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, [13] 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 way, 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 authority. 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 of all the combinations of numbers.

      Now the united authorities of the universe could not, by their fiat, change their 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 descriptions 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 I 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 happiness 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 the conduct of those who seek truth in singleness of heart, and with a sincere desire to find it.

      Hitherto, assuredly, all mankind have been trained to be children of 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 develop facts, and truths deducted 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 [14] and new minds, and whose single object, through life, will be to promote each other's 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 feelings which local errors engender, are aroused and brought into injurious 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 mighty change in the destinies of mankind, I am now to prove "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 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 the world, except by keeping the mass of the people in ignorance of their own nature, by an increase 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 sources from whence each of these local religions have originated; but by bringing forth, for public examination, the facts which determine by what unchanging laws man is produced and his character formed; and by showing how utterly incapable all the religions which have hitherto been invented and instilled into the human mind, are to a being so created and matured.

      It will be Mr. Campbell's duty to endeavor to discover error in this development, and, if he shall find any, to make the error known to me, and to the public, in a kind and friendly manner.

      If, however, Mr. Campbell shall not detect any error in this statement, but, on the contrary, shall find that it is a plain development of facts, and just deductions therefrom, and in strict accordance with all other known facts, and well ascertained truths, as I most conscientiously 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 other local districts, to ascertain the truth or error of these facts, and of the consequences to which it is stated they will lead in practice, and then, in the same kind and temperate manner, to publish, in the shortest period after such examination, the result, in order to remove 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 [15] real cause of disunion and misery can be detected 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, charity, and affection.

      The facts from which I am compelled to believe that these all-important consequences are to arise, are:

      1. That man, at his birth, is ignorant of everything 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 precisely 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 birth, without his knowledge or consent, within circumstances, which, acting upon his peculiar organization, impress the general character of those circumstances upon the infant, child, and man. Yet that the influence of those circumstances is to a certain degree modified by the peculiar natural organization 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 whom 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 notions, 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 those sensations should be.

      8. That each individual is so created, that the sensations made upon his organization, although pleasant and delightful at their commencement and for some duration, generally become, when continued beyond a certain period, without change, disagreeable and painful; while, on the contrary, when a too rapid change of sensations is made on his [16] organization, it dissipates, weakens, and otherwise injures his physical, intellectual, and moral powers and enjoyments.

      9. That the highest health, the greatest progressive 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 duly called into action, at their proper period, and temperately exercised according to the strength and capacity of the individual.

      10. That the individual is made to possess 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 nature, and when so organized, he has been placed, from birth to death, amid 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 of inferior 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 and bad qualities, in the original organization, and when it has 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 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 which surround him from birth to death are of a character 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 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 invention; they exist without his knowledge or consent; they change not by any effort he can make, and as they proceed, solely from a power or a cause unknown and mysterious to him, they are 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 [17] sufficient to produce, in practice, all virtue in the individual and in society, sufficient to enable man, through a correct knowledge thereof, to "work out his own salvation" from sin or ignorance and misery, and to secure the happiness of his whole race.

      For as the first law teaches that, as all men are created by a power mysterious and unknown to themselves, they can have not merit or demerit for their original formation or individual organization; that, consequently, the pride of birth or superior physical form or of intellectual 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 two infants are born alike, and as they have no knowledge how the difference is produced, we ought not to be displeased or to blame any individuals, tribes, or people; or to be less friendly to them because they have been made to differ from us in color, form, or features.

      The third law teaches us 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 religion, in manners, in customs, in conditions, in thinking, in feeling, or in conduct. On the contrary, we are taught to know that this difference, 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 circumstances were formed by them, to be surprised, or displeased, in consequence of their existence, is a certain proof, that we, 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 during his irrational state of existence, and that when he becomes enlightened, and shall be made a rational being, they will no longer be found in human society. Instead of these irrational feelings, engendered 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 efficient, so sincere, and so pure, that it will be impossible for any one, 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 the principles contained in the preceding laws, is so essential to the [18] well-being of the human race, that it is again and again reiterated, through each of these laws, in every form the most likely to make the deepest impressions on our minds. They express, in language which no one can misunderstand, the ignorance and folly of individual pride and assumed consequences on account of birth, religion, learning, manners, habits, or any other acquirement or qualification, physical, intellectual, or moral; and give an entire new and different direction to all our thoughts, feelings, and actions, and we shall no longer consider man formed to be the ignorant, vicious, and degraded being, that, heretofore, he has been compelled to appear, whether covered by the garb of savage or civilized life.

      The seventh 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 anything or any person at his bidding or command; for this law shows that liking or disliking, as well as believing or disbelieving, are involuntary 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, will be no longer attributed to man, than while the human race remains in an irrational state. Marriage, prostitution, jealousy, and the endless sexual crimes and diseases which these have engendered, have arisen solely from ignorance of this fundamental or divine law of our nature; and, in consequence, real chastity is unknown among the greater part of the human race; but, in place thereof, a spurious chastity exists, producing insincerity, falsehood, deception, and dissimulation.

      The eighth and ninth laws teach us the necessity for, and the advantages to be derived from, cultivating and duly exercising all the propensities, faculties, and powers with which nature has supplied us, and the folly of permitting any one of them to lie dormant, unused, or unenjoyed, 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 experience 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 [19] become an intelligent and rational being; that he must be trained and educated from infancy to maturity, altogether different from what he has been, in order that he may be taught to acquire, without exception, kind feelings, superior dispositions, habits, manners, knowledge, and conduct; the difference between them being in variety and degree, but never in kind and quality. The character will be thus always formed to be good to the extent that the natoral powers will permit 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 suffer in consequence of possessing incurable natural defects, but, on the contrary, all will have pleasure in devising 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 society, and will receive the first consideration, as soon as men can be found to be rational. That there is but one simple principle applicable to this practice, and it is, to remove all the vicious circumstances now existing in the laws, institutions, and customs which man, through ignorance, has introduced, in opposition to the laws of human nature, and, in their place, establish virtuous circumstances, that is, laws, institutions, and customs, in unison with the divine or natural lows of human nature. These laws teach that all human wisdom consists alone in this mode of acting, and that, whatever conduct man may adopt which differs from it, emanates from ignorance, and must be irrational.

      And 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 are of an inferior and vicious character, man, of necessity, while under their influence, must become inferior and vicious; and when these circumstances are of a superior and virtuous character, in like manner, while under their influence, he must become superior and virtuous.

      The great business of human life, in a rational state of society, will be, therefore, to acquire an accurate knowledge of the science of the influence of circumstances over human nature, both previous and subsequent to birth; to prepare the means by which all shall be taught to understand the principles and practices by which each of the inferior or vicious circumstances, surrounding human life, may be withdrawn, in the shortest time, with the least inconvenience to all, and replaced by others which shall benefit every one. [20]

      The knowledge of this new code will thus speedily lead to a new life, in which all men will be regularly trained from infancy, to acquire the most valuable knowledge with the best dispositions, habits, manners, and conduct.

      Under this new dispensation, their characters will be so completely changed or new-formed, that, in comparison of what they have been and are, they will become beings of a superior order; they will be rational in all their thoughts, words, and actions.

      They will be indeed regenerated, for "their minds will be born again" and old things will be made to "pass away and all to become new."

      This is our day, in part, but more fully and completely in the next succeeding generation, shall the prophecies of the partial knowledge of the past time be fulfilled, not, indeed, by disturbing the whole system of the universe, by any supposed fanciful miracles, effected in opposition to the unchanging laws of nature, but they will be accomplished by the regular progress of those laws, which, from the beginning, were abundantly sufficient to execute in due time all the purposes of that power from which these laws proceed.

      The principles and practice thus developed of the new moral code, is a mere outline of the mighty change which it will effect; imperfect however, as it is, it is yet sufficient to afford some idea of the advantages which a progress in real knowledge, derived from simple facts and almost self-evident truths, can give to the world.

      These twelve primary laws of human nature also form a standard, by which moral and religious truth or falsehood can be unerringly known; for as truth must be one throughout the universe, no two truths can ever be, at any time or in any place, in opposition to each other, and therefore, all that shall be found, under every varied comparison, to be in unison with these divine laws, must be true, while all that is in discordance with them must be false. By the application, therefore, of this standard, the truth or falsehood of all religious and moral codes will be discovered, and the utility or injury of all institutions will be easily ascertained.

      Were we now, in detail, to apply this divine standard of truth to all the past and present civil and religious codes, it would soon become manifest that they have, one and all, originated in times of great darkness, when men were too ignorant of their own nature, and of the most simple laws of nature, generally, to detect imposition or error, however incongruous or contradictory one part of it might be to another.

      That these religious and moral codes were produced at a period when men were without sufficient experience to "understand what [21] manner of beings they were," and when the wildest and most incoherent flights of the imagination, of some deluded individuals, were received as the inspirations of some single or compound divinity. That these imaginary inspired individuals, themselves deluded by an overheated imagination, or intending to delude their followers, succeeded at different times, in various parts of the earth, in promulgating, by force, fraud, or ignorance, the most unnatural fables and the most obscure and contradictory doctrines.

      And as such doctrines and fables could not, at first, be received, except through force, fraud, or ignorance, they have been the cause of shedding the blood of the most conscientious and best men in all countries, of deluding the world in all manner of crime, and in producing all kinds of suffering and misery.

      But to apply this standard to these systems, fables and doctrines, in detail, would be to proceed contrary to the plan laid down at the commencement. It would be, to arouse all the ignorant prejudices and bad feelings which these institutions have implanted in the human constitution, at so early an age as to induce many to believe that they really form a part of our original organization.

      Suffice it, however, to say, that these fables and doctrines, one and all, are in direct opposition to the twelve primary laws of human nature; that, consequently, they run counter to nature, and generally make virtue to consist in thinking and acting contrary to nature; and vice, in thinking and acting in unison with nature. Through these irrational conceptions of right and wrong, these religious laws and institutions have filled the world with innumerable, useless, absurd, or horrible forms and ceremonies, instead of the simple practice of virtue in accordance with our nature. They have created such a multiplicity of folly, confusion, and irrationality, that there is no one "that knoweth or doeth what is right; no, not one."

      For instead of producing real knowledge, they perpetuate ignorance; instead of creating abundance, without any fear of want, they produce poverty, or the perpetual fear of it. Instead of permitting the regular exercise of the propensities, formed by nature to promote health and happiness, they force them by unnatural restraints, to become violent passions, which interfere with, and disturb every beneficial arrangement that can be devised for the amelioration of society--thus engendering the worst feelings that can be implanted in human nature, instead of the best. They produce hypocrisy and every conceivable deception, instead of sincerity and truth without any guile; anger and irritation, instead of commiseration and kindness; war, instead of peace; religious massacres, instead of universal charity; hatred, [22] suspicions, oppositions, and disunion, instead of confidence, mutual aid, union and affection, among the whole family of mankind.

      And thus, by these contradictory fables and doctrines, with their innumerable useless and deteriorating forms and ceremonies, the earth has been filled with all manner of strife and confusion even to the mad destruction of whole nations and tribes, creating miseries which it would exhaust language to describe.

      And so long as any of these fables and doctrines shall be taught, as divine truths, by men who have a supposed interest in their promulgation, and in their reception by the ignorant multitude; so long, we are compelled to believe, will all these vicious evils prevail and increase.

      It is now evident to me, that all codes or laws, to be beneficial to mankind, and to be permanent, must be, without exception, in accordance with all the divine laws of human nature.

      For when human laws are opposed to divine laws, confusion, crimes, and misery are sure to be produced. We have seen that all past and present human laws and institutions, are in opposition to those laws, which experience has now ascertained to be the divine laws of human nature, and they have, therefore, undergone continual change and produced continual disappointment.

      When men shall acquire sufficient wisdom or experience to induce them to abrogate all existing laws and institutions which are unnatural, and to contend no longer against the divine laws of human nature, but shall agree to adjust their governments and institutions solely by those laws; then, and not before, will peace be established on earth and good will among mankind.

      It is the popular belief which prevails in all countries in the supposed divine authority for these fables and doctrines, that alone keeps men now in ignorance of their nature, of the divine laws of which it is organized at birth and conducted to maturity and death. And this popular belief is produced in each of these countries, solely by the early and long-continued impressions, forced on the minds of the population by the most unnatural and artificial means.

      For these impressions are forced into the young mind before the intellectual faculties are matured, when they are wholly incompetent to know good from evil, right from wrong, or truth from error.

      It is thus that children are compelled to receive as divine truths the fables and doctrines prevalent in the country in which they happen to be born and live. It is thus that men are made to deride and vilify those fables and doctrines, in opposition to their own, which are also taught in other countries as divine truths, of which it is the most heinous crime even to doubt. It is thus that men are compelled to dislike [23] and hate and contend against each other even to death, for a difference of opinion respecting some of these fanciful fables or doctrines which were formed in them, without their knowledge, will, or consent. And all this evil and misery has been created, solely, for the supposed benefit of the governing few, and of the priesthood. And it is thus that Pagan, Gentoos, and Cannibals, that Hindoos, Chinese, Jews and Mohometans are made at this day; and, my friends, it is thus, and thus alone, that you have been made, and that you are making your children Christians.

[COD 13-24]