was above them. But it might be urged that in Art, at least, man’s industry was the chief power at work, and that he might take praise to himself for the effect which he produced. We were proud of our mental powers, but God gave us that capacity; so that at the utmost all that man could do was to arrange and combine the ancient elements of things. Although much had been discovered by man, his knowledge was still greatly limited, and those who went deepest into the mine of nature were obliged to confess that they knew nothing as they ought to know. Upon all the trophies of their exhibition should be inscribed — “What has God wrought?”. Of the good effects to be anticipated, he believed they would equally apply to the manufacturing and agricultural districts. The former were capable of great improvement, whilst the latter were restricted by atmospheric changes and other forces. He might not believe the cotton-lord who might tell him that by means of chemistry and other sciences he could make his land grow seven quarters of wheat where now it only yielded three; still, he expected that England would derive great benefits from the great international exhibition. The Rev. T. Vores, in moving the second resolution, said it contained one word which carried with it the fullest justification for his advocacy, and that word was peace. [Applause.] Their religion was a religion of peace. Their great Lord and Master was the Prince of Peace, and it was the duty of ministers to spread the principles of peace throughout the world. It was true that the age of miracles was past, but he conceived that the contemplated exhibition would show to man one great truth which God had written upon the broad face of the nation. It was a testimony in the history of nations that Christian countries were immeasurably superior to all others in science and art. Even their neighbours across the Channel were enraptured with martial glory, the opposite of peace. Let the two nations now meet — not as at Waterloo — and say to each other, “We contend no more upon the battle-field; we now meet in friendship, and our mutual object shall be to spread the light of science and civilisation throughout the world”. The Rev. Dr. Gray (Baptist minister), in an excellent speech, seconded the motion, and remarked that he found it as a principle taken for granted “that the admission of foreign manufacturers and productions to the exhibition was calculated to unite nations in the bonds of friendship and commercial intercourse”. He believed this would create no controversy. They were not so one sided as to think that the riches of one nation occasioned the poverty of another, or even that a high appreciation of one national resource was necessarily the depreciation of another. He did not hold the opinion that anyone was blest on account of poverty, though he was aware that a man might be blest notwithstanding his poverty. The second proposition contained in the -
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From Historical Hastings
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