Mr. Owen, in his last address, has given in his own experience, a refutation of his whole system. He has affirmed, that the circumstances which surrounded him did not first originate the idea of the social system. If so, then circumstances have not an absolute control over men. If Mr. Owen, in defiance of the power of circumstances, did, out of the rubbish of six thousand years, dig up the twelve gems, and originate the social system, why may not millions of as bright geniuses arise, superior to the circumstances that surround them, and originate new ideas and discover new laws, subversive of all former lights, knowledge, and experience? But how Mr. Owen may reconcile what he now said concerning the origination of the social system, and that spoken on a former occasion, I pause not now to inquire.

      This assembly is now witness that I sat down, that Mr. Owen might defend his sixth law, if he could; and that he did not make a single effort. 'Tis true, indeed, he called upon me to produce some case as an example, where belief depended upon volition. He said I could not give any. He might, with a regard to truth, have said, I did not give any; but unless he knew my thoughts I cannot see on what grounds he could say, I could not give any. We will, however, try.

      There was one Col. Sharp, of Frankfort, Kentucky, that was some time since assassinated by one Jeremiah O. Beauchamp. For some time no person knew who the perpetrator of this foulest of deeds was. No person as yet believed that Jeremiah O. Beauchamp was the assassin. But indignation, duty, interest, and curiosity, put all upon the inquiry. Every one is resolved, determines, or, it you please, puts forth a volition, or wills to search for evidences to produce faith. Every trace, every whisper, and every circumstance, are explored, until a chain of evidence, so powerful, and so minute, is accumulated as authorizes a jury under the most solemn sanctions of law and religion, to bring in a verdict of guilty. Every person, here, believed that Jeremiah O. Beauchamp was the assassin. Now the question is, Had not the volition or determination of many individuals, in this case, some influence upon their beliefs; or, in other words, did not the obtaining [498] of the evidences necessary to conviction, depend upon the volitions of those concerned in tracing up the matter? I hope Mr. Owen will no more assert "That our faith, in no case, depends upon our volitions."

      But am I not warranted in saying, that Mr. Owen has closed this discussion without even an attempt to prove four of his positions? He had five independent positions. Now to prove these five required a special induction of reasons, arguments, and proofs, with a direct bearing upon each of them; but this has not been attempted. He relied upon the repetition of his twelve laws, and upon his comments upon the same twelve, to prove the whole five--as if identical propositions. This may pass for logic among skeptics, but cannot among Christians.

      But, as night with its sable wings is fast embracing us, I must hasten. I had intended to have presented you with a correct and concentrated view of the whole of my arguments; but this would occupy too much time. I can only, therefore, with any regard to your patience and circumstances, just state the principal topics from which we argued the Divine authority of our holy religion.

      Finding, as I soon did, after our commencement, that Mr. Owen had no idea of adducing any logical proof of his propositions, but that he was about to indulge in a latitude of declamation on his social system, and other matters and things having no logical connection with the points at issue, and after various fruitless efforts on my part, and on that of the Board of Moderators, to draw his attention to the real merits of the discussion, I proceeded to examine the ancient and modern systems of skepticism, for the purpose of proving this important point; that, so soon as men called philosophers, sages, or what you please, rejected revelation, and embarked on board of their own reason, they were, to a man, shipwrecked. Not one of them ever reached a safe haven, and such of them as were not wrecked upon some latent rock, foundered at sea. Nothing but contradiction among themselves; new mysteries, and universal doubt attended their progress. And, in fact, the most irrational and absurd opinions uniformly forced themselves into their minds, so soon as they had emptied themselves of all biblical ideas.

      Mr. Owen told us that we must have a separate religion for each individual, because of the difference in human organization, not seeing, that upon the same principles, he must have a different social system for each individual, and that no two skeptics who had ever written agreed upon any one system of doubting. Even Mr. Owen himself, has made a new system, or, at least, has new modified several old ones, to please himself. Thus we have seen the intellectual aberrations, and [499] the moral tendencies of all the systems of doubting. As I presume the new sects in Christendom, will, by their rapid increase and geometrical progression, soon fritter themselves down to nothing; in other terms, the multiplication of isms will make them all of none effect, and teach all Christians the necessity of making facts, and not opinions, the basis of all church union; so the impossibility of any two skeptics projecting anything like a system in which they can agree, has made it a forlorn hope for skeptics ever to rise higher than to a system of doubting.

      After carrying the war into the enemy's country, and exploring the weakness of his fortresses, and the poverty of his resources, our next object was to erect an impassable wall between his dominions and ours, by showing philosophically that man could never have invented any religion, not even the most rude; that all these were mere corruptions, not inventions of the ancient nations. That, in truth, the most barbarous superstitions upon the earth, have in them supernatural ideas, which no mere man ever could have originated. In one sentence, I think we may say, it was proved, that it is as far beyond our intellectual powers to originate a religion of any sort, as it is beyond our physical powers, to create out of nothing, a stone or a tree. Our third item, or distinct chapter of arguments, was the establishment of the Divine legation of Moses, and the certain divine origin of the Jews' religion, proved by all the criteria of Leslie, which establish the truth of ancient facts, from the symbols of that religion, and the archives of all the ancient nations of the world. Our fourth chapter contained the historic evidences of the Christian religion; our fifth, the prophetic denunciations of both testaments; the sixth, the genius and tendency of the Christian religion; and the seventh, the social system. These were the great chapters of this discussion; though much incommoded, disturbed, and broken in upon, by the obliquity of Mr. Owen's course. Still, I flatter myself, when the whole is comprised together in one volume, it will prove, at least, that no Christian has any reason to blush, or be ashamed of the foundation of his hope, or of his religion. Nay, more; that the Christian religion is most certainly the institution of him who built the universe, and gave to man his dominion over the animal, the vegetable, and mineral kingdom. That it is as clearly the work of an infinite understanding as the sun is the work of an almighty hand.

      Before closing this my last address to you, my respected auditors, I beg leave to read you two extracts from my Christian Baptist, Vol. 5, page 257. These remarks, though written a year ago, seem to me every way suited to the present occasion. The first is entitled the Triumphs of Skepticism; the second, the Triumphs of Christianity. [500]

      When skepticism triumphs in any heart, the hope of immortality is banished. It crowns the tyrant Death forever on his throne, and seals the conquests of the grave over the whole human race. It wraps the tomb in eternal darkness, and suffers not one particle of the remains of the great, the wise, and the good of all ages, to see the light of eternity; but consigns, by an irreversible doom, all that was admired, loved, and revered in man, to perpetual annihilation. It identifies human existence with the vilest reptile, and levels man to the grade of the meanest weed, whose utility is yet undiscovered. Man's origin and his destiny are to its ken alike fortuitous, unimportant, and uninteresting. Having robbed him of everything which could make him dear to himself and proud of his existence, it murders all his hopes of future being and future bliss. It cuts the cable and casts away the golden anchor; it sets man adrift on the mighty, unfathomable, and unexplored ocean of uncertainty, to become the sport of the wind and waves of animal passion and appetite; until, at last, in some tremendous gust, "he sinks to everlasting ruin." Say, then, proud reasoner, of what utility is your philosophy? What your boast?

      You boast that you have made man ignorant of his origin and a stranger to himself. You boast that you have deprived him of any real superiority over the bee, the bat, or the beaver; that you have divested him of the highest inducements to a virtuous life, by taking away the knowledge of God and the hope of heaven. You boast that you have made Death triumphant, not only over the body, but the intellectual dignity of man; and that you have buried his soul and body in the grave of an eternal sleep, never to see the light of life again! O Skepticism! is this thy philosophy--is this thy boasted victory over the Bible? And for this extinguishment of light and life eternal, what dost thou teach and what bestow? Thou teachest us to live according to our appetites, and dost promise us that in thy Millennium man shall live in a Paradise of colonies, almost as industrious, as independent, and as social as the bees. Well then dost thou preach with zeal, and exert thy energies; for thy heaven is worthy of thy efforts, and the purity of thy life is just adapted to the high hopes of eternal annihilation.

      A true believer and practitioner of the Christian religion, is completely and perfectly divested of a guilty conscience, and the consequent fear of death. The very end and intention of God's being manifest in the flesh, in the person of Jesus our Savior, was to deliver them, [501] "who through fear of death, were all their lifetime subject to slavery." Jesus has done this. He has abolished death, and brought life and immortality to light. He has given strength to his disciples to vanquish death, and make them triumphant over the grave; so that a living or a dying Christian can with truth say, "O Death, where now thy sting! O Grave, where now thy victory!" He conquered both, and by faith in him we conquer both. This is the greatest victory ever was obtained. To see a Christian conquer him who had for ages conquered all, is the sublimest scene ever witnessed by human eyes. And this may be seen as often as we see a true Christian die. I know that a perverted system of Christianity inspires its votaries with the fear of death, because it makes doubts and fears Christian virtues. But this religion is not of God. His Son died that we might not fear to die; and he went down to the grave to show us the path up to life again, and thus to make us victorious over the king of tyrants, and the tyrant over kings. They understand not his religion, who are not triumphant over those guilty fears. The guilty only can fear, and the guilty are not acquainted with the character, mission, and achievements of Jesus our life. No one taught of God can fear these horrors of the wicked. Jesus Christ made no covenant with death; he signed no articles of capitulation with the horrible destroyer. He took his armor away, he bound him in an invincible chain, and taught him only to open the door of immortality to all his friends.

      A Christian, then, must triumph and always rejoice. Our gloomy systems say, Rejoice not always, but afflict your souls: whereas the Apostles say, Rejoice in the Lord always; and again we say, Rejoice. The gospel, as defined by the angels of God, is, GLAD TIDINGS OF GREAT JOY; and who can believe GLAD TIDINGS OF GREAT JOY, and not rejoice? Deists, Atheists, and the whole host of skeptics may doubt, for this is their whole system; the wicked, the guilty, and the vile may fear, for this is the natural issue of their lives; but how a Christian, knowing the Lord, believing the promises, and confiding in the achievements of the Savior, can doubt or fear as respects death or the grave, is inconceivable. Thanks be to God who gives us the victory!

      Some persons may doubt whether they are Christians; and some may fear the pain of dying as they would the toothache, or a dislocated joint; but that a Christian should fear either death or the grave, is out of character altogether. For this is the very drift, scope, and end of his religion. They who are under the influence of such fears and doubts, have much reason to fear and doubt whether ever they have known or believed the truth, the gospel of salvation. But a Christian in fact, or one who deserves the name, is made to rejoice and triumph [502] in the prospects of death and the grave. And why? Because his Lord has gone before him--because his rest, his home, his eternal friends and associates, his heaven, his God, all his joys are beyond the grave. Not to know this, is to be ignorant of the favor of God; not to believe this, is to doubt the philanthropy of God; not to rejoice in this, is to reject the gospel, and to judge ourselves unworthy of eternal life. But the Christian religion is not to be reproached because of the ignorance or unbelief of those who profess it. All rivers do not more naturally run down the declivities and wind their courses to the ocean, than the Christian religion leads its followers to the sure, and certain, and triumphant hopes of immortality.

      Before we dismiss this assembly, I beg leave to express my sensibility, my admiration of the marked and courteous attention which has been paid by this community to this discussion. I must again repeat that I have never seen any assembly convened upon any occasion which has all through exhibited the same good order, the same complaisant behavior, and the same unremitted attention. I feel indebted to, and will ever feel a high respect for, the citizens of this city, for the favorable circumstances which they have created for this debate; and especially to the gentlemen who have so politely and so patiently presided over this meeting.

      But I should be wanting to you, my friends, and the cause which I plead, if I should dismiss you without making to you a very important proposition. You know that this discussion is matter for the press. You know that every encomium that has been pronounced upon your exemplary behavior, will go with the report of this discussion. You will remember, too, that many indignities have been offered to your faith, to your religion, and that these reproaches and indignities have been only heard with pity and not marked with the least resentment on your part. Now I must tell you that a problem will arise in the minds of those living five hundred or a thousand miles distant, who may read this discussion, whether it was owing to a perfect apathy or indifference on your part, as to any interest you felt in the Christian religion, that you bore all these insults without seeming to hear them. In fine, the question will be, whether it was owing to the stoical indifference of fatalism, to the prevalence of infidelity or, to the meekness and forbearance which Christianity teaches, that you bore all these indignities without a single expression of disgust. Now, I desire no more than that this good and Christian-like deportment may be credited to the proper account. If it be owing to your concurrence in [503] sentiment with Mr. Owen, let skepticism have the honor of it. But if owing to your belief in, or regard for, the Christian religion, let the Christian religion have the honor of it. These things premised, my proposition is that all the persons in this assembly who believe in the Christian religion or who feel so much interest in it, as to wish to see it pervade the world, will please to signify it by standing up. [An almost universal rising up.]

      Here Mr. CAMPBELL says, You will have the goodness to be seated.

      Now, I would further propose, that all persons doubtful of the truth of the Christian religion, or who do not believe it, and who are not friendly to its spread and prevalence over the world, will please signify it by rising up. [THREE ARISE.]

      Mr. OWEN rises.

      Gentlemen Moderators: It has just occurred to me that I had forgotten to tender my thanks to you for your presence and superintendence on this occasion, which I now beg leave to do. And I may add, I am much pleased with Mr. Campbell's little maneuver of the test, because I discover it pleases him and his friends. Truth requires no such support. [Candles called for.]

      Mr. CAMPBELL rises.

      While we are waiting for light, I will move that the thanks of this whole assembly be presented to the Board of Moderators, and put upon record.--Nemine contradicente.

      Adjournment sine die.

CHARLES HOWARD SIMMS, Reporter. [504]      

[COD 498-504]