274 , TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



ANNUAL ADDRESS 



DELIVERED BY REV. E. R. DILLE BEFORE THE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY, 



AUGUST 30, 1883. 



Man's Sovereignty Over Nature. 



I£ I were asked what thought a visit to your beautiful Pavilion 

 suggests most vividly to mind, I should answer the thought of the 

 "sovereignty of man over nature," for everywhere around me I see 

 the tokens and trophies of that sovereignty. Upon the marching 

 seasons and the timely rains, upon the hidden wealth of mountains 

 and the vaster and more accessible wealth of the generous soil, upon 

 the forest, the flock, and the field, man has levied tribute that he may 

 exhibit here the spoils of his conquest and show all the forces of 

 nature chained to his triumphant chariot wheels. 



After God made this beautiful world, wrapped it round with sweet 

 air, bathed it with his sunshine, curtained it with the morning light, 

 and sent it singing and shining through the heavens in the fresh and 

 glowing beauty of its natal hour, while " the morning stars sang 

 together and the sons of God shouted for joy," — after this was done 

 there was a pause in the work of creation. 



God had stocked the earth and air and sea with mighty forces'. 

 There was the vital, the vegetative force, the mysterious power of life 

 changing inorganic matter into organic, and transforming with won- 

 drous alchemy the elements of earth and air into fruits and herbs 

 and plants for the food of the animal creation. 



There was coal locked up in the mountains, steam shut up in the 

 water, and electricity sleeping in the thunder-cloud. There were 

 winds and waves waiting for their lord. There were the animal 

 tribes without king or ruler. God had filled the world with power, 

 and now He wants a king to rule this new realm. And so He made 

 man in His own image to have dominion over the works of His 

 hands and put all things under his feet— commissioned him to be 

 His vicegerent over all the forces of nature and all the lower orders 

 of creation. 



At first glance it would seem that man has but little qualification, 

 adaptation, or fitness for handling all the great forces that are about 

 us, and bending them to his own will. What a little creature man is! 

 The earth upon which he lives is but a shaving swept out of the 

 creative workshop — but a speck of dust thrown off the whirling lathe 

 of creation in making larger worlds. The sun alone is one and a half 

 million times larger than our earth. And upon this globular speck (so 

 small a part of the universe that it might take an angel with a micro- 

 scope one thousand years to find it) what is man ? Smaller in 

 proportion to the solar system than a diatom to the Pacific Ocean — 

 weaker for his size than any other animal is this lord of creation. 



