Part 3

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.”

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