{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_58058/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_58058","id":"gutenberg_58058","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/58058","summary":null,"tags":["Category: History - Modern (1750+)","Category: Philosophy & Ethics","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Christian life","Crystal Palace (Great Exhibition, 1851, London, England)","Great Exhibition (1851 : London, England)","Royal Exchange (London, England)"],"text":"Produced by Bryan Ness and the Online Distributed\nProofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This book was\nproduced from scanned images of public domain material\nfrom the Google Books project.)\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe Royal Exchange\n\nAND\n\nTHE PALACE OF INDUSTRY.\n\n\n\n\n                           The Royal Exchange\n                                   AND\n                         THE PALACE OF INDUSTRY;\n                                   OR,\n                           THE POSSIBLE FUTURE\n                                   OF\n                          EUROPE AND THE WORLD.\n\n                             In Three Parts.\n\n                                 BY THE\n                           REV. THOMAS BINNEY.\n\n           \u201cTHE EARTH IS THE LORD\u2019S, AND ALL THAT THEREIN IS:\n         THE COMPASS OF THE WORLD, AND THEY THAT DWELL THEREIN.\u201d\n\n                                 LONDON:\n                      THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY,\n     DEPOSITORY, 56, PATERNOSTER-ROW, AND 65, ST. PAUL\u2019S CHURCHYARD.\n                                  1851.\n\n\n\n\nPSALM XXIV.\n\nA PSALM OF DAVID.\n\n\n  1 THE EARTH IS THE LORD\u2019S, AND THE FULNESS THEREOF;\n    THE WORLD, AND THEY THAT DWELL THEREIN.\n  2 FOR HE HATH FOUNDED IT UPON THE SEAS,\n    AND ESTABLISHED IT UPON THE FLOODS.\n\n  3 WHO SHALL ASCEND INTO THE HILL OF THE LORD?\n    OR WHO SHALL STAND IN HIS HOLY PLACE?\n  4 HE THAT HATH CLEAN HANDS, AND A PURE HEART;\n    WHO HATH NOT LIFTED UP HIS SOUL UNTO VANITY, NOR SWORN DECEITFULLY.\n  5 HE SHALL RECEIVE THE BLESSING FROM THE LORD,\n    AND RIGHTEOUSNESS FROM THE GOD OF HIS SALVATION.\n  6 THIS IS THE GENERATION OF THEM THAT SEEK HIM,\n    THAT SEEK THY FACE, O JACOB. SELAH.\n\n  7 LIFT UP YOUR HEADS, O YE GATES;\n    AND BE YE LIFT UP, YE EVERLASTING DOORS;\n    AND THE KING OF GLORY SHALL COME IN.\n\n  8 WHO IS THIS KING OF GLORY?\n    THE LORD STRONG AND MIGHTY,\n    THE LORD MIGHTY IN BATTLE.\n  9 LIFT UP YOUR HEADS, O YE GATES;\n    EVEN LIFT THEM UP, YE EVERLASTING DOORS;\n    AND THE KING OF GLORY SHALL COME IN.\n\n  10 WHO IS THIS KING OF GLORY?\n    THE LORD OF HOSTS, HE IS THE KING OF GLORY. SELAH.\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS.\n\n\n                                                                   PAGE\n\n                                 PART I.\n\n                               EXPOSITORY.\n\n    HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION                                           3\n\n    THE DIVINE EXISTENCE AND PERSONALITY                              9\n\n    CREATION                                                         15\n\n    PROVIDENCE                                                       24\n\n                                PART II.\n\n                              INFERENTIAL.\n\n    WORSHIP                                                          44\n\n    CHARACTER                                                        52\n\n    CHRIST                                                           60\n\n                                PART III.\n\n                               PROPHETIC.\n\n    THE ARGUMENT RECAPITULATED\u2014THE RELIGIOUS ANTICIPATION OF THE\n    FUTURE ILLUSTRATED AND JUSTIFIED BY THE HOPES OF SOCIAL AND\n    POLITICAL PHILANTHROPY                                           88\n\n    UNIVERSAL THEISM                                                101\n\n    UNIVERSALITY OF CHRISTIAN WORSHIP                               104\n\n    THE SCRIPTURES WILL PURIFY AND RESTORE THE CHURCH               112\n\n    UNIVERSAL VIRTUE                                                117\n\n    NATIONALITIES                                                   123\n\n    PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS                                           128\n\n                               POSTSCRIPT.\n\n    THE EXHIBITION OPENED                                           149\n\n\n\n\nPART I.\n\nEXPOSITORY.\n\n\n\n\nPART I.\n\nEXPOSITORY.\n\n\n\n\nHISTORICAL INTRODUCTION, AND PLAN OF THE WORK.\n\n\nOn the night of the 10th of January, in the year 1838, the inhabitants of\nLondon\u2014those especially residing in the heart of the city\u2014were alarmed by\na cry expressive or prophetic of calamity or peril.\u2014THE ROYAL EXCHANGE\n_was in flames_! Feelings and sentiments were excited by the occurrence\ndifferent from those produced by an ordinary conflagration. The Royal\nExchange was one of the great public buildings of the metropolis; it was\nthe third too which, within a very short period, had met with a similar\nfate. It was not only the monument of individual munificence, the gift\nto the city which he had adorned and served, of an eminent merchant,\u2014a\nman of talents, goodness, learning, and largeness of heart; it was the\ncentral point in the British empire for the meeting of the men of all\nnations; the palace of trade; the place of commercial congress; the hall\nin which assembled from day to day the \u201cmerchant princes\u201d of England,\nand the representatives of the traffic and the wealth of the world.\nThe flames spread; the devouring element secured to itself the entire\nedifice; it fed upon and consumed floor and roof, picture and statue,\ndestroying or defacing everything it touched, till the whole building was\nreduced to ashes, and nothing remained of it but smouldering ruins.\n\nIn a little time a new edifice was projected, larger and more magnificent\nthan the former, and thus better fitted to meet the wants of the age, and\nto indicate the progress and advancement of society. The first stone was\nlaid by the youthful husband of our young queen,\u2014one might almost say the\nyoung bridegroom of a royal bride,\u2014and the building rose with comparative\nrapidity, unfolding and embodying its great idea. As it approached\ncompletion, and its front was to be adorned by some significant figures\nor allegorical device, questions arose as to whether an inscription\nshould be placed there with them, and as to what that inscription should\nbe. The illustrious individual who had laid the first stone of the\nstructure suggested for that inscription a simple text from the English\nBible, \u201cTHE EARTH IS THE LORD\u2019S, AND THE FULNESS THEREOF.\u201d The suggestion\nwas adopted; it was carried into effect; and hence there may be read, on\nthe front of our Royal Exchange, and read in our land\u2019s language,\u2014but\naddressed to all men; for they are addressed not only to the British\nmerchant, but to the representatives of every nation under heaven,\u2014the\nfew plain words which have just been repeated,\u2014\n\nTHE EARTH IS THE LORD\u2019S, AND THE FULNESS THEREOF.\n\nWords, however, these, which, while simple in appearance, are pregnant\nand suggestive in the highest degree; for they are full to overflowing,\nof great practical divine thoughts.\n\nThe suggestion of this inscription for the Royal Exchange was the\nsuggestion not only of sound judgment and good sense, but of piety,\nhumility, and religious faith. It attributes nothing to any individual;\nit proclaims no national or municipal greatness; it breathes no\nflattery to monarch, merchant, class, or kingdom:\u2014it is simply a devout\nrecognition of Almighty God, \u201cfrom whom, and by whom, and for whom are\nall things:\u201d\u2014who created the world, and adorned and beautified it; who\ncovered it with verdure, made it fruitful, fills it with its various\nproducts, and sustains it for the service of man. It is a great thing to\nhave this public recognition of the Most High made, as it were, every\nhour of every day, from the very centre of all mundane and secular\nactivities;\u2014it is a stirring recollection, that that very building,\nthought by many to be the temple of Mammon, should stand forth as a\npreacher and teacher on behalf of God; and, _still more so_, that its\nEnglish voice should be distinctly heard above the din and discord of its\nmany languages, perpetually proclaiming to its busy multitudes, and the\nbusy multitudes of the whole city, what, if practically pondered, would\ncool avarice, prevent fraud, moderate ambition, inspire truth, dictate\njustice, make every man feel as a brother to his fellow, and all nations,\nranks, and conditions of men, as the members of one vast and undivided\nconfraternity.\n\nIt is interesting to think that the same illustrious Prince who\nsuggested the inscription for the Royal Exchange, originated the idea\nof the Exhibition of the industry of all nations. It is to the honour\nof England, that the first time that the whole world, so to speak,\ncomes together for a peaceful purpose, the meeting takes place in the\nBritish metropolis; and it is to the honour of the husband of England\u2019s\nQueen, not only that he should have been the father of _this_ thought,\nbut that by a previous one he should have attempted, as it were, to\nsanctify industry, and trade, and commerce, and manufactures, by an\nopen recognition of the providence of God as the source of them all.\nIt is worth living for, to be, first, the occasion of a great central\ncommercial edifice, in one of the greatest cities of the world, bearing\non its front the record of the central truth of religion; and then,\nsecondly, to be the cause of the congregating together, in that city, of\nmen of all lands and of all languages, to look, among other things, upon\nthat edifice, and to observe the truth which the people it represents\nhave there publicly enthroned!\n\nThe writer of the following pages proposes, then, to unite in his\nreflections the two things which, through the agency of the same mind,\nare thus already united in fact\u2014the INSCRIPTION on the Royal Exchange,\nand THE EXHIBITION OF THE INDUSTRY OF ALL NATIONS. He intends, in the\nfirst part, to point out and illustrate the great primary religious\ntruths which are involved in the announcement of the inscription itself.\nAs it, however, is the first verse of a psalm, he purposes, in the second\npart, to look at it in connexion with the whole of the psalm, and at the\npsalm in connexion with the whole of Revelation, and thus to bring out\nand associate with the inscription additional ideas of both truth and\nduty. Then, supposing the whole series of these truths and duties to be\nearnestly adopted and practically exemplified by all nations\u2014by England\nherself, and by those to whom they will be virtually presented on their\nmeeting together in the British metropolis\u2014it is proposed, in the last\npart, to describe what, on such a supposition, would be the coming future\nof Europe and of the world.\n\n\n\n\nI.\n\n_The Divine Existence and Personality._\n\n\nThe first idea suggested by the words of the inscription is the existence\nof God: \u201c_The earth is the Lord\u2019s._\u201d It is here assumed that there is a\nGod; and it is further assumed that God is a person. He is the possessor\nand proprietor of the world: he has an existence distinct from it: he\nis capable of looking upon it, and of regarding it as his own: \u201cThe\nearth is the Lord\u2019s, and the fulness thereof; the _world, and they\nthat dwell therein_.\u201d Not only is the material structure his, but the\nliving inhabitants; and not only those of inferior rank, but the Lord\nand Master of them all. The same being that claims \u201cthe fowls of the\nmountains, the wild beasts of the field and the forest, and the cattle\nupon a thousand hills,\u201d claims also to be the proprietor of _man_,\nthe source and sovereign of the intelligent universe;\u2014\u201call souls are\nmine.\u201d God is not nature, nor nature God. God and the universe are not\none and the same thing. He is not a force, a power, a law; he is not\nattraction, electricity, or any of the great active material agents,\nor all of them put together: he is not necessity, chance, fate: he is\nnot a thing, nor the sum of things, but a person: he is a mind, with\nfaculties, affections, character, and is as distinct from the \u201cearth\u201d and\nthe \u201cworld\u201d as a man is distinct from a house or a clock, or anything\nwhatever that he can call _his_.\n\nThe personality of God\u2014his existence as an intelligent agent distinct\nfrom the universe,\u2014is destructive of all theories of atheism and\npantheism; of the philosophy which teaches that there is no God at all,\nand of that which teaches that all things are God. The two systems,\nindeed, are essentially one; they are alike opposed to the existence\nof religion, and render faith and piety impossible. A principle is\nproclaimed in the words before us,\u2014words ceaselessly uttered, and uttered\nto all men, from the commercial centre of this great city,\u2014which repels\nand repudiates a godless philosophy, in whatever form it may be held or\ntaught\u2014by whatever name it may be indicated or concealed.\n\nThe truth thus referred to, the foundation truth of all religion, is\ntaught and illustrated in the Holy Scriptures in the most remarkable\nmanner. The Bible, indeed, seldom or never attempts to _prove_ that there\nis a God; it rather assumes his existence, takes it for granted, proceeds\nupon it as a necessary intuitional truth, and regards any one who would\npretend to deny it, either as \u201ca fool\u201d who is prompted to the denial by\nhis corrupt \u201cheart;\u201d or as a philosopher who has become \u201cvain in his\nreasonings,\u201d and whose \u201cunderstanding is darkened.\u201d While, however, the\nBible starts with the acknowledgment of God, and proceeds throughout\non the recognition of his existence, it occasionally illustrates his\npersonality, supremacy, distinctness from the universe and correlative\ntruths, in a way which is at once adapted to confirm these views where\nthey are admitted,\u2014to demonstrate them to those that doubt,\u2014and to cover\nwith contempt idolaters or sophists by whom they may be denied.\n\nTwo or three scriptural passages may be quoted here, in support or\nillustration of this statement. Let it be remembered then, that the\nScriptures always ascribe to God _personal_ attributes. He is \u201ca God of\nknowledge.\u201d His \u201cunderstanding is infinite.\u201d He acts \u201caccording to the\ncouncil of his will.\u201d He is \u201choly,\u201d \u201cjust,\u201d \u201cgood,\u201d \u201cpure;\u201d He loves\nand hates, observes and remembers, approves and condemns, punishes and\nrewards. His personal omniscience, and consequent independence of all\nother beings, is powerfully asserted by Isaiah:\u2014\u201cWho hath directed the\nSpirit of the Lord, or being his counsellor hath taught _him_? With whom\ntook he counsel, and who instructed him, and taught him in the path\nof judgment, and taught him knowledge, and showed to him the way of\nunderstanding?\u201d But the personality of God, and his distinct existence\nfrom the universe, are sometimes united together in a very striking\nway. He is referred to as the Creator\u2014the source whence all things have\nproceeded; and then, on the principle that _what there is in the effect\nthere must first have been in the cause, and must continue to be in an\nexisting cause_, his personal properties are argued from the fact that\nsuch properties actually exist,\u2014exist, that is, in men,\u2014beings whom he\nhas made: \u201cHe that planted the ear, shall not _he_ hear? he that formed\nthe eye, shall not _he_ see? \u2026 he that teacheth man knowledge, shall not\n_he_ know?\u201d The same argument, in another form, is used by the apostle\nPaul, when reasoning with the philosophers of Athens. Having referred\nto God as the Creator of the world; as giving \u201cto all life, and breath,\nand all things;\u201d and as \u201chaving made all nations of men that dwell on\nthe face of the earth;\u201d\u2014having illustrated his position by the saying\nof one of their own poets,\u2014\u201cwe are also his offspring,\u201d\u2014he proceeds to\nargue thus:\u2014\u201cforasmuch then, as _we_ are the offspring of God, we ought\nnot to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone,\ngraven by art and man\u2019s device:\u201d in other words, \u201cseeing that _we_ have\nthought, intelligence, and will,\u2014that we have affections, consciousness,\npersonality,\u2014and seeing that we are the creatures of God, and must have\nderived from _him_ whatsoever we possess, it is absurd to think of him\nas _im_personal, material, unintelligent, since he must certainly have\nin himself what he has been able to confer.\u201d There is great force in\nthis form of putting the truth as it is put both by the prophet and the\napostle. To ordinary common sense, it would seem to be demonstrative.\nIt appears so natural to infer that the great parent of _persons_ must\n_be_ a person;\u2014that the source of thought must be able to think;\u2014that\nthe fountain whence flows to the intelligent universe, faculty and\naffection, reason and will, must possess these in infinite plenitude in\nitself;\u2014it would appear so natural to reason thus, and so obvious, as\nalmost to render reference to it superfluous, were it not that it is\nnow fashionable to think of the universe as a mere machine, and God as\nthe central and pervading force, and that this machine, in the course\nof its ceaseless and everlasting action, and in the process of its\nvaried movements from eternity, has happened, or contrived, to grind out\n_thought_ along with other things, and to fill worlds with persons (or\nwhat seem to be such) as well as with form and colour, and the different\nobjects of material existence! In reference to such a theory, we may\nappropriately adopt the words of the psalmist, which stand in immediate\nconnexion with those already quoted. \u201cUnderstand, ye brutish among the\npeople: and ye fools, when will ye be wise?\u2014The Lord knoweth the thoughts\nof man, that they are vanity.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nII.\n\n_Creation._\n\n\nBut the words of the Inscription, read in connexion with the second\nverse of the psalm from which it is taken, further illustrate the ideas\nadverted to\u2014God\u2019s existence, personality, and distinction from the\nuniverse\u2014by placing the fact of his ownership of the earth, on the\nprevious fact of his having created it. \u201cThe earth is the Lord\u2019s, and the\nfulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein. For _he hath\nfounded it upon the seas, and established it upon the floods_.\u201d\n\nGod is thus distinctly recognised as the Creator of all things, and as\nhence becoming, or being, their proprietor, by necessary consequence.\nThat the universe is a creation, in the most strict and literal sense\nof the word, is the teaching of the Bible;\u2014a truth which, while leading\nto that of his universal proprietorship of the earth and the world,\nas necessarily implies and strikingly illustrates his own distinct\nindependence and personality: \u201cThrough faith we understand that the\nworlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen\nwere not made of things which do appear.\u201d The meaning of this statement\nis, that visible objects\u2014that is, the whole visible universe\u2014did not\n_originally_ spring out of visible materials. However long might be\nthe periods, during which the substance of the earth was undergoing\npreparatory processes, previous to the appearance of its destined\ninhabitant, there was a time when that substance was _not_. There was a\nperiod when the Eternal lived alone,\u2014when space was literally infinite,\nexcept as filled and pervaded by _him_,\u2014when nothing material anywhere\nexisted, by which any portion of space could be inclosed or limited. In\nthat mysterious solitude, God was as much a personality,\u2014as much a mind\nwith thought and will,\u2014as he is now. He could not then be confounded with\nhis works, for his works were not; and he ought not now to be confounded\nwith them because they _are_. It is possible to conceive of all the suns\nand systems that exist, as being swept away into utter nothingness, and\nyet to understand that God might continue in all the fulness of his being\nand perfections. \u201cIn the beginning,\u201d\u2014at some period in the immeasurable\ndepths of the abyss of that eternity which is the dwelling-place of\nDeity, God exerted the act of creation, and gave birth to what we call\nmatter, which, in the revolutions of ages, he framed and fashioned into\nseparate worlds. The Lord was, \u201c_before_ his works of old.\u201d He was \u201cfrom\neverlasting, _or ever the earth was_.\u201d \u201cWhen there were no depths,\u201d he\nexisted;\u2014\u201cbefore the mountains and hills,\u2014while as yet he hath not made\nthe earth, nor the fields, nor (even) the dust (or matter) of the world.\u201d\nThis is the sublime and awful truth which the Scriptures teach as to the\nprimary relation of God to the universe, and on the ground of which they\nascribe to him successive acts of formative power,\u2014often in language\nhighly figurative, but always meant to convey the idea of the exercise of\nthe wisdom, goodness, foresight, and similar attributes of a _personal_\nagent in the Maker of the world.\n\n\u201cBefore the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the\nearth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.\u201d\n\u201cHe prepared the heavens, he set a compass upon the face of the depth.\nHe established the clouds above, he strengthened the foundations of the\ndeep. He gave to the sea his decree, that the waters should not pass his\ncommandment.\u201d \u201cHe stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and\nhangeth the earth upon nothing.\u201d He is \u201cthe great God that formed all\nthings.\u201d \u201cO Lord, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made\nthem all.\u201d \u201cThe Lord by wisdom hath founded the earth, by understanding\nhath he established the heavens. By his knowledge the depths are broken\nup, and the clouds drop down dew.\u201d \u201cOf old thou hast laid the foundation\nof the earth; and the heavens are the work of thy hands\u201d \u201cThe sea is\nhis,\u2014he made it; and his hands formed the dry land.\u201d \u201cMine hand hath\nlaid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand hath spanned the\nheavens.\u201d \u201cLift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these\nthings, that bringeth out their host by number: he calleth them all by\nnames by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not\none faileth.\u201d \u201cWho hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand,\nand meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the\nearth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills\nin a balance?\u201d \u201c_I_ have made the earth\u2014the man and the beast that are\nupon the ground, by my great power and by my out-stretched arm.\u201d \u201cWhere\nwast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? Declare, if thou hast\nunderstanding. Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who\nlaid the corner-stone thereof? Hast thou commanded the morning since thy\ndays; and caused the day-spring to know his place? Hast thou entered into\nthe springs of the sea? Hast thou perceived the breadth of the earth?\nWhere is the way where light dwelleth? And as for darkness, where is the\nplace thereof? Canst _thou_ bind the sweet influence of Pleiades, or\nloose the bands of Orion? Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season,\nor guide Arcturus with his sons? Who hath put wisdom into the inward\nparts? or who hath given understanding to the heart?\u201d \u201cThere is a spirit\nin man: and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding.\u201d\nGod made \u201cman in his own image.\u201d He is \u201cthe Father of spirits.\u201d \u201cThe\nheavens declare his glory, and the firmament showeth his handiwork.\u201d\n\u201cThat which may be known of God is manifest\u201d to men, \u201cfor God hath showed\nit unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the\nworld are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made,\neven his eternal power and Godhead;\u201d so that men are \u201cwithout excuse,\u201d\nif, knowing God, or not liking \u201cto retain God in their knowledge,\u201d they\n\u201cworship him not as God,\u201d but, \u201cprofessing themselves to be wise, become\nfools,\u201d changing \u201cthe truth of God into a lie.\u201d\n\nSuch are some of the statements of Scripture respecting the creation\nof the world and man. To admit these, it is not necessary to deny the\nrevelations of science as to the physical antiquity of the globe,\nand the successive phenomena that distinguished the history of the\npre-adamite earth. There might have been then a wonderful series of\ngradual developments, and various material and animal formations;\u2014the\npoint to be kept in view is, that all these were _intelligently presided\nover_ by the Author of nature; and that they all followed in obedience\nto laws, which _he_ not only ordained, but _administered_. The \u201cCrystal\nPalace\u201d is the embodiment of an idea conceived and perfected in a\npersonal intelligence. It has been constructed and reared by rule and\ncompass, measure and weight, and according to the suggestions of wisdom\nand skill. All the variety of its extraordinary contents bear the impress\nof thought and purpose, design and contrivance, faculty and power; but\nno one confounds the work with the workmen, or imagines that the skill\nimpressed on the productions is something inherent in the productions\nthemselves, or that they have sprung, by necessity, from the impulse or\noperation of unintelligent force! Any one who saw the apparently confused\nand chaotic jumble of coarse packages and unarranged materials, as they\nlay about the building, previous to being put into harmonious order,\ncould never have imagined that they had in themselves any tendency to\ntake the places and assume the appearances to which they were destined,\nindependently of the mind, the thought, plan, reason, and ability of\nthe person or persons by whom all was to be effected. Even if it had\nbeen possible to conceive such a thing,\u2014to conceive, namely, that they\nshould, without the immediate agency of hands, have gradually arranged\nthemselves into beautiful groups, and that _thus_ confusion was to be\nsucceeded by order,\u2014this would only have been regarded as the result\nof processes to which they had been subjected by human sagacity, and\nas the proof of profounder and more wonderful contrivance on the part\nof the presiding genius of the scene. Instead of tempting a thoughtful\nobserver to confound and identify the thing done with the actual doer,\u2014or\nto lose sight of him, and to attribute all to necessity or chance, or\nto some mysterious appetencies in the things themselves,\u2014it would only\nhave carried the idea of personality further back, and have augmented\nhis admiration of the attributes that distinguished it. In the same\nway, adhering to the truth that the heavens and the earth are an actual\ncreation, then, whatever may have been the processes through which they\ngradually passed till the whole fabric was developed and perfected,\n_all was the work of a personal agent distinct from the actual universe\nitself_, and all that was done was accomplished through the action\nof those laws which he framed,\u2014to which he subjected them,\u2014which he\nadministered,\u2014which the things did not originate,\u2014which they could not\nunderstand, and from which they could not escape. _He_\u2014the living,\nspiritual, personal God\u2014was the Mover and Maker, the Designer and\nDoer from first to last. In the same way, just as nothing can be more\ncompletely a man\u2019s own than that which is the product of his own skill,\nwhen acting independently, and operating on his justly obtained material,\nso nothing can be such a proof of the proprietorship of God in the\nuniverse and its inhabitants, as that by him they were all alike \u201ccreated\nand made.\u201d \u201cThe earth is the Lord\u2019s, and the fulness thereof; the world,\nand they that dwell therein. _For he hath founded it upon the seas, and\nhath established it upon the floods._\u201d\n\n\n\n\nIII.\n\n_Providence._\n\n\nThe idea suggested by the words of the inscription, of the \u201cFULNESS\u201d\nof the earth belonging to God, deserves a distinct and specific\nconsideration.\n\nBy the \u201c_fulness_\u201d of the earth, we understand all that it contains of\nraw material capable of being subjected to human skill, and all that\nit produces, of whatever sort, animal or vegetable, for the service of\nmen,\u2014for the sustenance of sentient nature,\u2014for happiness, or glory and\nbeauty. By all this being God\u2019s, by this \u201cfulness of the earth\u201d belonging\nto _him_, we understand that it is to be attributed to him as its\nAuthor; that he originally deposited, in the depths of the mountains and\nthe womb of the world, their mineral wealth; that he covered the earth\nwith verdure and fruitfulness, and filled the air, the sea, and the field\nwith their numerous inhabitants; that he established the laws by which\nthere should be a constant succession in all the varieties of animal and\nvegetable nature; and that he so _superintends_ the whole arrangement,\nand _personally_ administers these laws, that all that they produce may\nbe properly regarded as the _immediate_ product of his power and skill.\n\u201cFulness,\u201d so produced, is _his_, \u201c_from_ whom and _by_ whom\u201d it comes,\nwith scarcely less emphasis than if it was to be spoken into being in the\n\u201ctwinkling of an eye,\u201d\u2014at the utterance of a single word, or by a sudden\nact of omnipotent volition.\n\nThe inhabitants, then, of this great city are reminded every day, as they\nlook up at the front of their Royal Exchange, not only of the existence\nand personality of God, and of his being the proprietor of all things,\nbut of his being _this_, by _his continued providence and government of\nthe world_, as well as by his having created it at first. It was God\nthat for ages wrought in secret, constructing the rocks and consolidating\nthe mountains, depositing the useful and precious metals, spreading the\ncoal-field, and preparing materials of every sort for future society.\nIt was he who commanded \u201cthe dry land to appear,\u201d and the waters to be\ngathered into seas: who covered the earth \u201cwith the grass of the field,\nand with the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit;\u201d who\nfixed the sun in the heavens, and gave him to the world for cheerful\nlight and genial warmth; who \u201cspread abroad the clouds,\u201d and \u201ccaused\nrain,\u201d and established the laws of vegetable production: it was God\nwho caused the waters to be filled \u201cwith the moving creature that hath\nlife;\u201d that caused \u201cthe fowl to fly above the earth in the open firmament\nof heaven;\u201d and that made \u201cthe beast of the earth after his kind, and\ncattle, and everything that creepeth upon the earth;\u201d\u2014it was God that\ngave to them the law \u201cto increase and multiply, and to fill the earth;\u201d\nand then gave the earth to the children of men, and commanded them, too,\nnot only \u201cto increase and multiply and to replenish the earth,\u201d but \u201cto\nhave dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air,\nand over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping\nthing that creepeth upon the earth.\u201d It was God who \u201cmade of one blood\nall nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth,\u201d and who,\nas \u201cthe Most High, who ruleth over the children of men, and doeth as he\nwill with the inhabitants of the earth,\u201d \u201cseparated the sons of Adam,\nand divided to the nations their inheritance,\u201d and \u201cdetermined their\nappointed times, and the bounds of their habitation.\u201d It was God who\nappropriated to different climes their diversified productions;\u2014who hid\nbeneath the surface of various peoples mineral varieties;\u2014who conferred\non the nations different talents and different tastes;\u2014who made exchange\nof productions a mutual want, necessity, or convenience;\u2014and who thus\nestablished the law of commercial intercourse. It was God that gave to\nman improvable reason, so that he was not bound down to unintelligent\ninstinct in constructing his habitation or providing for his necessities,\nbut was empowered and intrusted with the inventive head and the skilful\nhand; could become the accomplished and cunning artificer, so that out\nof the raw material of the world he could call forth new appearances\nand forms of things, and thus cover the earth with another creation! It\nwas God who appointed wood to swim, and water to flow, and fixed the\npoles, and fashioned the loadstone, and gave the compass, and bound\nthe breast of the first mariners as with triple brass, that all the\nwonders of navigation might ensue, and enterprise and discovery, and the\npeaceful and profitable intercourse of nations. And it is God that still\npresides over and governs all things; that gives spring and summer, and\nwinter and harvest; it is he who distils the influences of the heavens,\nand perpetuates the fertility of the earth; it is he who gives annual\nabundance, and causes all nations, the world over, to rejoice in what\ncomes to them as if it were a new and instant creation,\u2014a gift and\ngratuity dropped from the sky! It is God \u201cthat gives to man power to\nget wealth,\u201d and that confers on the nations their respective tastes\nand distinctive genius,\u2014their capacity for labour, or their love of the\nbeautiful, or their skilful handicraft, or their omnipotent enterprise,\nor their gigantic achievements! It is God that thus makes them useful to\neach other;\u2014that binds them together from the very circumstance of their\nseparate gifts and their mutual necessities;\u2014and that imparts to them an\ninterest in each other\u2019s industry, from the different forms and uses that\nit takes;\u2014and it is he, we trust, who is bringing them together to the\nGREAT EXHIBITION, so that, while they wonder at the result, the vastness\nand the variety of their own doings, they may acknowledge _Him_, to whom\nthey are indebted for material and skill, time and capacity, life and\nall things;\u2014_whose_ they themselves are;\u2014from whom cometh every good\nand every perfect gift; and, as _whose property_, all that they possess\nshould be held and used. \u201cThe earth is the Lord\u2019s, and the fulness\nthereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.\u201d\n\nThe propriety of thus attributing everything to God, and of recognising\nhis providence in the laws of the world, the productions of the seasons,\nthe results of industry, the instruments of commerce, and even in the\nadornments of civilization, and the allowable luxuries of elegance and\nrefinement, and also in the gifts of invention, subtlety, and mechanical\nskill,\u2014all this is so frequently taught or referred to in Scripture,\nthat a few appropriate illustrative passages may with great propriety be\ninserted here.\n\nThe attentive reader will notice that the several quotations that follow\nillustrate the most of the ideas that have been advanced, and that they\ndo this very much in the order in which they have been given. The first\npassage, from the Book of Job, we give in the language of Mr. Goode\u2019s\ntranslation, as it expresses the sense of the original, with some\napproach to scientific exactness.\n\n\u201cSurely there is a vein for the silver, and a bed for the gold which men\nrefine. Iron is dug up from the earth, and the rock poureth forth copper.\nMan delveth into the region of darkness, and examineth to the utmost\nlimit the stones of darkness and death-shade: he breaketh up the veins\nfrom the matrice, which, though nothing thought of under the foot, are\ndrawn forth, are brandished among mankind. The earth of itself poureth\nforth bread, but below it windeth a fiery region. Sapphires are its\nstones, and gold is its ground.\u201d\n\nThe following sentences, while forming part of an argument respecting\nmoral and spiritual wisdom,\u2014the fear of God and departure from evil,\u2014are\nremarkable as an enumeration of valuable substances, and are here quoted\nsimply as such.\n\n\u201cBut where shall wisdom be found, and where is the place of\nunderstanding? It cannot be \u201cgotten for gold,\u201d nor \u201csilver;\u201d it cannot be\nvalued with \u201cthe gold of Ophir,\u201d \u201cthe precious onyx,\u201d or \u201cthe sapphire;\u201d\n\u201cgold\u201d and \u201ccrystal\u201d cannot equal it; nor \u201ccoral,\u201d nor \u201cpearls;\u201d nor \u201cthe\ntopaz of Ethiopia;\u201d for \u201cthe price of wisdom is above rubies.\u201d\n\nWhen we rise from the cavern and the mine, from noticing the precious\nmetals and precious stones, and look abroad on the surface of the earth,\nor upwards to the sky, or over the great and wide sea, the Scripture\nmeets us with innumerable utterances of what, if we are wise, we shall\nsee there of the ever present, active, and beneficent God. \u201cHe causeth\nthe grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man: that\nhe may bring forth food out of the earth; and wine that maketh glad\nthe heart of man, and oil to make his face to shine, and bread that\nstrengtheneth man\u2019s heart.\u201d \u201cHe sendeth the springs into the valleys,\nwhich run among the hills. They give drink to every beast of the field:\nthe wild asses quench their thirst. By them shall the fowls of the\nheaven have their habitation, that sing among the branches. He watereth\nthe hills from his chambers: the earth is filled with the fruit of his\nworks.\u201d \u201cThe trees of the Lord are full of sap; the cedars of Lebanon\nwhich he hath planted.\u201d \u201cThou makest darkness and it is night, wherein\nall the beasts of the forest do creep forth. The young lions roar after\ntheir prey, and seek their meat from God.\u201d \u201cThe earth is full of thy\nriches: so is this great and wide sea, wherein are things creeping\ninnumerable, both small and great beasts. These wait all upon thee, that\nthou mayest give them their meat in due season. That thou givest them\nthey gather: thou openest thine hand, they are filled with good. Thou\nhidest thy face, they are troubled: thou takest away their breath,\nthey die, and return to their dust. Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they\nare created: and thou renewest the face of the earth. The glory of the\nLord shall endure for ever; the Lord shall rejoice in his works.\u201d He\nis \u201cthe confidence of all the ends of the earth, and of them that are\nafar off upon the sea.\u201d He \u201cby his strength setteth fast the mountains,\nbeing girded with power:\u201d He \u201cstilleth the noise of the waves, and the\ntumult of the people.\u201d \u201cThou makest the outgoings of the morning and of\nthe evening to rejoice. Thou visitest the earth and waterest it: thou\ngreatly enrichest it with the river of God, which is full of water: thou\npreparest them corn, when thou hast so provided for it. Thou waterest the\nridges thereof abundantly: thou settlest the furrows thereof: thou makest\nit soft with showers: thou blessest the springing thereof. Thou crownest\nthe year with thy goodness; and thy paths drop fatness. They drop upon\nthe pastures of the wilderness: and the little hills rejoice on every\nside. The pastures are clothed with flocks; the valleys also are covered\nover with corn; they shout for joy, they also sing.\u201d\n\nIn the following passages, the various powers and capacities of humanity,\nas displayed in agriculture and art, are represented as Divine gifts.\nThe farmer and mechanic, the designer and manufacturer, the engraver and\ndraftsman, the worker in metals, in wood, stone, and in every sort of raw\nmaterial, all accomplish their several operations in virtue of ability\nwhich God confers. \u201cGive ye ear, and hear my voice; hearken, and hear my\nspeech. Doth the ploughman plough all day to sow? Doth he open and break\nthe clods of his ground? When he hath made plain the face thereof, doth\nhe not cast abroad the fitches, and scatter the cummin, and cast in the\nprincipal wheat and the appointed barley and the rye in their place? For\nGOD _doth instruct him to discretion, and doth teach him_. This also\ncometh forth from the Lord of hosts, which is wonderful in council, and\nexcellent in working.\u201d \u201cAnd the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, See, I\nhave called by name Bezaleel, the son of Uri;\u2014and I have filled him with\nthe Spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge,\nand in all manner of workmanship, to devise cunning works, to work in\ngold, and in silver, and in brass, and in cutting of stones, and to set\nthem, and in carving of timber, to work in all manner of workmanship.\nAnd I, behold, I have given with him Aholiab, the son of Ahisamach;\u2014and,\nin the hearts of _all that are wise-hearted_ I have put wisdom, that\nthey may make all that I have commanded thee.\u201d And Hiram, king of\nTyre, sent also to Solomon \u201ca cunning man, endued with prudence and\nunderstanding,\u2014skilful to work in gold, and silver, in brass, in iron, in\nstone, in timber, in purple, in blue, and in fine linen, and in crimson;\nalso to grave any manner of engraving, and to find out every device that\nmight be put to him.\u201d\n\nThe next quotations illustrate commercial intercourse, the dependence\nof nation on nation, trade by sea, and the importation of natural\ncuriosities, as well as of valuable products and useful material, with\nother kindred matters. \u201cThe Lord gave Solomon wisdom,\u2014and there was peace\nbetween Hiram and Solomon; and they two made a league together:\u201d and\nSolomon wrote to Hiram, \u201cThou knowest that there is not among us any\nthat can skill to hew timber like the Sidonians. Now, therefore, let thy\nservants hew me cedar-trees out of Lebanon, and unto thee will I give\nhire for thy servants, according to all that thou shalt appoint.\u201d And\nHiram sent to Solomon, saying, \u201cI have considered the things which thou\nsentest to me for: and I will do all thy desire, concerning timber of\ncedar, and concerning timber of fir. My servants shall bring them down\nfrom Lebanon to the sea; and I will convey them by sea in floats, to the\nplace that thou shalt appoint me, and will cause them to be discharged\nthere, and thou shalt receive them: and thou shalt accomplish my desire\nin giving food for my household. So Hiram gave Solomon cedar-trees and\nfir-trees; and Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand measures of wheat for\nfood to his household, and twenty measures of pure oil.\u201d\n\nAnd Solomon \u201cwent to Ezion-geber, and to Eloth, at the sea-side, in the\nland of Edom. And Hiram sent him by the hands of his servants ships,\nand servants _that had knowledge of the sea_; and they went with the\nservants of Solomon to Ophir, and took thence four hundred and fifty\ntalents of gold and brought it to king Solomon:\u201d \u201cand once every three\nyears came the ships of Tarshish bringing gold, and silver, and ivory,\nand apes, and peacocks.\u201d The 27th chapter of Ezekiel is one of the\nmost extraordinary descriptions that is anywhere to be met with, of\nthe exchange of commodities and the intercourse of nations by means of\ncommerce. The different productions of various peoples and climes are\nenumerated; the \u201cfulness\u201d of all lands is represented as flowing into the\nmarkets of Tyre,\u2014brought there by the ships and sailors of every maritime\nnation;\u2014while Tyre itself is spoken of as the nurse of mariners and the\nmistress of the sea,\u2014her beauty and abundance radiant and wonderful,\u2014and\nher merchant princes as the lords of the world. All this may breed\nluxury, foster pride, promote corruption, and lead ultimately to national\ndegradation and decay: but this is not the _necessary_ effect of\nabundance, nor does it forbid us to refer riches, prosperity, commerce,\nmanufactures, and everything else that adorns life, to the beneficence\nof God. \u201cThe earth is the Lord\u2019s, and _the fulness thereof_.\u201d HE pours\ndown, year by year, the riches of the skies,\u2014calls up the treasures of\nthe earth, spreads abroad the abundance of the seas,\u2014adds to the value of\nmany of his gifts what they derive from the labour, skill, and ingenuity\nof man,\u2014and excites the nations to exchange and trade, that each country\nmay share in the joy and the productions of all. In this way it comes to\npass, that _the whole race_, in relation to _the entire world_, might be\naddressed in the language of Moses to the chosen people when he described\nthe land promised to their fathers. \u201cThe Lord thy God bringeth thee into\na good land; a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that\nspring out of valleys and hills: a land of wheat, and barley, and vines,\nand fig-trees, and pomegranates; a land of olive-oil and honey; a land\nwherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack\nanything in it; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou\nmayest dig brass.\u201d \u201cBlessed of the Lord be his land, for the precious\nthings of heaven, for the dew, and for the deep that coucheth beneath,\nand for the precious fruits brought forth by the sun, and for the\nprecious things put forth by the moon, and for the chief things of the\nancient mountains, and for the precious things of the lasting hills, and\nfor the precious things of _the earth_ AND FULNESS THEREOF, and for the\ngood will of Him that dwelt in the bush.\u201d \u201cHe made Jacob to ride on the\nhigh places of the earth, that he might eat the increase of the fields;\nand he made him to suck honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty\nrock; butter of kine and milk of sheep, with fat of lambs, and rams of\nthe breed of Bashan, and goats, with the fat of kidneys of wheat; and he\ndrank the pure blood of the grape.\u201d\n\nUnusual as some of these expressions are, especially those of a\nfigurative character, they may be taken to indicate the intention of\nProvidence to bless the obedient in \u201cthe life that now is,\u201d as well as\nin relation to that \u201cwhich is to come.\u201d \u201cGod giveth us all things richly\nto enjoy;\u201d if faith and piety, love and obedience, pervaded the race,\neverything that adorns and beautifies existence might be delighted in\nand used without injury. By free and universal commercial intercourse,\nthe abundance and blessings of favoured regions may become the common\nproperty of all. There may thus be established throughout all nations,\nan equality of privilege, each sharing in the productions of the rest.\nWith such views, we may appropriately conclude the present chapter by the\nfollowing passages, weaving them into a song for the entire race:\n\n    \u201cThe earth is the Lord\u2019s, and the fulness thereof;\n    The world, and they that dwell therein.\u201d\n    \u201cThe Lord is good to all:\n    And his tender mercies are over all his works.\n    The eyes of all wait upon him;\n    And he giveth them their meat in due season.\n    He openeth his hand,\n    And satisfieth the desire of every living thing.\n    _My mouth shall speak the praise of the Lord_:\n    AND LET ALL FLESH BLESS HIS HOLY NAME, FOR EVER AND EVER.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nPART II.\n\nINFERENTIAL.\n\n\n\n\nPART II.\n\nINFERENTIAL.\n\n\nSo far we have been employed in elucidating the principles which are\ninvolved in the terms of the inscription\u2014which is enthroned in the\nfront of the Royal Exchange,\u2014THE EARTH IS THE LORD\u2019S, AND THE FULNESS\nTHEREOF. These words, taken alone, distinctly recognise the existence\nof God, Creation, and Providence. They express, or imply, through their\nown inherent and independent force, the acknowledgment of these great\nprimary truths. In the course of our remarks, we have glanced at one\nor two of the clauses of the psalm immediately succeeding the words of\nthe inscription; rather, however, as illustrative of the extent of its\nsignificance, than as bringing to it any additional thought. We now\npropose to take the acknowledgment, \u201cThe earth is the Lord\u2019s, and the\nfulness thereof,\u201d in connexion _with the whole psalm of which it is the\ncommencement, and the psalm itself in connexion with the whole revelation\nof which it is a part_; and thus to bring out those additional forms\nof both truth and duty, which the _scriptural_ recognition of God\u2019s\nexistence and government, and his general relations to the world and man,\nmay come to suggest to a devout and reflective Christian observer.\n\n\n\n\nI.\n\n_Worship._\n\n\nImmediately after the assertion of God\u2019s proprietorship of the world\nand man, the psalmist inquires, \u201cWho shall ascend into the hill of the\nLord? or who shall stand in his holy place?\u201d Language this, which refers\nto the locality and the uses of the temple, as the appointed place of\nDivine service. The existence of God and the obligation to worship him,\nwould seem to be associated by an indissoluble necessity. The two ideas,\nindeed, mutually involve and illustrate each other. Admit the Divine\nexistence; it is felt to extend downwards into the domain of human duty,\nand to suggest and enforce the obligation of worship: admit the reality\nof the religious instinct, and mark its universal and irrepressible\nforce,\u2014it swells upwards and amounts to a proof of the existence of\nGod. The Divine Being has not only set his glory above the heavens,\nand spoken of himself by the myriads of voices that are perpetually\nissuing from the earth and the sky; he has not only stamped his image\nand superscription on the personal and intellectual attributes of the\nrace; but he has provided an unimpeachable witness for himself, in the\nreligious constitution of human nature. If there is one thing more than\nanother which forms the peculiar distinction of man, and which places\nhim in secluded and solitary grandeur apart from all the tribes of\nsentient existence by which he is surrounded, it is his possession and\nconsciousness of a religious capacity. It may show itself in grotesque\nor disgusting forms,\u2014it may blunder in its search, and babble in its\nutterances,\u2014it may even become ferocious and malignant in its character;\nbut _there_ it is, _in_ man, and in him alone, manifested everywhere,\nactive always, forming a palpable and _impassable_ distinction between\nhis nature and that of all other creatures. The lower animals have\nsenses and appetites similar to his; they can see and hear\u2014they hunger\nand thirst; in many of them, indeed, some of the things that he and they\npossess in common, exist in greater acuteness and perfection in _them_\nthan they do in him; while others make approaches to thought and reason,\nmemory and will, affection and passion; but none of them share with him\nthe capacity to adore,\u2014none of them can pray,\u2014none but he can entertain\nthe conception of an invisible power,\u2014engage in individual, or unite in\nacts of social, devotion. It is the prerogative of man to be able to\nsay either, \u201cOur Father,\u201d or \u201cI believe.\u201d Even if it were admitted that\nspecimens of humanity have been found, or could be produced, utterly\ndestitute of the religious capacity, and with nothing about them, when\nthey gaze on the universe, beyond the vacant stare of unintelligent\nnatures; and even if it were further asserted and acknowledged, that\nit was utterly impossible to awaken in them a sense or perception of\nanything Divine,\u2014yet it would be found that _their children_ could be\ntaught to comprehend and feel religious ideas,\u2014that _they_ had within\nthem the spiritual capacity,\u2014from which it would be evident that _their\nfathers had originally possessed it too_. The religious instinct, then,\nor susceptibility, or faculty, or whatever it may be called, is inherent\nin human nature\u2014divides and distinguishes it from all else in the wide\nworld, though it may express itself in the grossnesses of superstition\nand idolatry, or may have sunk into dormancy in extraordinary cases; but\nneither old, nor young, of all the tribes of the inferior races,\u2014the most\nsagacious or the most domesticated,\u2014can be found to display, or be taught\nto comprehend, religion at all!\n\nIt is a simple fact, then, beyond all question, that humanity possesses\nthis distinguishing attribute. All things beneath and around him seem to\nbe made for man; but he is the subject of a strong, active, predominating\nimpulse, that appears like a consciousness, on his own part, that _he_\nis made for something else. This impulse finds utterance and embodiment\nin religious ideas and religious service. Now, it would be a strange\nanomaly in a world like this, in which every faculty of every creature\nfinds its corresponding and appropriate object,\u2014in which wing and hoof,\nscent and speed, eye and ear, hand and horn, powers and passions,\nappetites and attributes of all sorts, are fitted exactly to something\nthat seems to be made for _them_, or for which _they_ are made,\u2014it would\nbe a strange thing, that the only exception to this law, should be in the\nLord and Master of the world himself!\u2014and that it should occur, too, just\nin that one faculty that at once distinguishes and dignifies him more\nthan any other! The existence and actings of the religious instinct in\nman thus constitute a proof of the existence of God, just as the admitted\nexistence of God involves the obligation to religion in man. The tendency\nin humanity \u201cto feel after God if haply it may find him,\u201d\u2014and to _have_\nsomething it may call God,\u2014whether it succeed in finding him or not,\u2014is\ndemonstrative of a Divine objective reality answerable to itself, in the\nsame way as the half-formed wings of a bird in the shell are proof of the\nexistence of an external atmosphere, and of the ultimate destiny of the\nbird itself.\n\nIt is worth observing, too, that this duty of worship, which results from\nthe truth professed in the acknowledgment that \u201cthe earth is the Lord\u2019s,\nand the fulness thereof,\u201d like the other things already mentioned,\ninvolves or illustrates the Divine _personality_. Worship, at the very\nleast, is adoration and gratitude,\u2014the utterance, generally in words,\nof thought and affection towards the Supreme Nature, as the subject of\nhigh attributes and the source of universal good;\u2014exercises these, that\ncan have no meaning, if that nature has no consciousness of its own\nperfections, and no knowledge of the language addressed to it. For man\n\u201cto ascend into the hill of the Lord, and to stand and worship in his\nholy place,\u201d He, to whom he approaches, must be a personal intelligence.\nWorship is the communion of mind with mind,\u2014not only the sympathy of\nworshipper with worshipper, but the communion of each and of all with\nthe worshipped. There can be no communion or sympathy with _a force_;\u2014no\nintelligent adoration of a law; no affections can be warmed and excited,\nand drawn forth in psalm and song, towards a mere senseless physical\npower,\u2014an unintelligent, mechanical necessity! Without a personal God,\neverything like worship is a mockery and a lie; the whole service is\nnothing but a masquerade. If worship could be conceived to be honestly\nattempted in connexion with the denial of God\u2019s personal existence, it\nwould be an attempt on the part of the worshippers to produce subjective\nstates of mind by the conscious temporary assumption of a falsehood,\nand the employment upon themselves of a system of direct deception and\nimposture. The thing is impossible,\u2014or impossible to be continued. There\nmust either be the admission of a personal God as the object of worship,\nor worship itself will soon cease. _Our_ belief and persuasion as a\npeople are recorded in the front of our Royal Exchange. We may adapt to\nthe fact the beautiful words of the Book of Proverbs: \u201cWisdom crieth\n_without_; she uttereth her voice _in the streets_. She crieth _in the\nchief place of concourse_; in the CITY she uttereth her words, saying,\n\u2018THE EARTH IS THE LORD\u2019S, AND THE FULNESS THEREOF.\u2019\u201d And this publicly\nrecorded persuasion,\u2014this proclamation of our faith in the ears of all\nmen, and our meaning it for the proclamation of the common and universal\nfaith of humanity,\u2014_this_ involves in it the corresponding duty,\u2014the duty\nof _worshipping_ Him who is acknowledged as God,\u2014the God of the whole\nearth,\u2014and the duty of \u201c_all_ that dwell therein.\u201d \u201cO thou that hearest\nprayer, _unto thee shall all flesh come_.\u201d \u201cThe Lord reigneth, _let the\nearth rejoice_; let the multitude of isles be glad thereof.\u201d \u201cSing unto\nthe Lord a new song, sing unto the Lord, _all the earth_.\u201d \u201cMake a joyful\nnoise unto the Lord, _all ye lands_. Serve the Lord with gladness: come\nbefore his presence with singing. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving,\nand into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his\nname.\u201d \u201cOh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his\nwonderful works to _the children of men_.\u201d \u201cPraise the Lord, _all ye\nnations_; praise him, _all ye people_. For his merciful kindness is great\ntoward us: and the truth of the Lord endureth for ever. PRAISE YE THE\nLORD.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nII.\n\n_Character._\n\n\nWhat stands next to the idea of worship, is a description of the moral\ncharacter of the worshippers. \u201cWho shall ascend into the hill of the\nLord? or who shall stand in his holy place?\u201d \u201c_He that hath clean\nhands and a pure heart: who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity,\nnor sworn deceitfully._\u201d This description is very brief, but it is\nvery comprehensive. Each clause may be considered as representing a\ndistinct and large department of duty; and the whole, taken together,\nas demanding or enforcing universal virtue. \u201c_Clean hands_\u201d stand as\na figure for all outward and visible excellence. Every thing that the\nman _does_, is done in consistency with the rule of rectitude. He is\na just, equitable, fair-dealing man. Confidence may be placed in his\nhonour and uprightness, his incorruptible integrity, his contempt\nof meanness, and intolerance of wrong. Everything that belongs to\na sound, solid, practical worth,\u2014a pure, and even a fastidious,\nvirtue,\u2014a virtue beyond doubt or suspicion,\u2014may be supposed to attach\nto the man who is said, by emphasis, to have \u201cclean hands.\u201d \u201c_Not to\nswear deceitfully_,\u201d\u2014whatever may be its precise shade of meaning\nin the psalm,\u2014may fairly be interpreted, in a discussion like this,\nas standing for honest and sincere speech, and as the type of the\nvirtuous use of the tongue. It excludes from the idea of the character,\ndeceit and falsehood, concealment and equivocation, with everything\napproaching to the _designed_ conveyance of a wrong impression by word\nor look. In buying and selling, in barter or bargain, in converse or\ncorrespondence,\u2014in respect to whatever business he transacts, and in\nrelation to every medium for thought\u2014there is supposed to be, in the man\nbefore us, scrupulous propriety of language,\u2014the utmost transparency of\nmeaning and purpose. He is simple, straightforward, without the shadow\nof deceit or guile. Then, \u201c_a pure heart_,\u201d in addition to habitual\n\u201ccleanness of hands,\u201d and the maintenance of entire integrity of tongue,\nis intended to express, the co-existence of an upright _inward_ life,\nwith the outward appearances of practical goodness. It would not only\nimply, however, the harmony of a man\u2019s thoughts with his words,\u2014and the\ncorrectness of the motives of his visible acts,\u2014it would include in it,\nin its scriptural import, the government of the passions,\u2014the control\nof the imagination,\u2014sincerity and depth of religious feeling;\u2014every\nthing not only chaste but devout, the whole soul liberated from gross\nand corrupting affections,\u2014free from the drag and degradation of the\nflesh,\u2014and fairly detached from the adhesions of earth, in all senses\nin which they would imply bondage to the sensual or the secular. \u201c_Not\nto lift up the soul unto vanity_,\u201d is intended to express the freedom\nof the man from idol-worship. The \u201cvanities\u201d of the heathen were the\nidols or deities whom the heathen adored; to whom they \u201clifted up their\nsouls,\u201d\u2014or, in other words, to whom they rendered religious reverence,\nand before whom they appeared in worship. \u201cCleanness of hands,\u201d then,\n\u201csincerity of speech,\u201d \u201cpurity of heart,\u201d with all that they include, in\ntheir seminal comprehensiveness, of outward and inward practical virtue,\nare thus connected with regard to _the true God_. The man has not only\nboth morality and religion, but his religion is of the right kind. It is\nas proper as to its object, as it is sincere in itself. The man neither\nworships idols _as_ Gods,\u2014nor idols _with_ God,\u2014nor God _through_ idols.\n\u201cHe has not lifted up his soul unto vanity.\u201d He has not been seduced by\nthe sun in his splendour, nor by the moon in her brightness; he has not\n\u201ckissed his hand,\u201d nor \u201coffered sacrifices,\u201d to \u201cthe queen of heaven:\u201d he\nhas not \u201cbowed his knee to the image of Baal,\u201d nor \u201cfallen down to the\nstock of a tree.\u201d The language descriptive of his feeling and practice\nwould be that of David in relation to himself,\u2014\u201cUnto THEE, O Lord, do _I\nlift up my soul_.\u201d\n\nIt is easy to see, how this demand of character in his worshippers adds\nto the proof of the personality of God. Worship of any kind, to have any\nmeaning, implies personality;\u2014but the demand for worshippers of a certain\nsort, implies, along with this, the possession, by Him whom they are to\napproach and please, of personal properties the same in kind with those\nof the worshippers. Where there is virtue, there must be thought;\u2014where\nthere are moral attributes, there must be personal intelligence;\nand where there is the necessity for these, as a pre-requisite for\nworship,\u2014the Being worshipped must be supposed to be distinguished by\nmoral attributes as well as by intelligence, as thus, only, could he\nproperly appreciate, or consistently demand, them. A God may be imagined\nto be _better_ than his worshippers,\u2014he cannot rationally be supposed\nto be worse. To have a perception of goodness, and a sympathy with the\ngood, and to permit none but the latter to stand before him, or to come\ninto his presence, God must not only be a person, but one whose _own_\ncharacter, must _itself_ be pre-eminently distinguished by goodness.\nIt may be worth observing, that moral ideas associated with worship,\noperate in more ways than one. They take a direction both upwards and\ndownwards, each action illustrating the other. The character regarded\nwith complacency in the worshippers, indicates that of the God they\nworship;\u2014the character associated with the God they worship, moulds and\nfashions that of the worshippers. The deities of a people will naturally\ninfluence their moral notions and their moral behaviour. The object\nof worship becomes the standard of virtue;\u2014men will imitate what they\nare taught to adore. If there be _no_ God, there need be no worship;\u2014if\nworship is rendered to unintelligent force, it can be of no consequence,\nso far as _it_ is concerned, what the moral character of the worshippers\nis;\u2014if the God be conceived of as sensual or malignant, lascivious or\nbloody, his image may be expected to be mirrored in his worshippers;\u2014but\nif in all that approach him, he peremptorily demands \u201cclean hands\u201d and\n\u201ca pure heart,\u201d\u2014with all that these include of universal virtue,\u2014he\nmust of necessity be considered to be holy Himself, while the habitual\nworship of such a being must be regarded as conducive to holiness in his\nservants. These latter ideas are precisely those which the Biblical idea\nof Deity illustrates. He is always described, in the loftiest terms, as\ninvested with every attribute of excellence; as infinitely removed from\nevil; as looking on the good with delight; as permitting such only to\napproach him; as bidding the bad far from his presence; as detecting and\ndenouncing hypocrisy and formality; and as exposing the uselessness of\nritual acts and external observances taken by themselves, and insisting\non an inward and earnest sympathy with his own love of the holy and the\npure.\n\nIn consistency with the course which more than once we have already\nfollowed, we shall here introduce a series of passages from the Holy\nScriptures illustrative of the statements which have just been made.\n\n\u201cThe holy one of Israel.\u201d \u201cHe is the Rock, his work is perfect;\u2014a God of\ntruth, and without iniquity; just and right is he.\u201d \u201cThe Lord is in his\nholy temple;\u201d\u2014\u201cworship him in the beauty of holiness.\u201d \u201cFor the righteous\nLord loveth righteousness; his countenance doth behold the upright.\u201d\n\u201cUnto the wicked God saith, What hast thou to do to declare my statutes,\nor that thou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth?\u2014Thou thoughtest\nthat I was altogether such an one as thyself: but I will reprove thee and\nset them (thy doings) in order before thine eyes.\u201d \u201cThou art not a God\nthat hast pleasure in wickedness; neither shall evil dwell with thee.\u201d\n\u201cConfounded be all they that serve graven images, that boast themselves\nof idols. For thou Lord art high above all the earth; thou art exalted\nfar above all gods. Ye that love the Lord, hate evil. Rejoice in the\nLord ye righteous, and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness.\u201d\n\u201cThis people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth,\u2014but their heart is\nfar from me;\u201d \u201cThus saith the Lord God of Israel, seek ye me, and ye\nshall live;\u2014seek good and not evil, that ye may live.\u201d \u201cHate the evil\nand love the good, and establish judgment in the gate that ye may live.\u201d\n\u201cTo what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me?\u201d \u201cWhen ye\ncome to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread\nmy courts? Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto\nme; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot\naway with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting.\u201d \u201cWhen ye spread\nforth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many\nprayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood. Wash you, make\nyou clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease\nto do evil; learn to do well.\u201d \u201cJudge me, O Lord, for I have walked in\nmine integrity. Examine me, prove me, try my reins and my heart. I have\nnot sat with vain persons, neither will I go in with dissemblers. I have\nhated the congregation of evil doers; and will not sit with the wicked.\nI will wash mine hands in innocency, and so will I compass thine altar,\nO Lord.\u201d \u201cLord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? who shall dwell in\nthy holy hill? He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and\nspeaketh the truth in his heart. He that backbiteth not with his tongue,\nnor doeth evil to his neighbour, nor taketh up a reproach against his\nneighbour. In whose eyes a vile person is contemned, but he honoureth\nthem that fear the Lord. He that sweareth to his own hurt and changeth\nnot. He that putteth not out his money to usury, nor taketh reward\nagainst the innocent. He that doeth these things shall never be moved.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nIII.\n\n_Christ._\n\n\nThese representations lead to the consideration of a third and last\nthing, which is essential to the complete illustration of the subject.\n\n\u201cTHE EARTH IS THE LORD\u2019S, AND THE FULNESS THEREOF.\u201d There is a God;\nGod is to be worshipped; none but the good can acceptably worship him.\nSo far all is plain. But men are not good. Throughout the race there\nis a consciousness to the contrary. In spite of the operation of many\namiable instincts, and in spite of a large amount of passable virtue,\nit is quite understood that there is a terrible mass of iniquity in the\nworld;\u2014that there are the grossnesses of brutal lust, and the refinements\nof a fastidious licentiousness;\u2014that there are falsehood, and fraud, and\nlying, and theft,\u2014all the modes of open or secret dishonesty by which\nmen attempt, or contrive, to overreach each other;\u2014that there is the\nstupid animalism of rural ignorance, and the arts, and appliances, and\naccomplishments of crime, that abound in the recesses of great cities;\u2014it\nis well known that corruption and depravity, in all these forms, have\nmade terrible havoc in all lands; and, what is still more to the\npurpose, that among the classes the freest from crime, there is so much\nmoral defect, and so many things having the character of sin,\u2014so much,\nespecially, of the want of religious faith, and of indifference to God,\nif not of conscious and positive enmity against him,\u2014so much, in fact,\nof what constitutes the _opposite_ of all that must be meant by the term\n\u201choliness,\u201d and of what is demanded in those who can calmly \u201cascend into\nthe hill of the Lord,\u201d and acceptably \u201cstand in his holy place;\u201d that\nit would almost seem, on the admission of the statements and principles\nadvanced, as if the worship of God must be given up as hopeless, in a\nworld like this, from the utter impossibility of finding a sufficient\nnumber to make up for him an assembly of fitting worshippers.\n\nThere is a difference between worship considered as _the habitual\nservice of the good_,\u2014the appearing before God of those of \u201cclean hands\u201d\nand \u201cpure hearts,\u201d who are living in moral sympathy with him,\u2014and\n_the approach to his footstool_, in shame and tears, _of the guilty\nand the penitent_. It is the worship and character of _the former\nclass_ that are contemplated in the description of the psalm before\nus; which description, with the demand involved in it, to be fully and\ntheologically understood, must be looked at in connexion with the entire\nservice of the Hebrew Institute, and the whole teaching of the sacred\nvolume. If a holy God can only be approached by holy worshippers,\u2014and\nthat, too, in a world of which holiness is _not_ the natural and\ncharacteristic attribute,\u2014it is very obvious, that he must either remain\nwithout ever being worshipped at all, or some mode must exist by which\nthe inhabitants of such a world may _be made_ holy. Now this is just the\nthing which the Jewish dispensation illustrated by a figure, and which\nthe Christian redemption is given to the world to _realize_ in fact.\n\nThe Jewish dispensation approached men, in the first instance, as\nsinful and polluted, and it established a system adapted to their\nnecessities. It set up its altar,\u2014prescribed its sacrifices,\u2014appointed\nits institutions,\u2014consecrated its priesthood;\u2014had its days of atonement,\nand its ark of propitiation,\u2014its paschal lamb, and its burnt offering,\nand its scape-goat, and its sprinkling of blood;\u2014with everything else\nthat could either significantly presuppose sin, or point to the necessity\nand the mode of its removal. The Hebrew worshipper, in appearing before\nGod, was first required to come into contact with the sacrifice and\nthe priest;\u2014he confessed offence, acknowledged his just exposure to\npunishment, brought his propitiation, and _then_, being purified from his\nceremonial transgressions and the consequent disqualifications he had\ncontracted, by this appointed method of approach to God, he was regarded\nas in a state of fitness for his worship, and could thus draw nigh as an\naccepted worshipper.\n\nNow, there was a moral meaning in this ritual arrangement. It was\nintended to teach that, as ceremonial impurity needed to be removed in\norder to acceptable outward service,\u2014so, spiritual guilt needed to be\nremoved in order to acceptable _spiritual_ worship. When the psalm before\nus, therefore, or any other, expatiates on the virtues and excellences\nof the man who is permitted \u201cto ascend into the hill of the Lord,\u201d or\nallowed \u201cto stand in his holy place,\u201d it is always implied, that he has\ncome to the attainment of the character described, by a process of pardon\nand of purification through the previous exercise of the Divine mercy.\n\nBut, it is to be remarked, that the Levitical Institute, while so fully\nset forth and impressively taught the two great truths of the sinfulness\nof man, and the necessity for some Divinely appointed mode both for his\nreconciliation with God and the renewal or sanctification of his nature,\ndid not reveal, completely and explicitly, what that mode was, or what it\nwas to be. It dimly foreshadowed it;\u2014it indicated the principle on which\nit would proceed, and the parts of which it would consist;\u2014but it did\nthis by type and symbol,\u2014anticipating, in a picture, the substance and\nreality that were one day to be revealed. It was very evident, from the\nHebrew Institute, considered as a Divine and intelligible appointment,\nthat men were to learn from it that their approach to God was to be\nmarked by solemn and affecting peculiarities. They were distinctly taught\nthat they needed to be redeemed, reconciled, pardoned, purified, in order\nthat they might be able to rejoice at the remembrance of God\u2019s holiness,\nor to appear before him as acceptable worshippers; and they were further\ntaught, that in order to this,\u2014that is, to their attainment of pardon\nand its attendant advantages,\u2014it was incumbent that atonement should\nbe made by sacrifice, and that the priest should pass into the Divine\npresence with the blood of the victim, to bring thence, and through it,\nthe blessings needed by sinful humanity.\n\nSt. Paul tells us, in the Epistle to the Hebrews, that the Levitical\nInstitute taught this, and that it was _intended_ to teach it; that\nis, that it taught what it was that humanity _needed_. But he tells\nus more than that; he tells us that it _also_ taught that this thing\nthat was so needed, and so wished for, _was not yet revealed_, that it\nwas not provided by the Institute itself, in its own altar, victim, or\npriesthood,\u2014and would not be manifested _so long as itself stood_; or, at\nleast, that the coming of it, as it would be the fulfilment of what the\nInstitute foreshadowed or foretold, would be the signal and means of its\ndissolution and departure. By the fact of sacrifice, and the sprinkling\nof blood, and the washings and purifications of their own ceremonial,\nthe apostle says it was evidently taught, that there existed a necessity\nfor the removal of sin and the cleansing of the conscience; but then,\nby the _repetition_ of the sacrifices, the annual return of the day of\natonement, and the mysterious darkness of the holy of holies,\u2014excluded\nfrom sight by the awful veil, and permitted to be approached only once\na year, and that only by one individual,\u2014by all this, he says, it was\n_equally_ taught, that Judaism did not accomplish for man, _what it\ninformed him needed to be done_. The first covenant had ordinances of\ndivine service,\u2014a sanctuary\u2014a veil\u2014the tabernacle which is the holiest of\nall. Now, into this, the high priest alone went, \u201conce every year, not\nwithout blood, which he offered for himself and for the errors of the\npeople. THE HOLY GHOST THIS SIGNIFYING, that the way into the holiest of\nall was not made manifest, while the first tabernacle was yet standing:\nwhich was a figure for the time then present, in which were offered\nboth gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service\nperfect _as pertaining to the conscience_: which stood only in meats\nand drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them\n_until the time of reformation_.\u201d\n\nNow, this typical and temporary character sustained by the Jewish\nInstitute,\u2014this parabolic and preparatory office which it had to\nfulfil,\u2014this suggesting merely, or setting forth in a figure, of\nthe wants of humanity and of the _principle_ which must pervade,\nunderlie, and distinguish the provision that must meet them,\u2014this\nprophetic announcement that priest and sacrifice were yet _future_,\nbut were certain to come,\u2014all this, while it shows the importance of\nattending to the connexion between the Old and the New Testaments,\nand of mutually interpreting each by the other, gives, of necessity,\nto the more spiritual portions of the Hebrew records a far-stretching\nand comprehensive meaning, which can only be understood by looking\nat it in the light of the Christian revelation. \u201c_Coming events_\ncast their shadows _before_.\u201d The whole of the fabric and furniture\nof the tabernacle were constructed and arranged upon this principle.\nThis principle was recognised and embodied in the utterances of the\nprophets;\u2014it often pervaded the entire texture, or appeared in parts, of\none or other of _the psalms and songs of the ancient church_. In looking\nat the intention and significancy of Judaism, we should imagine ourselves\ngazing on the floor of the temple and the front of the veil,\u2014observing\nthem covered with flickering shadows falling from objects which are\nunseen. There they lie,\u2014the distinct outlines of thing and person,\u2014the\n_shadows_ of substances which are existing somewhere, but which only,\nas yet, give notice that they are, by this insubstantial intimation of\nthemselves. In the holy of holies, there is the mysterious light of the\nglory of God seated between the cherubims;\u2014between that and the hanging\nveil and the sacred floor, _some one must be standing_, whom, as yet, we\nsee not,\u2014for his shadow can be discerned on the veil itself, and even\non the floor, as we mark minutely the appearances before us of light\nand shade. _Some one is preparing to appear_, and to be revealed, and\nmanifested, in whose hands will be found the substance of those other\nobjects whose shadows seem to be lying around us!\u2014The approaching events\nare thus prophetically announced by these dim outlines; and, while they\nare being so, voices are heard from the great congregation, uttering _an\nequally prophetic song_,\u2014celebrating the glories of what they _see_, but\ndoing it in language which only finds its intended significance when\napplied to and associated with what they see _not_.\n\nOn this principle it is, then, that we have prophetic psalms;\u2014psalms\nthat are termed Messianic, from their referring to the Messiah, and\nanticipating his appearance, his sufferings and death, his resurrection\nand ascension, his kingdom and glory. Some of these refer, in their\nprimary application, to other individuals and to mundane events;\u2014they\nexpress the feelings and anticipations of the writers in relation to\nthemselves, and they describe matters of immediate concern or recent\noccurrence; but they do this in language that admits of a deeper meaning\nand a larger range;\u2014the import of which they that employed it might not\nknow, and which _we_ only learn from the New Testament expositors of\nthe Hebrew text. When Jesus \u201copened the understandings of the apostles,\nthat they might understand the Scriptures;\u201d and when he condescended\nto show them the true meaning of their ancient books, he expounded to\nthem, it is said, \u201cWhat was written in the law, in the prophets, and\nin THE PSALMS concerning _himself_.\u201d The evangelists and the apostles,\nin their future writings for the instruction and use of the Christian\nchurch, used this knowledge, or similar knowledge from the same source;\nand thus it is, that we find quotations from so many of the psalms,\u2014some\nin the Gospels, some in the Acts, others in the Epistles of Peter and\nPaul. From one psalm the apostle takes the expression of man being made\n\u201ca little lower than the angels,\u201d to express the fact of Christ\u2019s coming\nin the flesh, with the objects and results of it;\u2014that \u201c_he_ was made a\nlittle lower than the angels _for the suffering of death_, that he might\ntaste death for every man.\u201d From another psalm, he applies language still\nstronger, to the same purpose. \u201cSacrifice and offering thou wouldest\nnot, _but a body hast thou prepared me_: lo! I come to do thy will, O\nGod.\u201d The apostle\u2019s comment upon this is very remarkable. Having quoted\nthe passage, he proceeds to reason upon it after this manner:\u2014When\nhe says, \u201cSacrifice and offering, which are offered by the law, thou\nwouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein, and then says, \u2018Lo! I\ncome to do thy will;\u2019 he takes away the first that he may establish\nthe second.\u201d That is, he removes and puts aside _the mere symbols_ of\nthe preparatory dispensation, which were inefficient and typical, and\nreveals _the reality_, which they were meant to announce, and which they\nprophetically foreshadowed. _That reality_ was the Divine \u201cwill\u201d in its\nultimate object, namely, \u201cThe offering of the body of Christ\u201d \u201conce\nfor all,\u201d \u201cthrough the eternal Spirit,\u201d \u201cwithout spot;\u201d _by the which\noffering_, we are saved and sanctified;\u2014for it can do that _for the\nheart and conscience_ which the others only showed to be necessary by\nwhat they did \u201c_for the purifying of the flesh_.\u201d From another psalm may\nbe collected the physical circumstances of the crucifixion,\u2014the \u201ccruel\nmockings,\u201d the \u201cpiercing of the hands and the feet,\u201d the \u201cparting of the\ngarments and casting lots;\u201d together with the anticipated mysterious\nutterances of the great sufferer, in his \u201cbloody sweat,\u201d and his mighty\nanguish! In another psalm, we find the resurrection;\u2014the soul of Messiah\nis \u201cnot left in Hades,\u201d the place of the dead, nor does \u201chis body\u201d in the\ngrave, \u201csee corruption;\u201d and in other psalms, we find the foreshadowing\nof _subsequent_ events:\u2014his ascension into heaven; his official position,\nand mediatorial glories and functions, there; with much that relates to\nthe corresponding effect of all this on earth:\u2014\u201cThou art my Son, this day\nhave I begotten thee\u201d:\u2014\u201cThe Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right\nhand until I make thine enemies thy footstool.\u201d \u201cThe Lord hath sworn,\nand will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever, after the order of\nMelchisedek.\u201d \u201cThe kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take\ncounsel together, against the Lord, and against his anointed:\u2014Yet have\nI set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.\u201d \u201cTHOU HAST ASCENDED ON HIGH,\n_thou hast led captivity captive_: thou hast received gifts for men; yea,\nfor the rebellious also, that the Lord God might dwell among them.\u201d Now,\nthis latter passage is to be particularly observed. It is a passage taken\nfrom one of the psalms,\u2014a psalm sung at the removal of the ark, like the\ntwenty-fourth, and which, like it, is taken up in the celebration of\nbattle and war, victory and conquest. It is to be noticed, then, that\nthe passage just quoted, is applied by the apostle Paul, in the Epistle\nto the Ephesians, _to the ascension of Christ_, and is connected by him\nwith the work which he came from heaven to accomplish, and the blessings\nwhich he returned to heaven to dispense. \u201cUnto every one of us is given\ngrace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Wherefore he\nsaith, _When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave\ngifts unto men_. (Now that he ascended, what is it but that he descended\nfirst into the lower parts of the earth? He that descended, is the same\nalso as he that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill\nall things). And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some,\nevangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the\nsaints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of\nChrist: till we all come, in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge\nof the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of\nthe fulness of Christ.\u201d\n\nThese last remarks will have revealed the drift of this long discussion,\nand will enable us now rapidly to bring it to a close. By \u201creasoning out\nof the Scriptures,\u201d we have shown how the Levitical dispensation was, in\nits rites and usages, preparatory and prophetic of something to come;\u2014by\ndistinct passages from the Book of Psalms, as quoted and explained in\nthe New Testament, we have shown how the hymns of the ancient church\nanticipated, by their recondite and profounder meaning, the same things\nthat were foreshadowed in the ritual;\u2014and, in the concluding remarks on\nthis point, we have shown, how the apostle illustrates _the ascension of\nMessiah, after successful battle and war_\u2014returning from conquest and\ncrowned with victory\u2014_by referring to the words of a Hebrew Psalm_. In\nthe same way, then, we think ourselves entitled to connect the 24th Psalm\nwith the mission of the Messiah, and to consider that the close of it,\nif not an intended prophecy of his ascension, is yet capable of being\nregarded _as illustrative of it_; and that it should suggest therefore\nthe propriety of adding to whatever truths of a general nature the\nfirst verses of the psalm may embody, the specific peculiarities of the\nChristian revelation,\u2014that revelation to which all previous discoveries\nwere preparatory, and without which they cannot be complete. There is an\nemphatic sense, in which CHRIST is \u201cthe King of glory;\u201d in which he is\nto be regarded as having being engaged in mortal combat,\u2014contending with\nthe enemy of God and man,\u2014overcoming him in a way as mysterious as it was\nsuccessful\u2014by yielding himself to be \u201cbruised for our iniquities,\u201d and\n\u201cstricken for our sins;\u201d and that, \u201cafter having by himself purged our\nsins,\u201d\u2014after having, in the nature he had assumed, \u201cpresented himself\nan offering and a sacrifice,\u201d that we might obtain \u201ceternal redemption\nthrough his blood,\u201d\u2014he rose again from the dead, proclaiming his triumph\nover sin and Satan, by showing that it was \u201cnot possible for him to be\nholden\u201d of Death; and further, that \u201che ascended up on high,\u201d\u2014entered\ninto heaven, whose \u201ceverlasting gates\u201d opened to receive him, as one who\nwas \u201cleading captivity captive,\u201d and who came to ask and \u201cto receive\ngifts for men.\u201d All this we are warranted in connecting with the ideas\nwhich have already passed before us, of the supremacy of God, the duty\nof worship and the character of his worshippers, and of finding in it\nthe evangelical element in which such ideas need to be baptized. God\nis; God is to be worshipped; God is holy; _they_ must be holy who\nhabitually approach him;\u2014but \u201call have sinned and come short of the\nglory of God:\u201d \u201cevery mouth must be stopped, for the whole world is\nguilty before Him.\u201d \u201cWHO, then, shall ascend into the hill of the Lord,\nor who shall stand in his holy place?\u201d\u2014They, certainly, who have \u201cclean\nhands\u201d and \u201ca pure heart,\u201d but\u2014who have _first_ \u201cmade a covenant with God\n_by sacrifice_;\u201d\u2014who have accepted _Him_, whom he hath \u201cset forth as a\npropitiation,\u201d and \u201cwhose blood cleanseth from all sin;\u201d\u2014who, as sinners,\ndraw nigh in _his_ name, who is \u201cthe Way, the Truth, and the Life,\u201d and\nwithout whom \u201cno man cometh unto the Father;\u201d\u2014they who, believing in Him\n\u201cwho died, rose again, and continues to live,\u201d and \u201cwho hath ascended\nup on high that he might fill all things,\u201d have \u201creceived out of his\nfulness even grace for grace\u201d;\u2014have obtained the pardon of actual sin,\nand have received the gift of the sanctifying Spirit which the Redeemer\nis emphatically exalted to bestow;\u2014they who, by the subjective operation\nof the truth, are \u201cwashed, and justified, and sanctified, in the name\nof the Lord Jesus and by the spirit of our God;\u201d and who know, by\nexperience, that \u201cthe grace of God which bringeth salvation, teaching\nthem, that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, they should live\nsoberly, righteously, and godly in the world.\u201d \u201c_This_ is the generation\nof them that seek him, that seek thy face O God of Jacob.\u201d \u201cThese receive\nthe blessing from the Lord, and righteousness from the God of their\nsalvation.\u201d \u201cThey that do these things, shall never be moved.\u201d\n\nIn this way, then, by taking the first verse of the psalm before us,\nwhich constitutes the inscription on the Royal Exchange, and looking at\nit in connexion with the whole composition of which it is a part, and by\nlooking at that, also, in connexion with the religious institution it\nbelonged to, and the entire revelation of both Testaments, as gradually\ndeveloping the great system of mercy and mediation,\u2014in this way, we\nare taught to associate with _the general truths of an elementary\nTheism_,\u2014which is all that at first appear to be proclaimed,\u2014_the\nspecific truths of an Evangelical Christianity_. \u201cThe earth is the\nLord\u2019s, and the fulness thereof;\u201d\u2014this simple declaration of the primary\nprinciple of all religion, when placed in the light emanating from the\nwhole constellation of discoveries which surround it in the Jewish and\nChristian Scriptures, is seen to involve in it, not only the existence,\nthe government, and the worship, of a personal God, but the reality and\nthe functions, the work and the presidency, of a personal Redeemer. They\nthat \u201cascend into the hill of the Lord, and that stand with acceptance\nin his holy place,\u201d must _be_ holy because God is holy; but it were\nterrible to make this demand upon humanity, which is altogether deformed\nand dislocated, and that manifests everywhere, when it thinks of God,\nthat its next thought is that God is _against_ it,\u2014it were terrible,\nwe say, to make this demand, _if there came not along with it, the\nproclamation of the offer, and the announcement of the Divine method, of\nforgiveness_,\u2014the \u201creconciliation\u201d effected by him who triumphed over sin\nby the death of the cross, and who ascended up on high in the might of\nhis achievement, to be at once the medium of our access to God, and the\nDivine Distributor of the blessings of his salvation. Men, as men\u2014that\nis, as sinners\u2014are to believe the gospel, and to accept of Christ, that,\nby faith and repentance, spiritually \u201centering into the holiest of all,\nthrough the way he has consecrated for them by his blood,\u201d they may be\nconstituted the church; and then, _being_ the church,\u2014that is, sinful\nmen justified and sanctified _through him_,\u2014they are \u201cto bring forth the\nfruits of the spirit\u201d in their lives, and habitually to worship \u201cin the\nbeauty of holiness.\u201d The virtue that we demand in the worshippers of God,\nunder the rule of the Christian dispensation, is the virtue that flows\nfrom religious faith; that faith being, the exercise of trust in the\nredemption of the gospel. To have \u201cclean hands\u201d and \u201ca pure heart,\u201d\u2014to be\nsincere and upright in lip and life\u2014we exact of _all men_ as their daily\nduty; but in order to possess these in a proper manner, so that they\nshall be vital, Christian holiness, and not a superficial and secular\nvirtue, there is a _previous_ duty which behoves to be attended to,\u2014the\nsubmission of the mind to the faith of Christ,\u2014penitent approach to an\noffended God through the one divinely-appointed Mediator, \u201cin whom we\nhave redemption, through his blood, the forgiveness of sins according to\nthe riches of his grace.\u201d Being \u201cmade partakers of the Divine nature,\u201d\nthrough the influence of the quickening and sanctifying Spirit, they will\nthen not only have \u201ctheir fruit unto holiness,\u201d and cultivate, from the\nforce of a necessary law, and as impelled by a regal and irrepressible\ninstinct, \u201c_whatsoever things are just, and whatsoever things are pure,\nand whatsoever things are true, and whatsoever things are lovely and\nof good report_,\u201d but they will be a part of \u201cthe priesthood of God,\u201d\nendowed and consecrated by an unction from himself, that, in the various\nacts and exercises of the Church, they may constantly offer up \u201cspiritual\nsacrifices acceptable to him by Jesus Christ.\u201d These engagements, again,\nwill re-act on their personal character, and have a constant tendency\nto advance and elevate it, and help their attainment of a practical\nperfection. In this way, men, _first_ \u201chaving obtained like precious\nfaith\u201d with the Apostles, \u201cin the righteousness of God, and of our Lord\nand Saviour Jesus Christ;\u201d will be divinely taught the secret of a real\nand accumulative excellence. \u201cHaving escaped from the corruption that\nis in the world through lust,\u201d they will \u201cgive all diligence to add to\ntheir faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge, and to knowledge temperance,\nand to temperance patience, and to patience godliness, and to godliness\nbrotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness charity.\u201d\n\nAn intelligent adherent of the Scriptural, Protestant, and Evangelical\nfaith of the living Christianity of this realm of England, associates all\nwe have endeavoured to illustrate in the whole of our discussion with the\nsimple inscription on the Royal Exchange. It is a text from the Bible.\nIt recognises the Divine authority of the book; and the recognition of\nthat authority in one of its sayings, carries with it the admission of\nthe whole of its utterances. \u201cThe earth is the Lord\u2019s and the fulness\nthereof.\u201d The association of this, in a devout mind, is easy and natural\nwith the exaltation and glory of the Redeemer of the world, whose last\nwords when he left it were, \u201cAll power is given unto me in heaven and\nin earth,\u201d and who, upon this, based the command which he gave to the\nApostles, \u201cGo ye, therefore, into all the world, and preach the Gospel to\nevery creature.\u201d The government of the earth is in the hands of Christ;\nit is mediatorial; it is not only that of goodness and beneficence, but\nit is that also of revealed mercy. God \u201cwill have all men to be saved,\nand to come unto the knowledge of the truth,\u201d for his son \u201cgave himself\na ransom for all, to be testified in due time.\u201d There is _another_\n\u201cfulness,\u201d besides that of the teeming earth, and the annual redundance\nand prodigality of nature. There is \u201c_The fulness of Christ,\u2014the fulness\nof him who filleth all in all_;\u201d the complete development of \u201chis body\nthe Church;\u201d and the full-orbed display of his perfections and glory,\nwhen \u201cto him every knee shall bow of things in heaven and things in\nearth; and every tongue shall confess that _he_ is Lord, to the glory\nof God the Father.\u201d All this, the thoughtful observer associates with\nthe sentence that daily meets the eyes of the citizens of this great\nmetropolis. All this is being ceaselessly uttered in the hearing of the\nassembled congress of nations;\u2014it is held up in the sight of the many\nand multitudinous representatives of the various tribes and peoples of\nthe earth! _What would be the future of Europe and the world_,\u2014moral,\npolitical, social, and religious,\u2014_if England and its visitors alike\nlearnt, and fully carried out, all that is involved in what the one is\nproclaiming in the ears of the others_?\n\nIn the succeeding pages of this book, we shall endeavour to reply to this\nquestion.\n\n\n\n\nPART III.\n\nPROPHETIC.\n\n\n\n\nPART III.\n\nPROPHETIC.\n\n\n\n\nTHE ARGUMENT RECAPITULATED\u2014THE RELIGIOUS ANTICIPATION OF THE FUTURE\nILLUSTRATED AND JUSTIFIED BY THE HOPES OF SOCIAL AND POLITICAL\nPHILANTHROPY.\n\n\nWe began this book by referring to the circumstance, that the same\nillustrious individual who originated the idea of \u201cthe Great Exhibition,\u201d\nand who has done so much to extend and realize it, suggested as an\ninscription for the Royal Exchange, a single sentence from our English\nBible\u2014\u201c_The earth is the Lord\u2019s and the fulness thereof._\u201d It is the\nfirst verse of the 24th Psalm. The suggestion was adopted;\u2014and hence, on\nthe front of the building referred to,\u2014in very plain letters,\u2014rather\nrude if any thing,\u2014without adornment,\u2014or figure or flourish of any\nsort\u2014but conspicuous and legible, in our own homely, honest, Saxon\ntongue, stands, open to all the world, the public proclamation of our\nfaith as a people\u2014\u201cThe earth is the Lord\u2019s and the fulness thereof.\u201d It\nstands there, on the front of the edifice, which is the commercial centre\nof this great city,\u2014the place of meeting for the men of different lands\nand of many languages, who, as the representatives of every clime and\ncountry upon earth, constitute, daily, a sort of typical gathering of all\nnations,\u2014men connected with the \u201c_industry_,\u201d by being connected with the\ntrade and traffic, of the world.\n\nWe proposed to put the two things together,\u2014the inscription on the\nExchange, with the anticipated gathering in the Palace of Industry,\u2014and\nto consider the first as announcing to the second certain great truths,\nand these again as involving universal duties; and we further proposed\nto consider, in conclusion, what would be the result, to Europe and\nthe world, if, by ourselves and our many visitors, with the aggregate\nof nationalities whom they will represent, these truths were all to be\nacknowledged, and the duties resulting from them were all to be done.\n\nWe then proceeded\u2014taking in connexion with the first verse of the\npsalm, which constitutes the inscription on the Exchange, the entire\nsacred composition of which it is a part,\u2014and viewing _that_, too,\nin connexion with the whole volume of Divine Revelation to which it\nbelongs\u2014we proceeded, on this principle, to develope and illustrate\nthe truths and the duties to which we referred. Thus expounded, we\nfound the confession, that \u201cthe earth is the Lord\u2019s and the fulness\nthereof,\u201d to include the following things. It involved, in the first\nplace, _the existence of God_;\u2014the acknowledgment of this,\u2014and the\nacknowledgment of it in connexion with the idea of _personality_. In the\nsecond place, it involved God\u2019s proprietorship of the world and man,\nand the recognition of this as carrying with it the acknowledgment of\nhis being _the Creator_, since, immediately after the statement that\n\u201cthe earth is the Lord\u2019s and the fulness thereof,\u201d the Psalm goes on\nto say, \u201cthe world, and _they that dwell therein;\u2014for he hath founded\nit upon the seas and established it upon the floods_.\u201d In the third\nplace, we educed from the confession that the \u201c_fulness_\u201d of the earth\nis God\u2019s, the doctrine of _Providence_, including in that, the original\ndisposition of materials for the service of man in the construction\nof the globe,\u2014the whole arrangement of things, animate and inanimate,\non its surface,\u2014the establishment of all the laws of production,\u2014the\ncontinual _administration_ of these laws, by God\u2019s personal supremacy\nand presidency over nature,\u2014the gifts which he confers, on nations\nand individuals, of contrivance and skill, taste and genius,\u2014with\nwhatever else belongs to the constant communication of good, and the\nprogressive advance and improvement of society. All these ideas were\nlargely illustrated by various striking passages of Scripture; and the\nacknowledgment of the truths of _Creation_ and _Providence_, were both\nshown to involve in them further evidence of the previous truth of the\nDivine personality.\n\nWe next advanced to some additional ideas of both truth and duty,\nwhich the acknowledgment of all this involved,\u2014especially as this\nacknowledgment was illustrated by the whole psalm that was supposed\nto be before us, and as _that_ was illustrated by the whole scheme of\nDivine discovery developed in the Bible, and the connexion between the\nJewish and Christian revelations. We found the following things to be\nthus brought out. In the first place, the duty of _worship_:\u2014this was\nsuggested by the question, which immediately follows the acknowledgment\nof God, of creation, providence, and the Divine proprietorship of the\nearth and the world,\u2014\u201cWho shall ascend into the hill of the Lord,\nwho shall stand in his holy place?\u201d Next, there was the answer to\nthis question, which involved the obligation of _universal virtue_ in\nGod\u2019s worshippers\u2014that is, upon all men, since _all_ men are alike\nbound to worship him: \u201cHe that hath clean hands and a pure heart;\nwho hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully.\u201d\nThis was expounded as a demand for inward and outward purity\u2014purity\nof soul, lip, and life\u2014in all who habitually approached God in the\nsolemnities of worship. But this demand for universal virtue in\n_each_ worshipper,\u2014associated with the obligation of _all_ men to\nworship,\u2014viewed in connexion with the general consciousness of defect and\nsin, and the proof and prevalence of ungodliness in the world,\u2014led, in\nthe third place, to the discussion of the great question\u2014_how humanity\nwas to come to the attainment of that character, which was essential to\nthe fulfilment of its religious obligations_? To be in a proper moral\nand spiritual state for the discharge of habitual, acceptable worship,\nconsidered as a duty, we found, by a process of scriptural reasoning, to\ninvolve _another_ and _a previous_ duty; that, namely, _of accepting the\ngospel as a system of mercy, and of submitting to Christ as the Redeemer\nof the world_. We argued this, from looking at the lessons taught by the\nprinciple that pervaded the appointments of the Jewish ritual, and the\nprophetic bearing on the promised Messiah, of some of the hymns used\nby the people in the Hebrew worship. We showed how the whole of the\nancient Institute taught the necessity of atonement and sacrifice,\u2014pardon\nthrough a propitiation, and purity and holiness as divine effects; we\nsaw how it intimated that it did not _itself_ provide these, but, by\ntypical rites, significant ceremonies, and prophetic songs, anticipated\ntheir coming in \u201cthe fulness of time,\u201d when they should be procured\nand dispensed by one who was regarded as the hope and \u201cthe desire of\nall nations.\u201d Without positively saying that the latter part of the\ntwenty-fourth psalm was a distinct and _intended_ prophecy of Christ,\nwe showed, from the language of those psalms that are so, as quoted and\nexpounded in the New Testament, that it might consistently be regarded\nas _illustrative_ of Christ\u2014of his return in triumph to the heavenly\nworld, when, after having \u201covercome the sharpness of death,\u201d \u201che ascended\nup on high, to receive gifts for men, even for the rebellious, that the\nLord God might dwell among them,\u201d and that _they_ might become the holy\nand spiritual \u201cpriesthood\u201d of God. In this way, we endeavoured to show\nhow an intelligent Christian might associate with the first verse of\nthe twenty-fourth psalm, all the scriptural revelations respecting HIM,\nwho, in the _Te Deum_,\u2014one of the noblest of ancient Christian hymns,\u2014is\ninvoked in language borrowed from the close of it: \u201c_Thou art_ THE KING\nOF GLORY, _O Christ!_\u201d and that thus, the simple words on our Exchange,\nwhich at first sight appear to announce only the general principles of\nTheism, would come to utter in the ear of instructed reason and enlarged\nfaith, the specific truths of an Evangelical Christianity. It thus comes\nto pass, that we are taught ourselves, by the inscription referred to,\nand shall teach the nations to whom we exhibit it, that, for men \u201cto\nascend into the hill of the Lord, and habitually to worship in his holy\nplace;\u201d appearing there in \u201cthe beauty of holiness,\u201d and everywhere\nexemplifying universal virtue; they must _first_ come to him as sinners,\nthrough Christ, and that, then, being cleansed from their sins, by being\n\u201cwashed, justified, and sanctified, in the name of the Lord Jesus and\nby the spirit of our God,\u201d they can constitute a holy, _worshipping_\nChurch; and with \u201cclean hands,\u201d and \u201cpure hearts,\u201d offer up \u201cspiritual\nsacrifices,\u201d fragrant and acceptable to Him whom they approach,\u2014such\napproach, again, ever re-acting on their further attainment of personal\nrighteousness.\n\nIt now only remains for us to conclude and complete our originally\nprojected course of observation, by setting forth what would be the\nfuture condition of the nations, _supposing that all the world learned\nand practised the truths and duties which have thus been enumerated_.\n\nIt is not unnatural to look at the subject in this way. Philosophers, and\npoliticians, and social economists, are all regarding the great event\nwhich is just at hand,[1] as constituting the beginning of a new era and\nof better times; and as embodying in itself something like a prophecy of\na brightened and improved future for the nations. For the first time in\nthe history of the world, there is to be a flowing of the peoples of all\nlands to one spot. They are not summoned together by blast of trumpet;\nthey come not inflamed by mutual animosities, nor with souls bent on\nconquest and carnage. Nor do they come for the purpose of witnessing\ngames and tourneys,\u2014feats of strength or speed,\u2014the rude contests of\nmuscular athlet\u00e6,\u2014the skill of charioteers,\u2014the sanguinary spectacle\nof gladiatorial shows,\u2014or the combat of plumed knights, with their\nglittering armour and gallant bearing, their caparisoned steeds and gay\nattendants, making war look like a holiday entertainment. The gathering\nof the nations about to be held is to be altogether of another sort. The\ncrowds that move to it, are not to move as a thunderbolt or a whirlwind,\ncarrying in their course havock and desolation; they are to bring with\nthem, in their tranquil march, the useful products of their respective\ncountries, and the bloodless trophies of their industry and their skill.\nThese are to be all collected and arranged in one great and extraordinary\nedifice, where they are to enter into a sort of peaceful contest and\namicable rivalry, while the people themselves of every region are to\nmingle together, and to look on, and to observe, and compare, and wonder,\nand rejoice:\u2014and it is expected to come to pass, that however unable the\nmost of them may be to understand the spoken languages of the rest, all\nwill be able to read and to interpret what will be written everywhere\non the whole scene, and to comprehend the import of the common voice\nthat shall seem to be issuing from the objects around them. The products\nof the different regions of the earth will recognise each other as\nbelonging to one and the same world; the multitudes of things that will\nillustrate the achievements of skill and industry, though constructed\nor fabricated by the hands of men of many languages, will have among\nthemselves a common dialect\u2014a language of their own\u2014but which all the\ndifferent national workers shall alike understand. Everything will\nspeak of oneness, brotherhood,\u2014the same nature, the same faculties, the\nsame Father,\u2014the folly and wickedness of men _not_ \u201cliving together in\nunity,\u201d\u2014of their degrading powers that are so wonderful, and so prolific\nof wonders, and desolating a world which they have such vast ability to\nbeautify and adorn! From such a lesson it is hoped and expected that the\ncrowds will disperse wiser and better,\u2014more loving and more fraternal;\nand that a basis will be laid for such future peaceful and profitable\nintercourse, as shall render war an utter impossibility. It may be\nsupposed, also, that the approaching event will only prove the first of\na long series of similar exhibitions, which shall successively occur in\nall coming time, and which shall take place in different cities of Europe\nand America, till at length they may be fixed in some distant region of\nthose lands that witnessed the birth or were honoured by being the cradle\nof the race, or in those which are at present the nurseries of nations\nas yet without a name. The whole thing, to some minds, is thus shaping\nitself into a prophetic type of a new aspect of the civilized world.\nBut it is easy to see, that this prophecy is one which includes many\nothers; for it could not be fulfilled, to the extent of its grand and\ncomprehensive meaning, without a variety and number of important social\nand political changes being supposed as the necessary conditions of such\na spectacle in _other_ lands, as that which is possible and prepared for\nin our own.\n\nWe are merely adding then, to the calculations of philosophy, the higher\nthoughts suggested by the principles of our national faith, when we take\nthe truths included in that faith, and, supposing them to be received by\nthe nations of the earth, as we have drawn them out from the words that\nare enthroned in the midst of our city and in the sight of all men,\nproceed to inquire what would be the result of their being universally\nlearned and embraced, and the duties they impose being universally\nobeyed. The inscription on the Exchange, if appropriate for _it_, is\nappropriate for the Palace of Industry too.[2] It is a glorious thing to\nthink that we are living at such a time as this, and are about to witness\nsuch a festival as that projected by the Consort of our Sovereign;\u2014not\nthe banquet of a vain and idolatrous voluptuary, making \u201ca feast for a\nthousand of his lords,\u201d ready to desecrate what is sacred to religion,\nand to pour out libations of wine and strong drink, that \u201che and his\nprinces, his wives, and his concubines, may lift up themselves against\nthe God of heaven,\u201d blaspheming his name and abusing his gifts, and\n\u201cpraising the gods of gold and of silver, of brass and of iron, of wood\nand of stone;\u201d\u2014it is not this, or we might expect the appearance of a\nmysterious hand, once more, with its \u201cMENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN,\u201d to\npronounce the doom of a voluptuous court and a devoted country;\u2014it is not\nthis, but a vast banquet for the eye and the intellect, the heart and\nthe reason;\u2014and one, too, projected on such a principle of recognising\nin all things the dominion of Him \u201cwho liveth for ever and ever,\u201d\u2014and\n\u201cwho ruleth alike over the hosts of heaven and the inhabitants of the\nearth,\u201d\u2014\u201cin whose hand our breath is, and whose are all our ways,\u201d\u2014and\n\u201c_from whom cometh_ the gold and the silver, the brass, the iron, the\nwood and the stone;\u201d the fruits of the earth and the abundance of\nthe seas;\u2014with every power and faculty of man\u2014ability to accomplish\nand capacity to enjoy;\u2014the whole thing so proceeds, we trust, on the\nacknowledgment of Him,\u2014that, instead of a vision to strike terror and to\nscatter in confusion, we should rather imagine that we see written,\u2014in\nradiant letters, by the hand of love and not of vengeance, to kindle\ndevotion and strengthen faith,\u2014on the crystal walls of the Palace of\nIndustry, giving a glory to all its contents\u2014\u201cTHE EARTH IS THE LORD\u2019S,\nAND THE FULNESS THEREOF;\u2014THE WORLD, AND THEY THAT DWELL THEREIN.\u201d\n\nSupposing this, then, to become the creed of the world, enlarged and\nillustrated by Christian associations, and for all its personal and\npractical lessons to be fully carried out, let us see what would be the\ncondition of human society.\n\n[1] These pages were written previous to the opening of the \u201cExhibition,\u201d\nand refer to it as approaching. They do not appear quite so soon as it\nwas once hoped they would have done, but it has been thought best to\nretain their original form of expression.\n\n[2] Since this was written, the Author has been gratified by learning\nthat Prince Albert has selected the words, with the addition of the\nsecond clause of the verse, for the English motto on the cover of the\n_Catalogue_ of the Exhibition. It is taken, however, from the Prayer-book\ntranslation of the Psalms, instead of from that of the authorized\nversion. The sense is the same, although the phraseology is slightly\nvaried. The words are, \u201c_The earth is the Lord\u2019s, and all that therein\nis: the compass of the world, and they that dwell therein._\u201d\n\n\n\n\nI.\n\n_Universal Theism._\n\n\nIn the first place, there would be, everywhere,\u2014in all lands and\nin all hearts,\u2014the belief and acknowledgment of the one living and\ntrue God. All doubt, denial, and error, respecting this cardinal and\ncentral truth, would have passed away. There would be no Atheism,\u2014the\nrejection and repudiation of a personal God; no Pantheism,\u2014which is only\nAtheism under another name; no Scepticism,\u2014professed uncertainty as\nto whether there is really a God or not; and no Polytheism\u2014the belief\nof a mere rabble of divinities. All these forms of thought would cease\nand determine, and give place to the universal admission of the great\nfact of the Divine existence. No human being would be to be found, who\ncould look over the earth with all its wonders, and survey the heaven\nwith its sun and stars,\u2014and see no proof or probability in either,\nof the existence anywhere of a being or a personality _greater_ than\nhimself! This is the amount of the Atheistic creed,\u2014if creed it can be\ncalled, that consists only in denials and negations. The universe is _a\nthing_,\u2014wonderful indeed, but nothing more,\u2014having no consciousness, no\ncapacity for voluntary action, nothing about it of personal properties;\nand, if there be no independent personal God, then, the greatest being\nthat is known to exist in the whole universe,\u2014the only one that can be\nspoken of as a person, is man himself!\u2014a somewhat lame and impotent\nconclusion!\u2014a poor summit to the infinitude of things! There are those\nwho say that they believe this;\u2014there will be none to say it, when it\ncomes to be a universally admitted truth, that \u201cthe earth is the Lord\u2019s,\nand the fulness thereof.\u201d In the same way, there will be no thinkers,\nor professed thinkers, whose minds, repelled by the gross darkness\nof positive denial, but not drawn into the light of positive belief,\nwander in the fogs and mists of uncertainty, and \u201creason downwards\ntill they _doubt_ of God.\u201d And in the same way, the myriads of gods,\nwhich the Asiatic nations conceive to be filling the heavens and the\nearth,\u2014large and small,\u2014great and little, but most of them debased,\u2014will\nall disappear, like the more elegant system of the Greeks, that once\ndivided the domain of nature, and parcelled it out among its subordinate\ndivinities. Cleared and cleansed from all these various forms of error,\nthe large heart of universal humanity will be open to the air and the\nsunlight of true thought, and will reflect, as from a mirror, the image\nof Him, who has \u201cset his glory above the heavens,\u201d and of whom it is\nsaid, that \u201cthe knowledge of him\u201d is abroad \u201cin all the earth,\u201d since,\n\u201cfrom the creation of the world,\u201d he hath made manifest, \u201cby the works\nof his hands,\u201d \u201ceven his eternal power and Godhead.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nII.\n\n_Universality of Christian Worship._\n\n\nIn the second place, there will be added to this universal acknowledgment\nof God, as the object of belief, a further recognition of him as the\nobject of worship. All men would be worshippers of God, if, throughout\nthe world, there should be not only the prevalence of the belief of that\nGod is, but the working out of the results of that belief,\u2014that _because_\nhe is, he is \u201cthe hearer of prayer,\u201d and that \u201cto him,\u201d therefore, \u201call\nflesh should come.\u201d Taking this subject, however, in connexion with all\nthe explanatory illustrations which we have already advanced, it is easy\nto see that it is of wide compass, and will include far more than might\nat first be apparent.\n\nThe God, whom we suppose to be acknowledged, is the God of the Bible, and\nthe worship by which we suppose him to be approached, would be worship\nconducted on the principle which pervades it, and regulated by all that\nits spirit and precepts concur to prescribe. The Being referred to in\nthe Scriptural expression,\u2014\u201cThe earth is the _Lord\u2019s_,\u201d\u2014is not one whose\nexistence and character are demonstrated by philosophy, and who may thus\nbe considered as a sort of hypothesis;\u2014it is, as we have said, _the God\nof the Bible_,\u2014the God who has made himself known by supernatural facts\nand verbal revelation, and whose discovery of himself in the works of\nhis power, and in the constant displays of his wisdom and beneficence,\nis to be supplemented and enlarged by the whole of the utterances of his\ngrace and mercy. On this principle it was, that we took the expression,\n\u201cThe earth is the Lord\u2019s, and the fulness thereof;\u201d not as an independent\nand isolated sentence,\u2014not as a thing to be looked at by itself,\u2014but in\nconnexion with the contents of the entire volume of which it is a part:\nand we saw, when we did so, that it brought out, into great prominence,\nsuch a view of the teaching of Scripture in respect to the relations\nof God and man, as necessarily affected, very materially, the whole\ntheory and practice of worship. But it is this _view_ of the meaning\nof the passage, that we are supposing to be learned and acknowledged\nby the nations, and therefore the worship, in which we are further\nsupposing them to unite, would of course be _that_ which the whole of our\nexposition would inculcate or explain.\n\nIt is remarkable, too, that philosophical Deism never leads to worship in\nits disciples,\u2014at least not to anything in the form of regular social or\npublic acts. It is possible for a simple Theist consistently to pray, or\nto extol and adore the Deity he acknowledges; and it _may_ be, that some\nTheists privately do so,\u2014though all probabilities,\u2014it may by no means\n_uncandidly_, be said,\u2014are rather against it. What would be possible\nand consistent, however, in a Deist by himself, would be equally so in\na company of such. On the principle of their believing in a personal\nGod, they might meet together for public worship. _But they never do._\nThe mere admission of the one principle that God is, would seem not to\nbe sufficient to lead men to worship;\u2014it needs to be connected with\nanother principle\u2014that which affirms that \u201cGod _has spoken_,\u201d or that,\nby some means, he has supernaturally made himself known, revealed his\ninterest in human nature, and drawn near,\u2014or _draws_ near,\u2014to the human\nrace. All religions, always and everywhere, have pre-supposed something\nof supernatural intercourse between God and man;\u2014they have had, or\nhave, their traditionary belief of divine appearances,\u2014their notions\nof a priesthood peculiarly favoured or filled by the divinity, through\nwhich, and through whose acts, the people could acceptably approach and\npray. The believers in the Bible believe, of course, in supernatural\nmanifestations of the Divine Being, made to them in the records, and\nembodied in many of the facts, of the book; and it is this belief\nthat makes them worshippers. For the habit of worship, then, facts\neverywhere and abundantly demonstrate, you must have a religion; and\nfor the existence of religion, you must have the belief of supernatural\ndiscoveries of God to man, in addition to the display of himself in his\nworks. Deism is not a religion, but a philosophy; it has a God, but it\ndoes not worship; and it does not worship, because God, according to its\nconception of him, has never broken the silence of nature, or narrowed\nthe distance between him and his creatures by passing over the limits of\nfixed law. All men who worship, whether their worship be pure or corrupt,\ndo so, we repeat, because they have a religion, and they have a religion,\nbecause they believe in something supernatural as to their knowledge\nof God; something which makes their belief of him _faith_ in what is\ndemonstrated by miraculous fact or divine statement; and not merely\n_opinion_, as the logical conclusion of a speculative philosophy.\n\nThese principles and reasonings being apprehended, will clear the way\nto the intelligent perception of the variety of things that must be\nunderstood as included in the idea of all the world becoming worshippers\nof God, _as the result of their perception of what we, as a nation, are\nsupposed to teach_. For men to be worshippers, their knowledge of God\nmust be religious, not philosophic; for it to be religious, it must\nbe founded on belief in a supernatural revelation; it will _be_ this,\nwhen they acknowledge that \u201cthe earth is the Lord\u2019s, and the fulness\nthereof,\u201d in words taken from the Jewish Scriptures, and regarded as\nan utterance of, the Divine voice. By such an acknowledgment they will\nrecognise the _whole_ of those Scriptures, as \u201cgiven by inspiration of\nGod,\u201d or, as written by men who wrote \u201cas they were moved by the Holy\nGhost.\u201d But the admission of _this_, will draw with it the admission of\nthe _second_ series of writings, and the acknowledgment of their intimate\nconnexion with the first, as the perfect development of what the first\nforeshadowed, and the record of the fulfilment of what they foretold.\nThe faith of the men, therefore, who begin with the confession that \u201cthe\nearth is the Lord\u2019s,\u201d and who profess it in the words of a Divine saying,\nand _as such_, must go on till it takes in what the Hebrew institute\ntaught in type, and the Hebrew prophets uttered in words, when they\n\u201cspake beforehand of the sufferings of Christ, and of the glory that\nshould follow;\u201d and it must still go on, and can only be rationally and\nconsistently complete, when it receives the whole of the evangelical\ndiscoveries of the New Testament respecting the redemption of the Christ\nof God. _This_, then, would be the faith of future society, the world\nover; and by _this faith_ its worship would be regulated, if, as we are\nsupposing, the nations should learn from us our religious belief in all\nits extent, and should follow it out in all its obligations.\n\nThe worship of the world, then, would be Christian worship. Men would be\nworshippers, because they would be religious; they would be religious,\nbecause they would have a religion, not a philosophy; and that religion,\nwould be the one taught in the Christian Scriptures, and founded on\nthe facts of the Christian revelation. All that we shall say of the\nconsequence of this, at present, is, that, just as the admission of a\npersonal God puts aside all forms of denial or error upon that point,\nso, the admission of a particular form of Divine discovery, and the\nestablishment of worship according to the principles of a specific\nrevelation, will put aside all other systems of worship, and overturn the\npretensions of all other supernatural beliefs. Mohammedanism and idolatry\nwould alike die under the predominance of the Christian sentiment;\u2014the\none as including too little, in not adding to the knowledge of God\nthe knowledge of the redemptive act of the Christ; and the other as\nincluding too much, in having \u201cgods many and lords many,\u201d and worshipping\nthese through visible objects, or regarding the visible objects as\nDivine; thus \u201cfalling down to the work of their hands,\u201d and \u201cturning the\ntruth of God into a lie.\u201d When Christian worship shall be universal in\nthe earth, the gods, and priests, and altars and temples of all other\nreligions will have departed; everything gross, cruel, and obscene will\nhave passed away, and have given place to the practical knowledge of the\none living and true God,\u2014to Him, \u201cwho is of purer eyes than to behold\niniquity,\u201d and who requires to be worshipped by men of \u201cclean hands\u201d and\nof \u201cpure hearts.\u201d Then will be brought to pass many of the sayings that\nare written in THE BOOK which often portrays, in prophetic song, visions\nof the triumph of religion and righteousness, and of that FUTURE, which\nit sees, and celebrates, and it is _to make_ for humanity. \u201cThe Lord will\nfamish all the gods of the earth.\u201d \u201cThe idols he will utterly abolish.\u201d\n\u201cIt shall come to pass, that the gods which have not made the heavens and\nthe earth, even they shall perish from the earth, and from underneath\nthese heavens.\u201d \u201cSo men shall fear the name of the Lord from the west,\nand his glory from the rising of the sun.\u201d \u201cFor, from the rising of the\nsun even to the going down of the same, his name shall be great among\nthe Gentiles; and, in every place incense shall be offered unto him,\nand a pure offering.\u201d \u201cBehold the days come, saith the Lord, when they\nshall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother,\nsaying, Know the Lord, for all shall know me from the least even unto the\ngreatest.\u201d \u201cIn that day, shall there be one Lord and his name one.\u201d For\n\u201cthe kingdoms of the world shall become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of\nhis Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nIII.\n\n_The Scriptures will purify and restore the Church._\n\n\nBut in the third place, as we are supposing the nations of the world\nto be intelligently led from the simple sentence,\u2014\u201cthe earth is the\nLord\u2019s, and the fulness thereof,\u201d to the admission of the contents of the\nentire book, and the full understanding of the whole system of mercy and\nmediation, as developed in shadow, in the Hebrew ritual, and given, in\nsubstance, in the work of Christ; and as we are supposing, that, because\nof the fact of their knowledge, their worship will be Christian;\u2014we wish\nit further to be observed, that, because of the _mode_ of their acquiring\nthat knowledge, and on account of _the accuracy_ and _extent_ of it,\ntheir worship will not only be Christian as to its _general_ character,\nbut it will come to be of a kind distinguished by certain _specific_\npeculiarities.\n\nThat is to say, learning their faith from a certain book, and from being\ntaught to comprehend the entire contents of it,\u2014and finding in that\nbook, that though there are \u201csome things in it hard to be understood,\u201d\nit is yet in its entireness _the property of the people_; it will come\nto pass, that all the people will claim to possess it,\u2014will stand to\ntheir claim,\u2014and will enforce and carry it, until there shall be none\nthat shall dare to deny or to resist. Then, again, a whole world of\nintelligent and earnest men, with the Bible in their hands, as Divine\nthought,\u2014studying the book \u201ctill the word of Christ dwells in them\nrichly, in all wisdom and spiritual understanding,\u201d\u2014\u201chaving the form of\nknowledge and of truth\u201d there;\u2014marking and comprehending \u201cthe things\nthat differ,\u201d and spiritually taught to distinguish between that, which,\nhowever glorious when in its proper place, came, at last, to have \u201cno\nglory, because of the glory that excelleth;\u201d\u2014\u201cwaxed old and vanished\naway as a thing that was done with,\u201d in consequence of that coming in\nits stead, which was never to be moved\u2014never to be surpassed, and never\nsupplanted by any further or superior dispensation;\u2014men, understanding\nall this, and understanding, too, that, in consequence of it all, they\nhave the knowledge of a sacrifice which could never be repeated,\u2014and \u201ca\ngreat High Priest of their profession, who has entered into heaven, and\nappears in the presence of God for them,\u201d\u2014and that themselves are \u201ca holy\npriesthood,\u201d and that spiritual acts, affections, and duties, _are the\nincense and sacrifices of the Christian church_, \u201cwith which \u2018_alone_\u2019\nGod is well pleased;\u201d\u2014such men\u2014and we are supposing the whole world to\nbe such\u2014would cleanse Christendom of the corruptions of the faith, just\nas Christianity, generally considered, would, by its active and universal\ndiffusion, subvert and extinguish the idolatries of Heathenism.\u2014Human\npriesthood, visible altars, the sacrifice of the mass, literal incense,\nthe \u201clifting-up of the soul unto vanity,\u201d in the sense of the adoration\nof saints and martyrs, the worship of a woman, of pictures, images, and\nrelics of the dead,\u2014ecclesiastical tyrannies, popular superstitions, and\npopular serfdom,\u2014with everything else that is incompatible with a vital\nand diffused Christian intelligence,\u2014all these would pass away;\u2014the one\noffering of the one Priest\u2014and the exclusive intercession of the \u201cone\nMediator between God and men,\u201d\u2014would be the only things before the mind\nof the churches;\u2014while they would meet habitually, and meet everywhere,\nto worship in simplicity,\u2014\u201cin spirit and in truth,\u201d\u2014undeceived by empty\nritualisms,\u2014regaled and refreshed by \u201ca rational service,\u201d and edified\nand established by a ministry of instruction. Christ will be understood\nto be \u201ca priest upon a throne;\u201d to be the Head of the church, and the\nsuperior and \u201cPrince of the kings of the earth,\u201d and to hold in his\nhands \u201cthe keys of death and of the invisible world,\u201d\u2014\u201cto open so that\nno man can shut, and to shut that no man can open;\u201d\u2014and when all this is\napprehended by the nations, _it will not be endured_ that there shall be\na sort of blasphemous mimicry of it all in the pretensions and claims\nof the Man of Sin. \u201cThe earth is the Lord\u2019s, and the fulness thereof;\nthe world, and they that dwell therein;\u201d\u2014when this is understood, in its\nChristian acceptation, and all men are aware that for all equally \u201cChrist\ndied,\u201d\u2014that they are his property, and that none are to interfere between\nhim and his,\u2014that _He_ alone is \u201cLord\u201d alike, \u201cof the dead and of the\nliving,\u201d and that by \u201csetting his love\u201d on all, he makes each individual\nspiritually \u201cgreat,\u201d and stamps a dignity on the nature he redeemed,\u2014when\nthese things are known and felt, there will be none who will \u201clord it\nover God\u2019s heritage,\u201d or none to submit to the attempted usurpation.\n\n\n\n\nIV.\n\n_Universal Virtue._\n\n\nIn the next place,\u2014in consistency with the principles previously\nexpounded, of the character that God demands in his worshippers,\u2014the\nnecessity to their acceptance, in divine service, of their possession\nand culture of universal virtue,\u2014and the manner by which, in Christian\nworshippers, virtue expands and developes into holiness;\u2014in consistency\nwith this, we have next to remark, that when men have become what we have\nsketched _as to religion_, there will be the prevalence among them of _an\nelevated morality_. It is not denied that there may be virtue and morals\nwithout faith;\u2014and that the honourable, and the true, and the lovely,\nand the beautiful, in habit and behaviour, may exist in the man who is\ndestitute of religion. It is quite possible that an individual who denies\nthat \u201cthe earth is the Lord\u2019s, and the fulness thereof,\u201d by denying that\nthere is any Lord to whom it can belong;\u2014who, therefore, has no sense\nof religious reverence,\u2014no idea of Divine authority,\u2014no thought of a\nfuture account,\u2014who never worships, never acts from spiritual motives,\nor as \u201cseeing Him who is invisible,\u201d\u2014it is quite possible for such a\nman to find reasons in the present, visible constitution of things, for\nmaking the best of the life that now is, by living purely, uprightly,\nand honestly in the world. We admit this. But we are now supposing that\nall men have risen into a higher sphere, through the reception and power\nof religious faith,\u2014and that their virtue, instead of being a thing that\nhas its roots in the earth, and is nourished by mere mundane influences,\nis a thing which flows down upon them from heaven, and is quickened and\ninvigorated by intercourse with God. The _religious_ man, if he be true\nto his privileges and profession, will have all the virtues of the man\nof the world, besides some others which the latter has not;\u2014and still\nfurther, as those that they have in common, are, in _him_, fed and\nsustained from a far higher and diviner source than what nourishes those\nof the man of the world, they ought to be seen to be both more pure and\nmore elevated than his, in simple correspondence with that circumstance.\nFuture society, then, being supposed to have come under the influence\nof religious truth,\u2014to be reconciled to God through the death of his\nson, and to be regenerated and renewed by the sanctifying Spirit, and, as\nsuch, habitually \u201cto ascend into the hill of the Lord,\u201d and to worship\nacceptably \u201cin his holy place,\u201d it is to be expected, as the result of\nthis, that it will \u201cincrease and abound in all holy conversation and\ngodliness.\u201d Now, there is no personal or social virtue that the New\nTestament does not inculcate, or that the spirit of the gospel is not\nadapted to nourish and expand. If the nations of the world were each\nto possess a national religion in the sense of _the whole nation being\nreligious_, then, every individual would be chaste and temperate, upright\nand truthful, fortified by the strength and softened and adorned by\nthe beauties of holiness. Every family would be loving and harmonious;\nparents wise and worthy of respect; children obedient; brethren living\n\u201ctogether in unity.\u201d All business would be conducted justly; commercial\ntransactions would be all clean, and capable of being touched with \u201cclean\nhands;\u201d trade and handicrafts would be noble and dignified, by being\npervaded by the great idea of \u201cduty,\u201d and attended to on principles\nwhich would be the very same as those that control the doings of an\nangel, or direct and inspire a seraph in his songs! Nowhere would be seen\ndrunkenness, or seduction;\u2014robbery and murder would be things of the\npast. There would be no oppression on the part of the rich; no pride or\ntyranny in the powerful; no injustice between class and class; no envy in\nthe less favoured of God\u2019s children, prompting them to harsh or petulant\njudgments of their more distinguished or opulent brothers. There never\ncan be literal and absolute equality of station or circumstance;\u2014there\nnever can be a uniformity of rank or possessions. In the most perfect\ncondition of the world and man, there must still of necessity be master\nand servant, the employer and the employed;\u2014the head of one, the hand of\nanother, the capital of a third, the back for a burden, and the feet for\ntoil; all these will always be required, and must be furnished, and must\nact, in any improved state of society. But they may act harmoniously.\nThere need be no fraud, oppression, or injustice. There may be everywhere\ngiven \u201cthe fair day\u2019s wages for the fair day\u2019s work;\u201d\u2014and there may\nbe everywhere rendered \u201cthe fair day\u2019s work for the fair day\u2019s wages.\u201d\nSociety, like the church, is a body with its members. It has its head\nand feet, its ear and eye, its mouth and hands;\u2014the health of the body,\nor its physical perfection, does not consist in every member having the\nsame office; but in all fulfilling their respective functions, without\ndisturbance,\u2014each being thus in unity with the rest. The perfect and\nhealthful development of society consists in a condition analogous to\nthis. Christian communism, and Christian socialism, if anything of the\nsort shall hereafter be, will be found to consist, not in society\u2019s\nceasing to be a body by becoming entirely but one member\u2014a huge head,\nor a gigantic foot, or a great, swinging, muscular arm,\u2014but in all the\nmembers acting healthily in their own place; and, while doing so, each\nhaving the same care of the other. In this way, and in this way alone,\ncan society be preserved from opposite dangers;\u2014from becoming a monster\nwithout parts, that must of necessity perish from the want of organic or\nfunctional vitality\u2014or being torn by intestine schisms and dissensions\nthat must tear it to pieces or make it explode!\n\nIt is not possible to enlarge on these and kindred matters, that might\nbe introduced under the present illustration. Enough has been said\nto make manifest the general principle, that, on the supposition of\nthe diffusion in the world of an intelligent, vital, and uncorrupted\nChristianity, there would result from it the fruits of a universal\nrighteousness. Every family would be \u201ca church in the house;\u201d children\nwould be trained in the way they should go; and conversion from outward,\npractical wickedness, would be seldom needed in adult age. Education\nwould be universal. Learning and knowledge would be \u201cthe stability of\nthese times\u201d\u2014with the fear of God, and the hope of salvation. Science\nwould be devout, and literature pure. The universe would be explored\nwith reverence and humility; discoveries announced without boasting; and\nimprovements and inventions received with gratitude. No books would be\nwritten to demoralize and corrupt,\u2014nor the arts be allowed to minister\nto licentiousness. Industry would be cheerful, and labour honoured; the\nfruits of the earth would be taken and used as a Divine gift; and the\nproductions of skill would be connected with thoughts of the Maker of the\nmind. In that day, there would be on every object \u201choliness to the Lord,\u201d\nfor all men would act in consistency with the belief, that \u201cthe earth is\nHis, and the fulness thereof.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nV.\n\n_Nationalities._\n\n\nIn the last place: it only remains to be remarked, that this universality\nof religion and righteousness, in each nation of the earth respectively,\nwould come to have an effect on the relations and intercourse of each\nwith the rest, and on its own internal constitution and action. If\nall nations were really to believe that \u201cthe earth is the Lord\u2019s, and\nthe fulness thereof,\u201d and especially to connect with this the next\nclause,\u2014\u201cthe world, _and they that dwell therein_;\u201d\u2014and if they were\nhonestly to carry such a creed fairly out, into all its great practical\nresults,\u2014it would be found to be the charter of peace and freedom,\norder and liberty, in all lands. Let men get the idea that the earth is\nGod\u2019s, not theirs,\u2014and that all the race are alike his,\u2014his, at once, as\ncreated by his goodness and redeemed by his mercy;\u2014and especially let it\nbe imagined, that all habitually mingled in his worship, and that all\nfelt inspired by a desire to live in constant, practical harmony with\nhis will;\u2014why, there could be neither war, nor slavery, nor anarchy, nor\ndespotisms;\u2014men _could_ not be brought, on the supposition suggested,\nto be trained and taught to _slaughter_ one another!\u2014or to _steal_ one\nanother!\u2014or to buy, and sell, and fetter, and lash those who were the\nexclusive property of God, and who, whatever their colour, were each\nof them as much _a man_ as themselves! No monarch could be seduced\ninto the belief that a whole people was made for _him_;\u2014or that power\nwas not _a trust_;\u2014or that it could be used for any purpose but the\ngood of the nation, and according to the eternal principles of right\non which God himself governs his own. Nor would a people imagine that\nany new institutions would benefit them, or any change or revolution be\nan improvement, if they were not each of them a king over himself.\u2014We\ndo not mean to say that one form of political government may not be\nintrinsically better than another;\u2014but we do mean to say that the Future\nof the world will no more be distinguished by the same form of political\ngovernment being universal, than by the universal prevalence of one\nmode of ecclesiastical polity;\u2014and we further mean to say, that the\ndiffusion of an intelligent and instructed Christianity would carry into\nthe bosoms of all men the Scriptural principles, that government is the\ninstitution of God;\u2014that God, in this respect, is the God of order;\u2014and\nthat reverence for authority and submission to law are as much Christian\nduties as anything else.\u2014Authority may be abused, and law may be unjust;\nbut he who acts in the fear of God, will suffer much, and think more,\nbefore he will be persuaded that political rebellion and disobedience are\nvirtues. We do not say that there are not occasions when the one may be\npatriotic and the other right;\u2014but there is a time coming when none in\nthe places of trust and power will so act as for this to be the case,\u2014and\nwhen none in those of submission and obedience will feel that a dignified\nand manly loyalty has become either an impossibility or a burden.\nGovernors, nowhere, will fear discussion; or fetter the press; or refuse\nreforms; or cripple independence;\u2014and people, nowhere, will abuse their\nrights; or desire, or demand, the unreasonable or unjust. The aggregate\nof families, which make up a nation, living in unity, like each of the\nfamilies that constitute or compose it, the aggregate of nations will\ndwell together in the same spirit, and with the same results. Commerce\nwill bring, more and more, the whole earth into friendly intercourse;\u2014the\nsea that would seem to divide the nations, shall be as a chain to bind\npeople to people, and land to land. Instead of meeting for hostile\npurposes, there will be the interchange of visits to promote science, to\nperfect literature, to spread art, to cultivate religion\u2014or to honour\nGod in the results of industry, by the circulation round the world of\nan Exhibition like that which is just at hand. If, in all these ways to\nwhich we have adverted, the lessons of our Royal Exchange were to be\nlearned, and we ourselves, and our expected visitors, to carry them out,\nin the full development of individual, social, and national life,\u2014many of\nthe pictures of the prophets would be realized; the kingdom of heaven\nwould be established on the earth; and the tabernacle of God would be\nuniversally with man. Evils might remain, but everything would tend to\nmitigate or diminish them. The world would be a temple,\u2014the nations a\nchurch;\u2014all work would be a daily worship, while daily worship, strictly\nso called, would hallow and sanctify all work. The day of rest would\nbe welcomed as it came,\u2014but welcomed for its devotion, as well as its\nrepose. From all hearts, from all hands, from palace and cottage\u2014from\nthe mine and the market-place\u2014from the field and the factory\u2014the forge\nand the loom\u2014the city and the sea, from all nations and from all\nmen,\u2014there would be going up constantly to heaven, that which is required\nwhen Christians are exhorted in language like this\u2014\u201cDearly beloved, I\nbeseech you, by the mercies of God, _that ye present your bodies as\nliving sacrifices_, holy and acceptable to God, which is your reasonable\nservice.\u201d Were this ever to be universally realized, the final cause\nof the creation of the world, might, without a figure, be said to be\nattained. God\u2019s great idea would be seen to be complete; and He himself,\nif we might so speak, after being grieved by the wickedness of the race,\nwould return again to the unruffled, deep, and ineffable satisfaction\nwith which he was filled before the world was, when, anticipating the\nresults of his creative energy, \u201c_he rejoiced in the habitable parts of\nthe earth_, AND HIS DELIGHTS WERE WITH THE SONS OF MEN.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nPRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS.\n\n\nHaving thus filled up our originally projected outline of thought, we\nshall rapidly conclude and consummate the argument by two or three\npractical suggestions.\n\n1. In the first place, a few hints may not be inappropriate as to the\nspirit with which Christians should contemplate the Exhibition. There are\nsome prophets, of these our times, whose \u201cscrolls\u201d in relation to the\ngreat event, are filled with \u201clamentation, mourning, and woe.\u201d They can\nsee nothing, in the thing itself, but a gigantic display of pride and\nvain glory,\u2014and they apprehend nothing, from the meeting of the nations,\nbut mutual corruption, prolonged riot, and perhaps blood. Their favourite\nanalogies are the Tower of Babel, Nebuchadnezzar\u2019s golden image, or\nthe Devil tempting Christ by revealing on the mount \u201call the kingdoms\nof the world and the glory of them,\u201d or some such human or diabolical\natrocities! Now it is a pity to give way to these dark imaginings;\u2014to see\nnothing in our fellow-man but what is bad, and to expect nothing from the\nhand of God but the thunderbolt of vengeance, or the \u201cvials of wrath!\u201d\nIt is far better, far more becoming, especially in those that believe\nthat \u201cthe earth is the Lord\u2019s, and the fulness thereof; the world, and\nthey that dwell therein,\u201d to take healthy, cheerful, and hopeful views,\nof the great event,\u2014whose origin, it is at least possible, _may_ have\nbeen good, and whose influence and results _may_ be useful. It ought\nby no means to be thought a self-evident thing, that there is nothing\nin the multitude of minds and hearts, which have all been engaged in\nperfecting the Exhibition, but selfish vanity and godless pride. In\nmany there may have been frequent and great thoughts of God, devout\nhumility, and earnest prayer for that blessing without which nothing can\nbe successful. Supplications may have gone up, in various languages and\nfrom many lands, that God would direct and crown the work, and cause it\nto promote his kingdom and glory; and, though the numbers may have been\nsmall, who have thus sought to hallow and sanctify the project by prayer,\nin comparison with those who are interested in it without devotion and\nwithout reference to the Divine blessing, _Christians_ should remember,\nthat, in a world like ours, living under mercy, the very principle\nof the Divine government is, to bless one man through the medium of\nanother, and even to bless the many for the sake of the few;\u2014just as ten\nmen of righteousness and of faith might have saved the cities of Sodom\nand Gomorrah, and as those that were saved, were saved on account of\none such man,\u2014for \u201cwhen the Lord destroyed the cities of the plain, he\nREMEMBERED ABRAHAM, and\u2014_sent Lot out from the midst of the overthrow_.\u201d\nLet Christians, therefore, have faith in one another. Let them believe\nthat many as good as themselves are engaged in the Exhibition, and have\ndevoutly sought for it the blessing of the Most High. Let others learn\nto do likewise. Instead of indulging in forebodings and prophecies\nwhich, being uttered, might fulfil themselves, they should rather\nexercise trust in Providence, indulge hope for the church and the world,\nand earnestly endeavour to serve both, by hearty, honest, and sincere\n_intercession_ for all nations, and for all men,\u2014that that God, who can\nmake even \u201cthe _wrath_ of man to praise him,\u201d would educe praise and\nglory to Himself, and much that shall be productive of happiness to men,\nfrom what brings them together _in peaceful intercourse_, and reminds\nthem of their common relation to himself. The \u201ccrisis\u201d of the world\noccurred when there was a gathering of strangers and foreigners in one\nplace;\u2014they were brought together at the time of the crucifixion,\u2014they\nwere assembled again at the wonders of Pentecost,\u2014and there can be no\ndoubt that there was a designed coincidence on both occasions. God\nhas sanctified the meeting of numbers, of \u201cmen of every nation under\nheaven,\u201d\u2014\u201cParthians and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in\nMesopotamia, and in Jud\u00e6a, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia, Phrygia\nand Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya, about Cyrene, and\nstrangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes, Cretes, and Arabians,\u201d\u2014God\nhas sanctified a gathering like this to his own purposes,\u2014to the\nestablishment of his kingdom and the spread of his truth; and what he has\ndone before he may do again; and he _will_ do it, if Christians devoutly\nand earnestly seek it, by such a spirit of prayer, as, \u201cloving all\nthings, and believing all things, and hoping all things,\u201d will crave at\nhis hand a blessing for their brothers, and crave it so that it cannot be\ndenied.\n\n2nd. In _visiting_ the Exhibition, there are many sentiments which\nChristians might indulge as means of impression or improvement to\nthemselves. It is hardly necessary, after having gone through the\nforegoing argument, to press upon the reader the duty of seeing and\nremembering God in all that will be displayed of the riches of nature and\nthe products of art. It is true, indeed, that it is to be the Exhibition\nof the Industry _of the Nations_,\u2014that is, it is, in a manner, to reveal\nand magnify MAN by accumulating and displaying his wonderful works. But\nthere is a way of doing this, that may be humble and religious, and there\nis a way of regarding and of looking upon it, which may minister much to\nthe health and nourishment of the divine life. To think highly of what\nman _is_, and to strengthen such thoughts by becoming familiar with what\nhe has _done_, may only make us think more wisely and wonderfully of God,\nand more justly of _the worth of the soul_, and of the importance of\nsalvation to that nature whose capacities would seem to be so mysterious\nand so vast! To think of man lying like a wreck on the outside of Eden,\nnaked and ignorant, without a teacher and without tools,\u2014his mind\ndarkened, his spirit depressed,\u2014with understanding, indeed, and impulses\nand instincts to help him in his first efforts at labour,\u2014a whole world\nof raw material under his foot, the compass of the earth for the sphere\nof his achievements, his head and hand the instruments of action, but the\none as yet without knowledge, and the other equally without skill! And\nthen to think of what he has done! How that poor, solitary, naked man,\nbeginning with some rude attempt at the cultivation of the earth and the\ncollection of flocks,\u2014seeking for himself and his dependent companion,\nthe mere supply of their animal wants, clothing of the coarsest, unwoven\nand undressed,\u2014with food unprepared and unpalatable,\u2014and shelter that\nmight be furnished by a few trees or a hole in a rock! To think what he\nhas become _since then_! How one generation has improved upon another,\nand how discovery and invention, and labour and skill, and industry\nand genius, have covered the earth with a succession of wonders; and\n_then_ to think, how a sort of representative epitome of these is to\nstand before us in the marvellous contents of the last and greatest\nwonder of the world! That wonder will include specimen and proof of what\nman has done for himself and his dwelling-place, since he lay helpless\non the margin of the earth, like a ship-wrecked mariner that had got\nto shore, but with the loss of all things. Guided and helped by the\nDivine power, but in a manner consistent with his intelligent nature,\nhis free thought and personal agency, the mind of man was developed and\nenlarged, society formed, and arts and handicrafts, science and letters,\nrose and realized what history records, and what modern civilization so\nwonderfully represents. Rock and forest, earth and ocean, animated nature\nin all its forms, everything placed around and beneath him, supplied\nmaterials which he learned to employ for his convenience and use. He\ncovered the earth with towns and cities, erected temples, palaces, and\npyramids,\u2014subdued the most stubborn of the beasts of the field, tamed the\nmost ferocious, outstripped the swiftest, and reduced the strongest to\nobedience and servitude. He clothed himself in skins, in fur, in flax, in\nsilk and wool,\u2014gradually improving as he went on, till fineness of fabric\nand elegance of design have become the property of the people at large.\nHe decorated and adorned his private abode, and filled public buildings\nand public places with the creations of beauty and the triumphs of art.\nHe has crossed the ocean and sounded its depths; he has penetrated the\nearth and drawn thence her concealed treasure; he has interrogated\nnature, and obtained, or forced from her, the most astonishing replies;\nhe has soared into the heavens, has counted, weighed, and measured\nthe stars; he can foretell events with certainty and precision\u2014the\nappearance of a comet, or the occurrence of an eclipse; he has made\nfire and water, lightning and steam, to do his bidding,\u2014to transmit his\nmessages, transport his property, carry himself, lighten his labour,\nand perform his work. He has given to sound sentiment and eloquence,\nand has made instruments of music that can subdue multitudes. Of all\nthese achievements, and of a vast variety of other forms of skilfulness\nand power, the Great Exhibition will present the proofs, and exhibit\nthem in their latest and most perfect development. And yet it is to be\nremarked, that with all it will do, _it will leave the greatest and the\nmost wonderful of the works of man uncollected and unseen_. Mechanical\nindustry has its many marvels,\u2014art and science their miraculous results;\nbut the highest form of the greatness of humanity is to be met with in\nbooks,\u2014in the art that has given visibility to speech, and permanent\nendurance to thought and emotion,\u2014and in the thoughts and emotions of\ngifted minds, which, in every age, and in all lands, have adorned the\nrace by the researches of the intellect, the conflagrations of eloquence,\nand the sublimities of song. These things cannot be represented in the\nPalace of Industry; and yet these are the things that belong to the\nhighest regions of the mind;\u2014to powers and faculties that more than\nanything else illustrate the inherent greatness of man;\u2014that lead him to\nthe contemplation of the right, the divine, the beautiful and the good\nin action and character;\u2014that render him capable of religious faith;\u2014and\nthat might make him a happy and virtuous intelligence if he were called\nto exist separate from the body,\u2014without the feeling of physical\nnecessities, without a surrounding material world, and without members\nto mould and fabricate, and work up anything whatever in the way of mere\nmechanical dexterity.\n\nNow these thoughts, and a thousand others of a kindred sort, may all\nbe indulged by a reflective man in visiting the Exhibition,\u2014indulged\ndevoutly, and turned to eminent spiritual advantage. Every thing that\nman is seen to have achieved,\u2014every proof of his sagacity and power,\nhis skill and performance\u2014will only enhance, in a thoughtful soul, the\nimpression of the wonderfulness of that nature which God originally made\nfor himself, which sin has degraded, and which Christ has redeemed. The\nnumber of such proofs increasing the conception of the wonderfulness\nof the nature they so marvellously manifest, will render the fact of\nredemption credible,\u2014increasing the probability that God should interpose\nto recover and restore it. And the great fact, that, after all that the\ngrand pageant can do, and in spite of the splendour and magnificence\nof its contents, it will actually leave the most wonderful portion of\nthe human mind unillustrated, and incapable of illustration,\u2014why, this\nmay well lead to the solemn remembrance of some of the most impressive\nof Scriptural truths. \u201cWhat is a man profited, if he shall _gain the\nwhole world_ and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange\nfor his soul?\u201d \u201cAll flesh is as grass, and _all the glory of man_ as\nthe flower of grass; the grass withereth, the flower fadeth, _but the\nword of the Lord endureth for ever_; and this is the word which by the\ngospel is preached unto you.\u201d \u201c_All these things shall be dissolved_;\u201d\n\u201c_the earth and all things that are therein shall be burned up_,\u2014but we,\naccording to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which\ndwelleth righteousness.\u201d And still further, the fact of the exhibition of\nthe _half_, merely, of the greatness of man by the works of his hands,\n(and _that_ the lesser and lower portion,) may suggest the analogy that\nthere is in this, with the manner of God\u2019s discovery of himself. He, in\nhis works, has revealed and illustrated his wisdom and power, goodness\nand beneficence, and, to the eye of reason, these are largely reflected\nthere;\u2014but the manifestation of his _moral_ attributes, his justice and\nlove, compassion and mercy, is made to faith in the gospel of his Son;\nand however most men may be alive to the first, and blind or insensible\nto the second of these discoveries, there are beings in the universe who\nare intent on the higher exhibitions of God,\u2014just as there are devout and\nmeditative men who will gaze on the wonders of the Palace of Industry\nonly to be reminded of the spiritual and immortal of human nature, which\nthe edifice with its marvels will do little to illustrate! Heaven has its\n\u201cfulness\u201d as well as earth. That fulness is \u201cthe fulness of Christ;\u201d\u2014his\nsufferings on earth and the glory that is to follow. This is called \u201cthe\nunsearchable riches.\u201d In the mystery of redemption are \u201chid,\u201d or lie\nembodied, \u201c_all the treasures_ of wisdom and knowledge,\u201d\u2014_the higher\nforms_ of God\u2019s manifestation of himself to his creatures. \u201cInto THESE\nTHINGS _the angels desire to look_.\u201d And they do this in exact conformity\nwith the Divine purpose in the revelation of himself in this the greatest\nof his works, for it was set forth, \u201cTO THE INTENT _that unto the\nprincipalities and powers in heavenly places_, might be made known _by\nthe church_ the manifold wisdom of God.\u201d\n\n3rd. But British Christians have a great and solemn lesson to learn from\nthe view that we have taken, in this discussion, of their language to the\nworld. If it be so, that we profess as a nation, and utter openly in the\nhearing of all men, _the truths_ that have been illustrated, then, also,\nought it to be felt, that we lie under the most binding and imperative\nobligations to exemplify _the duties_ which have been explained and\nenforced. It becomes us to cultivate the devout and practical recognition\nof God; to keep his Sabbaths; to wait upon him in worship; to approach\nhim through Christ, that we may do so acceptably; to \u201clive in the\nspirit,\u201d that \u201cwe may not fulfil the lusts of the flesh;\u201d \u201cto walk in\nthe spirit,\u201d that our daily virtue may be divine holiness. It is well \u201cto\nhold forth the word of truth,\u201d and to witness for God, for the gospel,\nand for righteousness, in the sight of the nations; but it must be done\n_practically_ as well as by profession,\u2014by conduct in harmony with the\narticles of our creed,\u2014or our testimony will expose us to ridicule and\nrebuke, and may provoke by its mockery the vengeance of the Most High.\nLet England beware, that it do not itself, amidst the blaze and glory of\nthe Great Exhibition, forget the truth and the lessons taught by it, that\n\u201cthe earth is the Lord\u2019s, and the fulness thereof.\u201d Let it beware, \u201clest,\nbeing lifted up with pride, it fall into the condemnation of the devil.\u201d\nIt is a terrible thing not to give God the glory of our achievements;\u2014\u201cto\nsacrifice to our own net, and to burn incense to our own drag.\u201d It was\nwhen the king\u2019s heart was lifted up with pride, and when he said to\nhimself, \u201cIs not this Great Babylon that I have built,\u201d\u2014it was then that\nGod smote him from on high, seared his intellect, and sent him to herd\nwith unintelligent natures! England is first in the commerce of the\nworld; her \u201cmerchant princes\u201d are the nobles of civilization; her markets\nand manufactures have decked her with beauty and made her great;\u2014but\nit would be well for her to remember, that it was just such a country\nthat, in ancient times, had her magnificence described with the greatest\nminuteness by God\u2019s prophets, but described to illustrate the extent\nof her ingratitude, the aggravations of her sin, and the certainty and\ncompleteness of her predicted destruction. It was fearfully realized.\nThe glory of Tyre was swept away, and her place became bare as the top\nof a rock, on which the fisherman might spread out his net to the sun!\nIt might be well, too, to remember, that the prophetic description in\nthe book of the Apocalypse, of the Babylon that is to fall in some yet\nfuture judgment of God, is the description of a commercial and maritime\ncity, over which the merchants of the earth mourn and lament \u201cbecause\nher judgment hath come, and no man buyeth her merchandise any more.\u201d\nThat these instances should neither be type nor prophecy of Britain, she\nmust take care to walk by the light of her own creed\u2014that \u201cthe earth is\nthe Lord\u2019s, and the fulness thereof,\u201d\u2014and according to all the devotion\nand humility and practical righteousness that this would inculcate.\nIt is well with a people when their garners are full and their flocks\nprolific;\u2014when their sons are as plants grown up in their youth, and\ntheir daughters as polished marble columns; when there is no political\nconvulsion in the land, and no complaining of poverty in their streets.\n\u201cHappy is the people that is in _such_ a case;\u201d but _happier_ they \u201cWHOSE\nGOD IS THE LORD.\u201d\n\n4th. Trusting that, as a people, we are not altogether inattentive\nto what has been described, let us learn, in conclusion, the value\nwe should attach _to the blessing of our characteristic and national\nChristianity_. We do not mean, the forms or peculiarities of any\nchurch;\u2014the secondary distinctions, that may have their importance,\nas the separate testimonies to a particular truth prominently held by\ndifferent members of the Protestant family. We refer to our EVANGELICAL\nPROTESTANTISM _itself_, which is substantially the same throughout our\nmany sects, and which is held and taught, with more or less clearness,\nby all the influential Denominations in the land. To this, under God,\nwe owe our free political constitution, our civil rights, and our\nreligious liberty; to this we are indebted for the power we are at\npresent exercising and using in the face of the world,\u2014the power of\nthrowing our metropolis open to the nations,\u2014receiving them all, without\npassports, and with hardly a precaution, to our streets and squares,\nour court and senate, our families and our homes. We have no fear that\nour soldiers will be corrupted, or our population seduced;\u2014we apprehend\nnothing of injury to our faith, or of temptation to our loyalty. Our\npress will be as free, our minds as unfettered, our comments on men and\nmeasures as outspoken, as if none were our daily audience but ourselves.\nTo impress the moral of all this on the mind of the reader, and on our\nown, we might do it, perhaps, most effectively, by putting it in the\nform of a friendly address to a reflective foreigner, who might be\nlooking with wonder on the phenomena around him. \u201cStranger,\u201d we might\nsay, \u201cyou have looked with surprise on our industry and commerce, our\ntrade and manufactures; you have seen in our equipages the signs of\nour wealth; and, in other ways, how opulence and comfort are diffused\namong our people; you have been impressed with the many proofs of our\nintelligence, and have wondered, perhaps, most of all, at the liberty\nwe enjoy and the loyalty we cherish. You have seen A QUEEN _honoured\nand beloved_;\u2014and her Royal Consort taking the lead, not in reviews of\nmilitary pomp, or only in the parade of magnificent hospitalities; but\nin presiding over the displays of peaceful industry, and welcoming the\nrepresentatives of science and art. You have seen the multitudes that\ncrowd to our churches, and wondered at the comparative quiet of our\nsabbaths. _Know_, therefore, that for all this, and for far more that is\nunseen, we are indebted _to the glorious inheritance of our faith_;\u2014our\nOPEN BIBLE, our conscientious inquiry, our habits of worship, and our\nreligious instructors. We have much amongst us of which it becomes us\nto think with shame;\u2014much of which it is impossible to speak but in\nmoderated phrase, and even with tears;\u2014but if there is anything that has\nraised thy admiration, or inflamed thy curiosity,\u2014anything in our general\nreverence for law, in our political moderation, our civil order,\u2014our\nrespect for rank, combined with our individual consciousness of personal\nmanhood; if there is anything that shows that our morals are not debased,\nor our manners frivolous, or our habits sordid, or our minds enslaved\nby the gross and the voluptuous,\u2014carry away with thee the certainty and\nconviction, that everything that may be good about us as a people, we owe\nto our possession of _that_ ONE BOOK,\u2014to our mode of interpreting, and\nour constancy in teaching it,\u2014_which tells us to acknowledge_,\u2014and, by\nGod\u2019s blessing, helps us to act, however imperfectly, on the practical\nbelief,\u2014_that despotism and priestcraft, anarchy and disorder, pride\nand oppression, vanity and selfishness, lawlessness and wrong, are all\nalike disobedience to God and injurious to his creatures_, FOR \u2018THE EARTH\nIS THE LORD\u2019S, AND THE FULNESS THEREOF; THE WORLD, AND THEY THAT DWELL\nTHEREIN.\u2019\u201d\n\n\n\n\nPOSTSCRIPT.\n\n\n\n\nPostscript.\n\nTHE EXHIBITION OPENED.\n\n\nThe first of May, eighteen hundred and fifty-one, was a day to be\nremembered to all time! On it the nations of the earth combined together\nto \u201cmake history,\u201d in a manner they had never done before;\u2014in one also,\nwhich, in its prominent peculiarity, can never be repeated. There may\nbe similar Exhibitions in future periods of the world\u2019s progress, but\n_the first_ can never be again. Even respecting those which may be\nimagined to occur, although they may be distinguished by new features and\ncharacteristics of their own, and though these may, in some respects,\nsurpass those of the one now opened, they cannot be anticipated with\nthat depth of interest, nor excite by their inauguration those profound\nemotions, which preceded and distinguished the sublime event which has\njust taken place. The preceding pages were written in the prospect of\nthat event, and were intended to appear before its occurrence. The author\ncannot regret, however, that circumstances interfered with the fulfilment\nof his purpose, since to this he is indebted for the opportunity of\nadding a supplementary section to his little work, commemorative of the\ngrand and magnificent ceremonial of which he was privileged to be a\nspectator.\n\nIt is not the writer\u2019s intention to attempt to describe the opening\nof the Exhibition, with all that minuteness of detail in respect to\nwhat occurred in the interior of the structure,\u2014or with those stirring\ndelineations of the bustle and excitement, the lines of carriages and\ncongregated crowds, that imparted animation to the scene without,\u2014which\nhave already been furnished by the public prints. He merely wishes to\nnote a few things which were interesting or suggestive to his own mind,\nand especially such as were felt to be in harmony with the spirit and\nobject of the present volume.\n\nIt was his good fortune to obtain admittance into the Palace of Industry,\non the memorable morning of the first of May, before the gates were\nopened to the public. He had traversed it frequently during the previous\nweeks, and had seen it in various stages of its progress. One morning, in\nMarch, he was there so early, that while walking along its galleries he\nobserved that he was the _only visitor_ upon them at that moment. Few of\nthe counters were then erected, hardly any of the articles unpacked;\u2014the\nwide spaces and vast dimensions of the wonderful structure spread before\nhim in clear and unobstructed perspective;\u2014there was something, too, of\nsolitariness in his position, though multitudes of workmen were occupied\nbelow, above, and around him;\u2014the whole scene, from its simple magnitude,\nwas inexpressibly sublime; it stirred within him thoughts and feelings\nwhich were not, indeed, \u201ctoo deep for tears,\u201d but which could only find\nutterance and relief in their indulgence; while, as he passed on, and\nfor the first time saw the compartments of the different countries, and\nread the names of the various nations that were preparing to stand,\nside by side, in peaceful rivalry,\u2014his emotions deepened to an intensity\nwhich it was difficult to bear, and which cannot be described! He was in\nthe building, also, for some time, three days before the opening, and\ncould then form some idea of what would be the number and variety of its\ncontents; though so much, even at that late period, remained to be done,\nthat he wondered how it would be possible for the preparations to be\nfinished by the time appointed. As, however, he walked into the transept,\nwhen that time had come,\u2014approached the centre,\u2014and looked along the\nnaves stretching to such an extent on either side,\u2014it was not without a\nfeeling of admiration and surprise, mingled with something of solemnity\nand awe, that he looked on the splendid and gorgeous spectacle that stood\nrevealed in all its completeness!\n\nThe mere material scene was sublime when beheld by itself,\u2014empty, and\ncomparatively still; but much more impressive and affecting was it, when\nfilled with its immense multitude of spectators. There was much that\nwas stirring in the sight of the rush and inundation of the crowd, as\nit kept flowing in, in vast waves, at every opening; and much that was\nimpressive when the noise and murmur of its movements had subsided,\u2014when\nall had found or had been forced into their places,\u2014and when floor and\ngallery, and every part that the eye could reach, was seen to be occupied\nby human beings,\u2014by an assembly larger than any that had ever, in\nEngland, been congregated before under one roof,\u2014and by one that had met\nfor an object, and under circumstances, unparalleled in the annals of the\nworld!\n\nMen see in all external events and objects, what the light that is in\nthem reveals. Things are, to us, what we are to them. He that visits\nforeign countries, brings back according to what he takes. The same sight\nmay be a very different thing to two different persons, in proportion\nas they may differ in knowledge, in opinion, in taste, in sympathies.\nThe eye of a clown may look on a prospect that in some souls would\nproduce rapture or occasion tears, with hardly more intelligence than\nthat of the ox that he drives before him. The outside of things is open\nto all; their inner significance is revealed only to those who have an\ninner eye to read it; and even such significance may be differently\ninterpreted according as the eye is influenced and affected by the degree\nof intelligence, the tendencies, and the tastes of the inward man to\nwhom it belongs. It is quite possible that some may see nothing in the\ngreat Exhibition but an ordinary, though enormous, fancy bazaar; and that\nothers saw nothing in the ceremonial of the opening but a state pageant,\ncourt dresses, and an immense crowd of men and women! It is quite\npossible, too, that some of the incidents of the day, which appeared to\nus touching in themselves, or pregnant with meaning, were indebted for\nthis to the capricious activity of our own fancy, as well as to their\ninherent beauty or significance. But, however this may have been, there\ncertainly were some things that we felt to be deeply interesting as they\noccurred, and remarkably suggestive as illustrating the character and\ntendencies of the event. We shall not attempt to recall all that struck\nus at the time; but a few words may not be amiss on what immediately\nbore, or appeared to us to bear, on some of the topics of this book.\n\nOn getting a sight of the catalogue of the Exhibition,\u2014which we did\nbefore entering the interior of the building,\u2014we were gratified to find\non the cover and the title-page:\n\n    \u201cTHE EARTH IS THE LORD\u2019S, AND ALL THAT THEREIN IS;\n    THE COMPASS OF THE WORLD, AND THEY THAT DWELL THEREIN.\u201d\n\nWe were aware that this was to be the English motto, and that two Latin\nones had also been selected. We were glad to find the Divine sentence\nplaced where it was, and placed by itself; that it stood, as it were,\nin _front_ of the Nations as they joined one another, and moved towards\nthe great point of attraction; that it _faced_ them, and spoke as with\nthe voice of an oracle; that while the words of men occupied their\nproper subordinate position _behind_ those of the book of God\u2014out of\nsight\u2014needing, as it were, to be sought for, and found, and _solicited_\nto announce themselves,\u2014these stood in their solitary majesty, revealing\nthemselves by their own light, claiming to speak as having a right to\nbe heard, and authoritatively announcing to the diversified tribes and\npeoples of the earth, and to every visitant of the palace of wonders,\n_Whose_ they themselves were, and to whom belonged _all they saw._\n\nThis volume was written and in the press before we were aware that _the\ninscription on the Exchange_ was to be _the motto of the Exhibition_;\notherwise, the natural course would have been, to have taken the words in\ntheir _latter_ use rather than the former, and thus to have expounded and\nillustrated what England _actually does say_ to herself and the nations\nthrough the medium of the event which is bringing them together. When\nwe first heard of what was to be the English motto of the catalogue, we\nwere exceedingly disposed to wish it could be given in the words of the\nauthorized version (those on the Exchange) \u201cThe earth is the Lord\u2019s,\n_and the fulness thereof_,\u201d instead of those of the translation in the\nPrayer-book, \u201cThe earth is the Lord\u2019s, and _all that therein is_.\u201d On\nfurther reflection, however, we are willing to think, that while the\ntwo expressions are substantially the same, there is just that shade\nof difference between them that fits each for its respective position;\n\u201cthe _fulness_ of the earth\u201d being most appropriate to a commercial\nedifice,\u2014\u201c_all that therein is_\u201d to an industrial exhibition. However\nthis may be, it was to us, as may be supposed, a gratifying circumstance\nthat the first sight that met our eye, on the very threshold, or in the\nporch of the Palace of Industry, while making our way to the opening\nceremonial, was that which assured us, that the words whose import we\nhad been endeavouring to illustrate in \u201ca book for the Exhibition,\u201d were\nto lie beneath the eye, and to address themselves to the reason and the\nreligious consciousness, of every individual by whom it would be visited.\n\nThe recognition of God, in connexion with the Exhibition, has always\nmarked the references to it of its most distinguished promoter. The\nreligious services on the day of the opening were solemn and appropriate,\nand seemed at once to crown and sanctify the work. \u201cI confidently\nhope,\u201d\u2014said his Royal Highness, Prince Albert, at the banquet at the\nMansion-house, in honour of the undertaking,\u2014\u201cI confidently hope, that\nthe first impression which the view of this vast collection will produce\nupon the spectator, will be that of deep thankfulness to the Almighty\nfor the blessings which he has bestowed upon us here below.\u201d It was a\nmost impressive sight, on the opening of the splendid spectacle thus\nanticipated, to see some twenty-five or thirty thousand people, all\nunder the influence of a sentiment of reverence, deeply calm, serious,\nand still, uniting in an act of solemn devotion, while the highest\necclesiastical dignitary in the land, standing by the side of our august\nsovereign, who seemed to bow in humility before the footstool of Him who\nis \u201cthe King of kings,\u201d expressed in a manner the most appropriate, the\n\u201cdeep thankfulness\u201d of the vast assembly \u201cfor the blessings which the\nAlmighty has bestowed upon us,\u201d and acknowledged _Him_ in the riches of\nnature and the wonders of art with which the edifice was filled! Every\nreader will probably have seen the prayer to which we thus refer. It\nseems, however, not inappropriate to give it a place in these pages; the\nmore so as its sentiments are so in harmony with many of those we have\nbeen attempting to express. It was as follows:\n\n\u201cAlmighty and everlasting God, who dost govern all things both in heaven\nand in earth, without whom nothing is strong, nothing is holy, accept,\nwe beseech Thee, the sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving, and receive\nthese our prayers which we offer up unto Thee this day on behalf of the\nkingdom and people of this land. We acknowledge, O Lord, that Thou hast\nmultiplied on us blessings which Thou mightest most justly have withheld.\nWe acknowledge that it is not because of works of righteousness which we\nhave done, but of Thy great mercy, that we are permitted to come before\nThee with the voice of thanksgiving, and that instead of humbling us for\nour offences, Thou hast given us cause to thank Thee for Thine abundant\ngoodness. And now, O Lord, we beseech Thee to bless the work which Thou\nhast enabled us to begin, and to regard with Thy favour our purpose of\nknitting together in the bonds of peace and concord the different nations\nof the earth; for with Thee, O Lord, is the preparation of the heart in\nman. Of Thee it cometh that violence is not heard in our land, wasting\nnor destruction within its borders. It is of Thee, O Lord, that nations\ndo not lift up the sword against each other nor learn war any more;\nit is of Thee that peace is within our walls and plenteousness within\nour palaces; it is of Thee that knowledge is increased throughout the\nworld, for the spirit of man is from Thee, and the inspiration of the\nAlmighty giveth him understanding. Therefore, O Lord, not unto us, not\nunto us, but unto Thy name be all the praise. While we survey the works\nof art and industry which surround us, let not our hearts be lifted up\nthat we forget the Lord our God, as if our own power and the might of\nour hands had gotten in this wealth. Teach us ever to remember that all\nthis store which we have prepared cometh of Thine hand and is all Thine\nown. Both riches and honour come of Thee, and thou reignest over all.\nIn Thine hand it is to make great and to give strength unto all. Now,\ntherefore, O God, we thank Thee; we praise Thee and intreat Thee so\nto overrule _this assembly of many nations_, that it may tend _to the\nadvancement of Thy glory, to the diffusion of Thy Holy Word_, to the\nincrease of general prosperity, by promoting peace and goodwill among\nthe different races of mankind. Let the many mercies which we receive\nfrom Thee dispose our hearts to serve Thee more faithfully, who art the\nAuthor and Giver of them all. And finally, O Lord, teach us so to use\nthose earthly blessings which Thou givest us richly to enjoy, that they\nmay not withdraw our affections from those heavenly things which Thou\nhast prepared for those that love and serve Thee, through the merits and\nmediation of Thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with Thee and the\nHoly Ghost, be all honour and glory.\u201d\n\nPrince Albert, after having, in the words above quoted, expressed\nhis hope respecting the religious impression to be produced by the\nExhibition, proceeded to say that he trusted its _second_ lesson\nwould be, \u201cthe conviction\u201d that the full enjoyment of the blessings\nof Providence \u201ccould be realized only in proportion to the help we\nare prepared to render to each other; therefore only by _peace, love,\nand ready assistance, not only between individuals, but between the\nNations of the earth_.\u201d The opening ceremonial of the first of May, was\nan impressive commentary on this sentiment. Within the same building\nwere congregated the representatives of many nations, and people from\nevery quarter of the globe. All met and mingled together in perfect\nharmony, and seemed at once disposed to regard each other with fraternal\ncordiality, and to be pervaded and possessed by those sentiments which\nare nourished and developed by the sunlight of love. Everybody seemed\nbright; good-humoured; happy; willing to please and to be pleased! It\nwas as if all the world had met to celebrate the arrival or reign of\nuniversal concord. The Palace of Industry was the Temple of Peace. There\nwere some military uniforms, and a few soldiers here and there, but no\none thought of _fighting_! It was not a battle,\u2014it was not even a review.\nIt was not War when merely making a holiday; showing himself off in his\nfine clothes to a gaping multitude, and startling or amusing them by his\ngigantic sport. A little boy\u2014a child of some five or six years old\u2014while\nwe were all waiting for the coming of the Queen, got away from his\nmother, or sister, ran into the midst of the central crowd of dignitaries\nand diplomatists, walked up the steps of the platform on which was the\nchair of state, turned round and stood looking about happy and delighted,\nand then went back again to the cover of the wing from which he had\nescaped! The whole thing showed such a sense of _security_,\u2014such a\nfeeling in the boy that there was nothing to frighten him or to hurt him\n_there_,\u2014that he appeared like an impersonation of the spirit of the\nplace. He could not have done or felt as he did in any assembly of thirty\nthousand people that ever met in the world before within the same walls.\nSuch assemblages there _have_ been, and larger,\u2014but they met for purposes\nof cruelty and blood,\u2014to see men fight with beasts or with each other.\nIn the Crystal Palace is mirrored, we trust, the dawn at least of the\npredicted day, when \u201cthe wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard\nshall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the\nfatling together; AND A LITTLE CHILD SHALL LEAD THEM.\u201d\n\nThen there was to be seen for some time in apparently friendly\nconversation, the Iron Duke and the Lancashire cotton-spinner;\u2014Wellington\nand Cobden;\u2014the man of war and the apostle of peace! It was a suggestive\nsight. The old soldier did a great and necessary work in his day. By his\ndecisive stroke at the battle of Waterloo, he terminated the protracted\ncontentions of Europe, and gave to us, as a nation, a peace that has\ncontinued for thirty-five years. _To that prolonged peace, we are in a\ngreat measure indebted for the Exhibition of Industry_. It would not have\nbeen improper, therefore, if, while looking on the scene he had lived to\nwitness,\u2014a scene that glorified his own eighty-second birthday, and which\nwas so different from all that he had been familiar with in his youth,\u2014it\nwould not have been improper if the military veteran had felt that there\nwas a connexion between what he saw and what he had _done_. Than he, we\nbelieve, there is no one more aware of the horrors of war, or who would\nmore bitterly lament its necessity;\u2014and though he can hardly be expected\nto think Peace Societies the sole or best defence of a nation, it is not\nto be doubted that he would welcome \u201cpermanent and universal peace,\u201d and\nthat he rejoices in an enterprise that may help to secure it. _There they\nwere, then_,\u2014two representative and typical men;\u2014side by side;\u2014talking\nlike brothers! There they were;\u2014the one the monument of a past age,\u2014the\nother the personal prophecy of a coming one. The one the chronicle of\nbygone times, when nations thought themselves \u201cnatural enemies,\u201d and men\nknew of no arbiter but the sword;\u2014the other the advocate of _another_\narbitration, and the apostle of the industrial intercourse of the world.\nThe one was old,\u2014the other young. Let us hope that this, too, was a\ntype of _the principles_ they respectively represented;\u2014that that of\nappealing and trusting to the sword, is past its vigour and is falling\ninto decay,\u2014while that of uniting by mutual benefits, and of superseding\nthe arguments of brute force by those of reason and love, is in its\nprime and manhood, and has before it a long period of service. There are\na few specimens of cannon in the Exhibition, but there are far more of\nagricultural instruments. The time will come when none of the former will\nfind their place in any collection of the works of \u201cIndustry,\u201d\u2014except,\nit may be, some that shall be preserved as curious, though sad and\nhumiliating, relics of a former age. \u201cWeapons of war\u201d are destined to\ndisappear, and to give place to the engine and the compass,\u2014the press\nand the tool-chest,\u2014the plough and the pruning-hook!\n\nThe incidents thus referred to, were felt to be suggestive of many\nthoughts in harmony with the sentiment last quoted from the speech of\nPrince Albert. That sentiment, however, received ampler illustration\nby what was seen on the reading of the address of the Commissioners to\nher Majesty,\u2014by the closing language of that address itself,\u2014and by\nher Majesty\u2019s reply. The procession that approached the throne for the\npresentation of the address, consisted not only of Englishmen headed\nby the Consort of the Sovereign, but of the foreign representatives of\ntwenty-six different nations, states, or kingdoms. These, for the time,\nwere all ONE;\u2014one body,\u2014filled with one sentiment, pervaded, as it\nwere, by one soul;\u2014and they all united in uttering through their common\nhead, in the name of their several countries, and in the presence of a\nmultitude almost as mixed and multifarious as themselves, the following\nwords:\u2014\n\n\u201cIt is our heartfelt prayer that this undertaking, _which has for\nits end_ the promotion of all branches of human industry, and _the\nstrengthening of the bonds of peace and friendship_ AMONG ALL NATIONS\nOF THE EARTH, may, by the blessing of Divine Providence, conduce to\nthe welfare of your Majesty\u2019s people, and be long remembered among the\nbrightest circumstances of your Majesty\u2019s _peaceful_ and _happy reign_.\u201d\n\nIt was a great thing to see the representatives of Austria and Denmark,\nFrance and Belgium, Prussia and Germany, Russia and Rome, Spain and\nPortugal, Turkey and Tuscany, the United States, Tunis, Sardinia, Greece,\nand of many other lands, joining together in the expression of a common\nhope, and the utterance of a united prayer, that what they were doing\nmight \u201cstrengthen the bonds of peace and friendship among all the nations\nof the earth;\u201d and to think, too, that they did this, not only in their\nown names, and in those of their respective countries, but in the name\nof _all_ lands and peoples in the world that might have any contribution\nin the Exhibition, whether they had personal representatives among the\nCommissioners or not. The closing paragraph of her Majesty\u2019s reply\nechoed the closing sentiment of the address,\u2014a sentiment that came to\nher like an utterance from the heart of universal humanity! It was an\nover-powering sight, by the way,\u2014that of one so young, elevated in the\nmidst of so vast a multitude, and virtually receiving the homage of so\nmany nations:\n\n    \u201cA wondrous sceptre \u2019tis to bear;\n      Strange mystery of God which set\n      Upon her brow yon coronet,\u2014\n                    The foremost crown\n    Of all the earth on one so fair!\n      That chose her to it from her birth,\n      And bade _the sons of all the earth_\n                    _To her bow down_.\u201d\n\nAlthough the closing passage in her Majesty\u2019s speech is that to which we\nconfine our attention, as the speech itself is very brief, we give it\nentire:\n\n\u201cI receive with the greatest satisfaction the address which you have\npresented to me on the opening of this Exhibition.\n\n\u201cI have observed with a warm and increasing interest the progress of\nyour proceedings in the execution of the duties intrusted to you by the\nRoyal Commission; and it affords me sincere gratification to witness the\nsuccessful result of your judicious and unremitting exertions in THE\nSPLENDID SPECTACLE _by which I am this day surrounded_.\n\n\u201c_I cordially concur with you in the prayer, that by God\u2019s blessing\nthis undertaking may conduce_ to the welfare of my people, and _to the\ncommon interests of the human race_, by encouraging the arts of peace\nand industry, _strengthening the bonds of union among the nations of the\nearth_, and promoting a friendly and honourable rivalry in the useful\nexercise of those faculties which have been conferred by a beneficent\nProvidence for the good and the happiness of mankind.\u201d\n\nBut we must draw to a close. There were many other incidents on which\nwe could willingly linger, as illustrative of the views we had always\nindulged of the character and tendencies of the great experiment. The\nunion in one edifice of such an unprecedented number of human beings,\nwas itself a most imposing and magnificent spectacle. The Queen appeared\nto feel this. As she stood in a position to command a view of the vast\nspaces of the building, all of which were densely filled, she seemed\nimpressed with a sense of awe at the sublime spectacle, and could not\nhelp, even during the reading of the address of the Commissioners,\npartially withdrawing her attention from them, to steal a glance at\n\u201cthe splendid spectacle by which she was surrounded.\u201d That spectacle,\nhowever, partook of the tender, the beautiful, and the domestic even,\nas well as the sublime. Into it, the Queen and her illustrious Consort\ncame, each leading by the hand one of their children! Up and down,\nthrough and amongst that mass of people, they moved together in the\nsame manner. Pomp and state were in some degree laid aside, and the\nsovereign, for the time, seemed to have become one with the people. She\nwas received with affection, as well as loyalty; and appeared to enjoy\nand to acknowledge her reception, not so much as a crowned Queen, as a\nhappy _woman_, an elated wife, and a loving mother! It must have been\nthe most wonderful hour in the whole life of Prince Albert,\u2014that hour of\nthe opening of the Exhibition!\u2014intense must have been the feelings with\nwhich he looked on the realization of his great idea; the end of so much\nanxiety; the commencement of the harvest of so much hope! Everything\nwas propitious. The sun in the heavens shone down upon the scene with\nunwonted brightness, as if He who \u201csits in the centre\u201d thereof, approved\nthe undertaking and blessed it from on high. There was not an accident\nof any sort,\u2014nothing for one moment to excite alarm, to produce panic,\nor occasion apprehension in the mind of the assembly. In spite of the\ntens of thousands that filled it, in no part of the edifice was there\ncrack or strain, the indication of weakness, or any sign of insecurity.\nThe outdoor crowds, instead of being disposed to rudeness or riot, or\ncapable of being excited to tumult and rebellion (!), would seem to have\nbeen more than usually pacific; a sort of restraint appears to have been\nupon the worst even of those who congregate on such occasions; for, on\nthe following day, there were no cases of either quarrels or robberies\nsuch as ordinarily attend state pageants and civic processions. The royal\nPatrons of peace and industry retired from the scene in which they had\ndeveloped a new phase of royalty, and read a new lesson to kings, amid\nthe benedictions and prayers of the multitude with whom they had met and\nmingled. They could not but retire happy and glad; grateful to God for\nwhat they had witnessed, and what they had done; and, in the fulness of\ntheir emotions of devout thankfulness, like David, perhaps, \u201creturned\nhome to bless their household.\u201d As it is not likely that anything will\noccasion a _greater_ gathering of the populace in the parks, in connexion\nwith the Exhibition, and as the ceremony of the opening has given such\na glow of cheerfulness and confidence to the public mind, it is to be\nhoped that the many prophecies and prognostications of evil, which some\nhave indulged in, will now cease, and that all will unite, by cordial\nsympathy with the great object, and fervent prayer to Almighty God,\nto seek the realization of those peaceful, patriotic, and world-wide\nresults, which many of the wise and good hope that \u201cthe Great Exhibition\u201d\nmay be an instrument in the hand of Providence to secure, and which as\nEnglishmen, Christians, and lovers of our kind, we ought all constantly\nand earnestly to pursue. In this way, every devout man may help to hasten\nthat anticipated FUTURE, some of the general characteristics of which we\nhave endeavoured to deduce from the Scriptural motto on the books of the\nExhibition. Of that period a pregnant and impressive type was presented\nin the opening ceremonial, when, in the bearing of all the nations of the\nearth, _representatively present in the spacious edifice_, there rose\nup,\u2014to the praise and glory of that God, \u201c_whose is the earth and the\nfulness thereof, the world and they that dwell therein_,\u201d and to whom we\nare indebted not only for \u201call the blessings of this life,\u201d but for \u201cthe\nmeans of grace, and the hope of glory,\u201d\u2014the grand, solemn, _prophetic_\nsong,\u2014\n\n    \u201cHallelujah! for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.\n    The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and\n      of his Christ; and He shall reign for ever and ever.\n    King of kings, and Lord of lords. Hallelujah!\u201d\n\nWith the following stanzas, descriptive of the different parts of the\nscene thus reviewed, we here close our pleasant labour:\n\nTHE GATHERING OF THE NATIONS.\n\n    \u201cA peaceful place it was but now,\n      And lo! within its shining streets\n      A multitude of nations meets:\n                    A countless throng\n\n    I see beneath the crystal bow,\n      And Gaul and German, Russ and Turk,\n      Each with his native handiwork\n                    And busy tongue.\n\n    I felt a thrill of love and awe\n      To mark the different garb of each,\n      The changing tongue, the various speech\n                    Together blent.\n    A thrill, methinks, like His who saw\n      \u201cAll people dwelling upon earth\n      Praising our God with solemn mirth\n                    And one consent.\u201d\n\nTHE PRAYER.\n\n    \u201cHigh Sovereign in your Royal state!\n      Captains and Chiefs and Councillors,\n      Before the lofty palace doors\n                    Are open set,\n    Hush! ere you pass the shining gate;\n      Hush! ere the heaving curtain draws,\n      And let the Royal pageant pause\n                    A moment yet.\n\n    People and Prince a silence keep!\n      Bow coronet and kingly crown,\n      Helmet and plume bow lowly down;\n                    The while the priest\n\n    Before the splendid portal step,\n      While still the wondrous banquet stays,\n      From Heaven supreme a blessing prays\n                    Upon the feast!\u201d\n\n    \u2026\n\n    \u201cBehold her in her Royal place:\n      A gentle lady\u2014and the hand\n      That sways the sceptre of this land\n                    How frail and weak!\n    Soft is the voice, and fair the face;\n      She breathes Amen to prayer and hymn,\n      No wonder that her eyes are dim,\n                    And pale her cheek.\u201d\n\nPEACE AND CONCORD.\n\n    \u201cThe representatives of man\n      Here from the far Antipodes,\n      And from the subject Indian seas,\n                    In congress meet;\n    From Afric and from Hindostan,\n      From western continent and isle,\n      The envoys of her empire pile\n                    Gifts at her feet.\n\n    Our brethren cross the Atlantic tides,\n      Loading the gallant decks which once\n      Roar\u2019d a defiance to our guns,\n                    With peaceful store;\n\n    Symbol of peace, their vessel rides!\n      O\u2019er English waves float Star and Stripe,\n      And firm their friendly anchors gripe\n                    The father shore!\u201d\n\n    \u2026\n\n    \u201cLook yonder, where the engines toil;\n      These England\u2019s arms of conquest are\u2014\n      The trophies of her bloodless war:\n                    Brave weapons these!\n    Victorious over wave and soil,\n      With these she sails, she weaves, she tills,\n      Pierces the everlasting hills,\n                    And spans the seas!\n\n    The engine roars upon its race,\n      The shuttle whirrs along the woof,\n      The people hum from floor to roof,\n                    With Babel tongue.\n    The fountain in the basin plays,\n      The chanting organ echoes clear,\n      An awful chorus \u2019tis to hear,\u2014\n                    A wondrous song!\n\n    Swell, organ,\u2014swell your trumpet blast!\n      March, Queen and Royal pageant, march\n      By splendid aisle and springing arch\n                    Of this fair Hall.\n    And see! above the fabric vast,\n      God\u2019s boundless Heaven is bending blue,\n      God\u2019s peaceful Sun is beaming through,\n                    And shining over all!\u201d\n\nLondon: Printed by William Tyler, Bolt-Court.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n_In the Press, and shortly will be published._\n\nFRENCH AND GERMAN EDITIONS OF THE ROYAL EXCHANGE AND THE PALACE OF\nINDUSTRY.\n\nUNIFORM WITH THE PRESENT VOLUME.\n\n_Just published._\n\nTHE PALACE OF GLASS AND THE GATHERING OF THE PEOPLE.\n\nA BOOK FOR THE EXHIBITION.\n\nFoolscap 8vo. 2_s._ extra cloth boards.\n\nTHE INDUSTRIAL EXHIBITION.\n\nBooks and Tracts suited for distribution at the present season in the\nfollowing languages:\n\nENGLISH. FRENCH. DUTCH. SPANISH. SWEDISH. GERMAN. ITALIAN. PORTUGUESE.\nDANISH. RUSSIAN. MODERN GREEK.\n\nMay be obtained at 56, Paternoster Row, and 164, Piccadilly; also of\n\n    NISBET AND CO., 21, Berners Street, Oxford Street.\n\n    SOHO BAZAAR, Soho Square, Counters Nos. 536 & 537.\n\n    HANBURY AND CO., 70, Edgware Road.\n\n    J. GROOM, Soho Bazaar.\n\n    J. F. SHAW, 27, Southampton Row.\n\n    B. SEELEY AND CO., 2. Hanover Street, Regent Street.\n\n    C. HASELDEN, 21, Wigmore Street.\n\n    S. J. LADD, 10, Jonson\u2019s Place, Harrow Road.\n\n    H. FASE, 1, Edwardes\u2019 Terrace, Kensington.\n\n    P. HANCE, 14, Upper Gloucester Place, King\u2019s Road, Chelsea.\n\n    J. L. PORTER, 43, Sloane Street.\n\n    W. F. RAMSAY, 11, Brompton Row.\n\n    MILLER AND FIELD, 6, Bridge Road, Lambeth.\n\n    J. ROBERTS, 2, Arabella Row, Pimlico.\n\n    W. H. DALTON, 28, Cockspur Street, Charing Cross.\n\n    T. VARTY, 81, Strand.\n\n    MRS. PRESS, Depository, Church Street, Hackney.\n\n    W. HANDS, Clapham.\n\n    G. W. MEDES, Camberwell.\n\n    J. H. JACKSON, Islington Green.\n\n    W. D. THOMSON, 138, Upper Street, Islington.\n\n    T. K. GORBELL, 16, Hereford Place, Commercial Road East.","title":"The Royal Exchange and the Palace of Industry; or, The Possible Future of Europe and the World","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":32290}