EDITOR'S TABLE. 



365 



and art. Each product that is gathered 

 ill that great museum has had its his- 

 tory, which in most cases will show 

 a long, laborious, painful struggle after 

 perfection, by faithful study of the laws 

 of Nature, manifested in the operations 

 of forces and the properties of matter. 

 Now, these laws of Nature are the laws 

 of God, or there are no laws of God. 

 The divine will is disclosed in the im- 

 mutable ordinances of being, and the 

 order of the world, or there is no such 

 disclosure to man. And to seek to 

 know the divine will as expressed in 

 the laws by which things are governed, 

 and to conform action and conduct to 

 tliem, is the essence of religion, or there 

 is no religion. The denial that this 

 great gathering of the noblest fruits of 

 the world's thought and industry has in 

 it a religious element, and is grounded 

 upon a religious basis, answers to our 

 notion of atheism and heathenism. 

 Can we indeed assert that those who 

 have thrown light into the dark places 

 of Nature that the earth might be sub- 

 dued, and humanity elevated, and life 

 beautified and enriched, have not been 

 engaged in an eminently religious ser- 

 vice? Shall we say that the Eternal 

 Mind, in instituting the laws of material 

 things chemical, physical, biological 

 has claims upon our religious reverence, 

 while the human mind in discovering 

 and applying these laws to ends of be- 

 neficence is engaged in a non-religious 

 work? If God framed the mysterious 

 order around us and adapted the human 

 mind to unfold itself by studying out 

 these mysteries, can we render him any 

 truer homage than is implied in the 

 consecration of thought to these studies, 

 and in carrying on the constructive 

 and creative works which the resulting 

 knowledge makes possible? No! we 

 heartily agree with Carlyle when he 

 says, "Older than all preached gospels 

 is that ever-enduring evangel, work is 

 worship." 



The trophies of productive knowl- 

 edge and inventive genius are brought 



together in the vast exhibition, and 

 what are they but witnesses that men 

 have studied faithfully and labored well ? 

 The honesty and integrity of human 

 effort are attested in the processes and 

 results. The laws of Nature hold true 

 there is never a break in the con- 

 tinuities of effect and heat, light, air, 

 affinities, cohesions, attractions, and all 

 the properties of elements, and the 

 habitudes of energy, never falter for an 

 instant, and all goes on harmoniously 

 and successfully. Who but the irreli- 

 gious can fail to recognize the solemn 

 implications of these wonderful results; 

 and how otherwise can they be con- 

 strued by the reverent mind than as 

 God's immediate maintenance and in- 

 dorsement of the work? 



The exhibition has been planned and 

 carried out for one purpose to be seen 

 and to become a source of instruction 

 and elevation to the beholders. It is 

 designed for all classes to come and ex- 

 amine- its treasures, and learn its lessons. 

 The public has been taxed to establish 

 it for purposes of public use, to be at- 

 tained only by opening its gates to all 

 comers. Its influence is undoubtedly 

 salutary and elevating and to be every 

 way promoted. Attendance is expen- 

 sive, difficult to many, and impossible 

 to many more. It has been enormous- 

 ly costly that it might be greatly valu- 

 able ; and its managers are bound to 

 leave nothing undone to carry out its 

 design, which is to be open to the in- 

 spection of the largest possible number 

 of people. 



Yet, strange to say, the commission- 

 ers who control it have decided that it 

 shall be shut up fourteen per cent, of the 

 available time ! They have decided to 

 destroy one-seventh of its usefulness. 

 They decree that one day in the week 

 nobody shall see it. Though so exten- 

 sive that much time is required for even 

 a partial observation of it, the managers 

 determine that the little time visitors 

 have shall be curtailed. And, what is 

 worse, they shut it up the very day of 



