Transcribed from the [1862?] John Stabb (Tract 272) edition by David Price, email ccx074@pglaf.org
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THE GATHERING OF THE NATIONS.
There is something especially imposing in the sight of great multitudes; hence, apart from the bliss, the glory, and the joy which the happy hosts are represented as possessing in the Apocalyptic vision, there is a peculiar sublimity in the description given in Revelation vii. 9, 10: “After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; and cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb.”
The solitary traveller excites no attention; the ordinary concourse of even crowded cities soon becomes familiar; but when large masses of humanity are congregated together for any common object, it is impossible to be an unconcerned spectator of the scene. We may have little personal interest in the purpose that has led them to assemble; we may be perfect strangers to the mighty host; but by some mysterious law we identify ourselves with them, and that not only when they are actually present, but even when they have but an imaginary existence on the graphic page of descriptive narrative.
These emotions were powerfully excited on the occasion of the Exhibition in 1851, when such vast numbers visited our metropolis to inspect the contents of the palace of glass. The accumulated treasures of art and skill excited the astonishment of the observer; but it was the countless millions of our fellow-men, who were continually moving in our midst, that commanded the wondering observation of the most unreflecting mind. And now we are called to witness a similar influx from all parts of our country and the world, to examine another display of the varieties of international skill. Europe, forgetful for a time of the agitations of political strife, is pouring forth her thousands who are intent on the encouragement of those arts which tend to the promotion of peace. Asia is sending her representatives to inspect those accumulations of treasure before which the boasted magnificence of Oriental splendour grows pale. America spares some from her fratricidal struggle to admire the far more harmless and honourable competitions of industry. Even Africa and the inhabitants of the beauteous islands of the vast Pacific have an interested share in the general gathering; while our colonies afford, by their contributions, and the number of visitors, pleasing indications of the rapidity with which they are following us in the race of civilization. From the sunny dales, the fertile fields, and the rural villages, as well as from the busy towns and cities of our own land, our countrymen are also flocking to share in the peaceful rivalry of the assembled nations. Who can look with indifference on this continually increasing aggregate of active, living men? Imagination cannot but speculate concerning the various emotions which are throbbing in these countless bosoms; on the different objects each is pursuing; on the diversified impressions individuals will receive as they survey our busy streets, our ever flowing tide of population, our temples of religion, our government, our virtues, and our sins. Piety, too, will anxiously inquire, as she surveys the mighty throng, “Who among them feareth the Lord? Whither are all these immortal spirits tending? What are the stores they are laying up for eternity?” No, we cannot be indifferent to the scene. We may look unmoved upon the majestic river, hastening onwards to the sea—upon the lofty mountain, towering to the skies—upon the solid fabric, which the skill of the architect has so reared that it may defy the attacks of ages; but it is impossible to behold with apathy the thousands whose minds are liable, like our own, to the ever shifting anxieties of life’s struggles, whose hearts are subject to the same conflicting passions with which our own are familiar, and whose souls are destined to survive the wreck of all material things in the joys or sorrows of an endless life. Hence, amid the varied specimens of artistic skill, of splendid luxury, of earth’s products, and of the discoveries of science, which appear on every side, it is, we contend, the crowding hosts of the many families and races of mankind which troop along the aisles of the International Exhibition, which will, to a thoughtful mind, still present the most serious matter for interested meditation. Oh, that the scene may awaken those who profess the religion of the Bible so to display its influence, that these occasional visitors may carry back with them deep, lasting, and salutary impressions of “the truth as it is in Jesus,” and learn that “it is righteousness alone which exalteth a nation!” The opportunity is as favourable for exhibiting the moral influence of genuine Christianity as it is unusual. May a powerful conviction of our national responsibility lead our countrymen to be faithful and effectual “witnesses for God,” and not impede the progress of the world’s evangelization by haughty pride, sordid covetousness, disgraceful profligacy, or atheistic indifference. Our common faith is on its trial, and thousands of our fellow-men will be spectators of the issue.
How varied the scenes from which these teeming multitudes have come! What diversities, arising from birth, residence, and occupation, mark their separate histories! and, when viewed in the light of the sacred Scriptures, what solemn thoughts arise in reference to them all! Some have come from regions where the false prophet deludes the minds of millions with fatalism and sensual hopes; others from the wide-spread countries where Popery corrupts the truth of revelation, burdens the simplicity of the Gospel with Pharisaic rites, and hides the doctrines of the Cross behind the crucifix. Some from the dark plains of heathenism, with its “lords many and gods many,” worshipped under hideous forms, where the glory of the incorruptible God has been changed into “an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things;” others from various parts of our own favoured land, where the Bible is known, and its truths professedly honoured. But how few, it may be feared, of this vast multitude, have yielded their hearts to the influence of the Gospel! how few have realized their real condition as sinners, their solemn responsibility as accountable beings, and their need of the atoning blood of Christ! Immersed in the world, and striving to make the most of their brief sojourn here, must it not be suspected that they are living for temporal purposes alone, and that very many are “without hope, and without God in the world”?
How painful is such a thought, when viewed in connection with the rapidity with which the generations of men are passing away from the face of the earth!
Eleven years since, and a similar gathering, buoyant with hope and energy, assembled in the Palace of Glass, and wandered amid the treasures then collected; but what numbers of the busy throng have now passed into the more impressive realities of eternity! some to inhabit the “house of many mansions;” others into scenes where unavailing remorse is the bitter fruit of opportunities neglected and privileges slighted! The shadow of death seems indeed to mingle with the bright colours of splendour which adorn the present Exhibition. We miss the familiar countenances of some who took prominent parts in the gorgeous ceremonial of 1851. Our beloved Queen, whose presence shed a light and a lustre over the joyous throng, is absent, for death has entered her palace, and bereaved her of her Consort, so justly dear. She, in widowed solitude, mourns his decease; and none who visit this stately building can fail to miss the lamented Prince, whose comprehensive intellect first adopted the idea, and defined the principles which regulated the arrangement of the former and the present Exhibition—whose cultivated taste was pervaded by genuine piety, and whose loss will not soon be forgotten by a grateful and a mourning nation. He has been called to a nobler, a happier, a mightier assembly than that of which he was the guiding spirit here.
The venerable parent of our afflicted monarch, who gained the gratitude of the people of these realms by the appropriate training of the present illustrious occupant of the throne, has, too, become an inhabitant of the silent grave. The aged Wellington, the hero of a hundred battles, formerly so interested in the trophies of a peaceful world, has yielded to the mighty conqueror, Death, and closed his chequered career. These, with many others known only to the omniscient God, have gone, leaving mourning hearts and bereaved homes to recall those hours of happy and enlightened interest they spent eleven years since, amid the gathering of the nations. They have gone to their account, and without vainly attempting to scan the varied, the solemn lot which is now their eternal destiny, let us listen to the warning voice, which says, “It is appointed unto men once to die, and after that the judgment;” and cry, “O Lord, so teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.” They have gone, and we are yet left; but how earnest should be the inquiry, “What progress are we making in the great purposes of our existence? What have we done to benefit our race and promote the glory of our God? Have the powers with which we have been entrusted been employed for good, or prostituted to evil? Have we advanced in fitness for that state to which we are hastening, or have we yielded ourselves more willing slaves to those sins which degrade, debase, and destroy the soul?”