But I think one thing, if anything, would stagger their simple old
Saxon faith; one thing would make them fearful, as indeed it makes
the preacher this day, that the time of real brotherhood and peace is
still but too far off; and that the achievements of our physical
science, the unity of this great Exhibition, noble as they are, are
still only dim forecastings and prophecies, as it were, of a higher,
nobler reality. And they would say sadly to us, their children:
"Sons, you ought to be so near to God; He seems to have given you so
much and to have worked among you as He never worked for any nation
under heaven. How is it that you give the glory to yourselves, and
not to Him?"
For do we give the glory of our scientific discoveries to God, in any
real, honest, and practical sense? There may be some official and
perfunctory talk of God's blessing on our endeavours; but there seems
to be no real belief in us that God, the inspiration of God, is the
very fount and root of the endeavours themselves; that He teaches us
these great discoveries; that He gives us wisdom to get this wondrous
wealth; that He works in us to will and to do of his good pleasure.
True, we keep up something of the form and tradition of the old talk
about such things; we join in prayer to God to bless our great
Exhibition, but we do not believe--we do not believe, my friends--
that it was God who taught us to conceive, build, and arrange that
Great Exhibition; and our notion of God's blessing it, seems to be
God's absence from it; a hope and trust that God will leave it and us
alone, and not "visit" it or us in it, or "interfere" by any "special
providences," by storms, or lightning, or sickness, or panic, or
conspiracy; a sort of dim feeling that we could manage it all
perfectly well without God, but that as He exists, and has some power
over natural phenomena, which is not very exactly defined, we must
notice His existence over and above our work, lest He should become
angry and "visit" us .
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