Star.
London, England, 1830-05-12 00:00:00

MR. OWEN'S SUNDAY LECTURES.

Thursday evening, according to _______
ing was held at the Mechanics' Institute, Southampton-
buildings, for the purpose of affording Mr. Owen an op-
portunity of repeating his introductory lecture to the Sun-
day morning course, and stating, generally, his object in
this nrnv course of proceeding. The place was very par-
tially filled, there not being more than 250 persons pre-
sent; in consequence of which, we presume, Mr. Owen
was not so punctual to the time for commencing business,
as he usually is. At about twenty minutes past eight
o'clock he entered the theatre, accompanied by Mr. J.M.
Morgan, and wail received by the usual expressions of
applause. Mr. Morgan introduced the business of the
evening, by reading a statement of the plan and objects
of the Sunday meetings, relative to which, as he remarked,
so much misapprehension had arisen. Our limits will
not permit us to give even the outlines of this statement,
but we understand that Mr. Morgan himself intends to
publish it, as an appendix to a pamphlet, in reply to the
Bishop of London's recently published letter on the viola-
tion of the Christian Sabbath. It was stated, that the
grounds upon which the application for the theatre was
made to the committee of the Mechanics' Institution,
were, that many individuals, who, from their earliest
years had been accustomed to attend their church, but
whose conscientious change of opinion had compelled
them to discontinue the practice, were desirous of uniting
with others of congenial minds, for the purpose of general
and mutual improvement. The order of the proceedings
was to be as follows :—ln the morning, the lectures were
to be on the moral and social duties of man, as founded
upon the principles of his nature; in the afternoon, a class
for conversation and mutual improvement, was to meet;
and in the evening, lectures on astromony, physiology,
and other usefel branches of natural science, were to be
delivered. It was determined by the conductors of
these meetings, that the greatest order should be
observed ; that they should preserve the same de-
corum as prevails at the most solemn assembly; and
that every thing should be avoided that was calculated
to engender feelings of irritation. Having read this pre-
liminary statement, Mr. Morgan proceeded to notice the
resolution that had been recently adopted by the members
of the Mechanics' Institute, relative to the lectures ; and
animadverted on the letter of Mr. Tooke, the honorary
solicitor, expressive of their illegality. It would be found
a subject of curious inquiry, he observed, to determine
the quality of the lectures that should be legally delivered
on a Sunday morning. It appeared that in order to ren-
der moral lectures inoffensive in the searching eye of the
law, one qualification was an essential ingredient ; namely,
the admixture of some doctrine, ceremony, or mystery,
not universally believed. Mr. Brougham's name, he
said, had been brought forward in proof of the illegality
of the lectures ; if that gentleman had given such an
opinion, he was sure it must have been under some mis-
conception of the matter; or if Mr. Brougham did really
believe that any law existed that rendered them unlawful,
it was his imperative duty to move for its repeal, as being
only adapted to the darkest ages of ignorance. They
could not forget the words uttered by that gentleman in
his memorable speech at the Glasgow University—" The
great truth has finally gone forth to the ends of the earth,
that man shall no more render account to man for his be-
lief, over which he has himself no control. Henceforth
nothing shall prevail upon us to praise or blame any one
for that which he can no more change, than he can the
hue of his skin, or the height of his stature." If Mr.
Brougham were half a century in advance of his age, the
worthy honorary solicitor was a whole century behind ;
freedom had, therefore, between their two legal friends,
but an unequal chance in the conference.
Mr. Owen neat adamant:Al the meeting. He said, the
audience had been convened to hear an introductory lec-
ture,—to what ? Not to any thing having reference to
the past history of mankind, but to a state of things al-
together new. The world had hitherto been governed by
imagination, the state of society now, in every part of the
world, rested upon a foundation for which no single fact
or reason could be assigned. His principles were either
true or false ; he only asked for an investigation into
them, and if any individual would ',hew that any one of
them was unsound, he would immediately abandon the
whole. There was one certain criterion of truth, namely,
that every single truth in the universe was in strict accor-
dance with every other truth in the universe : there could
'be no discordance between any two truths, and he therefore
unhesitatingly said, that if it could be shown that
one thing which he held as a principle was
not so, he would immediately give up the whole
of his present opinions. Mr. Owen then proceeded to
read his lecture, which opened with the remark
that the world was governed by public opinion ; while
this was erroneous, ignorance, and vice, and misery,
must prevail, as was the fact at present. His object was
to form public opinion upon the immutable principles of
truth, which would lead to intelligence, comfort, har-
mony, and happiness, throughout society. He proposed
to effect his object by first tracing out the causes of ig-
norance and error in human society, and then shewing
how the causes might be removed by a correct percep-
tion of the principles of our nature, and by acting in ac-
cordance with them. This he intended to do ; Ist, by
making human nature and its laws familiar to the minds
of all; 2dly, by explaining the condition that were re-
quired for the enjoyment of happiness ; 3dly, by shewing
the erroneous principles upon which society was founded ;
4thly, by shewing the evils which these errors produced
in all countries ; sthly, by demonstrating the want of
wisdom in mankind, in permitting these evils to con-
tinue to afflict the human race ; 6thly, by explaining the
natural means by which society might be removed from
its present unnatural and uncivilized state, into one of
intelligence, harmony, and happiness. The introductory
lecture embraced the first of these topics, and its object
was to show, that as a man—as well as all other created
beings--received his existence and peculiar orga-
nisation, and faculties of feeling and thinking,
independently of his own choice of volition, and
was placed in a particular sphere of life, or circum-
stances, by a power equally independent of his own con-
trol ; and, further, that as his feelings, and opinions,
and volitions were necessarily produced by outward cir-
cumstances, acting on his internal organization, it was
impossible that he should be held responsible for any of
them. Man was created in a certain manner, and he
grew, felt, thought, willed, and acted according 'as he
was formed ; no created being could have a mind or will
of his own; it must be the mind, and will, and every
thing else of that being, or power, or GOD, or whatever
it might be called, by -which it was created. In the
course of his observations, 'Mr. Owen requested his au-
ditors not prematurely to dqduct any consequences from
that docrine. He knew yrilllhe prejudices entertained
in favour of the doctrine of human responSibility, and the
opinion that the world could Dot be governed without it,
but he promised to demmunrate that there were other
principles a thousand fold more powerful, that • might be
substituted for it.—This is, of course, a most imperfect
outline of an address that occupied upwards of an hour in
reading, and therefore we.,alnaot think that we should be

a meet-

justified in offering any rsmarks upon it. Our readers will I
be able to draw their own conclusions, as to the nature of
Mr. Owen's doctrines. After the close of the lecture,
Mr. Rosser submitted for the adoption of the meeting, a
resolution to the effect, that the delivery of moral lectures
on the Sabbath day, for the instruction of those persons
who could not conscientiously attend the established or
other places of worship, was highly beneficial, and en-
titled to public approbation, which he supported by a
powerful, lucid, and eloquent address. The following re-
solution having been seconded, was carried unanimously :

RzsoLvEn,—That in the opinion of this Meeting, the delivery
of Moral Lectures upon the Sabbath, to those persons who cannot
conscientiously attend the established or other places of public wor.
ship, is decidedly beneficial to the best interests of society, and highly
favourable to genuine charity.

Mr. Owen then stated, that in consequence of the lec-
tures on a Sunday having been found opposed to the
wishes and feelings of a large number of the members of
the Mechanics' Institute, another building had been pro-
cured, in Leicester-place, Leicester-square, in which the
lectures would, after next Sunday, be delivered.