenger of Jesus, a follower of the saints and a good shepherd, show it by your actions. Don't coward-like shrink into your hole of a pulpit, and cry before your own dear lambs; "beware of wolves and infidel monsters." Face the wolves. Seek after the enemies of your master, and meet the Infidels in their strong holds. You say," a weekly periodical, selling well, is not to be trifled with." "THE LION" does sell well, and is read by thousands of Infidels and others, who are on the high road to infidelity. It is the present assailing weapon against Christianity. If it contain the poison of error, its pages are open to your antidote. There is the scene for your action.There the point to level your weapons.-There the place to meet

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and defeat the enemies of Christ.-There the spot to convert and and save souls, and to gain a crown of immortal glory as your reward. There is an enemy worth contending with.-In the low, the vulgar, and unlearned, you find true believers; but no true infidels. Those are to be found only among philosophers, men of letters, and those endowed with reason and common sense. Bolingbroke, Hume, Gibbon, Byron, Voltaire, Volney, Paine, Palmer, &c., were not low minded fools. Refute their works and independent of the Crown of Glory, you shall be made a bishop. But if your boasted ability be not sufficient to obtain you the crown or mitre, surely you have sufficient to refute the contemptible" productions which appear in "THE LION." What are the pigmy efforts of those would-be infidels? why, they have only worldly knowledge, (assisted, you say, by the Devil,) while you are a minister of Jesus, evangelically inspired, assisted by Christ, and endowed with the Holy Ghost, with the Bible and all the saints on your side, and the public prepossessed in your favour by their education, you are trebly armed at all points. Why, genteel Sir, there is no comparison between you. On behalf of your own character as a minister of the gospel of Christ on behalf of that congregation over whom you preside on behalf of Christianity itself, all of which is much concerned in the result of your conduct; let me induce you to follow my advice. If you give lectures, publish them in "THE LION." If you produce evidences for Christianity, publish them in "THE LION." Follow the steps of Jesus, your master, preach to the sinners, convert the infidels, and save the souls of the fallen; for such, you say, are the majority of the readers of "THE LION." In the name of all you hold sacred, good and divine, I invite you to this holy work-perform it with zeal, and your God will bless you. Put down "THE LION," by the soundness, reason, and force of your arguments, and the canting aldermen, who caused the Rev. Robert Taylor to be confined in Oakham gaol, for his infidelity, shall applaud you. Do only this, a mere trifle, with the ability and powerful assistance, which I have pointed out as your possession, and you will find a ready follower and disciple A CHILD OF Nature.

in,

Bristol, Sept. 15, 1828.

NOTE.-I have to inform Mr. Gilbert and the readers of "THE LION," that the writer of the foregoing letter is well known to me as my Bristol host, and that, for family, business, property, or general talent, he is inferior to no one member of Mr. Gilbert's congregation. R. C.

DIALOGUE BETWEEN A BOOKSELLER AND HIS CUSTOMER.

THE following colloquy was related to me the other day, as having actually taken place in a shop not a hundred miles from Blackfriars Bridge:

Customer. What is the price of that book, which you have labelled as "Tom Paine's Rights of Man?"

Bookseller.-Five Shillings, Sir.

Cus. Then it is a work of some merit I suppose, I thought it was valueless, by being labelled so contemptuously?

Books.-It is a work to which a certain class of people affix a value; but as to merit, it is out of the question, it is mere rubbish in literature. Cus. Then you have read it, I suppose?

Books.-Oh yes, Sir, and condemned it long ago, as all good men will. Cus.-Then, if the book is bad, why offer it for sale?

Books. Why, Sir, when we buy works, we must try to sell them again, and it will only be bought by those who value it,

Cus. Then I am one of those, and will buy it. And now, Mr. Bookseller, inform me what particular proposition in the book, you object to, as being rubbish?

Books.-I really Sir, do not recollect just now any point in particular, on which to lay that censure.

led

Cus.-But as you have read it, you must remember what it was which you to condemn it, something must remain on your mind, which caused you to pass on it such unqualified reprobation.

Books. Why, Sir, you know it is all against God and the king.

Cus.-I know no such thing. It appears to me, that, to the malignancy of party, you have added a falsehood; you have never read the book, or you would know that there is not a word against God in it. I do not believe you have another book in your shop, in which there is so much truth unmixed with error. Let me advise you my friend to be more careful in future, of what you say about the writings of better men than yourself, as you only expose your own ignorance, and bring on yourself well merited contempt. Good morning. W. V. H.

STANZA S.

WHEN I am dead, Oh! lay me not
Within the common burial ground;
I would not lie where thousands rot,
And spread unwholesome vapours round.
Let not the tale which parsons tell,
O'er me be read, of heaven and hell.
In life I did not love the crowd;

I shunned with haste their very breath ;
And now envelop'd in the shroud,
And all is noisome made by death,
"Tis doubly hateful. Lay me not
In any consecrated spot.

I would be quicker in decay,
Or not decay at all. I'd bide
Upon the gentlest winds that play,

Or on the storm whose angry tide
Spreads o'er the isles, where sets the sun,
Ruin, ere one short day be done.

Lay me upon the fiery bed

Round which the Hindoo oft laments,-
That to the atmosphere may spread
My pure ærial elements;

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