PART I.
EXPOSITORY.
HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION, AND PLAN OF THE WORK.
On the night of the 10th of January, in the year 1838, the inhabitants of London—those especially residing in the heart of the city—were alarmed by a cry expressive or prophetic of calamity or peril.—The Royal Exchange was in flames! Feelings and sentiments were excited by the occurrence different from those produced by an ordinary conflagration. The Royal Exchange was one of the great public buildings of the metropolis; it was the third too which, within a very short period, had met with a similar fate. It was not only the monument of individual munificence, the gift to the city which he had adorned and served, of an eminent merchant,—a man of talents, goodness, learning, and largeness of heart; it was the central point in the British empire for the meeting of the men of all nations; the palace of trade; the place of commercial congress; the hall in which assembled from day to day the “merchant princes” of England, and the representatives of the traffic and the wealth of the world. The flames spread; the devouring element secured to itself the entire edifice; it fed upon and consumed floor and roof, picture and statue, destroying or defacing everything it touched, till the whole building was reduced to ashes, and nothing remained of it but smouldering ruins.
In a little time a new edifice was projected, larger and more magnificent than the former, and thus better fitted to meet the wants of the age, and to indicate the progress and advancement of society. The first stone was laid by the youthful husband of our young queen,—one might almost say the young bridegroom of a royal bride,—and the building rose with comparative rapidity, unfolding and embodying its great idea. As it approached completion, and its front was to be adorned by some significant figures or allegorical device, questions arose as to whether an inscription should be placed there with them, and as to what that inscription should be. The illustrious individual who had laid the first stone of the structure suggested for that inscription a simple text from the English Bible, “The earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof.” The suggestion was adopted; it was carried into effect; and hence there may be read, on the front of our Royal Exchange, and read in our land’s language,—but addressed to all men; for they are addressed not only to the British merchant, but to the representatives of every nation under heaven,—the few plain words which have just been repeated,—
THE EARTH IS
THE LORD’S,
AND THE FULNESS
THEREOF.
Words, however, these, which, while simple in appearance, are pregnant and suggestive in the highest degree; for they are full to overflowing, of great practical divine thoughts.
The suggestion of this inscription for the Royal Exchange was the suggestion not only of sound judgment and good sense, but of piety, humility, and religious faith. It attributes nothing to any individual; it proclaims no national or municipal greatness; it breathes no flattery to monarch, merchant, class, or kingdom:—it is simply a devout recognition of Almighty God, “from whom, and by whom, and for whom are all things:”—who created the world, and adorned and beautified it; who covered it with verdure, made it fruitful, fills it with its various products, and sustains it for the service of man. It is a great thing to have this public recognition of the Most High made, as it were, every hour of every day, from the very centre of all mundane and secular activities;—it is a stirring recollection, that that very building, thought by many to be the temple of Mammon, should stand forth as a preacher and teacher on behalf of God; and, still more so, that its English voice should be distinctly heard above the din and discord of its many languages, perpetually proclaiming to its busy multitudes, and the busy multitudes of the whole city, what, if practically pondered, would cool avarice, prevent fraud, moderate ambition, inspire truth, dictate justice, make every man feel as a brother to his fellow, and all nations, ranks, and conditions of men, as the members of one vast and undivided confraternity.