from the above causes, others, and there are more of these latter, from prudential motives, alter their conduct. These rapid transitions, or rather metamorphoses, which, from whatever motive, are pretty general, are not, however, likely to be regarded as sincere; nor are they calculated to inspire in others either respect or confidence. We ourselves have known the sternest censor morum of a College, and for a time, in his official situation, of the whole University, who could excuse nothing, overlook no venial trespass. We think we see him now-a thin, sneering, sour, Mephistopheles-looking man, whose lean form, resembling Cruikshank's illustration of the man in grey of shadow-selling memory, told not of the good things he loved - listening, with compressed lips, and cold, incredulous air, to some, to him insufficient, apology; albeit a manly, yet still in his eyes an impertinent, acknowledgment of error. Yet this man was, but a very few years before, a rioter amid the self-same scenes; his name and his offences still extant in a book containing the boating annals of his College!

Or these two paragraphs, on education and chapel-going :

Doubtless, it may be said, in the vast fund of knowledge, which a man acquires in the University, a compensation is found for every abuse. But what do they teach? Why, literally nothing, beyond something of what they miscal divinity,' of which more anon; and at best a little of Aristotle's and Plato's philosophy, wretchedly garbled; logic by rote; and the infailibility of the Church. Such, truly, is the course of study at Oxford, prescribed by College tutors. Alas! and such is what is styled 'a liberal education!'...... As to attending daily chapel in itself, it is little better than a remnant of monkish custom......Observe the sleepy frown, listen to the muttered curse, the impatient whisper of the morning, whilst the dull-eyed tutor mumbles, heavily, through the service; or the eager sportsman, among the juniors, as rapidly gallops through the lesson for the day. And see the flushed and excited mob of undergraduates reeling in from the wine party to evening service - the obscene jest still on the lip and the scarcely suppressed laughter continually bursting forth. Ard, perhaps, now the service is performed by one fresh from the heated atmosphere of the common-room, his brain stupified with rough port wine; he reads as much from memory as by use of his visual organs, and stutters forth apace the earnest prayer of faith, hope, and penitence, anxious to rejoin the grave and steady debauch of the seniors.

We have not been refreshed with so much liberality for a long time. 'Oxford Unmasked' and 'Alton Locke,' which is noticed elsewhere, are worthy the attention of those who desire to know what is done at both the Universities by our sucking priests, statesmen, and lawyers,

We have lately had a specimen of what Christianity can do for the majority of priestly men, by way of modifying the asperities and cultivating the amenities of their (shall we say human ?) nature, We have seen

* I might add, that some lessons in the great world are taught-nowhere better. For instance, that wealth and rank are idols before which all must bow down; that interest is superior to merit; and, that the memorable line of Juvenal should be well impressed on the minds of needy sinners

'Dat veniam corvis, vexat censura columbas.

gathered together a vast herd of the genus priest, species Wesleyan, in what is ironically termed Conference, at the famous City Road chapel. We know nothing of a single member of the conference; but, judging from the reports, a more unamiable set of two-legged animals without feathers have seldom herded together before, They began by prayer and sermonising, and after exhausting, by that convenient process, the little milk of priestly kindness extant among them, they began to abuse, calumniate, badger, censure, and vituperate one another, and disgust the public. Seized with a salutary fear of the press, they permitted only the privileged reporters of the Watchman to be present. Means were however found to place reports at the service of the Wesleyan Times, the advocate of the reform movement, We have nothing to do with the causes of the multifarious quarrels raging in the Wesleyan body, Like all establishments, this, too, has resulted in priestly domination; and the party in possession of the loaves and fishes derive the animus with which they defend them from the fear of loss. The Wesleyan Times thus described the conference of preachers:

The Conference of Preachers can hardly be dignified with the character of deliberative,' because its unhappy temper is roused by the slightest difference of opinion, and it is ever and anon disturbed by exhibitions of ungovernable rage and passion, Its reckless proceedings have already earned for it an unenviable notoriety, which it can scarcely hope to remove in the four or five days of its utmost existence. The record of its doings, so far, is one of the most revolting pictures that the eye can well gaze upon. Some of the incidents in the book-room edition of Fox's Martyrologia would faintly shadow forth the atrocities which have been perpetrated in the name of insulted and outraged Christianity,

What can be more instructive ? The picture may be extravagant, but there is good reason to believe that the reality was sufficiently revolting, Take a scene as recorded by the Wesleyan Times :

August 14 (evening).—Mr. Rowland's case came before the Conference this evening. When asked if he was now prepared to make an apology, he replied-very calmly, but firmly--that he had no apology to make,' The uproar upon this announcement was very great, and vast efforts were put forth to induce him to yield, At length, when all failed, Dr. Bunting came forward and altered the terms of the apology. He said, they did not ask him to apologise for his principles, but for the reflection he (Mr. Rowland) had cast on the acts of the Conference. Mr. Rowland still remained firm, saying that he had no apology to make. Mr. Waddy, in the most ungentlemanly way, said-Oh! nothing of the sort could be expected from Mr. Rowland. He was pledged to another party.' Mr. Rowland indignantly denied the accusation. 'He was pledged to no party; to his principles he was pledged, but to no party.' Dr. Beaumont thought Mr. Waddy ought to retract the injurious statement he had made. Mr. Waddy was astonished that Dr. Beaumont should take the part he did, after having received the censure of the Conference! It was great effrontery in him, after that, to come down to the house and take part in its proceedings!' Dr. Beaumont said it required the effrontery of Mr. Waddy to utter such a speech; and he

begged to assure him that he was mistaken if he thought that he (Dr. B.) was going to allow the censure which they had been pleased to pass on him at all to interfere with or alter his course, or prevent him saying what he thought it his duty to say.

Mr. Rowland is one of the reformers. He is the only man who, in this business, behaved with common decency.

This Methodist squabble is, however, interesting to us inasmuch as it is a conflict between the priests and the people. The former hold the chapels without control, and of course enjoy the incomes thereof. The latter properly consider that as they pay, so ought they to have some voice in disposing of the taxes. Wesleyanism is an offshoot from the Church of England, and inherits, from its comfort-loving but estranged parent, some of its worst qualities-intolerance, avarice, pride. Pope Bunting walking up the High Street of Oxford, hanging on the arm of Sir Harry Inglis, not unaptly illustrate the connection between the two churches. They are both engines for fleecing, stultifying, and oppressing the people.

Yet as we look around upon all these quarrels and conflicts we perceive much to gratify us, and many signs of the breaking up of the religious world. Piece by piece it will be rent asunder. Within the church and without the church free-thought has its ardent votaries. Opinion is rapidly undergoing a profound change. Daily and hourly, what is called, invidiously, infidelity acquires fresh and enthusiastic recruits. Education is doing its appointed work and knowledge has not been diffused in vain.

No doubt here and there persecution will strive to raise it head, and show its teeth, as in the case of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, where it is reported that Magistrates have prohibited 'itinerant lecturers' from lecturing in that provincial metropolis. But persecution is only looked upon as an opportunity by the soldiers of free-thought. The 'itinerant lecturers' will be duly found at their post. Even Oxford would not be without its 'itinerant lecturer' if it seemed expedient or necessary to 'do duty' there. So true is it that the b.ood of martyrs is the seed of liberty.

SELF-BAPTISM.-Referring to the refusal of a clergyman to read the burial service, the Western Times says, 'If the father had, himself, baptised the child, he could have demanded the services of the church at the funeral. Anybody may baptise anybody, and it shall be lawful as the law now stands. In fact, we have heard a very eminent lawyer lay it down that a man may baptise himself.'-Baptist Reporter.-[Robert Robinson, of Cambridge (the predecessor of Robert Hall), baptised his daughters in his own garden, by the introduction of some water; but he did not throw them backwards into it, a refinement creditable to his feelings and judgment.]

THE HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS SCEPTICISM.*

MR. LANGFORD, of Birmingham, who from his youth has betrayed promise of a career of activity and usefulness, has written a work on 'Religious Scep. ticism' calculated to make his name known in a wider sphere. To Freethinkers the title of his work has interest-we are sorry that that interest will not be sustained with those who shall be induced to read any farther.

A brief yet not untrue description of Mr. Langford's book would be, that it is a Book of Disappointments. In a work of intellectual correction you expect at least that the title may be relied upon-not so in this case. The work professes to be the History, Cause, Cure, and Mission of Infidelity and Scepticism,' and it contains neither the history, the cause, the cure, nor the mission. Its history' lies in the exposition of systems, and Mr. Langford contents himself with the vaguest features of parties: its 'cause' lies in intellectual perceptions disregarded by the believer-a view of the case Mr. Langford unscrupulously ignores: its cure,' if it can be cured, lies in the recognition of the whole problem of doubt with its relations to conscience and understanding in placing it in an ampler light and supplying the missing evidence, which Mr. Langford can hardly be said to attempt: its mission' is to trace the bounds of human knowledge that men may discern the point at which ignorance begins, and learn within what limits to follow the understanding, and where it is salutary to trust the imagination. This, to borrow language applied to another topic by one who has thrown more light on these subjects than any living writer, may be regarded as the mission of scepticism, if we add to it the descriptive fact that it includes a development of reason and humanity different from that otherwise attainable; but of this Mr. Langford has but a faint idea. Nor is it thus only that this book disappoints. When on page 5 the author betrays a consciousness of the peril of employing vague terms, and admits infidelity to be a term so employed, the reader expects that from all such licences Mr. Langford at length is going to deliver us, but is doomed to find new latitudes introduced. As step by step the author proceeds, he cannot hide from himself that exposition and criticism are demanded of him, and he has to say that it is not in his way; when systems of philosophy have to be contrasted, again we are told it is not in his way to do it; when an important book or philosopher requires analysis, we find instead a reiteration that it is not in Mr. Langford's way to attempt it; when you come to existing expositions of scepticisms, in which alone all relevance of the book to the public must lie, it is not in Mr. Langford's way to notice them, till, in fact, it seems not to be in his way to notice at all the subject upon which he treats; it rather seems his design to ignore everything which the reader expects, or the plan of his work requires.

Religious Scepticism and Infidelity: their History, Cause, Cure, and Mission.' By John Alfred Langford. John Chapman.

We should like to know what title Mr. Langford first adopted, and under which he wrote his book; the present one must have been an afterthought suggested by the advertiser. It cannot be that Mr. Langford can have consciously produced a book so much beside his ostensible subject. Mr. Langford would have no compassion on the sceptic who so evaded his own avowed purpose.

There is one fact in connection with this book, noticeable by any who read a single chapter carefully, which must determine its character as an unphilosophical performance. Mr. Langford finds flippant fault with Romish and Protestant priests of various periods for their infidelity, i. e., unfaithfulness to their professions; but Mr. Langford judges them by an ideal standard erected in 1850 by Mr. Dawson, the author of Mr. Langford's inspiration, at the Church of the Saviour, Birmingham. The priests whom Mr. Langford treats so mercilessly were in most cases true to their ideal, and were justified by appeals to scripture as then received and interpreted. Were we to try old writers by the grammatical canons of our day, we might convict them all of ignorance for not following rules, which did not exist till after they were dead; but by such a course we should expose our own ignorance more than theirs. It is upon a similar rule that Mr. Langford makes so vehement display of reproofs of ancient sects and churches. We make no pretension to Mr. Langford's religious insight, but we should hesitate long before we could bring ourselves so to vituperate whole bodies of Christians, whose acts we grant were hurtful to humanity and to morals, but who were themselves the victims of a contradictory book and a fatal creed.

In speaking of the 'mission' of infidelity, Mr. Langford does betray occasional glimpses that one of its functions is to bring men back to first principles, and that it is often a protest against dominant error. Surely it then takes the form of truth, and merits more than a contemptuous recognition ? From one who betrays liberal sympathies, and who has enjoyed such excellent teaching as that which Mr. Dawson, on the whole, dispenses to those who hear him, we had a right to expect that the old terms of abuse, infidelity and scepticism, would have been recast in sound and just definition - that 'scepticism' would have been freed from its imputed association with Pyrrhonism, and infidelity from the accusation of unfaithfulness and treachery to truth. We are sorry Mr. Langford, from whom we expected better things, has given the weight of his book to the errors of the churches and the prejudices of the age.

Mr. Langford tells us, in a dedication to Mr. George Dawson, in better taste than anything he has before written of that gentleman, that the 'materialism, scepticism, and irreligion of the age, has ever found in him a stern rebuker.' Mr. Langford, it is needless to say, attempts a vigorous imitation of Mr. Dawson in this respect, but we tell Mr. Langford that there is something better than this which should have attracted his ambition-to have been the refuter rather than the 'rebuker' of scepticism.