hold; and we are thus led, by the force of circumstances, to ascribe similar creations in the universe to a similar result.

Or let the argument be put in this manner;-either the cause of the universe could think, or it could not; if not, it was incapable of producing thought, and could never have given birth to the order, adaptations, and beauty, which are lavished in the universe; if it could think, then is it intelligent, then is it competent to the known effects, then is there a God, then is Atheism confuted; and, instead of being of no importance, it is of every possible importance, that men should call and consider the cause of the universe, not matter, but spirit or mind—should assert, that whatever else it is, it is capable of thought, and therefore of design, and therefore also of wisdom and goodness.

Again; Mr. Owen himself affirms that this unknown cause is now 'nature,' and now the laws of nature;' and, as if to confound the mind by incongruous ideas, adds, that 'truth is nature, and nature God.'* It is with equal inconsistency, that the person who in one part of his instructions distinctly asserts that we know nothing of the Divine attributes, should in another affirm, not only that the unknown cause has attributes, but 'attributes to govern the universe as it is governed,' and that these attributes are 'infinite, eternal, uncaused, omnipresent.' Now what a confusion of ideas have we here. Let us put the words of this light of the new moral world' together;- the unknown cause of the universe is nature, is truth, is the laws of nature; this unknown cause, whose attributes are undiscovered, is uncaused, infinite, eternal, omnipresent.' Thus inconsistent is error generally found to be ;-an UNKNOWN known! an

* Book of New Moral World, p. 91.-No. 62, New Moral World. No. 82, New Moral World.

*

infinite, eternal, omnipresent cause, WITHOUT ATTRIBUTES! 'Truth is God, and God is nature;' in other words, truth- -a mere relation of ideas in the human mind—is Deity; and God, the cause of all, is nature, or that which is produced;-the very term nature is incompatible with the idea of causation, for nature properly signifies that which continually comes into being. And so, what are the laws of nature' but the manner of that ceaseless birth? To identify the cause of the universe with the modes of his action-to attempt to exclude an intelligence from the universe by talking of laws-a mere abstract term, a word which, apart from intelligence, can produce nothing, nay, which, for its very existence, implies and pre-supposes a lawgiver,to resort to such inconsistencies, and to pick up these stale crumbs on which Atheism has, in one form or another, been already starved, serves only to show to what shifts men are driven when they embark on the ocean of godless speculation, and how deeply sunk in infidel philosophy this Socialism is.

And, indeed, whatever Socialism may be in theory, in practice what else but Atheism can it prove, since it not only disallows all worship,† all private or social acknowledgment of the Deity, but ascribes innumerable ills to the prevalence of such homage: and in their attacks on religion, Socialists never seem more at their ease, than when turning into ridicule the ideas and observances which the bulk of their fellow-countrymen regard with the profoundest reverence, and the most sacred attachment. For myself, I consider Socialism worse than any form of mere speculative Atheism that ever appeared, for, week by week, it gives its unholy lessons to the poor, the ignorant, and the young, teaching them, by precept and example, to laugh at

* Nascor, nasci, naturus sum.

No 82, New Moral World.

God, Christ, and Eternity. True, there may be Theists in the ranks of Owenism; there may even be-though I can hardly think it possible-a few professed Christians; -but those who know what its actual workings are, know that in general its influence is one of a scornful, withering infidelity. As such it should be known. As such I proclaim it. Its adherents-if they be true to their principles-will thank me for so doing; and I devoutly hope that others who may be lingering on the brink,' will take warning in time, and have reason to thank me too. I say take warning; I deal not in alarm, but I retract not the word, for every one who would have his mind influenced by the better principles of his nature, ought to take warning, and lay the warning to heart, when he is in danger of being drawn into an atmosphere where his devotional feelings must be blighted, and where, ere he can have learned to reason, he will be trained to sneer.

6

Nothing but an attendance in the vortex of their unhallowed discussions themselves-where Socialists speak without restraint, and the spirit of the system comes out freely,—can give a full idea of the blighting and scornful infidelity which Socialism aims to spread abroad. Yet enough-alas! too much, may be learnt from their published writings. One of their authors affirms, that throughout the Old Testament the Deity is represented as a furious, angry, wrathful, jealous and malignant God,' and declares a description of operations of the Deity given in the Psalms to be absurd, ridiculous, yea, in sober earnestness, monstrous.'-—The same lecturer + indulges in a parody of prayer, in which such revolting familiarity is used with the Deity, and such vile sentiments ascribed to the supposed Christian

*

worshippers, that I cannot bring myself to the low office of transcribing his words. Another authority asserts that the Bible sets forth God as 'a vain, foolish, and cruel old man,' and in animadverting on many passages of Scripture, uses language even worse than what I am about to transcribe. On the words- whose top (the tower of Babel) may reach to heaven,' he remarks, What mighty penetration! Why, the wretched simpletons, did they think heaven was just above their heads, and that they could creep into it in this manner?' And on the words, 'The Lord came down to see the city,'-he says, 'Did he? He was up in the garret, I suppose,

and he came down stairs to see what his children were all about. Are you not ashamed of such balderdash?' Mr. Owen himself affirms, that the intellects of man have been deranged through so many ages by these religious mysteries, they now gravely propound as divine truths,' which 'divine truths' mean nothing more than assertions which will not bear the examination of reason, or the test of common sense;' and among these'this wild combination of absurdities,' as he terms them in another place, he ranks, First, that there is a being who made and who governs the universe; that this being is infinite in knowledge, in power, and in goodness.' So also he declares that the religions founded under the name of Jehovah, God, or Christ, amount only to three absurdities, three gross impositions on the ignorance or inexperience of mankind;' again—' that man has created a personal Deity, author of all good, and a personal devil, author of all evil, invented all the forms of worship of the one, and, in many instances, of the latter also.' 'All the mythology of the ancients, and all the religions of the moderns, are mere fanciful

Haslam, Letters to the Clergy.

+ Owen's Lectures in Manchester.

notions of men, whose imaginations have been cultivated to accord with existing prejudices, and whose judgments have been systematically destroyed from their birth.'*

I could cite other, and certainly not less offensive passages, and I now ask if I have overcharged the picture-if Socialism is not, in fact and in spirit, a low and degrading infidelity? I ask, also, those of my audience who bear the parental relation, whether they would not be horror-stricken at the idea of their own children coming into contact with such demoralising influences? And if you are thus tender for your own offspring, surely you cannot be without solicitude for the young of other families-for young men and women who have few, in some cases scarcely any, of the safeguards of religious feeling and religious conviction, which a sound education affords. And who that has any personal experience of the support to virtue-the sources of happiness, of improvement and refinement that the religion of Jesus brings, would not gladly turn from this Cimmerian darkness, to enquire for truth of 'Christ, the wisdom of God and the power of God?'

Now in relation to the cause of the universe, Jesus presents to us the being whom he designated 'his Father and our Father, his God and our God,' as the primary cause, the sole support, and the beneficent guardian of all things. In other words, there is a creating God, and God is spirit,' or pure Intelligence. Mind, therefore, is the author of the universe. This is the fundamental fact of the religion of Jesus. It affirms that the universe is not the result of a fortuitous concourse of atoms, not evolved out of elements inherent in itself, but truly the production of Intelligence.

I shall offer one or two confirmations of this great

*Book of the New Moral World, p. 94.