PART III.

PROPHETIC.

THE ARGUMENT RECAPITULATED—THE RELIGIOUS ANTICIPATION OF THE

FUTURE ILLUSTRATED AND JUSTIFIED BY THE HOPES OF SOCIAL AND

POLITICAL PHILANTHROPY 88

UNIVERSAL THEISM 101

UNIVERSALITY OF CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 104

THE SCRIPTURES WILL PURIFY AND RESTORE THE CHURCH 112

UNIVERSAL VIRTUE 117

NATIONALITIES 123

PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS 128

POSTSCRIPT.

THE EXHIBITION OPENED 149

PART I.

EXPOSITORY.

PART I.

EXPOSITORY.

HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION, AND PLAN OF THE WORK.

On the night of the 10th of January, in the year 1838, the inhabitants of

London—those especially residing in the heart of the city—were alarmed by

a cry expressive or prophetic of calamity or peril.—THE ROYAL EXCHANGE

_was in flames_! Feelings and sentiments were excited by the occurrence

different from those produced by an ordinary conflagration. The Royal

Exchange was one of the great public buildings of the metropolis; it was

the third too which, within a very short period, had met with a similar

fate. It was not only the monument of individual munificence, the gift

to the city which he had adorned and served, of an eminent merchant,—a

man of talents, goodness, learning, and largeness of heart; it was the

central point in the British empire for the meeting of the men of all

nations; the palace of trade; the place of commercial congress; the hall

in which assembled from day to day the “merchant princes” of England,

and the representatives of the traffic and the wealth of the world.

The flames spread; the devouring element secured to itself the entire

edifice; it fed upon and consumed floor and roof, picture and statue,

destroying or defacing everything it touched, till the whole building was

reduced to ashes, and nothing remained of it but smouldering ruins.

In a little time a new edifice was projected, larger and more magnificent

than the former, and thus better fitted to meet the wants of the age, and

to indicate the progress and advancement of society. The first stone was

laid by the youthful husband of our young queen,—one might almost say the

young bridegroom of a royal bride,—and the building rose with comparative

rapidity, unfolding and embodying its great idea. As it approached

completion, and its front was to be adorned by some significant figures

or allegorical device, questions arose as to whether an inscription

should be placed there with them, and as to what that inscription should

be. The illustrious individual who had laid the first stone of the

structure suggested for that inscription a simple text from the English

Bible, “THE EARTH IS THE LORD’S, AND THE FULNESS THEREOF.” The suggestion

was adopted; it was carried into effect; and hence there may be read, on

the front of our Royal Exchange, and read in our land’s language,—but

addressed to all men; for they are addressed not only to the British

merchant, but to the representatives of every nation under heaven,—the

few plain words which have just been repeated,—

THE EARTH IS THE LORD’S, AND THE FULNESS THEREOF.

Words, however, these, which, while simple in appearance, are pregnant

and suggestive in the highest degree; for they are full to overflowing,

of great practical divine thoughts.

The suggestion of this inscription for the Royal Exchange was the

suggestion not only of sound judgment and good sense, but of piety,

humility, and religious faith. It attributes nothing to any individual;

it proclaims no national or municipal greatness; it breathes no

flattery to monarch, merchant, class, or kingdom:—it is simply a devout

recognition of Almighty God, “from whom, and by whom, and for whom are

all things:”—who created the world, and adorned and beautified it; who

covered it with verdure, made it fruitful, fills it with its various

products, and sustains it for the service of man. It is a great thing to

have this public recognition of the Most High made, as it were, every

hour of every day, from the very centre of all mundane and secular

activities;—it is a stirring recollection, that that very building,

thought by many to be the temple of Mammon, should stand forth as a

preacher and teacher on behalf of God; and, _still more so_, that its

English voice should be distinctly heard above the din and discord of its

many languages, perpetually proclaiming to its busy multitudes, and the

busy multitudes of the whole city, what, if practically pondered, would

cool avarice, prevent fraud, moderate ambition, inspire truth, dictate

justice, make every man feel as a brother to his fellow, and all nations,

ranks, and conditions of men, as the members of one vast and undivided

confraternity.

It is interesting to think that the same illustrious Prince who

suggested the inscription for the Royal Exchange, originated the idea

of the Exhibition of the industry of all nations. It is to the honour

of England, that the first time that the whole world, so to speak,

comes together for a peaceful purpose, the meeting takes place in the

British metropolis; and it is to the honour of the husband of England’s

Queen, not only that he should have been the father of _this_ thought,

but that by a previous one he should have attempted, as it were, to

sanctify industry, and trade, and commerce, and manufactures, by an

open recognition of the providence of God as the source of them all.

It is worth living for, to be, first, the occasion of a great central

commercial edifice, in one of the greatest cities of the world, bearing

on its front the record of the central truth of religion; and then,

secondly, to be the cause of the congregating together, in that city, of

men of all lands and of all languages, to look, among other things, upon

that edifice, and to observe the truth which the people it represents

have there publicly enthroned!

The writer of the following pages proposes, then, to unite in his

reflections the two things which, through the agency of the same mind,

are thus already united in fact—the INSCRIPTION on the Royal Exchange,

and THE EXHIBITION OF THE INDUSTRY OF ALL NATIONS. He intends, in the

first part, to point out and illustrate the great primary religious

truths which are involved in the announcement of the inscription itself.

As it, however, is the first verse of a psalm, he purposes, in the second

part, to look at it in connexion with the whole of the psalm, and at the

psalm in connexion with the whole of Revelation, and thus to bring out

and associate with the inscription additional ideas of both truth and

duty. Then, supposing the whole series of these truths and duties to be

earnestly adopted and practically exemplified by all nations—by England

herself, and by those to whom they will be virtually presented on their

meeting together in the British metropolis—it is proposed, in the last

part, to describe what, on such a supposition, would be the coming future

of Europe and of the world.

I.

_The Divine Existence and Personality._

The first idea suggested by the words of the inscription is the existence

of God: “_The earth is the Lord’s._” It is here assumed that there is a

God; and it is further assumed that God is a person. He is the possessor

and proprietor of the world: he has an existence distinct from it: he

is capable of looking upon it, and of regarding it as his own: “The

earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof; the _world, and they

that dwell therein_.” Not only is the material structure his, but the

living inhabitants; and not only those of inferior rank, but the Lord

and Master of them all. The same being that claims “the fowls of the

mountains, the wild beasts of the field and the forest, and the cattle

upon a thousand hills,” claims also to be the proprietor of _man_,

the source and sovereign of the intelligent universe;—“all souls are

mine.” God is not nature, nor nature God. God and the universe are not

one and the same thing. He is not a force, a power, a law; he is not

attraction, electricity, or any of the great active material agents,

or all of them put together: he is not necessity, chance, fate: he is

not a thing, nor the sum of things, but a person: he is a mind, with

faculties, affections, character, and is as distinct from the “earth” and

the “world” as a man is distinct from a house or a clock, or anything

whatever that he can call _his_.

The personality of God—his existence as an intelligent agent distinct

from the universe,—is destructive of all theories of atheism and

pantheism; of the philosophy which teaches that there is no God at all,

and of that which teaches that all things are God. The two systems,

indeed, are essentially one; they are alike opposed to the existence

of religion, and render faith and piety impossible. A principle is

proclaimed in the words before us,—words ceaselessly uttered, and uttered

to all men, from the commercial centre of this great city,—which repels

and repudiates a godless philosophy, in whatever form it may be held or

taught—by whatever name it may be indicated or concealed.

The truth thus referred to, the foundation truth of all religion, is

taught and illustrated in the Holy Scriptures in the most remarkable

manner. The Bible, indeed, seldom or never attempts to _prove_ that there

is a God; it rather assumes his existence, takes it for granted, proceeds

upon it as a necessary intuitional truth, and regards any one who would

pretend to deny it, either as “a fool” who is prompted to the denial by

his corrupt “heart;” or as a philosopher who has become “vain in his

reasonings,” and whose “understanding is darkened.” While, however, the

Bible starts with the acknowledgment of God, and proceeds throughout

on the recognition of his existence, it occasionally illustrates his

personality, supremacy, distinctness from the universe and correlative

truths, in a way which is at once adapted to confirm these views where

they are admitted,—to demonstrate them to those that doubt,—and to cover

with contempt idolaters or sophists by whom they may be denied.

Two or three scriptural passages may be quoted here, in support or

illustration of this statement. Let it be remembered then, that the

Scriptures always ascribe to God _personal_ attributes. He is “a God of

knowledge.” His “understanding is infinite.” He acts “according to the

council of his will.” He is “holy,” “just,” “good,” “pure;” He loves

and hates, observes and remembers, approves and condemns, punishes and

rewards. His personal omniscience, and consequent independence of all

other beings, is powerfully asserted by Isaiah:—“Who hath directed the

Spirit of the Lord, or being his counsellor hath taught _him_? With whom

took he counsel, and who instructed him, and taught him in the path

of judgment, and taught him knowledge, and showed to him the way of

understanding?” But the personality of God, and his distinct existence

from the universe, are sometimes united together in a very striking

way. He is referred to as the Creator—the source whence all things have

proceeded; and then, on the principle that _what there is in the effect

there must first have been in the cause, and must continue to be in an

existing cause_, his personal properties are argued from the fact that

such properties actually exist,—exist, that is, in men,—beings whom he

has made: “He that planted the ear, shall not _he_ hear? he that formed

the eye, shall not _he_ see? … he that teacheth man knowledge, shall not

_he_ know?” The same argument, in another form, is used by the apostle

Paul, when reasoning with the philosophers of Athens. Having referred

to God as the Creator of the world; as giving “to all life, and breath,

and all things;” and as “having made all nations of men that dwell on

the face of the earth;”—having illustrated his position by the saying

of one of their own poets,—“we are also his offspring,”—he proceeds to

argue thus:—“forasmuch then, as _we_ are the offspring of God, we ought

not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone,

graven by art and man’s device:” in other words, “seeing that _we_ have

thought, intelligence, and will,—that we have affections, consciousness,

personality,—and seeing that we are the creatures of God, and must have

derived from _him_ whatsoever we possess, it is absurd to think of him

as _im_personal, material, unintelligent, since he must certainly have

in himself what he has been able to confer.” There is great force in

this form of putting the truth as it is put both by the prophet and the

apostle. To ordinary common sense, it would seem to be demonstrative.

It appears so natural to infer that the great parent of _persons_ must

_be_ a person;—that the source of thought must be able to think;—that

the fountain whence flows to the intelligent universe, faculty and

affection, reason and will, must possess these in infinite plenitude in

itself;—it would appear so natural to reason thus, and so obvious, as

almost to render reference to it superfluous, were it not that it is

now fashionable to think of the universe as a mere machine, and God as

the central and pervading force, and that this machine, in the course

of its ceaseless and everlasting action, and in the process of its

varied movements from eternity, has happened, or contrived, to grind out

_thought_ along with other things, and to fill worlds with persons (or

what seem to be such) as well as with form and colour, and the different

objects of material existence! In reference to such a theory, we may

appropriately adopt the words of the psalmist, which stand in immediate

connexion with those already quoted. “Understand, ye brutish among the

people: and ye fools, when will ye be wise?—The Lord knoweth the thoughts

of man, that they are vanity.”

II.

_Creation._

But the words of the Inscription, read in connexion with the second

verse of the psalm from which it is taken, further illustrate the ideas

adverted to—God’s existence, personality, and distinction from the

universe—by placing the fact of his ownership of the earth, on the

previous fact of his having created it. “The earth is the Lord’s, and the

fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein. For _he hath

founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the floods_.”

God is thus distinctly recognised as the Creator of all things, and as

hence becoming, or being, their proprietor, by necessary consequence.

That the universe is a creation, in the most strict and literal sense

of the word, is the teaching of the Bible;—a truth which, while leading

to that of his universal proprietorship of the earth and the world,

as necessarily implies and strikingly illustrates his own distinct

independence and personality: “Through faith we understand that the

worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen

were not made of things which do appear.” The meaning of this statement

is, that visible objects—that is, the whole visible universe—did not

_originally_ spring out of visible materials. However long might be

the periods, during which the substance of the earth was undergoing

preparatory processes, previous to the appearance of its destined

inhabitant, there was a time when that substance was _not_. There was a

period when the Eternal lived alone,—when space was literally infinite,

except as filled and pervaded by _him_,—when nothing material anywhere

existed, by which any portion of space could be inclosed or limited. In

that mysterious solitude, God was as much a personality,—as much a mind

with thought and will,—as he is now. He could not then be confounded with

his works, for his works were not; and he ought not now to be confounded

with them because they _are_. It is possible to conceive of all the suns

and systems that exist, as being swept away into utter nothingness, and

yet to understand that God might continue in all the fulness of his being

and perfections. “In the beginning,”—at some period in the immeasurable

depths of the abyss of that eternity which is the dwelling-place of

Deity, God exerted the act of creation, and gave birth to what we call

matter, which, in the revolutions of ages, he framed and fashioned into

separate worlds. The Lord was, “_before_ his works of old.” He was “from

everlasting, _or ever the earth was_.” “When there were no depths,” he

existed;—“before the mountains and hills,—while as yet he hath not made

the earth, nor the fields, nor (even) the dust (or matter) of the world.”

This is the sublime and awful truth which the Scriptures teach as to the

primary relation of God to the universe, and on the ground of which they

ascribe to him successive acts of formative power,—often in language

highly figurative, but always meant to convey the idea of the exercise of

the wisdom, goodness, foresight, and similar attributes of a _personal_

agent in the Maker of the world.

“Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the

earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.”

“He prepared the heavens, he set a compass upon the face of the depth.

He established the clouds above, he strengthened the foundations of the

deep. He gave to the sea his decree, that the waters should not pass his

commandment.” “He stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and

hangeth the earth upon nothing.” He is “the great God that formed all

things.” “O Lord, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made

them all.” “The Lord by wisdom hath founded the earth, by understanding

hath he established the heavens. By his knowledge the depths are broken

up, and the clouds drop down dew.” “Of old thou hast laid the foundation

of the earth; and the heavens are the work of thy hands” “The sea is

his,—he made it; and his hands formed the dry land.” “Mine hand hath

laid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand hath spanned the

heavens.” “Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these

things, that bringeth out their host by number: he calleth them all by

names by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not

one faileth.” “Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand,

and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the

earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills

in a balance?” “_I_ have made the earth—the man and the beast that are

upon the ground, by my great power and by my out-stretched arm.” “Where

wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? Declare, if thou hast

understanding. Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who

laid the corner-stone thereof? Hast thou commanded the morning since thy

days; and caused the day-spring to know his place? Hast thou entered into

the springs of the sea? Hast thou perceived the breadth of the earth?

Where is the way where light dwelleth? And as for darkness, where is the

place thereof? Canst _thou_ bind the sweet influence of Pleiades, or

loose the bands of Orion? Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season,

or guide Arcturus with his sons? Who hath put wisdom into the inward

parts? or who hath given understanding to the heart?” “There is a spirit

in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding.”

God made “man in his own image.” He is “the Father of spirits.” “The

heavens declare his glory, and the firmament showeth his handiwork.”

“That which may be known of God is manifest” to men, “for God hath showed

it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the

world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made,

even his eternal power and Godhead;” so that men are “without excuse,”

if, knowing God, or not liking “to retain God in their knowledge,” they

“worship him not as God,” but, “professing themselves to be wise, become

fools,” changing “the truth of God into a lie.”

Such are some of the statements of Scripture respecting the creation

of the world and man. To admit these, it is not necessary to deny the

revelations of science as to the physical antiquity of the globe,

and the successive phenomena that distinguished the history of the

pre-adamite earth. There might have been then a wonderful series of

gradual developments, and various material and animal formations;—the

point to be kept in view is, that all these were _intelligently presided

over_ by the Author of nature; and that they all followed in obedience

to laws, which _he_ not only ordained, but _administered_. The “Crystal

Palace” is the embodiment of an idea conceived and perfected in a

personal intelligence. It has been constructed and reared by rule and

compass, measure and weight, and according to the suggestions of wisdom

and skill. All the variety of its extraordinary contents bear the impress

of thought and purpose, design and contrivance, faculty and power; but

no one confounds the work with the workmen, or imagines that the skill

impressed on the productions is something inherent in the productions

themselves, or that they have sprung, by necessity, from the impulse or

operation of unintelligent force! Any one who saw the apparently confused

and chaotic jumble of coarse packages and unarranged materials, as they

lay about the building, previous to being put into harmonious order,

could never have imagined that they had in themselves any tendency to

take the places and assume the appearances to which they were destined,

independently of the mind, the thought, plan, reason, and ability of

the person or persons by whom all was to be effected. Even if it had

been possible to conceive such a thing,—to conceive, namely, that they

should, without the immediate agency of hands, have gradually arranged

themselves into beautiful groups, and that _thus_ confusion was to be

succeeded by order,—this would only have been regarded as the result

of processes to which they had been subjected by human sagacity, and

as the proof of profounder and more wonderful contrivance on the part

of the presiding genius of the scene. Instead of tempting a thoughtful

observer to confound and identify the thing done with the actual doer,—or

to lose sight of him, and to attribute all to necessity or chance, or

to some mysterious appetencies in the things themselves,—it would only

have carried the idea of personality further back, and have augmented

his admiration of the attributes that distinguished it. In the same

way, adhering to the truth that the heavens and the earth are an actual

creation, then, whatever may have been the processes through which they

gradually passed till the whole fabric was developed and perfected,

_all was the work of a personal agent distinct from the actual universe

itself_, and all that was done was accomplished through the action

of those laws which he framed,—to which he subjected them,—which he

administered,—which the things did not originate,—which they could not

understand, and from which they could not escape. _He_—the living,

spiritual, personal God—was the Mover and Maker, the Designer and

Doer from first to last. In the same way, just as nothing can be more

completely a man’s own than that which is the product of his own skill,

when acting independently, and operating on his justly obtained material,

so nothing can be such a proof of the proprietorship of God in the

universe and its inhabitants, as that by him they were all alike “created

and made.” “The earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof; the world,

and they that dwell therein. _For he hath founded it upon the seas, and

hath established it upon the floods._”

III.

_Providence._

The idea suggested by the words of the inscription, of the “FULNESS”

of the earth belonging to God, deserves a distinct and specific

consideration.

By the “_fulness_” of the earth, we understand all that it contains of

raw material capable of being subjected to human skill, and all that

it produces, of whatever sort, animal or vegetable, for the service of

men,—for the sustenance of sentient nature,—for happiness, or glory and

beauty. By all this being God’s, by this “fulness of the earth” belonging

to _him_, we understand that it is to be attributed to him as its

Author; that he originally deposited, in the depths of the mountains and

the womb of the world, their mineral wealth; that he covered the earth

with verdure and fruitfulness, and filled the air, the sea, and the field

with their numerous inhabitants; that he established the laws by which

there should be a constant succession in all the varieties of animal and

vegetable nature; and that he so _superintends_ the whole arrangement,

and _personally_ administers these laws, that all that they produce may

be properly regarded as the _immediate_ product of his power and skill.

“Fulness,” so produced, is _his_, “_from_ whom and _by_ whom” it comes,

with scarcely less emphasis than if it was to be spoken into being in the

“twinkling of an eye,”—at the utterance of a single word, or by a sudden

act of omnipotent volition.

The inhabitants, then, of this great city are reminded every day, as they

look up at the front of their Royal Exchange, not only of the existence

and personality of God, and of his being the proprietor of all things,

but of his being _this_, by _his continued providence and government of

the world_, as well as by his having created it at first. It was God

that for ages wrought in secret, constructing the rocks and consolidating

the mountains, depositing the useful and precious metals, spreading the

coal-field, and preparing materials of every sort for future society.

It was he who commanded “the dry land to appear,” and the waters to be

gathered into seas: who covered the earth “with the grass of the field,

and with the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit;” who

fixed the sun in the heavens, and gave him to the world for cheerful

light and genial warmth; who “spread abroad the clouds,” and “caused

rain,” and established the laws of vegetable production: it was God

who caused the waters to be filled “with the moving creature that hath

life;” that caused “the fowl to fly above the earth in the open firmament

of heaven;” and that made “the beast of the earth after his kind, and

cattle, and everything that creepeth upon the earth;”—it was God that

gave to them the law “to increase and multiply, and to fill the earth;”

and then gave the earth to the children of men, and commanded them, too,

not only “to increase and multiply and to replenish the earth,” but “to

have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air,

and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping

thing that creepeth upon the earth.” It was God who “made of one blood

all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth,” and who,

as “the Most High, who ruleth over the children of men, and doeth as he

will with the inhabitants of the earth,” “separated the sons of Adam,

and divided to the nations their inheritance,” and “determined their

appointed times, and the bounds of their habitation.” It was God who

appropriated to different climes their diversified productions;—who hid

beneath the surface of various peoples mineral varieties;—who conferred

on the nations different talents and different tastes;—who made exchange

of productions a mutual want, necessity, or convenience;—and who thus

established the law of commercial intercourse. It was God that gave to

man improvable reason, so that he was not bound down to unintelligent

instinct in constructing his habitation or providing for his necessities,

but was empowered and intrusted with the inventive head and the skilful

hand; could become the accomplished and cunning artificer, so that out

of the raw material of the world he could call forth new appearances

and forms of things, and thus cover the earth with another creation! It

was God who appointed wood to swim, and water to flow, and fixed the

poles, and fashioned the loadstone, and gave the compass, and bound

the breast of the first mariners as with triple brass, that all the

wonders of navigation might ensue, and enterprise and discovery, and the

peaceful and profitable intercourse of nations. And it is God that still

presides over and governs all things; that gives spring and summer, and

winter and harvest; it is he who distils the influences of the heavens,

and perpetuates the fertility of the earth; it is he who gives annual

abundance, and causes all nations, the world over, to rejoice in what

comes to them as if it were a new and instant creation,—a gift and

gratuity dropped from the sky! It is God “that gives to man power to

get wealth,” and that confers on the nations their respective tastes

and distinctive genius,—their capacity for labour, or their love of the

beautiful, or their skilful handicraft, or their omnipotent enterprise,

or their gigantic achievements! It is God that thus makes them useful to

each other;—that binds them together from the very circumstance of their

separate gifts and their mutual necessities;—and that imparts to them an

interest in each other’s industry, from the different forms and uses that

it takes;—and it is he, we trust, who is bringing them together to the

GREAT EXHIBITION, so that, while they wonder at the result, the vastness

and the variety of their own doings, they may acknowledge _Him_, to whom

they are indebted for material and skill, time and capacity, life and

all things;—_whose_ they themselves are;—from whom cometh every good

and every perfect gift; and, as _whose property_, all that they possess

should be held and used. “The earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness

thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.”

The propriety of thus attributing everything to God, and of recognising

his providence in the laws of the world, the productions of the seasons,

the results of industry, the instruments of commerce, and even in the

adornments of civilization, and the allowable luxuries of elegance and

refinement, and also in the gifts of invention, subtlety, and mechanical

skill,—all this is so frequently taught or referred to in Scripture,

that a few appropriate illustrative passages may with great propriety be

inserted here.

The attentive reader will notice that the several quotations that follow

illustrate the most of the ideas that have been advanced, and that they

do this very much in the order in which they have been given. The first

passage, from the Book of Job, we give in the language of Mr. Goode’s

translation, as it expresses the sense of the original, with some

approach to scientific exactness.

“Surely there is a vein for the silver, and a bed for the gold which men

refine. Iron is dug up from the earth, and the rock poureth forth copper.

Man delveth into the region of darkness, and examineth to the utmost

limit the stones of darkness and death-shade: he breaketh up the veins

from the matrice, which, though nothing thought of under the foot, are

drawn forth, are brandished among mankind. The earth of itself poureth

forth bread, but below it windeth a fiery region. Sapphires are its

stones, and gold is its ground.”

The following sentences, while forming part of an argument respecting

moral and spiritual wisdom,—the fear of God and departure from evil,—are

remarkable as an enumeration of valuable substances, and are here quoted

simply as such.

“But where shall wisdom be found, and where is the place of

understanding? It cannot be “gotten for gold,” nor “silver;” it cannot be

valued with “the gold of Ophir,” “the precious onyx,” or “the sapphire;”

“gold” and “crystal” cannot equal it; nor “coral,” nor “pearls;” nor “the

topaz of Ethiopia;” for “the price of wisdom is above rubies.”

When we rise from the cavern and the mine, from noticing the precious

metals and precious stones, and look abroad on the surface of the earth,

or upwards to the sky, or over the great and wide sea, the Scripture

meets us with innumerable utterances of what, if we are wise, we shall

see there of the ever present, active, and beneficent God. “He causeth

the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man: that

he may bring forth food out of the earth; and wine that maketh glad

the heart of man, and oil to make his face to shine, and bread that

strengtheneth man’s heart.” “He sendeth the springs into the valleys,

which run among the hills. They give drink to every beast of the field:

the wild asses quench their thirst. By them shall the fowls of the

heaven have their habitation, that sing among the branches. He watereth

the hills from his chambers: the earth is filled with the fruit of his

works.” “The trees of the Lord are full of sap; the cedars of Lebanon

which he hath planted.” “Thou makest darkness and it is night, wherein

all the beasts of the forest do creep forth. The young lions roar after

their prey, and seek their meat from God.” “The earth is full of thy

riches: so is this great and wide sea, wherein are things creeping

innumerable, both small and great beasts. These wait all upon thee, that

thou mayest give them their meat in due season. That thou givest them

they gather: thou openest thine hand, they are filled with good. Thou

hidest thy face, they are troubled: thou takest away their breath,

they die, and return to their dust. Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they

are created: and thou renewest the face of the earth. The glory of the

Lord shall endure for ever; the Lord shall rejoice in his works.” He

is “the confidence of all the ends of the earth, and of them that are

afar off upon the sea.” He “by his strength setteth fast the mountains,

being girded with power:” He “stilleth the noise of the waves, and the

tumult of the people.” “Thou makest the outgoings of the morning and of

the evening to rejoice. Thou visitest the earth and waterest it: thou

greatly enrichest it with the river of God, which is full of water: thou

preparest them corn, when thou hast so provided for it. Thou waterest the

ridges thereof abundantly: thou settlest the furrows thereof: thou makest

it soft with showers: thou blessest the springing thereof. Thou crownest

the year with thy goodness; and thy paths drop fatness. They drop upon

the pastures of the wilderness: and the little hills rejoice on every

side. The pastures are clothed with flocks; the valleys also are covered

over with corn; they shout for joy, they also sing.”

In the following passages, the various powers and capacities of humanity,

as displayed in agriculture and art, are represented as Divine gifts.

The farmer and mechanic, the designer and manufacturer, the engraver and

draftsman, the worker in metals, in wood, stone, and in every sort of raw

material, all accomplish their several operations in virtue of ability

which God confers. “Give ye ear, and hear my voice; hearken, and hear my

speech. Doth the ploughman plough all day to sow? Doth he open and break

the clods of his ground? When he hath made plain the face thereof, doth

he not cast abroad the fitches, and scatter the cummin, and cast in the

principal wheat and the appointed barley and the rye in their place? For

GOD _doth instruct him to discretion, and doth teach him_. This also

cometh forth from the Lord of hosts, which is wonderful in council, and

excellent in working.” “And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, See, I

have called by name Bezaleel, the son of Uri;—and I have filled him with

the Spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge,

and in all manner of workmanship, to devise cunning works, to work in

gold, and in silver, and in brass, and in cutting of stones, and to set

them, and in carving of timber, to work in all manner of workmanship.

And I, behold, I have given with him Aholiab, the son of Ahisamach;—and,

in the hearts of _all that are wise-hearted_ I have put wisdom, that

they may make all that I have commanded thee.” And Hiram, king of

Tyre, sent also to Solomon “a cunning man, endued with prudence and

understanding,—skilful to work in gold, and silver, in brass, in iron, in

stone, in timber, in purple, in blue, and in fine linen, and in crimson;

also to grave any manner of engraving, and to find out every device that

might be put to him.”

The next quotations illustrate commercial intercourse, the dependence

of nation on nation, trade by sea, and the importation of natural

curiosities, as well as of valuable products and useful material, with

other kindred matters. “The Lord gave Solomon wisdom,—and there was peace

between Hiram and Solomon; and they two made a league together:” and

Solomon wrote to Hiram, “Thou knowest that there is not among us any

that can skill to hew timber like the Sidonians. Now, therefore, let thy

servants hew me cedar-trees out of Lebanon, and unto thee will I give

hire for thy servants, according to all that thou shalt appoint.” And

Hiram sent to Solomon, saying, “I have considered the things which thou

sentest to me for: and I will do all thy desire, concerning timber of

cedar, and concerning timber of fir. My servants shall bring them down

from Lebanon to the sea; and I will convey them by sea in floats, to the

place that thou shalt appoint me, and will cause them to be discharged

there, and thou shalt receive them: and thou shalt accomplish my desire

in giving food for my household. So Hiram gave Solomon cedar-trees and

fir-trees; and Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand measures of wheat for

food to his household, and twenty measures of pure oil.”

And Solomon “went to Ezion-geber, and to Eloth, at the sea-side, in the

land of Edom. And Hiram sent him by the hands of his servants ships,

and servants _that had knowledge of the sea_; and they went with the

servants of Solomon to Ophir, and took thence four hundred and fifty

talents of gold and brought it to king Solomon:” “and once every three

years came the ships of Tarshish bringing gold, and silver, and ivory,

and apes, and peacocks.” The 27th chapter of Ezekiel is one of the

most extraordinary descriptions that is anywhere to be met with, of

the exchange of commodities and the intercourse of nations by means of

commerce. The different productions of various peoples and climes are

enumerated; the “fulness” of all lands is represented as flowing into the

markets of Tyre,—brought there by the ships and sailors of every maritime

nation;—while Tyre itself is spoken of as the nurse of mariners and the

mistress of the sea,—her beauty and abundance radiant and wonderful,—and

her merchant princes as the lords of the world. All this may breed

luxury, foster pride, promote corruption, and lead ultimately to national

degradation and decay: but this is not the _necessary_ effect of

abundance, nor does it forbid us to refer riches, prosperity, commerce,

manufactures, and everything else that adorns life, to the beneficence

of God. “The earth is the Lord’s, and _the fulness thereof_.” HE pours

down, year by year, the riches of the skies,—calls up the treasures of

the earth, spreads abroad the abundance of the seas,—adds to the value of

many of his gifts what they derive from the labour, skill, and ingenuity

of man,—and excites the nations to exchange and trade, that each country

may share in the joy and the productions of all. In this way it comes to

pass, that _the whole race_, in relation to _the entire world_, might be

addressed in the language of Moses to the chosen people when he described

the land promised to their fathers. “The Lord thy God bringeth thee into

a good land; a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that

spring out of valleys and hills: a land of wheat, and barley, and vines,

and fig-trees, and pomegranates; a land of olive-oil and honey; a land

wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack

anything in it; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou

mayest dig brass.” “Blessed of the Lord be his land, for the precious

things of heaven, for the dew, and for the deep that coucheth beneath,

and for the precious fruits brought forth by the sun, and for the

precious things put forth by the moon, and for the chief things of the

ancient mountains, and for the precious things of the lasting hills, and

for the precious things of _the earth_ AND FULNESS THEREOF, and for the

good will of Him that dwelt in the bush.” “He made Jacob to ride on the

high places of the earth, that he might eat the increase of the fields;

and he made him to suck honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty

rock; butter of kine and milk of sheep, with fat of lambs, and rams of

the breed of Bashan, and goats, with the fat of kidneys of wheat; and he

drank the pure blood of the grape.”

Unusual as some of these expressions are, especially those of a

figurative character, they may be taken to indicate the intention of

Providence to bless the obedient in “the life that now is,” as well as

in relation to that “which is to come.” “God giveth us all things richly

to enjoy;” if faith and piety, love and obedience, pervaded the race,

everything that adorns and beautifies existence might be delighted in

and used without injury. By free and universal commercial intercourse,

the abundance and blessings of favoured regions may become the common

property of all. There may thus be established throughout all nations,

an equality of privilege, each sharing in the productions of the rest.

With such views, we may appropriately conclude the present chapter by the

following passages, weaving them into a song for the entire race:

“The earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof;

The world, and they that dwell therein.”

“The Lord is good to all:

And his tender mercies are over all his works.

The eyes of all wait upon him;

And he giveth them their meat in due season.

He openeth his hand,

And satisfieth the desire of every living thing.

_My mouth shall speak the praise of the Lord_:

AND LET ALL FLESH BLESS HIS HOLY NAME, FOR EVER AND EVER.”

PART II.

INFERENTIAL.

PART II.

INFERENTIAL.

So far we have been employed in elucidating the principles which are

involved in the terms of the inscription—which is enthroned in the

front of the Royal Exchange,—THE EARTH IS THE LORD’S, AND THE FULNESS

THEREOF. These words, taken alone, distinctly recognise the existence

of God, Creation, and Providence. They express, or imply, through their

own inherent and independent force, the acknowledgment of these great

primary truths. In the course of our remarks, we have glanced at one

or two of the clauses of the psalm immediately succeeding the words of

the inscription; rather, however, as illustrative of the extent of its

significance, than as bringing to it any additional thought. We now

propose to take the acknowledgment, “The earth is the Lord’s, and the

fulness thereof,” in connexion _with the whole psalm of which it is the

commencement, and the psalm itself in connexion with the whole revelation

of which it is a part_; and thus to bring out those additional forms

of both truth and duty, which the _scriptural_ recognition of God’s

existence and government, and his general relations to the world and man,

may come to suggest to a devout and reflective Christian observer.

I.

_Worship._

Immediately after the assertion of God’s proprietorship of the world

and man, the psalmist inquires, “Who shall ascend into the hill of the

Lord? or who shall stand in his holy place?” Language this, which refers

to the locality and the uses of the temple, as the appointed place of

Divine service. The existence of God and the obligation to worship him,

would seem to be associated by an indissoluble necessity. The two ideas,

indeed, mutually involve and illustrate each other. Admit the Divine

existence; it is felt to extend downwards into the domain of human duty,

and to suggest and enforce the obligation of worship: admit the reality

of the religious instinct, and mark its universal and irrepressible

force,—it swells upwards and amounts to a proof of the existence of

God. The Divine Being has not only set his glory above the heavens,

and spoken of himself by the myriads of voices that are perpetually

issuing from the earth and the sky; he has not only stamped his image

and superscription on the personal and intellectual attributes of the

race; but he has provided an unimpeachable witness for himself, in the

religious constitution of human nature. If there is one thing more than

another which forms the peculiar distinction of man, and which places

him in secluded and solitary grandeur apart from all the tribes of

sentient existence by which he is surrounded, it is his possession and

consciousness of a religious capacity. It may show itself in grotesque

or disgusting forms,—it may blunder in its search, and babble in its

utterances,—it may even become ferocious and malignant in its character;

but _there_ it is, _in_ man, and in him alone, manifested everywhere,

active always, forming a palpable and _impassable_ distinction between

his nature and that of all other creatures. The lower animals have

senses and appetites similar to his; they can see and hear—they hunger

and thirst; in many of them, indeed, some of the things that he and they

possess in common, exist in greater acuteness and perfection in _them_

than they do in him; while others make approaches to thought and reason,

memory and will, affection and passion; but none of them share with him

the capacity to adore,—none of them can pray,—none but he can entertain

the conception of an invisible power,—engage in individual, or unite in

acts of social, devotion. It is the prerogative of man to be able to

say either, “Our Father,” or “I believe.” Even if it were admitted that

specimens of humanity have been found, or could be produced, utterly

destitute of the religious capacity, and with nothing about them, when

they gaze on the universe, beyond the vacant stare of unintelligent

natures; and even if it were further asserted and acknowledged, that

it was utterly impossible to awaken in them a sense or perception of

anything Divine,—yet it would be found that _their children_ could be

taught to comprehend and feel religious ideas,—that _they_ had within

them the spiritual capacity,—from which it would be evident that _their

fathers had originally possessed it too_. The religious instinct, then,

or susceptibility, or faculty, or whatever it may be called, is inherent

in human nature—divides and distinguishes it from all else in the wide

world, though it may express itself in the grossnesses of superstition

and idolatry, or may have sunk into dormancy in extraordinary cases; but

neither old, nor young, of all the tribes of the inferior races,—the most

sagacious or the most domesticated,—can be found to display, or be taught

to comprehend, religion at all!

It is a simple fact, then, beyond all question, that humanity possesses

this distinguishing attribute. All things beneath and around him seem to

be made for man; but he is the subject of a strong, active, predominating

impulse, that appears like a consciousness, on his own part, that _he_

is made for something else. This impulse finds utterance and embodiment

in religious ideas and religious service. Now, it would be a strange

anomaly in a world like this, in which every faculty of every creature

finds its corresponding and appropriate object,—in which wing and hoof,

scent and speed, eye and ear, hand and horn, powers and passions,

appetites and attributes of all sorts, are fitted exactly to something

that seems to be made for _them_, or for which _they_ are made,—it would

be a strange thing, that the only exception to this law, should be in the

Lord and Master of the world himself!—and that it should occur, too, just

in that one faculty that at once distinguishes and dignifies him more

than any other! The existence and actings of the religious instinct in

man thus constitute a proof of the existence of God, just as the admitted

existence of God involves the obligation to religion in man. The tendency

in humanity “to feel after God if haply it may find him,”—and to _have_

something it may call God,—whether it succeed in finding him or not,—is

demonstrative of a Divine objective reality answerable to itself, in the

same way as the half-formed wings of a bird in the shell are proof of the

existence of an external atmosphere, and of the ultimate destiny of the

bird itself.

It is worth observing, too, that this duty of worship, which results from

the truth professed in the acknowledgment that “the earth is the Lord’s,

and the fulness thereof,” like the other things already mentioned,

involves or illustrates the Divine _personality_. Worship, at the very

least, is adoration and gratitude,—the utterance, generally in words,

of thought and affection towards the Supreme Nature, as the subject of

high attributes and the source of universal good;—exercises these, that

can have no meaning, if that nature has no consciousness of its own

perfections, and no knowledge of the language addressed to it. For man

“to ascend into the hill of the Lord, and to stand and worship in his

holy place,” He, to whom he approaches, must be a personal intelligence.

Worship is the communion of mind with mind,—not only the sympathy of

worshipper with worshipper, but the communion of each and of all with

the worshipped. There can be no communion or sympathy with _a force_;—no

intelligent adoration of a law; no affections can be warmed and excited,

and drawn forth in psalm and song, towards a mere senseless physical

power,—an unintelligent, mechanical necessity! Without a personal God,

everything like worship is a mockery and a lie; the whole service is

nothing but a masquerade. If worship could be conceived to be honestly

attempted in connexion with the denial of God’s personal existence, it

would be an attempt on the part of the worshippers to produce subjective

states of mind by the conscious temporary assumption of a falsehood,

and the employment upon themselves of a system of direct deception and

imposture. The thing is impossible,—or impossible to be continued. There

must either be the admission of a personal God as the object of worship,

or worship itself will soon cease. _Our_ belief and persuasion as a

people are recorded in the front of our Royal Exchange. We may adapt to

the fact the beautiful words of the Book of Proverbs: “Wisdom crieth

_without_; she uttereth her voice _in the streets_. She crieth _in the

chief place of concourse_; in the CITY she uttereth her words, saying,

‘THE EARTH IS THE LORD’S, AND THE FULNESS THEREOF.’” And this publicly

recorded persuasion,—this proclamation of our faith in the ears of all

men, and our meaning it for the proclamation of the common and universal

faith of humanity,—_this_ involves in it the corresponding duty,—the duty

of _worshipping_ Him who is acknowledged as God,—the God of the whole

earth,—and the duty of “_all_ that dwell therein.” “O thou that hearest

prayer, _unto thee shall all flesh come_.” “The Lord reigneth, _let the

earth rejoice_; let the multitude of isles be glad thereof.” “Sing unto

the Lord a new song, sing unto the Lord, _all the earth_.” “Make a joyful

noise unto the Lord, _all ye lands_. Serve the Lord with gladness: come

before his presence with singing. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving,

and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his

name.” “Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his

wonderful works to _the children of men_.” “Praise the Lord, _all ye

nations_; praise him, _all ye people_. For his merciful kindness is great

toward us: and the truth of the Lord endureth for ever. PRAISE YE THE

LORD.”

II.

_Character._

What stands next to the idea of worship, is a description of the moral

character of the worshippers. “Who shall ascend into the hill of the

Lord? or who shall stand in his holy place?” “_He that hath clean

hands and a pure heart: who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity,

nor sworn deceitfully._” This description is very brief, but it is

very comprehensive. Each clause may be considered as representing a

distinct and large department of duty; and the whole, taken together,

as demanding or enforcing universal virtue. “_Clean hands_” stand as

a figure for all outward and visible excellence. Every thing that the

man _does_, is done in consistency with the rule of rectitude. He is

a just, equitable, fair-dealing man. Confidence may be placed in his

honour and uprightness, his incorruptible integrity, his contempt

of meanness, and intolerance of wrong. Everything that belongs to

a sound, solid, practical worth,—a pure, and even a fastidious,

virtue,—a virtue beyond doubt or suspicion,—may be supposed to attach

to the man who is said, by emphasis, to have “clean hands.” “_Not to

swear deceitfully_,”—whatever may be its precise shade of meaning

in the psalm,—may fairly be interpreted, in a discussion like this,

as standing for honest and sincere speech, and as the type of the

virtuous use of the tongue. It excludes from the idea of the character,

deceit and falsehood, concealment and equivocation, with everything

approaching to the _designed_ conveyance of a wrong impression by word

or look. In buying and selling, in barter or bargain, in converse or

correspondence,—in respect to whatever business he transacts, and in

relation to every medium for thought—there is supposed to be, in the man

before us, scrupulous propriety of language,—the utmost transparency of

meaning and purpose. He is simple, straightforward, without the shadow

of deceit or guile. Then, “_a pure heart_,” in addition to habitual

“cleanness of hands,” and the maintenance of entire integrity of tongue,

is intended to express, the co-existence of an upright _inward_ life,

with the outward appearances of practical goodness. It would not only

imply, however, the harmony of a man’s thoughts with his words,—and the

correctness of the motives of his visible acts,—it would include in it,

in its scriptural import, the government of the passions,—the control

of the imagination,—sincerity and depth of religious feeling;—every

thing not only chaste but devout, the whole soul liberated from gross

and corrupting affections,—free from the drag and degradation of the

flesh,—and fairly detached from the adhesions of earth, in all senses

in which they would imply bondage to the sensual or the secular. “_Not

to lift up the soul unto vanity_,” is intended to express the freedom

of the man from idol-worship. The “vanities” of the heathen were the

idols or deities whom the heathen adored; to whom they “lifted up their

souls,”—or, in other words, to whom they rendered religious reverence,

and before whom they appeared in worship. “Cleanness of hands,” then,

“sincerity of speech,” “purity of heart,” with all that they include, in

their seminal comprehensiveness, of outward and inward practical virtue,

are thus connected with regard to _the true God_. The man has not only

both morality and religion, but his religion is of the right kind. It is

as proper as to its object, as it is sincere in itself. The man neither

worships idols _as_ Gods,—nor idols _with_ God,—nor God _through_ idols.

“He has not lifted up his soul unto vanity.” He has not been seduced by

the sun in his splendour, nor by the moon in her brightness; he has not

“kissed his hand,” nor “offered sacrifices,” to “the queen of heaven:” he

has not “bowed his knee to the image of Baal,” nor “fallen down to the

stock of a tree.” The language descriptive of his feeling and practice

would be that of David in relation to himself,—“Unto THEE, O Lord, do _I

lift up my soul_.”

It is easy to see, how this demand of character in his worshippers adds

to the proof of the personality of God. Worship of any kind, to have any

meaning, implies personality;—but the demand for worshippers of a certain

sort, implies, along with this, the possession, by Him whom they are to

approach and please, of personal properties the same in kind with those

of the worshippers. Where there is virtue, there must be thought;—where

there are moral attributes, there must be personal intelligence;

and where there is the necessity for these, as a pre-requisite for

worship,—the Being worshipped must be supposed to be distinguished by

moral attributes as well as by intelligence, as thus, only, could he

properly appreciate, or consistently demand, them. A God may be imagined

to be _better_ than his worshippers,—he cannot rationally be supposed

to be worse. To have a perception of goodness, and a sympathy with the

good, and to permit none but the latter to stand before him, or to come

into his presence, God must not only be a person, but one whose _own_

character, must _itself_ be pre-eminently distinguished by goodness.

It may be worth observing, that moral ideas associated with worship,

operate in more ways than one. They take a direction both upwards and

downwards, each action illustrating the other. The character regarded

with complacency in the worshippers, indicates that of the God they

worship;—the character associated with the God they worship, moulds and

fashions that of the worshippers. The deities of a people will naturally

influence their moral notions and their moral behaviour. The object

of worship becomes the standard of virtue;—men will imitate what they

are taught to adore. If there be _no_ God, there need be no worship;—if

worship is rendered to unintelligent force, it can be of no consequence,

so far as _it_ is concerned, what the moral character of the worshippers

is;—if the God be conceived of as sensual or malignant, lascivious or

bloody, his image may be expected to be mirrored in his worshippers;—but

if in all that approach him, he peremptorily demands “clean hands” and

“a pure heart,”—with all that these include of universal virtue,—he

must of necessity be considered to be holy Himself, while the habitual

worship of such a being must be regarded as conducive to holiness in his

servants. These latter ideas are precisely those which the Biblical idea

of Deity illustrates. He is always described, in the loftiest terms, as

invested with every attribute of excellence; as infinitely removed from

evil; as looking on the good with delight; as permitting such only to

approach him; as bidding the bad far from his presence; as detecting and

denouncing hypocrisy and formality; and as exposing the uselessness of

ritual acts and external observances taken by themselves, and insisting

on an inward and earnest sympathy with his own love of the holy and the

pure.

In consistency with the course which more than once we have already

followed, we shall here introduce a series of passages from the Holy

Scriptures illustrative of the statements which have just been made.

“The holy one of Israel.” “He is the Rock, his work is perfect;—a God of

truth, and without iniquity; just and right is he.” “The Lord is in his

holy temple;”—“worship him in the beauty of holiness.” “For the righteous

Lord loveth righteousness; his countenance doth behold the upright.”

“Unto the wicked God saith, What hast thou to do to declare my statutes,

or that thou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth?—Thou thoughtest

that I was altogether such an one as thyself: but I will reprove thee and

set them (thy doings) in order before thine eyes.” “Thou art not a God

that hast pleasure in wickedness; neither shall evil dwell with thee.”

“Confounded be all they that serve graven images, that boast themselves

of idols. For thou Lord art high above all the earth; thou art exalted

far above all gods. Ye that love the Lord, hate evil. Rejoice in the

Lord ye righteous, and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness.”

“This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth,—but their heart is

far from me;” “Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, seek ye me, and ye

shall live;—seek good and not evil, that ye may live.” “Hate the evil

and love the good, and establish judgment in the gate that ye may live.”

“To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me?” “When ye

come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread

my courts? Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto

me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot

away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting.” “When ye spread

forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many

prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood. Wash you, make

you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease

to do evil; learn to do well.” “Judge me, O Lord, for I have walked in

mine integrity. Examine me, prove me, try my reins and my heart. I have

not sat with vain persons, neither will I go in with dissemblers. I have

hated the congregation of evil doers; and will not sit with the wicked.

I will wash mine hands in innocency, and so will I compass thine altar,

O Lord.” “Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? who shall dwell in

thy holy hill? He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and

speaketh the truth in his heart. He that backbiteth not with his tongue,

nor doeth evil to his neighbour, nor taketh up a reproach against his

neighbour. In whose eyes a vile person is contemned, but he honoureth

them that fear the Lord. He that sweareth to his own hurt and changeth

not. He that putteth not out his money to usury, nor taketh reward

against the innocent. He that doeth these things shall never be moved.”

III.

_Christ._

These representations lead to the consideration of a third and last

thing, which is essential to the complete illustration of the subject.

“THE EARTH IS THE LORD’S, AND THE FULNESS THEREOF.” There is a God;

God is to be worshipped; none but the good can acceptably worship him.

So far all is plain. But men are not good. Throughout the race there

is a consciousness to the contrary. In spite of the operation of many

amiable instincts, and in spite of a large amount of passable virtue,

it is quite understood that there is a terrible mass of iniquity in the

world;—that there are the grossnesses of brutal lust, and the refinements

of a fastidious licentiousness;—that there are falsehood, and fraud, and

lying, and theft,—all the modes of open or secret dishonesty by which

men attempt, or contrive, to overreach each other;—that there is the

stupid animalism of rural ignorance, and the arts, and appliances, and

accomplishments of crime, that abound in the recesses of great cities;—it

is well known that corruption and depravity, in all these forms, have

made terrible havoc in all lands; and, what is still more to the

purpose, that among the classes the freest from crime, there is so much

moral defect, and so many things having the character of sin,—so much,

especially, of the want of religious faith, and of indifference to God,

if not of conscious and positive enmity against him,—so much, in fact,

of what constitutes the _opposite_ of all that must be meant by the term

“holiness,” and of what is demanded in those who can calmly “ascend into

the hill of the Lord,” and acceptably “stand in his holy place;” that

it would almost seem, on the admission of the statements and principles

advanced, as if the worship of God must be given up as hopeless, in a

world like this, from the utter impossibility of finding a sufficient

number to make up for him an assembly of fitting worshippers.

There is a difference between worship considered as _the habitual

service of the good_,—the appearing before God of those of “clean hands”

and “pure hearts,” who are living in moral sympathy with him,—and

_the approach to his footstool_, in shame and tears, _of the guilty

and the penitent_. It is the worship and character of _the former

class_ that are contemplated in the description of the psalm before

us; which description, with the demand involved in it, to be fully and

theologically understood, must be looked at in connexion with the entire

service of the Hebrew Institute, and the whole teaching of the sacred

volume. If a holy God can only be approached by holy worshippers,—and

that, too, in a world of which holiness is _not_ the natural and

characteristic attribute,—it is very obvious, that he must either remain

without ever being worshipped at all, or some mode must exist by which

the inhabitants of such a world may _be made_ holy. Now this is just the

thing which the Jewish dispensation illustrated by a figure, and which

the Christian redemption is given to the world to _realize_ in fact.

The Jewish dispensation approached men, in the first instance, as

sinful and polluted, and it established a system adapted to their

necessities. It set up its altar,—prescribed its sacrifices,—appointed

its institutions,—consecrated its priesthood;—had its days of atonement,

and its ark of propitiation,—its paschal lamb, and its burnt offering,

and its scape-goat, and its sprinkling of blood;—with everything else

that could either significantly presuppose sin, or point to the necessity

and the mode of its removal. The Hebrew worshipper, in appearing before

God, was first required to come into contact with the sacrifice and

the priest;—he confessed offence, acknowledged his just exposure to

punishment, brought his propitiation, and _then_, being purified from his

ceremonial transgressions and the consequent disqualifications he had

contracted, by this appointed method of approach to God, he was regarded

as in a state of fitness for his worship, and could thus draw nigh as an

accepted worshipper.

Now, there was a moral meaning in this ritual arrangement. It was

intended to teach that, as ceremonial impurity needed to be removed in

order to acceptable outward service,—so, spiritual guilt needed to be

removed in order to acceptable _spiritual_ worship. When the psalm before

us, therefore, or any other, expatiates on the virtues and excellences

of the man who is permitted “to ascend into the hill of the Lord,” or

allowed “to stand in his holy place,” it is always implied, that he has

come to the attainment of the character described, by a process of pardon

and of purification through the previous exercise of the Divine mercy.

But, it is to be remarked, that the Levitical Institute, while so fully

set forth and impressively taught the two great truths of the sinfulness

of man, and the necessity for some Divinely appointed mode both for his

reconciliation with God and the renewal or sanctification of his nature,

did not reveal, completely and explicitly, what that mode was, or what it

was to be. It dimly foreshadowed it;—it indicated the principle on which

it would proceed, and the parts of which it would consist;—but it did

this by type and symbol,—anticipating, in a picture, the substance and

reality that were one day to be revealed. It was very evident, from the

Hebrew Institute, considered as a Divine and intelligible appointment,

that men were to learn from it that their approach to God was to be

marked by solemn and affecting peculiarities. They were distinctly taught

that they needed to be redeemed, reconciled, pardoned, purified, in order

that they might be able to rejoice at the remembrance of God’s holiness,

or to appear before him as acceptable worshippers; and they were further

taught, that in order to this,—that is, to their attainment of pardon

and its attendant advantages,—it was incumbent that atonement should

be made by sacrifice, and that the priest should pass into the Divine

presence with the blood of the victim, to bring thence, and through it,

the blessings needed by sinful humanity.

St. Paul tells us, in the Epistle to the Hebrews, that the Levitical

Institute taught this, and that it was _intended_ to teach it; that

is, that it taught what it was that humanity _needed_. But he tells

us more than that; he tells us that it _also_ taught that this thing

that was so needed, and so wished for, _was not yet revealed_, that it

was not provided by the Institute itself, in its own altar, victim, or

priesthood,—and would not be manifested _so long as itself stood_; or, at

least, that the coming of it, as it would be the fulfilment of what the

Institute foreshadowed or foretold, would be the signal and means of its

dissolution and departure. By the fact of sacrifice, and the sprinkling

of blood, and the washings and purifications of their own ceremonial,

the apostle says it was evidently taught, that there existed a necessity

for the removal of sin and the cleansing of the conscience; but then,

by the _repetition_ of the sacrifices, the annual return of the day of

atonement, and the mysterious darkness of the holy of holies,—excluded

from sight by the awful veil, and permitted to be approached only once

a year, and that only by one individual,—by all this, he says, it was

_equally_ taught, that Judaism did not accomplish for man, _what it

informed him needed to be done_. The first covenant had ordinances of

divine service,—a sanctuary—a veil—the tabernacle which is the holiest of

all. Now, into this, the high priest alone went, “once every year, not

without blood, which he offered for himself and for the errors of the

people. THE HOLY GHOST THIS SIGNIFYING, that the way into the holiest of

all was not made manifest, while the first tabernacle was yet standing:

which was a figure for the time then present, in which were offered

both gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service

perfect _as pertaining to the conscience_: which stood only in meats

and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them

_until the time of reformation_.”

Now, this typical and temporary character sustained by the Jewish

Institute,—this parabolic and preparatory office which it had to

fulfil,—this suggesting merely, or setting forth in a figure, of

the wants of humanity and of the _principle_ which must pervade,

underlie, and distinguish the provision that must meet them,—this

prophetic announcement that priest and sacrifice were yet _future_,

but were certain to come,—all this, while it shows the importance of

attending to the connexion between the Old and the New Testaments,

and of mutually interpreting each by the other, gives, of necessity,

to the more spiritual portions of the Hebrew records a far-stretching

and comprehensive meaning, which can only be understood by looking

at it in the light of the Christian revelation. “_Coming events_

cast their shadows _before_.” The whole of the fabric and furniture

of the tabernacle were constructed and arranged upon this principle.

This principle was recognised and embodied in the utterances of the

prophets;—it often pervaded the entire texture, or appeared in parts, of

one or other of _the psalms and songs of the ancient church_. In looking

at the intention and significancy of Judaism, we should imagine ourselves

gazing on the floor of the temple and the front of the veil,—observing

them covered with flickering shadows falling from objects which are

unseen. There they lie,—the distinct outlines of thing and person,—the

_shadows_ of substances which are existing somewhere, but which only,

as yet, give notice that they are, by this insubstantial intimation of

themselves. In the holy of holies, there is the mysterious light of the

glory of God seated between the cherubims;—between that and the hanging

veil and the sacred floor, _some one must be standing_, whom, as yet, we

see not,—for his shadow can be discerned on the veil itself, and even

on the floor, as we mark minutely the appearances before us of light

and shade. _Some one is preparing to appear_, and to be revealed, and

manifested, in whose hands will be found the substance of those other

objects whose shadows seem to be lying around us!—The approaching events

are thus prophetically announced by these dim outlines; and, while they

are being so, voices are heard from the great congregation, uttering _an

equally prophetic song_,—celebrating the glories of what they _see_, but

doing it in language which only finds its intended significance when

applied to and associated with what they see _not_.

On this principle it is, then, that we have prophetic psalms;—psalms

that are termed Messianic, from their referring to the Messiah, and

anticipating his appearance, his sufferings and death, his resurrection

and ascension, his kingdom and glory. Some of these refer, in their

primary application, to other individuals and to mundane events;—they

express the feelings and anticipations of the writers in relation to

themselves, and they describe matters of immediate concern or recent

occurrence; but they do this in language that admits of a deeper meaning

and a larger range;—the import of which they that employed it might not

know, and which _we_ only learn from the New Testament expositors of

the Hebrew text. When Jesus “opened the understandings of the apostles,

that they might understand the Scriptures;” and when he condescended

to show them the true meaning of their ancient books, he expounded to

them, it is said, “What was written in the law, in the prophets, and

in THE PSALMS concerning _himself_.” The evangelists and the apostles,

in their future writings for the instruction and use of the Christian

church, used this knowledge, or similar knowledge from the same source;

and thus it is, that we find quotations from so many of the psalms,—some

in the Gospels, some in the Acts, others in the Epistles of Peter and

Paul. From one psalm the apostle takes the expression of man being made

“a little lower than the angels,” to express the fact of Christ’s coming

in the flesh, with the objects and results of it;—that “_he_ was made a

little lower than the angels _for the suffering of death_, that he might

taste death for every man.” From another psalm, he applies language still

stronger, to the same purpose. “Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest

not, _but a body hast thou prepared me_: lo! I come to do thy will, O

God.” The apostle’s comment upon this is very remarkable. Having quoted

the passage, he proceeds to reason upon it after this manner:—When

he says, “Sacrifice and offering, which are offered by the law, thou

wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein, and then says, ‘Lo! I

come to do thy will;’ he takes away the first that he may establish

the second.” That is, he removes and puts aside _the mere symbols_ of

the preparatory dispensation, which were inefficient and typical, and

reveals _the reality_, which they were meant to announce, and which they

prophetically foreshadowed. _That reality_ was the Divine “will” in its

ultimate object, namely, “The offering of the body of Christ” “once

for all,” “through the eternal Spirit,” “without spot;” _by the which

offering_, we are saved and sanctified;—for it can do that _for the

heart and conscience_ which the others only showed to be necessary by

what they did “_for the purifying of the flesh_.” From another psalm may

be collected the physical circumstances of the crucifixion,—the “cruel

mockings,” the “piercing of the hands and the feet,” the “parting of the

garments and casting lots;” together with the anticipated mysterious

utterances of the great sufferer, in his “bloody sweat,” and his mighty

anguish! In another psalm, we find the resurrection;—the soul of Messiah

is “not left in Hades,” the place of the dead, nor does “his body” in the

grave, “see corruption;” and in other psalms, we find the foreshadowing

of _subsequent_ events:—his ascension into heaven; his official position,

and mediatorial glories and functions, there; with much that relates to

the corresponding effect of all this on earth:—“Thou art my Son, this day

have I begotten thee”:—“The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right

hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool.” “The Lord hath sworn,

and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever, after the order of

Melchisedek.” “The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take

counsel together, against the Lord, and against his anointed:—Yet have

I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.” “THOU HAST ASCENDED ON HIGH,

_thou hast led captivity captive_: thou hast received gifts for men; yea,

for the rebellious also, that the Lord God might dwell among them.” Now,

this latter passage is to be particularly observed. It is a passage taken

from one of the psalms,—a psalm sung at the removal of the ark, like the

twenty-fourth, and which, like it, is taken up in the celebration of

battle and war, victory and conquest. It is to be noticed, then, that

the passage just quoted, is applied by the apostle Paul, in the Epistle

to the Ephesians, _to the ascension of Christ_, and is connected by him

with the work which he came from heaven to accomplish, and the blessings

which he returned to heaven to dispense. “Unto every one of us is given

grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Wherefore he

saith, _When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave

gifts unto men_. (Now that he ascended, what is it but that he descended

first into the lower parts of the earth? He that descended, is the same

also as he that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill

all things). And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some,

evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the

saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of

Christ: till we all come, in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge

of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of

the fulness of Christ.”

These last remarks will have revealed the drift of this long discussion,

and will enable us now rapidly to bring it to a close. By “reasoning out

of the Scriptures,” we have shown how the Levitical dispensation was, in

its rites and usages, preparatory and prophetic of something to come;—by

distinct passages from the Book of Psalms, as quoted and explained in

the New Testament, we have shown how the hymns of the ancient church

anticipated, by their recondite and profounder meaning, the same things

that were foreshadowed in the ritual;—and, in the concluding remarks on

this point, we have shown, how the apostle illustrates _the ascension of

Messiah, after successful battle and war_—returning from conquest and

crowned with victory—_by referring to the words of a Hebrew Psalm_. In

the same way, then, we think ourselves entitled to connect the 24th Psalm

with the mission of the Messiah, and to consider that the close of it,

if not an intended prophecy of his ascension, is yet capable of being

regarded _as illustrative of it_; and that it should suggest therefore

the propriety of adding to whatever truths of a general nature the

first verses of the psalm may embody, the specific peculiarities of the

Christian revelation,—that revelation to which all previous discoveries

were preparatory, and without which they cannot be complete. There is an

emphatic sense, in which CHRIST is “the King of glory;” in which he is

to be regarded as having being engaged in mortal combat,—contending with

the enemy of God and man,—overcoming him in a way as mysterious as it was

successful—by yielding himself to be “bruised for our iniquities,” and

“stricken for our sins;” and that, “after having by himself purged our

sins,”—after having, in the nature he had assumed, “presented himself

an offering and a sacrifice,” that we might obtain “eternal redemption

through his blood,”—he rose again from the dead, proclaiming his triumph

over sin and Satan, by showing that it was “not possible for him to be

holden” of Death; and further, that “he ascended up on high,”—entered

into heaven, whose “everlasting gates” opened to receive him, as one who

was “leading captivity captive,” and who came to ask and “to receive

gifts for men.” All this we are warranted in connecting with the ideas

which have already passed before us, of the supremacy of God, the duty

of worship and the character of his worshippers, and of finding in it

the evangelical element in which such ideas need to be baptized. God

is; God is to be worshipped; God is holy; _they_ must be holy who

habitually approach him;—but “all have sinned and come short of the

glory of God:” “every mouth must be stopped, for the whole world is

guilty before Him.” “WHO, then, shall ascend into the hill of the Lord,

or who shall stand in his holy place?”—They, certainly, who have “clean

hands” and “a pure heart,” but—who have _first_ “made a covenant with God

_by sacrifice_;”—who have accepted _Him_, whom he hath “set forth as a

propitiation,” and “whose blood cleanseth from all sin;”—who, as sinners,

draw nigh in _his_ name, who is “the Way, the Truth, and the Life,” and

without whom “no man cometh unto the Father;”—they who, believing in Him

“who died, rose again, and continues to live,” and “who hath ascended

up on high that he might fill all things,” have “received out of his

fulness even grace for grace”;—have obtained the pardon of actual sin,

and have received the gift of the sanctifying Spirit which the Redeemer

is emphatically exalted to bestow;—they who, by the subjective operation

of the truth, are “washed, and justified, and sanctified, in the name

of the Lord Jesus and by the spirit of our God;” and who know, by

experience, that “the grace of God which bringeth salvation, teaching

them, that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, they should live

soberly, righteously, and godly in the world.” “_This_ is the generation

of them that seek him, that seek thy face O God of Jacob.” “These receive

the blessing from the Lord, and righteousness from the God of their

salvation.” “They that do these things, shall never be moved.”

In this way, then, by taking the first verse of the psalm before us,

which constitutes the inscription on the Royal Exchange, and looking at

it in connexion with the whole composition of which it is a part, and by

looking at that, also, in connexion with the religious institution it

belonged to, and the entire revelation of both Testaments, as gradually

developing the great system of mercy and mediation,—in this way, we

are taught to associate with _the general truths of an elementary

Theism_,—which is all that at first appear to be proclaimed,—_the

specific truths of an Evangelical Christianity_. “The earth is the

Lord’s, and the fulness thereof;”—this simple declaration of the primary

principle of all religion, when placed in the light emanating from the

whole constellation of discoveries which surround it in the Jewish and

Christian Scriptures, is seen to involve in it, not only the existence,

the government, and the worship, of a personal God, but the reality and

the functions, the work and the presidency, of a personal Redeemer. They

that “ascend into the hill of the Lord, and that stand with acceptance

in his holy place,” must _be_ holy because God is holy; but it were

terrible to make this demand upon humanity, which is altogether deformed

and dislocated, and that manifests everywhere, when it thinks of God,

that its next thought is that God is _against_ it,—it were terrible,

we say, to make this demand, _if there came not along with it, the

proclamation of the offer, and the announcement of the Divine method, of

forgiveness_,—the “reconciliation” effected by him who triumphed over sin

by the death of the cross, and who ascended up on high in the might of

his achievement, to be at once the medium of our access to God, and the

Divine Distributor of the blessings of his salvation. Men, as men—that

is, as sinners—are to believe the gospel, and to accept of Christ, that,

by faith and repentance, spiritually “entering into the holiest of all,

through the way he has consecrated for them by his blood,” they may be

constituted the church; and then, _being_ the church,—that is, sinful

men justified and sanctified _through him_,—they are “to bring forth the

fruits of the spirit” in their lives, and habitually to worship “in the

beauty of holiness.” The virtue that we demand in the worshippers of God,

under the rule of the Christian dispensation, is the virtue that flows

from religious faith; that faith being, the exercise of trust in the

redemption of the gospel. To have “clean hands” and “a pure heart,”—to be

sincere and upright in lip and life—we exact of _all men_ as their daily

duty; but in order to possess these in a proper manner, so that they

shall be vital, Christian holiness, and not a superficial and secular

virtue, there is a _previous_ duty which behoves to be attended to,—the

submission of the mind to the faith of Christ,—penitent approach to an

offended God through the one divinely-appointed Mediator, “in whom we

have redemption, through his blood, the forgiveness of sins according to

the riches of his grace.” Being “made partakers of the Divine nature,”

through the influence of the quickening and sanctifying Spirit, they will

then not only have “their fruit unto holiness,” and cultivate, from the

force of a necessary law, and as impelled by a regal and irrepressible

instinct, “_whatsoever things are just, and whatsoever things are pure,

and whatsoever things are true, and whatsoever things are lovely and

of good report_,” but they will be a part of “the priesthood of God,”

endowed and consecrated by an unction from himself, that, in the various

acts and exercises of the Church, they may constantly offer up “spiritual

sacrifices acceptable to him by Jesus Christ.” These engagements, again,

will re-act on their personal character, and have a constant tendency

to advance and elevate it, and help their attainment of a practical

perfection. In this way, men, _first_ “having obtained like precious

faith” with the Apostles, “in the righteousness of God, and of our Lord

and Saviour Jesus Christ;” will be divinely taught the secret of a real

and accumulative excellence. “Having escaped from the corruption that

is in the world through lust,” they will “give all diligence to add to

their faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge, and to knowledge temperance,

and to temperance patience, and to patience godliness, and to godliness

brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness charity.”

An intelligent adherent of the Scriptural, Protestant, and Evangelical

faith of the living Christianity of this realm of England, associates all

we have endeavoured to illustrate in the whole of our discussion with the

simple inscription on the Royal Exchange. It is a text from the Bible.

It recognises the Divine authority of the book; and the recognition of

that authority in one of its sayings, carries with it the admission of

the whole of its utterances. “The earth is the Lord’s and the fulness

thereof.” The association of this, in a devout mind, is easy and natural

with the exaltation and glory of the Redeemer of the world, whose last

words when he left it were, “All power is given unto me in heaven and

in earth,” and who, upon this, based the command which he gave to the

Apostles, “Go ye, therefore, into all the world, and preach the Gospel to

every creature.” The government of the earth is in the hands of Christ;

it is mediatorial; it is not only that of goodness and beneficence, but

it is that also of revealed mercy. God “will have all men to be saved,

and to come unto the knowledge of the truth,” for his son “gave himself

a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.” There is _another_

“fulness,” besides that of the teeming earth, and the annual redundance

and prodigality of nature. There is “_The fulness of Christ,—the fulness

of him who filleth all in all_;” the complete development of “his body

the Church;” and the full-orbed display of his perfections and glory,

when “to him every knee shall bow of things in heaven and things in

earth; and every tongue shall confess that _he_ is Lord, to the glory

of God the Father.” All this, the thoughtful observer associates with

the sentence that daily meets the eyes of the citizens of this great

metropolis. All this is being ceaselessly uttered in the hearing of the

assembled congress of nations;—it is held up in the sight of the many

and multitudinous representatives of the various tribes and peoples of

the earth! _What would be the future of Europe and the world_,—moral,

political, social, and religious,—_if England and its visitors alike

learnt, and fully carried out, all that is involved in what the one is

proclaiming in the ears of the others_?

In the succeeding pages of this book, we shall endeavour to reply to this

question.

PART III.

PROPHETIC.

PART III.

PROPHETIC.

THE ARGUMENT RECAPITULATED—THE RELIGIOUS ANTICIPATION OF THE FUTURE

ILLUSTRATED AND JUSTIFIED BY THE HOPES OF SOCIAL AND POLITICAL

PHILANTHROPY.

We began this book by referring to the circumstance, that the same

illustrious individual who originated the idea of “the Great Exhibition,”

and who has done so much to extend and realize it, suggested as an

inscription for the Royal Exchange, a single sentence from our English

Bible—“_The earth is the Lord’s and the fulness thereof._” It is the

first verse of the 24th Psalm. The suggestion was adopted;—and hence, on

the front of the building referred to,—in very plain letters,—rather

rude if any thing,—without adornment,—or figure or flourish of any

sort—but conspicuous and legible, in our own homely, honest, Saxon

tongue, stands, open to all the world, the public proclamation of our

faith as a people—“The earth is the Lord’s and the fulness thereof.” It

stands there, on the front of the edifice, which is the commercial centre

of this great city,—the place of meeting for the men of different lands

and of many languages, who, as the representatives of every clime and

country upon earth, constitute, daily, a sort of typical gathering of all

nations,—men connected with the “_industry_,” by being connected with the

trade and traffic, of the world.

We proposed to put the two things together,—the inscription on the

Exchange, with the anticipated gathering in the Palace of Industry,—and

to consider the first as announcing to the second certain great truths,

and these again as involving universal duties; and we further proposed

to consider, in conclusion, what would be the result, to Europe and

the world, if, by ourselves and our many visitors, with the aggregate

of nationalities whom they will represent, these truths were all to be

acknowledged, and the duties resulting from them were all to be done.

We then proceeded—taking in connexion with the first verse of the

psalm, which constitutes the inscription on the Exchange, the entire

sacred composition of which it is a part,—and viewing _that_, too,

in connexion with the whole volume of Divine Revelation to which it

belongs—we proceeded, on this principle, to develope and illustrate

the truths and the duties to which we referred. Thus expounded, we

found the confession, that “the earth is the Lord’s and the fulness

thereof,” to include the following things. It involved, in the first

place, _the existence of God_;—the acknowledgment of this,—and the

acknowledgment of it in connexion with the idea of _personality_. In the

second place, it involved God’s proprietorship of the world and man,

and the recognition of this as carrying with it the acknowledgment of

his being _the Creator_, since, immediately after the statement that

“the earth is the Lord’s and the fulness thereof,” the Psalm goes on

to say, “the world, and _they that dwell therein;—for he hath founded

it upon the seas and established it upon the floods_.” In the third

place, we educed from the confession that the “_fulness_” of the earth

is God’s, the doctrine of _Providence_, including in that, the original

disposition of materials for the service of man in the construction

of the globe,—the whole arrangement of things, animate and inanimate,

on its surface,—the establishment of all the laws of production,—the

continual _administration_ of these laws, by God’s personal supremacy

and presidency over nature,—the gifts which he confers, on nations

and individuals, of contrivance and skill, taste and genius,—with

whatever else belongs to the constant communication of good, and the

progressive advance and improvement of society. All these ideas were

largely illustrated by various striking passages of Scripture; and the

acknowledgment of the truths of _Creation_ and _Providence_, were both

shown to involve in them further evidence of the previous truth of the

Divine personality.