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+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #62506 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/62506)
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-The Project Gutenberg eBook, Socialism Exposed, by Rev. Joseph Mather
-
-
-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most
-other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
-whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of
-the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
-www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have
-to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook.
-
-
-
-
-Title: Socialism Exposed
-
-
-Author: Rev. Joseph Mather
-
-
-
-Release Date: June 28, 2020 [eBook #62506]
-
-Language: English
-
-Character set encoding: UTF-8
-
-
-***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SOCIALISM EXPOSED***
-
-
-Transcribed from the [c1840’s] Religious Tract Society edition by David
-Price, email ccx074@pglaf.org
-
- [Picture: Book cover]
-
-
-
-
-
- SOCIALISM EXPOSED.
-
-
- * * * * *
-
- BY THE REV. JOSEPH MATHER.
-
- * * * * *
-
- * * * * *
-
- THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY, INSTITUTED 1799.
- 56, PATERNOSTER ROW, AND 65, ST. PAULS CHURCHYARD.
-
-MR. OWEN professes to be seeking the happiness of his species: he
-imagines he has discovered the specific, which, if believed and applied,
-will produce it; and he is using all the means in his power to convince
-the world that such is the fact, and to induce the men of it to receive,
-and follow his prescriptions.
-
-We must confess that we are not a little startled at the means by which
-he proposes to accomplish this desirable object. And here we quote his
-own language: “The religions founded under the name of Jewish, Budh,
-Jehovah, God or Christ, Mohammed, or any other, are all composed of human
-laws in opposition to nature’s eternal laws.” (Book of the New Moral
-World, p. 68.) From which it appears that all other systems have been
-wrong, founded on error, and productive of nothing but misery and crime:
-and before his can be established they must be renounced, and overturned,
-and abolished. Now, Mr. Owen professes to have found out something
-better than what I and the world are in possession of; but I do not wish
-to be like the dog in the fable, which, when he had a piece of meat,
-dropped it, because, from seeing its shadow in the water, he fancied
-there was another and a larger within his reach, and so lost them both.
-Before I give up what I know and feel to be valuable, the source of
-comfort and the source of happiness, let me not only be convinced that it
-is a superior good which is held out before me, but let me have the
-possession of it.
-
-Then let me ask, What evidence does Mr. Owen furnish, that the system and
-principles of the New Moral World are so much superior to those of the
-Christian system? Let us contrast the two a little, and see how far we
-shall be acting wisely in rejecting all that we have been accustomed to
-believe and reverence as Divine in favour of these new principles.
-
-And first, as to the evidence of their authority. The writers of the
-Bible, while they come to us claiming our attention, and demanding our
-regard, tell us that they are only messengers sent from God; they come in
-his name and speak what he has put into their minds and their mouths;
-and, as a proof of their being what they profess, as credentials, they
-work miracles which none but a Divine power could work; they deliver
-prophecies and predictions of events, many of which have since come to
-pass, and others are in course of accomplishment; and they announce
-truths, doctrines, and principles which, for their originality and yet
-beautiful simplicity, for their importance, and at the same time their
-universal adaptation to the wants and the circumstances of the whole
-human race, and for their purity and invariable tendency to good, speak
-for themselves, and declare that they are Divine. Yet a book resting on
-such authority, and supported by such testimonials, is to be rejected,
-and thrown aside, and its principles are pronounced to be evil and
-unsound, on the authority of—whom think you? Mr. Robert Owen!!
-
-Is it not a fearful responsibility which such an individual assumes, to
-tell me that I am not to believe a testimony which is supported by
-miracles, is confirmed by prophecies, and, above all, is borne out by its
-own native dignity, and intrinsic beauty and worth? Surely such a person
-ought to be furnished, and he ought to present to those whom he wishes to
-believe him, evidence of his authority, and proofs of his claims to the
-high distinction to which he aspires, to be the founder of a New Moral
-World. Then, where are Mr. Owen’s claims? And what are his proofs?
-Would you believe it? He adduces nothing but his simple testimony! his
-own unsupported word!! Here is a man wiser than Solomon, and more
-profound than Moses! He is even superior to Jesus Christ, the Son of
-God!!! And this you and I are called upon to believe simply because he
-himself says so!!!
-
-Well, but after all he may have pretensions to our notice, and if we do
-not receive his revelation, we may be shutting our eyes to our own
-happiness, and the means of our welfare. Then let me ask, Upon what are
-those pretensions founded? Truths, which are propounded, sometimes gain
-attention from the character and well-known ability of the persons that
-propound them. Thus great names often obtain currency for sentiments
-which otherwise would not receive a moment’s attention. Then, perhaps,
-Mr. Owen is to eclipse and throw into the shade all other minds that have
-preceded him. That is (to say nothing of Isaiah, and Paul, and Daniel,
-and many other scriptural worthies) Robert Boyle, and Isaac Newton, and
-John Locke, and Francis Bacon, and John Milton, and a host more of such
-great and mighty minds, are nothing before Mr. Owen!!! Does he himself
-pretend this? Let us give him credit for so much modesty as not to put
-forth such pretensions.
-
-Then if he be not superior to those stars in intellect, to those giants
-in mind which have preceded him, and all of whom expressed their
-admiration of the Bible, and bore their strongest testimony to its
-Divinity and authority, perhaps his opportunities of coming at the truth,
-in reference to the principles upon which the New Moral World is to be
-founded, have given him the advantage, and enabled him, though inferior,
-to succeed, while others, very greatly his superiors, have failed. Then
-what advantages does he profess to have enjoyed? He himself shall tell
-us: “It is a system the result of much reading, observation, and
-reflection, combined with extensive practical experience, and
-confidential communication with official public characters in various
-countries, and with leading minds among all classes; a system founded on
-the eternal laws of nature, and derived from facts and experience only.”
-(Preface to the Book of the New Moral World, p. x.) And thus, without
-even pretending that he has spent his time, or devoted his energies, to
-an examination and careful investigation of the book which professes to
-be Divine, and of the truths and doctrines which it contains, he calls
-upon us to reject and renounce it, while these great minds have spent,
-not only hours but years upon its study, and as the result of their
-investigations have expressed their highest admiration of its contents,
-and have employed their talents and influence to recommend it to others.
-And here I might adduce testimonies to its excellence were it necessary;
-but that is a work of supererogation. Then I appeal to every wise, to
-every reflecting mind. Can those persons be acting the part of rational
-beings, who in a matter of such infinite moment as a revelation from
-Heaven, with its momentous contents, refuse to receive it, although
-supported by the strongest arguments, and confirmed by the most
-invincible testimonies,—testimonies from miracles, from prophecies, from
-history, from men of the greatest learning, and the most powerful minds,
-and even from enemies; and that, too, as the result of the closest
-investigation, and also personal experience, of its truths, merely
-because Mr. Owen says that it ought not to be received, and that it must
-be rejected before his system can be established? Matters have indeed
-come to a fearful pass, when Mr. Owen ventures, not only to set himself
-against, but wants to claim superiority over the wisest and the greatest
-men of all ages, and of all countries; over prophets, and apostles, and
-evangelists; over Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and even over God
-himself!
-
-But, suppose we throw away that book which we have been accustomed to
-hold sacred,—suppose we consent to regard Mr. Owen as the wisest of men,
-and to receive his principles as the standard of unerring truth, and to
-adopt them; surely we may not only expect, but we shall certainly find,
-emanating from him nothing but the truth; and we may venture implicitly
-to follow him, when he commands us so to do. But to show how far he is a
-safe guide, I need do no more than refer to his own statements at
-different times. Thus, in 1823, Mr. Owen developed the principles of his
-system in a series of letters, published in the “Glasgow Chronicle,”
-contained in twelve propositions, preceded by one general proposition, as
-the foundation of the whole. But, since then, his twelve propositions
-have dwindled down to five fundamental facts; only, to make up for the
-loss in fundamental principles, we have now twenty supplemental laws.
-But, if in 1823, Mr. Owen had discovered and revealed the laws of nature,
-and those laws he expressly declares to be immutable, how comes it to
-pass that in 1838 they have so greatly altered, not only in their number
-and form, but also in their very nature, as given in the “New Moral
-World?”
-
-If alterations so many, and so fundamental, can take place in the
-immutable laws of nature; if in 1823, Mr. Owen can require credence and
-implicit confidence in his principles as infallible truth; and then again
-in 1838, can demand credence and implicit confidence in a new and quite
-different set of principles, and declare that they also are infallible
-truth, may he not in 1848, if Providence should spare his life so long,
-have discovered some new laws, and found out some fresh principles? If
-it should be replied, No, he has now got the truth, the whole truth, and
-nothing but the truth; we answer, So he said in 1823. And yet he has
-changed his principles, call it improved them, if you like, but they are
-different, and they may yet change again. How, then, can we be certain
-that we have now got the truth? If not, would it be wise to throw away
-the volume of inspiration, the word of unerring truth, before we are
-certain that we have something better to supply its place?
-
-But if we admit, for the sake of argument, that the principles of the
-“New Moral World,” are now fixed, and will no more be changed; let us see
-how far they recommend themselves from their own intrinsic nature, and
-internal excellence.
-
-And to begin with his first fact, which tells us that “man is a compound
-being,” and his first law, which declares that “human nature, in the
-aggregate, is a compound, consisting of animal propensities, intellectual
-faculties, and moral qualities.” Pray how does Mr. Owen come to know any
-thing about man or human nature? And from what source did he obtain
-those views of his constitution which he promulgates to the world as the
-unerring principles of truth: and especially, as he tells us that man is
-“made by a power unknown to himself, and without his knowledge or
-consent.” Now, upon Mr. Owen’s own principle, man knows nothing of
-himself, then how does Mr. Owen know any thing about him?
-
-If he does not know, and has not perfect knowledge on the subject on
-which he takes upon himself to speak with the most unbounded confidence,
-he certainly is very unfit for the office to which he aspires, of
-teaching others; but if he has knowledge, where did he obtain it? for,
-according to his own principles, all the thoughts of the human mind are
-not the voluntary acts of the mind, but entirely the result of
-circumstances, and are communicated to him; and consequently man knows
-nothing but what he is taught. Mr. Owen’s knowledge, then must have been
-imparted to him. Now then, who communicated it to him? He must have
-received it from some man, or he must have derived it from inspiration.
-If he received it from a human teacher, it is very disingenuous in him to
-take to himself the merit of discoveries which belong to another; but, if
-he obtained his knowledge by inspiration, it certainly would only be
-candid for him to let us know when he was inspired, and also let us judge
-of the evidence of his inspiration; for unless he does that, as this is
-the ground on which the Christian Scriptures rest, and they do give us
-many strong and unequivocal proofs of their Divine origin, I and many
-more prefer taking what we know to be from God, to the unsupported
-testimony or revelation of Robert Owen. But, Mr. Owen may say that he
-has not received what he undertakes to teach, either from man or God:
-then he himself overturns his own system; for he expressly says that man
-can know nothing but what he is taught. From the very first position,
-therefore, which Mr. Owen takes, it will be seen how ill qualified he is
-to be the great teacher of the world.
-
-Nor is the next attempt which he makes at imparting knowledge much
-better, if any, than the first. It is that man, who did not make
-himself, but was made by a power unknown to himself, is the creature of
-circumstances, over which he has no control, and in fact, is nothing but
-what he is made: or in other words, that he is a mere machine. Some,
-perhaps, may be a little startled at the deduction which I profess to
-draw from Mr. Owen’s principles, and think that he is not quite so bad as
-that: but I can tell them it is not a deduction of mine; it is one of the
-fundamental principles, nay, the corner-stone of Mr. Owen’s system, the
-admission and belief of which is essential to his success. Nay, in one
-of his works, “Essays on the formation of the human character,” he
-expressly says that men are “living machines,” p. 28. Whether even the
-followers of Mr. Owen may be flattered at being accounted only machines,
-and may be willing that he should mould and use them as he pleases, in
-working out his results, I know not: but I do think that men in general
-will not thank him for the compliment, nor be inclined to become his
-tools. It is too great a fall from the dignity of high, intelligent,
-rational, and accountable beings, to be treated as “living machines;”
-especially when every man, whatever may be his circumstances, has only
-need to appeal to his own consciousness for the evidences of the fact,
-that he is not a machine.
-
-But Mr. Owen tells us, “Men are nothing but what they are made, and they
-are made to be what they are by their organization, and the external
-circumstances which act upon and influence it,” namely, that
-organization. “None are, or can be bad by nature; their education,”
-which makes them bad, “is always the business or work of society, and not
-of the individual. The individual is thus, evidently, a material of
-nature, finished and fashioned by the society in which it lives,
-according to the ignorance, or the intelligence, or the knowledge of
-human nature, which that society has been made to possess, and by the
-influence of other external circumstances, with which the individual may
-be surrounded.” (Book of the New Moral World, p. 54.) But, if this
-statement be true, that the nature of man is good, and he would never be
-bad if he were not taught to be so, we now shall want all Mr. Owen’s
-wisdom to explain to us how, upon his system, evil and sin first came
-into the world. That they are in the world, he cannot but admit; indeed,
-he tells us that it is the object of his system to drive them out of it.
-Well, then, will he have the goodness to tell us how, upon his system,
-they first came into the world? Man could not do wrong without his being
-taught to do wrong? then who first taught him? And whence did he receive
-it? According to Mr. Owen’s theory, man could not receive it from
-himself; whence, then, did he get it? It must have been from some sinful
-being who was in the world before sin itself, which is a palpable
-contradiction! But, if the natural effect of Mr. Owen’s system be to
-lead to this absurdity, it requires nothing more to show that it is not,
-and cannot be, according to truth.
-
-But, if Mr. Owen’s principles be true, and the nature of man is
-inherently good, according to his own showing, his system is altogether
-unnecessary. For, if man would not be bad were he not taught to be so,
-surely the simplest and the easiest plan would be to take the human race
-in infancy, before they have been contaminated, or rather, “made to
-receive an unfavourable character,” and let the germs of goodness which
-they have within them develope themselves, and come to perfection.
-Should we, then, have a paradise without sin? Ah! Mr. Owen knows that
-there is not a single spot on this earth which has not been contaminated
-with sin; and instead of human nature being in a state the nearest
-approaching to perfection where there has been least contact with the
-truths and doctrines of the Bible, which he regards as the source of all
-the errors and all the evils which there are in the world, (see p. 60,
-Book of the New Moral World,) it is the testimony of universal history
-and fact, that there it is the most depraved.
-
-It is, however, not necessary to go to what may be termed the children of
-nature, to the untutored sons of the forest, to prove, not only the
-existence of sin, but also of a sinful disposition, of a natural tendency
-to evil even in the infant breast; it might be furnished to almost any
-extent from Mr. Owen’s own establishments, and from the lips of his own
-agents. It is possible that Mr. Owen himself, from his attachment to a
-favourite theory, and his desire to support it at all hazards, as well as
-from having his mind absorbed in the grand object which he has before
-him, may not see what is so plain to others; or, it may be that what
-appears black to them is white to him; but let his dancing masters, and
-the nurses of his infant children, be brought into an open court and
-fully examined, and they will testify to the satisfaction of every
-impartial jury, although composed even of Robert Owen’s followers, that
-some, at least, of these urchins, at an age when they could not have been
-taught these things, unless their mother’s milk imparted them, display
-passions and dispositions which indicate anything rather than an entire
-absence from evil. We shall require no other witnesses to prove that the
-nature of man is not naturally good, but is inherently depraved.
-
-But, if man from his birth has an evil principle within him, (I would
-call it a depraved nature,) then Mr. Owen’s principles, however much they
-may modify and change the external character, will not avail in changing
-the heart. His system will no more produce the results which he
-promises, the paradise of joy which he pictures before his followers,
-than have the systems of the old world. And, therefore, he is only
-amusing and deluding those that attend to him with pleasing dreams which
-can never be realized. If this, however, were all, it would not much
-matter; he might be left to pursue his course undisturbed; but when it is
-known that the effect of his system, whatever may be his design, is to
-take off the mind from everything but what is connected with his earthly
-paradise, and so cause it to neglect, and even despise everything
-connected with eternity and everlasting life, and the happiness of the
-principle which never dies, it would be, not only a dereliction of
-principle, but also a want of love to one’s species, not to lift up the
-voice against him, and endeavour to warn such persons of their fatal
-error, and the destructive consequences which must, and will inevitably
-ensue.
-
-But another fundamental principle of Mr. Owen’s system, as expressed in
-the 2nd and 3rd Fundamental Facts, and 13th Law, is, “Man is compelled by
-his original constitution, to receive his feelings and his convictions
-independently of his will;” and “his feelings, or his convictions, or
-both of them united, create the motive to action called the will, which
-stimulates him to act, and decides his actions;” and “each individual is
-so organized that he must believe according to the strongest conviction
-which is made upon his mind:” the plain meaning of which is, that man is
-not accountable for his belief, neither ought he to be considered
-accountable for his actions; and which, indeed, Mr. Owen does not leave
-his readers to deduce from his principles, but which he himself
-explicitly states. Thus, he says, “Man cannot be bad by nature, and it
-must,” therefore, “be a gross error to make him responsible for what
-nature and his predecessors have compelled him to be.” (Book of the New
-Moral World, p. 54.)
-
-That man is not accountable, that he can think as he likes, and act as he
-pleases, without being amenable, either to God or man, for his thoughts
-or his actions, is a doctrine which will well accord with the wishes of
-all those who feel the idea of God and judgment a restraint upon their
-conduct, and human laws oftentimes a barrier in the way of indulging
-their evil desires. And it is lamentable to think how many, even of this
-description of persons, there are to be found in the world.
-
-But it is a question of the deepest importance, whether or not this
-principle be true. Mr. Owen calls it a law and a fact; and if persons
-are willing to take what he says for granted, merely because he says it,
-and so to stake their character in this world, and their eternal
-well-being in another, upon his unsupported testimony, they may endeavour
-to satisfy themselves in believing it, and try to make and keep their
-consciences as easy as they can. What a happy thing it would be, if Mr.
-Owen’s saying that there is no judgment, and that man is not accountable,
-could make it be so! But is it so? We all know that Mr. Owen’s saying
-that there is no guilt in crime, that man acts only as he is compelled to
-do, and ought not, therefore, to be either punished or praised for what
-he does, does not release him from the responsibility imposed by human
-government and human laws; and it is well both for him and for us, that
-it does not; for only break the bonds of law, and leave each one to act
-as he likes, and what a pandemonium, instead of a paradise, we should
-have! Why even Mr. Owen himself is under the necessity, in his own
-paradise, of imposing laws, and putting very considerable restraint upon
-the wishes and the inclinations of those that expected when they entered
-his establishment to be perfectly happy in the enjoyment of their own
-will. As a proof of this, I beg to give an extract from a published
-statement of a visit paid to New Harmony, in America, by the Duke of Saxe
-Weimar, in April, 1826.
-
- “On Sunday morning, the society met in the large building, and the
- meeting was opened by music. Mr. Owen delivered a discourse on the
- advantages of the society. In the evening the duke paid visits to
- the ladies, and witnessed philosophy, and the love of equality put to
- the severest trial with one of them, young and handsome. While she
- was singing, and playing very well on the pianoforte, she was told
- that milking of cows was her duty. Almost in tears, she betook
- herself to this servile employment, deprecating the new social
- system, and its so much prized equality. After the cows were milked,
- in doing which this pretty girl was trod on by one, and daubed by
- another, the duke made one in an aquatic party with the young ladies
- and some of the young philosophers, in a boat, upon the Wabash. The
- evening was beautiful. The duke’s heroine regaled the party with her
- sweet voice. Afterwards, the whole party amused themselves in
- dancing cotillions, reels, and waltzes, and with such animation as to
- render it, as the duke adds, quite lively. A new figure had been
- introduced into the cotillions, called the New Social System.
- Several of the ladies objected to dancing on Sunday. ‘We thought,
- however,’ writes the Duke, ‘that in this sanctuary of philosophy,
- such prejudices should be utterly discarded, and our arguments, as
- well as the inclination of the ladies, gained the victory.’” (Three
- years in North America, by James Stuart, Esq., vol. ii. p. 442.)
-
-And not only is Mr. Owen under the necessity of passing laws, and of
-making those that belong to his establishment amenable to those laws, but
-the whole of his system is founded upon compulsion, both mental and
-bodily; for he would take infants from the care of their mothers, and put
-them under the care of his dancing-master, and there train them according
-to his model, and mould them according to his ideas; and that, no doubt,
-oftentimes very much against the inclination of the children themselves.
-The only difference between the present state of things, and the state
-which he wishes to introduce is, that he would put himself in the place
-of God, and of all human laws; and not only give laws to all his
-followers, but also enforce them. Whether the task would not be more
-than he could accomplish you shall judge by and by.
-
-But as Mr. Owen cannot release us from the obligation of human laws,
-neither can he from that of the laws of God. Man may say, “Who is the
-Lord, that I should obey him?” but, even while he is saying it, he feels,
-whether he will or not, and is under the necessity of acknowledging to
-his own mind, that there is a Being above him whom he does not love, but
-from whose eye, and whose power he cannot escape; before whose dread
-tribunal he is conscious that he must stand, and be “judged according to
-the deeds which have been done in the body, whether they be good, or
-whether they be evil.” This is one of those eternal laws which are
-engraven, not only in the face of nature, but upon every mind and
-conscience, which Mr. Owen wishes to erase, and in the room of which he
-would write what he calls “the eternal laws of nature:” and in the
-accomplishment of his task, there are multitudes that would gladly help
-him, and contribute all the aid in their power; and, so eager are they
-for the accomplishment of his and their wishes, that they have even
-agreed to believe it, or rather, agreed to say that they believe it, and
-to act upon it, before it has been proved to be true.
-
-Nor is it possible for them to prove it. They might as well attempt to
-prove that the sun does not shine at noonday, and they would have quite
-as much hope of success, as attempt to prove either to themselves or
-others, that “there is no God,” and that there is no hereafter. They may
-argue with themselves upon the subject, and attempt to convince
-themselves of the truth of what they wish to be true; and sometimes they
-may think they have satisfied themselves upon the point; but the next
-day, or perhaps the next hour, the sight of a funeral, the hearing of the
-death of a fellow creature, or even a sharp pain in their own bodies,
-sweeps away in a moment all the cobwebs which they have been weaving, and
-leaves them exposed to the naked truth, unsheltered and unprepared, that
-there is a judgment, and that they must stand and be judged.
-
-And this judgment will be, whatever Mr. Owen may say to the contrary, not
-only for actions but for thoughts and opinions. And it is strictly
-reasonable that it should be so; for not only is man not compelled to
-believe, contrary to his will, but he is not compelled to believe at all.
-He is a rational and intelligent creature, and from the very constitution
-of his being, he must and can believe, only as he has evidence upon which
-his belief is to be founded. For the mind to believe without evidence,
-is like the eye seeing without light. But there may be light, and yet
-the eye may not see, for it may shut itself. And there may be evidence
-which would carry conviction to the mind if it were brought before it,
-and yet the mind may not be convinced, simply because it will not receive
-it, for it does not wish to be convinced. But who does not know that
-there are none so deaf as those who will not hear! And, in like manner,
-we say, “There are none so blind as those who will not see.” Men have
-the law which they are bound to obey—the law of God; they have the means
-of becoming acquainted with that law; they have the ability to perform
-all that this law requires, if they are so disposed; if, therefore, they
-break this law, it is not because they are compelled so to do, but their
-own voluntary act and deed; and reason tells them that it is just that
-they should be punished for their transgressions. In like manner, the
-gospel of Jesus Christ reveals to man a way of escape from the miseries
-of the fall, those miseries which Mr. Owen admits to exist, whatever he
-may say respecting the source from which they spring; which way is a
-provision of mercy, and an act of grace on the part of the Divine Being.
-For the accomplishment of it, he gave his own Son to die in the stead of
-man; and as the result of his death, he has offered salvation, and that
-freely, to every one that believeth. Now, the evidence, upon which these
-glorious truths rest, is such, so full, so clear, and so conclusive, that
-he may run that readeth; and man has the means of knowing these truths:
-if, therefore, he remain in ignorance respecting them, or when they are
-brought before him he does not believe them, it is entirely a wilful and
-a voluntary unbelief. For that he will be condemned, and reason will
-approve his doom.
-
-In wading through the mass of absurdities and errors contained in Mr.
-Owen’s principles, as developed in the “Book of the New Moral World,” it
-would have been a very easy task to have selected a number more which
-might have been exposed: but to go through the whole work page by page,
-would indeed be labour lost, as to most readers; for I am persuaded there
-are very few that understand, or even profess completely to understand
-his principles. Neither is it necessary for their purpose that they
-should. What they want is a system which shall let them live and do as
-they like, without being exposed to the consequences of their conduct,
-and this they find in the system of the New Moral World. But I think I
-have knocked down some, if not all the main pillars of the structure: the
-rest will fall of themselves.
-
-There is, however, one law of such a character, which, when understood,
-will perhaps have a greater influence in preserving such as have no
-selfish or wicked ends to answer, from falling into his pernicious
-errors, than any long train of argument, and that is the following:—“Each
-individual is so organized that he must like that which is pleasant to
-him, or which, in other words, produces agreeable sensations in him; and
-dislike that which is unpleasant to him, or which, in other words,
-produces in him disagreeable sensations; and he cannot know previous to
-experience, what particular sensations new objects will produce on any of
-his senses.” (Law 12.)
-
-The meaning of this law will be best explained by an extract from Mr.
-Owen’s “Declaration of Mental Independence, addressed to the Society at
-New Harmony, July 4, 1826,” in which, in reference to the law of
-marriage, he says, “It is, in reality, the greatest crime against nature
-to prevent organized beings from uniting with those objects, or other
-organized beings, with which nature has created in them a desire to
-unite.”
-
-Thus has Robert Owen ventured, not only to set himself in opposition to
-God, but also to declare that that law of Divine appointment which
-enjoins a man to “leave his father and his mother, and to cleave unto his
-wife;” and forbids “man to put asunder what God hath joined together,” is
-wicked; and, as he avers, has “produced hypocrisy, crime, and misery,
-beyond the power of language to express.” So that he would avoid the
-crime of adultery by making all persons common; and each man and each
-woman should be left at perfect liberty to have whom they liked, keep
-them as long as they liked, and change them as often as they liked.
-Come, this is speaking out; and it is just what is wanted. The poison
-then will carry along with it its own antidote.
-
-On another subject, too, Mr. Owen has spoken plainly. He says, “The love
-of truth is an instinct of human nature which would be always exercised
-in simplicity, were not individuals praised and blamed for particular
-feelings,” p. 11. The Bible tells us that “man goeth astray from the
-womb, speaking lies.” Now, which is to be believed, Robert Owen, or God?
-
-But I ought to beg Robert Owen’s pardon; according to his doctrine, there
-is no personal God: this is his language: “The error respecting this law
-of human nature, viz., the 14th, has led man to create a personal Deity,
-author of all good; and a personal devil, author of all evil. * * * * And
-yet, when the mind can be relieved from the early prejudices which have
-been forced into it on these subjects, it will be discovered that there
-is not a single fact known to man, after all the experience of the past
-generations, to prove that any such personalities exist, or ever did
-exist; and, in consequence, all the mythology of the ancients, and all
-the religions of the moderns, are mere fanciful notions of men, whose
-imaginations have been cultivated to accord with existing prejudices, and
-whose judgments have been systematically destroyed from their birth.”
-(Book of the New Moral World, p. 46.) And his idea on this awful subject
-he explains, when he says, “Without a shadow of a doubt, that truth is
-nature, and nature God; that ‘God is truth, and truth is God,’ as so
-generally expressed by the Mohammedans,” p. 65; and yet he tells us that
-“man is a wonderful and curiously contrived being;” and that, “in the
-formation of man and woman there is the most evident harmony and unison
-of design,” p. 70. How truth, which is an abstract quality, can be a
-power, can contrive and create, is what I do not understand; but, no
-doubt, Robert Owen, who, if persons will take his testimony, and follow
-his notions, can perform much more wonderful feats than this, will be
-able to explain it; especially as he tells us that “it is only now, for
-the first time, in the known history of mankind, that the mind has been
-permitted to examine facts, in order to discover truth, upon the subjects
-which have the greatest influence upon the human race.”
-
-But, before I proceed further, I must here stop to inquire, Are there any
-human beings gifted with reason, and in the use of their sober senses,
-who can, with their eyes open, rest their faith upon testimony such as
-that contained in the Book of the New Moral World, and stake their
-eternal interests upon the reception of that testimony? Then, indeed,
-are they to be pitied. They are not only groping in the dark, but they
-put out, with their own hands, the only light which can conduct them
-through the darkness of this world to the regions of immortal blessedness
-and joy. And what do they get in return? Mr. Owen promises them a
-paradise—a paradise, however, only for this world; his system has nothing
-to do with anything beyond the grave; that is a dark and dreary waste, in
-which, yet, they must exist and dwell; and, without an acquaintance with,
-and a belief in the gospel of Jesus Christ, must live and dwell there in
-eternal misery. But, even in the paradise which Mr. Owen promises, there
-is not the happiness which his followers expect. As a proof of this, I
-beg attention to the following account of his settlement at New Harmony,
-in America, published by Mr. Flint, in his History of the Western States.
-Mr. Flint was, and, it is supposed, still is the friend of Mr. Owen, and
-was made acquainted by him with his proceedings; his account, therefore,
-as far as it goes, may be considered to be authentic. The statement,
-too, has now been five years before the British public; and yet has
-never, as far as I am aware, in any shape been contradicted.
-
- “Harmony, fifty-four miles below Vincennes, and something more than a
- hundred, by water, above the mouth of the Wabash, is the seat of
- justice for the county of Posey. It is situate on the east bank of
- the river, sixteen miles from the nearest point of the Ohio, on a
- wide, rich, and heavily-timbered plateau, or second bottom. It is
- high, healthy, has a fertile soil, and is in the vicinity of small
- and rich prairies, and is, on the whole, a pleasant and well-chosen
- position. It was first settled, in 1814, by a religious sect of
- Germans,” who resigned it to “the leader of a new sect,” who “came
- upon them. This was no other than Robert Owen of New Lanark, in
- Scotland, a professed philosopher of a new school, who advocated new
- principles, and took new views of society. He calls his views upon
- this subject ‘the Social System.’ He was opulent, and disposed to
- make a grand experiment of his principles on the prairies of the
- Wabash. He purchased the lands and the village of Mr. Rapp,” the
- head and leader of the Germans, in whose name all the lands and
- possessions were held, “at an expense, it is said, of 190,000
- dollars. In a short time, there were admitted to the new
- establishment from 700 to 800 persons. They danced all together one
- night in every week, and had a concert of music on another. The
- sabbath was occupied in the delivery and hearing of lectures. Two of
- Mr. Owen’s sons, from Scotland, and Mr. M‘Clure, joined him. The
- society at New Harmony, as the place was called, excited a great deal
- of interest and remark in every part of the United States. Great
- numbers of distinguished men, in all the walks of life, wrote to the
- society, making inquiries respecting its prospects and rules, and
- expressing a desire, at some future time, to join it. Mr. Owen’s
- experiment at New Harmony lasted little more than a year, during
- which he made a voyage to Europe. The 4th of July, 1826, he
- promulgated his famous declaration of ‘mental independence.’ The
- society had begun to moulder before this time. He has left New
- Harmony, and the ‘Social System’ seems to be abandoned.”
-
-Thus far Mr. Flint’s account; from which we gather, that although the
-establishment was formed under Mr. Owen’s personal superintendence, and
-managed by himself, and formed, too, under the most favourable
-circumstances, yet one short twelvemonth was sufficient to explode all
-his views, and to crumble his system to nothing! But he hopes, perhaps,
-to develope it under more favourable circumstances in this country, and
-his followers are subscribing monies to enable him so to do; and yet he
-tells us that his system is to change the character of the whole world.
-It, however, did not seem to meet with a congenial soil in America, or
-else he found that it was not suited to that part of the world. But what
-failed in America in twelve months, where he had all his own way, and
-nothing to interfere with his plans, is likely to succeed better in
-England! What dupes they must be who believe him!
-
-But it did not take even twelve months to show, that in Mr. Owen’s
-boasted paradise there were the seeds of evil which he could not
-eradicate, and miseries which he could not counteract, as appears from
-the following testimonies and statements. The Duke of Saxe Weimar, to
-whose work a reference has already been made, states, “that it shocked
-the feelings of people of education to live on the same footing with
-every one indiscriminately, and that several of the discontented wished
-to leave the society immediately, and to go to Mexico. One lady, the
-widow of an American merchant, was full of complaints of disappointed
-expectations. The duke observed the better educated members of the
-society keeping themselves together, and taking no notice of
-tatterdemalions, who stretched themselves on the platform. The young
-ladies of the better class kept themselves in a corner, forming a little
-aristocratical club, and turned up their noses apart at the democratic
-dancers, who often fell to their lot, when the gentlemen, as well as the
-ladies, drew numbers for the cotillions, with a view to prevent
-partialities. The duke expresses his regret that Mr. Owen should have
-allowed himself to be so infatuated by his passion for universal
-improvement, at the very time when almost every member of the society
-with whom the duke had conversed apart, acknowledged that he was deceived
-in his expectations.” (Stuart’s Three Years in North America, vol. ii.,
-pp. 444, 445.)
-
-And such, it may be confidently predicted, will be the end of all Mr.
-Owen’s visions of paradise, if he should ever be able to do more than
-draw them on paper, and exhibit them to the imagination; or present them
-in his pictures, as is customarily done, to the enchanted eyes of his
-followers. But who can think without sorrow of the evils which result
-from his principles? and they do produce innumerable evils! Who can
-contemplate so many immortal creatures, fitted for the highest and the
-noblest purposes, debasing themselves to a level with the brutes, and
-making pleasure and sensual gratification the sole end of their being;
-nay, even stooping to be regarded as mere machines, in order that they
-may escape from the trammels which they feel that a sense of
-accountability throws around them! Above all, who can behold unmoved the
-disregard, and even contempt, with which these persons treat the soul,
-that immortal principle, which stamps upon man his dignity, which raises
-him above the brutes, and allies him to the inhabitants of the celestial
-world, which is the seat of happiness; for the redemption of whom the Son
-of God became flesh, and expired on Calvary, and for whom, when
-sanctified, there are mansions of glory provided in heaven? How can men
-trifle with this precious jewel, and account it of no value, saying, “Let
-us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die?” Is it not enough to affect the
-heart, to draw forth floods of grief, and make us exclaim, “Oh that they
-knew, even they, in this their day, the things which belong to their
-peace!” and to add, “Oh that they were wise, that they understood this,
-that they would consider their latter end!” Happy, unspeakably happy
-should I be, if I might be the means of rescuing and saving any that have
-been deluded into these errors, from their perilous situation, and their
-still greater and more awful doom, if they continue in them; nor shall I
-account it a less privilege to be the humble instrument of preventing
-any, that are in danger, from falling into these snares. A desire to do
-good, and, if possible, saving good, to my fellow creatures, is my sole
-object in taking my pen, and meddling with the subject. Christianity,
-like an impregnable fortress, has often been assailed; men of gigantic
-minds have directed their weapons against her, but she has outlived every
-storm, has hitherto vanquished even her mightiest foes. I think,
-therefore, her friends need be under no alarm on account of the efforts
-of Robert Owen to assail or destroy her.
-
-I am, however, departing from my purpose; my object, on the present
-occasion, not being to defend Christianity, but simply to examine
-Socialism, and to inquire how far the principles of the New Moral World
-are calculated to effect the object for which they are propagated. I
-think I have shown that in themselves they want consistency, they are
-either absurd, or they lead to absurdity, they destroy the sense of the
-being of a God, and, as the necessary consequence, debase the character
-of man, making him only a living machine. If the foundation on which
-they rest were true, they are not necessary, and their consequences are
-most pernicious: and here I think I might stop, and leave the truth to
-make its own way; and here I should stop, were it not that by so doing, I
-should be acting a very unjust and unfaithful part towards the cause of
-Christ.
-
-Then, I do say from conviction, and to use Mr. Owen’s words, “a
-conviction, as strong as conviction can exist in the human mind;” and not
-only from conviction, but also an experience, in some humble degree, of
-the things which I profess to teach to others, that Christianity, not
-only promises, but actually does, for those who believe it, what
-Socialism promises, but cannot perform.
-
-Mr. Owen pictures before his followers an earthly paradise. He promises
-them, when his establishment shall be commenced, sights to please the
-eye, and sounds to enrapture the ear, more than the imagination can now
-conceive. He tells them that, what with the pleasures of the table, the
-recreations of music and dancing, and the enjoyments resulting from
-philosophical and political discussions, and such like things, they shall
-have a happiness unbroken and complete. But even in his paradise there
-must be labour, and as each member must necessarily take his or her
-proportion of the labour, will he, for the future, ensure all that enter
-against such an unpleasant, and such a mortifying occurrence as took
-place with the young and handsome woman, who, when she was singing and
-playing admirably on the pianoforte, was told that milking of cows was
-her duty! If not, what is the happiness of his paradise worth? “Like
-the apples of Sodom,” beautiful to the eye, but ashes within. The body
-may indeed be regaled, but there is no lasting, no solid joy for the
-mind. And this Mr. Owen’s followers already have found. I appeal to
-themselves for the truth of what I say; and I have the means of knowing
-that they will support the truth of my statement. They have not found
-perfect happiness yet, whatever they may do when they get within the
-walls of his promised paradise. But if this be the case in health, in
-vigour of life, and when surrounded by every thing calculated to impart
-pleasure, what, I ask, will be the state of things when sickness invades
-the frame, when disease and old age enfeeble and destroy the body, and
-when death comes and cuts it down? Is there, or has he made, any
-provision against these evils, or will they change or lose their nature
-within the walls of this promised paradise? Ah! if his followers could
-have assurance of that, then, indeed, there might be some faint prospect
-of being happy—but he cannot; and they feel he cannot; there is,
-therefore, and there must always be, a worm at the root of their gourd,
-and poison at the bottom of their cup of pleasure.
-
-And what is there beyond the grave? Yes, I ask, what is there beyond the
-grave? “Oh that grave!” is the feeling cry of each of their minds: “if
-it were not for the grave, we should not mind, we should do very well;”
-but there is the grave; and again I ask, What is there beyond it? Oh! if
-any of those that have imbibed these principles should cast their eye on
-this page, I beseech them, by the worth of their souls, by the terrors of
-the Lord, by the solemnities of the judgment day, and by the miseries,
-the eternal miseries of hell to think of their state, and immediately to
-flee from the wrath to come. And let me tell them, for we have no
-delight in thundering out these awful realities, on the contrary, we
-rejoice to tell them, that if they repent, even for them, there is
-salvation, and eternal life through the blood of the Lamb. Oh then, we
-beseech them by the mercies of God, we beseech them by the dying love of
-Christ, as though God did beseech them by us, we pray them in Christ’s
-stead, “Be ye reconciled to God.”
-
-But what a contrast the Christian presents, to even the best and the
-happiest follower of Robert Owen, or even Robert Owen himself! It is
-true that he may not be rolling in wealth, nor surrounded by luxuries;
-his circumstances may be humble, and his situation may be poor; but he is
-happy, unspeakably happy! He has peace within, a peace which is not
-adventitious, which is not the result of circumstances, and will not
-change with them; it is “peace of conscience,” and “peace with God;” that
-“peace which passeth all understanding,” and which is full of glory: it
-is a peace which “the world cannot give, and which the world cannot take
-away.” It supports the mind in sickness, it cheers and comforts it in
-poverty and affliction, it smooths the pillow of death, it illumines and
-sheds a glorious radiance over the dark passage to the grave, and beyond
-the tomb it is converted into the fulness of joy, and pleasures for
-evermore. Nor am I drawing an imaginary picture; I could refer to
-hundreds and thousands who will confirm the descriptions, as far as their
-present experience goes; and for the truth of the statement in reference
-to death, what multitudes of death-bed scenes have there been which have
-compelled even unbelievers to exclaim, “Let me die the death of the
-righteous, and let my last end be like his!”
-
-Mr. Owen’s principles have not in a single instance changed, so as
-radically to benefit any individual of the human race; they cannot exalt
-the moral character. Christianity has her thousands of trophies of her
-purity and her power. They are to be found in every age, and exist in
-every part of the world. Mr. Owen’s principles never yet made a single
-truly happy man: Christianity furnishes them daily. Mr. Owen’s
-principles are silent about a hereafter, and make no provision for the
-world to come: Christianity brings life and immortality to light by the
-gospel, takes away the sting of death, triumphs over the grave, and opens
-before its followers a bright and a glorious immortality. Mr. Owen’s
-principles, independent of their absurdity and atheism, have nothing to
-recommend them but his unsupported testimony: Christianity is confirmed
-and established by the united testimony of prophets, and apostles, and
-evangelists; of martyrs, confessors, and enemies; of miracles,
-prophecies, and history; of its own doctrines, and precepts, and
-triumphs—that it is the word of God! Then we say, If Mr. Owen be what he
-pretends, the only teacher that has yet risen to enlighten and to bless
-the world, and if his principles, as developed in the “Book of the New
-Moral World,” be the eternal laws of nature, then follow him: but, if the
-Lord be God, and Christianity be Divine, then follow them.
-
-
-
-
-APPENDIX.
-
-
-SINCE writing the preceding pages, I have had an opportunity of both
-seeing and hearing of the effects of the system, the principles of which
-I have endeavoured to expose: and as the fruits of a tree are not only of
-great service in determining the character of the tree which bears them,
-but are the best test by which that character may be known, it may be of
-use to the cause of truth, and may tend more effectually than any other
-means, to explain and expose what Robert Owen’s Socialism is, to state
-the fruits which it has already produced.
-
-An intimate friend of mine, resident in a large manufacturing district,
-in whose neighbourhood socialists abound, and where they have had an
-opportunity, to a very considerable extent, of developing their system,
-writes me word: “Persons in whose neighbourhood their meetings are held,
-speak of their proceedings as most riotous and disorderly. Young men and
-young women assemble in the room, and around it, in great numbers, and
-the most demoralizing scenes occur. Twice in the week they meet for
-dancing, etc. in the room where their preachings are held.”
-
-And as to the persons that compose their societies, it is notorious that
-the great bulk of them are young men and women, who are attracted solely
-by the pleasures and amusements which are there held out to them; and the
-remainder consist either of persons of bad moral character, or men of
-unsettled religious views, as atheists, unbelievers, the followers of
-Johanna Southcote, etc.; or, where any have joined them who were once
-attached to other bodies, or were professed believers in the doctrines of
-revelation, they are, almost without a single exception, persons whose
-practices did not accord with their profession—“men of corrupt minds,
-reprobate concerning the faith,” 2 Tim. iii. 8. And, although it is not
-fair nor honourable to charge either the sentiments, or the practices of
-particular individuals upon a whole body, or even to lay them to the
-account of the system which they profess; yet, when those sentiments and
-practices can be shown fairly to arise out of the system: and moreover,
-when they are neither disavowed nor discountenanced by the body
-generally, nor by those persons that may fairly be considered as
-representing the body, there can be nothing wrong in adducing them as
-illustrations of the nature and the tendency of the system which produces
-them. It is solely with this view that I bring forward the following
-facts, for the truth of which I can vouch:—
-
- “A man named —, of —, the clerk of the socialists at —, and a clever
- lecturer, who was once a missionary, is of so abandoned a character,
- that nearly at the time of his marriage with one female, he had an
- illegitimate child by another; and he threatened, if a certain
- person, —, of — opposed his marriage, he would shoot him.”
-
-Another person, the editor of a periodical which supports the views of
-Mr. Owen, and one of the champions of their cause, is charged publicly by
-the author of a pamphlet entitled, “Truth without Mystery, mixture of
-Error, or fear of Man,” with seducing his own wife’s sister: nor has the
-charge, as far as I can learn, been in any shape denied, or attempted to
-be disproved. And not only is he not disowned, but is still continued as
-an acknowledged and recognised supporter and expounder of their
-principles.
-
-Another man, who was once a preacher, is now a warm advocate of
-socialism, and has given a clear illustration of the kind of morality
-which may be expected, if the principles of this system should become at
-all general; for he has lived already with not less than eight or ten
-women in succession.
-
-These facts, which, after all, are only specimens of what might be
-adduced, awful as they are, cannot be wondered at; nor will the reading
-of them occasion any surprise, when it is known that the following
-sentiments are taught and inculcated by the advocates of these
-principles:—A Mr. — on one occasion publicly declared, and argued
-according to one of the fundamental principles of this system, that men
-are not to be held accountable for what they are. He said, “Each nation
-has some particular character of its own. Some nations think murder
-right; others are cannibals; and they cannot help either their belief or
-their practice. . . . And we should not punish men for the want of
-virtue, or the commission of vice, but we should teach them better.” A
-socialist lecturer expressed his ideas of God in the following words:—“He
-is omnipresent, he is all goodness, he is all wisdom, he is present in
-you, he is present in me, he is present in the murderer, he is present in
-hell.” And the conclusion which he wished to draw was, that as God is
-thus present everywhere, therefore, he is the author of the crime of the
-murderer!! I asked him, “Was God all goodness when he was thus present
-in the murderer?” Or, in other words, Was murder goodness?
-
-These, and similarly awful sentiments, Mr. Owen’s followers are seeking
-to extend with the greatest diligence, and that too, even among the
-young. Nor have they been unsuccessful. The effects which already begin
-to appear are highly detrimental. In one instance, the son of a
-professor of socialism, who goes to school to a Christian, was one
-morning too late, and told his master that he could not help being too
-late, for he was the creature of circumstances over which he had no
-control; when his master very properly replied, then he would apply a
-moral motive of sufficient power to induce him to be in time, and so gave
-him a good beating.
-
-A sabbath-school teacher, in a neighbourhood where these principles have
-extensively spread, bears testimony that, “through the influence of
-socialism the boys have become so unmanageable that the teachers do not
-know what to do: to turn them out of the school appears to be to doom
-them to destruction: and to keep them in is, almost to a certainty, to
-corrupt the views and morals of the rest of the children.”
-
-A man named —, of —, who was once a preacher, but is now a warm advocate
-of socialism, has repeatedly confessed that he has no peace in his own
-mind.
-
-But, without attempting to adduce more facts as illustrations of the
-evils and the tendencies of this system, I may ask, Does it produce no
-other fruits besides these? It has now been tried for some time, and
-opportunity has been given to develope and bring to maturity its
-principles; surely then Robert Owen can produce, if from no other
-quarter, at least from his own establishments, some rare and surpassing
-specimens of moral beauty and intrinsic worth, such as the old world and
-the old system have in vain attempted to exhibit. Christianity can
-exhibit the names of persons whose virtues and excellences have been the
-theme of universal admiration, and have extorted from friends and foes
-the meed of praise. The list is too long to transcribe: nor is it
-necessary; for their memory is embalmed in the grateful recollections of
-all who have any perception of moral goodness, and their deeds shall
-outlast the course of time. Can the New Moral World as yet produce no
-names to eclipse those of the Christian world? Then, on every principle,
-whether of reason, argument, fact, or experience, it may truly be said as
-to the social system, “Thou art weighed in the balances, and found
-wanting.”
-
- * * * * *
-
- * * * * *
-
-_London_: _Printed by_ W. CLOWES _and_ SONS, _Duke-street_, _Lambeth_,
-_for_ THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY; _and sold at the Depository_, 56,
-_Paternoster-row_; _by_ J. NISBET _and_ Co., 21, _Berners-street_,
-_Oxford-street_; _and by other Booksellers_.
-
- [_Price_ 7_s._ _per_ 100]
- _Considerable Allowance to Subscribers and Booksellers_.
-
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-
-The Project Gutenberg eBook, Socialism Exposed, by Rev. Joseph Mather
-
-
-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most
-other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
-whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of
-the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
-www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have
-to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook.
-
-
-
-
-Title: Socialism Exposed
-
-
-Author: Rev. Joseph Mather
-
-
-
-Release Date: June 28, 2020 [eBook #62506]
-
-Language: English
-
-Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
-
-
-***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SOCIALISM EXPOSED***
-</pre>
-<p>Transcribed from the [c1840&rsquo;s] Religious Tract Society
-edition by David Price, email ccx074@pglaf.org</p>
-<p style="text-align: center">
-<a href="images/cover.jpg">
-<img alt=
-"Book cover"
-title=
-"Book cover"
- src="images/cover.jpg" />
-</a></p>
-<h1>SOCIALISM EXPOSED.</h1>
-
-<div class="gapspace">&nbsp;</div>
-<p style="text-align: center">BY THE REV. JOSEPH MATHER.</p>
-
-<div class="gapspace">&nbsp;</div>
-
-<div class="gapmediumline">&nbsp;</div>
-<p style="text-align: center"><span class="GutSmall">THE
-RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY, INSTITUTED 1799.</span><br />
-<span class="GutSmall">56, PATERNOSTER ROW, AND 65, ST.&nbsp;
-PAULS CHURCHYARD.</span></p>
-<p><span class="smcap">Mr. Owen</span> professes to be seeking
-the happiness of his species: he imagines he has discovered the
-specific, which, if believed and applied, will produce it; and he
-is using all the means in his power to convince the world that
-such is the fact, and to induce the men of it to receive, and
-follow his prescriptions.</p>
-<p>We must confess that we are not a little startled at the means
-by which he proposes to accomplish this desirable object.&nbsp;
-And here we quote his own language: &ldquo;The religions founded
-under the name of Jewish, Budh, Jehovah, God or Christ, Mohammed,
-or any other, are all composed of human laws in opposition to
-nature&rsquo;s eternal laws.&rdquo;&nbsp; (Book of the New Moral
-World, p. 68.)&nbsp; From which it appears that all other systems
-have been wrong, founded on error, and productive of nothing but
-misery and crime: and before his can be established they must be
-renounced, and overturned, and abolished.&nbsp; Now, Mr. Owen
-professes to have found out something better than what I and the
-world are in possession of; but I do not wish to be like the dog
-in the fable, which, when he had a piece of meat, dropped it,
-because, from seeing its shadow in the water, he fancied there
-was another and a larger within his reach, and so lost them
-both.&nbsp; Before I give up what I know and feel to be valuable,
-the source of comfort and the source of happiness, let me not
-only be convinced that it is a superior good which is held out
-before me, but let me have the possession of it.</p>
-<p>Then let me ask, What evidence does Mr. Owen furnish, that the
-system and principles of the New Moral World <a
-name="page2"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 2</span>are so much
-superior to those of the Christian system?&nbsp; Let us contrast
-the two a little, and see how far we shall be acting wisely in
-rejecting all that we have been accustomed to believe and
-reverence as Divine in favour of these new principles.</p>
-<p>And first, as to the evidence of their authority.&nbsp; The
-writers of the Bible, while they come to us claiming our
-attention, and demanding our regard, tell us that they are only
-messengers sent from God; they come in his name and speak what he
-has put into their minds and their mouths; and, as a proof of
-their being what they profess, as credentials, they work miracles
-which none but a Divine power could work; they deliver prophecies
-and predictions of events, many of which have since come to pass,
-and others are in course of accomplishment; and they announce
-truths, doctrines, and principles which, for their originality
-and yet beautiful simplicity, for their importance, and at the
-same time their universal adaptation to the wants and the
-circumstances of the whole human race, and for their purity and
-invariable tendency to good, speak for themselves, and declare
-that they are Divine.&nbsp; Yet a book resting on such authority,
-and supported by such testimonials, is to be rejected, and thrown
-aside, and its principles are pronounced to be evil and unsound,
-on the authority of&mdash;whom think you?&nbsp; Mr. Robert
-Owen!!</p>
-<p>Is it not a fearful responsibility which such an individual
-assumes, to tell me that I am not to believe a testimony which is
-supported by miracles, is confirmed by prophecies, and, above
-all, is borne out by its own native dignity, and intrinsic beauty
-and worth?&nbsp; Surely such a person ought to be furnished, and
-he ought to present to those whom he wishes to believe him,
-evidence of his authority, and proofs of his claims to the high
-distinction to which he aspires, to be the founder of a New Moral
-World.&nbsp; Then, where are Mr. Owen&rsquo;s claims?&nbsp; And
-what are his proofs?&nbsp; Would you believe it?&nbsp; He adduces
-nothing but his simple testimony! his own unsupported
-word!!&nbsp; Here is a man wiser than Solomon, and more profound
-than Moses!&nbsp; He is even superior to Jesus Christ, the Son of
-God!!!&nbsp; And this you and I are called upon to believe simply
-because he himself says so!!!</p>
-<p>Well, but after all he may have pretensions to our notice, and
-if we do not receive his revelation, we may be shutting <a
-name="page3"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 3</span>our eyes to our
-own happiness, and the means of our welfare.&nbsp; Then let me
-ask, Upon what are those pretensions founded?&nbsp; Truths, which
-are propounded, sometimes gain attention from the character and
-well-known ability of the persons that propound them.&nbsp; Thus
-great names often obtain currency for sentiments which otherwise
-would not receive a moment&rsquo;s attention.&nbsp; Then,
-perhaps, Mr. Owen is to eclipse and throw into the shade all
-other minds that have preceded him.&nbsp; That is (to say nothing
-of Isaiah, and Paul, and Daniel, and many other scriptural
-worthies) Robert Boyle, and Isaac Newton, and John Locke, and
-Francis Bacon, and John Milton, and a host more of such great and
-mighty minds, are nothing before Mr. Owen!!!&nbsp; Does he
-himself pretend this?&nbsp; Let us give him credit for so much
-modesty as not to put forth such pretensions.</p>
-<p>Then if he be not superior to those stars in intellect, to
-those giants in mind which have preceded him, and all of whom
-expressed their admiration of the Bible, and bore their strongest
-testimony to its Divinity and authority, perhaps his
-opportunities of coming at the truth, in reference to the
-principles upon which the New Moral World is to be founded, have
-given him the advantage, and enabled him, though inferior, to
-succeed, while others, very greatly his superiors, have
-failed.&nbsp; Then what advantages does he profess to have
-enjoyed?&nbsp; He himself shall tell us: &ldquo;It is a system
-the result of much reading, observation, and reflection, combined
-with extensive practical experience, and confidential
-communication with official public characters in various
-countries, and with leading minds among all classes; a system
-founded on the eternal laws of nature, and derived from facts and
-experience only.&rdquo;&nbsp; (Preface to the Book of the New
-Moral World, p. x.)&nbsp; And thus, without even pretending that
-he has spent his time, or devoted his energies, to an examination
-and careful investigation of the book which professes to be
-Divine, and of the truths and doctrines which it contains, he
-calls upon us to reject and renounce it, while these great minds
-have spent, not only hours but years upon its study, and as the
-result of their investigations have expressed their highest
-admiration of its contents, and have employed their talents and
-influence to recommend it to others.&nbsp; And here I might
-adduce testimonies to its excellence were it necessary; but that
-is a work of supererogation.&nbsp; Then I appeal to every <a
-name="page4"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 4</span>wise, to every
-reflecting mind.&nbsp; Can those persons be acting the part of
-rational beings, who in a matter of such infinite moment as a
-revelation from Heaven, with its momentous contents, refuse to
-receive it, although supported by the strongest arguments, and
-confirmed by the most invincible testimonies,&mdash;testimonies
-from miracles, from prophecies, from history, from men of the
-greatest learning, and the most powerful minds, and even from
-enemies; and that, too, as the result of the closest
-investigation, and also personal experience, of its truths,
-merely because Mr. Owen says that it ought not to be received,
-and that it must be rejected before his system can be
-established?&nbsp; Matters have indeed come to a fearful pass,
-when Mr. Owen ventures, not only to set himself against, but
-wants to claim superiority over the wisest and the greatest men
-of all ages, and of all countries; over prophets, and apostles,
-and evangelists; over Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and even over
-God himself!</p>
-<p>But, suppose we throw away that book which we have been
-accustomed to hold sacred,&mdash;suppose we consent to regard Mr.
-Owen as the wisest of men, and to receive his principles as the
-standard of unerring truth, and to adopt them; surely we may not
-only expect, but we shall certainly find, emanating from him
-nothing but the truth; and we may venture implicitly to follow
-him, when he commands us so to do.&nbsp; But to show how far he
-is a safe guide, I need do no more than refer to his own
-statements at different times.&nbsp; Thus, in 1823, Mr. Owen
-developed the principles of his system in a series of letters,
-published in the &ldquo;Glasgow Chronicle,&rdquo; contained in
-twelve propositions, preceded by one general proposition, as the
-foundation of the whole.&nbsp; But, since then, his twelve
-propositions have dwindled down to five fundamental facts; only,
-to make up for the loss in fundamental principles, we have now
-twenty supplemental laws.&nbsp; But, if in 1823, Mr. Owen had
-discovered and revealed the laws of nature, and those laws he
-expressly declares to be immutable, how comes it to pass that in
-1838 they have so greatly altered, not only in their number and
-form, but also in their very nature, as given in the &ldquo;New
-Moral World?&rdquo;</p>
-<p>If alterations so many, and so fundamental, can take place in
-the immutable laws of nature; if in 1823, Mr. Owen can require
-credence and implicit confidence in his principles <a
-name="page5"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 5</span>as infallible
-truth; and then again in 1838, can demand credence and implicit
-confidence in a new and quite different set of principles, and
-declare that they also are infallible truth, may he not in 1848,
-if Providence should spare his life so long, have discovered some
-new laws, and found out some fresh principles?&nbsp; If it should
-be replied, No, he has now got the truth, the whole truth, and
-nothing but the truth; we answer, So he said in 1823.&nbsp; And
-yet he has changed his principles, call it improved them, if you
-like, but they are different, and they may yet change
-again.&nbsp; How, then, can we be certain that we have now got
-the truth?&nbsp; If not, would it be wise to throw away the
-volume of inspiration, the word of unerring truth, before we are
-certain that we have something better to supply its place?</p>
-<p>But if we admit, for the sake of argument, that the principles
-of the &ldquo;New Moral World,&rdquo; are now fixed, and will no
-more be changed; let us see how far they recommend themselves
-from their own intrinsic nature, and internal excellence.</p>
-<p>And to begin with his first fact, which tells us that
-&ldquo;man is a compound being,&rdquo; and his first law, which
-declares that &ldquo;human nature, in the aggregate, is a
-compound, consisting of animal propensities, intellectual
-faculties, and moral qualities.&rdquo;&nbsp; Pray how does Mr.
-Owen come to know any thing about man or human nature?&nbsp; And
-from what source did he obtain those views of his constitution
-which he promulgates to the world as the unerring principles of
-truth: and especially, as he tells us that man is &ldquo;made by
-a power unknown to himself, and without his knowledge or
-consent.&rdquo;&nbsp; Now, upon Mr. Owen&rsquo;s own principle,
-man knows nothing of himself, then how does Mr. Owen know any
-thing about him?</p>
-<p>If he does not know, and has not perfect knowledge on the
-subject on which he takes upon himself to speak with the most
-unbounded confidence, he certainly is very unfit for the office
-to which he aspires, of teaching others; but if he has knowledge,
-where did he obtain it? for, according to his own principles, all
-the thoughts of the human mind are not the voluntary acts of the
-mind, but entirely the result of circumstances, and are
-communicated to him; and consequently man knows nothing but what
-he is taught.&nbsp; Mr. Owen&rsquo;s knowledge, then must have
-been imparted to him.&nbsp; <a name="page6"></a><span
-class="pagenum">p. 6</span>Now then, who communicated it to
-him?&nbsp; He must have received it from some man, or he must
-have derived it from inspiration.&nbsp; If he received it from a
-human teacher, it is very disingenuous in him to take to himself
-the merit of discoveries which belong to another; but, if he
-obtained his knowledge by inspiration, it certainly would only be
-candid for him to let us know when he was inspired, and also let
-us judge of the evidence of his inspiration; for unless he does
-that, as this is the ground on which the Christian Scriptures
-rest, and they do give us many strong and unequivocal proofs of
-their Divine origin, I and many more prefer taking what we know
-to be from God, to the unsupported testimony or revelation of
-Robert Owen.&nbsp; But, Mr. Owen may say that he has not received
-what he undertakes to teach, either from man or God: then he
-himself overturns his own system; for he expressly says that man
-can know nothing but what he is taught.&nbsp; From the very first
-position, therefore, which Mr. Owen takes, it will be seen how
-ill qualified he is to be the great teacher of the world.</p>
-<p>Nor is the next attempt which he makes at imparting knowledge
-much better, if any, than the first.&nbsp; It is that man, who
-did not make himself, but was made by a power unknown to himself,
-is the creature of circumstances, over which he has no control,
-and in fact, is nothing but what he is made: or in other words,
-that he is a mere machine.&nbsp; Some, perhaps, may be a little
-startled at the deduction which I profess to draw from Mr.
-Owen&rsquo;s principles, and think that he is not quite so bad as
-that: but I can tell them it is not a deduction of mine; it is
-one of the fundamental principles, nay, the corner-stone of Mr.
-Owen&rsquo;s system, the admission and belief of which is
-essential to his success.&nbsp; Nay, in one of his works,
-&ldquo;Essays on the formation of the human character,&rdquo; he
-expressly says that men are &ldquo;living machines,&rdquo; p.
-28.&nbsp; Whether even the followers of Mr. Owen may be flattered
-at being accounted only machines, and may be willing that he
-should mould and use them as he pleases, in working out his
-results, I know not: but I do think that men in general will not
-thank him for the compliment, nor be inclined to become his
-tools.&nbsp; It is too great a fall from the dignity of high,
-intelligent, rational, and accountable beings, to be treated as
-&ldquo;living machines;&rdquo; especially when every man,
-whatever <a name="page7"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 7</span>may
-be his circumstances, has only need to appeal to his own
-consciousness for the evidences of the fact, that he is not a
-machine.</p>
-<p>But Mr. Owen tells us, &ldquo;Men are nothing but what they
-are made, and they are made to be what they are by their
-organization, and the external circumstances which act upon and
-influence it,&rdquo; namely, that organization.&nbsp; &ldquo;None
-are, or can be bad by nature; their education,&rdquo; which makes
-them bad, &ldquo;is always the business or work of society, and
-not of the individual.&nbsp; The individual is thus, evidently, a
-material of nature, finished and fashioned by the society in
-which it lives, according to the ignorance, or the intelligence,
-or the knowledge of human nature, which that society has been
-made to possess, and by the influence of other external
-circumstances, with which the individual may be
-surrounded.&rdquo;&nbsp; (Book of the New Moral World, p.
-54.)&nbsp; But, if this statement be true, that the nature of man
-is good, and he would never be bad if he were not taught to be
-so, we now shall want all Mr. Owen&rsquo;s wisdom to explain to
-us how, upon his system, evil and sin first came into the
-world.&nbsp; That they are in the world, he cannot but admit;
-indeed, he tells us that it is the object of his system to drive
-them out of it.&nbsp; Well, then, will he have the goodness to
-tell us how, upon his system, they first came into the
-world?&nbsp; Man could not do wrong without his being taught to
-do wrong? then who first taught him?&nbsp; And whence did he
-receive it?&nbsp; According to Mr. Owen&rsquo;s theory, man could
-not receive it from himself; whence, then, did he get it?&nbsp;
-It must have been from some sinful being who was in the world
-before sin itself, which is a palpable contradiction!&nbsp; But,
-if the natural effect of Mr. Owen&rsquo;s system be to lead to
-this absurdity, it requires nothing more to show that it is not,
-and cannot be, according to truth.</p>
-<p>But, if Mr. Owen&rsquo;s principles be true, and the nature of
-man is inherently good, according to his own showing, his system
-is altogether unnecessary.&nbsp; For, if man would not be bad
-were he not taught to be so, surely the simplest and the easiest
-plan would be to take the human race in infancy, before they have
-been contaminated, or rather, &ldquo;made to receive an
-unfavourable character,&rdquo; and let the germs of goodness
-which they have within them develope themselves, and come to
-perfection.&nbsp; Should we, then, have a paradise without
-sin?&nbsp; Ah!&nbsp; Mr. Owen knows that there is not a single <a
-name="page8"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 8</span>spot on this
-earth which has not been contaminated with sin; and instead of
-human nature being in a state the nearest approaching to
-perfection where there has been least contact with the truths and
-doctrines of the Bible, which he regards as the source of all the
-errors and all the evils which there are in the world, (see p.
-60, Book of the New Moral World,) it is the testimony of
-universal history and fact, that there it is the most
-depraved.</p>
-<p>It is, however, not necessary to go to what may be termed the
-children of nature, to the untutored sons of the forest, to
-prove, not only the existence of sin, but also of a sinful
-disposition, of a natural tendency to evil even in the infant
-breast; it might be furnished to almost any extent from Mr.
-Owen&rsquo;s own establishments, and from the lips of his own
-agents.&nbsp; It is possible that Mr. Owen himself, from his
-attachment to a favourite theory, and his desire to support it at
-all hazards, as well as from having his mind absorbed in the
-grand object which he has before him, may not see what is so
-plain to others; or, it may be that what appears black to them is
-white to him; but let his dancing masters, and the nurses of his
-infant children, be brought into an open court and fully
-examined, and they will testify to the satisfaction of every
-impartial jury, although composed even of Robert Owen&rsquo;s
-followers, that some, at least, of these urchins, at an age when
-they could not have been taught these things, unless their
-mother&rsquo;s milk imparted them, display passions and
-dispositions which indicate anything rather than an entire
-absence from evil.&nbsp; We shall require no other witnesses to
-prove that the nature of man is not naturally good, but is
-inherently depraved.</p>
-<p>But, if man from his birth has an evil principle within him,
-(I would call it a depraved nature,) then Mr. Owen&rsquo;s
-principles, however much they may modify and change the external
-character, will not avail in changing the heart.&nbsp; His system
-will no more produce the results which he promises, the paradise
-of joy which he pictures before his followers, than have the
-systems of the old world.&nbsp; And, therefore, he is only
-amusing and deluding those that attend to him with pleasing
-dreams which can never be realized.&nbsp; If this, however, were
-all, it would not much matter; he might be left to pursue his
-course undisturbed; but when it is known that the effect of his
-system, whatever may be his design, is to take off the mind from
-everything <a name="page9"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
-9</span>but what is connected with his earthly paradise, and so
-cause it to neglect, and even despise everything connected with
-eternity and everlasting life, and the happiness of the principle
-which never dies, it would be, not only a dereliction of
-principle, but also a want of love to one&rsquo;s species, not to
-lift up the voice against him, and endeavour to warn such persons
-of their fatal error, and the destructive consequences which
-must, and will inevitably ensue.</p>
-<p>But another fundamental principle of Mr. Owen&rsquo;s system,
-as expressed in the 2nd and 3rd Fundamental Facts, and 13th Law,
-is, &ldquo;Man is compelled by his original constitution, to
-receive his feelings and his convictions independently of his
-will;&rdquo; and &ldquo;his feelings, or his convictions, or both
-of them united, create the motive to action called the will,
-which stimulates him to act, and decides his actions;&rdquo; and
-&ldquo;each individual is so organized that he must believe
-according to the strongest conviction which is made upon his
-mind:&rdquo; the plain meaning of which is, that man is not
-accountable for his belief, neither ought he to be considered
-accountable for his actions; and which, indeed, Mr. Owen does not
-leave his readers to deduce from his principles, but which he
-himself explicitly states.&nbsp; Thus, he says, &ldquo;Man cannot
-be bad by nature, and it must,&rdquo; therefore, &ldquo;be a
-gross error to make him responsible for what nature and his
-predecessors have compelled him to be.&rdquo;&nbsp; (Book of the
-New Moral World, p. 54.)</p>
-<p>That man is not accountable, that he can think as he likes,
-and act as he pleases, without being amenable, either to God or
-man, for his thoughts or his actions, is a doctrine which will
-well accord with the wishes of all those who feel the idea of God
-and judgment a restraint upon their conduct, and human laws
-oftentimes a barrier in the way of indulging their evil
-desires.&nbsp; And it is lamentable to think how many, even of
-this description of persons, there are to be found in the
-world.</p>
-<p>But it is a question of the deepest importance, whether or not
-this principle be true.&nbsp; Mr. Owen calls it a law and a fact;
-and if persons are willing to take what he says for granted,
-merely because he says it, and so to stake their character in
-this world, and their eternal well-being in another, upon his
-unsupported testimony, they may endeavour to satisfy themselves
-in believing it, and try to make and keep their consciences as
-easy as they can.&nbsp; What a happy <a name="page10"></a><span
-class="pagenum">p. 10</span>thing it would be, if Mr.
-Owen&rsquo;s saying that there is no judgment, and that man is
-not accountable, could make it be so!&nbsp; But is it so?&nbsp;
-We all know that Mr. Owen&rsquo;s saying that there is no guilt
-in crime, that man acts only as he is compelled to do, and ought
-not, therefore, to be either punished or praised for what he
-does, does not release him from the responsibility imposed by
-human government and human laws; and it is well both for him and
-for us, that it does not; for only break the bonds of law, and
-leave each one to act as he likes, and what a pandemonium,
-instead of a paradise, we should have!&nbsp; Why even Mr. Owen
-himself is under the necessity, in his own paradise, of imposing
-laws, and putting very considerable restraint upon the wishes and
-the inclinations of those that expected when they entered his
-establishment to be perfectly happy in the enjoyment of their own
-will.&nbsp; As a proof of this, I beg to give an extract from a
-published statement of a visit paid to New Harmony, in America,
-by the Duke of Saxe Weimar, in April, 1826.</p>
-<blockquote><p>&ldquo;On Sunday morning, the society met in the
-large building, and the meeting was opened by music.&nbsp; Mr.
-Owen delivered a discourse on the advantages of the
-society.&nbsp; In the evening the duke paid visits to the ladies,
-and witnessed philosophy, and the love of equality put to the
-severest trial with one of them, young and handsome.&nbsp; While
-she was singing, and playing very well on the pianoforte, she was
-told that milking of cows was her duty.&nbsp; Almost in tears,
-she betook herself to this servile employment, deprecating the
-new social system, and its so much prized equality.&nbsp; After
-the cows were milked, in doing which this pretty girl was trod on
-by one, and daubed by another, the duke made one in an aquatic
-party with the young ladies and some of the young philosophers,
-in a boat, upon the Wabash.&nbsp; The evening was
-beautiful.&nbsp; The duke&rsquo;s heroine regaled the party with
-her sweet voice.&nbsp; Afterwards, the whole party amused
-themselves in dancing cotillions, reels, and waltzes, and with
-such animation as to render it, as the duke adds, quite
-lively.&nbsp; A new figure had been introduced into the
-cotillions, called the New Social System.&nbsp; Several of the
-ladies objected to dancing on Sunday.&nbsp; &lsquo;We thought,
-however,&rsquo; writes the Duke, &lsquo;that in this sanctuary of
-philosophy, such prejudices should be utterly discarded, and our
-arguments, as well as <a name="page11"></a><span
-class="pagenum">p. 11</span>the inclination of the ladies, gained
-the victory.&rsquo;&rdquo;&nbsp; (Three years in North America,
-by James Stuart, Esq., vol. ii. p. 442.)</p>
-</blockquote>
-<p>And not only is Mr. Owen under the necessity of passing laws,
-and of making those that belong to his establishment amenable to
-those laws, but the whole of his system is founded upon
-compulsion, both mental and bodily; for he would take infants
-from the care of their mothers, and put them under the care of
-his dancing-master, and there train them according to his model,
-and mould them according to his ideas; and that, no doubt,
-oftentimes very much against the inclination of the children
-themselves.&nbsp; The only difference between the present state
-of things, and the state which he wishes to introduce is, that he
-would put himself in the place of God, and of all human laws; and
-not only give laws to all his followers, but also enforce
-them.&nbsp; Whether the task would not be more than he could
-accomplish you shall judge by and by.</p>
-<p>But as Mr. Owen cannot release us from the obligation of human
-laws, neither can he from that of the laws of God.&nbsp; Man may
-say, &ldquo;Who is the Lord, that I should obey him?&rdquo; but,
-even while he is saying it, he feels, whether he will or not, and
-is under the necessity of acknowledging to his own mind, that
-there is a Being above him whom he does not love, but from whose
-eye, and whose power he cannot escape; before whose dread
-tribunal he is conscious that he must stand, and be &ldquo;judged
-according to the deeds which have been done in the body, whether
-they be good, or whether they be evil.&rdquo;&nbsp; This is one
-of those eternal laws which are engraven, not only in the face of
-nature, but upon every mind and conscience, which Mr. Owen wishes
-to erase, and in the room of which he would write what he calls
-&ldquo;the eternal laws of nature:&rdquo; and in the
-accomplishment of his task, there are multitudes that would
-gladly help him, and contribute all the aid in their power; and,
-so eager are they for the accomplishment of his and their wishes,
-that they have even agreed to believe it, or rather, agreed to
-say that they believe it, and to act upon it, before it has been
-proved to be true.</p>
-<p>Nor is it possible for them to prove it.&nbsp; They might as
-well attempt to prove that the sun does not shine at noonday, and
-they would have quite as much hope of success, as attempt to
-prove either to themselves or others, that <a
-name="page12"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 12</span>&ldquo;there
-is no God,&rdquo; and that there is no hereafter.&nbsp; They may
-argue with themselves upon the subject, and attempt to convince
-themselves of the truth of what they wish to be true; and
-sometimes they may think they have satisfied themselves upon the
-point; but the next day, or perhaps the next hour, the sight of a
-funeral, the hearing of the death of a fellow creature, or even a
-sharp pain in their own bodies, sweeps away in a moment all the
-cobwebs which they have been weaving, and leaves them exposed to
-the naked truth, unsheltered and unprepared, that there is a
-judgment, and that they must stand and be judged.</p>
-<p>And this judgment will be, whatever Mr. Owen may say to the
-contrary, not only for actions but for thoughts and
-opinions.&nbsp; And it is strictly reasonable that it should be
-so; for not only is man not compelled to believe, contrary to his
-will, but he is not compelled to believe at all.&nbsp; He is a
-rational and intelligent creature, and from the very constitution
-of his being, he must and can believe, only as he has evidence
-upon which his belief is to be founded.&nbsp; For the mind to
-believe without evidence, is like the eye seeing without
-light.&nbsp; But there may be light, and yet the eye may not see,
-for it may shut itself.&nbsp; And there may be evidence which
-would carry conviction to the mind if it were brought before it,
-and yet the mind may not be convinced, simply because it will not
-receive it, for it does not wish to be convinced.&nbsp; But who
-does not know that there are none so deaf as those who will not
-hear!&nbsp; And, in like manner, we say, &ldquo;There are none so
-blind as those who will not see.&rdquo;&nbsp; Men have the law
-which they are bound to obey&mdash;the law of God; they have the
-means of becoming acquainted with that law; they have the ability
-to perform all that this law requires, if they are so disposed;
-if, therefore, they break this law, it is not because they are
-compelled so to do, but their own voluntary act and deed; and
-reason tells them that it is just that they should be punished
-for their transgressions.&nbsp; In like manner, the gospel of
-Jesus Christ reveals to man a way of escape from the miseries of
-the fall, those miseries which Mr. Owen admits to exist, whatever
-he may say respecting the source from which they spring; which
-way is a provision of mercy, and an act of grace on the part of
-the Divine Being.&nbsp; For the accomplishment of it, he gave <a
-name="page13"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 13</span>his own Son
-to die in the stead of man; and as the result of his death, he
-has offered salvation, and that freely, to every one that
-believeth.&nbsp; Now, the evidence, upon which these glorious
-truths rest, is such, so full, so clear, and so conclusive, that
-he may run that readeth; and man has the means of knowing these
-truths: if, therefore, he remain in ignorance respecting them, or
-when they are brought before him he does not believe them, it is
-entirely a wilful and a voluntary unbelief.&nbsp; For that he
-will be condemned, and reason will approve his doom.</p>
-<p>In wading through the mass of absurdities and errors contained
-in Mr. Owen&rsquo;s principles, as developed in the &ldquo;Book
-of the New Moral World,&rdquo; it would have been a very easy
-task to have selected a number more which might have been
-exposed: but to go through the whole work page by page, would
-indeed be labour lost, as to most readers; for I am persuaded
-there are very few that understand, or even profess completely to
-understand his principles.&nbsp; Neither is it necessary for
-their purpose that they should.&nbsp; What they want is a system
-which shall let them live and do as they like, without being
-exposed to the consequences of their conduct, and this they find
-in the system of the New Moral World.&nbsp; But I think I have
-knocked down some, if not all the main pillars of the structure:
-the rest will fall of themselves.</p>
-<p>There is, however, one law of such a character, which, when
-understood, will perhaps have a greater influence in preserving
-such as have no selfish or wicked ends to answer, from falling
-into his pernicious errors, than any long train of argument, and
-that is the following:&mdash;&ldquo;Each individual is so
-organized that he must like that which is pleasant to him, or
-which, in other words, produces agreeable sensations in him; and
-dislike that which is unpleasant to him, or which, in other
-words, produces in him disagreeable sensations; and he cannot
-know previous to experience, what particular sensations new
-objects will produce on any of his senses.&rdquo; (Law 12.)</p>
-<p>The meaning of this law will be best explained by an extract
-from Mr. Owen&rsquo;s &ldquo;Declaration of Mental Independence,
-addressed to the Society at New Harmony, July 4, 1826,&rdquo; in
-which, in reference to the law of marriage, he says, &ldquo;It
-is, in reality, the greatest crime against nature to prevent
-organized beings from uniting with those objects, or other
-organized beings, with which nature has created in them a desire
-to unite.&rdquo;</p>
-<p><a name="page14"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 14</span>Thus
-has Robert Owen ventured, not only to set himself in opposition
-to God, but also to declare that that law of Divine appointment
-which enjoins a man to &ldquo;leave his father and his mother,
-and to cleave unto his wife;&rdquo; and forbids &ldquo;man to put
-asunder what God hath joined together,&rdquo; is wicked; and, as
-he avers, has &ldquo;produced hypocrisy, crime, and misery,
-beyond the power of language to express.&rdquo;&nbsp; So that he
-would avoid the crime of adultery by making all persons common;
-and each man and each woman should be left at perfect liberty to
-have whom they liked, keep them as long as they liked, and change
-them as often as they liked.&nbsp; Come, this is speaking out;
-and it is just what is wanted.&nbsp; The poison then will carry
-along with it its own antidote.</p>
-<p>On another subject, too, Mr. Owen has spoken plainly.&nbsp; He
-says, &ldquo;The love of truth is an instinct of human nature
-which would be always exercised in simplicity, were not
-individuals praised and blamed for particular feelings,&rdquo; p.
-11.&nbsp; The Bible tells us that &ldquo;man goeth astray from
-the womb, speaking lies.&rdquo;&nbsp; Now, which is to be
-believed, Robert Owen, or God?</p>
-<p>But I ought to beg Robert Owen&rsquo;s pardon; according to
-his doctrine, there is no personal God: this is his language:
-&ldquo;The error respecting this law of human nature, viz., the
-14th, has led man to create a personal Deity, author of all good;
-and a personal devil, author of all evil. * * * * And yet, when
-the mind can be relieved from the early prejudices which have
-been forced into it on these subjects, it will be discovered that
-there is not a single fact known to man, after all the experience
-of the past generations, to prove that any such personalities
-exist, or ever did exist; and, in consequence, all the mythology
-of the ancients, and all the religions of the moderns, are mere
-fanciful notions of men, whose imaginations have been cultivated
-to accord with existing prejudices, and whose judgments have been
-systematically destroyed from their birth.&rdquo;&nbsp; (Book of
-the New Moral World, p. 46.)&nbsp; And his idea on this awful
-subject he explains, when he says, &ldquo;Without a shadow of a
-doubt, that truth is nature, and nature God; that &lsquo;God is
-truth, and truth is God,&rsquo; as so generally expressed by the
-Mohammedans,&rdquo; p. 65; and yet he tells us that &ldquo;man is
-a wonderful and curiously contrived being;&rdquo; and that,
-&ldquo;in the formation of man and woman there is the most
-evident harmony and unison of <a name="page15"></a><span
-class="pagenum">p. 15</span>design,&rdquo; p. 70.&nbsp; How
-truth, which is an abstract quality, can be a power, can contrive
-and create, is what I do not understand; but, no doubt, Robert
-Owen, who, if persons will take his testimony, and follow his
-notions, can perform much more wonderful feats than this, will be
-able to explain it; especially as he tells us that &ldquo;it is
-only now, for the first time, in the known history of mankind,
-that the mind has been permitted to examine facts, in order to
-discover truth, upon the subjects which have the greatest
-influence upon the human race.&rdquo;</p>
-<p>But, before I proceed further, I must here stop to inquire,
-Are there any human beings gifted with reason, and in the use of
-their sober senses, who can, with their eyes open, rest their
-faith upon testimony such as that contained in the Book of the
-New Moral World, and stake their eternal interests upon the
-reception of that testimony?&nbsp; Then, indeed, are they to be
-pitied.&nbsp; They are not only groping in the dark, but they put
-out, with their own hands, the only light which can conduct them
-through the darkness of this world to the regions of immortal
-blessedness and joy.&nbsp; And what do they get in return?&nbsp;
-Mr. Owen promises them a paradise&mdash;a paradise, however, only
-for this world; his system has nothing to do with anything beyond
-the grave; that is a dark and dreary waste, in which, yet, they
-must exist and dwell; and, without an acquaintance with, and a
-belief in the gospel of Jesus Christ, must live and dwell there
-in eternal misery.&nbsp; But, even in the paradise which Mr. Owen
-promises, there is not the happiness which his followers
-expect.&nbsp; As a proof of this, I beg attention to the
-following account of his settlement at New Harmony, in America,
-published by Mr. Flint, in his History of the Western
-States.&nbsp; Mr. Flint was, and, it is supposed, still is the
-friend of Mr. Owen, and was made acquainted by him with his
-proceedings; his account, therefore, as far as it goes, may be
-considered to be authentic.&nbsp; The statement, too, has now
-been five years before the British public; and yet has never, as
-far as I am aware, in any shape been contradicted.</p>
-<blockquote><p>&ldquo;Harmony, fifty-four miles below Vincennes,
-and something more than a hundred, by water, above the mouth of
-the Wabash, is the seat of justice for the county of Posey.&nbsp;
-It is situate on the east bank of the river, sixteen miles from
-the nearest point of the Ohio, on a wide, rich, and <a
-name="page16"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
-16</span>heavily-timbered plateau, or second bottom.&nbsp; It is
-high, healthy, has a fertile soil, and is in the vicinity of
-small and rich prairies, and is, on the whole, a pleasant and
-well-chosen position.&nbsp; It was first settled, in 1814, by a
-religious sect of Germans,&rdquo; who resigned it to &ldquo;the
-leader of a new sect,&rdquo; who &ldquo;came upon them.&nbsp;
-This was no other than Robert Owen of New Lanark, in Scotland, a
-professed philosopher of a new school, who advocated new
-principles, and took new views of society.&nbsp; He calls his
-views upon this subject &lsquo;the Social System.&rsquo;&nbsp; He
-was opulent, and disposed to make a grand experiment of his
-principles on the prairies of the Wabash.&nbsp; He purchased the
-lands and the village of Mr. Rapp,&rdquo; the head and leader of
-the Germans, in whose name all the lands and possessions were
-held, &ldquo;at an expense, it is said, of 190,000 dollars.&nbsp;
-In a short time, there were admitted to the new establishment
-from 700 to 800 persons.&nbsp; They danced all together one night
-in every week, and had a concert of music on another.&nbsp; The
-sabbath was occupied in the delivery and hearing of
-lectures.&nbsp; Two of Mr. Owen&rsquo;s sons, from Scotland, and
-Mr. M&lsquo;Clure, joined him.&nbsp; The society at New Harmony,
-as the place was called, excited a great deal of interest and
-remark in every part of the United States.&nbsp; Great numbers of
-distinguished men, in all the walks of life, wrote to the
-society, making inquiries respecting its prospects and rules, and
-expressing a desire, at some future time, to join it.&nbsp; Mr.
-Owen&rsquo;s experiment at New Harmony lasted little more than a
-year, during which he made a voyage to Europe.&nbsp; The 4th of
-July, 1826, he promulgated his famous declaration of
-&lsquo;mental independence.&rsquo;&nbsp; The society had begun to
-moulder before this time.&nbsp; He has left New Harmony, and the
-&lsquo;Social System&rsquo; seems to be abandoned.&rdquo;</p>
-</blockquote>
-<p>Thus far Mr. Flint&rsquo;s account; from which we gather, that
-although the establishment was formed under Mr. Owen&rsquo;s
-personal superintendence, and managed by himself, and formed,
-too, under the most favourable circumstances, yet one short
-twelvemonth was sufficient to explode all his views, and to
-crumble his system to nothing!&nbsp; But he hopes, perhaps, to
-develope it under more favourable circumstances in this country,
-and his followers are subscribing monies to enable him so to do;
-and yet he tells us that his system is to change the character of
-the whole world.&nbsp; It, however, did not seem to meet with a
-congenial soil in <a name="page17"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
-17</span>America, or else he found that it was not suited to that
-part of the world.&nbsp; But what failed in America in twelve
-months, where he had all his own way, and nothing to interfere
-with his plans, is likely to succeed better in England!&nbsp;
-What dupes they must be who believe him!</p>
-<p>But it did not take even twelve months to show, that in Mr.
-Owen&rsquo;s boasted paradise there were the seeds of evil which
-he could not eradicate, and miseries which he could not
-counteract, as appears from the following testimonies and
-statements.&nbsp; The Duke of Saxe Weimar, to whose work a
-reference has already been made, states, &ldquo;that it shocked
-the feelings of people of education to live on the same footing
-with every one indiscriminately, and that several of the
-discontented wished to leave the society immediately, and to go
-to Mexico.&nbsp; One lady, the widow of an American merchant, was
-full of complaints of disappointed expectations.&nbsp; The duke
-observed the better educated members of the society keeping
-themselves together, and taking no notice of tatterdemalions, who
-stretched themselves on the platform.&nbsp; The young ladies of
-the better class kept themselves in a corner, forming a little
-aristocratical club, and turned up their noses apart at the
-democratic dancers, who often fell to their lot, when the
-gentlemen, as well as the ladies, drew numbers for the
-cotillions, with a view to prevent partialities.&nbsp; The duke
-expresses his regret that Mr. Owen should have allowed himself to
-be so infatuated by his passion for universal improvement, at the
-very time when almost every member of the society with whom the
-duke had conversed apart, acknowledged that he was deceived in
-his expectations.&rdquo;&nbsp; (Stuart&rsquo;s Three Years in
-North America, vol. ii., pp. 444, 445.)</p>
-<p>And such, it may be confidently predicted, will be the end of
-all Mr. Owen&rsquo;s visions of paradise, if he should ever be
-able to do more than draw them on paper, and exhibit them to the
-imagination; or present them in his pictures, as is customarily
-done, to the enchanted eyes of his followers.&nbsp; But who can
-think without sorrow of the evils which result from his
-principles? and they do produce innumerable evils!&nbsp; Who can
-contemplate so many immortal creatures, fitted for the highest
-and the noblest purposes, debasing themselves to a level with the
-brutes, and making pleasure and sensual gratification the sole
-end of their being; nay, even stooping to be regarded as mere
-machines, in order that they may <a name="page18"></a><span
-class="pagenum">p. 18</span>escape from the trammels which they
-feel that a sense of accountability throws around them!&nbsp;
-Above all, who can behold unmoved the disregard, and even
-contempt, with which these persons treat the soul, that immortal
-principle, which stamps upon man his dignity, which raises him
-above the brutes, and allies him to the inhabitants of the
-celestial world, which is the seat of happiness; for the
-redemption of whom the Son of God became flesh, and expired on
-Calvary, and for whom, when sanctified, there are mansions of
-glory provided in heaven?&nbsp; How can men trifle with this
-precious jewel, and account it of no value, saying, &ldquo;Let us
-eat and drink, for to-morrow we die?&rdquo;&nbsp; Is it not
-enough to affect the heart, to draw forth floods of grief, and
-make us exclaim, &ldquo;Oh that they knew, even they, in this
-their day, the things which belong to their peace!&rdquo; and to
-add, &ldquo;Oh that they were wise, that they understood this,
-that they would consider their latter end!&rdquo;&nbsp; Happy,
-unspeakably happy should I be, if I might be the means of
-rescuing and saving any that have been deluded into these errors,
-from their perilous situation, and their still greater and more
-awful doom, if they continue in them; nor shall I account it a
-less privilege to be the humble instrument of preventing any,
-that are in danger, from falling into these snares.&nbsp; A
-desire to do good, and, if possible, saving good, to my fellow
-creatures, is my sole object in taking my pen, and meddling with
-the subject.&nbsp; Christianity, like an impregnable fortress,
-has often been assailed; men of gigantic minds have directed
-their weapons against her, but she has outlived every storm, has
-hitherto vanquished even her mightiest foes.&nbsp; I think,
-therefore, her friends need be under no alarm on account of the
-efforts of Robert Owen to assail or destroy her.</p>
-<p>I am, however, departing from my purpose; my object, on the
-present occasion, not being to defend Christianity, but simply to
-examine Socialism, and to inquire how far the principles of the
-New Moral World are calculated to effect the object for which
-they are propagated.&nbsp; I think I have shown that in
-themselves they want consistency, they are either absurd, or they
-lead to absurdity, they destroy the sense of the being of a God,
-and, as the necessary consequence, debase the character of man,
-making him only a living machine.&nbsp; If the foundation on
-which they rest were true, they are not necessary, and their
-consequences are most <a name="page19"></a><span
-class="pagenum">p. 19</span>pernicious: and here I think I might
-stop, and leave the truth to make its own way; and here I should
-stop, were it not that by so doing, I should be acting a very
-unjust and unfaithful part towards the cause of Christ.</p>
-<p>Then, I do say from conviction, and to use Mr. Owen&rsquo;s
-words, &ldquo;a conviction, as strong as conviction can exist in
-the human mind;&rdquo; and not only from conviction, but also an
-experience, in some humble degree, of the things which I profess
-to teach to others, that Christianity, not only promises, but
-actually does, for those who believe it, what Socialism promises,
-but cannot perform.</p>
-<p>Mr. Owen pictures before his followers an earthly
-paradise.&nbsp; He promises them, when his establishment shall be
-commenced, sights to please the eye, and sounds to enrapture the
-ear, more than the imagination can now conceive.&nbsp; He tells
-them that, what with the pleasures of the table, the recreations
-of music and dancing, and the enjoyments resulting from
-philosophical and political discussions, and such like things,
-they shall have a happiness unbroken and complete.&nbsp; But even
-in his paradise there must be labour, and as each member must
-necessarily take his or her proportion of the labour, will he,
-for the future, ensure all that enter against such an unpleasant,
-and such a mortifying occurrence as took place with the young and
-handsome woman, who, when she was singing and playing admirably
-on the pianoforte, was told that milking of cows was her
-duty!&nbsp; If not, what is the happiness of his paradise
-worth?&nbsp; &ldquo;Like the apples of Sodom,&rdquo; beautiful to
-the eye, but ashes within.&nbsp; The body may indeed be regaled,
-but there is no lasting, no solid joy for the mind.&nbsp; And
-this Mr. Owen&rsquo;s followers already have found.&nbsp; I
-appeal to themselves for the truth of what I say; and I have the
-means of knowing that they will support the truth of my
-statement.&nbsp; They have not found perfect happiness yet,
-whatever they may do when they get within the walls of his
-promised paradise.&nbsp; But if this be the case in health, in
-vigour of life, and when surrounded by every thing calculated to
-impart pleasure, what, I ask, will be the state of things when
-sickness invades the frame, when disease and old age enfeeble and
-destroy the body, and when death comes and cuts it down?&nbsp; Is
-there, or has he made, any provision against these evils, or will
-they change or lose their nature within the walls of this
-promised paradise?&nbsp; Ah! if his followers could have <a
-name="page20"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 20</span>assurance of
-that, then, indeed, there might be some faint prospect of being
-happy&mdash;but he cannot; and they feel he cannot; there is,
-therefore, and there must always be, a worm at the root of their
-gourd, and poison at the bottom of their cup of pleasure.</p>
-<p>And what is there beyond the grave?&nbsp; Yes, I ask, what is
-there beyond the grave?&nbsp; &ldquo;Oh that grave!&rdquo; is the
-feeling cry of each of their minds: &ldquo;if it were not for the
-grave, we should not mind, we should do very well;&rdquo; but
-there is the grave; and again I ask, What is there beyond
-it?&nbsp; Oh! if any of those that have imbibed these principles
-should cast their eye on this page, I beseech them, by the worth
-of their souls, by the terrors of the Lord, by the solemnities of
-the judgment day, and by the miseries, the eternal miseries of
-hell to think of their state, and immediately to flee from the
-wrath to come.&nbsp; And let me tell them, for we have no delight
-in thundering out these awful realities, on the contrary, we
-rejoice to tell them, that if they repent, even for them, there
-is salvation, and eternal life through the blood of the
-Lamb.&nbsp; Oh then, we beseech them by the mercies of God, we
-beseech them by the dying love of Christ, as though God did
-beseech them by us, we pray them in Christ&rsquo;s stead,
-&ldquo;Be ye reconciled to God.&rdquo;</p>
-<p>But what a contrast the Christian presents, to even the best
-and the happiest follower of Robert Owen, or even Robert Owen
-himself!&nbsp; It is true that he may not be rolling in wealth,
-nor surrounded by luxuries; his circumstances may be humble, and
-his situation may be poor; but he is happy, unspeakably
-happy!&nbsp; He has peace within, a peace which is not
-adventitious, which is not the result of circumstances, and will
-not change with them; it is &ldquo;peace of conscience,&rdquo;
-and &ldquo;peace with God;&rdquo; that &ldquo;peace which passeth
-all understanding,&rdquo; and which is full of glory: it is a
-peace which &ldquo;the world cannot give, and which the world
-cannot take away.&rdquo;&nbsp; It supports the mind in sickness,
-it cheers and comforts it in poverty and affliction, it smooths
-the pillow of death, it illumines and sheds a glorious radiance
-over the dark passage to the grave, and beyond the tomb it is
-converted into the fulness of joy, and pleasures for
-evermore.&nbsp; Nor am I drawing an imaginary picture; I could
-refer to hundreds and thousands who will confirm the
-descriptions, as far as their present experience goes; and for
-the truth of the statement in <a name="page21"></a><span
-class="pagenum">p. 21</span>reference to death, what multitudes
-of death-bed scenes have there been which have compelled even
-unbelievers to exclaim, &ldquo;Let me die the death of the
-righteous, and let my last end be like his!&rdquo;</p>
-<p>Mr. Owen&rsquo;s principles have not in a single instance
-changed, so as radically to benefit any individual of the human
-race; they cannot exalt the moral character.&nbsp; Christianity
-has her thousands of trophies of her purity and her power.&nbsp;
-They are to be found in every age, and exist in every part of the
-world.&nbsp; Mr. Owen&rsquo;s principles never yet made a single
-truly happy man: Christianity furnishes them daily.&nbsp; Mr.
-Owen&rsquo;s principles are silent about a hereafter, and make no
-provision for the world to come: Christianity brings life and
-immortality to light by the gospel, takes away the sting of
-death, triumphs over the grave, and opens before its followers a
-bright and a glorious immortality.&nbsp; Mr. Owen&rsquo;s
-principles, independent of their absurdity and atheism, have
-nothing to recommend them but his unsupported testimony:
-Christianity is confirmed and established by the united testimony
-of prophets, and apostles, and evangelists; of martyrs,
-confessors, and enemies; of miracles, prophecies, and history; of
-its own doctrines, and precepts, and triumphs&mdash;that it is
-the word of God!&nbsp; Then we say, If Mr. Owen be what he
-pretends, the only teacher that has yet risen to enlighten and to
-bless the world, and if his principles, as developed in the
-&ldquo;Book of the New Moral World,&rdquo; be the eternal laws of
-nature, then follow him: but, if the Lord be God, and
-Christianity be Divine, then follow them.</p>
-<h2><a name="page22"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
-22</span>APPENDIX.</h2>
-<p><span class="smcap">Since</span> writing the preceding pages,
-I have had an opportunity of both seeing and hearing of the
-effects of the system, the principles of which I have endeavoured
-to expose: and as the fruits of a tree are not only of great
-service in determining the character of the tree which bears
-them, but are the best test by which that character may be known,
-it may be of use to the cause of truth, and may tend more
-effectually than any other means, to explain and expose what
-Robert Owen&rsquo;s Socialism is, to state the fruits which it
-has already produced.</p>
-<p>An intimate friend of mine, resident in a large manufacturing
-district, in whose neighbourhood socialists abound, and where
-they have had an opportunity, to a very considerable extent, of
-developing their system, writes me word: &ldquo;Persons in whose
-neighbourhood their meetings are held, speak of their proceedings
-as most riotous and disorderly.&nbsp; Young men and young women
-assemble in the room, and around it, in great numbers, and the
-most demoralizing scenes occur.&nbsp; Twice in the week they meet
-for dancing, etc. in the room where their preachings are
-held.&rdquo;</p>
-<p>And as to the persons that compose their societies, it is
-notorious that the great bulk of them are young men and women,
-who are attracted solely by the pleasures and amusements which
-are there held out to them; and the remainder consist either of
-persons of bad moral character, or men of unsettled religious
-views, as atheists, unbelievers, the followers of Johanna
-Southcote, etc.; or, where any have joined them who were once
-attached to other bodies, or were professed believers in the
-doctrines of revelation, they are, almost without a single
-exception, persons whose practices did not accord with their
-profession&mdash;&ldquo;men of corrupt minds, reprobate
-concerning the faith,&rdquo; 2 Tim. iii. 8.&nbsp; And, although
-it is not fair nor honourable to charge either the sentiments, or
-the practices of particular individuals upon a whole body, or
-even to lay them to the account of the system which they profess;
-yet, when those sentiments and practices can be shown fairly to
-arise out of the system: and moreover, when they are neither
-disavowed nor discountenanced by the body <a
-name="page23"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 23</span>generally,
-nor by those persons that may fairly be considered as
-representing the body, there can be nothing wrong in adducing
-them as illustrations of the nature and the tendency of the
-system which produces them.&nbsp; It is solely with this view
-that I bring forward the following facts, for the truth of which
-I can vouch:&mdash;</p>
-<blockquote><p>&ldquo;A man named &mdash;, of &mdash;, the clerk
-of the socialists at &mdash;, and a clever lecturer, who was once
-a missionary, is of so abandoned a character, that nearly at the
-time of his marriage with one female, he had an illegitimate
-child by another; and he threatened, if a certain person,
-&mdash;, of &mdash; opposed his marriage, he would shoot
-him.&rdquo;</p>
-</blockquote>
-<p>Another person, the editor of a periodical which supports the
-views of Mr. Owen, and one of the champions of their cause, is
-charged publicly by the author of a pamphlet entitled,
-&ldquo;Truth without Mystery, mixture of Error, or fear of
-Man,&rdquo; with seducing his own wife&rsquo;s sister: nor has
-the charge, as far as I can learn, been in any shape denied, or
-attempted to be disproved.&nbsp; And not only is he not disowned,
-but is still continued as an acknowledged and recognised
-supporter and expounder of their principles.</p>
-<p>Another man, who was once a preacher, is now a warm advocate
-of socialism, and has given a clear illustration of the kind of
-morality which may be expected, if the principles of this system
-should become at all general; for he has lived already with not
-less than eight or ten women in succession.</p>
-<p>These facts, which, after all, are only specimens of what
-might be adduced, awful as they are, cannot be wondered at; nor
-will the reading of them occasion any surprise, when it is known
-that the following sentiments are taught and inculcated by the
-advocates of these principles:&mdash;A Mr. &mdash; on one
-occasion publicly declared, and argued according to one of the
-fundamental principles of this system, that men are not to be
-held accountable for what they are.&nbsp; He said, &ldquo;Each
-nation has some particular character of its own.&nbsp; Some
-nations think murder right; others are cannibals; and they cannot
-help either their belief or their practice. . . .&nbsp; And we
-should not punish men for the want of virtue, or the commission
-of vice, but we should teach them better.&rdquo;&nbsp; A
-socialist lecturer expressed his ideas of God in the following
-words:&mdash;&ldquo;He is omnipresent, he is all goodness, he is
-all wisdom, he is present in you, he is present in me, he is
-present in the murderer, he is present in hell.&rdquo;&nbsp; And
-the conclusion which he wished to draw was, that as God is thus
-present everywhere, therefore, he is the author of the crime of
-the murderer!!&nbsp; I asked him, &ldquo;Was God all goodness
-when he was thus present in the murderer?&rdquo;&nbsp; Or, in
-other words, Was murder goodness?</p>
-<p>These, and similarly awful sentiments, Mr. Owen&rsquo;s
-followers <a name="page24"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
-24</span>are seeking to extend with the greatest diligence, and
-that too, even among the young.&nbsp; Nor have they been
-unsuccessful.&nbsp; The effects which already begin to appear are
-highly detrimental.&nbsp; In one instance, the son of a professor
-of socialism, who goes to school to a Christian, was one morning
-too late, and told his master that he could not help being too
-late, for he was the creature of circumstances over which he had
-no control; when his master very properly replied, then he would
-apply a moral motive of sufficient power to induce him to be in
-time, and so gave him a good beating.</p>
-<p>A sabbath-school teacher, in a neighbourhood where these
-principles have extensively spread, bears testimony that,
-&ldquo;through the influence of socialism the boys have become so
-unmanageable that the teachers do not know what to do: to turn
-them out of the school appears to be to doom them to destruction:
-and to keep them in is, almost to a certainty, to corrupt the
-views and morals of the rest of the children.&rdquo;</p>
-<p>A man named &mdash;, of &mdash;, who was once a preacher, but
-is now a warm advocate of socialism, has repeatedly confessed
-that he has no peace in his own mind.</p>
-<p>But, without attempting to adduce more facts as illustrations
-of the evils and the tendencies of this system, I may ask, Does
-it produce no other fruits besides these?&nbsp; It has now been
-tried for some time, and opportunity has been given to develope
-and bring to maturity its principles; surely then Robert Owen can
-produce, if from no other quarter, at least from his own
-establishments, some rare and surpassing specimens of moral
-beauty and intrinsic worth, such as the old world and the old
-system have in vain attempted to exhibit.&nbsp; Christianity can
-exhibit the names of persons whose virtues and excellences have
-been the theme of universal admiration, and have extorted from
-friends and foes the meed of praise.&nbsp; The list is too long
-to transcribe: nor is it necessary; for their memory is embalmed
-in the grateful recollections of all who have any perception of
-moral goodness, and their deeds shall outlast the course of
-time.&nbsp; Can the New Moral World as yet produce no names to
-eclipse those of the Christian world?&nbsp; Then, on every
-principle, whether of reason, argument, fact, or experience, it
-may truly be said as to the social system, &ldquo;Thou art
-weighed in the balances, and found wanting.&rdquo;</p>
-
-<div class="gapspace">&nbsp;</div>
-
-<div class="gapmediumline">&nbsp;</div>
-<p><i>London</i>: <i>Printed by</i> W. <span
-class="smcap">Clowes</span> <i>and</i> <span
-class="smcap">Sons</span>, <i>Duke-street</i>, <i>Lambeth</i>,
-<i>for</i> <span class="smcap">The Religious Tract
-Society</span>; <i>and sold at the Depository</i>, 56,
-<i>Paternoster-row</i>; <i>by</i> J. <span
-class="smcap">Nisbet</span> <i>and</i> Co., 21,
-<i>Berners-street</i>, <i>Oxford-street</i>; <i>and by other
-Booksellers</i>.</p>
-<p style="text-align: center">[<i>Price</i> 7<i>s.</i> <i>per</i>
-100]<br />
-<i>Considerable Allowance to Subscribers and Booksellers</i>.</p>
-<pre>
-
-
-
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