We next advanced to some additional ideas of both truth and duty,

which the acknowledgment of all this involved,—especially as this

acknowledgment was illustrated by the whole psalm that was supposed

to be before us, and as _that_ was illustrated by the whole scheme of

Divine discovery developed in the Bible, and the connexion between the

Jewish and Christian revelations. We found the following things to be

thus brought out. In the first place, the duty of _worship_:—this was

suggested by the question, which immediately follows the acknowledgment

of God, of creation, providence, and the Divine proprietorship of the

earth and the world,—“Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord,

who shall stand in his holy place?” Next, there was the answer to

this question, which involved the obligation of _universal virtue_ in

God’s worshippers—that is, upon all men, since _all_ men are alike

bound to worship him: “He that hath clean hands and a pure heart;

who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully.”

This was expounded as a demand for inward and outward purity—purity

of soul, lip, and life—in all who habitually approached God in the

solemnities of worship. But this demand for universal virtue in

_each_ worshipper,—associated with the obligation of _all_ men to

worship,—viewed in connexion with the general consciousness of defect and

sin, and the proof and prevalence of ungodliness in the world,—led, in

the third place, to the discussion of the great question—_how humanity

was to come to the attainment of that character, which was essential to

the fulfilment of its religious obligations_? To be in a proper moral

and spiritual state for the discharge of habitual, acceptable worship,

considered as a duty, we found, by a process of scriptural reasoning, to

involve _another_ and _a previous_ duty; that, namely, _of accepting the

gospel as a system of mercy, and of submitting to Christ as the Redeemer

of the world_. We argued this, from looking at the lessons taught by the

principle that pervaded the appointments of the Jewish ritual, and the

prophetic bearing on the promised Messiah, of some of the hymns used

by the people in the Hebrew worship. We showed how the whole of the

ancient Institute taught the necessity of atonement and sacrifice,—pardon

through a propitiation, and purity and holiness as divine effects; we

saw how it intimated that it did not _itself_ provide these, but, by

typical rites, significant ceremonies, and prophetic songs, anticipated

their coming in “the fulness of time,” when they should be procured

and dispensed by one who was regarded as the hope and “the desire of

all nations.” Without positively saying that the latter part of the

twenty-fourth psalm was a distinct and _intended_ prophecy of Christ,

we showed, from the language of those psalms that are so, as quoted and

expounded in the New Testament, that it might consistently be regarded

as _illustrative_ of Christ—of his return in triumph to the heavenly

world, when, after having “overcome the sharpness of death,” “he ascended

up on high, to receive gifts for men, even for the rebellious, that the

Lord God might dwell among them,” and that _they_ might become the holy

and spiritual “priesthood” of God. In this way, we endeavoured to show

how an intelligent Christian might associate with the first verse of

the twenty-fourth psalm, all the scriptural revelations respecting HIM,

who, in the _Te Deum_,—one of the noblest of ancient Christian hymns,—is

invoked in language borrowed from the close of it: “_Thou art_ THE KING

OF GLORY, _O Christ!_” and that thus, the simple words on our Exchange,

which at first sight appear to announce only the general principles of

Theism, would come to utter in the ear of instructed reason and enlarged

faith, the specific truths of an Evangelical Christianity. It thus comes

to pass, that we are taught ourselves, by the inscription referred to,

and shall teach the nations to whom we exhibit it, that, for men “to

ascend into the hill of the Lord, and habitually to worship in his holy

place;” appearing there in “the beauty of holiness,” and everywhere

exemplifying universal virtue; they must _first_ come to him as sinners,

through Christ, and that, then, being cleansed from their sins, by being

“washed, justified, and sanctified, in the name of the Lord Jesus and

by the spirit of our God,” they can constitute a holy, _worshipping_

Church; and with “clean hands,” and “pure hearts,” offer up “spiritual

sacrifices,” fragrant and acceptable to Him whom they approach,—such

approach, again, ever re-acting on their further attainment of personal

righteousness.

It now only remains for us to conclude and complete our originally

projected course of observation, by setting forth what would be the

future condition of the nations, _supposing that all the world learned

and practised the truths and duties which have thus been enumerated_.

It is not unnatural to look at the subject in this way. Philosophers, and

politicians, and social economists, are all regarding the great event

which is just at hand,[1] as constituting the beginning of a new era and

of better times; and as embodying in itself something like a prophecy of

a brightened and improved future for the nations. For the first time in

the history of the world, there is to be a flowing of the peoples of all

lands to one spot. They are not summoned together by blast of trumpet;

they come not inflamed by mutual animosities, nor with souls bent on

conquest and carnage. Nor do they come for the purpose of witnessing

games and tourneys,—feats of strength or speed,—the rude contests of

muscular athletæ,—the skill of charioteers,—the sanguinary spectacle

of gladiatorial shows,—or the combat of plumed knights, with their

glittering armour and gallant bearing, their caparisoned steeds and gay

attendants, making war look like a holiday entertainment. The gathering

of the nations about to be held is to be altogether of another sort. The

crowds that move to it, are not to move as a thunderbolt or a whirlwind,

carrying in their course havock and desolation; they are to bring with

them, in their tranquil march, the useful products of their respective

countries, and the bloodless trophies of their industry and their skill.

These are to be all collected and arranged in one great and extraordinary

edifice, where they are to enter into a sort of peaceful contest and

amicable rivalry, while the people themselves of every region are to

mingle together, and to look on, and to observe, and compare, and wonder,

and rejoice:—and it is expected to come to pass, that however unable the

most of them may be to understand the spoken languages of the rest, all

will be able to read and to interpret what will be written everywhere

on the whole scene, and to comprehend the import of the common voice

that shall seem to be issuing from the objects around them. The products

of the different regions of the earth will recognise each other as

belonging to one and the same world; the multitudes of things that will

illustrate the achievements of skill and industry, though constructed

or fabricated by the hands of men of many languages, will have among

themselves a common dialect—a language of their own—but which all the

different national workers shall alike understand. Everything will

speak of oneness, brotherhood,—the same nature, the same faculties, the

same Father,—the folly and wickedness of men _not_ “living together in

unity,”—of their degrading powers that are so wonderful, and so prolific

of wonders, and desolating a world which they have such vast ability to

beautify and adorn! From such a lesson it is hoped and expected that the

crowds will disperse wiser and better,—more loving and more fraternal;

and that a basis will be laid for such future peaceful and profitable

intercourse, as shall render war an utter impossibility. It may be

supposed, also, that the approaching event will only prove the first of

a long series of similar exhibitions, which shall successively occur in

all coming time, and which shall take place in different cities of Europe

and America, till at length they may be fixed in some distant region of

those lands that witnessed the birth or were honoured by being the cradle

of the race, or in those which are at present the nurseries of nations

as yet without a name. The whole thing, to some minds, is thus shaping

itself into a prophetic type of a new aspect of the civilized world.

But it is easy to see, that this prophecy is one which includes many

others; for it could not be fulfilled, to the extent of its grand and

comprehensive meaning, without a variety and number of important social

and political changes being supposed as the necessary conditions of such

a spectacle in _other_ lands, as that which is possible and prepared for

in our own.

We are merely adding then, to the calculations of philosophy, the higher

thoughts suggested by the principles of our national faith, when we take

the truths included in that faith, and, supposing them to be received by

the nations of the earth, as we have drawn them out from the words that

are enthroned in the midst of our city and in the sight of all men,

proceed to inquire what would be the result of their being universally

learned and embraced, and the duties they impose being universally

obeyed. The inscription on the Exchange, if appropriate for _it_, is

appropriate for the Palace of Industry too.[2] It is a glorious thing to

think that we are living at such a time as this, and are about to witness

such a festival as that projected by the Consort of our Sovereign;—not

the banquet of a vain and idolatrous voluptuary, making “a feast for a

thousand of his lords,” ready to desecrate what is sacred to religion,

and to pour out libations of wine and strong drink, that “he and his

princes, his wives, and his concubines, may lift up themselves against

the God of heaven,” blaspheming his name and abusing his gifts, and

“praising the gods of gold and of silver, of brass and of iron, of wood

and of stone;”—it is not this, or we might expect the appearance of a

mysterious hand, once more, with its “MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN,” to

pronounce the doom of a voluptuous court and a devoted country;—it is not

this, but a vast banquet for the eye and the intellect, the heart and

the reason;—and one, too, projected on such a principle of recognising

in all things the dominion of Him “who liveth for ever and ever,”—and

“who ruleth alike over the hosts of heaven and the inhabitants of the

earth,”—“in whose hand our breath is, and whose are all our ways,”—and

“_from whom cometh_ the gold and the silver, the brass, the iron, the

wood and the stone;” the fruits of the earth and the abundance of

the seas;—with every power and faculty of man—ability to accomplish

and capacity to enjoy;—the whole thing so proceeds, we trust, on the

acknowledgment of Him,—that, instead of a vision to strike terror and to

scatter in confusion, we should rather imagine that we see written,—in

radiant letters, by the hand of love and not of vengeance, to kindle

devotion and strengthen faith,—on the crystal walls of the Palace of

Industry, giving a glory to all its contents—“THE EARTH IS THE LORD’S,

AND THE FULNESS THEREOF;—THE WORLD, AND THEY THAT DWELL THEREIN.”

Supposing this, then, to become the creed of the world, enlarged and

illustrated by Christian associations, and for all its personal and

practical lessons to be fully carried out, let us see what would be the

condition of human society.

[1] These pages were written previous to the opening of the “Exhibition,”

and refer to it as approaching. They do not appear quite so soon as it

was once hoped they would have done, but it has been thought best to

retain their original form of expression.

[2] Since this was written, the Author has been gratified by learning

that Prince Albert has selected the words, with the addition of the

second clause of the verse, for the English motto on the cover of the

_Catalogue_ of the Exhibition. It is taken, however, from the Prayer-book

translation of the Psalms, instead of from that of the authorized

version. The sense is the same, although the phraseology is slightly

varied. The words are, “_The earth is the Lord’s, and all that therein

is: the compass of the world, and they that dwell therein._”

I.

_Universal Theism._

In the first place, there would be, everywhere,—in all lands and

in all hearts,—the belief and acknowledgment of the one living and

true God. All doubt, denial, and error, respecting this cardinal and

central truth, would have passed away. There would be no Atheism,—the

rejection and repudiation of a personal God; no Pantheism,—which is only

Atheism under another name; no Scepticism,—professed uncertainty as

to whether there is really a God or not; and no Polytheism—the belief

of a mere rabble of divinities. All these forms of thought would cease

and determine, and give place to the universal admission of the great

fact of the Divine existence. No human being would be to be found, who

could look over the earth with all its wonders, and survey the heaven

with its sun and stars,—and see no proof or probability in either,

of the existence anywhere of a being or a personality _greater_ than

himself! This is the amount of the Atheistic creed,—if creed it can be

called, that consists only in denials and negations. The universe is _a

thing_,—wonderful indeed, but nothing more,—having no consciousness, no

capacity for voluntary action, nothing about it of personal properties;

and, if there be no independent personal God, then, the greatest being

that is known to exist in the whole universe,—the only one that can be

spoken of as a person, is man himself!—a somewhat lame and impotent

conclusion!—a poor summit to the infinitude of things! There are those

who say that they believe this;—there will be none to say it, when it

comes to be a universally admitted truth, that “the earth is the Lord’s,

and the fulness thereof.” In the same way, there will be no thinkers,

or professed thinkers, whose minds, repelled by the gross darkness

of positive denial, but not drawn into the light of positive belief,

wander in the fogs and mists of uncertainty, and “reason downwards

till they _doubt_ of God.” And in the same way, the myriads of gods,

which the Asiatic nations conceive to be filling the heavens and the

earth,—large and small,—great and little, but most of them debased,—will

all disappear, like the more elegant system of the Greeks, that once

divided the domain of nature, and parcelled it out among its subordinate

divinities. Cleared and cleansed from all these various forms of error,

the large heart of universal humanity will be open to the air and the

sunlight of true thought, and will reflect, as from a mirror, the image

of Him, who has “set his glory above the heavens,” and of whom it is

said, that “the knowledge of him” is abroad “in all the earth,” since,

“from the creation of the world,” he hath made manifest, “by the works

of his hands,” “even his eternal power and Godhead.”

II.

_Universality of Christian Worship._

In the second place, there will be added to this universal acknowledgment

of God, as the object of belief, a further recognition of him as the

object of worship. All men would be worshippers of God, if, throughout

the world, there should be not only the prevalence of the belief of that

God is, but the working out of the results of that belief,—that _because_

he is, he is “the hearer of prayer,” and that “to him,” therefore, “all

flesh should come.” Taking this subject, however, in connexion with all

the explanatory illustrations which we have already advanced, it is easy

to see that it is of wide compass, and will include far more than might

at first be apparent.

The God, whom we suppose to be acknowledged, is the God of the Bible, and

the worship by which we suppose him to be approached, would be worship

conducted on the principle which pervades it, and regulated by all that

its spirit and precepts concur to prescribe. The Being referred to in

the Scriptural expression,—“The earth is the _Lord’s_,”—is not one whose

existence and character are demonstrated by philosophy, and who may thus

be considered as a sort of hypothesis;—it is, as we have said, _the God

of the Bible_,—the God who has made himself known by supernatural facts

and verbal revelation, and whose discovery of himself in the works of

his power, and in the constant displays of his wisdom and beneficence,

is to be supplemented and enlarged by the whole of the utterances of his

grace and mercy. On this principle it was, that we took the expression,

“The earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof;” not as an independent

and isolated sentence,—not as a thing to be looked at by itself,—but in

connexion with the contents of the entire volume of which it is a part:

and we saw, when we did so, that it brought out, into great prominence,

such a view of the teaching of Scripture in respect to the relations

of God and man, as necessarily affected, very materially, the whole

theory and practice of worship. But it is this _view_ of the meaning

of the passage, that we are supposing to be learned and acknowledged

by the nations, and therefore the worship, in which we are further

supposing them to unite, would of course be _that_ which the whole of our

exposition would inculcate or explain.

It is remarkable, too, that philosophical Deism never leads to worship in

its disciples,—at least not to anything in the form of regular social or

public acts. It is possible for a simple Theist consistently to pray, or

to extol and adore the Deity he acknowledges; and it _may_ be, that some

Theists privately do so,—though all probabilities,—it may by no means

_uncandidly_, be said,—are rather against it. What would be possible

and consistent, however, in a Deist by himself, would be equally so in

a company of such. On the principle of their believing in a personal

God, they might meet together for public worship. _But they never do._

The mere admission of the one principle that God is, would seem not to

be sufficient to lead men to worship;—it needs to be connected with

another principle—that which affirms that “God _has spoken_,” or that,

by some means, he has supernaturally made himself known, revealed his

interest in human nature, and drawn near,—or _draws_ near,—to the human

race. All religions, always and everywhere, have pre-supposed something

of supernatural intercourse between God and man;—they have had, or

have, their traditionary belief of divine appearances,—their notions

of a priesthood peculiarly favoured or filled by the divinity, through

which, and through whose acts, the people could acceptably approach and

pray. The believers in the Bible believe, of course, in supernatural

manifestations of the Divine Being, made to them in the records, and

embodied in many of the facts, of the book; and it is this belief

that makes them worshippers. For the habit of worship, then, facts

everywhere and abundantly demonstrate, you must have a religion; and

for the existence of religion, you must have the belief of supernatural

discoveries of God to man, in addition to the display of himself in his

works. Deism is not a religion, but a philosophy; it has a God, but it

does not worship; and it does not worship, because God, according to its

conception of him, has never broken the silence of nature, or narrowed

the distance between him and his creatures by passing over the limits of

fixed law. All men who worship, whether their worship be pure or corrupt,

do so, we repeat, because they have a religion, and they have a religion,

because they believe in something supernatural as to their knowledge

of God; something which makes their belief of him _faith_ in what is

demonstrated by miraculous fact or divine statement; and not merely

_opinion_, as the logical conclusion of a speculative philosophy.

These principles and reasonings being apprehended, will clear the way

to the intelligent perception of the variety of things that must be

understood as included in the idea of all the world becoming worshippers

of God, _as the result of their perception of what we, as a nation, are

supposed to teach_. For men to be worshippers, their knowledge of God

must be religious, not philosophic; for it to be religious, it must

be founded on belief in a supernatural revelation; it will _be_ this,

when they acknowledge that “the earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness

thereof,” in words taken from the Jewish Scriptures, and regarded as

an utterance of, the Divine voice. By such an acknowledgment they will

recognise the _whole_ of those Scriptures, as “given by inspiration of

God,” or, as written by men who wrote “as they were moved by the Holy

Ghost.” But the admission of _this_, will draw with it the admission of

the _second_ series of writings, and the acknowledgment of their intimate

connexion with the first, as the perfect development of what the first

foreshadowed, and the record of the fulfilment of what they foretold.

The faith of the men, therefore, who begin with the confession that “the

earth is the Lord’s,” and who profess it in the words of a Divine saying,

and _as such_, must go on till it takes in what the Hebrew institute

taught in type, and the Hebrew prophets uttered in words, when they

“spake beforehand of the sufferings of Christ, and of the glory that

should follow;” and it must still go on, and can only be rationally and

consistently complete, when it receives the whole of the evangelical

discoveries of the New Testament respecting the redemption of the Christ

of God. _This_, then, would be the faith of future society, the world

over; and by _this faith_ its worship would be regulated, if, as we are

supposing, the nations should learn from us our religious belief in all

its extent, and should follow it out in all its obligations.

The worship of the world, then, would be Christian worship. Men would be

worshippers, because they would be religious; they would be religious,

because they would have a religion, not a philosophy; and that religion,

would be the one taught in the Christian Scriptures, and founded on

the facts of the Christian revelation. All that we shall say of the

consequence of this, at present, is, that, just as the admission of a

personal God puts aside all forms of denial or error upon that point,

so, the admission of a particular form of Divine discovery, and the

establishment of worship according to the principles of a specific

revelation, will put aside all other systems of worship, and overturn the

pretensions of all other supernatural beliefs. Mohammedanism and idolatry

would alike die under the predominance of the Christian sentiment;—the

one as including too little, in not adding to the knowledge of God

the knowledge of the redemptive act of the Christ; and the other as

including too much, in having “gods many and lords many,” and worshipping

these through visible objects, or regarding the visible objects as

Divine; thus “falling down to the work of their hands,” and “turning the

truth of God into a lie.” When Christian worship shall be universal in

the earth, the gods, and priests, and altars and temples of all other

religions will have departed; everything gross, cruel, and obscene will

have passed away, and have given place to the practical knowledge of the

one living and true God,—to Him, “who is of purer eyes than to behold

iniquity,” and who requires to be worshipped by men of “clean hands” and

of “pure hearts.” Then will be brought to pass many of the sayings that

are written in THE BOOK which often portrays, in prophetic song, visions

of the triumph of religion and righteousness, and of that FUTURE, which

it sees, and celebrates, and it is _to make_ for humanity. “The Lord will

famish all the gods of the earth.” “The idols he will utterly abolish.”

“It shall come to pass, that the gods which have not made the heavens and

the earth, even they shall perish from the earth, and from underneath

these heavens.” “So men shall fear the name of the Lord from the west,

and his glory from the rising of the sun.” “For, from the rising of the

sun even to the going down of the same, his name shall be great among

the Gentiles; and, in every place incense shall be offered unto him,

and a pure offering.” “Behold the days come, saith the Lord, when they

shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother,

saying, Know the Lord, for all shall know me from the least even unto the

greatest.” “In that day, shall there be one Lord and his name one.” For

“the kingdoms of the world shall become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of

his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.”

III.

_The Scriptures will purify and restore the Church._

But in the third place, as we are supposing the nations of the world

to be intelligently led from the simple sentence,—“the earth is the

Lord’s, and the fulness thereof,” to the admission of the contents of the

entire book, and the full understanding of the whole system of mercy and

mediation, as developed in shadow, in the Hebrew ritual, and given, in

substance, in the work of Christ; and as we are supposing, that, because

of the fact of their knowledge, their worship will be Christian;—we wish

it further to be observed, that, because of the _mode_ of their acquiring

that knowledge, and on account of _the accuracy_ and _extent_ of it,

their worship will not only be Christian as to its _general_ character,

but it will come to be of a kind distinguished by certain _specific_

peculiarities.

That is to say, learning their faith from a certain book, and from being

taught to comprehend the entire contents of it,—and finding in that

book, that though there are “some things in it hard to be understood,”

it is yet in its entireness _the property of the people_; it will come

to pass, that all the people will claim to possess it,—will stand to

their claim,—and will enforce and carry it, until there shall be none

that shall dare to deny or to resist. Then, again, a whole world of

intelligent and earnest men, with the Bible in their hands, as Divine

thought,—studying the book “till the word of Christ dwells in them

richly, in all wisdom and spiritual understanding,”—“having the form of

knowledge and of truth” there;—marking and comprehending “the things

that differ,” and spiritually taught to distinguish between that, which,

however glorious when in its proper place, came, at last, to have “no

glory, because of the glory that excelleth;”—“waxed old and vanished

away as a thing that was done with,” in consequence of that coming in

its stead, which was never to be moved—never to be surpassed, and never

supplanted by any further or superior dispensation;—men, understanding

all this, and understanding, too, that, in consequence of it all, they

have the knowledge of a sacrifice which could never be repeated,—and “a

great High Priest of their profession, who has entered into heaven, and

appears in the presence of God for them,”—and that themselves are “a holy

priesthood,” and that spiritual acts, affections, and duties, _are the

incense and sacrifices of the Christian church_, “with which ‘_alone_’

God is well pleased;”—such men—and we are supposing the whole world to

be such—would cleanse Christendom of the corruptions of the faith, just

as Christianity, generally considered, would, by its active and universal

diffusion, subvert and extinguish the idolatries of Heathenism.—Human

priesthood, visible altars, the sacrifice of the mass, literal incense,

the “lifting-up of the soul unto vanity,” in the sense of the adoration

of saints and martyrs, the worship of a woman, of pictures, images, and

relics of the dead,—ecclesiastical tyrannies, popular superstitions, and

popular serfdom,—with everything else that is incompatible with a vital

and diffused Christian intelligence,—all these would pass away;—the one

offering of the one Priest—and the exclusive intercession of the “one

Mediator between God and men,”—would be the only things before the mind

of the churches;—while they would meet habitually, and meet everywhere,

to worship in simplicity,—“in spirit and in truth,”—undeceived by empty

ritualisms,—regaled and refreshed by “a rational service,” and edified

and established by a ministry of instruction. Christ will be understood

to be “a priest upon a throne;” to be the Head of the church, and the

superior and “Prince of the kings of the earth,” and to hold in his

hands “the keys of death and of the invisible world,”—“to open so that

no man can shut, and to shut that no man can open;”—and when all this is

apprehended by the nations, _it will not be endured_ that there shall be

a sort of blasphemous mimicry of it all in the pretensions and claims

of the Man of Sin. “The earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof;

the world, and they that dwell therein;”—when this is understood, in its

Christian acceptation, and all men are aware that for all equally “Christ

died,”—that they are his property, and that none are to interfere between

him and his,—that _He_ alone is “Lord” alike, “of the dead and of the

living,” and that by “setting his love” on all, he makes each individual

spiritually “great,” and stamps a dignity on the nature he redeemed,—when

these things are known and felt, there will be none who will “lord it

over God’s heritage,” or none to submit to the attempted usurpation.

IV.

_Universal Virtue._

In the next place,—in consistency with the principles previously

expounded, of the character that God demands in his worshippers,—the

necessity to their acceptance, in divine service, of their possession

and culture of universal virtue,—and the manner by which, in Christian

worshippers, virtue expands and developes into holiness;—in consistency

with this, we have next to remark, that when men have become what we have

sketched _as to religion_, there will be the prevalence among them of _an

elevated morality_. It is not denied that there may be virtue and morals

without faith;—and that the honourable, and the true, and the lovely,

and the beautiful, in habit and behaviour, may exist in the man who is

destitute of religion. It is quite possible that an individual who denies

that “the earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof,” by denying that

there is any Lord to whom it can belong;—who, therefore, has no sense

of religious reverence,—no idea of Divine authority,—no thought of a

future account,—who never worships, never acts from spiritual motives,

or as “seeing Him who is invisible,”—it is quite possible for such a

man to find reasons in the present, visible constitution of things, for

making the best of the life that now is, by living purely, uprightly,

and honestly in the world. We admit this. But we are now supposing that

all men have risen into a higher sphere, through the reception and power

of religious faith,—and that their virtue, instead of being a thing that

has its roots in the earth, and is nourished by mere mundane influences,

is a thing which flows down upon them from heaven, and is quickened and

invigorated by intercourse with God. The _religious_ man, if he be true

to his privileges and profession, will have all the virtues of the man

of the world, besides some others which the latter has not;—and still

further, as those that they have in common, are, in _him_, fed and

sustained from a far higher and diviner source than what nourishes those

of the man of the world, they ought to be seen to be both more pure and

more elevated than his, in simple correspondence with that circumstance.

Future society, then, being supposed to have come under the influence

of religious truth,—to be reconciled to God through the death of his

son, and to be regenerated and renewed by the sanctifying Spirit, and, as

such, habitually “to ascend into the hill of the Lord,” and to worship

acceptably “in his holy place,” it is to be expected, as the result of

this, that it will “increase and abound in all holy conversation and

godliness.” Now, there is no personal or social virtue that the New

Testament does not inculcate, or that the spirit of the gospel is not

adapted to nourish and expand. If the nations of the world were each

to possess a national religion in the sense of _the whole nation being

religious_, then, every individual would be chaste and temperate, upright

and truthful, fortified by the strength and softened and adorned by

the beauties of holiness. Every family would be loving and harmonious;

parents wise and worthy of respect; children obedient; brethren living

“together in unity.” All business would be conducted justly; commercial

transactions would be all clean, and capable of being touched with “clean

hands;” trade and handicrafts would be noble and dignified, by being

pervaded by the great idea of “duty,” and attended to on principles

which would be the very same as those that control the doings of an

angel, or direct and inspire a seraph in his songs! Nowhere would be seen

drunkenness, or seduction;—robbery and murder would be things of the

past. There would be no oppression on the part of the rich; no pride or

tyranny in the powerful; no injustice between class and class; no envy in

the less favoured of God’s children, prompting them to harsh or petulant

judgments of their more distinguished or opulent brothers. There never

can be literal and absolute equality of station or circumstance;—there

never can be a uniformity of rank or possessions. In the most perfect

condition of the world and man, there must still of necessity be master

and servant, the employer and the employed;—the head of one, the hand of

another, the capital of a third, the back for a burden, and the feet for

toil; all these will always be required, and must be furnished, and must

act, in any improved state of society. But they may act harmoniously.

There need be no fraud, oppression, or injustice. There may be everywhere

given “the fair day’s wages for the fair day’s work;”—and there may

be everywhere rendered “the fair day’s work for the fair day’s wages.”

Society, like the church, is a body with its members. It has its head

and feet, its ear and eye, its mouth and hands;—the health of the body,

or its physical perfection, does not consist in every member having the

same office; but in all fulfilling their respective functions, without

disturbance,—each being thus in unity with the rest. The perfect and

healthful development of society consists in a condition analogous to

this. Christian communism, and Christian socialism, if anything of the

sort shall hereafter be, will be found to consist, not in society’s

ceasing to be a body by becoming entirely but one member—a huge head,

or a gigantic foot, or a great, swinging, muscular arm,—but in all the

members acting healthily in their own place; and, while doing so, each

having the same care of the other. In this way, and in this way alone,

can society be preserved from opposite dangers;—from becoming a monster

without parts, that must of necessity perish from the want of organic or

functional vitality—or being torn by intestine schisms and dissensions

that must tear it to pieces or make it explode!

It is not possible to enlarge on these and kindred matters, that might

be introduced under the present illustration. Enough has been said

to make manifest the general principle, that, on the supposition of

the diffusion in the world of an intelligent, vital, and uncorrupted

Christianity, there would result from it the fruits of a universal

righteousness. Every family would be “a church in the house;” children

would be trained in the way they should go; and conversion from outward,

practical wickedness, would be seldom needed in adult age. Education

would be universal. Learning and knowledge would be “the stability of

these times”—with the fear of God, and the hope of salvation. Science

would be devout, and literature pure. The universe would be explored

with reverence and humility; discoveries announced without boasting; and

improvements and inventions received with gratitude. No books would be

written to demoralize and corrupt,—nor the arts be allowed to minister

to licentiousness. Industry would be cheerful, and labour honoured; the

fruits of the earth would be taken and used as a Divine gift; and the

productions of skill would be connected with thoughts of the Maker of the

mind. In that day, there would be on every object “holiness to the Lord,”

for all men would act in consistency with the belief, that “the earth is

His, and the fulness thereof.”

V.

_Nationalities._

In the last place: it only remains to be remarked, that this universality

of religion and righteousness, in each nation of the earth respectively,

would come to have an effect on the relations and intercourse of each

with the rest, and on its own internal constitution and action. If

all nations were really to believe that “the earth is the Lord’s, and

the fulness thereof,” and especially to connect with this the next

clause,—“the world, _and they that dwell therein_;”—and if they were

honestly to carry such a creed fairly out, into all its great practical

results,—it would be found to be the charter of peace and freedom,

order and liberty, in all lands. Let men get the idea that the earth is

God’s, not theirs,—and that all the race are alike his,—his, at once, as

created by his goodness and redeemed by his mercy;—and especially let it

be imagined, that all habitually mingled in his worship, and that all

felt inspired by a desire to live in constant, practical harmony with

his will;—why, there could be neither war, nor slavery, nor anarchy, nor

despotisms;—men _could_ not be brought, on the supposition suggested,

to be trained and taught to _slaughter_ one another!—or to _steal_ one

another!—or to buy, and sell, and fetter, and lash those who were the

exclusive property of God, and who, whatever their colour, were each

of them as much _a man_ as themselves! No monarch could be seduced

into the belief that a whole people was made for _him_;—or that power

was not _a trust_;—or that it could be used for any purpose but the

good of the nation, and according to the eternal principles of right

on which God himself governs his own. Nor would a people imagine that

any new institutions would benefit them, or any change or revolution be

an improvement, if they were not each of them a king over himself.—We

do not mean to say that one form of political government may not be

intrinsically better than another;—but we do mean to say that the Future

of the world will no more be distinguished by the same form of political

government being universal, than by the universal prevalence of one

mode of ecclesiastical polity;—and we further mean to say, that the

diffusion of an intelligent and instructed Christianity would carry into

the bosoms of all men the Scriptural principles, that government is the

institution of God;—that God, in this respect, is the God of order;—and

that reverence for authority and submission to law are as much Christian

duties as anything else.—Authority may be abused, and law may be unjust;

but he who acts in the fear of God, will suffer much, and think more,

before he will be persuaded that political rebellion and disobedience are

virtues. We do not say that there are not occasions when the one may be

patriotic and the other right;—but there is a time coming when none in

the places of trust and power will so act as for this to be the case,—and

when none in those of submission and obedience will feel that a dignified

and manly loyalty has become either an impossibility or a burden.

Governors, nowhere, will fear discussion; or fetter the press; or refuse

reforms; or cripple independence;—and people, nowhere, will abuse their

rights; or desire, or demand, the unreasonable or unjust. The aggregate

of families, which make up a nation, living in unity, like each of the

families that constitute or compose it, the aggregate of nations will

dwell together in the same spirit, and with the same results. Commerce

will bring, more and more, the whole earth into friendly intercourse;—the

sea that would seem to divide the nations, shall be as a chain to bind

people to people, and land to land. Instead of meeting for hostile

purposes, there will be the interchange of visits to promote science, to

perfect literature, to spread art, to cultivate religion—or to honour

God in the results of industry, by the circulation round the world of

an Exhibition like that which is just at hand. If, in all these ways to

which we have adverted, the lessons of our Royal Exchange were to be

learned, and we ourselves, and our expected visitors, to carry them out,

in the full development of individual, social, and national life,—many of

the pictures of the prophets would be realized; the kingdom of heaven

would be established on the earth; and the tabernacle of God would be

universally with man. Evils might remain, but everything would tend to

mitigate or diminish them. The world would be a temple,—the nations a

church;—all work would be a daily worship, while daily worship, strictly

so called, would hallow and sanctify all work. The day of rest would

be welcomed as it came,—but welcomed for its devotion, as well as its

repose. From all hearts, from all hands, from palace and cottage—from

the mine and the market-place—from the field and the factory—the forge

and the loom—the city and the sea, from all nations and from all

men,—there would be going up constantly to heaven, that which is required

when Christians are exhorted in language like this—“Dearly beloved, I

beseech you, by the mercies of God, _that ye present your bodies as

living sacrifices_, holy and acceptable to God, which is your reasonable

service.” Were this ever to be universally realized, the final cause

of the creation of the world, might, without a figure, be said to be

attained. God’s great idea would be seen to be complete; and He himself,

if we might so speak, after being grieved by the wickedness of the race,

would return again to the unruffled, deep, and ineffable satisfaction

with which he was filled before the world was, when, anticipating the

results of his creative energy, “_he rejoiced in the habitable parts of

the earth_, AND HIS DELIGHTS WERE WITH THE SONS OF MEN.”

PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS.

Having thus filled up our originally projected outline of thought, we

shall rapidly conclude and consummate the argument by two or three

practical suggestions.

1. In the first place, a few hints may not be inappropriate as to the

spirit with which Christians should contemplate the Exhibition. There are

some prophets, of these our times, whose “scrolls” in relation to the

great event, are filled with “lamentation, mourning, and woe.” They can

see nothing, in the thing itself, but a gigantic display of pride and

vain glory,—and they apprehend nothing, from the meeting of the nations,

but mutual corruption, prolonged riot, and perhaps blood. Their favourite

analogies are the Tower of Babel, Nebuchadnezzar’s golden image, or

the Devil tempting Christ by revealing on the mount “all the kingdoms

of the world and the glory of them,” or some such human or diabolical

atrocities! Now it is a pity to give way to these dark imaginings;—to see

nothing in our fellow-man but what is bad, and to expect nothing from the

hand of God but the thunderbolt of vengeance, or the “vials of wrath!”

It is far better, far more becoming, especially in those that believe

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

they that dwell therein,” to take healthy, cheerful, and hopeful views,

of the great event,—whose origin, it is at least possible, _may_ have

been good, and whose influence and results _may_ be useful. It ought

by no means to be thought a self-evident thing, that there is nothing

in the multitude of minds and hearts, which have all been engaged in

perfecting the Exhibition, but selfish vanity and godless pride. In

many there may have been frequent and great thoughts of God, devout

humility, and earnest prayer for that blessing without which nothing can

be successful. Supplications may have gone up, in various languages and

from many lands, that God would direct and crown the work, and cause it

to promote his kingdom and glory; and, though the numbers may have been

small, who have thus sought to hallow and sanctify the project by prayer,

in comparison with those who are interested in it without devotion and

without reference to the Divine blessing, _Christians_ should remember,

that, in a world like ours, living under mercy, the very principle

of the Divine government is, to bless one man through the medium of

another, and even to bless the many for the sake of the few;—just as ten

men of righteousness and of faith might have saved the cities of Sodom

and Gomorrah, and as those that were saved, were saved on account of

one such man,—for “when the Lord destroyed the cities of the plain, he

REMEMBERED ABRAHAM, and—_sent Lot out from the midst of the overthrow_.”

Let Christians, therefore, have faith in one another. Let them believe

that many as good as themselves are engaged in the Exhibition, and have

devoutly sought for it the blessing of the Most High. Let others learn

to do likewise. Instead of indulging in forebodings and prophecies

which, being uttered, might fulfil themselves, they should rather

exercise trust in Providence, indulge hope for the church and the world,

and earnestly endeavour to serve both, by hearty, honest, and sincere

_intercession_ for all nations, and for all men,—that that God, who can

make even “the _wrath_ of man to praise him,” would educe praise and

glory to Himself, and much that shall be productive of happiness to men,

from what brings them together _in peaceful intercourse_, and reminds

them of their common relation to himself. The “crisis” of the world

occurred when there was a gathering of strangers and foreigners in one

place;—they were brought together at the time of the crucifixion,—they

were assembled again at the wonders of Pentecost,—and there can be no

doubt that there was a designed coincidence on both occasions. God

has sanctified the meeting of numbers, of “men of every nation under

heaven,”—“Parthians and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in

Mesopotamia, and in Judæa, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia, Phrygia

and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya, about Cyrene, and

strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes, Cretes, and Arabians,”—God

has sanctified a gathering like this to his own purposes,—to the

establishment of his kingdom and the spread of his truth; and what he has

done before he may do again; and he _will_ do it, if Christians devoutly

and earnestly seek it, by such a spirit of prayer, as, “loving all

things, and believing all things, and hoping all things,” will crave at

his hand a blessing for their brothers, and crave it so that it cannot be

denied.

2nd. In _visiting_ the Exhibition, there are many sentiments which

Christians might indulge as means of impression or improvement to

themselves. It is hardly necessary, after having gone through the

foregoing argument, to press upon the reader the duty of seeing and

remembering God in all that will be displayed of the riches of nature and

the products of art. It is true, indeed, that it is to be the Exhibition

of the Industry _of the Nations_,—that is, it is, in a manner, to reveal

and magnify MAN by accumulating and displaying his wonderful works. But

there is a way of doing this, that may be humble and religious, and there

is a way of regarding and of looking upon it, which may minister much to

the health and nourishment of the divine life. To think highly of what

man _is_, and to strengthen such thoughts by becoming familiar with what

he has _done_, may only make us think more wisely and wonderfully of God,

and more justly of _the worth of the soul_, and of the importance of

salvation to that nature whose capacities would seem to be so mysterious

and so vast! To think of man lying like a wreck on the outside of Eden,

naked and ignorant, without a teacher and without tools,—his mind

darkened, his spirit depressed,—with understanding, indeed, and impulses

and instincts to help him in his first efforts at labour,—a whole world

of raw material under his foot, the compass of the earth for the sphere

of his achievements, his head and hand the instruments of action, but the

one as yet without knowledge, and the other equally without skill! And

then to think of what he has done! How that poor, solitary, naked man,

beginning with some rude attempt at the cultivation of the earth and the

collection of flocks,—seeking for himself and his dependent companion,

the mere supply of their animal wants, clothing of the coarsest, unwoven

and undressed,—with food unprepared and unpalatable,—and shelter that

might be furnished by a few trees or a hole in a rock! To think what he

has become _since then_! How one generation has improved upon another,

and how discovery and invention, and labour and skill, and industry

and genius, have covered the earth with a succession of wonders; and

_then_ to think, how a sort of representative epitome of these is to

stand before us in the marvellous contents of the last and greatest

wonder of the world! That wonder will include specimen and proof of what

man has done for himself and his dwelling-place, since he lay helpless

on the margin of the earth, like a ship-wrecked mariner that had got

to shore, but with the loss of all things. Guided and helped by the

Divine power, but in a manner consistent with his intelligent nature,

his free thought and personal agency, the mind of man was developed and

enlarged, society formed, and arts and handicrafts, science and letters,

rose and realized what history records, and what modern civilization so

wonderfully represents. Rock and forest, earth and ocean, animated nature

in all its forms, everything placed around and beneath him, supplied

materials which he learned to employ for his convenience and use. He

covered the earth with towns and cities, erected temples, palaces, and

pyramids,—subdued the most stubborn of the beasts of the field, tamed the

most ferocious, outstripped the swiftest, and reduced the strongest to

obedience and servitude. He clothed himself in skins, in fur, in flax, in

silk and wool,—gradually improving as he went on, till fineness of fabric

and elegance of design have become the property of the people at large.

He decorated and adorned his private abode, and filled public buildings

and public places with the creations of beauty and the triumphs of art.

He has crossed the ocean and sounded its depths; he has penetrated the

earth and drawn thence her concealed treasure; he has interrogated

nature, and obtained, or forced from her, the most astonishing replies;

he has soared into the heavens, has counted, weighed, and measured

the stars; he can foretell events with certainty and precision—the

appearance of a comet, or the occurrence of an eclipse; he has made

fire and water, lightning and steam, to do his bidding,—to transmit his

messages, transport his property, carry himself, lighten his labour,

and perform his work. He has given to sound sentiment and eloquence,

and has made instruments of music that can subdue multitudes. Of all

these achievements, and of a vast variety of other forms of skilfulness

and power, the Great Exhibition will present the proofs, and exhibit

them in their latest and most perfect development. And yet it is to be

remarked, that with all it will do, _it will leave the greatest and the

most wonderful of the works of man uncollected and unseen_. Mechanical

industry has its many marvels,—art and science their miraculous results;

but the highest form of the greatness of humanity is to be met with in

books,—in the art that has given visibility to speech, and permanent

endurance to thought and emotion,—and in the thoughts and emotions of

gifted minds, which, in every age, and in all lands, have adorned the

race by the researches of the intellect, the conflagrations of eloquence,

and the sublimities of song. These things cannot be represented in the

Palace of Industry; and yet these are the things that belong to the

highest regions of the mind;—to powers and faculties that more than

anything else illustrate the inherent greatness of man;—that lead him to

the contemplation of the right, the divine, the beautiful and the good

in action and character;—that render him capable of religious faith;—and

that might make him a happy and virtuous intelligence if he were called

to exist separate from the body,—without the feeling of physical

necessities, without a surrounding material world, and without members

to mould and fabricate, and work up anything whatever in the way of mere

mechanical dexterity.

Now these thoughts, and a thousand others of a kindred sort, may all

be indulged by a reflective man in visiting the Exhibition,—indulged

devoutly, and turned to eminent spiritual advantage. Every thing that

man is seen to have achieved,—every proof of his sagacity and power,

his skill and performance—will only enhance, in a thoughtful soul, the

impression of the wonderfulness of that nature which God originally made

for himself, which sin has degraded, and which Christ has redeemed. The

number of such proofs increasing the conception of the wonderfulness

of the nature they so marvellously manifest, will render the fact of

redemption credible,—increasing the probability that God should interpose

to recover and restore it. And the great fact, that, after all that the

grand pageant can do, and in spite of the splendour and magnificence

of its contents, it will actually leave the most wonderful portion of

the human mind unillustrated, and incapable of illustration,—why, this

may well lead to the solemn remembrance of some of the most impressive

of Scriptural truths. “What is a man profited, if he shall _gain the

whole world_ and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange

for his soul?” “All flesh is as grass, and _all the glory of man_ as

the flower of grass; the grass withereth, the flower fadeth, _but the

word of the Lord endureth for ever_; and this is the word which by the

gospel is preached unto you.” “_All these things shall be dissolved_;”

“_the earth and all things that are therein shall be burned up_,—but we,

according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which

dwelleth righteousness.” And still further, the fact of the exhibition of

the _half_, merely, of the greatness of man by the works of his hands,

(and _that_ the lesser and lower portion,) may suggest the analogy that

there is in this, with the manner of God’s discovery of himself. He, in

his works, has revealed and illustrated his wisdom and power, goodness

and beneficence, and, to the eye of reason, these are largely reflected

there;—but the manifestation of his _moral_ attributes, his justice and

love, compassion and mercy, is made to faith in the gospel of his Son;

and however most men may be alive to the first, and blind or insensible

to the second of these discoveries, there are beings in the universe who

are intent on the higher exhibitions of God,—just as there are devout and

meditative men who will gaze on the wonders of the Palace of Industry

only to be reminded of the spiritual and immortal of human nature, which

the edifice with its marvels will do little to illustrate! Heaven has its

“fulness” as well as earth. That fulness is “the fulness of Christ;”—his

sufferings on earth and the glory that is to follow. This is called “the

unsearchable riches.” In the mystery of redemption are “hid,” or lie

embodied, “_all the treasures_ of wisdom and knowledge,”—_the higher

forms_ of God’s manifestation of himself to his creatures. “Into THESE

THINGS _the angels desire to look_.” And they do this in exact conformity

with the Divine purpose in the revelation of himself in this the greatest

of his works, for it was set forth, “TO THE INTENT _that unto the

principalities and powers in heavenly places_, might be made known _by

the church_ the manifold wisdom of God.”

3rd. But British Christians have a great and solemn lesson to learn from

the view that we have taken, in this discussion, of their language to the

world. If it be so, that we profess as a nation, and utter openly in the

hearing of all men, _the truths_ that have been illustrated, then, also,

ought it to be felt, that we lie under the most binding and imperative

obligations to exemplify _the duties_ which have been explained and

enforced. It becomes us to cultivate the devout and practical recognition

of God; to keep his Sabbaths; to wait upon him in worship; to approach

him through Christ, that we may do so acceptably; to “live in the

spirit,” that “we may not fulfil the lusts of the flesh;” “to walk in

the spirit,” that our daily virtue may be divine holiness. It is well “to

hold forth the word of truth,” and to witness for God, for the gospel,

and for righteousness, in the sight of the nations; but it must be done

_practically_ as well as by profession,—by conduct in harmony with the

articles of our creed,—or our testimony will expose us to ridicule and

rebuke, and may provoke by its mockery the vengeance of the Most High.

Let England beware, that it do not itself, amidst the blaze and glory of

the Great Exhibition, forget the truth and the lessons taught by it, that

“the earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof.” Let it beware, “lest,

being lifted up with pride, it fall into the condemnation of the devil.”

It is a terrible thing not to give God the glory of our achievements;—“to

sacrifice to our own net, and to burn incense to our own drag.” It was

when the king’s heart was lifted up with pride, and when he said to

himself, “Is not this Great Babylon that I have built,”—it was then that

God smote him from on high, seared his intellect, and sent him to herd

with unintelligent natures! England is first in the commerce of the

world; her “merchant princes” are the nobles of civilization; her markets

and manufactures have decked her with beauty and made her great;—but

it would be well for her to remember, that it was just such a country

that, in ancient times, had her magnificence described with the greatest

minuteness by God’s prophets, but described to illustrate the extent

of her ingratitude, the aggravations of her sin, and the certainty and

completeness of her predicted destruction. It was fearfully realized.

The glory of Tyre was swept away, and her place became bare as the top

of a rock, on which the fisherman might spread out his net to the sun!

It might be well, too, to remember, that the prophetic description in

the book of the Apocalypse, of the Babylon that is to fall in some yet

future judgment of God, is the description of a commercial and maritime

city, over which the merchants of the earth mourn and lament “because

her judgment hath come, and no man buyeth her merchandise any more.”

That these instances should neither be type nor prophecy of Britain, she

must take care to walk by the light of her own creed—that “the earth is

the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof,”—and according to all the devotion

and humility and practical righteousness that this would inculcate.

It is well with a people when their garners are full and their flocks

prolific;—when their sons are as plants grown up in their youth, and

their daughters as polished marble columns; when there is no political

convulsion in the land, and no complaining of poverty in their streets.

“Happy is the people that is in _such_ a case;” but _happier_ they “WHOSE

GOD IS THE LORD.”

4th. Trusting that, as a people, we are not altogether inattentive

to what has been described, let us learn, in conclusion, the value

we should attach _to the blessing of our characteristic and national

Christianity_. We do not mean, the forms or peculiarities of any

church;—the secondary distinctions, that may have their importance,

as the separate testimonies to a particular truth prominently held by

different members of the Protestant family. We refer to our EVANGELICAL

PROTESTANTISM _itself_, which is substantially the same throughout our

many sects, and which is held and taught, with more or less clearness,

by all the influential Denominations in the land. To this, under God,

we owe our free political constitution, our civil rights, and our

religious liberty; to this we are indebted for the power we are at

present exercising and using in the face of the world,—the power of

throwing our metropolis open to the nations,—receiving them all, without

passports, and with hardly a precaution, to our streets and squares,

our court and senate, our families and our homes. We have no fear that

our soldiers will be corrupted, or our population seduced;—we apprehend

nothing of injury to our faith, or of temptation to our loyalty. Our

press will be as free, our minds as unfettered, our comments on men and

measures as outspoken, as if none were our daily audience but ourselves.

To impress the moral of all this on the mind of the reader, and on our

own, we might do it, perhaps, most effectively, by putting it in the

form of a friendly address to a reflective foreigner, who might be

looking with wonder on the phenomena around him. “Stranger,” we might

say, “you have looked with surprise on our industry and commerce, our

trade and manufactures; you have seen in our equipages the signs of

our wealth; and, in other ways, how opulence and comfort are diffused

among our people; you have been impressed with the many proofs of our

intelligence, and have wondered, perhaps, most of all, at the liberty

we enjoy and the loyalty we cherish. You have seen A QUEEN _honoured

and beloved_;—and her Royal Consort taking the lead, not in reviews of

military pomp, or only in the parade of magnificent hospitalities; but

in presiding over the displays of peaceful industry, and welcoming the

representatives of science and art. You have seen the multitudes that

crowd to our churches, and wondered at the comparative quiet of our

sabbaths. _Know_, therefore, that for all this, and for far more that is

unseen, we are indebted _to the glorious inheritance of our faith_;—our

OPEN BIBLE, our conscientious inquiry, our habits of worship, and our

religious instructors. We have much amongst us of which it becomes us

to think with shame;—much of which it is impossible to speak but in

moderated phrase, and even with tears;—but if there is anything that has

raised thy admiration, or inflamed thy curiosity,—anything in our general

reverence for law, in our political moderation, our civil order,—our

respect for rank, combined with our individual consciousness of personal

manhood; if there is anything that shows that our morals are not debased,

or our manners frivolous, or our habits sordid, or our minds enslaved

by the gross and the voluptuous,—carry away with thee the certainty and

conviction, that everything that may be good about us as a people, we owe

to our possession of _that_ ONE BOOK,—to our mode of interpreting, and

our constancy in teaching it,—_which tells us to acknowledge_,—and, by

God’s blessing, helps us to act, however imperfectly, on the practical

belief,—_that despotism and priestcraft, anarchy and disorder, pride

and oppression, vanity and selfishness, lawlessness and wrong, are all

alike disobedience to God and injurious to his creatures_, FOR ‘THE EARTH

IS THE LORD’S, AND THE FULNESS THEREOF; THE WORLD, AND THEY THAT DWELL

THEREIN.’”

POSTSCRIPT.

Postscript.

THE EXHIBITION OPENED.

The first of May, eighteen hundred and fifty-one, was a day to be

remembered to all time! On it the nations of the earth combined together

to “make history,” in a manner they had never done before;—in one also,

which, in its prominent peculiarity, can never be repeated. There may

be similar Exhibitions in future periods of the world’s progress, but

_the first_ can never be again. Even respecting those which may be

imagined to occur, although they may be distinguished by new features and

characteristics of their own, and though these may, in some respects,

surpass those of the one now opened, they cannot be anticipated with

that depth of interest, nor excite by their inauguration those profound

emotions, which preceded and distinguished the sublime event which has

just taken place. The preceding pages were written in the prospect of

that event, and were intended to appear before its occurrence. The author

cannot regret, however, that circumstances interfered with the fulfilment

of his purpose, since to this he is indebted for the opportunity of

adding a supplementary section to his little work, commemorative of the

grand and magnificent ceremonial of which he was privileged to be a

spectator.

It is not the writer’s intention to attempt to describe the opening

of the Exhibition, with all that minuteness of detail in respect to

what occurred in the interior of the structure,—or with those stirring

delineations of the bustle and excitement, the lines of carriages and

congregated crowds, that imparted animation to the scene without,—which

have already been furnished by the public prints. He merely wishes to

note a few things which were interesting or suggestive to his own mind,

and especially such as were felt to be in harmony with the spirit and

object of the present volume.

It was his good fortune to obtain admittance into the Palace of Industry,

on the memorable morning of the first of May, before the gates were

opened to the public. He had traversed it frequently during the previous

weeks, and had seen it in various stages of its progress. One morning, in

March, he was there so early, that while walking along its galleries he

observed that he was the _only visitor_ upon them at that moment. Few of

the counters were then erected, hardly any of the articles unpacked;—the

wide spaces and vast dimensions of the wonderful structure spread before

him in clear and unobstructed perspective;—there was something, too, of

solitariness in his position, though multitudes of workmen were occupied

below, above, and around him;—the whole scene, from its simple magnitude,

was inexpressibly sublime; it stirred within him thoughts and feelings

which were not, indeed, “too deep for tears,” but which could only find

utterance and relief in their indulgence; while, as he passed on, and

for the first time saw the compartments of the different countries, and

read the names of the various nations that were preparing to stand,

side by side, in peaceful rivalry,—his emotions deepened to an intensity

which it was difficult to bear, and which cannot be described! He was in

the building, also, for some time, three days before the opening, and

could then form some idea of what would be the number and variety of its

contents; though so much, even at that late period, remained to be done,

that he wondered how it would be possible for the preparations to be

finished by the time appointed. As, however, he walked into the transept,

when that time had come,—approached the centre,—and looked along the

naves stretching to such an extent on either side,—it was not without a

feeling of admiration and surprise, mingled with something of solemnity

and awe, that he looked on the splendid and gorgeous spectacle that stood

revealed in all its completeness!

The mere material scene was sublime when beheld by itself,—empty, and

comparatively still; but much more impressive and affecting was it, when

filled with its immense multitude of spectators. There was much that

was stirring in the sight of the rush and inundation of the crowd, as

it kept flowing in, in vast waves, at every opening; and much that was

impressive when the noise and murmur of its movements had subsided,—when

all had found or had been forced into their places,—and when floor and

gallery, and every part that the eye could reach, was seen to be occupied

by human beings,—by an assembly larger than any that had ever, in

England, been congregated before under one roof,—and by one that had met

for an object, and under circumstances, unparalleled in the annals of the

world!

Men see in all external events and objects, what the light that is in

them reveals. Things are, to us, what we are to them. He that visits

foreign countries, brings back according to what he takes. The same sight

may be a very different thing to two different persons, in proportion

as they may differ in knowledge, in opinion, in taste, in sympathies.

The eye of a clown may look on a prospect that in some souls would

produce rapture or occasion tears, with hardly more intelligence than

that of the ox that he drives before him. The outside of things is open

to all; their inner significance is revealed only to those who have an

inner eye to read it; and even such significance may be differently

interpreted according as the eye is influenced and affected by the degree

of intelligence, the tendencies, and the tastes of the inward man to

whom it belongs. It is quite possible that some may see nothing in the

great Exhibition but an ordinary, though enormous, fancy bazaar; and that

others saw nothing in the ceremonial of the opening but a state pageant,

court dresses, and an immense crowd of men and women! It is quite

possible, too, that some of the incidents of the day, which appeared to

us touching in themselves, or pregnant with meaning, were indebted for

this to the capricious activity of our own fancy, as well as to their

inherent beauty or significance. But, however this may have been, there

certainly were some things that we felt to be deeply interesting as they

occurred, and remarkably suggestive as illustrating the character and

tendencies of the event. We shall not attempt to recall all that struck

us at the time; but a few words may not be amiss on what immediately

bore, or appeared to us to bear, on some of the topics of this book.

On getting a sight of the catalogue of the Exhibition,—which we did

before entering the interior of the building,—we were gratified to find

on the cover and the title-page:

“THE EARTH IS THE LORD’S, AND ALL THAT THEREIN IS;

THE COMPASS OF THE WORLD, AND THEY THAT DWELL THEREIN.”

We were aware that this was to be the English motto, and that two Latin

ones had also been selected. We were glad to find the Divine sentence

placed where it was, and placed by itself; that it stood, as it were,

in _front_ of the Nations as they joined one another, and moved towards

the great point of attraction; that it _faced_ them, and spoke as with

the voice of an oracle; that while the words of men occupied their

proper subordinate position _behind_ those of the book of God—out of

sight—needing, as it were, to be sought for, and found, and _solicited_

to announce themselves,—these stood in their solitary majesty, revealing

themselves by their own light, claiming to speak as having a right to

be heard, and authoritatively announcing to the diversified tribes and

peoples of the earth, and to every visitant of the palace of wonders,

_Whose_ they themselves were, and to whom belonged _all they saw._

This volume was written and in the press before we were aware that _the

inscription on the Exchange_ was to be _the motto of the Exhibition_;

otherwise, the natural course would have been, to have taken the words in

their _latter_ use rather than the former, and thus to have expounded and

illustrated what England _actually does say_ to herself and the nations

through the medium of the event which is bringing them together. When

we first heard of what was to be the English motto of the catalogue, we

were exceedingly disposed to wish it could be given in the words of the

authorized version (those on the Exchange) “The earth is the Lord’s,

_and the fulness thereof_,” instead of those of the translation in the

Prayer-book, “The earth is the Lord’s, and _all that therein is_.” On

further reflection, however, we are willing to think, that while the

two expressions are substantially the same, there is just that shade

of difference between them that fits each for its respective position;

“the _fulness_ of the earth” being most appropriate to a commercial

edifice,—“_all that therein is_” to an industrial exhibition. However

this may be, it was to us, as may be supposed, a gratifying circumstance

that the first sight that met our eye, on the very threshold, or in the

porch of the Palace of Industry, while making our way to the opening

ceremonial, was that which assured us, that the words whose import we

had been endeavouring to illustrate in “a book for the Exhibition,” were

to lie beneath the eye, and to address themselves to the reason and the

religious consciousness, of every individual by whom it would be visited.

The recognition of God, in connexion with the Exhibition, has always

marked the references to it of its most distinguished promoter. The

religious services on the day of the opening were solemn and appropriate,

and seemed at once to crown and sanctify the work. “I confidently

hope,”—said his Royal Highness, Prince Albert, at the banquet at the

Mansion-house, in honour of the undertaking,—“I confidently hope, that

the first impression which the view of this vast collection will produce

upon the spectator, will be that of deep thankfulness to the Almighty

for the blessings which he has bestowed upon us here below.” It was a

most impressive sight, on the opening of the splendid spectacle thus

anticipated, to see some twenty-five or thirty thousand people, all

under the influence of a sentiment of reverence, deeply calm, serious,

and still, uniting in an act of solemn devotion, while the highest

ecclesiastical dignitary in the land, standing by the side of our august

sovereign, who seemed to bow in humility before the footstool of Him who

is “the King of kings,” expressed in a manner the most appropriate, the

“deep thankfulness” of the vast assembly “for the blessings which the

Almighty has bestowed upon us,” and acknowledged _Him_ in the riches of

nature and the wonders of art with which the edifice was filled! Every

reader will probably have seen the prayer to which we thus refer. It

seems, however, not inappropriate to give it a place in these pages; the

more so as its sentiments are so in harmony with many of those we have

been attempting to express. It was as follows:

“Almighty and everlasting God, who dost govern all things both in heaven

and in earth, without whom nothing is strong, nothing is holy, accept,

we beseech Thee, the sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving, and receive

these our prayers which we offer up unto Thee this day on behalf of the

kingdom and people of this land. We acknowledge, O Lord, that Thou hast

multiplied on us blessings which Thou mightest most justly have withheld.

We acknowledge that it is not because of works of righteousness which we

have done, but of Thy great mercy, that we are permitted to come before

Thee with the voice of thanksgiving, and that instead of humbling us for

our offences, Thou hast given us cause to thank Thee for Thine abundant

goodness. And now, O Lord, we beseech Thee to bless the work which Thou

hast enabled us to begin, and to regard with Thy favour our purpose of

knitting together in the bonds of peace and concord the different nations

of the earth; for with Thee, O Lord, is the preparation of the heart in

man. Of Thee it cometh that violence is not heard in our land, wasting

nor destruction within its borders. It is of Thee, O Lord, that nations

do not lift up the sword against each other nor learn war any more;

it is of Thee that peace is within our walls and plenteousness within

our palaces; it is of Thee that knowledge is increased throughout the

world, for the spirit of man is from Thee, and the inspiration of the

Almighty giveth him understanding. Therefore, O Lord, not unto us, not

unto us, but unto Thy name be all the praise. While we survey the works

of art and industry which surround us, let not our hearts be lifted up

that we forget the Lord our God, as if our own power and the might of

our hands had gotten in this wealth. Teach us ever to remember that all

this store which we have prepared cometh of Thine hand and is all Thine

own. Both riches and honour come of Thee, and thou reignest over all.

In Thine hand it is to make great and to give strength unto all. Now,

therefore, O God, we thank Thee; we praise Thee and intreat Thee so

to overrule _this assembly of many nations_, that it may tend _to the

advancement of Thy glory, to the diffusion of Thy Holy Word_, to the

increase of general prosperity, by promoting peace and goodwill among

the different races of mankind. Let the many mercies which we receive

from Thee dispose our hearts to serve Thee more faithfully, who art the

Author and Giver of them all. And finally, O Lord, teach us so to use

those earthly blessings which Thou givest us richly to enjoy, that they

may not withdraw our affections from those heavenly things which Thou

hast prepared for those that love and serve Thee, through the merits and

mediation of Thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with Thee and the

Holy Ghost, be all honour and glory.”

Prince Albert, after having, in the words above quoted, expressed

his hope respecting the religious impression to be produced by the

Exhibition, proceeded to say that he trusted its _second_ lesson

would be, “the conviction” that the full enjoyment of the blessings

of Providence “could be realized only in proportion to the help we

are prepared to render to each other; therefore only by _peace, love,

and ready assistance, not only between individuals, but between the

Nations of the earth_.” The opening ceremonial of the first of May, was

an impressive commentary on this sentiment. Within the same building

were congregated the representatives of many nations, and people from

every quarter of the globe. All met and mingled together in perfect

harmony, and seemed at once disposed to regard each other with fraternal

cordiality, and to be pervaded and possessed by those sentiments which

are nourished and developed by the sunlight of love. Everybody seemed

bright; good-humoured; happy; willing to please and to be pleased! It

was as if all the world had met to celebrate the arrival or reign of

universal concord. The Palace of Industry was the Temple of Peace. There

were some military uniforms, and a few soldiers here and there, but no

one thought of _fighting_! It was not a battle,—it was not even a review.

It was not War when merely making a holiday; showing himself off in his

fine clothes to a gaping multitude, and startling or amusing them by his

gigantic sport. A little boy—a child of some five or six years old—while

we were all waiting for the coming of the Queen, got away from his

mother, or sister, ran into the midst of the central crowd of dignitaries

and diplomatists, walked up the steps of the platform on which was the

chair of state, turned round and stood looking about happy and delighted,

and then went back again to the cover of the wing from which he had

escaped! The whole thing showed such a sense of _security_,—such a

feeling in the boy that there was nothing to frighten him or to hurt him

_there_,—that he appeared like an impersonation of the spirit of the

place. He could not have done or felt as he did in any assembly of thirty

thousand people that ever met in the world before within the same walls.

Such assemblages there _have_ been, and larger,—but they met for purposes

of cruelty and blood,—to see men fight with beasts or with each other.

In the Crystal Palace is mirrored, we trust, the dawn at least of the

predicted day, when “the wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard

shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the

fatling together; AND A LITTLE CHILD SHALL LEAD THEM.”

Then there was to be seen for some time in apparently friendly

conversation, the Iron Duke and the Lancashire cotton-spinner;—Wellington

and Cobden;—the man of war and the apostle of peace! It was a suggestive

sight. The old soldier did a great and necessary work in his day. By his

decisive stroke at the battle of Waterloo, he terminated the protracted

contentions of Europe, and gave to us, as a nation, a peace that has

continued for thirty-five years. _To that prolonged peace, we are in a

great measure indebted for the Exhibition of Industry_. It would not have

been improper, therefore, if, while looking on the scene he had lived to

witness,—a scene that glorified his own eighty-second birthday, and which

was so different from all that he had been familiar with in his youth,—it

would not have been improper if the military veteran had felt that there

was a connexion between what he saw and what he had _done_. Than he, we

believe, there is no one more aware of the horrors of war, or who would

more bitterly lament its necessity;—and though he can hardly be expected

to think Peace Societies the sole or best defence of a nation, it is not

to be doubted that he would welcome “permanent and universal peace,” and

that he rejoices in an enterprise that may help to secure it. _There they

were, then_,—two representative and typical men;—side by side;—talking

like brothers! There they were;—the one the monument of a past age,—the

other the personal prophecy of a coming one. The one the chronicle of

bygone times, when nations thought themselves “natural enemies,” and men

knew of no arbiter but the sword;—the other the advocate of _another_

arbitration, and the apostle of the industrial intercourse of the world.

The one was old,—the other young. Let us hope that this, too, was a

type of _the principles_ they respectively represented;—that that of

appealing and trusting to the sword, is past its vigour and is falling

into decay,—while that of uniting by mutual benefits, and of superseding

the arguments of brute force by those of reason and love, is in its

prime and manhood, and has before it a long period of service. There are

a few specimens of cannon in the Exhibition, but there are far more of

agricultural instruments. The time will come when none of the former will

find their place in any collection of the works of “Industry,”—except,

it may be, some that shall be preserved as curious, though sad and

humiliating, relics of a former age. “Weapons of war” are destined to

disappear, and to give place to the engine and the compass,—the press

and the tool-chest,—the plough and the pruning-hook!

The incidents thus referred to, were felt to be suggestive of many

thoughts in harmony with the sentiment last quoted from the speech of

Prince Albert. That sentiment, however, received ampler illustration

by what was seen on the reading of the address of the Commissioners to

her Majesty,—by the closing language of that address itself,—and by

her Majesty’s reply. The procession that approached the throne for the

presentation of the address, consisted not only of Englishmen headed

by the Consort of the Sovereign, but of the foreign representatives of

twenty-six different nations, states, or kingdoms. These, for the time,

were all ONE;—one body,—filled with one sentiment, pervaded, as it

were, by one soul;—and they all united in uttering through their common

head, in the name of their several countries, and in the presence of a

multitude almost as mixed and multifarious as themselves, the following

words:—

“It is our heartfelt prayer that this undertaking, _which has for

its end_ the promotion of all branches of human industry, and _the

strengthening of the bonds of peace and friendship_ AMONG ALL NATIONS

OF THE EARTH, may, by the blessing of Divine Providence, conduce to

the welfare of your Majesty’s people, and be long remembered among the

brightest circumstances of your Majesty’s _peaceful_ and _happy reign_.”

It was a great thing to see the representatives of Austria and Denmark,

France and Belgium, Prussia and Germany, Russia and Rome, Spain and

Portugal, Turkey and Tuscany, the United States, Tunis, Sardinia, Greece,

and of many other lands, joining together in the expression of a common

hope, and the utterance of a united prayer, that what they were doing

might “strengthen the bonds of peace and friendship among all the nations

of the earth;” and to think, too, that they did this, not only in their

own names, and in those of their respective countries, but in the name

of _all_ lands and peoples in the world that might have any contribution

in the Exhibition, whether they had personal representatives among the

Commissioners or not. The closing paragraph of her Majesty’s reply

echoed the closing sentiment of the address,—a sentiment that came to

her like an utterance from the heart of universal humanity! It was an

over-powering sight, by the way,—that of one so young, elevated in the

midst of so vast a multitude, and virtually receiving the homage of so

many nations:

“A wondrous sceptre ’tis to bear;

Strange mystery of God which set

Upon her brow yon coronet,—

The foremost crown

Of all the earth on one so fair!

That chose her to it from her birth,

And bade _the sons of all the earth_

_To her bow down_.”

Although the closing passage in her Majesty’s speech is that to which we

confine our attention, as the speech itself is very brief, we give it

entire:

“I receive with the greatest satisfaction the address which you have

presented to me on the opening of this Exhibition.

“I have observed with a warm and increasing interest the progress of

your proceedings in the execution of the duties intrusted to you by the

Royal Commission; and it affords me sincere gratification to witness the

successful result of your judicious and unremitting exertions in THE

SPLENDID SPECTACLE _by which I am this day surrounded_.

“_I cordially concur with you in the prayer, that by God’s blessing

this undertaking may conduce_ to the welfare of my people, and _to the

common interests of the human race_, by encouraging the arts of peace

and industry, _strengthening the bonds of union among the nations of the

earth_, and promoting a friendly and honourable rivalry in the useful

exercise of those faculties which have been conferred by a beneficent

Providence for the good and the happiness of mankind.”

But we must draw to a close. There were many other incidents on which

we could willingly linger, as illustrative of the views we had always

indulged of the character and tendencies of the great experiment. The

union in one edifice of such an unprecedented number of human beings,

was itself a most imposing and magnificent spectacle. The Queen appeared

to feel this. As she stood in a position to command a view of the vast

spaces of the building, all of which were densely filled, she seemed

impressed with a sense of awe at the sublime spectacle, and could not

help, even during the reading of the address of the Commissioners,

partially withdrawing her attention from them, to steal a glance at

“the splendid spectacle by which she was surrounded.” That spectacle,

however, partook of the tender, the beautiful, and the domestic even,

as well as the sublime. Into it, the Queen and her illustrious Consort

came, each leading by the hand one of their children! Up and down,

through and amongst that mass of people, they moved together in the

same manner. Pomp and state were in some degree laid aside, and the

sovereign, for the time, seemed to have become one with the people. She

was received with affection, as well as loyalty; and appeared to enjoy

and to acknowledge her reception, not so much as a crowned Queen, as a

happy _woman_, an elated wife, and a loving mother! It must have been

the most wonderful hour in the whole life of Prince Albert,—that hour of

the opening of the Exhibition!—intense must have been the feelings with

which he looked on the realization of his great idea; the end of so much

anxiety; the commencement of the harvest of so much hope! Everything

was propitious. The sun in the heavens shone down upon the scene with

unwonted brightness, as if He who “sits in the centre” thereof, approved

the undertaking and blessed it from on high. There was not an accident

of any sort,—nothing for one moment to excite alarm, to produce panic,

or occasion apprehension in the mind of the assembly. In spite of the

tens of thousands that filled it, in no part of the edifice was there

crack or strain, the indication of weakness, or any sign of insecurity.

The outdoor crowds, instead of being disposed to rudeness or riot, or

capable of being excited to tumult and rebellion (!), would seem to have

been more than usually pacific; a sort of restraint appears to have been

upon the worst even of those who congregate on such occasions; for, on

the following day, there were no cases of either quarrels or robberies

such as ordinarily attend state pageants and civic processions. The royal

Patrons of peace and industry retired from the scene in which they had

developed a new phase of royalty, and read a new lesson to kings, amid

the benedictions and prayers of the multitude with whom they had met and

mingled. They could not but retire happy and glad; grateful to God for

what they had witnessed, and what they had done; and, in the fulness of

their emotions of devout thankfulness, like David, perhaps, “returned

home to bless their household.” As it is not likely that anything will

occasion a _greater_ gathering of the populace in the parks, in connexion

with the Exhibition, and as the ceremony of the opening has given such

a glow of cheerfulness and confidence to the public mind, it is to be

hoped that the many prophecies and prognostications of evil, which some

have indulged in, will now cease, and that all will unite, by cordial

sympathy with the great object, and fervent prayer to Almighty God,

to seek the realization of those peaceful, patriotic, and world-wide

results, which many of the wise and good hope that “the Great Exhibition”

may be an instrument in the hand of Providence to secure, and which as

Englishmen, Christians, and lovers of our kind, we ought all constantly

and earnestly to pursue. In this way, every devout man may help to hasten

that anticipated FUTURE, some of the general characteristics of which we

have endeavoured to deduce from the Scriptural motto on the books of the

Exhibition. Of that period a pregnant and impressive type was presented

in the opening ceremonial, when, in the bearing of all the nations of the

earth, _representatively present in the spacious edifice_, there rose

up,—to the praise and glory of that God, “_whose is the earth and the

fulness thereof, the world and they that dwell therein_,” and to whom we

are indebted not only for “all the blessings of this life,” but for “the

means of grace, and the hope of glory,”—the grand, solemn, _prophetic_

song,—

“Hallelujah! for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.

The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and

of his Christ; and He shall reign for ever and ever.

King of kings, and Lord of lords. Hallelujah!”

With the following stanzas, descriptive of the different parts of the

scene thus reviewed, we here close our pleasant labour:

THE GATHERING OF THE NATIONS.

“A peaceful place it was but now,

And lo! within its shining streets

A multitude of nations meets:

A countless throng

I see beneath the crystal bow,

And Gaul and German, Russ and Turk,

Each with his native handiwork

And busy tongue.

I felt a thrill of love and awe

To mark the different garb of each,

The changing tongue, the various speech

Together blent.

A thrill, methinks, like His who saw

“All people dwelling upon earth

Praising our God with solemn mirth

And one consent.”

THE PRAYER.

“High Sovereign in your Royal state!

Captains and Chiefs and Councillors,

Before the lofty palace doors

Are open set,

Hush! ere you pass the shining gate;

Hush! ere the heaving curtain draws,

And let the Royal pageant pause

A moment yet.

People and Prince a silence keep!

Bow coronet and kingly crown,

Helmet and plume bow lowly down;

The while the priest

Before the splendid portal step,

While still the wondrous banquet stays,

From Heaven supreme a blessing prays

Upon the feast!”

…

“Behold her in her Royal place:

A gentle lady—and the hand

That sways the sceptre of this land

How frail and weak!

Soft is the voice, and fair the face;

She breathes Amen to prayer and hymn,

No wonder that her eyes are dim,

And pale her cheek.”

PEACE AND CONCORD.

“The representatives of man

Here from the far Antipodes,

And from the subject Indian seas,

In congress meet;

From Afric and from Hindostan,

From western continent and isle,

The envoys of her empire pile

Gifts at her feet.

Our brethren cross the Atlantic tides,

Loading the gallant decks which once

Roar’d a defiance to our guns,

With peaceful store;

Symbol of peace, their vessel rides!

O’er English waves float Star and Stripe,

And firm their friendly anchors gripe

The father shore!”

…

“Look yonder, where the engines toil;

These England’s arms of conquest are—

The trophies of her bloodless war:

Brave weapons these!

Victorious over wave and soil,

With these she sails, she weaves, she tills,

Pierces the everlasting hills,

And spans the seas!

The engine roars upon its race,

The shuttle whirrs along the woof,

The people hum from floor to roof,

With Babel tongue.

The fountain in the basin plays,

The chanting organ echoes clear,

An awful chorus ’tis to hear,—

A wondrous song!

Swell, organ,—swell your trumpet blast!

March, Queen and Royal pageant, march

By splendid aisle and springing arch

Of this fair Hall.

And see! above the fabric vast,

God’s boundless Heaven is bending blue,

God’s peaceful Sun is beaming through,

And shining over all!”

London: Printed by William Tyler, Bolt-Court.

* * * * *

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W. HANDS, Clapham.

G. W. MEDES, Camberwell.

J. H. JACKSON, Islington Green.

W. D. THOMSON, 138, Upper Street, Islington.

T. K. GORBELL, 16, Hereford Place, Commercial Road East.