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Other documents randomly have
different content
The Project Gutenberg eBook of Socialism
Exposed
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 will have to check the laws of the country where
you are located before using this eBook.

Title: Socialism Exposed

Author: Joseph Mather

Release date: June 28, 2020 [eBook #62506]

Most recently updated: October 18, 2024

Language: English

Credits: Transcribed from the [c1840’s] Religious Tract Society

edition by David Price

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SOCIALISM

EXPOSED ***
Transcribed from the [c1840’s] Religious Tract Society edition by
David Price, email [email protected]

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