which deform the world at large, and this country in particular, arise naturally from the religion which is taught to individuals in their infancy. (P. 38, 39, 92, &c.)

"The doctrines which have been and are now taught throughout the world must necessarily create and perpetuate, and they do create and perpetuate, a total want of mental charity among men. They also generate superstition, bigotry hypocrisy, hatred, revenge, wars, and all their evil consequences. For it has been and is a fundamental principle in every system hitherto taught, with exceptions more nominal than real, That man will possess merit and receive eternal reward by believing the doctrines of that peculiar system; that he will be eternally punished if he disbelieves them; that all those innumerable individuals also, who, through time, have not been taught to believe the tenets of this same system, must be doomed to eternal misery. Yet nature itself, in all its works, is perpetually operating to convince man that such imaginary principles are gross absurdities. "Yes, my deluded fellow-men, believe me, for your future happiness, that the facts around us, when you shall observe them aright, will make it evident even to demonstration, that all such doctrines must be erroneous, because the will of man has no power whatever over his opinions; he must, and ever did, and ever will, believe what has been, is, or may be impressed on his mind by his predecessors, and the circumstances which surround him. It becomes therefore the essence of irrationality to suppose that any human being, from the creation to this day, could deserve praise or blame, reward or punishment, for the prepossession of such education." (P. 39.)

"The doctrines which have been taught to every known sect, combined with the external circumstances by which they have been surrounded, have been directly calculated, and could not fail to produce the characters which have existed. And the doctrines in which the inhabitants of the world are now instructed, combined with the external circumstances by which they are surrounded, form the characters which at present pervade society.

"Were it possible, without national prejudice, to examine into the matter of instruction which is now given in some of our boasted new systems for the instruction of the poor, it would be found as wretched almost as any which can be devised. In proof of this statement, enter any one of the schools denominated National, request the master to show the acquirements of the children; these are called out, and he asks them theological questions to which men of the most profound erudition cannot make a rational reply: the children, however, readily answer as they had been previously instructed, for memory in this mockery of learning is all that is required.

"Thus the child, whose natural faculty of comparing ideas, or whose rational powers, shall be the soonest destroyed, if, at the same time, he possess a memory to retain incongruities without connexion, will become what is termed the first scholar in the class; and three fourths of the time which ought to be devoted to the acquirement of useful

instruction, is really occupied in destroying the mental powers of these children."

From these and other passages it appears that the regenerated world is to be built up on the principles of pure Deism, and a society in which poverty and crime shall be unknown is to be founded on the ruins of Christianity. This is indeed new ground. Hitherto, even the enemies of the faith have acknowledged its political advantages, and have approved its restraining power over others, however insensible to it they may have been themselves. Even its personal enemy is forced to pay many a reluctant tribute to that genial influence which gradually softened the harshest features of human nature, and brought by the evidence of history to acknowledge its beneficial effects upon morals; even he confesses, in direct contradiction to our modern reformer, that "in the most corrupt state of Christianity, the barbarians might learn justice from the law, and mercy from the gospel;"" and if the knowledge of their duty was insufficient to guide their actions, or to regulate their passions, they were sometimes restrained by conscience, and frequently punished by remorse. But it was reserved for the present age to learn that vice does not flourish in spite of a Christian education, but in consequence of it; and that "it is an utter impossibility that man can become rational, or enjoy the happiness which otherwise his nature is capable of attaining, until those errors shall be exposed and annihilated." (P. 37.)

In the room of our present erroneous faith, the doctrine which is to be inculcated in this approaching Millennium, "is not derived from any of the uncertain legends of the days of dark and gross ignorance, but from the plain and obvious facts which now exist throughout the world. And a due attention to these facts, to these truly revealed works of nature, will soon instruct, or rather compel, mankind to discover the universal error in which they have been trained.

"The principle then on which the doctrines taught in the New Institution are proposed to be founded is, that they shall be in unison with such universally revealed facts which cannot err.

"The following are some of the facts which, with a view to this part of the undertaking, may be deemed fundamental.

"That man is born with a desire to obtain happiness, which desire is the primary cause of all his actions, continues through life, and, in popular language, is called self-interest.

"That he is also born with the germs of animal propensities, or the desire to sustain, enjoy, and propagate life; and which desires, as they grow and develope themselves, are termed his natural inclinations.

* Gibbon, Decline and Fall, ch. xxxvii.

"That he is born likewise with faculties, which in their growth receive, convey, compare, and become conscious of receiving and comparing, ideas."

"That the desire of happiness in man, the germs of his natural inclinations, and the faculties by which he acquires knowledge, are formed, unknown to himself, in the womb; and, whether perfect or imperfect, they are alone the immediate work of the Creator, and over which the infant and future man have no control.

"That these inclinations and faculties are not formed exactly alike in any two individuals; hence the diversity of talents, and the varied impressions called liking and disliking, which the same external objects make on different minds, and the lesser varieties which exist among men whose characters have been formed apparently under similar circumstances.

"That the knowledge which man receives is derived from the objects around him, and chiefly from the example and instruction of his immediate predecessors."

"That the misery which he experiences, and the happiness which he enjoys, depend on the kind and degree of knowledge which he receives, and which is possessed by those around him."

"That it consequently becomes of the first and highest importance that man should be taught to distinguish truth from error.

"That man has no other means of discovering that which is false, except by his faculty of reason, or power of acquiring and comparing the ideas which he receives.

"That when this faculty is properly cultivated or trained from infancy, and the child is rationally instructed to retain no impressions or ideas, which by his powers of comparing them appear to be inconsistent, then the individual will acquire real knowledge." "And when the mind receives these notions which it cannot comprehend, along with those ideas which it is conscious are true and yet inconsistent with such notions, then the reasoning faculties become injured, the individual is taught or forced to believe, and not to think or reason, and partial insanity or defective powers of judging ensue.

"That all men are thus trained at present, and hence the inconsistencies and misery of the world.

"That the fundamental errors now impressed from infancy on the minds of all men, and from whence all their other errors proceed, are, that they form their own individual characters, and possess merit or demerit for the peculiar notions impressed on the mind during its early growth, &c, &c.”

"That when these truths are made evident to the understanding, every individual will necessarily endeavour to promote the happiness of every other individual within his sphere of action, because he must clearly, and without any doubt, comprehend such conduct to be the essence of self-interest, or the true cause of self-happiness.

"Here then is a firm foundation on which to erect vital religion, pure and undefiled, and the only one which, without any counteracting evil, can give peace and happiness to man.

"And it is to bring into practical operation, in forming the charac

ters of men, these most important of all truths, that the religious part of the Institution at New Lanark will be chiefly directed, and such are the fundamental principles upon which the Instructor will proceed.

"They are thus publicly avowed before all men, that they may undergo discussion, and the most severe scrutiny and investigation.

"Let those, therefore, who are esteemed the most learned and wise throughout the various states and empires of the world, examine them to their foundation, compare them with every fact which exists; and if the shadow of inconsistency or falsehood be discovered, let it be publicly exposed, that error may not more abound.

"But should they withstand this extended ordeal, and prove themselves, through the most multiplied trials, uniformly consistent with every known fact of the creation, and therefore true beyond future attempts of disproof; then let it be so declared, that man may be permitted by man to become rational, and that the misery of the world may be speedily removed."

We will not attempt to weaken the effect which this Confession of Faith of the Church of New Lanark must produce on the reader's mind. Nothing, undoubtedly, can better tend to show the honest simplicity of the author, than this full and open detail of the principles he intends to substitute for the errors of revelation, lest his disciples should be rashly led, as has sometimes happened, to throw off their original belief without exactly knowing what was to succeed. This appearance of honesty disarms our indignation of any thing like enmity, but it cannot make us forget our duty. Amicus Benevolus, amicus Philosophus, sed magis amica Veritas. We must therefore be allowed to introduce some remarks suggested by this subject; not so much for the sake of Mr. Owen, to whose mind, we are disposed to believe from many passages in his book, other remedies might be more usefully applied than reasoning: but for the sake of those who may so far resemble him as to think that errors now universally exist, and must be overcome solely by the force of reason;" and who unfortunately include our National Faith among those errors.

66

We are sufficiently willing to allow the creed of the Deist to be plausible and reasonable, and, but for experience, we might add, natural. We have no wish to impeach the truth of Hume's remark, when he alleges that "if men were led into the apprehension of invisible, intelligent power, by a contemplation of the works of nature, they could never possibly entertain any conception but of one single Being, who bestowed existence and order on this vast machine, and adjusted all its parts according to one regular plan or connected system." * It is evident, however, that men are not led to embrace this reasonable faith by a con

*History of Natural Religion.

templation of the works of nature; and that the generality of mankind would continue to rise up early, and to take rest late, and eat the bread of carefulness from the first to the last sun which shone upon their labours, in a state of undisturbed indifference as to all above them, if no friendly teacher interposed, and directed their attention upward from that glorious luminary to its Author and their own.

Be

Deism, therefore, is no more a natural product of the mind than Christianity, and requires to be taught as much as any other creed. Deism, or Unitarianism, or whatever else Mr. Owen and his coadjutors may determine to inculcate on the rising generation, is to be founded on what principles? Either on the principles of reason, or of revelation. No middle answer can be returned. Mr. Owen, it is evident, would prefer the method in which he is so great an adept; for he acknowledges that even "the measures now proposed," for the improvement of national education by rejecting all systematic modes of faith, "are only a compromise with the errors which now almost universally exist, and must be overcome solely by the force of reason." (P. 120.) it so then let us first try the force of reason. But as it is desirable to apply experiment in aid of theory, we will begin by reminding the author of a slight fact which is not unimportant, though it appears to have escaped his recollection; viz. that we possess the records of many ages during which reason was left alone to trim the lamp of religion, and that the light so produced was truly a pale and ineffectual ray. Perhaps among the various occupations of a very different nature which must often have distracted his thoughts from matters of such distant date, he has not found leisure to consider attentively the pains his favourite Reason took, in search of the First Good, First Perfect, and First Fair: -perhaps he has not followed her from the eastern to the western hemisphere, and found her in both prostrated before the altar of the Sun, the visible god of this world:-perhaps he has not entered the tangled paths of Grecian philosophy, where he might find Reason sometimes holding unintelligible discourse with the Monad of Pythagoras, or the Triad of Plato, and sometimes in company with the thirty thousand deities of pagan idolatry :-perhaps--but these mazes have no end. Let us conduct him at once to the wisest heathen-to the man who, likę himself, was the practical benefactor of those who came within his reach, but, wiser than himself, knew the limits of his own powers; or let us introduce him to this man's disciple-to the most accomplished pupil of the wisest of Reason's sons, from whom he will hear the humiliating confession, that it is difficult to discover (for reason to discover) the Father of the Universe,

VOL. IX. NO. XVII.