[1]These pages were written previous to the opening of the “Exhibition,” and refer to it as approaching. They do not appear quite so soon as it was once hoped they would have done, but it has been thought best to retain their original form of expression.[2]Since this was written, the Author has been gratified by learning that Prince Albert has selected the words, with the addition of the second clause of the verse, for the English motto on the cover of theCatalogueof the Exhibition. It is taken, however, from the Prayer-book translation of the Psalms, instead of from that of the authorized version. The sense is the same, although the phraseology is slightly varied. The words are, “The earth is the Lord’s, and all that therein is: the compass of the world, and they that dwell therein.”
[1]These pages were written previous to the opening of the “Exhibition,” and refer to it as approaching. They do not appear quite so soon as it was once hoped they would have done, but it has been thought best to retain their original form of expression.
[1]These pages were written previous to the opening of the “Exhibition,” and refer to it as approaching. They do not appear quite so soon as it was once hoped they would have done, but it has been thought best to retain their original form of expression.
[2]Since this was written, the Author has been gratified by learning that Prince Albert has selected the words, with the addition of the second clause of the verse, for the English motto on the cover of theCatalogueof the Exhibition. It is taken, however, from the Prayer-book translation of the Psalms, instead of from that of the authorized version. The sense is the same, although the phraseology is slightly varied. The words are, “The earth is the Lord’s, and all that therein is: the compass of the world, and they that dwell therein.”
[2]Since this was written, the Author has been gratified by learning that Prince Albert has selected the words, with the addition of the second clause of the verse, for the English motto on the cover of theCatalogueof the Exhibition. It is taken, however, from the Prayer-book translation of the Psalms, instead of from that of the authorized version. The sense is the same, although the phraseology is slightly varied. The words are, “The earth is the Lord’s, and all that therein is: the compass of the world, and they that dwell therein.”
In the first place, there would be, everywhere,—in all lands and in all hearts,—the belief and acknowledgment of the one living and true God. All doubt, denial, and error, respecting this cardinal and central truth, would have passed away. There would be no Atheism,—the rejection and repudiation of a personal God; no Pantheism,—which is only Atheism underanother name; no Scepticism,—professed uncertainty as to whether there is really a God or not; and no Polytheism—the belief of a mere rabble of divinities. All these forms of thought would cease and determine, and give place to the universal admission of the great fact of the Divine existence. No human being would be to be found, who could look over the earth with all its wonders, and survey the heaven with its sun and stars,—and see no proof or probability in either, of the existence anywhere of a being or a personalitygreaterthan himself! This is the amount of the Atheistic creed,—if creed it can be called, that consists only in denials and negations. The universe isa thing,—wonderful indeed, but nothing more,—having no consciousness, no capacity for voluntary action, nothing about it of personal properties; and, if there be no independent personal God, then, the greatest being that is known to exist in the whole universe,—the only one that can be spoken of as a person, is man himself!—a somewhat lame and impotent conclusion!—a poor summit to the infinitude of things! There are those who say that they believe this;—there will be noneto say it, when it comes to be a universally admitted truth, that “the earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof.” In the same way, there will be no thinkers, or professed thinkers, whose minds, repelled by the gross darkness of positive denial, but not drawn into the light of positive belief, wander in the fogs and mists of uncertainty, and “reason downwards till theydoubtof God.” And in the same way, the myriads of gods, which the Asiatic nations conceive to be filling the heavens and the earth,—large and small,—great and little, but most of them debased,—will all disappear, like the more elegant system of the Greeks, that once divided the domain of nature, and parcelled it out among its subordinate divinities. Cleared and cleansed from all these various forms of error, the large heart of universal humanity will be open to the air and the sunlight of true thought, and will reflect, as from a mirror, the image of Him, who has “set his glory above the heavens,” and of whom it is said, that “the knowledge of him” is abroad “in all the earth,” since, “from the creation of the world,” he hath made manifest, “bythe works of his hands,” “even his eternal power and Godhead.”
In the second place, there will be added to this universal acknowledgment of God, as the object of belief, a further recognition of him as the object of worship. All men would be worshippers of God, if, throughout the world, there should be not only the prevalence of the belief of that God is, but the working out of the results of that belief,—thatbecausehe is, he is “the hearer of prayer,” and that “to him,” therefore, “all flesh should come.” Taking this subject, however, in connexion with all the explanatory illustrations which we have already advanced, it is easy to see that it is of wide compass, and will include far more than might at first be apparent.
The God, whom we suppose to be acknowledged, is the God of the Bible, and the worship by which we suppose him to be approached, would be worship conducted on the principlewhich pervades it, and regulated by all that its spirit and precepts concur to prescribe. The Being referred to in the Scriptural expression,—“The earth is theLord’s,”—is not one whose existence and character are demonstrated by philosophy, and who may thus be considered as a sort of hypothesis;—it is, as we have said,the God of the Bible,—the God who has made himself known by supernatural facts and verbal revelation, and whose discovery of himself in the works of his power, and in the constant displays of his wisdom and beneficence, is to be supplemented and enlarged by the whole of the utterances of his grace and mercy. On this principle it was, that we took the expression, “The earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof;” not as an independent and isolated sentence,—not as a thing to be looked at by itself,—but in connexion with the contents of the entire volume of which it is a part: and we saw, when we did so, that it brought out, into great prominence, such a view of the teaching of Scripture in respect to the relations of God and man, as necessarily affected, very materially, the whole theory and practiceof worship. But it is thisviewof the meaning of the passage, that we are supposing to be learned and acknowledged by the nations, and therefore the worship, in which we are further supposing them to unite, would of course bethatwhich the whole of our exposition would inculcate or explain.
It is remarkable, too, that philosophical Deism never leads to worship in its disciples,—at least not to anything in the form of regular social or public acts. It is possible for a simple Theist consistently to pray, or to extol and adore the Deity he acknowledges; and itmaybe, that some Theists privately do so,—though all probabilities,—it may by no meansuncandidly, be said,—are rather against it. What would be possible and consistent, however, in a Deist by himself, would be equally so in a company of such. On the principle of their believing in a personal God, they might meet together for public worship.But they never do.The mere admission of the one principle that God is, would seem not to be sufficient to lead men to worship;—it needs to be connected with another principle—that which affirms that “Godhas spoken,”or that, by some means, he has supernaturally made himself known, revealed his interest in human nature, and drawn near,—ordrawsnear,—to the human race. All religions, always and everywhere, have pre-supposed something of supernatural intercourse between God and man;—they have had, or have, their traditionary belief of divine appearances,—their notions of a priesthood peculiarly favoured or filled by the divinity, through which, and through whose acts, the people could acceptably approach and pray. The believers in the Bible believe, of course, in supernatural manifestations of the Divine Being, made to them in the records, and embodied in many of the facts, of the book; and it is this belief that makes them worshippers. For the habit of worship, then, facts everywhere and abundantly demonstrate, you must have a religion; and for the existence of religion, you must have the belief of supernatural discoveries of God to man, in addition to the display of himself in his works. Deism is not a religion, but a philosophy; it has a God, but it does not worship; and it does not worship, becauseGod, according to its conception of him, has never broken the silence of nature, or narrowed the distance between him and his creatures by passing over the limits of fixed law. All men who worship, whether their worship be pure or corrupt, do so, we repeat, because they have a religion, and they have a religion, because they believe in something supernatural as to their knowledge of God; something which makes their belief of himfaithin what is demonstrated by miraculous fact or divine statement; and not merelyopinion, as the logical conclusion of a speculative philosophy.
These principles and reasonings being apprehended, will clear the way to the intelligent perception of the variety of things that must be understood as included in the idea of all the world becoming worshippers of God,as the result of their perception of what we, as a nation, are supposed to teach. For men to be worshippers, their knowledge of God must be religious, not philosophic; for it to be religious, it must be founded on belief in a supernatural revelation; it willbethis, when they acknowledge that “the earth is the Lord’s, and thefulness thereof,” in words taken from the Jewish Scriptures, and regarded as an utterance of, the Divine voice. By such an acknowledgment they will recognise thewholeof those Scriptures, as “given by inspiration of God,” or, as written by men who wrote “as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.” But the admission ofthis, will draw with it the admission of thesecondseries of writings, and the acknowledgment of their intimate connexion with the first, as the perfect development of what the first foreshadowed, and the record of the fulfilment of what they foretold. The faith of the men, therefore, who begin with the confession that “the earth is the Lord’s,” and who profess it in the words of a Divine saying, andas such, must go on till it takes in what the Hebrew institute taught in type, and the Hebrew prophets uttered in words, when they “spake beforehand of the sufferings of Christ, and of the glory that should follow;” and it must still go on, and can only be rationally and consistently complete, when it receives the whole of the evangelical discoveries of the New Testament respecting the redemption of the Christ of God.This, then, wouldbe the faith of future society, the world over; and bythis faithits worship would be regulated, if, as we are supposing, the nations should learn from us our religious belief in all its extent, and should follow it out in all its obligations.
The worship of the world, then, would be Christian worship. Men would be worshippers, because they would be religious; they would be religious, because they would have a religion, not a philosophy; and that religion, would be the one taught in the Christian Scriptures, and founded on the facts of the Christian revelation. All that we shall say of the consequence of this, at present, is, that, just as the admission of a personal God puts aside all forms of denial or error upon that point, so, the admission of a particular form of Divine discovery, and the establishment of worship according to the principles of a specific revelation, will put aside all other systems of worship, and overturn the pretensions of all other supernatural beliefs. Mohammedanism and idolatry would alike die under the predominance of the Christian sentiment;—the one as including too little, in not adding to the knowledge of God the knowledgeof the redemptive act of the Christ; and the other as including too much, in having “gods many and lords many,” and worshipping these through visible objects, or regarding the visible objects as Divine; thus “falling down to the work of their hands,” and “turning the truth of God into a lie.” When Christian worship shall be universal in the earth, the gods, and priests, and altars and temples of all other religions will have departed; everything gross, cruel, and obscene will have passed away, and have given place to the practical knowledge of the one living and true God,—to Him, “who is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity,” and who requires to be worshipped by men of “clean hands” and of “pure hearts.” Then will be brought to pass many of the sayings that are written inthe Bookwhich often portrays, in prophetic song, visions of the triumph of religion and righteousness, and of thatFUTURE, which it sees, and celebrates, and it isto makefor humanity. “The Lord will famish all the gods of the earth.” “The idols he will utterly abolish.” “It shall come to pass, that the gods which have not made the heavens and the earth, eventhey shall perish from the earth, and from underneath these heavens.” “So men shall fear the name of the Lord from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun.” “For, from the rising of the sun even to the going down of the same, his name shall be great among the Gentiles; and, in every place incense shall be offered unto him, and a pure offering.” “Behold the days come, saith the Lord, when they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for all shall know me from the least even unto the greatest.” “In that day, shall there be one Lord and his name one.” For “the kingdoms of the world shall become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.”
But in the third place, as we are supposing the nations of the world to be intelligently led from the simple sentence,—“the earth is theLord’s, and the fulness thereof,” to the admission of the contents of the entire book, and the full understanding of the whole system of mercy and mediation, as developed in shadow, in the Hebrew ritual, and given, in substance, in the work of Christ; and as we are supposing, that, because of the fact of their knowledge, their worship will be Christian;—we wish it further to be observed, that, because of themodeof their acquiring that knowledge, and on account ofthe accuracyandextentof it, their worship will not only be Christian as to itsgeneralcharacter, but it will come to be of a kind distinguished by certainspecificpeculiarities.
That is to say, learning their faith from a certain book, and from being taught to comprehend the entire contents of it,—and finding in that book, that though there are “some things in it hard to be understood,” it is yet in its entirenessthe property of the people; it will come to pass, that all the people will claim to possess it,—will stand to their claim,—and will enforce and carry it, until there shall be none that shall dare to deny or to resist. Then,again, a whole world of intelligent and earnest men, with the Bible in their hands, as Divine thought,—studying the book “till the word of Christ dwells in them richly, in all wisdom and spiritual understanding,”—“having the form of knowledge and of truth” there;—marking and comprehending “the things that differ,” and spiritually taught to distinguish between that, which, however glorious when in its proper place, came, at last, to have “no glory, because of the glory that excelleth;”—“waxed old and vanished away as a thing that was done with,” in consequence of that coming in its stead, which was never to be moved—never to be surpassed, and never supplanted by any further or superior dispensation;—men, understanding all this, and understanding, too, that, in consequence of it all, they have the knowledge of a sacrifice which could never be repeated,—and “a great High Priest of their profession, who has entered into heaven, and appears in the presence of God for them,”—and that themselves are “a holy priesthood,” and that spiritual acts, affections, and duties,are the incense and sacrifices of the Christian church, “with which ‘alone’ God is wellpleased;”—such men—and we are supposing the whole world to be such—would cleanse Christendom of the corruptions of the faith, just as Christianity, generally considered, would, by its active and universal diffusion, subvert and extinguish the idolatries of Heathenism.—Human priesthood, visible altars, the sacrifice of the mass, literal incense, the “lifting-up of the soul unto vanity,” in the sense of the adoration of saints and martyrs, the worship of a woman, of pictures, images, and relics of the dead,—ecclesiastical tyrannies, popular superstitions, and popular serfdom,—with everything else that is incompatible with a vital and diffused Christian intelligence,—all these would pass away;—the one offering of the one Priest—and the exclusive intercession of the “one Mediator between God and men,”—would be the only things before the mind of the churches;—while they would meet habitually, and meet everywhere, to worship in simplicity,—“in spirit and in truth,”—undeceived by empty ritualisms,—regaled and refreshed by “a rational service,” and edified and established by a ministry of instruction. Christ will be understood to be “a priest upon athrone;” to be the Head of the church, and the superior and “Prince of the kings of the earth,” and to hold in his hands “the keys of death and of the invisible world,”—“to open so that no man can shut, and to shut that no man can open;”—and when all this is apprehended by the nations,it will not be enduredthat there shall be a sort of blasphemous mimicry of it all in the pretensions and claims of the Man of Sin. “The earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein;”—when this is understood, in its Christian acceptation, and all men are aware that for all equally “Christ died,”—that they are his property, and that none are to interfere between him and his,—thatHealone is “Lord” alike, “of the dead and of the living,” and that by “setting his love” on all, he makes each individual spiritually “great,” and stamps a dignity on the nature he redeemed,—when these things are known and felt, there will be none who will “lord it over God’s heritage,” or none to submit to the attempted usurpation.
In the next place,—in consistency with the principles previously expounded, of the character that God demands in his worshippers,—the necessity to their acceptance, in divine service, of their possession and culture of universal virtue,—and the manner by which, in Christian worshippers, virtue expands and developes into holiness;—in consistency with this, we have next to remark, that when men have become what we have sketchedas to religion, there will be the prevalence among them ofan elevated morality. It is not denied that there may be virtue and morals without faith;—and that the honourable, and the true, and the lovely, and the beautiful, in habit and behaviour, may exist in the man who is destitute of religion. It is quite possible that an individual who denies that “the earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof,” by denying that there is any Lord to whom it can belong;—who, therefore, has no sense of religious reverence,—no idea of Divine authority,—no thought of a future account,—who neverworships, never acts from spiritual motives, or as “seeing Him who is invisible,”—it is quite possible for such a man to find reasons in the present, visible constitution of things, for making the best of the life that now is, by living purely, uprightly, and honestly in the world. We admit this. But we are now supposing that all men have risen into a higher sphere, through the reception and power of religious faith,—and that their virtue, instead of being a thing that has its roots in the earth, and is nourished by mere mundane influences, is a thing which flows down upon them from heaven, and is quickened and invigorated by intercourse with God. Thereligiousman, if he be true to his privileges and profession, will have all the virtues of the man of the world, besides some others which the latter has not;—and still further, as those that they have in common, are, inhim, fed and sustained from a far higher and diviner source than what nourishes those of the man of the world, they ought to be seen to be both more pure and more elevated than his, in simple correspondence with that circumstance. Future society, then, being supposed to have come under the influence ofreligious truth,—to be reconciled to God through the death of his son, and to be regenerated and renewed by the sanctifying Spirit, and, as such, habitually “to ascend into the hill of the Lord,” and to worship acceptably “in his holy place,” it is to be expected, as the result of this, that it will “increase and abound in all holy conversation and godliness.” Now, there is no personal or social virtue that the New Testament does not inculcate, or that the spirit of the gospel is not adapted to nourish and expand. If the nations of the world were each to possess a national religion in the sense ofthe whole nation being religious, then, every individual would be chaste and temperate, upright and truthful, fortified by the strength and softened and adorned by the beauties of holiness. Every family would be loving and harmonious; parents wise and worthy of respect; children obedient; brethren living “together in unity.” All business would be conducted justly; commercial transactions would be all clean, and capable of being touched with “clean hands;” trade and handicrafts would be noble and dignified, by being pervaded by the great idea of “duty,” andattended to on principles which would be the very same as those that control the doings of an angel, or direct and inspire a seraph in his songs! Nowhere would be seen drunkenness, or seduction;—robbery and murder would be things of the past. There would be no oppression on the part of the rich; no pride or tyranny in the powerful; no injustice between class and class; no envy in the less favoured of God’s children, prompting them to harsh or petulant judgments of their more distinguished or opulent brothers. There never can be literal and absolute equality of station or circumstance;—there never can be a uniformity of rank or possessions. In the most perfect condition of the world and man, there must still of necessity be master and servant, the employer and the employed;—the head of one, the hand of another, the capital of a third, the back for a burden, and the feet for toil; all these will always be required, and must be furnished, and must act, in any improved state of society. But they may act harmoniously. There need be no fraud, oppression, or injustice. There may be everywhere given “the fair day’s wages for the fair day’s work;”—andthere may be everywhere rendered “the fair day’s work for the fair day’s wages.” Society, like the church, is a body with its members. It has its head and feet, its ear and eye, its mouth and hands;—the health of the body, or its physical perfection, does not consist in every member having the same office; but in all fulfilling their respective functions, without disturbance,—each being thus in unity with the rest. The perfect and healthful development of society consists in a condition analogous to this. Christian communism, and Christian socialism, if anything of the sort shall hereafter be, will be found to consist, not in society’s ceasing to be a body by becoming entirely but one member—a huge head, or a gigantic foot, or a great, swinging, muscular arm,—but in all the members acting healthily in their own place; and, while doing so, each having the same care of the other. In this way, and in this way alone, can society be preserved from opposite dangers;—from becoming a monster without parts, that must of necessity perish from the want of organic or functional vitality—or being torn by intestine schisms anddissensions that must tear it to pieces or make it explode!
It is not possible to enlarge on these and kindred matters, that might be introduced under the present illustration. Enough has been said to make manifest the general principle, that, on the supposition of the diffusion in the world of an intelligent, vital, and uncorrupted Christianity, there would result from it the fruits of a universal righteousness. Every family would be “a church in the house;” children would be trained in the way they should go; and conversion from outward, practical wickedness, would be seldom needed in adult age. Education would be universal. Learning and knowledge would be “the stability of these times”—with the fear of God, and the hope of salvation. Science would be devout, and literature pure. The universe would be explored with reverence and humility; discoveries announced without boasting; and improvements and inventions received with gratitude. No books would be written to demoralize and corrupt,—nor the arts be allowed to minister to licentiousness. Industry would be cheerful, and labourhonoured; the fruits of the earth would be taken and used as a Divine gift; and the productions of skill would be connected with thoughts of the Maker of the mind. In that day, there would be on every object “holiness to the Lord,” for all men would act in consistency with the belief, that “the earth is His, and the fulness thereof.”
In the last place: it only remains to be remarked, that this universality of religion and righteousness, in each nation of the earth respectively, would come to have an effect on the relations and intercourse of each with the rest, and on its own internal constitution and action. If all nations were really to believe that “the earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof,” and especially to connect with this the next clause,—“the world,and they that dwell therein;”—and if they were honestly to carry such a creed fairly out, into all its great practical results,—it would be found to be the charter of peace and freedom, orderand liberty, in all lands. Let men get the idea that the earth is God’s, not theirs,—and that all the race are alike his,—his, at once, as created by his goodness and redeemed by his mercy;—and especially let it be imagined, that all habitually mingled in his worship, and that all felt inspired by a desire to live in constant, practical harmony with his will;—why, there could be neither war, nor slavery, nor anarchy, nor despotisms;—mencouldnot be brought, on the supposition suggested, to be trained and taught toslaughterone another!—or tostealone another!—or to buy, and sell, and fetter, and lash those who were the exclusive property of God, and who, whatever their colour, were each of them as mucha manas themselves! No monarch could be seduced into the belief that a whole people was made forhim;—or that power was nota trust;—or that it could be used for any purpose but the good of the nation, and according to the eternal principles of right on which God himself governs his own. Nor would a people imagine that any new institutions would benefit them, or any change or revolution be an improvement, if they were not each of them a king over himself.—We do notmean to say that one form of political government may not be intrinsically better than another;—but we do mean to say that the Future of the world will no more be distinguished by the same form of political government being universal, than by the universal prevalence of one mode of ecclesiastical polity;—and we further mean to say, that the diffusion of an intelligent and instructed Christianity would carry into the bosoms of all men the Scriptural principles, that government is the institution of God;—that God, in this respect, is the God of order;—and that reverence for authority and submission to law are as much Christian duties as anything else.—Authority may be abused, and law may be unjust; but he who acts in the fear of God, will suffer much, and think more, before he will be persuaded that political rebellion and disobedience are virtues. We do not say that there are not occasions when the one may be patriotic and the other right;—but there is a time coming when none in the places of trust and power will so act as for this to be the case,—and when none in those of submission and obedience will feel that a dignified and manly loyalty has become either animpossibility or a burden. Governors, nowhere, will fear discussion; or fetter the press; or refuse reforms; or cripple independence;—and people, nowhere, will abuse their rights; or desire, or demand, the unreasonable or unjust. The aggregate of families, which make up a nation, living in unity, like each of the families that constitute or compose it, the aggregate of nations will dwell together in the same spirit, and with the same results. Commerce will bring, more and more, the whole earth into friendly intercourse;—the sea that would seem to divide the nations, shall be as a chain to bind people to people, and land to land. Instead of meeting for hostile purposes, there will be the interchange of visits to promote science, to perfect literature, to spread art, to cultivate religion—or to honour God in the results of industry, by the circulation round the world of an Exhibition like that which is just at hand. If, in all these ways to which we have adverted, the lessons of our Royal Exchange were to be learned, and we ourselves, and our expected visitors, to carry them out, in the full development of individual, social, and national life,—many of the pictures of theprophets would be realized; the kingdom of heaven would be established on the earth; and the tabernacle of God would be universally with man. Evils might remain, but everything would tend to mitigate or diminish them. The world would be a temple,—the nations a church;—all work would be a daily worship, while daily worship, strictly so called, would hallow and sanctify all work. The day of rest would be welcomed as it came,—but welcomed for its devotion, as well as its repose. From all hearts, from all hands, from palace and cottage—from the mine and the market-place—from the field and the factory—the forge and the loom—the city and the sea, from all nations and from all men,—there would be going up constantly to heaven, that which is required when Christians are exhorted in language like this—“Dearly beloved, I beseech you, by the mercies of God,that ye present your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.” Were this ever to be universally realized, the final cause of the creation of the world, might, without a figure, be said to be attained. God’s great idea would be seen to becomplete; and He himself, if we might so speak, after being grieved by the wickedness of the race, would return again to the unruffled, deep, and ineffable satisfaction with which he was filled before the world was, when, anticipating the results of his creative energy, “he rejoiced in the habitable parts of the earth,AND HIS DELIGHTS WERE WITH THE SONS OF MEN.”
Having thus filled up our originally projected outline of thought, we shall rapidly conclude and consummate the argument by two or three practical suggestions.
1. In the first place, a few hints may not be inappropriate as to the spirit with which Christians should contemplate the Exhibition. There are some prophets, of these our times, whose “scrolls” in relation to the great event, are filled with “lamentation, mourning, and woe.” They can see nothing, in the thing itself, but a gigantic display of pride and vain glory,—and they apprehend nothing, from the meeting of the nations, but mutual corruption, prolonged riot, and perhaps blood. Their favourite analogies are theTower of Babel, Nebuchadnezzar’s golden image, or the Devil tempting Christ by revealing on the mount “all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them,” or some such human or diabolical atrocities! Now it is a pity to give way to these dark imaginings;—to see nothing in our fellow-man but what is bad, and to expect nothing from the hand of God but the thunderbolt of vengeance, or the “vials of wrath!” It is far better, far more becoming, especially in those that believe that “the earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein,” to take healthy, cheerful, and hopeful views, of the great event,—whose origin, it is at least possible,mayhave been good, and whose influence and resultsmaybe useful. It ought by no means to be thought a self-evident thing, that there is nothing in the multitude of minds and hearts, which have all been engaged in perfecting the Exhibition, but selfish vanity and godless pride. In many there may have been frequent and great thoughts of God, devout humility, and earnest prayer for that blessing without which nothing can be successful. Supplications may have gone up, in various languages and frommany lands, that God would direct and crown the work, and cause it to promote his kingdom and glory; and, though the numbers may have been small, who have thus sought to hallow and sanctify the project by prayer, in comparison with those who are interested in it without devotion and without reference to the Divine blessing,Christiansshould remember, that, in a world like ours, living under mercy, the very principle of the Divine government is, to bless one man through the medium of another, and even to bless the many for the sake of the few;—just as ten men of righteousness and of faith might have saved the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, and as those that were saved, were saved on account of one such man,—for “when the Lord destroyed the cities of the plain, heremembered Abraham, and—sent Lot out from the midst of the overthrow.” Let Christians, therefore, have faith in one another. Let them believe that many as good as themselves are engaged in the Exhibition, and have devoutly sought for it the blessing of the Most High. Let others learn to do likewise. Instead of indulging in forebodings and prophecies which, being uttered, might fulfil themselves,they should rather exercise trust in Providence, indulge hope for the church and the world, and earnestly endeavour to serve both, by hearty, honest, and sincereintercessionfor all nations, and for all men,—that that God, who can make even “thewrathof man to praise him,” would educe praise and glory to Himself, and much that shall be productive of happiness to men, from what brings them togetherin peaceful intercourse, and reminds them of their common relation to himself. The “crisis” of the world occurred when there was a gathering of strangers and foreigners in one place;—they were brought together at the time of the crucifixion,—they were assembled again at the wonders of Pentecost,—and there can be no doubt that there was a designed coincidence on both occasions. God has sanctified the meeting of numbers, of “men of every nation under heaven,”—“Parthians and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judæa, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya, about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes, Cretes, and Arabians,”—God has sanctified a gatheringlike this to his own purposes,—to the establishment of his kingdom and the spread of his truth; and what he has done before he may do again; and hewilldo it, if Christians devoutly and earnestly seek it, by such a spirit of prayer, as, “loving all things, and believing all things, and hoping all things,” will crave at his hand a blessing for their brothers, and crave it so that it cannot be denied.
2nd. Invisitingthe Exhibition, there are many sentiments which Christians might indulge as means of impression or improvement to themselves. It is hardly necessary, after having gone through the foregoing argument, to press upon the reader the duty of seeing and remembering God in all that will be displayed of the riches of nature and the products of art. It is true, indeed, that it is to be the Exhibition of the Industryof the Nations,—that is, it is, in a manner, to reveal and magnifyMANby accumulating and displaying his wonderful works. But there is a way of doing this, that may be humble and religious, and there is a way of regarding and of looking upon it, which may minister much to the health and nourishment of thedivine life. To think highly of what manis, and to strengthen such thoughts by becoming familiar with what he hasdone, may only make us think more wisely and wonderfully of God, and more justly ofthe worth of the soul, and of the importance of salvation to that nature whose capacities would seem to be so mysterious and so vast! To think of man lying like a wreck on the outside of Eden, naked and ignorant, without a teacher and without tools,—his mind darkened, his spirit depressed,—with understanding, indeed, and impulses and instincts to help him in his first efforts at labour,—a whole world of raw material under his foot, the compass of the earth for the sphere of his achievements, his head and hand the instruments of action, but the one as yet without knowledge, and the other equally without skill! And then to think of what he has done! How that poor, solitary, naked man, beginning with some rude attempt at the cultivation of the earth and the collection of flocks,—seeking for himself and his dependent companion, the mere supply of their animal wants, clothing of the coarsest, unwoven and undressed,—with foodunprepared and unpalatable,—and shelter that might be furnished by a few trees or a hole in a rock! To think what he has becomesince then! How one generation has improved upon another, and how discovery and invention, and labour and skill, and industry and genius, have covered the earth with a succession of wonders; andthento think, how a sort of representative epitome of these is to stand before us in the marvellous contents of the last and greatest wonder of the world! That wonder will include specimen and proof of what man has done for himself and his dwelling-place, since he lay helpless on the margin of the earth, like a ship-wrecked mariner that had got to shore, but with the loss of all things. Guided and helped by the Divine power, but in a manner consistent with his intelligent nature, his free thought and personal agency, the mind of man was developed and enlarged, society formed, and arts and handicrafts, science and letters, rose and realized what history records, and what modern civilization so wonderfully represents. Rock and forest, earth and ocean, animated nature in all its forms, everything placed around and beneathhim, supplied materials which he learned to employ for his convenience and use. He covered the earth with towns and cities, erected temples, palaces, and pyramids,—subdued the most stubborn of the beasts of the field, tamed the most ferocious, outstripped the swiftest, and reduced the strongest to obedience and servitude. He clothed himself in skins, in fur, in flax, in silk and wool,—gradually improving as he went on, till fineness of fabric and elegance of design have become the property of the people at large. He decorated and adorned his private abode, and filled public buildings and public places with the creations of beauty and the triumphs of art. He has crossed the ocean and sounded its depths; he has penetrated the earth and drawn thence her concealed treasure; he has interrogated nature, and obtained, or forced from her, the most astonishing replies; he has soared into the heavens, has counted, weighed, and measured the stars; he can foretell events with certainty and precision—the appearance of a comet, or the occurrence of an eclipse; he has made fire and water, lightning and steam, to do his bidding,—to transmit his messages, transporthis property, carry himself, lighten his labour, and perform his work. He has given to sound sentiment and eloquence, and has made instruments of music that can subdue multitudes. Of all these achievements, and of a vast variety of other forms of skilfulness and power, the Great Exhibition will present the proofs, and exhibit them in their latest and most perfect development. And yet it is to be remarked, that with all it will do,it will leave the greatest and the most wonderful of the works of man uncollected and unseen. Mechanical industry has its many marvels,—art and science their miraculous results; but the highest form of the greatness of humanity is to be met with in books,—in the art that has given visibility to speech, and permanent endurance to thought and emotion,—and in the thoughts and emotions of gifted minds, which, in every age, and in all lands, have adorned the race by the researches of the intellect, the conflagrations of eloquence, and the sublimities of song. These things cannot be represented in the Palace of Industry; and yet these are the things that belong to the highestregions of the mind;—to powers and faculties that more than anything else illustrate the inherent greatness of man;—that lead him to the contemplation of the right, the divine, the beautiful and the good in action and character;—that render him capable of religious faith;—and that might make him a happy and virtuous intelligence if he were called to exist separate from the body,—without the feeling of physical necessities, without a surrounding material world, and without members to mould and fabricate, and work up anything whatever in the way of mere mechanical dexterity.
Now these thoughts, and a thousand others of a kindred sort, may all be indulged by a reflective man in visiting the Exhibition,—indulged devoutly, and turned to eminent spiritual advantage. Every thing that man is seen to have achieved,—every proof of his sagacity and power, his skill and performance—will only enhance, in a thoughtful soul, the impression of the wonderfulness of that nature which God originally made for himself, which sin has degraded, and which Christ has redeemed. The number of such proofs increasing the conceptionof the wonderfulness of the nature they so marvellously manifest, will render the fact of redemption credible,—increasing the probability that God should interpose to recover and restore it. And the great fact, that, after all that the grand pageant can do, and in spite of the splendour and magnificence of its contents, it will actually leave the most wonderful portion of the human mind unillustrated, and incapable of illustration,—why, this may well lead to the solemn remembrance of some of the most impressive of Scriptural truths. “What is a man profited, if he shallgain the whole worldand lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” “All flesh is as grass, andall the glory of manas the flower of grass; the grass withereth, the flower fadeth,but the word of the Lord endureth for ever; and this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.” “All these things shall be dissolved;” “the earth and all things that are therein shall be burned up,—but we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which dwelleth righteousness.” And still further, the fact of the exhibition of thehalf, merely, ofthe greatness of man by the works of his hands, (andthatthe lesser and lower portion,) may suggest the analogy that there is in this, with the manner of God’s discovery of himself. He, in his works, has revealed and illustrated his wisdom and power, goodness and beneficence, and, to the eye of reason, these are largely reflected there;—but the manifestation of hismoralattributes, his justice and love, compassion and mercy, is made to faith in the gospel of his Son; and however most men may be alive to the first, and blind or insensible to the second of these discoveries, there are beings in the universe who are intent on the higher exhibitions of God,—just as there are devout and meditative men who will gaze on the wonders of the Palace of Industry only to be reminded of the spiritual and immortal of human nature, which the edifice with its marvels will do little to illustrate! Heaven has its “fulness” as well as earth. That fulness is “the fulness of Christ;”—his sufferings on earth and the glory that is to follow. This is called “the unsearchable riches.” In the mystery of redemption are “hid,” or lie embodied, “all thetreasuresof wisdom and knowledge,”—the higher formsof God’s manifestation of himself to his creatures. “IntoTHESE THINGSthe angels desire to look.” And they do this in exact conformity with the Divine purpose in the revelation of himself in this the greatest of his works, for it was set forth, “TO THE INTENTthat unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places, might be made knownby the churchthe manifold wisdom of God.”
3rd. But British Christians have a great and solemn lesson to learn from the view that we have taken, in this discussion, of their language to the world. If it be so, that we profess as a nation, and utter openly in the hearing of all men,the truthsthat have been illustrated, then, also, ought it to be felt, that we lie under the most binding and imperative obligations to exemplifythe dutieswhich have been explained and enforced. It becomes us to cultivate the devout and practical recognition of God; to keep his Sabbaths; to wait upon him in worship; to approach him through Christ, that we may do so acceptably; to “live in the spirit,” that “we may not fulfil the lusts of the flesh;”“to walk in the spirit,” that our daily virtue may be divine holiness. It is well “to hold forth the word of truth,” and to witness for God, for the gospel, and for righteousness, in the sight of the nations; but it must be donepracticallyas well as by profession,—by conduct in harmony with the articles of our creed,—or our testimony will expose us to ridicule and rebuke, and may provoke by its mockery the vengeance of the Most High. Let England beware, that it do not itself, amidst the blaze and glory of the Great Exhibition, forget the truth and the lessons taught by it, that “the earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof.” Let it beware, “lest, being lifted up with pride, it fall into the condemnation of the devil.” It is a terrible thing not to give God the glory of our achievements;—“to sacrifice to our own net, and to burn incense to our own drag.” It was when the king’s heart was lifted up with pride, and when he said to himself, “Is not this Great Babylon that I have built,”—it was then that God smote him from on high, seared his intellect, and sent him to herd with unintelligent natures! England is first in thecommerce of the world; her “merchant princes” are the nobles of civilization; her markets and manufactures have decked her with beauty and made her great;—but it would be well for her to remember, that it was just such a country that, in ancient times, had her magnificence described with the greatest minuteness by God’s prophets, but described to illustrate the extent of her ingratitude, the aggravations of her sin, and the certainty and completeness of her predicted destruction. It was fearfully realized. The glory of Tyre was swept away, and her place became bare as the top of a rock, on which the fisherman might spread out his net to the sun! It might be well, too, to remember, that the prophetic description in the book of the Apocalypse, of the Babylon that is to fall in some yet future judgment of God, is the description of a commercial and maritime city, over which the merchants of the earth mourn and lament “because her judgment hath come, and no man buyeth her merchandise any more.” That these instances should neither be type nor prophecy of Britain, she must take care to walk by the light of her own creed—that“the earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof,”—and according to all the devotion and humility and practical righteousness that this would inculcate. It is well with a people when their garners are full and their flocks prolific;—when their sons are as plants grown up in their youth, and their daughters as polished marble columns; when there is no political convulsion in the land, and no complaining of poverty in their streets. “Happy is the people that is insucha case;” buthappierthey “whose God is the Lord.”
4th. Trusting that, as a people, we are not altogether inattentive to what has been described, let us learn, in conclusion, the value we should attachto the blessing of our characteristic and national Christianity. We do not mean, the forms or peculiarities of any church;—the secondary distinctions, that may have their importance, as the separate testimonies to a particular truth prominently held by different members of the Protestant family. We refer to ourevangelical Protestantismitself, which is substantially the same throughout our many sects, and which is held and taught, with more or less clearness, byall the influential Denominations in the land. To this, under God, we owe our free political constitution, our civil rights, and our religious liberty; to this we are indebted for the power we are at present exercising and using in the face of the world,—the power of throwing our metropolis open to the nations,—receiving them all, without passports, and with hardly a precaution, to our streets and squares, our court and senate, our families and our homes. We have no fear that our soldiers will be corrupted, or our population seduced;—we apprehend nothing of injury to our faith, or of temptation to our loyalty. Our press will be as free, our minds as unfettered, our comments on men and measures as outspoken, as if none were our daily audience but ourselves. To impress the moral of all this on the mind of the reader, and on our own, we might do it, perhaps, most effectively, by putting it in the form of a friendly address to a reflective foreigner, who might be looking with wonder on the phenomena around him. “Stranger,” we might say, “you have looked with surprise on our industry and commerce, our trade and manufactures; you have seen in our equipages thesigns of our wealth; and, in other ways, how opulence and comfort are diffused among our people; you have been impressed with the many proofs of our intelligence, and have wondered, perhaps, most of all, at the liberty we enjoy and the loyalty we cherish. You have seenA QUEENhonoured and beloved;—and her Royal Consort taking the lead, not in reviews of military pomp, or only in the parade of magnificent hospitalities; but in presiding over the displays of peaceful industry, and welcoming the representatives of science and art. You have seen the multitudes that crowd to our churches, and wondered at the comparative quiet of our sabbaths.Know, therefore, that for all this, and for far more that is unseen, we are indebtedto the glorious inheritance of our faith;—ouropen Bible, our conscientious inquiry, our habits of worship, and our religious instructors. We have much amongst us of which it becomes us to think with shame;—much of which it is impossible to speak but in moderated phrase, and even with tears;—but if there is anything that has raised thy admiration, or inflamed thy curiosity,—anything in our general reverence for law,in our political moderation, our civil order,—our respect for rank, combined with our individual consciousness of personal manhood; if there is anything that shows that our morals are not debased, or our manners frivolous, or our habits sordid, or our minds enslaved by the gross and the voluptuous,—carry away with thee the certainty and conviction, that everything that may be good about us as a people, we owe to our possession ofthatone Book,—to our mode of interpreting, and our constancy in teaching it,—which tells us to acknowledge,—and, by God’s blessing, helps us to act, however imperfectly, on the practical belief,—that despotism and priestcraft, anarchy and disorder, pride and oppression, vanity and selfishness, lawlessness and wrong, are all alike disobedience to God and injurious to his creatures,for ‘the earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.’”
POSTSCRIPT.
The first of May, eighteen hundred and fifty-one, was a day to be remembered to all time! On it the nations of the earth combined together to “make history,” in a manner they had never done before;—in one also, which, in its prominent peculiarity, can never be repeated. There may be similar Exhibitions in future periods of the world’s progress, butthe firstcan never be again. Even respecting those which may be imagined to occur, although they may be distinguished by new features and characteristics of their own, and though these may, in some respects, surpass those of the one now opened, they cannot be anticipated with that depth of interest, nor excite by theirinauguration those profound emotions, which preceded and distinguished the sublime event which has just taken place. The preceding pages were written in the prospect of that event, and were intended to appear before its occurrence. The author cannot regret, however, that circumstances interfered with the fulfilment of his purpose, since to this he is indebted for the opportunity of adding a supplementary section to his little work, commemorative of the grand and magnificent ceremonial of which he was privileged to be a spectator.
It is not the writer’s intention to attempt to describe the opening of the Exhibition, with all that minuteness of detail in respect to what occurred in the interior of the structure,—or with those stirring delineations of the bustle and excitement, the lines of carriages and congregated crowds, that imparted animation to the scene without,—which have already been furnished by the public prints. He merely wishes to note a few things which were interesting or suggestive to his own mind, and especially such as were felt to be in harmony with the spirit and object of the present volume.
It was his good fortune to obtain admittance into the Palace of Industry, on the memorable morning of the first of May, before the gates were opened to the public. He had traversed it frequently during the previous weeks, and had seen it in various stages of its progress. One morning, in March, he was there so early, that while walking along its galleries he observed that he was theonly visitorupon them at that moment. Few of the counters were then erected, hardly any of the articles unpacked;—the wide spaces and vast dimensions of the wonderful structure spread before him in clear and unobstructed perspective;—there was something, too, of solitariness in his position, though multitudes of workmen were occupied below, above, and around him;—the whole scene, from its simple magnitude, was inexpressibly sublime; it stirred within him thoughts and feelings which were not, indeed, “too deep for tears,” but which could only find utterance and relief in their indulgence; while, as he passed on, and for the first time saw the compartments of the different countries, and read the names of the various nations that were preparing to stand,side by side, in peaceful rivalry,—his emotions deepened to an intensity which it was difficult to bear, and which cannot be described! He was in the building, also, for some time, three days before the opening, and could then form some idea of what would be the number and variety of its contents; though so much, even at that late period, remained to be done, that he wondered how it would be possible for the preparations to be finished by the time appointed. As, however, he walked into the transept, when that time had come,—approached the centre,—and looked along the naves stretching to such an extent on either side,—it was not without a feeling of admiration and surprise, mingled with something of solemnity and awe, that he looked on the splendid and gorgeous spectacle that stood revealed in all its completeness!
The mere material scene was sublime when beheld by itself,—empty, and comparatively still; but much more impressive and affecting was it, when filled with its immense multitude of spectators. There was much that was stirring in the sight of the rush and inundation of the crowd, as it kept flowing in, in vast waves, atevery opening; and much that was impressive when the noise and murmur of its movements had subsided,—when all had found or had been forced into their places,—and when floor and gallery, and every part that the eye could reach, was seen to be occupied by human beings,—by an assembly larger than any that had ever, in England, been congregated before under one roof,—and by one that had met for an object, and under circumstances, unparalleled in the annals of the world!
Men see in all external events and objects, what the light that is in them reveals. Things are, to us, what we are to them. He that visits foreign countries, brings back according to what he takes. The same sight may be a very different thing to two different persons, in proportion as they may differ in knowledge, in opinion, in taste, in sympathies. The eye of a clown may look on a prospect that in some souls would produce rapture or occasion tears, with hardly more intelligence than that of the ox that he drives before him. The outside of things is open to all; their inner significance is revealed only to those who have an inner eye to read it;and even such significance may be differently interpreted according as the eye is influenced and affected by the degree of intelligence, the tendencies, and the tastes of the inward man to whom it belongs. It is quite possible that some may see nothing in the great Exhibition but an ordinary, though enormous, fancy bazaar; and that others saw nothing in the ceremonial of the opening but a state pageant, court dresses, and an immense crowd of men and women! It is quite possible, too, that some of the incidents of the day, which appeared to us touching in themselves, or pregnant with meaning, were indebted for this to the capricious activity of our own fancy, as well as to their inherent beauty or significance. But, however this may have been, there certainly were some things that we felt to be deeply interesting as they occurred, and remarkably suggestive as illustrating the character and tendencies of the event. We shall not attempt to recall all that struck us at the time; but a few words may not be amiss on what immediately bore, or appeared to us to bear, on some of the topics of this book.
On getting a sight of the catalogue of theExhibition,—which we did before entering the interior of the building,—we were gratified to find on the cover and the title-page: