30-1 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society. 
of the naked and painted savage ; there, where the well- 
drained land now whitens yearly with a varied harvest — 
where the flying express and the electric wire obey the be- 
hests of a grave and thoughtful people — where through the 
summer and autumn time is heard the song of the reaper— 
and where innumerable church-bells proclaim the preaching 
of the Gospel of Peace. Alas ! around each church tower 
still rises a sad under-song of misery and sin, and borne on 
the wind comes from the distant ocean the boom of giant 
instruments of death. Yet, looking back into the past, he 
can also discern, as in a glass darkly, the future. He can 
hopefully look forward to that glorious time when, as the 
old Saurian reign has ceased, so the reptile reign of Sin 
shall cease, and a renewed race, clothed in the majesty of 
an innocent manhood, shall lift up their eyes radiant with 
the indwelling Spirit of the Almighty, and look into the 
deepest mysteries of God. 
Millions of millions of years ! ! ! 
Sad voices cry, " Oh, watchman ! what of the night!" 
Watchman ! will the night of sin never be passed V But 
already, those standing on the mountain tops are stretching 
their hands towards the east. Already, the first glad beams 
of the World's great day are glancing on their longing eyes. 
Already, to those waiting in the chill hour before the dawn, 
is creeping the murmur of innumerable voices, as of distant 
seas awakening 'neath the sun, heralding the slow advance 
of those beneficent powers which shall make a bloodless 
conquest of the world, until all its kingdoms shall become 
the kingdoms of our God and of his Christ. 
The mills of God grind slowly, yet they grind exceeding small : 
With patience he stands waiting, with exactness grinds he aU. 
Such are the teachings of Nature : — such the hopes it in- 
spires. In the highest and the lowest, — in the grandest 
and the meanest, — the perfect working of a perfect God, — 
ever putting forth through the slowly lapsing ages still 
nobler manifestations of His Wisdom and His Power. For 
the present — rest ; for the future — unbounded confidence 
and hope.* 
While these lines are being corrected for the press, Edinburgh is shaken 
