ET"-^- "— xV^ \X^V 'mth I ' ' r % PRINCETON, N. J. / / / ^ Section .. Shelf.. ^f. iy%/Ot^^ 'v«*« «^^T>$«V .^.\v V ■%^ BEBATE — EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY; COXTAINISG AN EXAMINATION OP THE AXD OF ALL THE SYSTEMS OF SCEPTICISM OF ANCIENT AND MODERN TIMES. HELP IX THE CITY OF CINCIXXATI,X)mo, FROM THE lofh TO THE 21st OF APRIL, 1829; UETV EEN ROBERT "bwEN, OF ^'EW LANARK, SC^LA>-D, AIvD ALEXANDER "CAMPBEI.!., OF BETHANY, VIROIXIA. Jicported by CHARLES H. SIMS, Stenographer. WITH WRITTEN BY THE PARTIES, VOL. I. What then is unbelief — 'Tis an exploit, A strenuous enterprize. To gain it man Must burst through every bar of common sense^ Of common shame — magnanimously wrong! Who most examine, most believe; Parts, like half sentences, confouwl. Head his whole volume. Sceptic, then repl}! •SfocKe. O Lord of Hosts! blessed is the man tliat trusteth inthije! vxym . BETHANY, VA. rKZKTEp'>yr ruBLisnEo bt ALLXAxrra cAjrp^EXt, 18-2!>. ^».-.$t«;a;^- Western Disirict or Vikcima, lo u-h: — BE IT REMEMBERED, That on lliis eighteeutli clay of June, Anno Domini 1829, and in tlie lift} -thiid year of the Independence of the United States of Amcirica, Alcrandrr Campbell, of the said District, hath deposited in my ofliee the title of a book, the right whereof he claims as proprietor, in the words and figures follow- ing, to wit : — ^'Debate on the Evidences of Christiaiuiy; contahring an Examina- tion of the ^'■Social System^'' and of all the systems of Scepticism of ancient and modern times: held in the city of Cincinnati, Ohio, from the ISth to the2\st of April, 1829, hetweenilohGict Owen, of New Lanarky Scotland, «noet.s, and divines, are not insensible. Every sentence of a rhetorical cast must have three members, and every noun sub stantivc reqtiires three adjectives to make it expressive, elegant, and sonorous. Hence the good old style of having a preface, introduc- tion, and dedication prefixed to every volume. With the first and second of these we may dispense, as the tr-.-st speech of each dispu- innt is a sort of pretace and introduction for himself. And were I lO think of a dedication' of this volume, I would be constrained to dedicate it to the whole human family, if I were to be guided by the grand principles of that diffusive benevolence which the side of the question on which I stand suggests. But were I to imitate the in- ventors of dedications, and select some person to v, hose auspices I could consign this book, I should be unable to find any one indi- vidual to whcse pre-eminent virtues 1 could exclusively inscribe it. Rut if either the urbanity, hospitality, and public spirit of a particular city; or if the orderly behavior, and christian deportment of any one congregation, made it necessary for a publisher, such as I am, to inscribe a volume in commendation of one, or other, or both, the city of Cincinnati, and that congregation which for eight days patiently- attended upon the discussion, v/ould present claims which neither loo-ic with all its rules of reason, nor rhetoric with all ifs arts of per- suasion, could set aside. But again something whispers in my ear if any seven reasons would justify the inscription of this work to any seven gentlemen, to the exclusion of all other persons, for any special attentions paid to the cause, the parties, and the public, the Honorable Judge Bvrnci, Major Daniel Gano, Col. Francis Can; Rev. Timothy Flint, Rev. Oliver Spencer, Henry Starr, Esq. and Col. Samuel W. Davis, are entitled to it for the attentive and dignified manner in which they presided over this discussion. But as there are so many considerations presenting rival calls upon my pen for a special dedication, I must either depart from old usage or take some?^* comprehensive, all-embracing sweep, and dedicate it to every saint and sinner into whose hands it may fall. But I cannot so easily dispense with apologies as with dedications : for the loose and diffuse style of my speeches requires an apology from myself, as well as a liberal share of indulgence from the learned reader. Being always an extemporaneous speakei*, and, on this occasion, every speech of mine, with the exception of the first one, being unpremeditated, many redundancies, expletives, and other inaccuracies in arrangement may be.expected, and, I hope, pardoned, liXtemporaueous speakers are generally diffuse in their style, and defective in their arrangement. This is, for the most part, unavoid- able; and more especially when a very promiscuous assembly is 4 PREFACE. addressed, and ©n a subject which ought to be levelled to the appr£>- bension of all. We aimed at being understood; and this required great plainness of speech. It is better to have to claim indulgence from the learned, than to have to incur the censures of the illiterate. In point of arrangement and style, Mr. Owen had a very great advantage in having the Avhole of his argument written down. It i's true he frequently spoke extemporaneously, but generally his written argument was the text. His written argument was his bible, and his speeches were sermons upon the essential doctrines ot his ttoehe apor.tles. Considering the rapidity of my pronunciation, which is said to be surpassed by very few, Mr. Sims, the stenographer, has certainly done himself great honor in the accuracy v/ith which he has taken down my speeches. I have not, it m true, yet read them all ; but those I have read have far surpassed my anticipations. I did not think that any stenographer could take down my speeches verbatim, and especially one who was out of the practice for any length of time. Mr. Sims having been for some time a citizen of New Harmony, «as well acquainted with ]\Jr.^O\ven's style; and Mr. Owen being rather a slov/ speaker it was comparatively easy for Mr. Sims to report his speeches to a word. Mr. Sims did not promise to do this lor me ; but he promised to give every idea, if not in ipsissimis verbis, In terms fully expressive of them. His fidelity I cannot but admire ; for although somewhat sceptical iiimself, and once almost persuaded to be an Owenite, and, upon the whole, on Mr. Owen's side of the question, I cannot complain of the least partiality in any one instance. When he failed to report any .sentence, he was careful to note it, and thus has given me full satis- ! action. It will afford the reader some satisfaction to know that Mr. Owen h-as had the opportunity of revising all his speeches. This liber- ty I cheerfully conceded to him, and he has availed himself of it. He continued in Cincinnati till Mr. Siius got through with his speeches, and he had my assent to improve the style as much as he pleased. The original copy of Mr. Sims' report, by a stipulation of the parties, is to be deposited with the public records of the county in which it is published; and in case of any cavil by either of the parties or their friends, it is to be forthcoming. Every thing on my part has been done to give to the public 'he most faithful and credible report of this discussion. That it might appear in the most impartial form, I oflered, with Mr. Owen's .;oncurreuce, the right of publishing to the Reporter. I first agreed with Mr. Govld of Philadelphia; had written, signed, and forward- ed for his signature, articles of agreement, authorizing him to pub- lish 20 or 30,000 copies, if he pleased, as a remvmeration for his reporting faithfully and fully the discussion. Learning from the news- poper?, thatMr. Owen had been in Jamaica or Vera Cruz some time in •^tlarch, he despaired of his arrival at the time appointed, and declined coming on. I made a similar proposition to Mr. Sims of Cincinnati. PREFACE. 5 He declined, and preferred a remuneration in money. Mr. Owen and myself then were compelled to publish the work, and agreed to pay Mr. Sims 500 dollars for his report. After the debate terminated, Mr. Owen, about to return to Europe, and not able to attend to the work, proposed to sell his interest in the work. He did so. I became the sole proprietor, and thus the publi- cation ultimately devolved upon me. After my return home, and my having made some contracts relative to the materials, type, press, &c. Mr. Owen wrote me that by some means he understood that the city of Cincinnati would have liked that the work had been offered to them for benevolent purposes. He pro- posed my relinquishment of it to the city corporation . To this I ac- ceded on condition that the materials I had purchased for the work should be taken along with the copy right ; or if not, 1 would hand over to them the first edition, when out of press ; they remunerating me for the composition, press work, and paper, on the same terms for which the printers in Cincinnati would have done it. I waited for three weeks for an answer from Mr. Owen, through whom I wished the proposition to be made. I am now informed by Mr. Owen that the proposition was declined by the city council, and therefore I proceed with the publication. All these arrangements and propositions were made that the work might be more useful, or less liable to objection. For, from my first determination to meet Mr. Owen in argument, I had purposed to pre- sent the result of our interview to the public, for whose benefit it was undertaken, in the most unexceptionable form. And now, when the publication has devolved upon me, I proposed the depositing of the original copy for comparison with the publication as aforesaid. For experience has taught me how iisual it is for the vanquished to exclaim against the report. As arrangements are now made, I trust that all objections will be removed, for I am conscious that there is no ground for them. The arguments on both sides will appear as fair and as forcible to the reader, as they did to the hearer of this discussion. The discussion sufficiently explains itself as it proceeds. We will neither anticipate nor prejudge for the reader. Let him reason, ex* amine, and judge, like a rational being, for himself. To the vast and incomparable import;ince of the question at issue, we can add nothing. It speaks for itself: and the man who has any doubt or hesitancy in his mind upon the subjects discussed in the following pages, and who will not deign them a patient and faithful examination, is unworthy cf the rank and dignity of a «ian. So I decree, and let him that is of a contrary opinion seek to justify him- self to his own conscience. A. CAMPBELL-, 1* THE LAWS OF THE DISCUSSION. Preliminary Arrangements respecting the management and publication of •< Debate upon the Evidences of Christianity, between Robert Owe:-, and Alexander CampheU, to be held at Cincinnati, Ohio, ccmmencing on Monday, the I3th April, 1829: — 1. That the parties upon the day aforesaid, and during the con* tinuance of the said investigation, commence each day at 9 o'clock, A. M. intermit at 12, recommence at 3 P. M. and continue until the parties agree to adjourn. 2. That the {.repositions proposed to be defended by the former, Qfid refuted by the latter, be fairly and fully discussed, as stated in Mr. Owen's challerige to the clergy in New Orleans, as already before the public, till each of the parties be satisfied that he has nothing new to offer. 3. That R. Owen opens the discussion and A. Campbell closes it. 4. That each of the parties shall speak alternately half an hour, without interruption, if he choose to occupy eo much time; but it shall be quite optional with him whether he occupy so much time in each address, and that neither party be at liberty to transcend this space without permission of the Moderators. 5. That the aforesaid debate be conducted throughout with the usual decorum and fairness ©f investigation necessary to the discovery of truth, under the snperintendance of a board of Moderators, seven in number, of which each of the parties shall choose three, and these jointly shall choose a eeveuth. Any three of these, one on each side, being present, shall constitute a quorum. 6. That Charles H. Sims be appointed to engross and report said debate, and to furnish the parties with one fair copy in the space of three months after the close of said debate. For which the parties agree to remunerate him on the delivery of said copy for publica- tion. ... 7. With regard to the publication of this discussion, it is agreed between the parties that the report made by Mi-. Sims, stenographer, shall be published jointly by the parties, they being at equal ex- p<3;ise in obtaining said report, and for all the materials, workman- ship, and labor necessary to the publication, distribution, and sule of said debate; and that, as Robert Owen cannot superintend the publication of the work, the correcting of the press, biuding, and delivery of the work, owing to his public arrangements for the en- suing year, it is agreed that A. Campbell shall superintend the publTcuticn of Ihe v/ork, the correcting of tJie press, binding, and LAWS OF THE DISCUSSION. "/ delivering of the work, being held responsible to Robert Owen and the public for ihe correctness and exactitude with which he shall conform to the report furnished by the aforesaid Charles H. Sims. Which report, when submitted to the revision rf the parties, shall be lodged for safe-keeping and for comparison, with the publication in the hands of the clerk of the county wherein the pii! lication fi-cm the press shall be issued. It is also agreed that the profiis and ]o6.ses accruing from the publication and sale of the first edition shall be equally divided between the parties. It is agreed between the parties, that after the sale of the first edition, if it should appear eligible to the parties to publish a second edition, or a third edition, it shall be proposed by Robert Owen or his agent to A. Campbell, or by A. Campbell to Robert Owen, or his agent, for his concurrence; and that if there should be a concurrence in their views relative to the expediency of such editions, then they shall be undertaken upon the same terms and conditions proposed for the first ; but if there should not be a concuiTence in the expedi- ency of such republications, then either of the parties, as the case may be, shall be at liberty, at his own risk, and upon his own responsibili- ty, to publish any edition or editions of the work he may deem expedient ; the copy right for the work being so secured as to secure to the parties such an arrangement. The parties to this engagement, in the true intent and meaning thereof, and for the true and full performance of its obligations, have, this eleventh day of April, 1829, hereunto set their hands and Mflixed their seals. ROB. OWEN, {J-M A. CAMPBELL. ^^^ :X PHESESrCE OF John Smith, Thomas Campbell. ^^The last article has heen annvlled hy a subsequent stipulation hctweea tJrcjntrtks. ON THE EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY, «&c. Cincinnati, Monday. April IZth, 1829. 1\IR. OWEN rose and said— Gentlemen Moderators, IT is necessary on my part to explain the cause of the present meeting. After much reading and calm reflection, early in life, and after f'xtensive personal, and, in many instances, confidential communi- ations with the leading characters of the present times, I was Jeeply impressed with the conviction that all societies of men have been formed on a misapprehension of the primary laws of human nature, and that this error has produced disappointment and almost every kind of misery. I was also equally convinced that the real nature of man is adapted, when rightly directed, to attain high physical, intellectual, and moral excellence, and to derive from each of these faculties, a large share of happiness, or of varied enjoyment. I was, in consequence, impressed with the belief, that I could not perform a greater service to mankind, than to endeavor to relieve tliem from this grievous error and evil. I made arrangements to ap- ply all my faculties to discover the means by which it could be effected. For this purpose I instituted experiments in England and Scotland, to try the effects of some of these new principles in practice. I published preliminary remarks on the subject, and sub- mitted them to the civilized governments of Europe and America. 1 visited various foreign countries, that I might communicate, per- sonally, with the leading minds in each; and I presented an explana- tory memorial to the congress of sovereigns and their ministers at Aix la Chapel, in 1818. I held public meetings in Great Britain, Ireland, and the United States ; and I widely circulated these proceedings in every part of the world where the English language is known. Finding that these practical experiments exceeded my most sanguine expectations, and that the most experienced, enlightened, and compreliensive minds, when confidentially applied to, admitted the truth of the principles which I placed before them ; and doubted, only, if the period had arrived when ignorance could be so far re- moved as to admit of their immediate introduction into practice; I lu DEBATE; applied myself to discover Ihe best means by which these all-impoi" fant tiiiths might be taught, and all prejudices removed without pro- ducing the evils arising from sudden and extensive revolutions. To effect those objects, I felt it was necessary to be governed through my whole course, as far as times and circumstances would admit, by the laws of nature, which appeared to me correctly true in principle, and beautiful and beneficial for practice, I, therefore, placed these truths gradually before the public, som^!^ ^imes in one form, and sometimes in another; but always in the •cast offensive manner I could devise. Wlien parties, whose prejudices "were by these means aroused, became angry, and reviled, as it was natural for them to do, not un- derstanding my oliject; I could not be angry and displeased with them, and, therefore, reviled not again; but 1 calmly put forth more and more of these truths, that ultimately all of them might be under- stood . When the partisans of political parties fully expected I would nnite with them in opposition to some part of the existing order of things, I could not join in their measures, knowing that they saw but a small part of the evil, which they fruitlessly, yet often honestly, endeavor- ed to remove, and consequently erred in the means of attaining their object. With my views 1 could belong to no party, because, in many things, I was opposed to all. Yet I freely conversed and associated with all classes, sects, and characters ; and it was interesting and instructive to discover the various impressions which were made on individuals belonging to all parties by the principles which I advo- cated. To many, according to their prejudices, I appeared a demon of darkness, or, as some of them said, I "was worse than the Devil;" v'hile to others I seemed an angel of light, or "the best man the world ever saw;" and, of course, of every gradation between these extremes. Amidst these conflicting feelings, I pursued the "even tenor of my way," and turned not from the great object I had in view, either to the right hand or to the left. I thus proceeded, step by step, until the most important lav.-s of our nature were unfolded ; for I early pei-ceived that a knowledge of these laws would soon unveil the three most formidable prejudices that ignorance of these laws had made almost universal. These prejudices, arising from early education, are dir^trict reli- gions in opposition to these divine laws, indissoluble marriages, and unnecessary private property. Yet the prejudices produced by education, on each of tliese subjects, are very different in various countries. Among most people, however, these prejudices, whatever form they may have taken, have been decj»ly rooted, through a long succession of ages, and have uniformly produced the greatest crimes, suffering and misery; indeed almost all to which human nature is liable: for the natural evils of life are so fow, they scarcely deserve consideration. DEBATE. n It, therefore, appeared to me to be the time when these urtiticial evils might be removed, and when an entire new order of things might be established. Many weU intentioned and partly enlightened individuals, who have not had an opportunity to reflect deeply on these subjects, imagine that it will be more easy to remove one of these evils at a time, not perceiving that they are three links, firming one chain ; each link being absolutely necessL'.ry to support the other two, and, therefore, that they must be all retained or go togeUier. Instead of these links becoming a band to keep society in good order, and unite men in a bond of charity, justice, and affection, they form a chain of triple strength to retain the human mind in ignorance and vice, and to inflict every species of misery, from artificial causes, on the human race. Seeing this, I was induced to develope other arrangements, all in accordance with the divine laws of our nature, and thus attempt to break each link of this magic chain, and thereby remove the only obstacles v>'hich prevent men from becoming rational and truly virtuous beings. In these new arrangements, the countless evils M'hich have been engendered by conflicting religions, by vai-ious forms of marriages, and by unnecessary private {)roperty, will not exist: but, instead thereof, real charity, pure chastity, sincere affections, and upright dealing between man and man, producing abundance for all, will every where prevail. By pursuing this course I was, from the beginning, conscious that the worst feelings of those who have been trained in old prejudices must be more or less excited, and I would willingly have avoided creating even this temporary evil, if it had been practicable, but it was not. — I endeavored, however, by calmness and kindness to turn aside these irrational feelings, well knowing that the parties were not the authors of the impressions made upon their respective organiza- tions, and I strove to prevent any unnecessary pain in performing a duty which, to me, appears- the highest that man can perform, and which I execute solely under the expectation of relieving future generations from the misery which the past and present have experi- enced. In pursuance of these measures I last year delivered a course of lectures in New Orleans, explanatory of the principles and many details of the practice of the proposed system. During the progress of these lectures many paragraphs appeared in the New Orleans newspapers giving a very mistaken view of the principles and plans which I advocated. Discovering that these paragraphs proceeded from some of the city clergymen, I put an ad- vertisement in the newspapers, offering to meet all the ministers of religion in the city, either in public or private, to discuss the subjects of diflerence betv.een us, in order that the population of Nev/ Orleans might know the real foundation on which the old systems' of the u odd v/ere erected, and the principles en which the new system was 1-2 DEBATE. advocated. These gentlemen, however, were unwilling to enter upon the discussion. About the same period Mr. Alexander Campbell, of Bethany in Virginia, was solicited by a brother minister, in the state of Ohio, to meet Dr. Underbill, who was publicly teaching, with success, the principles of the new system in the upper part of that state, Mr. Campbell declined the call 'thus made upon him; but he offered as a shorter mode, in 'his opinion, of terminating the differ- once, to meet me and discuss the merits of the old and new systems in public, at any time and place convenient to both. He afterwards, on seeing my proposals in the newspapers to meet the clergy of New Orleans on specific grounds, publicly offered to discuss those subjects with me at Cincinnati any time within twelve months from the date of his proposal. Having occasion, about that period, to pass, on my way to Europe, within twenty miles of Mr. Campbell's residence, I went to see liim to ascertain whether his proposal to meet me in public emanated from a conscientious desire to discover valuable truths for the benefit of the human race, or from a wish to attain a useless notoriety by a vain and futile contest of words without an)' definite meaning. By my intercourse with Mr. Campbell I concluded he was con- scienciously desirous of ascertaining truth from error on these momen- tous subjects, that he was much experienced in puldic discussions, and well educated for the ministry. His superior talents were general- ly admitted. Under these circumstances, I did not feel myself at liberty 1.0 decline the call he had publicly made upon me — I, therefore, agreed to meet him in this city, at this time, that we might, l)y a fair and open discussion of principles never yet publicly advocated, discover, if possible, the foundation of human errors respecting vice and virtue, :ind the real cause of the continuance, at this day over the world, of ignorance, poverty, disunion, crime, and misery: and, if practi- cable, lay a broad and solid foundation for a union of all tribes and people, that peace, good will, and intelligence, may every wlicre prevail, and contention and strife cease from the earth. Such is the origin and jn-ogress of the events and circumstances which have produced the present assemblage at this ])lace, and my Bole wish is that it may terminate beneficially lor mankind. I wait Mr. Campbell's confirmation of this statement as far as he is personally concerned in it. MR. CAMPBELL rose and said— My christian friends and fellow-citizens'.— ^In rising to address ■you on this occasi')n, I feel that I owe you an apology. Do 5'ou inquire, For what? I answer, F«'r bringing into public discussion the evidences of the christian relidon. Not, indeed, as if either ih* religion itself, or the evidences of its truth and divine authority, had any thing to fear from an examination, however public or however severe. ^Vhy, then, do you say, apologize for bringing this subject into public delate? Occause, ia eo doing, we may appear to con- i>EBATE. 13 cede that it is yet an undecided question subjudice; or, at least, that it3 opponents have some good reason for withholding their assent to its truth, and their consent to its requirements. Neither of which we are, at this time, prepared to admit. It is true, indeed, that we christians arc commanded by an au- thority which we deem paramount to every other, to be prepared, at all tirnes, to give a reason of the hope wliich we entertain; and not only so, but in meekness, and with firmness, to contend for the faith once delivered to the saints. If, then, it be our duty, either as teachers of the christian religion, or as private disciples, to be govern- ed by these precepts, not only we can find an excuse for ourselves, but we hope that you also will find an excuse for us in the present undertaking. Excuse, did I say? Not excuse only, but more than excuse, both authority and encouragement. Some christians, we know, think it enough simply lo i^weigh against sceptics and scepticism in their weekly harangue^-: wliiie they are protected by custom and law from the retorts and replies of such as do not believe. Tliis is not enough. If, indeed, all the sceptics in the vicinities of christian congregations made it a point to attend these weekly discourses, and if their objecti ms an'i doubts were foirly met, canvassed, and refuted, then this course might suffice. But neither of these is precisely the case. The sceptics do not generally attend the places of worship; and few of the teachers of religion pay adequate attention to this description of character. Jn some christian cotmtries, also, too much reliance is placed upon ti)8 strong arm of the law; and in this covuitry, perhaps, too much confidence is reposed in the moral force of public opinion. Scepticism and infidelity are certainly on the increase in this and other countries. Not, indeed, because of the mildness of our laws, but because of the lives of our professors, and a very genem! inat- tention to the evidences of our religion. The sectarian spirit, the xage of rivalry in the various denominations, together with many absurd tenets and opinions propagated, afford more relevant reasons for the prevalence of scepticism than most of our professors are able to offer for their faith. Kingcraft and priestcraft, always german-coueins at least, have so disfigured, or as they suppose, ornamented Christianity, so com- pletely disguised it, that many having no taste nor inclination for examining the inspired books, have hastily and peremptorily decided th;it all religion is the offspring of fraud or fiction. The ignorance of the multitude, and the knavery of the few, are the most puissant auxiliaries of those daring and rash spirits who undertake to make it appear that the religious institutions of this country are founded on kingcraft or priestcraft. I have sometimes been ready to conclude with Bishop Newton ia his illustrations of the prophecies, that the unhallowed alliance be- tween kings and priests, of church and state, is destined to be finally destroyed by a momentary triumph of infidelity: or, to come nearer to his own language, that before the uiillennia'l order of society can 2 14 DEBATE. be introduced, there will be a very general spread of infidelity. However this may be, for here we would not be dogmatical, we are assured that the progress of scepticism is neither owing to the weak- ness nor the paucity of the evidences of Christianity ; but to a pro- fession of it unauthorized by, and incompatible with, the christian scriptures. These concessions we are compelled to make from a sense of justice to our cause; but in conceding so much, we give nothing away but what every christian would wish to see d(jne away, viz. the abuses of the christian religion. Nor will we allow that there '\? even in the abuses of Christianity any argument against its exce.- lency, nor any just reason for the infidelity of any one who has access to the oracles of God. When we agreed to meet Mr, Owen in public debate upon the questions to be discussed on this occasion, it was not m ith any ex- pectation that he was to be convinced of the errors of his system on the subject of religion; nor with any expectation th?tt I was in the least to be shaken in my faith in the sacred writings. It is to be pre- sumed that IMr. Owen feels himself beyond the reach of conviction; and I most sincerely must declare that I have every assurance of the truth and authority of the christian religion. I know, indeed, Ihat there is no circumstance in Avhich any person can be placed more unfavorable to his conviction, than that which puts him in a public assembly upon the proof of his principles. The mind is then on the alert to find proofs for the system which has been already adopted, and is not disposed to such an investigation as might issue in conviction. Arguments and proofs are rather parried than weighed ; and triumph rather than conviction is anxiously sought for. At the wame time I own I am, on all subjects, open to conviction, and even desirous to receive larger measures of light; and more than once, even when in debate, I have been convicted of the truth and force of the argument of an opponent. Nor would I say that it is impossi- ble that even my opponent might yet preach the faith which he has all his life labored to destroy. But the pu])lic, the wavering, doubt- in^, and unsettled public, who are endangered to be carried off, as iin apostle says, by the iiood which the dragon has poured cut of tiis mouth, are those for whose benefit this discussion has, on my part, been undertaken. They are not beyond the reach of convic- tion, correction, and reformation. For the present generation and the succeeding I have been made willing to undertake to show that there is no good reason for rejecting the testimony of the apostles iuid prophets; but all the reason which rational beings can demand lor the sincere belief and cordial reception of the cliristian religion. You must not think, my. friends, that Christianity has come down to our times without a struggle; nay, indeed, if took the nations at first by the irresistible force of its evidence. It was opposed by consolidated ranks of well disciplined foes. Learned, cunning, bold, and powerful were its enemies. But experience taught them it was not only foolish, but hurtful to kick agaizist the goads. DEBATE. 15 Never was there such a moral phenomenon exhibited upon this earth as the first establishment and progress of Christianity. Tho instruments bv which it was established, the opposition with which it was met, and the success which attended its career, were all of tha must extraordinary character. The era of Christianity itself presents a very sublime spectacle: the whole world reposing in security under the protecting v.ings of the most august of all the Cesars; peace, universal peace, with her healthful arms en- circling all the nations composing the great empire, which Avas itself the consummation of all the empires of the ancient world. — Polytheism, with her myriads of temples and her myriads of myriads of priests, triumphantly seated in the affections of a super- stitious people, and swaying a magic sceptre fvom the Tyber to the ends of the earth. Legislators, magistrates, philosophers, orators, and poets, all combined to plead her cause, and to protect her from insult and injury. Rivers of sacrificial blood crimsoned all the rites of pagan worship ; and cloud* of incense arose from every city, town, and hamlet, in honor of the gods of Roman superstition. Just in this singular and unrivalled crisis, when the Jews' religion, though cor-^ i upted by tradition and distracted with faction, was venerated for its antiquity, and admired for its divinity; when idolatry was at its zenith in the Pagan world, the Star "of Bethlehem appears. The marvellous scene opens in a stable. What a fearful odds! What a strange contrast! Idolatry on the throne, and the founder of a new religion and a new empire lying in a manger! Unattended in his birth, and unseconded in his outset, he begins his career. Prodigies of extraordinary sublimity announce that the desire of all nations is born. But the love of empire and the jealousy of a rival stimulate the bloody Herod to unsheath his sword. Many innocents were slaughtered, but Heaven shielded the new born king of the world. For the present we pass over his wonderful history. After ihirtj- years of obscurity we find him surrounded with what the wise. The wealthy, and the proud, would call a contemptible group ; telling them that one of them, an uncouth and untutored fisherman too, had discovered a truth which would new-modify the whole v;orld. In the midst of them he uttered the most incredible oracle ever heard. 1 am about, sa^'s he, to found a new empire on the acknowledgment of a single truth, a truth too, which one of you has discovered, and all the powers and malice of worlds seen and unseen shall never prevail against it. This is ourhehnet, breastplate, and shield, in this con- troversy. , What a scene presents itself here! A pusillanimous, wavering, ignorant, and timid, dozen of individuals, without a penny apiece, assured that to them it pleased the Ruler of the Universe to give the empire of the world : that to each of them would be given a throne from which v.ould be promulged laws never to be repealed while sun and moon end.ire. Such were the army of the faith. They begin their career. Under the jealous and invidious eyes of a haughty sanhedrim at-home, and under the strict cognizance of a Roman emperor abroad, with a watch- m DEBATK, li:l procui-ator stationed over them. Tliey comiweneetl then &per^- tiong. One while charged with idolatry; at another with treason, P.eviled and persecuted until their chief is rewarded with a cross, and I hemselves witli threats and imprisonment. A throne in a future world y nimated him, and a crown of glory after martyrdom stimulated them. Qa they march from ccnqi-.est to conquest, till not only a • altitude of the Jewish priests and people, but Cesar's household in imperial Rome became obedient to the faith. Such was the commencement. The land of Judea is smitten with the sword of the Spirit. Jerusa- lem falls, and Samaria is taken. The coasts of Asia, maritime cities, islands, and provinces, vow allegiance to a crucified King. Mighty Rome is roused, and shaken, and affrighted. Sacrifices are un- bought, altars moulder, and temples decay. Her pontifis, her sen- ate, and her emperor stand aghast. Persecution, the adjunct of a weak and wicked cause, uusheaths her sword and kindles her fires. A Nero and a Caligula prepare the faggots and illuminate Rome with burning christians. But the scheme soon defeats itself.- for anon 'tia £)und that the blood and the ashes of martyrs are the seed of the church. So the battle is fought till every town of note from the Tyber to the .Thames, from the Euphrates to the Ganges, bows to the cross. On the one side superstition and the sword, the mitred head and the sceptred arm combine; on the other, almighty truth alone pushes on the com- bat. Under these fearful odds the truth triumphs, and shall the ad- vocates of such a cause fear the contest now ! Yes, my fellow citizens, not a king nor priest smiled upon our faith, until it won the day. It offered no lure to the ambitious; no reward to the avaricious. It formed no alliance with the lusts of the flesh, the lusts of the eye, nor the pride of life. It disdained such auxiliaries. It aimed not so low. It called for self-denial, humility, patience, and courage, on the part of all its advocates; and pro- mised spiritual joys as an earnest of eternal bliss. By the exeellency of its doctrine, the purity of its morals, the rationality of its argu- menif, the demonstrations of the Holy Spirit, and the good example of its subjects, it triumphed on the ruins of Judaism and Idolatry. The chnstian volunteers found the yoke of Christ was easy and his burthen light. Peace of mind, a hcavcu-born equanimity, a good conscience, a pure heart, universal love, a triimiphant joy, and a glorious hope of immortal bliss, were its reward in hand. An incor- riiptible, undefiled, and unfading inheritance in the presence of Cod, v.ilh the society of angelf, principalities, and powers, of the loftiest intelligence and most comprehensive knowledge, brighter than the s-in, in the glories of light and lovef eternal, are its reward in future. But now let us ask. What boon, what honor, vi hat reward, have our opponcTits to offer for its renunciation? Ye?, this is the question wldch the sequel must develope. , To what would they convert us! What heaven have they to propose! What immortality to reveal! What sublime vicAvs of a creatioji and a creator! What authentic re- cord of the past! What prophetic hope of the future! What account of our origin! What high ultimatum of our destiny! What DEBATE. l^ terrors have they to offer to stem the torrent of corruption ! What balm and consolation to the sons and daughters of anguish! To tJieseand a thousand kindred questions they must,and they u-ill answer, None; none at all . They promise to him that disbelieveth the Founder of tlie christian religion; to him that neglects and disdains the salva- tion of the gospel ; to him who tramples under foot the blood of the New Institution, and insults the Spirit of favor; to him who traduces Moses, Daniel, and Job ; to him who vilifies Jesus, Paul, Peter, James, a:id John; to him who devotes his soul to the lusts of the flesh; who disdains heaven; who deifies his appetites; who degrades himself to a mere animal, and eulogizes philosophy ; to this man they promise eternal sleep, an everlasting death. This is the faith, the hope, and joy, for which they labor with so much zeal, and care, and pain. Divesting man of all that renders life a blessing and death support- able, denuding him of all the dignity and honor which have ever been the admiration of the wise and good, and reducing him wholly to the earth, is by our opponents the li-ue philosophy, the just science, the valuable knowledge. In their estimation a colony of bees cc-opera- ting in the building of store-houses and cells, and afterwards stowing them fall of the necessaries of animal life, humming from flower to flow-er, while the sun shines; and in its absence, sucking the juices w^hich tiiey have collected, is the grand model of what man would he, and what he would do, were he under the benign influence of just knowledge and sound philosophy. To accomplish this high and glorious end of our being is the su- preme wish of my benevolent opponent. In the prosecution of which he labors to show us that matter — solid, liquid, gaseous matter — is the height and depth, the length and breadth of all that deserves the name of just knowledge. As for souls, and their appurtenances, they are mere nonentities, creatures of mere fancy, having neither figure, extension, nor gravity ; old wives' fables, and ought to be all embarked in company with ghosts and witches, and colonized on the point of a needle on some lofty peak in the regions of imagination. When by a philosophic exorcism, he has cast out these indescribable spirits which haunt the cells of our crania, and emptied our heads of all thoir intellectual contents, we are then to make the body, andespe* ci illy the ahdvminal viscera, the all-engrossing topic of life and death, and the capital item in our last will and testament. Now let I's glance at the method of argument by which this point is to be proved. 1 . I\Ian is to be detached from any relation to a Supreme or su-* pcrior being. All debts of gratitude or obligation of any sort to an unseen or intangible agent are to be cancelled by a single act of oblivi- on; and when he is taught to annihilate the Creator, he is next to be taui-ht that he is himself neiiher Creator nor creature, but a sort of self'cxisteiit particle of a self-existent whole. 2. Lest he should be too uplifted in his own imagination, he is to be taught that he is no more than a twc-legged animal, as circumscri- bed bv iiir.se as a mole or a lobster. 2^ IS DEBATE. 3. That having butjiuc senses, it is necessary that these should be analysed in order that he may be convinced that nothing can be known of which they are not the informers. Thus man, when perfectly redu- ced to a mere sentient being, is prepared to become a senstutlist. '* 4. To complete the process of degradation, man is to be taught that he has no faculty, or power of learning or knowing any thing but by his senses , or that he can receive no certain information from the tes- timony cf his ancestors. 5. That all the information which is traditional or handed down, is false and incredible. 6. As to morality, it is just a due regard to utility. Bees are moral as well as men ; and he is the most moral bee which creates the most iioney and consumes the least of it. We do not say that these are verbatim, or in propria forma, the iden- tical positions of my opponent — They belong, perhaps, more justly to some of the fraternity, for you will remember that he confines himself to the following four grand points : 1. 'J'hat all the religiens in the world have been founded on the ig- norance of mankind. 2. That they are directly opposed to the never-changing laws of our lialure. 3. That 'they have been and are the real source of vice, disunion, and misery of every description. 4. That they are now the only real bar to the formation of a society 'if virtue, of intelligence, of charity in its most extended sense, and of sincerity and kindness among the whole human family. — We shall be siomcwhat disappointed, however, if in the developement they d» not en;;ro?s the preceding positions. Were I at liberty to choose a method co-extensive with the whole iiange cf scepticism, it would be such as the following : 1 . I would propose to present some philosophic arguments demon- iirsLiive of the truth of revealed religion. 2, I v. ould attempt to illustrate and press upon my opponent the siature and weight of the historic evidence. 3. I would then endeavor to show, from the christian religion itself, its certaia divine origin. 4, And in the last pl«,ce, I would undertake to prove, from the actu- al condition of the world, and the prophetic annunciations, the absolute certainty tl^at this religion came from the Creator of the world. Under these very general he«ids or chapters, I would not fear to in- troduce sacii a number and variety of distinct arguments and eviden- ces, ?is I shotild think ought to silence Ihe captious, convert the honest inquirer, and confinn the weak and wavering disciple. But in a dis- cussion such as the present, it would be almost, if not altogether, im- possible to pursue such a method ; and as it devolves upon my oppo- nent to lead the way, and upon me to follow, I can only promise that I will endeavor in the mot;t methodical way, to bring forward the argumen's which ore couched in this an-angenient ; of which indeed a very mv/lequuto i,'Iea cuu be coinnumicated in any schedule . DEBATE. i» The preceding synopsis is more general than necessary,- but it is adapted to the vague and diversified attacks upon the christian fortress by the sceptics of the present scliool. In the natural order of thinfrg we would confine ourselves to the following method. 1. State as a postulatum the following unquestionable fact: That there is now in the world a book called the Old and New Tes- taments, purporting to contain a Revelation from the Creator of the universe. Then inquire — 2. By what agency or means this work came into existence. In the analysis of this question we would 1. Demonstrate that the religion contained in this book is predica- ted upon certain matters of fact, 2. That our senses, atid testimony or history are the only means by v/hich we can arrive at certain information in any question of fact, 3. That there are certain infallible criteria bj-- which some historic mattoi-s of fact may be proved true or false, 4. We would then specify these criteria, and 5th. Show that we have all these criteria in deciding this question. This proved, and all that christians contend for must be conceded. We say that were we to be governed hj thenaturalorier, we would con- fine all our debate to this one question as detailed in these five, items. All this indeed will com.e in course under the 2d and 4th items in tlie synopsis proposed. But we cannot refrain from expressing our Oj)inion, that all the rest is superfluous labor bestowed upon us, b}^ the obliquity of the sceptical scheme. And moreover we must add our conviction that, supposing we should fail in afj[t:)rding satisfactory data on the other topics, it is impossible to fail in the point upon which the strength and stress of the argument must rest. In this candid and unreserved wa}', my fellow-citizens, we have laid before you our views and prospects in the opening of this discus- sion, which may give you some idea of what may be expected from this meeting. Your patience and indulgence may have to besulicitcd and displayed, and should we be compelled to roam at large over vast and trackless licldsof speculation, and oftentimes to reti'm by the same track, 3'ou will have the goodness to grant us all that indulgence which the nature of the case demands. But we cannot sit down w ithout admonishing you to bear constant- ly in mind the inconceivable and ineffable importance attached to the investigation. It is not the ordinary aftaii's of this life, the fleeting and transitory concerns of to-day or to-morrow ; it is not v.hether we shall live all freemen, or die all slaves; it is net the momentary affairs of empire, or the evanescent charms of dominion — Nay, indeed, all these are hut the toys of childhood, the sportive excursions of youthful fancy, contrasted with the questions, What is man? Vihcncecame he? Whither docs he go ? Is he a mortal or an immortal beii g ? Is he doom- ed to spring up like the grass, bloom like a fiov*er, drop his seed into the earth, and die forever? Is there no object of future hope? No God — no heaven — no exalted society to be known or enjoyed? Are 20 DEBATE. all the great and illustrious men and women who have lived before we were born wasted and gone forever? After a few short days are fled, when the enjoyments and toils of life are over, when our relish for social enjoyment, and our desires for returning to the fountain of life are most acute, must we hang our heads and close our eyes in the desolating and appalling prospect of never opening them again, of nev- er tasting the sweets for which a state of discipline and trial has so well fitted us. — These are the awful and sublime merits of the question at issue. It is not what we shall eat, nor what we shall drink, unless we shall be proved to be mere animals; but it is, shall we live or die forever? It is as beautifully expressed by a christian poet — • Shall spring ever visit the mouldering urn ? Shall day ever dawn on the night of the grave? Here Mu. Owen rose and said — Before I commence the opening of this discussion I will state two axioms, and then proceed. First Axiom. — Truth is always consistent with itself, consequently, each separate truth is in strict accordance with every other truth in the universe. Or in other words — No two truths, upon subjects, differing the most widely from each other, can ever be in opposition or contradiction to each other. Second Axiom. — No name or authority, whatever may be its nature, can change truth into falsehood or falsehood into truth, or can, in any v/ay, make that which is true to be false, or that which is false to be true. For truth is a law of nature, existing independent of all autho^it}^ Thus it is a law of nature, that one and one make two, and equally so that as one and one make two, two and two make four, and so on cf all the combinations of numbers. Now the united authorities of the universe could not, by their fiat, ehange these laws of nature and determine that one and one shall not make two, but three or any other number. Here Mr. Owen begins to read the first part of his address. My friends, for I trust we are all friends, we meet here to- day for no personal consideration; our sole object is to ascertain facts, from which true principles may be obtained and introduced into practice for the benefit of the human race. The discussion which I am about to open between Mr. Campbell and myself, is one more important in its consequences to all descrip- tions of men, than any, perhaps, which has hitherto occurred in the annals of history. It is a discussion entered upon solely with a view, as T believe, to elicit truth, if it be now practicable, on subjects the most interesting to the whole family of mankind; on subjects which involve the hap- piness or misery of the present and all future generations. And our intention is to begin, to continue, and to terminate these proceedings with the good feelings, which ought always to govern tho con>luct of tho>e v/ho soek truth in singleness of heart, and with a sincere desire to find it. DEBATE. 21 liiiheno assuredly all mankind have been (rained to be chiklren vjf some national or local district, and, in consequence they have been made to acquire errors which create, over the world, confusion of intellect and a necessary fatal division in practice. We now, however, propose to develope facts, and truths deduced from them, through the knowledge of which these local prejudices shall gradually disappear, and be finally removed. We propose further that, through a knowledge of these facts and truths, a practice shall be introduced which shall enable all to become affectionate and intelligent members of one family, having new hearts and new minds, and whose single object, through life, will be, to promote each others' happiness and thereby their own. To attain this great end, we shall not now attack the errors of any particular local district, for, by so doing, the evil passions and bad feel- ings which local errors engender, are aroused and brought into injuri- ous action; but universal truths shall be unfolded, which shall destroy the seeds of those pernicious passions and feelings,and, instead thereof, produce knowledge, peace, and good will among the human race. In furtherance of this mightj-^ change in the destinies of mankind, I am now to prove "ihat all the religions of the world have originated in error; that they are directly opposed to the divine unchanging laws of human nature; that they are necessarily the source of vice, disunion, and misery; that they are now the only obstacle to the formation of a society, over the earth, of intelligence, of charity in its most extended sense,and of sincerity and affection. And that these district religions can be no longer maintained in any part of ^he world, except by keep- ing the mass of the peoj)le in ignorance of their own nature, by an in- crease of the tyranny of the few over the many." It is my intention to prove these all-important truths, not by exposing the fallacies of the scui-ces from whence each of these local religions has originated; but by bringing forth, for pullic examination, the facts which determine by what unchanging laws mpn is produced and his chiracter formed; and by showing how utterly inapplicable all the re- ligions, which have been hitherto invented and instilled into the human mind, are to a being so created ai)d matured. It will be Mr. Campbell's duty to endeavor to discover error in this dcvelopemen' , and, if lie shall find any, to make the error known to me, and to the pr.blic, in a kind and friendly manner. If, however, Mr. Campbell shall not detect any error in this state- ment, but, on the contrary, shall find that it is a plain developement of facts, and just deductions therefrom, and in strict accordance with all other known facts, and well ascertained truths, as I most conscien- tiously believe it to be; then will it be equally his duty to declare, to the public, this truth for the benefit of mankind. After this shall be done, it will become the duty and interest of men, of all oth'^r local districts, to ascertain the truth or error of these facts, ^2 DEBATE. •and of the consequences to which it is stated they will lead in prac« tice, and then, in the same kind and temperate manner, to publish in the shortest period, after such examination, the result, in order to re- move error and establish truth. It is only by this just and equitable mode of proceeding that truth can be elicited, and made manifest for the good of mankind; that the real cause of disunion and misery can be deterted and withdrawn from .society, and that, in place thereof, a deep and lasting foundation can be laid, to establish, forever, among all people, union, peace, char- ity, and aifection. The facts from which I am compelled to believe that these all- important consequences are to arise, are : 1st. That man, at his birth, is ignorant of every thing relative to his own organization, and that he has not been permitted to create the slightest part of his natural propensities, faculties, or qualities, physical or mental. 2. That no two infants, at birth, have yet been known to possess pre- cisely the same organization, while the physical, mental, and moral differences, between all infants, are formed without their knowledge or Will. 3. That each individual is placed, at birtb, without his knowledge or consent, within circumstance^, which, acting upon his peculiar or- ganization, impress the general character of those circumstances upon the infant, child, and man. Yet that the influence of those circumstan- ces is to a certain degree modified by the peculiar natural organiza- tion of each individual. 4. That no infant has the power of deciding at what period of time or in what part of the world he shall come into existence ; of Avhom he shall be born, in what distinct religion he shall be trained to believe, or by what other circumstances he shall be surrounded from birth to death. 5. That each individual is so created, that when young, he may be made to receive impressions, to produce either true ideas or false no- tions, and beneficial or injurious habits and to retain them with great tenacity. 6. That each individual is so created that he must believe according to the strongest impressions that are made on his feelings and other faculties, while his belief in no case depends upon his will. 7. That each individual is so created that he must like that which is pleasant to him, or that which produces agreeable sensations on his individual organization, and he must dislike that which creates in him unpleasant and disagreeable sensations; while he cannot discover, previous to experience, what these sensations should be. 8. That each individual is so created that, (he sensations made upon his organization, although pleasant and delightful at their commence- ment and for some duration, generally beccme,when continued beyond ©certain period, without change, disagreeable and painful. While, DEBATE. 23 on the contrary^ when a too rapid change of sensations is made on his organization, it dissipates, weakens, and otherwise injures his physical, • intellectual and moral powers and enjoymeiits. 9. That the highest health, the greatest pn.gressive improvements, and the most permanent happiness of each individual depend in a great degree upon the proper cultivation of all his physical, intellectual, and moral faculties and powers from infancy to maturity, and upon all these parts of his nature being didy called into action, at their proper period, and temperately exercised according to the strength and capa- city of the'individual. 10. Tnat the individual is made to possei?s and to acquire the worst character, when his organization at birth has been compounded of the most inferior propensities, faculties, and qualities of our common na- ture, and when so organized, he has Iseen placed, from birth to death, amidst the most vicious or worst circumstances. 11. That the individual is made to possess and to acquire a medium character, when his original organization has been created superior, and when the circumstances which surround him from birth to death produce continued vicious or unfavorable impressions. Or when his organization has been formed ofinferior materials, nnd thecircianstan- ces in which he has been placed from birth to death are of a character to produce sw^^mor impressions only. Or when there has been some mixture o£good and bad qualities, in the original organization, and wjien it had also been placed, through life, in various circumstances of good and evil. This last compound has been hitherto the common lot of mankind. 12. That the individual is made the most superiorofhis species when his original organization has been compounded of the best proportions of the best ingredients of which human nature is formed, and wjienthe circumstances which surround him from birth to death are of a char- acter to produce only superior impressions ; or, in other words, Avhen the circumstances, or laws, institutions, and customs, in which he is placed, are all in unison with his nature. These facts, remaining the same, at all times in all countries, are the divine revelations to the whole human race. They constitute laws of nature not of man's inventioa; the\ exist without his knowledge or consent; they change not by any effort he can make, and as they pro- ceed, solely from a power or a cause unknown and mysterious to him, they arc then a divine revelation, in the only correct sense in which the term can be applied. Considered separately and united, and viewed in all their bearings and consequences, these divine laws of human nature form the most perfect foundation for a divine moral code — a code abundantly suffi- cient to produce, in practice, all virtue in the individual and in societ;/, suflicient to enable man, through a "correct knov^'ledge thereof, to ^'work out his own salvatioi:" from sin or ignorance and misery, and to secure the happines? cf his whole race. For P? the first law te-tches that, as all men are created hy a powei- jnysterious and unknown to themselves, they can have no merit or •^4 DEBATK. ilcmerit for their original formation or individual organisation; that, consequently, the pride of birth or superior physical form or of intel- lectual capacity, are feelings proceeding, alone, from an aberration of intellect produced by ignorance and therefore irrational. And the second law teaches us that, as no tAvo infants are born alike, and as they have no knowledge how the difference is produced, we oueht not to be dis-plrased or to blame any individuals, tribe?, or people; or to be less friendly to them because they have been made to differ from us in color, foi-m, ox features. The third law teaches »is, that as each individual, at birth, may be placed, without his knowledge or consent, within circumstances, to force him to become any of the general characters now known to exist in any part of the world, we ought not to be displeased with those who have been made to differ from ourselves in birth, in language, in reli- gion, in manners, in customs, in conditions, in thinking, in feeling, or in conduct. On the contrary, we are taught to know That this differ- ence, to whatever extent it may proceed, is no more than a necessary effect arising from the general, national, and district circumstances in which they have been placed, modified by the peculiar organization of each individual, and that, as neither the organization or these cir- cumstances were formed by them, to be surprised or displeased, in consequence of their existence, is a certain proof, that Ave, ourselves, are in an irrational state, and influenced, alone, by ignorance of our nature. By this law we are further taught, that all feelings of anger and irritation will entirely cease, as soon as we shall acquire a real knowledge of our nature; that these feelings belong to man only du- ring his irrational state of existence, and that when he becomes en- lightened, and shall be made a rational being, they will no longer be found in human society. Instead of these irrational fee-ing, engen- dered solely by ignorance of this law of our common nature, we shall, through a knowledge of it, acquire a never-ceasing, never-tiring practical charity for the whole human race; a charity so eflkient, so sincere, and so pure, that it will be impossible for anyone, thus taught from infancy, to think ill of, or to desire the slightest injury to, any one of his fellow beings. By the fourth, fifth, and sixth laws, we are taught that a knowledge of (he principles contained in the preceding laws, is so essential to the we!l being of the human race, that it is ogai?! and again reiterated, through each of these laws, in every form th(; most likely to make the deepest impressions on our minds. They exj>regs, in language which no one can misunderstand, the ignorance and folly of individual pride and assi'med consequences on account of birth, religion, learning, manners, habits, or any other acquirement or qualification, jihysical, intellectual, or moral; and give an entire new and different direction to all ourth'iughts, feelingn, and action;-', and we -hall no longer con- .sider man formed to be (he ignorant, vicious, anri degraded being, that, heretofore, he has l;een compelled to appear, whether covered by the garb of savc!ge or civili-ed Yiic. DEBATE. 25 Ti»e sovenlh law teaches us, that there is no power^ and of course no right in one man to attempt to compel another to like or dislike any thing or any person at his bidding or command ; for this law shows, that liking or disliking, as well as believing or disbelieving, are invc- Juntary acts of our nature, and are the necessary, and therefore, the right impressions made upon our senses. Merit and demerit, therefore, for liking or disliking, for believing or disbelieving, v>i\\ be no long- er attributed to man, than while the human race remains in an irra- tional state. Marriage, prostitution, jealous)^ and the endless sexual crimes and diseases, which these have engendered, have ai'isen solely from ignorance of this fundamental or divine law of our nature; and, in consequence, real chastity is unknown among the greater pan of the human race; but, in place thereof, a spurious chastity exists, pro- ducing insincerity, falsehood, deception, and dissimulation. The eighth and ninth laws teach us the necessity for, and the ad- vantages to be derived from, cultivating and duly exercising all the propensities, faculties, and puwers with which nature has supplied us, and the folly of permitting any one oC them to lie dormant, unused, or uncnjoyed, or to be over-exerted and injured. These laws thus teach us the benefit of well directed industry, the evil of idleness, and the all-importance of temperance in the use of each of our faculties, physical, intellectual, and moral, and the lamentable error man has committed, through ignorance, in every department of human society. He has divided and subdivided the physical and intellectual faculties among various classes of individuals, while the laws of our nature have determined that the highest happiness human nature is formed to ex- perience must be derived from a temperate exercise of all its powers of enjoyment. The tenth, eleventh, and twelfth laws teach us by unfolding, in the most plain and obvious manner, how the varied character of man has been formed, what practical measures must be adopted before man can become an intelligent and rational being; that he must be trained and educated from infancy to maturity, altogether dilferent from what he has been, in order that he may be taught to acquire, without excep- tion, kind feelings, superior dispositions, habits, manners, knowledge, and conduct ; the difference between them being in variety and de- gree, but never in kind and quality. The character will be thus al- ways formed to be good to the extent that the natural powers will per- mit it to be carried; but as we have been taught, by all the preceding laws, that no individual can form any part of his natural powers, none will be blamed or will sutler in consequence of possessing incurable natural defects, but, on the contrary, all will have pleasure in devis- ing and applying means to diminish their inconvenience. By these laws, we are taught, that the proper training and education of the young of the rising generation, is, by far, the most important of all the departments of the societ*;^, and will receive the first consideration, as soon as men can be found to be rational. That there is but one sim- ple principle applicable to this practice, and it is, to remove all the ricious circumstances now existing in the laws, institutions, andcu?* 3 26 DEBATE. toms which man, through ignorance, has intrcducecl, in opposition to the laAvs of human nature, and, in their place, establish virtuous cir- cumstances, that is laws, institutions, and customs, in unison with the divine or natural laws of human nature. These laws teach that all human wisdom consists alone in this mode of acting, and that, what- ever conduct man may adopt which differs from it, emanates from ig- norance, and must be irrational. .Ajid from these divine laws we learn generally, that man is now, and ever has been, a being essentially formed according to the nature, kind, and qualities of the circumstances in which he is permitted to live by his immediate predecessors. That when these circumstances arc of an inferior and vicious character, man, of necessity, while under their influence, must beconle inferior and vicious; and when these cir- :s. ^Gentlemen — I have now finished a course of lectures in this city, ills principles of which are in direct opposition to those which you have been taught it your duty to nrench. - It is of irjimense importance to '3^ 30 DEBATE. the world that truth upon these momentous subjects should be now established upon a certain and sure foundation. You and I, and all our fellow-men, are deeply interested that there should be no further delay. With this view, without one hostile or unpleasant feeling on my part, I propose a friendly public discussion, the most open that the city of New Orleans will aftbrd, or, if you prefer it, a more private mseting; when half a dozen friends of each party shall be present, in addition to half a dozen gentlemen whom you may associate with you in the discussion. The time and place of meeting to be of your ewn appointment." «I propose to prove, as I have already attempted to do in my lec- tures, that all the religions of the world have been founded on the ignorance of mankind ; that they are directly opposed to the never- changing laws of our nature ; that they have been, and are, the real source of vice, disunion, and misery of every description; that they are now the only real bar to the formation of a society of virtue, of intelligenee, of charity in its most extended sense, and of sincerity and kindness among the whole human family ; and that they can be no longer maintained except through the ignorance of the mass of the people, and the tyranny of the few over that mass." "With feelings of perfect good will to you, which extend also in perfect sincerity to all mankind, Isubscribe myself your friend in a just cause." "ROBERT OWEN." ^^Mrs. Herries, Chartres si. New Orleans, Jan. 28, 1828." Now, said Mr. Campbell, it is surely illogical to say that what will logically prove the first position, will logically prove the second. If each of these positions is to be distinctively asserted, the facts and reasonings supporting each must be as distinctively adduced. Each position i-equires a regular induction of facts and documents to sustain it. There can be no separation of argument from fallacy by the clear simple rules of pure unsophisticated logic, if we deal in such loose and general declamations. Our argumentation might thus be drawn out ad injimtum, without the remotest probability of ever ar- riving at any logical conclusion. If truth is to be elicitetl, for the Jove of truth let us close the door against the admission of all extrane- ous and irrelevant matter. We have heard some positions, called "twelve facts," or "twelve fundamental laws," stated ; but the question (logice) is, What are these "tv\ elve facts" to prove? IIow are they logically to be applied? To the first, second, or to all these five positions? I must reiterate that what may logically prove the first position, cannot, ex necessitate^ prove the last ; and that such facts and reasonings as may prove the last, connot prove the first. We must have a regular logical connexioa and dependance between the allegata eind pi-ohata. Without this, how can our hearers or readers learn (for this is matter for the press) how much logical argument, how much fact, bow much deoionstration '^s been c!icitcd in this discussion^ DEBATE, 32 I now state another preliminary difficulty or objection to our modus operandi, which a feeling of self-respect requires me to have removed. It is not improbable, from the turn that things have taken, that there- are numbers who at this moment misapprehend the true object of this controversy. From a letter which appeared in the London Times last October, it had been stated in the public prints in this city, that I had agreed to meot Mr. Owen for an object, toto ccelo, different from that contemplated in my acceptance of Mr. Owen's challenge. In that communication I was represented as being about to co- operate with Mr. Owen in an attempt to expunge the abuses of all religions, and to form out of them all a consistent and rational religion ada])ted to all ages and nations. But we shall permit this letter to speak for itself: — "letter in the LONDON TIMES. "Sir — I authorise you to state that the paragraph which appeared in the Times and some other London papers, a few days since, purporting to give a detail of my intended proceedings, and which was copicdfrom the Scotsman newspaper, published in Edinburgh, teas given to the public without my knowledge, and that it is incorrect in some important particulars. The object of the meeting between the clergy and myself, in April next, in the city of Cincinnati, state of Ohio, in the United States, is not to discuss the truth or falsehood of the christian religion j as stated in the Scotsman, but to ascertain the errors in all religions which prevent them from being efjlcacious in practice, and to bring out all that is really valuable in each, leaving out their en'ors, and thus to form from them collectively a religion wholly true and consistent, that it may become universal, and be acted upon conscientiously ly all?'' •■^Neither is it my intention to remove finally from this country, as stated in the Scotsman. On the contrary, I have pt/rposely made ar- rangements to be, without inconvenience, in any part of the world hi which my earnest endeavors to ameliorate the present condition of society shall appear to be the most useful, as I do not entertain the least doubt of an entire change being near at hand, in the commercial, political, and religious polity of all natians.''' " The very small amount of benefits that is effected for the great mass, of mankimi, with the extraordinary poivers for ensuring general pros- perity, now possessed by society, united with the daily groxcing intelli- gence of the population in civilized countries, render, I think, this change not only unavoidable, but not very distant.'''' "ROBERT OWEN." You will perceive that thiis representation of this discussion is very different from Mr. Owen's challenge, published in New Orleans, upon which the debate is ba^ed. I now put the question to my friend Mr. Owen categorically, whether I ever did, directly, or indirectly, ac- cede to, or propose, a scheme of the character portrayed in this letter? This is a qp.estion which Mr. Owen will soon have an opportunity to meet and a«svv-ei". Mr. Owen's simple affirmation or negation en this poittt wiU cleaf up the whale of this preliminary ditliciillyj and exoner= 32 BEBATlfi, ate me from the calumnies of one of the editors of this city, .And while on the subject of preliminary ditficulties, it is necessary for me to remark, that there can be no developement of logical truth without the nicest precision and co-intelligence in the use of our terms. It is a rule of logical interpretation, that all words are to be received and understood according to their most usual and known acceptation ; and if there is to be any co-intelligence in the use of ienns between JMr. Owen and myself, he must not establish a peculiar vocabulary of his own, but permit me to understand his terms according to their usual and most ordinary acceptation. Let me not be supposed destitute of a just contempt for mere crrdaZ criticism or hypercriticism. I am not contending that if the law of the state of Ohio should say that whoever drew blood in Cincinnati should sutler death, that this law should be interpreted to apply to the case of a surgeon who opened the vein of a man who fell down in Main street with a tit. But 1 do contend that between Mr. Owen and myself, there must be, in the course of this discussion, (if it is to be governed by polemic laws) a co-intelligence, eo-application, and co-acceptation of such terms as are of cai-dinal importance in the questions at issue. For example, the terms, divine^ dlmnity, religion, virtue, ?noral law, created. Creator, &c. ccei)S, to the population of all countries; and upon investigation, it ivill be found to be the interest of all governments to prepare the ;3tie-iins, v.ilhout delay, by which the people in their respective cour tries, may be taught this knowledge, in such a manner that all shall, be benefited and none shall be injured. By there measures being adopted, and openly and hgnestly made known to the public, all collision between the governments and pe'o. jde will bo avoided; all attempts at future revolutions will cease; tb.e governors and governed will be actively engaged in this good ar/tl great work; mutual confidence will be acquired, and peace and good ^•iil will every where prevail. Were any parties so ignorant of their own interest or happiness, ns *o desire to withhold this happy change from their fellow -beings, they jcould not now effect it, except by an increase of the tyranny of the tew over tlie many. Fojf the knowledge of these sciences have gone forth, never again to be recalled, or to become unknown, by cny efforts man can make. They are nov/ actively passing from mind to mind, and from country tocounti'y; and no human power can stay their course, until they s]iall pervade all countries and every mind. Thus, as it appears to mje, have 1 proved that all the religions of the world have originated in error; that they are directly opposed to the divine unchanging laws of human nature; that they are necessa- rily the source of vice, disunion, and misery; that they are now the only obstacle to the formation of a society, over the earth, of intelli- geuccj of charity in its must exteudeJ sense, audof t^iucerity ai?d kind-- DEBATE, SO ftS^* among the whole human race. And, also, that those di-?trict religions can be no longer maintained in any part of the world, ex- cept by the perpetuation of the ignorance of the mass of the people., Sind of the continued tyranny of the few over the many. 3Tr. OiifCn harniig finished reading'^ he remarked, that — la consequence of the remarks which had fallen fi'om Mr. Camp^ hell, it becomes necessary to state, generally, that, in my opinion, it is perfectly useless to go into the examination of (he verity of any or all the religions against whicii I am contending; for if I can show that man is a being entirely diderent from what all those religions iissume him to be, I apprehend that I sh ill thereby prove all that is incumbent on me to establish. And I trust that I shall be able to chovv' to this assembly, that nian is a being to whom no rcligioUj ever yet invented, can apply. Mn. Campbell rase and said— Before the discussion int(M-mits, I should like to make a few PC- mark?. I fee! much interested in having this discussion broiight to a satisfactory issue. Mr. Owen and myself have given birth to large and liberal expectations from this dii^cussion. There are a great many persons who honestly doubt the truths of religion — and these honest sceptics, who are without sutlicient evidence to determine their minds, have come hither with a view to be edified by the discussion. Surely then we have an object of great importance before us, — What now is our progress towards this great object? Mr. Owen read us an essay upon what he calls twelve matters of fact or divine laws of hu- man nature — suppose now we were to admit all these twelve facts, does this admission oblige us to accede to ail the laws and deduc- tions he may superinduce on these facts? — by no means. Is Mr. Owen's loose declamation to settle or unsettle the faith of any one? lias he introduced either argument or proof? Who can say that he has?. Nevertheless, it appears to me, that ]\Ir. Owen really thinks he has established, in evidence, every thing which he has undertaken to prove. I have a strong misgiving that Mr. Owen is about to give us a view or theoi-y of the world, as foreign to the appropriate subject now before this meeting, as would be the history of a tour up the Ganges, I repeat, that there are in this assembly some doubting christians, that require to be confirmed, and some sceptics to be cor- rected. To the confirmation and conviction of such auditors, all our reasonings should tend. All this time I should have been proving or disproving some position bearing upon the great question at issue — Instead of this I must hear Mr, Owen reading upon a variety of topics having no legitimate bearing upon the subject matter before us. During the recess before us, 1 could wish that the gentlemen mod- erators would agree upon some course, and compel us to pursue it. — Shall I be permitted to speculate abstractly upon the possibility or impossibility of any h\iman being in any age, having the power to mvent any religion? Will it be in order, for me to introduce some affiriaative propositions in case ]Sh\ Owen proceeds to read as he has .10 i>EBATF. done, essays upon human nature, civil government, oif a n'ew order of political society. 1 think I am able to prove that man cannot invent any, even the most extrsvagant religion in the world. In all reli- gions I conceive iliat there are certain ideas, fur the invention oi which man, viewed philosiphically, cannot be Supposed to possess any pov/ers. Shall 1 be at liberty to prove this by facts equal in strength, to say the least of them, to any one of those on which Mr. Owen predicates his theory of human nature, I merely ask for permission to take this course on condition that Mr, Owen refuses to be confmed to the discussion of his ov.'n propositions, if I am permit- ted to take this course, I will attempt, to demonstrate that man is iii possession of powers never developed — never even glanced at, ill any one of Sir. Owen's tweke divine laws. I will endeavor to sho\y that in ail religions there are ideas, terms, and phrases so supernatu- lal that no hum?a mind could originate them, according to any sys- tem of philosopiiy taught in the world. If this pennission cannot. Io;j;ieally be granted, according to the stipulated lades ofthe discussion, lask what pr.rt of Mr. Oven'.s address am I to reply to'.' For I do confess that Mr. Owen has not presented to my mind any thing for Jt to take hold of, having any urgumentative bearing upon any one of liis five positions. I coniess myself too obtuse to discover the logical bearing of what he has read. I hope upon his first position we shall" be able in the afternoon to take up the subject in a more logical foriUr For I am now determined to present, with your permission, to this au- dience such a b^dy of evidence as shall put it oiit of the power of any honest inquirer to doubt the tiulh and divine origin of Christianity. Here Mr. Camphetl stated tluit the time had eojnred, cmd moved cm adjournment) which U'ln- carried.. Monday, April 13^7/, 18*20. Afleruoor.. — The Hon. C/uiirman rose and stated, that the Moden: * tors had feit it their duty to re-examine the challenge given, and the acceptance. — We find, said he, that the challenge contains five di^- tinct propositions, separately stated. The first is, that all religion.^ hctve been founded in ignorance. It is the opinion of tjie Moderators that the discussion this afternoon ought to be confined (o that propo- sition, until the subject is exhausted. Then the second proposition should be taken up. It is therefore expected that the discussion this afternoon will be foimded on, and confined to this first proposition, viz. "diat all religions are tbunded in ignorance," Mr. Campbell stated to the Chainnun that Mr. Oivcn u-isked to be vifornied tvhenhk half hour expired. Mr. Owen rises with the Chrvdian Baptist in his hand eontaining the particulars ofthe challenge and acceptance. Mh. Owen said — My friend.^', I am now here to prove that all the religions ever known i>om the beginning of time till the present hour, have originated in the general and universal ignorance of mankind. I conclude that, to do this at this period would Lc uuiieccss^ry, if men had been tauglit DEBATE: vji f.o know what n>anner ofbeinjrs (hey wcre^ ho\v they v,-eie formed at birth, Ptnd how their characters \scre afcerwards produced for tiioni. Had this knoAvlcdire been born ^\•ith rnan) it would have been impossi- ble that any one of these religions could have existed for one hour. I shall endeav^ to show that man is a being entirely ditTerent from Avhat he has been supposed to be by any religion ever invented, and that none of these religions apply in any degree to a being formed as man is. And to prove this we require the aid of no authority derived from testimony from the darkest ages of ignorance, from a period of the world when no reliance can be placed upon any doubtful testi- raony. We have on the contrary, only to appeal to ourselves and the facts which exist here at this moment, which exist wherever human beings can be found. I have stated as a fundamental law of human nature that man, at birth, is ignorant of every thing relative to his own organization — that he has not been permitted to create any part of his faculties, qualities or powers, physical or mental. Now if wc are so formed that we have not any kind of will or control in the for- mation of ourselves; of our physical propensities; of our intellectual ' faculties r.nd qualities; surely we cannot be held responsible forv.hat they have been made for us. IJow can an infant be made responsible for that of which it was entirely ignorant? Any religion, therefore, which pre-supposes man bad by nature, must surely be founded in utter ignorance of human nature. I do not imagine it to be necessa- ry to take up much of your time in proving tliat an infant at birth is quite incapable of knowing any thing ab«)ut his organization or natu- ral capabilities. And yet his character and conduct proceed essentially from Ihem; they are the only foundation of hjs virtues and vices. — Over the formation of these, howevcj-, he has had no control, nor in the forming of any thing that belongs tohinifclf No being, therefore, so created can ever be made to become responsible for his nature. It IS said that there is a diflerence between men — and this is true; fur some are evidently created superior and some inferior in certain natural qualities; but whether inferior or superior, they were not de- signed or executed by the individuals possessing them, and thev cannot therefore, deserve merit or demerit for having them, or be made, with- out great injustice, responsible for them. Every parent, and cvciy individual who has the power of observation, know that there are nc two persons born precisely alike; that there is almost every kind of variety in the formation of the human being at birth. Thev know also that the individuals themselves could not make the smallest part of this difference, that the children could have no influence whatever in giving to themselves what are called good or bad, or superior or infc» rior qualities. Let us suppose two infants, one the best, and one the worst, in nature. As neither could make himself, what are we to say respecting each? shall we praise the one and blame the other? shall we make each responsible for the conduct that must flow frrm these two different organizations, if left to themselves without culture? I repeat, did either iutant moke his propensities weak or strong, supe- rior or inferior? If not, if there oyght to be anv diffeKncc itk our 4* 4'^ DEBATE. conduct towards tliese iniants as they grov.* to maturity, it ought to he siiown in our greater commiseration tor the iiiierior; this ouglit to he -the feeling which all should po^se^s^, and which ail v.jli poesess when thcv shall understand what manner of beings they are. If one of our species be made inferior to the other, it is our duty aiM our interest not only to conuuiserate him, but to endeavor to remedy the defect of his nature ; and when v.e shall know ourselves we shall so act, because no other conduct will appear to us to be rational. Well, then, if the infant at birth did not make himself, and if -the difierence discovera- h\e between infants was not made by themselves, surely we cannot say that the infant is responsible either for the one or the other. I ffeel it unnecessary to take more time to prove the truth of these two Jaws or the obvious deductions \\hich every one who retiects must draw fiom them. And if these things be as I have stated, all reli- gions are founded in error, for their dogm.as are in direct opposition to these self-evident truths and the deductions made froni them. — These laws of our nature, then, must be erroneous or all religions are untrue and founded in ignorance. The third divine law of our nature is, that each individual is placed at birth ; without his kno\»--edge cr consent, within the influence of circumsttinces which operate irresista- bly upon his peculiar organization; and these circumstances thus stamp their own general character upon the infant and the man; yet The influence of these circumstances^ is modified by the peculiar ©rganization of the individi.al subjected to them. Now I do not svip- pose that it will be necessary to enter into any very elaborate argu- ment to prove this law. Is there, I ask, in this varied assembly, composed of individuals born m so many diflerent and distant countries, one individual wlio can say that he determined the period nhen he should be born, oftrliom, m' v'-hat country, and who sliould be his instrucler? Did any of you determine which of all the rcugionsof the world you should be taught U believe, or whether you thouhl be born a prince or a peasant? — Vfhether you should be well or ill edacsted, according to our ideas of education? Or is there any one here who can suppose it possible that he has ever had the sliglitost control over any one of these circun.- siances? Many individuals of this audience have been born in very diflerent parts of Europe and America, and have unavoidaTiiy received rlicir local impressions accoidingly, |>ut suppose we had ail been V;orn amongst a tribe of thoroughgoing Cannibals, would v;e not, in Vb ;t case, have been sure to have experienced great delight in killing end eating our enemies? But if we had been taken soon after our Virth to India, and been taught to become Gentoos, how many of us iiou](\ liave resisted acquiring a character that would have compelled v« to shudder with horror even at the idea of injuring a fiy ? Probably lift one in this a^icmbiy — I imagine no one will doubt it ; and if true, ci<>es it not prove l:-eyond all doubt that we are not the formers of our own chara'iter; that we are beings irresponsible for what we are — i'vesponsible for our feelings, opinions and conduct? Does it not ^rove that ^ye are tl»e rfed? of cnufies incsh'U'k in their infxicncc? DEBA1"E 4S Who amongst lis decided that he should be taught to spcok English, be instructed in the Christian religiou and belong to his particular sect ? If we had happened to have been born in tlie great circle of AL.homed- anism, what would have been our character compared with what if now is? And it is not our fault or our merit that this was not our lot in life. No, my friends, we are to all intents the effects of causes to us irresistible ; and when we shall be taught to know what manner cf beings we are, this will be to us the most inestimable of all knon-- ledge ; it will enable us to open a road for the removal of all the poverty, ignorance, disunion, vice, and crime which every where abound; it will moreover open a direct i-oad to eaable us to act upon the rising generation in such a manner that there shall not be one individimi trained to remain inferior in society. We shall discover a math- ematical mode of training the rising generation, by which they shall be prevented from receiving one error, one bad habit, or acquiring one injurious passion. Yes, this knowledge of ourselves will lead us to know precisely how all this is to be accomplished, and epceciiy too. But it M'ill ellect yet more ; it will render it utterly impossible for one human being to become angry v>^ith anotlier, or to feel any irritation vr displeasure towards any one. All our irritation against our fel- iow-men, arises from our entire ignorance of what manner of beings we all are. Where is there any just cause for ange- amongst men ? — -" Does my brother difler from me in language, color, religion, or man- ners? Did he decide upon the formation of any one of those? Does he, in consequence, differ from me in .habits, feelings, conduct? Was he the framer or is he tlie controller of these feelings, habits and conduct? No, these have all been forced upon him in like manner as mine have upon me. And whenever we shall become only slightlv rational, there will be no longer either anger or irritation, or opposition, or dii- \mion, among the human family. Are not the principles which can produce these results deserving our most serious investigatio" ? W'hen they shall be fully developed and well understood, there v.ill be no longer any doubt or uncertainty as to the proper conduct to pursue in all the affairs of life. No fanciful notions under the nanse of any religion will be permitted to divide man from man and render the whole race irrational and miserable. la your commercial proceed- ings an entire change will take place. A knowledge of the best inter- ests of society will introduce a new practice and supercede al! attempts to buy cheap and sell dear. There will be no n ere covert enmity amongst these who are now by their training and education endeavor- ing to grasp at, and monopolize all benefits to themselves. Then the heart and the hand v»'ill be always open; then there will be no neces- sity for any one to spend all his time and exert SlII his iaculties to pro- vide the means of existence for himself and family, while those who tio nothing, or worse than nothing, live upon his labor. This grievoiis «vil will altogether cease. The fundamental principle of human nature stated this forenoon was, "tliat each individual at birth is so inganized that in infimcy he is liable to imbibe false and ic-piriovs potions, &c. cr their opposite?, and tojctain tbem with great ieaucity. 44 DEBATE. In proof of this we laave enly to notice the details of llio measures by which sects and parties and conditions of mankind are Ibrnied and pro- duced. They are compelled to receive the iaiprepsions from the persons and circumstances around them ; and after the mental and physical habits have been some time formed, they then often cannot part with them again, except by much labor and ^ufFering. Man has heretofore been a mere passive subject, obliged to receive any impres- sions which have been made upon iiis senses ; and whatever they may be, whether good or bad, true or false, they are not the impressions, correctly speaking, of the individual, but solely the influence of exter- nal circumstances acting upon an organizaticyi which he had no hand in framing and which he docs not understand, and for which, therefore, it would be an act of the greatest injustice to reward or punish. We have been taught so much error, and have gone, in consequence, so far astray that it will be a considerable time before our ideas can be made consistent and rational ; but v\ hen this .shall be done it will be discovered that there e.vists no cause in nature why any human being should suppress the expression of sensations which he has been compelled to receive. When we shall know ourselves truth only will be the language of mankind. Neither young nor old, male nor female, v/ill then discover any reason why they should not speak their thoughts "and feelings as their nature compels them to receive them. It is man's ignorance of his nature that has alone produced false- hood; all the falsehood that has ever existed in the world emanates dAecily and alone from this source. The religions of the v.'orld pre- vent men from investigating the laws of nature, they give quite 'a ditferent direction to men's thoughts, and render them unfit to com- mence a calm and unprejudiced investigation of themselves. ''Know ihysell," was the most valuable precept that ever ancient or modern oracle has delivered. And when we shall all be taught to know our- selves, then, and then only, can the world become intelligent, virtuons and happy. There is nothing to prevent the immediate conimence- inent of a very superior and hap])y state of society but the present vmiversal ignorance of mankind of themselves. When you retire from this meeting, you may be assured, there is no subject which can occu- py your thoughts at all comparable in importance to the serious investigation of what you yourselves are. This is a subject that would be fairly open to every one except for the early prepossessions which have been imbibed. When you shall be released from the errors upon this subject that all religions have been forced into the human mind you will be relieved from a state ofdarkness of which now you have not the means of forming any adequate conception. Now, indeed, you s?ee nothing as it is; you see only as through a glass darkly, and a glass so dark that no rays of pure light can pass through it. — \ll(t\f hour otit^ Mr. Campheli, rises. Mr. Chaiin)an — We shall again indulge ourselves in a few general strictures upon the data before us. With regard to the terms in which Mr. Owen has couched his first position, \vc have a few remarks to. jJEBATE. 4:j •t)iih\ Mr, thvcji Jistmc'Iy asserts that all religioRs are founded in ignorance. Whether this be a recommendation or disparagement of uU religions is a question of doubtful decision from the Words of the position. Let us try this position with a reference to our exi3ting in^ stitutions : all schools and colleges have been founded and predicated on the ignorance of man ; all testimony has been prctlicated on the ignorance of man; all the books that have ever been printed are pre- dicated on the ignorance of man? Are not the«e facts? But does tiie existence of these facts cast any opprobrium, obloquy, or disparage- ment jipon books, human testimony, or scm.inarics of instruction*— ■ Theee terms, then, have nothing in their nature or import calculated to engender a prejudice against religion, I do believe tkat all religion is predicated upon ignorance, using fhat term according to its legitimate import. And this very consider- ation proves the necessity of religion. If men were perfectly intelli- gent with regard to the relat-ohs in which they stand to matter, spirit^ a kiture state, &c. there would be no occasion for the institution of any sort of religion. Hf.'''' saith a distinguished writer, "our reason were always clear and perfect, unruffled by passion, unclouded by prejudice, unimpairod by disease or intemperance, we should necii 3iO other guide, in physics or in morals, but the light of nature. BuE every man tuids the contrary in his own experience; that his reason is corrupt and his understanding full of ignorance and eiTor; and iience is derived to us the necessity of an immediate and direct reve* iation. If, then, men need a religion at al), they need it because of their ignorance. It was instituted to remove human ignorance, and the necessity of supernatural revelation has ever been predicated on that ignorance. The difficulties, my friend, Mr. Owen, presents on th» subject of human responsibility, are of no ordinary magnitude. The most jn-ofound philosophei-s of ancient and modern times, have all differed upon this knotty point, "How far does necessity affect human character?" But Mr. Ov.en's argument ascribes every thing to an irresistible necessity; which necessity, after all, is the operation of a blind and undesigning Nature. But let us admit, ft r the sakeof argu- ment, that we could not trace how far we are the creatures of necessity ; suppose wc were to fail in showing how far we are irresistibly influenced by extrinsic causes, would this failure, I ask, be sufficient to discredit the whole body of evidence which establishes the truth of Christianity? How many necessarians are tl>ere who believe in supernatural revelation? I know that we may fall so deeply in love with a favorite idea, that our passion may transport us far beyond the limits of common scn?e and sober reason.' But if weare tobegoverned by common sense, in objects of sense, let us learn a lesson from the experience we have of our liability to err, even when we have the evidence of sense. Errors may exist on subjects of sensible de- monstration, which, tbougli discoverable by the senses, often elude detection. It is an axiom in mathematics, that two parallel lines, thougli projected ad injiii'dum, can never meet in one point. Now this is certainly and evidently trues Butv/hereis the man- living, wh-^^ 40 DEBATE. by his dye, or by the K.id of the most perfect glasses^ can, at one glanccj; decide whether any seemin2;ly parallels are perfect mathemutical parallels ? You might draw them out to a gieat length, and yet they iBTiight not seem toapproximate j but it is still possible that,,if suflv ciently projected, they mi'!:;ht, at some remote point, form an angle. How hazardous, then, with our imperfect vision, to air.nh that any two lines are perfectly parallel. And yet this is a sensible object, -and an object of which we take cogiiizance by the most perfect and delightful of all our senses. Now we all confess that there are inherent diiTiculties in the ascertaimncnt of abstract metaphysical truths, much more ditficult to overcome than those ditKculties which appertain to sensible objects. As, then, our mental vision is still more imperfect than our corporeal vision, does it become us at once to decide, with an air of infallibility, a question purely abstract, or to affirm that, in. comparing two abstract ideas, they do, or do not agree? How much more irrational to predicate a whole system of scepticism upon a dogma of one metaphysical school, which is more ditiicult to appre- hend than the paralieiism of two given straight lines, seemingly run- ning in the same direction? Now when two lines, seemingly parallel, are presented to my eye, and I cannot decide by a mere glance of the eye, there are other means of deciding such a question, which cannot be applied to a question purely metaphysical; for there are no scale nor dividers by which we can actually measure the agreement or disagreement of abstract ideas. If now, in sensible objects, such tiifficulties may, and do occcur, would it be common sense in me to 'conclude that an abstract metaphysical position is at variance with experience and commen sense, becai'sc I cannot set about to prove or disprove it as I would set about to prove or disprove the perfect paral- lelism cf rv»o mathematical lines? If we are not able to draw the line of demarcation between necessity and free agency, are we therefore to upset all the experience of man "in relation to the existence of a God, of a spiritual world, a future state, and every thing connected with the Christian religion? But v.e have facts and arguments to prove that, to a very consider-, able extent, we are not the pure creatures of circumstances. My opponent is himscJf a living refutation of his own doctrine. He was born in Great Britain, conssquently Mas bred in a state of society very different from that which he is so anxious to induce. Now the question is, Did his early circumstances moke him such a man as he is, or originate those ideas which ho is now divulging through Europe and iimerica? He ascribes every thing to circumstances. But lie v'alks of happiness. Now let me ask, lias he ever seen such a set of circumstances as would make a man perfectly happy? How did he come by his peculiar ideas? They are the creatures not of circum- fitances, but of a warm and overheated imagination. This he may never see, ov/ing to the obduracy of that hard-hearted necessity which presides over his destiny, I am willing to make very ample con- cessions to the doctrine cf circumstances. It is a very specious and plausible doctrine, and many honest minds have been deceived by its DEBATE. ..r; ptausibility. The curious and absurd intellectual aber-fetions, the strange mental halluGinations of philosophy and syr^tom-niongers are unaccountable. Hobbs reasoned himself into a psrfect conviction that there was no such thing as right or wrong— that there v.as no moral difference in actions. IJuiriG convinced himself that there was nothing else in the world but ideas and impressions. Berkeley, Bishop of Cloyne, thoroughly persuaded himself tliat matter did not exist; and he framed abea-.itiful and ingenious theory, of the fallacy of which there was no convincing him. R^eed, in his Essai/ on the Ilmnan Mind, states that some of the old philosophers (philosophists I should call them) went so fir as to doubt of their own existence. Descartes was one of these. He would not believe in his own existence until he had proven it to his own satisfaction. And how think you did he prove it? VVhy, said be, Cogito, ego sum. Nov/ this was proof, just as illogical as if he had said, 'I have an eye or an car, and therefore I am.' Yet tliis proof satisfied his mind.' It is said of Pyrrho, the father of the Elean Philosophy, that so incredulous w^s he in the testi- mony of his senses, that he would not get out of the way of any •ilanger, however iinn>inent; that his friends had to take him out of the v.ay of danger;' f->r lie would not turn av/ay from the brink of a pre- cipice. But there is no stopping place to such philosophical reveries. It IS not strange that Mr. Owen shordd diverge so far from the beaten track of common sense. Many philosophers have done solaefore him. Some of them have gone still farther than he His case is by no means singidar. I am quite willing to allow that there is great speciousness ia the doctrine of necessity. This we may yet find necessary to expose. 1 am wiiling to concede many of I\Ir. dwen's points; such as. We «annot help being born black or v/hite; we cannot choose the period or place of our birth, nor control the circumstances of our nurture and^education. B'lt does it follow, as a logical conclusion, that, because all men did not create thamselves, ergo, all religions are founded in ignorance. This would seem to be the logical tendency of Mr. Owen's ratiocinations. Godwin, a highly gifted writer, runs at random pretty much after the same fashion; but he was constrained to stop some miles on this side of materialism. An insuperable difficulty occurred to him in the doctrine of causation. Godwin, ia his reasonings on causation, discovered that it was impossible for him to ascertain what degree of power tliovght exercised over the movements of matter. After exploring the whole area of materialism, and the popular doctrine of necessity, he discovered that it was most philosophic to mako the fjUowing confessions or concessions : — "O/" the origin of the faculty of thought, we are wholly uninformed. It i^ far from certain, that the jjhenomcnon of motion can any whem exist where there is no ihovght. The motions of the animal and vegeta- ble systems is the mo-^t Inexplicahle of all ^notions, simple or comjleT. Thought appears to be the medium of operation in the material system. Tlie materialists make thought the efert of matter or motion impressing tis^ but are ml these efecia ci^ain causes? Consequently thoj/ghthcccmes- U DEBATE the caufte of the movements and changes of matter, li t ate uiucenajHi/ itnahle to discover the ground of necessary connexion. It is possible that as a numerous cLi9s of 7notions fuive their constant origin in tkoirghf ; so there mat) he no thoughts altogether unattended with motion. There ere buitipo ways in u-hich thought can be excited in the mind — \st. by external impressions ; and, 2dly. by the property zrhich one thought ex isting in the mind is found to have of introducing another by some Unl- vnhioicn.''^* These cardinal points, cUm\v appreliended, saved him from the vortex of materialism, and alTard some wholesome admonitions to our modern wise men who are dressing up anew the long exploded doc- trines of fate and materialism. But, to return to the doctrine of circumstances; we have proof, deduced from the experience of every man, that we are not always Controlled by the circumstances around us. Do we not originate new ideas giving birth to new systems? Carry £he influences of circumstances, according to Mr. Owen's doctrine, out to its legitimate consequences, and we must cease to he progres- sive beings — there^s a stop put to our progressive improvability. But it behoves Mr. Owen, before he can establish the truth of his positions, to account for a variety of principles in human nature, in direct oppo- sition to his whole theory. Of these we shall hereafter speak. I have been very much pleased with the perusal of my friend's ■'•twelve fundamental laws of human nature," which he handed me during the intermission. I have very little objection to any of thenj, ?ave that which undertakes to settle the amount of influence wiiich the will exercises over our belief But this is a question which I am not about to agitate at present. But the admission of Mr. Owen's '■'facts" does not involve an admission of all the reasonings and de- ductions superinduced upon them. But these very '-facts" demon- strate that Mr. Owen has lost sight of the creature man, and of the relations in which he exists and acts. He never takes into view the intellectual endowments of man. No analysis of the powers or ca- pabilities of the human mind has been attempted. 'Tis the mere animal, the external case, which is the mere habitation of the intelli- cent principle, which engrosses his whole thought and theory. Al| that Mr. Owen has said of man, might, with the same logical propriety, be affirmed of a goat. There is scarcely one of these twelve laws that is not as true of the irrational part of the animal creation as it is of man. According to these "divine laws of human nature," man is as effectually deprived of all data whereon to form a judgment, or even a conjecture concerning his primitive origin or fntiue destinVj as is the horse or dog. Now in laying the foundation of any science or theory regarding the nature of man, we must take into view the whole premises, as well in relation to mind a.3 matter — to things future as to things present. Every rational theory on tlio nature of man must be predicated, de rebus spirituaJihus, as well as dc 7-ebjfs liaUir(dcbuS—]jpoii liis spiritual, as well as his animal cndov.'ment--; ^Godwin, vol. i, p. 401r-;.120. DEBATE. 40 otherwise a theory predicated on only a part of man, must be defec- tiv^e, and at variance with all experience. Errors of this kind are very common among theorist?. Each of them has some favorite principle, by which he resolves ever}^ thin.cr, and to which all his reasonings tend. But every rational theory of man nrast be predicated upon a strict analysis of the whole mar;, moral and physical — upon an analysis of his mental endo^v^ncnts as well as his physical faculties — upon an analysis of every thing per- taining to the man, soul, body, and spirit But these "twelve facts'' only prove that all our ideas are the result of mere sensation — that they are acquired, accumulated, and imposed by tiw; influence of external circumstances. We may yet examine whether such a theory can be predicated upon the principles alleged. Locke, Hume, and all the mental philo- sophers, have agreed upon certain premises. Blirabeau hiirssclf agrees with Locke and Hume. They all agree that all our original ideas are the result of sensation and reflection: that is, that the five sen.sc<» infonn us of the properties of bodies, that our five senses are the only avenues through which ideas of material objects can be derived to us; that we have an intellectual power of comparing these impressions thus derived to us through the media of the senses; and this they cal) reflection. Admitting this theory to be correct, (Mr, Owen has doubted it;) but if it be correct that all our simple ideas are the result of sensation and reflection- how can we have any idea, tiie archet3pe ©f which does not exist in nature? But the question is. Whence are the ideas, which we call religious, derived to us? Neither our sensations, impressions, nor their combina- tions, have ever been able to shadow out an archetype of a God or Creator producing something out of nothing. All our ideas coneern- -ing creative power have exclusive reference to changes vrroNglit upon created matter. From the preceding sketch the idea of changing a shapeless piece of wood into a chair, is easily derived to us — it is simply an idea of a change wrought upon the raw material, that being created to the hand of the maker. But we have an idea of God., of a Creator, a being who has produced the whole material universe by the bare exhibition of physical creative power. This idea we contend can have no archetype in nature, because we have never seen any thing produced out of nothing. But we have the idea of the existence of this creative power. It is to be found in almost all religions. If we appeal to traditionary or historic evidence, we ?jhall find that all nations had originally some ideas of the existence of a Great First Cause. But tlie difficulty is — how did the idea onginate? By wmt process could it have been engendered i Where was the archetype in nature to suggest (consistently with the analysis of Ihe human mind) Ihe remotest idea of a Creator, or any other idea concerning spirivual things? Locke and Kume admit the nlmost unbounded power .of the imagination. It can a]>stract, compound, and combine the qualities of objects already known, and thus form new creations ad infinitu^r. ^ut still it b(>;rov/s all the origijial qr.alities from t^e other faculties 5 50 DEBATE. of the mind, and from the external senses. Imagination can roam at large upon the properties of animals, and by abstracting from one and adding to another, and thus combining their respective qualities, it cremates to itself images unlike any thing existing in nature. Hence the Centaur, the Sphinx, and the Griffin. Butourideas of all the constituents of these creatures of imagination are derived from our senses and reflections. There is no limit to its vagaries ; for, as the poet says, it can most easily convert a bush into a bear. But a inan, some say, may imagine the idea of a First Cause, and may originate spiritual ideas. But this is imjtossible from any thing yet known in experience or in pliilosophy. To form ideas concerning spii-itual things, imagination has to travel out of her province. To form the very first idea of a God, she must transcend the visible ma- terial world." Nothing so fantastic as the vagaries of imagination, and yet nothing is more circumscribed. My imagination might picture vo me a tree, the roots of which are iron, the stem brass, the leaves ailvcr, and the apples gold; but if I had never seen a tree growing in the earth, could 1 possibly have conceived, in the wildest vagaries- of my imagination, an idea of tiiis wonderful metallic tree? I therefore conceive that it devolves upon Mr. Owen (in deducing his proofs of the first position, that ^'all religions are founded in the ignorance of man*') to show that we possess those powers which can enable us to reason from sensible material objects up to spiritual, immaterial ex- istences. It behoves him to show that ignorant men, or men in the rudest ages of the world, were competent to invent and establish re- ligion, '^If it be so that man is destitute of power to create something out of nothing, or to originate the fundamental ideas and terms found in all religions — if he cannot clear up this matter, how can he affirm that all religion is founded upon the ignorance of men? But this is not all : there are a few questions which I now beg leave distinctively to propose to my opponent for his consideration. I will furnish him with a copy of them for his examination during the evening, that on the morrow he may see the necessity of going more philosophically to work, if he intend to debate the points at issue at all : — 1. Can man, by the exercise of his mental powers, originate lan- guage? And even supjjose he could invent names for external sensible objects, could he also originate the terms peculiar to religion, for which he has no types in the sensible creation? 2. Must not tho object or idea exist prior to the name or term by which it is designated? For example, the term "steam-boat," a word invented in our time — was not the object in existence before this name was f ">und in our vocabulary ? 3. Must not the idea of the existence of any particular object, be prior to the idea of any of its properties? Or can we conceive of tho properties of a thing, before we have an idea of that thing's existence? 4. IIow, then, do we become conscious of the idea of spirit, our consciousness bemg limited to the objects of sensation, perception, find memory; and consequently all our movital operafions boin^ ne^ cessarily confined to tho same objects? DEBATE. 51 5, Does not our belief, as well as our knowledge and experience^ depend upon our mental operations? I choose to present the matter in this form in order to elicit from my opponent something like an analysis of tJiepovrers of the human mind, which we must have soon or late in this controversy, if either of us will redeem the pledge we have given to this community. [Half hour out.] Here Mr. Oircn rises and states that the period kus expired for which "-hey can he permitted to occupy the hi/ilding this afternoon. Tuesday forenoon., April 14/7/, 1S29. Mr* Ovv'EX rises — Gentlemen Moderators — You decided yesterday evening, that the part of the subject to be continued by me, was to prove that all reli- gions have been founded in ignorance. It v.as, I believe, so stated b)' the Chairman, I last niglit received some questions from my fiicnd, 3Ir. Campbell ; but discovering that they are not appUcable to the subject matter im- mediately before us, wo will pfjstjjone the consideration of them until I have demonstrated the five propositions which I have engaged to prove. Afterwards I will, if time permi% discuss any metaphysical question, however subtle. But as j-on, gentlemen, have decided that we shall proceed to investigate tr.e points agreed upon between Mr. Campbell and myself, I feel bound to abide by your decision. My friends, I 3-esterday pursued this point through four of the fun- damental laws, upen which I rely to prove all 1 have undertaken to do, in this engagement with Mr. Campbell. I will nov/ proceed to the fifth, viz. "That each individual is so created, at birth, that he may be compelled to receive true ideas or false notions, and beneficial or in- jurious habits, and retain them v.ith great tenacity." This is one of the fundamental laws of human nature, which may properly be called a divine law; no man created it; no man knows how it was created; it exists in man at all times, wherever he may be found; it is beyond man's control; and I conceive that that Avhich is beyond human con- trol, to be truly divine, if any tluHg can be so called. If then it be a law of our nature, that infants may be so placed, that without the possibility of resistance, on their parts, tliey may be compelled to re- ceive rational ideas or false notions; they cannot be respon.-ible for •what they are thus made to receive, without their consent. ^Vhen we look at the cormtenance of those who have been born and reared in very inferior circumstances of life — of those wholly devoid of educa- vion, we discover at once their ignorance, before they speak. The expression of their countenances assures us, before a word is spoken, that they are devoid of intelligence. We perceive that their training and instruction have been entirely neglected! Aie these men to be responsible for the neglect which they have experienced ? On the other hand, let us observe the cor.ntenances of intelligent, well .educa- ted men, and we shall be compelled to draw the conclusion, that they have been educated amidst circumstances comparative! v favorable for the dev^lopemeat of their menial faculties. But can these individu- OS UEBATE. .'i's clcson-e merit tor being .«o [slaced ? Surely man has always beeh ill Pfi-or on these subjects. The cliaracter of the varied circumstances in w}iich thev were placed, frem infancy, is stamped upon the express ston and features of both. Tliey were made what they are, by mea- s-ires adopted by persons, over whom they had no control, and by a power of which they were ignorant. j\iy friends, whenever you shall consider these things, rationally, vou will discover that not one of the religions which has ever been invented, or forced upon mankind, apply to a being who is thus or- tiaiiized. Fortunately, for our posterity, we have now discovered that we are so created that the adults of this or any subsequent generation j>-.:.y form the character of their successors, to attain high physical ;nu\ mental excellence; and through this knowledge we shall soon learn to do ji!;?tice to human nature. We shall not continue as we .iiave heretofore done, to find fault with human nature, because our parents have allowed us to be trained in all kinds of ignorance and Lad feeling. No, Ave shall discover that we are the efiects of causes ;;S certain and known, as any efiects that ever man traced up to the known and ascei'tained causes. When v.e shall learn to know ourselves; when we shall no longer I'cmain in ignorance of what manner of beings we are ; then, and th6n only, shall we know how to estimate the value and importance of a liuman being at birth; they wiil be no longer neglected in infancy. We Siiall be conscious of tlie necessity which exists, to give (he great- ^t attention to the formation of their ideas, habits, and characters, '>omihe commencement of their existence. Then we shall discover '■he certain method whereby to make our infants the most superior of iiuman bcihgs — superior in ideas, in habits, in manners, in disposition, iind in morale-^ — superior in every thing calculated to improve the condition of society. If, however, these new arrangements were now in the full tide of successful experiment; if they were now even actu- ally consummated, and their happy effects experienced; I would not i onscientiously attribute one particle of praise or blame to the indi viduals who had been (he most prominent agents in bringing about .rtieh a revolution. No, my friends, we might, with equal justice, at- tfibute merit to the coat which 1 now wear, because it is black, as to the individval to whose lot it may fall to bring about this new order of iitings. ^Vc can paint any infant black or white, in character, by our has become rational, we shall discover that there can be no cause ibr anxiety, with regard to pecuniary matters, or rather the means o£ living in comfort. We shall perceive thaty with the ample means now posessed by society, arrangements the most simple and beautiful may be created to produce a superfluity of real wealth for the whole soci- ety, so abundant, indeed, that we may all freely use as much as we dnsire — even then there will be a surplas, greatly exceeding the wants of all. My friends, do not suppose that these are chimerical notions, un- -.varranted by fact. They may be easily explained and demonstrated lo be truths, by facts, the most valuable to mankind, and capable^ when rightly applied, to make the most happy results for the genera - ;ious to come. This beneficial change is as certain to arrive through ftiG necessary progress of improvement and advance of knowledge^ as that you now hear the sound of my voice. These must be the ne- >'r;?sary results of this law of our nature, when wnderstood and acted af)on in connexion with the other laws ; and I think Mr. Campbell has admitted the accuracy of them all, except the one that declares our wills to have no power to change ©ur convictions or to force any be- lief on our minds, contrary to tlie strongest conviction already made upon them. But, my friends, this law of our nature promulgates » scif-ovident truth. If man is thus plastic, in childhood, shall we not ivlopt the isame method of moulding thcnj into beings who shall be ' irtuous, and consequently, happy thenaselves, and dispensers ofhap- ;,)infiss to others. Why, with a knowledge of tliis law, shall one info tier haraan being be hereafter formed ? There is surely no necessity Vor it — not even that one discordant disposition should be formed, to ;i^ar the ^neral happines. My friends, do you not already perceive how much we sliould all be benefited, if there were no inferior cba^r •vctcrs amongst us. Wo come now to the 6th fundamental principle ofhunjan nature v.hich my friend Mr. Campbell, says he is not quite Avillnig to sub- ;-crihe to. Nov/, my fricnup, I should be sorry to leave any thing even os mentis can attribute praise or blame, merit or demerit, \irtue or vice to a stone. It is quite natural for me to like good water, but can I feel grateful to the fountain or rivulet which slakes my thirst? Can I (hank the earth which sustains me with its harvests, or the tree which refreshes me with its fruit and its shade? No, because there is nothing voluntary, nothing moral, in these contributions of nature. — This beneficence of the fountain, (he earth, and the tree is purely ne- cessary or involuntary. I know that they cannot refuse to render me their tributes. I know that it is a necessary and inseparable incident to the law of their nature that they should be tributary to man. t repeat it, that Mr. Ov/en's doctrine of irresponsibility lays the axe ta 58 DEBATE. the root of that tree from whcnro spring all our feeHngp, good as well as evil. T.ike a rash ami unskiUul physician, he kills the patient while he kills the fever. All the kind Icelings, complacency, affec* tion, and social delights are ninrdered by the same sword which is unsheathed to stab religion to ti>e henrt. If I could be brought to admit that man is altogether a material be- ing, a pure animal,! could hav(> little difllcultyin admitting the whole of Mr. Owen's theory. I could then be brought to believe that all our ideas of our natural, moral, social and religious relations, obligations and dependencies were absurd. I earnestly wish that my friend was more fully aware, than beseems to be, that while he is thus aiming at theextcrmiaationofall bad feelings, he is in reality sapping the fomi- dations of society. But Mr. Owen tells us that the infant man could not help being sur- rounded Avith his individual set of circumstances. Well, admit it ; but is man ever to remain an infant? If he were always to remain in a state of infantile imbecility, then he might be likened to the tree or to the stone located to the soil, subject only to the laws of mere organic matter. But how few of the human fan^.ily are controlled by the pecu- liar circumstances which surrounded their infancy? That they are in some measure affected by them is admitted; but ninety-nine in every hundred rise superior, or fall inferior to their circumstances. — I apprehend it to be a capital fallacy in Mr. Owen's theory that while he originates man in a certain set of circumstances he leaves him there, and never considers that the adult man is continually changing his circumstances, and that there is not a more common incident in human life, nor a more common phrase in human language than to change one's circumstances. We change our circumstances, and our circumstances change its. And while, in one sense, man is as de- pendent for his future developement as for his origination on circum- stances, it is just as true that he controls his circumstances with as much ease as Mr, Owen changes his coat, his climate, his food, or his country. We say that infants, idiots, lunatics, and the non compos mentes, are irresponsible and we have guardians assigned them. All societies j>gree that tliese are irresponsible because they are either untaught, or unteachable. But carry out Mr Owen's principles to their legiti- mate length, and the conclusion irresistably follows that all men ai-e reduced to the state of non compos tnentis — the sage is as irresponsible as the idiot. Irrational animals and vegetables are to be loved or hated, praised or dispraised — are as sociable, as responsible and as irrespon- sible as philosophers. There can be no responsibility exacted from any human being on these principles more thain from a stone, a tree, a horse, or a dog. What is involved and pre-supposcd in the idea of responsibility? — Certainly rationality. Wc never think of praising or blaming, of re- warding or pimishingan infant until its rational faculties ore in some degree developed. V^Tien he iias been trained to acquire a rational discrimination bctv/een right and wrong, then we begin to connect th> DEBATE. 59 idea of responsibility with that infant. Common sense, then, teaches us that rationality and responsibilit}' are terms nearly allied, and that the developement of the one is inseparably connected with the develope- ment of the other. All but philosophists agree that reason can control that which is irrational ; that reason is stronger than the laws of attrac- tion or cohesion, and therefore all men who have not philosophised themselves beyond the regions of common sense, are agreed thatevery being whose reason is developed is responsible for his actions, and that where reason does not exist, or is not developed, praise or blame, or responsibility cannot be attributed. Now Mr. Owen makes all men everlasting infants, or predicates his whole philosophy upon the assumption that the infant, the idiot, and the philosopher are equally irresponsible and equally controlled by circumstances, both of which are as far removed from the regions of common sense and all human experience, as the reveries of Baron Swedenborg. This far right reason and common sense go with us. But when we transcend these Jimits both reason and common sense bid us adieu. It is obvious that man in the first instance comes upon the stage under a great variety of circumstances, but it does not follow that he is riveted to those circum- stances, or that he may not exalt or degrade himself by rising superior or falling inferior to these circumstances. But not only a-e sages and idiots reduced to the same level of irres- ponsibility by Mr, Owen's- system ; but it reaches still further. It saps the foundations not only of all haman responsibility, of all morali- ty, but also of all obligation to any being in the universe. In the first instance it involves us in impenetrable darkness with respect to our origin. Mr. Owen's system gives us no idea of any origin of our being, or of any relation in which as creatures we stand to our Creator. The system not only goes to revolutionize the moral, civil and municipal policy of all the civilized world, but it proscribes all dependence upon any unknown, unseen cause whatever. This led me yesterday to show that Mr. Owen could not demonstrate his first proposition with- out accounting for the relation in which we stand to a superior being, or discarding it altogether. This led me to call on him for an analysis of our mental powers. This too, induced me to present those five questions to him at our adjournment yesterday evening. This is just the point on which so much depends, and to which we anxiously solicit the attention of my opponent and this audience. But Mr. Owen de- clines this investigation for the time being, but promises it hereafter. In the meantime, then, as I conceive, I have glanced at the items in his last address, which have any direct bearings on the proposition before us, I will occupy my time yet remaining with some strictures on the different systems of scepticism. And I think it wil' be seen from the brief notices which we are about to take of them that, so soon as we abandon the Bible there is not a speck v{ terra Jti-ma accessible to human ingenuity, on which any thing worthy of the name ci system can be built. No system of nature, nor of human nature can be pre- sented from the annals of the world, nor from the improvements of Hibdern science, which is not confessedly conjeciuriil, doubtful^ an4 60 DEBATE. wnworthy of any sort of confidence ; which is not based purely upon imagination^ and which only allures from the haven of safety, to the -wide and tempestuous ocean of absolute uncertaint), without even promising us compass, helm, or pilot to conduct us to a safe anchorage again. I have rummaged antiquity, and the systems ofphilosophy, ancient and modern. I have explored these systems, and find them all rich in promi.ic, but bankrupt in accomplishment. They begin ■with a /)C/7ia^M, proceed with a may he, and end with a perchance* — But let us take a peep into these treasures. Scepticism embraces as great a variety of sects as any other of the isms of ancient or modern times. The sceptics generally range tlicmselves under one or otherof the fallowing general denominations: •"The philosophei-s admitted their own ignorance, and the necessity there was for further insirviction. Socrates meeting Alcibiadcs going to the temple to pray, dissuadcil him from jt, beca;ise he knew not how to do it till one should come to teach him. '-It is altogether necessary," says he, "that you should wait for some person to teach you how you ought to behave 3-ourself, both to the gods and m-.n." Plato tells the Athenians, th.-it they would remain in a state of sleep forever, if God did not out of pity send them an instructor. Cicero says, "I do not suppose that Arcesilaus engaged in dispute with Zcno out ofob- •stinac)'. or a desire of sujjeriority, but to show that obscurity, under which all things lie, and which forced Socrates to a confession of his ignorance. And all those who in a manner were enamoured with Socrates; such also as Democritus, Anaxagoras, Empedocles, antl almost all the ancients, were reduced to the same confession. They all maintained th.at no true insight could be acquired; nothing clearly perceived or known, that our senses were limited, our intellect weak, and the course of man's life short." According to Democritus, truth lay buried in the depths of the sea, or in a well without a bottom. Such was the utter un- certainty into which these pliilosophers had reasoned themselves respecting the nature of God, the immortality of the soul, and a future state, the most impor- tant of all subjects, of which barbarians, keeping closer to early tradition, were not so grossly ignorant. Here we may adopt the words of Gibbon, which wp should scarcely have expected from such a quarter. "Since, therefore, the most sublime efforts of pb'.losoph)' can extend no far* ther than feebly to point out the desire; the hope, or, at most, the probability, of a future state, there is nothing except a divine revelation thjt can ascertain the existence, and describe the condition, of the invisible country which is destined to receive the souls of men after the seperation from the body. Hut we may perceive several defects inherent to the popular religions of Greece and Rome, which rendered them very unequal to so arduous a task. 1. The general sys- tem of mythology was unsujjported by any solid proofs; and the wisest among the Pagans had already disclaimed its usurped authority, 2. The description of the infernal regions iiad been abandoned to the fancy of painters and of poets, who peopled them with many phantoms and monsters, who dispensed their re- wards and punishments with so little equity, tiiat a solemn truth, the most con- penial to the human heart, was oppressed and disgraced by the absurd mi .xture of the wildest fictions. 3. The doctrine of a future state was scarcely consider- ed among the devout Polytheists of Greece and Kome as a fundamental article of faith. The providence of the gods, as it related to public communities raUicr than to private individuals, was principallj- displayed on the vi.sihle theatre of tlie present world. The petitions which were offered on the altars of Jupiter or Apollo, expressed the anxiety of their worshippess for temporal happiness, and their Ignorance or indifference concerning a future liie. The important truth of the immortality of th» soul was inculcated with more diligence, as well fts»uccess, m India, ii^ Assyria, in Egypt, and ic Gaul."— i/a/:i's. Ev.m. 1. p. 23. 1>EBATE. (U DeisU, Thcists, Atheists, Paatheifits. The subcHvisioiis are loo nu- rnevous to mention in this place. It comes with a ven- ill grace from sceptics to object to Christianity because of the vaiions sects into which the christian ■community is torn, seeing they cannot exhibit any thing like a visible unit} among themselves, except in opposing Christianity. I presume there are not to be found uponeartli so many writers on any one subject, ditfenng so much from one another, e;- the sceptical writers. I do not know that tiiere can be found tv.'o works extant, under any respectable name, on any one system of scepticism, which do not differ from each oilier as much, at least, a^ the Calvinists differ from the Anninians. While Ihey boast so much (especially such of them as believe with Blr. Paine) of tlie easy iii^ telligibility of the volume of Nature, which he sometimes calls the it Word of God,'"' (ihat speaks the same thing in all languages:) one v.'ould expect to find a remarkable conformity and coincidence of sontiment amongst the students of this one volume, which need.-? neither translation nor commentary. Yet none are more unsociable ia their senliments, nor more diverse in their conclusions, than thev The Persian, the Indian, the Hindoo, and the Pliilosopher, all read and understand this volume of Nature very differently. There arc more versions of the volume of Nature, than of the volume of Revb- l.ition. Though, they say, it wants no 7n'itten commentary, it cer f;inly requires some prophet or interpreter to explain it. IIow else ( ame it to jjass that all the ancient nations, and all the modern^ Avithout revelation, have, from the same premises, come to so many different conclusions ! Rome had one hundred and seventeen opinion.- about the swnmtim honvm in its Augustan age; the Grecian states had ahoost as many gods as soldiers; and a vnt once said, '■•Itis moi-e fasy to find a god than a man in Athens!"' But not only did the mul- tiplication of gods and goddesses exhibit llie fooleries of the rcaders of the volume of Nature, but the infamous characters they gave their gods and the crimes they laid to their charge. Their gods wcrff monsters of cruelty, lewdness, ami profligacy. The morality loarneti from this volume was as various and as imperfect as its theology. Human sacrifices were offered upon their altars; their tempks were places of prostitution; fornication and drunkennesis formed the reli- gious worship of Venus and Bacchus, Plutarch, in some partjcnla' instances, recommended as a virtue, that which, in many places, was a common usage, viz. to expose infants to death by cold and hunger, or to be devc^ired by wild beasts. Tiie Grecian sages gave parents permission to kill their children— and suicide was recom,- mended as a virtue. So teaches the volume of Nature! But I only intend hereto notice the divisions amongst sceptics os respects the systems extant. Some Italian and French sceptics, shortly after the Reforn;iatioii. or about the time of the Reformation, assumed the honorable desig- nation oi Dcist.-f. These n^vceA in three things, viz. 1. To profess ,no system of religion, and to oppose christifmitv. 2. To contend ibr the existence of one God. And 3. To follow what thev called 6 (^i DEBATE. ''the ligJit of nature/^ But nboul this "one God"* and liiis '-liglit of imtiiie " thev ^vere any thing but agreed. Deislical writers sub- divide themselves into IMortal and Immortal Deists ; the former de nvino-, and the latter aflirming a f^iture state. Dr. Clarke enumerated four grand classes of Deists or of dcistical writers, all agreeing in acknowledging one Supreme God, but differing in almost every thing else. Lord Herbert stands at the head of the list of the English Iraternity, and seems to have aimed in his book, "Z>e Veritate^ at 'fiving some sort of a system to scepticism. His five points are tkc following: — 1. I'hat there is one Supreme God. 'i. That he is chiefly to be worshipped. 3. That piety and virtue are the principal parts of his worship. 4. That we uiust repent of our sins; and if we do so, God will pardon them. 5. That there are rewards for good men, and punishments for bad men, both here and hereafter. This English Baron wished to form a universal religion for all mankind, predicated upon what he calls "reason and the light of nature." He was emboldeued to publisk it in the seventeentli cen- tury by a miracle, as he represents it ! Concerning the Theists we shall only observe that they are cen- sured more than the Deists by Monsieur Mirabaud for approximating more to the superstition of Christians than the pure Deists. They humanize their God too much ; give him too much the character of a governor, and too many of the attributes which are supposed essen- tial to a good governor; whereas the pure Deists make their God rather an indiftcrent spectator, an uninterested observer of tlie affairs of this Ufa. Among these natural religionists, or Theists, there is a great variety. They are as discordant as the Speculative Deists. The celebrated Atheist i)I/?"a5a?/cZ thus castigates them, vol. 2. p. 208: *'The Theisfs, one after another, to explain the conduct of his God, finds himself in continual embarrassment, from which he will tiot know how to withdraw himself, but in admitting all the theolo- gical reveries, without excepting even those absurd fables, which were imagined to render an accoui»t of the strange economy of tliis being, so good, so v/ise, so full of equity ; it will be needful from sup- position to supposition, to recur to the sin of Adam, or to the /;:;// of the rebel ^ingels, or to the crime of Prometheus and the box of Pan- dora, to find in what manner evil has crept inio the world, subjected to a benevolent inteliigsnce. It will be necessary to suppose the free agency of man ; it will be necessary to acknowledge that the creature o;vn offend his God, provoke his anger, move his passions, and calm them afterwards l^y superstitious ceremonies and expia- tions."' All those aud many more faults does he find to the Theists. Thomas Paine, in his Age of Reason, page 3, gives his creed in one period — *'l believe in oue God, and no more; and I hope for happiness beyond this life.*' In '.mother period he gives his creed in morality — i' I believe the equality of man, and I believe that religious duties. DEBATE. ^ <^^:oriSisl in doing justice, loving mercy, and endeavoring to make our iellow-creatures liappy.-' In speaking ol' the perfection ofthc book of creation, as a word of God, or as a revelation, he tlius eulogizes it — "Do we want to contemplate his power? We see it in the immensi- ty of creation. Do we want to contemplate his wisdom? "We see it in the unchangeable order, by which the incomprehensible whole is governed. Do we want to \;ontemplate his muiiiiicence ? ^Ve see ii in the abundance with which he fills the earth? Do we want to con- template his mercy? We see it in his not withholding that abundance even from the unthankful. In short, do we want to know what God iS? Search not the scripture other than tiiat called the creation." Mr. Paine did not want to see his justice ; and therefore, he failed in telling us what to contemplate in order to discover this. Deists have not so much curiosity on this point. The sceptics of the athe- istical school are not more unanimous than they of the Dcislical. If, is amusing, if not instructive to hear or see how these sceptics of the two schools handle one another. Let us take a sample fiorn tv/o of the most notable — viz. Mr. Paine tlie Deist and M. IMirabeaud the atheist. The atheist says — vol. 2. 211. Is there in any oue reli- gion in the world a miracle, more impossible to le believed, than that ^f the creation, or of the eduction from noiijing? Is there a mystery more difficult to be comprehended than a God impossible to be cop- ceived; and whom, however, it is necessary to admit." "Betwixt the Deist and the superstitious (christians) it is itnpossible to fix the line of demarcation, which separates them from the most credulou^ men; or from those who reason the least upon the article of religion. Indeed, it is difficult to decide with preclrion the tri» dose of folly which may be permitted them."' After this denunciation let us hear Mr. Paine, page 57. "The only idea man can aflix to the name ot" tjod, is that o{ a first cause, the cause of all things. And incompre- hensively difficult as it is for man to conceive what a first cause is, he arrives at the beliof of it, from the tenfold greater difficulty of dis^ believing it. It is difficult beyond description to conceive that space ran have no end; but it is more difficult to conceive an end. It is difficult beyond the power of man to conceive an eternal duration of what we call time; but it is more impossible to conceive a time when there shall be no time. In like manner of reasoning every thing we behold carries in itself the internal evidence that it did not make itself. Every man is an evidence to himself that he did not make himself; neither could his father, nor his grandfather, nor an3'' of his race ; neitlier could any tree, plant, or animal make itself: and it is the conviction, arising from this evidence, that carries us on, as it were by ncoessity, to the belief of a First Cause eternally exist- ing, of a nature totally different from any material existence weknov/ of, and by the power of which all things exist, and this first cause man calls God." Then he sings Addison's versification of the 19th psalm; These distinguished sceptics are as opposite here, though not so pal- pably so , as when the former says, All theology is false ;" and the latter- affirms there is one true theology — and one unadulterated revelatioji f.f Gixl — viz. the Universe — TThe Deist evon puts these words info the month of his Deity." I have made an earth for man to dv/elf rrpon, and I have rendered the starry heavens visible, to teach hi)ri •science and the artp. lie can now provide for his own comfort, an^ ioar;sfr>m my munificence to a!!, to be Jdnd to each otiier." page 35.'' Bit m)re contradictory yet — Mira))aiid asks, "Can there be a mys- tery more difficult to be comprehended than a God?'' and Paine asserts, page 54 ; "The be'ief of a God so fur from htiving any thing of a nivstery in it, is of all beliefs th-^ most easy: because it arises to us out of necessity." But the French sage tJjough he so frequently as^ scrts the belief of a God to be the climax of absurdity is contradicted flatly and boldly by liis brother sceptics of the great assembly at fti'-deaux who in their t\vent}-five precepts of reason, placed the following at the head of the list: — ^•All nature announces to tkce a Creator r adore han. He is etery M'herc: Ecery tchcre he jvill hear thee.'"' But going no farther into the detail — let us just notice the varieties exist mg amongst Atheists — Amongst the ancients Dr. Cud worth reck- x)ns four distinct sects of Atheists — 1. The Disciples of Anaxaman- der, called Ilylopathians, who attributed the formation of every thing to matter destitute of feeling — 2. AtomistSjOr the Disciples of Demc- v-ritus, who attributed every thing to the concurrence cf atoms — 3. The stoical atheists, who admitted a blind nature, but acting after .certain laws — 4. The Ilylozoists or the disciples of Strato — who attributed life to matter; Dr. Cud worth's Systema Intcllectuale, chap. if. ,T.ir. vol. 2. page 300. Other diversities Iiave occasioned various sects amongst atheist?. They have differed as much upon morality, virtue, and vice., as about ike origin of all things. Aristippus, Tlieodorus the atheist, Bion and P> rrho, denied any distinction between virtue and vice. In modern times, the author of the fiible of the Bees, and the JMan Automaton have reasoned away all difference between virtue and vice. Mi- rabaud, vol. 2. page, 319, Indeed, Mirabeaud, though one of the oldest advocates of atheism, declares, vol. 2, page 318, '^xhat atheism will .xot make a wickeb MAN GOOD." Bayle, when speaking of the Epicureans, says, "Those who em- braced the aect of '■Epicurm the aV^ds^' did not "become debauchees, because they had embraced the doctrine of Ei)icurus; they only em- braced the doctrine ofEpicuri-.s, then badly \mderstood, because they ic^^re debauchees P'' High encomimns on atheism!! Amongst the moderns we hav e had several sects of atheists, or athe- Kstical writers, such as Spinoza, Iloblies, Vanini. Sj)inosism, so called from Spinoza, the Jew, horn in Amsterdam, ■1032, teaches but owe .v?;7«/rt/jcc in nature — all th;; bodies of the uni- verse are various modilications of this one substance— all the souls of men are motlificalions of this one sukstancc— that there is but one beimr and one nature; and that this nature bv an inmiinent act produces all those which we cull creutvu! .■^. Tlu:s his Deitv is both DEBATE. G5 ngenl and pafiont, creator and creature. No two atheists now living, or who have puhUshed any thin;; to the world agree in their specula- tions. Indeed how can they? There is no fixed principle. The ma- terialists of ?.Ir. Owen's scheme difler in some respect from the materi- alist of the French school. But indeed they differ from themselves. They are not the same theorists in June and January. A change ill the thermometer often produces a change in the whole system. An attack of hilious (ever, a single emetic, or a cathartic, has heea known essentially to change a whole system. Pantheism is of early, but unknown origin. Some of the Panthe- ists, held the universe to be one immense animal, of Avhich the uncor- poreal soul was properly the god, and the heavens and the earth the body of that god. Orpheus one of the most .ancient pantheists of whom we read, called the ^TOrld the body of God, and its several parts his members, making the whole universe one divine animal . Aristotle was pretty much of the same opinion: he held that God and matter were co-eternal, and that there is some such union amongst them as exists between the soul and body. Polytheists have deified dead men, animals, and even vegetables, and have ascribed to them honors and attributes which belong to the Creator alone. But there is no boundary to be set to the vagaries of the human mind. At one time, and in some circumstances, it sees a god in every thing, at another time, and in other circumstances, it sees a god in nothing. So true is yet found the saying of the unpopu- lar Paul of Tarsus, "Professing themselves to be philosopliers they be- x^ame fools."* My friend and ojiponent has contributed his mite to the mass of bewilderment which has been read. He has given us a new system of scepticism perfectly untangible. "Twelve facts" have been assert- ed, concerning the //wfmfl/jVf/ of man. And these facts have been presented to us in such a sha[X! as to strike at the root of all our ideas concerning our spiritual relations. We are unable to conceive of the immense revolution which must be prodiiced in the mindof one who has been put in possession of all the biblical ideas and terms, by the annihilation of all ideas of God, and the relations to which they give birth. The idea of the existence of a God and his perfections once annihilated, and what have you left? On ilie principles of philosophy it is just as hard to destroy as to create a single idea. In philosophy these two ideas concerning the power of creating and the power of destroying are intimately con- nected and inseparably interwoven. If I could forget that I ever had heard the name of God, and could erase fi-om the tablet of my mind all my ideas of sjylritual things, I am at a loss to conceive what views I could entertain of any object around me. Every thing would be to mo ft Kiost inexplicable puzzle. But the question w^hich must forever con- lound the materialists of all schools i»,Hoxc did th'cse ideas get into the 'iL-orld? There must be some v/ay of disposing of them. It devolves en my friend and opponent to explain the origin of fhos© ideas', which 00 DEBATE. have universally f>btaineJ amongst mankind, on sjjiriinal snhjecis,' It is inctiinhout on him to avow explicitly, wliefher lie conceives us to be indcbteiJ to a supreme or superior boing for any thing we posses*. Man does not owe his existence to any human being; from whence then does he derive it? The wide derivatur of man, or the n-lwnce vame he, must be determined before he can ascertain the nature of any of his relations. The basis of all ol>!igation or respoupil.ility, 1 hold to be dependence. A being, independent of any other, ha< no rule to obey, but that which his own leason or will prescribes. But a .state of dependance will, inevitably, oblige the inferior to take the will of him on whom he dc- pends^, as the rule of his conduct, at least, in all those points wherein liis dejjcndance consists; consequently, as man depends absolutely upon his Creator for every thing, it is necessary that he should, in all poiat<, submit to his will. This I do hold to be the true and immovea- ble basis of natural, social, and religious obligation, and responsibilitr. Xow, if Mr. Owen can prove that we are all independent beings, and sliow wherein we arc all independent, he carries out his system to n triumphant issue at once. Only let him prove that we are not depen- dant beings, and then the conclusion must f )llow out that we owe uo- lliing to our Creator, to our parents, oiu* benefactors, or any other cred- itors. I say, in holding the affirmative that wo are irresponsible, ho must jirovc that, we are independent. But this v.ill lie to wage war with common sense, with universal experience — I will not consume time in proving a point which is itself as plain as the proof could be, vi/. that mankind are dependant, and therefore responsible. Mr. Owen supposes the capital error of all religions to be that they teach that belief is under the control of the will — whereas he sups»o- ses the contrary. Bit it would seem that he attaches no very dehnitc meaning to the word belief; when he asked you to be so gootl as to be- lieve for only five minutes that he did not stand in propria persona before you, or tliat Mahomet was a prophet sent from God. Mr. Owen certainly errs in his views of faith, or supposes you have an uncontrolled power over your belief, when he asked you to believe without ecidencc, that Mahomet was a true prophet. If 1, or any chris- tian, had affirmed that a person could ]>e!ieve without>r»iJe/»ce, then he T.iight have made such a demand upon vou; otherwise he could not vationally have made such an appenl. We contend that testimony is f;ssential to faith; and that whetiicr we shall possess the testimony sutFicient to constrain belief, very generally depends upon our deter- jiUuution or volitl'^n. But 1 would ask what idea lie attaches to the word belief. I am appr<:hensiv«' that he confounds, or uses interchangeably, the terms beliif, knowledge, and opinion. Belief always depends upon the tes- timony of others; lr,ouIedge Vi]ited to my friend, Mr. Campbell, for his learned dissertation upon the opinions of others, for I did not trou- ble myself very mucii about a knowledge, in detail, of these opinions before. My researches were not in that direction, after 1 ascertained they contained so little really useful practical information. The ob- ject I had m view compelled me to become a practical man, "to study from the life, and in the original peruse mankind.*' I have totally avoided metaphysical reading, because I discovered it was not calcu- lated to relieve society from its errors and difficulties ; it has too many v/ords and too few facts. , Much have I read formerly of this character, that was unsatisfacto- ry, and much have I seen and observed since. In consequence, met- aphysical disquisitions which have interested me in my youth have long since given place to the investigation of facts, and legitimate de- ductions from them that I might acquko a knovrledge oftjbeir best ap- m DEBATE. plication to practice. Many of these metaphysical disquisitions hiive ah'cady continued for thousands of years, and may continue to pro- ceed for millions more, without producing any practical benefit, or bringing us nearer to our object. It is now full time that we direct our attention to tacts, and to a just practice founded on those facts. — It does np|)ear to me irom all the fact.? I know, that not only our be- lief but our knowledge and opinions are determined for us by the •strongest impressions which external circumstances make upon our individual organizations. That noman has, of his own will, by the exercise of his own volition, formed his own knowledge, belief, or opinion. 1 have never heard a single argument or seen any fact t» prvve that man ever forms his opinions by the decision of his will, contrary to the convictions made upon his mind by the impressions which he has received from external circumstances, or subsequent intimate reflection, the individual not knowing wliat would be the result of those reflections until they were completed. My friends, the next great law of human nature which goes to prove the gross ignoraiKe in which human nature has been kept, and the in- jurious effects orall religions, is the seventh in my arrangement. It is — "That each individual must like that which creates agreeable, and dislike that which produces unpleasant sensations upon his nature, while at the same time he cannot discover previously to experience, what these sensations shall be." When our minds siiall have been relieved from the prejudices of a vicious education, when we shall be permitted, without prejudice, to examine facts as they really are, and 10 infer the rational deductions from those facts, we shall discover, rhat all the governments of the world, all the religions, all the codes of laws, and all the social and other institutions of mankind have been founded in the false notion, that human nature was so organized, that it had the power by its ov*'n mere volitions, to believe conforma- bly to its inclinations, and to love or hate according to its will. Now I contend that no human being has the power of his own will to like, be indifferent to, or dislike any person, or any thing contrary to the sensations which they produce upon him. Who, in this assembly, wiien any new food is brought before him can determine before tasting jt, whether it is insipid, grateful, or distasteful to bis palate ? W^ill not »iis determination upon this point depend entirely upon the sensations produced by this food upon his palate after tasting it? If a stranger were announced as being about to corne into t^is assembly, where is the individual amongst you, who is prepared to determine before he has seen this stranger, whether he shall like, be indifferent to, or dis- like him. Wor.ld not one and all of you be compelled to receive the impressions which the couutenance, the figure, the manner, and the address of this stranger, would enforce upon your individual organiza' tjons? Now, those who think they arc doing good service to the world by .attempting to disprove the doctrine which I advocate, should consid- er well these two fundamental laws of our nature. I rest a very large portipa of my argument to prove the erroi'sof all religvous. and of the DEBATE, 60 f nuh *f the pviaciples which I advocate, on a thorough conviction from the evidence of innumerable facts, that human nature is so organized by the laws of its creation, as to be passive in the reception of its sen- sations, except so far as it may be influenced by previous sensations of liking, or disliking. You have been taught some fanciful notions of what j-oa have heard termed God, Deity, or First Cau^e; and yoa have been taught other fanciful notions of a being who ha« been intro- duced to you by the name of ^Ae Devily who was created by an infi.- nitely wise and good power. Then, my friends, if you have a control over your likings and dislikings, just for the sake of the experiment, endeavor to hate the first, and to love the second. Can any one of you so far control his Will as to do this? In common candor, my friends, you must be compelled to acknowledge that you cannot. But you will be pleased to observe, that I, by no means, admit by any thino; { may have said, that anj, intelligence infiniteiv wise, good, and poAv- orfid, ever did make (knowing what it was about) a devil, to torment us. No, indeed, I cannot believe any absurdity so monstrous as thi--. But to return to our subject. We are, fortunately for us, compelled to like that which produces pleasant sensations,and to dislike that w'hich produces their opposites. Then if there be wisdom in the command, that we should love one another, there is but on'3 practical course wliereby to obey it. It is to act consistently with the principle I have now developed, which will Iead;you to train your children to acquire such qualities as are universally lovely, and tiien they must be be- loved for possessing those qualities. Our nature is such, that when they are so formed, we cannot help loving them; and until they are so formed, it is not in human nature to lov.e them. But we shall soon be- come acquainted with the method whereby to train our infants, step by step, in such a manner that they shall command our love. And when this shall be the case, the command to do so will become use- less. What utility is there in commanding me to love that which possesses qualities which are disagreeable to me? And what neces- sity is there for such a command, when we knov/that we have the poAver to create the best dispositions, manners and habits in the wliole human race, and thus give such qualities as w ill always insure love or affection from every one ? IIow often haAC uninstructed, unenlight- ened men told you that these principles lead to vice? But if ever virtue shall be known and practised amongst nmnkind, it will only be through the knowledge of these principles, and through the universality of the practice which they demonstrate to be the best for man to adop! . There never was, in the imagination of any human being, a collec- tion of facts so truly valuable to the whole of mankind as those which are contained in these twelve laws; each one of them is of invaluable truth. Bat when united and formed into a system for reforming the character of men and governinij them, what a glorious change will be eftected for the well being and happiness of the human race ? H^Ikmi .this shall be accomplishe«l,as I anticipate will be the case in a few- years, how very different will our residence in this world become ?-^' IIow different from anv state or condition ever vet witnessed in any ;0 BEBATE. former periotl, or m the present times? There will be then ho strilo nor contention. Then all will say,"ifanyofmy fellow-beingsdonotlove or respect me, I know the cause is in myself; and therefore, I will, thus mformcd, endeavor to remove the disagreeable parts of niy character, and set about the correction of all my taults and failings, if the superior knowledge of those who educated mc have left any of them to be now corrected; but I could not be dir;piiidsed with my fellow being for ex- pressing a sensation which I had caused him to feel ; this will neces- sarily remove an error too palpable to be entertained." That we •-houldhave acted so long upon any other principle, is a proof of the Ignorance and darkness m which the errors of religion have surround- ed UH. But fortunately, my friend?, a steady attention in the investi- gation of facts, will now enable us to discover the road which leads un- erringly to certain happiness; and the means by which to secure it permanenlly, without the horrible notion, that some of our fellow-be- ings must suffer eternal torments. My friends, I do not know Vfhat your ideas of Deity may be; but having attended to the realities of human life and human nature, I am compelled to believe that if I knew that one sentient being existed in eternal torment, that knowledge alone would prevent me from being perfectly happy. How, therefore, an all-wise, all-good, and perfect being, should make human beings thus to suffer, knowing V. hat he was doing when he made them, is too inconsistent to make any conviction of its truth in my mind. To me it appears an extra- ordinary and unaccountable notion of error — one really too absurd te he longer taught to man, woman, or child. We now come to the 8th fundamental law of human nature, viz^ '•that each pei-son is so created, that the impressions made on his organization, although pleaeant at first, yet, if continued beyond a certain period, without (change, will become disagreeable; and when this change is too rapid it impairs our physical, intellectual, and moral poAvers and enjoyments.*' It is of no use for the human mind to waste its powers and facul- ties in imagining what human nature ought to be according to the whims and fancies of some men. True knowledge will direct us at once to inquire what it U. Of no use is it to imagine that it ought to be, according to our ignorant notion?, something else than what it is. We have nothing to do but to inquire whut human nature is, what are its organic laws, and how it is formed from infancy to maturity ? We shall discover it to be a imivcrsal law that human nature- irequires for its happiness, health, well-being, and a change of sensations. If any one sensation were to be continued without change, it would, after a certain time, become as painful as at first it was agreeable. We are, therefore, beings so organized as to re- quire a certain change of our sensations. But when wc proceed heyoad a certain number in a ^ivcn period, these sensations will '^vadufiil') become disagreeable, and ultimately produce misory in- stead of "happiness-. This is another admirable law of our organiza- tion. It teaches us, in the most emphatic manner, that to preserve health, spirits, and happiness, v>e must proceed in all our exercises, i-n all our enjoyments, to the point of temperance, and not beyond it; or, in other words, that the highest enjoyment of human life is to he attained by a due exercise of all our propensities and capacities at the point of temperance . I will endeavor to deve'.ope to yon some of the miseries arising from the infraction of this law. Men and women, by the laws of many countries, are made solemnly to promise that they will lOve each other to the termination of their lives ; and yet iieither the one nor the other can know that it will be in their power to perform tjie promise for one day. They commit this error by not attending to this and other unchanging laws of our nature. Where is now the man or woman who has committed this moral perjuiy, who knew certainly at the time of making the vow, whether they would be able to love eacli other for an hour? And how much misery has this error produced? How much happiness has it destroyed? Your ignorance on the subject of belief, and of liking and disliking, have produced almost all the evils of domestic life, as well as almost all the dissentions between nations. Ignorance of this law of our nature has divided and subdivided the world info various classes greatly to the injury of all. One class, which may be called pro- ducers, have their physical powers called into action far beyond the point of temperance. Another class, which may be called non- producers, have their memory and imagination overstrained far beyond the natural limits. The former class are subject to innumera- ble evils in consequence of their -physical powers being over-exerted and their mental powers being unexercised. The latter class has been, perhaps, still more unfortunate in having their physical powers neglected and their memory and imagination too much exercised. And the world is generally divided into these two classes and their subdivisions. When we shall come to the knowledge of what man- ner of beings we are, these errors must cease; society will be differ- ently arranged, and there will be but one class trained and educated, and placed under new circumstances that will enable all to enjoy the full extent of their respective capacities at the point of experience ; and that class v.ill have their physical, intellectual, and moral faculties equally cultivated, and duly and temperately exercised. We shall, by acquiring an accurate knowledge of these laws of our nature, be- gin to discover what real knowledge is, and what is necessary to constitute our true and substantial happiness. At present we do not know what plan, system, or practice is necessary to constitute our happiness, and therefore we do not knovf what to adopt to promote it. Before our meeting in this place shall terminate, I will endeavor to explain what are those things which are necessary for our happiness — that all may know what it is that we should endeuvor tp attaim [Half hour vut.] Mr. CAJtruCLL rises — Mr. Chairmun — It seems a very hard matter, indeed, to reason Jogicaliy when we have nothing to' reason against. We require not only to have premises cstabUslied /row; which to reason, but we must have a definite object for which to reason. There is scarcely any thing tangible or pertinent in Mr. Owen's last address, any more tlian in his preceding ones. He has not put himself to the trouble to investigate or to discriminate with regard to the difhcullies in- volved in our argumentation, if such it may he called. My friend mi"ht naturally have anticipated to have been met in the course of this discussion, with "IIow did man come into existence?" Are we going \o extinguish all the lights v;e have upon this momentous question v.ithout presenting a single spark in lieu thereof? If man did not make himself, then, I ask, how came he into existence? Again, we have presented some (as we conceive) insuperable difficulties in the way of Mr. Ov.en'.'S views of irresponsibility. We have urged upon Jiim this difiiculty. We have proved that his theory reduces the idiot and the sage to the same level of irresponeibility. And we did expect (reasonal'ly we think) that he would have adverted to, and at least attempted to remove this stumbling block. But Mr. Ow^en, it seems, lias found it convenient to pretermit all notice of this part of our re- marks. He has favored us, gratuitously too, with some very good remarks upon temperance. Assuredly Mr. Owen knows that there is Tio controversy about temperance betw-een us ; that I have no objection to men's enjoying the blessings of temperance, and of a sound and healthy action of ..mind and body. But what has this to do w ith the argument before us? I presented another difficulty in the way of my unreserved admis^ sion of the proposition that "our w ill has, in no case, any power over our belief" I have contended that our will has power over our assent to the verity of a matter submitted to our understandings as a matter of belief To this he has paid no regard, in his last speech. Volition cannot create the evidence on which belief must be founded, but it can give stimulus and impulse sufficient to put us upon the investiga- tion of the character of that evidence. Suppose, as Mr. Owen states^ ihat it was my interest that did excite me to investigate the testimony oflcred, am I not at liberty to act according to what I conceive to be my true interest ? And if I so act, do I not act rationally and volun- larih ? Seeing my interest, have I not liberty to make a start in pursuit of it? Consequently our volitions have power in influencing and •nducing our belief In some instances we are compelled to believe. 1 might not wish a fact to be true, and yet might be unable to resist tiic force of the evidence; and, on the other hand, I might wish it to be true, and yet be unable to Ijelievc it for want of satisfactory evi- dence. Thus contradictory to our volitions, such is the sovereignty of c\idcncc to compel belief This we adznit most cheerfully; but from such particular instances to infer a general and universal copclusion, is a sophism of the most palpable detection. I wouM DEBATE, :0 noi sacrllice a single (ruth that might appear to combat a favorite point for any momentary triumph. Philosophers run as much into extremes as any other persons. Because Mr. Owen finds instances where belief is involuntary, or, at least, not dependent upon any previous determination, he asserts uni- versally, that, in no case tchatever, does our belief depend upon our will. But this we shall, in its own place, still farther develope. Instead of adverting to the difliculties proposed in my last speech. iVIr. Owen told us he could never believe that a good and wise bein"- could create a Devil ; yet he could believe that the Devil created him- self, or that a wise and kind Nature cheated evil. Natural evils and moral evils do exist from sojiie cause; there are poisons, pains, and death. Yet, with Mr. Owen, there is neither a God nor a Devil ! Every thing made itself, or all things together made each separate afrent!! Nor can he endure the idea of misery existing any where. Th.e thought of any sentient being suftering hereafter, would convert his lieaven into a place of torment. He has high conceptions of his future sensibilities! They must be much more perfect than at prei«ent: for he can sleep sound and enjoy all animal and social comforts, day and -'iight, without ever thinking or feeling unhappy at the thou^'ht— "How many feel, this verj' moment, death And all the sad variety of pain. How many sink in the devouring flood, Or more devouring flame. How many bleed. By shameful variance betvrixt man and man. How many pine in want, and dungeon glooms. Shut from the common air, and common use Of their own limbs. How many drink the cup Of baleful grief, or eat the bitter bread Of misery. Sore pierc'd by wintry winds, How many shrink into the sordid hut Of cheerless poverty- How many shake With all the fiercer tortures of the mind, Unbounded passion, madness, guilt, remorse; Whence tumbled headlong from the height of life. They furnish matter for the tragic Muse." He seems now to enjoy himself, unconscious that tlierc are myriads suffering all the fiercer tortures of mind and body, but yet fancies that the thought of any human being suffering hereafter, would make him most wretchedly unhappy ! His sensibilities are very fantastic, I will now, for the sake of eliciting investigation, submit an outline of what I conceive to be the constituents of the human being. Taking myself for one of the species, and as a sample of the race, I proceed to examine myself with a view to discriminate accurately what man- }ier of being I am; 1 look at my exterior, m.y corporeal powers, and senses. Of the latter I perceive that I have five. Throi;p-h these communications are made to some internal power or principle called Mc mind. The mind through the senses, by v.ijat is called sensation, has the power of perception, by which I become acquainted with all filings external. By mciv.ori/ i bccom'' ac.-juaintcd with all thing? 74 DEBATE. past; by consciousnas I become acquainted with all things internal. All philosophers agree that we have the powers of perception, memo- ry, and consciousness. Now sensation, perception, memory, and consciousness are just as distinct fr;;m each other as the ear, eye, or hand. 13ut these constitute the mind as our diiTerent members con- stitute the body. These lliculties are as distinct in their operations as are the diiTerent members and organs in the animal part of man. — I repeat for the sake of perspicuity and emphasis, that by perception .\c become acquainted with all things external. By memory we take r'ognizance of all things jntfit. By consciousness we become acquaint- • •d"vith things internal. Such of these as are active powers act inde- pendently of volition. But I ask, Have we any other powers or facul- UC3 capable of acting independently of volition ? I say No. We have, riowcver, the powers of recollecting, reflecting, imagining, reasoning, ■md judf iuc". These operations of the human mind are dependent up- on volition ; or, in other w^rds, it depencs upon volition, whether I .'hall or shall not exercise my powers of recollecting, reflecting, in> ;iginii)g, reasoning, or judging. Mr. Owcn^ it appears to me, con- lounds our appetites with our higher powers. Iliese I would desig- :.ate by the term Instincts. But our appetites, affections, passioRP, and judgment affect the will, and determine to action. I hope Mr. Owen will either affirm or deny, that we may examine our mental powers, f->r he seems to overlook them in his system. I beg leave to sviLmit this analysis of our mental powers, in order to ascertain what is the primitive character of the mind. At present we are utterly unable to G. He is also compelled to suppose matter and motion originally possessed of powers of which they are now totally divested, and, there- fore, has to reason against all experience. Nature cannot now pro«- 'luce a new genus or species in the animal or vegetable kingdont )jy what rational evidence can it then be shown that ever she posses- aedsuch a power? 7. He cannot give any rational account of how the idea of God or a Creator so universally obtained amongst mankind. 8. He cannot shuw one single instance of either contingency or the. bliud laws of nature operating to produce a poem like Hor.ier's. Iliiad; DEBATE. i§ or Miiion's Paradise Lost; to produce a house like tKis one; a steam- boat; a ship; a watch ; a human eye ; a hand; or a picture. Why then assert contrary to all experience and observation, that nature pro- duces the power of creating any thing? The capital sins of ignorance confessed by the materialist, amount to twice seven. The natural mysteries of their creed are also at least twice seven. And the artificial mysteries which they have recently Superadded amount to seven. In this enumeration, we have followed their method : we have not gone into the detail. The prominent items I have given in their own Avords» But there is one inystertf that ought *o be added, which is more than equal to that oi tratisuhstantiation in ite worst aspect. It is this: Bloiion, say they, is a property of matter. But what gives regularity to motion? WTiy does it choose to move in order, or in any uniform course ? Motion was so irregular at one time, as to form out of two vegetables a man and a woman — They sprang up on the bank of a river in Asia. They grew with their faces towards each other, and when they were fully ripe, a gentle breeze broke them oft' the stem, and so put them in motion ; and thus they formed an early attachment for each other, and have kept in motion ever since. But why motion should have acted so irregularly at that time, and kept so regular ever since, is the greatjnystery of mysteries ofatkeUm. Before I sit down, I will giveyou the testimony of Lord Chesterfield, on this creed of the materialists. No man can suppose kirn either a' bigot or an enthusiast in religion. He says — '•I have read some of Leed'*s sermons, and like them very well. But I have neither read nor intend to read those which are meant to prove the existence of God; because it seems to me too great a disparage- ment of that reason which he has given us, to require any other proof of his existence than those which the whole, and every part, of the creation afford us. If I believe my own existence, I must believe his. It cannot be proved a priori, as some have idly attempted to do, and cannot be doubted lif « posteriori — Cato very justly says, — n these schools, under a rational management, thev mav be trained 82 DEBATE. to acquire, Avithout any failure, the best dispositions, habits, and maL ners, and the most useful and valuable knowledge. Such qualifica- tions as these, will make angels of any children, except their wings j but these I cannot promise, fur they have not yet been invented for them. But to be again serious, it is certainly most true, that hereto- fore, men have been quite unconscious of the extent of the infantile powers, and of the effect which, when human nature comes to be Known, and well understood, may be produced at a very early period. I have seen several hundred little children assembled together, who were angels in every thing except the wings; there was no fighting, no quarrel ling, no crying; all was peaceful ; «o that one young female, not more than eighteen years of age, of ordinary acquirements, but having a good disposition, and being fond of children, could with plea- siu-e superintend for several hours through every day, almost from niorning to night, 130 of them, from the age of eighteen months up :o six years. The infant schools, whpn well understood, will be dis- covered to be a moral improvement of far greater value to society than the steam engine, or any other ancient or modern physical improve- ment. But, my fnends, I would not have you to introduce these schools until you understand the principles on which they were found- ed, and upon which only they ought to be established and managed. Had you commenced before this time, you would have commenced in error. But I hope the time is rapidly approaching, when you shall have no error to contend against; when no part of the population will be longer taught to contend against its own happiness. If, as Mr. Campbell, admits, h;unan beings are influenced by the circumstances surrounding them, ought we not to begin at once to study the quality of circumstances around us, in order to ascertain if it be possible to withdraw those -which produce a bad effect, and to replace them with others of a superior description. Is there any other practical wisdom in the world? If we be in all cases, to a very great degree, the creatures of circumstances, does it not behove those who undertake to govern and instruct us, to make themselves well acquainted with the nature and character of those circumstances? I have read much of history, 1 have travelled in many countries, I have endeavored to bring before me all the present and past transactions of mankind; but I cannot bring to my recollection the government, or the priesthood, which has not entirely neglected this high duty — while this ish/far the most important duty of both, it is, in all cases, the first business io which they ought to attend. While they remain ignorant of this department, every active measure they adopt w^ll tend only to increase the evils of society ; for society is very different now from what it was only a few years ago. It could be governed hy ignorance, in igno- rance; it must be qow governed by intelligence, and made to be in- telligent. It is of no UPC for different parties to contend any longer against each in the field of ignorance, opposing one erroneous system against mother A large mass of the people in many countries has bocome '00 well iiif^jrmed to admit much longer of a continuance of theso DEBATE. 83 measures. They have discovered the true sources of knowledge and of wealth, and ihat they are suthcient, under a good and intelligent direction, amply to supply the human race. As men receive all their knowledge from without, they can be made intelligent and well disposed to all their fellows, by a rational education from infancy to maturity. They can be made wealthy through the knowledge and habits which they may be taught by a rational education directing them to what they require for their hap- piness, and how to obtain it in the best and most easy manner by a right application of the enormous mechanical and chemical power lor the creation of wealth, now at the disposal of society, and which admits of unlimited iucrease. But these invaluable sources of knowledge and wealth cannot be -applied with advantage for the general benefit of society under the inhuence of any known religion. Useful, valuable, practical knowl- edge can proceed only from an accurate knowledge of human nature; and to me it appears that these religions and that knowledge are at variance with each other; that all religions are founded in mys- teries Leyond human comprthension; that all knowledge is derived from an accurate observation of factn, and just deductions from them, and proved to be so by their unvarying consistency. It may be also taught by proper methods to be understood by all men. The twelve fundamental laws of human nature, explain what hu- man nature really it-', and the principal by which it ought to be train- ed and insiructcd from infancy to maturity, to secure, to every one, superior dispositions, habits and knowledge. But each of these laws, when followed out to all their legitimate consequences, is sutficicntto prove that all the religions of the world liave been founded in ignorance of human nature, and thei-efore they never have or can make man intelligent, good and happy. They all continually endeavor to pursue a course opposite to the nature of man, and, in consequence, both are perpetually violently opposed to each other. And as these religions give an erroneous direction to men's thoughts and feelings, I have been long deeply impressed wiLh the conviction, which has been more confirmed by all I have heard in this debate, "that all religions are not only founded in ignorance of human nature, but they have been and are the real source, through that error, of vice, disunion and misery of every description; that they are now the only real bar to the formation of a society of virtue^ of intelligence, of charity in its most extended sense and of sincerity and kindness among the whole human family: and that they can be no longer maintained except through the ignorance of the mass of the people, and the tyranny of the few over that mas=," The world cannot l« benefited by the continuance of errors -which, afiect the well being and happiness of every individual, whatever may be his rank or condition. All are therefore deeply interested in this question between Mr. Cnmpbell and myself. One or both of us must be in error, and the intelligent of all parties, ought, for their own sako'--, and for the benefit of their less informed fellow-beings, to ip- 84, DEBATE. vestigate, without partizan feelings, calmly and patiently the princi- ples which each conscientiously believes to be so true that he is lost in conjectures how the other can believe as he says he does believe, iuid wonders that he has not by his arguments already convinced his opponent of his errors. To me it aj^ears that there are two most important measures which require the whole attention, and the application of all the best facul- ties of those ^\ho attempt to govern and to instruct the populations of different countries. The one is to introduce a rational system of education by which the character of cuery one shall be well formed, physically and men- tally, from infancy to maturity. The other to give aright direction to the new scientific powers of production; thatan independence, relative to the means of a comfortable and happy existence, may be secured to every individual. Upon every view that I can give to the subject, it seems to me that the condition of the population of most countries now calls loudly for the adoption of these measures ; that they may be immedi?! tely intro- duced into practice witli great laenefit to the governors and go^■erned, to the instructors and instructed, and that to secure success both mea- sures should be intimately united and one made to aid the other — in- deed it is only by their union; by being so blended together that they shall mutually act and re-act upon each other, that either of thern can become practicable. For it is useless and dangerous to enlighten men before they attain the means of securing a happy existence ; and it is equally useless and dangerous to give them the means of super- fluous abundance without forming them at the same time to become intelligent and virtuous in the proper sense of the term, or, in other words, well disposed in all sincerity to promote the real happiness of all their fellow-beings, not merely in words but in their daily conduct. Happy will it be for the government and people that shall first in- troduce this change into practice! By such examples they will shew the means, most delightful too in practice, by which "peace on earth and good will to men" may be es- tablished probably in less than one generation. I could enter into ex- tensive detail upon these very interesting subjects. [He7-e the honorable Chairman remarked (without wishing to inter- rupt Mr. Owen) that, in the opinion of the Moderators, Mr. Owen, i» his last address, had wandered from the point of discussion immedi- ately before the disputants and the public. The Board of Moderators suppose that you ought to prove the falsehood of the existing religions bef 're you proceed to the discussion and explanation of your substi tute] Mr. Ov/cn replies — That he has intimately studie^l nrtn, and finds him entirely different in his nature from what all religions suppose him to be. If I prove this to the satisfaction of the audience, 1 apprehend it is entirely unnecessary to involve myself in all the subtleties of the unlimited amount of fables and metaphysics with i^hich the world has been inundated. If 1 atn permitted to prove DEBATK. 85 tlicso fiv'o pcsitions in tlie way I conceive to be consistent with riaht reason, then I shall bo ready to enter into any metaphysical disqui- sitions that may be necessary to elucidate any other truth. Mr. Chairman said in reply to JMr. (3uen— Itis not the wish of the Moderators to dictate to you the course \\ liich you ought to pursue. The Moderators are perfectly willing tliat you should rely upon any course of argument which you may think best calculated to sustain your proposition, viz. "that all religions in iho world arc inconsistent with human nature, as you find it." The Moderators only meant to say, that while you are discussing the proposition that ail religions are false, it would be improper i:o introduce the substitute which you propose. Here Mr. Owen remarked that he had touched upon the subject of infant schools, and the creation of wealth, simply to illustrate that the population of the world were yet ignorant; that they .had not even taken the first step towards training their children to become rationti! from infancy, or independent in their condition. Mr. Campbell then said — Not having heard any argument whatever adduced in tlic last ad- dress, pertinent to the subject at issue, and Mr. Owen having dealt only in general assertions concerning human nature; having rejected the validity of all authority, and having admitted that his system i> so different from the existing state of things, that we cannot reasovt from the one to the other — I now feel myscll com pelled to adopt hoyim other course. Mr. Owen places me in a very snigular predicament. Had I selected a certain proposition and pledged myself to prove it, J should have feit myself i)onnd, by all controversial rules, to keep to that proposition, until 1 had cither established it, or failed in the at- tempt. And if, on the other hand, m}' opponent had taken up an at- firmative proposition, and confined himself to the proof of it, I should have felt myself bound to attend to every fact, argument, and demon- stration iidduced in its support, and either have rebutted them, or ac- knowledged my inability so to do. But in the singular predicament in which I am placed by Mr. Owen's course, unless I were to speak of angelic infants, witli, or without wings; unless I should speak of sid- jects derogatory to the dignity of this discussion, I see not how I can take any notice of m}'^ opponent's last address. It is necessary that we should reciprocal l)?^ reach some tangible point of disputation. I trust that Mr. Owen is only keeping back his strong arguments all this while. But if any stronger argument is yet to be ofiered, tor the sake of the audience, as well as for my own sake, I should really be obliged to Mr. Owen if he would soon adduce it. If ]Mr. Owen possesses that moral courage or boldness for which hi's friends so much admire him, he ought to avow at once that all ideas of Deity, and all other spiritual existences, are entirely at variance with the beneficent objects which he has in contemplation to coiisunirnate. Let us suppose that Mr Owca t-hinks and assumes 8 g6 DEBATE. that the idea of the providence of God, and all tlie ideas inseparably connected with a belief in the christiaa roligion, arc diametrically opposed to the consummation of his beneficent objects. Assuming this to be Mr. Owen's real opinion, tlicn it behoves hhn to give us some sort of arstion, '"Whether wc have rcasonahlc grounds to believe the trvtJi and ccrtaintii rf the apo.siolic tcslimornj .'''' To one or other of tlicse t«pi.;s 1 shall be compeUed tocall your attention, if;Ky opponefit DEBATE. ■ St ^vlU not adopt some systematic logical course sf argumentation, bear- i;iz directly upon ths points at issue. One or other of these topics, if permitted, I intend to take up in the afternoon. We have taken a peep into the different systems of the Free Thinkers (as they glory in the nams) of the ancient and modem schools. And now let me ask, Wirat have the sceptics, to propose us ia room of the Bible? Can they concur in any substitute? Can they oiTer any system of Nature, or of liinnan nature ? If they recommend thrism, they, cannot find any two of themselves to concur in defining that system. If they would have us become atheists, they cannot harmonize in any one scheme, on which men can reason. Indeed, Mr. Owen seems to think that all that is necessary is to pull down Christianity by reiterated ai^sertions, that it is predicated on principles at variance with the nature of min. And having demolished this palladiu7n o^ aW refined social enjoyment, and having extinguished all the lights of immortality, man must not dave to think of his origin, because it does not ^^hitercst him to know any thing about it;" nor must he think of his destiny, as that cannot afibrd him any relisli for the animal eipjoyments of his system. He must not act either the philosopher, or the christian. If he were to reason from crTect to Cause, he mi^^ht be cr»nfbimdcd -.vir.h some in«olul)Ie dilliculty upon such a q'lestion as, Whether the first man v/as an infant or an adult; or. Whether there was an acorn or an oak first. Such questions as these might lead him to others more unanswerable still ; as, Whether the first man invented language liimself, and taught it to his offspring; or Avhether there was a convention oi men -co-existent, wlio agreed upon names for every thing, before any of them could speak? But it will be best, under the new economy, to teach, that it is a sin, orsome- ihinr» worse, for persons to havef or to iiidulge, any curioijity upoi* such topics.. Although the sceptic may, in argument, be constrained to admit Ihatno innate appetite or desire in man is so strong as the desire of knowledge; yet under the new system, he must be taught to view the gratification of this desire as a sia against his own happiness if ever it transcends the properties of matter. Every thing about spirit and a spiritual system must be the forbidden fruit in the gardens of sensual pleasure, which are to be cultivated under the new social system . ' These systems of Nature and human nature, framed by physical men, who have just their five senses to guide them, teach man to consider himself by no means a privileged being amidst tiie animals around him. He must not consider himself superior to the horse on which he rides; for if he should think about superiority, this might involve him in great difficulties, and cause him to inquire to whom he mi^ht be indebted for the high rank he occupies in the scale of being. And whether he be superior or inferior, is a problem with them which his not yet been satisfactorily solved. And should it ever occur to him that there is a real difference in animals, not only in figure and size, but also in sngacity, in genius, taste, imagination, rea.son, «fec. Sn DEBATE. he mu^'t never inquire why or how (he earth ojicc threw up a small crop of each, and never attempted to do it a second time : and by what peculiar concourse of clicmical agents- and atoms, the first crop werer men ; and the la.st, apes or insects. Nothin<5 astonishes me more than the iujpofen'^y of philosophy in all matters and things pertaining to a spiritual sy^-lcIll : to the origin and nature of all those relations in which mankind stand to the Creator, and towards one another as immortal beings. And how men, reared and educiited within the precincts of revelation, can exhibit co many raw and undisciplined idea.s of humun nature, to say nothing of the future and unseen world, is still more astonishing. To hear all the sceptics, too, in one conclave assembled, declare their perfect ignc- ranee of the fundamental springs and principles of all their own laws of nature; and, indeed, of the origin of all things and their destiny; to see them predicate all their systems of infidelity upon such acknow- ledged ignorance — and then upbraid Christianity, as if predicated upon ignorance of God and man, is a contradiction, or inconsistency, fir v.hich lean find no parallel in the whole range of my acquaintance with men and things. It* as they confess, they ntither know, nor can know, ihs origia of this earth and all thipgK upon it, how or why do tlie}^ presume to deny the Mofiaic account of it!! Th»y pro- fess not to know any thing about it; why, then, attempt to deny, or oj)posc the only account of it in the world, which, without philosophy^ but with the authority of a sacred historian, presents a credible histo- ry of it. And here it is not unworthy of remark, that all the traditionary accounts of the origin of the vmiverse extant in all nations, evi- dently, however, stolen from the Mosaic, pretend not to offer their ;..eo..r.t as a theory, but as a narratire derived from the original inhabitants of the world, who had it first of ail from, the Creator, himself. I presume the woi-ld was more than three thousand years old betbre there was a single theory offerotl, or a specula- latian upon its origin. All the ancient accounts are narrathcs, either in prose or verso. No explanations are offered — no speculations presented. 'J'hey were not tlie conclusions of reasoners, or philoso- phers, but the declarations of a witness, and of a super-human one. — not a single traditionary account which does not presuppose an original witness of the creation, and imply tlte necessity of a superna- tural revelation upon the origin of things. The first philosophers who jsresumed to theoi iee upon this iiubject, if they demonstrated any thing, clearly demonstrated this, that their conclusions were n-iser than their premises. In other words, that they were in possession of previous information upon the subject which they did not derive from reason; and, in defiance of the rules of logic, they had more truth in the de- ductions than in the data which they assumed. They always remind me of a lad at rchool who had stolen a penknite, and when ]>nshed by his examiners to account for iho knif':; found in his pocket, in ansAver to the question thnv hr came by ike knife, answered, that he ^•foumlii ^rowinp; on a tree?'' As just and locricid is tl)c reason jiivcn for manv DEBATE. » S9 Od* tivosc ideas cbclarecl by philosophers to have been derived fr'ora Iheir own reasonings, but evidently stolen from other sources, either from the volume of Revelation itself, or from streams flowing from it. What an honor does the philosopher Mirabaud bestow on the savxgcs, who, he says, invented all the religions in the world! vol.2, p. 13. 14. "In short, it is upon these rude foundations, that are built uU the religious systems of the world : although invented originally by savages, thsy have yet the power of regulating the fate of the most civilized nations. These systems, so ruinous in their principles, have been variously modified by the human mind, of which the es- sence is to labor incessantly upon unknown objects; it always commences by attaching to them a very great importance, which afterwards it never dares examine coolly." Priests and savages, with him, are the most puissant characters. In spite of all the philosophers, from Epicurus down to Mr. Owen, the priests and the savages give laws and customs, religious and moral, to the most civilized nations of the globe. One would ex- pect, upon this theory, to find that the nearer man approached the savage stale the more exact his views of ail religious relations, duties, and obligations ! And if this be true, the converse must ; the greater the philosopher, the less the saint; the more civilized, the less religi- ous is man. I mutt here give Hobbes credit for one truism" "If men," says he, "found their interest in it, they v»-c;ild doubt the trath of Euclid's. Elements." T would add, they will, for the same reason too, believe almost any thing — cren thai savages clvUhed the world! As the hour of adjo'-irnment has almost arrived, I will only add another proof of Bacon's maxim, viz. '■Hhat the u-orst of all things is deified error,"' taken from the materialist Mirabaud, It is his deifi- cation of Nature : — "We cannot doubt the power of nature ; she produces all the anima Is we see, by the aid of the combination cf matter which is in continual action; the harmony that subsists between the parts of these animals is a consequence of the necessary laws of their nature and of their combination ; as soon as this accord ceases, the animal is necessarily destroyed. What becomes then of the wisdorti, of the intelligence, or the goodness of the pretended cause to wdiom they ascribe the honor of tills so much boasted harmonv? Tliese animals, so marvellous, ^yhich are said to be the work cfan immutable Crod, are they not con- tinually changing, and do tliey not always finish by decaying? Where IB the wisdom, the goodness, the foresiglit, and the immutability of a workman who appears only to be occupied with deranging and bi'cak- iug the spriiVi^s of those machines which are announced to us as the chefs d''(£'jpres of his power and of his ability? If this God cannot do o'dierwise, he is neither freo nor omnipotent. If he changes his v.iil, he is not immutable. If ho permits those machines, which he has r3ndered sensible,, to experience pain, he wants goodnes?. If he has not .been able to render his works more solid, it is that he wants the ability. In seeing that animals, as well as all the other works of the civi'.iity decav, we cannot );rcvent ourselves {T of true light \i\ the world, > .,-:i; promise?, such conclusicas, and si;ch practices would never hiivc 92 DEBATE. been dreamed of. Now, where is their demoralizing influence to ht found? How, or wherein, do fliese laws of our nature load to one in- convcnicac in prac;icc'? On the contrary, might I not holdly ask, Whore is thf^ code of laws, ever invented hy ignorant man to be found, that is at all comparable to them? I call these Divine laws. And whenever wo shall have the wisdom to form our municipal codes of law upon thorn, thoy will be framed not for the punishment, but for the prevention of crime. They will not be v/ritten in blood, as all laws now are. And hyw mucheasier and how much better is prevention than cure? Under all the religions of the world, all the bad passions, and all the inferior feelings of our nature, have been arrayed inarms against that portion of our fellow-beings who are the most legitimate and rational objects of extraordinary care and tenderness, sympathy and compassion. Under every rational subject, it is plain that these badly organized and unhappily circumstanced individuals, instead of being persecuted and tortured, ought to have been mostcomnyserated and attended to. Whether would it be better, think you, to nip bad habits, propensities and dispositions in the bud, or allow them uncheck- ed to grow up into full vigor and maturity, and then employ a legion of officers of justice, so called, (I call them oiticers of injustice) to im- prison, scourge, and sacrifice these unfortunates. I say unhesitating- ly, that there is not a particle of justice, rationality, or common sensCj in such proceedings. We will proceed now to the eleventh liiw of our nature, "Tliat an individual is mide to possess and to acquire a medivmi character when his individual organization has been created superior, and when, the circumstances which surround him from birth to death produce con- tinued vicious or u.'ifuoorahle impressions. Or when his organization has been formed cfi/i/cn'or materials, and the circumstances in which he has been placed from birth to death, are of a character to produce superior impressions only. Or when there has been, some mixture of good :ind had qualities in the original organization, and v/hen it has also been placed through life, in varied circumstances of ^ooc? and enil. This last compound h us been hitherto the common lot of mankind." — Now, rny friends, when ve look calmly and. without prejudice at all the past proceedings of our race, and investigate the practical results produced by all the religions of the world, we find that the -utmost they have ever attained to in praciice, is to form a very mixed, and very inferior character. And v/hy? Because the authors of these religions- were totally unacquainted with hurnan mature; they knew not what it was, nor how to act upon or influence it, except by and through its most inferior qualities. If the inventors ofthese religions had possessed any tr;!0 knowledge they would have devi?eil a very dillerent conil ination rf circumstan- ces from those msw found to exist in any part of the world. Having been born in a Christian countiy yon must necessarily believe the Christian system is superior toany ether. Butthecircumstanccswhich the Christian systenx has permitted to grow \m for two thousand years, Iiavebcvn in ;:ine cases oufof ten, only vicious and deteriorating cir- DilBATE, O'i runistances to? human nature. These, whose leading you have foHov/- • •d, have been blind ; they have not known one step of the way to true knoAvledge end happiness. And you are all at this moment in conse- quence, surrounded with a large portion of the most vicious circum- stances. But I rejoice to say, that no very formidable obstacle now interposes to prevent these degrading circumstances from being with- drawn, and replaced by others of tho most delightful and beneficial character. I trust, therefore, that anothor generation will not be a!- loMed to pass away in the midst of such circumstances as those in which we have been trained, and in which we all now live. As soon as this knowledge which we aro now endeavoring to develope shall be received into enlightened minds, they must discover the erroi-s in which they have been trained. And that discovery v.ill operate upon them so powerfully that they will be unable to submit any longer to the degradation of their prescnr. circumstance?. If indeed we candiscover the means of disseminating this light rapidly and extensively over the vrorld, these changes must happen in a much shorter time than you suppose. But I cannot pro- mise the adults of this generation, that it will be practicable for them so far as to unlearn that which they have been taught, or to unasso- ciate preconceived ideas, as to enable than to enjoy the fijll benefit cf this change. But if circumstances shall prove favorable to my plans, I do think our children, whose characters are yet to be formed, may be placed in circumstances which cannot fail to m.ake them happy, and compel them to receive the best dispositions, manners, and hab- its. But to effect this important change, you must learn to knov,' what manner of beings you are — to know yourselves, and that thoroughly too. Then all that is false in all religions Avill vanish ; v/ars will cease all over the world; commerce, for a profit, or individual gaia fro.ni others, will no longer exist ; disunion, onL.account of opinions, or of any thing else, w'lW no longer be known. Then every child born into the world, will be so educated that, wherever v/e go, v/e shall be sure to find a good and intelligent being. Who would not desire to witness this delightful change? Do I propose by the introduction of these principles to rob you of any thing you have a value lor? — Surely the state of society, w^hich J have described, will be of far greater practical benefit and utility than any of you or j^our ancestors ever enjoyed . Who has any interest in opposing this e-hange ? Have the governors, have the clergy, the lawyers, physicians, merchants, the army , or the navy? I say No. As mt'n, they have a hundred fold greater interest in promoting this change, than as members of aU}' class, sect, or party, they can have in opposing it. I, therefore, do noi come among you for the purpose of injuring or robbing any one. — • All 1 desire is that you should adopt arrangements through which ev- ery individual may be placed in a situation greatly to be envied by the most prosperous individual under the present system of things. Wlien we .shall thus acquire an accurate knowledge of ourselves, whero will there be any foundation for dsunion or difierence of any kind? Who. or what caa then orGveiit us all from becoming members of one Oi DEBATE. and the same harmonious, enlightened, happy family? Then v.'e shall not require any of those artificial and inequitable distinctions which i:ow exist to keep man apart from his fellow. Then we shall have million'? of friends in whom there is no guile, instead of a few in whom we can place but a partial confidence. When this change shall be consummated, we shall be at home, and have friends in every I)art of the world. And what i.s to prevent this change frftm taking place almost immediately? You have all the necessary materials for it this moment in your possession — you have every thing that can be desired to enable }oii to effect this change — you have powers of pro^ duction at yotu- control, a hundred fold beyond your utmost wants for this purpose; and yet, in ccnpequenco of our igneran^e of ourselves, and every thing around us, we are contending against each other for our daily bread. Ail our best faculties are at this moment employed in all the professions and businesses of life in vain attempts to buy cheap and sell dear. What an employment for sush beings as we are I Beings who are taught to look forward to an immortality in heaven. And yet how many now desirious to attend this discussion, cannot leave their occupations, for the fear of losing the means by which to obtain a subsistence for themselves and ilimilies! My friandj I\Ir. Campbell, does not at preser.i percoj-ve how these arguments apply to the subject before us, but to me they appear to boar directly upon it; and moreover that there is no other way to un- derstand the arjjjument, e?^cept in tliis mode of treating it. And Mr. Campbell will discover in the sequel, that I iiave not deviated at all from the object before us, but he (doubtless from the purest motives, and unconsciously to himself ) has endeavored to lead me astray from the main object, and to induce me toembaik with him into the ocean of metaphysical disquisitions, where we miglit be tossed about for ten thousand years, and then be no nearer the port than we are now.. I wish to keep your attention to facts, and not to advance one step beyond their plain and obvious or legitimate conclusions. While we thus act, certain kriov/iedge lies directly in our path, and the best practical results must follow. I have directed my mind day by day, find hour by hour, to unravel the mysteries of ignorance in such a manner as to present the lights of true knowledge plainly before my fellow-beings. I have endeavored to sjft and re-sift all these princi- ples fijr which I now contend ; I have brought them before the most acute and comprehensive minds; I have urged them to try them through the fire, and to detect, if they possibly could, any error which they contained. For I well know that if they contained one error or one inconsistency, they must fall to the ground. My friends, you should always bear in m.ind, that truth and inconsistency cannot exist togeth- er. B'lt I have travelled many countries, and have come into collision with minds of the first calibre in theAvorld, but never yet met with tliat mind wliich could detect error, fallacy, or inconsistency, in ona of these principles. If my friend, Mr. Campbell, can detect error iu them, and demonstrate that error to mo, 1 will frankly acknowledge tMat I have been deceived, and I will most willjnglv pledge mys^" DEBATE. 95 both to Mr. Campbell, and to you, my friends, that from the moment lam convinced of the existence of a single error ov inconsistency in these principle?, 1 will do as much to promulgate the truth which shall be demonstrated to me, and to expose the error into which 1 have fel- ien, as I have done to bring forward the system containing that er- ror. And Mr. Campbell need not fear that there remains on my mind a uy early impression which can operate to prevent my declaring the whole triith to any assembly in the world. After proceeding with this subject in the manner I have proposed it, Mr. Campbell will discover that the points which he wishes to seize upon, will be presented in a manner well suited to his own objects and purposes; but I wish to bring forward my subject in such a connex- ion, that all who are capable of reasoning cccurately may comprc- Ssend it. — [HaJfkour out:] Mr. Campbell rises. Mr. Chairman — We have heard a great deal on the subject of Mr, vOwcn''s experience, and the pains he has taken to test the soundness und practical utility of his principles. But, as he will not admit the leoitiraacy of any authority, we cannot admit the experience of Mr. < >wen as authority. We must exa.niine the question on its o\vn merits . If Mr. Ov.en had" travelled all over the world, fraught Vvith the coni- bined intelligence of the fourquailers of the globe, this ought not to in- fluence our minds in tlie least. We are here assembled, to examine truth coolly and deliberately on its^wn evidences. IVIr. Owen thinks that 1 desire to lead him from his object, into the mazes ofmelaphysics ; I'ut a single retrospective glance^ at the course this discussion ha.s ta- ken, is sufncient to show us that the first metaphysical proposition was introduced by Mr. Owen himself There cannot be a more meta- physical question than '•whether volition has power over belief." I iiave no penehani for metaphysics in the discussion of questions ofthis sort; nor have I introduced. metaphysics into this discussion any fur- ther than the nature of the argument itself requires. He has inform- ed us, that the origin of natural evil is to be found in the elements of the human constitution. Now if this be true, every plan of ameliora- tion must be impracticable, unless it be a plan to make man over again. Perhaps Mr. Owen has discovered some new elements, oi* some way of effecting a new combination ©f elements, in the human constitution. Perhaps he means the four elements of the old school, and that it is the exact apportionment of these which makes man good or evil. If this be the meaning of Mr. Owen, it is obviously impossible to ameliorate the condition of man, unless we can change the elements of his nature. Unless he can apportion the elements of ■fire, air, earth, and water, he cannot improve our race. If 1 have mis- taken Mr. Owen, I shall be glad to be corrected. But I affirm that if natural evil is to be referred to the quantum of the four elements of tiieold, or the forty elements of the new school, or to the modificatioii of tlacse elements 'in the human system, all improvements are impracti- ■ Stj DEBATE, elief, and opinion are all involuntary ! Now is this desire of knowledge a natural principle, and has it no •;ffect upon the will? — And has our consent or volition no influence upon our knov/ledge ? These are two artificial mysteries. Now what is the conclusion from these premises? Is it not that the materialist has to confess as much ignorance of his own systern, .and believe more mysteries than the christian? He has also to con- Vend for artificial mysteries, each of which is absurd — artificial mys- teries which are greater than any that ever have been taught in the xnost corrupt schools of Christianity. The materialist affirms that Hi cannot really interest man to discover ?il$ specific origin. ''"' I have no doubt that this dogma was adopted to avoid a difficulty which they knew was invincible. It is conceded tliat if the materialist's system be true, it is impossible for us to account i'or our origin — that it is a question beyond the utmost reach of human intellect. Therefore to suit the exigency of their speculative scheme, they have had the temerity to assume that it cannot rationally inter- est mankind to know aught about their specific origin — that the stream of human vitality was not worth tracing to its source. Now we are often obliged to appeal to the experience of man ; it is the grand argn- •menttim ad hominem. I will, therefore ask the whole world, every man, woman, and child in it, if the principle of curiosity be so intensely active upon any other point of human inquiry, or human investigation, as it is in tracing up this stream of vitality to its fountain, in order to ascertain the specific origin of the species ? It is a point which elicits Home of the earliest developements of infantile curiosity, or love of knowledge. '■'■Who made me?'''' '■^Whence came /.!"' are amongst the first questions put by the infant catechist to his senions. This mon- strous atheistical assumption opposes itself to the most ardent passions of the rational man. There is no animal appetite in man more opera live than his moral cagcrnos.s in pursuit of knowledge. It iTiakc^^ DEBATE. <)d inavi a keen hunter — it causes him to neglect his food, his sleep, his oase, and even to forget fatigue, in pursuit of his object, "jlle/js agi- tat molcm — ci toto sccorporc mkcet.'''* If my opponent so ardently de- sire that wo should know^uiselvcs, let him come out from a school "which declares that the undc dericatur of man, or the whence came J, is matter of no concernment to him. Let him set his face like a flint against a dictum like this, "In pursuit of self knowledge you must not begin at the beginning,'' Let IMr. Owen's principles be admitted, and there is a total blank in this first and most intensely interesting chap- ter of man's history. It is all obliterated as unworthy of apiece in the volume. "It cannot really interest man to know any thing con- cerning his primitive spocitic origin,'' is the first artificial mystery; and this is the way that the school to which Mr. Owen belongs, eu'- logizes the oracular precept of ^^Gnotki scauton.'''' This, I say, is the first artificial rriystery. and this has been invented after the manner of mysteries of the church of Rome, The second artificial mystery is, that man has n^ just reason to believe himself a privileged being in the scale of creation, over the bee, the bat, the beaver, the butterfly, or the elephant. Does this compoit with your experience? Let the word experience be received and interpreted according to its usual, most known, and legitimate acceptation ; and I am not afraid to abide by its test. Well, then, I ask you, if it comports with your experi- ence to admit that man has no reason to imagine himself a superior being to a butterfly? But M'hy was this asserted by the atheists? — Merely from the necessity of the case. The materialists would never "have agitated these mysteries, but for the hard fate which attends their system. They discovered that unsophisticated reason wonld lead man to discover that he was at the head of creation; that here he stands pre-eminently chief; that he is lord paramount over all the irra- tional part of creation; that all was made for him, and subordinate to him. But of this noted dignity we must be divested to make room for ft speculative phantom, which exterminates the germ of all feeling, save that o^pity; if indeed it leaves that branch of human sympathy unscath- ed. For in the doctrine of materialism, where can pity find an object? Can I pity a tree when I see it growing crooked, or a stone for the angularities of its shape, or a house for its rude architecture? But there is a third artificial mystery of the materialists : In any attempt to account for man's origin he has to suppose that there were an infant male and female produced v.ithout parents, who consequently must have perished in infancy. Some materialists have actually supposed that the first pair grev/ up like two plants, as I have before stated. And when these were developed and began to expand, the leaves became arms, &c. &c. until at length some favorable zephyrs wafted them into each other's arms. They mutually embraced, and thus originated the human family. But in any attempt to account for the origin of man, the modern materialist has to suppose his first ances- tors to have been an infent male and female; and if so, incapable gf arriving at maturity ! — [HaJf hour out,] 1SL-. 0\\}:y iisch. Mv friends, 1 perceived, during my friend, Mr. Campbell^ last ad- dress, that none of you would like to be dejirived of heaven. I do not recollect that I expressed any intention of takin«r away any well foun- ded hopes of heaven from you. Nor do I know that my assertion dc nying the e.vistence of, or" my opinion that there was a heaven, would niakc the least difference in the fact. You have therefore, notwith- standing all I may have said on the subject, just as good a chance for enjoying heaven as you ever had. Wc'come now, my friend?, to the twelfth and last fundamental law of human nature, viz, "That the individual is made m.ost superior of his species, when his original organization has been compounded of the best properties, of the best ingredients of which human nature is form- ed, and when the circumstances which surround him from birth to • Icath arc of a character to produce only superior impressions; or in other words, when the circumstances or laws, institutions, and cus- toms in which he is placed, are all in unison with his nature." Now Mr. Campbell misunderstood me about the ingredients of human na *ure being the origin of natural evil. I stated that some of the peculi- ar errors of some men arose from their individual organization. And I only applied the remark to human nature. And surely we cannot derive the natural evil of human nature from any other source than its defective organization. ■ It is common to say, that such a one is bad by nature ; this only means that the individual has not the same compound as others. But whenever we shall understand this subject fully, and discover that the most superior character is produced by a combination of the best or- ganization and circumstances, we then have a very important practi- f^al object presented for our attainment. The inquiry then becomes. Do we possess, or can we obtain through this know! Ige any influ- "-nce over the future formation of individuals? I say th. t we can ; and i speak from a knowledge of facts with which all who are in any de- gree connected with agricultural pursuits are familiar. It is known to such, that there have been vast improvements in the breed of various ]iinds of animals ; that there is a science by which any animal whether human or irrational, is capable of receiving great improvement at hirlh. But most unfortunately, in consequence of the general pre- valence of ignorance on the subject of the animal man, almost every thing that has been done in this matter has had an immediate and di- rect tendency to deteriorate the infant man at birth. But the know- ledge of this science, as soon as we acquire it, will instruct us in the -anerring method of obtaining the best raw material for the manu facture of man. It is an object of the highest importance to the welfare and happiness of man, that every child should be born with the best physical, intellectual, and moral organization of which his nature is susceptible. There is a science by which all these may be improved before birth. But the time is coming when we shall have very distinct and accurate knowledge upon thesu DEBATE. 101 pttrticulars ; when we shall know how to cultivate the human being in such manner as to present him greatly improved in his organization at birth. But be this as it may, we have at present the power of with- drawing the most unfavorable circumstances from around all human beings from birth, and these circumstances acting upon our infinitely diversified organizations create nine-tenths of the whole character of individuals. My friends, you have seen many of the society of Friends in this country ; you have seen Jews, and you have seen Indians. Now the difference observable between the Quaker, Jew, and Indian arises solely from the difference of their external circumstances, in their mode of acting, or their respective original organizations. For were we to take the infants of the Quakers and give them to be brought up by the Jews, they would unquestionably make good Jews, and vice tersa. We shall, therefore, I repeat, have the power as soon as we acquire the requisite knowledge, to influence the character of every child that is born to a greater extent than nine-tenths of its whole char- acter. And if we Qf the present generation will not exert ourselves to re- jnove the unfavorable circumstances which now exist, the coming generation ought not to be blamed for their characters being ill-form- ed. If we love our offspring, if we have any regard for the welfare of future generations, we can no longer remain indifferent about ascer- taining the true method of forming and educating them; we can no longer supinely leave them to be the sport of such circumstances, as now pervade the world. No! we shall rather devote our whole heart and soul to the investigating and maturing of this all important sub- ject, which embraces within its scope, all thaV-can be done by man for the improvement of his fellow-beings. My friends, I never con- sider this subject without feeling that any language which I can com- mand is too feeble to convey an adequate idea of its importance. — Nothing can be plainer than the path you have to pursue ; you have no> thing to do but to make yourselves acquainted with the influence of the circumstances, beneficial or injurious around you, and to withdraw all those which experience shall prove to be detrimental to our nature. This is the xchole duty of man; let him perform this duty \yell, with knowledge and with judgment, and every beneficial result will follow, of course. The performance of this duty is plain and simple ; there is no complexity about it, and it will soon be understood by every one. But whathas been done for the species upon these rational principles? Why scarcely any thing; and nothing at all has been done with a cor- rect understanding of the subject. And yet can we advance a single step toward the attainment of this grand object, until v/e have acqui- red an accurate knowledge of ourselves? Now, my friends, you have heard from mc very different doctrines from those which are taught by all the religions of the world. You will, of course, institute a comparison between my developements tind those which you have received from your public and appointed instructers — from your soiritual pastor?. Well, compare tiiem in 9^ 1Q2 DEBxiTE, their practice. You have already seen and experienced what a state of society the different religions of the world have produced. A little trial will convince you of what can be effected for the good of man= kind bv the course which I recommend, by attending to facts instead of imagination. Rely upon it, my friends, that if we allow ourselves to bo governed by any thing but" experience, we shall inevitably be led into the mazes of error. When once we diverge from the straight forward path which facts point out, we launch into the wilds of imagi- nation and every thing becomes a labyrinth of obscurity, which be- wilder the human faculties. Under the old arrangements of society I have never yet met with an individual whose mind was not confu- sed, and whose ideas were not in contradiction with each other. — But ever since I was compelled by circumstancos to unassociate my early erroneous ideas, since my mind has been regenerated by the re- moval of these first impressions to their very foundations, and filled with ideas only consistent with these twelve laws of our nature, I havd experienced no jarring elements within me; all has been tranquil and harmonious ; there has been nothing to wear out my constitution, or create feelings in my bosom except those unavoidably created by be- holding my fellow-beings around me existing in a state of misery, for which I know there exists no other cause but the lamentable ignorance in which they have been trained. Now, my friends, I have endeav- ored to show you how those twelve fundamental laws of human nature are in direct opposition to the doctrines inculcated and always impli- ed liy all the religions of the world. My object is to show you that liie two systems are perfect antipodes to each other, that they cannot exist together ; that either these tv/elve fundamental laws of human nature are utterly false, or that all the religions of the world are lounded in ignorance and error. It is just as impossible to effect a. union between these twelve laws and any system of religion extant, as it is to effect an amalgamation between oil and water; there is as little of moral affinity in the one case as there is of chemical athnity in the other. The one is all fact derived from what human nature was yesterday, is to-day, and is likely ever to be. The systems of religion on the other hand are derived fr^m the wildest vagnries of fancy ; they are but the air-built fabrics of imagination. I call them air-built, for they have nothing but imagination opposed to natural laws to rest upon, and they have been, in consequence, in a perpetual state of change, and they are still hourly changing in men's minds. And most fortunate it is foryou, my friends, that ihey have no other foun- dation ; for neither in their origin, their tendency, their errors, contra- dictions, or absurdities, are they at all calculated to produce good conduct in man, .ir happiness for his race. The greatest blessing that can accrue to man is to demonstrate the ignorance on which all thesq systcrns have been predicated, so palpably, that with one accord, rnnnkind sho\i!d agree to dismiss them from their consideration, as. unworthy of the attention of rational beings. But m doing this f v/oukl guard you against one danger which may and must arise from DEBATE. 103 tac coarse which must be taken to relieve yourselves from error. My friends, there are three distinct states of society . The first is the com- m'on one all over the world, in which human nature has been compel- led to believe or profess a belief in some district religion or other, and in this state of society, the characters of individuals have been form- ed"uponthe principles of this district religion. Knowing these prin- ciples, we can, to a cei'tain extent, judge what the characters of the individuals composing this society are. But when we advance one step toward real knowledge and we can no longer believe these prin- ciples, we at the same time withdraw all foundation from ihe former character formed for us by religious belief; we become like vessels on ths ocean without a helm, chart, or compass to steer by, and this is the worst state in which human nature can be placed. Bat ibis is the gulph through which we must pass, if the condition of sC'Ciety is to bf! improved. All we can do is to adept measures to shorten this critical period as much as possible. And whilst we are doing this, we are in the second state of society. The third and the superior state of existence will be that in which the individual having been disabused of the errors imolanted by his former religious and other vicious external circumstances, has been taught the correct princi- ples of his nature, when he has been fully and fairly taught what man- ner of being he is, and his relation to his fellows; then, instead of be- mg worse than the present religious characters of the day, he will rise incomparably above them all; they cannot help sinking almost belov/ estimate in the comparison. In the two first states we shall be irrational. In the third state, every thing that savors of irrationality will be withdrawn; in this state there will be, there can be, none who are irrational in their thoughts, feelings, and conduct. Fear not, my ?Vlends, that this change in your minds will produce vice instead of virtue. This change is absolutely necessarj', before you can be born again. This is the regeneration which you and past generations have been booking for; and this change can be wrought simply by acquiring a knowledge of these eternal and immutable facts. These twelve fun- damental laws of human natiire ('.ivine in every sense of the word) demonstrate that ail the religions of the world have been founded in ignorance, and arc opposed to our nature, when that nature shall be fully understood. Nov/, my friends, I think I may proceed one step farther, and state that these religions are now the only obstacles in the way of forming a society over the earth, of kindness, intelligence, sincerity, and prosperity in the fullest sense of the term ; and now I think I may advance another step, and declare that the light is come among us, and tliat this knowledge can no longer be withheld from the great mass of the people but by the increased tyranny of the few »ver the many. B it the few can no longer tyrannize over the many. Kuowledge is pov%"er; and knowledge is passing from mind to mind, from country to country like a flood. And this knowledge shall spread from one point as from a centre over ever}^- portion of the world, until the knowledge of the truth or, in scripture language, of the Lord, i04 DEBATE, shall cover the earth as the waters cover the seas. This is the know«> ledge of" the Lord, for truth alone is the knowledge of the Lord. It is- a knowledge derived from those facts which ever have existed and which exist to this day, as the universal word of the universal cause from whence all effects proceed. When we use the terms Lord, God, or Deity, we use a term without annexing to it any definite idea. — r Whenever we use this term we annex to it our own peculiar notions, and in many cases they are strange and wild in the extreme. But, my friends, we do know that it is a law of our nature that we have been so formed that we must acquire all our real knowledge by expe- rience ; and all experience declares that man is what he has been de- monstrated to be by the twelve fundamental laws of his nature. — •[Half hour out.] Mr. Campbell rises. Mr. Chairman — I siiould be led to conclude from the argument, (if such it may be called) that the error into v/hich my friend has fallen in his whole process of deduction, is exhibited in one assertion in his last address. His mind has dwelt so long on the influence of circum- stances that he supposes that if a child of a Quaker were to be removed into the family of a Jew, and vice versa, that in process of time, the two children must inevitably imbibe the faith of the families in which they were respectively reared. Now, I have no doubt this would be the case in very many instances, but not universally. And so it is with most of his facts. They are true in very many instances, but are false in his universal application of them. It is illogical to argue from particulars, however comprehensive, to such general and univer- sal conclusions. This proposition of my friend's is not a mathemati- cal proposition, which, if true in itself, must he true in its most exten- ded or contracted sense. That children may be powerfully impresse(5 by circumstances, is true; but must we therefore conclude this to be an invariable law of our nature, that they are forever doomed to the. control of (he circumstances which surround them at birth? Mr. Owen was himself educated in a family of Episcopalians; is he now an Episcopalian^ We see that the circumstances of his education could not shackle his active mind. We see that he has broken his chains-, and that his emancipated mind now walks abroad, as if it had never known a fetter. This shows that there are some geniuses formed to overcome all disadvantages, to grasp a whole s\ stem, as it were, by intuition; that in some minds there is a renovating and regenerating power, paramount even to the influence of circum- stances, omnipotent as my friend represents them to be. Now if this be true, in Mr. Owen's regard, why may it not be equally so with respect to countless other persons? Mr. Owen has attained to the knowledge of certain facts. But ou the foundation of a few facts, he has proceeded to erect the superstruc- ture of a whole code of fundamental laws of nature; a divine system of legislation. In fact to place mankind under a modern Theocracy, DEBATE. 105 But none oi his laws is more immutable, than the one to which we have just referred. At one time, I would think he was preaching to us concerning the millennium; that he was the herald of a better day. Sceptical as my friend is, I must infer that he issLbclicver in the millennium; and, for a ught I know, he may be doing as much as a thousand missionaries to induce it. Cyru^ knew not the God of Jacob; he had no desire td emancipate the Jews. In like manner, Mr. Owen may possibly be an tmconscious instrument in the hands of Providence. He is consoling Iiimsclf with the anticipation of a better day, and earnestly persua- ding us to cherish the same anticipation. And from his own premi- ses, I would undertake to prove the certainty of the fulfilment of the prophecies of the New Testament, even, I was about to say, by a math- ematical demonstration. Mr. Owen tells us, that wars shall cease; that plenty shall follow us superabundantly as the waters of the Ohio; that there shall be no more need for accumulating property to answer our future exigencies, than there now exists for bottling up the waters of the Ohio? Now all this tends to encourage bright anticipations of future glory and happiness to man. Mr. Owen's millennium, we will suppose, has arrived ; how long is it to continue ? A millennium is a thousand years : — What now if we should attempt.to prove arithmetically, the certainty of the prophecies concerning the final consummation of all things? The ex{>ectation of Christendom is notorious. It is this : that sometime soon, perhaps in the present century, a new order of things, in the political and religious relations of society will commence. That it will pervade the whole human family; that after its full introduction, it will continue a thousand years ; and that soon after its completion, the present state of things will terminate, and the multiplication of human beings cea?e forever. Without going minutely into the detail, such is the general expec- tation of Christendom built upon those writings called prophecies. — Well now should we prove by an arithmetical calculation, the cer- tainty of such conclusions relative to the final consummation, what will the sceptics say ? I do not know, whether ever they have been tested upon this point. We shall hear Mr. Owen, when I submit the prob- lem. The premises or data are these : The present population of the earth is estimated say, at one thousand millions. Now I will leave it to them, to furnish the data, or to state what the population was two, three, or four thousand years ago. They may even furnish me data from the census of any nation of Europe for two, three, four or five hundred years back. It will give the same result. We shall take the Bible data until they furnish another. But I again repeat, the population of any country, or of the earth, two, three or five hundred years ago, will give the same result. According to the Bible data, the whole human family, about four thousand years ago, was compo- sed of eight individuals , four males and fbur females. And to keep our calculation in whole numbers, we shall evacuate Europe and Ameri- en of all their population, and place them in Asia and Africa, on the porvv 106 DEBATE. Illation there, which will fill that half of the earth as full of human beings as can subsist upon its surface. We have now got, say, the half of our globe empty and the other half full. Now the question is. If eight persons in/o«r thousand years nil the one AoZf of the earth as full as it can subsist ; how long will one ihousand millions be in filling the other half? If in despite of wars, famines, pestilences, and all the waste of human life, under the corruptions of the last four thous- and years, such has been the increase of human beings; what would be the ratio ofincrease were all these to cease, and peace, health and competence to be the order of the day for one thousand years? Why, my friends, there would not be one half acre of land and water upon the face of the globe for every human being which would live at the completion of the millennium, or the seven-thousandth year from the creation; what I contemplate, from these oracles to be about the end of the present state of human existence. Either, then, some des- olation must empty the earth of its inhabitants, or the human race must be extinguished. Logic and arithmetic, compels us to the form- er conclusion ; but when we add to logic and arithmetic, the proph- ecies of holy scripture, we arc compelled to embrace the latter. I shink no prophecy ever admitted of so certain a calculation, or stt exact and definite a computaton ; infact, no other oracle in the annals of the world is proved by arithmetic so inevitably and unanswerably as I conceive this to be. If any flaw be in my data, or statement of this question, I hope Mr. Owen will detect it, and give me the oppor- tunity to illustrate and corroborate it still more fully. Mr. Owen's notion seems to be this : that his twelve laws once pro- ved, the Christian scriptures must tumble to the ground ! I have very little scruple or hesitancy in admitting all his facts save one, so far as they apply to the physical constitution of the animal man ; and yet 1 cannot perceive how they contravene any part of Christianity. How rtrcwe to account for his hallucinations! He supposes that the ad- mission of his twelve facts would prove his five propositions. This is most manifestly a logical error, unless these are identical propositions. Suppose tliat by the aid of his fact he had made out the proof of his first proposition, will he repeat the same fact to prove the second pro- position. Without the most perfect paralellism and identity in the whole five propositions, how can he expect the same facts which prove one of the five propositions, to prove them all ? There is more couched in this speculation concerning the adoles- cence or infancy of the primitive stock from which man is derived, tlian a superficial thinker is perhaps aware of. On the hypothesis that the first ptiir came into existence in a state of adolescence, when they first saw light they must have had some information concerning their origin. Infants or adults they must have been, //"infants, they could never have reached maturity; they musthave perished for lack of nurture? They must, therefore, have been adults. And when they saw the creation around them, they must have had some knowledge of their origin, of the source from whence they derived their principlt; of vitality, and their control of the animal tribos around them. DEBATE. , lOTC lam now pretermitting the biblical narrative ofthe primitive origin of man, altogether; and assuming for the sake of argament a hypo- thesis. I say then, that on the hypothesis of adolescence, the prime- Tal pair must have possessed a consciousness of their origin. They must have remembered when they first saw the sun and inhaled the air, and the first time they ate. Upon the atheistical premises before us, it would be difficult to prove that our first ancestors would have known what or how to eat. The philosopher is not aware of the consequences attendant upon the ex- tinction of the lights of revelation. To these he owes many an idea which, without thom, he would nevp.r have conceived. Without the light of revelation I do not see how the first pair of human beings would have known how, or what, to eat. Upon what principles would they have set about the process? They might have felt the pain of hunger without knowing either the cause or the cure. And if they could have learned to eat from observation, or from feeling, they might not have Known what to eat. The scriptures without speculating upon any of the causes of things, state facts which lead ufe to think correctly, if we think at all. Hence we find the revelation was imme- diate and direct upon this point. God said, "of the fruit of these trees you may eatp There is no system of. philosophy except the Chris- tian which, without professing to philosophize, inducts us into therea- son of things, and that generally by telling us only what was done or said. But we have now before us this proposition that the first man must have remembered the first time he saw the sun, ate, drarik, and slept. This he could narrate, and would be most apt to relate to his own off- spring ; for no information is more gratefully tendered, nor more ardent- ly received, than that which respects the beginning of things. Hence we infer that nothing is more reasonable than that the origin of things would be the first and most important of all traditions ; and so we do Tiot find an ancient nation whose history has come down to us that has not some account of its (|)wn origin, and most of them some account of the origin of all things. But it is scarcely conceivable, that the first pair remembering and Ijeing conscious of the first time they saw the sun, could be ignorant of the author of their existence. That man was, in his first estate, designed to converse familiarly with his Creator, the scriptures teach us; and not until he became a transgressor, was this familiarity interrupted. Man is inferior to all other animals in instinctive powers — and this truth goes far to con- vince us that he was not constituted to be governed by instinct but by reason. His being now more imbecile and helpless in his infancy than other creatures, only corroborates the account of his fall. For had he been designed to be governed by instinct, he would have ex- hibited it, in, at least, as much perfection a? other animals. Hence it is, that, until reason is developed, the infant man is worse calculated to provide for himself than any other creature. None of the steps in this argument are long. The first man was an jaxiult. When first he opened his eyes, his reason and liis senses were i08 DEBATE. both in meridian strength. He could not but be sensible of his Maker. He must always remember the first time he saw the sun, ate, drank, slept and awjke. He must hcive often reflected upon these first acts of his existeu'-e. Hs would celight to tell ihem, and his offspring would be most curi.*us to hear (hem. Traditionary information upon these subjects is as -.xatural as walking, talking, eating, or the most ordinar> acts of any animal. Man is, therefore, so created and cir- cumstanced now as "'0 be n itnrally and necessarily credulous. Credu- lity, for I know no term more expressive of the native bias to receive truth upon tesumony — I say, credulity is as natural to man as breath- ing. This is a wise provision in the constitution of the human mind, that it mvist, and, with the utmost ease, does, assent to testimony : for, without it fherc' could be no improveability in man. He would cease to be a pi-offrcssive being. No child could be educated without it. VViihout i% the art of the linguist, the logician, the rhetorician would be unavailing, f luman nature would be a metal, (if I may be allowed the fi'Jtir") 'hat would not polish. But it is a law of human nature, as seif-evid.?*nt, and as interesting, as any one of Mr. Ov/en's code, and much more worthy of being called a "law of human nature" than any one of the twelve, that it is natural to man to be assured of truth, or to believe upon testimony. This, more than any one of his twelve laws, distinguishes and elevates man above the brutes. If I did not think it more worthy of being one of the first, I would adopt the lofty style of my opponent, and call it the thirteenth fundamental law of human nature. Being first infants, and dependent on our parents and seniors for information, we are, from a necessity of nature, suscepti- ble of progressive improvement — but almost exclusively through fdith. Mr. Owen himself walks by faith in human testimony. And although he may not bo conscious of it, he has believed as firmly, and acted as implicitly, as any christian ever was required to do. While in Scotland he heard that there was one quarter of the world called America, and he heard a great many reports concerning it. Now, although there are many falsehoods told, and many impositions practised, and thereby faith rendered more precarious and fallible j yet Mr. Owen was able to discriminate the truth, and to rely upon the credible evidence which was presented to him. He had no experi- ence of the climate, soil, products, government, and all the circum- stances of the country. But so strong was his faith in testimony, and even on that sort of testimony which is often fallacious, that he is moved by his faifh to leave his country, friends, relatives, and ac- quaintance, and trust his property and person upon the mighty ocean — encounter all the dangers of the sea, and deny liimsclf of many conifjrts for the time being, in quest of that in which he believed, This is as much faith as ever was required of a christian to translate him out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God's own Son. As much faith, as much self-denial, as much perseverance^ would have led Mr, Owen into a kingdom and country inicomparsibly more de^i-ablc than Eden v,as in all its virgin beauties, in all iU DEBATE, 109 primitive excellence, had tliat faith reposed upon truth supcrnctural — truth as certain, and better documented, than was the testimony of those upon whose credibility Mr. Owen started fl-oni Lanark for New Harmony. Before I sit down, may I ask my opponent, for the sake cf his own reputation as a logician, and a challenger of the world, to pay some attention to these arguments and topics; that the public may not read them without the form of a reply, ur the semblance of a refutation? [Half hour out,] Mr. Ov»'EN rises. 1 shall now proceed, my friends, to another view of this subject, in order to prove all these facts in another direction — to show tliat there is no kind of inconsistency or contradiction between one part fif the sy.stem and another. In the developcmenl of one entire new state of things, it will appear that my arguments v.ill apply with still .greater force and minuteness. [Here Mr. Owen comimnces reading ^'■an atlempt to dcveJope the ovi- Uiiesof an entire new state of existence, founded solely on the divine laws of human nature :''"'] All past and present societies of men have been founded in direct opposition to these divine laws, and, in consequence, virtue has gen- erally been made to consist in acting contrary to tiiem, and vice in being obedient to them. We now propose fur universal adopUon, another state of society, in which virtue shall consist in being obedicnfXo these laws, and vice in opposing them. These divine laws are — 1. That man, at his. birth, has been made ignorant of every thing rejative to his own organization, and he has not been permitted to «:ieate any part of the propensities, faculties, and qualities, physical or mental, which have been given to him, or which he possesses. 2. Tiiat no two infants have yet been known to possess precisely the same organization at birth, and the differences between all infante sre formed by a power unknown to them. 2. That each individual is placed, at birth, without his consent or knowledge, within circumstances, which, acting upon his peculiar organization, impress the general chara.cter of those circumstances upon the infant, child, and man; the influence of those circumstances, being modified, in some degree, by the peculiar natural organization of each individual. 4. That no individual has had the power of deciding at what peri- od of time, or in what part of the world, he shall come into existence; of whom he shall be born, what district religion he shall be trained to believe, or by what other circumstances he shall be surrrounded from birth to death, 5. That each individual is so organized, that, when young, he may he made to receive impressions from those around him. which shall 10 ] 10 DEBATE. produce either true ideas or false notions, and beneficial or injurioua habits, and to retain them Avith great tenacity. t>. That each individual is so organized, tliat he must believe ac- cording to the strongest impressions (hat shall be made on his feelings; •^\hile Ins belief in no cj\se depends uj)()n his will. 7. That each individual is so created, that he must like that which is plensant to him, or that which produces agreeable sensations on his individual organization; and he must dislike that which creates in him unpleasant or disagreeable sensations; while he cannot discover previous to experience what these sensations shall be. 8. 'J'hat each individual is so created, that the sensations made upon his organization, although pleasant or delightful at their com- mencement, become, when continued without intermission beyond a certain period, disagreeable and painful ; while, on the contrary, when a too rapid change of sensations is made on his organization, it dissi- pates, weakens, and otherwise injures his ph} sical, intellectual, and moral powers and enjoyments. 9. That thehighest health, the greatest progressive improvement, and most permanent happinets (if each individual depend, in a great degree, upon the proper cultivation of all his faculties, physical and mental, from infancy to maturity, and upon all these pai-ts of his na- ture being duly called into action, at their proper period, and temper- ately exercised according to the strength and capacity of the individ- ual. 10. That the individual is made to possess and acquire the icorst I'haracter, when his organization at birth has been composed of the niost inferior ingredients, or natural qualities of our common nature, :'ud, when he has been so organized, that he has been placed from iiirth to death amidst the most vicious or worst circumstances. 11. That the individual is made to possess and acquire a medivm «-haiac!er, when his original organization has been created si/pe- rior, but the circumstances which surround him from birth to death produce ccintinued unfarorohle impressions. Or when his organi- witian lias been formed oi' inferior propensities, faculties, and qualities, and the circumstances in which he has been placed from birth to death are of a character to produce superior impressions only. Or when there has been some mixture of superior and inferior qualities in the original organization, when it has been placed through life in various circumstances of good and evil. Hitherto this has been the common lot of mankind. r2. 'J hat the individual is made (he most superior of his species >v!» hich they may e.xist, are irrational feelings arising solely from i.ijnorance These laws also demonstrate that man is compelled to hcliere ac- cording to the strongest conviction that can he made upon his mind, and to feel according to tiie most pow'erful impressions cf pain or pleasure which can be made upon his organization. Consequently that he is a being irresponsible for his thoughts and feelings — irrc' sponsible, whether he has been cor.peMedbv the circumstances around him, to believe in accordance with facts, or in opposition to them, or, whether he has been firmed to love whit others hate, or dislike what others approve. All institutions, thereibre, formed in opposition to these divine laws of human nature must be irrational. All fkciiusti- tuiio'^ts- of men have been formed in oppflsifion to ihem. These laws also demonstrate that man is a two-fold being, whi^sc i^Uai'acter and conduct arc formed, in part, by the peculiar organize tion which he possesses at birth, and in part, by tiic impressions vvhich influence that organization through life. l^hattheorganizatirm ofeachindivid-ial at birth and the circumstan- ces which influence it afterwards, a!ili.)ughgenerciliy similar, are in jnariy particulars dissimilar; yet that the diiTrrence, whatever may be the extent, does not proceed from the will of Ihe individuals. Oon- .sequently all uncharitableness, all anger and irritation, and all pride, . for possessing particular feelings, proc(!cd solely from ignorance of .the divine laws of human nature, and arc therefore irrational. Again, these laws dernonetrate that the (diarsicterl and condiKl of every human being, are essentially form -d by the external circum- stances which are allowed to exist around them from birth to death, although their chnra.cter and conduct are in some degree modified by the particular organization given to each individual at birth. Consequently no man can be j'.istly made responsible for what he -;, or for any thing he may say or do, he cannot possess merit or de- merit for his thoughts orfcelings, for he is a being wholly formed by circumstances, all of which, when traced to their source, are, in real- ity, beyond his control. He is a being, however, who is evidently organized to desire happi- ness above all things, and that desire, united with a knowledge of the divine laws of human nature, will form a new train of circumstances, which will enable the men of one generation to adopt practical meas- ures to insure the happiness of their successors. For these divine laws direct the certain way to happiness, "such as it has not yet entered into the heart of man to conceive." For a iinowletlge of thes^ laws will create the inclination and power to liv? ir2 DEBATE. m obcfliencc to tlicm, and "perfect ofce'^ience*' Avil! produce the higiii- ♦•st liappiness that man can enjoy. EELIGIOjV. In this new state of existence, all that is contr:iry to these divine }au8 of human nature, in all the icli^irions m the world, will be with- drawn, and then trap religion, or intth, pure and undefiled, without useless and senseless rites, firms, or ceremonies, wili alone remain, i''or many of these rites and ceremonies iii all coantries, are in direct opposifion to the divine laws of human nature. Same of these rites and ceremonies are weak and childish, others arc absurd and cruel, and some are horrid and n*ionstrous. These errors were engendered in the imaginations of men, when they ^'^Itnew ijot what manner of beings they were,'* when they were "babes and sucklings'' in real kuo\vledge, v/hen "they did these things which, they ought not to hive done for their happiness." The time is now near at hand, v/hen these worse than childish pro- fcodiags must give place to the plain and simple "law of obedience," to one uniform practice in accordance to (he divine will or to thedi- •vine laws of human nature, and thus shall the "knowledge of the Lord" or of divine truth "cover the earth as tlie waters cover the seas,'' and tlierefore mythology, fables, dogmas, forms,. and mysteries, ioi'aided in ignorance of these divine laws, will soon be banished from >hc earth. Then men will no longer look through these for better liiiags as "through a glass darkly," but they vvill know themselves, and all motive to deception of every kind being removed "they will Know each other even as they are known." And when these false ;;igcd in its production, preservation or distribution. But war withdraws the eflficient part of the population from produ- cmg, preserving or distributing, and forms it into a most eftcctiva power to consunM? waslefully; to destroy upon a large Bcale and to prevpnt production. h is the interest of all men, without any exception, that all their powers should be applied to aid in protlucing the best of every thing ibr every one, or to be employed in some way that shall promote the greatet;t benefit. In the present irrational state of existence, it is often, among the w:;i!thy indeed, generally deemed more honorable to be employed in occiipfvtiGns useless or injvn-ious, rather than to be seen making or produpi'ig any thing useful ef ;ieccsaary for the existcnco or enjoy- rncut yf riitiouiil Lcin^r. DEBATE. 115 This war, tiirough all its ramifications, is destructive of happiness, and of the rational faculties of the iuimun race, and yet it has been deemed the most honorable of all employment?. For those men who have been the most successful in destroying the productions of their fellow men ; ii) killing and wounding the greatest number of them; in burning their habitations and property ,- in creating thereby the greatest extent of famine, and the largest amount of individual suffering and misery with the meet wide spread destruction of human industry and comfort, have been through all past ages the most lionored and rewarded. In the new state of existence, all these proceedings will be deemed irrational, and will never be practised except by those who are insane. xis soon, therefore, as a generation shall be trained from infancy in a knowledge of the divine laws of human nature, all contention will cease, and charity and peace will every where prevail. [Half hour out^ Mb. Campbell rises — Mr. Chairman — It is surely a novel species of logic to argr.c, that, because we shall have better houses, and better school*, and must have new bridges, &c. therefore the christian religion must be false. To resume the subject of materialism, which is the system of my friend, Mr. Owen, it will be necessary to observe, that all the artifi- cial mysteries of atheism have not emanated from the same brain, but from different intellects. In order to make out asystem contrary to all experience ^n^ kistort/, some materialists have been constrained to suppose, (finding themselves perplexed to account for man's origin, eitfier on the hypothesis of his coming into existence as an adult or an infant) that man was originally a being very different from what he now is. But whether he has degenerated, or improved, they do not testif;.*. They also suppose another absurdity — viz. that there must have been an oak before an acorn ; or, in other words, that vegetables must have existed before their seeds. Tnis would Le no absurdity, if we admit a Creator who produced by one almighty fiat, every vegetable in full vigor. But, on any other hypothesis, it is an ab- surdity. This necessarily follows from their own premises. They also suppose that matter and motion originally possessed powers Avhich they do not now. That because matter and motion cannot now produce new genera and species, therefore they have not all the powers they once had. This is first to assume a fact, and then to invent, or bribe, or suborn the testimony to prove it. That once they^ had ilie power of detaching themselves from other parts of the uni- verse, and forming themselves into organized bodies, but that now tiiev have grown old and feeble, and lost their power. When they asserted that the material universe had no relation to an intelligent First Cause, but was the production of blind chance, cr nature operating according to the laws of matter and motion, they were impelled to the above conclusion. Inasmuch as they do not ilnd nature competent to the production of a new species or gcaus of 110 DEBATE vegetable or anim:u tnatter. the_y endeavor to excuse tlieir syisiem by assertiijg that she once possessed powers which she docs not now postfes:^.^ But tills monstrous assiimpiion m'isl be taken for tiict to account for any thing on their premises. Yet these persona tell us they eannot believe "a miracle because it is contrary to all experi- tmce!! P.ut they can believe their own mysteries contrary to all the experience and information of nrmkind! — '•Deny God — all is niystei y besides; Millions of mysteries! each darker for 'f hun that tlsy wisdom would unwisely shun. If weak thy faith, wliy clioose tlie harder side! We nothlnjf knew but what is marvellous; Yet what is marvellous we can't believe!" But the system is liable to another exception. It can give no account of the manner in which the idea of a God became so univer- sally prevalent, while they admit that the idea did obtain universality. J recoUect that 1 onco pressed this difficulty upon the infidel editors? of the New Harmony Gazette. [Here Mr. Campbell reads from the ^' Christian Baptist'''' a problem addrciscdto the cdiiora of the '■'■New Harmony Gazette. '''' "a problem '•To the Eiiitors of the New Harmony Gazette. '' You think that reason cannot originate the idea of an Eternal First Cau-^e, or that no man could acquire such an idea hy the employment of his ■senses and ■reason — and, you think correctly. Yo^t think also thai the Bible is not a supernatural revelation — not a. revelation from a Deity in any sense. These things premised, gentlemen, I present my ■proUrm in the farm of a. query again.''' " The christian idea of an Eternal First Cause uncaused, orofa.God, is now in the trorld, and has been for ages immemorial. Yvu say it conld not entir into the world hy reason, and it did not enter hy revela- tion. Now, as you are philosophers and historians, and have all the mrua.9 of knowing. How d^J it come itito the world?" [Mr. Owen asserts, after hearing this problem read, ^'By imagina- tion.''] I am just now told by Mr. Owen, that the idea of a (Jod obtained this universality through imagination. Now, let us try the merits of this solution. Imaginatioi', all writers agree, has not the power of creating any new idea. It has the power of analysinff, combining, compounding, and new-modifying all the difTercut ideas presented to il ; but imagination has no creative power. No system of philosophy that is now taught in anv school, will '.varranl us to attril)ute to imagination any such power. Neither Locke /.•or Hume will allow ih and these are the mrist respectable in the christian and infidel schools. We shall hear what each of them has to say upon the power of ima2inatiith, a seventh, or an eighth sense, can possibly be : wliich, whether yet some other creatures in some other parts of this '-vast and stupendous universe, may not have, will be a great presumption to deny." — Locke. Such is Mr. Hume's doctrine, and it agrees with Mr. Locke's and other philosophers'. Now, if this be true, and founded on a strict analysis of the human mind, and predicated on universal experi- ence— how could man have imagined a God? Let us try the faculty of imagination, and prove, by our own experience, its creative power. We have but ^^ce senses: I would therefore ask Mr. Owen, and every ene present, if you can, by any Qxertion of VQur faculties^ imagine us DEBATE. a sixth sens^;? What Would it I>e? If you were to imagine any othci" sense, it must be analogous to those you already possess. You might ima;;ine a being like the Pibulous Argus, with a hundred eyes; but vou fTOt your idea of eyes from your own sense of vision. You might tnncy that you possessed an organ, like that of Fame, that would fxiablc you to hear from a greater distance than the eye could reach to; but could you have imisined this unless you had derived the i-imple idea of hearing from your oriian of hearing. B;it a sixth sense, unlike those possessed, cannot be imagined. Now, if Mr, Owen cannot, from his five senses, im igine a sixth, how can he assert that a savage or philosopher could imagine a God? But I call upon Mi, Owen to imagine and report to us a sixth sense. In the system of causation, natural religionists go upon the ladder of efiect and cause, up to the fir^^t cause ; but to reason a posteriori on this subject, is, in my opinion, fallacious. It is predicated upon a ■prtitioprincipii, inp.s\m\ch as it as:^umes that tha material universe is an efi'ect. Quod erat deinnnfitranJum — the very thing to be proved. I do hope that this debate will put the question between Diists and Christians to repose. Deism is all founded upon ^p^'titio principii, — a beggiuff of the question to be proved. Atheism or Christianirv must obtain the dominion over every inquisitive mind. When I hear a Deist talking about "the lisfht of nature" and "'.he great, God of nature," I am reminded of the school-boy, who stole a penknife; and when charged with the fact, said, he found it grovring upon an apph'-tree. Tliis was equivalent to a confession of the theft, since we all know penknives do not grow upon apple-trees. In lilie mannev the reasonings of the Deists, upon their ov.n premise?, shon" that their conclusions do not logically follow. You mighr as v.el! look for penknives growing upon apple-trees as for Lord Herbert's doctrine in the niind of a savage. There is no stopping place uccween Atheism and Christianilv. As we have, perhaps, sufiicicntlv gone into the detail in demon- st-rating, from the mysteries of Atlieism, tluit the materia! isl a?t?5 upon the very principle which he condemns in christifins; that is, in be- lieving wliat he cnnnot comprehend, and contrary to his own experi- ence; and not only this, but in giving to imagination a power which it does not possess, and afierwarJs acting according to the mere, vagaries of fancv, more tiian the n»ost enthusiastic christians; I say, having shown that the materialists assent to, and tench rnysteries which they cannot ever explnin: lelicve, and icison contrary to ttniveiNal experience, and follow ininginalion, while tiiey a?!cribe tticse as foil)i(;s to others; T will finish my r'-.adiugs and comnients upon this system by giving liio moral o jur^UKiUialion fiuin one of their ablest writ(u-s. You have heard a gretit de.il alu^nt ncces-it\ . All Mr. Owen's facts have been adduced to prove that we are locked up in the chains of an inexr)rab1e fatality. That you may see the moral tendency of this doctrine, I shall read vou a few -rn(.-"ire.-^ tVom Mirabaud's sys"te2n of natur*':— DEBATE. 119 ♦•Life heiug cornir.ouly firman the greatest of ali lencfits, it is tobe presumed, that he who deprives himself of it is impelled by an invin- lible force. It is the excess of misery, despair, derangement of the machine, caused by melancholy, which carries man on to destroy himself Agitated then by contrary itnpulses he is, as vre have b»«- fore said, obliged to follow a middle cotjrse that conducts him to his death; if man is not free in any one instant of his life, he is again much less so in the act by \\hich it is terminated, "■We see then, that, he who kills himself does not commit, as they pretend, an outrage on nature, or, if they will, on its author. He Ibllows un impulse of nature, in taking the only means that she Jeaves him to quit his pains; ho goes out of existence by a door that •A\e leaves open to him; he cannot offend her in accomplisJiing the law of neces'ity; the iron hand of which having broken the spring that rendered life desirable to him, and urged him to conserve him- self, shows that he ought to quit a rank, or system, which he finds too bad to be willing to remain in. His country, or his family, have no right to complain of a member that it cannot render happy, and from >vhom it has nothing more to hope for itself To be useful to his country, or to his family, it is necessary that man should cherish his own peculiar existence, that he has an interest in conserving liimself, loves the bonds which unite him to others, and is capable of uccupying himself with their felicity. In short, that the suicide sliould be punished in the other life, and repent of his precipitate steps, it were needful that he should outlive himself, and that in con- sequence he should carry with him, into his future residence, his organs, his senses, his memory, his ideas, and his actual mode of existing and of thinking. In short, nothing is more useful tnan to inspire men with a con^- tempt for death, and to banish iVom their minds the false ideas which are given them of its consequences. The fear of death will never make any thing but cowards; the fear of its pretended consequences will make nothing but fanatics, or pious melancholy beings, useless to themselves and to others. Death is a resource that we must not by any means take away from oppressed vii-tue, which the injustice of men frequently reduces to despair, if men feared death less, they would neither be slaves nor superstitious. Truth would find defen- ders more zealous; the rights of man would be more hardily sustain- ed; error would be more powerfully combated, and tyranny would be forever banished from nations. Cowardice nourishes it, and fear per- petuates it. In short, men can neither be contented nor happy whilst their opinions shall oblige them to tre3ible1!'." Such, my friends, is the necessary consequence of the doctrine of necessity. I propose, to-morrow, all things concuning, to present you systematically wil estinmtes, accufately made, and applicable alike to all parties. Those who convey the articles from one place to another and make the exchange will have their labor added to the previous estimate of labor in them. The equitable exchange of surplus productions upon this system will be much better effected, than they are now, by less than one per cent, of the present cost to the producers, all of which is deducted from the real value of their labor; and all the degradation and im- morality of bargaining will be withdrawn from society, TKAVELLING Will be arranged in the new state of existence to give every ad- vantage which can arise from it, while almost all its real inconveni- -ences will be greatly diminished. And all who desire will have the privilege of removing froiii one association, and from one district to another, under such regulations as will be for the benefit of all the members of the cwnmunities. The accommodations for travelling by land or water,'will be the best that can be devised for health and comfort, and for promoting the means of improvement. These objects, ])y foresiglit under a proper a^ystem maybe obtained without difficulty. KKUCATION. All the advantages which old society has endeavored to gain from governments, religions, laws, wars, marriages and commerce,- in all of wjiich it has grievously failed, will be attained and secured in the new state of existence by an entire change of the circumstances by which the whole character of man will be formed by education from infancy to maturity. He will be trained and educated from birth within circumstances all m unison with the known laws of his nature; he will be early taught to discover and understand them by the exercise of his intellectual faculties and to act in obedience to them by a conviction, that they alone, can lead tohappiness, and by observing the advantages derived fjom obeying these laws by those of mature age and experience. All will thus acquire an accurate knowledge of the science of the influence of circumstances overhuman nature and know how to act upon that knowledge in all the business of life. They will speedily learn to know what is essential to the well-being, Jlie well-doing and the happiness ofsociety. They will soon discover that the great busi- cessoflife will consist in educating, producing, preserving, distribu- ting, and preparing the means for enjoying. And to do these, in the best manner, for the young, middle aged and old, the three classes into which society will be divided will occup)^ the attention of every one, and be a constant source of exercise, interest^ and pleasure to all. The sacrifice to which men of the present generation must submit, before they can secure the benefit of this new state of existence, is, that they must enjoy their happiness upon principles of perfect equali- ty with ailof the j^uman race 11 122 DEBATE. For tliese enjoyments cannot be obtained under any System of ar- tificial inequality or separation into distinct classes. The new state of existence will admit of those differences only which nature makes ■i^ imavoidable, that is, age and knowledge. , , . . This new mode of education will call into full action the physicaj, intellectual and moral powers of all individuals, and will form them to be, in consequence, much more competent to the whole business of life than their predecessors in old society. goveknme?;ts. Artificial governments will be required only so long as men shall bo retained in ignorance of the divine laws of their nature, and trained to be vicious. A preliminary government will be therefore necessary, while the change is progressing from the old to the new state. After the change shall have been effected, by the education of an entire generation in the knowledge and practice of the divine laws, a naturaf government will be formed in unison witJi them. It is now evident, that no people can be virtuous, intelligent and happy under any despotic or elective government, or under any modi- iicati'oa of them.' They must necessarily produce evil continually. Monarchy is defective in principle, on account of the uncertain character of the s ;vereign, as well as the extreme inequality it produ- les in the condition of the governed. The elective principle is equally defective, under the old arrange- ment of society, on account of the corruption of morals, and the un- -hich they will acquii'e theoretically and practically, as a necessary and impor- tant part of their education, and in this respect all will pass through the same training and exercise. It is probable that this part of the lousiness of life will be easily completed, in a manner greatly superior to any thing hitherto known, before these young persons shall be twenty years of age^ perhaps at eighteen, and the arrangements may be so formed as to make that which is nov/ considered a task of slavery by the most ignorant, to become a delightful occupation; in fact a pleasure and a pastime to the most intelligent in principle, and the most expert in practice. In this new state of existence, physical and intellectual employ- ments will be held in estimation in proportion as they are necessarT and useful, and all useless occ.'.pations as long as there shall be any thing usefvd to perform, or new knowledge to acquire, will be deemed a waste of time and faculties, to be practised, only, by the irrational or insane. Idleness, the bane of human happiness, will be unknown; it will bo wholly prevented by the new mode of education as it will be applied in infancy, childhood, and youth; while on the contrary, over-exer- tion of body or mind, will not be practised, because all will know thai temperance in the exercise and use of all our faculties will give thf; greatest amoimt of happiness, that human nature can enjoy. OF A NATURAL GOVERNMENT OK OF ONE IN ACOOEDANCE WITH THE LAWS OF NATURE. A government founded on these principles, will attend solely to the improvement and happiness of the governed. Its first inquiries will be to ascertain, what human nature is, what •are the laws of its organization and of its existence from birth to. death. The second, What is necessary for the happiness of a being so formed and matured . And the third, What are the best means by which to attain these . t-4 DEBATE. rjcquisitc?, and to secure them permanently for all the governed. Wchavc developeil thedivinelawsof human nature insufficient de- tail for thcyirescnt purpose. V'*^ Those things which are necessary for the happiness of abeing^o formed and matured, are comprised, perhaps, in the following enu moration. OF THINGS N-ECESSARY FOR HITMAN IIAPPrNESS. 1. The possession of a good organization, physical, mental, and moral. 2. Having the power to procure, at pleasure, whatever is necesSa- py to keep that organization in the beat state of health. 3. An education which shall cultivate, in the best manner, from infancy to maturity, the physical, intellectual, and moral powers of all the population. 4. The means and inclination to promote the happiness of our fellow-beings, 5. TI>e means and inclination to increase contmnaHy eur stock of knowledge. 6. The means of enjoying the best society we know, and more par- ticularly, the power of associating, at pleasure with those, for whom we cannot avoid feeling the most regard and greatest affection. 7. The means of travelling at pleasure, 8. A release from superstition, from supernatural fears, and firona the fear of death. And lastly, to live in a society in which all its laws, institutions, and arrangements, shall be in accordance with the divine laws of human nature, well organized, and well governed. A more detailed examination of these nine general conditions will be found in the ap- pendix. The lliird great object of a natural government will be to devise and execute the arrangements, by which these conditions shall be ob- tained for, and secured to all the governed. I'lS laws will be few, easily to be understood by all the governed, and in every instance in unison with the laws of human nature.— 'iliey may be perhaps contained in the following CODE OF NATURAL LAWS. 1 . As all men have e<)ual rights by nature, all will have equal rif^hts in the new state of existence; and, therefore, all men shall be upon a perfect equality from birth to death in their conditions of life. 2. As all men are composed of their own peculiar organization at iiirth, and of the influence which the circumstances around them from birth made ujion that particular organization, and as no man creates his own organization, or the circumstances which surround him, in infancy, childhood, and youth, or at any subsequent period of life, except in so far as ho is influenced thereto by the impressions pre- viously made on his organization by those early circumstances, there- tore, no man shall be lield responsible for his physical composition, tor his intclloctual faculties, or for his moral feelings, and conse> quently forhj*? character- and conduct. DEBATE. 12^- As the society however in which he shall be born and shall live will derive all the benefit of his good actions, and experience all the incon- veniences of his bad qualities, and as the society will have have in a very great degree the formation of the character and direction of the conduct of all individualls under its education and government; it will be alone entitled to all the praise or blame which the actions of the individual may deserve. Beings formed as man is, cannot justly be entitled to individual reward or punishment in this life or the next, 3. As no individual can believe or disbelieve contrary to the strong- est impressions made upon his mind, no merit or reward, no blame or punishment shall be awarded to any individual for any opinions, no- tions, or faith whatever . 4. As man is organized to receive impressions from external objects and internal reflections, according to the unchanging or divine laws of his nature, no man shall be made, in any degree, responsible for his sensations, whether of liking, or disliking, loving, indifierence, or ha- ting, of pleasure or of pain, or of whatever character or description they may be. But all shall be educated from infancy in perfect sincerity, that they may give a faithful expression of their sensations, in order that society may acquire the most accurate knowledge of human nature, and consequently of the means by which all may be the most impro- ved and rendered the most happy. 5. Each individual shall have his physical, intellectual and moral nature, cultivated from infancy to maturity, in the best manner known to the society in which he shall be born and shall live. 6. Every individual, sliall pass from infancy through the same gen- eral routine of education and domestic teaching and employments, in or- der, that the highest happiness may be permanently secured for society, and that everyone of its members may have, with the least inconve- nience, his full share of the best of every thing for his individual nature. 7. The best only of every thing shall be produced by society for all its members. Because to do so v.ill be the most perfect economy, consequently the best cultivation, the best buildings, the best dress, the best vessels,- machinery, and manufactures, the best education, and the best amuse- ments and recreation, known at the time, will be always provided for tlie use and enjoyment of every member of the society. 8. As loving and hating, liking, indifference, or disliking, depend not upon the will but upon the impressions which external objects compel each individual to receive by reason of liis particular organi- zation— There shall be no artificial or unnatural bonds or engagements bc~ tween the sexes, compelling them to commit perjury under the name of marriage, by promising to love when tliey may be compelled to hate. 9. As pure chastity cinsists in co-habitation with mutual affection and prostitution in connexion without mutual afiection,'all children 11* i-^ DEBATE. in the new state oi existence will be naturally produced, according to the divine laws ofhuniau nature, and none will be produced unnat- urally as at present without affection, 10. All children born in the new state of existence shall be from their birth, under the special care of the society to which they belong.- 11. The children of all parents shall be trained and educated togeth- ♦5r, by the society, as the children of one family, and all of them shall be early taught the divine laws of their nature, in order that they may acquire a real affection for each other, and a pure charity, ari- sing from a knowledge of the cause of every difference in person, mind, and feelings, which may exist among themselves, or between them and any of their fellow-beings. 12. All parents shall have free intercourse to and with their chil- 4ren, during the whole period of the formation of their character, which, ashort experience will convince them, can never be well form- ed under any single family arrangement. 13. There shall be no unnecessary private property possessed by any one in this new state of existence. But each adult shall have the full use of two private apartments as long as the party to whom they shall be allotted by the society shall desire to retain them. They sliall also retain all clothes and other things which they may receive from the society according to its rules, for their exclusive use and con- sumption. 14. As it is necessary for the attainment of all the conditions requi- -ite to give happiness to m.ankind, that some certain number of indi- viduals shall be associated as one family, to give the greatest amount of advantages with the fewest inconveniencies, and as it is probable that experience will prove that number to be about one tliousand in- dividuals, composed of men, women, and children in the usual pro- portions; all the arrangements in the new state of existence shall be devised to admit the formation of associations and communities to consist of three hundred, as a minimum, and two thousand as a maxi- mum, to form, instead of single families, the nucleus society, or the natural congregation of men in one place, the best calculated toprov. mote each other's happiness. 15. That the aggregate of society, in this new state of existence, 5*hall be composed of the union of these communities into such num- bers or circles, as shall be found in practice, the most convenient for ■heir general government. It is probable, that very generally, they may be united into cir- cles of tens for more local purposes, into hundreds, for smaller dis- tricts, into thousands, for larger districts, into millions, for the most extended purposes, until there shall be no artificial separation be- tween any portion of mankind, to be an obstacle to prevent a union of language, of interest, and of feelings. Every obstacle to the union ftf mankind, being an evil. 16. Each of these communities, to secure their independence shall possess around ii, land sufficient for the fid! support of all its member?,, ■wiici* they shall bo at the maximum in number. DEBATEi 127 17. Each of these communities shall be alranged to give, as near- ly as possible, the same advantages to all its members, and to afford easy communication with all other communities. 18. Each community shall be governed in all its general proceed- ings, by the council composed of all its members, between the ages of thirty five and forty five. And each department shall be under the immediate direction of a committee formed of the members of this council. And these members shall be chosen in the order to be de^ termined upon by each council. Thei-e will be, therefore, no selection or election of any individuals to office, after a period when all shall be trained to be more than equal to take his full share ef the duties of management at the age fixed upon. 19. At thirty five years of age, all who shall have been trained from infancy in the communities, shall be officially called upon to imdertake their full share of the duties of management, and at forty- five they shall be excused from officially performing them. 20. The business of the council shall be to govern all the circum stances within the boundaries of its own community. To endeavor to improve them, by removing continually the most unfavorable cir- cumstances to happiness and by replacing ihem, by the best that can be devised among themselves, or, that they can obtain a knowledge of, from all the other communities. 21. The council shall have full power of government in all things as long as they do not act contrary to the divine laws of human ijature. These laws shall be their guide upon all occasions, because, vvhea understood, they will prevent one unjust or erroneous decision or proceeding. 22. If, however, which is deemed scarcely possible, this natural council of government shall ever attempt to contravene the laws of human nature, the elders of the community, who have passed the council, shall call a genera! meeting of all its members, above six- teen years of age, who have been trained from infancy within the communities. At this meeting, the conduct of the council, shall be ealmly and patiently investigated, and if a majority of its members, 'shall afterwards determine that the council has acted, or attempted to act, in opposition to the spirit of these divine lav/s; the government shall devolve upon the members of the community who have passed the council, and who are under fifty years of age, united with these members, who have not entered the council who shall be above thirty years of age. 23. All other differences of every description, if indeed it be possi- ble for any to exist in such communities, shall be immediately deter- mined and amicably adjusted betsveen the parties, bj' the decision of a majority of the three oldest members of the council. Except when the difference shall exist between members of the council, when it shall be in like manner decided by the three members, who have last passed tr.rough tlie council. 128 DEBATE. 24. As soon as the members of these communities shall be educated from infancy in a knowledge of the divine laws of their natures- trained to act in obedience to them, and they shall be surrounded by circumstances all in unison with these laws, there shall be no indi- vidual punishment or reward. All these educated, trained, and placed must, of necessity, at all times, think and act rationally, except they shall become, physically,, intellectually, or morally diseased, and in this case the council shall direct to the best mode of cure, by removing them into the hospital for bodily or mental invalids until they shall be recovered by the mildest treatment that can effect their cure. 25, The council, whenever it shall be necessary, shall call to its aid, the practical abilities of any of the members, under thirty five years of age, and the advice of any of the members who shall have passed the council. The individual Spartans were not the legitimate subjects of praise or blame, they were not, any more than any other people, the formers of their own character, but their characters were formed for them by the circumstances introduced by Lycurgus. [Half hour out.] Wednesday forenoon, loth April, 1829. Mr. Campbell rises. Gentlemen Moderators — I am perfectly aware of the difficult cir*. cumstances in which my friend's course has placed you. You have been selected by Mr. Owen' and myself for the expiress purpose of moderating this discussion, with the fullest confidence, on both our parts, in your ability and impartiality. To insure the most perfect impartiality, you were mutually selected. I am well av/are, there- fore, that you must feel yourselves responsible to us and to the com- munity for your course in the management of this discussion. I have not the slightest reflection to make upon your mode of procedure — it is reasonable and consistent. You have entered your protest against Mr. Owen's course in this debate; for that, it has been irrelevant, impertinent, and out of the purview of the discussion contemplated ; and to which the public have been invited. You also perceive my difficulties. I came here to reply to my friend's arguments in sup- port of his own theses; the obvious scope of which was the subversion of all religion, I came here prepared to show that my opponent was not able to make good a single point which he had assumed; that h6 could not adduce a single logical proof in corroboration of his posi- ti'ins — therefore, I could not expect to have to open this discussion. This was not a siipposeable case. Had I known that I was to have taken the affirmati'. e, I should have come forward prepared with some j)lan of argument in which my opponent might have joined issue with me; and 1 would have led the discussion in such manner as would soon, in my opinion, have led us to rational conclusions. Surrounded with these difficulties, gentlemen, it appears necessary that some decision should be made on tlie covirse of investigation, . DEBATE 12;} Yesterday 1 introduced a series of arguments, calculated, in my opinion, and in that of the public at large, to subvert Mr. Owen's propositions. He would not argue the merits of one of my positions For two days Mr. Owen has been presenting a great variety of topics which he might have introduced as pertinently in any other discus- sion as the present . I have taken up his own positions in his owh terms, and agreed to rest the merits of the controversy upon his own allegata. But as I stand pledged to subvert Mr. Owen's whole theo- ry, I proposed yesterday to introduce a regular and connected argu- ment, without paying any respect to any thing which might be offered by him, unless it were pertinent to the subject matter in debate. This morning we have had a disquisition upon marriage, commerce^ and a code of natural laws, none of which has any bearing upon, or logical connexion with, the question at issue. 1 therefore ask you, gentlemen, to allow me to pursue what I deem the only correct course under present circumstances, and to declare your opinion of Mr. Owen's course in the management of his part of this discussion. Perhaps this will be equal ly necessary for your vindication as for my own, inasmuch as the whole proceedings may become matter of re- cord. It was part of my original plan, that every morning a brief condensed view, or recapitulation, should be presented of the argu- ments and positions of the preceding day. On reviewing the outline of the course already pursued, I have made up the following abstract ; EECAPrrULATION'. Mr. Owen's capital position, on which he has laid so much stress, •-S, that man, because he does not make himself or his circumstances, 13 an irresponsible being. In opposition to which we have urged thia consideration — that, admitting its truth, it follows that infants, idiots, and madmen, philosophers, and the common-sense part of the commu - nity, are all alike capable or incapable of society and moral govern- •ment, because man has no more control over his own actions, than a mill-wheel has over its own revolutions. This was, as I conceive, reducing his argument to an absurdity. His next capital position is, that all religious institutions and all civil governments are erroneous, because they are predicated on human responsibility; they require man to have more control over his own actions than a mill-wlieel has over its own revolutions. In opposition to both these positions, we have urged that man is consti- tutionally responsible, because rational; that all the circumstances which can surroimd any h'lman leing, the savage and the citizen, concur in suggesting to his mind in the very first dawnings of his reason, his dependence and consequent responsibility. No human being can possibly be placed in any circumstances which do not im- press upon his whole intellectual nature a sense of dependence and responsibility. Suppose a child born in a palace or a wigwam — in either case, the circumstances arovmd him mnst^ as soon as reasoQ dawns^ suggest to him a sense of dependence upon his protectors. This sense of dependence begets the idea of responsibility ; and thia 130 ijfiBAll^. principle ot" human nature is the foundation of all moi'al obligatiorij of every social compact, of all civil and political security. A favorite corollary which Mr. Owen deduces from his views of necessity, or the fict that man did not create himself, nor his circum- stances,' is, that neither praise nor blame, merit nor demerit, can be ascribed to man. We have shown that also (here can be no such thing as gratitude nor kind feeling, charity nor benevolence due to any human being, more than to the tbuntain or rivulet which slakes our thirst, or to the tree which yields us its fruit. This I yesterday illustrated by showing that Mr. Owen's plan of cultivating the kind feelings, would extirpate all feeling — and that, as to sympathies, we should stand towards each other like trees in the forest. In preparing an amelioration of the condition of society, and con- sequentlv society itself, Mr. Owen asserts that the circumstances which now surround us, are of a vitiating, or of an irrational and anti- natural character; on which we remark, that, as the circumstances which surround us are either topical, arising from our location, or social, the vitiocity must be in the one or the other; not in the former, because it is natural ; consequently it must be in our social circum- stances. Now the question which he has not answered, and which we know he cannot answer, is. How came the social circumstances to he irrational and antinatiiral, seeing necessity, or what he calls nature.f has introduced them? The scriptures explain to us both the cause and character of these preternataral circumstances. Mr. Owen does not — cannot. The scriptures too adapt themselves to these preternatural circumstances, and bring men out of them. Mr. Owen's scheme is not adapted to them, neither can it educe man from these preternatural circumstan- ces. Because predicated upon an entire subversion of the laws oi our nature, dependence, obligation, religion, individuality, matri- mony, and the whole influence of natural relations, arising from these things; consequently unable to educe us from these preternatural circumstances. Another rallying point to which Mr. Ov/en often resorts, is, that it IS impossible for rational beings to be virtuously happy under a go- vernment which involves perpetual partial pain and misery. (The illustration of Mr. Owen was, that if he could believe one sentient being was suffering eternal torment, it would mar his peace of mind.} On this hypothesis, no man ever was, and no man ever can be happy . for the more virtuous the more unhappy! That is, if virtuoiis happi- ness is to be made to depend upon our feeling ourselves existing in such circumstances as to preclude all possible pain in any sentient being whatever; or if sympathy and virtue must make us miserable on beholding any kind of sentient suflering, the inseparable connexion between virtue and happiness must thereby be destroyed. If I were afflicted wUh that morbid sympathy which the theory of Mr. Owen contemjtlatcs, the sight of a broken finger or a dislocated joint would make me miserable. On his hypothesis I could not be happy if a «ngle instance oi pain e^ci^ted in the world. On the hypothesis that DEBATE, 131 the more virtuous we are, the more acute and morbid our scusihiiitics, there can be no happiness or enjoyment in the practice of virtue. From some people with whom I have reasoned on the subject of future happiness, I have heard whole theories of religion, predicated upon the idea that the mercy of God is not reconcileabie with the idea of punishment, present or future. This system has been predicated upon their view of God's mercy, I have hinted to them the danger of founding a theory of religion upon their imperfect, and, perhaps, in- accurate ideas of the character of God ; and that however correct their views of divine justice or mercy contemplated apart from all other perfections, yet the compound attributes of the divine character were beyond human comprehension. We must judge of the divine attributes from what exists in nature before our eyes, as well as from what is said in scripture. We have frequently requested such reason- ers to reflect that animal and mental pain existed to a very great extent. We have asked them to imagine a great field, an immense area, in which all the animals of the various genera and species in the universe, that were sufiering pain and disease, were congregated, what millions of suffering creatures, grouped together, each according to its kind, do we see in this immense area. To a man of morbid, or even of well-regulated sensibilities, what a sight is here presented! What painful sympathetic feelings are excited ! If the very idea that the saddle on which I ride injures my horse's back; makes vie feel excessively uncomfortable — how would the actual sight of all these millions of suffering animals, congregated within the limits of an imdivided area, affect me! 1 shudder at the thought. And yet the beneficent Creator of the Universe has this sight before his eyes continually. They stand, in all tlieir agonies, night and day, before him ; and not a painful throb of their iiearts, not a single spasm of nerve or muscle, that his all-seeing eye does not observe. The argu- ment deduced is, that if it be compatible with the divine government and attributes to tolerate such a scene of animal suffering perpetually before him; how can we infer from these premises, that the future punishment of man would mar the felicity of his Creator, or be in- compatible with his character. This will be received as a logicai! argument by all those who believe in future punisliments. But the Divine Autlior of our nature has so constituted us that we are not to be made miserable by the contemplation of temporary or perpetual partial pain and misery. He has most beneficently established an 'inseparable connexion between personal virtue and per?onal happi- ness, between personal vice and personal misery; and this may well ije called a divine law of human nature. But, ray friend's hypothesis would lead us to conclude that, just in proportion as we become virtu- ous, v/e must become unhappy. If there liave been any argument offered by my opponent, in sup- port of his premises, it amounts to this, Because religion is not predi- cated upon the sciences of botany, agriculture, chenjistry, geolog)"^ &c. because it does not make provision for tlie improvement of the breed of animals, i, e. of men as well as dog^. and horses; bpcD.\;3e it 132 i^EBATE. does not assimilate social man to the savage in a state of nature, with- out property, save his bow and arrow; because it did institute matri- mony, and does not absolve men from the obligation of the marriage contract, and all other moral and civil contracts — ergo, it is not divine, not true, not worthy of universal reception, I afiirm that from the reasonings before us, this is the logical force of the argument. [Here the Chairman rose and stated, that, Mr. Campbell had made an appeal to the Board of Moderators, and the Board desire to know if you wish the point to be now decided before the argument progresses. This decision seems nov to be necessary, after advatwing whatever you may imsh to offer on this point. Mr, Owen rose and said — This meeting was called in consequence of my undertaking to prove certain positions, and Mr, Campbell engaging to disprove them. At our first interview at Cincinnati, I proposed to Mr. Campbell that I should state the whole of my argu- ments first, and having gone thrtiugh with them, that Mr. Campbell should reply at full length; but Mr. Campbell wished that each party should speak but half an hour at a time. Knowing that the truths I had to advocate were plain and incontrovertible, I could have no ob- jection to Mr. Campbell's taking the course he suggested ; but in con- sequence of our having to speak for half an hour, Mr. Campbell has been replying to he does not know what. Most probably Mr, Camp- bell expected that I would have taken up the arguments which he anticipated, and which he had prepared himself to refute. Had we proceeded as I suggested, Mr. Campbell would now have been in posses- sion of the whole of my arguments, and 1 think by this he would have also been convinced of their incontrovertible truth. When I have got through with my arguments and illustrations, 1 will place my manu- script in Mr. Campbell's hands, and allow him his own time fully to consider them. This is the first morning that Mr. Campbell has at- tempted any answer to my arguments; and this. shows that I was perfectly correct in my view of the order of this debate which 1 open- ed to Mr. Campbell at our first interview. Mr. Campbell is now beginning to come to the point. [The Hon. Chairman rose and said — / cati only observe, that the Moderators are of their former opinion, that they consider the subject now under discussion to be the frst proposition in Mr, Oweii^s challenge viz. an offer to prove that all religions were founded in ignorance, from whence the implication arises that they are all false. From the begin- ning we haiie been of opinion that the rules of fftir discussion required that each party should confine himself strictly to that single isolated pro- jiosition; a.id of this opinion ire still remain, viz. that it is incorrect and illngical to deviate from the course Just designated. The Board are vnanimously of opinion that Mr. OweiPsfirsi propo.\itian vi the on- ly one in controversy, and that each party should confine him^^elfto mat Ur strictly relevant and pertinent to that proposition. That in order to observe the estabUshc/l controversial rules, ihe party holding the affirm -^ alive of thi,-i- proposition should proceed to demonstrate that all the reli gion,", now existing in the world, originated iz ignorance, avd arc- ; ouddtd in error. And ajLcr he shall have dnnolishcd all the religions, the Board consider (hat it woidd he proper for the pcrrtij holding the ajjirmaiive of the proposition, to offer a substitute for the system abol- ished, to state u'hat the new system is, and the consequences residting from it; because, until the fallacy of all existing systems he detected and demonstrated, it does not follow that all the aniicipaied advantages of the new system may not he the legitimate results of the existing systems^ Mr. Owen remarked — Having heard .your wish on this point, I have strictly conformed to it : ail I have been saying goes to i)rove tlie past and present ignorance of man ; when I shall have exhausted this part of the discussion, 1 shall then adopt any coiirse which the Board . may suggest. Mr. Cainphell rose — Gentlemen Moderators, I agree perfectly^witii you in the sentiment that it would be incompatible with your feelings and the dignity of this controversy, to dictate to the disputants v/hat course they shall pursue, I am perfectly aware of the delicacy which you must feel in exercising any thing like dictation in the course of this controversy; all that I wished, v/as, that you would express your views relative to the manner in which the controversy has been con- ducted, so that they might be recorded; and that 1 might be author- ized in adopting the course which I have suggested. I conceive, Mr. Chairman, that I am entitled to so much of my time as has been occupied by the Board and disputants in the discussion of interlocutory topics. [Mr. Campbell is allowed ff teen minutes to make up his half hour.] Mr. Campbell then rose and said — Yielding to the circumstances la which I am placed, I now propose to submit to your consideration an analysis of the infant man : II is certainly true, as Lord Bacon ob- serves, that "all our valuable knowledge of the world has been gleancing oft from bodiei=, so small as to be in\isihle. Now, had we nov this organ we should be deprived of all those ideas which come by r it is the only foundatiun on which it can Le permanently seen red. This s-icnce has been already partially applied with success toims^ pruve the physical qualities of many animals, and there can be ne d stood their own interest, as individuals, they would know that, it is in- jurious to each member of every community that, any thing whatever should be produced inferior, wliiie the power is possessed to have it superior,. DEBATE 137 It is the interest, therefore, of the governing powers, as well as of all others, that every man shall possess not only the best organization at birth, but that he shall be supplied, through life, with the Lest food, habitation, and dress for human nature; and that arrangements shall exist tocnablehim to enjoy proper exercise, rest, recreation, and amuse- ment, and that he shall be occupied, through life, in the best manner to promote his health and happiness, and to benefit society. Accordingly in the new state of existence, permanent arrangements will be made to secure these objects. THIRD CON'DITION, Of an education to cult hate from infancy, the pJiysical, intellectual, and moral poicers ill the best manner. So little has been effected, upon this subject, by the laws, institu- tions,and customs of men, that nearly the whole of the human race are, at this hour, more ignorant of themselves, than they are of most objects around them, while it is the first interest of all, that they should be early taught to know themselves — to learn what manner of beings they are. Hitherto none have had their phj^sical, intellectual and moral powers cultivated, from infancy, in the best manner, but every ob- stacle, which cunning could devise or force apply, has been placed in the way of the mass of the people, in all countries, to prevent them from attaining knowledge. Consequently, the population of the world, is now, in a most degraded condition, little better, indeed, than beasts of burden, toiling uselessly, from morning tonight without understanding for what object. It has acquired a very small part only of the powers which it might be made to possess, probably, not more than one out of a million or many millions, for when all the best faculties of the human race shall be cultivated as they ought to be, from infancy, the human mind trained as it has been is incompe- tent, to estimate the extraordinary results that may be attained. A statement greatly within the truth on this subject would now startle the most sanguine. Therefore in the new state of existence, arrangements will be for- med, not only to obtain for man the best organization at birth; a reg- ular supply of the most wholesome food, the best habitation and dress, with the best means to enjoy exercise, rest, recreation, and amuse- ment; but arrangements will be also formed, to bring out, into full action, these extraordinary new powers, by training and cultivating from infancy to maturity, the physical, intellectual, and moral facul- ties and qualities of all in the best manner. Mr. Ca:*ipbell rises. -VIr. Chairman — As this is so much of the evidence to be adduced in support of my friend's first proposition, I presume that I must sub- mit to hear it read; but I shall protest against its being read five times to prove the five positions. If it had the charm of being a nev; theory — if it had not been detailed to us before, and its practica- bility and utility had not been tested bv expeamen*, we might wit^i X2* 138 DEBATE. mora patience and lYttercsfTisten to the ouilinc. Bid Uic cspenaiCfi^, n^ade ill the state of Indiana ba^ jrone much farther to dissipate ihr influo«ce of the illusions of my friend's philosopliy ui>on the publn' mind than he is aware of, I slriU now proceed to oiiv brief analysis of the five senses. Next to the sense of smelling is that of tiLiting, as respects sunphcity in its xise and operation. Bv this sense we become acquainted with the qualities ot^ aliment, so' as to discriminate the qualities between whiil is ao-reeable or disagreeable, conducive or prejudicial to healtli. The Author of Nature has v.isely ordered the locale of this sense also, l'.(»cated elsewhere than where it is, it would be valueless to the animal man. When a material, vegetable, animal, and sometimes mineral substance, is presented to the discrimination of this sense, tiiG particles are solved by the saliva wliich is its adjunct. This Sidiva, which always moistens the organs of taste, is one of the most universal menstruums in nature, and possesses the power of solving all the aliments necessary to animals; so as to enable the tongue to discriminate the quaJitiee of the object as pleasing or displeasing., healthy or the contrary. The impressions made upon this organ are immediately communicated to the brain, and anidea-of the savors of bfidies necessary to life or health is thus acquired. Thus, after a little e.xperience, we are enabled to discriminate the nutricious and unwholesome properties of all aliments. It is true that this sense may be much obtunded, and that it has been grossly perverted; hut jt is the safest criterion by which to ascertain the healthful and agree- able properties of aliments. Whatever may be the extent of our ideas of savors or tastes, they are all derived through the medium of this sense. Feeling being not so local in its design, but more local in its object, is wisely and beneficently transfused through the whole animal system; and through this avenue of intelligence we become acquaint- ed with the tactile properties of bodies — their roughness, smoothness, hardness, softness, &:c. «Sz:,c. All these sensations through this medium find their way to the seusorium. The wisdom of transfusing this sense generally is as obvious as the specific location of the smell and lastc. This sense, however, is not equally transfused, being most exquisite in the most useful organs, particularly in the organ of vision, (t is obvious that if we could conceive a man were born without this avenue to intelligence, closed up he must ever remain in ignorance of all the tactile properties of bodies, and he could never originate the idea of inateri;d ttwgihility. The ihing i-. physically impossible. The sense of hearing is given to us that we may discriminate all the vibrations and motions of the air. Every impression made upon the outward ear reaches to the tympanum, and conformably to the im- jjulse given to it, it gives us the idea of the whole gamut of harmonious or discordant sounds. We all know that a man born deaf can have m idea of the nature of sound, and therefore can never be taught the -*rtof .-^peaJiing, v/hich is siaoply the ?rt of making such an impre^ DEBATE. 133 jJi'oii upon the auricular sense a;^ to communicate our ideas to others through the riiedium of that sense. We come next to seeing. This most perfect and delightful of all our senses, is, in like manner, admirably adapted to its specific object. It is the avenue of intelligence through which all our ideas of color, magnitude, and distance are derived to us ; and the impres- sions made upon this sense reach the sensorium through the optic nerves. Now it is only necessary to name these five senses, and their respective use^, in order to discover in them all that beneficence, wisdom, and design which suggest the idea of a supremely intelli- gent First Cause, manifesting its wisdom and benevolcnco in the animal organization of man, to discover that man has been endowed by Ihs Creator with an organization which enables him to elicit every vaUablc property of matter. We discover an admirable adaptation of these senses to the conception of all ideas of colors, sounds, odors, tastes, and tacts ; and that all our intelligence on these subjects is de- rived through these five channels. The conclusion, therefore, from these premises, is, that a man born without any one of these senses, must ever remain destitute of all ideas derivable through it; that a man born deaf, dumb, blind, and withotSt^ tactability, has all these avenues to intelligence closed up, and must therefore remain an idiot all his lifetime. Is it not self- evident that a blind-born man can never acquire any idea of colors, nor a deaf-born man any idea of sounds? But if we wou^ suppose a man born destitute of all the five senses, he would not only be kliotic, but he v/ould be a lump of insensible matter. Weil, if all the ideas we have of sensible objects are derived through these media, there must be a model or archetype of each of these ideas presented to the appropriate sense. Before I can have an idea of the color or shape of a rose, it must be brought within the jurisdiction or cog. nizance of my occular and olfactory sense. Therefore, every writer who has undertaken to analyse the senses, has come to the conclusion that we caimot have an idea of material objects, or the qualities of matter, that is not derived from the exercise of our senses upon t])e material objects around us. Well now, this being the basis of all cur knowledge, the powers which we call rational, or intellectual, are necessarily circumscribed by the simple ideas thus acquired. The senses put us in possession of all the materials Avhich the intellect has to work up — in like manner as the raw material must first be put into the hands of the manufacturer before it can be manufactured for the various uses of life. All mechanical or intellectual ingenuity is unavailable without the material. There can be no ship without timber — no penknife without metal. Thus a child, from the time it^ powers of discriminating sensible objects begin to be developed, ac- quires a fund of materials, or simple ideas, on which its intellect begins to operate. In consequence of inattention, we imagine that children are making no advances in infonnation during the first months of their existeiK'^. i40 DEBATE, But a supcrticjal observer can form no idea of the important acquis sitions of knowledge made by an infant in tlie first few months after its birth. It is employed most industriou.-ly in learning to use its hands, to move its different members, to adjust its ditierent senses to their proper objects. The minute observer will notice its first clFurts to trim its eyes so as to have a discriminating vision; he will remark how itrf sotl pulpy fingers are in almost continual exercise in order to acquire a discriminating tact. There are many mysteries existing in our animal economy which have never yet been developed. We well know that upon the first presentation of a candle to the vision of an infant, there is one distinct and separate impression made upon the retina of each eye, precisely as if two candles were in the first instance presented to the vision of the infant. How comes it then to pass that the infant mind lias such a power of miimte attention, as very early to have a con- sciousness of the presence of but one candle. There are many secrets jet inexplicable in the operations of each of these senses. 1 will mention one which the wisest physiologists have not yet been able to explain. It is well known that there is no anatomical con- nexion between the nerves or muscular systems of either eye; that the muscles which control the movements of either eye are as inde- pendent as those which move either arm ; yet we turn both eyes in- voluntarily at the same moment to any particular object, giving precisely the same turn to both our organs of vision. This is as per- fect in the new-born infant as in the full-grown man. The mind appears in its first acts to possess a sort of innate power over the organs of vision. From the first dawn of rationality the mind ap- pears conscious that illusion has been practised by the singular phenomenon of two distinct impressions upon the retina of either eye. No one iias yet fathomed these physical mysteries of animal economy, nor is it any part of my present business to attempt to fathom them. It is enough for me to establish the position that all our ideas of sensible objects are derived from, and only derivable through the five senses ; that the mind begins to operate upon these materials as soon as they are presented to the senses, and that this gives us the i\v-:t intimatinn of the existence of infantile intellect. Having rather stated, than analysed, the power called sensation^ let us turn our thoughts a moment to perception. The mind forms ideas in accordance with the sensations impressed upon the brain. The mind is perfectly conscious of the existence of these impressions ; they are communicated directly to the scnsoi'mn; and here begins the intellectual process of reflecting upon, compa ring, and recalling them; then presenting ihom in ditTerent views, feeparatinc, abstracting, comliuiug, jind generalizing them. All this is in tiic natin-al operation of the intellect on the objects presented to it by sensation. Thus it is that we derive our ideas of sensible objects, and thus wo bofjin to renson upon them. Therefore, we cannot imagine a ^ixth sf"i«e — we cannot conceive what it would he. The reason is, that we liave never seen any animal possessed of it. Had DKBATE 141 Vv'e been endoweil but with fovir senses it would have been equally impossible to conceive of a fifth sense, with but three, of a fourth, &c. These are truths which I think must be palpable to the plainest un- derstanding and Avhich require no philosophic subtlety in their eluci- dation. Now to expect a man destitute of the light of revelation fo have ideas not derivable through any of his senses, would be as absurd as to expect a man without the organs of vision to have all the ideas of color possessed by those who enjoy the very clearest vision. You might as reasonably expect a person born deaf to have all tft6 ideas of harmony, an a man destitute of supernatural revelation to have the ideas of God and a spiritual system — Without seeing cr hearing some supernatural personage, ail natural objects would be inadequate to originate any sqiiritual ideas. Many experiments ha\e been made upon the deaf, who have been restored to hearing to as- certain v/liether by the other senses, and all the reasoningB which the mental powers were capaljle of, they had acquired any idea of God;, and all have concurred in attesting the utter impo^^sifeility of acquiring such without the aid of revelation. No, my friends, the man on whom the light of revelation has never beamed, can no more conceive of those ideas which in a system of spiritual religion are native, inherent, and discoverable, than the fleaf-born man can be moved by the "con- cord of sweet sounds." It would be as rational to talk of seeing by the hand, or hearing by the tongue, as to talk of knowing God without a commnnication from himself. We can by things already known be Sau^ht things not knov/n; but there must be a teacher. But I must tell you, while speaking o^ revelation, that perhaps I am misunderstood ; and certainly lam, if I am supposed to use this term in the vulgar sense. Foj- now it is usual to call the whole Bible areve- kition from God. I must explain myself here. There are a thousand historic foots narrated in the Bible, which it would lie 3-bsurd to regard as immediate and direct revelation from the Almighty. Paine defines revelation very accurately, although he did not believe we had any properly so called. He says — Page 14. ''Age of Reason .^' — "Revela- tion cannot be applietl to any thing done upon earth. It is a commu- nication of something which the person to whom that thing is reveal- ed did not know before" — and I add, could not otherwise know.— (That intelligence which could never have been derived to us through tlie agency of our senses.) — "Consequently all the historical and an- ecdotal part of the Bible is not within the compass , and meaning of the v/ord revelation." Revelation, from the import of the term, must be supernatural, But the historic parts of both testaments, preseni a great variety of topographical and historic facts and incidents; col- loquies between friends and enemies, of apostles, prophets, and patri- archs, and of distingushed persons good and evil ; wars, intrigues, am ours, and crimes, of every dve. Now it would be neither philosophi cal nor rational todignil'V and designate these colloquies, narratives, geographical and biograghical notices, &lq. by the term recdaiion^ The term revelation, in its strict acceptation amongst intelligent ehristjansj means notUin^ more nor less than a, Divine coiumunicatiQJS Kj2 DEBATE concerning spiritual and eternal thing?, a knowledge of which maj? could never Iravc attained by the evercise of his reason upon mate- rial and sensible objects; for as Paul say?, "Things which the eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither has it entered into the heart of man to conceive, has God revealed to us apostles, and we declare iWm to you." Now the corollary is, that, to a man to whom this divine revelation has never been made, it is impossible to acquire ideas of spiritual and eternal things, a« for a blind man to admire the play of colors in a prism. In the Old Testament, to distinguish the ordinaVy information from the divine communications, such intimations are made as ^^Tlteicord of the LordP or '■'A message from the Ijord came''' to such a person. Sometimes, "T/<^ Lord said P But in the New Testament, the phrase ^'' The Word,'" or ^' The ir-ord of the Ijord,^ ox ^'■The Truth,'''' is almost exclusively appropriated to the testimony which God gave concerning the person andmission of Jcsits Christ. It may also be remarked, that in a volume such as the Bible is, and having the object which it profess- es, it was necessary that the worst deeds and the l;est deeds of all sorts of men, in all sorts of circumstanees, should be detailed. It teaches us man, itdevelopss human nature, lireceala to us the character and purpose of the .Maker of the Universe. Moreover the persons who are employed to make these communications are so supernaturally guided as to make them infallible witnesses in all the facts they at- test, as well as all the communications concerning supernatural things. The ridicule which some ignorant sceptics have uttered against thc^ contents of the book, under the general title of a revelation from God, as if it were all properly so called, is, if it have any point only direct- ed against their own obtusity of intellect, and negligence in making themselves acquainted with the most important of all books in the world. Ou'r reasoning upon these premises must therefore necessarily be in the following order. Objects of sense are presented to the infant mind, it perceives them, begins to reflect upon them, and after exerci- sing its power of discriminationj it arrives at certain conclusions res- pecting them. And this leads us to notice the intellectual powers of man. 1. Perception, by which we become acquainted with all things external. "Z. Memory by v.liich we arecnabled to recall things past. 3. Consciousness which acquaints us vvith all things internal. Per- ception has present seusibile objects for its {)rovince. Memory is the record which we have of the past. But consciousness has respect only to things present. I perceive a numerous assemblage now be- fore me, and I am conscious of my ov\'!i thoughts at the time. I rc- /vcmhcr that there were such and such pfjrsons here yesterday. — These three powers of perception, memory, and consciousne.'s, are the primary power-? of the mind. Over ttieso three we have shown ihat the will };as no power: that they are independent of volition. For example, I often have perceptions contrary to my volitions; matters written upon the table of my memory, by singular associa- t^ons, will involuntarily present themselves fci a vivid manner lci<>re DEBATE. 143 :ao, and ii ccrlainiy is lilt by all, that our being conscious of our own thoup;hts depends not upon any act of the will, but upon the con^ SHtution of mind itself. But in exercising the faculties of recollecting, rci^ecting, imagining, reasoning, and judging, I discover that all these u re subject fo the control of my volition. For example, in exercising the f:tculty of imagination, I can, at will, transfer the ex- ternal peculiarities of one animal, to the body of another, and thereby -ueate any kind of imaginative monster; I can by imagination take !ue head, trunk, and arms of a man, and put them on horseback and -'hereby jn-esent to my mind's eye, the fabulous Centaur. But this license of imagination is gntireiy under the control of my volition. I can recollect only by making an effort, and consequently must /Ictermine to make (hat elTort. I can reason only when I decide to reason; and my plucing myself in the attitude of a judge, is as much in obedience to a previous determination, as the eating of my supper, or my going to led. These matters are so plain to those who do re- flect, that to demonstrate them, appears sometiiing like an insidt to the understanding of such an audience as this. I v/as about to state some facts in proof, that tiie deaf cannot form an idea ol' God, a future state, or of a human s{)irit. But 1 am inform- ed mv half hour is out.* *Fiom some cause these facts wei'« not given in the Debate. The next ppeech fuikcl to c;dl tliem forth. \ shall just state one case here, as a specimen of the docui-ents alluded to. I believ^ all experiments yet made upon such pejsons/iiave proved that f;\it]),*or the knowledge «fGod, and of a Creator, has come by hearing. By faiih P.iul said, and not by rcascii, "we know that the worlds were made by the word of God." This cat;e is extracted from "The Memoirs of the Academy of Sciences .it P.iris. — " rhe son of a tradesman in Chartres, who had been deaf from his birth, and consequently diimbi when he was twenty three or twenty four years of age, hejfanon a sudden to speak, without its being' known that he had ever heard. This event drew the attention of every ooe, and many believed it to be mirac- ulous.— The young man, however, gave a plaiH and rations! account, by whicli it appeare»tinacy or some worse motive, believe what they believe, wao do not like, or dislike, or love and hate, according to their notions of right or wrong. It is upon this error that all governments, religions, Lt.vs, institu- tions, language?, and customs have been formed, and, i)y it, they have been all made so complex and irrational. And it is solely owing to this error that the world has been so long divided against itself, that it has been always armed for its own destruction, and rendered wholly blind to the natural, and therefore easily attained meansof happiness. Instead of this confusion of intellect, and consequent division of feel- ings among the human race, man will be trained "to know himself* from infancy, and he will then acquire the inclination to promote the happine.-5 of his fellow-beings, and of the means by which to apply the inclimtion to practice. riFTII C0>'DITI0N. Ofthe means and inclination to increase, continually, our stock of I;no:dc'Jgc. As men acquire experience they learn the value of real knowledge, they discover that itistheonly solid foundation for virtue and happines^ and that it is the true source of power. Hitherto the book of nature or of renl knowledge has been sealed, in such a manner, that no man has yet dared to open it honestly and fairly, for tho benefit of the many. Innumerable books, however, said to beof divino origin have been pcsr thathe had ever reflected upon it. His life was little more than animaJ, ,ind sensitive, lie seemed to be contented with the simple perception of such objects as ke could perceive, and did not compare his ideas with each other, nor draw inferences, as might have been expected from him. It appeared, however, that his understandin.ef was vigorous, and his spprehenslon quick, so. t.h.it his intellectual defects must have been cavised, not by t!ie barrcjm>'*s (posing feelings jbr each otlier, all tend to deteriorate society, and to give a wrong or .unnatural direction to all the kindlier feelings of our nature, and to render it difficult or almost impossible, in most cases, for individuals to associate at pleasure with those for whom they cannot avoid having the most regard and strongest affection. In the new state of existence this great evil will not be known — rvery obstacle to the free, open, honest communication between mind and mind will be removed^ In this state of society all interconrsG betv/een human beings of both sexes, and of all ages, will be, at all limes, what is now termed confidential, that is, they will express, Tuider all circumstances, their genuine thougiits and feelings without a)y reservation whatever, *" Not feeling the necessity for disguising their sensations, th'ey will never acquire the habit of doing so. While, under the existing insti- tntion=:, almost the whole communication between man and man, ?ind nation and nation, is a continued system of insincerity, by which they endeavor to deceive each other; and when they succeed, it is to their own injury. The necessity which exists, under these institutions, to cover our r^al thoughts and feelings from others, is, of itself, sufficient to deorade DEBATE. 147 man below the inferior animals, and to inflict misery on his whole race. By attending to the feelings of children, we discover, that man is most powerfully impelled by his nature, to be honest and sincere, and to hide or be ashamed of any of the sensations which, by his ibrmation, he is compelled to receive. It requires cojistant watching and great care, on the part of those who are around children, to pre- vent them from expressing all their sensations, and telling the whole truth upon every subject, as far as they know it, and still more exer- tion to force them to acquire as nmch practical deceit, as the irration- al customs of the most civilized nations requirCv All this degradation and sulyugation of the very finest and best Feelings of humnn nature w ill altogether cease in the new state of ex- istence. For all the practical arrangements, and all the institutions in this state, will be in unison with the laws of nature-, and, when the results of this union of |)racticc and principle shall be enjoyed, it will be felt to be an act of insanity, or a real aberration of the human fac- ulties, whenever any individual in convei-sation with man, woman, or child. shuU not express the genuine sensatids which tlie existing circumstances make on his organization. These sensations are, alone, to him, truth; and as soon as men shall be trained to be ration- al, and shall be under institutions and within circumstances in unison with their training, truth alone will be known among them. And., under these arrangements, all will know precisely the impres- sions which their conduct makes upon others, and a stronger stimu- lus to every kind of excellence, cannot be given; it will effectually purify the thoughts and feelings of all, and produce a perfection of conduct throughout society, of which the present ignorant, degraded, and irrational race can form no adequate conception. ^Vhen sincerity and triith and consequently rationality shall be alone known among men, it will be soon ascertained, by experience, whether nature intended to give man happiness, by limiting or extend' ing his aflections; v.'hether she intends him to confine his most ex- clusive feelings to one of the opposite sex, or to divide it with more than one, and how many. However this may prove by -experience, we may be assured, Avhen no artilicial obstructions shall exist, that the dictates of nature are those which she intends shall, alone, influence to actions that shall the most effectually promote real virtue and happiness. Nature, which is now thwarted in every advance to urge the human race to knowledge and happiness, will persevere, until her righteous laws shall be alone obeyed, and they will ultimately direct the inter- course of society as wisely for the well doing, well being, and enjoy- ment of tiie human race, as she has ever done among the whole of the animal and vegetable existences, which are, in this respect, subject to the same general laws. One thing is most evident, that nature, by keeping the power of '"jaking new impressions to herself, never intended that man or wo- 1 IS DECATE. mHn t-hould perjure themselves by promising, to each other, that then' scusntions from and for each other, should continue, without change* until death. In the new state of existence, this crime, also, of perjury, will be unknown, for there will be "no indissoluble mnrriages, or giving in marriage;" on the contrary, all \vi!), at all times, possess the power to as-snciate with those onijv for whom nature compels them to feel 5he Mio;.^}, regard and strongest affection. SKVENTH CONDITION. Oftruvellinff with convenience and advantage. To have the means of travelling at pleasure, or of removing, with- out iuconvenience, from one district to another, is essential to the full enjoyment of happiness. This benefit will be provided, in a very effectual manner, in the iiew state of existence, by arrangements which will be equally advan- tageous for the traveller and for society. The arragements which will be formed, under this new mode of •existence, will be so formed, that when any country shall be regular- ly settled under its regulations, the traveller will have an opportunity of resting many direction in which he may proceed, within two miles of the lastassociation or station he may have left or passed. He will find, in all these places, whatever can be necessary to his comfort ; the same as he enjoyed in the association or society fronm whence lie commenced his travels. It will not be necessary for him to enciunbcr himself with luggage of any description; there will be supplies of all he will require, ready for his use, in each society, and these, as before stated, will bo within two miles of each other iji what^ ever direction he may travel. These journies must be, of necessity, subject to geneml regulations, which will apply equally to all of the same age; for it is evident, all c-^^nnot travel at the same time. But it is probable that more than'ali whowisli to change their position at one time, may leave their station without inconvenience. As long as travellers do not go out of the territories occupied by the associations who have embraced the new mode of existenee, they will not require money or extra provisions of any description, because they will bo equally at home, wherever they may wish to stop, for a lunger or shorter period. The only condition to which they will be liable, is, that they shall occupy themselves, as long as they remain in their new situation, in the same manner iu which they were employed in their former asso- ciation. When the change is in progress, from the old to the now state of existence, money of the countries to which the traveller is about to proceed will be supplied to him from the public treasury. But rational, as all these reformed, or re-created beings will become, under the new circumstances by which they can be surrounded, no fund.'^, or labor, of the societiesMvill bo uselessly expended. They DEBATE. 149 Will all distinctly perceive that a well arranged economy, in the wholo proceedings of these communities, is the true foundation of the high- est and most permanent prosperity. Whatever temporary dilKciilties may arise, at first, in bringing all the requisite arrangements for travelling with ease, comfort, and general benefit into practice, a little experience and perseverance^ la right principles, will soon overcome them. — [Half hour out.] Mr. Campbell rises — Mr. Chairman — There is a land in which there is no sickness, in which, eating, drinking, and sleeping are unnecessary. 1 am well aware that in an argument so abstract in its nature as the present, we cannot gointo such details as to make every topic perfectly apprehen- sible to all. We have been attending to a brief analysis of our external senses, and internal faculties. To aid the least accustomed to this kind of reasoning, we shall present the substance in a new form. Let us imagine that there are five worlds, and that we have a distinct organ calculated exclusively for the use of each distinct world — that there is a world of colors, cognizable by the eye; a world of sounds, cognizable by the car; a world of odors, cognizable by the olfactory sense; a world of Servers, cognizable by the taste; and a world of tacts, that is, of the tactile properties of bodies, all the ideas belonging to which world are cognizable only by the sense of feeling. Nov/ these five worlds make up this one material world and all the properties which belong to it. And he that lacks one of these organs or senses, is forever debarred from that world of which it is the doer. Scnsaiion is the name which philosophers have given to the exer- cise of these senses, or rather to the operation by them which makes us acquainted with the material world. Perception is the name given to those acts of, the mind which discriminate the dinerent sensations or impressions made upon our sens^^s. It is called the faculty of perception to riistinguii^h it from other faculties, such as memory or imagination. By this faculty wc become acquainted with all things external ; but to-morrow all the ideas of to-day derived through the iaculty of perception become the objects of memory, that having respect exclusively to the past. Next comes consciousness, which is like an internal eye, enabling me to take cognizance of my recollec- tions, reasonings, and all the operations of my intellect — such as reflecting, comparing, discriminating, and judging. These are the primary intellectual operations, and they are ail necessary in order- to arrive at certain conclusions on material things or the dominions of these five worlds. But, then, there is the world of spirits, which no man could imagine, and of which these five worlds do not afford an archetype, or sensation, or perception. Of this Avorld we have manv ideas, thoughts, terms, and conversations, and the question is. How did we come hy them? No v.indow or door has been opened to us in the department of sense. W^here are the organs, the senses, i\iQ media, through which we have derived these ideas? Not by the 13* 150 DEBATE. eye, the ear, nor the taste; for these are our corporeal senses and cannot take cognizance of spiritual existences. For all our ideas of spiritual and eternal things we must, therefore, be indebted to some other power. The human intellect has no creative power. It can only reason £.-om the known to the unknown. We can augment almost ad infi' nitmn, but we cannot create. And so it is in the material world— It is a law of physics that one new particle of matter cannot be created. We can change and modify; we can convert a fluid into a solid, a .shapeless piece of wood into a polished piece of furniture ; but we can neither create nor destroy one particle of matter. And just so it is in the operations of our intellectual faculties upon sensible objects. — Concedingtomv friend that imagination ranges wildly through the intellectual world, yet all philosophic sceptics and christians have .idmitted that although imagination may '«body forth the forms of things unknoAvu," it is only^by analogy to things already known., that they can be "turned p shapes,'' and receive "a local habitation ixnd a wcfKif." Imagination is, to the intellectual world, what jnechanical ingenuity is to the natural v/orld. In neither can any result be elaborated without a stock to begin upon. Our position i? ;hat imagination can do no more with ideas, than mechanical inge- riiiity can with metals, wood, and stone — that the intellectual as well as the mechanical artificer must have his subject before him. .Hence It is utterly out of the pov^erof imagination to originate the idea of spiritual existences, or even to invent a name expressive of a spiritual idea. But to give the argum.ent its plain practical application, and great- est force, we must contemplate another endowment of man. I mean ihe faculty of speech. This topic is intimately connected v/ith the preceding. What is this faculty ? It is the power not only of giving utterance to our feelings, but of giving names to things. IIow did wo come by the use of speech? is it naiural to man to speak? oris not language rather purely an imitative thing. I may show this tumblej to an infant, and thus afibrd matter for its perception, mem- ory, and consciousness to operate upon; but will its perception, memory, or consciousness enable it V) give a name to this vessel? [ may perhaps hazard the disapprobation of this audience, by assert- ing that speech is not natural to man. Groans and inarticulate enunciations, expressive of passion or feeling, are natural to almost all :iuimalg. But man differs from them all in the following respect: they all have a systematic expression uniformly the same; but man, with- out language, has such groans and sighs and expressions of feeling without system. The speechless babes have no uniformity of this Kort. But the horse, the ass, the cow, the sheep, the goat, the swal- low, the sparrow, have, wherever found, the same language of passion and feeling. The nightingale and the lark sing the same song all the world over. But v/hen we ?pcak of language, we mean hot enunniations indicative of feeling, but names for ideas or senti- mcnts. But let us ask, \l<.m do infants learn tospealiZ Do thev debate! 151^ Spoak as naturally as they see or smell ? Sitrely not. They sigh, groan, cry, and laugh naturally, but i/nzVa^ireZi/ they speak. Speech is the result of education, of training, and of the imitative faculty of man. It has been experimentally demonstrated that a man who has never keardthe articulations of the human voice can never speak; A child may be born with the most perfect organs of speech, and yet be born dumb and continue dumb through life, in consequence of the imperfection of its auricularorgans. Dumbness is the necessary consequence, the inseparable adjunct of deafness from birth, li fhere be a language of nature it is a language of inarticulate sounds, v.hich all abandon so soon as they learn to speak. This is o. facto: vast consequence in this argument. Admitting that there is a natu • ral enunciation of feeling, and a language of pains and joys, this language is abandoned when what is now called human language is taught. Ail philosophers have been baffled in their attempts to ac- count for the origin of language, and all nations have concurred in declaring that speech was the gift of the gods. The most ancient of the Egyptian writers (and these arc of higher antiquity than any other extanf,) concur in declaring that they are utterly unable to ac- count for the origin of human speech wiihout referring it to God. The impossibility of inventing a universal language is very obvious. Because in order to invent a new language ccmmon to all, all must be congregated, and a conventional vocabulary must be adopted — for instance, they must agree unanimously that this glass shall be called tumbler. But how could they be congregated or enter upon this business witliout the possession of that identical universal language which the scheme contemplates? There is no speculation on the origin of language to be found in any of the schools, that warrants the conclusion that man, by the miaided exercise of his native, inher- ent pov/ers, could have attained to the use of speech; or that language could have been communicated to man, in the first instance, by any hut a divine instructer. Speech, like faith, comes by the ear; what- ever comes by the ear is derived ; therefore lui man language is derived. Whatever is derived is not natural ; human language is derived ; therefore human language is not natural. In proof of the syllogism, the deaf cannot speak. The idea of any thing must necessarily be precedent and anterior to the invention of a name for it. All nations must have had an idea of Deity befure the word God, in their respect- ive languages, could have been invented Fifty years ago there was not to be found in all the books mid all the vocabularies in the world, such a \ford as steam-boat ; and why? Because, at that period, the idea of sleam-hoats had not been conceived, consequently no name could be annexed to an idea which had no existence. How then was the ideas and names of God, Spirit, Altar, Priest, Sacrifice, derived toman? The idea of these, and all positive acts f religious wor- ship, must necessarily have existed antecedently to the invention of names to express them. The conclusion is irresistible, that the in- vention of the terms by which spiritual ideas are expressed, must haAC been posterior to the conception of the ideas themselves— that 15*2 DEBATE ns these ideas could not have been derived through the media of ih(i five senses, thej^ must have been communicated in some other way— ' and that both the ideas and names of spiritual things must have been matter of divine revelation. By a reference to the Old Testament we shall fmd these facts fully established in evidence. And if the Bible facts did not Support our reasoning, we would nevertheless be con- strained to regard it as logical and demonstrative as any that can be brought to bearupon an abstract speculation. But I am not compelled to rest the truth of this reasoning upon metaphysical deductions. We have matters of fact to go upon. The Bible tells us most em- phatically that the first colloquies ever held upon this earth were between the great Creator, and our first ancestors, viva voce. The book of Genesis tells us that the first pair talked with God— hence the inference from the fact, that God firsttavght man to speak, is, that the art of speaking is not native and inherent in the family of man, Newton has sagely observed that God has given us both reason and religion in the gift of speech; that the power of ratiocination is but an adjunct of the faculty of .'^pefech. There is no logical objection to the dictum of Newton, that God gave to man both reason and religion in the gift of speech. I presume that it would be very difficult to prove, by any process of philosophical reasoning, that man could correctly reason or have spiritvial ideas without the use of speech. In truth, we think by words, and infants think by things ; and let him who imagines he can think without terms make the experiment. But for these purposes it is not necessary that man should have an extensive vocabulary. lie only requires two lessons — first, the elementary ideas; and, secondly, the elementary words significant of them: and then who shall prescribe limits to the range of his in- tellectual powers? He will soon multiply his conceptions and his terms beyond the powers of numbers to express. But he must have i:he data, or some stock, to trade upon. Moses tells us that God called the animals in Paradise around Adam, and that he tried Adam's skill in speech, by requiring him to ^ive names to them. He gave them names; and we are told that Adam's nomenclature was correct. But we can trace the pJcenomenon of language up to the root, although we cannot, on philosophic prin- cijjles account for the origin of language. V/e find in Europe twenty- seven languages; and by tracing them up, we find- that they are kindred branches from three roots ; that these three roots of European languages are scions of one single stock is highly probable, and that tliis root was Hebrew. Whether this root was Hebrew or some other eastern language is more matter of philological curiosity than of importance to our argument. But there can be no question that all languages are traceable up to the same fountain. In the nomenclature of animals respect was had to the qualities of the animal, therefore the idea of thcdisting;ushingcharactcristic of the animal must necessarily have existed before the animal iise'f could .have been designated by any specific name. If the Hebrew was no* DEBATE. 158 the first language ever spoken, it has, nevertheless, internal evidences of having been predicated upon these primitive elementary princi- ples as illustrated in the nomenclature of animals. In Hebrew the zoological nomenclature is always analogous to the ••liaracteristic quality of the animal. "Thus the original Hebrew names of many of the beasts and birds of that region are apparently formed by onomatopma.. or in imitation of their natural cries or notes : so the general name given to the tamer animals, sheep and kine^ was heme, in which sound the lowing of the one, and the bleating of the other, seems to be imitated ; so the name of the common ass, orud, and of the tdld ass pra, resembles their braying. The name of the raven, okeb, was doubtless taken from its hoarse croaking ; of the aparrou^ tsippor, from its chirping; of xhe partridge, auERA, from the note she uses in calling her young; and the murmur of the turtle- dove, is exactly expressed by its Hebrew name Ttm, and evidently gave rise to it. Many other instances of the kind might be produced ; but these are sufficient to show, at least the great probability, that some of the first names given to the several tribes of animals were derived from their respective notes.'' But the instances already adduced are sufficient to show, that, in the primitive formation of language, respect was had in the nomen- clature of animals, to the analogies and accordance of articulate and inarticulate sounds. But this was not the only plan adopted in the primitive nomenclature of animals. The primeval nomenclators not only took cognizance of the vocal peculiarities of animals, but also of their characteristics. Hence the camel was called gimel, be- cause supposed to be of a vindictive temper. A sheep was called rachel, because of its meekness ; a ram was called agil, because of its agility; in like n»anner a goat was called sair from its being hairy. Thus they took the vocal and other qualities of animals, and from their observation of these they formed their zoological nomenclature. Well, then, the analogical argument goes to prove, and, indeed, compels us to conclude, that the annexation of the names of God, spirit, angel, altar, priest, sacrifice, &c. must have been posterior to the conception of the spiritual ideas which these terms express. The corollary to be derived from analysing the five senses apd this super- added gift of speech, is, that we can neither have ideas concerning spiritual things, nor names, without the aid of immediate and direct revelation 5 that, without revelation, we could no more conceive of these ideas than we could invent names for them. The child born in France we know, by experience, will acquire the language of that country; the child born in Italy will speak Italian, because they are artificially taught to speak the mother's language; but if language was natural to man, all children would speak the same language. On the hypothesis that the first pair were created in a state of infancy, or of adolescence, the difficulty concerning the origin of language remaiftia e<^ually inexplicabk. t54 l)EBA*rE; Children at birth, it is said, have been excluded hy circumstance^ from all access to the sound of the human voice; and after arriving at maturity, it has been discovered that thej^ have no more of the gift of speech than brutes have,- and from all the premises before us the con- clusion fcdlows out irresistibly that speech is as legitimately the sub- ject of divine revelation as religion itself; or to express the conclusion in other words, the inevitable inference is, the idea of God, altar, priest, victim, &c. is older than the names. But two ways only caii ideas be communicated : first, by presenting the archetype, or that which produces the idea to tlie external sense; or, secondly by speech, describing the thine: to be revealed or communicated by something already kno^vn. Now as the langu&ge of a people is the only infalli- ble test of their irr.provement and civilization, so the name of God, altar, priest, victim, found among the most savage tribes of antiquity, incapable of abstract reason or sentimental refinement, is a positive proof that none of them did ever invent the idea. This would be as decisive proof, were a!i the premises clearly understood, as the dis- covery of a gold or silver coin or medal found amongst a people igno- rant of metals and their natures, would be, that they wore not the makers, but the finders or borrowers of this coin. I boldly assert here, and I court objection to the assertion, that every principle of sound reasoning, and all facts and documents in the annals of time, compel us to the conclusion that the idea and name of God first entered the human family by revelation. No man ever uttered a sentence more unphilosophic, more contrary to human experience, observation, and right reason, than Mirabaud, when he declared that savages invented the idea and name of God and spiritual existences. He might as well have averred that savages, without fire, without a mould, and without metal, made the first gold coins. Wednesdaij, April 15, 3 o''docJc P. M, Mr. Owen rises — My friends, I proceeded this forenoon as far as the eighth provision- \iecessary to human happiness: I have, therefore, only to read the eighth and ninth in order to finish all I have before me; and then my friend Mr. Campbell, and myself, may come, perhaps, to closer quar- ters. [Here Mr. Owen reads to the end of the Appendix, and his half hour is out.] EIGHTH CONDITION. Of release from all superstitious fears, supernatural notions, and from the fear of death. In the new state of existence all cliildren will be taught to perceive, to investigate, and to compare facts, and to deduce accurate conclu- aions, by comparing one fact carefully with another. The founda- Tioii of the human mind will tlius rest upon a knowledge of facts al! in unison one with another; and, it? formation will {u-oceed, do>- by day, by adding^ a clear perception of one law of nature to another, V'util each mind will thus acquire (ox it?cif an iucreasiiig standard oj* DEBATB. i&O truth, wTiichwill guard it from youth against the reception of errors of the imagination. In minds thus cultivated superstitious or un- natural fears will never enter. They will never become so irrational as to imagine any laws of nature for which they can discover no {act, but they will study to acquire an accurate knowledge of those laws to the extent their minds can investigate them, and knowing, as they will speedily learn, that truth is one throughout the whole universe, and that there can be no opposition or contradiction between any one truth and another, their minds will soon attain so much strength and knowledge, that an error will not find admittance therein. Every error, presented to a mind so trained and formed, will be immediately compared with the trite ideas already received by the study of facts — of facts the truth of which all are compelled to admit, because they have been previously found, after the most severe inves^ tigation, to be in strict accordance with all the ascertained laws of liature. This comparison will soon detect its fallacy by showing its opposition to those established facts, or to the unchanging laws of nature; and, in consequence, it will be as impracticable for the mind to give it reception among its true ideas, as for the stomach to receive ihe most loathsome food, when attempted to be forced into it. The human mind will thus become, for the first time since its ex- istence, sane and rational ; for all the ideas with which it will Isig filled, will be in unison with each :ther; there will be no complexity or confusion among them — all wil! be harmony within. There w-ill be no jarrmg between natural feelings and imaginary divine commands in direct opposition to th^se feelings; for it Avill be 4vnown that the natural feelings cf the h-iman race are the divine commands, and that whatever is opposed to them is error — is super- stition— is an invention of ignorant men, whose class is opposed to the well-being and happiness of mankind, who are trained from their youth to deceive them, to fill them with fear and dread of nonentities, which they describe according to the wildest fancies of the most absurd imagination. None of this ignorant and mischievous proceeding will be found in the new state of existence, Nothing that is unknown, or that is incomprehensible to the human faculties, v/ill create any other feel - ing than a cheerful confidence; that the best has been, is, and will be done, that the materials of which the universe is composed permit to be done. Every aberration of the human intellects v/ill be. at once, detected by the standard of truth, formed in every niindj of a sufficient number of facts, all in unison with each other. This standard vvill guard the mind, in the new state of existence^ against the reception of all incongruous notions and absurd combi- nation of ideas. Superstitious and supernatural fears v,ill entirely cease, and all will readily acquire correct ideas relative to the de- --"ojiiposiliop of all materials, conipounds, aad organizations. 156 DEBATE. Were it not for the irrational, imaginary notions, which, for num. berless ages, the population of the world has l^en compei jd to receive as divine truths, there would be no fear ofd-jh among mankind. It would become obvious ^hat the materi- -p of vhich the earth and atmcHphere are com^;Csed, modifiid, as th v o;' uably are, by the in- fluence of the solar ^ysfem in which they "jlve, are continually undergoing the changes of composition an- 1 fiecomposition according to the fixed laws of nature, which alter not their eternal course, in the slightest iota, through any of the forms or ceremonies, or wordy wanderings of the human race. Are we not justified in saying that it is a necessary law, of all other laws of nature, that no change has ever been or can be made in the eternal laws of the universe? That the least .^hange in the laws by which the universal mechanism and chemistry cf nature perform their united operations, would create a chaos and confusion that woui .1 listurb and destroy its one universal movenjcnt that preserves the harmony of all existences? Can these laws be rendered variable and uncertain for man, an insect upon an atom, as he exists upon the earth compared to the eternity of space, with its endless systems of suns and planets, revolving, sphere beyond sphere,unchan2ed and probably unchange- able? No! the composition and decomposition upon the earthy when viewed without the vanity and presumption arising from ignorance of the laws of nature, wilt be found to difier not in man from any other vegetable or animal compound. He is composed of the self-same naterials, and he is again decomposed, and becomes part of the general mass from which every earthly compound contiaues to be iormed. And this is a law of impartiality afnd justice, which, when it shall be fully comprehended, will lead, not only to universal charity in practice from man to man throughout the globe j but it will fill him with benevolent and kind feelings for all that has life — it will give him, in fact, a fellow-feeling for all that exists around him. lie will know that he is perpetually changing particles of his own ex stence with all objects among which he moves, whether animate or inanimate. He will, therefore, avoid giving unnecessary pain to any thing that has life. The worm and the insect are his kinsfolk; they are from the same original stock of materials, and in the next decomposition will unite again as children of the same origin, pro- ceeding from one common parent, who is aline interested in the general happiness of every bein^ formed from the universal mass ^Tom whence all come, and into which all return. No! man is not an exception to the general laws of nature; he is born and he dies, and "the place which knew him, knows him no more.''' There is not one single fact, except in a slight extension of soirie of the same faculties, different in the formation and decomposition of man) from any ether earthly compound and decompositioi;; ar^d DEBATE. 157 iien men shall be disabused, on this subject, thoy aviII be great j:ainers in practice. They will no longer vainly expend their time and faculties upon imaginary future existences which belong not to their nature; but they will at once apply theinselve?, heart and soul, to make a para- dise of their present abode, that each generation in succession may enjoy it continually without any ignorant fears for the future, except that of creating some permanent cause of misery during their lives; such as slavery, cruel and unjust laws, or irrational institutions and customs, to inflict punishment on their progeny; or, in other words, •on that which constituted part of themselves, and far which they would have, if rightly instructed, a fellow-feeling. Tliis view of our existence is similar to the desire we have been taught to have to provide abundantly for our children and innnediate descendants. The latter is now an ignorant and selfish desire, created b^/ an artificial state of society, while the other will evince a true know- ledge of human nature and generate dispositions of unbounded love and charity — not in words, but in practice, for the whole human i-ace, present and future. This view of human nature will pot an end to tiie pride, vanitv, and selfishness of individuals and families; it will destroy all notions of superstition and of unknown supernatural agencies, until some tangible and consistent facts respecting their existence, if they do exist, shall be acquired. And more especially of their interference in human aiTairs in opposition to the unerring laws of nature. Jt will also annul all the unreasonable fears of death, or of our accidental or natur.il decomposition, wliich are now so unwi'^ely in- stilled into the minds of children, almost as soon as they can be made to receive these injurious imi)ressions. Man is thus made a mental coward, and filled with all manner of fears of the imagination, against wliich he knows not how to defend himself. lie is thus made so wetd: and irrational, that he continually torments himself and others througii life, without producing any counteracting benefit. Instead of being thus abused in childhood, he ought to be taught from infancy the plain truth on this, as well as u|)qn every other subject. He would then know what to expect, and he would be alv/nys without fear or dread of any kind, prepared for (hat change which all nature undergoes; and his happiness, during life, woidd not he disturbed with apprehensions and fears of v.hat would bccoiac of him afler decomposition. He would comprehend the truth, upon this subject, the whole truth, and nothing but the trutli, and in cousequonce, his mind would l.e firm and sane at all time*; he would be free to act, witiiout a. selfish motive, what the world now calls a noble and generous part to all his fellow-beings, but which conduct would then become the cylHmow practice of the Iiuman race. 14 15t^ DEBA'l'E, :M>-Tn CONDITION. Of a state of society, in lehich all its lairs, institutions, and customs shall be in accordance with the laus of human nature, or with the divine laws by which man is formed and governed. Any society in which the lawsof man have been made to oppose ^le divine laws of his natnrc, ninst, of necessity, exist in a state of continued crime, disunion, and misery. All societies of men have been so formed, that at this day they all exist in crime, disunion and misery. In all of them the divine laws ttf nature have been misunderstood, or disregarded, and men have, busied themselves in vain, in devising artilicial laws to alter their un- r.hangeble nature, and improve the work of a power beyond their fac- ilities to comprehend. It is evidently the whole duty of man for his own sake, and for the benefit of his race, t> find out the laws of his nature, that he may first know what manner of being he is, and then form all his institu- tions to be in strict accordance with these divine laws. He will then by the nvitural progress of knowledge, bring about a new state of ex- istence, in which the duty, the interest, and inclination of all will be, at all time?, one and the same feeling. In which all will possess, in security and v/ilhout opposition from any quarter, a full supply, at all times, of whatever is essential to the happiness of human life. Under the supposition that these principles are as true, and their praciice as beneficial as I have stated, it becomes a question of per-i manent interest, to know how this change — a change greater than all ^vhich have preceded it — can be accomplished, not only without in- . mry to anj^, but with permanent advantage to all. To me it appears that this change can be ellbcted, the m.ost easily, by the union, in the first instonco, of some of the leading governments, and of the heads of the chief sects of religion, in the adoption of general measures to di- rect the new arrangements upon an extensive scale; but in a manner so gradual, that no shociv shall be given to the interests or feelings of any portion of s'.>clety. And, in forming these arrangements, no at- tempt should bo permitted to be made to displace the individuals who are at the head, or wh> administer any of the existing governments. No member of any church should he deprived, during his life, of the support and emoluments which he now derives from it. No one deriving his support from other professions should be ia any degree curtailed in the advantages which he derives from his present static* in thorn. No one employed in any business should be called upon or expected to do more than his present occupation requires him to ]ierform. No one shall be required to da any thing contrary to his formei* habits. It is unnecessary that any of these eviis sh.ould arise or be allowed 1,0 take place, because, there is power in society, v/hich, when direct- ed, will be found much more than sufficient to supply all the wants nn'i wishes of mankind, without it being necessary to adopt any of JjEBATE. 159 fhcse temporary evils, or in any degree to diminish the siriall porlion of happiness, wliich, under, the existing systems, had fallen to the lot ofany individual. The unused and misdirected powers of society, are far more than sulhcient to satisfy the wishes of all mankind, as soon as they shall learn what is requisite to make them happy; and shall know what !t is their interest to desire, and the best means to obtain and secure it. Thus have I endeavored to sketch the outline of the causes of the past and present errors, and evils among men; to deduce the princi- ples of human nature from facts which change not, but which remain the "same yesterday, to-day, and forever;"" to show how those princi- ples may be beneficially applied to practice, for the advantage of man- kind, and how this change may be gradually effected throughout so- ciety without injury to any individnol of any class, scc^, party, qr •country. — [Half hour out.'] Mr. Campbell rises. Mr. Chairman — I did not know that in \indcrtaking to encounter Mr. Owen with controversial weapons I was to conibat with a divini- fy. I did not know that his twelve laws were to be received and inter- preted as divine revelations. He has claimed the pov.-er of forgivin:-; us and himself all sins, originating in his own singular and eccentric course during the whole prosecution of this argument. He has laid claim to the high attribute of uuderstan^iing the secreta '^f ;'.n !:"??.-'':*. He says that his facts and premises are of a dignity and high impor-t that none of us are able to comprehend; and seems to insinuate that there are as many mysteries and incomprehGnsibilities' in Ih-s new revelation v/hich he promulgates, as in the old one, whicli we have all been taught to receive. But, with all due deference to Mr. Owen's new light of revelation, I must protest against the liberties which he takes with our oracles, lie seems to be very fond cf quoting froiu them. This must proceed either from a desire to mislead us by passing ofTthese sentences as ex- pressive of his meaning in the commonly received sense of them, c/ from his conviction that there is no book so eloquent and sub.'ime as the Bible, and thus directly compliments the book which he opposes. I did e.xpect, in this contest, to have had to encounter the much boasted reason of the sceptics. In their zealous adoration of reason, sceptics have ridiculed us as mere dupes for revering the light of the sacred volume. 1 did expect that argument, deduction, reason, proof, the most exact and philosophic definitions, and the most minute analysis of the physical and intellectual man, would have been adduced by my opponent in this discussion. I was expecting to meet this formidable array of controversial forces; but, to my utter as- tonishment, I have not yet been encountered by a single syllogism. So far my opponent has offered us neither logical premises nor con- clusions. Well, perhaps, we must overlook all this, and anticipate ft new order of things. I have regretted the necessity of introducing the argument which I have nearly brought to a close, because it is \m DEBATE; ^ther adopted to the taste nor apprcliension of a popular assembl^j JDUt I have been obliged to be somewhat abstract in these disquisitions boca-isc the scope of the debate seems to require it, and the debate itself is contemplated to be matter of record. It is only after the \vho!e premises are submitted to calni and dispassionate reading, that, you can form a correct estimate of the validity of each argument. I should, therefore, never have thought of introducing an argument pf this abstract character before this assembly, did I not expect the whole to be published, and the grounds on which the cause of eter- nal truth is to be placed against the fancies and cavils of distempered minds, foirly laid before the youth of this generation. In introducing an argument like this in a popular assembly, we have to imitate the pedagogue who first teaches the alphabet in order to give his pupil the art of reading. We have to adduce the alphabet of mental philosophy in order to lead you to relish and apprehend the truth of our reasonings upon ourexternal senses, and mental faculties. But in purely abstract and philosophic topics this course must be pur- cued. I must, then, go over the ground which I have taken in this argument, so far as it has been prosecuted, with the hope that if Mr, Owen will not take notice of any issue that may be tendered to him, some othor person may present me w'ith some solid objections, ia order that these premises may be tested thoroughly by fair and logical arguments. We have, then, endeavored to show, by a very brief au- ■u'.VS^i wf cui' sen???, that vre can have no simple ideas excent those tierived through sensation and reftection ; that tlie powers of the mind in all its operations are confmed to ideas and impressions, acquired !Ty pefceptbn and Conscionsncss; that although we may compound and rcmod jfy almost ad infmUmn, we cannot originate an idea entirely new. \"e have shown that speech is neither natural to man, nor the invention of man; that infants must be tavght to speak by a slow and regular process : tliat names are applied to things and ideas in conse- quence of the pre-existence of the ideas in the mind; that the idea ma>st always necessarily precede the name, and that we have experi- mental proof from infants, from those born deaf and subsequently renlor,.'.] to hoaxing^ And here I will rernarlc, for the salce of illustrr.- lion, that no ivifaai has ever been known to speak any language but thcii v.Iuoh it ha'? bfien tatight, nor to attempt to give a name to any thing till some mother, nurse, or other instructor, has desig- nated that thing by its ajjpropriate name to the child. I have stated (hat it was universally known tliat a man born deaf could never be taught to speak until Jiis deafness was removed, because the power of ppcech can onlv be a^cquired b}" tlie ear, and not by any other organ ; that if it were natural to man to express himself in language, and give names to ideas and sensible objects, all men would attempt thi?, the untaught, as well as those who have been taught to speak. In the phttosophieal transactions of several European and American Hocietics there aro ins(ances on record of persons born deaf, being brought to hearing after they had attained the age of twenty-five or thirty, and then taught the use of speecj). These persons have bcei^ - DEBATE. 161 ihtefrogated -whether, previously to their restoration to the faculty of hearing and their acquisition of the power of speech, they had ever, from their observations on the visible universe, derived any idea of an invisible Creator; and, una voce, they have declared that .such an idea never entered their imaginations. This tangible fact is to be foimd in the records of all the cases ia which this cure has been performed. This is the only experiment that is possible to make in a case of this kind; for we cannot find a human being possessed of a full or- ganization, whose mind has not in some way or other been enlight- ened on this subject by tradition. We cannot find a man perfectly ill a state of nature, who never heard the sound of any human voice but his own. lt\ve could, he might be a fit subject to experiment upon, after teaching him the use of speech. This is all the proof that the natureof the argument requires or directs, and it must be by this time logically established in the minds of tluise who can appreciate the argument. It has been presumed that we might arrive at the idea of a first cause by a process of reasoning a jwsterioi'i; but there is a palpxhlo petitio piHticipu in this argument, since it assumes that the material world is an effect, and if an effect it must have a cause, which is the very position to be proved. So far reason and experience cor- respond with revelation. I rest a very important point of the argu- ment here — for if this be argument and not fallac)-, (and I wish to hear all objections to the argument,) then PauPs was an axiomatic ti-uth; ^^By faith we are assured that the universe was made by the word of God." He does not say by reason, observe, but hy faith. No chris- tian can demur to a mode of reasoning which has for its object the establishing a conviction of the truth of what Paul says, when he af- firms that by faith we know the tmiv>erse was made hy the word of God, when he affirms that the jcorld by philosophy never kneic God. Third- ly, we have further proved from the analysis of our intellectual powers, that faith or belief is not more necessary or independent of our volition than knowledge and experience. This a very capital point of the argument, and goes to subvert the whole of my opponent's theory of faith. Faith, then, I say, has been proved to be as depend- ent on volition as knowledge or experience; because all the faculties employed in examining evidence and acquiring knowledge are sub- ject to our volitions. The moment I determine to push m3/ investi- gation into any department of knowledge of which I am ignorant, that moment I summon my energies to the work. The moment testimony is presented to me. I call all my faculties to the examination of that testimony; and my volition is just as operative in my examination of testimony, as it is in my researches into any fivorite department of science. Such then is the argument wiiicii I have submitted to you as deduced from these premises. We may now naturally lead you as we proposed, to the direct eviderxes of the posilive tvnih of revelation, a duty which I hoped to l;ave been called to at the onset. j\Iy friend and 1 liavo been sailing in company so long, and have at last ai'tiveJ wh'jre we can brin^ our aiUl'-?-"'^'' to loar against each 14* iG2 DEBATi:. other. I have jiist now arrived at the point upon which I did suppose aU the merits of this controversy were to rest. But while speaking oa the incapacity of the human mind to originate ideas entirely new, 1 cannot pretermit this opportunity of illustrating a theory, common, I believe, to both christians and sceptics, by a reference to my friend's proceedings. We have, then, asserted that the human faculties have not the power of originating any thing new, and Mr. Owen's social theor>' corroborates the assertion. I would, therefore, ask Mr. Owen to answer this question. Did he, or did he not, some forty years ago, originate this theory from his own observation of human nature; or was it not suggested to him by the circumstances which christi- anity threw around him in Scotland? That his theory originated in the religious circumstances at that time existing in Lanark, we have good reason to believe. It was the christian benevolence of Mr. Dale which prompted him to invent a plan for the education of the children of the poor. By instituting a system of co-operation, Mr. Dale was enabled to sustain five hundred poor children at one time, who were collected in the manufactories, which he controlled, and were there maintained and educated by his philanthropy. And to these circum- stances, instituted by Mr. Dale, is Mr. Owen indebted for the origina- tion of his new views of society. And this is another proof that we can only acquire the knowledge of new things from things already known. We come now, in the regular prosecution of this subject, to the consideration of an innate power in human nature. I do not know that I am able to designate this power by its appropriate name; but tlirrc is a native, inherent power in human nature of believing upon testimony. This power is sometimes called credulity., which is ag luhcrcnt in the infant mind as any other faculty. Now, upon this • •rcduiity, are predicated all systems of instruction. Were it not for 15 170 DEBATE. ordinary cases; but to facts encrusted with the venerable rust of anti- quity— a rust which has been accumulating for four thousand years — the application of the ordinary criteria of more recent facts would be Tutilc. The desideratitm is to establish certain criteria which will satisfac torily demonstrate that facts reported to have occurred four thousand years ago are true. And tliese criteria I now propose to present to you — not the criteria of foots which oocurred yesterday, or to-day; but of facts which transpired four thousand years ago. These criteria, then, are resolvable into four particulars. (And, by the way, we vrish any defect or imperfection in these criteria to be designated by any person who can discover it.) First, then, Ave allege, that, in order to judge with certainty of the truth of facts which occurred so long ago, the facts reported must have been what we call sensible facts ; •such as the eyes of the spectators and aJl their other senses might take cognizance of Secondly, that these sensible alleged tacts were ■exhibited with every imaginable pw&Zzc and popular attestation, and open to the severest scrutiny which their extraordinary character might induce. The facts we are now testing by these two criteria, M'ei-e, 1 affirm, in the tirst place, sensible facts; and secondly, they were exhibited under circumstances of extraordinary jmblicity. — Thirdly, that there have been certain momumental and commemoi-a- live institutions, continuing from that time to the present, as a per- petual attestation of these facts — that each of these observances was instituted in pcrpetuam memoriam rei. Fourthly, that these jnonumental proofs existed simultaneously with the transpiration of the lacts which they are intended to perpetuate — that they continue in existence up to the present hour : — 1. The facts relied upon were sensible facts. "2. They were facts of remarkable notoriety. 3. There now exist standing monuments in perpetual commemora tion of these facts. Lastly, These commemorative attestations have continued from the very period in which the facts transpired, up to the present time. The facts on which we rely have all these four criteria. I am willing to submit them to all the tests which can be applied to any other re- corded facts of antiquity. And 1 repeat, with a confidence that fears no refutation, that no fact accompanied with these four criteria, ever v/as proved to be false. Nay, we will demonstrate that no fact which can abide ihese criteria can he false. Let us nov/ come to the prominent facts on which the Jewish religion was first predicated. 1st. I have stated that six hundred thousand men are said to have walked through the lied Sea as over dry land, in consequence of Moses' rod being extended over it ; they are said to have stood still upon the oppoi^ite shore, whilst the Egyp- tians their pursuers were drowned by the returning of the waters. The question is, Was this a sensible fact? Wo will say notliing at present concerning the ten plagues ot Egypt, but will now advert to •.mother fict intimatclv cor^ncc'cd '*vi*h this ?u]>irct. On th'" night DEBATE. 171 •immediately precedinjr the departure of the chiWren of Israel out of the land of E^vpt, it' became necessary, before the hard heart of Pharaoh would^'relent SQ far as to let these people go, to send forth a destroying angel, bv whom the first-born of the la;id vv'ere slain . This was, inost certainly, a sensible fact, of such paramount and engross- ing ifiicrest as to arouse every sense, and call forth every faculty in -es tells them on the very night preceding- their departure from tho land of Egypt, to take a lamb, to be called DEIJA'J'L'. ihe P.iHchfil Lninb, aua to dress and cut i( in a pccnluir uinnriTC/l, This R'sJival w;is to be observed on tliiit niglif, und under circunv i>tanccs cnloulatod on every return of its :innivcrs:iry, to excite the roco!I('Cti<»ns and Ihc ferlini^s of the Jcwisli nation. He tells them that they must, on every anniversary ot'lliis fostival, eat the pissovcr with a 'strict ubservaure of all rites and circumstances; that they must eat with their loins girded, and. TJiis feast was instituted on that memorable night, and has continued unchanged down to the present periuil. But this is only an item of the monumen- tal evidences of historic truth pervading the singular annals of this most intonating people. This signal deliv(;ranco from the house of bondage, is commemorated by institutions attended with such peculiar ndjuncts as entwine tlaMnselves round the hearts of men — tuljuncts, which, in the very act of cimimcmorating, call into exercise all the feelings incident to human nature. Of this character is the institution which devotes the first born of the land to the Lord. The Jews were not permitted to consider their first-horn as their 'own, but as belonging to the Lord, as given to him in memory of their redcmptioti from the house of bondage. It is now not simply the passover which commemorates the fact of deliveranco from the hind of Egypt; liui this separation and appropriatij)n of the first-born of the land to the I/ord, perpetuates the fact. This devotion of the first-born to the Lord, is calculated in its nature to engross the whole heart f>f man. Men are not to be ])ersuad(;d to part with their children, or their substance, except by tht^ most cogent reasons. Those people, proverbially avaricious, not only observed the passover, but resigned all pro|x^rty in the first-born of the land to the Lord. In process of time, when the nation was brought into a state of municipal order, and under a national covenant, it was then so ordered that one tribe was selected to be given t(» the liord in lieu of the first-born. And here we see the whole nation agn^eing to support that tribe for ever, 'i'iiis sidcction was made from the tribe of Levi. To superficial ob- .•■Vrvcrs tho ingenuity displa^ed in the erection of this monument in perpetuation of the memory of a leading fact i:i .Jewish history, may not appear; but it is a monumental institution, eminently calculated ia its nature, to keep the recollection of the fu't which it commemo- nites fresh and vivid in the hearts and minds of the Israelites. Tho whole number at that time of the first born of the whole twelve tribes, was, twenty-two thovisand two hundred and seventy-three. Moses was commanded to calculate the number of tho tribe of Levi, which was twenty-two thousand. The whole tribe of Levi was taken head lor head ; and tho two hundred and seventy-three of the first-born, over and above, were rede.(Mned at five shekels per head. Observe the f;xa«"titiide and particularity of this arrangemtMit. First, the institu- tion of live passover — nvxt, the segregation of the first-born of th<» land DEBATE. 173 ns the Lord's ; and after this an arr.ingcmont to appropriate the \vliole tribe of Levi — two h'lndrcd and sovcnty-threc lacking in number were to be rcdecmijd at one hundred oboU a-piecc. Thus the avarice, the gratitndo, and every other passion of the Jewish nation, were made to co-operate in attestation and pcrpetua tion of this leading fact. Here we may remark, that as these sensiblo demonstrations, and the very manner of their exhibition, exclude the possibility of im])osition upon the minds and senses of the tirst actors and original witnesses of these facts; so the mV^r/a of these monumen- tal and commemorative facts equally preclude the possibility of impo- sition upon tis. Let »is dwell for a moment upon the influence of this commemorative institution of the passover, and the conventional scgnjgation of an entire tribe to be supported for ever by the great body of the people — a tribe who were to have cities built for them — who were made pro[)rietors of all the circumjacent lands, and who were exonerated by the new snt-j-il compact of the nation from all personal care and anxiety concerning their own support. The tribe of Levi, and all their personal property, were segregated to the service of the Lord. This was a concession demanded of this people as a con- dition precedent to their enjoyment of the new national covenant. And thus has divine wisdom perpetuated a standing monument in commemoration of tlie miracles of Moses. To bring this matter home to every man's business and bosom, I would ask all of you if it would be possible to induce yon to sanctify and segregate one child of your family, or one lambof your told, or to celebrate a certain annua! festival in commemoration of a fact which never occurred? Does the widest range of human experience v/arrant the supposition that any people, under any circumstances, could be induced to do this? We are uow to try this matter by the tests of reason, and to examine whether it were possible, in the first instance, to fabricate these monu- mental evidences. Let us ask ourselves seriously if any nation under heaven could be induced to celebrate a solemn annual festival in commemoration of a false fact — a fact which never did occur? Could all the magi, sorcerers, and wonder-mongers of eastern antiquity, if Ihey were now alive, compel the North American nation to observe the first day of January in commemoration of their declanition of inde- pendence, when the w hole nation knew that its anniversary was the fourth day of July? To suppose such an absurdity as this — to admit lor a moment the possibility of such a national extravagance — is to .suppose men to be very differently constituted now-a-days from what kail tbrmer experience has ever demonstrattjd them to be. If these mighty miracles of Moses had been performed in a dark corner of the earth, in the prosenceof only a few wandering tribes^ or of a rude, unkittered nation, without records, some sceptical scruples might arise in our minds. Rut the Most High has so contrived it as to leave no mom Cor p ny cavil of this nature. These facts transpired in an age when the human fiiculties were highly cultivated — M )ses liimself was brought up in all the learning Ot'thc Egyptians — a nation at that period pre-eminently distinguislie*^ 15^- m DESATfi. sbr scientific acquirements. Who is not acquainted with the scientific leputation of ancient Egypt? Who has not heard of her proficiency m the art^■, particukirly in the art of embalming, of which we are ignc rant? Standing monvmients of the scientific attainments and luxu- rious refinement of this people abound at the present day. From their own annals it appears that they were quite as sceptical as tho people of the present day. Here I will take occasion to remark that the focts on which the Jewish and Christian religions have been pre- dicated, have been wisely arranged so as to transpire in the presence of nations as bold, daring, politic, ambitious, and intelligent as our- selves. We are wont to think slightly, ai>d to speak disparagingly of the intellectual powers of the ancients. But there were a great many hi'dily polished and severely disciplined minds amongst them. And it was in the presence of such a people, shrewd, keen, and sceptical — in tiieir metropolis, within the precincts of the court, in the face of kiner the mental collisions which I have encountered with the iirst minds in Europe and America, I should feel ashamed seriously to attempt any opposi- tion to such monstrous absurdities — such a ridiculous incongruity. But I know that we are beings so organized as to receive our early impressions, however absurd they rnay be. Wc are compelled -by an unchanging law of our nature, to receive our ea' ly impressions, how- ever monstrous and absurd, from our parents, our nurses, and oth.er ilily of my opponent to disprove them. 1st. That Jesus Christ was crucified upon Blount Calvarj.', as attested by the four Evangelists. 2d. That DEBATE. isi. his bod)' was deposited in the tomb of Joscpii of Arimathea. And 3dly. That he did actually rise from the dead, and appeared upon the earth for forty days, having during that time repeated intercourse with h'a disciples, andJiiijt at the end of that period he did actually ascend to heaven. Now this* tender closes every avonua to the introduction of metaphysical subtlety, or mere opinions about Christianity into this argument. I am thoroughly convinced that it was the simple, sub- lime, and majestic design of him "whose ways are not as man's ways,-' to efteet an entire moral revolution in mankind by the simple opera tion of tire intrinsic weight, validity, and moral energy of these fact?. I am thoroughly convinced that all the principles necessary to make man happy, and clevatehis nature to its highest point of dignity, and to enable him to meet death fearlessly, are native to, inherent in, and inalienable fron), tiiesc facts — I mean the facts that Jesus Christ was crucified, buried, and that he rose again on the third day. The influence of these facts is irresistible. No man over did honestly believe tl.em who did not in consequence thereof experience that all his powers and faculties were e."alted and refused. And thus, in the wonderful wisdom of God, has the whole moral and religious revolution Avhich he designed to effect over the world, been predicated upon the opera- tive moral energy of these facts. Mr. Owen speaks of the endless varieties of religion; but the world has never had but three divine religious dispensation? : the first adapt- ed lo the primitive state of man — the second adapted to the spirit and genius of a people living under social and municipal institutions, and prophetic and typical of the advent of Christ,, the Son of God and the founder of chrlsiianity . And these three divine developements of religion all concentrate themselves upon the fact that Jesus rose from the dead, ascended to heaven, and was there received as the Son of God. VVe do know that all the superstitions in the world have grown out of these three developements of divine authority in matters of religion. What is Mahometanism but a corruption of Christianity ? I would not call the Persian, the Roman, nor the Egyptian religions, different religions, l3ut different sects of the same religion, just as I would call Mahometanism a corruption of Christianity. There is not a single supernatural truth in the Koran, that is not borrowed from the Testaments. Whatever may have been invented by the licenti- ousness of human imagination, there never*has been but one divinely revealed religion. Hence in all these superstitions we find capital ideas, sentiments, and terms which could not have been originated by human imagination, or derived from anv other source than an im- mediate and direct divine revelation. We can show that all the national records which have come down to us from times of the highest antiquity, embrace the outlines of the Mosaic account in the book of Gene.n,''. We can show that, in the days of Abraham, with the exception of the Chaldeans, there was not a circumjacent nation that had not all the knowledge possessed by Abraham, save with regard to his own posterity. It was in consequence of the defection of the Chaldeans that Abraham was commanded to depart into e 16^= 1?6 DEBATE. Rtran^e land, because that people were apostatizing and falling off ject before us, I cannot perceive, unless, indeed, Mr. Owen's experience is to be received as tantamount to incontrovertible proof. But mv opponent, numerous as his assertions are, advances nothing tangible; he avers, indeed, that he has no attachment to metaphysics; (hat hn contemns metaphysical speculations ; and seems plainly to insintiato that I wished either in whole or in part to predicate my defence tsf Christianity upon hair-breadth metaphysical subtleties. Now I con- fidently appeal to every individual in this assembly, whether my principal, my sole aim, has not been to disentangle the evidences of Christianity^ and every point connect<'d with tliis controversy, from what was m3taphysical or abstract. In the course of this discussion have I n«t tendered an issue to my opponent upon several points? So vague and indefinite is my opponent in the use of his terms tlir.t I do not even know what he means by the word fact. [Here Mr. Oirc.i defines a fact to he that which cxis'ts.] Well, now, we have my friend's definition of the word fact; he tells us a fact is that which exists; but I apprehend that no philologist will assent to this definition C'f the word. At this time my opponent relies upon twelve facts, which are to subvert all other historic facts and evidences, in the world . These twelve facts, then, must be more puissant than Aaron'.- rod; than the ten categories of Aristotle; than the twelve tables of the Dccem-riri; than the precepts of the decalogue; or any code of laws or system of legislation ever invented. For, by these twelve facts, eveiy religious impression is to be obliterated; every religiour- idea is to be annihilated. Upon these twelve facts are predicated an entirely new theory of man, and a universal ra^ral renovation. Some- times these are twelve divine laws of human nature; sometimes twelve logical propositions to he demonstrated; and then twelve facts more potent than the rod of Moses. But out of all these twelve wonderfi! facts, where is the tangible fact before us? We have been told tluit a fact is that which exists; but a stone exists, and so does a tree, an idea, an opinion. But can we logically say that an opinion is a mas- ter of fact? Definitions of this characlcr are to be fousd in the \\ ri- tings of the commentators upon the Justinian code; definitions which serve no other purpose but to obscure the text. We must have a more logical definition than this: afact is that ichick exists. Stone?, to-ees, and opinions exist, and are all these alike to be considered a« mattersjof fact ? But my friend has conceived twelve imaginations^- he has had twelve pretty dreams about human nature; and on thes« he has ventured to predicate every thing necessary to the happiness of man. Now suppose Mr. Owen should attempt to prove that there never was such a man as General Washington, and n© such historic ■fact as the American Revolution, and no such manumental commem- orative institution as the annual celebration of the fourth of July; that there never existed an Emperor Augustus, or an Emperor Napo- leon; suppose, I repeat, tliat he should undertake to provg that Wa=h-.. 17 1^4 DEBA'i'E. ino-ton, the Hither of his country, the great moral hero, never existed, an^l that the United States have never been emancipated from the thraldom of the parent country; it would, I contend, be just as logi- cal as pertinent, and as rational in Mr. Owen to adduce these twelve facts in evidence that all these matters of history were mere fictions and fiibles, as to attempt to prove by the adduction of his twelve laws of human nature, that the facts on which religion is predicated, never had existence. There ajjpears to me to be just as much logic, rea- son, and good sense, in the one process of demonstration as in the other. . , . ,. . , All mv anticipations have, in the course of this discussion, laeen entirely 'disappointed. I did expect to have matters of fact plainly, nationally, and logically presented. I did expect to witness^ a power- ful display of that reason which sceptics so much adore. Now judge of my mortification in finding nothing presented tome but intangible verbiage; in discovering tliat rny friend uses terms and phrases in a sense entirely at variance with their received interpretation and com- mon acceptation; in a sense irreconcilcable to what we call the com- mon sense of mankind. 1 see plainly that there is nothing left for jne but to proceed to avail myBelf of this opportunity of presenting the true grounds and solid reasons on which we christians build our lailh, Christianity is universally represented to be matter of belief — and I elief always requires testimony. Now, the question is, whether the christian heliefis rationaU Christianity does not pretend to be a treatise on ciiemistry"^, or botany, or mathematics ; but it makes a demand upon our faith; and is,simply, belief predicated upon testimony. All that it requires is, to examine its evidences ; and the principal end and aim proposed in this discussion to which the public has been invited, was an examination into the evidences of christiai}ity . It is conceded that our religion is built upon faith, and therefore all that can be legitimately inquired into, on this topic, is, whether this is a faith which a man, in possession of his intellectual powers, and his five senses, can rationally entertain; whether a man of a sound mind can reasonably be a christian. I presume this to be the true pridicament of this discussion in its present stage. The question is, Whether to be christians we must become dreaming enthusiasts, and the mere creatures of wild imagination? or, on the other hand. Can we be christians on rational evidence and irrefutable testimony? I think I should be almost willing to leave it to a jury of twelve scep- tics to decide whether or not tiiis is the legitimate question to be dis- cussed here. The question before us is, whether or not testimony on which Christianity is built, is of a character to carry conviction to rational miuds; if so, Gxery rational man must believe Christianity; if otherwise, he must reject it. I maintain that there is no otlier question at j)resont before us, Nov/, in the }trosecution of this inqui- ry, I have laid myself fairly open to the detection of any fallacy into which I may chance to fall, I have invited any gentleman \\\\o may be in niss.session. of any historic^ phijosophic, or logical objection, to DKBATE. Ic5 my arganr.r.Uo addL-ceit either orally or in vrriiing; and I now rc-iier- •''te the pledge to meet fairly, every fair and logical, oV.jccli; n. I con- tend that I now stand upon the proper ground. I am not afraid thcit jf all the lights of science were radiated upon cliristianity, that any fallacy could bo detected; but I contend this is no scientific question ?br scientific men to differ and speculate upon. I contend that ths Jegitimate grounds on which Christianity is to be founded, are those "^vhich have been stated. We yesterday progressed so far in the ar- gument introduco<\ as to inquire at you, if there were an individual among you who could be induced to set apart one hour of his time, Or one lamb of his flock, or to plant a singio straw in the ground, in perpetual commemoration of a fact wliich never did occur. I will vsnturc to assert Ihat if the people of Cincinnati were t;) erect twelve stone pillars upon the bank of thr; Ohi->, commemorative of the fact that the first founders of this city passed over the refluent watni-s of the Ohio, as over ilry land; took ]!Gssession of this cile, and hcTC located themselves permanently; Isay, \hc^Q twelve stones crccN cd in perpetual attestation of this supposed matter of fact would net he permitted to stand for one year. Such Tuonumeu's would shock rhe common sense of little boys, and they would prostrate them, I do not believe they could keep their monuments standing even a ein- g\o day. Bi!t there is a tjation now existing, which derives its origin from a period of more remote antiquity than that in A\hich the foun- dation of the Cha'dean, the Mode-Persian, the Grecian, Roman, or any other empire of antiquity was laid. Evejy living vestige of these once great and mighty empires of antiquity hns disappeared; ami there does not cow exist the man who can trace up his lineage to any Greek or Roman progenitors, nofwithstandir.g the ample iiieans possessed by these nations oi''perpet'.:atipg the jncmory of their nati-, nal existence and grandeur. But the Jcvrish nation is still in existence, and we see them stiU holding fast their venerable Oi'acIc«, which were delivered to ther: four tliousand years ago. and able to trace up their ancestrj^ to old Abraham and Ssarah. Wc discover t'lem still devotedly attache J to a religion so admirably contrived tliat it does not contain a type nor a symbol which was not desigi^ed for its perpetuation, and wliich does not prove it to be divine. The Jewish is, indeed, a nation sul genrri.?, the only nation v/e know of, whose records are coetaneous with their primitive origin. These records were most solemnly deposited in that sacred chest, under the cherubim of glory, which none but the consecrated high priest dare approach. In this sacred chest were deposited the two tables of the covenant in the hand-writing of Jehovah. These records not only con- stituted all the religion of the country, but the whole of the civil and municipal polity of their repository was that sacred chest, v/hich v.as awful and terrible, and calculated to inspire reverence in the minds of the men and women who had witnessed every important fact thfit was therein inserted; persons who had witnessed two millions of their countrymen passing through the dry channel of the Red Sea; who 196 UEBATB. had heard the vuicc of God and the sound of the trumpet; who had seen two millions sustained in the wilderness for forty years by a miracle; who had witnessed the miraculous passage over the Jordan. These were facts which caused the hearts of the natives to quake be- fore the army of the Israelites, so that they gave up their possessions U) them alnwst without resistance. The annals of this nation, coe- taneous with their existence, have been wonderfully preserved ; their religion alon* has preserved these rteords. Moreover the Jews have teen made to hold these oracles in such a manner a.3 to preclude fhe possibility of any collusion between them and Christianity. Never woh there such a eltmax of evidence presented. I am now booking back lour thousand years; and am showing that from the re- motest periods of antioj.uty there never has existed the pcsgibility of imposition in regard to these facts; in proof of this, I contend thjit it is impossible to impose upon any people the solemn and perpetual ob.- aervance of an iastitUition commemorative of a circumstance that never did occur, I defy iMr. Owen to produee the instance on record which goes to refute this position; or the historic fact possessing the four criteria which can be proved to be false,'* But all the evidences ••ire not yet before you, Wltat is the philosophic character of this religioa? Previously to ijio patriarciwi revelation--, it is presuiiiable that there was not in the whole vocabuiary of human speech terms expressive of the character and purposes of God ov of ?}jiritual ideas. In revealing religion to man it became necessary to give him also a now vocabulary, Thi^ was executed, as we teach children by signs, the arts of reading and writing. We will take our illustration from the philosophy of a ciiild's primer book. There we fmd the picture of a house, a tree» lamb, &c, &c. Now what does this moan? Is it intended merely to amuse the child? No: it is predicated upon the philosophy of his nature — upon the supposition that the infant, in order to associate ideari, must have the aid of sensible character-p. There is much philosophy implied in (he invention of a childls primer. The idea oi a house is prcsoutcd to the child in a diagram of an inch square, •Ml'. Dennlson of Cincinnati, a learned and intelligent teaclier of the christian religion, gave me the following statement — "A sceptical gentleman, in Scot- land, spent twenty years in scrutinizing the history of all nations and all reli- gions, to obtain tlie knowledge of facts, or miracles, which might be tested by the same criteria by wliich the advocates of Christianity test the facts adduced to sustain the credibility of the scriptures composmg tlie Old and New Testa- ments, lie imagined that he could subvert the whole system of Christianity, by sliowing (hat the fictitious miracles, alleged by the Pagans, Mahometans and others, to have heen performed in attestation of the truth of religions ac- Icnowlcdged Ijy christians to be false, are as well entitled to credence as those facts on which tiie truth of the christian religion is predicated. lUit his labori- ous researches and investigations, during this long period, resulted in an inge- nious confession of Ills totul inability to accomplish his design, in a complete assurance of the truth and divine origin of the christian religion, and in a pub- he profession of fuith in Christ. Such is the force of truth on minds not T.tirely blinded by prejudice, tbcorv, or preconceived opinions." DEBATE. U)7' iT^has the child discovers tliat a house can be represented artificially in so small a compass ; and thus the way is prepared for introducing into its mind the use of literal characters; the letter A being as per- fectly artificial as the picture of a house. In this way a child is taught to discriminate the elementary artificial charactei-s of written language, and then we teach it tlie influence of these characters in combination. 'I'he introduction of the pictured primer book was pre- dicated upon such views of the philosopliy of the infant mind. And what was the picture presented by tlie Almighty in the gradual de- velopement of those oracles of which the Jewish nation was designed to be the repository? It was an altar — then a lamb — and then a Mediator. Tiio whole was developed by pictures and symbols. What were the altar, sacrifice, lamb, ancl priest, but so many pictures presented to the mind ? It was therefore necessary that God should proceed on this plan, and teach this people a new language, different: from that in which Adam was instructed. It now became necessary that a language of symbols should be adopted ; and for this purpose God presented these pictures to their minds. Hence a house was ei-ected and filled with these symbols. There was not a pin in that house, nor any article of furniture, nor any garment, na}', not a loon, or a button, that was not prefigured to Moses on Mount Sinai — and all exhibited to hin\,as FsluI snys, as paftcrns of things in the heaven?. These their religion taught them to regard with the deepest rever- ence. But the Jews did not understand the import of the svmbols Vv'hich they thus reverenced; and this proves tlie absence of all fraud and collusion. If they had understood the meaning of these symbols and could have reasoned clearly from them to the things symbolized, there might be some ground to suspect collusion. But the striking fact is, that the nation which built the temple did not understand the symbols which it contained; and nothing could open their under- .«tandings to the apprehension of their import until one stood in that temple and took the veil which separated the visible from the invisible, and rent it in twain; showing them afterwards what Moses and the. prophets did mean. If sceptics understood this, they could no longer doubt the truth of Christianity. All plausible objections I am willing to examine; but those reasonings and speculations of Mr. Owen upon the social system are no more objections to the truth of Christianity than are the Allegany protuberances to the theory of the earth's sphericity. They are objections analogous in character to those of the old woman who would not believe in the revolutions of our planet because she never yet saw her garden round «io the front of the house. There can be no substantial argument urged against the verity of these stupendous facts recorded in the annals of God's chosen people. Tiie existing observance of the Jewish Sabbath is of itself sufiicient to silence all cavillers, and to convince every man capable of appre- ciating the weight of historic evidence, that there could not have been fraud, or collusion, or imposition, in the recorded facts concerning the origin and religion of this nation. This evidence, in my estima- iion, is iavosted wilh a solemn dignity, and 1 often regard' it as the 17* 198 DEBATE focus into which all the divine light of revcly-tion is concentrated Every part of the record conveys tc^my mind irresistible evidence that Moses was commissioned by God, and that the Jewish religion is a divine revelation. Mr. Owen rises. My Friends — You spe these two books which I hold in my hands; here is one, and here is the other; do these two books added together make three books or two? Now do you suppose that if, after such demonstration as this, I were to preach to you for many years, I could ever succeed in convincing you that one added to one made^ three? Now this is a fair illustration of the difference between J\Ir. Camp- bell's arguments and my own. I place most distinctly and palpably before you the fact that one and one make two — Mr. Campbell, in conformity with his early impressions, is exerting all his rhetoric to persuade you to believe that one and one make throe; and this errone- ous belief was forced into his mind by his early training and subsequent education — he could not avoid receiving it, and how can he help retaining it. lie has truly, therefore, been usiiig great ingenuity in attempts to convince you that facts are not (acts, as we see them ; but that one and one make three. Let us, however, my friends, try and get back to the investigation of facts, fir these alone can give us real knowledge. We will there- iltre proceed to the investigation of the sixth law of otir nature, which is one of those divine laws that we are now to analyze, and which is moreover one of those stumbling blocks, one of those diffi- culties whicli 5Ir. Cnmpbell cannot get over; one of those things v/hich he calls intifngiblc, becau,sc he can make no impression upon bhem. This sixth law is, '"That eac!i individual is so created, that he must believe according to the strongo:-;t imprcjssions that can be made upon his feelings, and other faculties, while his belief, in no case, depends upon his will.*' Now Mr. Campbell has very justly told you that reli- gion is predicated entirely u[)on faith, and thus we come in direct *;ontact with each other. We cannot escape direct collision. When I once have occular proof that one and one make two, there is no power on earth that can convince me they make three. After our occular sense has become fully possessed of tlie truth of this simple fact, w-e may go farther, and say, that if all the divines and all the religions in the v.^orld were to say that one and one make three, Me would find it impossible so far to control our will as to believe it. Now when I know tjiat I liave not one particle of power over my Velief; that what I shall be compelled to believe has never, in tho slightest degree, depended upon my will, how is it possible for me to Relieve that the being who formed me and created my nature, and subjected it to the resistless inflieace of this sixth law, can even attribute cither merit or demerit to any belief whatever? I could bring this discussion just now to a very sh- rt point, l)ut I think it wf-uld be a pity to have it closed so soon. Now the question is reallv DEBATE. 1(T0 iTiis, Have we tlie power to believe or disbelieve at our will, or not ? Jf we have not the power to believe or disbelieve at our will, thert surely all religions are false and originate in ignorance. Now if we have the power to will as we plea3e, and if we have the power to believe at will, should Mr. Campbell, to whom we arc all already so much indebted, only Ijave the kindness, in addition to hiy former good oflices, to believe for five minutes that the whole of christionity is false, then 1 will admit that we have the power to believe at will If Mr. Campbell, with all the energy of will which he can con; niand, will only ibrce himself to believe for five minutes that cluis tianity is a fable and a falsehood, I will give up the contest, and admit that I have not proved my point. But, perhaps, this would be tasking his feelings and prejudices too severely; and therefore we will only ask him to be so kind as to believe just for a quarter of an hour that Mahomet was a true prophet sent of God. But all jesting apart. Whenever we shall rightly understand this subject, and shall know what manner of beings we are, we shall dis- cover that the question of religion or no religion depends entirely upon our power of belief or disbelief. It is not a metn physical ques- tion. Any one can ascertain the real meritsof it tor himself. If we have the power of changing our belief at pleasure it is possible that religion may be true; but if the Christian, like the Mahometan, is compdUd to believe in his district religion, then religion must be false, and the first gleam of right reason which we shall acquire will show us the extent of the errors in which, on these subjects, the world has been involved. I am willing to rest the merits of the whole controversy upon this single affirmative proposition, "That no human being ever had the power of belief or disbelief at his will, and therefore there cannot bo merit nor demerit in any belief." This is now- the isolated point cf controversy between me and my opponent. This is the real battle ground, and the only arena in which my friend and myself can engage in combat. Every discussion irrelevant to this point is a mere vain and useless multiplication of words to amuse our fancy, to darken our understanding, and to waste our time. If any one in this assembly w ill come forward and adduce any fact to prove tliat you can at all change your beiicf. some system of reli- gion or other may be true — But if you cannot adduce a fact of thia character, your belief in religion proves you to be in the grossest darkness. Until you can trace the consequence which the acquisition of self-knowledge leads to, vou can know nothing with regard to youvselvep. Do you suppose that this self-knowledge w ill be injuri- ous to you? No, my friends, ^'■Kiwu- HiyseJf.'''* \vas the most heavenly precept the world has ever heard. It is the foundation, and the only possible foundation lor a pure and genuine charity. Tell me another source from whence true charity can be derived. Where el^o will you look for the principles of a charity that "thinkelh no evi! ;" that finds an immediate, rational, and consolatory excuse forlhecpicicns, manners, habit?, and ccndact, af all men, without one exceptio;*. ^^00 DEBATE. If, therefore, you want to possess that which is truly divine, get ihis charity — ^a charity so pure that wa&r you are trained in the full- knowledge of it, no motive to crime wul exist; no feciing of anger, irritation, or ill will on the part of any human being towards any other of his race. When we shall be trained in a full knowledge of the principles in which this beneficial, this admirable charity is founded, we shail, in conseriuence, have rational countenances, and not until then. Owing to the lamentably mistaken manner in which we have been trained, we are now tilled with anger, and oftentimes with malevolent feelings against those who have been taught to ditfer from us in sentiment. ' What have I a'>t heard the world unjustly say of me and of the motives v.hich govern my conduct? But having had the knowledge of those principles given to me, on which alone true charity can ever be fiiuided, I have listened to all these things as I would to words u])on any other subject. I cannot, except for a moment, be angry with those who misconceive, misrepresent, or revile me; knowing that all these things proceed from an organization, and local circumstances acting upon it, which create irrational pre- judices. Where, therefore, is the rational pretext for being angry ? From whence, then, under any circumstances, can arise the rational pretext, after considei-ation, for being angry or displeased with any of our fellow beings? They are coerced by a law which they cannot resist, to feel, to think, to act, ^n\\ to hclicve, independently of their volitions. These, my friends, are some of the practical results which I have experienced and enjoyed as the natural fruits of a knowledge of these divine laws of nature. The charity emanating directly from this knowledge has given me a patience, an equanimity, and a self-pos- session, under a concurrence of trying circumstances that I am con- vinced no knov.'ledge derived from any religious considerations could Jiave implanted within me. Therefore, my friends, do not suppose that there is any thing pernicious in infidelity, so called ; for you may rest assured that the only practical moral or intellectual motives capable of producing important and permanent ameliorations in soci- ety, must be derived from what you have been taught to call Infidelity — but most arbitrarily and irrationally taught. Not, my friends, tliat infidels of modern times are much better than other folks, but the christian shoe has been unriveted from their minds, and thus tliey become so circumstanced as to stand some chance of arriving at the knowledge of the truth: whilst the true believes, on whose minds the shoe still remains fast riveted, are compelled to admit into them many errors which give a false and injurious direction to their best ieelings, while their noblest power, their faculty of judgment, is .suffered to lie latent, torpid, buried, or misguided. My friends, would we not be better and happier beings if we could remove far from us all anger and irritation? — and what can Ao this so ellbctually as the conviction that those who act in tlie most direct opposition to our notions of right, arc not the objects of blame, but of our charity, 9ar sincerest pity aud com passion I To me the pres.:;ut appearsa DEBATE. 201 Uio^s-t singular era. The annals of the wcfrld do not afford a parallel to- the asscml)ly this day congregated in this place. Before me are hundreds collected together from various quarters of the vorld, who have all been trained in notions peculiar to themselves ; and yet they sfit here quietly and decorously to hear discussed doctrines in direct hostility to all their early-taught religious prejudices and opinions. This is the first time such a thing has occurred in the annal? of history. h" I had attempted fifty years ago to have addressed a popular assem- bly in the style that, prompted by a love of (ruth and by the deep interest [ feel in promoting the happiness of my species, I have ventured to do on this occasion, it is most probable I should have been torn to pieces; and yet I just as much deserve to be torn i6 pieces to-day for speaking the truth v,'ithout fear or favor as tjfty years ago. The ignorance and bigotry of our ancestors were so gross that if any individual had come forward with thfi purest and most philanthropic motives to promulgate the truths which you have he»rd from rae in this place, he would most certiindy have been burnt alive or torn to pieces. The advance of the human mind in certain branches of real knowledge since that period, has produced this difterence of feelings and convinces me that we are appro.ximating to a gretitly improved p.^riod of human existence, call it, if you please, the Millenniui». What I mean to state is, that our minds are in a rapidly progressive state of preparation for the admission, discussion, comparison, analy- sis, -ani thorough comprehension of simple facts, a knowledge cf which can alone produce intelligence, virtue, good feelings and sin- cere aflection among mankind. Indeed, I see very plainly every step of the j)ractice by which this state of general happiness is to b« attained. And the first preparatory step is that all men should be disabused of the errors implanted by their early l«cal circumstances and instruction, in order that their knowledge should be all founded in facts, and not derived, as now, from the imaginations of o\ir ignorant ancestors who were without the valuable experience acquired since their day. If I could so far impress upon the people of Ciacin- atti the value of the knowledge to be derived from the twelve funda- mental principles of human nature, derived from daily existing facts, as to give' them a sufficient degree of interest to examine whether they are true or false; my conviction is that a large majority, if not the whole papulation, would be convinced that they are true. It would not then be difiicult to direct to the means by which you might all become virtuous, intelligent, independent and happy. I do not pay that this change could be effected in you to the same extent that your adoption of 'Tiese laws in practice wmjld enable you to effect in your children. Tfie latter would have so little comparatively to nn- icarn in habit, and to unassociate in their minds, that they would soon exhibit to you a state of human happiness and enjcyment of which it has never enteretl into the heart of man to conceive — and this happi- ness of theirs, after a short time, would be so strongly reflected back upon yourselves, that a largo in-^reaso -^^(^ happiness would accrue to yov. jNfy friends, tins is no chimera existing only in my imagine.- •202 DEBATE. ?ion. No! I have seen with my own eyes this beautiful effect prov duced upon a whole population. I have seen the children of some of the most ignorant and deformed in their habits and conduct more amiable, interesting, and happy, than the most sanguine could antici- pate under the other injurious circumstances in which they were placed, and have seen that happiness and the influence of the superior characters whicli were formed /or these children, most strongly and most beneficially reflected back upon their parents. Mr. Campbell's next address. That my opponent labors under souk; sort of mental illusion is most apparent from his style of reasoning and argument. lie has held two books before your eyes, and asked you if he did not hold one m either hand, and whether one plus one equal three? Now, in the name of common sense, what bearing had this occular appeal upon the subject matter in contra\-ersy ? What is the extent of the mental hallucination exhibited by Mr. Owen? It seems to me to be of a character with that of the herbalist who would attempt to ascer* fain the specific gravity of his simples by the use of a yard stick; or Hke that of the vintner who should attempt to a.-'certain the number of cubic inches in one of his casks by the use of pounds avoirdupois^ Of such a character is the illusion which perverts Mr. Owen's un^ derstanding. Is it an arithmetical question that we have before us? Or are we to test the verity of Jiistoric facts by the use of matliema- «ical demonstrations? Have we uttered any thing so absurd as the proposition that one book plus one book equal three books ? But what was the argument to which my opponent alluded, as involving this absurdity? So far from attempting any refutation ol'our arguments, I cannot discover that he makes the slightest allusion to them in his discourses. He does not deny that all religion is built upon faith. Now, is this proposition as contrary to the evidence of our senses, as that these two books make three books? I repeat that all religion purjxtrts to be established upon testimony: and I ask again, Wherein is this proposition repugnant to reason? Wherein is it assimilated to tlie proposition that one book added to another mokes three books? Why this is equal ingenuity to the boy who tried to convince his father by his logic that the two ducks on the table made three; and after the old gentlemen had heard the demonstration, he said to the lad's mother, "Do you take one duck, and I will take the other, and Boh may have the third {or his logic!" I am v>'illing to concede to my opponent equal merit and reward f^>rhis logic; but 1 protest against it as altogether impertinent to tlie subject matter of this debate. In- deed, I apprehended from the confidence of my friend's manner, w hen be held up the two baiks, that he was about to npjdy some touchstone, or test, whereby I might be discomfited; but what was my surprize at only finding myself opposed by this same old sixth fiict! And what is the mighty import of this sixth law? It does not even purport to be any thing more than an assertion that oyr belief is independent of ous volition-i, DEBATE. 203 "But my opponent seems to imagine that his bare assertion of this Tact is sufficient to carry conviction to every mind. Mr. Owen has asked me to believe Christianity untrue for five minutes. Now look at the illusion here. The question is not, Are we able to disbelieve, or discard our pre- existing belief , from our minds at will? in order to see, it is as necessary to have rays cf light as the organs of vision. Now if my opponent had asked me to believe for a moment (hat the Sun was not now shining, and afterwards triumphed at the impossibility of the thing, what would it all amount to? Would it prove that the fact of seeing was in all cases independent of volition? But, I contend, that our volitions have as much control over the mental as the corporeal eye. I admit that frequently our eyesight is, perhaps, involuntarily exercised. But from these par- ticular premises, am I to argue to the general conclusion, that in no case whatever is my belief, or my vision, under the control of my volition. Have I not documented with proof that my belief in testi- mony is as much under the control of my \olition, as are my ac- quisitions in any department of science? I know, indeed, that if I am sitting in a room, and a person oi3ur belief is involuntary, and therefore all religions are untrue, as they prc-suppose our belief to be voluntary, or they are perfectly needless, and mean nothing. The next law is, that each individual is so created, *Note by the Reporter. — The harmonious genius of the Mantuan bard, has taught us in all the charms of his exquisite muse, the expectations of the Itoman world, upon this subject. A few years before the birth of Christ, vhigil sings of him like one inspired: "I'he last age (saith he) is at length arrived, predic- ted by the prophetess of Cums. The great order of ^gcs begins ,to circle anew; justice returns to the earth, and the peaceful reign of Saturn; and from heaven descends a new and divine offspring. He shall rule the tranquil world with his father's virtues. Soon the great months shall begin to roll on, and every vestige of our former crimes shall be effaced. Enter on thy mighty work, O Son of Supreme Jove, dear offspring of the gods." Late researches mto the antiquities of Judea, Persia, and China, show that the '^ime traditions and hopes existed in the most distant eastern nations. Vid? Asiatic researches, Indian antiquities. Piere Du Hold's hlsXvry cf China. DEBATE/ 20r that he mnst like that which is pleasant to him, or that which produces agreeable sensations on his individual organization; and he must dislike that which creates in him unpleasant or disagreeable sensa* tions; while h:» cannot discover, previous to experience, what those sensations shall be. A large portion of all the religions of which I know any thing, presuppose that man is so created that he can love or hate at pleasure. Now the lav/ of our nature is in direct conti-a- diction to this notion. There arc no individuals in this assembly who can like, be indiffiirent to, or dislike th-Cj for instance, by any eifort of the will in opposition to the impressions which all my proceedings kave already made upon them. They are obliged to receive exactly Ihe impressions wiiich my exterior, my manners, and my whole con- duct make upon their individual organizations; and whether they like, are indifferent to, or dislike me, I cannot in consequence blame ihem. And when this principle of human nature shall bo understood, it will be discovered to be of the highest practical importance — it will tend (concurrently with (he one immediately i^receding) to implant and to root principles of kindness and knowledge so deeply in the human heart and understanding, that we shall, indeed, have unlimited charity for the whole family of man. Then, instead, of being angry with our children when they have not afTection for us, we shall scru- tinize into the cause why they do not feel as much love as we wish them to entertain for us ; and we shall look for that cause in ourselves. Instead, therefore, of scolding our children, or of quarrelling with them, we shall devote our attention to self-examination, and be patient, calm, kind, and affectionate to thejn. This is another of those invaluable practical results v>hich will be produced by our obedience to these laws of our nature. Then, my friends, we shall cease to blame our children for their feelings, their thoughts, or their actions. On the contrary, we shall be taught to know that we have efficacious means of correcting the defects of our children, whether organic or superinduced upon their defective organization, and this without the slightest emotion of anger or irritation. And a know- ledge of these laws or principles will force the same rational practice from us to all the rest of our fellow-beings as well as to our offspring. There can be no error, no irrationality in any of our proceedings, when we understand these laws, and that knowledge will compel uS to act upon them. I have now, perhaps, proved sufficiently in detail, that all religions are founded in direct opposition to the facts which now exist, ever have existed, or can exist. I am, therefore, quite willing to rest this part of the subject upon what has now been presented to you to prove that all the religions of the world, in consequence of being altogether irreconcileable to the laws of human nature, are founded in the igno- rance of man. The next part of my duty is to demonstrate that these religions are the tnie and only source of all the vice and misery which have been experienced in the world. The latter clause of the pr.v position is so intimately connected, so inseparately interwoven with the former, that what proves the one must necessarily prove the othef. ':DS DKBATE. iVora the facts evhii.'ftea to you, it has "dccu (Icmonstyatcd that al* ^he reliiiionsof the woxHd arc directly opposed to the never-changing laws of~our nature, and tJmt which compels men to act unnaturally, .-nustbe a never-fai'inn; source of error, contradiction, vice, crime, and rnisen-. In the nature of things, as we find them actually existing, no other result could arise. It is, perhaps, sufficient to observe that -ill tlie relio-ions of the world are unnatural, or contrary to the nature of man; todemonsUate the truth of all v/hich I have undertaken to prove, when I show the facts, cipable of hourly inspection, every where, that man is not the being that all these religions presuppose him to be. It is here, my friends, 1 take my stand upon all these important questions. And it is my deep-rooted conviction, after forty years of the closest investigation of this subject, that it is not in the power of any man living to prove any of these facts untrue, or any of the deductions from them erroneous. But you will ask me. How can religion be the source of vice? My friends, I have already told you thai that which opposes the immutable laws of our nature, will •je sure to be found, in its consequences, productive only of vice. Relio^ion lays the foundation for hypocrisy, falsehood, and deception r^f every description. Your spiritual pastors tell you that you must believe according to their fanciful notions, and the laws of your uature are continually impelling you to rise up in rebellion against 3uch instructions. No man likes to appear singular or disagreeable HI the eyes of his fellows, and still less to have the means of his subsistence withdrawn from himself and family for expressing his thoughts ; and therefore men are under a strong necessity to say they r^elieve as their neighbors appear to believe, and to feel as their neif^hbors and friends think they ought to feel , and from this begin- ning a complicated system of falsehood and deception takes its rise. And whenever falsehood is thus implanted in our nature, it soon per- vades the whole man, making his whole life one continued lie to his genuine thoughts and feelings; his conduct and conversation are one continued lie against his nature; and thus there is an end of all real virtue among mankind. Virtue and falsehood, or deception can never exist well together. The religions of the world have produced such an accumulation of irmtional habits, false notions, and bad feelings, arising from this, as circumstances now are, unavoidable hypocrisy^ that we cannot be in the world without feeling the necessity to cover our real thoughts and feelings — without, in fact, living in an atmos- phere of perpetual falsehood and deception. Our words, looks, and actions, are scarcely any thing else but falsehood and deception. vVho dares speak his real sentiments on the subject of religion and affections, without being subjected to injury in his reputation and property? Are not these fears sufficiently operative to deter men and women from speaking their real thoughts and feelings? Talk not to me of virtue so long as men and women are compelled, by the ibsurdities of your institutions and erroneous conceptions of all things around you, to be insincere in their language and deccptious in their ooivduct, FalBchood and virtue can never exist together; and now your DEBATE. 209 whofc system is false from its foundation upwards. Every profession, trade, or occupation, supports itself by its deceptions. Where are the individuals now to be met with wlio speak the language of truth and no other language to each other? Almost the first thing you are compelled to teach your children is falsehood and insincerity. Our language to our little ones, when they are about to speak the truth, is, •^O my dear^, you must not sa:y this, that, or the other thing!" The poor children cannot imagine why they should be inhibited from speaking the truth ; and it is a system of severe training to the infant mind, before we can give children that degree of insincerity and de- ception which is necessary toconstitate them what is called "rational in society." But I trust the time is fast approaching when no child shall be (as at present) systematically instructed in falsehood and Insincerity — when there will not e.\ist a motive for deceptious conduct or behavior. Is it necessary for me to do more than to call your attention to the extent of falsehood, deception, and hypocrisy which is every where pre\alent? Do you not find yourselves surrounded with these crimes from morning till night, and wherever you go? I appeal to your personal knowledge and experience of what is passing in every de- partment of life, and even in all the little coteries of my female friends. But when we discover that we cannot love or hate, believe or disbelieve at our will, 1 shall act openly, honestly, and consistent- ly from the knowledge, no rational being will discover any motive fof any kind of deception or insincerity. But at present we are not in a situation to incur the hazard incident to the speaking of the truth. What would be the consequences if all these young ladies now before me were to begin to speak tiie truth and nothing but the whole truth to-day ? What would the stayed and grave members of society say about them? V/hy, that they were fit only for a lunatic hospital! So would they say of every man or woman that dared to speak the truth ; and this derationalizing and corrupting effect has been produced by re- ligion alone. Jt is by falsehood and deception of the grossest kind that all the religions of the world have been established, and by these arts they are now alone- supported. Hypocrisy, deception, and false- hoods are the floodgates of every kmd of vice. They destroy all con- fidence between man and man, and between man and woman, and they create a large portion of the most inferior and disagreeable feel- ings that can be implanted in our nature. They force us to suppress and disguise the expression of our feelings before the individual} but the moment his back is turned, we launch out with great latitude upon all his defects and peculiarities, not one word of which would we ever utter to his face. Such we know to be almost the universal practice of mankind. Now, simply because I have dared to speak openly exactly what I feel and think, for the benefit and happiness of my species, and thus to proclaim my convictions, and come forward and act upon them, I have been called a fool, a madman, fit only for a lunatic asylum. This has been my reward for having the moral Courage to speak the simple truth as nature compels me to compr°- 18* 310 DEBATE. hend it; therefore, my young friends, you cannot, with safety, y6t venture to speak out the truth : for if you do, you will assuredly risk confinement in a lunatic hospital! It would require a great deal of time and reflection to trace and deduce all the other vices which necessarily flow from deception, hypocrisy, and falsehood. I leave this to your imagination, because it has been well cultivated; but it would occupy too much time for me to detail them. The next evil is disunion. All religions are peculiarly well adapted to disunite the human family. No device so effectual in its nature to create disunion amongst mankind, as religion. At the same moment when a system was introduced and adopted, ascribing merit or demerit to any particular opinions, likings, or dislikings, was the foundation laid for all the dissentions amongst mankind, which have ever dis- tracted the world. I need not, my friends, refer you to the religious VJZVZ and massacres of former times, or to the angry controversies of our forefathers, when they were debating what mysterious or absurd creeds should be devised to be forced into the minds of human beings from their birth ; nor need I refer you to all the public calamities which religious dissentions have caused amongst various nations of the earth. I need only to refer you to your own experience of the divisions and jarrings, bad feelings and passions, which occur in families and neighborhoods, solely because they cannot force them- selves to think alike on the subject of religion. You find mankind ■jvcry where herding in sects and parties, excluding from their frater- .'lal sympathies all who possess a different faith. These differing f;reeds form an impassable barrier to keep asunder the various reli^ gious sects and parties. See how the Christians and Turks are now '^lontending against each other. Christianity arrayed on the one side and Mahometanism on the other. Why, my friends, tigers could not be more savage than they are, or exhibit conduct more irrational. Mr. Campbell rises. I had hoped, Mr. Chairman, that the document which I presented to Mr. Owen on the subject of his favorite position, would have -ncrited his consideration ; that the objections which I there offered to his favorite thesis would have commanded some attention; that before repeating, and rehearsing, and then re-reciting his twelve propositions, he would have made an effort to reply to these objections. But, instead of such an attempt, my opponent has repeated, almost verbatim, what he had antecedently told us at least three or four times. I must again solicit an exposition of some of the important terms which my opponent uses; for example, I solicit, and I have a right to claim from him, his definition of the term fact, the term millennium, and the term heaven. These are terms of very frequent recuncnce in my opponent's vocabulary; and I think it more than probable that the ideas which we attach to these names differ, toto ceelo, from those whidi are attached to them by my opponent. That knowledge, sincerity, and candor, which my opponent so much DEBATE. 311 -extoVs, would not appear disadvantageously in himself, on this occa=^ sion. It is a disingenuous and unfair imposition upon us to use terms except in their current application and according to their usual and most known signification. My opponent has given us a terrific picture of Christianity. To the triumphs of Christianity has he attributed all the insincerity, malevolence, and other vices of society. From the address which you have heard from Mr. Owen you would natu- rally conclude on opening the sacred volume to find it filled with such beatitudes as these, Blessed are the slanderers, blessed the hypocrites;- happy the liars, happy the miscreants. You would from Mr. Owen's account of the book, expect to find, at least, one section inculcating such moral precepts as these, "Thou shall kill, thou slialt commit adultery, thou shall bear false witness, thou shaU hate thy neighbor, and thou shall live in discord and dissention with thy fellows, and in the practice of every thing calculated to destroy human happiness," If you pay any attention to Mr. Owen's libels on the scriptures, what else could j'ou expect to find in them but benedictions of such import? He has, however, given us some idea of his standard of morality. After speaking of the mischievousness and hypocrisy of the priesthood, he tells us that he would not displace tlicm. lie would have these priests supported in their lying and deceptious trade, lest this projected revolution should deprive them of bread. He has told you that you ought not, yet awhile, to tell the truth if you expect to be tolerated in society. By his own showing, such are my opponent's views of morality and sincerity. So much in passing, with regard to Mi-, Owen's last address. In the prosecution of the argument we have before us, we have arrived at that period of Jewish history which gave to the whole world kJews and Greeks) the oracles containing the religion which Moses taught the children of Israel, We have alluded to the effect which the dissemination of these oracles produced. We have noticed the universal anticipation of a new order of society — insomuch that this Messiah might be called, as he is in ancient prophecy, the '■'^ Desire of ALL lUttionsP This is the very name which the ancient prophet Haggai so significantly and so emphatically bestows upon him. But it was now become necessarj' that these oracles should be universally disseminated in order to produce such a desire as this. When wfr come to speak of the prophecies we shall more fully show that such was the universal desire and expectation, and that it sprang froni this source. Before concluding our remarks on the historic eviden-' ces of the Jewish religion, we asserted yesterday that these historic records of the Old Testament were not only written and read to the whole congregation of Israel by Moses, that an exhortation predicated upon them, was delivered, viva voce, and afterwards written by Mose?, durmg the last month of his life, called Deuteronomy, and deposited in tlae sacred chest ; but also that there are in the histories- of the world remotely as they penetrate so mnny allusions to these records as to render it almost absolutely certain, even upon Pagan ■2^ DEBATE. eestimony, that these writings are genuine, and were received and venerated by the nation, from the earliest notices of them as a people. It is, however, enough for us to affirm that there is no counter tes-' timony in the world. There is no way to set aside historic testimony except by adducing counter testimony of greater validity^ The sceptics have been called upon for their counter testimony. They have been coolly and calmly requested to search the annals of the world in order to produce it. They have been asked whether it was possible that the Egyptians and Israelites could have existed together, and such stupendous miracles falsely asserted concerning the mani- festations of divine wrath against the Egyptians, and of divine favor towards the Israelites; and yet no document can be found to contra- dict them. The sceptics have been repeatedly challenged to this investigation. But you may search all the sceptical books in the world without finding even an attempt to produce such testimony. But we are not only able to produce, these documents and these criteria as sufficiently attesting the truth of these historic facts; but we can also show from all ancient history that there are many referen- ces and allusions to facts mentioned in them which, in their direct tendency, go to attest the verity of the Mosaic account. We shall just take a peep into the most ancient Greek historians, and see whether they furnish any data confirmatory of the historical records found in the book of Genesis. It is universally admitted by Deists, Atheists, and all, that the Bible is the oldest book in the world. No counter testimony can then be brought against the facts related in the most ancient parts of the Jewish history. But we will here attempt to show that all the ancient historians which peep into the depths of remote antiquity do, in all their allusions, confirm the sacred history. 1. All the Greek ttriters acknoivledge and represent Egypt as the most ancient and best policied empire in the world. This is confirmed by Moses. So early as Abraham's time we find a regular dynasty of the common name of Pharaoh. This kingdom (Gen. xii. 15.) is represented as abounding in corn and having a surplus. It appears from the princes of Pharaoh^s court, his princely presents to Abraham, and his retinue of state, that his court at that time had attained to great splendor. From the caravans of Ishmaelitish merchants who traded in spices, much used in embalming the illustrious dead, and the slaves which they carried down for sale, it would appear that the Egyptians at that time were refined in the arts of opulence and splendor. From the standing militia, the chariots, and the cavalry, too, in E.SypN the time the Hebrews were in bondage, in building treasure cities, it appears that the Egyptians were very far exalted above all the nations of th.; earth in the time of the Pharaohs. The Greeks were entirely unski'led in cavalry until long after the Trojan war. SI, But not only do tho ancient Greek writers speak of the magni* DEBATE. 213 iicenc* of the Egyptian empire in that early period, but also in detailing the civil and religious institutions of that people they afford additional evidence of their high advances in all the arts of retine- ment. Of the priesthood Diodorns Siculus thus writes : "The w hole country being divided into three parts, the first belongs to the body of the prierits, an order in the highest reverence among their countrymen; for their piety towards the gods, and their consummate wisdom acquired by the best education and the closest application to the improvements of the mind. With their revenues they supply all Egypt with public sacrifices. They support a number of inferior officers and maintain their own families, for the Egyptians think it utterly unlawful to make any change in the public worship, but that every thing should be administered by their priests in the same constant and invariable manner. Nor do they hold it at all decent that those to whose care the public are so much indebted should want the common necessaries of life. For the priests are constantly attached to the person of the king as coadjutors, counsellors, and instructers, in the most weighty matters. For it is not among them as among the Greeks where one single man or woman exercises the office of the priesthood. Here a number are employed in sacrificing and other rites of public worship who transmit their profession to their children. This order, likewise, is exempt from all charges and imposts, and holds the prime honors under the king in the public administration." Herodotus, also, to the same effect testifies, he observes; "Of all the colleges of the priesthood, that of Heliopolis was the most famed for wisdom and learning." Strabo also declares that in his time very spacious buildings yet remained in Heliopolis, which, as the report ran, was formerly the residence of the priests, who cultivated the stu- dies of astronomy and philosophy.* N. B. The Egyptian word chohen, which the Chaldaic paraphras* translates princeps, and which seems to be the same as the Samothra"" cian coes denotes both a prince and a priest; this is explained by the fact that the privy counsellors of the ancient kings of Egypt were priests, and were therefore called princes; and as Pharaoh intended to place Jeseph at the head of the nation, he could not have allayed the envy and prejudices of the priests and privy counsellors, better than by causing Joseph to marry the daughter of the priest of Heliop- olis, in Hebrew, On. The priest of Heliopolis was the most illustrious of the order, for as Diodorus Siculus, informs us, the sun and moon were the first gods of Egypt, and this city of the sun was so called because he was prin- cipally worshipped there ; and as Strabo informs us, the priests studied astronomy. The theology of the Egyptians made it peculiarly fitting that the priests who resided at Heliopolis should direct their attention to this subject naturally and re^ igiously . The Egyptians taught either out of reverence to their chief god the sun, or from astronomical observation, that the sun was the centre of the whoie system, From *Wfvrburton, vol, 2. page 33, 214 DEBATE, Egypt, Plutarch, in his history of Isis and Osiris, saya that Pytha- goras obtained this knowledge from O^nuphis, a priest of On, or of Heliopoli?^, the city of the sun. 3. The religious rites of the Egyptians, as described by the Greek l»istorian, is another proof corroborative of the Mosaic account. He- i-odotus expressly tells us that the Egyptians held it a profanation to sacriticc any kind of cattle, except swine and bulls, clean calves, and geese, and that they hold hciters, rams, and goats sacred ; for at this time the Egyptians had not deiticd animals. This explains Moses* saying, "It is not meet so to do, for we shall sacrifice the abominations of the Egyptians, to the Lord our God ; so shall we sacrifice the abom- inations of Egypt before their eyes.-' Herodotus informs us that such impiety was punished with deadly hatred by the Egyptians. 4. The civil rites of the Egyptians. Concerning the practice of phy- sic, Herodotus says it was divided among the faculty thus : Every dis- tinct distemper had its own physician, who confined himself to the study and cure of that, and meddled with no other; so that all places are crowded with physicians ; for one class had the care of the eyes, another of the teeth, another of the belly, and another of the occult distempers. From this account, it does notappear strange that Moses represents the household of Joseph as well replenished with physicians^ "And Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father, and the phyvsicians embalmed Israel." There is also a remarkable allusion to this practice of the Egyp- tian skill in Jeremiah; when that prophet foretells the overthrow of Pharaoh's army at the Euphrates : "Go up into Gilead, and take balm, O virgin, the daughter of Egypt! In vain thou shall use many medi- cines, for thou shalt not te cured." The same prophet under the same figure, alludes to the Egyptian superstition in his own time. He says, "Egypt is like a fair heifer, but destruction comes from the north, also her herdsmen are in the midst of her like fatted bullocks, for they also are turned back and fled away together." The allusion here is most apparent to the worship of Isis and Osiris, under a cow and a bull. The most celebrated of all the Egyptian ritual. The medical profession, naturally and according to history, is divi- ded into surgery and pharmacy and the diatetic practice. Surgery was naturally the most ancient, pharmacy was next to it, and the dia- tetic the last. Hence physic must have been far advanced in Egypt at the time to which Diodorus alludes. 5. The funeral rites of the Egyptians are thus described by Hero- dotus : "Their mourning and funeral rites of sepidture are of this kind ; when a principal person dies, all the females of that family besmear their heads and faces with loam and mire, and so leaving the dead body in the hands of the domestics, march in procession through the City, with their garments close girt about them, their breasts laid opeq, beating themselves and all their relations attending. In an opposite procession appear the males, close girt likewise, and undergoing the same discipUne. V/hen this is over, they carry the body to be salted ■-' th«ro v« men appointed for this business, who make it tb^ir trade DEBATE. Si5 ami employment; they first of all draw out the brain, with a hooked iron, through the nostrils. After this they hide it in nitre for seventy days, and longer it is not lawful to keep it salted. Diodorus Siculus agrees with Herodotus in all the essential circum- stances of mourning and embalming, except he varies in one particu- lar: he says they anoint the whole body with gum or resin of cedar and of other plants, with great cost and care, for above thirty days-, and afterwards seasoning it with myrrh, cinnamon, and other costly spices, not only to preserve the body for a long time, but to give it a grateful odor; they then deliver it to the relations. All this scripture history confirms and explains, and does more, it reconciles the two Greek historians concerning the number of days during which the body was in the care of the embalmers. Moses says, *'And the physicians embalmed Israel — and forty days were fulfilled for him; for so are fulfilled the days of those who are embalmed ; and the Egyptians mourned for him three score and ten days." Now we learn from the two Greek historians that the time of the mourning was while the body remained with the embalmers, which Herodotus tells us was seventy days. This explains why the Egyptians mourned for Israel three score and ten days. During the time the body lay in nitre, and when in the compass of thirty days, this was reasonabl y well effected, the remaining forty of Diodorus were employed in anointing it with gums and spices to preserve it, which was the pro- per way to embalm it; and this explains the meaning of the forty days, which were fulfilled for Israel, being the days of those which were embalmed. Thus the two Greek writers are reconciled, and they and scripture are mutually explained, and supported by each other.*" By the way we may remark, that the infidel objection against Jo- seph for making the free monarchy of Egypt despotic, is without foun- dation. The law-giving power Pharaoh did not transfer, but reserved it in his own hands, in these words: ^^Only on the throne mil Ihe greater than thou''' — Joseph as prime minister, administers justice, but Pha- raoh guardslo himself the prerogative of giving law. In commanding the people to give their money, cattle, and lands to Pharaoh, it is rea- sonable to conclude that the law emanated from Pharaoh. In one sentence, we may affirm that the farther we penetrate into remote antiquity, the more reason we will have to place implicit con- fidence in the divine mission of Moses, Mr. Owen rises — My friends : Mr. Campbell has very correctly informed us that the christian scriptures do not indirect terms command us to tell lies, to steal, and to commit all sorts of crimes. But if we are told to do one tbin^;, and circumstances of our nature irresistibly compel us to ano- ther thing directly opposed to the precept, we arc by such precepts compelled to speak falsehood continually. The fact can be easily established, that throughout all Christendom there is very little truth •Warburtoh's Divine Lsgation vol. 2. pp. 46 & 47 Sie DEBATE. spoken between man and man; and it is the Christian religion which has created the Christian character. 1 am told that truth is much more generally spoken among the Mussulmen than among the christians; but there can be very little truth spoken by either party, I recommend to my young female friends here not to speak the truth upon many subjects most interesting to their happiness through life, because, if they did, they might lay their account in meeting all man- ner of persecution and inconvenience. Nor did I recommend in a preceding address that the gospel ministers of the present day should be paid for disseminating and perpetuating falsehood, which, to my certain knowledge, many of the most learned and enlightened of the cloth know and believe to be such. I meant simply to give utterance to a great principle of justice ; to state that those who had been train- ed to the gospel ministry were compelled, by circumstances, to adopt that course of life; and I have no doubt that a very large portion of them adopted this course most conscientiously; therefore, I deemed it unjust that the great and overwhelming change in society antici- pated and predicted by me should deprive any man of his livelihood. But if, as I confidently expect, these principles shall rapidly pervade society, another and a better employment v/ill be assigned to the Teverend clergy. They will then become the most efficient and use- ful oracles to promulgate and expound the divine laws of human na- ture, and demonstrate their high importance in producing irresistible motives to virtue from their pupils; and after much calm deliberation I am quite sure that this will be the most economical and by far the best mode of disposing of the whole body of the clergy. It will not only be the most economical, equitable, but also the most beneficial for themselves and all mankind. I have told you that it will not be necessary to deprive any individual of his present support in order to effect these anticipated changes; because there exists in society an artificial producing power almost immeasurably beyond the wants of man. Although still rapidly and annually increasing, this artificial producing power is even now, if it were well understood and rightly directed, greatly beyond our wants — it is already far more than equal to the supplying of every child that shall be born into the world a most ample store of every thing that is best for human nature. But before this change can commence, we must discover the true principle and the true bond of social union — for most true it is, that there can be no real substantial happiness and improvement in the constitution and frame of society, until men do really and strictly learn to love one another. But have the different religions inculcated in the world yet enabled you to love one another? In this very city are you not calling yourselves the friends and acquaintances of each other, and at the same time striving and contending against each other as if you were avowed and professed enemies. Where is the mercantile man to be found, vho, if he loams by some private iutelligonce thot certain articles of merchandize will grpatly enhance in vuluo, will not go to his dearest friend, nnd buy DEBATE. 217 uJl that iie has ot those articles, at the lowest price he can procure them. Now this is very loving to be sure! ^V'e are deceived by high sounding empty words, and the present 5tate of commercial society is any thing but rational; and all socie- ty, from the highest to the lowest, in all countries, is becoming com- mercial, and daily more and more ignorantly selfish. Our circum- stances compel us to become covert enemies to each other. Instead of endeavoring to promote each other's happiness, we arc straining e\ eiy nerve to take from others, in order to add superfluities which we can- not enjoy, to ourselves. Does not the Christian religion in many other 'ways create dissenlions among men? What say ye to this, ye people of Cincinnati ? Are all the religions of this city united heart and soul together? are there no divisions among them? are they always wil ling to accommodate each other? are there not divisions and dissen- tions among those who are designated by the same name, and classi- fied as belonging to the same sect? Are there no distentions among the Baptists, the Quakers, Presbyterians, nor among the Episcopal- ians? My friends, there is nothing but dissentions and divisions un- der the present system, from one end of it to the other; dissontion pervades the whole mass of society — it leavens the whole lump; and as the march of mind advances, these dissentions will iiicrcase, and be the cause of their ui'imate overthrow. They have increased alrea- dy to that extent, that those who understand the signs of the times, see plainly that, ere long, religion must receive its deatli-blow. In- stead of a system which derationalizes the human race, other times are approaching when we shall have our attention and our faculties directed to what we can comprehend- — to the acquisition of real know- ledge, and to the investigation of the laws of matter; and, my friends, for us to attempt the investigation of any other laws but matei'iallsiws is every whit as futile as an attempt to fly from the earth to the sun. Depend upon it that you only waste your time in such searching after immaterial things; such search can only lead you into the wildest regions of the imagination, and then you will find it very difficult to get back again into the paths of common sense. Therefore I strong- ly recommend to those who wish to acquire real knowledge not to sacrifice their time^ speculations upon subjects beyond the cpmpre- hension of human faculties. When we direct our attention to an investigation of the laws of na- ture, no quarrels are originated; and why? because we can recur to facts; we can re-examine and discriminate by the criteria of real knowledge the truth from error. We may say, indeed, that the pres- ent era is the coiumencement of a search into the real nature of exist- ing fact^ >.._ , ' ■ g about \\\e Millennium., by which term I simply mean a rational state of social existence, in which sincerity anl candor shall universally prevail — wh^n, through a knowledge of facts, human nature will be laid open to that extent that we shall know ourselves and know our fellow-leings even as we are known 3iit the only way to commonce this rational state of existence, is, to 'ay a solid foundation for o-ennine chnritv and social a.Tection : ar.fi ^ 19 ' 218 DEBATE. there are no principles under heaven that can gmde us to these desi- rable results, unless it be the knowledge that we have no will, power, or control in framing our belief on any speculative subjects and no free agency or volition in the matter of our likings and dislikings. These are the only sure foundations for a genuine love and universal charity among mankind. When these admirable principles, old as they are, shall begin to be comprehended, love and charity will be sure to extend themselves even unto the uttermost parts of the earth. Let but these twelve laws be once generally understood, and I Know of no motive which could actuate any human being to enter into strife and contention with, or to think or feel uncharitably towards, any of his species. Therefore, my friends, by discarding the practices of the wild imagination of our easily deluded ancestors, in which all the religions of the world have had their origin, and which they have for- ■ced into our minds by the means of the mutual laws which I have ex- plained, you will in lieu thereof adopt the laws of nature for your guides; and these will always lead you to the best and most rational practice that can be adopted ; a practice of those amiable virtues and that genuine charity which will better prepare you for heaven, if you are destined to go there, than any thingthat has yet been taught you, or than an)"^ thing that has yet been done for you; and I cannot con- ceive it possible that a life approaching to whatis represented by your -spiritual teachers to be a heavenly conduct here, can unfit those who have had this foretaste of heaven in this life, for the enjoyment of a superior existence hereafter. But, my friends, I have not the remotest idea that in a future state of re-animation we shall retain the least consciousness of our former state of vitality. My investigations on tins subjest have convinced me that it is a speculation in which no man ever has or can arrive at any thing tangible. 1 believe that in one sense, we shall live forever, for I cannot suppose that the particles of which we are compounded have ever been out of existence. It seems reasonable that the material particles of which we are compo- sed are uncreated, that is, that they belong to the original stock of matter which forms the universe. In my judgment, there is nothing so absurd as the supposition that a particle of matter could be created out of nothing. If you are prepared to swallow such an absurdity as this, you may swallow a camel or any thing else. I have said'that fo me it appears the greatest of all impossibilities, that one atom of somethmg could be created out of nothing; but it also appears to me an equal impossibility that one atom of matter consisting of something can ever be reduced to nothing. I conceive, therefore, that the svpreme ■power consists in the indestructible vitality pervading the whole mate- rial universe, and that each particle of this universe contains within it- self everlasting and unchangeable laws; and it is by the action, the har- mony, and the co-operation of these laws, that all composition, decom- position, and recomposition in the universe are effected. Let us not therefore, waste our valuable time about spiritual nonentities which cannot interest us— but let us rather dilligently apply all our facnl- tips to drsrovov the yet unknown laws of n^tture, by which we shall DEBATE. 219 ascertain the means to make our species as happy and prosperous as the materials of which we are organized will permit. If we will adopt this coui-sc of practice, and strictly adhere to it, I can see nothing than can possibly prevent ovir attainment to a very high degree of phy- sical and intellectual perfection and happiness. I have now perhaps given siifhcicnt details to pro\-e that all religions tend directly to pro» tluce vice and disunion among munkind. 1 have now to shoM' that thej' produce the natural consequence of vice and dis-union; viz: misery. The errors which the various religions of the world have, for ages past, forced into the minds of the human race, have been the cause of all the poverty which now exists in the v.orld ; and these religions have generated tiiis poverty in two ways: fu'st, by creating universal disunion among men. so as to prevent the possibility of any cordial co-operation for their reciprocal bcnoJitaiid advantage; and secondly, by reason of the very large appropriations of the tunc and gains of the people, which the clergy, like the Lovites of old, have engrossed to themselves and their mysterious, and therefore useless objects. I discover from Mr. Campbell, that the Levites could not be con- tented withlc?s than one half of the property of the whole nation. — Now it really does appear to me that a society which could permit a small select tribe to appropriate to their own use one ha If of the whole revenue of the nation, and allow that tribe to form and keep the re- cords of their mysteries and even to make it a capital crime to approach the sacred chest Ashich contained them, must be in the extreme of ig- norance and easily duped-. I must also say that under such circum- stances there never "was a set of men who had a finer chance of manu- facturing and perpetuating fables to suit their own purposes ; and of obtaining the means f o degrade and enslave their fellow-beings, than had this same tribe of Levi. There is nothing more tree, my friends, than that religion has been the primary cause of all the poverty that has for ages past afflicted the world. You have all of you received your religious notions at an age so early that your reasoning faculties have been thereby not only injured, but in the majority of cases, de- stroyed to an extent v/hich cannot be estimated or understood by the great mass of the present adult population. In consequence, the mind of man instead of being rationally directed to discover what is best for human nature, has been so perverted as to consider the acquisition of wealth as the -grand desideratum; and to appropriate millions to themselves whilst their fellows were starving around them, as the summum bonum of human felicity. Now it was my lot to commence the v/orld with no property at all ; and since that time I have experienced as gradual a change of fortune upwards as most individuals, but I never found that I enjoyed happines as wealth increased, or in propor- tion to any expenditure. I never found that I could eat, drink, ol" sleep any more in a state of affluence, than when through my own industry I procured the simple necessaries of life in comfort. But I found by experience that when I had the most wealth I had the most care and anxiety. I have lived on intimate terms with some very :12Q DEBATE. vvealtby men, some of them possessing a property estimated atcever z\ handled thousand, and millions sterling — these men I have studied ciosely,and I think them and their families less happy than many ^.vhoni 1 have known with little more than barely sufficient to supply the necessary wants of life. If it were not fljr the abbermtions of the human mind originating in the errors of religion, we should soon discover the nieais of creating and enjoying an ample supply of the best of every thing tor human nature, and of cultivating our physical and hitellectual faculties toacompartive high degree of perfection. f * Mr. Caiipbell rises. If we be mere particles of matter, self-existing or derived from the n;reatwhole, or entirely material, springingfrom the earth and return- ing thereto again, and that the less of this world's goods we have tlie better — let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die. I must correct an allusion of my opponent to the Levitical priest- hood. I observed that the consecration of this priesthood was designated to be the most efiectual commemorative monument, because it v/as compelling the passions of the people to attest and perpetuate the remembrance of the fact of their redemption from Egypt. The destroying angel passed over the land and destroyed the first-born of man and beast, belonging to the Egyptians, and the Israelites to a i!ian escaped. To perpetuate the niemcry of this, God claimed tl*e •irst-bornof that nation in all time coming. Subsequently, in lieu of •liie first born, one tribe of the twelve was set apart. This tribe was to receive so much real estate, and be supported by the whole nation. And I have asked. Would any nation, except under divine coercion, Ji-ive submitted to s'lch an exaction as this upon their time and their teal and personal property? [Mr. Owen says, Yes, all nations have done it.] Mr Cxnipbell resumes, I have asked if any nation would have submitted to such a heavy taxation as this in support of their reli- gion had thev not been abs- Intely cer'ain of its divine origin and a'lthority? Mr. Owen saj^s, Yes, they have all done it. Well, now, this assertion Vi'ill not prove that the first nation did it without a divine authority. They Bet the example- — And v,'e can easily test tie prin- ciple whether nations will, without good reasons, submit to such imposts, by bringing the case within our own experience. Let, then, such an experiment be attempted in this country, and it will soon be discovered that it would be impnssible to induce us to support a reli- gion so onerous, without affording the most incontrovertible eviden- f.es of its divine authority. Mankind part with money and property faj»«religious uses only when conscientiously convicted of a divine obligation. To exact it from them without presenting some plausible grounds for such authority, requires compulsion. And however easy it may be to perpetuate such a usage, it never could have commenced without the strongest evidence of divine authority. But to test this matter 1 appeal to universal experience, and to the impossibility of instituting such a custom now. ' I protest against Mr. Owen's objecting to any i^art of these writings DEBATE. 021 as f*act, without, acknowledging the whole of them as fact. Does he believe that there AVas an Aaron or a tribe of Levi? If so, on the same authority ho must believe that there was a Moses and twelve tribes, led by him tht>>agh the Red Sea. It is unfair to garble the document, admitung the truth of one part and objecting to the truth of another. 113 must take it all or none. Does my opponent believe that there were Levites; that there was a Moses, an Aaron, and a Levitical priestiiood ; that the nation were convened at Sinai, received the law there attested, and that there was a place of deposit, a sacred chest, first in the tabernacle and then in the temple^, containing a copy of this law? Does he believe these things? And, if he does, why not believe all the other flicts? I repeat that it is neither a fair nor a manly style of reasoning to take a part of these facts and pre- dicate arguments upon them, without receiving the whole. Mr. Owen has given us his definition of the term millennium, but will give us no definition of fact, and says he knows nothing about heaven — neither will he take any notice of the document which I presented to him. I wish you to bear in mind that he pretermits all notice of this document. Fact is derived from factum. It means that which. is done. Nov/ it is not a fact that I have two eyes. This is not a fact, but a truth. It is a fact that I rose up or sat down. Any thing I may have done is a fact. No speculation can be a fact. It may be a fact that a mar. expressed such an opinion ; but the opinion itself is no fact. It is a fact that Mr. Chven conceived these twelve positions, wrote them, ex pressed, or read them; but the twelve opinions, assertions, orpropc- sitions are not facts. ChristicKitij is a positive institution. An institution built upon fiicts. So was Judaism. The christian flicts are all matters of record The record or testimony is the object of faith. Hence faith require;; testimony, testimony concerns facts, and facts require a witness. The historian records facts. The philosopher speculates upon opin- ions or abstract truths. Mr. Owen's system is the system of a phi- losopher ; it is not the work of a historian. He confounds speculations, assertions, laws of nature, and facts; and from a fondness for the term fad he calls all his views facts. His propositions may, or may not, be truths; h^Jit facts they cannot be. If I could correct Mr Owen's misapplication and erroneous use of this single term, it might tend to dissolve the charm, and dissipate the illusion which his sportive fancy throws over all his lucubrations. There are yet remaining a few documents which I desire to read, ai further support of the proposition that the Jewish scriptures are corroborated by all ancient historic writers. There is not only no counter testimony, but a strong concurrence of testimony in attesta- tion of the facts recorded by Moses. We penetrated into very remote antiquity in order to illustrate this accordance, and we proved that Herodotus and Diodorus Siculus are reconciled by a reference t6 Mosss; and that these three writers mutually explain and support each etlier- 19* ^32 DEBATfl There is one consideration which is worthy to be kept contlaually before our minds in this investigation, and that is the advanced state of civilization in the country when the Jewish religion was first pro- pounded. We must bear in mind that Moses was surrounded by acute, learned, and sagacious enemies, when he led the children of Israel out of Egypt. But we must go further back into antiquity in order to show that the most ancient traditions confirm the Mosaic account of the creation, deluge, &c. "As to the history of Berosus, the substance of it, as it is given us by Abidcnus Apollodorus and Alexander Polyhister, is to this pur- pose, that there were ten kings of Chaldea before the flood; Alorus,, Alasparus, Amelon, Amenon, Metalarus, Daorus, Aedorachus, Am- phis, Oliartes, Xisuthrus, That Xisuthrus was warned in a dream that mankind was to be destroyed by a flood on the 15th day of the month D.Bsius, and that he should build a ^ort of ship, and go into it with his friends and kindred, and that he should make a provision of meat and drink, and take into his vessel fouls and fourfooted beasts; that Xisuthrus acted accoi-ding to the admonition; built a ship, and put into it all that he was commanded, and went into it with his wife • and children, and dearest friends. When the flood was come, and l>egan to abate, Xisuthrus let out some birds, which finding no food nor place to rest upon, returned to the ship again ; after some days he let out the birds again, but they came back with their legs daubed >i^ith mud. SoTOC days after, he let them go the third time, but then they came to the ship no more Xisuthrus understood hereby, that Jae earth appeard above the waters, and taking down some of the hoards of the ship, he saw that it rested upon a mountain; some time after, he, and his wife, and his pilot weat out of the ship, to offer sacrifices to the g>>ds, and they were never seen by those in the ship more. But the persons in the ship, after seeking him in vain, went to Babylon. The Xisuthrus here mentioned v.'as evidently Noah. "And Berosus supposes from Alorus to Xisuthrus ten generations, and so many Moees computes from Adam to Noah."* This is the Chaldean history concerning their own nation. They v^^ished to trace themselves up to the commencement of time — and "gave an account of the ten patriarchs before the fljod, making Noah one of their kings. '•The history of Sanchoniatho is to this effect. That tl^rst mortals were Protogonus and JEon; that by these were begotten Genus and Oenea; the children of these were Phos, Pur, and Phlox; and of ihese were begot Cassius, Libanus, Antilibanus, and Brathys. — Memnunus and liypsuranius Avere descended from these, and their children were Agreus and Halieus; and of these were begotten two brothers, one of them named Chrysor and Hsephoestus ; the name of the other is lost, From this generation came two brothers, Technites and Autochthon, and of thorn were begotten Agrus and Agrotus; Amynus and Magus were their children, and Misor and Sydec were. d-sccnded of Amynus and Magus. The son of Misor was Taautiis *Bhackford's Connection, vol. 1, p. 41. DEBATE 223 or TyollT. This is the Phoenician genealogy of the tirst ages of the world, and it requires no great pains to show how far it agrees with the accounts of Moses. The tirst mortals mentioned by Sanchonia- tho, and called Protogonus and ^on, were undoubtedly Adam and Eve; and his Misor, the father of Taautus, is evidently the Mizraim of Moses. From Protogonus to Misor, Sanchoniatho computes eleven generations, and from Adam to Mizraim, Moses makes twelve ; so that Sanchoniatho falls short of Moses only one generation, and this, I conceive, happened by his not having recorded the flood."* These, now, are the two most ancient traditions in the world, and belong to the Phoenicians and Chaldeans. ••The Chinese have been supposed to have records that reach higher ihan the history of JNloses ; but we find by the best accounts of their antiquities that this is false. Their antiquities reach no higher than the times of Noah, for Fohi was their first king. They pretend to no history or memoirs that reach up higher than his times ; and by all .their accounts, the age of Fohi coincides with that of Moses' Noah. Their writers in the general agree, that Fchi lived about 2952 years before Christ. The author of Mirandortim in Sina et Evropa com- putes him to reign but 2S47 years before our Saviour; and Alvarez Sevedo places his reign not so early, imagining it to be but 2060 years ; and all these computations agree well enough with the times of Noah; for Noah was born, according to Archbishop Usher, 2948 years, and died 2016 years before Christ; so that all the several computations about Fohi, fall pretty near within the compass of Noah's life. But we shall hereafter see many reasons to conclude Moses' Noah, and the Chinese Fohi, to be the same person."! ''Tile first king of China was Fohi; and as I have before observed that Fohi and Noah were contemporaries at least, for there are many reasons, from the Chinese traditions concerning Fohi, to think him and Noah the same person. First, they say Fohi had no father, i. e. Noah was the first man in the post-deluvian world ; his ancestors per- ished in the flood, and no tradition hereof being preserved in the Chinese annals, Noah, or Fohi, stands there as if he had no father at all. Secondly, Fuhi's mother is said to have conceived him en- ttompassed in a rainbow ; a conceit very probably arising from the rainbow's first appearing to Noah, and tlie Chinese being willing to give some account of his original. Thirdly, Fohi is said to have carefully bred seven sorts of creatures, which he used to sacrifice to the Supreme Spirit of heaven and earth : and Moses tells us that Noah took into the ark, of every clean beast by sevens, and of the fowls of the air by sevens; and after the flood Noah built an altar, and took of every clean beast, and every clean fowl, and ofiered burnt offer- iags. Fourthly, the Chinese derive the name of Fohi from his obla- tion; and Moses gives Noah his name upon account of the grant of tJ)8 creatures for the use of men, which he obtained by his ofi'ering. Lastly, the Chineso history supposes Fohi to have settled in the pro- vince of Xpusi, which is the northwest province of China, and near to Ararat, where the ark rested ."t *Sliuckforcl, vol. 1, p. 42. flbid. vol. i, p. 48. :flbid. vcl. 1. p. 82. 224 DEBATE. We would occupy (said Mr. Can.pb;! ) many hours in the produC' tion of such documents as these, -vhich are (he mcst ancient in the World, ail corrobcratiog the Mosaic accouKt: — "Not only has il proved impossible to overthrew any of the numer- ous facts which the scriptures record; but, on ilie contrary, they are confirmed, in a very strikmg manner, by the traditionary accounts of all nations. "In answer to Mr. Hume's assertion, that the books of Moses are "corroborated by no concurring testimony," Dr. Campbell replies — "As little, say I, invalidated by any contradictory testimony ; and both for this plain reason, because there is no human composition that can be compared with this in respect of antiquity. But though this book is not corroborated by the concurrent testimony of any coeval histo- ries, because, if there ever were such histories, they are not now extant; it is not therefore destitute of all collateral evidence. The following examples of this kind of evidence deserve some notice. The division of time into weeks, which hath obtained in many coun- tries, for instance, among the Egyptians, Chinese, Indians, and northern barbarians — nations whereof some had little or no inter- - course with others, and were not even known by name to the He- brews— the tradition which in several places prevailed concerning the primeval chaos from which the world arose —the production of all living creatures out of water and earth, by the efficacy of a Supreme Mind — the formation of man last of all, in the image of God, and his being vested with dominion over the other animals — the primitive state of innocence and happiness — the subsequent degeneracy of mankind — their destruction by a flood, and the preservation of one family in a vessel. Nay, which is still stronger, I might plead the vestiges of some such catastrophe as the Deluge, which the shells and other marine bodies that are daily dug out of the bowels of the earth, in places remote from the sea, do clearly exhibit to us. I might urge the traces, -which still remain in ancient histories, of the migrations of people and of science from Asia, (which hath not improperly been styled ike cradle of ilic arts) into many parts both of Africa and Europe. I might plead the coincidence of these migrations, and ©f the origin of states and kingdoms, with the time of the dispersion of the posterity of Noah." "Respecting the division of time into ■weeks, Dr. Campbell re- marks, "The judicious reader will observe, that there is a great difference between the concurrence of nations in the division of time into iceeks, and their concurrence in the other periodical divisions, mto years, months, and days. These divisions arise from such natural causes, as are every where obvious ; the annual and diurnal revolu- tions of the Sun, and the revolution of the Moon. The division into weeks, on the contrary, seems perfectly arbitrary; consequently, its prevailing in distant countries, among nations which had no commu- nication with ono another, ajfords a strong presumplion that it must have been derived fron) some tradition, (as that of the creation) which hath been older than the dispersion of maykind into different regions ," DEBATE. 2-25 *^To this last article may be added, that the Nviiole of the fifteen aouthern conste!Iati>»ns yield their testimony to the ten first chapters of Genesis. First, the constellation of the Ship : secondly, the Altar, with its vast body of fire and smoke ascending near the triangle, the jwjmarkable Egyptian symbol of Deity : thirdly, the Sacrificer- fourth- ly, the Beast about to be sacrificed : fifthly, the Raven : sixthly, the Cup of libation: seventhly, eighthly, and ninthly, the greater and lesser Dog, and the Hare, situated so near to Orion, the great and iniquitous hunter both of men and beasts. The whole of the remain- ing constellations of the southern hemisphere are composed of aquatic objects or animals, and may be considered as pointedly allusive to a general deluge. "Traditions more or less distinct, which coiToborate the facts re- corded by Moses, and which prove the common origin of mankind ;, are found, on the whole, t > be uniform in all parts of the world. They have-not only been verbally handed down, but have subsisted in the religious observances and practices of all nations. These are not confined to the old world, but extend also to the new. The first dis- coverers of America observed there a reverence for the Sabbath, and an acquaintance with many of the appointments of the Mosaic institu- tion, and of the early history of the world. "The contents of some of their manuscripts are curious in a high degree. One is a cosmogony^ which contains a ti-adition of the mother of mankind having fallen from her first state of happiness and innocence; and she is generally represented as accompanied by a serpent. We find also the idea of a great inundation overwhelming the earth, from which a single family eseaped on a raft. There is a history of a pyramidal edifice raised by the pride of men, and destroyed by the anger of the gods. The cere- mony of ablution is practised at the birth of children. All these cir- cumstances, and many more, led the priests who accompanied the Spanish army at the time of the conquest, to the belief, that at some very distarit epocha, Christianity, or at least Judaism, had been preached in the new continent. I think, however, says IVIr. Humboldt, I may affirm, from the knowledge we have lately acquired of the sacred books cf the Hindoos, that, in order to explain the analogy of these traditions, we have no need to recur to the western part of Asia, since similar traditions, of high and venerable antiquity, are found among the f -llowers of Brama, and among the Shamans of the eastern Steppes of Tartary." "The institution of sacrifice, which, to Mr. Hume appeared absurd, and which certainly did not originate from what is called the light of nature, has been found in every part of the world. Whether we consult the religion of the Greeks, the Goths, or the Hindoos, we every where meet with a mediatorial deity, engaged in combat with an envenomed serpent. And a belief that the place of punishment is full of serpents, equally pervades the Gothic, the Per- sian, and the Hindoo mythologies. Can any one imagine that such unlikely combinations, unaccountable except on the ground of a corpmon descent and revelation from God, for instance, that of a Tri- 220 DEBATE une God, could have accidentally found a place among men ongmally separate, and remote from each other? "Traditions have been traced over the globe of the creation — of the Sabbath day—of Paradise — ftfthe fall of man — of the serpent— of the promised iAlassiah— of Cain and Abel— of the longevity of. the Patri- urchs — of the niuiiber of generations between Adam and Noah — of the Deluge — of the dove sent out by Noah — of the rainbow as a sign — of the number of persons preserved in the ark — of Noah and his three sons — of the Tower of Babel — of Sodom and Gomorrah, with a variety of circumstances respecting these particulars. *'The great tower in the temple of Belus at Babylon, is supposed to have been the same which was built there at the confusion of tongues. As described by Strabo, it was one of the most wonderful works in the world. x-Vlthough it fell short of the greatest of the Egyptian pyramids, (which was a square of 700 feet on every side, while this was but of 000,) yet it far exceeded it in the height; the perpendicu- lar measure of that pyramid being 481 feet, and that of the tower 600. It is particularly attested by several authors to have been all built of bricks and bitumen, as the scriptures tell us the tower of Babel was . Herodotus says that the going up to it was by stairs on the outside, round it. When Alexander took Babylon, Calistbenes the philoso- pher, who accompanied him thither, found they had astronomical observations for 1903 years backwards from that time; which carried up the account as high as the 115th year after the flood, which was within 15 years after the tower of Babel was built. Concerning Sodom and Gomorrah, Tacitus, relates, that a tradition still prevailed in liis days, of certain powerful cities having been de- stroyed by thunder and lightning ; and of the plain in which they were situated having been burnt up. He adds, that evident traces of such a catastrophe remained. This historian concludes with ex- pressing his own belief in this awful judgment, derived from an attentive consideration of the country in which it was said to have happened. In a similar manner Strabo, after describing the nature of the lake As-phaltis, adds, that the whole of its appearance gives an air of probability to the •prcvaiUng tradition, that thirteen cities, the chief of which was Sodom, were once destroyed and swallowed up by earthquakes, tire, and an inundation of boiling sulphureous water. ''The account which Lucian (a professed scoffer at all religions, who lived in the second century,) has given of the tradition of the flo(xl, in his Dialogues, is as follows: Having visited the temple of '^lierapolis, he says, "The popular story is, that this temple was founded by Deucalion, the Scythian, in whose time the great flood is said to have happened. I was no stranger to the account of it by the Greeks, which is as follows; "Not one of us now living is de- scended from the original race of men, who all perished ; and we, numerous as we are, are no other than a second race, sprung from Deucalion. The Aborigines, we are informed, were apt to be very arrogant, full of mischief, and continually transgressing the laws, inhospitable to strangers, deaf to supplications, and would say or DEBATE. ^7 sweai* anj^ tiling; in which offences they were overtaken by the severity of justice. The earth on a sudden opened its sluices, heavy showers of rain came down, the rivers swelled, the sea rose till the waters every where prevailed, and eveiy mortal was drowned except Deucalion alone, whose discretion and piety were such, that he was spared, and became the father of a new generation. Having a large chest, he put his Avives and children in it, and then went into it him- .self; which was no sooner done, than there came to him boars, and horses, Tind lions, and serpents, and in short every species of land animals, all in pairs. He took them all in; and Jupiter had ordered it so, that they neither did him nor one another the least injur)-, but lived and sailed together in perfect hai-mony, during the continuance of the flood, all in the same chest." This I was told by the Greeks. In addition to which the Hierapolitans relate, that a large chasm was provided in their country to absorb the water; and that Deucalion, after seeing it thus disposed of, raised altars, aiid built a temple to Juno, over the chasm. It was but a small hole in the earth when 1 saw it; but how much larger it might have been formerly, when it held so much, I cannot take upon me to say. However, as a proof of what they advance, water is brought twice in the year, from the sea to the temple, not only by the priests, but from the whole country far and near, by Syrians, Arabians, and great multitudes beyond the Euphrates. It is emptied in the temple, and runs into the opening below, which, small as it is, takes in such a quantity as is truly arnazing. This it seems was a law of Deucalion, to perpetuate the memory of his deliverance from the general calamity." '•Various Pagan historians speak of Moses, the lawgiver of the Jews: Diodorus Siculus calls him a man of most superior wisdom and courage. He mentions the departure of Israel from Egypt; of their advancing into Palestine, and seizing upon a number of cities, particularly Jerusalem. He speaks of their worship, their tribes, their code of laws, by which they were kept separate from every other people; of the priesthood appointed in one family; of judges, instead of kings, being appointed to decide all controversies among them, of the superior authority being vested in the chief priest ; and that Moses concluded the volume of his laws, with claiming for them divine in- spiration. Strabo also mentions various particulars respecting Moses. Eupolimus likewise celebrates him as being the first wise man, and the inventor of letters, which the Phoenicians received from the Jews, and the Greeks from the Phoenicians." Friday forenoon, Vith April, 1829. Mr. Owen rises. — My friends — Mr. Campbell put to me yesterday one or two ques- tions, to v.hich he requested a reply. One of these questions was, Whether I -believed in the testimony of history? Now I believe the historical flict recorded in Roman history, that Cesar conquered Pompey, and that Cesar was assassinated in the senate iiouse ; and I believe a certn,in number of the prominent and leading facts of all 228 DEBAtE. histories which seem to be generally attested, and upon what k deemed the best authority that can be obtained, when not opposed by the divine laws of hunian nature. But I do not believe much of the details of either profane or sacred history. I know how difficult It is for individuals to go away from this meeting and relate facts precisely as they occurred here. Then what degree of faith can we have in narratives put upon record many years after the facts which ihey relate are said to have happened, and every conceivable oppor- tunity and motive to falsify them? I, therefore, believe but few of the facts related in history, where the historian attempts to penetrate into the motive of the actors; for almost all the proceedings of men have been secret measures, of the real motives to the performance of which the public knew nothing, or were grossly deceived. I know of nothing more fallacious in its nature than history, sacred or profane ; and when opposed to the known laws of nature, their testimony, how- ever testified, is of no value whatever. It is a sure sign, v/hen these are received Avith authority, that early erroneous impressions have not been obliterated. Mr. Campbell's next question to me was, What is a fact? I re- plied, that a fact was any thing which exists. Mr. Campbell says that it is not a fact that he has two eyes ; but it surely is a fact that he has two corporeal eyes. It may be a fact with regard to our mental vision that we may not have two eyes; for, most unfortunately for many of us, we have not yet been enabled to see with more than half an eye. Some gentleman, to me unknown, has handed me a note, which I will read:- — "J/r. Ov:cn — Was man originally created or uncreated?'''* Now, my friends, when I can answer this question, I can answer every other of a similar mysterious nature. I do not know whether an original man was created or not. And 1 do not think it is of much consequence to any of us that we should know the fact. As soon as we shall have facts to enable us to form a rational conjecture upon this topic, it will be time enough to discuss it. Yesterday I was obliged to conclude my address in the midst of my endeavors to explain to you the facts which compel me to believe that the religions of the world are the cause of almost all its sufferings. The sufferings produced by religion arc ajl those which emanate from falsehood, deceit, and hypocrisy, from poverty, and from disunion arising from a difference of feelings, opinions, and interests. But the sufferings arising from these causes, the genuine fruit of all re- ligions, are tolerable appli'^able to the common affairs of life. But not so when compared with the miseries experienced by so many human beings from a disappointment of the affections, or from a deep conviction that they are not sound in the true faith ; and that, from the advanced state of their minds in a knowledge of some fiicts, it is impossible to become so. And thus, with the fear of hell and eternal punir^hmcnt continually before their eves, they are made as misei'able ffs human nature can endure tliis side of madness; or, until afer many DEBATE. ^ 229 yearg of suffering, insanity comes to the relief of their nature — for «a wounded conscience who can bear?" All these sufferings are pro- duced solely by religion; and if you wish details of the overwhelm- ing afflictions arising from a system which exacts a compulsory belief, I will refer you to the proceedings on the subject of religious belief in the early ages — to the horrors of the Inquisition — to the burnings which have taken place in Christendom, even in England— and to the numerous receptacles for mad persons, to be found at this day, in every part of the civilized world: to say nothing of the annual murders perpetrated under the chariot wheels of Juggernaut, or upon the funeral pile of the Suttee. In the course of my travels I have uniformly taken occasion to inquire of the superintendents of lunatic asylums what was the most fruitful source of insanity; end they have invariably informed me that it was over-excitement of mind on the subject of religion — that religious insanity constituted by far the most numerous class of cases. In reply to the question, What was the next most fruitful source of mental alienation? they have told nie that it was the disappointment of the affections. Such have been ihe consequences of attempting to compel men to think that they were culpable on account of their thoughts, belief, and opinion;-, never yet under the control of their will, or for their likings or dis- likings towards their fellow-creatures, which were equally forced upon them by the laws of their nature. Many in this assembly have, I doubt not, experienced grievous suffering in consequence of having been trained in these pernicious errors ; whereas, had you been train ed to have rational views upon these siihjects, you would just as soon have thought of tormenting yourselves because you were not six feet liigh. There is just as much reason and common sense in attempting to compel men and women to be of the same height, as to endeavor to make them think and teel alike upon subjects not resting upon certain and unchanging facts, I have only laid before you a (e-w, out of the innumerable reasons •which might be adduced to prove that the religions of the world have been the real cause of the vice, disunion, and unhappiness which now pervade society; and that it has been, mediately or immediately, di- rectly or indirectly, the real cause of all the evils with which the human race has been afflicted. We come uov/, my friends, to the fourth division of our subject, which is, if I recollect aright, that "the errors in which all religions are foundedj are the real cause which now prevents the establishment over the earth of a society of virtue, of intelligence, of charity in its most genuine sense, and of sincerity and kindness among the whole human family." And, my friends, if religion be the only obstacle to such a happy consummation as this, it is surely high time that this obstacle were removed. '■'■What is tvriue?^ is another question which has been put to me. Virtue, my friends, according to the best idea I can form of it, is that course of conduct which promotes most effectually the happiness of man individually and collectively; and vice is that course of conduct, which, by tiie laws of man's nature, tends to keep him in ignorance and to rendet 80 230 ~ DEBATE. him, individually and collectively, unhappy. Now the whole course of my reading, reflection, and observation — of my knowledge of man, derived from extensive travel and observation of the animal man in .his various p/m^es, and from intimate communication and interchange of intelligence with the first minds I have been able to meet with — all these reas^^ n -3 concur to impress upon my mind a resistless conviction ■ that the only barriers now existing in the way oftlie establishment of a virtuous, happy, and rapidly progressive state of society, are ',he re- ligions now taught in the world. Tome it appears the essence of filly to suppose that there can be real virtue among a people taught to Relieve that they have the power of controlling their belief, and of liking and disliking at their will. These two errors, so long as they remain the paramount circumstance in foi-ming thp mind and feelings of the human race, must ever present an impassalde barrier to our progress in the paths of virtue; nay, whi'e these errors continue to be impressed on the infant mind, real virtue must remain hidden from !nan. These two pernicious errors engender ail falsehood, deception, and hypocrisy. These are, indeed, the natural and necessary fruit of the tree — and where there is falsehood and deception, there can be jio virtue; and where these errors exist, truth cannot be known; and, in consequence, your present state of society is built altogether upon iklsehood and deception. Where there is disunion of feeling and sentiment there can be no more than the appearaace of virtue; and religion compels you to imbibe, at a very early age, the sole cause of this disunion of sentiment and feeling, and to regard it as a virtue. When and where has there ever been harmony and unison of opin- ion on the subject of religion? So well is this understood amongst the most enlightened and refined circles of society, that they have ta- citly entered into a convention never to broach the subject of religion, so well is it known to the intelligent and beet educated part of the European population, that the discussion of religious topics tends, for the time, to render the parties beside themselves or partially insane. They generally establish it as one of the rules in their learned socie- ties, for the improvement of the Jiuman mind in real knowledge, that religion shall not be introduced. In those minds in which there is not a pure, a genuine or universal charity, derived from a clear and dis- tinct knowledge of the laws of human nature; which excludes not a single individual of the human family, from our kind feelings for their happiness, theri> can be no virtue. And where is the religion that does not in its immediate, direct, and necessary tendency, steel the heart of man against the admission of this universal charity ? I can command no language sufPciently expressive of the sti-ength of my conviction, that religion locks up the heart of man and renders it impenetrable to the rocejition of a single charitable feeling for those who are opposed to their religion, or most ennobling sentimentare notmaterially injured by it. To what country shall I betake myself, in order to find true chari- ty, which is the most rational, amiable, and beneficial quality of human nature? Has it ever been, even up to the present hour, allowed fair play? Had it not beea checked in the Ixid by religion^ it would have, DEBATE, 231 been the most natural and the most general attribtite of human char- acter. But as the character of man has been farmed by the religions of the world, is this pure charity, or even the semblance of it, to be lound in Europe, Africa or America? I have sought for it every where as the pearl above all price, but no where can I find it, or even trace a faint resemblance to it. I have long since abandoned the search, for to find it where any religion prevailed, I discovered was utterly hopeless. This divine charity, to be derived only from an accurate knowledge of the laws of human nature, never has existed as a virtue to any people from the beginning of time. How was it to be produced? Can doctrines which teach that man can believe or dis-^ believe, love or hate at pleasure, teach charity ? To expect the tree of religion, my friends, to produce the fruit of charity, were just as irra- tional as to expect "figs from thorns, or grapes from thistles," There can be no real virtue, where there is not kindness and aftection exist- ing amongst the population — but where shall we look for this? The Society of Friends have made the nearest approximation to it that I have yet seen — but have they been able to attaio to this indispensable pre-requisite, for virtue and social happiness? No, my friends, with the most ardent desire on their parts, the Society of Friends have not been able to attain this happy state of individual and social feeling. They have failed entirely, and why ? Because there can be no real affection, kindness or benevolence of feeling, amongst the members oi any class, sect or party, who are trained in the notion that they can believe or disbelieve,'like or dislike at will. No, to search after a virtuous population, whilst these pernicious and fundamental errors are taught to the people, will be only to waste our time. Then, ni\ friends, if you really wish to be virtuous, and to have kind and aflcc- donate feelings one towards another; to acquire the feelings of a pure and genuine charity, that shall perpetually exclude from your bosoms every unpleasant and unkind feeling towards any of your brethren of the human family; the very first step that you must take is to discard and to reject all the religions of the world, together with all those errors which these religions have forced into your minds. When you can effect an amalgamation between oil and water, you may ex- pect to find real virtue and religion co-existed in the same people. A population virtuous, and at the same time religious, never has existed ; and if I know any thing of the constitution of human nature, never will exist. And as to our progress in improvement in intelligence in other matters, it has been made unaided by system in opposition to the established and prevalent systems of religion in the place where the improvements were made. Religions m general set no value upon real,. or what they term worldly knowledge. Amongst every population over the world, in which any religion has acquired the full ascendency over the minds of the people, there, as a necessary consequence, have young, old, and middle aged been" plung- ed in the darkest night of ignorance. How indeed is it possible, that religion and intelligence ever can exist together? The one has its .source in the wildest fancies of a romantic and overstrained irnagin5> ^33 DEBAl'K lion — the other is derived from fnct, and is founded in real knowledge . und discoverable only by the clear li^sht of natural revelation. If the Christian religion had not induced and sustained and continued the .dark ages, as they are called, how different would have been the state of the world, during that period, from what we learn from history it has been and from our experience it is now? Why, my friends, ander a rational system, founded on the obvious laws of nature, it v/ill be-easy in practice to give more knov/ledgc requisite to happiness to a popula- tion in teu years to come, than the world has been permitted to acquire, in the last two thousand years. If, therefore, we are ever to become a people truly intelligent, our first preliminary step must be to discard all religions and the incalculable errors of every description which they have ejigendered. It is religion, my friends, which destroys all fcXir reasoning faculties, and conjures up phantoms to affright and coi>- found all the human faculties. Were it not f jr the degrading and de- basing effects of the various religions of the world, bowing down the minds of mankind to receive the teachings of a few ignorant mortals, who pretend to instntct them in, to them, inconceivable heavenly mys- teries, children by the time the}' arrive at the age of ten years, might wir.h ease to their instructers,and great delight to themselves^be trained to the acquisition of more knowledge than is at present possess^, ed by any priest or all the priest?^ in the world. Then, my friends, we come next to that charity which it is necessary to possess in de- vising a system for the education of children; and the only barrier that 1 know of, to the introduction of the most necessary charity, is relijoion. But so long as religiou is tnkvratetl, this charity also, can find no resting place upon earth. Mr. CAMrBELL rises — "A copious history of the Jewish legislator is given by Antapanus, in which ths oppression of the Israelites; the flight of Moses into Arabia, and his subsequent marriage; a circumstance similar to that of the burning bush; his divine commission to deliver his country- men; the transformation of his rod into a serpent; the various plagues of Egypt, the spoiling of the Egyptians; the passage through the Red Sea; the destruction of Pharaoh and his host; and the sup- port of the Israelites by manna in the wilderness, are all mentioned, lie is further said to have been the person whom the Greeks call lyiuseus, the preceptor of the celebrated Orpheus. The same author asserts that the passage of the Israelites through the Red Sea was not unknown to the Ileliopolitans, who gave the following account of that supernatural transaction. "The king of Egypt, as soon as the Jews had departed from his country, pursued them with an immense army, bearing along with him the consecrated animals. But Moses Iiaving, by the divine command, struck the waters with his rod, they parted asunder, ainl affjrded a free passage to the Israeliten. The Egytians attempted to follow them, when lire suddenly flashed in their faces, and the sea, returning to its usual channel, brought a universal destruction upon their whole army.'* DEBATE. 233 «'The circumstance of the Egyptians being struck with lightning, as well as being overwhelmed by the waves, is mentioned ui the ITth Psalm, although unnoticed in the Pentateuch. "Diodorus Siculus relates, that the Ichthyophagi, who lived near the Red Sea, had a tradition handed down to them through a long line of ancestors, that the whole bay was onCe laid bare to the very bottom, the waters retiring to the opposite shores; and that they afterwards returned to their accustomed channel with a most tremen- dous revulsion. "Even to this day, the inhabitants of the neighborhood of Corondel preserve the remembrance of a mighty army having been once drowned in the bay which Ptolemy calls Clysma. "The very country where the event is said to have happened, in some degree bears testimony of the accuracy of the Mosaical narra- tive. The scriptural Ethen is still called Etti. The wilderness of Shur, the mountain of Sinai, and the country of Paran, are still known by the same name; and Marah, Elath, and il/irfm/i are still familiar to the ears of the Arabs. The grove of Elim yet remains, and its twelve fountains have neither increased nor diminished since the days of Moses. "The names which are assigned by Moses to eastern countries and cities, returned to them immediately from the patriarchs, their origin- al founders are for the most part the very names by which they were anciently known all over the East; many of them were after- wards translated, with little variation, by the Greeks, into their sj^stems of geography. Moses has traced in one short chapter, all the inhabitants of the earth, from the Caspian and Persian seas to extreme Gades, to their original, and recorded at once the period and occasion of their dispersion. "The late Sir William Jones has very satisfactorily traced tho origin of ail the people of the earth to the three roots, Shem, Hani, and Japheth; according to the account given in the 10th chapter of Genesis. The fact mentioned by him is worthy of remark, that the first dynasties of Peruvian kings are dignified exactly as those of Lidia are, by the name of the Sun and Moon. '*Sir William Jones has shown, that the traditions of the present heathen nations of Asia are not of more ancient authority than the traditions of the ancient nations of Asia and Europe. — "States and empires," he says, "could scarcely have assumed a regular form till fifteen or sixteen liundred years before the christian epoch; and for the first thousand years of that period we have no history unmixed with fable, except that of the turbulent and variable, but eminently distinguished nation descended from Abraham. . "The Chinese themselves do not pretend that any historical monu- ment existed among them, in the age of Confucius, more ancient than 1100 years before the christian epoch. "The dawn of true Indian history appears only three or four centu- ries before the christian era ; the preceding ages being clouded by allegory or fable." 20* 234 DEBATE "Truth is always consistent with itself, and acquires an accessioij of evidence from every thing with which it stands connected. It is not only beyond the power of perverted ingenuity and learning to invalidate the truth of the facts recorded in the earlier parts of the scriptural history, but they arc confirmed by the traditions of all nations in a manner the most indubitable."* We have now, we presume, exhausted your patience on this dry but still interesting part of the argument. We predicate nothing on these documents further than this, that, so ftir as the antiquities of nations have descended to us, there is corrobarative evidence of the Mosaic account, and not a single testimony against it. There is more absurdity in my friend's last address than could, perhaps, be disproved in a week. I have enumerated fifty-four dis- tinct assertions adduced in his last address, and in the same space of time ^ could utter lilly-lbur entirely distinct from my opponent's. njt what Avould be the results, what the convictions arising from, such a style of disputation. If this is to pass for argument, demon- sfraiion, or proof among the sceptics, I think their case is indeed irremediable. Men do, indeed, talk of reason^ and eulogize her^ a)id compare her with Christianity ; but I have uniformly remarked that sceptics, after a few compliments to their goddess at the thresh- h-Ad, afterwards treat her with great neglect. I had intended to-day t.> present a recapitulation of my argument, and of my opponent's also; but on examination I could not find that he had advanced a single new idea. I could discover nothing but what he has already more than once presente '. Tie has only given us another revisal of ins divine code. In reiteratiiig this code he did, I acknowledge, pass a few compliments upon the general character of man. We have !)een told, among other things, that we have not rational faces; that fh^re are few indices or proofs of any sort of reasoning powers ex- hibited in any christian community ■ and to christian communities lie ascribes all the vices of the world. For what purpose should I attend to su'-h a style of argument? No good could result. By recognizing it as worthy of notice I should be deprived of opportunity fo advance a!;y good arguments in favor of Christianity, On Mr. ♦ )wen's principles he can commit no sin against decorum or any thing else. He cannot recognize any being taking cognizance of his motives against whom he can sin. He acknov/ledges no responsi- bility to any tribunal, none to the moderators, none to the audience. Upon his own principles he cannot sin, and is, therefore, incapable of conviction upon our premises. Yesterday we were told that we were neither more nor less than more particles of matter, consequently that there is no such thing as I'ither virtue, religion, or morality, in the common acceptation of Miose terms. I know that the terins heave)}, divine law, religion, rirtue, and moraUti/, are occasionally used by Mr. Owen. But in what sense or application he uses them are not known. We have call'^d upon him repeatedly for a definition of these terms. Surely •lIaWa\",'g EvldeiKes, vol. p. 179— -194. DEBATE 233 u mitst be known to Mr. Oven that in argument definitions must, be settled. Now I would ask this a-idience if they have any idea of what Mr. Owen means by virtuet What are his ideas of virtue? What virtue can a being who is a!loge*hei' material possess? Why, he tells us that it is to pay a just regard to car passions and fee'ings,' or, in other words, that a virtuous course is that which secures to ua the greatest amount of animal enjoynien*. So that virtue, with Mr.^ Owen, is nothing more than a new name for appetite gratified, and his morality is nothing more than the capacity to minister to animal enjoyment. This is most unquestionably what Mr, Owen means by virtue and morality. In regard to the term fact Mr. Ow^en repeats that "any thing which exisls is fact.'''' Now I believe I hold mere verbal criticism in as slight regard as most men, but by this loose method of defining terms and using them, it is impossible ever to arrive at a logical conclusion. We asserted yesterday that whatever is done is a fact ; but that nothing which is not done can be called a fact — this I afiinn is the true im- port of the term. In common parlance we use this and other terms vaguely, but when we come to logical and philosophical discussion this will never do. If it be necessary in mathematics to have a strict definition of our terms, it is equally necessary here, \Miat is the difference between a fact, a truth, an opinion, and a belief? Why^ there is just as distinct a meaning annexed to these terms in my mind as to the eye, the ear, or any other organ or member of the hitman body. The term truth is the most general and comprehensive of all^ We have logical and mathematical truth?, and so on through the whole circle of the sciencs; and it means no more than a coexistence and consentaneousness with the thing of which it is affirmed. When facts are called stubborn things which are to revolutionize tlie world, it is surely necessary that we should understand the import of the term, Jbut here we are at issue — i\Ir. Owen says a fact is that which exists; on the other hand, we affirm that a f ict is that which is done. Now, according to Mr. Owen's definition every thing that lias any existence real or imaginary, is a fact. If a house is composed of fifty th KOTES UPON MR. OWEn's SIXTH LAW. The object ot" this law is to prove man a necessary, ami, thercforoj an irresponsible agent. OO^Beliefmust, in all cases, be the effect of testimony, as know- ledge is of experience; which latter is always, and in all cases, the proper and necessaiy effect of sensation, perception, memory, and consciousness; or, is the necessary result of one or more of these faculties. Wherefore, unless we confound belief ^\ith knowledge, it has nothing to do with our sensations or feelings, whether external or internal feelings; but depends entirely upon testimony — of the validity of which reason is the sole and competent judge. But, sup- pose with the said law, that "our belief has no dependence upon our will" — What then? IIow does th'is effect our responsibility, to destroy which is the obvious design of said 'law? Is aot wiU, or roliiioUi the last practical act of the mind — the determination of the mind to action, whether internal action or external? Is it not the effect of appetite — of affection — of passion — of judgment ? And although it may proceed from any one, or more, of these motives ; yet, in rational creatures, ought it not to be always under the control of reason — of judgment? And if we judge or reason rightly, according to tli« documents within our power, wc will necessarily will to do what, upon the v.holc, appears right, or preferable to do. And this we will most certainly do, if we possess the documents of Christianity, and act accordingly. For it is axiomatically right for the rational creature to love, adore, and obey its Creator, Preserver, Redeemer, and graci- ous Benefactor; to whom it stands indebted for every thing enjoyed or promised. These things being so, the only necessity the rational creature is subject to, according to its nature, is to act right; that is, (t^according to the best documents which are within its power, or of which it can avail itself. To act thus, would most certainly be to act circumstantially right; than which, no rational creature can act better: and, in the case supposed, would inevitably lead to piety, iemperance, justice, and charity; — would intallibly secure benevo- ience to all, according to our ability and their necessity, &c. Now, if to these happy results of the just necessity of acting up to this 6th law of our rational nature, as explained above, we add the requirements of the 9th. in order to promote and secure our highest and most perma- nent happiness, by cultivating, in the best and highest manner, all our powers and faculties, physical, intellectual, and moral, from infancy *o maturity, and in calling them forth into action at the proper pe- riods;— will we not especially cultivate and call into action, as fast, and as far as possible, these powers; the improvement and exercise of vhicij, contribute most to this high and benevolent design of our creation; namely, the knowledge antWove of God; with all the bliss- fal and glorious iiopes and assurances of the gospel, both present and ttlture ; all of which are attainable by faith only ? Will we not, there- fore cultivate the faculty of believing, with which we are so liberally endowed from our very infancy, that our progressive happiness, our diversified gro.tifieation, may increase as fast as possible — may grow 238 DEBATE. with our growth, and strengthen with our strength. For who knoxi/s not that Oii^the chief of our gratifications consist in the exercise of our minds upon the most lovely and interesting objects? And what can equal for grandeur, for beauty, for variety, for interest, for permanen- cy— the glorious, the wonderful, and lovely objects, presented to our minds in the Holy Scriptures, to allure our souls to the love of piety and benevolence — of all manner of virtue and goodness? Or what so terrible or dissuasive as the exhibitions of the divine displeasure against every species of impiety, of iniquity, and cruelty to our fellow- creatures? And are not these things addressed and adapted to our intellectual faculties? Have we not the faculty of believing upon testimony — of discerning its ci-edibihty — of loving and hating — of hoping and fearing — of admiring, desiring, rejoicing — of gratitude and resentment? And does not our intellectual happiness consist iff. a duly apportioned succession of those exercises tov/ards their proper objects? Does not the 8th law of our nature demand variety in order to healthful enjoymeet? And does not the law under consideration call for the cultivation of our moral faculties? And are not the abov6 objects adapted to the cultivation of these faculties ? But to proceed. We have farther proof of the designed or involun- tary ambiguity of our opponent. He still persists in the use of the word created. What is the import of the word created? In reply to this question, Mr. Owen says that he does not know whether he ever was created. Therefore, for Mr. Owen to use the term created is an imposition upon our language and feelings. What is the import of the word feeling? What does Mr, Owen mean by applying the term belief to the strongest impressions made upon our feelings? If I put my finger into the fire [feel that I am burned; but, according to Mr, Owen's use of terms, from this feeling results my belief that I am burned; and I ought, to speik in his style, to say that I belieoe I am burned, and that this belief is involuntary. We have protested already against this licentious "se of terms. We have affirmed that the term belief cannot have reference to our sensations, but can only be applied legitimately to matters deoendent upon testimony ; that where there is no testimony there can be no beliet^. It is common, we admit, to say, that we have the testimony of our ovvn eyes, or ears ; but this is language merely eulogistic of the utility and perfection of those organs; but, in stnct propriety of speech, we cannot use the terra belief where there is neither oral, uritten, nor traditioral testimony But, with Mr, Owen, the word belief is nomen generaVn^simum — a word of the most general and comprehensive signification — almost equiva- lent in the latitude in which he uses it to a universal language. If I feel hot or cold, wet or dry, sick or '.v^ell, weary or refi-eshed, Hccord- mg to Mr. Owen's latitudinous use of the word^ I must say that I believe that I feel all these varied sensations. He says that each individual is so created that he mtist belier© according to the strongest impression made upon his eye, or ear, or nose, or heart, or any appetite, passion, or power which he possesses; ©r, in other words, fire will burn him, water will drown him. and DEBATE. 339 the breeze iftll cool him whether he will it or not; and therefore this belief is involuntary. From sueh confusion of terms we may infer that there is a corresponding confi.sion of ideas; for confusion of terms is the oftspring either of confusion of ideas, or a mistake of the meaning of terms. Whatever a person clearly conceives, he can clearly express — yerha sequntum res; or, in English, words follow ideas is a true and instructive maxim. Whole systems of error, when analysed, have been found to proceed from a misapprehension and misapplication of terms. And, indeed, 1 am not withc-ut very oon- siderable misgivings that this may be one radical cause of the illusion which has captivated my friend and opponent Mr. Owen. Mr. OwEX rises. My friends — In this discussion 1 am to prove and establish certain points. Mr. Campbell, on the otlier hand, has undertaken to disprove them. The course I have pursued, plainly incicates how m-'i^h I wish to reply to Mr. Campbell's observations, whenever he brings for- ward any thing that to me appears rationally and legitimately enti- tled to a grave reply ; but when Mr, Campbell endeavors to intro- duce into this debate theological speculations which none but those trained in them can perceive belong to the subjects, I really cannot re :oncile it to my notions of the propriety and decorum which the dignity of this debate requires to be mutually and reciprocally obser- ved; to indulge myself in any reply to what I conceive to be so im- pertinently irrelevant to the real merits of the question; therefore when I do not give Mr. Campbell a direct reply, you must do me the justice to believe that I camiot recognize the matter propounded as applicable to the questions before us. I now perceive that Mr. Camp- bell's associations of ideas, are, indeed very ditferent on these subjects, to those combinations which have been formed in the most intelligent minds in the most advanced societies in Europe and America. H» has been evidently always within religious circumstances and his mind is overwhelmed with their influences. While T have fortunate- ly escaped out of them, and freely examined and experienced the in- fluences of almost all the other circumstances to be found in civilized society. Mr. Campbell, therefore, thinks that important to the dis- cussion of the subjects before us, which I know, in the present com- paratively advanced state of knowledge, not to be deserving of any record in our proceedings, and I therefore pass it over without further notice. Mr. Campbell has informed you that it was not in the nature of man to be compelled to support clerical institutions against their will, and to pay them money. In reply I request him to ask the Catholics of Ireland if the large sums which they annually contribute to support the established church of England, in Ireland, are not ren- dered salely against their will; end in England large sums are ex- tracted from the Jew3 and dissenters in support of their established religion, solely agiinst their inclination. Brit the most singular misconception of Mr. Campbell is in relation Jo. the laws which govern our belief of fac.t?. Now there is na- 240 DEBATE. thing more familiar to the human mind than that when we read history and find the facts stated to be in the regular order of nature, to be well attested, and not contradicted, by other equal authority, for us to believe such facts to be true. While, on the other hand, when we read of facts stated to exist, which are opposed to the well ascertain ^ ed laws of our nature, and which require stronger evidence than any history can afford; we, as rational beings, are compelled to withhold our belief in such statements; and it does not depend upon our will, for we cannot do otherwise. In the reading of history, it does not depend upon me to believe or disbelieve the historic facts related — one set of facts I can believe without etPjrt, whilst another appears so improbable, it becomes impossible to force myself to believe them. I have been asked for my definition of the word fact. Now using the word in its common acceptation it is considered to be a fact or no fact that man, at birth, is ignorant of his organization; and so on through- out the whole twelve facts which I have stated. These are either facts or no facts ; and it is Mr. CampbelPs business and duty to show to the contrary, if he does not believe them to be fiicts. But what perplexes Mr. Campbell is the exclusive attention he has paid to met- aphysics— his attention has never been directed to the examinatioB and ascertainment of facts. The difference between Mr. Campbell and myself is this: I have for many years attended to nothing but facts, and Mr, Campbell to nothing but imagination. For instance, with regard to the fundamental law of our nature. It is either a fact or no fact that we have the power of believing or disbelieving at will. I have put the test to Mr. Campbell, and he has shown the fact to be so true that there is no opposing of it. In like manner I would say that it is a fact that man's will has or has not power over his be- lief; in like manner, it is a fact that we knoio those things of which we are informed by the evidence of our senses, and we are compelled to J^elievte those things which are thus forced into our minds upon the merits of the testimony which verifies them. In like manner it is or is not a fact that all religions of the world have been founded in ignor- ance. My afiirmative is, that all the religions of the world have beeo founded in ignorance; I offer proof and arguments in support of this proposition; and all Mr. Campbell might say for a thousand years would be but idle words unless he can disprove this fact. 1 tell you nothing but truths, my friends, and when you come to reflect coolly upon my statements, and to study facts for yourselvs, you may depend iipon it that you will find these much more true than the gospel ; and it is now these very errors that prevent the establishment of a society •of charity in its most extensive sense over the world. Mr. Campbell «nd I take a great deal of pains not to be angry with each other, but were it not for the erroneous notions implanted by religioa, we should have no angry feelings on account of difference of opinion, and our present discussion would only b& a little pleasant excitement to ns both. But to be again serious upon these important subjects. Tlie reli gions of the world are the only cause vrhy we cannot establish a s# DEBATE. 241 aeiy that shall have rfiucenty for its foundation — for where reIigio«s notions prevail there can be no real sincerity. All religions prc^sup- pose that all men should think alike upon the fundamental principles of each peculiar religion; and therefore many professors of it are compelled by various considerations to conceal their real sentiments, and to live in a state of continual deception. At present there is scarce- ly any tiling to be found in society that merits the name of truth — scarcely upon any occasion are you told the truth, except, perhaps, %vhen I come among you, and then I know how disagreeable it is to you. But I hope the time will come when we shall all have the happiness of speaking what we think and feel; and to do this, and to experience all the beneficial results of a conduct so rational would be to produce heaven upon earth. We have discovered by experience in some few instances, what fine feelings are produced by such cou' duct. If we only knew each other as we are known, as we should do by speaking only what we really thought and felt, we could not avoid acquiring great kindness towards each other. Wherever you find an open, honest character without deceit, that character gets through the world without difficulty. It is a thorough knowledge of ourselves and of each other, that can alone lay the foundation of love and affection, in human society. Upon no other base can peiinanent and extensive kindness and sincerity be established ; and that not in a little circle of a few hundretl thousand, or a few millions, but amon^- the whole family of man. It is, therefore, true, as I have state<^, that religion is the only barrier in the way of forming a societj- of virtue, intelligence, and kindness, and charity in its most extended senpc, among the whole human family; for as soon as we can get rid of (he errors of religion, there can be no obstacle in the way of our farming a society with these qualifications. Then we shall have no local or geographical prejudices — no district religions; but all will be so train- ed as to recognize no hne of demarcation between man and his fellow = — we shall all feel ourselves to be of one family, and act as if we really were so. But to form a S"X;iety of virtue, intelligence, and charity in its most extended sense, and of sincerity and kindness, we must first know what manner of beings we are; and when we discover how we are organized, and how our character is subsequently produced, there can be no difficulty in establishing a society of this kind as soon as every thing in religion that is opposed to the laws ofour nature, shall be withdrawn from the world. We shall then know how to create circumstances, which cannot fail to communicate to each individual, the most superior character, of which his organization is susceptible. No religion has ever yet formed any uniformly good character for mankind; but understanding the laws ofour nature, we learn to take a mathematical course, to form a character greatly superior to any that ever has existed. Wo may think the invention of a ship, of a tipie-piece, of spinning machines, or the steam engine, &c. of great importance; but what are these, compared with the science which shall teach us the right ^odo to form inio exceHence, everv child tliat shall come into exisN 21 242 DEBATE. cnce. By this science, we shall be instructed how Vo train the phys- ical, intellectual, and moral qualities of children, in the best rnanner, and thereby enable them to attain a high point of perfection — and yet their faculties will never be exercised beyond the point of temperance. The constitution of our nature is such, that all our faculties must be oultivated and exercised, or else we become but parts of human beings, and therefore, but partially happy. Your existing modes of training, cause you to be human beings but in part — not one part in ton of your faculties have ever been developed, or called into action-, but, understanding the laws of our nature, we shall know matliematic- ally how to train every child that comes into existence. I have not the least doubt, but each of us might have been trained to be much superior to what we are. Individually, we are but mere pigmies, compared to the ancient Greeks and Romans, although as nations, the moderns are sirperior to them. These ancients cultivated many more of the faculties of each individual, than is the practice in xnodern times, and many of their powers were much better brought out. But neither these ancients, highly as their physical and intel- lectual powers have been cultivated, nor any of our immediate ances- tors, will be at all comparable to men whose physical and intellectual faculties shall be understood, experienced, and developed as they ought to be. Our present views, my friends, are very cheering; we iiave the prospect of brea'king the shell of ignorance and darkness, which has so Jong imprisoned our faculties — we are now like the chicken picking at the shell, in order to set itself at liberty and see the light. This will be a glorious era, and my friend Mr. Campbell, will assist in hastening its arrival, for he has a strong yearning after an improved state of society, which he calls the millennium. At present it cannot be expected, that Mr. Campbell should think with me — he has a powerful mind, but has experienced the natural result of early prepossessions, and it has been hurt by too much learning — but when he comes to compare, to investigate, and to ascertain facts, I do ex- pect that he will become a powerful apostle in the cause I advocate. i have told you that these same twelve old laws, which Mr. Campbell does not seem to like, will point out to us practical measures, for the promoting and securing of our true interests and happiness. They develope to us distinctly the mode m which the worst characters have been formed; and also, how the medium character of man, (now the only kind to be met with) has been produced. They further point out to us the manner in which all may be made to possess the most superior character. And 1 have very little doubt that it will be found quite easy in practice, to make every individual of the second genera- tion greatly superior to the present; and beyond all comparison, superior to any human being, whose character has been formed under the old systems of the world. I have now gone through the four clauses of this part of the subject ; I have given you my reasons for being compelled to believe that all religions have been founded in the ignorance of man, that they areop- QOSoU to tlic unchanging laws of our nature, and arc.tlse real source-(tf DEBATE. 243 vice, disunion, and misery of every description; and that they arc now the only bar to the formation of a society over the earth, of virtue, Intel! igeace and happiness. We novv conic to the last clause of the subject, which is, that these religions can no longer be maintained, except through the ignorance of the mass of the people, and the tyranny of the few over that ninss. Do you know, my friends, that the beginning of this week, in this place was the first period in the history of man, when truths the most vlc, according to ofir experience, to institute monuments, or commemorative institutions, of alleged flicts which never happened. 4. We showed that circumcision, the Sabbath, the passover, the redeaiption of the firstborn, the selection of the tribe of Levi, and all the Jewish festivals, were commemorative institutions to assure pos- terity of the indabitable certainty of the facts on whicli their religion was built. 5 . We allegc'l tliat the types and symbols of the Jews' religion were most wisely designed to furnish the world with a supernatural vocabulary ; and not merely to establish the past institutions, but to introdutc the christian religion. DEBATE. 245 B. We then assarted that there was no contradictory testimony con- temporaneous with the Jewish institution. 7. Wo next proclucsd corroborating documents tVom the remotest antiquities of the surrounding nations. An ingenious opponent might have presented me with one or other of the only two conceivable objections to my reasoning. As Mr, Owen has not presented them, I will do it myself. Human ingenuity can devise but two objections to this argument. The one is, that these commemorative institutions were imposed upon the Jewish nation at a period long posterior to the times when the alleged facts were recorded to have transpired: that is to say, that some live hundred years after the happening of the events, it was required of the people to perform certain actions commemorative of them. Now the question is, Is it within the compass of our experience to conceive of the possibility of any people being induced, at a prescribed time, to begin solemnly and Scrupulously to observe all these religious customs, and conform to all these commemorative institutions, if the reasons assigned were not « founded on demonstrated facts? The question is just this. Could Ave of the present day now be induced, by any sort of influence, from thi^ time forth to celebrate the anniversary of an event said to have hap- pened a hundred years ago, of which v,-e have no satisl'actory proof? The universal experience of mankind proves that we could not — it would be an imposition which it is not in Ijuman nature to submit to. The second objection which might be urged to these premises, is, that Moses found the Jews in the practice and observance of these in- stitutions, and that from his own brain he manufactured the reasons for them : that he tbund, ibr example, tho rite of circumcision and the institution of the Levitical priesthood held in great reverence by theso people; and that he told them these were commemorative of certain matters of fact recorded in their history, written by himself, which they had never heard before; but that he now reveals to them the reason, and constrains them to say that these commemorative actions have respect to events of which they never befci'e heard, On this hypothesis the difficulty is this : that at this very time he sug- gested these things to the people, they must have inquired with deep interest whether these reasons assigned by Moses were the true ones; and moreover, this absurdity is implied in the objection that the people had been long in the practice of these observancos without kno?"ing any reason for them! jNeither of these hypothesis are con- cei/ able upon any known principle of human nature, and these are the only two objections which can be offered to the conclusion which I have deduced from these premises. I know that the reason why my opponent objects to receiving the testimony of these holy men, is predicated upon a principle which he has not avowed. That principle we wish now to e:,pose; and, there- fore, before we enter on the historic argument, we must present you with a brief analysis of the reasonings and objections of David Ilume. David Hume affirms that "experience is our only guide in reason- ing concerning matters of fact," and that "our belief, or assurance 21* .246 DEBATE. of any fact from the report of eye-witnesses, is derived from no othe^ principle than experience; that is, our observation of the veracity of human testimony, and of the usual conformity of facts to the reports of witnesses." To detect the sophistry of Hume, we must give a true definition of experience : — Experience is either personal or derived. "Per^onaZ experience is founded in iMemory, and consists solely of the general maxims and conclusions that each individual has formed 6'om the comparison of the particular facts he hath remembered." ^^Derived experience is founded in testimony, and consists not only of all the experiences of others, which have, through that channel, been communicated to us ; but of all the general maxims or conclu-- sions we have formed, from the comparison of particnlar facts at*- t^sted." Our opponents, by the term experience, must mean personal ex- perience, unless they make use of the sophism called by logicians, ^'a circle in causes f^ for derived experience is derived from testimony, and cannot be contrasted with it ; for it is the same with the assu- rance attendant on, or is the result of faith. Now if all testimony is to be judged by our personal experience, or by our memory, or senses, we shall be reduced in the measure of our information even below the savage himself. It will be impossible for an inhabitant of the torrid zone to be assured that water can become solid as a rocK ; or for an Icelander to believe in the existence of an animal called a Negro. No number of witnesses, however credible, could establish such facts in the minds of those who have no recollec- tion of seeing them. The sophistry of the whole reasoning of Hume on this subject is involved in this one period ; — "Tr-sTiMONY is not entitled to the least degree of faith, but as far as It is supported by such an extensive experience, as if we had not a previous and independent faith iij testimony we never could have ac- quired.''' David Hume asserts— "A miracle, supported by any human testimo- ny, is more properly a subject of derision than of ai-gument." p. 194. Again — "No testimony for ant kiivd of miracle can ever possibly amount to a pi'ohahility, much less to a proof.'" Yet, page 203, he owns, *-(here may possibly be miracles or violations of the usual course of nature of such a kind as to admit of proof from human testi- mony; though, perhaps, it will he impossible to find any such in all the records of historv." "Suppose," adds he, "all authors in all languages agre^ that from the lat of January, 1700, there was a total darkness over the whole earth for eight days. Suppose that the tra- ditions of this extraordinary event is still strong and lively among the people, that all travellers who return from foreign countries bring us ticcounts of the same tradition, without the least variation or contra- diction, it is evident t4iat our present philosophers>. in&tead of doubliiTg DEBATE. -247 of that fact, ©ught to receive it for certain, and ought to search for the causes whence it might be derived." This same Mr, Hume asserts that "testimony has no evidence hut what it derives from experience: these differ from each other only as a species from the genus." ''TVic Jove of the marvellous,'''' and "religious affection,'''' are assign- ed as the great causes of imposition in matters of testimony concerning viiracles and prodigies. Mr. Hume and other sceptics have in their constitution a little of the love of the marvellous; but instead of the religious afection, they have a strong religious antipathy. Hence Mr. Hume says, "Should a miracle be ascril)ed to any new system of religion, this ver^' circumstance would be a full proof of a cheat, and sufficient, with all men of sense, not only to make them reject the fact, but even reject it without farther examination.'^'' "The violations of truth are more common," says the same author **in the testimony concerning religious miracles." [Gratuitous decla- ration .Q This "should makf. us form a general resolution never to lend attention to it, with whatever specious pretext it may be covered." Mr. Hume and other Free Thinkers preach implicit faith, and warn their followers of the danger of consulting reason. "Beware," says Hume, "of inquiring into the strength of the plea; for those wlio will be so silly as to examine the aifair by that mediiim, and seek particular flavvs in the testimony, are almost sure to be confounded." Miracles are not aided in gaining credit by the religious affection; for all the Bible miracles, at least those in support of Christianity, are rather impaired by it. Miracles performed in proof of a religion t-o Reestablished, and in contradiction to opinions generally received; and the evidence of miracles, performed in support of a religion already established and in confirmation of opinions generally receiv- ed, are in the former case not aided by the religious affection ; and m the latter case they are; but as i« the advantage in the latter, so is the disadvantage in the former. Let this be v/eighed. If Mr. Hume's dogmas can be believed, or if his positions on testi- snony, evidence, and experience are to be admitted, then it fol]owa: (for this is his system in one sentence) — "It is impossible for the Almighty to give a revelation attended with such evidence that it can be reasonably believed in after ages, or even in the same age, by any person who has not been an eye-witness of the miracles by which it i^ :^upported ." Dr. George Campbell, of Aberdeen, in his Essay upon Miracles, has made these and other positions of the celebrated Hume appear subjects 6^ derision rather than of argument. I do not think there is to be" found in the English language a more complete and masterly refuta- tion of any system of error, than is the Essay upon Miracles of the s^/stem of Hume. Hume felt himself defeated — completely defeated r lie never replied to it. And 1 have it from living testimony,^ that, when Hume's friends jested him upon the complete defeat of his system, he acknowledged that "the Scotch theologue had beaten him." But sCich was his pride of understanding, tliat lie did not 24S DEBATE. publicly acknowledge his defeat in any other way than by never pr^v sumingto answer the Essay. It is mortifying to hear the dogmas oi' Hume'brought forward by his sceptlsdA disciples, and attempted to bo passed current as oracular precc')is, v,hen their master dared not t© defend them himself. There is not, from so able a pen, a more vulner- able position than that svhich is the corner stone of the temple of s'cepticism. It is that on which Mr. Hume rears his fabric, viz. that every man's personal experience is to be the measure and standard of his iliith. He that has never seen a whale cannot believe tiiat there js one. No man can have any experience of the future. Query — How do we ".?arn that the future will resemble the past? "0:.ir belief of the continuance of the laws ot nature cannot be founded either upon knowledge or probability,"' and is not derived from reason; and how comes it that Mr. Owen talks with so much certainty about what will come to pass hereafter! No man can speak of the future, pretending to any certain knowledge, but the christian. Here the infidel's candle goes out ; and except he obtains some oil from :helamp of revelation, he must continue m perpetual darkness. It was necessary, my triends to introduce this brief analysis of the principle objections against the truth of the christian miracles. You will easily perceive, that sentiments contained in my extract from Mr. Hume, are the reasons of Mr. Owen. Mr. Owen will not believe a miracle, because it is contrary to his experience — and for precisely the same reason, no people who had not travelled, could be made to believe, that there existed on the face of the earth, any other nation or country than their own. Lord Bacon himself lays the foundation for correcting our reasoning^ upon this, as well as upon other subjects — some of his aphorisms are: Man is ignorant of evert/ thing antecedent to observation. There is not a single department of inquiry in which a man does not err, the moment he abandons observation . The greater part ofallhumanhiou-ledgeis derived from testimony, hut testimony does no more than hand down to us the observations of others. What is science hut a record oj observed phenomena grouped togetJi-- cr according to certain points of resemblance, ivhichhave been suggest- ed by an actual attention to the phenomena themselves ? In none of the inductive sciences can the student verify every thing by his own observation; he must rely upon testimony for the large majori- ty of facts. This is especially true in the natural sciences of geography, geology, and chemistry. These principles are not contrary to a single position we have ta- ken in this discussion; indeed, our investigation has proceeded upon these as the basis of the laws of investigation. The great question, as Chalmer's, I think, or some other very ar- gumentative writer, states; the great question, on which the whole argument rests, is this: Shall we admit the testimony of the apostles^ upon the application of principles founded upon observation, and as DEBATE. 249 rcnatti ,ii> 'iS our experience of human affairs; or shall we reject thai testimony vpon the application, of principles that are altogether biyond the range of ohscrtation, and as doubtful and imperfect in their na- ture as is our experience of the counsels ofHeavcnl The former is founded upon experience, the latter upon assoip- Tiox,- r.nd iicre I make my stand, and say, Attack it who may — that our lai'.h in Christianity is most certainly based upon experience — raid infidelity upon assumption — upon assumption throughout. If Mr. Owen call me not to account for this, I hope some person more phi- losophic than he, may yet do it. I will make tke principles of the in- ductive philosophy, too, my rule and guide in this investigation. Mr. Owen has frequently told us of our extreme ignorance — but how emphatically does experience contradict Mr. Owen — only look at the improvements which have taken place in the lapse of the last 000 years — r..nd who have been their author.? — who have laid the foun- dations ? IMr. Owen rises. My friends — Mr. Campbell tells you that I am a false prophet; that 1 prophesied some time ago, that in a few years Cincinnati would be depopulated. But you know, my friends, that years do not mean the same thing in the langyage of prophecy, that they do in commori language. Instead, however, of Cincinnati only being depopulated in a few yeai-s, the fact is, that all large cities will cease to be such. Their inhabitants will discover, that cities are combinations of circumstan- ces extremely injurious to every individual, and therefore, they will he compelled by a distinct knowledge of their own interest to remove out of large cities, and to form smaller associations, to enable each to enj©y all the advantage of a town and country residence. I have no doubt that we shall discover, that all large cities are highly unfavor- able to the happiness of individuals; so much for the prophecy ot S'mali and large congregations of men into one society. Now, my friend supposes that there really exists a desire on my part, not to believe the truth; but I can assure him, that my doubts of the truth of Christianity originated against my will. I was most anxious to swallow the camel. I exerted all the volition of which Mr. Camp- bell speaks, in fighting against my disbelief But the more I investi- gated, the more strongly was I compelled to believe that Christianity and all other religions were founded in the grossest error. With all the energy of volition which I could summon to my aid, I found it impossible to believe that which was contrary to nature. I cannot believe that the power which fills immensity, which pervades all space, and occupies the universe, contracted itself into a little bush, in order to speak to a man. I am just as much able, by the exercise of my volition, to fly to the stars, as I am to believe this. Now I am come to the last clause of this discussion, in which I state, "that the reiigit^ns of the world can be no longer maintained except through ihe ignorance of the many, and the tyjranny of the few over the many.'* 250 DEBATE. Now, my friends, what do you think is the most powerful engine, thai €ver was contrived by human ingenuity, to impose the grossest igno- rance upon mankind, and to keep them in tliat state? Why it is that cunning contrivance which exists so generally, pervading every vil- ?age and hamlet, of preaching Sunday by Sunday to the people, and most arbitrarily and irrationally withholding from them the right of jreply. Train up any population in such a system, and there is no absui'dity which they may not be made to believe implicitly; and by this training their reasoning faculties are sure to be destroyed. So long as society, shall tolerate such an abuse as this, ignorance must continue to pervade the world. While a particular tribe of men, shall be permitted, week after week, and year after year, to impress upon your minds their own peculiar notions, without any right of reply on your side, their is no belief however monstrous that may not be for- ced into your minds. Thus it is that these religions contain the seeds, and the germs of everj^ evil that the human mind can conceive. And unless this tremendous engine can be altered, or destroyed, it must, my friends, continue as heretofore, to afflict our race with all kinds of suffering. So long as it is permitted to continue in operation, there is neither health nor hope for you ; you must forever be kept in the lowest mental degradation ; and so long as the governing powers and that engine are united and co-operative, or the prejudices of the peo- ple shall support such a system, their progipects are gloomy indeed. — This engine presses them down into the lowest depths of ignorance ; they are solemnly assembled to receive any impression their instruo- ters may choose to give them. I speak not this, with any view to hurt the feelings of those individuals, whom circumstances, and the customs of society have jilaced in the station cf spiritual teachers. — I know that some of the finest minds among them do not believe one word of what the circumstances in which they arc placed, compel Them to preach; for when their existence, and the support of their families, depend upon their perseverance in that course, they must go forward in preaching that which thoy disbelieve, or they must starve. Therefore, before we can calculate upon any valuable improvement in society, we must secure to those, whom society has encouraged to become preachers of error, tiic continuance of their former support, in order that no preacher shall be made liable to poverty, or be deprived ofa comfortable subsistence, but be placed in an independent situa- tion, to teach the truth ; and this is the best practical mode, by which, to effect the change without evil. I know, my friends how strongly you must feel the first time you have your early pejudices thus oppo- sed ; but I do not come before you as a quack doctor, who promises to do much for you, in order to obtain j'^our money; but I come to probe your wounds to the bottom, to ascertain the true cause of your diseases. Audi only give vou this temporary pain, in order that you may be placed in a condition to enjoy future permanent happi- ness. If the lev/ can be convittced, (as I tnist they shortly will bcj) thnt the old systems of the world are entirely worn out; then I hope and believe, that tliey will of their own accord, assent to the adoption DEBATE. 251 lOf rational measures, gradually to make the beneficial change I pro- pose. But this change should not be effected by harsh measures %vhich might inflict injury upon any one; I should regret exceedingly that any individual should be a sufferer by the introduction of the great improvements which I contemplate for the human race. The great object I have had in view, has been to prepare the means by which this mighty moral change may be developed and consummated without disturbance, without shock, without anger or strife of any kind. And I think I do see most distinctly, all the necessary steps which may be taken to secure the attainment of these highly benefi- cial objects. I am busily engaged in these measures at present. When I leave you, I shall go to use my utmost exertions, to lay the basis of a solid and permanent peace amongst nations, who are now doing all they can to injure each other, although they are nominally at peace. I have a great many arguments by which to prove, that it is now the true interest of all nations to adopt this course ; and I do not know of any thing now existing in the condition of civilized na- tions to prevent the introduction of a solid and permanent peace. — The peace which How exists amongst them, in which the nations are undermining each other, whenever their interests come into collision , is a peace much more nominal than real ; a mere trifle would break it; a whim or caprice upon the part of one or two individuals might easily set Europe in a flame, and thence carry war and devastation into the four quarters of the world, and for no good purpose produce endless suffering and misery to individuals. Nations, like individu- als, are now injuring each other without any benefit to themselves. In pursuance of this object, I shall probably, before you see me again, travel half round the world; and before 1 return from the pursuit of public affairs, in most countries great changes may be ex- pected. Having now got through the exposition of my views, I am quite wiWing to leave the matter with the public. After Mr. Camp- bell's reply, I shall have an opportunity to rejoin. END OF VOL, I. DEBATE ON THE KVII>ENCES OF CHRISTIANITY; COSTi.INIJ.-0 AN EXAMINATION OF THE AIiD OF ALL THE SYSTEMS OF SCEPTICISM OF ANCIENT AND MODERN TIMES. HELO ly THE CITY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO, FROM THE 13th TO THE 21st OF APEIL, 1829; BETWEEN ROBI]RT OWEN, OF NEW LANARK, SCOTLAND, AND AI.EXANDER 'CAMFBEl.1^ OF BETJIANY, VIRGINIA. Reported hy CHARLES H. SIMS, Stenographer WITH WKITTEN BY THE PARTIES. VO] what then is unbelief — 'Tis an exploit, A strenuous entei-prize. To gain it roan M'.ist burst through every bar of common sense. Of common shame — magnanimously wrong! Who most examine, most believe; Parts, like half sentences, confound. Read his whole volume, Sceptic, then reply! iQvse. O Lord of Hosts! blessed is the man that trusteth In thee! DAVIJ/, BETHANY, VA. IPEIKTED AKD PVDIISHED BY ALEXASDZB CAMPBEtrr 'ON THE EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY, &i;^ Mr. OWEN rises, and observes that Mr. Campbell may reply to him, and prosecute his arguments without half hourly interruption* that when Mr, C. gets through with his reply, he v/ill be ready witb his rejoinder. Mr. CAMPBELL rises- It now appears tliat wc are, at length, in full possession of all iiic arguments and evidences Mr. O. has to offer in support of his posi- tions. You will, no doubt, observe, that although his matter has been exhausted, and his comments fiaisliod, ho did not once advert to tlic very important points submitted in my last speech ; and submitted with tlie intention of eliciting from him something like an issue. But this he appears nov/, as formerly, studiously to avoid. One allusion, iu the form of an objection, was made to my last speech. This was ^n objection to the arguments and views offered on the nature of evidence-. He said " he could as soon fly to the stars as believe that God con- tracted himseK into a little bush to speak to Moses." — But who is it that believes this? I do not. All that the intelligent have ever con- tended for is, that the Omnipotent and Ommipresent Creator of this vast universe, can assume any visible form in any particular place, and exhibit himself just where, and when, and as he pleases. Mr. O. cari- catures, rather than quotes, or directly alludes to the circumstances of this case. Why is it that he cannot meet us on such ground as reason presents, that he must present himself en such ground, as no person of sentiment or sense ever pretended to sfand upon? But Vv'hat I have particular reference to, at this time, is the reason lie assigns for his disbe- lief in miracles. — His reason for disbelieving mivacles is because he never -witnessed one. It is contrary to his cwn experience. But wo have already shewn, that for the same reason he rejects this species of . evidence, or a miracle itself, he would be compelled to reject all testi- raony upon any matter of fact tliathad not come under his own. pcrso- jial observation. It would be as impossible for Mr. Owen to convince a native cf the torrid zone, tliat water became in these United States at^ hard as a stone, or that had frtones sometimes fell from the clouds, as it v.-oald be for me to convince liim that Jesus Cbrist fed five thnus:irid 4 DEBATE, persons on a few loaves and fishes, or cured the iame, tiie doaf, and the blind, by a single word or a touch. The reason which a native of that region would assign for his unbelief, is just the same which Mr. Owen iissigns for his disbelief in the miracles of iMoscs and Christ. They are contrary to his experience. — Mr. Owen, however, is not consistent with his own theory in any case wliatever — he seems to believe just what he pleases. lie believes that meteoric stones, or stones compo- fed of terrene substances, weighing from ten to one hundred pounds, have fallen from the clouds in dilTerent parts of the earth. This is also contrary to, or beyond the bounds of, his experience. In fine, Mr. Owen's faith, small as it is, would be very considerably reduced in quantity and slrengtii, Vv'cre he to act consistently with his own expe- rience. But we have already suificicnlly exposed his inconsistency in this particular. As I have got the Arena to myself, I will now submit to yourconsid eration, the course which I intend to pursue in conducting this argu - ment, to something like a natural, and, as far as circumstances will permit, to a logical termination. 1. I shall call your attention to the historic evidence of the Chris- tian religion. 2. I shall then give a brief outline of the prophetic evidences, or ra- liier the evidence arising from the prophecies, found in the inspired volume. 3. We shall then draw some arguments from the genius and tenden- cy of the Christian religion, 4. We shall then pay some attention to '' the social sysiemp This method, adopted now at tlie impulse of ihe moment, as best a- dapted to this crisis and stage of the discussion, may not be the most unexceptionable; but the singularity oft he crisis to which we are come, will, I hope, apologize for its defects. If any thing should be omitted, because not coming wiAin the logical purview of this division of the subject, we shall rather endure the charge of being immethodical, than to omit noticing it, whenever it presents itself to our view. But as we are soon to adjourn, I will occupy a fe^v liiinutes in fin,- iihing some remarks, which were cut short by the expiration of my last half hour. It was said, that wo are indeijted for all the great im- provements in society to the pliilosophy of Christians, and not to the philosophy of sceptics. A free, a just and equitable government lias dways developed the powers of the human mind. Political or civil li- berty is essential to the expansion and developement of human intel lect. All history is appealed to in proof of this. Just iu proportion as civil liberty has been enjoyed, have mankind, in all ages, distinguisJied liiemselves by the vigor and expansion of their minds. Let any man contrast the ancient Greeks who were free, will: their cotemporaries, the Persians, who were under a despotic government, and he v.ill see the influence of free institutions in the genius, eloquence, and daring enterprize of the former, compared with the latter. Should he ascribc- the superiority to tlioir being of a different race, or to tlie influence of '■'limate, let him turn his attention to tljo Lacsdcrmonians and thetl' DEBATJ?, ^ heiots or slave?. — When the Messenians were two centuries in slave-, ry, one Lacedaomonian possessed the mental vigor iind valor of half a fcore of them. — But only draw the contrast wliich our country pre- sents, and mark the difference between the citizen and the slave. '1 he enjoymentof civil liberty is shewn from reason and experience, fron\ the faithful page of history, to give a new impetus to all fhe faculties of man, — To this liberty, then, we are constrained to ascribe the great improvements in all the arts of civilized and social life. But to see {hf» connexion between this liberty and these free institutions, and Christi- anity, we have only to ask, to whom are we most indebted for the im- provements in government? Tlie Reformation from Popery gave the lirst shock to the despotism of Europe, The labors of the Reformers — and the more recent labors of Milton the poet, and Locke the philosc" pher, have done more to ipsu<^ in the tree institutions of Europe and A- merica, than the labors of all tlic sceptics from Celsus to my friend Mr. Owen. We ascribe much, to the intelligence, virtue and patriotism, of our levolutionary heroes and statesmen. But tliere was one Christian philosopher to whom we are more indebted than to any of them. Nay, perhaps, than to all of them. The cause of civil and religious liberty owes more to the labors of Mr. John Locke, than to all the sceptics in Christendom. His essay on toleration, first burst the chains that held England and Europe fast bound under a religious and civil despotism. He had the honor, as Lord Verulam had, of originating a new era. As- Lord Verulam had the honor, by his 7soinim Organuni, of originating a nev/ era in physics, so Locke, the philosopher, laid the foundation of a new order of society by his Essay on Toleration. This Essay gave the first impulse to the spirit of enquiry, and laid t.he foundation of our present liberties. This Christian pliilosopher, drafted the lirst iuT 3truinent called a constitution, imported into America. It was a form of government for the Carolinas. While we are grateful to all, wJio have labored in the cause of the emancipation of the human mind from the shackles of King-craft and Priestcraft ; and while we are mindful of our more immediate benefactors, we are not to forget the praises duo to those who have long since died, and whose victories were more efficient, complete and salutary in their consequences, the* less boisterous, and less noisy, than those achieved by the sword or tho cannon. Yet it should be known, and every where divulged, in all >ands and amongst all people, that Europe and America are more in- debted to the elaborate discussions and profound reasonings of our Christian philosopher, for the quantum of civil and religious liberty now enjoyed, than to all the sceptics who have written from the days of Pyrrhus to my friend Robert Owen. The principles of investigation on which the inductive philosophy of Lord Bacon is founded, and those adopted by the Christian philos- opher. Sir Isaac Newton, are those which should govern us on this occasion. " Every thing," says this great teacher, " is to be submit- ted to the most minute observation. — No conclusions are to be drawn ^rom guesses or conjectures. We are to keen within the certain lim- Vol. 2. 3* 8 DEBATE Its of experimental truth. We first ascertain the facts, then group ihem together, and afier the classilicaiion and comparison of them, draw the conclusion. There are generic lieads or chapters in every rtepartment of piiysical or moral science. We are never to shrink from the test of thoseprinciples." Any arguments, therefore, which ^w may ofter,\ve wisli to be examined by the improved prmciples of the inductive philosophy, by those very principles v.hich right reason and sound experimental philosophy have sanctioned as their appropriate tes s. But questions of fact are not to be tried by mathematical evi- dence. It has been well observed, that " the sciences are of a social disposition, and iiourish best in the neighborhood of each other; nev- • ertheless each of them claims to be governed by laws which are per- fectly sui g-e.'icris; and none of them can be constrained to agree to an intercommunity of jurisdiction with the rest: it is held essential to the truth and dignity of each of them, that it is to be tried only by its own laws." When we enter into an examination of the testimony on Which religion is predicated, we have no other scientific rules to resort- to, than those which regulate and govern us in ascertaining the vcight of all historic evidence. The first i>osition, then, which we submit for examination, is one which properly belongs to the more general head of historic evidence. It is in the following words : " the volume called the New Testament tras ii-rliten by the persons u-ho^e immes it bears, and at the time in which itis said to hate been uritten.''' This is now an historic fact asser- ted. It is not proved as yet by us — but we will, anon, proceed to the proof of it. This is to be examined in its own court ; that is, as all matters or questions of fact are investigated — that we may, however, feel the need, and appreciate the importance, cf proving this fact, we must premise a few things: The book called the New Testameni now exists. It existed in the days of our fathers, of our grand-fathers, of • our great grand-fathers. It came into existence some way, by some means, at some particular time. Now we thank not Mr. Owen, nor cjiy person else, for admitting all this. They cannot deny one of these assertions. But the question is. How came it into existence? Now let us see how rigid and severe we must be, and generally are, in ex- amining or deciding this question. When we open any ordinary volume, and look upon its title page, • we there discover that it purports to be the production of A. B. or C, and this mere inscription of the author's name on the title page is, in tite absence of counter testimony, universally admitted to be rational and conclusive evidence of authorship. There being no counter tes? timony, we conclude from the title page, that the book is the production of the author whose name it bears. If we have the general concurrence of our cotemporaries in the belief that such a book was written by such a person whose name it bears, we rationally rest satisfied on the ques- ti )n of its authorship. — But in the examination of the authorship of the New Testament, we feel it necessary to scrutinize more severely. But men approach the examination of this question, not as th^v ap- proach the ex-amination of any other. The believer and tlic unbelie* DEBATE. •> ','Gr approach it under great disadvantages. Religious men al-c afraid to call Its truth in question. This religious awe acts as a sort of illu- lusion on their minds. The sceptics are prejudiced against it. This prejudice disqualifies them to judge fairly and impartially upon the merits of the evidence. The religious awe of :he Christian, and the prejudices of the sceptic are real obstacles in the way of both, in jud- ging impartially of the weight of evidence in favor of this or any oily er position, at the bottom of the Christian faith. Dr. Chalmers very convincingly illustrates this matter in sec. 16, 17 & 18, of the article written by him in the Encyclopaedia on Christianity. We shall beg the liberty to read it: " 16. To form a fair estimate of the strength and decisiveness of the Christian argument, we should, if possible, divest ourselves of all ref- erence to religion, and view the truth of the gospel history, purely as a question of erudition. If at the outset of the investigation we have a prejudice against the Christian religion, the effect is obvious; and without any refinement of explanation, we see at once how such a pre- judice must dispose us to annex suspicion and distrust to the testimo- ny of the Christian writers. But even when the prejudice is on the ijideof Christianity, the effect is unfavorable on a mind that is at all scrupulous about the rectitude of its opinions. In these circumstan- ces, the mind gets suspicious of itself It feels a predilection, and be- comes apprehensive lest this predilection may have disposed it to cher- ish a particular conclusion, independently of the evidences by which it is supported. Were it a mere speculative question, in which the in- terests of man, and the attachments of his heart, had no share, he would feel greater confidence in the result of his investigation. But it >s difficult to separate the moral impressions of piety, and it is no les? ditlicult to calculate their precise influence on the exercises of the un- derstanding. In the complex sentiment of attachment and convic- tion, which he annexes to the Christian religion, he finds it difficult to 3ay, how much is due to the tendencies of the heart, and how much is due to the pure and unmingled influence of argument. His very anx- iety for the truth, disposes him to narrate the circumstancejs which give a bias to his understanding, and through the whole process of the en- quiry', he feels a suspicion and an embarrassment, which he would not have felt, liad it been a question of ordinary erudition. "17. The same suspicion which he attaches to himself, he w'ill be ready to attach to all whom he conceives to be in similar circumstan- ces. Now, every author who writes in defence of Christianity is sup- posed to be a Christian ; and this, in spite of every argument to the contrary, has the actual effect of weakening the impression of his tesir timony. This suspicion affects, in a more remarkable degree, the tes- timony of the first writers on the side of Christianity. In opposition to it, you have, no doubt, to allege the circumstances under which th6 testimony was given; the tone of sincerity which runs through the pfr- fonnance of the author; the concurrence of other testimonies; the r^^r- eecutions which he sustained in adhering to them, and which cr-.n ^o accounted for on no other principle, than the power of conscience and n CBBATE. coixviction ; and fitG utter impossibility of imposing a false testimony on the world, had they oven been digposed to do it. Still there is a lurking siispicion, which often survives all this strength of argument, and which it is difficult to get rid of, even after it has been demon- strated io be completely unreasonable. He is a Christian. He is one of the party. Am I an infidel ? I persist in distrusting the testimo- ny. Am la Christian? I rejoice in the strength of it; but this very joy becomes matter of suspicion to a scrupulous enquirer. He feels something more than the concurrence of his belief in the testimony of she writer. He catches the infection of his piety and his moral senti- ments> In addition to the acquiescence of the understanding, there is a conamore feeling, both in himself and his author, which he had rath- er been without, because he finds it difficult to compute the precise amount of its influence; and the consideration of this restraias him trom that clear and decided conclusion, which he would infallibly have landed in, had it been purely a secular investigation. "18. There is something in the very sacredness of the subject, which intimidates the understanding, and restrains it from making the same firm and confident application of its faculties, which it would have felt itself perfectly warranted to do, had it been a question of or- -dinary history- Had the apostles been the disciples of some eminent philosopher, and the fathers of the church, their immediate successors in the office of presiding over tlie discipline and instruction of the nu- merous schools which they had established, this would have given a secular complexion to the argument, which we think would have been more satisfying to the mind, and have impressed upon it a closer and •more familiar conviction of the history in question. AVe sbould have immediately brought it into comparison witli the history of other phi- losophers, and could not have failed to recognize, tha4, in minuteness of information, in weight and quantity of evidence, in the concurrence of numerous and independent testimonies, and in the total absence of every circumstance that should dispose us to annex suspicion to the account which lay before us, it far surpassed any thing that had come down to us from antiquity. It so happens, however, that, instead of being the history of a philosopher, it is the history of a prophet. The 7eneration we annex to the sacredness of such a character, mingles with our belief in the truth of his history-. From a question of simple truth, it becomes a question in which the heart is interested; and the subject from that moment assumes a certain holiness and mystery, which veils the strength of the argument, and takes off from that fami- fiar and intimate conviction, which we annex to the far less authentica- ted histories of profane authors." It is hard for any man to inspect this oracle with tliat degree of impartiality and mental independence necessary to demonstrate, or discriminate, its truth. Many have suspicions of its truth, which arise solely from the awful import and inexpressible grandenr of th"e subjects on which it treats. The hundredth part of the evidence would be suflicient to convince them of the real authorship of the "■ Annals of Tacitus,'''' which they require to satisfy them of the au- thorship ofthcse sacred booksu UEBATE. & Making ail doe allov/ancc for these odds and disadvantages against us, and acknowledging that we claim p.o exemption from the infiu face of these causes, we are disposed to approach this volume, as far as in us lies, without being influenced by that awe, or those prejudi- «'es, of which we have been speaking. Divesting ourselves, there- fore, of all partialities, jwc, or con, let us, my friends, approach this position. I need scarcely inform this intelligent audience, that the volume called the New Testament, is the production of eight ditiierent au- thors or writers — that it contains many diiferent treatises in the form of Narratives and Epistles, written in different parts of the world, and at sundry intervals, and afterwards collected into one volume. These eight writers are, jNIatthev/, Mark, Luke, John, Paul, Peter, James, und Jude. Four of them wrote Memoirs or Narratives of Jesus Christ ; and four of them wrote letters to different congregations and 'individuals, in Asia and Euroi>e. Each of these pieces was deemed by the writer perfectly sufficient to accomplish the object which he designed by it. But when all if^ collected into one volume, corroborating and illustrating each other^ Ijow irresistible the evidence, and hov.- brilliant the light, which they display! To him who contemplates the New Testament as the work of one individual, all written atone time, and published in one coun- try ; and to him who views it as the work of eight authors, written in different parts of the world, and at intervals in the extremes more than half a century apart, how different the amount of evidence, hitrinsir and extrinsic, wliich it presents I The writers themselves, though aR Jews, born in different provinces of the Roman empire, having each a provincial dialed, a peculiarity of style, and some of them of differ- ent ranks and avocations of life, give great variety to the style, and weight to the authority of this small volume. They are eight witnes- ses, wko depose not only to the original facts on which Christianity i? based, but to a thousand incidents which directly or indirectly bear upon the pretensions of the Founder of this religion : and from the. variety of ir^formation, allusion, description, and reference to persons, places, and events, which they present to us, they subject themselves not only to cross examination among themselves, but to be compared and tried by cotemporary historians, geographers, politicians, states- men, and orators: in fact, they bring themselves into contact with all the public documents of the age in which they lived and wrote. Bui of this hereafter, in detail. But to approach the position to be proved, still more closely. This, volume purports to be the writings of these eiglit persons, and has been transmitted from generation to generation as such. ^Yc ascend the stream up to its fountain. We find it ascribed to them in the last century. Millions believed it. — In the century preceding that, millions believed it: and so on, till we come up very nigh the times in which the works were written. What would, let me ask:— what would be the quality and amount of evidence necessary to establish 'hQ fact of authorship of any other wovk of antiquity ? We claim no f6 mBATK favors. We ask for no peculiar process, no new or untried forin bf examination. We will constitute no new court of enquiry. We will submit the question of authorship to be tried by all the canons, or regulations, or rules, which the H'erary world, which the most rigid critics, have instituted or appealed to, in settling any literary question cf this sort. Let me, then, ask: in'such . court, would the fact of these writings having I'een universally received by all the primitive Christians, as the works of their reputed authors, be admitted as suiri- aient proof? Would the fact of these writings having been quoted as the geniiinie works of their reputed authors, by the earliest Cliristian writers, by the cotemporaries and immediate successors of the origir na.l witnesses, be admitted as proof ? Would the testimony of neutrals^ would the testimony of aposlatesj would the testimony of the first op- ponents of the Christian religion, be admitted as proof? W^ould lh3 i^oncurrent and combined testimony of all these be admitted, to prove the mere question of authorship? Most unquestionably these embrace all the proofs which human reason can require, and all which the ar-- chives of human learning can furnish, in proof of the authorship of any literary work in the world. Yes, manifold mere than ever has been called for, and much more llian can be adduced to prove the au- thorship of any work of the same antiquity. The poems of Virgil and Horace, the Annals of Tacitus, the orations of Cicero, the most popu- lar works of antiquity, cannot afford half the proofs that they are the genuine works of the persons whose names they bear, as can be addu- ced to prove the authorship of the Memoirs of Jesus Christ, written by Matthew, I^Iark, Luke, and John. Although we might not be able to summon into one and the same Court, all the f;iends and all the enemies of Christianity, who wrote something upon the subject in the Apostolic and in the succeeding age, to attest that all the writings now ascribed to those eight authors were actually written by them ; yet we do, in effect, the same, by hearing them in piecemeal or in detail. For example: It is to quote the words of Dr. Chalmers, " the unexcepted testunony of all subse- quent writers, that two of the Gospels and several of the Epistles were ^srritten by tlie immediate disciples of our Saviour, and published in their life-time." Even Celsus, an enemy of the Christian faith, and the first Gentile writer who publicly opposes Christianity, admits this, or refers to the affairs of Jesus as written hy his discijjles. From the extracts which he makes in his book, there can be no doubt but tJiat he refers to one or other of the four Gospels. He wrote about one hundred years after the first publication of the Narrative, " He takes it up upon the strength of its general notoriety, and the whole hisloiy of that period, furnishes nothing that can attach any doubt or suspicion to this circumstance. Tlie distinct assertion, of Celsus be- ing an enemy to Christianity, that the pieces in question were written by the companions of Jesus, though even at the distance of a hundred years, is an argument in favor of 'heir authenticity, which cannot bt; allcdged for many of the most esteemed compositions of antiquily." r?uU although we give the testimony of Celsus first, it ia not becaup^.. 0EBATB. ly jtiiere is no more ancient witness, but because he is the first philoso- phic adversary of tiie faith. Tliere is a series of writers, in uabrokea guccession, from the days of the Apostles, all attesting the truth of :he position before us. I liave lying upon tlie table here before me, a vol- lunc of the writings of the primitive disciples of Chvisf, and firsi tpach- ors of Christianity, the cotemporaries, and successors, of the Apos- tles. Here (lifting up the volume iMr. C. said) here is the estiuiony of Barnabas, of Clement, Hennas, Ignatius, and Polycarp — Barnabas the companion of Paul, Clement the bisiiop of the congregation i^ Rome, v.'hom all antiquity agrees to be the person men'ioned by Paul, Phil. 4, 3. — Hennas, whom Paul mentions in his Epistle to the Ro- mans— Ignatius, Bishop of x\ntioch, who flourished there A. D, 75^ who took the oversight of that congregation 37 years afer the ascen- dion of Christ. Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna, who had seen, conver- sed with, and was familiar with some of the Apostles — all these di- rectly quote the historical or the epistolary books of the New Testa- ment— and refer to these writings as of general notoriety. To these, I need scarcely add the testimony of Papias, the hearer of John, of Ireneus, Justin and others, their cotemporaries, — They either quote them by saving, as it is n^rittcn, or by name. Let us have an exam- ple or two : Barnabas in his epistle says, " Let us therefore beware lest it come upon us «? this mode of quoting Mathews' testimony is more au- thoritative than the naming of him: for this appeal to his writings makes it evident that they were notorious, and of unexceptionable au- jhorify, even so early as the time of Barnabas. In the letter writen by Clement from Rome to Corinth, in the name of .he whole congrega- tion in Rome, to the whole congregation in Corinth, say from 500 Christians in Rome to 500 Christians in Corinth, the sermon on the Mount is directly quoted, and other passages of the testimony of Ma- tbew & Luke. — But it would be tedious to be minute in fiirnishiug examples of each sort of quotations here j more thun forty clear allu- sions to the books of the New Testament are to !^ found in the single fragment of Polycarp, and there are more quotations in Tertullian of the second century, from the New Testament, than are to be found of the writings of Cicero, in all the writers of two or three centuries.— Indeed, from the very time in \\h.'h these writings first appeared, they were received according to their dates, and quoted and applied in the decision of all controversies, by all the Commentators, as possessed of an authority, and to be heard witli a reverence, paramount to all otlier. 3o scrupulous, too, were the ancient Christians of the authority of these writings, that when collecting them into one volume (for many years they were written and read in detached pieces) 'hey would not agree to bind in 'he same parchment with them, any other writings not from the same authors. Some of them even obj'^cted to adding the Epistle to the Hebrews, because it wanted Paul's name- and some demurred to the Revelation, written by John, and to the Ep. of James, to th- 2-1 of Peter, *he 2 i & 3d of John, and to that of Jude^, f)ocause th@^ h&4 mt f^ached @QQiepl^e$ oa soqjb as theotaers, Bv.1 n D*EBATE. after making l^mselvcs better acquainted wita the claims of (hcac writings, tl>ey were added with tl^ consent of all the Christians in the Eastern as well as in the Western Roman empire. There is not a writer on religion, which has come down to ns from tiie second century (and of such writers the 2d century was ^jiot barren) who has not quoted these writings, less or more, as we do at this day. But why occupy so much time in proving a matter which we presume, neither Mr. Owen liimself nor any sceptic of the present day, will deny? The laborious Lardner has given most copious proofs of the notoriety of these writings, and of the many quotations from them by all the earliest Christian writers : and it is well observed by Paley, that '• besides our «iospels and the acts of the Apostles, no Christian history claiming to be written by an Apostle, or Apostolical roan, h quoted within 300 years after the birth of Christ, by any writer now extant or known; or if quoted, isquoicd with marks of censure &:. yejeclion." It is also well remarked by another writer, " that the agree- ment of Christians respecting the Scriptures, when all the other dif- ferences are considered, is the more remarkable that it took place without any public authority being interposed. The only interference on record is that of the Council of Laodicea, A, D. 363. This Coun- cil only declared, and did not regulate the public judgment of only a few neighboring churches, the council only consisting of thirty or forty Bishops of Lydia, and the adjoining countrj'. The con^ gregations of Christians, all independent at first, received those wri- tings universally, because of their irresistible claims upon their faitli, But I doabt not that as sceptics have the most faith in one another, they will prefer the testimony of one Celsus, an infidel, to the testimo- ny of six men who had seen, conversed with, and were familiar with, the Apostles — These six are Barnabas, Clement, Hermas, Ignatius, Po- iycarp and Papias. — Let tham, however, remember, that their own Celsus, who had much better opportunitiesof detecting any imposition or fraud than they, appeals to the affairs of Jesus, as written by his own companions^ and quotes these histories as notorious documents in his own time. Adjourned to meet at three. Friday, 17th April, 1829 — Afternoon The Honorable Chairman rose and stated, that in consequence of notice given by Mr. Owen, that he has offered all he has to say in the opening, we propose that Mr. Campbell will proceed until he finish his argument now begun ; and that Mr. Owen may then reply, Mr. C. re- join, and the discussion close, Mr. CAMPBELL rises- Mr. Chairman— Before resuming my argument, I presume it will not be amiss to state some facts relative to this discussion. Anterior to Mr. Owen's last visit to Europe, I had the pleasure of an interview vnih him, at which time we made our arrangements for this controver» bEHATli. 13 sy. I'rom the fluency with which Mr. Owen spoke oi" liia system, and of the present state of society, and from his known labors and zeal in liie cause of scepticism, I did expect to fmd in him a very formidable disputant, and concluded it would be necessary for me to provide a <^reat variety of documents for this discussion. The positions whieli liave been so often read, I expected Mr. Owen would logically defend, one by one. — He affirmed, and 1 dcuied. The om(s prohandi he tooli upon himself. Conscious of his inability to support these positions, ii saems he lias now abandonc;! them, any farther than assertion? v;ithout proof, and declamation witliout argument, «pon twelve otiier positions, may be im igined to have some bearinEBA1'£ there was uol a siagic Aissentient. It would oi>ly savor of dis'i>ia} to add the names of Justin Martyr, Dionysius, Tatian, Hegcssippus, Athenagoras, Milliades, and a hundred others, who quote these writinps as the works of the persons whose names they now bear. It was well said by Origin, in his dispute with Celsus, tlie Epicurian philosopher, and opposer of the faith, wlicn quoting a passage from these inspired books : " Thus it is written, not in any private book, or such as arc lead by a few persons only, but in books read by every body."' V/c cannot proceed to another item intimately connected with this, witlioux reading from the argumentative Ciialmers, the following rcm.arks on these testimonies : ^'in cslimaling the value of any testimony, there are two dis. tinct subjects of consideration; the person v/ho gives the testiraony, and the people to whom, the testimony is addressed. It is quite need- less to enlarge on tlie resources which, in the present instance, we de- rive from both these considerations, and how much each of them con- tributes to the triumph and solidity of the Christian argument. In as far as the people who give the testimony are concerned, how could they bo mistaken in their account of the books of the New Testament, when iomc of them lived in tlie same age v.'ith the original v,'riters, and were their intimate acquaintances, and when all of them had the benefit of an u neon ;;rolleJ series of evidence, reaching down from the date of the earliest publications, to their own times? Or, how can we suspect that they falsifieJ, when there runs thro' their writings the same tone of plainness and smcerity, which is allowed tostamj) the ciiaracter of an thenticity on other productions; and, above all, when upon the strength even of heathen testimony, v,e conclude, that many of thcrfi, by their suflerings and death, gave the highest evidence that man can give, of his speaking under the influence of a real and honest con- viction? In as fir as the people v/ho received tlie testimony arc concerned, to what other circumstances can we ascribe their concur- rence,, but to the truth of that testimony? In what way was it possir ble to deceive them upon a point of general notoriety? The books of the New Testament are referred to by the ancient fathers, as writings generally known and respected by the Christians of that period. If they were obscure writings, or had no existence at the time, how can we account for the credit and authority of those fathers who appealed to them, and had the effrontery to insult their fjllow Christians by a falsehood so palpable, and so easily delected? Allow them to be ca- pable of this treachery, we have still to explain, liow the people canu to be the dupes of so glaring an imposition; how they could be permit- ted to give up every thing for a religion, whose teachers were so un principled as to deceive them, and so unwise as to commit themselves ;ipon ground where it was imiiossible to elude discovery.^ Could Clement liave dared to refer the people of Corinth to an epistle said to be received by themselves, and which had no existence? or, could he have referred the Christians at large to writings which they never heard of? And it was not enough to maintain the semblance of truth ^vith the people of th.eir own party. Whc-o were t}ie Jews all ih^ DEBATE. :. "iimc; and how was ii possible to dscape the corrcclKiii of tlicso kcc:. and vigilant observers? We mistake the matter miicli, if we think, t'hat Christianity at tliat time was making its insidious way in silonc;^ and in secrecy, through a listless and unconcerned public. All hi^•- Tory gives an opposite representation. The passions and curiosity cf Tneii were quite upon the alert The popular enthusiasm had been excited on both sides of the question. It had drawn the attention ef the established authorities in ditierent provinces ofth^ empire, and ?}ie merits of the Christian cause had become a matter of frequent and rTioral discussion in courts of judicature. If^ in those circumstances, ?he Christian Vvriters had the hardihood to venture upon a falsehood, it v,-ould liave been upon safer ground than wliat they naturally adop- *ed. They would never have hazarded to assert what was so open to •'ontradiction, as the existence of books iield in reverence among .l\ the churches, and whicli yet nobody, eitJier in or out ofthPi=;c ■;'i!irch33, ever Jieard of. Ti.ey would never Imvo been so unwise as to i.omniit in tiiis way a cause, wiiicli had not a single circumstance to recommend it but its truth and its evidences. " The falsehood of the Christian testimony on this point, car- ries along with it a concurrence of circumstances, each of which is the strangest and most unprecedented that ever was heard of. First, that men, who sustained in their v/ritings all the cliaracfers of sinceri- ty, and many ofv.'hom submitted to martyrdom, as the highest pledge of sincerity v.'hich can possibly be given, should liave been capable of Idlsehood at all. Second, That this tendency to falsehood should have been exercised so unv.'isely, as to appear in an assertion perfectly open to detection, and which could be so readily converted to the dis- credit of that religion, which it was the favorite ambition of their lives to promote and establish in the world. Third, That this testimony could have gained the concurrence of the people to whom it was ad- dressed, and that, with their eyes perfectly open to its falshood, they should be ready to make the sacrihce of life and of fortune in suppor- ting it. Fourth, That tliis testimony should never have been contra- dicted by the Jews, and that they should have neglected so effectual an opportunity of disgracing a religion, the progress of which they con- templated with so mucii jealousy and alann. Add to this, that it is not the testimony of one writer, which we are making to pass through tlie ordeal of so many ditiicultics. It is the testimony of many wri- ters, who lived at different times, and in different countries, and who add the very singular circumstance of their entire agreement with one another, to the otlier circumstances equally unaccountable, winch v,c* have just now enumerated. The falsehood of tlieir united testimony is not to be conceived. It is a supposition wliich we are warranted to condemn, upon the strength of any cnc of the above improbabilitiesic- ken .separately. But the fliir v;ay of estimating their effect upon th-^ argument, is to take them jointly, and, in the language of the dorir.vji of chances, to take the product of all the improbabilities- into one another. The argum.ent which this product furnislies for the truth rf iilt- DEBATE. 17 cation of ihc Slayi, the slaughter of llie infant in Bethlehem ; that Jciiu the Baptist proclduned Jesus, and was bulieadeJ by the intriyiios of IIerodias;tiiat Jesus fed many thousands on a fe\v loaves and fishes; that Lazarus was raised from the grave ; that Jesus was cruciiied ; that the Apostles were gifted with foreign tongues on Pentecost ; tiiat Peter and John, by the name of Jesus, cured a cripple of the greatest noto- riety, at the beauliful gate oftiie temple; that Paul was detamed a pri- soner by Felix; the conduct of the rnagistrafes at Phillippi. liis ap- pearance before Agrippa,and (jailio, the elder brother of the piiiloso^ pher Seneca; and a thousand otliers rec^ordcd, tlie most ca?y of detec- tion and refutation, yet not one of all tliose, contradicted by an} writer of that age, Jew, Pagan, or apostate Christian '. But so far from being contradicted by raiy of the cotcmporarics, alf T]ie important facts are admitted by the adversaries themselves. We -hall examine a few of the first adversaries of the ChriL-:tian religion. — V/e shall begin v/ith the celebrated Trypho. This violent. opiposcr or the Christian religion was born before John the Apostle died. Thir- ■s quite probable, for he held a public deljate or dialogue v.'ilh Justin Martyr, A. D. 140, in the city of Ephesus. During the debate, Jus- riu Martyr mentions many of the gospel facts, and appeals to the miiT.- . cles. Trypho and his four companions admit the facts, but ridicuc the idea of Jesus being born of a virghi, as absurd; and say '• it i« foolish to suppose that Christ is God, and became man.*' He says it is impossible to prove that any can be God, but tlie maker of thr world. He denies not the facts, whicli, as a Jew, he had every facility to have done, had they been controvertible. Justin cited the prophecy of Daniel, 7, 13, and argues from it.--- ■"■• But," replies Trypho, " tliese prophecies constrain us to expect tlio Messiah to he great and illustrious ; but he wliois called your Christ, was without reputation and glory, so that lie fell under the greatest curse of the law of God : /or he roas crucified."' Trypho tells Justin that " in the tables of tlie Greeks, it is said, tlia; Perseus was born of Danae, whilst a virgin, he v^'ho is by tiiem callec Jupiter, having fallen upon her in the form of gold; now, says he, you who affirm the same thing ought to be asliamed, and should rather say that this Jesus was man of man."' Again, Justin affirms that the Jews knew, that Jesus rcse from the dead. He adds, " the other nations have not proceeded so far ii: wickedness against Christ, as you, v/ho are even to them the authors of evil suspicions against that holy ]Derson, and against us, his disci- ples; for after you had crucified that only blameless and just person, by whose stripes healing has come to all who approacli tlie Father thro" him, when you knew that lie was risen from the dead, and ascended into Heaven, as the prophets foretold should iiappen, you not only did not repent of the evil things you Jiad committed, but choosing chief men at Jerusalem, you sent them forth into all the earth to publisli tha* the sect of the Christians were Atheists." _ Justin having shewn, from the Jewish scriptures, that another be. 3ides the Father is called God, Trypho replied — " You have, mv Vol. 2, 2* 16 DEBATE. friend, strongly and by many passages demonstrated this.— ic remains that you shew tJiat this person, according lo the will of the Father, Euhmittcd to become man of a virgin, to be crucified^ to dios^-) arise af- terwards, and to return to Heaven:'' Does not this prove that these facts, though ridiculed and defamed, could not be contradicted? Lncian, the Syrian, who was born about the year 120, gives the fol lowing account of one Peregrinus, wlio publicly burnt himself in Greece soon after the Olympic games, about the year 165: " LuciAN was a native of Samosata in Syria: he was born some time \n the reign of Adrian, which began in the year 117, and terminated ill 138. Although he did not expressly write in opposition to "Christi- Ojiity, he was strongly prejudiced against it. lie gives the tbllowing account of Peregrinus, who publicly burnt himself in Greece soon af- ter the Olympic games, about tl>e year 165. *' Peregrinus, or Prote- us, appears for a while to have imposed on the Christians, and to have joined himgelf to Ihem. Lucian, after saying that '' Peregrinus learn- ed the wonderful doctrine of the Christians by conversing with their priests and scribes near Palestine," and after going on to observe, that they •' still worship tliat great man who was cjucified in Palestine, b?cat:se he introduced into the world this nev/ religion," he adds — ^' For this reason Proteus was taken up and put in prison, which very thin,^ was of no small service to him afterwards, for giving reputation to his impostures, and gratifying his vanity. The Christians were much grieved for his imprisonment, and tried all ways to procure his liberty. Not behig able to etiect that, they did him all sorts of kind of- iices; and that not in a careless manner, but with the greatest assidui- ty; for even betimes in the morning, there would beat the prison old women, some widows, and also little orphan children; and some of ihe chief of their men, by corrupting the keepers, would get into pris- on, and stay the whole night there with him : there they had a good supper together, and their sacred discourses. And this excellent Per- egrinus (for so he was still called) was thought by them to )>e an ex- fraordinary person, no less than another Socrates. Even from the ci- fies of Asia, some Ciiristians came to him, by an order of the body, to relieve, encourage, and comfort him. For it is incredible what expe- dition they use, wlien any of their friends are known to be in trouble. In a word, tliey spare nothing upon such an occasion; and Peregri- nus's chain brought him in a good sum of money from them. For these miserable men have no doubt but they shall be immortal, and live for ever; therefore thcy contemn death, and many surrender them- selves to sufferings. Moreover, tiieir first lawgiver has taught them, that they are all brethren when once they have turned, and renounced the gods of the Greeks, and worship that Master of theirs who was t-rucified, ar.d engage to live according to his laws. They have also a sofereign contempt for all the things of tliis world, and look upon them a-3 common, and trust one another with them without any particular =eCTirily; for which reason, any subtle fellow, by good management, may impose upon tins simple people, and grow rich among them." — ■ Jitir-ifiit yftcrwards informs us, tJiat Peregrinus was set ut liberty hj the governor of Syria, and tliat at length ho parted Irom the CJiri* tians. *' We have here an authentic testimony, from a Heathen writer, who was well acquainted with mankind, to some oFthe main Tacts and prin ciplcs of Christianity. That the founder of the Christian religion was crucified in Palestine; that he was the great Master of the Chris- tians, and the first author of the principles received by them; that these men called Christians had peculiarly strong hopes of immortal life, &- a great contempt for this world and its enjoyments ; that they courage- ously endured many atHietions upon account of their principles, and sometimes surrendered themselves to sufferings. Honesty and probity prevailed so much among them, that they trusted each other without security. Their Master had earnestly recommended to all his follow- ers mutual love, by whicli also they were much distinguished ; and their assiduity in relieving and comforting one another when under af- fliction, was known to all men. It is no disparagement to them that they were imposed upon by Peregrinus, who was admired by many others." '• Celsus, cotemporary with Lucian, was an Epicurean philoso- nher, who lived in the reign of Adrian. He was one of the most viru- lent adversaries the Christian religion ever had, and also a man of con- siderable parts and learning. The book which he wrote against the Christians, in the year 17G, was entitled, the "True Word." He there introduces a Jew declaiming against Jesus Christ, and against such Jews as were converted to Christianity. Origen"'s answer to Celsus is not a general reply, but a minute examination of alj.his ob- jections, even those which appeared the most frivolous. He states the objections of Celsus in his own words; and, that nothing might escape iiim, he takes them, he says, in the order in which Celsus placed them. *•'■ Celsus used only the Gospels themselves, in search of evidence a- gainst their truth, lie never refers to any spurious Gospel, or to any other accounts of the life of Christ. His attack is conducted 710/ by denying the facts contained in the Scriptures, of which he all along admlta the truth, but by reasoning from such as the following topics? That it was absurd to esteem and worship one as God who was ac- knowledged to have been a man, and to have suffered death : That Christ invited sinners to enter into the kingdom of God: That it was inconsistent with his supposed dignity, to come to save such low and despicable creatures as the Jews and Christians: That he spake dishon- orably and impiously of God: That the doctrines and precepts of reli- gion are better taught by the Greek philosophers, than in the Gospels ;- and without the threa+enings of God." The following are specimens of the objections he brings fcjrward, " What need was there for carrying thee, while an infant, into E--^ gypt, that thou mightest not be slain? For it did not become God to be afraid of death." — " How can we think him God, who, to omit oth- er things, performed none of those matters which we are told he pro- iDieedt And whojjting condemned by us^ when he was sought tg> 50 DEBATE. be punished, uas caught hasely hirkhig and flying, Leiag beuGycd by those wiiom he called his disciples?'" — "If you tell them, that it is not the Son of God, but he who is Father of all whom men ought to worship; they will not be satished unless you also worship him who is the author of their sedition; not that they exceed in the worship of God, but that they above measure worship this man." " Speaking of the crucifixion, Celsus says, " If not before, Avhy did he not now, at least, exert his divinity, and deliver himself from this ignominy, and treat those as they deserved, who behaved ignominiously both towards himself and his Father." — " If these men worshipped no other buttlie one Uod, they might justly inveigh against all other Gods. But now they out of measure worship one who but lately appeared, and yet im- agine they do not sin against God, though tiiey also serve his minis- te) ." He affirms tliat Jesus, being " brought up obscurely, and obli- ged to serve for hire in Egypt, learned there certain powerful arts, for wnich the Egyptians are renowned; then returned greatly elated with his power, on account of which he declared himself a God." " Celsus represents Jesus to have lived but a few years before. He ■nentions its being said that Jesus was bom of a virgin; that angels ap- peared to Joseph, lie speaks of the star that appeared at the birth of Jesus; the wise men that came to worship hiin, when an infant, and Herod's massacreing the children ; Joseph's lleeing with the child into Egypt, by the admonixion of an angel; the Holy uhost descending on Jesus like a dove, when he was baptized by John, and the voice fl-om Heaven declaring him to be the Son of God; his going about with his disciples, whom he calls boatmen, publicans, and wicked sailors; his healing the sick and lame, and raising the dead ; his foretelling his own suiferings and resurrection; his being betrayed, forsaken by his own disciples; his sutierings; his praying "■ Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me;" the ignominious treatment he m.et witJi; the robe that was put upon him; the crown of thorns; the reed put into his hand; his drinking vinegar^and gall; and his being scourged and cruci- fied; his being seen after his resurrection, by a fanatical woman, (as ho calls her, meaning Mary Magdalene,) and by his own companions and disciples; his shewing them his hands that were pierced; the marks of his punishment. He also mentions the angels being seen at his sepul- chre, and that some said it was one angel, others that it was two; by which he hints at the seeming variation in the accounts given of it by the Evangelists. Upon the whole, there are in Celsus about eighty quotations from the books of the iNew Testament, or references to them, of which Origen has taken notice. And whilst he argues from them, sometimes in a very perverse manner, he still takes it for granted, as the foundation of his argument, that whatever absurdities could be fastened upon any words or actions of Christ, recorded in the Gospels, It would be a valid objection against Christianity. " The reasoning then on both sides of this dispute proceeded on the supposition of the truth of the Gospel history. Celsus also grants that Christ wrought miracles. The ditierence between him and Chi- gen, on this subject, lies in the manner of accounting for them; the one ^=cribing them to inagic, the other to the power of God." DEBATK. 2i "?oui'UVSV the philosopher, was bom at Tyre, in Phcnicia, about tlie year 233. He wrote a large treatise against the Christian reli- gion, of which he was a very able and learned opponent. He endeav- ors to overthrow ihc authority of the Scriptures, not by den3'ing their authenticity, but by endeavoring to point out in them contradictions &> absurdities; but he opposes no contradicting statement. He docs not deny the miracles, but calls them "• the works of cunning demons,^ and refers to some who he asserts performed miracles as great. He appears to have been well acquainted with the Scriptures, and refers to numerous passages and circumstances in them, which he perverts, after the manner of Celsus, pointing out wliat he deems immoral and absurd. " If Christ," he objects, " be the way of salvation, the truth, and tlze life, and they only who believe in him can be saved, what be- came of the men who lived before his coming ?" — " Christ threatens ever- lasting punishment to those who do not believe him, and yet in anoth- er place he says, with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again, which is absurd and contradictory; for all measure must be limited to time.'^ He objects that Peter v.as reproved by Paul, for that he did not proceed uprightly in preaching the Gospel. Hence he argues the falsehood of tlie whole doctrine, as if it were a mere inven- tion, since the heads of the churches disagreed. Other passages of Scripture he reasons upon in a similar manner. The cause wliy ^^- culapius wrought no cures, as he says, in his time, and why the other gods no longer gave responses, neither intermeddled in the affairs of men, he ascribes wholly to the honor that was given to Jesus;—- " Since Jesus has been honored, none have received any public bene- fit from the gods-" " Notwithstanding what he says against the Christians, Porphyry gives an honourable testimony to the character of Jesus Christ. In his treatise, entitled " Philosophy of Oracles,'" the following passage, preserved by Eusebius, occurs : " What we are going to say, may perhaps appear to some a para- dox, for the gods declared Christ to be a person most pious, and be- come immortal. Moreover they speak of him honorably" And go- ing on, he adds; " being asked concerning Christ, whether he is God, he (Apollo) answered, < That he who is renowned for wisdom, knows that the immortal soul continues after the body; but the pious soul of that man is most excelling.' He therefore affirmed him to be a most pious person, and that his soul, which the foolish Christians worship, like that of other good men, was after death made immortal ; but being asked why he was punished? he answered, 'That the body indeed is ever liable to little torments ; but the soul of the pious rests in the plain of Heaven." And, immediately after this oracle, he adds, " He was therefore a pious person, and went to Heaven, as pious persons do, for which cause you ought not to speak ovil of him, but to pity the fol ly of the men," (namely who worship him.)" " HiERoc'LES the philosopher, was prefect at Alexandria, in the year 303. He composed two books in order to confute the Christian religion. To these books Eusebius published an answer, which sti'l xJ DEBATE. remains. Hierocics endeavours to prove the fuisohood of the Scrip- tares, by attemptin]iibited. At the commencement of the period of the evangelical •i-y, it constituted apart of a kingdom under Herod the great. — 'iien it cinie under the dominion of Archelaus, under new arvange- ? lents; then it passed under the direct administration of the llonian government: the exaltation of Herod Agrippa to the sovereign power <>f his grandfather, for a time niterrupted this order of things : and ti- nally it is left in the form of a province; when the history of the New Testament clo.'?es.-— The surrounding countries also partook of similar <;luuiges in tlieir forms of government. Now it would have been dan- gerous in the extreme, for any impostors, living in any other country, or even in the same country, forty years after the close of the New Testament story, to have attempted to forge such a story, and antedate it even forty years ; especially as the prominent characrers of this sto- ry had much to do in the Ecclesiastical Judicatories of these times; and to appear bef .ve several of the magistrates and go'/ernors, then in office under ilie Roman emperors. No man could nov/ write the his- tory of any prominent individual, living in New Jersey some forty years ago, full of incident and allusion to the families and individs'- ixis of the neighborhood, and now pads it off for a work of the period A\hich it preiended to describe. 1 ask, could suth an atlempt possi- bly escape detection, especially if copious in allusions and reference.^: to the manners, customs, and leading personages of the day? But how much more difficult, if, in that period, four or five changes in the government had taken place, and in the public management of its po- litical concerns? — It would have been impossible for the writings of Mathew, Mark, Luke, and John, to have survived tlieir authors, had they been either a record of false facts, era disguised perverted repre- sentation of facts which had occurred. It would exhaust j-our patience , my friends, and our strength, to attempt, v/ere we nov/ adequate tc the task, to detail the allusions, references, and appeals to the illustri ous personages, to the customs and institutions, Roman and Jevri^^b. which then existed in that land^aTid circumjicent country; and whicli are found in the historical books alone, of the New Testament, I will just give you one example of the circumstantial minuteness o[ these historians, which may suffice for a specimen of what might bo exhibited, were we to devote our attention to such a dcvelopeinent. — I will only premise that, as the circumstance of having four historians, gives us the opportunity of cross examination, so the allusions to Jewish, Roman, and other usages, give us the opportunity of cross examining the sacred with the profane historians and writers of that day; of which we rejoice to state there were not a few. The e.'iample to which I refer, is the trial, condemnation, and cruci . ■on, of Je==!i.? Ci'fi^L >Scvc.'i or cigh' -illusions toPT^ons, niston.- n-^d usages, winch tlio pncred writers never explain, are found in (lie .iCf.ounts of this trial, wliicli will bear a cross examination with all the Hiithentic records of those tiaies. — Clialniers notices them in the fol- '. owing manner: *^The fact, tliat they are borne out in tlieir minute and incidental al- iasions by the testimony of other historians, gives a strong weight of wliat has been called circumstantial evidence in their favor. As a !:pecimen of the argument, let us confine our observations to the histo- ry of our Saviour's trial, and execution, and burial. Tiiey brought him to Pontius Pilate. We know both from Tacitu? and Josephus, ^hat he was at that time governor of Judca. A sentence from him was necessary, before they could proceed to the execution of Jesus ,^ and we know that the power of life and death was usually vested in the llaman governor. Our Saviour v/as treated with derision ; and 1-iis "WO know to have been a customary prsctice at that time, previouii to the execution of criminals, and during the time of it, Pilate scour- ged Jesus, before he gave Jiim up to be crucified. We know from an- (■"ent authors, that this was a very usual practice among the Roman?. The account of an execution generally run in this form: — He was .'■tripped, v/hipped, and beheaded, or executed. According to the cvan- reliits, Lis accusation v/as v/ritten on the top off].; cross; and v.'fi i 3arn from Suetonius and others, that the crime of the person to be e::- ocutcd was a^fi.vei to the instrument rf his punis'imcnt. According to the evangelists, this accusation was v/ritten in three different lan- guages; and W2 know from Josephus, that it was quite common in Jer- rsale m to have all public advertisements v.'rilten in this manner. Ac- cording to lije evangelists, Jesus had to Lear his cross; and v;e know, iVam olher sources of information, that this was the constant praclice rf these times. According to the evangelists, the body of Jesus was given up to bo buried at tlie request of friends. We know- that, unless fhe criminal was infamous, this was the law, or the custom with all Iloman governors."'' " Tiiese, and a few more particulars of the same kind, occur within the compass of a single page of the evangelical history. The circum- stantial manner of the history affords a presumption in its favour, ante- cedent to all examination into the truth of the circumstances them- ?elve?. But it makes a strong addition to the evidence, when we find, t'lat in all the subordinate parts of 'the main story, the evangelist? maintain so great a consistency, with tlie testimony of other authors, nnd with all that we can collect from other sources of information, as 1o the manners and institutions of that period. It is difhcult to con- ceive, in the first instance, how the inventor . of a fabricated story v/oulci h-!zard sucli a number of circumstances, each of ihcm supplying a point of comparison with other authors, and giving tothecnquircran additional chance of detecting the imposition. And it is still more dinicult to believe, that truth sJiould have been so artfully blended with fdl-jchood in the coinposition of this narrative, particularly as woper- rcivc nothing like a forced introduction of any one circumstance — There appears to be nothing out of place, nothing thrust in witli tl)<- DEBATE. 29- view of imparting an air of probability to tlie liistor}', Tlie circuni stance upon which we bring the evangelists into comparison willi jiro- fane authors, is often not intimated in a direct form, but in the form of a slight or distant allusion. TJicre is not the most remote appearance of its being fetched or sought for. It is brought in accidentally, and flows in the most natural and undesigned manner out of the progvees of the narrative." But as from the extraordinary circumstantiallUj of these historian? and writers, so from every lineainent of their character, from every ac- tion of their lives, from all their labors and suilcrings in the cause, we may derive irrefragable proofs of their sinceritij. 'I'o the whole phen- omena of the characters of tlie original w'itnesses, it has been often ob- jected, or rather insinuated, that men liave been frequently moved by pride of opinion, the hope of reward, by avarice or ambition, to feigii. characters, and impose upon the credulity of the world: that il is not improbable but that the original reporters and publishers of Christiani- ty conspired together from some of tliese sinister motives to impose up- on the credulity of posterity. Singular conspiracy indeed! A con-- spiraCy to make mankind just, merciful, pure, forgiviiig and aflcction- ate to one another; to teach them to live in accordance with human !>ature, its origin and its destiny ; to fix all their supreme hopes n\.o\\ objects unseen and future; and to deny themselves of all unhallov.'ed gratifications! Singular conspiracy, on the part of the conspirators, to forsake all earthborn interests, to expose themselves to shame, per- secution, and death, for making mankind pure and happy ; to court infamy with those in power, and to render themselve.3 obnoxious to tlie indignation of all the reputed wise, religious, and lionorable among men! Astonishing conspiracy, which promises to the conspi- rators the abocnce of all worldly good, and tlie presence of all temj)o- ral evils, in proportion as they would be successful in accomplishing Ihe objects for which they had conspired!! Any suspicion or conjecture against the Founders of Christianity^ drawn from any document upon earth, Christian or infidel, is as uiueat: vsonable as Atheism itself. Viewed in whatever light we may, the Apostles, and first propaga- tors of Christianity, are the most extraordinary men the world ever .saw. As historical writers and laborers in the establishment of Christianity, they leave a character perfectly sui generis. They ap- pear to have been selgcted, not only because they were obscure and ih literate, but because they were men of the humblest capacity. I have often admired the wisdom of the Founder in selecting such ad- vocates of his cause. He wanted eye witnesses and ear icitiicsscs, and selected men from a calling which was more favorable to tiie produc- tion of good eyes and ears than perhaps any other. Good eyes and ears were better qualifications for the original Apostles, than all the learning and talents of the Archbishops of York and Canterbury. — Good eyes, good ears, and a good memory, were tlie only indispensa- ble qualifications to constitute such witnesses as Jesus Christ requi- red. The most important part of their office was to identifv the person Vol. 2. 3* ^o i>EBATi) of Jesus Ciirisr, and to attest the fact of his resurrection from the dead> To know his voice, and to distinguish his person, were matters of more consequence tlian most of us imagine. In truth, upon this depended the proof of the very fact, upon which all Christianity rests: viz. the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Now, I ask, what school more favoraUe to qualify men for sucli an office, than the fisherman's life? Men whose ears, and wliose eyes, are accustomed to the open air, by night and day; to the roaring of the billows, and who are con- gtanfly observing the face of nature, are the most likely to possess those senses in the greatest perfection. And, ridicule tho idea who may, I will contend, tliat good eyes, and good ears, were first rate qualifica- tions in an Apostle — a defect in cither would have made them perfectly incompetent to the duties of that office. But this was not all. He wanted plain, unlettered men ; men rath- er approaching to dullness than to acuteness of intellect ; that inge- nuity itself might not be able to attach suspicion to their testimony. — They were neither fluent nor intelligent. They had no personal chc^rms derived from learning or talent. On the other hand, it ap- pears, from their frequent colloquies with Jesus, that they wefe un- commonly dull of apprehension. Had the original witnesses, whose first duty it was to identity the person of Jesus, and to prove his resur- rection, been men so acite and learned as Paul, educated in the best ■fcchools of that day, and possessed of such a knowledge of men and things, some might have attributed tiieir success more to naiwraZ than to supernatural aid?. Tiie duty of the original eye witnesses and ear witnesses who were to identify the person, narrate the miracles, and repeat the discourses of the Messiah, in ail their first embassies, was to proclaim a few facts without comment, and to enforce the necessity oi' Reformation, because of the advent of the Messiah, and the approach of his reign. He did irCt send them, as some suppose, to make orations or sermons upon texts of Scripture, but to proclaim that the era of Reformation had ar- rived, and to confirm their proclamation by miraculous benefits be- stowed projniscuously upon all. There never was such a model of finished human testimony, since or before, as that which the New Testament exhibits ; in which no hu • man being, how ingenious or malicious soever, can find a flaw, or even a weakness. Let us for a moment glance at another of it% grand characteristics. First comes the rough, bold, and zealous Baptist, just dressed up to the taste of the times. To understand this singular appearance of John, you must recollect that the Jewish people were at this time di- vided into two religious sects, the Pharisees and the Sadducees. The Pharisees were the most numerous and decent religionists in their day. The Sadducees were the most wealthy class of the Jewish nation, and indulged themselves in all sensual pleasures. — Like the rich generally, they wished for no future state, and fondly believed there was none. — Tliey had not much moral influence with the people on these ac counts. But the Pharisees had. Now it was more necessary that the UEBATg. 31 pretensiona of John should be favorably regarded by the Pharisees than die Sadducees: for if favorably received by the Pharisees, the more general would be the reception of the Messiah by the whole na- tion. Now the Pharisees placed the highest degree of sanctity, just in such a demeanor, dress, and manner of life, as John the Baptist assu- med. Thus he dressed himself to the taste of those who could give the most influence to his message. Hence we find that so soon as his preaching, dress, food, and manner of life, were known, the Jews in Je- rusalem deputed very honorable characters, both Priests and Levites, to wait upon him to hear his testimony, and to report it in the metrop- olis. Thus the testimony of John in favor of the Messiah was favora- bly announced through J udea, and to the nation. In all respects, 'he testimony of the harbmger wonderfully accords with that of the tesii- mony of the twelve original Heralds, both in its general character and accompaniments But with regard to the testimony of the twelve original witnesses, I have to remark, that not one of them understood for years either the nature or design of the mission of Jesus. This fact, if correctly un- derstood, and applied, is of immense importance to the Christian pub- lic in correcting some mistaJ^es into which they have fallen, and it gives very great additional weight to the testimony of the Apostles, respecting the capital item in the Record, viz. the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. They all, without exception, expected the Messiah would found an earthly kingdom, and reign wer it forever. Their imaginations pictured out to them the mighty conquests, and illustri- ous victories, they would achieve under him. Even the most gifted ■ saints who departed not from the temple, when they first saw the won- derful child, moved by the Holy Spirit, as it spake in the ancient pro- phets (not always understood by them whose tongues uttered its sug- gestions) expressed their joy and hopes in such strains as indicated ex- pectations similar to those of his disciples — " that we, said they, being delivered from our enemies might worship him uithout fear all the days of our lives." They, one and all, expected an all-conquering king, in the person of Jesus. Hence so much of the war spirit in some of the Apostles, and so much worldly ambition in the mother of Zebi- dee's sons. Let my two sons, said she, sit, good master, one on your right, and the other on your left, when you ascend the throne. A cru- cified Messiah was as far from her thoughts, as the day of judgment is now from the anticipations of Mr. Owen. Not a man or woman on earth, till within a few days of the event, could understand or brook the idea of the crucifixion of Jesus. I do not say that the Apostles were quite disinterested in leaving their occupations to follow Jesus. This diminishes nought from their testimony. They expected he was ahle to reward them ; and that he would reward them. They looked for something in this world when they first set out as volunteers in his cause. Peter says — " Now Lord, what shall we have, who have forsaken all, and followed you?"' He made him a liberal promise which pleasetl him and his associates too. But thi.T promise, even then, they misapplied. When he told them? S€ DEBATE * without a figure, that he would be ciucifietl, tliey could not believe it; so contrary was this issue of his life to their expectations. AjkI when the Roman soldiers and the chief priests came to take him before the Sanhedrim, Peter was more disposed to fight than to surrender. In a word, the whole company of tlie disciples of Jesus, male and female, were disappointed when Jesus was crucified. Fear and consternation seized them all, Peter acted the coward, and they all tied, Even on the day of liis resurrection, while two of them were going from Jeru- salem to Emmaus, they spake of his demise as a complete frustration of all their hopes. ^^ \ye expected,'''' said they, " that he would hare redeemed Israel.'''' But, alas! we are disappointed. He has not r^ deemed Israel, was their conviction at that moment. A temporal re- demption was their expectation. And as for his resurrection from the dead, so far from plotting any story about it, it was the farthest thought from their mind ; the female disciples were preparing to embalm the body, when they found the grave empty ; and when they told the disci- ples" that " the Lord was risen indeed,'''' their " words seemed to them as idle tales, and they believed them not." Now this being the expectation of these Viritnesses, as every docu- ment on earth proves — to suppose them capable of plotting and execu- ting such a fraud, as the stealing of the body, betrays the grossest ig- norance of the whole history of the times, of the nation, and of the Apostles. Nothing can be more plain than tliat when Joseph the Sen- ator petitioned the Goifernor for the body, and interred it, the hopes and prospects of the disciples, as respected worldly objects, were buried in the same grave with it. Hence the incredulity of all the Apostles at first hearing of his resur- rection, and the stubborn incredulity of Thomas who happened to be absent when the Lord appeared to the otliers — / inll not believe, said he, I would not believe my own eyes : for unless I handled him and felt the wounds made by the spear and the nails, I would not, 1 could not, believe. But a single sight of Jesus overcame all his resolution, and he is constrained to exclaim, 3Ii/ Lord and my God.' But as I am brought forward to this most wonderful of all events, the resurrection of Jesus Christ, which is, too, the capital item in the Apostolic testimony ; and the fact on which the whole religion and hopes of Christianity depend and terminate, I feel strongly disposed to shew that it is the best attested fact in the annals of the world. For I wish to have it placed upon record, and to be known as far as this work ever shall extend, either in time or place, that, in our view, the shor- test and best, because the most irrefragable way, to prove the whole truth and absolute certainty of the Christian religion, is to prove the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. This proved, and Deism, Atheism, and Scepticism of every name, fall prostrate to the ground. The Atheist will himself say, let this be proved, that Jesus Christ rose from the dead, walked upon this earth, eat, drank, and talked with men for forty days afterwards, and in the presence of many witnesses ascen- def the city, he makes the ail conquering proof of his doctrine, the res i;nection of Jesurf fiom the dead. But that I may argue the truth of the resurrection of Jesu.s Christ fioni the dead, in your presence, with the greatest possible eflect on this promiscuous audience, let me take another argument from this A- postleas my te.xt. Permit me to open the Mew Testament: 1. Cor. 15. You v.iillind Paul in argument with some disciple of 'Gpicurus, or some Sadduceari dogmatist. We shall hear hini rddite the old Gospel which tie so successfully proclaimed. This old riospel was not ^o full of dogmas and opinions as some of the modern. 'We have become so spiritual that our religion is rather a religion of opiiiicns than of facts. Angels can live on opinions, or abstract truths, fur aught tknow; Ijut so soon as mortals begin to live on opin- ions, they becoiU,%lean. The primitive Christians believed facts, repo- sed in them, and drew their joys from them. But let us Iicar Paul state Ms Gospel — ^« Moreover, brethren, I will declare lliat Gospel to you, which I once proclaimed among you; wb.ich you then recei- ved as true, in which you now profess to stand; and by whicli vou are SAVED, provided you hold it in your memory, unless forsooth, 'tis all a •ie, and so in believing it, you have believed in vain.'' — '^ I delivered to you when I first came to Corinth, this Gospel — 1st. That Jesus Christ died for our sins : 2d. That he was buried; and, in the third place, that he rose again the third day, according to the Scriptures. — This was the beginning, middle, and end, of Paul's Gospel ; whether it suit or non suit the fastidious taste of the times. — He proceeds to prove the third fact, not so much to prove it, as to argue from it, as an established fact, one admitted by all the congregation of Corinth, and by myriads of Christians throughout the world. Old Plato reasoned about the immcrtality oi the soul; but in the genuine spirit of Christianity, Paul avers that Jesus Christ brought life and immortality to our bodies. The dispute among the Jews was no- about the immortality of the soul; but, shall the generations of the dead ever comeback again.- This was the question which the Phari t^ees and the Saddiicees argued. This is the grand point wliich must be always kept in view. Only shew me tiie man, who, on the testimo uyofthe Apostles and prophets, believes that Jesus Christ rose from ilie dead, and I will engage to shew you a Christian, not only in faith. but in works. A belief in this fact is the fons ctprindpium of Chris tianity — tlie source from which the practice of all Christian virtues must be derived. This is the principle which leavens tiie .whole mass this is thebalmofGilead, the cordir.l which calnis, and cheers, ?.n'^ comforts the heart. DEBATE, , -/J A person may believe opinions (it is however a micdapplicaliou of the term believe) until his soul freezes, or falls asleep (pardon the ex- pression.) Facts, testimony, and faith, belong to the same chapter • and the last can only be in company with the former two. But we shall soon wander from the point before us. The old .iospel was sum- marily comprehended in these three facts. The meaning of these facts is, what is called, the doctrine of Christ, Paul proceeds to state the evidence on which the third fact was pro- claimed in Corinth. He states a number of times, that Jesus was seen alive; tirst by Cepiias — then by all the Apostles — then by 500 disciples at one time — then by James — then by all the Apostles — anrl last of all he was seen by himself. The number of times and witnes ses greatly transcend all hat is ever required to prove any fact. He^ however, simply asserts the fat;i of iiis having been seen so often and by so many witnesses, the majority of whom are appealed to as still living. \Ve have the fact of his resurrection here asserted, and the evidence adduced. Now for the argument derived from the evidence f^ubmitted. To estirrfatethe weight of this, let it be remembered that Paul had some bitte? enemies in Cormth. These were the old mate- rialists, the Sadducees, Very like my friend Mr. Owen, they held to no spirit, resurrection, nor future state. Now, as opposers of the Apostle, they would be disposed to detect, if possible, any error, weak- ness, flaw, or falsehood, in the argument. — Mark how he challenges them — " How say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead?'''' They had insulted him. He does not spare them. Surely in the polished, shrewd, and captious city of Corinth, which Cicero complements as the lumen toiius Graecice, the eye of all Greece. — Surely, I say, if Paul is vulnerable, if his facts are false, if his argument be inconclusive, the " eye of all Greece'^'' will see it ; and the wounded *Jride of his opponents will publish it to the world. When I came to you first, did I not proclaim the resurrection of Je- sus? Did I not prove it i' Did you not believe it? Why then deny the resurrection of the dead saints ; for both stand or fall together. — If the dead saints are not raised, then why was Christ raised? and you know, if he was not raised, and we affirmed that he was, we are found liars : our preaching and your faith are both vain. You are yet m your sins. Did I not tell you, he was seen by me also ? Why did you believe me^ Were not the signs of an Apostle with me? Besides you knew my history. The Jews ail knew it; and some of you are acquainted with it. I am proud to confess it was not my education, nor the cir- cumstances which surrounded me from birth to manhood, which made me what I am. I was born a Jew, and all my prospects were Jewish. — • My ancestors on both sides were Jews, My preceptor Gamaliel, was a learned Doctor of the Jewish law; I was educated in the metropolis, at his feet. I was intimate with the whole sanhedrim. I was brought up in the greatest antipathy against Jesus and the Christians. • I be- came a persecutor as soon as I finished my education. I went even to strange cities in pursuit of Christians, male and female. All this, my o-o » DEBATE. educalion and the ciromnstances which surrounded ine i;om birlh u. manhood, prompted me to. But contrary to the influence of botJj, by the evidence which I have detailed to you, I was constrained to re- nounce tiiese vicious influences, and to proclaim the faith whicli you have received." We shall now let Paul plead his own cause with the Corinthian mate- rialists. He opens the case — he asserts the fact — Jesus rose from the dead. He summonses the witnesses. Tliey depose that they saw the same identical person who was crucified and buried, alive again. That lljey had the most indubitable evidence of the fact of his resurrection. — - They saw him, handled him, eat with him, drank with him, and ccn- T^rsed with him, and saw him ascend into Heaven. Paul's first argument on the premises, is a reductio ad ahsvrdum, — You Sadducees, that are members of the congregation in Corinth, be- lieved, and still declare your belief, of the above testimony, that Jesus rose from the dead. Now if you deny tlie future resurrection cf tJie saints, you make the resurrection of Jesu-s of nofte account. For why should Christ alone rise to die no more, as one of the sonsofmen!— If, then, you would prove that there is no resurrection of the dead, you must deny a fact which all Christians admit, and which you yourselves admit upon the aforesaid evidence, namely, the undeniable fact of the resurrection of Jesus. To deny the resurrection of the dead, is, then, f-o deny your own acknowledged belief in the resurrection of Jesus. 2. Again, if Christ be not raised, our proclamation of that fact is fitlse, and your belief predicated thereupon, is also false, Tiiis is ano- vher reductio ad absurdum. 3. Again, we have been false witnesses concerning God — when we said that he raised up Christ : if, indeed, your assertion is true, that tlie dead are not to be raised, we are not merely deceivers of men, but rd* preachers of God. This is inadmissible, as all our deeds declare. 4. Ajrain, on your hypothesis, faith is useless. You are still in your i>ins. This is contrar) to your own experience. 5. Also, all who have died for attesting their belief in Christ's res- urrection, have thrown their lives away, and have actually, on your prin- ciples, perished. 6. And we too, who are suffering shame, and hazarding our lives ev- ery day, for proclaiming this fact, are of all men the most miserable; for we gain nothing in tliis life, as you yourselves know, but stripes, reproa- ches, and dangers, for publishing the fact of his resurrection. If we should have to fight with the wild beasts at Ephesus, for the amuse- ment of our adversaries, what would be the avails, if there be no resur- rection, nor future state? 7. But, again, what is more reasonable upon your own principles, be- lieving, as you do, the five books of Moses, than that all the saints by one man should live again, seeing that by a man they all die. 8. But, 171 the last place, if you will not admit the trmh of the resur- rection of the dead, your creed ought to be reduced to tiic standard cf the brute; and, like them, making ooting, and drinking, and ail ar?:-. DEBATE. N7 rnal enjoyracn's, the Lll-ongrossing concern of lli'L^ For death wii! soon reduce us back, upon your princi|)lcs, to senseless matter. Si' reasons the Apostle Paul with the Saddueean materialists, who live^^ too soon to deny the resurrection of Jesus, but not too soca to questie.; ti:e ultimate resurrection of all the dead. I ought, perhaps, to apologize to some present, for the manner iu whicliwc connect tlie argument of the Apostle in this chapter. Yoix nuist know that we do not subscribe to that system of text preachin;/- which authorizes a man to make as many sermons as there are verse;., in a chapter — and often times these sermons on these texts, are as de- tached from the scope in whicli they stand, as if the whole New Testa nient was a book of proverbs. Hence we cannot agree with him wIim makes tlieso words, " if in this life only we have hope by Clirist, w-. arc of all men the most miserable,'' a text to prove, that all the rich an something like you Christians — but it is a good rule which works both ways; and if you will prove Christianity to be divine, because some of its votaries suffered, you will be able to prove all the religions of the world divine, for the same reason ; for some of their votaries suf- fered. Not so fiist with your conclusion. — All that we contend for is, that martyrdom proves ihe sincerity of the witness. This is all we want. — Nov.' we all admit tliat a man may be sincerely wrong in his opinions, lind so jnisled as to die for them, rather than to retract. But if, in malters of fact, such as the assassination of Julius Caesar, such as the death of Napoleon, or the battle of Bunker's Hill, where the fact is submitted to all the senses, our senses could not be relied on, there would be an end to all certainty in the world. — Now, when a person is so fully persuaded of such flicts as to die in attestation of them, the death of such a person is not only a proof of his sincerity, but of the fact, because it is an object of sensible proof in which there was no 'possibility of deception. The martyr to an opinion, in dying, says: I sincerely think. But the martyr to a facj, in dying, says : 7 most assuredly san', or / cer- tainly heard. Now the possibility of thinking wrong, even after having thought for years, is quite conceivable; but the possibility of Heeing or hearing wrong, or not seeing or hearing at all, when oppor- dunitios iiave heen frequent, and every way favorable, is inconceivable. Aiioi;;oa who ^ociini o'Dject only once, orlica;-sa iiairativc ouly once, ';an with difficulty be deceived or misled : but where an object has been repeatedly addressed to the eye, or to tlie ear, deception is not to h;? supposed" Every man niny test thi;? principle, by enquiring how inuc'i more certain lie is tJiat a friend is dead wliom lie saw expire, tlian he is ol'the truth of any opinion derived from tha mere comparison of ab- ^traol proposition-^. It v.tis for publishing facts, sensible facts, and not for propagatin^'t opinions, that all tiie original martyrs suffered and died. Martyrdom, therefore, proves the sincerity of the martyr, who dies for an opinion ^ but it proves the truth of the fact, when a person dies in attestation of a sensible fact.*' But so soon as we have rebutted, and I hope refuted, the objection made to the superior credibility of the original witnesses, from the fact of their sufferings and martyrdom, lam assailed by another. Gran- ted, for tlie moment, says some sceptic, that you have fairly made out the fact of Christ's resurrection, by the testimony of his friends; still, thero is a suspicion resting upon that testimony, just from the fact that all the witnesses were Christians. — Let us have seme sceptical Jew, or some sceptical Greek, affirming the flic t — produce seme respectable Roman author, like Tacitus or Suetonius, who affirms the same fact, and then you may claim our assent Vvith more reason. Strange illusion this, which compels a person to reject llie Letter, and to believe the worse testimony. — Now why prefer the testimony of a man who will assert a great practical truth, and not accord with it in his behaviour, to the testimony of another, who espouses the same truth and lives confcnnably to it. Does the fact of a person's living contbrmably to what he testiiic5=, discredit his testimony? Yet this is precisely the logic of this objection. The man wdio cries fire, and sits u\ the burning house, is more to be believed, than the man wb.o cries nrc, and runs out of it ! Nov/ suppose Tacitus had said that Je- sus Christ rose from the dead, and that he believed it, would he not * Mr. Addison res^ards the conraj^e and patience shewn by these v,'if- nesses under their toittjres as of itself supernatural and miraculous. " I cannot conceive (says he) a man placed in the burning chair at Lvon?, amid the insults and mcckci-y of the crowded annpbitheatvc.an 1 ^till kce- pins^ this seat; or stretched upon a grate over coals of iire, and breat'iinj; lilt his sntd among the exquisite sufferings r,f such a tedious executiou rather than renounce hisrergion and Maspb.eme his Saviour. Such tri- als seem to me nbove the strenrjjih ofliuman nature, and ab'e to over- '}ear reason, duty, faith, conviction, nay and the most absolute ccrfainty nt a future state. Humanity, unassisted in ^.n extraordinary mnruur. inusl have shaken oiT the present pressute, and have delivered itseli out of such dic'idful distress, by any means that could liave been sug- q;csted to it. VVe can easily imagitie, that any perscn, in a good cauve, might have laid dov/n their lives at a g;bbet, the stake, or the block — iint to expire leisurely, among the most exquisite tortures, when they, might have come out ot them even by a men'. al leservation, or a hy- pocrisy which was not withcut the possibility of being fejlowed by repentance and forgiveness, has something in it so far be3ond the foice and natural strength of mortals, that we cannot but think, that iher'j "I'a-^ som'j miraculous power to support the sufferer," RclioT'cr. 4D DEiSAlt.. have been enrolled among tlie Christians? And ?o of all others, Jevrs and Pagans. The instant they believed the fact, they would have cea- sed to be Jews and Pagans — they would have been embodied in the ranks of Christians. So that a little common sense, or a little reflec- tion, would have taught such a .sceptic in Christianity, that in asking for such evidence, he only asked for an impossibility — yes, an impossi- bility as great as to place two substances in the same spot at;thesame instant. If I could find a Piigan such as Tacitus, aftirming that Jesus iiEBATt, There weie no neutrals. The abduction of the body cmi he aecoviu. ted for only in two ways — 1st. His friends must have been the thieves; but to give color fo this suspicion, thcij must have anticipated such an influence upon society, as that which actually did result from the fact of the resurrectign. But this, it has been shewn, they neier did anti cipate. If, 2dly, his enemies had stolen the body and had it in their possession, they would have produced it, in order to coniound the op- posite party. Suppose that, on the day of Pentecost, when the influ- ence of the fact of the resurrection iirst began to be remarked, that they had then the body in their possession, the bare production of it woulc' have silenced the Christians forever. — The fact of the non-preductioi. of the body, by the encmicf? of Christ, proves:, conclusively, that^Ae^ had cot got it. The historians say, that the Jcwishanthoriiics placed a guard over the .sepulchre. When the absence of the body was discovered, the senti- aels, in their own exculpation, declared that his disciples stole him away v/hilst they slept. Tiie story itself was incredible, and the au- tiior could, therefore, be no better. Bat, on analysing the natural feelings, both of liis enemies and friends, we can discover no motive which could prompt either of theni to such an abduction. The whole accumulation of evidence is of such a character, that, in order to estimate the exact weight of it, we miist take into view all the circumstances of the case. We have not mere'ly their naked assertion that they had seen the Saviour, The weight of the evidence does not rest merely upon this statement; nor does it rest upon our inability to account for the absence of the body, and its resuscitation ; although all the witnesses concurred, yet the proof rests not there. Though these testimonies all corroborate and b'upport each other, still the sequence and dependence of the facts, are so arranged in all the histories of these times, that the weight oftlie testimony rests not upon these alone, but upon circumstances of still greater moment, connectied with these, viz. the personal sufferings of the disciples — the devotion of their whole lives to the attestation and promulgation of this fact. This is a very ditferent kind of testimony from that of a man who should attest any particular fact, when the truth or falsehood of the fact, could, in no wise, interest him. The concurrent testimony of a thousand persons in proof of any mar» vellous event, would not be the strongest evidence, if it were not an event of such a character, as ever afterwards to exercise a paramount influence over their whole lives, and give birth to an entire change of conduct. But the naked assertion is but a small pan of the evidence, compared with the principles which the fact itself necessarily involves. The twelve Apostles, and many of their coadjutors, who were the earli- est converts to Christianity, and some of whom had as fair a start in the race for honor and distinction : these individuals, I say, all go forward in attestation of a simple fact, andthoreby expose themselves to not on- ly the persecutions of the Jews, but also of the Romans ; for they, also, began to be jealous of the Ciiristiaus. They si^lered not only the k>ss of popularity with, their countrymen, but* they endangered UliiiATE. -J3 inemsclvoa with the Sanhedrim, and witli the Roman uulnori- ties. Tlie motives whicli influenced them, in declaring this trutk could have been of no ordinary character, since their attestation invol- ved the sacrifice of every worldly interest. And not only this, but they were assured by the Saviour that, for this very cause, they would be put to death. He told Peter that this cause would one day cost him his life. Peter was not a brave man. He shews himself, in one instance, t© be under the influence of the greatest weakness. He denied his Lord *o save himself from persecution. These men were, without any re- markable exception, as great cowards as any that are to be found now- a-days. To be told, in the first instance, that their declaration of this truth would procure their persecution and death, was presenting the matter in such a light as would have overcome their resolution — but when once they had received tlie knowledge that the Lord had risen, they became as bold as lions. After this, we see Peter and JoJm standing up in the Temple, and proclaiming this truth in open defiance of the whole sanhedrim. Here we see, that the influence of the belief of this fact of the resurrection, made cowards brave. We see the tim- id Peter standing up boldly with his associates, men of no address, and with no arm of flesh to support them; yet they fearlessly proclaim the fact. They^re put into prison ; when released, they go back to the Temple and repeat the proclamation, and travel from place to place, in order to disseminate it far and wide; until, at last, the opposite party began to perceive, that if they did not put forth all their power, the ex- isting order of things would be subverted by this sedition. To put a stop to the further spread of it, the disciples were martyrized. There is nothing like this, in the ancient or modern world. Here" you see men acting contrary to all the ordinary principles of human conduct — men naturally timid, shaking ofl" their timidity and dyings rather than recant their proclamation of a fact. They did not die for: their tenacious attachment to any speculative opinion, but for asserting that they had seen their crucified Saviour risen from the dead, &.c. — ■ Having received those proofs, they risqued and sacrificed life in order to attest and to promulgate the fact. The weight of the testimony does not consist in any of these circumstances alone, but in the whole body of the evidence, takea in connexion with its inseparable ad^ juncts. • But we are not yet done with the proofs. There is no other histori- cal fact of equal antiquity, that can be supported by one thousandth part of the testimony that this is. There is no principle or criterion of evidence, but what is to be found in this attestation. Even experi- ence contributes its share to make this matter of fact more <;Iear, thaa any other historic fact to be found in the annals of antiquity. There now exists the institution of a day consecrated to the com- memoration of the resurrection of .1esus. We are not aware of the peculiar force of this institution. Had there been no weekly appro- priation of time before the resurrection of Jesus, the commencement of" such an approiiriation would be an irrefragable monument of the events. 'U DEBATE. But still it is attended with more force than usually aceoinpaniea a Jie\v insutution. There was the abolition of the seventh day among tlic first converts, as well as the appomtment of the first. The sevenih day was observed from Abraham's time, nay, from the creation. 'I'iie Jews identified their own history with the institution of the Sabbath day. l^liey loved and venerated it as a patriarchal usage. But it was not primarily observed on that account — for it was given to them as a part of their national compact. You will find the Lord enjoins the Sabbath day upon them with this preface — " 1 brought you out of tjic land of bondage — therefore keep the Sabbath holy." The observance of tins day, therefore, is not so much to be regarded as an usage deri- ved from the patnarciis, as a divine national institution, intended to per- petuate the memory of that wonderful deliverance, which the Lord had wrought out for them. Here, then, is a nation strongly attached to this institution of the Sabbath day, because their forefathers had ob- served it. We well know the powerful influence of ancient national customs. Men love them, nay, venerate them, because their forefa- thers were attaclied to them. But taking into view the re-enactment f>ft]iatday, and the making it a partof tlie national institution, and we find the Sabbath existing in the most powerful force, and sanctioned by the highest autliority. Now to abandon the observance of that day; as every Christian did, and to substitute anew day of the week having ■a dirierent object and view, was greatly more difficult thafi to originate an institution entirely new — more difficult than to institute itco-ordi- nateiy with the old Sa])bath day, so as to perpetuate the observance of the first and the seventh day also. I presume that even Christians have not sufllciently appreciated the import of this evidence. It would have been more easy to have superinduced the first day, and left tlie seventh day standing, because of its antiquity, and as an important partof the niitional covenant, than to change the day from the seventh to the first of the week. For these reasons, we perceive, that it must have been much more difficult to abolish the old institution than to ori- ginate a new one. You will remember, that our Saviour was frequently charged with not keeping tlie Sabbath — liow often wa^' he accused of Sabbath brea- king: there was no disrespect of the Jewish ritual, so frequently charged upon him. How did he refute the accusation? Why, says he, the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath day. After his resurrection, he explained this (and other- sayings)— and we find no difficulty in undejstanding a dictum in which we recognize a principle entirely new, which is not referrible to the decalogue, and which, in fact, abrogates that precept of it which enjoins the observance of the seventh day. It was not the seventh part of time, but the seventh day, which was claimed by the Lord in the first instance. Tlie commandment was this: — " But the seventh is the Sabbath of tlie Lord thy God." The reason assigned, must be changed, before the day of observance could be al- ^ (ered. " The Lord i-c.^tcd on the seventh day and hallowed it." We ' could not substitute the observance of the fifth for the fourth of Jiilyj t-ecause thcreex.istsno rational pretext for it- Not sowit|i regard t" DEBATE. 4S the consecration of tlie seventh part of our time. But the substitution o^ the Jirst day for the Jewish Sabbath, was as positive an origination of a new religious institution, as the feast of the passover, or Pente cost, or circumcision, or any other part of the Jewish ritual . — But what distinguislied the first day of the week? And why was it set apart? Solely in commemoration ofa new creation. The last Sabbath day was kept by Jews in the tomb ; and it was so ordered as exactly to coin ctde with that symbolic representation of things which Vv'e find in the old Testament. You shall not go out of your house on the sabbath day, you shall rest within your house. Now the Saviour did, through this day, lie in the grave. But the resurrection of Jesus, on the first day of the week, was the commencement of a new creation. Sublime as were the reasons which originally influenced the Patriarchs to keep the Sabbath day, incomparably more sublime, arc those which now influence Chris- tians to observe it, Hence the institution and consecration of the first day of the week, in comm.emoration of the matter of fact that our Sa- viour rose from the dead, on the morning of that day, is a positive com- memorative institution, in direct attestation of the truth of the matter of fact and of the unspeakable importance of the occasion. This was not an event to be engraven on pillars of marble in order to perpetuate it, but upon the hearts of Christians— for all Christian hopes and joys must ever spring from it. It is a perpetual commemorative institution,- of the birth of immortal hope, of the dawn of life and immortality, up ■ on the human race. Whilst examining the Divine mission of Moses, we remarked that the criteria of the verity of historic facts, were these : That the facts should have been sensible ones; should have been witnessed by many persons; should have some commemorative institutions; and that tJiose commemorative institutions should have been continuous from the in- stant in which the facts took place, down to our own time. All these strictly apply to this institution. For we read, in the New Testament history, that, from the day of his resurrection, the Lord himself honor*- ed its weekly return. This was the day in which he was wont to have interviews with his disciples. And from tliat day until now, all Christians, Jews and gentiles, have celebrated it. To feel the force of the argument, let us place before our minds a Jew, zealous of the law of Moses, standing before a Christian preacher. He is convinced of the fact of the resurrection, is baptized, and tlius becomes a Chris* tian. In becoming a Christian, he not only rejects the whole of the Jewish economy, but ceases to observe an institution as ancient as the creation, and becomes en observer of the first day for new reasons, and in obedience to a new Master. The revolution wrought in such an individual, is a sample of the power of truth, and of the changes which Christianity ma(ie upon whole communities at its first promuU gation. All histories declare, tliat the obser\'ancc of the Lord's day has been continuous, from the morning of the resurrection down to the present day. All the criteria of infallible evidence, appear in this instance. The resurrection v;ss v^itnessed by many, the commemora' tlvc institTition lakes place iirs mediately, ana lad been perpetual n'.- down to the present liour. The observance of the first day ofth< week, has been opposed because the seventh was enjoined in the Jew ish ritual. But tiicy who argue thus, arc not thoroughly converted lo Jesus Clivist — fhey have not been divorced from the law — and seem not to regard the iirst day in the light of a commemorative institution at ail. They seem to forget, or not to knov.', that the observance ok" days must be necessarily commemorative or prospective : for all time, abstr.act from this consideration, is alike holy and religious. They certainly live in the smoke of the great city Babylon, who observe the seventh day in commemoration of the work of Creation ; rather than the first day of the week in commemoration of the Resurreciion of our Lord. But we must proceed to another evidence of the Resurrection. Before Jesus had ascended from Mount Olivet, he told them they %vere not to leave the city of Jerusalem in order to promulgate the resurrection, until they were clothed with new powers, every way ade- quate to confirm then- proclamation. " Tarry tliere, (said he) until you be endued with power from on high." Tlie comrccm.orative day of pcntecost had fully arrived. In the metropolis, at this lime, thev was but one hundred and twenty disciples. They were all convened in one place on the morning of that memorable day; that day on 'vliich the first sheaf of wheat was to be waved in the air or carried over their heads, as a thank offering for the nev/ Harvest. Mark the coinci- dence of time, and the accomplishment of the ancient symbol. Cn that day, tlie earnest of the harvest, he commences the new economy ; — that the converts of that day might indicate the immense in-gathering of the nations to the fold of the Messiah. Now, when the day of pcn- tecost wasiuiiy come, tllZ-t very day, in commemoration of the Saviour's resurrection, as " Vac first fruits of them that slept,'* that first day of the week — while the whole nation was assembled to celebrate this great festival, and his disciples convened to commemorate h's resurrection, be^ hold the sound of a mighty rushing wind is heard, and all eyes and ears are turned to the place whence it proceeded. While they are flock- ing from all quarters to this place, in an instant many tongues of fire are seen encircling the persons of the apostles. These tongues of 1am.- bcnt flame, whicli covered the heads and faces of these apostles, v. cro emblems of those /bm^'-H tongues which, in a moment of time, they were able fluently to speak without ever having learned tliem. Not only the inhabitants of Jerusalem sav/ and heard the wonders of tjiat day, but persons assembled at this great festival from all the Roman em- pire, hoard and saw these tokens of the resurrection and ascension of the Lord. Tliere were present foreigners from Rome, Parthia, rvledia, Persia, Mesopotamia, jCappadocia, Pontus, Asia Minor, Phrygia, E- gypt, Pamphilia, Crete, and all tlie African coasts of the Mediterrane- an. There were, of all languages and nations, auditors and spectators of this event. They heard the marvellous sound from Heaven, and -saw the tongues of fire. They, moreover, heard the Galileans, with their Galilean brogue, pronouncing all the languages of the world speaking to every man, in liis vernacular tongue, the wonderful woii' BEBATi' 17 -■; oovl. Pcfer e:q>laincd the matter to thcia ail. He gave mcauing ;iiKl empliasls to the whole scene. " The oracle of your prophet Joei IS thi-J day fulfilled. Jesus has been received into tlie Heaven?. He promised us supernatural aid la attest his resurrection He has now accomplished it. Let all the house of Israel know, assuredly, thai, God has made that Jesus whom you, v/ith wicked hands, by tlic Ro aim soldiers, slew, the anointed Lord or King of the Universe. He i s now in Heaven placed upon that throne which governs all, and has received from his Fatlicr this gift, as a token cf his love, and approba- tion of his v/onderful works on earth, which he Jias noAv exhibited up- on us in the midst of vou." In full conviction of all they saw and heard, as confirmatory of this proclamation, and deeply convicted of their guilt and danger, they ex- claimed, " Mm and bretkrcn, what shall we do?'' Seeing them deep- ly penitent of their form.er course, Peter answers their question by an- nouncing to them the gospel, or good news, which he wxs authorized now, for the &st time, to proclaim to the nation . He makes his proc- lamation in language clecrand forcible — " Reform (said he) and be immersed, or as it is in Greek, be baptized every one of you in the name of the Lord Jesus, for the uemission of your st?;3; and you shall re- ceive tlie gift of the Holy Spirit : for the promise you have heard from Jo- el, is to you, and your children, and to all that are afar off, even to as ma-^ ny as the'Lord our God shall call." They rejoiced that remission could be so easily received under the reign of the Messiah, and forthwith were haptized for the remission of their sins, and were filled with all joy, and peace, and good hope ; so that they eat their food with gladness, and simplicity of heart, praismg God. Now let me ask, what sort of vouchers are these to the truth of the resurrection and ascension of Je- sus? Will the wonders of that day, witnessed by thousands of the most disinterested persons, nay, many of them embittered enemies to the truth of Christianity; I say, will the testimony of three thousand one hundred and twenty persons, in attestation of a fact happening on the most public occasion, even on a national anniversary, in the me- tropolis, frequented and crowded with strangers, from all nations un- der Heaven, be admitted in the courts of sceptics as good evidence! I would now ask, v/hat could be added to the cumulative evidences of the resurrection of Jesus? The uncontradicted fact, that the ac- counts we now have of it, were written at the times and places alle- ged— the number and character of the witnesses; the sensible and fre- quent interviews which they had with him; the length of time he con- tinued with them; his visible ascension into Heaven in the presence of dl of them; the descent of the holy spirit, just new mentioned in attes- tation of his reception into Heaven ; *be appointment of one day in eve- ry week to commemorate' it; the effects it produced at home a.nd abroad; and the sufferings and reproaches attendant on the publication of it, which terminated only v/ith the martyrdom of most of the origi- nal witnesses. I say, to all this, what could be added? And yet, when all this is said, but a feeble representation of tlie amount of ev:- !>er>ce and documentary proof, is presented, 4B DEBATE. We shall foUcnv the witnesses a little farther. The Saviour rose otx ■the first day of the week. He shewed himself alive, by many infallibh. proofs, dMxnvg forty days. He appointed his disciples to meet with him on a specihetl day, on a Mount whicli he had named : they did so. He gave them orders concerning their future course. They asked iiini u question concerning his kingdom, which he declined answering at that time. He forthwith ascended up, gradually receding from their sight, towards Heaven. They stood gazing after him, expecting liini to descend J and might have stood there till the sun descended, had not two angels descended to console them, with the tidings that he was gone to Heaven, never to return until he came to judge ilie Avorld.— ^ They v/ent to Jerusalem — waited for ten days. Pentecost arrived — the incidents of that day we have noticed. The facts of his resurrec- tion and ascension, v;ere then fully proved, to the conviction of thou sands, in one day. But we must accompany them a little farther, and scrutinize their doctrine and their progress. Tlie next incident in Luke's history of the labors of some of the Apostles, presents another marvellous scene to our eyes. Peter and John are going up ii^to the Temple at three in the afternoon ; when all the devout persons of Jerusalem assembled for prayer, A notable cripple, more than forty years old, well known to many of the citizens of Jerusalem, perhaps to all of them, because he was every day car- ried and laid upon a couch, at the Beautiful gate of the Temple, wa.s in the act of asking alms from two of the Apostles, then ascending tlio stairs. Peter and John told him to look on them. He did so, expec- ting to receive alms. Peter said, silver and gold I have none, but sucli as I have I give you — " In the name of Jesus the Nazarcne, rise up andivalk.^^ He caught him by the hand. The cripple arose, stood, walked, leaped, shouted, praised the Lord Messiah. The congrega- tion arose, crowded out into Solomon's portico, which held many thousands. They looked witli astonishipent, first on the cripple, tlien on Peter and John. Peter opened his mouth to explain this fact to them. He declined all praise, as due to him, for this miracle of heal- ing- the power passed through the name of Jesus. He then told them how they had treated Jesus in the presence of Pontius Pilate, how they renounced him and released a murderer. Then he asserts his resurrection — and claims merely the honor of being a witness of tins fact. He explains hov/ the cripple was cured; shews them their error; excuses their infidelity, as arising from a misapprehension of the prophets ; appeals to their own prophets ; shews that Moses had distinct- ly pointed the nation to Jesus of Nazareth. In conclusion, he infor- med them, that God, having raised up his son from the dead, authori- zed them first to announce him to the seed of Abraham, with the assu- rance that God would yet bless and pardon them, every one of them, who turned from his iniquities. Here the number of the male disciples is augmented to five thousand. They were interrupted, at this time, by the priests and the captain of the Temple guard. The Sadducees disliked this new way of pro- ■^^ming the resurrection of the dead in the person of Jesys^ for it DEBATE. 4S w^s ifRisislablo, and like io demolish their whole sect, They impris oned Peter and John. The next day, tiie wliole sanhedrim in the ci ty, many being present who had tried and coademnGd Jesus, assembled to try and interrogate these two witncssesjof the resurrection. Peter, formerly a coward, and constitutionally a coward, rises above himself, and witii the utmost courage and confidence, addresses them on the indictment, in the following words: — " Rulers of the people and sen- ators of Israel — if we are this day examined about the benefit confer- ted upon the cripple, by wliat means he has been cured, be it known to you, and to all the people of Israel, that by the kame cf Jesus oi Nazareth, whom you crucified, wiiom Cod has raised from the dead — yos,by ktm, this man stands befokk yocj sound. This is the stone which was sot at nought ry you eu ilde:??, that is become the head of the corner. Neither is there any otiieu xa^ie urvDEE HSAVE?r among men in whicli vc can he saved" When they saw the boldness of Pcier and John, perceived that Ihcy Mcre illiterate men, and in prii-ate. stations of life, tlioy w^ere astonish- ed; and recollected tliat- they had se?n them in company with Jesus, about the time of liis trial; and when they saw- the cripple, standing sound and active before them, they were every man silent and con- founded. After sending them out of the council chamber for a lit tie, they consulted on the measures next to be pursued. That a sig> nal miracle was done by these men, they said, tiiey could not de- ^'Y, for it was manifest to all the citizens of Jerusalem; but to prevent its spreading farther, tliey agreed to severely threaten them to speak no more in that name. They did so. But Peter proposed them a ques- tion which they did not answer to this day — '• Whether, (said he) is it righteous, in th^ si'^ht of God, to obey you rather than God? Decide this, if you please.*' They threatened them and dismissed them for because of the veneration of the people, and the publicity of the socd deed done in the name of Jesus, they dare do no more than threaten them. Thus they proceeded in Jerusalem. Multitudes flocked to the me- tropolis from the surrounding country and villages ; and Peter became tts famous for his rniracidons powers in that city, as Jesus had been. — Tliey imprisoned liim and some of ids associates; but, the next morn- ing, they found them in the Temple, declaring tlie resnrrecfirr. and proclaiming refrrmation. The angel of the Lord discharged tlrem from prison; and now the whole senate are alarmed, and begin to fear that the blood of Jesus would come upon them. " So mighlilygrew ihe word of the Lord and prevailed." They had P<^fcr and his asso- ciates called before them again. They enquired, why tl'cy had disre garded their threats? Peter, in his Christian boldness, replied to the charge OF having filled Jerusalem with their doctrine in defiance of those threats, in these words — '• It is necessary to obey God rathe;' than yoi/.''' — This was his apology. But he must do more than apolo- gize. He must attest the all-conquering fict. He adds: "JTho God ofour Fathers Jias raided up Jesus whom you slew, hanging him ^rt a tree, Ilnr tia? God exalted at his right ^and, to bs a ' V(.1 o b 50 DEBATE. PKiNCK and asAViouK, tagive reformation to Israel dind. forgiveness of sins. And we are v/itxesses of tliese things, and the holy spirit also, whom God has given to them who submit to his government. Had it not been for Gamaliel the Pharisee, who had some reason, as Y/ell as a strong prepossession in favor of the Resurrection of the dead, they would have attempted their martyrdom. Tliey were released, and home they went " rejoicing that they were accounted worthy to suffer shame for his name."" So tiiey prujTiessed, till inyriads of the Jews became obedient to the faith. Even many of the priests were baptized, and the crucified Je- sus was worshipped by teiis of thousands of those who had once con- sidered him au impostor, or as a doubtful character. The Sanhedrim became more exasperated. The Sadducees are enraged. Stephen is murdered, invoking the name of the Lord, and attesting, with his last breath, that he saw jesus standing on the right hand of God. — Saul of Tarsus, who, at that time, consented to the death of Stephen, afterwards converted, saw jesus and attested it with his blood. How iacreasins yet the evidence of the Resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ! Persecution dispersed the disciples from the metropolis — the congre- gation is broken up: all are dispersed through Judea and Samaria, except the Apostles. They cont'uue where the persecution rages most — and courageously liazard all in attesting the resurrection. Tlie land of Judea falls before these dispersed proclaimers — and Samaria r-ejoices in the Lord. But to specify the conquests of this truth, would be to narrate the whole Acts of the Apostles. — Let the sceptics exam- ine Luke's narrative through ; his memoirs of Jesus Christ, and his Acts of Apostles; and then repZy, Were we to follow these Apostles to Gentile cities, we should find them proclaiming the same facts, and we should see the same results attending. In the presence of magistrates, philosophers, and priests, they narrate the same facts, exhibit the same proofs — and all ranks and degrees submit to the government of the Messiah. Tlie idols are hurl- ed from their seats, the temples are deserted, aod no price is oiiered for victims. Rome itself, is now convulsed, and the Gallileans are likely to fill the imperial city with tl^eir doctrine. The Roman wri- ters now, wc may expect, will notiqe them, as soon as 'he Gospel makes inroads upon their superstitions. Here then we shall close the testimony of the authors of the New Testament, and we will enquire what the Pagans have to say about these wonderful events. Bat I must again remark, how much more attention is paid to the testimony of infidel Jews and Pagans, than to believing Jews and Pa- gans, by those who pretend to be so rational as to doubt the truth of Christianity. How often have we heard such persons say, " Produce some disinterested witness, some Pagan, or some Jew, who was never converted to Christianity, who will attest the Gospel facts, and we will believe." We wiU believe air incredible witness, and reject the credible! We would believe Tacltn?, hut we will not believe Paul.- L'ot Ticitu3 assort tho resujqjectioii of Jesus, an J wc will contend iiu DEBATE: 81 tonger. Well now, suppose Tacitus had unequivocally said, Jesu» rose from the dead. What would have been our logical conclusion? Eitiier that Tacitus was a Christian, or a hypocrite; and if eitlier tho one or the other, he would be unworthy of credit amongst sceptics. — For, if he were a Cliristian, he would be as objectionable as Paul or Pt • ter: for these ra^ioHrtZs have no other objection to their testiracn}, than because it was exparte, or because it v/as tlie testimony of friends. Now if Tacitus had said that Jesus rose from the dead, and continued an idolater, he must have acted the part of a knave or a hypocrite. He could not sincerely believe this fact and continue a worshipper ot idols. His testimony, in that case, v/ould be worth nothing. It is much more forcible as it stands, for he goes just as far as he could go, to continue a Pagan, and be worthy of credit. The rationals would have us to produce an impossibility as glaring, as to place two substances in the same place at the same time. They would have us to produce an unbelieving Pagan, speaking and acting as, and being, in fact, a believing Pagan. They want a Jew or a Pagan who will speak like a Christian, but who will not act like one. Now as far as i can judge of testimony, I would incom.parably prefer the testimony of the person whose life conforms to his testimony, to the testimony of the person whose life and whose testimony disagree. Now if I found the words of Tacitus to differ from his character, I would not rely up- on them as I do: and taking into view the character of the man, I have no hesitation in saying, that his testimony is altogether credible : and I am sure proves every thing that v/e wish, and every thing that an in- fidel can require.* The same may be said of other Pagan authorities. Taking into view their times, circumstances, and general character, I presume they are all worthy and credible witnesses. Josephus too, excepting that. interpolation found in some copies, is a good witness ; not respecting Je sus Christ, but many of the facts and circumstances recorded or alluded to in the historical books of the New Testament. But it is m.ore to shame than io convince sceptics, that we trouble ourselves with the tes- timonies of either unbelieving Jews or Pagans. Those wiio will not believe such witnesses as sacrificed all temporal enjoyments, and laid down their lives in attesting the Christian facts, who were above all temptation to deceive; — so numerous, so well attested by their cotem- poraries, for all moral excellence, will never be convinced by the testi- mony of Pagans like themselves. Perhaps I should place at the head of the list of infidel, Pagan, and Jewish witnesses, the testimony of ©ne Judas Iscariot, a traitor to J,e- sus Christ. The testimony of a traitor is sometimes more worthy of credit than the testimony of a friend. This Judas, as the case now stands, is a better testimony than the combined testimony of the eleven iriends. Judas had long been a familiar acquaintance, and ranked * I find that I had given these ideas in my speech, on Friday even- ing; having forgotten this circumstance, I rnade the same remarks on Saturday morning, and give them a second time as I find them iw the report. oi DEBATE ationgst the most uiliinatc friends of Jesus. He was enrolled among ihe twelve Apostlci--. lie had been so impartially treated by Jesus, tlut, until the night he betrayed him, not one of (ha others could suspect that he would prove a traitor. Now, had there ever been the least re.?ervc slicwnby Jesus to Judas', or had he been treated in any way L'ss confidentially llin.n any of the other Aposiles, so soon as Jesus told them that one of ihem should betray him, all eyes would have tui- n3d to Judas. To him they would have all pointed. Tn.=5(oad of say- ing, one by one, " Lord, is it /," they would have said within them- selves, it is Judas. He had been, during the whole ministry of Jesus, most intimately acquainted with his speeches and his actions. If any thing insincere, political, ox contrr.ryto the o&tcnsihlc object of the mission of Jesus, had ever transpired in secret, or if ever there had been n,By conspirac}) amongst his followers, to delude or impose upon the Tiation, Judas inust have known it. This must bo conceded by all- wlio have ever read the Gospel histories. Now that Jiidac; was a designing, selfish, covetous and insincere ad- horenl to the party, must also be conceded. Seeing things going con- trary to his calculations, that no immediate gain, honor or advantage was likely soon to accrue — in an evil hour, his passion for gain impel- led him to seize tho firot opportunity of making as much as possible, by •vay of reprizals', for his disappointment in attaching himself to the r6- vinue of Jesus. He therefore covenanted for fWrf?/ pieces of silver, lijo sum for wliich Joseph was sold into Egypt, to deliver into the cus- tody of the sanhedrim, the person of Jesus. He did so. Now had he i)c en able to impeach Jesuo of aught amiss in word or deed, it is evident he iiad the disposition rmd thcopjjortunity; nay, to extenuate his own '-onduct even in the eyes of tlic chief priests and elders, it Avas neces- aryforhlmto make a dinclcoure; but he had -nothing to disclose} .-iavc, after a little reflection, the agonies of his own mind. I have, said liCy betrayed innocent blood. Heart rending thought! Here is the •uoney : release him. If you have done so, v;e care not, said the Priests ; t'lat is your concern, not ours. Now the import of the testimony of Judas is fiomething like the following : A. I?, is accused of some base or unwortiiy action. Eleven of his intimate friends and acquaintances, all of good character too, are sum- moned to give testimony in fiivcr of A. B. They all give him a good ^■Jiaracfcr and exculpate him from the ciiargo. Their testimony, tho' :iot the same words, concurs in every grand point or fact. Tiiere is a twelfth person summoned, who i.-< known to the court and jury to be r.i that instant a hiticr enemy of the accused. lie is interrogated, •md deposes — " That he has been ir.timatcly acciuainted with A. B. lor years, and that never did he knov; him speak an unbecoming word, or commit an unworthy action, in any one inslancc, eitlier bearing up- on the accused or any otlior human being. Nay, so far from that, ho Jias lived the most exemplary life, and his whole conduct Jias been nothing but a bright display of purity, piety, and benevolence; and, moreover, adds he, I do not tliink him capable of an evil word or deed.** '^ow such a tc;-timony weighs as mucli. yes. weigh.s more. witJi llie v'^ sy, tiian the testimony of roany friends, however uuoxccpiiouabie tlieir character. Now just such a witness was Judas. I have betrayed ik- NOCBNT blood, said he; I have been instigated by the devil: my soul has no rest ; and peace has departed from me. ^ For so worthy a per- son as Jesus of Nazareth never lived — release him, or I die. He dies; and though difelo dese, he is a martyr to the truth of the pretensions and character of Jesus, We shall now present to this audience a few extracts from the histo- T-ians of those times, from the edicts of the Roman emperors, and othet public documents : — " JoSEPHtTs, the Jewish historian, was cotemporary with the Apos- tles, having been born in the year 37. From his situation and habits, ke had every access to know all that took place at the rise of the Chris- tian religion. " Respecting the founder of this religion^ Josephus has thought fit to be silent in his history. The present copies of his work contain one passage which speaks very respectfully of Jesus Christ, and as- crioes to him the character of the Messiah. But as Josephus did not embrace Christianity, and as this passage is not quoted or referred to- till the beginning of the fourth century,, it is, for these and other rea sons, generally accounted spurious. It is also according to the man ner of Josephus, in other parts of his History, to pass over in silence what appeared to make against his nation. When he wrote, the Christian religion had made considerable progress, and every thing, respecting it must have been well known to him. He had therefore na middle way. It was necessarry either to enter somewhat particularly into the subject, or to pass it over entirely. To have mentioned it, as is: done in the passage in question, would have been to condemn Iiimpelf, His testimony, then, to Christianity, is found in his silence; and espc cially as he was a priest, is abundantly strong. Not having embraced the Christian religion, and, at the same time, being unable to contra diet the facts on which it was founded, or to set them aside, he passes it quietly by. The minute description he has given of the otlier reli- gious sects in Judea, fully proves that liis silence was that of design^ to which his circumstances compelled him, " His account, however, of the civil and religious aflairs of Judea, of the Princes and Rulers who governed the nation, of the situations of places, of the customs of the country, and of the manners of the peo- ple, is perfectly agreeable to the representation of these things which we have in the Gospels. In addition to this, he has given a decided testimony to the appearance of John fne Baptist, and also an account of his being put to death by Herod. The reason lie assigns for hip execution is different from that given by the sacred hist/jrian ; but as to tlie fact, there is an entire coincidence between thorn. His words are — " Some of the Jews thought Herod's army was destroyed ©fGod, lie being justly punished for the slaughter of John, who was surnamed the Baptist. For Herod had put that good man to death, although hti exhorted the Jev/s, after having exercised virtue and righteousness to- wards one another, and having performed tl^e duties of piety towards Vol. g. ^6* 64 DKhA'iE. God, to come to baptism. For thus baptism would be acceptable to him, not if they abstained from some sins only, but if, to purity of body, they joined a soul first cleansed by righteousness. But when many gathered round him, for they were much pleased with the hearing of such discourses, Herod, fearing lest the people, who were greatly un- der tlic influence of his persuasion, might be carried to some insurrec- tion (for tliey seemed to do nothing but by his counsel) judged that it might be better to seize him before any insurrection was made, and to take him off, than, after affairs were disturbed, to repent of his negli- gence. Thus he, by the jealousy of Herod, being sent bound to Mach- inrus, was tlicreput to death; and the Jews thought, that, on account of I he punishment of this person, destruction had befallen the army, God being displeased with Herod." In this passage, J osephus attests John's preaching and baptism, and the general attention which his min- istry attracted, as well as his being put to death by Herod. " Under the Roman government, it was customary for governors of provinces to send to the Emperor an account of remarkable transac- aous in the places where they resided. Referring to this custom, Eu- sebius says — '• Our Saviour's resurrection being much talked of throughout Palestine, Pilate informed the Emperor of it, as likewise of his miracles, which he had heard of, and that, being raised up after he had been put to death, he was already believed by many to be a C od." These accounts were never made public, nor were any similar ones likely to be published, as such accounts were intended for only the in- formation of government Augustus forbade publishing the acts of the senate. But tie above facF is attested by Justin Martyr in his first apology, which, in the year 140, was presented to the Emperor Anto- ninus Pius and the senate of Rome. Plaving mentioned the crucifixion of Jesus, and some of the circumstances of it, he adds — " And that Shese things were so done, you may know from the acts made in the- time of Pontius Pilate." Tertullian, in his Apology, about the year 198, having spoken of our Saviour^s crucifi.vion and resurrection, his appearances to his disciples, and his ascension to Heaven in the sight of the same disciples, who were ordained by him to preach the Gospel over the world, goes on — " Of all these things relating to Christ, Pi* late, in his conscience a Christian, sent an account to Tiberius, then Emperor." " In another part of the same Apology, he speaks to this purpose : — " There was an ancient decree, that no one should be received for a 'leity unless he was first approved of by the senate. Tiberius, in whose 'ime the Christian religion had its rise, having received from Pales- tine in Syria an account of such thing as manifested our Saviour's di- vinity, proposed to the senate, and giving his own vote as first in his favour, that he should be placed among the gods. Tlie senate refused, because lie had himself declined that honor. Nevertheless, the Em- peror persisted in his own opinion, and ordered, that if any accused the Christians they should be punished." " These testimonies are taken from public Apologies for the Chris tian religion, presented, or proposed and recommended, to tJie Erape ror and senate of RoniP, or to magistrates of public authority and great distinction in the Roman empire. '• Tacitus, the Roman historian, was born in the year 61 or 62. He was Prajtor of Rome under Domitian in 88^ and Consul in the short reign of Nerva in 97. In giving an account of the great fire at Rome in the tOth of Nero, about thirty years after our Lord's ascension, he says — "To suppress, therefore, this common rumour," (viz. that the Emperor himself had set fire to the city,) " Nero procured others to be accused, and inflicted exquisite punislnnents upon those people who were in abhorrence for their crimes, and were commonly known by the name of Christians. They had their denomination from Christus, who, in the reign of Tiberius, was put to death as a criminal by the procurator, Pontius Pilate. This pernicious superstition, thouffh checked for a while, broke out again, and spread not only over Judea, •^hesourceoftiiis evil, but reached the city also, whither flow from all quarters ail things vile and sliamo-ful, and where they find shelter and encouragement. At. first, they only were apprehended who confessed themselves cftliatsect; afferwards avast multitude, discovered by them : all which were condemned, not so much for the crime of burning the city, as for tlieir enmity to mankind. Their executions were so contrived as to expose them to derision and contempt. Some were covered over with the skins of wild beasts, and torn to pieces by dogs; some were crucified ; others, having been daubed over with combusti- ble materials, were set up as lights in the night time, and thus burnt to death. Nero made use of his own gardens as a theatre upon this oc- casion, and also exhibited the diversions of the circus, sometimes standing in the crowd as a spectator, in the habit of a charioteer; at other times driving a chariot himself, till at length these men, though really criminal, and deserving exemplary punishment, began to be commiserated as people who were destroyed, not out of a regard to the public welfare, but only to gratify the cruelty of one man." " Such is the testimony of Tacitus, who lived in the same age with the Apostles, to the principal facts which relate to the origin of the Gos- pel, as well as to its rapid progress. He here attests that Jesus Christ was put to death as a malefactor, by Pontius Pilate, procurator under Tiberius; that, from Christ, the people called Christians took their name; that this religion had its rise in Judea; that thence it was prop- agated into other parts of the world, as far as Rome, where Christians were very numerous ; and that they were reproached and hated, and underwent many and grievous sufferings. " Suetonius, another eminent Roman historian, was bom about the y<^ap 70. He says, in his History of the Life of the Emperor Claudi- us, who reigned from the year 41 to 54, that " he banished the Jews from Rome, who were continually making disturbances, Chrestus be- ing their leader."^ The first Christians being of the Jewish nation, were for a while confounded with the rest of that people, and shared in the hardships that were imposed on them. This account, however, attests what is said in the Acts of the Apostles, (xviii. 2,) that Claudi- us liad eommanded all Jews to depart from Rome, when Aquila and Co DEBATE Priscilla, two Jewish ChrisUans, were compelled to leav'e if. In the life of Nero, whose reign began in 54, and ended m G8, Suetonius says, " Tlie Christians too were punished with death: a sort of people addicted to a new and mischievous superstition." " On tlie foregoing passage of Tacitus, and in reference to the perse- cution of the Christians under Nero, tjribbon remarks, " The most scep- tical criticism is obliged to respect the truth of this extraordinary fact, and the integrity of this celebrated passage of Tacitus. Tiie former is confirmed by the diligent and accurate Suetonius, who mentions tlie punishment which Nero inflicted on the Christians " '• In this persecution Paul is said to have been beheaded. <' The reign of the Emperor Domitian, under wiiom the second per- secution of the Christians took place, began in the year 81, and termi- nated in the year &6. Domitian made inquiry after the posterity of David, and two men were brought before him of (hat family. " At that time,'' suys Hegesippus, " there were yet remaining of the kindred of Christ the grandsons of Jade, who was cvlled liis brother according to the flesh. These some accused as being of tlie race of David, and Evocatus brought them before Domitianus CiBsar; for he too was afraid of the corning of tlie Christ, as well as Herod.*" (.)f tliese men, Mr. GiblK>n says, ""They frankly confessed their royal origin, and their near relation to the Messiah ; but they disclaimed any temporal views, and professed that his Idngdom, wliich they devoutly expected, was purely of a spiritual and angelic nature. When they were examined concerning their origin and occupation, they shewed their hands, har- dened with daily labour, and declared that they derived their whole subsistence from the cultivation of a farm near Cocaba, of the extent of about 24 English acres, and of the value of three hundred pounds sterling. The grandsons of St. Jude were dismissed with compassion and contempt. " During the third persecution, which began in tlie year 100, in the third year of the Emperor Trajan, the younger Pliny was appointed pro-consul of Bithynia, a province of the Roman Empire, on the Eux- ine Sea. In that distant country there were now vast numbers of Christians, against wiiom the pro-consul, according to the Emperors edict, used great severity. Being desirous of more full information Jiow to proceed against the Cliristians, and " being moved," as Eusebius says, " at the multitude of those wlio were slain for the faith," he wrote the following letter to Trajan, in the year 107, which was formerly no- ticed, and in tlie same year received the l^mperor's rescript. " Pliny, to the Emperor Trajan, wisheth health and happiness. It is my constant custom, sir, to refer myself to you, in all mdittCT^^giigm ceruing which I have any doubt. For who can hotter direct me where I hesitate, or instruct me where I am ignorant? I have never been present at any trials of Christians ; so that I know not well what is the subject-rnattcr of punishment or of inquiry, or what strictness ought to bo used in eitiier. Nor have I been a little perplexed to determine whether any dilference ought to be made upon account of age, or whe ther Uic young and tender, and the foil grown and robust, ought to be J>EBATE. 57 ■•?6itccl ail alike; wltether repentance should entitle t(> pardon, orwlie-- tlier all who have once been Christians oug'it to be punished, though they are now no longer so; whether the name itself, although nocrnnes }>e detected, or crimes only belonging to the name, ought lo be punish- ed. Concerning all these things I am in doubt, '■ In the mean time I have taken this course with all who have heed brought before me, and have been accused as Christians. I have put the question to tiiem, Whether they were Christians? Upon their confessing to me that they were, I repeated the question a second and a third time, threatening also to punish them with death. Such as still persisted, I ordered away to be punished ; for it was no doubt with me, whatever might be the nature of their opinion, that contuma- cy and inflexible obstinacy ought to be punished. There were others of the sam.e infatuation, whom, because they are Roman citizens, I have noted do\ra to be sent to the city. "In a short time, the crime spreading itself, even whilst under per- sscutiou, as is usual in such cases, divers sorts of people came in my way. An information vv^as presented to me, without mentioning the author, containing the names of many persons, \Vho, upon cx^minc- tion, denied that they were Christians, or had ever been so; who re- peated after me an invocation oftiie gods, and with wine and frankin- cense made supplication to your image, whieli, for that puipoi'e, T had caused to be brought and set before them, together with the statues of the deities. Moreover they reviled the name of Christ, none of which things, as is said, they who are really Christians can by any means be compelled to do. These, therefore, I thought proper to discharge. " Others were named by an informer, who at first confessed them- selves Christians, and afterv/ards denied it ; the rest said they had been Christians, but had left them some three years ago, some longer, and one or more above 20 years. They all worshipped your image, and the statues of the gods; — these also reviled Ciirist. They affirmed that ihe whole of their fault or error lay in this, that they were wont to meet together, on a stated day, before it was light, aind sing among themselves alternately a hymn to Christ as God; and bind themselves by an oath, not to the conmiission of any wickedness, but not to be guilty of theft, or robbery, or adultery, never to falsity their word, nor to deny a pledge lommifted to them, when called upon to return it. When these things v/ere performed, it wtis-their custom to separate, &nd then to come to- gether again to a meal, which they ate in common, without any disor- der; but this they had forljorne since the publication of my edict, by which, according to your commands, I prohibited assemblies. " After receiving this account, I judged it the more necessary to eyr- amine, and that by torture, two maid-servants, which were called min- i^sters. But I have discovered nothing beside a bad and excessive su- perstition. " Suspending therefore all judicial proceedings, I have recourse to you for advice; for ithns appeared unto me a matter highly deserving consideration, especially upon account of the great number of persons who are in danger of sutfering; for many of all ages, and every rankj oi' 1,3 DEBATE-; both sexes likewise, are accused, and will be accused. Nor has tht contagion of this superstition seiy.ed cities only, but the lesser towns al ' so, an'd the open country. Nevertheless it seems to me that it may br restrained and corrected. It is certain that the temples, which were almost forsaken, begin to be more frequented. And the sacred solem nities, after a long intermission, are revived. Victims likewise are ev - ery where bought up, whereas for some time there were few purcha- sers. Whence it is easy to imagine what numbers of men might be teclaimed, if pardon were granted to those who shall repent." To the above letter, the Emperor Trajan sent the following answer;- " Trajan to Pliny, wisheth health and happiness, " You have taken the right method, my Pliny, in your proceedings with those who have been brought before you as Christians; for it is- impossible to establish any one rule that shall hold universally. They are not to be sought for. If any are brought before you, and are con- victed, they ought to be punished. However, he that denies his being a Christian, and makes it evident in fact, that is, by supplicating to our gods, though he be suspected to have been so formerly, let him be par- doned upon repentance. But in no case, of any crime whatever, may a bill of information be received, without being signed by him who presents it; for that would be a dangerous precedent, and unwo'*hy of my government. '^ " In the above letters, we have a public and authentic attestation to the amazing growth of the Christian religion, which had made srch progress in the remote country ofBithynia, that the pagan temples were, according to Pliny, " almost forsaken;" he also mentions that there had been Christians m that country tw-enty years before. Their blameless lives, the purity of f heir religious worship, their obedience to their civil rulers, in giving up what they did not consider to be en- joined by Divine authority, and their fortitude in suffering, and steady perseverance in the faith of Christ, are all unequivocally attested by their persecutors. " The Emperor Adrian was born in the year 76. lie reigned 20 years from the death ef Trajan, in 117. Trajan's edict being still in force against the Christians, they suffered persecution under Adrian's reign, although he published no new edict against them. Upon occa'- sion, however, of the apologies which Quadratus and Aristides presen- ted to him at Athens in the year 12G, that persecution was moderated. Of Aristides, Jerome says, ♦' he was a most eloquent Athenian philos- opher, and in his former habit he presented to the Emperor Adrian, a* the same time with Quadratus, a book containing an account of our sect, that is an apology for the Christians, which is still extant, a mon- ument with the learned of his ingenuity." This apology is now lost. To Quadratus was ascribed the gift of prophecy, and he is said to have been " a disciple of the Apostles." The following is all that remains of the Apology which he presented to Adrian. " The works of our Saviour were always conspicuous, for they were real, both they that were healed, and they that were raised from the dead; who were seen not only when they were healed or raised, but for a long time after* DEBATE. Sa ■w^ards ; nor only whilst he dwelt on this earth, but also aftet his depar- ture. and for a good while after it, in 60 much that some of them have reached to our times." " We are informed by Eusebius, that " Serenius Granianus, proconeulj, v.Tote to the Emperor Adrian, that it seemed to him unjust that the Ciuistians should be put to death, only to gratify the clamours of the people, without trial." The apologies of Aristides and Quadratu?^ presented about the same time with the above letter, appear to have contributed to procure the following favourable rescript from the Em« peror Adrian, " Adrian to Manucius Fuadanus : f have received a letter written to me by the illustrious Serenius Granianus, whom you have succeeded. It seems then to me, that this is an affair which ought not to be passed over without being examined into, if it were only to prevent disturbance being given to people, and that you may not be left for informers to practise their wicked arts. If, therefore, the people of the province will appear publicly, and in a legal way charge' the Christians, that i hey may answer for themselves in court^ let them take that course, and not proceed by importunate demands and loud clamours only. For it is much the best method if any bring acc'isations, that you should take cognizance of them. If, then, any one shall accuse and make out any thing contrary to the laws, do you determine according to the nat'.ire of the crime; but, by Hercules, if til? charge be only a cai'nnny, do you take care to punish the author of it with thescA-erityit deserves." " In the above rescript, Trajan's edict is not repealed : according to which, if a man was accused and proved to be a Christian, a President' is required to punish him, unless he recant. But in a considerable degree, this rescript was favorable to the Christians. And the perse^ cution, which before had been violent, was now restrained and mod- erated. <' Besides the rescript, there is a letter of Adrian to Servianus, (hus- band of Paulina, the Emperor's sister,) who was consul in the year 134, * Adrian Augustus, to the consul Servianus, wisheth health. I have found Egypt, my dear Servianus, which you commended to me, all over fickle and inconstant, and continually shaken by the slightest reports of fame. The worshippers of Serapis are Christians, and they are de- voted to Serapis, who call themselves Christ's bishops. There is no ruler of the Jewish synagogue, no Samaritan, no presbyter of the Christians, no mathematician, no soothsayer, no anointer, even the pat- riarch, if he should come to Egypt, would be required by some to wor- ship Serapis, by others Christ. A seditious and turbulent sort of men. However, the city is rich and populous. Nor are any idle; some are employed in making glass, others paper, others in weaving linen. They have one God : him the Christians, him the Jews, him all the Gentile people worship." " It is not surprising that in the above letter the Christians in Egypt as to their worship, and in other respects, are confounded with the Other Egyptians. But the inaccuracy of the representation in thes3 ifcin^s does not invalidate the general fact^ whicli tlie Emperor here CO DEBATi:. autheuticalcs, fhattho Christians, within a ceiituvy aficr the res^itrec- tion of Jesus, were so numerciis tliroughout Egypt. '•' Antoninus surnamed ihe Pious, succeeded Adrian in the year ISS, To this Emperor, Justin Martyr presented at Home liis first apology in the year 1 40. It is inscribed in tliis manner. " To tJie Emperor Titus iElius Adrianus Antoninus the Pious, and to his son Verissimus and L'.icius, and the Senate, and all the people of the Remans, in be- half of men gathered out of all nations, who are unjustly hated and ili treated, I, Justin, son of Priscus, son of Bacchius, one of them of the city of Flavia Neapolis, in that part of Syria which is called Palestine^ making this address and supplication." The following are the con- cluding words of this apology : "On the day called Sunday we all meet together; on which day Jesus Christ our Saviour rose from the dead; on the uay before Saturday he wa.s crucilied; and on the day af- ter Saturday, which is Sunday, he appeared to his Apostles and disci- ples, and taught them tI;ose things which we have set before you, and refer to your consideratioii. If these things appear agreeable to rea- son and truth, pay a regard tothern; if they appear trifling, reject them as such; but do not treat as enemies, nor appoint capital punishment to those who havo done no liarm ; for we foretel unto you that you will not escape the future junlgment of God if you persist in unright eousness : and we shall say, the will of the Lord be done." "Thecopy of an edict .said to be presented to the stales in Asia, in consequence of the above and other representahons from Christians, is still extant. It contains a strong testimony in favor of the Chris - .^ians; but as its genuineness is doubted by some, it is here omitted, as well as every thing among these early testimoaies, of whose genuine ness there is the smallest doubt. " Makcus Antoxinvs the philosopher, succeeded Antoninus Pius as Emperor, in the year 161. There is still extant a book writteii by him called his «• Meditations." In the eleventh book, the follow ing passage occurs, in which he mentions the Christians. « What a soul is that which is prepared, even now presently, if needful, to he separated from the body, whether it be to be extinguished, or to bo dispersed, or to su"l>sist still. But this readiness must proceed from a well weighed judgment, not from mere obstinacy like the Christians. And it should be done considerately, and with gravity, without tragical exclamations, and so as to persuade another.'' ' " " The foregoing passage contains an attestation to the fortitude gf the Christians who lived in the age next to the Aprtstles, grounded on the assured conviction of the truth of that religion for which they suf- fered so much. The Emperor was a bigot in religion and in philoso- phy; and nothing but his prejudice against Christianity can accoujit for his condemning that fortitude which he ought to have approved. " He ascribes the willingness of the Chri'stians to die to obstinacy. and says, that « a man ought to resign life only upon a well formed .judgment, and considerately.'' But did not the Christians die in this' manner? He says, '< it should be done with gravity, and without trag- .fcal exclamations," upon which it has been observed, that "iti^ngt DEBATE. ^i 3 little strange ttat a Stoic, whose v/ritin.irs aJC lull of affectation, and are all over Trag oal, should blame the Christians for not dying with- out tragical noise and oxclamation. If they then called upon God and Christ ^if they then exhorted their brethren to constancy and perseve ranee; if they expressed a contempt of this world and its fading enjoy tnentsjiftheyspa'cein sublime strains of the felicities of the world to come; in a word, if they "triumphed in death, as some of them did, there is nothmff in it absurd or unreasonable, nothing but what is truly admi rable. The heathen people around them wanted nothing to mak^. t"hem sensible of it but a better knowledge of the Christian principles, such a persuasion of the boundless power and goodness of the One God, creator of all, and a well grounded expectation of eternal hk.'' It will be recollected, that the great persecution against the churche« at Lyons and Vienne in Frsnce, some account of which has been giv- en already, took place under this Emperor, who therefore ought not to have spoken in this manner of the sufferings of the Christians. " Marcus's expressions denote great uncertainty concerning a future^ state of existence. He is doubtful whether the soul, when separated from the body, shall be '• extinguished or dispersed, or shall still sub- sist.'' He says again, " To what purpose all this? .... You have made your voyage, and arrived at your port. Go a?hore; if into another life, the gods are there; if into a state of insensibility, you will be no longer distracted by, pains and pleasures, nor be in subjectiori to this mean vessel." Such was the amount of the speculations of Heathen philosopher? respecting a future state; yet, with but few exceptions, they went hand in hand in violently opposing that Gospel, which, ])resenting to all who will take the trouble to examine it, the most indubitable evidence of its divine original, has brought life and immortality to light. To trace this chain of evidence any further, would be superfluous. — Nothing can be more fully authenticated than what has been brought forward on this head; all of which so forcibly reminds us of what Pau: said before King Agrippa — " This thing icaanot done in a corner'^ From thesedocuments.it is incontrovertibly evident that the estab- lishment and progress of Christianity was a master of public and gene- ral notoriety; that it arrested the attention of all ranks and derrrees of men, Jewish and Pagan; that all antiquity, Jewish and Christian, ad mit the Gospel facts; namelv, that Jesus of Nazareth was a Jpw, be- came the author of a new religion in Judea, was of the most obscure birth, was famous for supernatural powers; was crucified in, or near the metropolis, under Pontius Pilate, then procurator of Judea — that this suppressed the cause for a little time; that his resurrection, or some unexpected circumstance, caused it to revive and progress with uncon trollable power ; that immense multitudes in Judea and in all parts of the Roman empire embraced it ; that the Christians were a virtuous, patient, and religious people, only censured for their inflexible adhe- rence to the Gospel facts, and unequivocal reprobation of idolatry < 'which the Romans called " oisHnactf ;'•'' that thov endurev^ every kin-i Vol, ^. Q ' ■ - r' ' 62 JDEBATE, of indignity, persecution, torture and death, rather than to renouacf, their confidence in Jesus, and tlicir liopes of future happiness. It is also unquestionably evident, ihat it .spread with the utmost ra- pidity over all the Roman empire; and in about two centuries after the death of the Apostles, did, in despite of the pov.'er of circumstances, and Mr. Owen's whole theory, esiablisJi itself upon the ruins of all the su- perstitions of ancient Roino. In whatever ligiit we view the conver- Kion of Constantino, whether as sincere or feigned — (the latter is the naore probable) — it provos that Christianity had won the day in leaven- ing the minds of a majority of the millions composing this immense em- })ire, before it had any favor sliewn it by tiie civil magistrates, or had a cringle legal provision in its favor. From the pprtial survey which v/e ure now able to take of all the documents before us, with others of a kindred nature, it appears to me, at least, that he must believe a great- er miracle than any vvhich Christianity exhibits, because altogether contrary to reason and experience, w ho can prevail upon himself to tliink that Christianity is either the offspring of fraud or fiction ; or that it is not, v/hat it purports to be, a religion of supernatural and divine r,rigin. All sorts of witnesses attest the truth of the pretensions of Jesus Christ — friends, enemies, neutrals — Jews, Christians, Pagans — belie- vers, unbelievers, and apostates. But still the pillars are the twelve Apostles. There is admirably worked up in their testimony, more of the constituents Ol demonstration, than are to be found in any testimony ever exhibited on earth. It is a species of testimony, \yhich, when well understood and carefully weighel, produces a certainty in the mind not inferior to the certainty derived fro'n demonstration. " It is a very singular circumstance," as one observes, " in this tes- tnnony, that it is such as no length of tune can diminish. It is foun- ded upon the universal principles of human nature, upon maxims which are the same in all ages, and operate with equal strength in all mankind, under all the varieties of temper and habit of constitution.- So long as it shall be contrary to the first principles of the human mind to delight in falsehood tor its own sake, so long as it shall be true tliat no man willingly propagates a lie to his own detriment and to no {Mupose, so long it will be certain that the Apostles were serious and sincere in the assertion of our Lord's resurrection. So long as it shall be absurd to suppose that twelve men could all be deceived in the person of a friend with whom they had lived three years, so long it will be certain that the Apostles were competent to judge of the trutli Und reality of the fact which they asserted. So long as it shall be in the nature of man, for his own interest and ease to be dearer than that of another to hinrself, bo long it will be an absurdity to suppose that twelve men siiould persevere for years in the joint attestation of a lie, to the great detriment of every individual of the conspiracy, and with- out any joint or separate advantage; when any one of them had it iu his power, by a discovery of the frauds to advance his own fame and fortnne, by the sacrifice of nothing more dear to himself, than the rep- ut:ition of the rest : and solongwiUitbeincrctiiblc. that tJio story of ou^ DEBATE 6i> Lord's resurrecciOft \^as a fiction, whicii the twelve men (to mention no greater number) with unparalleled fortitude, and with equal folly conspi- red to support; so long, therefore, as the evangelical history shall be preserved, so long as tlic books are extant, so long the credibility ot the Apostle's testimony will remain whole and un]}roken.'" But still we cannot dismiss this topic, until wc glance at the other two commemorative institutions. For not only is there a commemora- rathe day, but two commemorative actions, instituted to speak forth the certainty and importance of this event. These are the Lord's Sup- per and Christian Immersion, or as it is often called Christian Bap- tism. — I place the Lord's supper first; because first instituted, and be- cause it commemorates an event prior to those which Baptism chiefly contemplates. Before the Messiah was betrayed, on the nipht of the Passover, he institutes the breaking and eating of a loaf , and the drinking of a cup of wine, jointly among his disciples; as symbolically commemorative of the wounding or breaking of his body even unto death, and the shedding of his blood as the seal of the love of God to man, as a sin offering, or a sacrifice for sin, indicative o{ ihe great pa- cification; o^ the reconciliation of a sinful world to the character and government of God. This wonderful scheme or plan of things for the redemption of man, now consummated by the shedding of the blood of the Son of God, was to be adumbrated or portrayed in a solemn com- memorative institution, from that moment till tlie end of time. And so in all the public meetings of the Christian communities on the com - memorative day, this commemorative action, this Christian festival, ia to be, as it was from the beginning, observed. Not a single first day of the week has since transpired, not one week since the first constitu- tion of the Christian church, without the celebration of the Lord's sup- per. Till the days of Constantino, it was universal in every Clu-istiaii congregation on earth ; and although some churches made the celebra- tion of the Lord's death an annual or semi-annual thing, yet the Ro-: manists themselves, and some of those called dissenters, have never) pretermitted tliis observance. The four grand criteria of Leslie in all their force, apply to this in- stitution— the death of Jesus was a public and sensible fact — exhibited in the face of open day, and before many witnesses — the supper insti- tuted in anticipation of it, the night in which he was betrayed, has con- tinued from that time till the present moment, now nearly 1 800 year?, and in defiance of scepticism, will continue till Jesus comes to judgQ the world. After the resurrection of Jesus, and before his ascension into Heav- en, his last act is the institution of Christian immersion into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Ho introduces this institution by avoV(?ing that •' all authority in Heaven Sf earth was delegated to him as the Son of man." '' Therefore," adds he, "go you, my Apostles, into all the world, and convert the nations, hapti- zing them into the name," &c, I v/ouldnot be thought, myfriends, to be influenced by any sectarian peculiarity in speaking of this institution, 1 trust ! have given you evidence, at least, that I have no sectional, par- 6i DEBATE f izan, or sectariun feelings in tliis common cciu:?e. I am~ sorry that tiie na ■ rning of this institutioa in Eiiglisli gives oirence f o some, I choose here to use the Greek word baptizing instead of the English word immersing; and I would not mention this institution at this time, if I could do justice to this cause witliout it. But we all agree, and know, and feel, that this commemorative institution is one of the meviorials, yes, one of the most important nionv.mcrdal actions in tlie Christian religion, and what is called the Christian world. For while the Lord's day cora- incmoratcs merely tJio time of the Resurrection, while the Lord's Sup- per commemorates merely the death of the Redeemer — this institution commemorates iiis death, burial and resurrection — the former indirectly, the latter two — directly, symholically and explicitly. All Christians know that this was the. converting act, or, to speak less offensively, it was the act enjoined in the commission for converting the nations of the world. Hence the very place which it occupies, and the relation which it bears to tlie object and end of the mission, gives great empha- sis to it. " Disciple the nations, baptizing them into the name, or con- yert the nations, baptizing," &c. The active ■pai-ticipJe, shews its im- portance, as much as the w^ords of Jesus to Nicodemus, " Except a man he born of water and of the Spirit, lie cannot enter my kingdom" (tha-t. was the kingdom which he was about to establish upon this earth.) — But all Christendom agree in this, that this is the^r^f action, ne- cessary to making or forming a disciple. Even some of our brethren are so impatient for its influences, that they carry their new born m- &nts to it. All this proves that all Christendom now, as they did from fhe beginning, esteemed this as the f\xsi d.ci, formative of a disciple of Clirist; as far, at least, as a profession, or public avowal of Christianity, imports. And v/hy has this been almost as universal as Christianity Itself? Because that it alludes to, and commemorates, the great facts — the burial and resurrection of Christ. Jesus died, was buried, and rose again. So v/e die unto all authority and hope, save that of our Lord Jesus the Messiah, and consequently unto sin in this act. We, .13 all dead persons are, are then buried with Christ for a short time; he for a short time in the earth, and we for a short time in the water. We also rise with him; lie rose from the dead, and we rise from our death nnto sin; to walk, and live, and rejoice in a newlifc. He died unto i?in once; biTt rose released, or '■'■justified by the Spirit,'''* from all in> P'.itafion; so we rise released from sin, pardoned, justified, believing in him as " having been delivered for our offences, and raised for our jus • '.ilication." So admirably exact is this commemorative institution, which 13 now, and has been almost incessantly observed, since tjie as- cension of Jesus into Heaven. From the day of Pentecost till now, not an hour, and for ages past, not a second has passed without the repe- tition of this commemorative institution, in some way or other. Till liio council of Ravenna)), till the reign of Queen Elizabeth in England, tliis ordinance was signilicant of the burial and resurrection of JesuS Christ. For every time that we see a person buried in the water and raised out of it, l)y the power of another, we see Jesus emblematically buried and raised again. And of the millions \vho profess Cliristiatiity .DEBASE. Ob fivery one, (with tlie exception of a few Quakers, wlio undcrstund not the use nor meaning of commemorative institutions) does actimly ov passively submit to this monumental action, and publish, witliout ut- tering a word, to every spectator, the death, burial, and resurrection ov Jesus. What a wonderfully contrived institution this ! Which by positive acts, which no a priori principles, nor modes of reasoning could have ;• iiggested, keeps itself forever standing before the eyes of men. Christ crucified, pierced, wounded, dead, buried, quickened again, ascending, exhibited in all its sacred acts of worship.— In our prayers, we speak to Him, in our praises we speak of Him, in our positive acts of wor- ship, commemorate Him, aiid in our moral actions, imitate Him, We now proceed to the next chapter of evidence which we propa- sed, viz. PROPHECY. Though both poetry and moral lessons exlomporaneously expressed have heencsWed prophecy in an enlarged sense of the term; yet, in its restricted and most appropriate use and acceptation, the term denotes the foretelling of Uiings fuUire and unknown. It is, therefore, in this sense, the word is used in the following argument. The foretelling of future events depends upon a knowledge of them; or of the causes and connexions of things, which, from establish- ed principles, necessarily issue in certain results. All men arc posses- sed of a certain species of this sort of knowledge. They have a. data which enables them not only to conjecture, but even to foreknow with certainty what shall come to pass. This data is either the result of experience, of reasoning upon well established principles, or upon tes- timony. We know that all the living shall die; that the trees will bud and blossom in spring; that the moon will change; a comet appear; or that an eclipee of the sun will happen on a certain day. Men of ex- traordinary sagacity can penetrate into futurity, and sometimes guess^ conjecture, and even foretell, upon a large accumulation of probabili-* ties, certain political events. But still the limitations and utmost bounds of this knowledge. are very narrow; and comparatively few arc the events future of which any man can speak with certainty. But although we admit that such foreknowledge is possessed by many, yet the foundation on which it rests, is not what the sceptical philosophers allow it to be. For if they were to be put to the test, they could not prove any topics or data within the area of (he premises from which they reason, that the sun will rise to-morrow, or that the lav/s of nature will continue to operate as they have done a single day. Let Ihem, or let Mr. Owen, set about the proof of such a position. But that knowledge of future events which we call prophecy, or ,which is necessary to the foretelling of future events, is possessed by no mere man, and therefore no man, unaided by some supernatural knowh dge, can foretell any future event, except such as we have already defined. For example, no man could have foretold, 300 years age — that in the island of Corsica, from a particular person there living, would crise in Vol. e. e* 2u iJl^BA'J'E. three centuries, a iTiau of extraordinary military prowess and political tkill, who, by a succession of the most brilliant exploits and victorieSj should exile an old dynasty from France, raise himself to unpenal dig- nity, aftright the monarchsofEurope, and after having dazzled the world with his success, should, by a more sudden descent and overthrow, dio rm exile in a remote island of the ocean. No man could have toid,in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, that in ihe colony of Virginia, from an old English family, there would, in less than two centuries, arise a man who should be the firm and imdaunled asserter of his country's rights — and by his counsel and heroic achievements, after a seven years' struggle, not only succeed in detaching thirteen colonies from the des- potism of England, but in establishing a new world of republics, sur- passing in the march of intellect, in advances towards national great- ness, and in all the enjoyments of raiional liberty, all nations upon the earth. No mere man could have foretold such events. Now this 13 precisely the species of prophecy of which we are to speak in this branch of the argument. Such prophets and such prophecies do the sacred oracles present. But before we open the sacred volume, it is necessary to premise still farther. It has been remarked that the existence of counterfeits and hypo- crites, is a very stubborn and irrefragable proof that there is something genuine and authentic. No man is wont to pretend to any thing which has not somewhere a real existence. At least, we have never met with such a case. All pretences prove that something real ex- lots. Now amongst all nations there have been false prophets. The Pagans had their oracles, their auguries and their divinations. Mod- ern idol ators have their diviners and necromancers. Jews and Chris- xians alone possessed, and gave the original of this idea. They alone afforded tiie realities of which these are the pretences. Great were the ends, and most important were the uses of propliecy, :n the estimation of the author of the Christian religion. It is inter- woven through the whole web. Scarce a leaf is turned in the sacred volume withoutsome prophetic annunciation. For giving to men just views of God^s omnisciency, of his interest in the human family, and of his government or Providence, and for inspiring them with the spir= it of true devotion, the prophecies were promulged. But all prophecies have one single end in view — Messiah and his kingdom. VVhether individuals, cities, tribes, nations, empires, prox- imate or remote ages, are the burthen of the particular prophecies, Je- ,-;us, the Messiah, is the spirit and object of them all. Had we time, and the audience patience, to go into a methodical .letail of the evidences arising from prophecy, we should have taken the following course : 1. We should have examined the direct, literal and express prophet- ic annunciations of the fates of the great empires and cities of anti- quity. Amongst these the fates of Egypt, Tyre, Nineveh, Babylon and Jerusalem, would have merited particular attention. 2. The symbolic or figurative prospective institutions of the Jews^ religion. DEBATE (rr 3. '^lie allusive and picturesque representations of double lefdrence first to persons and events immediately pressing upon the attention of die speaker, bat ultimately adumbrating and applying to the Messiah and his kingdom. 4. The direct literal and express predictions of the Messiah and his kingdom, found in the Jewish scriptures — And 5. In the fifth place, tlie literal and symbolic prophecies of the New Testament, reaching down to our own times, and to the ultimate fates of all the nations now on earth. Such would have been the outlines, were we to go into a general examination of this almost inexhaustible source of evidence, argu- ment and proof of the authenticity of our religion. Under the first head, we should have read the predictions of the fates of Effypt; particularly the 29th and 30! h chapters of the prophecy of E:iekiel, delivered 589 years before the birth of the Messiah, and from the History of Rollin and the modern history of Egypt, shewn hat these predictions, literal and direct, have been fully accomplished i that, from the most renowned and powerful of the kingdoms of the world, Egypt has become the " basest of kingdoms and no more able to rule over the nations" according to the express declarations of tht, Jewish prophets. See RoUin, vol. 1. page 213, ct sequer Lord of Hosts." So that it is clearly and expressly stated that the Lord would come while the second temple was yet standing — the first temple was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar on the tenth day of August, 583 years before Jesus was born — and so the second was built about 500 years before the birth ol' the Messiah. [Here Mr. C nwved to ^joura till half past two o'clock P, M.] T2 DEBATE. SaTurbatt Afternoon — April 18, 1829., Mr. Chairman — When wc adjourned, we were shewing that the time of the coiuing of the Messiah was marked out and defined by a variety of characters that could not be mistaken. The sceptre was not to depart from Judah till Skiloh came. But it was merely lingering in that tribe for some years before the birth of the Messiali, for the land of J udea had become a Roman province, but still the remains of the ancient regal power had not been wrested from the hands of Judah. But so feebly did he grasp the sceptre, that it seemed to fall at the crisis when the harbinger appeared. The prophecy of Daniel, more circumstantially describes the time in the wonderful vision which he explained for Nebuchadnezzar. In this vision, there was a prospective view of the history of the world — from the time of the Chaldean or Assyrian monarchy down to the end of time. That this vision and prophecy might sufficiently attract the attention, and interest the feelmgsof all the world, it was vouchsafed to an Assyrian king, and explained by a Jewish prophet. The Jews and Gentiles are both concerned in it. Nebuchadnezzar had the vision and Daniel interpreted it. Thus Babylon and J erusalem attest its truth. In this vision, and the interpretation of it, the four great pagan empires are most accurately defined. The golden head of the image which the King saw, was avowed by Daniel to be the Chaldean Dyn- asty— the silver shoulders was the Medo-Persian dynasty — the bra- zen body, the Macedonian empire — and the iron legs the Roman em- pire. These were the only four empires of the Pagan world which at- tained to universal dominion — they all had it for a time — they were all pagan empires, and exactly delineated in this image. These great empires are represented in the interpretation, as the only empires that should have universal dominion. The Assyrian began 2233 years be- fore the birth of Christ, lasted 1400 years, and ended 770 years before Christ. Tlie Persian empire began 538 years before Christ, contir ued 200 years, and fpll .3.^r. yftnrs before the Christian era — the Macedoni- an or Grecian only continued ten years, it began 334 and ended 324 years before Clirist. The Roman began 31 years before Christ, and after continuing 500 years, ended A, Domini 476. ^ Now it was distinctly said, that in the days of -the last empire, the God of Heaven, would set up a kingdom in the world, which should obtain the universal empire of the world, and that it would break and bruise to atoms every particle of the Pagan governments; and most as- tonishing of all, it would begin without human aid, or it would resem- ble a stone cut out of a mountain without hands, which, self-propelled, should roll on, encrease, smite this wonderful image of Pagan govern- ment, demolish it, and fill the whole earth. Such was the imagery of the vision. And was not the Messiah born in the days of the Ciesars who nrst fornr.ed and governed the iron empire? T^'*^ incidents in tliis prophecy, are worthy of notice. l9t. rhe tune fixed for th& commencement of thia new kingdom of God in DEBATE. 73 the world: and 2d. That the Roman empire once subdued there should never again be a universal empire upon the earth save that of the crucified King. Now we do know what etforts have been made to build up great empires, and how abortive they have all proved. Tlie most successful effjrt ever made since tlie downfai of the Ivomaup, was that made by Napoleon. In the year 1S13 he controlled the tem- poral destinies of sixty-four millions of human beings: but what was this number to the whole population of Europe, to say nothing of the other three quarters of the globe! T-Jothing like a universal empire has ever been established since the division of the E-omrm into ten comparatively petty sovereignties. But Gabriel informs Daniel more definitely of the date of Messiah's birth, and of the commencement of the last great empire. He says, ^'Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people, and upon ihy holy city, to finish the transgression, asid to make an end of sin oflerings, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in an everlast- ing rigliteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy. .Know, therefore, and understand that from the going forth of the decree to restore and biiild Jerusalem, unto the Messiah the Prince, shall be seven weeks, and three score and two weeks. The street shall be built again, and the walls, even in troublous times. And after three score and two weeksshail Messiah bccut oW, but not for himself,- and the people of the Prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary, and Ihe end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined. And he shall confirm the covennnt with many, for a vvoek, and in the midst of the week he shall cause die sacrifice and oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even imtil the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate." When I have made another extract from Daniel we have all the data before us. Chapter viii. 13. The question there proposed is, "Hov>^ long shall be the vision concerning the daily sac- rifice and the transgrespion of desolation, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot?'' '-'And he said to me. Unto two thousand and three hundrerl days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed." Now, as the Lord said to Ezekiel, '-/ have apjpoinied one day for a ycar,^^ and as we find in symbolic language one day stands for a year, we ^q at no loss in coming to the following con- clusions : — From the time of the going forth of the decree to rebuild Jerusalem until the death of Messiah, would be three score and nine and a half weeks; that is, a period of four hundred and eighty-five or eighry-six years. Seven weeks make forty-nine years — sixty -two weeks make f^iur hundred and thirty -four years — and in the middle of the week ho was to establish the New Institution; that is three and a half or lour years more. From the going forth of the decree to rebuild Jerusalem to the baptism of Jesus was four hundred and eighty-three year?— his ministry was three and a half years, or the middle of one week ; then he was cut off. And in half a week^ that is, three and a hah' VOL.. II. 7 74 DEBATE. years more Christianity wns sent to all nations. This completes the seventy weeks, or four hundred and ninety years of Daniel. Now, from the birth of Jesus till the general proclamation of the gospel was jibout thirty-seven years — which, subtracted from four hundred and ninet}', makes the nativity of Je^us four hundred and fifty-three years iVom the commencement of the rebuilding of Jerusalem, which oc- cupied seven weeks, that is, forty-nine years. Daniel then fixes the time of the nativity; the commencement of the kingdom, or confirm- ation of the covciiaiit; and the ultimate cleansing of the sanctuary, «»r purgation of the christian church from antichristian abominations. 'i'his last event was to be two thousand three hundred years from the iiforesaid date. That is, from the birth of Jesus about eighteen hun- dred and forty-seven years. But all that lies before us now is the fact that Daniel gives the whole time intervening from the rebuilding of •Terusalcm, after its destruction by Nebuchadnezzar, till the birth of Jesus. Now from these premises it is clearly established that the Messiah .should be bora while the second temple was standing ; before the scep- tre and a lawgiver finally departed from Judah; in the reign of the Roman Cesars; and four hundred and fifty-three years from the com- mencement of the rebuilding of Jerusalem. And does not the event exactly correspond with the predictions? But so clearly was the event predicted, and so general was the Jcnowledge of it, through the Septuagint version of the Jewish scrip- tures, then read through the Roman empire, that the expectation became general, that at this time some wonderful personage was to be i>()rn, who would put the world under a new government. This singular fact shows that the prophecies concerning the time in which the Messiah should be born v/ere so plain in the estimation of all vhg read them, as to preclude all doubt as to the time of the ap- pearance of the Messiah. But some will ask. Where is the proof of the fact that such an expectation was general? I answer, The his- tory and poetry of Rome prove it. We shall summon some of their historians and the Mantuan bard, to give their evidence in the case — > >Si/rionii/.9, in the life of Vespasiaa — "Percrebuerat oriente toto vetus et constans opinio, esse in fatis, ut eo tempore, Judea profecti rerum potirentur.'" An ancient and constant tradition has obtained throughout all the East, that in the fates it was decreed, that, about that time, "some who should come from Judoa would obtain the do- minion of the world." Cornelius Tacitus speaks to the same effect when speaking of the prodigies which })rcccded the destruction of Jerusalem. He says, ''Pluribus porsuasio inerat, antiquis sacerdotum Uteris contineri, eo ipso tempore fore, ut valesceret oriens, profectique Juda5?e reruni potirentur."' That "many understood thcr>i as forerunners of tiiat extraordinary person, wlioni tlic ancient hools of the priests did foretell should come about that time from Judea and obtain the do - ininion " DEBATE, 7j From the Jewish prophets, the Pagan Sibyls gave out their oracle?, "so that the expectation was universal. The same year that Pompey took Jerusalem one of the sybil oracles made a great noise, '•tha-t Nature was about to bring fortli a king to tlie Romans." Suetonius says this so territied the Roman senate that they made a decree that none born that year should be educated. And in his lite of Augustus, he says, that "those whose wives were pregnant that year did each conceive great hopes applying the prophecy to ?hemselves." "Senate ium exterritum censuise, ne quis illo anno genitus, cducaretur, Cios qui gravidas uxores habereut, quod ad se quisque spem tralieret curasse ne senatus consultum ad ^Erarium dcferretur.''' Appian, Sallust, Plutarch, and Cicero, all say that this prophecy of the Sibyls stirred up Cornelius Lentulus to think that he was the man who should be king of the Romans. Some applied it to Cesar. Cicero laughed at the application, and afiinned ihat mis prophecy should not be applied to any one born in Roree. E.cn y/r^tZ the Poer, who wrote his fjurih Ec'ogvie ohout the tim^' of Herod the Great, compliments the Consul Poll: o with this prophecy. Supposing it might refer to his son Saloninus thoii born. Virgil sub- stantially quotes and versifies the prophecies ol' Jsaiah. and appiie;; ihem to this child Saloninus: — ■Ultima Cumjci venit jam carminis selas: Magnus ab integro sjeclorum nascitor ordo. '^ Jam nova progenies coelo demittitur alto. Tu modo nascenti puero, quo ferrea primuir Desinet, ac toto surget gens aiu-ea mando. The last age, decreed by Fate, is cornc; And a new frame of all thmgs does begii; A holy progeny from Heaven descends. Auspicious be his birth ! which puts an end To the iron age! and from whence sliall rise A golden state far glorious through the eartt ' J'hen the poet aiiudes to Isaiah Ixv. 17. "The wolf and the lamb t5liall feed togetlier, and the Lion shall eat strav/ like the ox. They «hall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountaiii-; — Nee magnos metuent armenta leone?^ Occidet et serpens, et fallas herba veneni Occidet. Nor shall the flocks fWce lions fear, Nor serpent shall be there, nor herb of poisonous juice. Then the expiation of Daniel is referred to : - Te duce, si qua manent sceleris vestigia nostii, Ii-rita perpetua solvent formidine terras. By thee what footsteps of our sins remain, Are blotted out, and the whole world set free From her perpetual bondage and her f'jar. 7G DEBATE. Tlio very words of Haggai last quoted are by the jioel next retej: red to: — Aggredere, o ma.a^nos (aderit jam tempus) honoresj Chara Deum soboies, magnum Jovis incrementuiM. Aspice convexo nutantem pondere miindum, •Terrasque, tractusqe maris, cceluiTique profdndum. Aspice, venturo laetentur ut omnia s.seclo. Enter on thy honors ? Now's the tin>e Offspring of God? O tliou great gift of Jove I Behokl the world! — heaven, eai'th, and seas do shake.' Eeliold how all rejoice to g?eet that glorious day ! Virgil, as if he were skilled In the Jewish scriptures goes on to state that these glorious times should not immediately succeed the birth of that wonderful chi!*; : — Pauca tamen suberunt priscre vestigia fraudis; • Erunt etiam altera bella. Yet some remains shall still be left Of ancient fruud; and wars shall still go en. Now the question is not, Whether Virgil applied this partly to Augustus?, Pollio, or Saloninus then born ; but, Whether he did not apply it to the general expectation every where prevaWnt that a won'- derfiJ person v/as to be born, and a new age to commence? The Jews have been so confounded with these prophecies and evenls, that such of them as did not believe, have degraded Daniel from the rank of a great prophet, to one of the interior prophets; and others have said that there wei'e two Messiahs to come — one a suffering, and one a trsumjmant Messiah. But the excuses of man- kind for their unbelief are so frivolous and irrational, that they de- serve ()ity rather than argument. It is worthy of remark, however, that not only the Gentiles, the proselytes to the Jews^ religion, the eastern ma^i; but myriads of the Jews themseives recognized these evidence^, and bowed to their authority. But not only are the time and place of the birih of the Messiah pointed out in plain and direct predictions, but many of the prominent incidents in his lif(\ I once attempted to enumerate the distinct and independent predictions concerning the Messiah and his kingdom, but after progressing bejond a himdred, I desisted from the under- tikiug, perceiving, as is said by John, that the testimony concerning Josus is the spirit of prophecy. I will just mention a few incidents in the prophetic communications concerning him. That he should go down into Egypt, and be called back to Nazareth; the appearance, s|)irit, and mission of John the Harbinger; the slaughter of the infants by the decree of Herod; his general character, meekness, mildness, and unostentatious appearance. "A bruised reed he was not to break; a smoking taper he was not to quench;" he was to use no sword, spear, sceptre, nor torch, until he made his laws victorious. He was to make his most august entry into Jerusalem^ DEBATE. 77 mounted upon an ass; he was to he a man of sorrows and acquainted v/ith griefs ; his zeal was to be so intense as to consume and waste his corporeal vigor; he was to be betrayed by a familiar friend; when delivered up, his friends were to forsake him; his condemnation was to be extorted in violation of law and precedent; he was to be sold for thirty pieces of silver; the money was to be appropriated to the purchase of the potter's field; he was to be scourged, smitten on the face, wounded in Ihe hands and feet, laughed to scorn, presented with vinegar and gall ; to be patient and silent under all these indignities and trials; he was to be crucified in company with malefactors; his, garment was to be parted; and for his vesture they wei'e to cast lots; his side was to be pierced, and yet not a bone was to be broken, and lie was to buried in the grave of a wealthy nobleman. All these and .many more incidents wei-e spoken of, recorded, and anticipated from five hundred to a thousand years before he was born. And mark it well, the records which thus spoke of him were to be kept by the Jews and held sacred by the opponents of christianitj-. So that the documents could not be interpolated. So precise were the Jews in the copies of their scriptures, that as some of tlie Rabbins assert, al! the words and even letters used in their sacred books were numbered, I would here introduce a very rational argument, of the nature of mathematical demonstration, showing the utter impossibility of so many predicted incidents ever meeting ia any individual by chance, guess, or conjecture ; in any other way, in brief, than in consequence of divine prescience or arrangement. It is extracted from a very valuable v.'ork published by Guliau C. Verplanck, Esq. in iS24, page 11—13. " Rossean, in the eloquent and paradoxical confession of fliith which he puts in the mouth of his Savoyard Vicar in Emilius, has said that no fulfilment of prophecy could be of any weight with him to prove a divine interposition, unless it could be demonstrated that the agreement between the prophecy and the event could not possibly have been fortuitious. This proof is more than any fair oljector has a. right to claim, since it is moral probability and not strict demonstra- tion which we must act upon in the most momentous concerns of life, and as reasonable men we should rest on the same evidences in mat- ters of faith. In both the wise man will .>e governed by common sense, applied to the investigation of rational probability. "In tiiis case, however, we may accept the challenge of the scep- tic. Where the points of fulfilment of prediciion are numerous, it may be literally 'demonstrated' that the probability of such accoi||i- plishment having occurred fortuitously. is the m)st remote possible. "This argument is put in a practical and striking point of viev,' by Dr. Gregory, of the Military Academy at Warwick, well known f)r many respectable and ueefal works, especially on mathematics and scientific mechanics. " 'Suppose,'' says he, 'that instead of the spirit of prophecy" breath- ing more or less in every book of scripture, predicting' events relative to a great variety of general topics, and delivering besides almost in- %0L. 11 o 7* 7S DEBATJJ. numerable characteristics of the Messiah, all meeting in the person oi' Jesus; there had been only ten men in ancient times who pretended to be prophet?, each of whom exhibited only /re independent criteria us to place, government, concomitant events, doctrine taught, effects of doctrine, character, sulfenng?,or death— the meeting of ail which in one person sh mid prove the. reality of their calling as prophets, and of his mission in the character they have assigned him. Suppose, moreover, that all events were left to chance merely, and we were to compute, from the principles employed by mathematicians in the in- vestigations of such subj3Cts,the probability of these fifty independent circunistcinces happening at all . Assume that there is, according to thctechnichal phrase, an equal chance (or the happening or the failure of any one of these snccifi(al particulars; then the probability against the occurro.ice of all the particulars in any way is that of the 50th power of 2 to unity ; that is, the probability is greater than eleven htn- dred and tu'enUj-fwe millions of miUions to one that all of these cir- cumstancc^ do not turn up even at distinct periods. This com- putation, however, is independent of the consideration o? time. Let it be recoliscted farther, that if any one of the specified circumstances happen, it may be the day after the delivery of the prophecy, or at finy period from that tim.e to the end of the world ; this will so indefi- nitely augment the probability against the cotemporaneous occurrence ofmeraly these /j/i^iy circumstances, that it surpasses the power of num- bers to^express correctly the immense improbability of its takingplacc.' "It is hardly necessary to draw the inference, which Dr. Gregory goes onto establish, that all probability, and even possibility, of acci- dental fulfilment, as well as of fra\id, must be excluded. The sole reasonable solution ofthj question is, that these predictions and their fulfilments can only be ascribed to the intention of a being, whose knowledge can foresee future events, uuconnected with each other, depending on various contingencies, »nd the will and acts of free atjents; or whose power is so omnipotent as to bend to the accom- plishment of his own purpose the passions of multitudes, the ambition of princes, the studies of the wise, the craft of the wicked, the warSj the revolutions, and the varied destinies of nations." I would here ask any rational sceptic how he will dispose of this argumen'? how can he remove this stumbling-block out of the way of his infidelity? by what logic can he dispose of this document? I will now introduce the sceptics to the character of the founder of the Christian religion, as a logician, and give them a specimen of that ratiocination which he exhibited in pleading his cause with those who opposed his pretensions, in the metropolis of the Jewish nation. I will first read the passage as correctly rendered by Dr. George Campbell, of Aberdeen, for it is very much obscured in the common vf^rsi'in. It reads thus, John's Tci-timony, chap. v. from verse 31 to 44 "If I [alone] teslifv concerning myself, my testimony is not to be jc'farded: there is another who testifies concerning mo; and I know 'Jill his tcstimoiy of meought tobe regaixied. You yourselves sent to Joivn, and be bore witucss to the truth. As for me, I need no humari DEBATE, 70 tostuiiony; I only urge this for your salvation. lie was the lighted and shining lamp; and for a while you were glad to enjoy his licrht, '•But I have greater testimony than John's ; for the works which the Father has empowered me to perform, the works themselves which 1 do, testify for me, that the Father has sent me. "•■Nay, the Father who sent me, has himself attested me. Did you never hear his voice; or see his form? Or have you forgotten his declaration, that you believe not him whom he has commissioned? "You search the scriptures, because you think to obtain, by them, eternal life. Now these also are witnesses for me ; yet you will not come unto n-ie that you may obtain life. I desire not honor from men ; but i know that you are strangers to the love of God. I am come in my Father's name, and you do not receive me ; if another come in hi.« o^rn name, you v/ill receive him. IIow can you believe, while you court honor one from another, regardless of the honor which comes tVomGod alone? Do net think that I am he who will accuse vou to the Father. Your accjiser is Moses, in whom you confide. For if you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote concerning me. But if you believe not his writings, how shall vou believe my word^?-' To the captious Jews he thus addresses himself: 1. '■'•If I alonehcar testimony of myself, wy testimony ought not to he rcgardedP This is disclaiming m\y special regard as due him, above others, on the mere ground of his own pretensions. It Vvas equiva- lent to saying: No person pretending to honors and relations, a mis- sion and oflice, such as I pretend, ought to he accredited and received upon his mere professions. No assertions, abstract from other docu- ments in such a case, is worthy of credit. Is not this reasonable ? 2. But, waving my own testim©ny, i/jcre ?5 another person whose testimony ovght to be regarded. But, let U6 hear the reason whv — some reason must be assigned, on account of which more credit is due to this testimony. The reason is: '■'■You yoursclxes sent to John."' But in what does the cogency of this declaration consist? \'"ou Jews of this city, of your own accord, had formed such a high cliaracter of the integrity, capacity, and piety of John the Baptist, as to depute priests and Levites to him to know wli?tt his errand, mission, or tes- timony was. His character had convinced you of the reality of his pretensions, and he proved him:-elf to your own satisfxclion, as being far exalted above any earth-born motives of fraud or deceit. He wa?, .ourselves being judges, a competent and credible witness. New a hat did he testify? Did ho not tell you th?.the was not the Messiaj?; that he was but his harbinger; and that his fame must decrease Avhiie mine must increase; that he was from below, but I was fi-om above? Why then did you not believe such a {credible witness? Or why re- H'eive one pj^rt of his testimony and reject the other? I ihinl:. then, ;*aid he, his testimony oujjht, in sush circumstoaces, to be regarded, is sot this also reasonalle? o. But he proceeds : "/ need not human iefiimovy. ' I only urge this for your saliHttion."'' I would convict you upon your own principles-; 90 DEBATE.' and show Uiatyour rejection of me is without excuse. Johir, in^eeci, was a brilliant light; and for a time you considered him an oracle and rejoiced in his'light. ''But the works that I do;' are superior to any human testimony, and these "show that the Father has sent mer To these I appeal— they are public, sensible, notorious, benevolent, supernatural. Could mortal man have performed them? Have not the laws of nature been suspi'nded by my word ? Have not the winds, waves, demons, and diseases of every name, acknowledged my power? T J thes'> works, only, as proof of my mission, 1 appeal . They prove not that 1 am the son of God, the Messiah. They only prove that the Father has sent me. This is all I urge them for; but if they prove that the Father has sent mc, then all my pretensions are credible; for the Father wo dd not have sent a liar or deceiver, invested with such powers. Now I a^k, Is not all this reasonthle and logical? 4. B;it again, The Father has himself attested me by his own voice; and by a visible appearance — "Did you not hear his voice? Did you not sec his form ?" Were not some of you on the Jordan when he attested me v.hen I came up out of the water? Was there not a voice then heard, saying, audibly, "This is my beloved son inwhom I de- lightV You could not mistake the person of whom this was spoken ; for over mv head the heavens opened and you irt?/? the Spirit in ths form of a dove, coining down and lighting upon my head. You heard iiis voice then, and saw his manifestation. But you have forgotten this declaration concerning mc ! Is not tJds rational and pointed ? 5. Once more — "You do search the scriptures-''' and why do you search them? Because you thinK them to contain a revelation from God; you think and acknowledge that eternal life is in them. This is all true; and in doing this, you act rationally, but why stop here? Now these very scriptures testify of me. To them I make my appeal. They all speak of me; and no^ show me the oracle, prophecy, or symbol in them, whirh respected him that was to come, which does not suit mv character and pretensions, and I will find an excuse for you. Nov/ 1 ask, Is not this conchisive? If this bo not argumem and logic, I never heard any. Sr reasois tiie Savioir, This grand climax of reason ends in the prophecies of the Old Testament. But it is not yet finished. fi. But adds he. You will not come to me. It is not the want of ?ight and evidence. You are now unable to reply. Yet you will not come to me that you might obtain thit eternal life promised in the scriptures. I know you well. You have not a spark of the love of God in you. Had you loved God you would have come to me. Your hearts are fidl of the hoiiois of this world — these you seek more ih in llic honors which come from God onl\-; ves, this is the secret. It is not argument n')r proof, but dispontion that you want. You pretend great veneration for Moses, But you do not really venerate him; you do fi it beliove him, for he wrote of me. Now if you do not, with all your professed veneration for Moses, believe hini, how will you, or can you believe mc? If, prei'iaiced in his favor, you do not receive his testimony, how, prejudiced against jne, will you receive mine? — DEBATEr m But I tell you, however, I will not become your accuser, Your own Moses, in whom you trust, will one day convict you ; for he said of me, that whosoever would not hearken to me, should be cut off from the congregation of God. Such is a specimen of the topics from which, and of the manner how, the Saviour argued his pretensions, and plead his cause with the people. A more cogent and unanswerable argument is not. if I am any judge, to be found among all the fine models of ancient and mod- ern literature. And let it, I repeat, be borne in mind, that he makes his last appeal to the scriptures and to Moses, Prophecy, then, ill his judgment, is among the highest species of evidence, and it is that which, as a standing miracle, he has made to speak for him in every age and to all people. But I must notice, v/hile on this topic, that Jesus pronounced pro- phecies himself, which, to that generation, and, indeed, to subse- quent generations, speak as convincingly as Moses spoke to the Jews j and his predictions have produced. an,d do produce, upon the minds '.'f a vast community, similar expectations to these produced among uie Jews. Hume says that "prophecy could not be a proof that the person who pretended to deliver oracles, spoke by inspiration ; because the prophet is absent at the time of its fulfilment; he is dead, and it could not prove to his contemporaries that he was inspired." This would be true in one case, but in no other; when the prefiiction had respect to events at a distance; but this is only sometimes the case: for most of the prophets foretold events soon to appear, as well as events to hippen after long intervals. We shall find, if we examine the New Testament, that Jesus foretold many incidents immediately to happen, which required as perfect an insight into futurity as events at the didtanco of a thousand years. His telling Peter, that, on casting a ]iu'>k and line into the sea, he should draw out a fish with a stater in its mouth; or his telling his disciples, that, at a certain place, they ahouid find an ass and his master so circumstanced, and that such events would happen on their application for him, required as exaci and as perfect a prescience as could have, four thousand years age, foretold this discussion between Mr. Owen and me. How many events of immediate occurrence did the Saviour foretel, with this additional remark, "This I have told you bef ;re it happen; that when it happens you may believe ." Prophecy, indeed, seems designed to cctifirm Jaith as the events occur, as well as to produce faith by contemplating thrsc which have been fulfilled. But we shall find that, besides the piei'ictions uttered by the Saviour concerning his own demise, and all the circirnstaaces attendant upon it, he loretold one event of such notoriety and importance as to confirm the faith of one generation, and to produce faith in all subseqtient generations. This 1 specify as one of gn^at interest and notoriety. This was the destruction of Jerusalem, the temple, and the dispersion of the nation with all the •remenJ.ous adjuncls of this national catastrophe. Upon one occasion, v.hen the syn was beaming upon the beautiful S'h5u may obtain the promised reward." James, too, in his letter of the same date, addresses both the believing and unbelieving Jews on the impending vengeance. The wealthy and infidel Jew he \yith an arid sky; and another locked up in relentless ice I Short eighted mortal^ that we are? and vet we will scan the universe!— DEBATE. b5 CouM not thfi earth have been a thousand times more fruitful ! nay; coild it not have been a thousand times more comfortable to lie in! Might we not have had loaves growing upon the trees, and w ine in bottles hanging upon the vines, and thus have been exempted from so much labor, and toil, and care!! In this way we might object to every thing in the universe. I have, for years, contended that the hand writing of God can be proved. And can we not, even under oath, attest the hand writing of some men? Min have their peculiarities which v.ill always de- signate them from the whole species. No two men write, speak, or walk alike. They are as distinct in each as in the features of their counten- ances, and the constitution of their minds. Each has an idiosyncrasy of mind, an idiomatic style, as well as a peculiar chirographv. No man who has accurately analyzed the few general principles which govern the universe, and examined the poisons find sweets which are strewed witlr so much liberality over the face of the globe ; who has explored the regularities and incongruities which appear above and beneath, can doubt that the mind which originated the harmonies, the beauties, the sweets, and all the blessings of nalurc, originated also their contraries — and that it is the same wisdom and benevolence working in the natural and moral empires of the uni- verse. They both exhibit the impress of the same hand. We cannot give a fair view of the next item on the genius and spirit of Christianity, unless we enlarge a little more upon this. "We must glance at the design of the Jewish religion. In the logical arrangement of all subjects much depends upon taking hold of a few general principles. Generalizing is not only the most imprcvinf exercise of the mind, but the best means of knowing thiiigs in the detail. This is that power which, in a great degree, distinguishes the vigorous and well disciplined mind, from that of inferior calibre and cultivation. If it were possible to present a general synthetic view, without a previous analysis, we would prefer it: for the only utilitv of analysis is to put us in possession of synthetic views. There is an error into which we are all apt to fall, in attempting to scan the moral government of the world. We do not like to be kept in suspense. Rather than remain in suspense we will be satis^fied svith very incftrrect or partial views of things. There is nothing m-.re uncomfortable than a state of suspense upon any subject which interests us. Our views are always partial at best, but much more so when we have not put ourselves to the trouble to analyze, with patience, the whole data presented. ^ ^Vhen I hear persons cavilling at the present state of things, and objecting to matters which they do not understand, I figure to myself a person stationed in a small room, say ten feet square, before which ispns.-^ing c/>utinuall5'amap ten thousand square miles in extent; ten f >et of which only, at a time, can be seen through an opening in one s'de. In this small room he &its and peruses this niaj) for seventy years. For many weeks at a time he sees nothing but irrimense oceans of water; then apparently bountUciJS ft^resl?; then prodigious VOL. II. 8 so DEBATE. rhains of mountains; then deserts, flats, wastes, and wildernesses Here and there a succession of beautiful country passes before his eyes. After contemplating this map for seventy years, he exclaims, What an irrational, ill conducted, and incongruous looking thing is this! I have seen forests, deserts, and oceans, interspersed here and there with some small specks of beautiful country. I must con- clude that the Creator of this planet was either unwise or not benevo- lent. But, suppose, that on a sudden the walls of his cottage fell down, and his vision was enlarged and strengthened so as to compre- hend, in one glance, the whole sweep of ten thousand square miles; what a wonderful revolution would he undergo ! Infinite wisdom and design now appear, where before he saw nothing but confusion and deformity. So it is with him who sits judging on the moral govern- ment of the world. We have but a small part of the picture before us, Paul explains the whole of it. He teaches us that this world is, in the moral empire, what it is in the natural — a part of a great whole. When si)eakiug of all the irregularities in human lot, and all the diversities in the divine government in the different ages of the world, Patiiarchal, Jewish, and Christian, he teaches us that the whole of this arrangement is subordinate to another state of things, having relation to the whole rational universe. All this is done, said he, that now unto the thrones, principalities, and powers, in the heavenly regions, might he exhibited, by the christian scheme, the manifold wisdom of God, There are various grades of intelligent beings, who, in their differ- capacities, and according to their different situations and relations, are contemplating this scene of things; and from these volumes of human nature the divine character is continually developing itself to their view. Yes, tny friends, your various lots, capacities, and opportunities; and your respective behaviour under these varieties, with the divine economy over you, are furnishing new essays to be read in other worlds. You are all but different letters; some capital, some small letters, some mere abbreviations, commas, semicolons, colons, peri- ods, notes of admiration, notes of interrogation, and dashes; all making sense when wisely combined — But when jumbled together, or separated, you are unintelligible and uninstructive to yourselves and all other intelligent beings. Angels read men, and by and by men will read angels, to learn the Deity. Jn the rational deliglits and cnteriainments of heaven you and they will read each other. Cabriel will tell you what were his emotions when first he saw the sim open his eyes and smile upon the new born earth; what he thought when he shut up Noah in the ark and opened the windtnvs of heaven and the fountains of the deep. Yes, Uaphaet will tell you with what astonishment he saw Eve j)ut forth her hand to thg tree d knowledge of good and evil. Gabriel v/ill relate his joy when he saw tlie rain- bow of peace span the vault of heaven in token of no more deluge. He will give vou to know what were his emotions when sent to salute iho mother of our Lord; and all the multitude v.ill rehearse the sons DEBATE W '."iiey sang the niiiht they visited the shopherds of Bethlehem. In t!irn you will tell "them your first thoughts of God and his love; your own feelings as sinners; the agonies of sorrow and grief \vhi('h once yon felt; and how you met the king of terrors. Then will all the shades in the picture appear to proper advanfige, and the seraphim and char;ihim v/ith their wings no more will hide their faces from man, .Vll hapjiiness, rational, human, or angelic happiness, springs from the knowledge of God. As it is noNv eternal life, po it will then be eternal Iiappiness to know thee the only true God^ and Jesus the Mes- siah, thv Apostle. A veil is yet on the face of Mosc?, and, indeed, on the face ot] many of the conspicuous characters of antiquity, in the views ot many of our sectarian dogmatists. Some think that Ahrahnm, Isaac, and Jacob, were called, chosen, and elected^ for their own sakes. They seem not yet to have learned this important lesson, that there never has as yet been one huinan being selected by the Almighty for his own sake* if it were necessary that the Messiah should enter our world, it was necessary that Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Aaron, David, Daniel, and a thousand other:s, should have been selected from the fomily of man, and discriminated by the Great King as they v.ere. On this one principle the religions of the Jews and Christians are altogether reconcileable. They mutually explain each other. They aie but the portico and holy place, leading to the holiest of all. The calling and congregating of the Jews were for the same intent', and as relative to the general good of all nations as was the calling of Abraham, or the first promise of a Redeemer to the human race. They must be p;it under a special arrangement for developing the divine character and government, and for giving us a few lessons upon human nature which never could have been taught by any other means. What does the Lord say concerning Pharaoh? "I have raised thee up for this purpose that in your history and mv government over you, siy name might be known through oil the earth." The localities and ^symbols of the Jewish religion made it entirely subordinate to the christian; but the genius and spirit of the latter is universal, or adapt' ed to the whole human family irrespective of all localities. But this only by the way. My remarks upoii the apostacy gave rise to this disquisition, or rather an objection which we saw rising in the faces of some, constrained me to take this course, and to attempt to give some general hints which I trust may repress that restive spirit of scepticism, which, like the demoniiic among the tombs, is cutting itself to pieces when pretending to forsake the haunts of the living for its own safety. In one sentence, it appears to be a law of human nature that man can only be developed and brought into proper circumstances to please himself, by what we call experience. You may not be able to account for it, but so it is, that man must be taught by experience. I think W€ will all agree in this, that if Adam and Eve could have had, whij^ SS DEBATE. in Eden, the experience wliich they obtained after their exile. a)';a which the world no^v presents, they never could have been induced to tiste the forbidden tree. Every revolution of the earth, and all the incidents recorded in human history, are but so many preparations ((>r the introduction of that last and most perfect state of aociety on earth called the Millcnnhim. First we have the germ, then the blades then the stem, then the leaves, then the blossoms, and last of all the fruit. Therefore, as Paul said, the apostacy came first. The mystery of iniquity early began to work. She made mysteries of plain facts, that she might work out her own delusions. She it was that loved mysteries, that paralysed the energies of the Christian spir- it, and inundated the world with all the superstitions, fables, coun- terfeit gospels, and all the follies of Pagunism in a new garb. These found many admirers among the doating philosophists of Asia; and thus, by degrees, the lights of heaven were extinguished, or put under ?he bushel of these abominable, delusive nlysteries, until a long, dark, and drcaiy night of superstition besotted the world. These dark ages hate sent them down to our times, and betjueathed a legacy which lias impoverisJied rather than enriched the legatees. That man docs not breathe whose mind is purified from all the influences t)f the night of superstition, which has so long obscured the light of tlic Sun of Righteousness. Great and noble efforts have been made; but they ended in specu- lations; and sects and parties, built upon metaphysical hair-splittings, Jiave long been the order of the day. These speculations are turning grey with age; and a religion pure and social, springing from tlie ineanitig of gospel facts, will swn triumph on all the speculations of the day. All the Bible critics, and even the commentators themselves, agree, that Babylon must soon fall, like a mill-stone into the sea, never to oinergcj and that her catastrophe will be'succeeded by the millennial order of society. She shall be visited with the calamities of Egypt, Sodom, and Jerusalem combined; for she has combined within'her ilominions the enormities of the three: The lilthiness of Sodom; the tyranny of Egypt, and the persecuting spirit of .Jerusalem. Had not tills detection been clearly arraigried before me, and pre- dicted by the Apostle Paul himself — had he not told us that under the form of godliness, all the vices of the world would be arraigned — that •'sclt-lovers, money-lovers, proud, defliipers, disobedient to parents, 'mgrateful, unholy, without natural aflection, covenant or bargain Di-eakers, slanderers, incontinent, fierce persons, without any love to :'hnn lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the pow- jr it." I say, had lie not taught us to expect such characters to creep tnto the church, I would have been prepared to join with Mr. Owen in ojjposing the religions of the world. But when I began to reason, I was taught to distinguish a thing from the abuse of it; and never to condemn any thing until I was fully acquainted with it. I see that the apostacy which yet exists, is as clearly foretold as was the birth DEBATE. 89 of Christ ;^and why should the accomplishment of one prediction con- lirm my faith, and the accomplishment of another weaken it! But this defection is not only foretold literally, but symbolized by John in the Apocalypse, under such combinations, and under such fig- ures as are well calculated to inspire us with a horrible idea of it. Do not be alarmed, my friends, at my naming the Apocalypse. This book is not so unintelligible as you have been taught to think. But I am not going into an analysis of it. I will only trace one idea which runs thiough it; and tlien I will be done with the apostacy. John, you remember, lived to be an old man — he survived the de- struction of Jerusalem about thirty years. He saw antichrists begin- ning to show their faces, and was alarmed at the sight. He was ex- iled to Patmos for the testimony he gave of Jesus ; and while there, viewing with anguish, the apostacy beginning, it pleased the Lord, who had, while on the earth, honored this disciple Avith so many to- kens of his love, to confer upon him another signal pledge. He cheered the heart of the old apostle by promising him a view of the future fortunes of the church. After inditing seven letters to the sev- en congregations in Asia, he presents him with this astonishing vis- ion: A window, as it were, is opened in heaven, and a scroll, in the hand-writing of an angel, arrests his attention. This parchment written within and without, and sealed with seven seals, is raised aloft in the hand of an angel ; and a challenge is given to all the inhabit- ants of heaven, earth, and sea, to take and open the book. All was silent — John wept. — Why did he weep? Because he knew the future fortunes of the church were written there, sealed up from all the liv- ing, and no one appeared able to open the seals and disclose the se- crets. These he wished to know above every thing in the world — therefore he wept bitterly. At length the Lion of the tribe of Judah comes foi-M-ard and takes the scroll, and prepares to open the seals — Universal joy is every where diffused, and John dries up his tears. The first seal is broken, and the scroll once unrolled : "Come and sec,'" a mighty angel pro- claims. John heai'd ; looked, and beheld "a white horse and on him sat a king, wearing one crown, with a bow and a quiver full of ar- rows." He rides off. Instructive emblem of the liord beginning to subdue the nations to the obedience of faith. I will not detain you with a notice of all the seals. They are all opened — seven trumpets are blown when the seventh seal is opened, and seven vials are ponred out in judgments upon the inhabitants of the earth. The intermediate seals, trumpets, and vials, symbolize the events of one thousand two hundred and forty years; or more fully all the events since the Pa- gan persecutions, down to ourov/n times. But at the close of the dilTerent acts of this great drama, John sees the same ])ersou he formerly saw, mounted on a M'hite horscj, followed by all the annies of heaven, mounted on white liorses; he had now upon his head many crowns, and he was clothed with a ves turo dyed with hlood, emblem of his conquests ; and he had now, from the number of his conquests, obtained all the crowns of the kingdoms VOL. II, 8* CO DEBATE, of the earth, and had a name written which no one understood but himself, and upon his vesture and on his thigh was written in brilliant capitals, "KING OF KJNGS AND LORD OF LORDS." So that the termination of the vision of the seals, trumpets, and vials, places the Lord Jesus before us, as having subdued all the nations of the world to the obedience of faith. This is the animating view which the Lord gave John, and through him has communicated to all nations of the earth, who consult these divine oracles. We rejoice to know that this period is nigh at hand, when the knowledge of the Lord shall cover the whole earth as the waters cover the channel of the sea. The world, I mean, the christian communities, are tired of sectaViau- ism; light is rapidly progressing; the true nature of the Christian in- stitution is beginning to be understood, and all the signs of the times indicate the approach, the near approach, of this happy era. Yqu have, my friends, in the preceding hints, a solution of all the diniculties which can be proposed upon the past or present order of society; — an explanation of all the dark specks which appear upon the moral map of the world. My object was not to unfold the prophe- cies, but to give you a few hints upon the grand outlines, and to afford sufficient data evincive that the authors or writers of the New Testa- ment were most certainly under the guidance of that omniscient one to whom the end of all things is as open and manifest as the beginnings To suppose that all these predictions found in both Testaments, first, concerning the fates of the mighty empires of the Pagan world; next, concerning the character, coming, and kingdom of Jesus Christ; then, concerning the fates of his religion, and the fortunes of all tho .superstitions in the world; I say, to suppose that all these pre- dictions are mere guesses, or conjectures; or that they were written after the events transpired, or never written at all, by the persons whose names they bear, are suppositions, assertions, or what you please tx) call them, at war with all the literature of the world, with universal experience, with the common sense of mankind, and with the events which are now transpiring in the world. Such a supposition no ra- nonal mind can entertain; and we may say further, that neither Mr. Owen,nor any other person, will venture to examine or attempt to refute the argument derived from this source. It stands now, as 'it stood two thousand years ago, a document which defied criticisip, which, with but half the light which New Testanrent prophecy has accumulated, convinced every man who had the patience and the honesty to examine it; and which, by the gradual and constant con> pletion of the unfulfilled predictions, is designed one day to prostrate all the inikicKty upon the face of the earth. We prornised you some remarks upon the genius and tendency of the Christian reli2 DEBATE in these sections were krtown before wnlten, and therefore could noi be REVEi,ATi<)>-3. But it was nectssary that these important facts, because of their intimate connexion with the people to whom Divine Revelations were made, should be recorded and divinely authenti- cated. Hence the Pentateuch in addition to all the revelations which it contain^, presents us with a historic record of the first ages of the world divinely authenticated. The question concerning the nature of inspiration, whether (for instance) original ideas were always suggested to the writer, or whe- ther the ideas sometimes communicated were only a mere revives- cence of former impressions, is one that has been ably discussed. However this question may be decided, it affects not the question before us. The Holy Spirit, promised to the apostles, was to do one of two things — either to suggest things entirely new, or to bring al! things to their remembrance which they had seen or heard. This was done. The writings of the apostles and of the prophets are authentic histories written under the guidance of the Spirit of God; or they are immediate and direct revelations of matters inaccessible to mortal man. Query 2. — What credit is due to the books in the Old Testamcrti^ ealled the ATocnYPn A 2 Let it be observed that there were many other authentic and true narratives and documents among the Jews, as there are among the Christians, besides the sacred writings of the prophets and apostles. But it it was not necessary to have under the divine patronage various liistories by various authors upon the same subjects. It would have greatly increased the natural and necessary labors of life had all thes€? records been preserved and collected into a set of volumes, and the reading of them all made necessary to understand either the scheme of divine government or of man's redemption. But to enable us to acquire all that is necessary to be known, certain books have been preserved by the divine authority. The Apocrypha, at least some books of it, contain a true history; but it does not claim to be a Divine Revelation. We receive the records of Philo and Josephus, and many of the primitive christian writers as credible narratives of their own times; and as far as they treat of times immediately subse- quent to the apostolic age, they may be c.illed the Apocrypha of the New Testament. All tliese writings may be, and most of them are^ certainly credible and authentic works; but they constitute no part, of either religion, and make no such claims upon us. Query 3. — How are we to ascertain the authorship of Job, some parts of the book of Deuteronomy, such as the death and burial of Moses, ike authorship o^ the Epistle to theHchreics? S^c. It is not necessary tnat v/e should be able to prove the authorship- of every particular piece composing the Old and New Testament to. prove their authenticity* The book of Job, for instance, has nd •Bishop Watson, in his Apology for the Bible, in reply to Thomas Paine, on the subject of tliese anonymous parts of the Old Testament, very pertinently remarks as follows, p. 50, 51, 52:— DEBATE. 93 juime uftached to it, nor circumstances mentioned in it, which coiild decide the author of it. Whctlier it was written by Ezra, Nehemiah, or any Jew i&h prophet, perhaps, could not now be decided. My belief in the authenticity and authority of this book, and all anonymous jjarts of the Old Testament, is founded upon the following basis. Th3 .Jewish scribes received them — the whole Jewish nation received them — their own internal evidence attests their pretensions — and, above all, they were quoted as genuine, and approbated as parts of the sacred records and revelations, by Jesus Christ, or his apostles, concerning whose inspiration and certain knowledge of the character of these works we cannot entertain a rational doubt. Concerning the question about the burial of Moses, and other such additions made to some books in the Old Testament, they proceed li-om inattention to the contents of the volume. Joshua wrote some additions to the books of Moses, called Hhelmo of God ;''"' and that he, or Ezra, or some of the distinguished guardians of these sacred re- cords, should have added the deaths or other posthumous circumstan- ces belonging to the history of these great prophets, is inferrable from this fact just now stated. Joshua says he wrote some additions to "Having finished your objections to the genuineness of the books of Moses, you proceed to yoar remaits on the book of Joshua; and from its internal evi- dence, you endeavor to prove, that this book was not written by Joshua — What then? What is your conclusion'' — "That it is anonymous, and without authority."— Stop a little; your conclusion is not connected with your premises; your friend Euclid would have been ashamed of it. "Anonymous, and there- fore without authority!" I have noticed this solecism before; but as you fre- quently bring it forward, and, indeed, your book stands much in need of it, I will submit to your consideration another observation on the subject. The book called Fleta is anonymous; but it is not on that account without authority. — Domesday book is anonymous, and was written above seven hundred years ago; yet our courts of law do not hold it to be without authority, as to the facts related in it. Yes, you will say, but this book has been preserved with singular care among the records of the nation. And who told you that the Jews had no records, or that they did not preserve them with singular care? Josephus says •the contrary: and, in the Bible itself, an appeal is made to many books, which have perished : such as the book of Jasher, the book of Nathan, of Abijah, of Iddo, of Jehu, of natural history by Solomon, of the acts of Manasseh, and others which might be mentioned. If any one, liaving access to the journals of the Lords and Commons, to the books of the treasury, war office, privy council, and other public documents, should at this day write a history of the reigns of George the first and second, and should publish it without his narae, would any man, three or four hundreds or thousands of years hence, question the authority of that book, when he knew that the whole British nation had re- ceived it as an authentic book from the time of its first publication to the age ii\ which he lived } This supposition is in point. The books of the Old Testament were composed from the records of the Jewish nation, and they have bt- en re- ceived as true by that nation, from the time in which they were written to the present day. Dodsley's Annual Register is an anonymous book; we only know the name of its editor; the New Annual Register is an anonymous book; the Re» views are anonymous books; but do we, or will our posterity, esteem these books of no authority? On the contrary, they are admitted at present, and will i>e re^eivd in after ages, as authoritative records of the civil, military, and literary history of England and of Europe, So little foundation is there for ovu> being sturlled by your assertior.j "It is ancnynsoiis and without authority," 94 DEBATE. *Hhe Bool- of the Lav of Gnd,'>'> a name applied to the bocks ot"'I\!o«&.s: It is in the'stvln of Ces;u's commcntiiries expressed in the third per- son— "So Jo^!h^Ia made n covenant with the people that day, ixnd set them a statute and an ordinance in Shechem; and Joshua Wrote these words in the hook of the lair of God.'''' Rc^pectin^.tlio letter to the Hebrews, although not having directly fhe authority of Paul's name, it proves itself to be his work. It con- tains rertairi direct allusions to Pavd's labors, and he speaks of himself in such a style, and with such references to circumstances in which he was a party, as to render it certain that he is the v/riter. A person mav introduce himself by a periphrasis, or circumlocution, without directly naming himself. Thus Paul introduces himself to the He- brews to avoid encounterinc: a prejudice existing against him in the minds of the unbelieving Jews, for whose benefit, as well as that of the believing Jews, he designed this letter." Touching the authorship of these writings, although I think we have •already si;!t"ciently established this matter, I would remark, that, of ?he apostles' letters, the autographs thfinBeUes, as well as many ex- trinsic circum.stances, decided their pretensions. Paul's name, written by his own hand, after his amanuensis had written an epistle, was udded to such of them r.s were not wholly written by himself. The I'-ongregations or individuals to whom they were addressed, some of whom were so addressed as to have provoked them to have rejected the lettei's if they had dared, were the best judges of the authenlicity of these writings; and the fact of their having been received as such, by these congregations, P-lone, had we no other proof, amounts to the whole evidence we have in proof of the authorship of the most popular works of Greece and Rome. If these writings had not been the pro- ductions of their reputed authors, or if such of them as are anonymous hid not been known to have been the works of well attested authors by their cotemnoraries, manv would have been proud to have claim- ed them as their own. I do not know what human being would not have been proud to have been the author of the book of Job, or the letter o the Hebrews; and their being anonymous, yet received into the sicrcd writings, is as valid proof of their authenticity as if they had, like the greater part of both Testaments, been inscribed with the names of their authors. Query 4. But we arc also asked, Are we sure that vc hate the. genuine works of these authors? Are there no interpolations? When I hear of interpolations and contradictions, I think of the Honorable Soaine Jenyns,once a sceptic. He had concluded to pub- lish a work ajjainst the christian religion; but thinking that he ought to he well acquainted with its fables and absurdities before he ventured to appear before the public, he determined to make himself well ac- Cjuainted with the contents of the book. But he soon found good reasons to reform his plan; and, instead of furnishing a work against the christian relis;ion, he gave the world a short and unanswerable treatise upon the truth and authenticity of it. This treatise on the '*/nfcniaJ Evidences^ is written in a iiKisterly style, and with n boltfe" DEBATE. ^5 ness which nothing but the assurance of faith could inspire. He niakes the following bold assertion which many would think is going :oo far : — "Forivwill venture to affirm, that if any one could prove, what is impossible to be proved, because it is not true, that there are errors in geography, chronology, and philosophy, in every page of the Bible; that the prophecies therein delivered, are all but fortunate guesses, or artful applications, and the miracles there recorded, no better than legendary tales : if any one could show, that these books were never Avritten by their pretended authors, but were posterior impositions on illiterate and credulous ages, ail these wonderful discoveries would prove no more than this, that God, for reasons to us unknown, had thought proper to permit a revelation by him communicated to man- kind, to be mixed with their ignorance, and corrupted by their frauds from its earliest infancy, in the same manner in which he has visibly permitted it to be mixed, and corrupted from that period to the present hour. If in these books, a religion, superior to all human imagina- tion, actually exists, it is of no consequence to the proof of its di- vine origin, by what means it was there introduced, or with what human errors and imperfections it is blended. A diamond, though found in a bed of mud, is still a diamond, nor can the dirt, which surrounds it, depreciate its value or destroy its lustre." All the interpolations, and different readings, though numerous as Michaeli?, a very learned German professor, makes them, countincf all the miuutia of letters and points, do not effect the character of a single fact recorded in the whole New Testament. Indeed, men have been so much more concerned about tlie doctrines than the fads of -scripture, that they are much more alarmed about the omission, or change of a term, affecting some favorite conclusion to which they have come, than about the evidence on which the great salutary facts are established. Hence has arisen the great ado about interpolations. And if there were ever any interpolations designedly introduced, it was for carrying some doctrine or theorem, and not for proving a fact. Hence sce])ticshave nothing to fear from interpolations . But a notice of the dark ages here may not be out of place especially a3 most of these different readings and interpolations occurred during this dreary period. During this period all learning was locked up in the dark cloisters and confined to Ihe gloomy monasteries of papal superstition. The scriptures, before the art of printing, were in the hands of ignorant monks and nuns, who spent their lives in transcribing them. A ma- jority of tliesc copyists did not understand the language in which they wrote them. We have seen some of these ancient manuscript copies. Large margins fir the purpose of notes and references were )isually left on tliese manuscripts. It frequently happpned that some of the copyists, not able to discriminate the marginal notes from the text, transcribed some of the explanations into the text. Thisocca- t^ioned various discrepancies between the copies. After the revival of literature and the Refoi/iiation, careful and exact comparisons o-f 90 DEBATE. these copies were made, and the text was purged of most, if not all, these interpolations. In these numerous and careful revisals and comparisons, not only of the copies, but of the most ancient manu- scripts, and the quotations f nmd in the works of the primitive fathers, -almost every thing of a doubtful character, even to the very expletives, were rejected. We have most unquestionably the most exact and faithful representation of the prototype of this volume than we have of any other book in thenvorld. It would be impossible to interpolate the sacred text now, because of the rival sects. The same difhculty existed always, almost from the beginning; excepting that the inven- tion of printing and the multiplication of copies consequent thereupon, have imposed more insuperable barriers in the way of such liberties, than existed before. But when we take into view the veneration of «ven the most ignorant ages lor these writings, and the tremendous awe inspired from the sanctions found at the close of the volume, to- gether with sectarian jealousy, no work has been so much guarded against corruption. And a greater proof we cannot have of the truth of these remarks than the fact that the church of Rome, in which most of the copies now extant were found, the corruptions of which are so clearly pointed out and condemned in the Epistles, have for ages transcribed the predictions, expositions, and censures pronoun- ced upon herself, and handed to the Reformers the sacred text to con- demn and expose her own abuses. Query 5 — How is it that St. Matthew says, in a certain place, It was prophesied hy the Prophet Jeremiah, and no such a prophecy is found in Jeremiah, hut in Zechariah ? To this we reply that the divisions which now obtain in both the Old Testament and the New are of modern origin. Cardinal Cairo, in the twelfth century, divided the scriptures of the New Testament into chapters; and Robert Stephens, in the sixteenth century, divided them into verses. These distributions uere made to facilitate refer- ences to these writings, but in thousands of instances they have ob- scm-cd the sense of them. The Jews divided all the writings of the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms, into fifty-four sections, for the purpose of reading them once in a year in their synagogues. Four of these sections were shorter than the others; and whetherdesigned for two of (heir greatest solemnities, to be read together, ^wo on each occasion, we cannot say ; hut so it wasjthat the whole volume was read once every year in their public meetings. But in quoting these writings they sometimes quoted them under the general running title of these sections; or more loosely, under three heads — the I-aw, the Prophets, and the Psalms. At other times they were quoted with the most minute reference, as, for instance, 'It is so v/ritten in the second Psalm.' Sometimes the whole writings are called the Law. The Saviour once quotes the Psalms thus, "It is written in the Law, T/iey hated me without a cause-''' yet this is found in the book of Psalms. The running title to the sections of the prophetic writfiigs is saifl hy some to have been Jeremiah; others iiai,c said (hat the Jews called Jeremiah ^/*iiiah. But one thing is obvious, that there was among all persons in that age a loo.se or general reference, as well as a strict and accurate reference to .sayings in the prophets. If, then, Matthew did actually use the name of Jeremiah instead of the name of Zechariah, it may have proceeded from some of those causes assigned. But whether or not, it affects no !iiore the credibility of the testimony of Matthew concerning Jesus Christ, than the fact of Paul's forgetting how many he had baptized in Corinth, proves that he was not inspired with an infallible know- ledge of the gospel. Such objections as these exhibit a very strange state of mind, and show that the objector is entirely ignorant of the real grounds on which we assent to the divine authority of these records. Having, then, very briefly attended to these questions, I proceed to the topic proposed on Saturday evening. To form correct ideas of the genius and tendency of Christianity, we must pay some attention to the genius and design of the former dispensation. This we have already glanced at in our remarks upon the Apostit-cy, Until the tiun^ of Abraham all the nations upon the earth hod the same general views of the Divinity that created all things and presided over the worh-. This will appear from all the ancient documents which penetrate intc- the most remote antiquity of the world. In forming a correct view of the religious character of the ancient nations, it is necessary here to inquire how far the inhabitants of Per- sia, Assyria, Arabia, Canaan, and Egypt, were affected or influen- ced by the religious mstitutions of this period ; for these were tht; first nations whose institutions gave a character to all the nations of the world. Abraham was the son of Shemby Ari)haxad. The Persians were the descendants of Shem by Elam. The common parentage of Abra- ham and the Persians laid a foundation for some similarity m their re- ligion. Abraham's ancestors dwelt in Chaldea, and at the time thai: God signalized Abraham the Chaldeans had begun to apostatize from the service of the true God. Hence the separation of Al)raham from among them. But Dr. Hyde and the most learned aniiqu?ui;ins present documental proof that the Persians retained the true liisto- ry of the Creation, of the Antediluvian Age; and so attriched were the Persians to the religion 'of Abraham, that the sacred book which cjji- tained their religion is called Sohi Ihrahiin, ?. e. the Book of Abra- ham. For a considerble time after Abraham's dsy they worshipped the God of Shem, for they did not know all the special communications to Abraham. The Arabians, down to the time of Jethro, retained the knowledge of the true God, llow long after, we are not intbrmed ; b'^t their re- ligious inetitutions, as far as wc have account, differed little from those practised by Abraham, with the exception of circumcision. The Canaanites them-eUes, in Abrahan.'s time, hid not apni=?tati- zed wholly from tlic religion of Shem. The kiiig of Saleia v.-c,s pries* VOL, II. ^ ■lis DEBATE. uf the Most liigii God : anil during Abraham's sojourning among theni, they treated him with all respect as a prophet ot'the true God. Even among the Philistines at Gcrn, Abraham found a good and virtuous lung, flavored with the admonilions of the Almighty. This he little expected, for he was so prejudiced against those people, that, on entering their metropolis, he said, "Surely the fear of God is not in this place.'' But he was happily disappointed. For Abimelech, in his appeal to Heaven, says, ^'■Lonl tv'dt thou slay a virtuous nation .!"' And the Lord did not deny his plea, but heard and answered his re- quest. There appears in the whole narrative no difference in the re!iiiioi;3 views or practice between Abraham and Abimelech the king of t)ic nation. The Egyptians, too, in the time of Abraham, were worshippers of tlie true God. In Upper Egypt Ihey refused, as Plutarch informs us, to pay any taxes for the support of the idolatrous worship; asserting that tliey owned no mortal, deader alive, to be a God. The incor- ruptible and eternal God they called Ciieph, who, they affirmed, had no beginning, and never should have an end. In the first advance to mythology iu Egypt, they represented God by the figure of a serpent^ with the iiead of a hawk in the middle of a circle. We find no mis- u.nderstandings nor difference between Pharaoh and Abraham, when (he latter went down into Egypt. Ind«ed, with the exception of the C'haldeans, who were the oldest nation, and the first to introduce idol or image worship, we find a very general agreement in all the ancient nations respecting religious views and practice. And the first defec- tion from the religion of Noah and Shem which we meet with in- all antiquity, was that of the Chaldeans. Now, to save the world from universal idolatry, Abraham is called; Paid in four centuries his posterity were erected into a nation for this primary object, to teach the unity, spirituality, and providence of (Jod, as well as to introduce a new vocabulary by a symbolic wor- f^hip, to prepare tlie world for understanding the Divine character and government preparatory to the mission of his Son. Abraham was called at a time whon idolatry tHjgan to appear in Chaldea, and when families began to have each a family god. When his descendants became niimerous, and large enough to become a na- tion, and the nations had each its own god, it pleased the Ruler of th© Universe to exhibit himself as the God of a nation. Hence originated thu thoocrnry. Here it is necessary to suggest a ^e\v general princi- ples of much importance in understanding the varieties which have uppeared in the divine government. From the fall of man the Gov- ernor of the World withdrew from all personal intimacies with the race, Ho no longer conversed with man, face to face, as he was wont to do in Eden, The recollections of the Divinity became more and more faiijt as Adam advanced in years; and the traditionary inform- ation ccmmunicated to his descendants been me less vivid and impres- sive in every generation . All new communications from the Creator were through symbols, by messengers, or rather through things al- ready JinoM-n. Things entirely unlinoim can only he communicated (o DEBATE. 99 the mind by things already known. This axiom is at the basis of all revelations, and explains many otherwise inexplicable incidents i:i the divine communications to man. The natural symbols and the artificial names of things became, from a necessity of nature, the only means through which God could make himselfknov/n to man. Thi.«, too, has been the invariable rale and measure of all the discoveries which God has made of himself, his purposes, and will. Hence tlu spangled heavens, all the elements t)f nature, the earth, and the Sv-^.;!, with all their inhabitants; the relations, customs, and usages existing among men, have all been so many types or letters in the great alph-i- bet which constitutes the vocabulary of divine revelation to man. Ho has even personated himself by his'ovvn creatures, and spoken to man through human institutions. Hence he has been called a Sun, I'igh% Father, Husband, Man of War, General of Hosts, a Lord of Battle-?, King, Prince, Master, &c. &C. He has been spoken of as havijig eyes, ears, mouth, hands, feet, &c. &?. He has been represented as sitting, standing, walking, hasting, awaking. He has been compared to a unicorn, lion, rock, mountain, &lc. «fec. He has made himself known in his character, perfections, purposes, and will, by things al- ready known to man. This is the grand secret, which, v. hen disclos- ed, removes many difficulties and objections, and sets in a clear light the genius of the Jev/ish age of the religious world. Now v/hen God became tJie king of one nation, it v;as only doing what, on a more extensive scale, and with more various and powerful effects, he had done in calling himself a Father. Both were designed to make himself known through human relations and institutions. One type, symbol, or name, is altogether Incompetent todevelope the wonderful and incomprehensible God. Bat his wisdom and goodness c^ve most apparent in making himself knov/n in those relations and to those e.\tents which are best adapted to human wants and imperfec- tionp. And the perfection of these discoveries consists in their being exactly suited to the different ages of the world and stages of human improvement. At the time when lie chose one nation and made him- self known to all the earth as its King and God, no other name, type, or symbol was so well adapted to the benevolent purpose, as those selected. For when Israel was brought out of Egypt, all the nations had their gods; and these gods were esteemed and admired according to the strength, skill, prowess, and prosperity of the nation over which they were supposed to preside. Hence that god was the most adora- ble in human eyes whose people were most conspicuous. Wars and battles were the offspring of the spirit of those ages con- temporaneous with the first five hundred years of the Jewish history, and with the ages immediately preceding. Hence the idea was, thai the nation most powerful in war had the greatest and most adorabh; god. Now as the Most High (a name borrowed from this very age) always took the world as it was in every period in which he chose to develope himself anew, or his purposes, he chose to appear -as the Lord of Hosts, or God o{ Armies. And to make his name known ithrough all the errth, he took one nation under his auspices, and ap- iO(J DEBATE, peare.l a<5 tlieir Sovereign and the C immander in Chiefof ail their ar* mle^, Tlinv-ie the splendid and easy bought victories of the Israelites, One co'.iVl chase a h'lndred, and ten put a thousand to flight. This expUiin* th-; deliverance out of BT;ypt, and how the Lord permitted Pharaoh'' -s lieart ti be hardened — ('or the purpose o( making his name known through all the eaHh. Pharaoh and his court knew not the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and impiously asked, "Who is the Lord, that I should obey him V But Moses made him knrtw, and tremble, and bow. By the time when the Jews were settled in Ca- naan, the world was taught to fear the God of Israel, the Lord of Hosts.; ami so it came to pass that all the true and consistent know- ledge of God upon the earth, among all nations, was derived directly or indirectly from the Jewish people. But we m.jst not think that only one purpose was gained, or one object was exclusively in view in any of these great movements of the Governor of the World. This is contrary to the general analogy of the miitcrial and spiritual systems. Bv the annual and diurnal revo- lutions of the earth, although by the f >rmer the seasons of the year, and by the latter, day and ni^ht seem to be the chief objects, there are a thou<>and ends gained in conjunction with one principal one. So in this grand economy, many, very many illustrious ends waire- gained,^ besides the capital one just mentioned. For, a« in the vege- table kingdom we have a succession of stages in the growth of plants ; as in the animal kingdom we have a succession of stages in the growth of animals; so in the kingdom of God there is a similar progression of light, knowledge, Hfo, and bliss. Wc have in the vegetable kingdom the period of germinating, the period of blossoming, and the period of ripening the fruit. So we have infancy, childoood, youth, and man- hood, in our species. Each period calls for special influences and a peculiar treatment. So it is in the kingdom of God. It had its in- fancy, its childhood, and its manhood. In each stage it was diverse- ly exhibited. The Patriarchal, Jewish, and Christian Ages were adaptf d to these. Again, we are not to consider the special temporal favors bestowed upon the Jews, as indicative that tlie divine benevolence was exclu- sively confined to one nation to the exclusion of all the earth besides. As well might we .say that the husbandman who cultivates his garden despises or neglects his farm, or that he exclusively loved that part of he Soil which he encloses with a peculiar fence. Other circumstan- ces and considerations require these specialties. The general good of the human race, and the blessing of all nations in a son of Abra- him, were the ultimate and gracious ends in view in all these pecu- liar arrangements. This promise and g\iarantee \vere made to Abra- ham before the time of these ages or dispensations. So that the calling of the Jews and their erection into a nation under the special government of God, were but means necessary to that reign of favor under which we now live. But some will still say, Why was not the Messiah born immediately after the Fall, and wby was "not the Oijristian era the only era o£ DEBATE. 101 lire world? Why did not the Universal Benevolence introduce the best possible order of things first? Such cavillers remind rae of the child who asks, whether from curiosity or petulance: Why does not the ripe ear of corn come up from the seed deposited in the eartii? Why does not the full ripe ear first present itself to our eye? Would not a kind and benevolent being have done this rather than have kept us waiting for many months, f)r the tedious process of germinating growing, shooting, olossoming? &c. &c. Could not an almighty, and benevolent being, have produced the ripe ear without waiting for a sprout, stalk, leaves,blossoms, and all the other preparations of natiu-e to form an ear of corn? We are even in the common concerns of life but poor judges of propriety ; and it is extreme arrogance for us to arraign Omniscience at the tribunal of our reason, when we cannot tell the reason why the blossom precedes the fruit. Do we not see that it is the order of (he Universe, natural as well as moral, that there should be a gradual developement. "/» the fullness of time'''' when all things were fully ripe he sent forth his son. One part of the human family is cultivated like a garden, and another part is left like a wilderness, imfenced, and undressed. The vineyard, however, after a while produces, through an unavoidal le degenex'acy, no better grapes than the wild vines in the forest — and the hedge is torn down. A new order of things is developed, and tho middle wall of partition crumbles to pieces. The Jew and Gentile are alike degenerated, and the new order proceeds upon a levelling principle. Now no human being could have known that a govern- ment like the Theocracy, placiag a pc<;ple in such enviable circum- stances as that system placed the seed of Abraham, would have se- cured so little to itself, and so little to the people under it, had not the experiment been made and continued us it was. Bit ail these matters will be much b.etter understood when v.'o contemplate the constitution of the Jewish nali>)n. This constitution is in one point of view, very pertinently called by the Apostle Paul, The Letter. No term could have been more appropriate to exhil/it the views which Paul taught, than this term letter. The Constitu- tion under which this nation came into existence, as a nation, was written by the Finger of God, upon two tables of stone. B.it here let me explain myself. The instrument written upon these two tables is sometimes called the moral law of the whole universe; sometimes the ten commandments; sometimes the old covenant, and the old testament. Now the terms testament and covenant in the Scotch idiom, and in the English, are supposed equivalent to one and the same Greek word, diatheke. For the King's translators have many a time rendered this Greek word by both of tliese English nouns. — The term covenant in Scotland has been applied not only to individu- al arguments but to national compacts. Institution, or even cbnstitit- iion, in our day, much more correctly represents to us in our modes of thinking the true import of this term. The writing upon the two tables was in reality in its original promulgation, and in the use made of it, precisely what we call a constitution. The nation recei,- VOL. IJ. 9* 102 DEBATE, ed it as such, and the two tables on which it was written were called, ''the two tables of the coveHant-''' and the chest or ark into which it was deposited was called "the ark of the covenant?'' The whole covenant must have Keen on the two tables, else it must have been an imposition to call them the two tables of the covenant; and, again, the whole covenatit must ha\e been in the ark or it would have been a deception to call that ark ''the ai-k of the covenant^ I need scarce- ly add that the reason w!iy theS'olume is called the old testament, con- taining the writings of Moses, the prophets, and the devotional pieces called the Hagiographa, is not because all these writings were the covenant, or testament, or constitution of Israel, but by a figure of S|iceLh the thing containing is often called from the thing contained. Uocause these writings contain this covenant or constitution they are all called by the name of the old covenant, testament or consti- tution. In like manner we shall see that the New Testament has received its name t'rom the same figure and example. Tliere were many other laws given to the Jews from the King besides tliis instrument, but these Were not of the same high character with those thus written on the two tables. They were only '-leges sub graviori lege,'''' laws under a supreme law; for the constitution of every country is the supreme law of the land. But the proof lies f'.are: the Lord declared, if Israel would accede to the items to be proposed, they would in consequence, become a peculiar nation, a now sort of Kingdom; a community exalted above all^ the national*' fommunities upon earth. Thoy agreed to these preliminaries. Tlien the Lord said, in tlieir hearing, "/ am.the Lord your God, teho brought you out of the land of Egypt, ofU of the house of bondage; TtiKiUflFORE yc shall,*" Arc Such was the agreement, and such were the items afterwards called, the Covenant or Constitution^. This constitution continued in one sense for about 1500 years. It could not be broken, or made of none effect, by the transgression of a few individuals. But as soon as the great majority of the peo- ple ricoarted from it, God ceased to reignover them as he had done. lie allowed their enemies to mske prisoners of them ; to invade and devastate their land, and carry them into bondage again. Now so Joijg as this people lived up to the letter of this instrument, so long (hey were under iho special govc;ament of God ; and under all the miraculous displays v.liich we see distinguished their history from their eductian from Egvpt till they were carried into Babylon by the Assyjian monarch. This explains the reason why miracles con- tinued in Israel so long — and why they ceased at the pefiod alluded to. Miracles were th3 ordeV of the day I'jr many hundred years in all tr-e important epochs of their liistory. Bat after the Captivity, the special providences ceased. ?^ow let us hear Jeremiah who lived about these times, speak of this covenant and the intentions of the Lord coHcerning them. — Jcr XXXI. :U.',i2. 3H. 34. "iiahold, the days come, saiih the Lord, tliat I wUl make a new c^vepaiil v.I'h the Inu5i^ of Israel, am' with tl.ie house of Julahi not DEBATE, lOS :;.cc:irding to the covenant that T made with their fatliers, in the day that 1 took them by the hand, to bring them out of the land of Egypt j (which my covenant they brake, although I was a husband to them, saith tlie Lord;) but this shall he the covena.nt that I will make with the house of Israel; after those days, saith the Lor^D, I will p'.it my law in their inward parts, and write it in their harts; and will be tlisir God, and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord : for they shall all know me, from the leas* of them unio the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and 1 will remember their sin no more." Jeremiah then predicts a time when this constitution would cease to be the constitution of Israel — and a new one of a difierent char- acter introduced. We do not, as some might think, speak of the abrogation or disannulling of any thing moral. The laws of morali* ty, like those of nature, are immutable; but the particular forms, and arrangements, and modification, of these princijiles should be changed, and the whole inscribed, not upon stone, but upon the hearts of men. Now here is the essential diflerence between the old and the new constitution. The former was not written upon the heart, the latter is. The former was pure letter, the latter is pure spirit. The first, pointed out to the eye, to the intellect of man, a rule of life; the latter, infuses it into the soul or gives a disposition- and bias to these principles of action : nay, it imparts to the heart The principle which the letter or law only laid before the eyes. I deveiope the matter no farther here. I only prepare the wav for this sweeping distinction that the Jewish covenant or institution was a covenant or constitution of the letter or law. In one sentence, the first was a constitution of law: the second, or christian, is a ecnstitufion of fator. Let us hear Paul elaborate this matter 2 Cor. iii. C — 18. ••Who indeed hath fitted us to be miaii?ters of a new covenant ; not of the letter, but of the spirit: now the letter kiilcth, hut the spirit maketh alive. Besides, if the ministry of death, imprinted on stones with letters, was done with glory, so that the children of Israel could not look steadfastly on the face of Moses, because of the glory of his face which was to be abolished; how shall not the ministry of the Spirit rather be with glory? And, if the ministry of condemnation was honour, much more doth the ministry of righteousness, abound in honour. And therefore, that which was glorified, was not glori- fied in this respect, by reason of the excelling glorv.. Besides, if tliat which is abolished, is abolislied by glory, much more that which remaincth, remaineth in glory. Wherefore, having such a persua- sion, we use much plainness of speech; and not as Moses, who put a veil upon his face, that the children of Israel might not steadfastly bock to the end of the thing to be abolished. Now their minds were blinded: fir until this day, the same veil remaineth in the reading' of the Old Covenant, it not being revealed, that it is abolished by CJjrist, Moreover, until this day, when Moses is read, the vei; lietii 104 DEBATE. upon their heart. But, when it shall turn to the Lord, the veil shall be taken from around it. Now the Lord is the Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. For we all, with an unveiled face, reflecting as mirrors the glory of the Lord, are trans- formed into the same image from glory to glory, as from the Lord of the spirit," Here is the contrast — letter and spirit. "The letter kills — the spirit gives life. Ministration of death — ministration of spirit, that which is done away, and that which remains." — Glorious the former in its promulgation, more glorious the latter in its introduction; — tending of the one is to bondage, of the other to liberty. All human privileges arc constitutional. Therefore as is the constitution, so are the privileges of the people whose it is. But here we must observe that there is some reason in Mr. Owen's remark, that men are not to be made happy by letter or law. Writ- ten codes of laws however good are not adapted to augment human happiness, much less to produce it. Laws are restraints — the more numerous, the more are the restraints; to restrain a person is to di- minish his enjoyments. It is therefore much more conducive to human happiness to remove the cause which makes these restraints necessary. To infuse into the mind such principles as will make men happy is infinitely more rational than by good laws to curb evil principles already implanted. To remove the disposition to steal, is much more rational than to promulgo laws against theft. That sys- tem then is incomparably the most conducive to morality, good order, and happiness, and is therefore by far the most rational, which removes the evil principle, rather than attempts to c<»rb it by legal restraints. The law was not made for good men. In any state of society the only happiness that good men derive from law is protec- tion. In no other way can it conduce to their happiness. It is made for evil doers. So for, then, Mr. Owen is right ; but had he known what follows, he never would have adapted so ineffectual a scheme as that which he has proposed. The Almighty gave us an excellent specimen of what a good law could do: he made the exi>criment for us in the history of the Jews. He gave them the best constitution, the finest country, and a well arranged society — a very social system. The twelve tribes were twelve commimities. They supplied themselves and created a large surplis; so that for two years, at least, in every seven, they rested, and their land rested one. They were under the best govern- ment, and enjoyed the greatest share of social privileges ever enjoyed by any people; yet they became worse and worse. Now he f )und fault with the whole economy, and introduced a new one upon quite different principles. Instead of circumcising the flesh, he circumcised the heart; and instead of giving a code of laws to govern men's outward actions, he gives them new hearts; or, in other words, by a constitution of pure favor, or grace, he implants noble principles, so efllcienr, as neither confiscation of goods, imprisonment, nor deatii itself, could induce theui to do a mean action. I admit tkif^ DEBATE. 105 Since men have corrupted Christianity by converting it into a new code of lav.s, observances, and ceremonies, it has not been so produc- tive of those happy influences as it once was almost universally; yet still its direct influences upon all who believe and understand it, are equal to what they ever were; and its indirect influences upon society at large, have civilized and moralized it to an extent far beyond any system ever exhibited on earth. But what 1 now contend for is, that pure Christianity is predicated upon the most philosophic view of human nature. It aims not at re- forming or happifying the world by a system of legal restraints, how- ever excellent; but its immediate object is to implant in the human Jieart, tkrough a discovery of the divine philanthropy, a principle of love, which fulfils every moral precept ever promulged on earth. Here is the grand secret. The religion of Jesus Christ melts the hearts of men into pure philanthropy, ft converts a lion into a lamb. It has done this in our times in countless instances. Mr. Owen only dreams of refurmations. Christianity alone changes, regenerates, and re- forms wicked men. The materialists declare their system ^^cavnct mal-e a idcl^ed man good'"' Scepticism never converted a wicked man since the days of Celsus till now. Mr. Owen cannot produce one instance. But Christianity taking hold of the heart of man, not by law, but by love; not by letter, but by favor, has converted mil- lions of the worst characters into the very best. Yes, the religion of Jesus sheds abroad in the human heart the love of God; and that love, purifying the heart, overflows in all good actions — kind, humane, 'oenevoleni; not only to the good, but to tlie evil. This is the true philosophy. Correct the spring — the fountain. ^'Make the tree good.'''* Engraft a new scion on the old stock. Infuse new life. Warm the heart by the wonderful love of God, exhibited and sealed by the blood of his Son. Let this love, this pure benevolence, this genuine phi- lanthropy, but reach the soul of man, and then all is pure within and moral without: — "Talk they of morals! O thou bleeding Love, "The chief morality is love of thee'" What law could never do, though as holy, just, and good as the con- stitution of Israel, through the weakness of the flesh, God, sending his own Son, in the likeness of sinful flesh, has done; he has condemned :^in, wounded it, and killed it by a most transcendantly glorious dis- play of love. Where are Mr. Owen's weapons to reform the world ? He dare not — n fact, he does not, pretend to reform the world. He owns he has nothing to propose adequate to the task; and therefore only promises to save the next generation by a whimsical arrangement of circum- stances. He proposes to grow belter men and women; not to improve tlie present race. And what is the pith of his philosophy ? Why, it i« this: Transplant a cr ah tree and it becomes an apple tree. But the Great Refonner's philosophy was, Engraft a new scion. Such is thr; 106 DEBATli. exact diflferenoe bcffween the scheme of Mr. Owen and the Founder of Christianity. But let us have a word from Paul on the contrast between the Jew- ish and Christian religion. I will, for the sake of despatch, para- phrase a part of the fourth chapter to the Galatians, thus : — "Now I say, the heir, as long as he is a minor, diflers in no respect from a slave, though he be lord of all; for he is kept under tutors and stewards until he is of age, or until the time appointed in the will of bis father. Just so it was with us Jews, while in our minority, which was during the dominion of the old constitution; we were kept in bondage, restrained, and curbed by the elements, or leading princi- ples of that institution of law. But when the fulness of time appoint- ed by our father in his will had come, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, and born under the old constitution, that he might be a fellowsvhjcct (I cannot say fellow-citizen) with us under that constitu- tion, that he might be constitutionally qualified to buy us off out of the slavery of the letter; that we might be elevated from the rank of trembling slaves, to the adoption of eons. And now, having been raised to the rank of sons, God has, under a new constitution, given H9 the spirit gf his Son in our hearts; so that we confidently and affectionatf ly say, as little children speak, Ahha, Father. Now, my brethren of the Jews, once subjects of the old constitution, you are no more bondmen but sons in feeling, in spirit; and, in truth, too, by relation ; and if sons, you know you are heirs of God through his Son, the Messiah. Well, then, brethren, you will never, I hope, desire to be under the old constitution again; but, I trust, you will stand firm iu the liberty which you eujoy of serving God under the new constitu- tion, not in the oldness of the letter, but in a new spirit!''' Often does Paul rally upon this point : You christians are "rto^ under law, hut under favor f'' sin shall not, then, have power to lord it over you, seeing you are not under the condemning genius of law, but under the pardoning, reconciling, purifying, and ennobling genius of favc-r. This is the genius of Christianity. By Moses came the age of law. By Jesus the Messiah came the reign of favor. So sang the angels when they announced his birth, "Glory to God in the highest heavens ; Peace on earth, and good will among men." Letters only reach the eyes, hxxi favor can touch the heart. Laws expressed in words assail the ears and aim at restraining actions ; but love pierces to the heart, and disarms the rising thought of mischievous intent. It is called the Reign of Heaven, because down into the heart it draws the heavenly feelings, desires, and aims. From heaven it came, and to lieaven it leads. I will shake the heavens and the earth, says the Lord. I will revolutionize the world; and how, my friends, but by introducing new principles of human actions? Paul informs us that the new constitution is every way better than the old one. The Mediator is superior to Moses — its provisions better •—its seal and pledges better. It runs in a few sentences. Itptemises^- DEBATE. 107 1 . To write the law upon the heart. That is, to implant the prin- •-^•iple, which induces to all the good and pious works which the law demanded, and which will exclude the necessity of law taiiing cog- nizance only of the outward deeds. 2. It promises to all subjects the remission of all sins; and, conse- quently, banishes all guilt and fear from the conscience. 3. It assures all the citizens of having a just knowledge of God; tind, 4. It promises that God himself shall be theirs, and they his. Now let me ask, what is wanting in this New Constitution, (and this IS the whole of it,) to make men just what reason says they ought to be — to make them good companions and happy in themselves? How much happiness is there in doing good? All this happiness is theirs, for it imparts the disposition. How much happiness is there in having all fear of death, all guilt and shame removed from the soul of man? — This happiness is theirs. How much happiness in seeing all our fellow-citizens knowing the character of God, his will, and de- signs with regard to the whole human race, and all rejoicing in God ? This happiness is theirs. And how much real felicity is there in hav- ing all the treasures of God, all the riches of the heavenly inherit- ance in prospect; as well as all assurance given us that on earth we shall never be deserted nor forsaken by the Lord ? Now all these are constitutional privileges belonging to every citizen of this kingdom — to every one under the Nev/ Constitution. There is not one citizen in the kingdom, of which this is the constitution, who has not in his heart the law of love written; not one who does not know God; not one who has not all his sins forgiven; not one who has not a good hope of the heavenly and eternal inheritance. Such is the unexaggerated character, genius, and design of the New Constitution, or Christian Religion. We are not, my friends, to suppose that, tlie Patriarchal, Jewish, and Christian religions, as we call them, are three distinct religions. They are but one religion. The seed was sown in the Patriarchal age; the plant sprang up and put forth its leavee and blossoms under the cultivation of the Jewish ; it ripened and was matured under the Christian. Favor was promised under the Patriarchal, was symboli- zed and shadowed forth under the Jewish, and accomplished and re- alized under the New Constitution. The first formed good individ- uals; the second, while held sacred, made a happy nation, and comparatively a moral people; but the third fills men with heavenly influenced ; witii peace, and joy, and righteousness ; and can make, and will terminate m, a pure and happy world. Mahomct^nism is only a corruption and perversion of Judaism and Christianity — Idolatry is but a perversion and corruption of the patri- archal and Jewish dispensations. The apostacy or anti-Christ is but a corruption of Christianity, a heterogeneous commixture of Judaism^ Parjanism, and Christianity. There has been but one religion ever in the world. In other words, the fountain whence all superstitioiis tiave originated was one and the same, Hence we find the prominent 408 DEBATE. ideas of divine revelation in every superstition on eartb. As wc trace languages to a common fountain and origin, so we trace reli- gions. Idolatry and polytheism were the worst of all the corruptions in degrading man. But as the sweetest wine will make the sourest vinegar, Christianity when corrupted has exhibited the most cruelty and tvranny. Hence the inquisition has been the most cruel and wicked tribunal upon this earth. The fine, vigorous, plethoric con- stitution when subdued by a malignant fever , exhibits the greatest mass of corruption. But who argues hence that a fine, vigorous. and healthy constitution is a curse, shocks all common sense. But the root of all the corruptions of Christianity was the incorpo- rating with it the opinions and speculations of Egyptian and Indian philosophy. All the systems flourishing upon the earth when Jesus was born were, with the exception of the Jewish, (nnd that, we all know, was much corrupted,) mere systems of abstract opinions and speculations. Grecian and Roman, as well as the Eastern philosophy had filled all the reasoning part of society with the most air-built and visionary schemes about matter and mind, creation and j^rovidence. Conversions from these ranks, from all the sects of philosophers, polluted, finally polluted, the christian sanctiiary. So that Christian- ity became, with them, a science, a fit subject of speculation as much as any of the doctrines of Plato or Socrates. From these unhallowed commixtures sprang the creed systems of anciant and modern times, so that finally ahnost every vestige of the ancient simplicity and the true genius of Christianity disappeared; and vari- ous schemes of sectarian and philosophic Christianity succeded and supplanted it. . This creed system has been the fruitful source of all the corruptions in morals, as well as the parent of all the religious discords now in Christendom. But fjr it Deism, Atheism, and Scepticism would have found no resting place amongst us. Many of the sceptics, and even Mr. Owen himself, have been attacking anti-christ and thought they were opposing Christ. They have not the disposition to discrim- inate between what Christianity is, and the abuses of it. It requires but little logical acumen to detect the sophistry, and but moderate powers of declamation to expose the fooleries of most of the systems: and exhibitions of Christianity. And he must be dull of apprehen- sion who' has not felt, in this discussion, that Mr. Owen has been fighting against the perversions of Christianity, rather than against the religion of facts, of morals, and of happiness which our Redeem er has established in the world. But matter and mind, body and sjjirtt, in their greatest supposed oj)position to each other, arc not greater contrasts than a religion of opinions and a religion of facts. And here I beg leave to illustrate this distinction very briefly. — ll secms to have been abundantly proved, before the christian era, that opinions are too feeble to stimulate to virtue and goodness, and too impotent to restrain from vice and immorality. Correct opinions, W9 see in our own times, will not purify the heart, nor reform tiie hie. Nothing that must be argued out by a long nrocces of raticciaa- DEBATE, iOU lion can be of mufth power in regulating human conduct. Its strpngth is exhausted by the time the point is proved. And ii must l)e evident to all that a system which requires much reasou to comprehend, would be most unsuitable to the great mass of mankind. A th.Jisand persons can believe a fact, for every one that can comprehend a logical process of reasoning. Opinions, :oo, are, after all, but pro- babilities. They can never rise higher thai a strong probability .;- but faith produces, in many instances, absolute certainty, and is, in the very constitution of human rxature, evidently intended to be a common and a most powerful principle of a(;lion. But opinions are not, in the constitution of human nature, ever intended to be a com- mon, nor a powerful piiinciple of action. They are only to govern us, or to teach us to move with caution, or sometimes not to move at all, in the absence of faith and knowledge. Faith and knowledge are the governing principles of action, and opinion is only to be consult- ed in the absence of these two. The Messiah, ^ell knowing what was in man, adapted his religion to the nature and wants of men, and hence made its reforming, puri- fying, and saving etlicacy to consist in the belief of naked facts. — Facts which, when believed, have an intrinsic, inherent, and inalien- able power to govern a man's thoughts, wishes, motives, and conduct. The christian's creed, then, runs in the following style: — I believe that Jesus was the son of Mary and the son of God ; that he cured all sorts of human maladies by his power; was persecuted and rejected by his own nation; crucified, buried, and rose again, and ascended into lieaven. Whatever was done or said by him, reported and attested by his companions, who were his witnesses to the ends of the earth and the end of time, constitutes a legitimate article of the christian's creed. If there have been one hundred well attested iact§, there are a hundred articles in the christian's creed. This is the only way that a reasonable and an intelligent man can enumerate the articles of his belief. But because all the facts, minor and major, in the evangelical histories, are comprised or rather terminate in the death, burial, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ — nay, indeed, in one that hi; rose agaix by the power of the Father: the Apostle identified the belief of these with salvation; or, in other words, he said, ''If you confess with your lips the Lord Jesus, and believe in your heart that God has raised him fi'oni the dead, you shall be saved." This belief, as far as faith is concerned, brings a man jnto the kingdom of Jesus Christ, But how different this from creeds of human construction! They begin and proceed with the mere assertion of abstract views — such as the omnipresence and omnisciency of God ; the purposes and decrees of the Almighty; abstract views of the fall of man; his physical and moral powers; various schemes of redemption; the nature of faith, atonement, and righteousness, «fee. «fec. Moses did not thus frame a creed f^ir the Jews. He lays down no definition of God, but launches off thus, "In the beginning Godci'eated t)ie heavens and tlie eardi." The apostles begin their creed in the same style, •'!» VOL. II. 10 110 DEBATE. those (lays came John the Immerser proclaiming and saying," &,c Such is the difference between the creed of christians and philoso- phers. The Presbyterian, Baptist, Episcopalian, and Methodistic creeds are so many systems of religious philosophy ,^ built, as they suppose, upon the Bible; just as Sir Isaac's system of nature is built upon the material universe. But the old fashioned creed of the fust christians ran in such sentences as these, "The Lord is risen,, indeed, and has appeared to Peter." — "God has commanded reformation and forgiveness of sins to be proclaimed to all i>ations under heaven,"" &c. But up comes a grave, religious, philosophic sectary, and says, in a very serious mood. Why, Sir, thousands believe your gospel facts, and they have no more influence upon them than the belief of the Musselman in the mission of Mahomet. How will you account for ^ihis? I tell you, Sir, you are the cause yourself You have taught them to think that such a belief is good for nothing, and in believing you the facts are neutralized, just as acids and alkalies form new substances, and neutralize each other. It is so in the minds of men. A lie may be believed along with truth — and the particular lie and particular truth taught in one sermon, equally believed, render one or both inoperative. Hence it is that the most valuable truths are inoperative. A person who has been taught all his life that nothing but silver and gold can purchase food and raiment, might be present- ed with a bank bill worth ten thousand dollars^ and yet, under the belief that it was not money, might perish with hunger or cold in the absence of gold and silver, thinking that he had no money to go to market; but let some person teach him that this bank bill, by a new agreement of society, was, by appointment or law, good for ten thou- sand pieces of silver; the moment he is persuaded of this, he feels himself rich, and rejoices with exceeding joy. So let a person be undeceived on this cardinal point, and be taught, that to believe that Jesu^ Christ rose from the dead, to be assured of this fact, is all that ifnecessary to constitute saving fliith, or such a belief as will, if obeyed, introduce a man into the kingdom of heaven, and a corre spondent joy and gladness must ensue. Ah ! my friends, tlje dogmas w hich represent the scriptures as a scaled book, and that teach that new revelations must be given to open the seals, or all that is written is useless; the dogmas which teach that saving faith is a principle wrought in the heart independent of :hc testimony of God, that faith is the consequence of regeneration; Ihat a man must be first saved then believe, and all their kindred dogmas have put weapons into the hands of the adversary of our faith, as well as have made the word of God of none effect in the hearts and lives of all who believe them. Many sceptics mistake the dross of mere human doctrines and dogmas for the pure gold of Chris- tianity. Men have, under the dominion of opinions, been made to love and hate one another for the agreement or collision of their opinions. — But under the dominion of faith tlioy are taught to allow a difference of opinions. There is but "-one /<«', faith, resignation, and con- tempt of the world. The firet may make us very good citizens, but will produce but a tolerable Ciiristian. Hence it is that Christianity insists more strongly, than any preceding institution, religious or moral, on purify/ of heart and a benevolent disposition; because these are absolutely necessary to its great end. But in those* whose recommendations of virtue regard the present life only, and whose VOL. II, 10* U4 DEBATE. proiiiiscd rewards in another, were low and sensual, no preparatory qualifications were requisite to enable men to practice the one, or to enjoy the other; and therefore we see this object is peculiar to this religion, and with it, was entirely new. But although this object, and the principles on which it is founded were new, and perhaps undiscovcrable by reason, yet when disco- vered^ they are so consonant to it, that we cannot but readily assent to them. For the truth of this principle, that the present life is a state of probation, and education to prepare us for another, is con- firmed by every thing which we see around us. It is the Only key which can open to us the designs of Providence in the economy of human affairs; the only clue, which can guide us through that path- less wilderness, and the only plan on which this world could possibly have been formed, or on which the history of it can be comprehended cr explained. It could never have been formed on a plan of happi- ness, because it is every where overspread with innumerable miseries ; lior of misery, because it is interspersed with many enjoyments. It could not have been constituted for a scene of wisdom and virtue, because the history, of mankind is little more than a detail of their follies, and wickedness; nor of vice, because that is no plan at all, being destructive of all existence, and consequently of its own. But on this system all that we here meet with, may be easily accounted for; for this mixture of happiness and misery, of virtue and vice, necessarily results from a state of probation and education ; as pro- bation implies trials, sufferings, and a capacity of offending; and education, a propriety of cliastisement for those offences."* More has been read here than is necessary to our object, the prominent idea on which we emphasise is, that the tendency of this religion is to produce purity of heart as essential to present and future happiness; not to obtain it as a reward, but to prepare ourselves for the enjoyment of il. A jierson to sustain any character must have a previous training. A plain unlettered man would feel himself but ill at ease among the polished grandees of this world: his taste, edu- cation and habits would disqualify him for all enjoyments in their .society. Now this is the prominent design of the christian religion, not only to reveal a ftitui-e state, but to prepare us for the enjoyment of it. A design so apparent in the volume as to make it a miracle, 10 me at least, how any person could conceive the authors of it to be bad men, deceivei-s, or impostors. That theol)jector design of the christian religion is not political, needs scarcely to be proved ; when speaking of the personal cliaract^r of this religion, Mr. Jenyns very forcibly remarks, page SO — 22. '•And here 1 cannot omit observing, that the personal character of the author of this religion is no less new, and extraordinary, than the religion itself, who "spake as never man spake," and lived as never man lived. In proof of this, I do not mean to alledge, tliat he •See the same train of thought Ingeniously pursued in one of the Spectators of Addison, in which he considers heuvai, not so much tlte reward as the con- sequence of virtuous actions.— .flf/xjr/e?-. nFXA'n: its Tasted forty days, that he performed a variety ©f miracles, and after being buried three days, that he arose from the dead; because these accounts will have but little effect on the miiids of unbelievers, who. if they believe not the religion, will give no credit to the relation of these facts; but I will prove it from facts, which cannot be disputed. - For instance, he is the only founder of a religion in the history of mankind, which is totally unconnected with all human policy and government, and therefore totally unconducive to any worldly pur- pose whate^'er. All others, Mahomet, Numa, and even Moses him- self, blended their religious institutions with their civil, and by them obtained dominion over their respective people; but Christ neither aimed at, nor would accept of any such power, he rejected every object, which all other men pursue, and made choice of all those which others fly from, and are afraid of. He refused power, riches, honors, and pleasure; and courted poverty, ignominy, tortures, and death. Many have been the enthusiasts, and impostors, who have endeavored to impose on the world pretended revelations, and some of them from pride, obstinacy, or principle, have gone so far, as to lay down their lives, rather than retract. — But I defy historv to shov/ one, who ever made his own sufferings and death a necessary part of his oi'iginal plan, and essential to his mission ; this Christ actually did: he foresaw, foretold, declared their necessity, and voluntarily endured them. If we seriously contemplate the divine lessons, the perfect precepts, the beautiful discourses, and the consistent conduct of this wonderful person, we cannot possibly imagine, that he could have been either an idiot or a madman; and yet, if he was not what he pretended to be, he can be considered in no other light. And even under this character he would deserve some attention, because of so sublime and rationnl an insanity there is no other instance iu the history of mankind.'' In speaking of the moral character and tendency of the christian religion, the same very acute writer observes ■. "That every moral precept founded on reason is carried to a higher degree of purity and perfection than in any other system of the ancient philosophers of [)receding ages — every moral precept, founded on false principles is entirely omitted, and many new precepts added, peculiarly corres- ponding with the new object of this religion.'' From these peculiar- ities he deduces a very powerful argument in proof of its Divine origin. The first item has been frequently noticed by other writers,- But few have spoken more explicitly on the false virtues omitted in the christian religion, though universally applauded in all other re-' ligions. These false virtues are valour, -patriothm, and friendship.. His remarks upon these three being very brief, I beg leave to read them. Page 31—30. '•Valor, for instance, or active courage, is for the most part con- stitutional, and thoi-efore can have no more claim to moral merit, than wit, beauty, health, strength, or any other endowment of the mind or body; and so far is it from producing any salutaiy effects by ♦introducing peace, order, or happiness into society^ that it is the usual perpetrator of all the violences, which from retaliated injuri«t, distract the world with bloodshed and devastation. It is the engine by which the strong are enabled to plunder the weak, the proud to trample upon the humble, and the g lilty to oppress the innocent. it is the chief instrument which ambiti-n employs in her unjust pur- suits of wealth and power, and is therefore so much extolled by her votaries. It was indeed congenial with the religion of pagans, whose gods were for the most part made out of deceased heroes, exalted to heaven as a reward for the mischiefs which they had perpetrated upon earth, and therefore, with them, this was the first of virtues, .and had even engrossed that denomination to itself; but whatever merit it may have assumed among pagans, with Christians it can pretend to none, and few or none are the occasions in which they are permitted to exert it. They are so far from being allowed to inflict evil, that they are forbid even to resist it; they are so far from being encouraged to revenge injuries, that one of their first duties is to forgive them ; so far from being incited to destroy their enemies, that they arc commanded to love them, and to serve them to the utmost of their power. If christian nations therefore were nations of chris- tians, all war would be impossible and unknown among them, and valour could be neither of use nor estimation, and therefore could never have a place in the catalogue of christian virtues, being irreconcileable with all its precepts, I object not to the praise and honors bestowed on the valiant, they are the least tribute which can be paid them by those who enjoy safety and aliluence by the inter- vention of their dangers and sufTerings; I assert only that active courage can never be a christian virtue, because a christian can have nothing to do with it. Passive courage is indeed frequently, and properly inculcated by this meek and sufTering religion, under the titles of patience and resignation: a real and substantial virtue this, and a direct contrast to the former; for passive courage arises from the noblest dispositions of the human mind, for a contempt of misfortunes, pain, and death, and a confidence in the protection of the Almighty; active, from the meanest; from passion, vanity, and self- dependence. Passive courage is derived from a zeal for truth, and a perseverance in duty; active is the offspring of pride and revenge', and the parent of cruelty and injustice. In short, passive courage is the resolution of a philosopher; active, the ferocity of a savaged Nor is this more incompatible with the precepts, than with the object of this religion, which is the attainment of the kingdom of heaven; for valor is not that sort of violence by which that kingdom is to be taken; nor are the turbulent spirits of heroes and conquerors ad- missible into those regions of peace, subordination, and tranquility, ^'Patriotism also, that celebrated virtue, so much practised in dncient, and so much professed in modern times; that virtue, which so long preserved the liberties of Greece, and exalted Rome to the empire of the world: this celebrated virtue, I say, must also be ex- cluded; because it not only falls short of, but directly counteract!?,, the extensive benevolence* of this religion. A christian is of no DEBATE. 117 roiintrv ; f'.« i;^ a citizen of the world; and his neighbors and country- men arc the inhabitants of the remotest regions, whenever their distresses demand his friendly assistance. Christianity commands us to love all mankind, patriotism to oppress all other countries to advance the iinaginnry prosperity of our own. Christianity enjoins us to imitate the universal benevolence of our Creator, who pours forth his blessings on every notion upon earth; patriotism, to copy the mean partiality of an English parish oiiicer, who thinks injustice and cruelty meritorious, whenever they promote the interests of his 'own inconsidevable village. This has ever been a favourite virtue with mankind, because it conceals self-interest under the mask of public spirit, not only from others, but even from themselves, and gives a license to inflict wrongs and injuries, not only with impunity, but with applause; but it is so diametrically opposite to the great characteristic of this institution, that it never could have been ad- mitted into the list of christian virtues. "Friendship likewise, although more ct>ngenial to the principles of Christianity, arising from more tender and amiable dispositions, could never gain admittance among her benevolent precepts for the same reason; because it is too narrow and confined, and appropriates that benevolence to a single object, which is here commanded to be extended to all. Where friendship arises from similarity of senti- ments, and disinterested affections, they are advantageous, agreeable, and innocent, but have little pretensions to merit; for it is justly observed, "If ye love them, whieh love you, what thank have ye? for sinners also love those, that love them." But if they are formed from alliance in parties, factions, and interests, or from a participa- tion of vices, the usual parents of what are called friendships among mankind, they are then both mischievous and criminal, and conse- quently forbidden, but in their utmost purity deserve no recommen- dation from this religion." As Mr. Jenyns, though a very hoftorable member of the Britisix parliament, dared to avow that patriotism was not one of the christian virtues, we may add that even the policy which we so much appro- bate in this community under the name o( ^^The American sj/stem,'"' though most unquestionably good policy, is a very bright example of the correctness of his remark upon patriotism. The patriotism of Great Britain would not permit her to buy the products of our soil, and our patriotism will not permit us to buy the products of her mechanical labors; she will compel her own subjects to suffer rather than purchase our corn and flour, and we will endeavor to deprive the manufacturmg classes in Great Britain of the means of subsist- ence to hold up our own. All this is good policy and good patriotjsni, but no part of^ the christian religion. To call this a virtue may be correct in politics — or economics: — but in the christian religion it would pass for a false virtue, and very justly, according to the genius of this religion which embraces all christians in its affection, and all mankind in its benevolence. .^ome have rather c,ensufeH than applauijed sonae .of the precepts JT8 DEBATE. f Hind ill the '■\^errtmn on the 7?^own^" Pretty thing, indeed, say they, to be commanded "to turn the other cheek to him that has already smitten us once;" and to go "two miles with him vhat compels us to jro one.-' Ye?, indeed, a pretty thing tor the proud and retaliating! Biit the question is. Which is the speedier way to end the controversy '? Now take the precept literally, and doubt not the controversy will be sooner terminated, and less danger will be incurred by turning the other cheek than by striking liack; — and we will sooner get rid of an unprofitable companion by going two miles with him, than to stop and quarrel on the rOad. Now, taking them literally, which is not in accordance with the genius of such niiixims, nor the Saviour's inten- tion, I presume; but, I say, take them literally, and they are, in their tendency, belter than any other course which can be pursued to terminate the quarrel. But Christianity inculcates many virtues unknown and untaught before, each of which demonstrates its divinity and excellent ten- dlency. I will prefer takintj notice of them in the words of Mr. Jenyns to my own desultory remarks. On.the beatitude which says, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for fiieirs is the kingdom of heaven," he remarks — "This v.as so new, and so opposite to the ideas of all Pagan moral- ists, that they thought this temper of mind a criminal and contempti- ble meanness, which must induce men to sacrifice the glory of their country, and their own honor, to a shameful pusillanimity; and such it appears to almost all who are called Christians even at this day, who not only reject it in practice, but disavow it in principle, not- withstanding this explicit declaration of their Master. We see them revenging the smallest affronts by premeditated murder, as indivi- duals, on principles of honor; and, in their national capacities, destroying each other with fire and sword, tor the low considerations of conimcrcial interests, the balance of rival powers, or the ambition of princes. We see them wiih their last breath animating each other to a savaoe revenge, and in the agonies of death, plunging with feeble arms their daggers into the hearts of their opponents; and, what is still worse, we hear all these barbarisms celebrated by historians, flattered by poets, applauded in theatres, approved in senates, and even sanc- tified in pulpits. But universal practice cannot alter the nature of things, nor universal error change the nature of truth. Piide was not made for man, but humility, meekness, and resignation: that is, poorness of spirit was made for man, and properly" belongs to his dependent and precarious situation; and is the only disposition of mind which can enable him to enjoy ease and quiet here, and hap- piness hereafter. Yet was this important precept entirely unknown until it was promulgated by him who said, "Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not; f )r of such is the kingdom of heaven; verily, I say unto you, whosoever shall not receive the king- dom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein." Another precept, equally new and no less excellent, is forgiveness of inj-ir5P3. "You have heard," says Christ to h^s disciples', "Thoft DEBATE. 119 shalt iove thy neighbor and hate thy enemy ; but 1 say unto you, love your enemies; bless them that curse you; do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and perse- cute you." This was a lesson so new, and so utterly nn'-nown, until taught by his doctrine, and enforced by his example, that the wisest moralists of the wisest nations and ages, represented the desire of revenge as a mark of a noble mind, and the accomplishment of it as one of the chief felicities attendant on a fortunate man. But how much inore magnanimous, how much more beneficial to mankind, is forgiveness! It is more magnanimous, because every generous and exalted disposition of the human mind is requisite to the practice of jt : for these alone can enable us to bear the wrongs and insults of ■wickedness and folly with patience, and to look down on the perpe- trators of them with pity rather than with indignation; these alone ■can teach us, that such are but a part of those sufferings allotted to lis in this state of probation, and to knoAv, that to overcome evil with good, is the most glorious of all victories; it is the most beneficial., because this amiable conduct alone can put an end to an eternal suc- cession of injuries and retaliations ; for every retaliation becomes a new injury, and requires another act of revenge for satisfaction. But would we observe this salutary precept, to love our enemies, and to do good to those who despitefully use us; this obstinate benevolence would at last conquer the most inveterate hearts, and we should have no enemies to forgive. How much more exalted a character, there- fore, is a christian martyr, suffering with resignation, and praying for the guilty, than a Pagan hero, breathing revenge, and destroying the innocent! Yet noble and useful as this virtue is, before the appear- •ance ,of this religion it was not only unpractised, but decried in principle as mean and ignominious, though so obvious a remedy for most of the miseries of this life, and so necessary- a qualification for the happiness of another." — p. 39 — 42. After specifying other virtues never before promulged, such as what he calls faith, repentance, humility, and universal benevolence, he concludes with these remarks, p. 51 — 55: — It cannot be denied that the Great Author of the Christian Institu- tion, first and singly ventured to oppose all the chief principles of Pagan virtue, and to introduce a religion directly opposite to those erroneous, though long established opinions, both in its duties and in its object. The most celebrated virtues of the ancients were, high spirit, intrepid courage, and implacable resentment. ^'Impiger, iracundus, inexoralibis, accr, was the portrait of the most illustrious hero, drawn by one of the first poets of antiquity. To all these adm.ired qualities, those of a true christian are an evact contrast; for this religion constantly enjoins poorness of spirit, meek- ness, patience, and forgiveness of injuries. "But I say unto you^ that ye resist not evil ; but whosoever shall smite thee on the right cheek, turn to him the other also." The favorite characters among the Pagans, were the tupnulent, ambitious, and intrepid, who, through toils and danger^, acquired wealthy and speat it in luxury, magaifi.* 120 DEBATE. ccnee, and corruption; but both these arc equally adverse to tlie christian system, which forbids all extraordinary efforts to obtain wealth, care to secure, or thought concerning the enjoyment of it. ■"Lay not up for yourselves treasures on earth," &c. "Take no thought, saying, What shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or where- Avithal shiil we clothed? for after all these things do the Gentiles seek " The chief object of the Pagans was immortal fame: for this their poets sang, their heroes fought, and ther patriots died ; and thfe was hung out by their philosophers and legislators, as the great incite- ment to all noble and virtuous deeds. But what says the Christian Legislator to his disciples on this subject? Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and shall say all manner of evil against you "falsely for my sake; rejoice, and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward in heaven." So widely different is the genius of the Pagan and Christian morality, that I will venture to aff.rm that the most celebrated virtues of the former are more opposite to the spirit, and more inconsistent with the end of the latter, than even their most infamous vices; and that a Brutus wrenching vengeance out of his hands to whom alone it belongs, by murdering the oppressor of his country, or a Cato murdering himself from an impatience of control, leaves the world more unqualified for, and more inadmissible into the kingdom of heaven, than even a Messalina, or an Heliogabalus, with all their profligacy about them. "Nothing, 1 believe, has so much contributed to corrupt the true spirit of the christian institution, as that partiality which we contract from our earliest education for the manners of Pagan antiquity : from whence we learn to adopt every moral idea, which is repugnant to it; to applaud false virtues, which that disavows; to be guided by laws of honor, which that abhors; to imitate characters, which that de- tests; and to behold heroes, patriots, conquerors, and suicides with admiration, whose conduct that utterly condemns. From a coalition of these opposite principles was generated that monstrous system of cruelty and benevolence, of barbarism and civility, of rapine and justice, of fighting and devotion, of revenge and generosity, which harasfsed the world for several centuries with crusade.s, holy wars, knight-errantry, and single combats, and even still retains influence enough, under the name of honor, to defeat the most beneficent ends of this holy institution. I mean not by this to pass any censure on the principles of valor, patriotism, or honor: they may be useful, and perhaps necessary, in the commerce and business of the present turbulent and imperfect state; and those who are actuated by them may be virtuous, honest, and even religious men: all that I assert is, that they cannot be christians. A profligate may be a christian, though a bad one, because he may be overjW)wer(?d by passions and temptations, and his actions may contradict liis principles; but a man whose ruling principle is honor, however virtuous he may be. cannoi be a christian, because he erects a standard of duty, and delilmrately adheres to it,, diametrically opposite to the wliole tenor of that re- iigion." DEBATE. Ui To conclude, the direct tendency of the christian religion, is to purify the heart, and to make men every thinj; which tiie perfect happiness of society requires. After Paul had gone into a long de- tail of christian virtues, he concludes in this sweeping style, which suffers not one virtue to escape : "Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are venerable, whatever things ;ire just, ■whatever things are pure, whatever tilings arc amiable, whatever things are of good fame; if there he any virtue, and if any praise be due, think on, and pvactiss these things." One miracle there is, v/hich Mr. Owen must believe at all events, on the whole premises before us. He must believe tliat a set of vile mipostors, deceivers of the basest stamp, the greatest cheats and liars that ever lived, did give birth to the purest system of morality the world ever saw, did recommend the practice of every virtue which human reason in the most cultivated state of society can adniire and approve. He must believe that all the true religion and genuine virtue now existing, depends ujwn the forgeries of a pack of Cliar- latans, v.'ho went about fnvm place to plac<^- declaring that they ha»;l heard what they never did hear, and thnt they had seeK what they never saw. This miracle Mr. Owen must believe — which is a miracl? of a more incredible character than any one in the volume, especially when we take into view the circumstances attendant on the progress and sufferings of these wicked impostors. "Jf iiieaJi thy faith, why choose the harder side?'"' But still I have not made sufficiently emphatic the tendency of Christianity upon every one who embraces it. This I will again lay before you. It becomes the more necessary to call this up again be- cause our opponent execrates Christianity more because of its '^'idle fears and terrors'- than on any other account. To me, from child- hood, it has seemed strange why mankind should more fear the threats, than hope for tlie promise* of Jesus Christ. If not to a conscious- ness of the .>ust desert of all tiiat is threatened, perhaps anterior to any notice of the threats, I know not to what other cause this is to be attributed. For certain it is, that threats and promises are equally credible or incredible. They both rest upon the same testimony. Now chrislianitv, if rationally regarded, can never fill but one class •>f mankind with fears. If it be regarded as a fraud or imposition, its hopes and fears are equally disannulled. If it be regarded as true, what is its truth save pardon and peace to every one who sub- mits to the government of Jesus Christ? No person c*in, then, be Mlled with any fears or terrors from the New Testament, but he that be- Uecesand wUlnotobey. The infidel cannot —the christian cannot. To the infidel it is all o romance — to the christian it is all peace, hope, and joy, real as life itself. Who, then, does Christianity make unhappy? The very persons, and none but the persons, it ought to makeunhapppy j viz, thoise who believe, and will not obey Jesus Christ. And if it did not make such unhappy, it would be unworthy of its Author and its object. And the man who labors to divest the guilty of his fe^rs is a misanthrope, and not a philanthropist. Yor,. H, 11 \m DEBATE. But there is a species of corrupt Christianity, winch has made sui- cides through the false alarms which it creates about things un- kaowii and unknowable. I have njtjiing to do with it more than with the Alcoran. It is enough for my p'lrpose to show tljat christi- anity promises pardon to every huiiui-' being who vohmtariiy submits to the government of Jesus Christ ; and this pardon is tendered to them the very instant they bow to tlieauth uitv of Jesus Christ or enter his kingdom. Hence the tirst christians always rejoiced, because the moment they were baptized into Jesns Christ, they had put him on as their Saviour; or in other word.-, had put themselves under the oonsfjtuf ion of fliyor, and sin could no Longer lord it over them, for they were not ujider law. Now all \\ ho, like Saul of Tarsus, believed in Jesus Christ and were baptized for the remission of their sins, as he was, or as the three thousand on Pentecost, couldj like the Eunuch, after baptism, go on their way rejoicing. So that the first christians addressed one another as having their sius forgiven; and consequent- iy ail guilt and shame and fear were removed from their consciences. They did not cease — they could not cease — always to rejoice, with joy unspeakHble and full of glory. 'Tis monks and friars and monas- teries, that have invented the gloomy religion of the times. The first christians were commanded to rejoice always. So that the legitimate tendency of the religion of Jesus. Christ, is to fill all who submit to his government, with peace, and joy, and good hope; and to cause them finally to' exclaim, "O Death, where no\y tliy sting! O Hades, y.liiire now thy victory 1" That such are the inseparable results of a covdial reception of the cospel^ or of a sincere submission to the authority of Jesus Christ, all the New Testament might be appealed to in proof — I will only allude to a few cases. Three thousand pierced to the heart by Peter's dis- course in Jerusalem on the day of^ Pentecost, so soon as he announ- ced reformation and remission of sins, wexahsi^XxzGAforiherenmsion of their sins — and straight-way they were filled with joy and peace ; ft)r they eat their food with gladness, praising God. When many of ihe Samaritans heard Philip proclaiming the Reign of Favor, they believed and were baptized, both men and women, and then, we learn from Luke, Nhere was mvehjpyin that cit.}iP So it was in all the ci- ties where Christianity was embraced. The apostles taught the chris- tians that God 'fhad forgiven then;j all trespasses." Of their joy, Peter says, "Whom having not seen you love, but on whom not now look- ing, but believing, you rejoice with joy unspeahahle and f till of glory ?'* The forgiveness of sins, the removal of guilt, and the consequent ter- mination of all fear that has torment, were, rra all cases, si/nultancotis blessings etijoyed by all christians on their putting themselves under the guidance of Jesus Christ. The same cause will produce the same effect, and wherever the ancierU gospel is proclaimed, believed, and obeyed, the same effects will uniformly follow. Now when we add to these blessings the well-founded hope of a gjorious immortality, at the resurrection ofthe just,we have elevated man to a rank worthy of himself, and made his e.vistence worthy o| DEBATE. 12S me GREAT Fii?ST CAUSE. So that the direct tendency of chnstianity isto glorify God in the highest decree; to produce peace of mind, joy, and hope in the believers; and to ditlusegood will among men. The golden paradoxes of Pual speak more in praise of Christianity than all the enconuums ever pi-onounccd upon it. To hear men perse- cuted, reproached, and destitute ofalmost every earthly comfort, say, *'We are sorrowful, yet ahcays rejoicing; we are poor, pet making many rich^ wc have nothing yet possessing all tilings,'''' transcends all the enconiums from all the orators of Greece, Rome, and England, pro- nounced upcii virtue,; the gods, and religion. ]^ancy to yourselves, my friends, a society in v.hich such characters shall have the rule, and then yow want no poet to describe the millen- nium to you. Peace, harmony^ love, and universal good will, must be the order of the day. Tiiere wants nothing — Ijelieve me, my friends, there wants nothing — but a restoration of ancient Christianity, and » cordial reception of it, to fill the v.orld with all the happiness, jthy- sical, intellectual, and nloral, which beings like us in this state of trial could endure — shall I .?ay ? — yes, endure, and enjov. But even yet, were we to close our renrarks upon the tendencies of Christianity, upon the subject of it, and upon society at Targe, we tihould fail in doing justice to this item, Vv^e must not only speak in general terms of its influences upon the human family; we must look at it in detail. We must ask, What has it cZone/or "womax? Yes — for woman — created to be the help meet of man? In all Pagan lands, and even among the Jews, she has been made little else than a slave to the passion and to the tyranny «f man. The Jev/s rather exile her from the synagogue, as altogether animal in her nature; and the rude savage makes her more a beast of burthen, than a companion fc>r man; doomed to incessant toils, to all the real drudgeries of life. — Paganism, in it? most improved forme, leaves her williout a taste for rational enjoyment, and without a taste of it. The Jews and Pagans forages back have scarce recognized that she has any claims upon man more than for food and raimon*, and these, indeed, are ofie.'i dispensed to her without a smile. But some half dozen of female names have come down to us in the annals of Grecian and Roman story, as having attracted much attention from their cotemporaries, or as deserving much admiration from posteritv . Natural aflection, in defiance of Pagan darKness, superstition, and cnielty, did, in some few instances, snatch some individual females from the empire of night, and gave them a place among the reputable characters of antiquity. But the sex, as such, were almost universally neglected. But from the time that Gabraei visited the cottage of Mary, the mother of our I^ord, down to the present, wherever Christianity has found its way, the female se?: has been emancipated from ignorance, bondage, and obscurity. It has been the aim and the glory of Christianity, my female friends, to elevate your sex from the degradation of Paganism, and to make you the rational, the useful, and the amiable companion of^nan. To i^^ vou are indebted for that infiuence which you now possess, and ought to possess, in forming the character of man. While ii24 DEBAllv. christkvnity has made you not the inferior but the companion and the equal of man; it has taught you that you are to pay the impost M-hicli, for this honor, it has laid you under. That is, that you are to bring up your offspring in the discipline and education which the J>ord enjoins; that you are to use all your influence in casting the minds of those, under your control, into the mould of the apostles' doctrine. This is the way you can perpetuate the blessings which you enjoy, and leave behind you sons and daughters who will feel them- selves equals and mutually love, honor, and esteem one another. Let me remind you that there are more individuals of your sex, honored in the New Testament, more of them named, more of them applauded, and more true courtesy shown them, than is to be found in all the other works of the Augustan age; and let all the world knov.' that in the New Testament it is a maxim that in Christ Jesus there is neither male nor female, but that both sexes arc one in all moral, religious, and social pri/ileges and enjoyments of which either eex is susceptible. Christianity would not have commended itself to every man's con- science had it not paid a due respect to all the natural and unavoida- ble relations existing in society. Hence there is not a natural relation to which it does not allude. Husbands and v/ives, parents and chii- I'leu, masters and servants, are all addressed in a way corresponding vith the nature of these relations, well desigTicd to sanctify and ren- der them all useful, comfortable, and happy. Here I am informed, by a note, handed me, that I have omitted to &ay any thing upon the subject oi regeneration. Some persons think MS most preachers speak. If you will observe, scarce a preacher fi!,kes a text, or makes a sermon, biU he nniet give you his >viiole syg- tf^m of theology. No matter where the text be found, the system must come out. Hence some of this audience think, that, in defending i:hfistiauily, I must defend orexhibit all the tenets ofa sect, or all the essential points of some system ; and so I am. told that T have omitted the article on regeneration. Strange, indeed! when T have been dis- coursing at length upon the purifying influences of the Christian reli- gion, and its tendencies upon the hearts and lives of men, 1 should be told that I have neglected the article of regeneration ! Perhaps my informant expected to hear from me a disquisition upon the quaint ihftoiies of modern systemr-. In not gratifying him with such a dis- cussion, for the tune being, I hope ho will ha,ve the goodness to ex- cuse ini\ Having paid some attention to t)ie geniutf, design, and tendency of ■hristianity, I will now ajiproach th" kocia] system again. Mr. Owen telies upon his twelve facts, and especially upon the sixth fact, or law, to demolish all the religions in the world. Yes, indeed, if his sixth law bo a truism, he conceives that all the religions of the world arc as prostrate as Dagon before the ark. If it be so that we can neither make ourselves nor our wills; that circumstances control us by a ne- cessity, as unchangeable as fate itself, then he has proved, by merely ass'irting these laws, that all the religions of the world are Ibunded upon tlij ignorance oi" mankind. He doe.s not seem to have noticed thai DEBATE. 125 ihcro 13 a very learned and respectable body of christians who attribute as much to necessity, only under different names, as he does himself. Every action of every human being, is, with them, foreknown, and prcdetei'miiied ft-om all eternity ; or in brief, ^'-that God hasforeordaifi- ed ivhaCsoever comes to pass,'''' Yet these are all firm and rational and argumentative believers in the Divine authority of these records. How, then, in the name of reason, can Mr. Owen think, that, in prov- ing his doctrine of fate or necessity, he has proved all the reli gions in thcj world to be predicated upon the ignorance of mankind, when he will had myriads of christians, philosophic or systematic^ necessaricuis, admitting his premises in all the prominent items, and yet dissenting from his conclusions. It will not then follow, as a necessary consequence, in the mind of a thorough Calvinist, that if our volitions have no power over our belief; that if all things are unchangeably fixed, tliere is no truth in religion. Mr. Owen has taken for granted that which will not be granted by myriads of learned, acute, and talented men, that his propositions proved and Christianity is slain. I hope he will yet turn his thoughts thitherward. He may say that they are inconsistent, and self-condemn- ed; but still it proves that his system may be true and Christianity true — ^myriads being judges. But this only on the way to another peep into his theory. 1 do think as Mr. Owen has paid so little attention to the objections offered to his system, that I am logically excused fr>)m paying any farther at- tentiontoit. But as he still reiterates his fundamentals with undis- mayed confidence that the repetition of them is, like a charm, to effect a cure of our mental maladies; and as he has repeatedly affirmed that if one of his principles can be proved erroneous, he will give up the whole. I will call upon another witnesss in the case. If consciousness be any sort of evidence of the powers with which %vft are endowed, 1 make the following appeal to it on the subject of his sixth law : Objects are thrown in our way, or we go in quest of them. — These excite our reasoning powers, or call them into action. We reason upon them and form judgments. These judgments or con- clusions either call for some acti%ity upon our part, or they do not. If they do not, v,-e do not act. But if they do, we act. Now what is the cause of these actions? Not the mere presentation of the object, but our reasonings upon it. From the first examination of the object to the last, there is a continual determination of the mind to the object; or when we havefini.shcd the first exammation of the object we will to examine it a second time; and so on to the third, or fourth examina- tion. Mr. Owen, for example, had heard that the Mexican gov- ernment had much territory to dispose of — his previous desire for territory to te;-t his theory upon, prompts him to- think upon sojlie plan for obtaining a part of it. He reasons upon thfe ol ject^ and examines it iu many iiiuepeudent points of view. On everv" separate view of the su" jccf, he decides to examine it ajria!"!. There fire as many detenniaations as examinpaions. Finallv, his u^ima{e con- V'M., n. 11* 126 DEBATE. elusion is torrned . Now every one of these examinations is begun^ prosecuted, and carried out from tlie consciousness which he poseesses of his power to accomplish the object so soon as it shall be decided which is the better course, lie would never examine the subject a moment if he was not conscious that he has the power of examining it, and tlie power of acting agreeably to his last decision. Now this conscloui-ness of the power of examination, deciding, and acting, 1 summon as proof that such a controlling power the mind possesses over its own acts. It is the nearest witness which can be summoned in this case, and its testimony is the most creditable. It knows most, and is tha best judge, of all our intellectual and moral po\\ers — and it avers, as every man can hear in the court of his own understand- ing, that nothing could be examined, contemplated, or reasoned upon, v/ore we destitute of a controlling power, or a power of acting con- formably to our own decisions. Consciousness is often the ultimate arbiter in all questions concerning our intellectual and moral powers. JIow often dp we see persons cither abandon, or refuse to undertake a professsion, or cause, because conscious their powers are not equal to it. We make consciousness a witness in all cases within its jurisdiction. Again, in walking dov/n street Mr. Owen hears that his cotton factory at New Harmony is consumed by fire! he does net at first know whetlier the report is credible. He goes to the river to inter- Togate the passengers, or captain of a steam boat just arrived from the vicinity. He interrogates them, and from their unanimcus t.-slimony ho believes the fact, and doubts no more. Now would Mr. Owen have gone one step in this examination if he had nd been conscious that he had the power of believing upon testinv>ny, aud that there was a certain amount of evidence which \^ould pro- duce certainty? His ultimate belief is evidently a consequence ot the existence of this controling power — and his deteiminaticn to 'wammc the matter proves, that his volition had some influence upon his belief. For, had he not examined, he would not have believed, ■ •'.\d had he not determined or Milled to examine, lie might not have obtained the evidence; so that his belief is in this case dependent upon his irill. Were I to ask him now to believe that his factory was not burned, he could not do it — not because his will determined any thing about It, but because he wants evidence. Pretty much the same power which the will exercises over our eyes in examining objects of sensC;. dues it exercise over our mental eye; wc open or shut the eve in obedience to our wills. But we cannot will to see without hght. An eye and light, and a will to see, are all necessary to vision ile that aihrms, that a man believes by necessity, may as we'.l 3\iy, that man sees by necessity. Theie is" no porsoii more blind than {:!♦! man who will not see. M^n ^^ ''''^*^ ^^''^ greater objections to the social system, plead by > '» ir^"" ^^ i^ f^'ily in its best possible state, predicated upon th',^ half of r.rxr, and only promises to make him a happy aiiimaU DEBATE 127 Far the sake of illustration wc will admit that Mr. Owen has con cummated all his plans, and all his wishes, in erecting his parallelo- gram communities, and that he has got a whole territory, nay, the whole earth covered with them; every thing just to his mind, — Man at his zenith is 'a stall fed ox. Mr, Owen has mistaken the capacity of man as much as the vintner did the capacity of a vesse], who strove to fill it with two gallons when it held four. Nothing but experiment could convince him — lie thought his measure of two gaiions was equal to the capacity of the vessel, until he poured in its contents — He then saw that it was but half full. So with Mr Oweu'j system. Men would sigh, and groan, and long for greater bliss, than Mr. Owen has to bestow. Ilis wheat, his oil, and his wi;\o; his amusements, pastimes, and ail his fanciful inventions would not i\[l the immeasurable blank yet remainu5g in the true enjoyment of rational beings, doomed by him only to riot like a worm upon the damask cheek of a deceased strippling.* Man has taste, desires, aspirations after bliss higher than the earth can minister to him. Now if Mr. Owen contemplates man as other sceptics have done, not as a privileged being; if he would give him that latitude of licentious intercourse which prevails among the brutes in the gratification of every propensity, until his capacity f)r sensual enjoyment is filled to overflowing; — if his artificial wants have been multiplied to the utmost conceivable extent; — and if he have surrounded him with the most refined circumstan- CCS imaginable, what does it all amount to? H?.s he made him hapr y? Far from it. His capacity for kappiness is as far from being filled as ever it was. It is only like subtracting-^ a fhw miles frcm infinite space, the remainder is no less.' So mail's desires are as eager and as unsatisfied still. Like Alexander the Great, when he ha«l conquered the whole world he wept, forsooth, because his arm was hampered and had not room enough to do its v/oik. "What a misftrtune! Have Ij indeed, no other world to conquer." Whence then, this insatiable desire for happiness; or whence, as the poet says, "this longing after immortaiity V Mr. Owen can boast, he says, that he is free from the fear of death — and he may boast that he is free from any hope in death. And sOy like the well fi;d calf, he has neither hope nor fear from death. Is this the glorious and rational end of this new philosophy? Let us eat and drink, fox to-rnorrow we die! But the time for adjournment has arrived. Adjourned till 2 o'clock. 'Relentless fate forbids that wCj Through gay voluptuous worlds should ever roara; And were the fates more kind, Our narrow luxuries would soon grow stale. \Vere these exhaustless, nature would grow sick, And tired of novelty, would squeamishly complain; That all was vanity, and life a dream." Armdro-rtg's ^Srt cf Uedih, — Efporia DEBATE, 128 Monday Afternoon, 20tk April, 1829. Mr. Chairman— We concluded our remarks in the foienoon on the subject of the perfect inadequaiy and inal-adaptaiion of my friend's scheme to the constitution of human nature— to the extent of our capacity of fruition. We admit that, were the human family to be regarded as mere animals, whose enjoyments were all of a sensual liind, that Mr. Owen's scheme would not be liable to so much objection. We might conclude with Paul, «If there be no resur- rection, let us eat and drink for to-morrov/ we die." The short tenure of earthly enjoyments would compel us to make the best use of them and to indulge m them to the greatest extent. We might then adopt the Epicurean precept, ^'■Carpe diem,'''' and say with the Epicurian poet, " Vita summa hrevh vetat spcm longam incohareP But inasmuch as reason and experience prove the inadequacy of all earthly pleas- ures to satisfy the human mind, we are obliged to declare that my friend's scheme falls infinitely short of providing for our capacity of enjoyment. Who so dead to the charms of the material universe as not to feel himself more refreshed and comforted by the sublime con- templation of the great Creator through his works, than ever he felt from mere sensual enjoyment? A small portion of material good thi.igs is sufficient to satisfy all the wants of nature; but the appetite for intellectual enjoyment is insatiable. The construction of the material universe is admirably calculated to lead us to the contemplation of the great First Cause who created the heavens and their hosts, and who sustains the immense universe with more ease than we move a finger or an eye-lid. To contemplate these things is, '-To look through nature up to nature''s God." Shall this sublime pleasure be annihilated ! Must we be forever doomed to look down^vards, and never raise our eyes to heaven ! The splendors of the starry firmament, the glories hung up to human view in the majestic vault of heaven, are the natural types of the Divine Majesty ; while the earlh presents, in all its magazines of goodness and mercy, tlie plain drawn characters which interpret all these sublime symbols. Must v/e never read this volume, nor inquire into the moral character of its great Author! And do we not, my friends, find our only con- solation under the toils, anxieties, and vexations of this troubled sea »)f life, in the anticipation of our one day reaching those mansions of pca^e "where the wicked cease from troubling, and the weary are at rest ?" Will any man's experience authorize him to say that when, like an ox, he has eaten and drunk his fill, then he is happy? Cer- tainly this would be to degrade man below the dignity of which he is now conscious. Who has been so successful and prosperous in the voyage of life as lo gain the object of his pursuit? Does not almost every man die in the keen pursuit of his favorite object? And docs not tins teach us that all our acquisitions are but progressipns towards objects of distant fruition and hope? Experience teaches us that our capacity of happiness is not to be filled by sublunary pleasures; that earth and sea, with all thei'- tre.isvires, arc far too small to fi 1 tiie soul of man. l:^ DEBATE. This social system robs the disconsolate of their oniy support— drives them to the adoption of Mirabaud'S seductive cure; and when '•weary of conjecture" concerning futurity, to put an end to the debate with a knife, a halter, or a pistol. Were it not for the cheering consolation which the hope of immortality inspires, what niimerous tuicides should we have to deplore? This hope is not only neces- sary to fill the measure of ou-r capacity of enjoyment, but it is neces- sary that we should carefully cherish this bright hope thai we may le enabled to sustain the vicissitudes, the disasters, the moral and physical diseases, which attach to our bankrupt circumstances, — Experience has proved to us all, that we have derived more pleasure from the pursuit of a favorite object, than we have enjoyed in the attiunmert of it; that we derive more pleasure from antici;>ating future gains, than in realizing them. Cut off anticipation from man, and you sever him from the most fruitful source of his happiness. The pursuit more than the acquisition, all experience says, contri- butes to please, amuse, and gratify man. To place man, then, in a situation where he has nothing to wish for, nothing to desire, norto pursue, is to cut him off from this most fruitful source oi iiitellectual pleasure, which all men have found to be paramount to all sensual gratifications. But not only in this instance is the theory contradict- ed by the universal experience of mankind — but it also involves another mistake in regard to the constitution of human nature. Mr. Owen contends that a society can exist without an idea of obligation or responsibilit5^ This is contrary to all the past records of time, and all present experience. A banditti of highway robbers could not exist without the ligament of laws, and the tie of moral obligation. Without them it would be impossible for them to concert a scheme of co-operative plunder : "For not since Adam wore his verdant apronj Has man with man in social union dwelt; But laws were made to draw that union closer." — Scoit, No society ever has existed, or ever can exist, without seme sense of responsibility and obligation. We talk of a lawless banditti, bi t this is to be understood sah modo. They are not without laws, tind rigorous oaes too, among the.msslvers; they well know that they could not exist without them. It is worthy of notice here, that among the rabble of superstitions professed bj^ the Pagan world, not one of them ever pretended to be derived from the First Cause. They derived their religious systems fr m subordinate persons, from inferior deities, who stood in seme special relation to the peonle that adored them. The ancients ascer- tainedthat it was impossible to retain men in order without the influ- ence of religious restraints. The popular religions of the Pagan world were all predicated upon this principle; and magistrates ini- p<-sed religions upon the people which they did not believe themselves, Lenuse experience had taught them that man was not to be governed vlthoui religious restraints. The ancient philosophers saw through DEBATE ISO the cheat, and were sufficiently inclined to expose it. S?ome of them denied the existence of future rewards and punishments. They con- tended that the body must return to the earth, and the spirit to the Universal Spirit, of which it was but an emanation, and that therefore future punishment was impossible. But the magistracy told the phi- tosophers, that, although all this might be very true, yet the people were not to be kept in order without the restraints ofreligion ; and the philosophers were strictly enjoined not to propagate their fr0e-thinking notions among the vulgar. From this originated the Elusinian and other mysteries of antiquity, the object o{ which was to preserve among the initiated just views of the First Cause and of the gods worshipped by the vulgar, which dare not be divulged among them. If we examine the ancient superstitions of the Pagan world, we shall find them all predicated upon this politic h3'pothesis. No social compact has as yet existed witliouf the doctrine of respon- vsibilit)', obligation, or accountability. Mr. Owen's schewie is the' most Utopian project in the annals of society. He lays the a.xe at the joot of ail obligation and accountability, and yet would have society to hang together without a single attraction save animal magnetism, if svich a thing exists. The doctrine of no praisie, no blame, is to be taught from the cradle to the grave ; and yet all are to live in accord- ance with the most virtuous principles. They are to have no princi- ple of responsibility suggested , and yet, under the charm of soeial feeling alone, they are to be more firmly bound than any wedded pair! Among the visions of the wildest enthusiasm, this one appears to be a rarity. Children are to be reared without a lesson upon obligation or duty, and yet they are to be most orderly, neither selfish, querulous, peevish, ambitious, nor any way vicious. All these evil propensities are to b& eradicated from their nature in consequence of being born in cham- bers, ventilated, heated, or refiigerated, in the social way. They arc to be models of beauty and rationality too, by a mere change of circumstances. No irrational faces, no deformed countenances, no di.sfigured frames can grow in any of Mr. Owen's parallelogram ar- rangements. The romantic genius of Mr. Owen gives these babes all angelic charms, excepting wings; and while there is to be a total destitution of all evil disposition, they are to be perfect giants in litera ture, virtue, and benevolent enterprize — able, in two hours per diem, Jo provide for all their own happiness and to perpetuate overflowing streams of bliss to posterity ! I am yet at a loss to know what Mr. Owen means by society. A society without asocial compae+, to me is unintelligible. Society is not a number of persons c.overi:ig a certain piece of ground like the trees in oar forests. Tiiey must congregate upon some stipulations express or implied. These stipulations ore to be performed, and conseq-K-ntiy responsibility and accountability forces itself upon Mr Owen in defiance of the powers of his imagination. In all other .societies, except Mr. Owen's imaginary one, the people and the ma- gistracy, whether elective or hereditary, arc mutually accountable to X3i DEBATE. each other. The people owe allegiance, which thej' promise in elect- ing their rulers; and the magistracy owe protection which they pro- mised in being elected. In entering into society man surrenders a part of his natural liberty for other benefits, which he could not enjoy as a hermit. This surrender he must never recall, nor those benefits must they withhold: they are, therefore, under continual obligations to each other. Whenever any person feels himself absc'ved from these obligations, he is either dangerous to, or unfit for society. And certainly Mr, Owen's system of training children would naturally lead them to feel themselves absolved from all such obligations. His system directly unfits them for society. I would ask you., my friends, or I would ask him, In what light he could contemplate that society which taught every child thai entered its schools, that tlie child which would kill its own father, was not to be blamed or disliked any more than the child which loved, caressed^ and reverenced its father? But, to be a little more plain and pointed, I must again remind you ihat Mr. Owen's system, as far as it has any peculiar benevolence proposed in it, or stamped upon it, is a plagiarism from christian society; in other words, all the benevolence about it was derived from models furnished by christian enterprize and christian sympalhy, and the crude notions of materialism and philosopliic necessity have been superadded from the atheistical schools of France and Epicurus. The influence of parents over their ofispring, and the influence of cir= cumstances, were popular doctrines in the reign of King Solomon ; nay, in tlie days of Moses. Moses laid as much emphasis upon the necessity of bringing up children under the best moral influences as any man in ancient or modern times. And so great an adept was Solomon in this science, that he aflirmed, "Train up a child in the way it should live, and when old, it will not depart from it." Mr, Owen, indeed, has confessed that he was indebted to christian society for his first ideas of the co-oporative system in producing the greatest amount of human enjoyment, as far as our temporal wants are con- cerned. Mr. Owen may have had the merit of amplifying somewhat upon the data furnished by the excellent preacher, AL-. Dale, The advantages accruing from the experiments of Mr. Dale were sufficient to convince any person of Mr. Owen's discernment, that much might be done by benevolent co-operation in a population like that in Scot- land, to diminish the evils pnder which a large class groan from Poverty and its handmaid Ignorance. This was t]ie start of the benevolent part of the scheme. About forty years ago, when my friend was just about entering manhood's prime, the French Revolution broke out, and all the covert deism, atheismj and scepticism, which the vices of popery had gener- ated like worms in a putrid carcase, exhibited themselves. Kingcraft and priestcraft became odioiJs all at once, and infidelity rising in the greatness of its feebleness, or strength, shook itself clean of both crafts ; apd ignorantly and impiously attempted to deify matter, and dethrone the legitimate Sovereign of the Universe. The ravages of infiiriated man, seeking through Wood and slaughter his long-lost DEBATE. 132 liberty, began to appear in all their horrors. Priests Were now every where execrated, caricatured, and every printer's shop was filled with infidel and atheistical tracts. In this awful crisis, when atheism be- come philosophy, and scepticism wss called reason, every raw and nndisciplined mind who came into contact with these spirits or their works, caught the contagion: and the desire of being reputed a phi- losopher, c; a man of reason, impelled thorn to laugh at religion, as if it deserved no better treatment than the Puritans once thought was due to witches and necromancers. The contagion spread into Eng- land, and the woful circumstances which then surroundod my friend fu;.i!shed him with the first impulses or data for tlie infidel part of his scheme. Since then he has been laboring to amalgamate the good idecs received by the better part of his circumstances with the bad ideas derived from the wor.ie part of them; and it is owing to the superiority of his natural organization that he has been so moral, or that his atheism has not led him into the usual and legitimate results which have, in ninety-nine instances in every huiidred, b(.>en its attend- ants. B jt besides the models furnished him in Scol'land, the Moravian and other societies, either preaching or practising some sort of a religious community of interests and feelings, eiiher strengthened the convic- tions or enlarged the views of my benevolent friend. But the mis- fortune was, and is, (and I fear will be) that he persists in attempting to unite the lights of Christianity with the darkness of scepticism. But the greatest error which I have to attribute to Mr. Owen, is, his not discriminating what Dr. Franklin failed to teach Thomas Paine. This political philosopher, who was, like many other reasoners, sane in politics, but insane in religion, submitted his "Age of Reason," to the revision or inspection of the greatest Ameiican philosopher. He read it, and agreeably to Mr. Paine's request, he wrote him his advice about its publication. After telling the sceptic what risks lie would incur, and how little good his work would do, he gravely reminds him how much he was indebted fir those principles of morality and benevolence which he possessed, to the influence and genius of the religion he was about to attack. lie tells him that he calculates too largely upon the natural virtues of man. This advice of the Annerican sage applies with still additional force to Mr. Owen. lie possesses a most benevolent temperament,' in early life, too, he went regidarly to church; and from these sources, as from the "good books" whicli he told you he had read, he imbibed all these moralities and benevo- lent views which his scepticism has not in forty years been able to obliterate. But his fault (for I believe that men may be guilty of faulfc^) has been not to discriminate, not to assign to its proper cause the influences which ho feels, and which he sees in himself and in the world. His ideas concerning matrimony, and many of his views detailed in this discussion, were all detailed with much ability by God v. in in his PoliticalJustice, though he feared some of those concb.isians from his own premises, which Mr. Owen has had tlie moral courage to DEBATE, 133 avow. I do not say that Mr. Owen directly and literally borrowed all his ideas from these fountains; but as these were not only the fashionable books, but the common topics of the epoch of his socia5 system; and as he has told us that he has read fee hours per day for nearly thirty years of his life, it would be doing him injustice to sup- pose that these works had not occupied a due share of his attention. I am not so sceptical in scepticism as Mr, Owen is in Christian- ity, or, as to thinic that mankind may not be improved in their condition. "jp«s est ah hoste discere?'' It is lawful to learn from an enemy. 1 do not doubt but that Mr. Owen has asserted many truths, and some useful truths. But not one good idea has he sub- mitted, which has not been derived, or which is not derivable from Christianity. There was a society in the New Testament which had all things in common ; but their happiness was not derived from a community of goods, but from that principle which issued, in their circumstances, in a community of goods. I most sanguineiy antici- pate a x'estoration of the ancient order of things, and a state of society far superior to any thing yet exhibited on earth. I believe that there will be what is commonly believed by all christians, a Millennium ; a period, a long period of generol or universal peace, happiness, and political and religions prosperity. And that some ^i' tlie views of Mr. O.ven may then be realized as the legitimate fruits of Christianity, I would not deny. But I must speak plainly and say, taking the w^hole "^f Mr. Owen^s theory in the mass it is ihe. most visionary theory which has ever been pronounced. It is too, all theory, for Mr, Owen has not made a sinc-le proof of it. He can not point to any society, on earth, as a practical proof of its practicability, or of its exc^ellency. Tell me nothing about New Lanark, for there it has never been tested ; and tell me nothing about New Harmony, for there, Mr. Owen will not appeal himself. He has given us a beautiful theory of his social system. But, Paul Brown's "Twelve months residence in New Har- mony" will shew the thing in practice: ^tis all a lie, says Mr. Onen.] And although much has been said about New Lanark, I must, if testimony be a proper source of information, believe that no social system, no co-operative system was ever tried there. Tiiat many persons may there have been improved in their circumstances is not denied. But how has that come to pass? — not on the principles vvhich Mr. Owen now teaches. I will tell you how some of them have been reformed and improved in their circumstances in that establishment. If, for example, a drunkard was received into the New Lanark manufactories, he was not permitted to draw any money from this company for his v/ork so long as he continued in the employment of the company. All his necessary demands for food, raiment, lodging, &c« were promptly paid in the articles wanted ; and the surplus, if anv there was, was not paid him in money during his continuance in the establishment; but when he removed the last farthing was paid him. Thus he became sober from necessity; ^ad temperate, because he could not get any thing to intoxicate him-. VOL, ir/ 12 134 DEBATE. The prodigal, and those destitute of economy were improved in their iinances by this same system — and there was a good school for edu- cating the youth, for which I believe, Mr. Owen deserves some praise. But this is abont the nett proceeds of the social system in i\ew Lanark. The people of New Lanark, too, were in the aggre- gate, a religious people. There is one Presbyterian church, in New Lanark, well frequented ; also for the benefit of the independents, who dissented from the establishment, a meeting house was built, to which Mr. Owen himself was the principal contributer. For, to his credit, it must be told, that while he has been declaiming against priests, and their impositions, he has been liberal in building meeting houses. The people of New Lanark are a religious people. I have learned from those who visited that place, that not only on the First day of the week, but on Thursdays, and other stated meetings during the week, they meet for social worship in some of the large rooms of the establishment. Mr. Owen''s theory, then, is without proof unknown and incredi- ble. Forty years reading, studying, travelling, and all the funds expended, liave produced nothing as yet visible, except the '■^Twelve fundamental Divine laws of human nature.''"' "Like quicksilver, the rhetoric he displays, shines as it runs, but grasped at slips away." New Harmony was once the land of promise. Bankrupt and brok - en fortunes were to be repaired there. Thither came the lame, the halt, the bli.ifi in fortune and in fame. The philosophers stone, or the elixir of immortal youlh were not more eagerly sought than the city of Mental Independence. But soon the charm dissolved, and all the awful realities of nature, reason, and religion, disbanded the social builders, and like those in the plains of Shinar, when one called for a brick, his attendant handed him a fetone^.or a blow^ and utter dispersion and confusion on their banners waited. As many of these folks as had been brought to their senses, and had ever read Horace, as they returned., admitted the truth of the old maxim, and now and then lisped it out : ^ "Coelum non animum mutant, Qui trans mare currunt." — Horace. Their clime, and not their mind, \h(ty change^ Who sail across the sea. The trinity of evils was the tejxt for rnonths at New Harmony. But soon they found a treble trinity of other ev' Is than artificial ones. Next to religion, marriage was accursed. Marriage, the oldest in- stitvition in the world, founded in 4iature,, reason, a^. .eligion. must be banished the dominions of tlie social system. It enabled parents to recognize their children, and children their parents; and natural affection would run in these channels, and mine and thine in spite of the- twelve categories would be heard, and all this was perfect discord in the music of New Harmony. Marriage, then, must for these reasons be banished, that a thorough social syst(!in may succceed. DEBATE, 135 This attempt to ciissolve, violate or impugn the mirriaire contract, t think, ruined the project on the Wabash. It is hard tc fight against ^''the trinity of nature, reason, and religion/' God said, it is not ^ood for man to be alone! He then created a help meet for him. — ■ Even in Paradise, man alone was but half blessed: "The world was sad, the parden was a wild. And man the hermit sigh'd, tHl woman smd'd.'J — Reporter. Poligamy was denounced in the creation of but one woman for man,; and the equal distribution of the sexes since has shewn, that every man ought to have his own wife, and every woman her own husband, All that adorns, animates, and exalt.-;, as respects the finer feelings of human nature, spring from this institution in its primitive ap- pointment. On the altar of matrimony are woven all the cords of affectioH, all the ligament-s and bands thut cement society. All natural relations are but the names of the silken cords which bind society in all the socIjiI relations which give a zest to all enjoyments, and extract the sting from the thousand griefs and sorrows of human life. He that would abolish this institution, or violate its sacred obligations, is any thing but a pliiianthropist. Destroy this insti- tution, and not only the happiness of man, as a social being, but the 'safety of the race, would be endangered. Parental affection is the strongest passion of tiie human soul, which not even the deformity of person or mind, or filial intrratitude, disobedience, or impiety^ can wholly obliterate. Our greatest gratifications, on earth, arise from chis institution, and the relations to which it gives birth. And it is just as hecessorjr for the safety, as tor the happiness of the race.* But to meet the exigencies of the new slate ofexistence, when marriage is to be no more, a band of nurses are to be trained who are to have in 'charge th'c infantsbf the communities. This is to save time and labor, and tty^&onomize' tWe productive ener, and inspirations of Christianity, would bo only to attempt to make a globe, a new earth, without the principle of gravitation or attractioit. Mr. Owen's system always* appears to me to resemble the etTorts of some pagan god to build a world u;)on the single principle of repulsion. But Mr. Owen is about to have the animal rnfan improved as the hoi-ses and sheep of this country have been improved, upon scicntijic principles. He has told us of a science, in which he is an adept, and with which all shall be well acquainted in "the new state of' existence," for Improving rnan in his animal and mental endowments, even from, if not anterior to his birth. 'J'his is all in accordance with the fine i-uagination of njy fiiend. lie is not, however, the inventor of this part of his scheme: Dr. Graham was before him, and disrobed him of the honor of originating even this j)art of the new sciences ol' iTie social system. We shall give you some short account of this matter. James Graham, M. D. born at Edinburgh, 1745, a philanthropic physician, travelled over great part of England and America, admin- rsterinvilling to sacrifice to Venus in these sacred domes, he engaged to •So sensible was the old common law of England of this point, that it made the workinj^s of parental affection a palliation for the commission of murder. For when a man's son was severely beaten by another boy, and came home and told his father, if his father went in pursuit of the other boy, and followed him one mile before he overtook him, and beat him in return, so that he died; this was held by all the judges to be only vmislaugkier, in consideration of the strength of nalviral feehngs.— iifperfc?'. DEBATE. 137 teach "the art of preventing barrenness, and of propagating a much more strong, beantiriil, active, healthy, wise, and virtuous race of human beings, than the present puny, insignificant, foolish, peevish, vicious, and nonsensical race of christians; who quarrel, fight, bite, devour, and cut one another's throats about they know not what." Such is a part of one of his many advertisements which then appear- ed in the London papers. About the end of ]'<87, he returned to Edinburgh in a new and extraordinary cliaracter; viz. — that of a teacher sent from God, to announce the IMillcnnium, the second coming of Christ, and the final consummation of all things. He styled himself the servant of the Lord, O. W. L. /. c. as he explained it. Oh Wonderful Love. He oonnnenced a new era, datin^^; his bills "ist, 2d, and 3d days of the ijrst montii of the New Jerusalem." But before the commencement of the second month he was constrained to confess "he felt the devil, the world, and tiie fiesh too strong for him, and therefore he supposed the Lord must look out for another forerunner of his second coming "' Daring great part of this time his wife (for he had married in Nev/ England) .-eems to iiave been neglected, and even forgotten: for, upon becoming acquainted with the celebrated Mrs. Macauley, the histo- rian, he ouered her his hand, which she would have accepted had she not accidentally discovered thit he had a wife still living. Upon this discovery, the Doctor, no wise discomfited, protested the ardor of his passion for her Irdd made him forget that circumstance. This singular and benevolent being died in 1794. The points of similarity betv/^en my friend and the Doctor are so plain, that I noed not be at the pams to point them out: your own recollection of the first and second years of the era of Mental Inde- pendence proclaimed at the Metropolis of Free-Thinkers, and at the head of the army of the "March of Mind," will, with what you have heard and seen on the present occasion, be sufficient data to trace the lineaments of Dr. Graham in my good-natured and benevolent friend, I forgot to mention that Dr. Graham was finally placed in a lunatic asylum. But on this side of this extravagance, several miles on this side of these enthusiastic flights, there have been schemes hatched up under the canopy of a peculiar organization, as air-built it is true^ and as benevolent as that of Dr. Graham, and Mr. Owen, which have lasted a little longer, but have finally proved as empty quite. But, my friends, I should not have occupied a minute of your time upon these vision*, and dreams, and theories, called philosophic or vulgar, had it not been for the v/anton attack made by Mr. Owen on the last, best hope of mortal man. I should have permitted any other experiment to have found its quietus, as thousands such have already done, without observation or regard. But when I see the last hnpcof a dying world recklessly assaulted, I feel too much interest in the eternal welfare of my fellow-creatures, to remain a mere passive spectator. I feel myself called upon to put on the armor of reason, true philosophy, and religion, and to stand to my post, lest in the midst of such morbid excitements, in this age of extravagant theory and VOL. il. 12*" l;j8 DEBATE. licentious philosophy, many over-ardent minds might be allured by thespeciousness and false jjjiare of this tinselled pliilosophy, wliich, I trust, we have shown to be any thing else but consentaneous with the constitution, experience, and history of the world. Behold the cruelty of this scheme! (not that Mr. Owen is cruel,) the hard-heartedness of the system ! Think of all the labors and toils, tlie griefs and sorrows through which you have passed. How have you wearied yourselves in pursuit of phantoms. Every thing you have gained has only mocked and disappointed you. Like bubbles they have bursted when you laid your hands upon the glistening objects of your avarice or ambition. All has been fleeting and evanescent.' You know, for woful experience has taught you, that you have been pursuing shadows. What pleased you at seven, you disdained at fourteen; what charmed you at fourteen, was disgusting at twenty; and what you almost adored at twenty, ha:^ been long since contemned and despised ; and what now fascinates yju at forty, will, should you reach seventy, appear as unworthy of yoiy admira- tion as the toys of childhood now present themselves to y\>u. But when the curtain drops, and the last grand act of the drama of human life closes, you will be mocked still; and, on Mr. Owen's pri*3ciple, you have been mocked at last. There is nothing real. You dc^sired unmortality; you sought it, each in his own way; but with him none have found it. It is deceit and mockery all through. Riches, popularity, wisdom, health, and life itself, have all been deceiversv— all was promise — all is disappointment. The promised bliss, th^ real, substantial, and permanent good which religion has presenteo^ to you, is torn from your eyes, and everlasting death, eternal sleep, and utter annihilation, is the only reality he has offered you. Cruel system ! Bootless boast ! Heligion — the Bible! What treasures untold reside in that heavenly v.'ord! Religion has given meaning, design, to all that is past, and is, as the moral to the fable, the good, the only good of the whole — the earnest now of an abundant harvest of future and eternal good. — Xevv let me ask the living before me, for we cannot yet appeal to the dead, whence has been derived your most rapturous delights on earth? Have not the tears, the dew of religion in the soul, afforded you in- comparably more joy than all the fleshly gaieties, than all the splendid vanities, than the loud laugh and the festive song of the 30ns and daughters of the flesh. Even the alternations of hope and fear, of i'oy and sorrow, of which the christian may be conscious, in his arden trace after a glorious immortality, affijrd more true bliss than 'ver did the sparkling gems, the radiant crown, or the triumphal arch, bestowed by the gratitude or admiration of a nation, on some favorite diild of fortune and of fame. Whatever comes from religion, comes from God. The greatest joys derivable to mortal man comes from this source. I cannot speak for all who wear the christian name; but for myself I must say, that worlds piled on worlds to fill the universal scope of my imagination, vvouki be H miserable per coijtra, against the annihilation of tiic idea DEBATE. 130 of God the Supreme. And theparado.v of paradoxes, the iniracle of miracles, and the mystery of mysteries with me now, was, and evermore shall be, is, how any good man could wish there was no God! With the idea of God the Almighty, departs from this earth, not only the idea of virtue, of moral excellence, but of all rational enjoyment- What is height without top; depth without bottom; length, and breadth without limitation? what is the sublimity of the universe, without the idea of him who created, balances, sustams, and fills the whole with goodness? The hope of one day seeing tJiis Wonderful One, of be- holding him that made my body and is the father of my spirit — the anticipation of being introduced into the palace of the universe, the sanctuary of the heavens, transcends all comparison with all sublu- nary things. Our powers of conception, of imagination, and our powers of computation, and expression, are alike baffled and pros- trated in such an attempt. Take away this hope from me, and teach me to think that I am the creature of mere chance, and to it alone indebted for all that I ■AA.m, was, and ever will be, and I see nothing in the universe but mortification and disappointment; death is as desirable as life; and no one creature or thing is more deserving of my attention or consi- deration than another. But if so much pleasure is derived from surveying the face of nature, from contemplating the heavens and the systems of astronomy ; if there be so much exquisite enjoyment from peeping into the great laboratory of nature, and in looking into the de- licate touches, the great art, the wonderful design even in the smaller works^ in the kingdom which the microscope opens to our view, what will be the pleasure, the exquisite joy in seeing and beholding him who is the Fountain of Life, the Author and Artificer of the whole Universe. But the natural and physical excellencies, and ma- terial glories of this great fabric, are, but, as it were, the substratum', from which shine all the moral glories of the Author oi Eternal Life^ and of the august scheme which gives immortality to man \ No unrestrained freedom to explore the penetralia of voluptuous- ness, to revel in all the luxury of worms, to bask in the ephemeral glories of a sunbeam, can compensate for the immense robbery of the idea of God and the hope of deathless bliss. Dreadful adventure! hazardous experiment! most ruinous project, to blast the idea of God! The worst thing in such a scheme which could happen, or even appear to happen, would be success. But as well might Mr. Owen attempt to fetter the sea, to lock up the winds, to prevent the sising of the sun, as to exile this idea from the human race. For although man has not, circumstanced as he now is, unaided by reve- lation, the power to originate such an idea; yet when it is once suggested to a child, it never can be forgotten. As soon could a child annihilate tlte earth, as to annihilate the idea of God once sug- gested. The proofs of his existence become as numerous as the drops of dew from the womb of the morning — as innumerable as the blades of grass produced by the renovating influences of spring — every thing within ufj and every thinar without, from the nails upon the t40 DEBA'fE. ends of our fingers, to the sun, moon, and stars, ct)nfirm the i<:Icica» tions of the Almighty, but from all other information found in the sacred records. They who presumed to make criticisms upon the terms and phrases found in the Bible, ought first to ascertain well whether they are biblical critics. gf,.J should now proceed to give you a concentrated view of the whole argtanent, but I must give place to my friend, that he may make his objeQtions to my long speech. Monday evening, 4 o'' clock. ■-' [The above speech commenced on Friday at 3 oclock, and in all occupied 12 hours.] Mr. Owen rise«, Jt is my wish to make the present meeting, which is a very singu- kir one in its nature, as extensively beneficial as possible. Alter the full statement of my views, with which I opened this discussion, it was not my intention to occupy much of your time in listening to a rejoinder to Mr. Campbell. But not knowing what my friend was going to say in answer to that statement, and finding that, in- tftuad of replying to my arguments, he has given you a full and elaborate developement of the Christian religion, it is nccessuty to <]etain you somewhat longer than 1 intended. U^ DEBATE. I have listened to Mr. C. with ptofoimcl titteiuion; and havc^, therefore, received the impressions which his elahorate f^xposition of the Christian system, and his whole chain of evidence are capa-^ ble of producing on a mind long accustomed to severe and accurate reasoning. 1 now owe it to you, who have attended here so patiently throuoli this discussion — I "owe it to the present generation, and *o ail future generations, to declare without reserve what these impressions are. My friends, Mr. Camphell appears to me to have done his duty manfully, and with a seal that would have heen creditable to any of the primitive fathers of the church. His own conviction of the truth and divine origin of the system which he advocates, and his ardent desire to impress that conviction upon my mind, and upon yours, all here have witnessed. His learning, his industry, and Fome very extraordinary talents for supporting the cause v hich he advocates, have been conspicuous; and for one trained in the Jicry notion? produced by the tree-will doctrines, he has restrained his temper beyond my most sanguine expectations. That, however, which I admire in him above all, is his downright honesty and f;iir- ness in what he believes to be the cause of truth. He says to his Qaponent; *'I am strong in the cause t advocate. It is from heaven; and I fear not what man can do against it. J am ready to meet you at any time and place, provided I may reply to you, and that our arguments sliall go together to the public, to pass its ordeal, and -await its ultimate calm decision." Now, this is a straight forward proceeding in the investigation of truth, which I have long sought i'or, hut wliich, until now, I have sought for in vain. The friends of truth, theretore, on whichever side of the question it may he found, are now more indebted to Mr. Campbell than any other chris- tian minister of the present day. These are the impressions made upon my mind, with regard to my friend, Mr. CampbelPs conduct m this delicate and difficult task %vhich ho has volunteered to pcrtbrm. It is now my duty to give you the living impressions which Mr. Campbell's learning, industry, and ^eal have made upon m}' mind, through the long discussion we have heard. And you will not, I trust, imagine that what I am about to state proceeds from aity other cause than Vie love of truth, and a sin- cere desire to henr^t the present and future generations. Then, my friends, mv impressions are, that Christianity is not of divine origin: that it is 7iot true; and that its doctrines are now any- thing but beneficial to mankind. On the contrary, my impression;? ure deeply confirmed, that its miracles and mysteries are of man's "Contrivance, to impose on the great mass of mankind, who have laever yet been taught to reason; to enable the few to govern the many, through their interested hopes and fears for the future; and to induce the many to prostrate their minds before an order of men, who, through these means, can easily keep them in subjection to the powers that be. That its doctrines arc noAV, by turning aside the jjiind from investigating its own powers, the only obstacle in ehris- DEBATE. 143 tendom to the most important improvements; anr^ that the whole, system, in its principles and practice, in despite of all we have heard in, advocating it, is the greatest bar to the progress ^f knowledge, that now exists; and that, if my impressions are righ'j Christianity, as it IS now taught all over Christendom, by prevent! ig man from acqui- ring an accurate knowledge of himself, or of the only means by which his character can be uniformly well formed, is the greatest ourse with which our race is at this timeatHicted. My friends, do you suppose that I could utter such a sentiment as you have now heard lighlly, and without due consideration? No! it is the settled conviction of my mind, arising from forty years of the greatest possible industry in tracing chrisiianity in all its influen- ces and operations upon the whole of society. There is no individual in this assembly, who regrets the necessity of wounding your feelings more than I do. Bat, my friends, I am not speaking tor the hour, or the day, or the few hundreds that are here. 1 speak to you a truth, which I expect, when once promul- gated, will pass from mind to mind, until it shall pervade every part of the world. I speak to you a truth, which, whatever may be your present impressions, will one day prove to you the most valuable truth you ever heard. My friends, would you not suppose, from what you have heard of the practical advantages of Christianity, that all is now right amongst you; that you are very angels in condnct; that you have at«f*^gyou the very perfection of virtue and of all excellence? But you all well know this is not the case. You well know that christian society, all over Christendom, abounds in vice and iniquity. [Here there was some stir among the audience.] My friends, if any of you are afraid to hear the truth, it is time for you to depart. [Here a little more excitement, and somefen-: left the church.]* My friends, when the Jewish system was worn out, and the time had arrived for another to be introduce^], the excitement which took place, when communications were publicly made that a new order "f.things was about to commence, was much greater than the trifling movVnent which we huve justnov/ witnessed. The time, however, has ajrived, when the corruptions of the christian systein, like the corrii()tions of all preceding and existing old systems, call loudly for a ^reat and mighty moral change. Do not you all acknowledge dailv, and with great truth, that you are now dead in trespasses and sins? If you really mean what you say, it is high time that you should arise imder new circumstances into new life. But unless the truth, without any fear of man, shall be honestly spoken to you, what help is there for you? You have not, in this discussion, heard from me one syllable that is not deeply fixed in my mind as a valua- ble truth; nor, during the remainder of these proceediti^s, shall you hoar a word from me, that is not dictated by an ardent de^^-e to place without disguise the most valuable truths before you. *lIorc a lady ahnost fainted, and another had her foot bruised in the crowA 144 DEBATE. The evidences which Mr. Campbell has brought to prove the truth' of Christianity, prove to me its falsehood. And all he has said about the piu-ityof its doctrines, and their efficacy for practice, is disproved by the daily conduct of every- christian population in every quarter of the world. A christian population is, emphatically, in practice, a population preying upon each other, and living very generally in a state of unnatural anxiety fur useless and surplus property, in the midst of hourly deception and hypocrisy; hating and disliking each other because they cannot think and feel alike, having been taught the notion that they may think and feel as they please. It is every where a population of inequality of condition, and necessarily of pride, poverty, envy and jealousy. It is a population, in which ten- fold more of exertion and anxiety is required from each, to produce •the misery they experience, than is necessary to secure a full supply of the best of every thing for all. In short, I find it to be, in prac- tice, so full of ignorance, weakness, insincerity, and counteraction of each other's views and objects, and of weekly preaching to per- petuate all the.«e evils, that, did I not tirmly believe that truth is om- nipotent to remove error, and that we are, in consequence, rapidly approaching a new state of existence, in which, with regard to these things, there will be a new birth and a new life, a regeneration that will purge m*in from all these abominations, I could feel no interest in the present irrational proceedings of the human race. And if I had Avanted any further proof of the christian world being in this wretched condition, Mr. Campbell's sermon in this place, on Sunday last, and the appearance of the state of mind of the congregation, would have rendered more unnecessary. Never did I see go much fine talent so miserably misdirected. Never did I see human beings so ready to receive poison under the undoubting supposition that it was good and wholesome food. Mr. Campbell is, however, according to my conviction of right and wrong, l)laineless. Like all other men, he has been made sub- ject fo the fifth law contained in the casket; he has been compelled to receive the instructions which have been forced into his mind, which is by nature of that honest firmness and consistency, that he is com- pelled to retain tliem with great tenacity. My friends, I do say again, that so long as this weekly preaching, without reply from the congregation, shall be allowed to proceed, you find your posterity will be kept in the very depth of darkness, as you are at this hour. In conseqnence of this preaching, Mr. Campbell, unconscious to himself, with all his energies and fine natural talents, has fallen a complete victim to it. His mind has been closed bv his early training and consequent prepossessions, and held in chains, by xyhich he is prevented from receiving one ray of natural and true light. He is, at this time, I fim compelled to believe, in the depth of mental da rkuess — blind as a mole. Thus from age to age do the blind lead the blind, until they all fall isxto the ditch of error. And mt of this ditch, 1 perceive, they «?a:inut DEBATE. 145 *'.omc, until some one suall open tlie eyes of their mind, and enable them to see the wretched condition in which they are. The present and past generations liave been rendered mentally blind from their birth, and they truly require many physicians to make them whole. Now I am persuaded, that neither Mr. Campbell nor the larger part of his congregation, were in the least conscious, that throughout his sermon on Sunday morning, lie reasoned as falsely and spoke as much error as could well bespoken in the same period. And these false impressions were taken home by tho?;e present, whose conduct would not be improved by it in the least; for they would think worscof their neighbors who are compelled to differ from tliem in opinions and feelings, and immediately begin to enter upon the regular daily sins of life, such as I have described them to be — the same, in fact, as they were engaged ifi the day before, and all their lives. This kind of preaching has no other etfect — it can have no other effect — in practice, than to perpetuate the dark ages of ig- norance and hypocrisy. And before I leav»e this part of the subject, I wish to put it upon re- cord, that the most despotic power in the world, at this day, is the week- ly preachmss in the churches, without the liberty of reply to tiie preacher. And the United States, free and independent as they are supposed to be, are more overrun with the blind thus leading the blind than many other countries. Yes, my friends, by fhis cunningly de- vised mechanism, which extends its ramifications far and wide, evca into the lands and territories the most distant, you are made to pay for erecting the buildings and the cost of repairs ; to pay the preach- er, anti bow your neck to him, that he may the most conveniently rivet on you the chains of ignorance, and make you always subservi- ent to his purposes. Until this evil shall be removed, there will be no hope for the rising generation. You can never be free as long as you have weekly or frequent unanswered preachings and pray- ings. Now, this is a different view- of the subject from any anticipaled by Mr. Campbell. His mind, in consequence of his early instruction and prepossession, has not been, in any degree, prepared for it; nor does he now, as it appears to me, perceive or compi-ehend much of my reasoning. I apprehend, also, there are but few in this assem- bly, who, with their present impressions, can be prepared to under- stand it. The twelve old laws, v/hich appear so much to puzzle Mr. Campbell, may be fitly compared to a casket in which are contained twelve of the most valuable jewels that the imagination can conceive; but a casket composed of steel so highly polished, that all who look upon it see only the reflection of their own minds. You may also imagine that the casket has been closed, by ingenious workmen employed for that purpose, many thousand years, in order that no ordinary person should open it to inspect its contents. Mr. Campbell has looked upon this casket; but with all his talents, owing to the tenacity of his early VOL. II, 13 140 DEBATE. impressions, it has reflected the association only of his mstructioiife in the cliristian mysteries. A fortunate combination of circumstances, originating in certain causes, over which 1 had no control, has enabled me to open this cas- ket, and at leisure calmly to survey the precious deposit therein. The jewels it contains have laid within it for unnumbered thou- sands of years. They have not, theretore, that brilliant appearance, which they would possess if they had been lately polished by profes- sed and experienced jewellers. But this evening, after the meeting adjourns, I will, although I am not an experienced working jeweller, in the absence of those more expert in the trade, take the liberty to burnish them up a little, and to-morrow endeavor to bring out some of their beauties for your inspection. I shall not have time to perform this burnishing as it ought to be done; but what the time will permit, I will do. Adjourned till to-morrow. Tuesday, April 21, 10 o^ clock A. M. [Met agreeably to adjournment.] Mr. Owen proceeded — Mr. Campbell has said that the Christian religion is divine, and that the Supreme Power, who revealed it, is most anxious that mea f^hould believe it. How came it, then, that Mahomet, after Christ had preceded him six hundred years, and the christians had all that time to mature their plans, should have obtained more proselytes, and that the Musulm^n should at this day nearly equal if not outnumber the christians ? That which proves the tru^h of the Christian reli- ;;ion, as Mr. Campbell has attempted to prove it, will equally prove ihe truth of the Mahometan and every other religion. The verity of each depends upon the same kind of testimony — they all have their mysteries and their miracles. Whenever we become rational beings we shall be assured that the Power which governs the universe, whatever it may be, requires no mysteries or miracles to effect its purposes. If my plan was to arouse too much local irrational feelings, it would not be ditlicult to make very .short work of these proceedings. To en- ter fully into an oxaminatiou of the mysteries, miracles, and errors %Vhich christians have been taught from infancy to hear with rever- ence, would be productive of np practical benefit. I shall, therefore, nut go much into detail upon subjects, which so few are yet prepared lo hear freely discussed. There may, however, be some utility in deviating a little from the course to w hich originally I intended to adhere. For although I think it right, for the reasons stated, not to enter minutely into what ap- pears tome the glaring inconsistencies of any of the religions of the world ; yet as Mr. Campbell has taken so much pains to develope the whole of the christian scheme, I w ill advert to some of his points of defence, and afterward.s give a further developement of those twelve rundamcntal lav/s, which Mr. Campbell calls old principles, and show DEBATE. 147 lliat these old principles, being all proved to be facts, it becomes utterly impossible that any religion can be true. Mr. Campbell has told you the christian religion consists in faith, and that faith depends upon testimony ; that the faith necessary for you to have, is an undoubting belief in the miraculous birth, in the death and burial, and in the ascension into heaven of the man Jesus Christ, who — it is the most essential, however, to believe — was really and truly the Son of God, begotten by him of a virgin. This is the position' in which Mr. Campbell has placed the discus- sion. He is, from the circimistances in which he has been placed from his infancy, unprepared to discuss it upon any other grounds. His mind is completely overwhelmed with the theological learning he has been induced to acquire, Mr. CaRn.pbell has little or no practical knowledge of the present state of the human mii;id, or of society, out of the western districts of this country. It was not my intention, as I have previously mentioned, to enter at all into the endless details of the incomprehensible mysteries, which have been contrived to confound the understandings of the ignorant, m all the religions of the world, past and now existing. The most intelligent of the population of Europe never thii k of introducing religious subjects for argument. They are well aware that all religious mysteries and miracles are opposed to reason, and are useless for any good purpose. They abandon them, therefore, to men who discard reason — to untaught women and children; and by these means relieve their society from a subject, upon which they tacitly acknowledge that all men, who devote their time to it, become more or less insane. I shall, therefore, not waste much of your time, and mine, b3/ enter- ing upon a discussion of subjects in which reason can be of no man- ner of use, but quite the reverse. For reason would say, that if God made us, and could make us as he liked, and he desired we should believe in his existence with any definite qualities, and to obey any fixed laws for his advantage or ours, that he would at once have made us so to believe, and so to act. That he never could be angry or displeased with his own work ; and that, having the ordering and direction of all things, even, as they say, of creating the very materials, all things must exist, be and act as he intended; and that nothing, by any possibility, and more par- ticularly after the Creator saw and pronounced that "all was very good," could go wrong, or remove out of the eternal order which he foreknew or preordained. Reason also would say, that if, by some mystery wholly incompre- hensible to reason, man, the last and most finished work of this all wise, all good, and all powerful Creator, did actually disobey the laws given to him by his Creator, almost as soon as man andwoman were created ; and that the Creator really wished to have a good and happy race of human beings ; the better mode would have been to have put Adam and Eve quietly asleep, and humanely put them out of e» 143 DEBATE. istence again, before they had begotten any children, if thev, aIioia that part of his punishment v/hicli '.lonsigns him to eternal misery. Again — it seems very extraordinary to our faculties, tiiathe should have created man without any power over his belief; and that God .should make the condition of his escape iiom hell and damnation to f'ousist infirmly believing what is opposed to his senses, and what he cannot receive into his mind until he has been reduced from a rational to an irrational being. That is, he must believe that the Power which pervades all space overshadowed a particular virgin of the human race, and that thus the Son of God was procreated and produced; ihat the Son of God was an infant man, and grew as other men grow; that he was upwards of thirty years in making a few individual be- lieve that he was the Son of God; that then he was crucified as an impostor; that this, the only Son of God in the universe, was God iuit^clf; that he died, although we arc told God cannot die; that on ihe third day he rose from the dead, and appeared, us in his lifetime, ^vith his natural material body; tiiat he ate and drank with some of his disciples for forty days, at divers litties and places, and then — vvith all his materiality, for they saw him with their material eyes — }io ascended up to heaven, as they say, from v/hence lie has never ict'irncd. Why were these strange things made of so doubtful a character to )nan, that very few, compared with the number living at the time they were said to have occurred, could or did believe them? Reason also says, if God and the Son desired tliat all men should believe thes^ DEBATE. 149 ■mysteries and miracle?, how came it that Mahomet successfully oppo- as'd both Fat'ie/and Sou on thi:^ subject, and got the better of the christians, afier they had had six hundred years to fix these divine doctrines among mankind? Reason also asks, iiO'.v is it that, at this day, there are, as christians say, but few sinceie believers in the story of Adam and Eve, and the apple and serpent, and in the birth, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ? But reason would ask ten thousand pertinent questions of this na- ture, to not one of which could a rational answer be given. I shall only offend my intelligent hearers, by pursuing such a heterogenous mass of incomprehensible absurdities as these; and I will, therefore, conclude this part of the subject, by asking Mr. Campbell, what evidence, in these days, Avould now be sufficient to induce him to believe that a virgin had conceived, and was delivered of a male-child? Or that one rose from the dead, and appeared with a material body, — and with that body, or without it, was seen ascend- ing up to heaven? I know that, as / am constituted, and as mil- lions of my fellows are, no power, which wo possess over our wills, can prevent us having the most thorough conviction that the whole is nothing but an invention, and a very inferior and inconsistent one, to frighten ignorant men and weak women, and children out of their sober senses, and to render them, for life, irrational benigs, and bad members of society. And if we cannot avoid these impressions, who is to blame? Man, who cannot, by his origination, command his will contrary to his conviction, or the being who created the will for man? This part of the subject is to me, as it exhibits the degradation to which the reasoning faculties of man has been reduced, most un- pleasant, and more especially as all must become irrational on these topics, before they can become sincere. 1 will, therefore, dismis.s it, — as I hope all mankind will, before a few years have expired, — and proceed to subjects, which the human mind can reason upon without feeling that it is degraded by the operation. I shall, therefore, merely repeat, that to a sane mind, Mr. Camp- bell's evidences are no evidences at all, except to prove the errors Oi' the doctrines which, according to a known law of our nature, he has been compelled to receive, and which, of his own power, he cannot remove from his mind. I hope, that v/hen he shall hereafter reflect upon this discussion, the facts stated will be sufficient to overcome his present convictions, and make aright impression on his mind, and enable him to see the inestimable practical value of the twelve fundamental laws of our nature; for then, with his talents, he would be a powerful advocate in dispelling error from the minds of olhcr3. lifter taking up a large portion of your time upon these evidences, none of which would be admitted into any of our courts of law t> prove totho value of one dollar, Mr. Campbell gave us many learned docam?^nt^'. as extracts from deist.-, atheists and sceptics; but f^r vvhat VOL. II. 13- i50 DEBATE. purpose, m lliis discussion, I know not, except tu prove that there was no connexion between n:y views and those of many of these writers. The truth is, I cannot feel that high importance, tliat many do, for writings which proceed from mere closet speculators in metaphysics, who, perceiving some of the false notions derived from the doctrines of free-will, could not discover what human nature really is, so as to he competent to recommend any practical improvement in relation to t le affairs of life. They were, therefore, men in the second stage of the iiuman mind. They had discoverefl some of the errors of religion, and had lost iti> mfiuences, without acquiring any better, or any substitute at all for them. I consider them, therefore, to have been in the state in which almost all the learned and most enlightened men of Europe are at tliis moment — without religion, and without knowledge of any other principles which can produce a superior practice in the conduct of the population of the world. This is the worst state in which society can be; and from my extensive communications with the leading minds of Europe and America, I know it to be the present condition of the civilized world. And this is the true reason why this discus- sion has been so necessary at this period. The world must have a change, and it well merits a public contest to ascertain what that change shall be; whether it shall return back to the superstition and ignorance of the dark ages, or proceed forward, to bring into full practice, physically, mentally and m.orally, the discoveries and im- provements of the past ages, for the benefit of the human race. It is from knowing the danger of this second stage of the human mind, and the necessity of union to accomplish any great change without evil, that you have heard of my progress from country to '"ountry. I thus proceed from one country to another with the view of laying a broad and solid foundation for a new mode of life and cnjojment, and to prepare the means ij prevent society from continu- ing long in its present condition without a beneficial governing prin- a few years. There is no power on earth, that can resist its progress. It is piroceedinc; forward with a mighty impetus, such as your mnids are now inadequate to comprehend. This new scientific, mechani- cal and chemical power is advancing, with the eflicient force of an army equal to many hundred millions of men, well disciplined, equipped and provided, to accomplish its purpose. Irresistible, however, as this force now is, it is daily upon the in- crease. It is annually recruited in Europe and America, but chiefly in Great Britain and the United States, by new inventions, and extensions of the old, with new powers, such as appal the present state of the human mind to contemplate, and far exceed the belief of those who are inexperienced upon these subjects. I believe I am much within the real amount, when I state, that the increase of this new power within the last ten years, over Europe and America, has exceeded in its results, each year, upon the average of that period, the well directed industry of twenty millions of laborers unaided by machinery or other scientific aid. This is the power which will force the nations who are» now the most advanced in arts and sciences to stand still, and inquire what is to be done with this enormous force, daily increasing, in direct com- petition with all the producing classes, having a continual tendency to diminish, under the existing system of trade and commerce, the value of their labour, and to reduce them and their families to poverty and slavery. Modern governments know not what measures to adopt, to give this enormous and continually increasing power a right di- rection. Yes! as governments and nations, they will be speedily overwhelmed by that worthless object, for which they have been all taught to sacrifice tlicir real happiness, and which they now worship us their god. I mean wealth — what is called gold and silver and bank notes, which, after all, but represent real wealth. There will soon be so much real wealth produced, by the daily multiplying labor-saving machines, that nations will be no longer competent to prosecute any of their present measures with success. This wealth will accumulate, and become as an impassable mountain barrier to permanent prosperity. It has already, in your technical phrase, overstocked many, and soon it will oversupply all markets; and require, in consequence, more and more exertion irom the work- ing and middle classes, to enable them to live. These are the signs of the times. I wish 3'our eyes could be opened, to enable you to perceive these things even a little way oflf^ for they are, while I speak, but a short distance from us 1 see it in the smoke of your new factories before me. I hear it in the strokes of your heavy hammers, mechanically moved, which now din upon the ear. This is one reason why this di.scussion is so necessary at this period. It well merits a public contest, to ascertain what thai DEBATE. ijC thanfrc, which all things indicate to be so near at hand, snail be; — whether it shall return back to the superstition and ionorance of the dark ages; or proceed forward, to bring into full practice, physically, mentally, and morally, the discoveries and improvements of the past ages, for the benefit of the human race. We may, therefore, dismiss these quotations of Mr. Campbell'-s, from the atheists, deists, sceptics, of which you are quite unconscious, to believe that you form them yourselves, and that you have merit or demerit for what you are. Why, my friends, whether you have been made vessels of honor or dishonor, you are i)0 more than wax or clay in the hands of the potter. I hope the time is approaching, when I shall be permitted to dis- charge an important duty to you and all mankind. Silver and gold have I not now to spare ; and if I had, it could be of no real use to you. But I trust that I shall give you that which is beyond all price, and thereby render gold and silver unnecessary to you, to your children, and to all future generations. Instead of mankind being, as hereto- fore, as clay in the hands of the potter, I have the most thorough conviction, that it is now practicable to make you potters yourselves for your children ; and I can show you the way to become good potters, so as to enable you to new-form them, to the extent that the materials of which they are composed will admit; then shall I do for you, and them, and future generatione, the greatest service that one man has ever performed for his fellows. I do not despair, indeed, of enabling many of the present generation, by certain inducements derived from real knowledge, to place themselves in a new furnace, as it were, in which their hearts and minds shall be softened, and by which operation they may be enabled in part even to amend some of the numerous deformities and imperfections which, through the ignor- ance of their instructers, they have been compelled to receive. This many will be enabled to do for themselves; but their children, , through an early training and instruction in this invaluable know- ledge, may be made to become greatly superior in this new art or calling; while their children again, will greatly improve upon their immediate predecessors. And thus shall an improved character be given, through all future time, to every succeeding generation. This happy result will arise, when all the jewels within the casket shall be so burnished as to compel public attention to examine, not only their external beauty, but also their intrinsic worth. N^vv, nw friends, can I give you any thing of more intrinsic value, than to enable you to make your offspring superior, physically and intellect'ially, to the most perfect human being that now exists? I cart do this; and this I will not cease to endeavor to do, while health and the power of exertion shall be spared to me There is nothing in DEBATE. 155 the whole range of human society, that can be, m any degree, com- pared with the value of this knowledge. Having this, you will have every thing; and without it, you have comparatively nothing. When you shall thus become expert potters, and be enabled to put your children in superior moulds, there will be no occasion for week- ly preachings — no necessity for formal precepts of any kind, to adults. The superior formation of the character of each individual v,-ill be secured in childhood ; and before the period of youth expires, it Mill be matured in good habits and dispositions — in a correct knowledge of human nature, through a close inspection of the laws within the casket; and it will have attained the high intellectual acquirements and fixed moral principles, which will make it evident to all, that the present weekly preachings are most injurious to the best and highest interests of the human race. And unless this superior workmansliip shall be applied at an early period of life, it is useless to expect that it can ever be effectually well done afterwards. \Vhen your children have been put into an ill- formed mould from infancy, and thereby forced to acquire irrational feelings for their fellows, erroneous ideas and notions respecting their own powers, and bad habits, which tenaciously adhere to them, it is in vain to expect that you can undo that, except by some acci- dental occurrence, which has been so nnfortunately done at the most important period of the child's life, for giving the best form to his character. You have heard much from my frjlend, Mr. Campbell, of the genius and tendency of the christian faith and religion. He has told you what he has been taught to believe of it from his youth upwards. And he has informed you what his impressions are, with as much honesty as a conscientious Musselnoarf would tell you of the spirit and genius of tlie Mahometan faitlf and religion. For the Mahometans and Hindoos are as conscientious in their belief, and as tenacious of the superiority of their religion, as Mr. Campbell, or any christian in Christendom, can be of theirs. And have they not as much faith as the members of any other religion ? But the conscientiousness or tenacity of the Pagan, Jew, Hindoo, Christian, or Mahometan, do not add one grain to the argument iu favor of the divine origin or truth of either. They prove only the divine origin and truth of the fifth law of human nature; and the value, beyond price, which it will become to the world, when it shall be regenerated and born again, and it shall cease to be dead in trespasses and sins, as almost all Christendom, as the other portions of the world,, are at present. We shall presently see how these laws of nature harmonize and explain each other, and their applicability to all the business and duties of life. Did Mr. Campbell explain to you the spirit and genius of the christian system? I listened to him with all the attention in my power; and then I cofttrasted^,iji my inind^tlje real effects produced la. 156 DEBATE. Christendom "by thai spint and genius. Because, my friend:?, it js "by the fruits that ye shall know them." The mode of judging of the tree by its fruit, is alone the one I ^dopt, when I examine the spirit and genius of any religion, of any government, of any code of laws, or any of the institutions which flow from them. And by this guide 1 have, without prejudice or favor, compared the spirit and genius ©f the christian mysteries, miracles, fables, and dogmas, with their fruits; aiid by their fruits, so -abundantly growing around me in every direction, 1 have become intimately acquainted with the tree from the blossom to the root. And what have I found this tree, of two thousand years' growth, in produce, in every soil in which it has been planted ? Abundance of insincerity and deception; for the whole life of a christian is a continued striving in opposition to his nature, and therefore, of ne- cessity he must be a hypocrite. It is notorious over Asia and Africa, that there is so little truth in a christian, that little or no faith is placed in what he may say or do. But to come nearer home — show -me a nvin or woman in the city of Cincinnati, whose daily life is not a perpetual lie to his or her profession. It cannot be otherwise. It is necessarily so; and no one can avoid this consequence, with- out being so unnatural as not to partake of human nature. It is the natural fruit of the tree. It is the spirit, the genius, the neces- sary tendency of Christianity; and therefore the individuals, who have been compelled to receive it, are objects of our greatest com- passion. Other fruits of this tree are, pride and spiritual pride, among many other kinds of it, and envy and jealousy. My friends, do you know any pride of wealth, of birth, of con- nexions ; any spiritual pride, any pride of learning, or personal pride, in this city? Do you know any who envy the advantages possessed, or which they suppose to be possessed, by others? Or do you knov/ any who are jealous of their neighbor's superiority, or of their feel- ings for others in preference to themselves? If you do, these are the genuine fruits of this tree; and you well know they superabound every where. Other fruits of this same tree are, ignorance and presumption, most peculiarly combined. Hare you any ignorant among you, who know nothing of them- selves, and very little of nature ; who yet imagine themselves to be God's elect; and who, in consequence, look down upon their fellow- beings as though they were not of the same species, and say, "Stand aloof, for I am more holy than thou ?" This again is the natural fruit of the tree. Religious wars, mas- sacres, and persecutions for conscience sake, are also some of its fruit; and these have been shed abundantly all over Christendom. It is unnecessary to tell me what any system will do when carried into practice, whilst I have its practical results bcfnc me; whilst I see what it has produced in the past^ and what it is producing in the Pl'esent time — what it produces to-day, and what it ini^ni produce- DEBATE. 15.7 auring the continuance of the practice among men. From the facts and reasoning:^ thus obtained, it is most evident, that if the christian . doctrines were to continue to form your characters for ten thousand years, they would make you, at the end of that period, worse ihun you are to-day- fur they are daily becoming more and more incon- gruous, when compared with the knowledge derived from the grow- ing experience of the world. In the very nature of the doctrines which the gospel enforces upon the }"oung and tender miiid, eveiy generation, if it can be supposed pot.^i'oie that these doctrines, in opposition to experience, could continue to influence?, them, must become more and more irrational. For as the world advances in knowledge and experience, the professing christian must necessa- rily become either more hypocritical, or more ignorant. And from this simple cause, I doubt Avhether, since the days of Christ's first appearing, there ever was a time of more hypocrisy, over the whole of Christendom, than at the prese)it. 1 know the world cannot help being what it is:— you cannot help being what you are. And, in consequence of the overwhelmin*^ circumstances which now exist, religious societies are novv^ every where a cheat from beginning to end. Owing to the certain inform- ation I have derived from the casket, I can easily discover that your looks, your words, and your actions are continually opposed to each other. Do not be offended, my friends, nor suppose f speak in angpr, or with the intention to oiiend you. So far from being angry, I feel the utmost, the most sincere compassion for you, and all who arc, like yon, under the influence of any religious delusion. I do not attach a particle of blame to one .of you. Possessing the knowledge contained in this casket, and the charity which it necessarily compels me to have for every human being, how can I blame you? Do I not know, with the greatest certainty, how the character of each has been formed for him from infancy. My friends, every one admits — even your sacred books teach, that there is no possibility of judging fairly of any tree, save by its fruits. I, therefore, judge of Christianity by the bitter fruits which it has produced wheresoever it has been planted. My friends, I have had time only to polish some parts, and those imperfectly, of the contents of this casket, as you have witnessed. This afternoon, I shall be prepared with some more of it, and I will endeavor to produce as much as will occupy our attention from four to five o'clock. Seeing the course Mr, Campbell has adopted,. I wi.sh to have time to do equal justice t.-> the subject which I advo- cate. I do not like to depend solely upon the accidental ideas which may arise wlien I address you, without any ])reparation. For as I enter mor^ fidly into this subject, its importance continually grows upon me. Having proceeded thus flir in attempts to open a new light in this city, as it must be to many of you,, I am tlje most desi- rous not to leave jou partially informed respecting it. I wish to do justice, in this ca-e, to the su' ject, to you, 9.nd io the uiillions to VOI-. 11, 34 158 DEBATE. ■whom these records will be transmitted . I therefore trust, that it will not be too inconvenient to the gentlemen who sit as moderators, to allow time sufficient to do that which it would be most improper to leave undone. I could not begin to reply to JMr. C. until he had finished his elaborate argument and his long chain of documents, which have occupied one' half more time than I required to place my views before you, — and he speaks, as you may notice, three v.ords for two of mine. I mean not, iiowever, to occupy your time with words without corresponding ideas, as must be done in all -cases in which much is spoken on the subject of any religion. For the mysteries of religion can be made to pass current only when many words are used to confound the understanding of the hearer?, by no definite meaning being attached to them. When the deepest prejudices of mankind have to be uprooted, there must be substantial ideas for each word to represent, and ideas, too, that are perfectly consistent with each other, or I shall have no chance of making the permanent impression I intend. 1 have promised, that when I shall have finished this part of the discussion, if Mr. Campbell, or any other individnal, shall discover one error, or one inconsistencj", in the principles and system which I advocate, I will give up the whole contest. For should one error be found, T shall be convinced 1 have been deceived ; for where there is inconsistency, there cannot be truth. At present I say no more. [Here some conversation took place between the chairman and Mr. Campbell. Mr. Owen stated that he xvjould be prepared to proceed with his afternoon\'i address, after Mr. C. had rcpUcd, as he wished . DEBATE, 161 Tlie old artillery of little Deists nnd petty cavillers were all to be laid aside, and nothing but the apparatus of good logic and genuine philo- sophy were to be employed by Mr. Owen in pulling down all the religions of the world. And now our ears have heard, and our eyes have seen the whole strength of this new armament against the faith. This discussion will, I think, be a new and no ordinary confirma- tion of the faith of christians. Mr. Owen, the cool philosopher, the great political economist, the universal reader, the extensive traveller, the siirewd and logical thinker, after surveying the productions of six thousnnd years, appears with tiie maturity of almost three score^ years, laden with the spoils of time, standing upon the shoulders of all the sceptics of Greece,, -Rome, England, and America, selects the most puissant Vv'eapons, and chooses the best mode of attack, which all his reading, observation, and experience could de- vise. You have heard it, my friends, you have seen it all in twelve principles, all poised upon one vietaplnjsical question. This is the dos pou sto of Archimedes. Here Mr. Owen places the fulcrum for his puissant lever which is to raise the human family from all the superstitions good and bad, and from all political degradation, from poverty, ignorance and suflering. This is the ^'■stmmum honum,'''' •'the philosophers stone" — the old doctrine of Epicurus in modern broad clotii. Now it is lawfully to be presumed, that Mr. Owen has taken the strongest ground wliich can be taken upon the sceptical hypotheses. He has seen where all his predecessors have been foiled; and there- fore selects the ark of safety, the impregnable fortress, the strongest tower which his imagination and'reason could grasp. — Forth comes the essay which you have heard. This is the cream of fifty years reading, travelling, studying, conversing with minds of the "best calibre." Arrayed in the majesty of twelve propositions, which will equally sr.itthe horse and his rider. Mr. Owen appears brandishing the .'jixih. ike fatal sixth, which like a two edged sword is to cut off all the heads of all the priests and kings in the world. Upon the v.'hole, we were glad to see Mr. Owen take such high ground. First, because he made Thomas Paine, Gibbon, cum multis aliis, with all the old sceptics, a set of simpletons and drivelling philosophers. And next, because he was all for reason and philoso- phy, which no intelligent christian ever feared — We met him on his ownfi-e propositions on which he defied the world. You however heard the contents of Mr. Owen's logic upon these premises. And you have seen what he has offered in defence of them. It would be only a species of insult to the good sense of any hearer of this discussion to state again that Mr. Owen has only repeated over and over the f^ame dogmas; and that he has in exery instance refused joining issue either upon his own propositions or mine. He has met all sorts of argu.nient by mere assertions, by mere declamation. Regarding Mr. Owen as the present magnus Apollo of scepticism, as a man of great reason and philosophy, we did most certainly ex- pect that he would reason and not merely assa't — that he would not VOL. 11. 14* loi DEBATE. .'it lasit, when foiled in argument, descend into the ranks of those iittle sijirits, who strut about in the pomposity of two or three witi- cisms or sneers, which they have heard and retail from some infidel apostle. Nay, indeed, I did not expect to hear Mr. Owen talking in the ribaldry of these little demagogues of infidelity, who talk about Eve, and the apple, and the serpent ; about the virgin Mary, and Joseph, with a sort ol significant grin, expressing the great detesta* tion of their great little souls against such fables! There is nothing proof against these Parthian missiles, that the vanquished Parthian throws behind him on his retreat from the pur- suing conqueror. I could, without pretending to any genius in this way, turn every virtue in the world to ridicule, and laugh out of coun- tenance the gravest and best man that ever lived.- — Only, as the great VYarburton said, "put a fool's coat upon a philosopher or a saint, and you may under this covering laugh him down." Call bravery ^ tenfierity; call generosity, prodigality; call tnsdom, gravity; call honesty, simplicity; and good manners, foppery; and the work is done. So the atheist ridicules the idea of God. A pretty Avorld this, to corne from a rational first cause ! Talk not of wisdom 'vhi]e you see so much folly in the universe! Only see the waste .f water and the waste of land j only look, says he, how many half begun operations, and how many unfinished enterprizes there are. Look at the deformities and the irregularities, and the maladapta- tions every where. Talk not of goodness, says the ridiculing athe- •i^t; dont you see poisons lurking in your fields and gardens — pesti- lence and death stealing upon you in the invisible miasmata? Talk not of justice', see the good man punished for his virtue, and the wicked rewarded for his vice, &,c. &c. So the idea of God is iiiughed out of the world by the atheists. Tell me the virtue I can- riot caricature and render ridiculous. I will call humility, mean- ness; charity, pride or ostentation, and ther, under such a garb, laugh hem out of society. Is thcreany way ofprovingina court of law, that Queen Elizabeth «ibly. He has told you very plainly, several times in this discus- sion, that it was the wild and conflicting dogmas and rancors of sectariaii pride and jealousy that made him first of all a sceptic; and you see this yet confirms him in his scepticism. Here we are vulner- able. Were it not for the spirit and temper, as well as for the foolish and absurd dogmas of the fashionable systems of religion, the at- tacks of sceptics v/ould avail no more than the barkings of a dog at the full moon. Even here, however, his logic fails: for what good thing under heaven has not been abused and perverted by the wicked- ness of man ! And is it not an axiom among all reasoners upon all subjects, that no man can reasonably make the abuse of any thing an argument either against the use of the thing, or the thing itself? But as the matter has stood, and now stands, we should have been discouraged long since in vindicating the divine authority of this re- ligion, had not Piul and the other Apostles foretold these times — these divisions ; their rise, continuance, and termmation. And although it is a fact, and an evidence, which, in itself, and abstractly con- sidered, is very discouraging; yet, when contemplated through the da«a which the New Testament aff>rds, it forms a very powerful evi- dence of the divine authenticity of this religion. To this we have paid sufficient attention while reasoning upon the Apostacy, and need not now repeat what was then demonstrated ; namely, that, from the be- ginning, it was known, foreseen, and declared, that such an apostacy should, for certain ends and purposes, take place. It has taken place, and has fullv corresponded with all the predictions of its rise and progress, and the signs of its speedy destruction are among the mo»i impressive signs of the times. 166 DEBATE. The necessity of the union of all the disciples of Christ, in order to the triiuiiphaiit and universal spread of the gospel throughout all nations, was dis.inctly declared, and ils influence fully depicted in that admirable prayer of the Founder of our Religion, in the 17th chapfer of John : "Neither," said lie, "pray T for these aione, (who now believe iti me and are my Apostles to the nation^,) but for all them who will hereafter believe on me through their testimony/; that thev aU may be one; that the world may believe that fhou hast sent mey The universal conviction of the world of the truth of the divine mission of Jesus, is made dependent on the 7/rt/on and harmony of the di?!ci[)les of Jesus. And as this view of the matter came from the fountain head of ail wisdom and goodness, it is fairly to be pre- sumed, that it is a sine qua non — a something indispensable to the progress and all triumphant success of Christianity; that until chris- tians are united the world cannot be converted to thebclief of the mission of Jesus. I doubt not but the ground, the true ground of christian union, is now discovered ; audit has been declared in this discussion more than once — indirectly it is true, but it is fairly inferrable from these premises. It is this — that christian faith is to be known and recog- nized as a belief of the gospel facts, and not the assent of the human understanding to certain juatters of opinion — a belief o( facts, and not of doctrines — of tacts resting upon the divine testimony — and not of opinions dependent upon the acuteness of the human.intellect or the logical powers of inferential reasoners. A regard to men's moral actions, more than to the strength of their intellects, will soon sub- vert the metaphysical systems of past ages; and place Christianity np(in a new footing in the eyes of the world. This is not the place, nor the occasion, for minute expositions of these sentiments; but they can be given, and the}^ do now appear in the publications of the day: but so far wrr deemed it expedient to call up this matter, alike to the consideration of sceptics and of christians. But still I am very far from agreeing with Mr. Owen that christian- sty, as it is now taught, is the greatest curse to mankind. Mi-. Owen, who never speaks any thing but the truth, will have to retract this assertion. For most surely there are many greater curses in the nations of this world, than is Christianity to the people of the United States. -Credat Judaus Apella, non ego. Apella the Jew may be- lieve it, not I. It will require more facts and documents than Mr, Owen can command to make good this assertion. I did entertain some hopes that when Mr. Owen arose, he was about to concede that he had Keen mistaken; that Christianity is what it purports to bo — a revelation from God. I felt conscious that he could not rebut the arguments in favor of Christianity ; and did hope, as he would doubtless find them too strong for him, that he would have the candor to retract the rash positions he had taken. It is true, indeed, that I thought Mr. Owen, of all men, the must un- likely to bo convinced. I knew that the circumstances created for him and by him rendered his conviction almost impossible. He has DEBATE. 167 been so long the apostlfe of his own tenets, his whole soul has been engrossed in these speculations. He is one of the mostextraoidinary men; he cares not for praise; he knows, he says, he deserves it not ; and, as for fame, he has no taste for it at all ! To these causes is to be attributed, perhaps, his insensibility to the force or power of argu- ment. It is not reasonable that a person who has so far wandered from the common sentiments, feelings, and, indeed, nature of the species, could feel the force of arguments. For my part-, when I shall be insensible of praise or blame, of any difference other than ?rf<7/7y between virtue and vice, I shall (hen consider myself incapable of distinguishing the trv'th or force of any argument. And, therefore, taking ail the?e things into view, I do not Avonder that Mr. Owen cannot be convinced. There was, notwithstanding, one good omen —one symptom of re- turning conviction in his last address. He qualified his denunciation of Christianity with these remarkable words, 'L4.5 it is now taught.'' He did admit that I had given such an exhibition of the genius and spirit of Christianity, as to make it appear most excellent. My oppo- nent would not venture to attack the Bible Christianity, but '■^Christi- anity as it is noiv taught.^'' But even m ith this, reservation, I cannot admit this sweeping denunciation. Mr. Owen's social system has never been tested; but his materialist or atheistical system has been tested. France, revolutionary France, can tell the tale. Equality and Liberty — no religion, no God, no hereafter. On the gates of the grave yards were inscribed '^Death an Everlasting Sleep P'' The di- vision of time into weeks of seven days, because it was of no human origin, became obnoxious to the materialists; and nothing short of an indiscriminate obliteration of every vestige of christianitv, even to new-modifying the divisions of time, would satiate their deadly anti- pathy against every thing like religion. Paris, in 1789, under the domination of the. infamous Robespiere and his brethren, is a pretty good example of the tendency of the no praise, no blame system; and an admirable;per contra to the asseriion that christianitv, in its present form, is the greatest curse that can happen to any nation. I think not so bad as atheism when it had the ascendant, Mr. Qwen himself being j'tdge. Christianity has its direct and its indirect influences upon society. The direct or the reflex light of this holy rehgion affects almost every man in the region where it shines. It shines into the hearts of some, and 'v\ their lives it is reflected as from a mirror 'jpon all around. And thus some a^re christianized, more are moralized, and all are, in some good degree civilized, by its light. A .single pious man in a village is a restraint upon the wickedness and profanity of all the villagers. I have known some instances, and have heard of others, v/liere a general deterioration of morals has followed the death or removal of a good man otttof a stnall town or neighborhood. There is a charm — there is an indescribable influence in the genuine frui's of chrisfianity, which, when exhibited in living christians, the most abandoned are constrained to respect. Hence an increase of genuine christians is im DEBATE. one of the greatest national blessings — if, indeed, it be a truth tha righteousnefis exalteth a nation. But, says Mr. Owen, Where is the christian now living whose whole life is not in direct contradiction to his professions? Christi- anity certainly is highlv encomiazed in this challenge : so excellent that it condemns in every point the best man living? By this appeal to our modesty, Mr. Owen has prevented us from pointing to any one present, and he would not believe upon any testimony any thing favorable of the absent living. We shall then have to go to the dead. Ihave, then, just lately heard that in this city two very aged christi- ans recently died, both members of the Methodist Church, in whose house we now meet. The one had been sixty years, and the other fort}', professors of the christian religion — both of the most unexcep- tionable reputation; living proofs of the excellency of the religion which they professed, and conformed to it in temper and behaviour. But after thus giving us a new sort of '■^argumentuvi ad hominem,'''' or ^^ad modcstiam^'' Mr. Owen is ready to claim all the men of large souls, of great minds, as of his creed, while we have not one; no, not one who lives up to the. christian religion. I fear Mr. Owen is in this respect of that jaundiced or distempered eye to which every ■ thing appears discolored. There is a malady called hysteria; corpo- rial and mental too. Some of those laboring under a real mental hysteria, cherish their hallucinations until at last they imagine that demonstration itself is not half so clear as their wild conceptions. In this state of mind all arguments are thrown away. It is much more diflicult to convince a man whose mind is in this morbid state, than it is to convince the most confirmed hypochondriac, that his legs are not made of glass, or that there is not some other peculiarity in his composition. But Mr. Owen will have all the sons of science, all the enlightened minds in the world on his side of the question. Let him make out his list; we have ours ready; here it is, (Mr. C. pointed to a manuscript.) — we are prepared to shew that all the fathers of modern science, in fact that all the men of profound eru- dition, and of mighty enterprize are of the christian scliool. This, however, is no argument; but when Mr. Owen gives his cloud of witnesses, ours shall be forthcoming. The most intelligent persons in Europe, Mr. Owen says, "are well aware that all religious mysteries and miracles are opposed to reason, and therefore abandon them to men who discard reason." Thus, by the «wf/iorj7// of these "intelligent men" Mr. Owen would l-libut all argument and demonstration. Bat we must have faith in Mr. Owen'tj testimony about these intelligent men; and hence Mr. Owen requires us to exercise faith in his mere assertion as the best, weapon he can wield against 'the Christum faith. I might tell Mr. Owen in the same loose style that I believe thai all the mysteries and miracles, (lU'^afiing thereby the pretended miracles, and arlificinl mvsteries of Popr>ry) were all contrary to reason — But what of thai? Will my arguing, or my proving t.L'al certain bauk bills are coun bEBATR 109 forfeits, prove that all bank bills are counterfeits; and that.thnre is not a genuine bank note? No: nor ever was, nor ever will bo! We want, moreover, to hear the nmnes of some of these ^'iitteUi gent men;'''' peihaps they are the sceptics of France and Germany, and not an intelligent man among them. We must first agree that they are intelligent men, and then to refer this discussioii to them as arbitrators before their verdict will be of any consequence. Mi', Owen may tell us we are ^insane,'" ''blind as violes^'' and that he sees like Argus; is sane, a sage, a philosopher, a reasoner, a lo- gician, a standard of reason; and with the powerful artillery of such browbeating syllogisms, and with such egotistic demonstrations amongst the vulgiim pecus, the common mass of society, who think tiiat he who asserts most stoutly and arrogates most to himself is the hero, the logician and the philosopher, he may obtain faith, con« fidence, and admiration. But the really intelligent will a?wavs discriminate between argument and assertion, between logic and calumny, between philosophy and egotism. Were I to talk about sanity of mind, 1 would undertake to prove, tliat every atheist under heaven is insane. And that there can be no greater proof of insanity, than to hear a person say that there it' no God. Such persons may, like other insane persons, be ratior^al upon many other subjects. But by all the argu.iiients, counlinix them one by one, l)y which any person is proved to be insane, I will en- gage, logically, to prove, that all atheists are insane. By atheists, here I mean tliose who oppose the being and governinent of God, -after having heard and understood the tei^iis and phrases used in the Holy Scriptures upon this subject, Mr. Owen puts into the mouth of reason certain interrogatowcs, which, of course, his obsequious reason answers, just to suit him. This reason is more religious than Mr. Owen, for it acknowledges its Creator; and unreservedly complies with all his requisitions. — "Reason wrould ask ten thousand questions of this nature, says ho, to not one of which could a rational answer be given." Yes, but Sir Isaac Newton's reason, and Mr. Owen^s reason are very different sorts o^ matter. What would convince the former, would not convince the latter — and what would convince the latter would appear ridicu- lous in the eye« of the former. The secret is here, my friends, there is no inconsistency at all in Mr, Owen''s system. For, you know, there can be nothing crooked unless there be something straight. Now Mr. Owen has a vast advantage over us christians; there is something straight in our system to which he can compare, and by which he can measure^ and which will show, all our aberra- tions; but there is nothing in his system by which we can measure, or to which we can compare any part of it. Fivery thing with Mr. OwcH is quite straight: if a child kill its mother, it is quite right; for it is according to nature; if it support and honor its mother, it is quite right; for it is acc«rding to nature or necessity. Ail things ;rne straight; that is, exactly conformable to necessity, Mr. Owen, i.hen, has a system of straight Hues, a;jd noUiirig in it is crooked. vol.. II. 3l5 170 DEBATE There is no aberration from necessity, and therefore, all is straight There is then no inconsistency in Mr. Owen's scheme. I have but one fault to it, and tliat is, his measuring rod is crooked itself; and while he thinks it is straight, he must inevitably be in an error in every comparison or measurement which he makes, A person who has a false staiidard, who calls a rule straight which is crooked, will err in every ntcasurement. And so all his conclusions are false. l» that be a straight line wiiich makes every thing straight to which is is applied, then is Mr. Owen's standard correct. Mr. Owen, this morning, deeply lamented this weekly preacliing institution ; or rather that no person was permitted to reply, 1 should not care, pnnided it did not disturb the worship of a christian con- jrreich sentence applies directly to the subject of this discussion? There is not one sentence,or clause of a sentence, that does not ap- p'y to the questions intended to be solved at this meeting. What does the casket disclose to us at its commencement? "That man, at birth, is ignorant of every thing relative to his organiza- tion." And if this be true — and who doubts it? — surely lor that organization, and its qualities, no individual can be justly made re- sponsible. I ask Mr. C., and all who are present, whether any other cjnclusion can be adduced from this important fact? Whether any other conclusion would be rational? What, then, becomes of the imaginary notion, taught to our ancestors and to ourselves, that we are bad by nature? My friends, to say that man is cul];ablv bad by nature, is an assertion not less untrue and absurd, than if I were to say that the sun is culpably bad by nature; for both have their origin from the same Cause, whatever that Cause may be. And that we ,aro ignorant, at birth, of every thing relative to our organization, is an eternal trutli, depending solely upon facts obvious to every one, — a law which came with us into existence, and v/hich will remain until man shall cease lo exist. It is no law of man's devising; but a law emanating from the same Eternal Source ii-oni whence all facts proceed. The casket tells you, moreover on its first opening, that man has not been permitted to create the slightest part of any of his natural propensities, facidtics or qualities, physical or m.ental. And do ycu not know, my iriends, that the infant, at birth,,is the foundation of the man? Some will say that the infant, the briginal organization, at birth, is the whole man; that he only requires time to grow; and that what he is at birth, he will be till deat];, I know the contrary. I know that it forms the foundation, but only the foundation, of the character of man. But I also know, if any unchangeable foundation be laid for a house, that whatever superstructure may be subsequently raised upon it, the foundation itself ought not to be blamed fur any imperfection it may possess, but the architect. And, my friends, although I do not agree with those philosophers, who take but a partial view of human nature, and who do not investigate all the facts for themselves, being content to receive them from'othersv and conclude that man is wholly formed by his education ; J do not agree with those other philosophers, '»\bo hold that the crganizatici) . 176 DEBATE. at birth, 13 every thing, and that education, or the circumslances in which it is placed, is a mere covering and deceptions garb, in the character of man. This organization is unquestionably a very im- portant part of our nature; and if we are to be mj'.d3 responsible for it, we ought to have had the foi-ming of all its minute and general qualities for ourselves. It is surely irrational for any one to assert j that after we have been compelled to receive our organization, which is the foundation and contains the germ of all our faculties, we should be held responsible P:)r it. This is a notion wholly irrecon- cileable to common sense, and it is also exceedingly unfavorable to the formation of a superior character by a right education; for it destroys all correct ideas upon the subject. Thei-e never can be any virtue in the world, so long as this error respecting the nature of man shall continue — so long as men are made to believe that they ought to be held responsible for that over which they have no control, li we really desire to improve man, and to form a virtuous, intelligent and happy state of society, we must make haste to discard notions so directly opposed to common sense. My friends, this first law gives us a distinct knowledge of what we are, when we first come into the world. Here we are ushered into existence, utterly unconscious of any thing appertaining to our- selves. Then what follows? how is the remainder of our character made up? Let us see. I re«^uest your best attention to this part of the subject, for all our subsequent reasoning will be erected on this foundation; for this is not the wordy wandering you have been accustomed to hear, week after week, during your lives, and to which you may listen, or not, and be as wise in the former case as the latter. No, this part of our subject is fraught with consequences of deep import to every humao being. Every word of it, when understood, will be tound invaluable for future practice. The second law is, '-That no two infants, at birth, have yet been known to possess precisely the same organization; while the physi- cal, mental and moral differences between all infants are formed v.-ithout their knowledge or vvii!."' No two infants have ever been known to be alike. This is a most important conclusion. It lays the foundation for virtues in the human character, which no other knowledge can ever form, or make j)ermanent and ever active. It is the only knowledge on which genu- ine charity can be formed to apply to every individual of the human race, and it is abundant to eflect this object. A knowledge of this single fucf, v/hen rightly understood, will so form our minds, as to compel us to be charitable to all mankind without any exception. [Here Mr. Campbell rose and remarned that he woidd beg leave to fti/o-gest that these laws srwuld not be commented on more than eleven tiine.s.] Mr. Owen resumed — I find the expounding of these laws, and hriauiiig them to bear on tiui practical conduct of mankind, is more than my friend, Mr. Campbell, can bear. Well 1 you see, my friends. DEBATE. 17} this second law i3 quite suiilcient to overset all the arguniPiits of my iViend, Mr. Campbell, and it is evident he begins to feel its extensive influence. Assuredly, if no two infants are born alike, but receive from that Power which gives them existence, qualities which differ in their strength and combinations, there ought to be, in justice to these in- dividuals, if they are to be considered responsible beings, a different religion for every child that is born. Is not this true? If they are organized differently, can we with one atom of rationality render them amenable to the same laws. I do say, that to act justly by the hu- man race, if a religion be necessary for any one individual, a differ- (Mit religion is equally necessary for every other individual of the human family; and that these religions must necessarily be as vari- ous, and as multiform, as are the individual organizations of our species ; and, also, that these countless religions should be so modified, as to adapt themselves precisely to the strength or weakness of the faculties with which each individual has been endowed. Now, my friends, 1 could touch Mr. Campbell again and again with these simple, plain facts; but they are so decisive of the great ques- tions before us, that I am afraid of exhausting his patience and good feelings. I will take compassion on him, therefore, and proceed to the third law. It is, "That each individual, is placed, at births without his knowledge or consent, within circinnstancee, which act- >ng upon his peculiar organization, impress the general character of iHiose circumstances upon the infant, child or man. Yet that the influence of these circimistances is, to a certain degree, modified by the peculiar organization of each individual ." Now we come to another part of the subject, which is most interesting to all, and which has not been explained sufficiently to give those unacquainted with these facts in the formation of the human character, a right understanding of its importance in the every day practice of life. It is not only that all infants are made, by the constitution of their respective natures, to differ from each other, and probably to differ in every one of their senses, as well as in their general organization; but that these infants, after their birth, are placed in circumstances so different, that their characters must be often formed on models having little or no rcsen>l)lance to each other, — frequently, indeed, the very opposite. For as there are no two infants born alike, neither is it in the power of man to place two infants under the same identical circumstances, even when they appear to be the mcst alike. And, therefore, my friends, you not only require a different religion fur every individual, in consequence of their organic difference at birth, but 3/ou also require a separate and distinct religion for each, according to the various kinds of circumstances or temptations in which each of these individuals may be placed, from their birth to death. My friends, there never were two infants, who fir one day, or even" for an hour, have been placed under precisely the sarae circum 178 di;bate. stances. N*ow only look at the cruelty and injustice, in fhis rdspccfj of the doctrines of rewards and puuishments of all religions. A moment's reflection will convince any intelligent mind, that no two can be placed under the same circumstances, after birth. To be so placed, they must be born at the same moment — open their eyes and see the light precisely the same direction; whatever impressions are made upon the one, must bo made upon the other, and in pre- cisely the same order and sequence of strength. Now this is utterly impracticable. And, therefore, the notion that any human being is the legitimate object of reward or punishment, on account of the circumstances in which he has beeit placed without his control, knowledge, or consent, is an error only to be accounted for from the irrational impressions made upon us by our ancestors, relative to the real character of human nature. We well know, from (fie general history of the v/orld, that when infants are born, they must become men according to the country and district in which they are reared; that they must be influenced by the circumstances existing in that particular country or dis- trict. They cannot be influenced by that which they do not know and cannot feel. Therefore, as infants and children have no power whatever to direct or control these circumstances, no religion can be made to apply to them without the greatest injustice. And as it is demonstrated that children and men are the effects of tjieir organ- jzation and external circumstances; that these combined operations form them to be whatever they are, at every moment of their time ; no religion can be applicable to beings whose characters are so formed. '" It is from this view of the subject, that J have said, again and agaio, that it is most irrational to treat children or men in the manner in which we have heretofore don*, and to consider them responsible, as the cause of their own character.*, — when, from their nature, they have been, and must continue to be, the efiects of combined causes over which they have had no control. But, my friends, although it were possible to impress children with precisely the same circumstance, at and from their birth, the variety of their original organization would make a material and very important difference. For the circumstances operating upon and influencing the mind of one child, would create a very diflerent im- pression from those made upon another; and yet the child itself is in no degree the cause of this difference. And therefore, again, none of the religions of the world can apply with justice to a being so formed and matured. Well, let us look at the next argument against all religions, con- tained in the fourth law. J stated to you, that "no infant hi;s the power of deciding at what period of time, or ia wliat part of the world it shall come into existence, of whom it shall be born, in what particular religion it shall be trained to believe, or by what other ."ircumstances, it shall be surrounded from linh to aeath," Now, my friends, I wish you to remark, as 1 proceed, that each of DEBATE. iro these law-s, by itself, e«n taken separately and distijreHy iVom theii- natural and necessary connexion and de^jendencc one upon the other, IS much m«re than suiRcient to refute all my friend's fallacies. This fourth law is so full of njatter and meaning, that to do it ample justice, and direct your attention fully to all its important physical, intellectual, and moral considerations, many days would be necessa- rj'. instead of the hour or two now left for me to explain many other parts of the subject equally important. But as the discussion, at the request of the moderators, must terminate to night, and the evening is rapidly advancing upon us, I will endeavor, before it becomes dark, to place before you as many facts as will hereafter beneficially occupy your minds for reflection; and refer to the early part of my statement for a more full explanation of this law, and hasten to elucidate some of tlie remaining. The next m order is the fifth law, viz. ''That each individual is so created, that, when young, he may be made to receive impressions to produce either true ideas or false notions, and beneficial or injuri- ous habits, and to retain them with great tenacity." My friend, Mr. Campbell, is a most striking living example of the overwhelming influence of this law of our nature. He has been organized as we behold him; for which he has neither merit nor demerit. He was afterwards trained and educated in a particular part of Europe, and subsequently in this country, and placed under circumstances by which he has been forced to believe in his particu- lar views of the Christian religion, and by which we all perceive he is now influenced. He has been thus influenced to his peculiar con- duct by the same general laws of our nature, that have compelled me to act as I have done, and which govern the birth, life, and death of every being that has yet been born. You see, then, my friends, that, through this law of our nature, we may force any child to become a Mahometan, a Christian, or an idolater, a Jew, a Quaker, or a cannibal. The child is a perfectly passive piece of clay, to be msulded by those around him into any shape they please. And then the greater or less tenacity with which the ideas given to it will be retained, depends upon a great many circumstances, as muQh beyond the individual's control, as was hif original organization. This is that law of our nature, which, when thoroughly understood^ will enable vou to become potters, to enable you, through an accurate knowledge of it, to place your children in any mould, more or less perfect, according as you may have been better or worse informed upon the subject, or more or less expert in the practice. None of the religious in the world, however, can be applicable to a being, whose character is thus formed necessarily by his nature and condi- tion in life. The sixth law states, that "each individual is so created," that, when young, he must believe according to the strongest conviction that is made on his mind and other faculties; while his belief in no, ,-case depends n^^n his will." 190 DEBATE. In commentrng on this sixth law, Mr. Campbell cucanglcs hiitisefi and his audience in the mazes of metaphysical disquisition. I saw at once, that his notions regarding tliis law were confused by the notions early forced into his mind, relative to free will and action ia man; and became, therefore, merely metaphysical. But this knv promulgates fiicts which are eitiier true or false. Now, it is a fact, that man can believe according to his will, or that he cannot. Now, let all of )'ou endeavor to recollect soiTsething which you believe; and then try if 3^ou have power sufficient over your will to disbelieve it, even for a few minutes. AVhy, rny fciends, it is contrary to this law of our nature, which cannot be made to change its character at the bidding of any individual, however learned. 1 perceive you dis- cover, that by your utmost efforts you cannot accomplish it. You might, indeed, as well attempt, by the bare exercise of your voHtion, to bring down the sun from the firmament, as to disbelieve what you ]iave been compelled to believe, until a more powerful conviction shall be made upon your minds. Try again, then, and see if you can believe, for ever so short a period, what former convictions novv compel you to disbelieve. You find the one as impracticable as the other. The same irresistible law of your nature governs and controls you ui your disbelief as well as your belief. We have no metaphysics here; we discard them as useless for the real iiappiness of life, and unworthy a discussion of this character; for we ought to proceed en- tirely -upon those facts which all can examine for themselves, and ■^.vhich change not — facts which can be investigated with all their at- tendant circumstances, at all times, by all men, who desire to acquire a Knowledge of the truth for the love of truth. From a hint I have just received from my friend, Mr. Campbell, 1 perceive he is again becoming very impatient under this obvious ex- position of a few plain facts; so plain indeed, and so essential for present purposes, that ho feels no reply, but a metaphysical one, can he made to them. I did not promise, as Mr. Cavnpbell appears to suppose, that I would conclude in an hour; but I stated to Mr, Campbell that I was willing tg rest all the points in controversy between us npon this single posi- tion, as upon it the whole controversy depended : Is there an exception to be found, throughout the whole human Runily, to the universal ap- plication of this law? Is there a single individual who, by the fiat of his own will, can believe or disbelieve contrary to previous conviction made upon his mind ? But, my friends, we hnve all been trained from infancy in the op- posite notions. Mr. Campbell has been trained in them — and it is tlierefore no wonder that all our minds have been forced to become irrational. The notion that our will has power over our belief or disbelief, is the principal source from which emanate the mistaken notions, the in- jurious feelings, the malignant passions, the want ofuniversal charity, and the vicious conduct of men. This subject, im* friends, to be fuliy DEBATE. 1»1 developecl, so as to make a proper impression upon your minds, would also lake many days to elucidate and trace to all its important prac- tical results. It is this kind of knowledge, deeply affecting llie well being of each, and the happiness of all, that ihis little casket contains. It is true, this knowledge, valuable as it is, has laid buried for several thousand years, and no one suspected ils intrinsic practical worth, to induce a sufficient search for its discovery. It has been covered with so much rubbish, that it required forty j-ears daily exertion before I could discover it and make it sufriciently known and attractive to draw public attention to its real merits. The question I have put to you, taken out of this casket, and which no one can answer, is decisive of the result of the whole debate; of the futility and uselessneas of all re- lio-ions, and whether or not they are derived from any other source than the ignorance of mankind, Mr. Campbell rose and said — The stipulation was, that Mr. Owen, was to speak tor one hour, and that I should have the conclu- sion. Mr. Owen rose — I did not understand that I was to be tied down to an hour in making my reply. iNIr. Campbell has spoken through- out this debate nearly twice as long as I have done, and now he feels that The Hon. Chairman said — You have spoken longer tjian Mr. Campbell did the last time he wa&up. Mr. Campbell rises. — Mr. Chairman — Mr. Owen has no good reason to complain of the time fixed for bringing this discussion to a close. He first suggested the idea that two hours would be sufiicient for his reply to my long speech. He seems now to act with a little nf that art of which I did not think him capable. And what new^ matter has he now to offer? Since opening his casket nothing has appeared but the same old twelve positions, facts, or laws, as you please to call them. If he have any thing new to offer, why does he not now offer it. True, indeed, I ought to except the abusive document, which he read this morning; and some remarks made upon the Mahometan religion. This latter I neglected, or forgot, to notice in my last speech. The establish- ment and progress of this religion, all the world knows. No greateK* contrast can be found in any book upon any subject than the contrast between the establishment and progress of Mahometan ism and Chris- tianity. The ruffian exploits of a crew of pirates, or a banditti of highwaymen, might as justly be contrasted with the peaceful march of a missionary family, or of the almoners of a christian community, in distributing their charities among a suffering population, as to com- pare the lustful, vengeful, avaricious exploits of Mahomet and the Koran, with Jesus the Messiah, and his apostles. While the language of the christian teachers, was, "Glory to God in the highest — peace on eartji, and good will among men;"— that of the marauding falst; prophet, was, ^^Dogs, you know yonr option, the Koran, trihittc, or the sword.''^ Here lies the volume. [Mr, Campbell pointing to the Konui^ VOL. II. 16 182 DEBATE. Here is the Mahometan Bible. I have examined it with at least as much care, as most sceptics do the Bible; and while it admits the mis- sion of Moses, Jesus, and the apostles, and then directly proves the truth of Christianity, as the institution of Jesus Christ, its doctrines, and, as far as they have a supernatural idea in them, are evidently stolen from the two testaments, as is the English word philantln'opy from the Greek pMlanthropia. But the Koran proves the divine authorship of the New Testament as clearly as ever did accomplishment prove the truth of prophecy ; for in the seven letters addressed by Jesus Christ to the seven con- gregations in Asia, written by John while in Patmos, the setting of the Sun of Righteousness, or the extmguishment of the light of Chris- tianity, in that country, is threatened as consequent upon the progres- sion of the dereliction of christian principle and practice then appear- ing among the dissolute Asiatics. All the world, Jewish, Christian, and sceptical, know that the Mahometan superstition is a vile imposi- tion, and not in any one feature comparable to Christianity. Counter testimony, and every sort of testimony, can be adduced against the pretensions of the Koran; and both literally and symbolically is the rise and progress of the imposture portrayed in the Apocalypse. Mr. Owen has told us how long the contents of his casket have lain hid. For four thousand years anterior, and two thousand years subse- quent to the christian religion, have these Jewells been buried. How Mr. Owen happened to disinter them is the question. Was it never known before the year of favor 1829, that no child chose its parent- age, nor the place and circumstances of its nativity!! Was it never known before Mr. Owen descried it, that children are much influenced by the circumstances oftheir childhood and by the example of their pa- rents!! These burnished gems now made brilliant by being changed from manuscript to print [Mr Oiicn had than printed yesterday,] have been like the twelve apostles; the twelve lions on which the throne of Solomon stood; the twelve foundations of the New Institution, now read twelve times, destined to great honor and glory. As Mr. Owen has read them so often, 1 hope I may be indulged to read them once; and that I may make them more famous by my rctiding them, I will show the whole extent of their latitude, and I think Mr. Owen himself will be indebted to me for the liberal and extensive construction which I am about to give them. I will show that they are so large and so liberal'as to engross almost every animal in the creation within their lawful jurisdiction. But for the sake of trial and proof I will only try how they will suit one species of quadrupeds. Mr. Owen has told you twelve times that they will exactly suit for bipeds. TlIK TWELVE FUNDAMENTAL LAMS OF BRUTAL NA TirRE, On which Robert Owen predicates a change of society that vill form an entire new state of existence. 1. That a goat, at its birth, is ignorant of every thing relative to its own organization, and that it has not been permitted to create the slightest part of any of its natural propensities, faculties, or qualitie?, physical or mental. DEBATE. 183 •2 That no two kids, at birth, have yet been known to possess pre- cisely the same organization; while the physical, mental, and morail diiFcrences, between ail kids, are formed withaut their knowledge or will. 3. That e:ich individual kid is placed, at birth, without its knov.-- iedge or consent, within circumstance?, which, acting upon its pecu- liar organizcU ion, impress the general character of those circumstances upon the infant kid and goat. Yet that the intiuence of those cir- cumstances, is, to a certain degree, modified by the peculiar natural organization of each individual goat. 4. That no kid has the power of deciding at what period of time, or in wh;\tpartof the world, it shall come into existence; of what goat ii shall be born, what particular tricks it i^hall be trained to, or by what other circumstances it shall be surrounded frr'm birth to death. 5. That each individual goat is so created, that, when young, it may be nuidc to receive impressions, to produce either true ideas or false notions, and beneficial or injurious habits, and to retain them with great tenacity. 6. That each individual goat is so created, that he must feel ac- cording to the strongest impressions that can be made on its feelings, and other f.iculties, while its feelingsin no case depend upon its wil!.. 7. That each individual is so created that it must like that which is pleasant to it, or that which produces agreeable sensations on its indi- vidual organization, and it must dislike that which creates in it unpleasant or disagreeable sensations; while it cannot discover, pre- vious to experience, what those sensations shall be. 8. That eaclk individual goat is so created, that the sensations made upon its organization, although pleasant and delightful at their com- mencement and for some duration, generally become, when 'continu- ed beyond a certain period, without change, disagreeable and painful. While, on the contrary, when a too rapid change of sensations is mado on its organization, it dissipates, weakens, and otherwise injures its physical, intellectual, and moral powers and enjoyments. 0. That the highest health, the greatest progressive improvements, and the most permanent happiness of each individual goat, depend in a great degree upon the proper cultivation of all its physical; intel- lectual, and moral faculties and powers from infancy to maturitj-, and upon all these parts of its nature being duly called into action, at their proper periods, and temperately exercised according to the strength and capacity of the individual goat. 9. That the individual goat is made to possess and to acquire the u'orxt character, when its organization at birth has been compounded of the most inferior propensities, faculties, and qualities of its com- mon nature; and when so organized, it has been placed, from birth to death, amidst the most vicious or worst circumstances. 10. That the individual goat is made to possess, and to acquire a medium character, when its original organization" has been created superior, and when the circumstances which surround it from birth Vi death produce continued vicious or unfavorable impressions. Or 184 DEBATE. \v)icn its organization has been formed of f/j/fr/or materials, and thft circumstances in which it has been phiced from birth to death are of a character to produce sitperior impressions only. Or when there }»as been some mixture of good and had qualities in the original or- ganization, and when it has also been placed, through life, in varied circumstances o? good and evil. This last compound has been hither- to the common h>t of all goats. 12. That each individual goat is made the most superior to its species, when its original organization has been compounded of the best proportions, of the best ingredients of which goat nature is form- ed, and wjien the circumstances which surround it from birth to death are of a character to produce only superior impressions; or, in other v.ords, when the circumstances, or laws, institutions and customs in which it is placed, are all in unison with its nature, Mr. Owen has told you that he believes not in a spiritual sysiem, consequently none of these laws are predicated upon any thing spir- itual in man. Now as his laws are all built upon the hypothesis that man is a pure animal, if it should ever appear to Mr. Owen that there is a spiritual system, he must add a few laws to his code. I will, there- fore, add a few laws to jthem, which will, indeed, exclude the goaf and every other animal from being a legitimate subject of them. The Jbur following laws are just as plam, as true, and as palpaple as the first one. As these are the beginning of a new series for Mr. Owen, I will call my first the thirteenth "law of human nature."' 13. That man has aspirations after knowledge, which would not ('ease, did he know and perfectly comprehend every particle of matter in the globe, in the solar system, in the universe, with all its laws, properties, and modilications; and never can he feel so well pleased with his acquisitions of knowledge as to fix a period to his inquiries, 14. That man has a taste for society which the largest and most acccmplished society which could exist contemporaneously with him- self cannot gratify. 15. That he has desires for happiness which no circumstances on earth can satisfy; and that these desires are commensurate with infi- liite oljio'^ts which the present state of existence cannot present to him. 16. .That when he has formed the best conceptions of himself which all earth-born opportunities present, he feels himself /)«i«/'«ZZ7/ ignor- ant of every grand fact connected \yith the origin of his existence and of every grand result involving his own ultimate destiny. TIk'so are a sample of the additions which I hope Mr. Owen will yetscs necessary to append to his original twelve. No sheep or goat can dispute its right or title to any of these ybi/r. I would also prefix two to his animal code as also prefatory to the original twelve. These would be, •■ 1. That the first man was not born — and 2. That man, at his birth, is the child of some body, and by nature IS dependent upon that some body for subsistence, for his language, modes of thinking, and for a majority of all the peculiarities of his '•opsitution. DEBATE. 185 But before taking my final leave of the New Code of Twelve, I must give Mr. Owen a critique upon the sixth, which he has so often thrown iti our way. lie has often said, prove one of the twelve to be errone- ous, and he will abandon all of thein. That the sixth is so I hope the following critique will show: — 1. The first and fundamental principles of our natnre which excite to action, are our appetites and affections. These instinctive facul- ties we have in common with all animals. A high excitement of these we call passion. 2. Next to tliess is that class of powers by which we obtain all our simple original ideas; into which, as elementary principles, is ulti- mately resolvable all our knowledge — viz. sensation, perception, memory, reason, and consciousness. Now, although these faculties are aflected, or called into-action, when their objects are presented; yet, in many important cases, it is quite optional whether the objects sliail be presented or not. 3. In the next place, the use or operation of these faculties, for the acquisition of knowledge, is dependent on our volition ; viz, re- collecting, reflecting, imagining, reasoning, judging. 4. Lastly, the combined or separate influence of our appetites, affections, passions, and jiidgmeuts, determine our wills, and pro- duce those volitions which terminate in action. Liferencet: — Hence it follows that every action of o\u lives is naturally subjected to our judgments; which are, or ought to be, the combined and ultimate residts of all our intellectual powers. We sav, our actions ought to be such; first, because we possess these po'.vers — second, because we are instinctively impelled to desire and will our own happiness or gratification — and third, because we are accountable to om- Creator and Benefactor for the use we make of our powers for our own profit and his good pleasure, which is the happi- ness of his rational creatures, for whose sakes he has created all things. Again, in classifying these powers in relation to their peculiar and appropriate objects, we denominate them sensitive, intellectual, and moral ; which last distinction does not mean a new class of powers, not included in the two previous -classes; but only those of thinking and acting with resjjcct to law, and of the law itself by which we are to be governed. .These are the powers of reasoning, judging, and believing. Hence faith or belief is not the proper and immediate effect of volition, but of our reason and judgment duly exercised upon testimony. We, therefore, cannot believe at will, or by virtue of an act of volition without evidence, any more than we can, by an act of our will, see without light — nevertheless it would be absurd to affirm that we see by necessity ; tkat our sight or perception of ob- jects, in no case depended upon, or was influenced by our will. The truth is, that although we can neither believe nor see what, or when we please, j^et both our believing and seeing are, in many very im- portant cases, dependent upon our volition, VOL. II. 16* ^5^ DEBATE. Then, it may be asked, What is it that determines our will to in- vestigate? Answer, Ddty, curiosity, or interest. But, whatever may be the motive, still it is evident that being excited to will to iivestigate, our will has a proper and rational influence upon our belief, just as it has upon our power of seeing, or upon our sight. Upon the whole, to suppose that a rational creature acts without motive, is the same as to say that it acts irrationally, or without reason. And to assert that because it acts rationally it acts necessa- rily, and therefore is neither praise nor blame-worthy, is contrary to reason itself; for every man's reason condemns him when he acts irrationally, and approves or acquits him when he acts rationally. — l^herefore Mr. Owen's sixth law is manifestly erroneous, being in direct contradiction to a fundamental law of rational nature. Again, what is natural must be right; if not, what is the standard of right? or, if nature be wrong, who or what shall correct it, seeing it j)roduces all things as they are? Shall the effect correct the cause? or shall the cause, that is, nature, correct itself, and therefore be wiser and better than itself? 'ITierefore, if things be as nature pro- duced them, are they not as they ought to be? But, if not, who can better them, seeing that every thing is the effect of nature, and that the effect cannot correct or rectify the cause? But, if it be supposed that things are in a disordered and preter- natural state, how came they into such a state? For, seeing the creature has no influence either upon its constitution or circumstan- ces, according to law 1, 2, how could it change for the worse? Or, " being deteriorated in its nature and circumstances, having no power <)ver them, how can it change for the belter; having no independent, inherent, self determining power? Nature, then, beirng equally the author both of our nature and cir- cumstances, who can change either of them, but the author? But, are we naturally constituted capable of improving both our nature and circumstances? How can this be, if we came into existence, at first, in an adult state? For, then, we were the creatures of circum- stances; and, as every thing must necessarily act as it is; that is, according to its nature and circumstances, therefore, we could never better our conditions, being limited by our nature and circumstances. But, if tiiere be a principle in our nature, by which we can rise supe- rior to our jiature and circumstances; (and such there must be, if we can ameliorate our condition in both these respects, as Mr. Owen's system pretends;) then surely his display of the fundamental laws of our nature are essentially deficient, inasmuch as tkey no where de- velope this principle. Having now laid my objections fairly before Mr. Owen, and that he may be induced not to pass them by as formerly, 1 will sit dorwn that he may attack and remove my objections if he can. Mr. Owen rises. My friends — Mr. Campbell very naturally wishes that I should fjllow his lead in this discussion: that is, that I should reply to his DEBATE. 187 metaphysical argument, and leave these facts, which can alone throw any real light upon the subject, and which he ought to have prepared himself to refute, and thus involve myself in a debate which would only darken knowledge and confound your understandings. Now all this is perfectly natural on the part of Mr. Campbell. But I wish to set myself right with this assembly before we separate, in consequence of some of Mr. Campbell's observations upon my supposed opinion on the subject of Deity. I have never denied the existence of a Deity. I distinctly and most pointedly gave my reasons for what I believe on this subject. I stated what I believe to be the whole amount of our knowledge in regard to those things which are called Divine; but I will not affirm or deny that for which we have not suflicient facts to enable us to form correct or rational ideas. Now, my friends, you may be sure that, in a discussion of this character, the last expedient an opponent can resort to, is an attempt to ridicule his antagonist's argument. To this dernier resort my friend, Mr. Campbell, has been driven. But the shafts of Mr. Camp- hell's ridicule have been very harmless: they struck pointless, and without the least effect on the mark at which they were aimed; and Avhy? — Because the casket was too well tempered, and too highly polished to be penetrable by such feeble missiles. But if ridicule were to be recognized as a fair weapon in religious controversial warfare, only consider the game that lies before me, only imagine for a moment how the whole christian scheme could be cut up and rendered almost too ridiculous for ridicule itself. I have, however, too much regard for your feelings, and for the importance of the sub- ject under disci:ssion. lo pursue this course. On my side of the f juestion I defy ridicule : for, as you perceive, none can be successfully made to bear upon even one of the fundamental laws of nature, on the accuracy or truth of which, the real merits of this discussion will be ultimately discovered to rest. And this is the true cause why they have so grievously nonplussed Mr. Campbell. But could I so far forget the magnitude of the cause I have undertaken to advocate, as to resort for arguments to ridicule, and thereby unnecessarily wound your feelings, every one knows how easy it would be to use this weapon to expose the pretensions of "any, and of all religion. — But this is a proceeding to which I have no inclination to resort, when the improvement of the human race, in the reformation of its character and general practice, is the subject before me. My object here, upon the present occasion, is not to obtain a personal victory over any man or any portion of my fellows; to me such a victory would be of the least possible estimation. But it is to promulgate truth for its own value, and for the incalculable practical benefits that must ac<;rue to the race of man from its developement. This is a consideration with me beyond all others. This, my friends, is my only object. ^Vere you to give me your whole state — nay, the whule United States, I would consider Ihe gift as valueless, compared with the discovery of one truth of such a character as will penetrate thc understanding of ail men ; arrest their present irrational career, and 188 DEBATE. induce them to adopt a practice which shall make themselves and their posterity happy. Mr. Campbell has given you his views and reasonings upon this sixth law of our nature, but they amount to nothing. He did no! take up the position which is here laid down. This position is — that each individual is so created, that he must believe according to the strongest impression that is made upon his feelings and other faculties, while his belief in no case depends upon his will. This ;s a cjear and distinct position, and leaves no room for a metaphysical retreat. Mr. Campbell rose and said — There is no metaphj^sical subterfuge in me. I contend that I have met the position fairly. The clause 1 objected to is this — ''that belief in no case depends upon will." Mr. Owen. — Well, gentlemen, I will bring this matter to a speedy •issue. . if Mr. Campbell can adduce a single instance vv^herein his belief depends upon his will, I will give up the whole question. \Here Mr. Owen waited some time for Mr. CamphelVs reply. Mr. Campbell covid not then make amj^ My friends, there is no power that can coerce a man to believe con- trary to tiie convictions upon his mind. The change can be effected only by producing evidence that shall appear to him still stronger; and then, often against his will, he is obliged to change his belief. The cause of truth is thus gained. We will, however, proceed to the seventh law of our nature, viz. "That each individual is so created, that he must like that which ia pleasant to him, or that which produces agreeable sensations on his individual organization; and he must dislike that which creates in him unpleasant or disagreeable sensations; while he cannot discover, previous to experience, what those sensations shall be." I have placed upon record the very important consequences of this law of our nature. It will have a weighty influence on the future destinies of man; it will change all the present family relations of life; it will create a new order of existence, as much superior to the present, as liglit is to darkness. But I will now trespass no longer on your patience, except to remark, that Mr. Campbell ,»when speaking of this very law, as applicable to marriage, gave quite a different color to the argument from what he was justified in doing, from any thing I have ever written or said. lie endeavored to make it appear, no doubt from previous misconceptions in his mind, that I intended to encourage prostitution, as it is now understood and practised, in gene- ral throughout society. Why, my friends, it is the infraction of this veiy law of our nature, that has produced all the vices and evils attendant upon prostitution. It is the infraction of this law that has produced a vicious and most degrarling connexion between the sexes unavoidable over the \vorld. I wish to withdraic all the causes which render prostitution necessary and unavoidable, and to propose the means by which a society may \^e formed, in which chastity alone shall be known. Let mo hear no more, therefore^ from any quarter, of the vulgar jargon that I ad- DEBATE. 189 vocate this law of our nature from a desire to increase the vice una. misery which ihe infraction of this law has made every where to abound; and when 1 WicU know there are already so many dreadful evils created by prostitution, as threaten to overwhelm the health and happincf^s of the population of all coimtries. ISo, my trieuds, 1 wouhl not hu.ve travelled to and fro. sacrificiiio; uiy ease, expending my substance, exposing my health and risking my lite, were it not with the intention of improving, and highly im- proving too, the whole condition of man? What motive, short of thi?, could ha\c induced me to adopt the course which I have so long pursued, or to persevere in that course? Therefore, my friends, listen no more to such mistaken noCtons relative to my views and in- ventions on this inost important subject. Such misrepresentations, derived from the ignorant multitude, are unworthy of repetition by Mr. Campbell; unworthy of the cause he supports, and of the magni- tude of the interests which we have met to discuss. This law of our nature, when it shall be understood and properly applied to practice, will put an end to the cause which renders prostitution, under your present errors, nnavoidable. The eighth law of our nature is: "That each individual is so created that the sensations made ijpon his organization, although pleasant and delightful at their commencement, and for some dura- tion, generally become, when continued beyond a certain period without change, disagreeable and painful. And when a too rapid change of sensations is made on his organization, it dissipates, weakens and otherwise injures his physical, intellectual and moral powers and enjoyments." In this law is to be found the foundation of all excellence in human conduct. The desire of happiness is a principle coeval with life and the most- powerful feeling to stimulate to action in human nature. And by this law and the one immediately succeeding it (the ninth) we .shall discover that temperance in the enjoyment and exercise of all our faculties, according to their different degrees of strength, is that habit by which alone the highest point of happiness is to be attained. The tenth law is, that the individual is made to possess and acquire the worst character, when his organization at birth has been com- pounded of the most inferior propensities and faculties of our com- mon nature — and when so organized, he has been placed from birth to death amidst the most vicious or worst circumstances. My friends, this is one of these laws that will instruct you, in your new art as fathers, as soon as you begin to undertake the task — it will show you what you have to do for your infants, your children, and your youth. It will show you, that while you permit them to be surrounded with vicious circumstances, they must receive vitiating impressions from them; and that in the formation of the characters of your children, such of them as have beon so unfortunate as to recei-ve a vicious organization ought to be the objects of your especial compas- sion and kindness; and that they have a just and rational claim upon you, for fourfold more care and attention iu forming them in the most 190 DEBATE. perfect mould, that such of your children as have been blessed With a more perfect natural organization are entitled to receive at your hands. This law, my friends, hiys the fouudsvtion also for inucli good feeling and genuine charity. In fact e ich of these laws sjieak peace t ) you and all m^mkind — ihey all concur to lay the found.uions of charity deeper and still deeper within us, and to exterminate every germ of aakind feeling. They are, indeed, a perfect system of moral laws — and all of them being derived from the constitution of man, as it has been ascertained to be, will, when once understood, recognized, and adopted by society, irresistibly enforce their precepts upon the hearts and the understandings, and direct all the actions of man, 'I'hcir CiToct will be as certain u^on the individual, as are the etiects of pliysical laws in the progress of plants from the seed to the fruit, and the full formed tree; or in any other l-.ranch of vital economy. Now, my triends, under the wholesome and beneficent government of these laws, you will not, as at present, have to grope your way in perpetual and anxious luicertainty. When you begin to form the character of a human being you may calculate upon the result, with ?he sanie undoubting confidence which the mathematician feels when he begins to calculate upon known and certain data. If the vvorft: be correctly performed, there can be no mistake in the result. It will be a sort of moral Bvlc of Three calculation, which might perhaps be stated thus: As the organization oi the individual is to hiii circwmstances, so will be the c/jf/mt;/^?* compoimded out of both. This change in society will abrogate two thirds of our present vocabularv — the hacknied phrases-arising from onr deceptive notions o^ free will, will be exploded; they convey impressions only of error to the mind — and in our new and rational state of existence, not a single harsh epithet, or unkind or censorious expression, in which all languages now abound, will receive admission. And why? — Because there will be no harsh, malignant, uncharitable feelings to be expressed. Hatred and anger will be unknown, for we shall have peace within us, and all will be peace around us. We come now, my friends, to the eleventh law of our nature, '•That the individual is made to possess and acquire a medium char- acter, when his original organization has been created superior, and when the circumstances which surround him from birth to death, produce continual vicious and unfavorable impressions. Or, when his organization has been form.ed of inferior materials, and the cir- cumstances in which he has been placed from birth to death, are of a character to produce su[)erior impressions only. Or, when there has been some mixture of superior and inferior qualities in the original organization, and when it has also been placed through life in varied circumstances of good and evil. This last compound has been hitherto the common lot of mankind." My fiiends, this eleventh law is a mirror to all of you. You have all been forced to acquire this medium character. You are none of you so bad, nor any of you so good, as you might have been formed to be. And why are all of you now, as well as all Christendom, vlvA DEBATE. 101 indeed the inhabitants of every othiir jjortion of the globe, only of a very ordinary medium character? It is because of the universal first impressions forced upon mankind in favor of the doctrines of freewill? These impressions, which commenced in times beyond our knowledge, and have always been the fruitful source of error in the thoughts, feelings and actions of man, originated in the dark ao-es, when science was unknown, when men knew but few tacts, and those few imperfectly. These false notions were, probably, received into the human mind at the time it imoibed its undoubting belief for ages, that the earth was flat and immoveable; the sun, planets and stars all being formed to be attendants on this glo^e for the use of man. Time, however, advanced; science dawned upon the Avorld in defiance of monkish ignorance, and printing was discovered. Facts began to be investigated, real knowledge in consequence to be intro- duced, and to escape by little and little among the multitude. Thus commenced an opposition to religious ignorance, and it ad- vanced against the efforts of the Pi-iesthood, aided even by the inqui- sition. Within the last two or three hundred years, knowledge has been disseminated in an extraordinary manner by the art of printing. This inestimable art has preserved to us so many important facts, derived from the experience of former times, that they serve in part to counteract the vicious circumstances which have been generated by the doctrine of free will, and all the religious notions founded on it. It is the knowledge derived from recorded experience, and the errors generated by the notion of free will, combatting and counter- acting each other, that has placed you in your present medium scale of character. It is the religions over the earth, emanating directly from the un- substantial notions derived from the doctrines of free will, and their necessary consequences in forming the feelings, thoughts and actions of men, that has formed the present medium character of the inhabi- tants of the civilized world. And so long as these free will notions can be taught and received in opposition to the daily increasing lights of experience, showmg how the character of every individual is formed Jbr him, you will remain in your present medium condition, and the inhabitants of the world will receive the same inferior character that those errors have hitherto impressed upon them. But I must proceed to the 12th and last revealed law of our nature; revealed by facts alike to all nations and people, namely : "That the individual is made the most superior of his species, when his original organization has been compounded of the best proportions, of the best ingredients of which human nature is formed, and when the circumstances wliich surround him from his birth to death, are of a choracter to produce only superior impressions, or in other words, when the circumstances or laws, institutions and customs in which he is placed, are all in unison with hi? nature.*' My friends, if in any past times as much had been done for human 192 DEBATE. nature, as you have witnessed this day, in the free and open discus,. . sion i)i whiijh we have Leon engaged, we should not now have to lament the igncriM>ce in ^vhi;•h we have all been kept by the accu- : mulilion of Vicious circamstances, ''^ which we and all mankind '-. have been surrounded irom birth; but upun this part of the subject it is now too late to enter into detail. Take, however, into your con- sideration, f".r a mument, the 'irjportance of the three last laws, and more '>articulnrly of this 12'h law. In ihis you will discover the ceriain, the infa'UMe process by vvh; -h the most is to be made of human nature that can oe made of it, by men of one generation acting upon the children of the rising generation. We cannot, as I have explained to you, jTiake an immediate change upon ihe exis'ing organizatioi of the infants of our race; though I have no doubt that the tirnf*. will come, when very great improve- ments will be made in the organization at birth. In the present state of ignorance, and consequent prejudice, in which we are upon this subject, we must turn our atteu'ion only to those circumstances upon which the knowledge of the influence of circumstances will enable us to act. It has been well observed by one of our learned moderar tors, upon another occasion, in writing upon my views, that he did not well understand how human nature could be the creature of cir- cumstances, and yet have the power to direct them. It was an in- telligent view of the subject. The difliculty is to be explained, and overcome like all other difficulties when they occur, by proceeding in our investigations mtil the whole truth is discovered. By this process it becomes evident, that until we ascertain the fact that we are the creatures of circumstances, we are without the knowledge requisite to give us power to remove, replace, re-arrangie, and control them. And as soon as the knowledge of this fict is fully developed, it becomes itself a new circumstance, by which the existing adults may do more for the rising generations, than has been yet done for man through all past ^^.ges. This, my friends, is 'therefore the first, pre-eminently the first of sciences; it is one of the very highest order that the human mind can conceive. It is that science, by which, in due time, the men of one generation shall be enabled so far to im- prove the original organization at birth; the disposition, habits, manners, thoughts, feelings, and conduct, after lnrth,of the succeed- ing generation, that the former shall become to the latter as creators. For they will be, through this new knowledge, enabled to give to the new man such superior faculties, thoughts, feelitigs, and dispositions, Uiat it will appear to be a re-creation; a regeneration; anew birth; a new life; a resurrection from the corruptions and abominations of the present irrational existence, into a state of peace, knowledge and j(»V unspeakable! It is therefore .a science so deeply intsrestiiig to all, that all, without delay, should be carefully taught it from the first dawning of their reason. And it is moreover a science so con- genial to all tlie principles of nature, and the facts which exist around us, and through all nature, that little children may very easily and very early be instructed in it. DEBATE. 193 ! perceive my hour is about to expire, and it is come when I have \iist entered upon the most interesting part of the discussion ; but I submit to the wishes and convenience of others, and therefore, after I sit down, I shall not trespass on your time, unless it be fur the sake of some explanation. , But I cannot take leave of you without expressing a strong sense fif obligation to those gentlemen, who compose the Cornmittee, tor making the preliminru^ ar)angements for this discussion,- also to those gentlemen who have taken the trouble to attend to all the sub- sequent arransements, and especially to the Trustees of this build- ing, who with'great urbanity, after one churcii was refused to the Committee who applied for it,' conceded to them the use of this for our purpose. And I am much indebted to all who have attended here during thediscussion, for the extreme go(xl order wliich has prevailed, and the remarkable good temper with which you have received those strong, and, in many cases, highly exciting truths to Christians, which I deem it my duty, with reference to future conserpiences, to place before you. "l do not believe that on this account I can ever forget Cincinnati. It is true, I once prophesied her depopulation, not" because I considered her anv worse than other populous places, or a second Sodom and Gromorrah, for your conduct on this oceasioji, proves the reverse. I was, it seems, mistaken, as to the precise time ; having been mis!ed at that period by the enthusiasm expressed by so many of its inhabitants in favor of principles whiclij to my pecu- niary loss, I afterwards discovered they so little understood, I was so well aware thf-n, as I am now, that the inhabitants of a new and uneducated country, as this was at that time, were of necessity far more powerfully influencod by immediate impressions, that by ex- tended and deep reflections. As surely, however, as these twelve fundamental laws are derived from f icts which change not, so sure- ly will the dispersion of the inhabitants of all large cities take place. You will through this new knowledge discover, ere long, that a largo city is a collection of many injuries and vicious circumstances; too unfavorable to the highest happiness that human nature is capable ol attaining, to be much longer allowed to remain. You cannot, under any 'arrangement, in populous cities, enjoy, in anv perfection, the many important advantages, which are inseparable from tlie country, properly cultivated and well laid out for convenience, beauty and pleasure, and to have at the same time, a full share of the best soci- ety. These essential requisitions to the enjoyment of life, cannot be obtained by a single human being within a large city, or in a single family, or among a few families in the country, while it is practicable to form an association of such numbers and character, as wdicn properly arranged and constituted, will possess and enjoy nil the advantages of city and country, without any of the numerous inconvcniencies, disadvantages or evils of either. It was a mistake of my friend, Mr. C. for whom after all our hard and sliarp wordy battles, I am obliged to have the kindest feelings on account of his honesty and liberality, to supoose that my ideas of a- social syttcm VOL.. IIo 17 194 DEBATE. were derived from the Sl»?.king Quakers, Moravians, or any other existing prototype. My ideas upon this subject proceeded from a different source. At the time the embryo of these ideas first pre- sented itself to my mind, I was unconscious that there was a single community living wholly upon public property, in existence. The first mature thoughts upon this subject were suggested to mc by a profound consideration of the laws of our nature, and the effects which they were calculated to produce in practice, with the actual condition of mankind; I perceived that man existed in all conditions from a state single and detrimental solitude through all stages of increasing numbers, up to a congregated mass, as in the capital of China, of two millions of human beings of all ages; but { did not then know that there was a number between iheseextremes, which, under proper management, would give the greatest amount of happiness that man could enjoy. The discovery of this happy number and arrangement, is the first problem to be demonstrated in the science of political economy; and until these points shall be established upon rational principles, and derived from facts and experience, little of the science "f political economy, as a science, can be known. These points are ;he data on which alone the science can take its rise, and without a knowledge of which no such science can be formed. The difficulty which presented itself to me at the outset of studying political econ- omy, was to discover these data. Books written by speculative men in their closets, I soon ascertained could give m,e no information upon the subject I had afterwards an opportunity of observing the efiects of a gradual increasing population, from a few families until they amounted to about twenty-five hundred souls, and then I dis- covered that the true minimum and maximum had been passed. It was thus I was enai)led by experience to ascertain what was the extent of numbers, between which, a population could be arranged and congregated together, to give to each individual the greatest amount of advantages with the fewest inconveniencies. I am now convinced from this experience and from a very extensive and care- ful investigation of the business and concerns of human life, taking also into consideration the ascertained fixed laws of human nature, that the best medium number, ranges between eight hundred and twelve hundred, and that all associations of men, when they become -rational, will be composed of congregations never descending below five hundred, nor ascending above two thousand. These were the diets, principles and considerations whence my ideas of the social communities originated, and these are the causes which have impelled me so strongly to a^lvocate them upon former as well as upon the present occasion — they were not, therefore, derived from any of the prototypes or contracted views and sources whence ?rlr. C. apprehends them to have originated. And it is from these sources, such as I have now explained them, that I predicated the depopidation of Cincinnati, that I still confidently anticipate a chani^e in society from large and populous cities, and single families, to such associations, as will give to each individual the greatest p,dvantages. with the fewest inconveniencies. DEBATE. 195' I shall merely say, in conclusion, that the social system, as it ex- ists in my mind, is an arrangement of society, founded on the most opposite principles, except in unity of labour and property, to the Shakers, Moravians, and old Harraonitep, that can well be imagined. These are all founded on the ignorance and subjugation of the mass under a few intelligent privileged leaders — but whic/h, neverthelesF, produce much com.fort, peace and quiet happiness among that mass. They still, however, retain several of the practical errors, emanat- ing from free-will doctrine?, and frequently sufler changes and evils in consequence; and while those errors arc retained, evils will continually occur, and there will be no stability among them. The social system Avhich I contemplate, is founded upon other principles, so different in character, that each child will receive from infancy to maturity the best training, education, ^indr instruction, that can be given to it. There will be no inequality of rank or condition, except what age and experience necessarily ])roduce; and these of course in due time, all will equally enjoy. And the code of laws, founded on the laws of our nature, will, under the administration, explained in the second part of this work, equally direct and govern all, from the youngest to the ii^ost advanced in age and privileges attendant thereon . , Time does not permit me to add more> I therefore take my leave with the best feelings towards you all, wishing you health, continued prosperity, and the benefit of these anticipated improve- ments for your children.* Mr. Campbell rises. Mr. Owen, in his last address, has given in his cv/n experience, a refutation of his whole system. He has affirmed, that the circum- stances which surrounded him did not first originate the idea of the social system. If so, then circumstances have not an absolute control over men. If Mr. Owen, in defiance of the power of circum- stances, did, out of the rubbish of six thousand years, dig up the twelve gems, and originate the social system, why may not millions cf as bright geniuses arise, superior to the circumstances that sur- round them, and originate new ideas and discover new laws, sub- versive of all former lights, knowledge, and experience? But how Mr. Owen may reconcile what he now said concerning the origina- tion of the social system, and that spoken on a form.er occasion, I pause not now to inquire. This assembly is now witness that I sat down, that Mr. Owen might defend his sixth law, if he could; and that he did not make a single effort. 'Tis true, indeed, he called upon me to produce some case, as an example, where belief depended upon volition. lie said I could not give any. He might, with a regard to truth, have said, •Mr. Owen?s speeches, delivered on Monday and Tuesday, are not printed from the Stenographer's Report, but from Mr. Owen's own publication of them. As they are somewhat improved in his publication, 1 preferred givini? them in the best possible form. This will explain the words enclosed in brackets. UIO DEBATE. I did /jo/ give any; but unless he knew my thoughts I cannot sec on uhat grounds he could sav, I could not give any. \Vc will, however, uy. There was one Col. ^Iiarji, of Frankfort, Kentucky, that was some time since assuf^siiuitcil by one Jeremiah O. Bcaucham|). For Sk>iiic time no persiMi know who (lie perpetrator of this toulest of deeds Mas. ISo person as yet Ixlitred that JonMniah O. Beauchamp was tlie assassin. But indignation, duty, interest, and curiosity, put all upon the inquiry. lOvery one is resolved, determines, or, if you please, puts torth a volition, or wills to search for evidences to pro- duce faith. Ev(My trace, e\ery \\hisper, and every circumstance, arc explored, until a chain of evidence, so powerful, and so minute, is accumulated as authorizes a jury, under the most solemn sanc- tions of law- and relioiv>n, to Uring in a verdict of guilty. Every i.ei"son, heiv, helieved that Joreuiiah O. Beauchamp was the assassin. Now the question is, Jlud not ilic roIitJon or ddcnninatioii of many iiuUridimls, in tiiis i"as'>, .s-dhic injliiciicc upon their beliefs; or, in othor words, did not lUe obtaining of the evidences, iK^ccssary to conviction, dt'pind uj'on the rolifiosuf of those concerned in tracing up the matter? I hope Mr. Owen will no niore assert ''That our faith, in no^asc, depends upon owr volitions." But am I not warraadtl ia saying, that Mr. Owen has closed this discussion without even an attempt to jjrove _/o//r (>t" his positions? He had /fee independent positions. Now to prove tln^tse^/iVc, requiretl a special induction of reasons, arguments, and pnH">fs, with a direct bearing upon each of them; but this has iwt been attempted. — He relied upon the repetition of his twelve laws, and upon his com- ments upon the same twelve, to prove the whole iive; as if identical propositions. This may pass for logic, among sceptics; but cannot, among christians. But, as night with its sable wings, is fast embracing us, I must hasten. I had intended to have presented you with a con-ect and concentrated view of the whole of my arguments; but this would occupy too nuich time. 1 can only, therefore, w ith any regartl to your patience, and circumstances, just state the principal tojiics from which we argued the Divine authority of our holy religion. Finding, as I s<.H)n did, after our conuueucement, that INlr. Owen had no idea of adducing any logical pn>of *>f his propositions, but that he was about to indulge in a latitude of declamation on his social system, and other matters and things having no logical con- nexion with the points at issue, and al'ler various fruitless ctTorts, on my part, and on that of the Board of Moderatoi-s, to draw his attention to the real merits of the discussion. I proceeded to examine the ancient and modtM-n systems of sceptiscism, for the purpose of proving this important point; that, so soon as men, called philoso- phers, sages, or what you please, rejected revelation, and embarked on boaiil of their own reason, they were, to a man, shipwrecked. Not one of them ever reached a safe haven, and such of them as were not wrecked upon some latent rock, foundered at sea.j Notliing DEBATE. 107 but contriuUction amonn; themselves; now mv'storic?, and unicrrsal doubt attended their propross. And in i'aef, tlie most irratioiuil and absurd opinions uniibnnly forced themselves into their minils, so soon as they had emptied themselves of all biblical ideas. Mr. Owen told us that wc must huvc a separate religion for each individual, because of the difference in human organization, not seeing, that upon the same principles, he nuist have a ditforent social system for each individual, and that no two sceptics who i\ad ever written, agreed upon any one si/ntan of doubting. Even Mr. Owen himself, has made a new system, or at least has new modilied sev- eral old ones, to please himself. Thus wc have seen the intellec- tual aberrations, and the moral tendencies of all the systems vl' doubting. As I presmne the new sects in Christendom, will, by their rapid incri>ase and geometrical progression, soon fritter them- selves down to nothing; in other ternis, the m>dtiplication of i.v/H.v, will make them all of none elfect, and tc;uh all christians the ne- cessity of making facts, and not oputioii.\-, the basis of all church union; so the impossibility of any two sccpti«-s projecting any thing like a system in which they can agree, has made it a forlorn hope for sceptics ever to rise higher than to a system of doubting. After cari-ying the war into the enemies country and exploring the weakness of his fortresses, atid the |)o\tMty nf his resourciis, our next object was to erect an impassable wall between his dominions and ours, by showing, p/iilo.soji/tUudh/, that man could never havo invented any religion, not even the most rude; that all thes(> were mere corruption.s; not Inventions of the ancient nations. That in truth, thcMuost burbaroiis superstitions upon the earth, have in them .supcrnutural ideas, which no mere man ever could have originated. In one sentence, I think, we may say, it was proved, that it is as far beyond our intellectual powers to originate a religion of any sort, as it is beyond our physical powers to create! out of n1. 5., page 257. These remarks though written a year ag';, seem t> niG everv way suited to the present occasion. The first is titled tli i Triumphs of Sccj^ticism. The second the Triuinphs of Christi- a.dty. THE TRIUMPHS OF SCEPTICISM. When scepticism triumphs in any heart, the hope of immortality is bnished. It crowns the tyrant Death forever on his throne, and s vils the conquests of the grave over the whole human race. It wraps the tomb in eternal darkness, and suflfers not one particle cf tac remains of the great, the wise, and the good of all age?, to sec the light of eternity; but consigns, by an irreversible doom, all that v/is admired, loved, and revered in man, to perpetual annihilation. It i lontifies human existence with the vilest reptile, and levels man to tiie grade of the meanest v.eed, whose utility is yet undiscovered riaii's origin and his destiny are to its ken alike fortuitous, unimpor- tant, and uninteresting. Ilaving robbed him of every thing which could make him dear to himself and proud of his existence, it murder?* all his hopes of future being and future bliss. It cuts the calle and cists away the golden anchor; it sets man adrift on the mighty, un- f.^thomable, and unexplored ocean of uncertainty, to become the spurt of the wind and waves of animal passion and appetite; until, at last, ii some tremendous gast, "lie sinks to everlasting ruin." Say, tln^r, proud reasoner, of what utility is your philosophy ? What your bonst ? You boast that you have made man ignorant of his. origin and a stranger to himself. You boast that you have deprived him of any rsjal superiority over the bee, the bat, or the beaver; that you hav«j di zested him of the highest inducements to a virtuous life bv taking a.vay the knowledge of God and the hope of heaven. You boast ti^.at you have made Death triumpiiant, not only over the body, but the intellectual dignity of man: and that you have buried bis soul a^d body in the grave of an eternal sleep, never to see the light ot life again! O Scepticism! is this thy philosophy — is this thy boasted victory over the Bible! And for this extinguishment of light and li'e eternal, what dost thou teach and what bestow! Thou teachest us to live according to our appetite.-, and dost promise us that in thy Millennium man shall live in a Paradise of colonies, almost as indus trious, as independent, arid as social as the bees. Well then dost thou preach with xeal, and exert tiiy energies; fjr thy heaven is worthy of thy eff -rts, and the pp.ritv of thy life is just adapted to the high hopes of eternal annihilation! THB TRIUMPHS OF OHRISTrANlTV. A true believer and practitioner of the christian religion, is com- pi(^tely and perfectly divested of a guilty conscience, and the conse- qiont fear of death. The very end and intention of God's being laaalfest in the flesh, in the person of Jesus our Saviour, was to de DEBATE. 199 liver them, "'.vho, through fear of death, were all their lifetime subject to slavery." Jesus has done this. He has abolished death, and broi.-ght Ufa and immortality to light. He has given strength to his disciples t ) vanquish death, and make them triumph over the grave; so that a living or a dying christian can with truth say, "O Death, where now thy sting! O Grave, where now thy \ictory!" He conquered both, and by faith in him we conquer both. This is the greatest victory ever was obtained. To see a christian conquer him who had for ages conquered all, is the sublimest scene ever witnessed by human eyes. And this may be seen as often as we see a true christian die. I know lliat a perverted system of Christianity inspires its votaries with the f:;ar of death, because it makes doubts and fears christian virtues. Hut this religion is not of God. His Son died that we might not fear to die; and he went down to the grave to show us the path up to life again, and thus to make us victorious over the king of tyrants, and the tyrant over kings. They understand not his religion, who are not triumphant over those guilty fears. The guilty only can fear, an:l the guilty are not acquainted with the character, mission, and achievements of Jesus our Life. No one taught of God can fear these horrors of the wicked. Jesus Christ made no covenant with Death; he signed no articles of capitulation with the horrible de- stroyer. He took his armor away; he bound him in an invincible chain, and taught him only to open the door of immortality to all his friends. , A christian, then, must triumph and always rejoice. Our gloomy v^vstems say. Rejoice not always, but afflict your souls: whereas the Apostles say, Rejoice in the Lord always ; and again we say. Rejoice. The gospel as denned by the angels of Gnd, is, glad tidings of GREAT jov; and who can believe gi.ad tidings of great joy, and not rejoice? Deists, Atheists, and the whole host of Sceptics may (Jouht, for this is their vvhole system; the wicked, the guilty, and the \iie mayftar, for this is the natural issue of their lives; but how a a clirislian, knowing the Lord, believing the promises, and confiding in the achievements of the Saviour, can doubt or fear as respects death or the grave, is inconceivable. Thanks be to God who gives us the victory ! Some persons may doubt whether they are christians; and some may fear the pain of dying as they would the toothache, or a dislo- cated joint; but that a christian should fear either death or the grave, isoutof character altogether. For this is the very drift, scope, and end of his religion. They who are under the influence of such fears and doubts, have much reason to fear and doubt whether ever they have known or believed the truth, the gospel of salvation. But a christian in fact, or one who deserves the name, is made to rejoice and triumph in the prospects of death and the grave. And wh} ? Because his Lord has gone before him — because his rest, his heme, his eternal friends and associates, his heaven, his God, all his joys are lievond the grave. Not to knov/ this, is to be ignorant of the favor of God ; not to believe this, is to doubt the philanthropy cf God ; not to 200 DEBATE. rejoice in this, is to reject the gospel, and to judge ourselves unworthy of eternal life. But the christian religion is not to be reproached because of the ignorance or unbelief of those who profess it. All rivers do not more naturally run down the declivities and wind their courses to the ocean, than the christian religion leads its followers to the sure, and certain, and triumphant hopes of immortality. Before we dismiss this assembly I beg leave to express my sensi- bility, my admiration of the marked and courteous attention which has been paid by this community to this discussion. I must again repeat that I have never seen any assembly convened upon any occasion which has all through exhibited the same good order, the same complaisant behaviour, and the same unremitted attention. I feel indebted to, and will ever feel a high respect for, the citizens of this city, for the favorable circumstances which they have created for this debate, and especially to the gentlemen who have so politely and so patiently presided over this meeting. But 1 should be wanting to you, my friends, and the cause which I plead, if I should dismiss you without making to you a very important proposition. You know that this discussion is matter for the press. You know that every encomium which has been pro- nounced upon your exemplary behaviour will go with the Report of this discussion. You will remember, too, that many indignities have been offered to your faith, to your religion, and that these reproaches and indignities have been only heard with pity and not marked with the least resentment on your part. Now I must tell you that a prob- lem will arise in the minds of those living five hundred or a thousand miles distant who may read this discussion, whether it was ou'ing to a perfect apathy or indifference on your part, as to any interest you felt in the christian religion, that you bore all these insults without seeming to hear them. In fine, the question Mill be, whether it was owing to the stoical indifference of fatalism, to the prevalence of infidelity; or, to the meekness and forbearance which Christianity teaches, that you bore all these indignities without a single expres- sion of disgust. Now I desire no more than that this good and christian like deportment may be credited to the proper account. — if it be owing to your concurrence in sentiment with Mr. Owen, let scepticism have the honor of it. But if owing to your belief in, or regard for the christian religion, let the christian religion have the honor of it. These things premised, my proposition is that all the persons in this assembly who believe in the christian religion or who feel so much interest in it, as to tnsh to see it pervade the world, ivill please to signify it by standing up. [An almost universal rising up.] Here Mr. Campbell says, you will have the goodness to be seated. Now I would further propose, that all persons doubtful of the truth of the christian religion, or who do not believe it, and who are not friendly to its spread and prevalence over the icorld, will please signify it by rising up. [three arise.] DEBATE. 201 Mr. Owen rises. Gentlemen moderators — It has just occurred to me that I had lorgotten to tender my thanks to you for your presence and superin- tendence on this occasion, which I now beg leave to do. And I may add, 1 am much plaased with Mr. Campbell's little manoevre of the test, because I discover it pleases hipti and his friends. Truth requires no such support. [Candles called for.] Mr. Campbell rises. While we are waiting for light, I will move that the thanks of this whole assembly be presented to the Board of Moderators, and put upon record. — JSemine contradicente. AdiouriK?ment sine die. . CHARLES HOWARD SYMMES, Reportep. REVIEW 6F MR. OWEN'S BOOK* BEFORE publishing the appendix stipulated in our conditions, I am, from the circumstances which Mr. Owen has thrown around me, obliged to notice a work vaguely denominated on the outside, '■'■Oweri's F?cjr of Public Discussion;''^ but in the inside, ''Robert Oiveii's Open- iiio- Speech and his Reply to the Rev. Alexander Campbellin the recent Public Disctission in Cincinattiy to prove that all Religions in the world arc erroneous, 4-c." together with matters and things pertain- ing to Mr. Owen's tour to Me.xico — ''sold by every book-seller in Europe and America^ Never was there depicted in the face of any sinner the ruling passion of his soul with more incontestible plainness, than is the ruling spirit of this little book in its title page. It shows th.it the author is not unacquainted with the existing deceptions praciised in old society, nor with those ingenious arts of circumvention which are the crying sins of the commercial and trading world. 'Tis only one I have stolen, says the little culprit at school, when detected in the first buddings of his roguish passion, 'tis only one, sir — yes, but two or three more are found in his pocket. So the title says, "Robert Owen's opening speech-''' but before we have got half through the book we come to "the Author's concluding speech,''^ and before we have read to the end of this concluding speech, we find four speeches, one spoken on Monday evening, one occupying the forenoon of Tuesday, and one or two in the afternoon : then we come to one called the "conclu- ding address.'''' So while Mr. Owen's book only promises to give the opening speech, he gives that and all the speches he made on the last two da>'s of the debate. It also promises in the title a "Reply to the Re\'. Alexander Campbell," in addition to the opening speech. But never a reply is found in it, unless we call his concluding speeches his reply. Instead of a reply to my arguments, the author gives, after his "opening speech," what he had written upon his "twelve divine laws" befco-e he arrived at Cincinnati ; so that this book of the opening speech contains Mr. Owen's social system, and the cream of all the speeches made during the discussion. A modest, blushing title page truly! But why this ftiltering and timidity apparent in the title? The secret is here: Mr. Owen soldaW his speeches in selling the right to publish the Debate; but, under the influence of the new circuTnstances which surrounded him after the discussion closed, he was, by that unalterable necessity which destroys all free agency, all religion, morality, and good faith, compelled a second time to sell those very speeches which he had sold. Theretore, the title page, ex- hibiting still some of the compunctions growing out of the old system of society, says, "'tis only one''''— the opening speech. But, perhaps, Mr. Owen thinks that, in a commercial world, it-is all just and right to sell an article first in the wholesale way, and then to sell it i;i retail. 204 REVIEW. He first sells the web, and then cuts off a few coat patterns and seln them in retail. I should not have grudged Mr. Owen one coat pattern for himself if he had asked me for it. I know" he felt his nakedness, and did not like to appear out of Cincinnati, until he had got a new suit to obtain him respect among his disciples abroad. But, really 1 demur at his selling so many pieces off the same web for which f paiv so dear. One of two conclusions we are compelled to adopt on reviewiiu, this "opening speech" book: either Mr. Owen intended to make it u lucrative business ; or he determined to save himself from what he then knew, felt, and anticipated would be the inevitable consequence of the appearance of the Debate. That he was alarmed at the prospect of the publication of our discussion, there cannot remain a doubt from the contents of the book itself, as well as from many other circum- stances. A desire to discredit, or to disparage the I'eport furnished by Mr. Symms, is very apparent. It is true, indeed, he pretends not to give any of my speeches or arguments; but he tells his readers that I am about to give a ^'full history of the discussion.'*'' Now, as 1 observed to Mr, Owen after he presented me Avith a copy of his book on his return from Cincinnati, the history of a battle and the battle itself are two very different things; so the history of our debate and the debate itself are just as different things. Why, then, said I, did you call the report of Mr. Symms onl)'^ a '■'■histoi'y of the discussion, ^^ when it is the discussion itself? Injustice to Mr. Owen, I must pub- lish his reply: "By the word history,'''' said he, "I mean the full ac- count. I used the word history as it is used in England. I find many words are not used in this country in the same acceptation which they have in England." So, then, the full history of a discussion and the discussion itself are of the same import in England! But again — "Independent," says he, "of every other reason for the omission in this book of the mere wordy part of the discussion, be- tween the parties, it is believed that the facts herein stated, and the deductions from them, and their application to practice, will render all the speculations, on the subject of religion, nugatory." In good old English, this means that Mr. Owen's opening speech book gives all his arguments except the worJy part of them; or he means the wordy part is all mine. Even all his own speeches, except "the opening one,''"' are doomed to the character of "rox ei prceterea nihil,''^ sound and no- thing else, by Mr. Owen himself Surely, then, this is a high enco- mium on Mr. Owen's book. Nothing but the clean wheat in it. In mine the chaff and wheat combined '. Now I cannot, in reason, con- demn fVlr. Owen for calling the majority of his speeches, the ^^mere wordy part •^'' or pronouncing any opinion of them which he pleases; but I say it is not compatible with tlie christian idea of justice to con- demn without a hearing, or to prejudge f )r others, and to talk thus of my speeches to disparage them bcf >re they appear. But without being farther tedious, we must make great allowances for Mr. Owen. He is almost the only rational man in the midst of an insane world. Hence says he, "The utmost ingenuity of the human REVIEW. 205 mind, (of an insane world 1) has been exerted, without success, f^)r sev- eral tliousand years, to convince the reasonable part of mankind, of the ti'uth and value of religion." No reasonable man can discover any truth or value in religion!! Such simpletons only as Ferguson, Eviler. Pascal, Whiston, Adams, Boyle, Bacon, Locke, Sir Isaac Newton, ond Sir Hunij)hrey Davy,* among the philosophers; such simpletons only as Jieattie, K,ol> ertson, Hawkesworth, Dr. Johnson, Steel, and Addison, among the moralists; such simpletons only as Spencer, Waller, Gowley, Prior, Gray, Thomson, Dr. Young, Milton, and Cowper, among the poets ; such simpletons only as Arbulhnot, Chcyne, Brown. Boerhave, Prin- gle, Hartley, Hervey, Haller, Mead, Fothergill, and Rush, among the physicians; such simpletons only as Bentley, Henry, Pool, Owen of Cambridge, Butler, Micbaelis, Clark, Bonner, Campbell of Aberdeen, Berkley, Sherlock, Scott, Cudworih, Doddridge, Lardner, Pearson, Taylor, Usher, Watts, Macknight, Moore, I\Iead, Vitringa, Luther, Calvin, Melancthon; Zuinglius, Erasmus, Beza, Claude, Warburton, Leslie, and Wesley, among the teachers of Christianity ; such simple- tons only as Sir John Barnum, Lord Harrington, Lord Cassel, Hyde, Somers, Littleton, Barrington,K-ing, Culler, Pultney, Soame Jenyns, Charles Thompson, Sir John Mason. Gostavus Adolphus, George Washington, among statesmen; such simpletons only as Judge Hale, Melmoth, Pratt, Hailes, Forbes, Jones, Blackstone, Lord Russel,Er- skine, Seldon, and Grotius, among the counsellors and judges — I say only such simpletons as these, and myriads of equal renown, of all ages, are so unreasonable as to see any truth or excellence in religion. But such rational and moral men as Hobbes, Servin, Voltaiic, Fran- cis Newport, Volney, Thomas Paine, Gibbon, Hume, Rousseau, Mira- baud, Chesterfield, Altamont, Emmerson, and my friend Robert Owen ; such distinguished rationaJuts as these have seen, and can see no truth nor value in Religion. Mr. Owen, if we could suppose him sincere and without guile, is one of the most pliant and yielding of mankind, and all out of respect for the feelings of an insane world. I owe him much for preferring, in every instance, to gratify my feelings to his own. H!e yielded all the preliminary arrangements to my wishes. Yes, indeed, because I would insist that ail public discussions required the disputants to speak •Sir Humphrey Davy, lately deceased, gave the following testimony. He was the greatest natural philosopher of this age : — "I envy no quality of the mind cr intellect in others; no genius, power, wit, or fancy; but if 1 could choose what would be most delightful to me, 1 should prefer a firm religious belief to evcrj^ other blessing; for it makes life a discipline of goodness — breathes new hopes when all earthly hopes vanish; and throws over the decay, the destruction of existence, the most gorgeous of all light-, awakens life in death, and from corruption and decay calls up beauty and divin ity; makes an instrument cf torture and ot i-hnme, the ladder of ascent to psrw- disc; and far above all combinatioi-.s of eavtlily hopes, calls up the most delight- ful visions, of palms and amaranths, the gardcvis of the blest, the security of ever- lasting joys, where the sensualist and the sceptic cn'y view gle'jm, deca>v annihilation, and despair!" VOL. II. 18 Q|»6 REVIEW. alternately in some reasonable periods, and not that one should speak all and the other listen, or that one should read a uritten treatise for two days, and the other reply to it in a speech of two days more, or not at all, as he pleased — I say, because I would have it a debate, af- ter he had challenged the world for a debate, and would not consent to Mr. Owen's readino;, without a reply, a written treatise of nearly- 200 pages foolscap foVw, until he should have worn out the patience of the audience, I acted without reason; and he, out of condescen- sion to my weakness, '•'■yidded to my wishes."' just as a philosopher would to a child. My wishes and Mr. Owen's reason were, in this case, only antipodes. But the insane world will have to decide who acted most rationally in this case. But this complaisant yielding to my wishes is told for the sake^of finding a pretext for the "Opening speech" book — and for a new treatise on his Utopian projects in Mexi- c-.o; to call the attention of the public from the Cincinnati catastrophe; to feed the hitherto deluded hopes of his rational free inquiring follow- ers— TVi?, yielding to my u-ishes\siidi the foundation of Mr. Owen's vi- olating the obligations of a solemn engagement. I did not before know ■ that true politeness required a gentleman to violate the obligations of justice and good faith. But we shall here exhibit Mr. Owen''s reasons for this "Opening speech" book — page 5, "■When Mr. Alexander Campbell and the author met, after their arrival at Cincinnati, it became necessary to arrange the mode of conducting the debate. "The author proposed that, he should state the facts and argu- ments inproof of the truth of the principles which he had undertaken to establish; that, after due time for consideration, Mr. Campbell should answer this statement by agreeing or dissenting, according to his conviction; and that the author should reply to Mr. Campbell's objections, if any were made. ■'This was the regular and natural mode of proceeding; but Mr. Campbell was not prepared for it, and said it was contrary to the plan adopted in his former debates. He had been accustomed to spealc alternately, every thirty minutes, with his opponent, and he very much wished to be allowed to pursue the same course in the present case. "The author, influenced by the same principles which he advo- cated in the debate, preferred the gratification of Mr. Campbell's feelings to his own, and acceeded to his wishes. "He did so the more readily, because he felt confident of the truth of the facts and deductions which he intended to make from them, and equally so that Mr. Campbell had to defend popular notions, founded ."solely in the errors of his education. "But by yielding to Mr, Campbell's wishes, the necessity was created for this publication, that the public might have a connected view of the author's reasons for rejecting all religions, as they are now taught and practised by the world." REVIEW. 207 ' ihis work contains no part of Mr. Alexander CampbelPs argu- luents in opposition to the author's statements, or in favor of thfi christian religion. "These will be given at large in the work which Mr. Campbell is editing, which will contain a full hisf^'ry of the discussion. Afttx the utmost in^tjnuitv of the hunlan mind has been exerted, without . success^ for several thousand yeai-s, to convince the reasonable part of mankind of the truth and value of religion, nothing new upon tKe subject can be expected now, or at any subsequent period. It is said, icithout success, for if it had been otherwise, the late public discus.sion could nut have taken placc.^' "But independent of every other reason for the omission in this work of the mere wordy part of the discussion between the parties, it is believed that the facts herein stated, with the deductions from them, and their application to practice, will rftnder ail the specula- tions on the subject of religion nugator;,. "The facts stated by the author relative to human nature, and any religious speculations.^ cannot both be true. ' One must be in error, for they are in direct opposition to each other. The facts relative to human nature, -are derived from the strongest of all evi- dences— the immediate cvidencees of our- senses. All the religions of the world are derived from the weakest of all evidences; the testiinony of ignorant and interested men, through the darkest and most bigoted ages of the world. The former will, in due time, force their invalu- able truths upon the human race, wtile the latter cannot be received by any mind not previously made irrational upon the subject ot religion." This constitutes all I shall review of the "Opening speech" book, as every thing, until we come to Mr, Owen's Appendix to the debate, is already attended to in the regular course of the debate. We have already expressed our views of Mr. Owen's ^'■regular and natural order of proceeding;''' — Only, that we have not remarked, how judicious it was in Mr. Owen, to allow me "tZw^ time,'''' perhaps, a week, for considering what he should have read in two days; and to think that the community had nothing else to do, than to come and depart as we might have studied and written out answers for one another! Insane" world that we are, to think for ourselves at all ! How much better to let a few rational folks like Mr. Owen do all the thinking, and we, the insane, mind our work. After deciding "the regular and natural mode of proceeding," my friend asserts that "J was not prepared for it.'''' Tliis is Mr. Owen's conclusion — but where are his premises? Or is this an intuitive proposition? I was prepared to speak alternately thirty minutes, but 1 was not pre- pared to sit and hear Mr. Owen read for two days, and then to go and study out, after due consideration, an answer for it!! I was prepared for extemporaneous half hour replies, but hot for sitting, and hearing, then writing!! Wonderful logic! Yet, Mr. Owen, under the advantage of his old fashioned materialism, may explain this by representing me as a peculiar kind of machine, which gives out so 208 REVIEW. many v/ords half hourly ; and, to an instant, at the expiration of thirty minutes, down falls the gate. So that I am not prepared for any 'jther kind ©f speaking but half hourly. Yet if Mr. Owen had trusted .Tiore to his memory, and a little less to his fallacious reason^ he would have had his philos(j^hy of me corrected by one fact; viz. that I spoke twelve hoiu's without any reply from Mr, Owen. — Just after ■ he time that his gate fell and his machinery got out of order. -But Mr. Owen acceeded to this peculiarity in my organization, because he "felt confident of the truth of the facts and deductions which he intended to make from them ; and equally confident that I had to defend popular notions, founded solely in the errors of my •-education." Profound logic ! unanswerable argument ! Mr. Owen's conscious confidence of his system, and his consciousness that I had vo defend popular notions, founded solely in the errors of my edur ''ation, influenced him to accede to any thing, I did not before knew that Mr. Owen viewed all the popular notions as founded on the errors of my education. But his consciousness of truth and error :s about as good an argument as he can offer for the one, or against the other. Mr. Owen was undoubtedly shaken irj the late debate, notwith- standing he may neither be conscious of it, nor would his vanity permit him to acknowledge it. He never presumed to oppose the Christianity of the New Testament, as I exhibited it in the discussion, ?iis objections and his system were built upon the presumption that -ectarian dogmas and practices constituted Christianity. At one time Mr. Owen would not admit that there was any difficulty upon his side of the question, but that all difficulty was on our side. After t!ie debate, he was willing to admit there were difficulties on both -ides. Belbre the debate, he was opposed to all religions, how- fcver taught. But now he only pretends to oppose them "«5 they are now taught and practised in the world.'''' In his code of laws for the government of his new societies he had no provision for religion, but now he is willing to let them have any religion they please, and only stipulates for toleration. These to me are good omens. And, when Mr. Owen reads deliberately the preceding discussion, I am :iot without hopes that it may iiMike deeper inroads upon his scepti- scism; for, I discovered, in the recent discussion, that Mr. Owen is a gentleman of such peculiar organization that his second thought is better than his first, and his third is better than his .second; — that he needs reflection which I suppose his kindness prompted him to extend so liberally to me, as to allow me two whole days to listen and reflect. But now 1 come to the words without success, which he has italicised in the above reasons. All the efforts o{ all minds, ingeni- ous and learned, for several thousand years directed to convince the reasonable part of mankind of the truth and value of religion have been without success. Yes, without success; else the late discussion could nut have taken place. This is the most sapient logic : a perfect sample, or standard measure, of the height and depth of Mr. Owen'^ MVIEW. 209 mind. Yes: all the clotliiers, cordwainers, house Inuldcrs, bakers, with all the mechanics that have ever lived, have labored in their respective callings without success, else there would have been no need now tor new coats, new shoes, new houses, and fresh loaves, Sic. &c. This would not pass for good logic in this insane world. Yet it is a fair sample of the good logic in the rational world of these wise philosopliers. Mr. Owen does not take into view that every age has produced a few rational men like himself, who supposed that all mankind had for thousands of years been fast asleep, in the em- braces of ignorant and impotent priests, who like him have claimed a patent right for reason, logic, and good sense. These few rationals have louked upon the race of mankind as mere enthusiastic block- heads. Accordingly these wise and benevolent sages have set about ref )rming mankind from the errors of religion, and aimed at giving them a discharge from its fears and its hopes as alike unworthy such high and exalted worms of the dust. But so completely have they labored without srcccss that their opinions have never spread over a whole farm much less over a province, island, or city, upon the face of the earth. They cannot point to a single speck upon the surface of land or sea and say, there have we succeeded in establish- ing our irreligion, or our scepticism. Nay, indeed, so irrational is their scheme, that no people on earth, the most rude or the most accomplished, can be found prepared to adopt it. It shocks the common sense of men, and it requires a degree of hardness and in- sensibility of heart, to which few attain, to fit a man for denying the existence of God and his moral government over mankind. A few such characters like excrescences upon a tree, or tumors upon a human body, may exist in christian communities, and be as necessary a^ shamble Hies in a market house; but they could never exist in a community by themselves. Hence, with all the efforts of Mr. Owen, and all the remains of the morals of the old society to help him, he was unable to keep together the sceptics of New Harmony. The .sceptics themselves, who made it their asylum, and were master builders in that city, have fled, and sought refuge in the midst of the old cities of the world. To say that Christianity has been plead without success is just as^ far from fact, as to say that these United States ha\e, without svcdcss, attempted to form a government of their own. Christianity vanquish- ed the superstitions of the Roman Empire, and has most unquestion- ably subdued under its authority the most enlightened nations of the earth ; and, although they who have bowed to its authority and acknowledged its divine origin, have corrupted it, and have not yielded themselves wholly up to its guidance, yet still, their subjec- tion to it is full proof of its paramount authority and rationality. Like captured cities, they have been compelled to submit to an authority which they could not resist; and whether or not they like the government of the conquerer, they must pay tribute and bow to his supremacy. This is true of Christianity and of no other religion in the world; because, in" defiance of constant persecution and pre- ■ VOL. II, 18^ 210 REVIEW. scription, by its own evidences alone, it took possession of the throned of the Cesars; and, without a sword or a lancet, it first conquered the world. And now in our own country wliere there is nothing to support it but its ow)i paramount evidences and claims, how does it swell the number of its subjects; and that, too, in defiance of the treachery and misdeeds of many of its professed friends. Neither internal feuds, neither the attacks of open enemies, nor the treason and unfaithfulness of false friends, can impair its conquering power. But were the intestine broils and animosities and bickerings to cease, what would its progress be? Like an overflowing river it would sweep from the earth every vestige of scepticism, and in a few years revolutionize the whole human race. The sun rising to-morow is not more certain to my mind than such an event. But again — because a few individuals, who, without the knowledge or consent of their cotemporaries, call themselves "rational and ingenious," wish to attract the attentien of mankind by creating doubts — because, I say, they oppose the Lord of Christians, and | boast, because they have shut their eyes, and closed their ears, that Ihey are not conquered, that they have not boAved to the Governor of the Universe — does it follow that Christianity has therefore been plead unihout sticcess? As rationally may we say, that, because there are some republicans in England, and some monarchists in the United States, the cause of republicanism has been plead imthout success on this continent, and that of monarchy without success in the island of Great Britain, Every age has produced some black sheep, and some ring-streaked, speckled, and spotted goats. So there have been some idealists, like the Bishop of Cloyne; some matenalists, like Epicurus and Mr. Owen; some deists, like Thomas Paine; and some profane wags, like Voltaire, who laughed while they lived, and trembled when they died. But as well might the black sheep disown the white, or the speckled goat the whole species, as these idealists, materialists, visionaries, sceptics, and wits, claim reason as theirs, or arrogate the name of philosophers to themselves. JMr. Owen''s^h'easonablepart of mankind,'''^ and his "without success,*"* are expressions of equal truth, and of the same latitude of applica- tion. If reason consists in making men mere worms, and in living conformably to that rank, I grant then are they the most reasonable part of mankind, who never think of their origin nor of their end ; but iuake themselves as much like the brutal creation as possible — the slaves of appetite, of lust, of passion, or of instinct. All such, if they can debase themselves thus, and eradicate from their bosom every trace of a Divinity, every impression of a Creator, Ruler, or Judge, may fancy themselves reasonable; but 1 must be so insane as to think them mere deluded dreamers, talk as haughtily as they mav. But I come next to notice the concentrated light, logic, and reasoi},, cf my friend Mr. Owen. His most puissant arguntent is, "His facts relative to human nature cannot but be true" — and, as they are op- ^ REVIEW. $11 posed to Revelation, that cannot be true. This has been repeatedly exploded, as we think, already; hut Mr. Owen lays it down anew in his reasons for this new book. Now, admitting for the sake of argu- ment, that his twelve positions were all facts (which every philoso- pher, grammarian, and logician upon earth knows they are not,) and that they were all true; (but that they are not all true has been re- peatedly shown:) now, I say, admit them all to be true facts, it yet remains to show that they are, one and all, contrary to the christian religion as taught in the New Testament. This Mr. Owen never has yet attempted, save that he stipposes the New Testament proceeds upon the free-idll principle, which, by the way, he never did show. Now, as the free-will question is the only one at issue in the twelve, and as that is not a question which can be decided by our Jive senses, how comes Mr. Owen to say that these twelve facts are derived from the strongest of all evidence — the immediate evidence of our senses? If he now fails to prove this, he fails at the very foundation. Now I appeal to the thinking world, sceptics and all, and ask, Who of you gentlemen, will sav, and attempt to prove, that, by our five senses we know that our will has no power over our belief? And again, direct me to any assertion or declaration in the New Testament which asserts whether we are free or necessary agents. Unless both these are exhibited, we must continue to admire the daring reason of the philosopher who declaims without argument, and reasons without premises. His '-'facts" concerning human nature are not the half of the facts concerning human nature. They have only to do with man without a spirit. Now, as IMr. Owen repeatedly acknowledged, he does not know whether man has a spirit or has not, how can he presume tp lay down any number of facts, and predicate upon them a theory of man, and frame a code of laws for him! This always did, and yet does appear, a most extravagant aberration both from reason and philosophy. But as Mr. Owen will have his views of human nature built entirely upon ^Hhe strongest of all evidence — the evidence of our senses^ so he will have all the religions of the world, and, of course, Christianity, derived from the weal-est of all evidence — the testimony of men J To degrade this testimony, he qualifies it the testimony of ignorant and interested men, through the darkest and most bigoted ages of the world. A more base and unfounded calumny never was printed? There are three distinct assertions in this last sentence which never can be proved: — 1. It is not true that testimony is the weakest of ali evidences. It adnfiits of many degrees; but is in its most perfect character always capable of producing the highest certainty. Mil- lions who never saw France, are just as certain that there is such a country, as that they see or hear. I am as certain that there, is a city called Pari?, as that there is a city called New York; though the former I never visited, but hav» been in the latter. "The evidence cif testimony," says one, "may arise to such a height as to be per- 2t2 REVIEW. fcctly equivalent to j:ense or demonstration." Testimon}', I affirm, i*, in ten thousand instances, capable of producing a greater degree ot' certainty than our reason. The testimony of one credible witness will frequently discomfit a chain of syllogisms many yards long. This may appear a vague way of talking, but it is a truth that testi- mony is incomparably a much better or safer guide than reason, even in the most ordinary employments of this life. Take the husbandman, for example, and ask him whether he is certain, with all his reason^ that such is a good plough, a good mode of agriculture, a good plan of building, &c. and after reasoning upon all the premises, to his utmost capacity, one credible witness, attesting that he has proved his con- clusions to be fallacious, will upset all his logic, and produce more certainty than all his reasonings. All men are so created that they can be assured ot many truths upon good testimony ; but very few can have the same degree of assurance in their best reasonings. Ma.n- kind, in general, are very imperfect reasoners — but all can believe on good testimony. Faith is infinitely a safer guide than reason to the great mass of mankind. Nothing is more common than to see all theorists in agriculture, mechanic arts, and in the common business of life, disappointed. So soon as men depart from tradition, they stand upon unsafe ground. Hence the theorist in agriculture, or in any busi- ness, nine times in every ten, miscarries. And what is the theorist, but the man guided by reason ? And what is the great mass of copyists, but believers? And so it comes to pass, that, to the great aggregate of the human family, faith is a much more certain guide than reason, even in matters of daily labor. Few of the great reasoners have made useful discoveries. V/hat we call accident has thrown the most useful inventions in the way of tliose who liave not been reasoning in pursuit of them. So distrustful are the best reasoners, even in the common mechanic arts, that they confide doubtingly in all their con- clusions until proved by experiment. Hence experiment is appealed toby common consent, as the only infallible arbiter. Now, if, in the common afiairs of this life, faith is a better and surer guide than reason, incomparably more to be relied on, where is the boast of the sceptic and the triumphs of the philosopher? Often have I seen the mechanic use his plummet, his square, his straight edge, and con- clude that all was just correct. But when he attempted to put his work together, his tenants would not suit his mortices, nor did his uprights stand perpendicular. Experiment alone corrected, tested, and confirmed his reasonings. If, I say, in things pertaining to this life, reason is so imperfect a guide, how can we claim so much for it in reference to the next! Those men who magnify reason are in general the least to be trusted, and their decisions prove that reason is very far from producing the same degree of certainty which com- monly attends our faith in human testimony, I only conclude from these general remarks, that, as testimony bestows upon us the largest portion of our information, so, in general, it afibrds us the greatest degree of certainty, and stands to us always in the place of experi- ence, when experience is wanting. REVIEW. 213 How deplorably iflrnoraiii lltc human fomily would linvc been if left to their reason as tlie only source of information in things natural and supernatural, God has not left us without witness both among pliilosophers and savaijes. Mr. Owen, with all his philosophy, cannot explain one of the laws of nature, nor tell us whether there is any spirit or spiritual system in the universe. He cannot, in truth, tell us what man is, whence he came, nor whithei- he is destined. So com- pletely blind is philosophy ! The sight of such a man as Mr. Owen, the iinowlcdgeofhis theory, is sufficient to bring every christian to his knees, and to cause him to summon all his faculties to praise him who has commanded light to arise and shine upon us. When I see a man of his character and standing rise up to advocate reason and to degrade testimony, my fancy presents before me an obstinate blind man, who throws away his staff, and refuses the hand of a benevolent friend. He says he can see, and appeals to those as blind as himsel£ in proof of it! Reason can judge of testimony, and this is its province; and in the absence of testimony and experience it is our sole guide. As such we do not disparage it, but when it proudly invades the domin- ions of testimony, and rejects its aids, we must strip it of its fancied supremacy, and abase it by a recital of its miscarriages. Man is often imposed on by false testimony, but more frequently and more fatally, by false reasonings. For one lie that is credited, there are ten so- phisms received or adopted ; and the proportion between false logic and false testimony is, at least, as ten to one — at least, so I judge ; and let any person keep an account of this sort per week, and if in the business and bustle of life, he is not ten times mocked by false rea- soning in himself, and by others, for once he is imposed on by false testimony, I will agree to change the proportions. But I think that I am under, rather than above, the ratio. But some might ask, Is not the testimony of others as little to be relied upon as the reasonings of the great mass of society, because their testimony is often the result of their own reasonings? This ob- jection, in the form of a query, is based upon a mistake of the nature of testimony, or of its legitimate jurisdiction. Testimony is not the report of the conclusions and deductions of human reason, but the recital of experience, a narration of things heard, seen, or felt. It has, then, always the evidence of sense, or of consciousness, or of feeling, as the grounds and basis of its assurance. The original witness says, I saw, I heard,! think, J feel — not I reason, I conclude, I suppose, I con- jecture, &:.c. Testimony, therefore, has to do with matters subject to the evidences of sense and consciousness, Avhich afibrd the greatest of all certainty. I, therefore, I think, legitimately conclude, that next to the evidence ol sense, to the aggregate of the human race, that of tes- timony produces the greatest certainty. Mathematical evidence pro- duces a certainty of another kind. It does not respect the subject before us. Facts can be ascertained only three ways: 1. By the ev- idence of sense; 2. By testimony; and 3. By reason. They stand ia the order of the certainty which they produce; and, indeed, it must ^ ^14 REVliiW. always be remembered that testimony of the first order, or of the higti est character, alwciys {5roduces certainty equal to the evidence ol sense, or eveii mathematical demonstration. I feel all the certainty that there is a country called Cliinn, or a , shall, be known no more : and that these evil circumstances shall be gradually rejilacen by that universal charity, and kindness, and union, and desire to promote each other's happiness, which are sure to be produced in practice, as soon as the fundamental laws of human nature shall be sufficiently developed to be understood in their full extent by the pop- ulation of the world. If the discussiim shall be found toiiasten the period of this happy change in men's minds, and in their outward circumstances, it will accomplish an, essential part of the object which I had previously anticipated. But to its effect upon my mind. After listening to Mr. Campbell with a sincere desire to be convinced of error in my views of human nature, if there were error in them, i felt, at the termination of the disccussion, more confirmed in all my former sentiments — if it were possible further conviction could be added to what before appeared to me self-evident truths — than when the debate cummcnced. Mr. C.'s learned defence of the Christian scheme, after nearly a years «ppli- cation to prepare himself for it, had the efi^^ict upon Juy niiad, to convince me that it had only the common foundation of all other religions to rest upon; and that its mysteries and miracles were of a more inferior invention than many others which christians, from their infancy, weie taught to contemn and hold in derision. Possi- bly a similar result, relative to my opinions, was produced on Mr. Campbell's mind. A natural and most important question thence xirises. How is it, that these conflicting impressions have been made upon two minde, both conscientiously desirous of discovering the truth? Being dee})ly impressed with the belief that an investigation of this question, to its source, is one, at this peculiar crisis in the prog- ress of knowledge, of more practical utility and importance to man- kind, than perhaps any other that is now before the public, I will endeavor to pursue it to some satisfactory conclusion. By comparing Mr. Campbell's ideas with mine, as they rapidly flowed from him, I perceived there was no connecting point between our minds. We were proceeding, as it were, in parallel lines which ccnild never meet. His associations of ideas were altogether difl^-- cnt from those in my mind. His associations had been formed upon one base; mine upon another. Th&re was, therefore, no chance of one convincing the otfier, until one of the§e associations could be broken up, by its founda,tion being proved to be a fallacy. Until this cofuid be done, we sav/ religion, and every thing connected w ith it, through mediums in our mind so essentially different, that it might be said, that what appeared to one white, produced a conviction on the other, that it was any other color, sotnetimes even Ulack= Dis.- VOL, II, 19 21S APPENDIX. covering early in the debate, that this was the true state of ouf minds, and the real cause of the different convictions with which we were both impressed,-— I perceived it would be a loss of time, and entirely useless, to discuss any minor points, while the very founda- tion of the association of our ideas remained unexamined and untouched. I therefore uniformly declined all Mr. Campbell's meta- phj'sical questions, which I saw had no real bearin^f on the important Mibjects before us; and wished to bring him to discuss first or fun- damental principles, that we might from these proceed, step by step, fo some certain and beneficial conclusions, Mr. Campbell, however, avoided this last mentioned proceeding, as tenaciously as 1 did the former; and, therefore, much less satisfac- tion was given to many who attended the meeting, than they had anticipated. Mr, Campbell and I must now endeavor, by our cool and deliberate reflections, to remove these difliculties, which also exist in the minds of millions, for the benefit of those who may read the reports of this discussion, and of the public, who may hear these principles canvassed in conversation, or read them in other publica= tions. To me, it early appeared by Mr. CampbelPs feelings, lan- guage, and manner, that his character had been formed for him under all the influences derived iro;n the notions of man's entire free agency, which had been made upon his original organization from jafancy ; while I knew mine had been formed for me by a conviction arising from facts, and deductions from them, that those notions could not be true, and that the feelings, thoughts, and conduct, were form- ed to be as they are^ by circun^stances not under my control. And that it would be in vain for me to discuss with Mr. Campbell the subjects before us, under the expectation of producing a conviction on one side or the other, until it shall be first decided whether the character of man is formed by himself according to the notiens taught by the doctrines of free will, or that it is formed ybr him by the cause or causes, whatever they may be, which, without his knowledge, produces his organization at birth, by the persons who surround him from birtji, and by the other circumstances in which he is placed And this view of the subject brings* us, at once, to the naost important consideration that can engage the human mind. Is man, as first impressions load all to conclude, a free agent, and accountable to some superior intelligence for his thoughts, feelings and conduct? or are these inevitably formed for hini by circumstan ces over which he has no control? This is the real question of dinerencG between Mr. Campell, And all other religionists, and myself It is the auEsnoN, which the condition of mankind and the well being of society require, at this juucture, to be set at rest for ever, that man may adopt a fixed and unchanging course. For m practice, ignorance, or knowledge — poverty or abundance —the malignant passions, with disunion and all manner of strife and con- tention as heretofore, or charity, union and peac€v — or perpetual hopeles'^, but changing misery, or permanent happiness, cverlastinglj/^ APPENDIX. 219 increasing and improving — depend upon its right decision. It is no metaphysical question. It is the most important j>r«cian actions, except through a medium which falsifies whakeves he attempts to examine. It renders him, from birlh to death, a moral coward, — so weak in intellect, that he dares not examine himself, or investigate what manner of being he has been formed to be. It makes him much more base and irrational than the brutes, by compelling him to become ashamed of his nature; which, but for this very error, would be discovered to possess the jgerm of every conceivable excellence. It makes him, through life, the most inconsistent of all the animal creation. He follows not the wise impulses of his nature, which would lead to excellence in con- duct aaJ to high enjoyment; but he is perpetually occupied with whims and fancies, which, having no foundation in nature, keep him a wild, fantastic, visionary enthusiast, or a continued self tormentor. It contradicts the notion that he is now, or that he ever has been a reasonable creature. He kiaows not what reason is. He looks «afOund him, out of his own circle of errors, and discovers, that iroiB otiB extremity of the earth to the other, all nations, and tribes, and people, are acting the part of fools or madmen; but he knows ■not that the cause of this conduct is the error within himself and all of his race, Man is thus deceived to his degradation and misery, and he dares not probe the evil to its source. He is now precisely under the same kind of moral delusion, that he was of physical, previous to the discoveries of Copernicus and Galijeo. His senses, from the beginning of his knowledge, im- pressed him with the belief that the sun moved round the earth. Religion taught the same error. When facts were investigate*?, and accumte deductions were made from those facts, they proved that the feun was stationary. There was, therefore, an inconsistency between the uninvestigated impressions from the senses, and the conclusion?, to which those facts and deductions led the inquiring mind. Where was the error? — in the uninvestigated belief that the sun moved round tijQ earth, or in facts which wait for examination, and remain the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever? But religion had taught the physical error" through many previous age?, and religion is infallible' APPENDIX. 221 - i'ore, facts, and nature, and reason, however consistent these y be, and however beneficial the practical results which they iiisclose may be, must all yield to the control of this engine for destroying the superior Aiculties of human nature ; and the discoverers must retract their newly acquired knowledge, or be sacrificed at the shrine of religion. So in this our day. The uninvestigated notions induce men, through early impressions, to believe that they possess the pov.er to think, to feel, xind to act according to their will ; and, therefore, that these powers originate with their will, and they are, in consequence, responsible for their degree of inferiority and superiority, have merit or demerit, deserve praise or blame, and reward or punishment here and hereafter, as these qualities of their nature-may be estimated by themselves and others. The religion of this day,iind of past ages, has taught this doctrine. It forms the foundation of the whole su- perstructure of all the religions that have ever existed, and of all the divisions and subdivisions of it which are at tnis day spread over the e'arth. And although facts innumerable, and all the deductions which the most accurate reasoning can draw from those facts, and the whole process of human life, when traced step by stop to its source, prove that those first impressions respecting thouglit, feeling and conduct, which give the appearance of free will to man, are as fallacious as his first impressions relative to the motion of the sun; yet, as religion is believed to be as infallible tc-day as it has always bd^n in the esti- mation of its devotees, the door of the most valuable knowledge is to be closed for ever against man's investigation. He must, solely to retain all the irrational mysteries, miracles, and dogmas generated by the most ignorant and distorted imaginations, be kept the ignorant^ base, irrational, weak, vicious, inconsistent and miserable animal which these deceptive impressions have ever formed him to be, and which, until the acquisition of real knowledge derived from facts and experience, shall prevail over these fallacies of the mind, he must ever oontinue to be, to the utter destitution of reason and common sense. But, say the supporters of these mental delusions, do we not feel that we have a will, free to think, to feel, and to act as we like? not attending to the facts which, independent of their will, compel them to think and fe^l, and consequently to act, by certain laws wliich create the will itself, and force it to the decision it makes, and to the actions which are consequent upon its determination. So the supporters of the physical delusions of old said, "Do we not in the morning see the sun rising in the East, at mid-day in the zenith, and in~thc evening set in the West? Will you cunning men and philosophers persuade us out of our senses? , Cannot we see and understand these things as well as you? We see and fee!, and there- fore know, that the earth moves not, and that the sun ever performs its regular task, to give us by its daily motions the change from Awy to night, and to give us light and heat. Do not, then, attempt to dec^eive us by your pretensions to superior knowledge, and endeavoj? to make us think, contrary to the palpable evidence of our senses, that all our VOL. 1I„ 19* ^22 APPENDIX. forotlilhers were mistaken, and that our religion has taught us error:? instead of truths. No, you vile atheists! you want to rob us of all oir earthly consolations, and to lessen our belief in the infallibility cf our holy religion and its sacred ministers. Tempt us no more by specious reasons about the great practical benefits of real knowledge derived from fixed laws of nature: we know nothing about them. And if you continue to attempt to enlighten us upon these subject?, directly opposed to our senses and our holy religion and its diving ministers, we will punish you by imprisonment and death. Retract all you have said, or suffer the consequences of your scepticism and blasphemous doctrines." And Galileo, to save his life, was obliged to retract those truths upon which alone the glorious science of astronomy is known to men. But what is this science, grand, magnificent, noble, and useful as it is, compared to the practical results to be obtained from an accu- rate knowledge of the science of tlie formation of the fnture cha- racter of the human race? The former has given man an insight into the movements of the planets within the sphere of the sun's attraction; it has enabled him to calculate times and seasons, and thereby to obtain much uscfid practical knowledge; and it has given a certain portion of eternal happiness to his race, whicii can be experi- enced only when, by an accurate knowledge of some new facts, tht human capacity has been expanded to encompass another combina- tion, complete in itself, of extended causes and effects, which show forth the unchanging consistency in all the works of nature, and demonstrate her laws to be everlasting. Great, however as this discovery has proved to man, it has not been competent to disturb his general impressions relative to his long established notions of his own free will and conduct, and all the demoralizing consequences attendant upon that belief. It has not enabled him to perceive this hourly increasing scourge of his race. It has not given him sufficient vigor of understanding, and strength of moral courage, to probe the true cause of hmnan evil to its source. But a knowledge of that science which shall direct most un- erringly to form the character of his progeny to attain all excellence, phj'Sical, mental, and moral, will eliect all these things, and much m ire. It will secure an unchanging and untiring progress in the most valuable knowledge, and fix the happiness of the hilman race upon a rock, from whence the passions and vices resulting from the notions of man-s independent free agency, will assail it in vain; their strength will diminish, until it shall be entirely axhausted. Now this science — the overwhelming practical influence of which cannot be estimated by a generation trained from infancy in the reason-destroying doctrines of fi-ee will — is of such mimense conse- quence to the human race, that tliere is no other subject within the present range of man's knowledge, that can be compared with it. For this science has a direct reference to the formation of man, be- fore the germ commences its process to produce a living organized beia^. it accompanies him from that moment to his birth. It con APPENDIX. 223 tinues with the infant, child, adult, and old man, to death, without a moment's intermission. It is every thing to each individual, and to all generations of mankind, for their good or evil; or it is of no moment to man, and utterly unworthy the consideration of a being formed with powers to become rational. Which is it? Who is to answer this question? Those who have not yet been taught to begin to think about it? or those who, from discovering the importance of right knowledge on the subject, have devoted their lives to ascertain the facts which man developes from his birth, and who have quietly examined and re-examined those facts by extensive and long continu- ed experiments upon infants and children, until their characters were formed? It is after the latter mode of proceeding, to an extent of which, in reality, few are aware, that I give a matured opinion upon the subject of my fellow-beings. There is no other mode of acquiring knowledge deserving the at- tention of enlightened minds, than by an accurate observation of all the facts known, connected with the subject, and by a careful comparison of all these facts, one with another, until the subject vmder consideration can be exhibited in all its parts in unison with each other, — forming, by their combination, one complete whole, from the first principles on which it is founded, to its unvarying prac- tical result. It is thus, and thus only, that the true nature of man is to be demon- strated, and that it can be ascertained whether he is a being of inde- pendent thoughts, feelings, and actions; or whether he is like the other works of nature, a necessary effect produced hy all the preceding causes, which have called him into existence, and formed him to be what he is without his knowledge, will, or control. It is by this course of proceeding, that I have prepared mvself for this investigation. It is through innumerable facts, calmly and pa- tiently examined and compared continually through an active life of extended experience of nearly the duration of half a century. Then the question is. What is man, and how is he formed to be r.s we iind him physically, mentally, and morally, as he is in this and every other country at this day ? The twelve fundamental laws of human nature, given twice to save reference in the first parts of this work, are the results of the iucts examined and compared as I have mentioned above. To those who have investigated the subject in the same manner, who have derived their knowledge more from observation than from books, and who have followed up their observations by extensive practice ; these laws of nature will be understood, and their direct applicability to explain the formation of the human character, and the whc^e existence of man from birth to death, and with the general business of society, and the government of nations, will be duly appreciated. As the germ or seed of man's existence, like the germ or seed of all other animals and plants, is not of man's contrivance, and as the germ possesses the essential qualities of the planter animal, and fis the culture of this germ does not depend in any degree upon the wi'i 521 APPENDIX. of the individual, no mistake can be more gross, than to attribute the qualities of a free and independent action to any thing thus created and framed. When a child comes into existence, it is entirely at the mercy of the persons around to give it language, ideas, and any drection to its feelings which the knowledge and habits they pos- sess may influence them to exert over it. And it must receive the impression, which all external objects, natural and artificial, make upon its senses. The individual knows not when he comes into existence, his t)wn natural qualities in number, kind, or combination. He knows nothing of the persons who surround him and acquire the guidance of his mind and affections. He is equally ignorant of the nature, kind, and qualities of all the natural and artificial circumstances within the localities of his birth or place in which he receives his early training and instruction, and from which all his first impressions are received. And the thoughts, feelings, dispositions, mind, will, and conduct of all men, are a compound of all these natural and artificial circumstan- ces united. As an individual existence, man, in his own person, has no more to do in the formation or compounding of any of these ingredients which make him what be is, than the bee, the dove, the tiger, or the elephant, have in determining what qualities shall belong to their respective natures — what propensities, dispositions, or habits they shall possess and retain through life. Man can be no more responsible for his nature, or the strength, or weakness of his propensities, or intellectual or moral faculties, than these or any other animal. And to hold man responsible for his nature, fjr his general or individual propensities, faculties, and qualities, or for thp direction which his predecessors and the local circumstances in which he is involved may give to them, is a direct act of insanity, and proves that man has not yet been formed, by his nature and circumstances, to become a rational creature. The idea of merit or demerit, of praise and blame, or of rcAvard and punishment, to a being thus constituted by nature, and thus compelled to be what he is, proves that man has every thing to learn respecting himself and his race, and that he is yet ignorant of all that is essential to his improvement and happiness, lie must know himself before he can enjoy the faculties which nature has given him. By attending solely to facts, by an extensive comparison of these, e^ch with the other, by the imagination, not entering into any of our deductions from these comparisons, it seems possible and practicable, that man may in this age of his existence acquire sufficient knowledge of himself, and of his fellow beings, to enable him to tram and educate his immediate descendants in such a manner, that they may possess the dispositions, manners, and intelligence, and be surround- ed by those ncv/ circumstances, which shall give them the means and mclmation to form their children to become somewhat consistent an- jmals in their thoughts, feelings, and conduct, and in another genera- tion or two, to become reasonable beings, who will know what is necessivry for their chief good through their existence, and v>ho will APPENDIX. 225 act ahvitys in conilirniify to that knowledge, and thereby secure their own perpetual well being, and the happiness of their race. It is the individual's persuasion of his independence in originating his thoughts or ideas, feelings or actions, that has made man, up ^o this present time, the most inconsistent and fantastic earthly animal, and consequently the least reasonable in his conduct of any of them It is this notion that makes him proud, vain, jealous, malicious, covetous, sefish, ambitious, irritable, angry, uncharitable and religi- ous. It is this notion that renders necessary the demoralizing sys- tem of commerce, for a money prefit, of law, of medicine, of war^ and of preaching. It is this notion which necessarily pervades the whole character of man from infancy to death, with insincerity, deception and falsehood, and which thus engenders among the whole race of mankind every conceivable vice and crime, and subjects them in consequence to perpetual disease of body and mind, and to every kind of physical and mental suffering. Not any one of these nume- rous evils will be experienced as soon as measures can be devised and carried into practice, to enable man to know himself, and t© become a rational, in place of an irrational creature. What nation or trib* or people, are acting like sane or reasonable beings in the estimation of any nation, tribe or people, who are without their localities? None, because all have been formed to be v.'hat they now are by their localities, and these localities, to the extent that man could influence them, have been combined and ar- ranged under the notion of man's free agency: hence tlie inconsist- ency, confusoii and disorder, in all the artificial arrangements of the human race; while system^ order and beauty pervade all the other' operations of nature. It is a question of deep interest to all, to ascertain to what extent man can be made to become conscious, in the present generation, of the removeable evils which now sorely afflict him on every side; to what extent he can be excited to anni- hiiate their cause of existence; and in their place substitute enjoy- ment which shall contribute to promote health — increase good spirits, and in their retrospect always satisfy the mind, and therefore extend its gi-atification, and thus multiply the pltiasures of each moment by the recollections of our past existence. All this is now in progress to be known, and one day enjoyed, by the whok btiman race. But what portion of it shall fall to the lot of the present generation, will depend upon the extent of morat courage that can be elicited to plead boldly against the errors of free will, and upon the well directed, active exertions of those Avho directly perceive the cause of existing evils, the only mode by which they can be removed, and also upon the ;'.mount of resistance, which they may experience from the unavoidable prejudices which have been forced upon the present generation. For some thousands of years past, the most learned and acute minds, have been more or less 'occupied in attempts to unravel the rnysteriesof human 'not ions, on the subje^'t of fr^e will and necessity; and they have at length discovered, after deluging the world wi'Jt 2S§ APPENDi:^. ifeountless volumes, which involve rather than elucidate the tnyster}'^ that man had the power to act in obedience to his will when his will was formed ; but as the will was formed by the union of his thoughts and feeli.igs, and as his thoughts and feelings proceeded from previous circumstances, over which he had no control, that man appeared to be a frefe agent, but that he was not so in reality; that instead of forming his own character and determining his own con duct, the germ of his existence, his entire organization, and all the circumstances which formed him to be what he is, are created for him without his knowledge or wUl, until he has been so far formed that when he appears to have some powers of independent volition, they always proceed from the combined organic and external circumstan- ces, by which he has been previously and unavoidably influenced. These are the fair deductions to be made from this mass of writings j but the authors of them, who were all literary or learned men, shut up in their cloisters or closets, never conjectured the difference that would arise in the thoughts, feelings, dispositions and general conduct of mankind, between being trained from infancy under the loose, uncertain and inconsistent notions of free will and independent con- duct; and a clear understanding of the laws of human nature, and of the circumstances which form the character of every individual. They v/ere not practical men acting extensively in the varied busi- ness of life, and therefore as literary men, they knew little more than literary ideas, and few things more unfit men for acquiring a knowledge of mankind than literary habits, which generally give the individuals possessing them incorrect notions of men, and of the practical affairs of life. These habits have been the chief canse, why the extreme difference that the doctrines of free will and necessity are calculated to effect upon the dispositions, thoughts, feelings, and conduct of every individual of the human race, has been overlooked; why human nature has been, for so many ages, afflicted with every kind of evil which the erroneous notions of man's free agency are certain to create; and why it has not enjoyed the happiness which the doctrines of necessity, or of the true cause which form the character of every individual is calculated to create. Were these results known- — were they ever imagined by mankind, to a very small extent of their real importance, no one would rest satisfied as he is, whatever may be his occupation, calling or profes ■ pion. The magnitude of the prize would appear to be such, that one and all would exert the utmost of their faculties to comprehend the subject, and bring about the change. Nothing that the combined powers of men could accomplish, would be left undone, to remo>ie their misery and secure their happiness. How little do men of all ranks and conditions, of all nations and climes, suspect, that the power is within their reach, if they had knowledge, to relieve themselves of all the artificial evils known, — ignoran'-e, poverty, vice, passions, strife, and every kind of disuiiion, with all its necessary s'lflerings attendant ■'y>on the infringement of live laAvs of our nature, — and to live perpetually in a society in which APPENDIX ^n i.iore knowlecige would be acquired in one year, than has e^-er yet, been attained in a century, and in which improvements would" be made in the condition of all classes, in proportion to their advance in jinowledge. No man has, I believe, ever yet investigated the subject of free will and necessity, so early in life as myself; or so clearly ascertained, from an observation of facts, and from practice, the science of the formation of character^ at an age sulficiently early to prevent the influence of the doctrines of free will from forming his youthful habits and associations of ideas. This singular result was effected in my character at an age when the lirst combinations of ideas could be, and were^ unassociated to their foundation. And, in conse- quence, an entire new character was formed for me, and my conduct and progress through the world has proceeded entirely on that foun- dation. Ij therefore, know from experience the dispositions that a knowledge of the formation of character will implant, the habits it will form, the knowledge it will give, the perseverance in the attain- ment of an object to secure a great public benefit it will fix, the moral courage it will create, the disinterestedness it will pi'oduce, tlie personal sacrifices it will render delightful to make, to remove the existing evils, and insure the future happiness of mankind; to remove the veils, by destroying the errors and opposing principles and prac- tice derived from the doctrines of free will, and introducing, in their place, truths to be obtained from real knowledge. The most iDeautifuI moral harmony will then exist between the principles and practices of the human race — between the looks, words, and actions of every individual. If tliis knowledge can produce the^e results, and if no other knowledge can effect a similar moral change, or any other general and permanent beneficial alteration in the condition of mankind,— who would not make any personal saerifice, to hasten its introduction and universal adoption ? I have the most full conviction, from tfce coincidence of all facts connected with the sul^ect, that this knowledge can effect this change, I know, from experience, that this knowledge itself becomes a cir- cumstance so irresistibly powerful in the formation of the thoughts, feelings, miud, and conduct, that the character of each individual will be made by it superior to any character that has yet been formed, under the deinoralizing influences of the fallacious notion of tlie doctrines of free will and free agency. And here is ttie mystery developed : here is the true cause, why Mr. Campbell's leaj-ning and ingenuity seemed to me mere wordy wanderings, without the foundation of a probable or possible single fact, upon which to rest his incongruous, imaginary superstructure. Oil the contrary, through a knowledge of the facts which I had examined, re-examined, compared, and fully canvassed, times innu- merable, with the most eminent men of the last thirty years, I could not, however much I v/ishei to think otherwise, prevent myself feel" ing the baseless fivbric of tlie v/hole of his fanciful vision. It aljo ^28 APPENDIX. seemed to me evident, in almost every sentence he uttered, that his superior natural talents had been overvk^helmed and nearly destroyed by the errors of his early instruction, which he had been compelled to imbibe. And it was to me no less evident, that when he spoke during the discussion, he was, from the same cause, riveting chains of ignorance and folly upon those who by their previous instruction had been prepared for such doctrines. Before Mr. Campbell, senior, left the city, several new converts to baptism, chiefly, I believe, elderly ladies, were plunged over head by him in the waters of the canal und of the Ohio. The parties seriously believed that such a washing was to open the way to heaven for them. These operations were on two occasions — one in the canal basin, and the other in the Ohio river — quite public exhibitions. Is it not melancholy to see some of the finest faculties of human nature thus deranged? I had, during the period of the public debate with his son, and for nearly a fortnight afterwards, frequent friendly, open, and frank pri- vate discussions, at the houses of our friends in and near the city, w ith this reverend gentleman. There is something so kind and evi- dently sincere in his manners, that I had gi'eat pleasure in all my communications with him. And I believe we each expected to make -some impression upon the mind of the other; or, if not, to discover the real cause which united us in feeling, and divided us in the foun- dation of our sentiments on the subject of religion. When the time of separation arrived, however, the impression left on my mind from the whole of the intercourse between us was, that our feelings of good will and friendship for each ofher had increased; but that not the slightest progress had beenmade in the conversion of either party to the religious or irreligious opinions of the other. These were the impressions that the public and private discus- sions with Mr. Alexander Campbell and his father left upon my mind. I could not but lament the errors of their early instructions. I have no doubt, this feeling is expei-ienced with equal sincerity oti their parts, relative to what they are obliged to believe my obstinacy in a course which they have not the means to fathom. While their association of ideas resting upon, and proceeding from, the notions of free agency in man, and developed through all the mazes and ex- travagancies of the christian scheme, remain unbroken, they must conclude that I am either insane, or influenced by some superior agency to promote, in some indirect manner, the decrees of Almighty Power; or that, unknown to myself, lam an instrument to hasten the period of the promised millennium. They are in a state of hourly perplexity ; their minds are full of confused associations of ideas, owino- to the direct opposition between the facts around them and the notions they have imbibed from infancy. They can only con- jecture these matters vaguely, with many incongruities continually presenting themselves in every step of their progress. Tt is utterly impossible there can be any consistency in the thoughts, feelings, or conduct of any individual, who has been conscientiously trained in ^ doctrines of free agency, and any of fjie numerous reli^iougi APPEM3IX. 22U fauudid up3U them. Walle this mist be the state of their minds, there can be no hope of a change to a consistent or sane state of association of ideas — of a new birth, rcgt;ncrafion, and resurrection from sin and misery. They must be convinced of the original or fundamental errors which thoy imbibed unconseio isly, when they were infants and children, and whinh are the germ of all the associ-i- tions of ideas thoy possess, before their "minds can be born again."' To admit of this great change in their minds, they must become as little children, and sulmiit tiioir instructions, not to a gospel indirect opposition to nature, but to facts and reason, Avhich are alwoys con- sistent with, and never in opposition to it. But this change does not depend upon any thing that shall pro- ceed from Mr. xilexander Campbell or his father, as free agents.—^ Motives must be first placed before them hv others, suHiciently pow- erful to create in their minds a proba!)i!ity of doubt that they may have been instructed, like the thousands of millions of their fellows who have gone bel^jre them, in popular local errors from i.uf.mcy, — and that, like them, they were nnablc to detect their fallacies. This is the most difficult task to perform on minds deeply read in, and ten- aciously adhering to popular notions!. But being once accomplished, and a right direction given to their inquiries and investigations, tlie change in sentiment, although perhaps slow at first, would soon be- come rapid and extensive. Whether these results may ever be produ- ced on these gentlemen, w ill depend upon circumstances over which they have no control. I have thus developed the cause wh)', during the late discussion, Mr. Alexander Campbell and I made no impression on each other's mind. We pursued each his own chain or association of ideas, as it were in parallel lines, w^ithout the slightest approximation. As was to be expected, I never felt the weight or influence of one of those arguments, which Mr, Campbell called philosophical; by which I understand, an argument derived from, and consonant with, the known laws of nature, devoid of hypothesis or immagination. There was, there could be. nothing of the kind delivered by him. He! at, first, and after a slight verbal alteration in the sixth, -ultima^ly ad- mitted the truth of the twelve fundamental laws of human nature, on which I rely to disprove the possibility of any religion in the world being true. And admitting these, if his mind had not been formed on the irrational notions of free will, and its endless contra- dictions to itself and all nature,, he mnst have perceived the inutility of any farther discussion on this subject. For any one of the first •seVen fundamental laws being admitted and understood, all iiotions of any free agency of m:m must forever cease. That in his own person he has any free agency in forming his own character, or of thinking, feeling, and acting, according to any inde- pendent powers which he possesses to create a thought, a feeling, or a will, becomes too absurd to dwell upon. What human being ever originated one thought, one feeling, or a single volition that did not proceed immediately from his organi7.atir>n, united with the infir.ences VOL. II, 20 230 APPENDIX. 'tvhich external circumstances made upon that organization? AiKi what intelligent mind, does not know, that all the powers and quali- ties of that organization, and all external circumstances, were brought into existence without his consent? Seeing the discussion take this course, and knowing it was to be put upon record, to await the delib- erate ordeal of public scrutiny and investigation, I could have no fear for its final result, and therefore I yielded all minor matters to Mr. Campbell, and the moderators, who were unconscious, as it seemed to me, of the real state to which the discussion had arrived early in the debate. It was well they did not, or their conscientious fears for the pop- ular belief, in which all of them had been instructed, might have in- duced a desire that some other course should be taken. As it was, the public, prejudiced as it must be, will in due time, when the first feelings of irritation shall subside, become the best judge between the two systems, and truth inll ultimately prevail . It may be inquired, why I have used such exertions, and made such personal sacrifices, to destroy the influences of religion, over the woi-ld, seeing that the population is ignorant, and reqtiires some supernatu- ral fears and hopes to keep it under government? I reply, because I discover that the population of the world is ignor- ant, and that these superstitious fears keep it so, and therefore, it can- not be governed but through supernatural hopes and fears. History informs us, that the governments and people, in former times, M^ere too inexperienced, the one to govern, and the otlier to be governed, except through the hopes and fears of imaginary supernatural powers. And it is these powers which now alone prevent the governed and governors acquiring that knowledge Avhich would place both under circumstances greatly more to be desired than those which now every where exist. The population of the world is cnpable of being taught knowledge, derived from facts upon and around the earth, all cogni- zable by their senses, sufficient to induce feelings within them, that will render it one of the most easy and delightful tasks to govern them — equally easy and delightfiil to those who govern and those who are governed. The religions of the world are now the only obstacle in the way of this universal improvement in the condition of the human race. It is a clear and distinct perception of this knowledge, derived from the unchanging laws of human nature, that impel me onwaiH, regardless of popular notions and feelings, to prepare the way, to en- able those who govern the world, to effect this glorious change, in the physical, intellectual, and moral character and condition, of the population of all countries. To effect it without opposition from any quarter; in peace, in good order, and with kind feelings, which shall thenceforth continually increase. It may be further asked, what information have I, unknown to oth- ers, to enable me to form a decisive judgment in those matters, involv- ing the well Vieing of all people and nations. I answer, that which has been derived from a mitid in which the first combinations of ideas, founded on ihp notions of man's free agency, were very easily unasso- APPENDIX. 2^1 Cjafed to their base o/ original germ, from the observation of facts; of new data bv which new associations of ideas were formed, and which enable mo to perceive, that the cliaracter or qualities of all that have material life, was jriven to it by the laws of its organization, That the wl\olc character of all men was fnrmed^or them, and as all their physical, intellectual, aud moral qualities trerc formed Ibrthem, they were not and could not be rationally supposed to be account.ablo beings, for « hat they were made. That with this knowledge, if it were desirable to form the character of the population of the world, individually and generally to be superior in all respects, and greatly more virtuous and hapj)y than the present generation, there was a fixed and certain mode of proceeding — a science, by the adoption of ^vhich, this change may be accomplished. And so beneficially may the change be made to all, that no indvidual, whatever may be his present condition, would have any interest whatever in opposing it. Should I be further questioned, and asked what application I have made of these new notions or principles, I answer, that I have fuUy proved their beneiits in all the aliairs of life. That I applied them to education, to production, to distribution, to exercise, amusement, and recreation, and to government, upon a mod- el sufficiently large to demonstrate their great superiority, for all the practical purposes of life over the wretched, inconsistent, and oppo- sing nations, generated by the belief, engendered without thought or reflection, in man's individual free agency and responsibility. And the beneficial effects of these general practices, were for years before the public. They succeeded so far beyond all anticipations, that sev- eral attempts, under the old nations of the world, were made to imi- tate them. But these attempts were instituted by individuals who knew not the source from whence they originated or by what princi- ples they were, for a long period, successfully conducted. Many were at a loss to divine by what secret springs, so much happiness and prosperity were produced, and, without apparent effort, continued without change. ^ There was no other secret in my practical proceeding at Mew Lan- ark than this. Rational infint schools were instituted, for the educrt- lion of all the children of the population, as one family, from the age of eighteen months. Stores were established to supply the population with the best food and clothes, at the lowest rates. The manage- ment of the manufactories, was devised for the comfort of the people, and the prosperity of the proprietors and conductors. Exercises, amusements, and recreations, were conveniently arranged, for the health and pleasure of the children and adult population — and the go- vernmentofthe whole, uniting all as one community of friends, hav- ing the paramount happiness of all for its common object. The whole of the practices emanated from and were under the sole influ- ence of the principles derived from the knowledge that the character of man is formed yb/* him — fijrmed through the constant action of ex- ternal circumstances upon the peculiar organization of each individual. .•:02 APPENDIX. Little does the world know that all that is truly permanently goo