{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_53931/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_53931","id":"gutenberg_53931","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/53931","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Religion/Spirituality","Christian life","International Exhibition (1862 : London, England)"],"text":"Transcribed from the [1862?] John Stabb (Tract 272) edition by David\nPrice, email ccx074@pglaf.org\n\n                          [Picture: Tract cover]\n\n\n\n\n\n                      THE GATHERING OF THE NATIONS.\n\n\nTHERE is something especially imposing in the sight of great multitudes;\nhence, apart from the bliss, the glory, and the joy which the happy hosts\nare represented as possessing in the Apocalyptic vision, there is a\npeculiar sublimity in the description given in Revelation vii. 9, 10:\n\u201cAfter this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could\nnumber, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood\nbefore the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and\npalms in their hands; and cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to\nour God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb.\u201d\n\nThe solitary traveller excites no attention; the ordinary concourse of\neven crowded cities soon becomes familiar; but when large masses of\nhumanity are congregated together for any common object, it is impossible\nto be an unconcerned spectator of the scene.  We may have little personal\ninterest in the purpose that has led them to assemble; we may be perfect\nstrangers to the mighty host; but by some mysterious law we identify\nourselves with them, and that not only when they are actually present,\nbut even when they have but an imaginary existence on the graphic page of\ndescriptive narrative.\n\nThese emotions were powerfully excited on the occasion of the Exhibition\nin 1851, when such vast numbers visited our metropolis to inspect the\ncontents of the palace of glass.  The accumulated treasures of art and\nskill excited the astonishment of the observer; but it was the countless\nmillions of our _fellow-men_, who were continually moving in our midst,\nthat commanded the wondering observation of the most unreflecting mind.\nAnd now we are called to witness a similar influx from all parts of our\ncountry and the world, to examine another display of the varieties of\ninternational skill.  Europe, forgetful for a time of the agitations of\npolitical strife, is pouring forth her thousands who are intent on the\nencouragement of those arts which tend to the promotion of peace.  Asia\nis sending her representatives to inspect those accumulations of treasure\nbefore which the boasted magnificence of Oriental splendour grows pale.\nAmerica spares some from her fratricidal struggle to admire the far more\nharmless and honourable competitions of industry.  Even Africa and the\ninhabitants of the beauteous islands of the vast Pacific have an\ninterested share in the general gathering; while our colonies afford, by\ntheir contributions, and the number of visitors, pleasing indications of\nthe rapidity with which they are following us in the race of\ncivilization.  From the sunny dales, the fertile fields, and the rural\nvillages, as well as from the busy towns and cities of our own land, our\ncountrymen are also flocking to share in the peaceful rivalry of the\nassembled nations.  Who can look with indifference on this continually\nincreasing aggregate of active, living men?  Imagination cannot but\nspeculate concerning the various emotions which are throbbing in these\ncountless bosoms; on the different objects each is pursuing; on the\ndiversified impressions individuals will receive as they survey our busy\nstreets, our ever flowing tide of population, our temples of religion,\nour government, our virtues, and our sins.  Piety, too, will anxiously\ninquire, as she surveys the mighty throng, \u201cWho among them feareth the\nLord?  Whither are all these immortal spirits tending?  What are the\nstores they are laying up for eternity?\u201d  No, we cannot be indifferent to\nthe scene.  We may look unmoved upon the majestic river, hastening\nonwards to the sea\u2014upon the lofty mountain, towering to the skies\u2014upon\nthe solid fabric, which the skill of the architect has so reared that it\nmay defy the attacks of ages; but it is impossible to behold with apathy\nthe thousands whose minds are liable, like our own, to the ever shifting\nanxieties of life\u2019s struggles, whose hearts are subject to the same\nconflicting passions with which our own are familiar, and whose souls are\ndestined to survive the wreck of all material things in the joys or\nsorrows of an endless life.  Hence, amid the varied specimens of artistic\nskill, of splendid luxury, of earth\u2019s products, and of the discoveries of\nscience, which appear on every side, it is, we contend, the crowding\nhosts of the many families and races of mankind which troop along the\naisles of the International Exhibition, which will, to a thoughtful mind,\nstill present the most serious matter for interested meditation.  Oh,\nthat the scene may awaken those who profess the religion of the Bible so\nto display its influence, that these occasional visitors may carry back\nwith them deep, lasting, and salutary impressions of \u201cthe truth as it is\nin Jesus,\u201d and learn that \u201cit is righteousness alone which exalteth a\nnation!\u201d  The opportunity is as favourable for exhibiting the moral\ninfluence of genuine Christianity as it is unusual.  May a powerful\nconviction of our national responsibility lead our countrymen to be\nfaithful and effectual \u201cwitnesses for God,\u201d and not impede the progress\nof the world\u2019s evangelization by haughty pride, sordid covetousness,\ndisgraceful profligacy, or atheistic indifference.  Our common faith is\non its trial, and thousands of our fellow-men will be spectators of the\nissue.\n\nHow varied the scenes from which these teeming multitudes have come!\nWhat diversities, arising from birth, residence, and occupation, mark\ntheir separate histories! and, when viewed in the light of the sacred\nScriptures, what solemn thoughts arise in reference to them all!  Some\nhave come from regions where the false prophet deludes the minds of\nmillions with fatalism and sensual hopes; others from the wide-spread\ncountries where Popery corrupts the truth of revelation, burdens the\nsimplicity of the Gospel with Pharisaic rites, and hides the doctrines of\nthe Cross behind the crucifix.  Some from the dark plains of heathenism,\nwith its \u201clords many and gods many,\u201d worshipped under hideous forms,\nwhere the glory of the incorruptible God has been changed into \u201can image\nmade like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and\ncreeping things;\u201d others from various parts of our own favoured land,\nwhere the Bible is known, and its truths professedly honoured.  But how\nfew, it may be feared, of this vast multitude, have yielded their hearts\nto the influence of the Gospel! how few have realized their real\ncondition as sinners, their solemn responsibility as accountable beings,\nand their need of the atoning blood of Christ!  Immersed in the world,\nand striving to make the most of their brief sojourn here, must it not be\nsuspected that they are living for temporal purposes alone, and that very\nmany are \u201cwithout hope, and without God in the world\u201d?\n\nHow painful is such a thought, when viewed in connection with the\nrapidity with which the generations of men are passing away from the face\nof the earth!\n\nEleven years since, and a similar gathering, buoyant with hope and\nenergy, assembled in the Palace of Glass, and wandered amid the treasures\nthen collected; but what numbers of the busy throng have now passed into\nthe more impressive realities of eternity! some to inhabit the \u201chouse of\nmany mansions;\u201d others into scenes where unavailing remorse is the bitter\nfruit of opportunities neglected and privileges slighted!  The shadow of\ndeath seems indeed to mingle with the bright colours of splendour which\nadorn the present Exhibition.  We miss the familiar countenances of some\nwho took prominent parts in the gorgeous ceremonial of 1851.  Our beloved\nQueen, whose presence shed a light and a lustre over the joyous throng,\nis absent, for death has entered her palace, and bereaved her of her\nConsort, so justly dear.  She, in widowed solitude, mourns his decease;\nand none who visit this stately building can fail to miss the lamented\nPrince, whose comprehensive intellect first adopted the idea, and defined\nthe principles which regulated the arrangement of the former and the\npresent Exhibition\u2014whose cultivated taste was pervaded by genuine piety,\nand whose loss will not soon be forgotten by a grateful and a mourning\nnation.  He has been called to a nobler, a happier, a mightier assembly\nthan that of which he was the guiding spirit here.\n\nThe venerable parent of our afflicted monarch, who gained the gratitude\nof the people of these realms by the appropriate training of the present\nillustrious occupant of the throne, has, too, become an inhabitant of the\nsilent grave.  The aged Wellington, the hero of a hundred battles,\nformerly so interested in the trophies of a peaceful world, has yielded\nto the mighty conqueror, Death, and closed his chequered career.  These,\nwith many others known only to the omniscient God, have gone, leaving\nmourning hearts and bereaved homes to recall those hours of happy and\nenlightened interest they spent eleven years since, amid the gathering of\nthe nations.  They have gone to their account, and without vainly\nattempting to scan the varied, the solemn lot which is now their eternal\ndestiny, let us listen to the warning voice, which says, \u201cIt is appointed\nunto men once to die, and after that the judgment;\u201d and cry, \u201cO Lord, so\nteach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.\u201d\nThey have gone, and we are yet left; but how earnest should be the\ninquiry, \u201cWhat progress are we making in the great purposes of our\nexistence?  What have we done to benefit our race and promote the glory\nof our God?  Have the powers with which we have been entrusted been\nemployed for good, or prostituted to evil?  Have we advanced in fitness\nfor that state to which we are hastening, or have we yielded ourselves\nmore willing slaves to those sins which degrade, debase, and destroy the\nsoul?\u201d\n\nThe purpose of the present Exhibition is to ascertain what improvements\nthe various countries have made in the industrial, useful, and ornamental\narts since the first comparison of national skill.  And truly great has\nbeen the progress\u2014humanity has studied with intense eagerness to multiply\nthe conveniences and diminish the evils of social life.  Luxury has\ndevised new methods of gratifying the almost sated desires of\nself-indulgence.  Philanthropy has suggested additional means of\nemployment for the increasing numbers of the sons of toil.  Science, ever\nstriving to extend the bounds of human knowledge, has shed its\nillumination upon many subjects seemingly wrapped in hopeless mystery.\nThe religion of Jesus, too, we rejoice to believe, has been making\nprogress during the past eleven years.  Though the obstacles which\nworldliness, infidelity, carelessness, and superstition usually throw\ninto the way have been as great as ever\u2014though the powers of evil have\nnot abated in the least degree their accustomed activity, the Gospel of\nour salvation has been \u201cmighty through God\u201d\u2014various parts of our own\ncountry have been visited with \u201ctimes of refreshing,\u201d and other lands\nhave received the light of life\u2014the realms of heathenism have been\npierced, the gloomy regions of idolatry have been invaded, and in\ncountries where a corrupted form of Christianity has long prevailed, the\nWord of God has been set free: progression has been the character of the\ntimes.\n\nThese facts afford cause for gratitude, but they also give intensity to\nthe questions we have proposed.  How, then, reader, has it been with you\namid this busy energy, this universal stir?  Have you realized the proper\nobject of your sojourn here?  Have you found your way to the Cross?  Have\nyou advanced in the road which leads to eternal blessedness?  Have you\npractically felt the solemn truth contained in our Lord\u2019s words, \u201cYe must\nbe born again?\u201d  Many who at the last Exhibition were living only for\nthis world, are now ripening for that far nobler gathering of which they\nshall hereafter form a part, \u201cthe general assembly and church of the\nfirst-born which are written in heaven.\u201d  Are you yet a stranger to the\nblissful anticipation?##  Oh, press home the question, Am I born from\nabove?  Soon will the crowds which now fill the aisles of this vast\nedifice be dispersed, to meet again only amid the realities of eternity;\nin what circumstances and in what condition will you rejoin them?  In a\nshort time, the splendours of the International Exhibition will pass\naway, its bright colours fade, its unparalleled collection be removed,\nthe deserted building remain as an illustration of the transitory\ncharacter of worldly glory, and the labour of years be only a thing of\nmemory.  But when all these accumulated treasures are scattered, the\ndesire for further progress will still be active.  Still the plotting\nbrain and the industrious hand will be engaged in devising new\ncombinations of skill; the restless heart will never cry \u201cEnough!\u201d\n\nIndeed, this panting after some undefinable perfection is the prominent\nfeature of the age in which we live.  Since the last Exhibition, the vast\nempire of China has been opened to the schemes of commercial enterprise,\nand the efforts of religious zeal; Turkey has been rescued from the\nambitious designs of Russia; India has been subdued, and restored to\nprosperity and peace after the horrors of mutinous anarchy; Italy has\nmade large advances towards its much-desired unity; but still the\nunsatisfied soul of the world is aspiring after a perfection which is\nnever to be attained by man.  The struggle still continues, and the omens\nof coming change multiply, while they assume a more portentous aspect\nthan ever.\n\nAmerica reels with the internecine conflict which rages between her sons.\nRome trembles in the balance of futurity.  Popery grasps with senile\nobstinacy the last remnant of her temporal power.  France, indeed,\nmaintains unwonted calmness, but the most sagacious observer is unable to\ndetermine whether it is a prelude to a coming storm, or the happy\nsubsidence of its oft-excited elements into prospective peace; and\nAustria, with her _prestige_ of past splendour, weak yet despotic,\nstubborn yet irresolute, strives with anxious solicitude to preserve her\nposition among the nations.\n\nAt home, all classes and all conditions are forsaking the ancient\nlandmarks, and seeking further advancement.  Science strives by its\ntheories to surpass the discoveries which awakened the astonishment of\npast generations.  In politics, what would have been once regarded as the\ndreams of deluded imagination, are now esteemed as unquestionable\nprinciples of equity.  Even religion has its innovators, who affect\noriginality, and pretend to be friends of progress by attempting to\nrevive the discarded ceremonies of effete superstition, or by\ndisentombing those rash speculations whose utter want of intellectual or\nspiritual life had long consigned them to oblivion.  In social life,\ncontentment with the allotments of Providence is an uncommon sight, and\n\u201conwards and upwards\u201d is the universal cry.  Oh, that this feeling arose\nfrom enlightened principles, and that it were always directed to\nappropriate ends!\n\nLet it not be supposed that with cynic apathy we denounce the desire of\nprogress as evil in itself.  So far from this, we believe that it was\nimplanted in the heart of man to stimulate his efforts, and ultimately\nsecure his welfare.  But let us not forget that gracious Providence by\nwhose blessing only progress can become a real good, and let us\npractically recognize the supreme importance of individual progress in\nthe paths of religion and virtue.  Formed \u201cfor the glory of God, and that\nwe should show forth His praise,\u201d we are not at liberty to devote our\nhearts exclusively or mainly to mere temporal pursuits.  \u201cThe fashion of\nthis world passeth away, and the lusts thereof,\u201d but the soul must endure\nfor ever;\u2014of priceless worth, no Koh-i-noor can compare with it in\nvalue;\u2014capable of indefinite progression, though polluted with iniquity,\nnothing can purify and save it but the grace and merit of\nChrist;\u2014destined to survive when the earth itself shall be a wreck, it\nmust shine eternally like a gem in the Redeemer\u2019s crown, or sink into\nnever-ending wretchedness and ruin.  Oh, then, reader! neglect not your\ndeathless soul; be not so dazzled with this passing splendour as to\nforget the \u201cglory, honour, and immortality\u201d which may yet be yours; while\ndisplaying a graceful courtesy to the foreigners who have honoured us\nwith their presence, do not impiously slight that blessed Jesus who came\nfrom heaven and gave His heart\u2019s blood for your salvation; while\nhonouring the skilful, the scientific, the industrious minds, the fruits\nof whose labours are piled around you, do not dishonour that God in whom\nyou live, and move, and have your being.  Be not so engrossed with the\npresent as to overlook the future: another Exhibition is\npreparing\u2014another gathering of the nations will occur\u2014when, around the\nglorious white throne, \u201cthe dead, small and great, shall stand before\nGod; when the sea shall give up the dead which are in it, and death and\nhell shall deliver up the dead which are in them, and they shall be\njudged every man according to his work.\u201d  Here on earth you are but a\nunit lost in a crowded world; but in _that_ assembly, in the sight of the\nomniscient God, your individuality shall stand out clearly and\ndistinctly, with its weight of irremovable responsibility, its noble\nfaculties, and its liability to eternal ruin or immortal joy: then,\ndeeply interested in the proceedings of that solemn day, amid the fierce\nconfusion, the flashing lightning, the rolling thunder, the falling\nstars, the awful sounds of angelic trumpets, the songs of the blessed,\nthe shrieks of the lost, you shall receive that award from which there\ncan be no appeal; and even now Time is rapidly hastening on to bring the\nfinal end of all things, and develop the dread catastrophe.\n\nYour earthly journey, however, may be closed long ere this event arrives,\nand death introduce you to that world where your state will be\nirrevocably fixed.  Give, then, your heart to Jesus; do it now, and,\nfaithful to His promise, He will receive you\u2014His blood shall atone for\nyour sin\u2014His intercession secure your acceptance\u2014His Spirit sanctify your\nnature, and, clothing you with the garments of salvation, more beauteous\nthan were ever fashioned by artistic skill, He will \u201cpresent you\nfaultless before the presence of His Father with exceeding joy.\u201d  Then,\nin the heavenly city, which needs neither sun nor moon, but where the\nglory of God sheds its unclouded beams, and the Lamb is the light\nthereof\u2014where nothing enters that defileth, or worketh abomination, or\nmaketh a lie\u2014there, in the world\u2019s great assembly, in the \u201cbuilding not\nmade with hands, eternal in the heavens,\u201d with the great multitude which\nno man can number, who \u201chave washed their robes, and made them white in\nthe blood of the Lamb,\u201d shall you join the triumphant shout, \u201cGreat and\nmarvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty! just and true are thy ways,\nthou King of saints!\u201d\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n              JOHN STABB, 27, RED LION SQUARE, LONDON, W.C.\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n       J. & W. RIDER, Printers, 14, Bartholomew Close, London, E.C.\n\n                                   272","title":"The Gathering of the Nations","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":3171}