The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1840-04-14 00:00:00

OWENISM ILLUSTRATED.

According to the principles and practice of the rational
religion developed and promulgated by Robert Owen in
1840, it is stated That it is a law of our nature obvious
to our senses, that the internal and external character of all
ths have life upon the earth, is formed for them, and NOT
by them ; that, in accordance with this law, the internal and
external character of man is formed for him, and NOT by
him ; and, therefore, he cannot have merit or demerit, or
deserve praise or blame, or reward or punishment!'
A few illustrations will prove the truth and beauty of this
grand moral-discovery—thus :
MAN is not an animal, but a piece of animated machinery.
AS you wind up a clock only that it may keep time, you do
not expect it to propel a boat, any more than you would feel
disappointed that a marine steam-engine did not indicate
the hour of the day. Their special characters are formed
for them, NOT by them.
MAN is in perpetual bondage to outward circumstances.
Thus he is like the clock, which is doomed to count the
hours, or like the steam-engine, which keeps hard at work
as long as the steam is up. Otherwise he might form his
own character, and NOT let it be formed for him.
MAN is found varying considerably in his character.—So
are engines some for honour, some for dishonour, as in
duty bound.
MAN unchangeable.—Nor is it worth while changing, or
rather attempting (for, as the doctrine of .Owen plainly (!).
proves, it is, after all, but ,a hopeless case with the old 'ones)
to change his character. He cannot be better or. worse off,
his character being formed for him, and NOT /y him ; and
neither merit nor demerit, nor praise nor blame, nor reward
nor punishment, attaching to him.
OwENtsu only for children.—ln the great moral asylum,
penitentiary, hospital, or free workhouse, which it is pro- ,
posed to construct for the community, the elder inmates will
mutually assist in 'endeavours to throw. off their old-acquired
habits with their outward garments, and put on a new life
and conduct with the hospital dress. Meanwhile the infant
Owenites will have their characters manufactured for them
to order, according to the, dogmas promulgated by Robert
Owen. •,'
OwrNtTisti Child.ren.-7The little, stout, sturdy infidels
are to possess superior knowledge to their grandpapas, with
far superior dispositions. They will become amazingly fond
of contemplating nature in the gardens, museum, and work-
shops of the asylum, which will inevitably create in their
minds " feelings of high adoration, too sublime and too pure
[as Robert Says] to be expressed in forms or words, for that _
Incomprehensible Power which acts in and.through all na-
ture, everlastingly composing, decomposing, and recompo-
sing the material of the universe, producing the endless va-
riety of life, of mind, and of organised form."
MAN in married life.—Man being, as before shewn, sim-
ply a piece of semi-intelligent mechansin, with a character,
like his coat, made for him and NOT by him, has much trou-
ble, toil, and difficulty in selecting, and especially in secu-
ring. a sleeping partner,—not having the sublime sense of
an Owenite. The. disciples of Owen manage these matters
like the venders of nuts, whose maxim is, that you shall
" Crack 'em and try 'em, and then buy 'em." If a partner
does not please, mistress, your wife, may be turned adrift;
" and the parties may, without diminution of public opinion,
form new unions more suited to their dispositions." Hem!
Robert Owen. The character of this untiring infidel has
been strangely formed by him and NOT for him. But just
the reverse of this his great maxim holds good of the rest of
the stultified race of mankind, He has for the last seventeen
years been hammering and chiselling at his intellectual and
moral character, till he has at length succeeded in getting
entirely rid of the latter, and the former has now scarcely
the weight of a rush. Are you married? Go to Robert
Owen—see him in the Paradisaical Asylum—follow the ad-
vice of the only sensible or rational man in the world—look
upon thyself as a bigot, as one excessively prejudiced and
narrow-minded—follow implicitly the laws and regulations
of this great workhouse, nursery, and asylum—work thy
three hours, live amidst plenty, music, dancing, lectures,
and science—and in a few years thou mayst expect to sec
thy child a man, a sturdy infidel, a very Owenite, and live
to see him take his sixth or twentieth wife, with (happily) a
character pure, chaste, and untainted as Alpine snow !

* Robert Owen's Manifesto, 1840, p. 57

The ladies of the Rev. Dr. Raffles's congregation have
presented the doctor with a handsome suit of robes, and a
Bible and hymn-book for the pulpit. They have also pro-
vided a chaste service of plate for the communion table.

DEATH BY FIRE.—On the 6th instant an inquest was
held on view of the body of Ann Dobbins, a girl of 12 years
of age. The clothes of the deceased, who lived with her pa-
rents, in Ellames' place, Canning-place, had caught fire on
the Saturday previous, and she soon became enveloped in
flames. She was so much burnt that she died on the follow-
ing day.—Verdict, " Accidental death."
DEATH FROM THE FALL OF A BALE OF COTTON.—On
Wednesday last an inquest was held before P. F. Currie,
Esq., on view of the body of Maria Lawson, a girl of eleven
years of age. The deceased was at the quay of the Man-
chester basin, when a carter was unloading a lorry, in the
usual way, by tossing off the bales. She went close up, and
one of the bales fell upon her. • She was carried to the
Northern Hospital, when she afterwards died from the inju-
ries she had received. No blame was attached to the carter,
and a verdict of accidental death was returned. The de-
ceased was a daughter of one of Messrs. Fawcett and Co.'s
men.

We cannot too strongly recommend to the attention of our
readers the advantage of adopting Robins's Filters. In
many cases where sickness has long been an attendant on the
inmates of a residence, it has disappeared after subjecting the
water, used as a beverage and for culinary purposes, to one
of these most admirable machines.—See advt.
WESLEYAN METHODIST FOREIGN MISSIONS.---011 Sun-
day sermons were preached in all the Wesleyan Methodist
chapels in this town, and collections made in aid of the funds
of the above society. The Rev. Dr. Raffles delivered, in the
afternoon, in Brunswick Chapel, a sermon marked by his
characteristic eloquence. The Rev. R. W. Hamilton, of
Leeds, preached last evening, at seven o'clock, in the same
place of worship. The twenty-thfrd annual meeting of the
auxiliary society will be held this evening, at six o'clock, in
the same chapel, and, by adjournment, in Pitt-street Chapel,
to-morrow evening, at the same hour.
CHESTER DIOCESAN BOARD OF EDUCATION.—A meet-
ing of this board was held at the Legh Arms, at Newton, on
Friday, the Rev. Rector Brooks, of Liverpool in the chair.
Among the members present we noticed the Rev. Chancellor
Raikes, the Hon. and Rev. Horace Powys, rector of Warring-
ton; the Rev. J. Slade, vicar of Bolton; the Herds. R.
Parkinson, Fellow of Christ's College, Manchester, J. W.
Richards, R. Durnford, T. V. Bayne, D. Girdlestone, T.
Blackburne, Horton, &c. ; William Hulton, H. H. Birley,
R. Orford, Esqs. &c.—The report of the sub-committee ap-
pointed to procure plans and estimates for the training school
buildings at Chester, having been presented, and it appearing
that considerable difficulty existed in obtaining a suitable
site, sufficiently near the cathedral, which could be rendered
immediately available for the purpose required, and also-on a
statement of the funds that only about £5,000 had been yet
received, (XlO,OOO being the lowest estimate for erecting
a building in all respects worthy of the undertaking) it was
resolved unanimously--'` That the sub-committee be em-
powered to continue the present, or provide other accommo-
dation for the principal and scholars, of a temporary kind,
till the increase of contributions justify the occupation of some
site on which a permanent building may be erected in or near
the cathedral city." The board then, after referring the draft
of the rules of the society to the sub-committee appointed to
prepare them, for the purpose of being re-arranged and
amended, proceeded to the election of an inspector, when
Mr. Slatter, B.A. of Lincoln College, Oxford, who has for
some time acted as assistant secretary to the board, was ap-
pointed. We understand that this gentleman will forthwith
apply for ordination to the Lord Bishop of Chester; it being
one of the rules of the society that the inspector is to be in
holy orders. After a strong appeal from several of the mem-
bers on the necessity of collecting additional funds for the
training schools at Chester, throughout the diocese, and
especially in those parts of it which have not yet contributed,
the meeting separated.