Union Book Store, 
 
 148 Clay st. 
 San Francisco. 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 Mrs. SARAH P. WALSWORTH. 
 
 Received October, 1894. 
 Accessions No.'?Q0<5~7 Class No. ' 
 
V 
 
 \ 
 
 \ 
 

THS 
 
 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS ; 
 
 OB, 
 
 MANIFESTATIONS OF DEITY 
 
 WORKS OF ART. 
 
 BY THE 
 
 KEY. JOHN BLAKELY, 
 
 DRKINTILLOCH, SCOTLAND. 
 
 ' This also cometh forth from the LORD of Hosta, 
 Which is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working." 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 
 EOBEET CARTER & BROTHERS, 
 No. 530 BKOADWAT. 
 
 1856. 
 
Til 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 jgr~ 
 
 
 
 THE present age is characterized by the unprece- 
 dented development of science and art. Discovery 
 eclipses discovery as evolved in rapid succession. Me- 
 chanical inventions are struggling for precedence, but 
 the strife is short lived. The transitory interest of each 
 vanishes like a passing meteor before the rising of a 
 brighter luminary. The appearance of nature is chang- 
 ing under the transforming power of art. The modern 
 triumphs of genius are harbingers of an approaching 
 physical Millennium. Were it possible that such could 
 be attained by human effort, the age in which we live 
 bids fair to solve physical problems of ancient prophecy. 
 But the record of those bright visions regarding the 
 state of the world, discloses the fact that an Ecclesiasti- 
 cal and Political Millennium must precede, or at least ac- 
 company that which shall be Physical. The fallen race 
 must be spiritually prepared, in order to the enjoyment 
 of a full disclosure of temporal blessings. 
 
 The human family may be divided into two classes 
 those who live for time only, and those who live in pros- 
 pect of a coming eternity. The former class contem- 
 
IV PREFACE. 
 
 plates every object, natural and artificial, irrespective of 
 their relations to God. Among the latter class there 
 are many who seem interested in the work of personal 
 redemption, but who have little regard to the manifesta- 
 tions of the Divine attributes in creation, and in the 
 providential arrangements of this fallen world. There 
 are others who devoutly recognize God in the works of 
 nature, and in the plan of redemption, but jtew, if any, 
 are to be found among the majority of professors, who 
 see or acknowledge the attributes of Deity displayed in 
 the works of art. 
 
 Scientific students frequently interrogate nature with- 
 out a sense of its relations to the Creator, and over- 
 whelmed by its wonders, insensibly render to nature 
 that homage which is due to God. Theological students 
 are not wanting, who open the pages of inspiration for 
 inquiry regarding the hope of individual salvation, but 
 who overlook the first and pervading principle of opera- 
 tion in the universe the glory of God. There are me- 
 chanical students who investigate the material world in 
 the spirit of selfishness, in order to ascertain how much 
 may be extracted from its vast resources, for their per- 
 sonal aggrandisement. With this class the exposition 
 of the Arts tend to excite the spirit of covetousness, and 
 the homage of their hearts is divided between the wor- 
 ship of Mammon and the adoration of Genius. But op- 
 posed to all these views and objects, stands that system 
 of divine religion revealed in the Bible a system em- 
 
_ . fc- 
 
 PREFACE. V 
 
 bracing man in every aspect and in every relation. It 
 exhibits the relation of every creature to God, and claims 
 the recognition of the attributes of Deity, as these are 
 manifested in the material, mental, and moral spheres 
 of existence. 
 
 Impressed with this fact, the writer has sought in 
 vain for any thing approaching to a general acknowl- 
 edgment of God in the works of Art, even among those 
 professing belief in Divine Revelation. Occasional hints 
 are found escaping from the pen of distinguished writers, 
 but these usually pass unheeded by the mass of readers; 
 and the references seem so incidental, that the mind is 
 constrained to feel that the subject was not esteemed of 
 much importance by the author. Recognizing the su- 
 premacy of God in every department of His works, and 
 believing that dishonor has been done to His name by 
 the non-recognition of His attributes, in the artificial 
 phenomena of the world, the author of the following 
 Treatise has felt constrained, by a solemn sense of duty, 
 to submit to the public the views and feelings which, to 
 his own soul, have invested mechanical inventions 
 with a halo of light even with the beams of reflected 
 Divinity. 
 
 The elementary thoughts hereafter illustrated were 
 suggested within the luminous walls of the CRYSTAL 
 PALACE. Every object seemed to re-echo the announce- 
 ment of the ancient prophet " This also cometh from 
 the LORD of hosts, which is wonderful in counsel, and 
 
VI PREFACE. 
 
 excellent in working." Every hour devoted to reflection 
 upon this subject has convinced the author more deeply 
 of its vast importance and lasting interest. Nothing has 
 diminished the mental pleasure first realized, save a 
 growing consciousness of inability to grasp the magni- 
 tude of the theme. The sources of illustration are wide 
 as the world, and embrace every period of human his- 
 tory. Many imperfections will doubtless appear to the 
 mere critic, but it is comparatively of little moment 
 what opinion literary circles may form of these feeble 
 efforts to awaken a new train of thought, provided that 
 general readers may be led to recognize the manifesta- 
 tions of Deity in artificial phenomena, and consequently, 
 respond to the angelic anthem " Glory to God in the 
 highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men." 
 
 KIRKINTILLOCH, November, 1855. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 MM 
 
 iHTBODTTCriON.... 5 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE INTRODUCTION OF MECHANICAL INVENTIONS A PROOF THAT 
 
 THEY ARE EMANATIONS OF THE WISDOM, POWER, 
 
 AND GOODNESS OF GOD. 
 
 Elements of Machinery Mechanical Powers and Forces The Inven- 
 torObjection Answered The Arts in Relation to the Fall The 
 Industrial Instincts in Man an Element in the Construction of Ma- 
 chinery 15 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE GRADUAL DEVELOPMENT OF MECHANICAL INTENTIONS AH 
 EVIDENCE THAT THEY ARE COMMUNICATED IN AC- 
 CORDANCE WITH THE PURPOSES OF GOD. 
 
 The Mariner's Compass The Art of Printing The Steam Engine 
 The Spinning Mill The Power Loom The Railway and Electric 
 Telegraph Objection Commerce and Railways Relation of Cap- 
 ital to Railway Development Mineral Relations to the Construction 
 and working of Railways, 25 
 
 CHAPTER in. 
 
 TENDENCY OF INVENTIONS A PROOF THAT THEY ARE OF GOD. 
 
 To mitigate Human Toil Objection Alleviate Suffering Increase 
 the Sources of Comfort Prolong Rational Life Promote Universal 
 Peace Produce those Physical Changes upon Earth which Revela- 
 tion gives Reason to hope shall yet be accomplished 101 
 
Till CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 SCRIPTURAL EVIDENCE THAT MECHANICAL INVENTIONS ARE 
 OF GOD. 
 
 PAOH 
 
 The Providence of God in Relation to Mechanical Inventions The 
 Bible Record of their Rise and ProgressGardening Clothing 
 Tilling Building Tent-Making Musical Instruments Founding 
 Special Monuments The Ark The Tower of Babel Inventions 
 ascribed to Divine Wisdom... .. 151 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE INSPIRATION OF GENIUS AN EVIDENCE THAT MECHAN- 
 ICAL INVENTIONS A HE OF GOD. 
 
 Inspiration of Genius Legislation and Government War Mechan- 
 ical Scientific Exposition of the Arts in Constructing the Taber- 
 nacle The Sacred Vestments The Temple Final Consecration of 
 Genius to God... 196 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 SCRIPTURE RECORD OF INSPIRED GENIUS DEVOTED TO THE 
 ORDINARY PURPOSES OF SOCIAL LIFE. 
 
 Inspired Wisdom evolved in Agriculture In Architecture In Works 
 of Taste and Ornament In Ship-BuildingIn National Commerce- 
 In Philosophy In Literature In the Common Implements of In- 
 dustry, 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 INQUIRY REGARDING THE SOURCE OF THAT DIFFERENCE OP 
 
 CONCEPTION WITH WHICH THE MIND IS WONT TO VIEW 
 
 THE WORKS OF NATURE AS COMPARED WITH 
 
 MECHANICAL INVENTIONS. 
 
 Misconceptions regarding their respective Authors Innate Ten- 
 dency to exclude God and to recognize Man Association of Ideas 
 with Moral Characteristics Sense stronger than Faith Human 
 Pride Neglect in cultivating the Habit of Spiritual Observation- 
 Conclusion 262 
 

 THE THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS 
 
 INTBODUCTION. 
 
 THEOLOGY is that science which treats of the 
 being and attributes of God His relations to us, 
 the dispensations of His providence, His will with 
 respect to our actions, and His purposes with re- 
 gard to our end. One branch of this compre- 
 hensive science is termed Natural Theology, or 
 that science which treats of the being, attributes, 
 and will of God, as evincible from the various 
 phenomena of created objects. The first revela- 
 tion of God to intelligent beings was contained 
 in the book of nature, at the opening of which 
 " the morning stars sang together, and all the 
 sons of God shouted for joy." This comprehen- 
 sive volume embraces the universe, and reveals 
 to man, in physical development, the eternal 
 
 decrees of the all-wise Creator. It is, in fact, 
 
 1* 
 :. v>-- fsii t&iit'oa J&R oj osqc 
 
10 INTKODUCTION. 
 
 the elder manuscript of infinite wisdom, replete 
 in every page with internal and external evidence 
 of its Divine Author. " The heavens declare 
 the glory of God ; and the firmament sheweth 
 His handy-works." Creation is the counterpart 
 of the eternal purposes the embodiment of the 
 Divine thoughts, in specific physical acts, for the 
 manifestation of the attributes of Deity, " Be- 
 cause that which may be known to God is mani- 
 fest in them ; .... for the invisible things of 
 Him from the creation of the world are clearly 
 seen, being understood by the things that are 
 made, even His eternal power and Godhead." 
 
 The Planet inhabited by man is only one cir- 
 cumscribed page of Nature's illimitable register, 
 but yet, in itself, replete with evidence of the 
 being and attributes of God. Nor is that evi- 
 dence patent to the reflective mind of the philo- 
 sopher alone, it stands out in bold relief for the 
 perusal of sentient humanity. The unlettered 
 peasant receives from the external world the 
 same sensations as the learned philosopher. 
 Both possess similar rational faculties, however 
 variously exercised, and consequently both enjoy 
 access to Nature's volume, the language of which 
 is none other than the re-echo of the voice of 
 Deity. Unlike the monopolised stores of human 
 literature, the illuminated pages of this book are 
 ever open to all, so that he who runs may read 
 
INTRODUCTION. 11 
 
 the stereotyped impressions of the wisdom, 
 power, and beneficence of God. 
 
 In the contemplation of terrestrial objects, 
 there are two classes of phenomena which in- 
 cessantly claim attention those which are the 
 immediate work of God in creation, and such as 
 are the mechanical productions of man in the 
 progressive development of science and art. The 
 former class may be termed natural ; the latter, 
 artificial. From the natural the artificial phe- 
 nomena are all constructed. In the natural 
 every thing is created ; in the artificial every 
 object is transformed. God is the immediate 
 operator in the one department ; man is the in- 
 telligent agent in the other. While, as regards 
 the whole, the Author of universal nature is the 
 primary source and rightful proprietor of the 
 material, the intermediate agent, and the work 
 of art constructed. In the natural phenomena 
 are to be found all the elements of the artificial. 
 They have changed their place in creation, and 
 their elementary forms of existence, but their 
 essential qualities remain the same under every 
 new arrangement, consequently no circumstan- 
 tial changes of proportion, locality, or figure, 
 can transfer them beyond the limits of His king- 
 dom " who is Lord over all." " The silver and 
 the gold are His," when in the mint of theKoyal 
 Treasury, or in the coffers of the miser, as 
 
12 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 really as when deposited by the Divine hand 
 in the rocky bed of an Australian river, or the 
 hidden caverns of a Californian mountain. The 
 iron and the brass are his as really, when re- 
 volving in the wheels and shafts of a modern 
 machine as when in their elemental ore, buried 
 fifty fathoms beneath the surface of the globe. 
 And yet this region of art, this world-wide crea- 
 tion of machinery, is one from which in the 
 mental conceptions of men, the Universal Pro- 
 prietor is almost entirely excluded. Few indeed, 
 are to be found among mechanics or philosophers, 
 among even divines, or public journalists, who 
 seem to realize the fact that G-od is there, when 
 investigating the wonders of art, or who feel con- 
 strained to render to Deity the glory due to His 
 name, from this, as from every other region of 
 His works. 
 
 In proof of these assertions, it is only necessary 
 to refer to the fact that though the press teems 
 with the records of ancient and modern dis- 
 coveries in art and science, not a solitary para- 
 graph can be found in the vast majority of 
 treatises recognising the hand of God at all : 
 and in vain is search made for even one syste- 
 matic volume, presenting a lucid and compre- 
 hensive illustration of the wisdom, power, and 
 goodness of Grod, as these attributes are displayed 
 in mechanical inventions. Or, to make the 
 
INTRODUCTION. 18 
 
 matter still more plain, where are to be found 
 emotions of gratitude to the Giver, or feelings of 
 adoring wonder excited in the breasts of men, by 
 the contemplation of a plow, a loom, a ship, a 
 steam-engine, a printing-press, or an electric- 
 telegraph ? The invention may be recorded, its 
 mechanism admired, its utility discussed, and 
 the name of the inventor praised and honored ; 
 but how rare the acknowledgment of God as the 
 author ! How few are to be found exclaiming 
 with the Psalmist, " Oh that men would praise 
 the Lord for His goodness, and for His wonderful 
 works to the children of men I" 
 
 In discussing the theology of inventions, it is 
 necessary to keep in view the designs proposed, 
 and to indicate the line of argument to be 
 adopted. Both these objects may be attained 
 by the following proposition, which we design to 
 prove and illustrate in the subsequent pages. 
 
 That mechanical inventions, in the discovery 
 of their elements and principles, and in the con- 
 struction of their parts, are, and ought to be 
 viewed as emanations of the wisdom, power, and 
 beneficence of God. 
 
 This proposition may be proved philosophically 
 from reason, and theologically from revelation. 
 Both these lines of argument shall be pursued in 
 the elucidation of the subject. 
 
 In proving from reason that artificial pheno- 
 
14 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 mena, or mechanical inventions are of God, a 
 multitude of arguments might be adduced, but 
 only three are selected the Fact ; the Time ; 
 and the Tendency of their Discovery. 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE INTRODUCTION OP MECHANICAL INVENTIONS A PROOF THAT 
 THEY ARE EMANATIONS OP THE WISDOM, POWER, AND GOOD- 
 NESS OP GOD. 
 
 IN the early history of the human family 
 mechanical inventions had no existence, save in 
 the purpose of God, and in their original ele- 
 ments, as parts of creation- work. Surveying the 
 world, even from Paradise, what finite being could 
 have predicted their future development ? The 
 first man, notwithstanding his knowledge of 
 nature, knew not the necessities of a fallen race, 
 and consequently he could form no conception of 
 that provision which infinite wisdom had made 
 for the mitigation of physical evil, and the future 
 elevation of his descendants. Implements of 
 industry he might require, and, perhaps, be pro- 
 vided with for the cultivation of that garden 
 which he was commanded to dress and keep ; 
 but of rooting out the thorn and the thistle 
 productions of the curse ; of manufacturing 
 clothing the permanent want of a fallen state ; 
 of building or furnishing habitations, in accord- 
 
16 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 ance with circumstances and climate, in a world 
 whose elements and seasons were affected by the 
 introduction of moral evil ; or of the implements 
 necessary for the construction of these, he could 
 have no idea in a state of innocence. The world 
 was destitute of machinery on that fatal day 
 when offended Deity "drove out the man." 
 Natural phenomena might retain much of its 
 pristine freshness and beauty, but then artificial 
 phenomena had no visible existence. The whole 
 world did not exhibit one artificial human dwell- 
 ing, while the entire wardrobe of our first parents, 
 when thrust forth from the garden, was comprised 
 in the fig-leaf aprons where witli they were covered. 
 Contrast with this the magnificent cities of 
 ancient or modern times the wide-spread cul- 
 tivation of the earth the trackless ocean navi- 
 gated the subterranean mines of wealth dis- 
 closed the human family clothed, and fed, and 
 domiciled in comfort knowledge circulated for 
 the million, and human thoughts wafted on the 
 wings of the lightning. Contrast again the natural 
 phenomena of that world into which Adam was 
 thrust out with the artificial phenomena which it 
 now exhibits, under the industrial arts of his de- 
 scendants, and will any reflecting mind be pre- 
 pared to say that man, and man only, is to be 
 recognized as the author of every successive de- 
 velopment of the mechanical inventions ? 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 17 
 
 ELEMENTS OF MACHINERY. 
 
 While investigating mechanical inventions, 
 the question naturally arises. What are their con- 
 stituent elements ? What their mechanical 
 powers ? Whence their origin ? By whom have 
 their materials been discovered, and their various 
 parts constructed ? As regards their native ele- 
 ments, the most complicated, as well as the 
 simplest, may be traced to three sources the 
 mineral, vegetable, and animal kingdoms. Take 
 a hand-loom, or a spinning-mill ; analyze their 
 entire machinery, and it will be found that the 
 bowels of the earth have contributed their por- 
 tion of iron or brass, or other elements. The 
 surface of the globe has produced the wood, the 
 hemp, the flax, the cotton, the oil, and other 
 vegetable products. The animal kingdom has 
 furnished the leather, the bone, the hair, the 
 grease, and all the different substances brought 
 into requisition. These materials have no nat- 
 ural relation no chemical affinities, no self- 
 approximating influences, no self-adjusting pro- 
 perties. Drawn from three distinct kingdoms in 
 nature, they are, by a mechanical combination, 
 made to assume an entirely new form to occupy 
 a new place, and to accomplish a new purpose. 
 The mineral elements have been extracted from 
 the regions of darkness. They have been 
 
18 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 smelted, moulded, or beaten into a thousand 
 forms. The wood has been hewn by the axe, 
 divided by the saw, smoothed by the plane, and 
 fitted by mechanical tools, before it assumed its 
 place in conjunction with the brass and the iron. 
 The flax and the hemp have been watered, dried, 
 the fibre separated from the stem, drawn out 
 and twisted by machinery, before it could be 
 used in binding the lighter parts of the wood 
 and the iron. And in the products of the animal 
 kingdom there are similar transformations. The 
 outer covering which protected and beautified 
 the body of the horse, the ox, or the sheep, hag 
 been stripped off by the hand of violence divest 
 ed of its hair or wool, impregnated by the art of 
 the tanner with lime from the mineral kingdom, 
 with the juice of astringent barks from the vege- 
 table kingdom, and oils from the animal king- 
 dom, before it could take a place in the re- 
 volving bands of the spinning-mill, or furnish 
 an element in forming the more simple driving- 
 pin of the hand-loom. The same analysis, ap- 
 plied to any other specimen of machinery will 
 reduce its constituent elements to one or other, 
 or all of these kingdoms. Let the mind reflect 
 upon this threefold source of material sub- 
 stances, from which all the mechanical inven- 
 tions in the world have been, or are being, or 
 shall be constructed, and let it be remembered 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 19 
 
 that these are only elements, and cannot of 
 themselves assume the form, or exert the power 
 of the simplest machine. But they are elements 
 provided by the God of infinite wisdom for 
 the very purposes to which man has been taught 
 to apply them. 
 
 The world itself, in its geological construction, 
 as well as in its vegetable and animal adapta- 
 tions, is none other than a divine depository of 
 exhaustless resources, from which man may draw 
 forth and appropriate whatever tends to his 
 physical comfort and mental progress. But here, 
 as in every other department, the forethought is 
 more than human, while the power and benefi- 
 cence are evidently divine. The adjustment in 
 every region is such as to confound the most 
 reckless sceptics. The minerals have been 
 stowed away in the subterranean caverns of the 
 earth so that they might not destroy its vege- 
 table productions by their deleterious gases, de- 
 form its beauty by their unsightly appearance, 
 or impede the operations of the animal kingdom 
 by abridging the extent, or rendering unfruitful 
 the surface of the globe. They are neither so 
 near the circumference of the earth as to induce 
 indolence, nor so deeply deposited as to elude 
 the search of human ingenuity. The outer stra- 
 tum seems as if designed to meet the wants and 
 stimulate the ardor of a barbarous age, while 
 
-0 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 the inner stores of mineral wealth are so depos- 
 ited as to test the highest achievements of me- 
 chanical skill to draw out the accumulating 
 stores of knowledge and to excite the latent 
 principles of art and industry. Can all this pro- 
 vision be laid up since creation, or formed in 
 successive geologic periods by unknown influ- 
 ences in the mineral kingdom, without a definite 
 design ? Keflect again upon the vegetable and 
 animal kingdoms, as stored by creative power, 
 and preserved by Divine Providence. The 
 former was furnished with trees, and plants, and 
 herbs, each bearing seed and propagating its 
 species after its kind. The latter was stocked 
 with all the varied forms of animal life, having 
 the earth, the air, the -sea, as their appointed 
 regions, and under -the pristine law of life to 
 multiply and replenish the world from age to age. 
 Could all this provision be made for the construc- 
 tion of machinery without that wisdom which is 
 infinite, that power which is almighty, and that 
 goodness which is boundless ? 
 
 MECHANICAL POWERS AND FORCES. 
 
 These elements, however bountifully provided 
 in the kingdoms of nature, would be entirely 
 useless for the construction of the simplest 
 machine, unless accompanied by mechanical 
 principles or laws, which are universal in ex- 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 21 
 
 tension, and immutable in operation. The 
 entire range of mechanical inventions may be 
 reduced to a few primary machines, which, in 
 natural philosophy, are termed mechanical 
 powers. These have been usually treated of as 
 six the lever, the wheel, the axle, the inclined 
 plane, the wedge, the screw, and the funicular 
 machine. It is evident that these six may be 
 reduced to three the lever, the funicular ma- 
 chine, and the inclined plane ; and from two of 
 them the lever and the inclined plane, the 
 other three are formed. From the varied com- 
 binations of these all machinery is constructed. 
 
 But these mechanical powers, as well as the 
 material substances, would of themselves be un- 
 availing for general purposes in machinery 
 without moving forces to originate and sustain 
 their varied motions and revolutions. These 
 again are liberally supplied in the wide domain 
 of nature for the use of man, in the development 
 and application of the arts of industry. The 
 moving powers have usually been treated of as 
 follows : The muscular strength of men and 
 animals, the pressure of the atmosphere, the 
 expansive force of steam, and the action of wind 
 or water. These may also be referred indirectly 
 to three independent sources gravity, heat, and 
 animal strength. The earlier development of 
 machinery exhibited only the application of 
 
22 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 animal strength; the present state displays the 
 general use of windy water, steam, and ex- 
 plosive substances ; but, doubtless, in the onward 
 march of discovery, electricity will soon come to 
 occupy a common place among the moving 
 powers, and the world will be as much aston- 
 ished when a " feed of zinc and water" shall 
 supersede a " feed of coke," as it was when a " feed 
 of coke" superseded a " feed of corn," and the iron 
 wheels of the engine completely distanced the 
 fleetest and best directed steed. Now, let it be 
 remembered that all these latent principles, 
 mechanical powers, and moving forces are fur- 
 nished in nature, and have been existing since 
 creation, as provided for the use of man in his 
 present condition. Does not each, in the region 
 of natural phenomena, and do not all, in their 
 mechanical combinations, proclaim the presence 
 and power of Deity ? 
 
 THE INVENTOR. 
 
 Having discovered the materials from which 
 machines are constructed, and the mechanical 
 principles, powers, and forces upon which their 
 operations depend, the question which now de- 
 mands solution is, by what agency were these 
 created materials, superinduced principles, and 
 external forces all combined, and rendered ca- 
 pable of transforming other mineral, vegetable, 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 23 
 
 and animal substances into forms, and fabrics 
 suitable for nourishing, clothing, protecting, and 
 enlightening men. Here we not only reach but 
 cross the boundary line between the material and 
 the spiritual. The agent is man, and in his 
 constitution there is a combination of the mental 
 and physical, but both are brought into active 
 operation in the construction of machinery. His 
 body is formed of the dust by a Divine hand, and 
 his breath is breathed into his nostrils by an 
 Almighty Spirit. That body in itself presents 
 some of the most wonderful and perfect speci- 
 mens of mechanical phenomena. " The anatomy 
 of man," says Galen, " discovers above six hun- 
 dred muscles, and whoever only considers these, 
 will find that in each of them nature must 
 have, at least, adjusted ten different circum- 
 stances, in order to attain the end proposed 
 proper figure, just magnitude, right disposition 
 of the several ends, upper and lower position of 
 the whole, and the due insertion of the several 
 nerves and arteries ; so that, in the muscles alone, 
 above six thousand several views and intentions 
 must have been formed and executed." He cal- 
 culated the bones to be two hundred and eighty- 
 four, and the distinct purposes aimed at in the 
 structure of each above forty. This makes 
 eleven thousand three hundred and sixty ! 
 What a prodigious display of artifice even in 
 
24 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 these simple and homogeneous parts ! But 
 if we consider the skin, ligaments, vessels, 
 glands, humors, and the several limbs and 
 members of the body, how must our astonish- 
 ment rise in proportion to the number and in- 
 tricacy of the parts so artificially adjusted ! Who 
 can survey this wonderful structure without ad- 
 miring the wisdom and power of the Architect ? 
 How appropriate the language of the Psalmist, 
 " I am fearfully and wonderfully made." Now 
 this body of man is the primary instrument 
 the living machine, by which the God of provi- 
 dence discloses the wonders of the entire region 
 of artificial phenomena. In nature God employs 
 intermediate causes to produce the designed 
 physical effects, so in like manner, when the 
 Divine purposes of goodness and wisdom are 
 to be embodied in the production of mechanical 
 phenomena, man is the intermediate agent com- 
 missioned to construct them the mental causa- 
 tion of their new existence. But for his wants, 
 machinery would be unnecessary, and but for 
 his mental and physical endowments for labor, 
 the minerals, vegetables, and animals might run 
 to waste without any new form of mechanical 
 beauty or utility being added to the phenomena 
 of the world. 
 
 Without the human hand how would dis- 
 coveries be made in science, or the arts de- 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 25 
 
 veloped ? A few operations might be performed, 
 such as are common to some of the irrational 
 creatures, but progress would be utterly impos- 
 sible. The hand is the organ of prehension, 
 which readily seizes and secures bodies of every 
 form, and of such dimensions and weight as are 
 capable of being moved by the arms of man. It 
 has been well remarked that had the hand been 
 undivided it could only have held such a portion 
 of any mass as was equal to itself ; but, as it is, 
 by separating the fingers, it can encompass one 
 larger than itself; and, by compressing two of 
 them together, it can safely hold a minute ob- 
 ject. Besides, as some bodies are too large to 
 be held by one hand alone, we are endowed with 
 two inclining towards, and precisely adapted to 
 each other. The sensibilities of the hand, in 
 respect of touch, are not less remarkable, as at 
 once determining the nature of substances, as 
 regards hardness and softness, roughness and 
 smoothness, fineness and coarseness, heaviness 
 and lightness, hotness and coldness. While the 
 eye scans material elements, the hand grasps 
 them, completes the scrutiny which the organ of 
 vision had begun, and then applies them to 
 practical purposes. By the hand they are ar- 
 rested and shaped anew and combined in curious 
 mechanism to form this, or that machine. 
 
 But while we speak of the human hand, or the 
 2 
 
26 THEOLOGY OF INVI^TIONS. 
 
 human body, as the constructor of every form of 
 mechanical phenomena, we necessarily indicate 
 mental operations. There must be a motive 
 power, propelling, directing, and controlling this 
 material organism. The moving power is* the 
 mind the spiritual part of man's nature. It 
 has been already shewn that the material sub- 
 stances and mechanical powers could not be of 
 general utility without moving forces, so here, 
 even the human body could be of no utility in the 
 construction of machinery without the reasoning 
 powers of the mind. In this case the physical 
 organization is inhabited by a living, thinking 
 agency a spiritual motive power within, whose 
 volitions are the moving springs the originating 
 cause of the external movements of every joint, 
 and muscle, and limb. The mind thinks re- 
 garding an end in view, and the volitions of the 
 will propel the feet towards a chosen object, and 
 move the hands by which it is appropriated for 
 a given purpose. The mind reflects and reasons 
 regarding the end to be attained, and the means 
 provided, adjudging the proportions, and plan- 
 ning the various parts of the machine ; which 
 ultimately takes its form from the arranging 
 mechanical hand of the artist. Nor is the mind 
 the contriver only ; its volitions direct every part 
 of the execution. It is, -in fact, the moving 
 power, without which the hand becomes para- 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 27 
 
 lysed, the eye ceases to observe, and the whole 
 machinery of the human system ceases to operate, 
 and the elements of nature retain forever their 
 original form of existence. 
 
 Let it then be kept in view that the whole 
 development of artificial phenomena is the result 
 of human ingenuity, the discovery and construc- 
 tion of human effort, and that every mechanical 
 hand has been directed and moved by an intellec- 
 tual agency, then it will appear that the progress 
 of science, and the development of art, are but 
 the historic records of man's mental and physical 
 capabilities. Thus as has been already shewn 
 while the earth is replenished as a vast magazine 
 of materials, man, the sentient being, is con- 
 stituted the artizan in the midst of these, that 
 as a philosopher, he may discover their existence, 
 and, as a mechanic, apply them to their respec- 
 tive uses. But though a microcosm within 
 himself, and though giving form to every object 
 in the world-wide circle of the industrial arts, 
 he is, nevertheless, but a monument of the 
 wisdom, power, and goodness of Deity an in- 
 strument in the Divine hand, by which the God 
 of providence effects those transformations up- 
 on material substances which infinite wisdom 
 has planned, and almighty power will duly 
 accomplish. The most exalted philosopher, 
 the most distinguished genius, the most skilful 
 
28 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 mechanic, occupies only a place in the wide do- 
 main of creation as a servant, and fulfills his 
 appointed mission in the mysterious develop- 
 ments of Providence. However high he may 
 soar upon the wings of genius above his contem- 
 poraries, he is not a God to create one solitary 
 element in the field of nature, or to bring into 
 operation one primary power, or to construct a 
 machine absolutely original. His work is to dis- 
 cover, apply, and exhibit, in new combinations, 
 those elements, proportions, and principles which 
 have had a place in the Divine mind from 
 eternity, and which have been amply provided 
 for in the primary and progressive acts of crea- 
 tion. It is thus, that while angels are com- 
 missioned to loose the seals of the mysterious 
 book of Providence, men are employed to unlock 
 the treasury of nature ; and by the application of 
 mechanical laws to material substances, to bring 
 into operation an entirely new class of objects, 
 designed at once to show forth the glory of God, 
 and promote the comfort and happiness of the 
 human family. 
 
 But while the objects mechanically made are 
 superinduced upon nature, they are not new 
 creations. Mechanical inventions are but the 
 gradual development of nature's elements in new 
 forms, in, new relations, and adapted to new 
 purposes. Besides, it would be no difficult task 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 29 
 
 to shew, that in nature itself are to be found the 
 primary suggestions the elementary models of 
 all artificial mechanism. Much that passes for 
 invention in the works of art is merely an imi- 
 tation of nature, and that which constitutes the 
 most complicated machinery is simply the ex- 
 pansion, or new combinations of those primary 
 examples. Thus Pope well remarks, regarding 
 man, that he will 
 
 " The art of building from the bee receive, 
 Learn of the mole to plough ; the worm to weave ; 
 Learn of the little nautilus to sail, 
 Spread the thin oar, and catch the driving gale." 
 
 It is here, however, that reason rises transcend- 
 ently above the most peculiar of the animal 
 instincts. The latter can do much ; can do all 
 that is necessary for the preservation and enjoy- 
 ment of irrational life. But though they are 
 perfect in their kind, they are absolutely sta- 
 tionary. 
 
 "The winged inhabitants of Paradise 
 "Wove their first nests as curiously and well 
 As the wood minstrels of our evil day." 
 
 Whereas human ingenuity pursues a steady 
 course of discovery, and marks each succeeding 
 age with its well defined monuments of scientific 
 progress. But while reason soars sublimely above 
 the achievements of instinct, and while, in the 
 
30 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 advancement of human knowledge, one genera- 
 tion looks back with wonder at the feeble efforts 
 of genius in a preceding age, and forward with an- 
 ticipation to the future triumphs of science soon 
 to be disclosed, yet, this elevation, or mental 
 expansion, is but relative but different degrees 
 of mental development in the creature. Ascend 
 high as it may in any future age ; penetrate 
 though it should through the hitherto hidden 
 strata of the mineral deposits ; encircle though 
 it shall the entire surface of the globe with the 
 trophies of genius, it approaches not the infinite; 
 it bursts not the bounds of creation ; it produces 
 nothing unforeseen, or unprovided for, in the stu- 
 pendous plans of infinite wisdom. 
 
 " To improve and expand is ours, as well as to limit and 
 
 defeat ; 
 
 But to create a thought or a thing is hopeless and im- 
 possible."* 
 
 OBJECTION ANSWERED. 
 
 Some may object to this theory, and be ready 
 to ask, Do you make man only an instrument ? 
 Do you place him in the same category, with his 
 reason, as the irrational animals with their in- 
 sfinct ? Is not a man a free and moral agent ? Is 
 he not a being capable of vast elevation in the 
 proper exercise of his mental faculties ? Will 
 
 * Proverbial Philosophy. 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 31 
 
 you divest him of the glory of his genius and 
 mechanical skill ? To this it is replied : Man 
 is, indeed, an instrument, though a free and 
 moral agent. The gift of reason, though it con- 
 stitutes him a free, does not necessarily render 
 him an independent agent. He can reason and 
 j plan, and operate upon given materials. He can 
 appropriate and arrange them in accordance 
 with a definite design ; but all these operations, 
 whether mental or physical, are conducted within 
 given limits the limits of finite capacity and 
 relative circumstances. No elevation or expan- 
 sion of his intellectual faculties ; no degree of 
 physical capability, can raise him above the rank 
 of a creature, or render him independent of the 
 Almighty Creator. It is admitted that he rises 
 transcendently above the most sagacious of "the 
 beasts that perish," but it is only by so many 
 degrees in a finite scale, which, in its loftiest 
 elevation, can bear no proportion to the infinite. 
 He can, in his own appropriate sphere, work out 
 the plans of infinite wisdom. He can, in the 
 exercise of reason, discover, and apply what God 
 has provided and bestowed for his sustenance 
 and comfort ; but this can never constitute him 
 proprietor, either of his own faculties and phy- 
 sical adaptations, or of those elements upon 
 which his genius and skill have produced such 
 vast transformations. He is to be viewed rather 
 
32 . THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 as the exhibitor than the original designer ; as 
 the servant disclosing the hidden riches of his 
 master, rather than the proprietor setting forth 
 his peculiar treasures. Indeed the artizan and 
 his work are both designed to shew forth the 
 glory of one Divine Author. In the exhibition 
 of redemption men are represented as " workers 
 together with God/' when they employ the means 
 which infinite wisdom has prescribed ; so, in like 
 manner, the inventor of machinery, irrespective 
 of his moral characteristics or designs, becomes 
 a fellow- worker with God in the physical world 
 an instrument by which the divine plans for the 
 benefit of the human race are accomplished. 
 He stands in the position of one whose province 
 it is to search out and display the boundless re- 
 sources of the Divine Proprietor. He is com- 
 manded to " subdue the earth ;" that is, by 
 industry to discover, and to appropriate what 
 infinite goodness has provided for the mitigation 
 of the curse, and the physical renovation of a 
 fallen world. 
 
 It is freely admitted that the man who makes 
 a discovery, or who invents an original machine, 
 ought to enjoy the fruits of his labor, and 
 ought to be honored by his fellow-men as a 
 public benefactor. But, when viewed in his re- 
 lation to God, the Author of all that is material 
 in his machine, and of all that is mental in its 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 33 
 
 plan and construction, he is only a servant, and, 
 as such cannot usurp the claims of his Master. 
 While the laborer is worthy of his reward, and 
 ought to be recognized by tokens of gratitude, 
 the glory, in its high and proper sense, belongs 
 to God. It is true, in the experience of the 
 world, that at certain epochs peculiar discoveries 
 have been made which have completely changed 
 the currents of human history. With these 
 discoveries stand associated distinguished names 
 through coming generations. But how limited 
 are the conceptions of the most celebrated philo- 
 sophers or inventors of machinery ? Sir Isaac 
 Newton could scan the heavens, and calculate 
 the distances, densities, and velocities of suns 
 and systems, and yet might be very ignorant 
 of the method of constructing some of the 
 simplest machines. James Watt could form 
 his models, and study the powers of steam until 
 he astonished the world by his locomotive 
 engine, and yet, with regard to thousands of 
 other problems in art and science, he might be 
 profoundly ignorant. And thus it is found in 
 every other department. Yet even one happy 
 discovery is sufficient to render the name of the 
 inventor illustrious, though the development of 
 all will scarcely lead the human mind up to God 
 the author. By the invention of one machine 
 the entire stock of individual genius may be 
 2* 
 
34 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 exhausted the sands of life may be run out ere 
 the invention has proved its utility. It is thus 
 that rnany benefactors of the race have sunk in 
 penury, while their discoveries have enriched 
 the world. What is then the boasted genius of 
 the most distinguished inventor, which is thus 
 absorbed and expended upon one solitary object, 
 compared with the mind of the infinite, which 
 grasped from eternity, in one embrace of benev- 
 olence to man, the entire region of artificial 
 phenomena ? How vast that mind which is able to 
 comprehend the entire system of things celestial 
 and terrestrial, past, present, or yet to be unfolded ! 
 How amazing the wisdom and goodness of Him 
 who created the earth for a holy being, and yet 
 adapted it to the circumstances of his posterity 
 as fallen ! How wonderful that foreknowledge 
 which adapted the material world to the mental 
 constitution of the human race, so that man be- 
 comes at once the exponent of the physical world 
 and the reflector of the spiritual ! Nor is this 
 the privilege of the distinguished philosopher 
 only. Amid the thousand departments of science 
 and art, of speculative philosophy and practical 
 life, the humblest, as well as the most exalted 
 genius, may comprehend at least some portion 
 of the mechanical phenomena, and fulfill his 
 mission by contributing his part to the produc- 
 tion of the whole. It is thus that the one com- 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 35 
 
 prehensive plan of infinite wisdom furnishes 
 scope for innumerable efforts for all varieties 
 of taste and talent, while affording to each the 
 distinguished privilege of furnishing his part in 
 the accomplishment of the common design. 
 Thus human interests and human genius har- 
 moniously unite in the development of the 
 world's resources in filling up the original 
 scheme of divine providence, while all are per- 
 mitted 
 
 " To join 
 
 Their partial movements with the master wheel 
 Of the great world, and serve that sacred end, 
 "Which He the unerring reason keeps in view." 
 
 Viewed in this aspect, machinery becomes the 
 type of mental and physical capabilities ; and, 
 consequently, if the work of art is admired, how 
 much more will admiration rise in the contem- 
 plation of those mental powers and physical 
 adaptations by which, from the elements of na- 
 ture, the whole machinery of the world has been 
 evolved. It has been well remarked by Cole- 
 ridge, that, "as a fruit-tree is more valuable 
 than any one of its fruits singly, or even all its 
 fruit of a single season, so the noblest object of 
 reflection is the mind itself, by which we reflect. 
 And as the blossoms, the green and ripe fruit of 
 an orange tree, are more beautiful to behold 
 when on the tree, and seen as one with it, than 
 
36 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 the same growth detached and seen successively 
 after their importation into another country and 
 different clime, so is it with the manifold objects 
 of reflection when they are considered principally 
 in reference to the reflective power, and as part 
 and parcel of the same. No object, of whatever 
 value our passions may represent it, but becomes 
 foreign to us as soon as it is altogether uncon- 
 nected with our intellectual, moral and spiritual 
 life. To be ours it must be referred to the mind 
 either as motive, or consequence or symptom." 
 If then the fruit-tree is more valuable than any 
 of its fruits, and the produce in its native state, 
 as attached to and growing out of the tree, more 
 beautiful and interesting than when ultimately 
 plucked, so the progressive development of 
 science and art is most instructive and most in- 
 teresting when considered in its relation to man 
 as the exponent of his mental and physical capa- 
 bilities. Thus, in the philosophy and history of 
 artificial phenomena, man himself occupies the 
 foreground in our mental conceptions ; and, 
 while we trace the development of the arts to 
 the human constitution, and to the conditions 
 and circumstances which gave birth to industry, 
 we are prone to give up our inquiry as if we had 
 here reached the author. But here, again, the 
 aphorism quoted holds specially true ; for man 
 himself is but one of the fruits of infinite wisdom 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 37 
 
 and almighty power, and, consequently, ought 
 to be viewed in all his mental and physical de- 
 velopments in relation to the purposes and plans 
 of the Universal Proprietor. That divine mind 
 which planned the entire scheme of the world's 
 physical economy, also embraced the creation of 
 all the secondary agents and elements destined 
 to produce certain effects. The reasoning, re- 
 flecting, operating mechanical agent is his, as 
 much as the mineral, vegetable, or animal sub- 
 stances upon which he operates, or the latent causes 
 in nature, which are incessantly producing che- 
 mical effects. The variety of artificial pheno- 
 mena is then to be viewed as the type of mental 
 and physical variety, while the spirit of industry, 
 as a whole, becomes the exhibition of infinite 
 wisdom, power, and goodness. 
 
 The capability of man in seizing material 
 substances, and evolving latent principles, so 
 that inanimate machinery is made to occupy the 
 place of human hands, has been admired in 
 every age. The perfection of form, and the 
 precision of operation attained, have elicited the 
 highest eulogiurns towards the inventors or me- 
 chanics of modern machinery. But the most 
 perfect instrument ever invented comes infinitely 
 short of that perfection which characterizes the 
 human system add to this the mind as a mo- 
 tive power within, moving, directing, controlling, 
 
38 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 and restraining all the physical operations in 
 the mechanical world ; and is there not here an 
 agent which rises transcendently above every 
 other instrument of a terrestrial kind, in working 
 out the purposes of the God of Providence ? If 
 we admire the displaj^s of infinite wisdom and 
 goodness, in creating and preserving the material 
 elements, from which implements of industry 
 are constructed, what shall we say in the con- 
 templation of this living instrument this rea- 
 soning, self-acting machine, by which all others 
 are brought into operation ? shall we not exclaim 
 with the Psalmist ? " Lord, how great are Thy 
 works ! and Thy thoughts are very deep." 
 
 What we plead for is, that the achievements 
 of man, in subduing the world, shall not be con- 
 sidered as his exclusively, but that the inventor 
 and the invention shall both be recognized as 
 instruments, in accomplishing the plans of in- 
 finite wisdom, and shewing forth the Divine 
 glory. They are to be viewed as co-relative 
 agents in the consummation of one mysterious 
 plan, and though one has only a physical, while 
 the other has a mental and moral relation to the 
 Divine Author, both are designed to exhibit his 
 infinite perfections. 
 
 In surveying a work of art it is impossible to 
 separate entirely the implement from the in- 
 ventor in our mental conceptions. Let this 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 39 
 
 principle be carried out to its legitimate conclu- 
 sions, then the inventor and the invention will 
 unite in lifting the mind towards the Author of 
 both. Then, we shall not only admire the 
 " marvels of science," or dwell with delight upon 
 the utility of this or that machine, but man him- 
 self, a living, reasoning, intelligent, industrial 
 instrument, shall be viewed as in the hand of 
 God ; nay, as a " fellow-worker with God," in 
 rendering available the vast resources which in- 
 finite beneficence has provided for the comfort, 
 as well as the mental and physical progress of 
 the human family. 
 
 THE ARTS IN RELATION TO THE FALL. 
 
 The well-known aphorism, " that necessity is 
 the mother of invention," is illustrated by the 
 whole progress of the arts as developed in this 
 fallen world. The discovery, by sin, of their 
 nakedness gave the first impulse to Adam and 
 Eve in the arts of industry. Having eaten of 
 the forbidden fruit, " the eyes of them both were 
 opened, and they knew that they were naked ; 
 and they sewed fig leaves together, and made 
 themselves aprons." This was the first effort of 
 mechanical genius, stimulated by want, and 
 directed by reason, and may be considered, not 
 only as the consequence of the fall, but also as 
 the symptom of man's future mechanical 
 
40 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 triumphs. That the arts have been developed, 
 in connexion with the introduction of moral evil, 
 is no argument against the claims of God as 
 their author. As sin gave occasion for the ex- 
 hibition of the plan of redemption, so it has 
 given opportunity for the gradual development 
 of the entire plan of that providential economy, 
 which, in the divine decree, anticipated, and 
 provided for the circumstances of a fallen race. 
 The fact of the fall by sin multipied the wants 
 of man beyond conception. He required food 
 from a barren soil, blighted by the curse, and 
 only rendered fertile by the sweat of his brow. 
 Cultivation became his standing employment, 
 but this art required the invention of imple- 
 ments, either simple or complex, as the circum- 
 stances of the case demanded. We have already 
 traced the source of these to the mineral, vege- 
 table, and animal kingdoms. But how will man 
 discover the depository or use of iron, the appli- 
 cation of wood, or the appropriation of the living 
 services, and the use of the dead remains of 
 animals ? Will chance provide the materials, or 
 direct to their mechanical application ? The idea 
 is utterly absurd. As soon might the earth be 
 expected spontaneously to pour forth its metals 
 moulded for the machine. As soon might the 
 tree of the forest be expected to bow its head 
 and lop off its branches, and smooth its trunk 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 41 
 
 for domestic purposes. As easily might the ox 
 be expected to leave his pasture, and wreathe a 
 yoke for his own subjection and servitude. Is 
 the mind of man adequate to foresee th'e neces- 
 sity, or his power sufficient to supply the want, 
 or his benevolence so comprehensive as to meet 
 the case of all ? Verily no. Of this we have 
 ample evidence in the occurrence of every day 
 life. The collective experience of centuries, and 
 the accumulated wisdom of the mightiest na- 
 tions on earth, are found at times inadequate to 
 provide against the contingencies of a foreign 
 campaign, or even to convey with regularity, food 
 and clothing to a few thousands of gallant troops 
 righting in the distance the battles of their 
 country. Public opinion may blame this Ca- 
 binet Minister or that department official as it 
 will, the fact speaks volumes, and is Calculated 
 to teach us the poverty of human foresight, and 
 the utter insufficiency of human wisdom or 
 power to provide even the channels through 
 which heaven's bounty may be administered. 
 Contrast with this the full provision which was 
 made in the formation of the globe, and which 
 is continually supplied through innumerable 
 channels from age to age, for meeting the wants 
 and increasing the comforts of the fallen human 
 family. What mind but the Infinite could have 
 anticipated the wants of a race of moral beings, 
 
42 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 having forfeited their first estate, and having 
 completely changed their relations to other moral 
 beings and material things ? But here, we see 
 the exhibition of that prescience which " knoweth 
 the end from the beginning, and from ancient 
 times the things that shall come to pass," and 
 the intervention of that power which can con- 
 trol every event, and render every element sub- 
 servient to the eternal decree and purpose. 
 Contemplate artificial phenomena as we may, in 
 its relation to man and to nature, no cause can 
 be assigned sufficient for the transformation 
 displayed, or for the effects produced, unless we 
 attribute it to that God who has said, " My 
 counsel shall stand, and I will do all my 
 pleasure." 
 
 THE INDUSTRIAL INSTINCT IN MAN AN ELEMENT 
 IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE ARTS. 
 
 That the enjoyment of the blessings promised 
 is realised by the industry of man, militates not 
 against our argument. The capability for labor, 
 whether mental or physical is of God, and by 
 Him also were planted the instincts of industry. 
 The established connexion between toil and en- 
 joyment is, that unless a man submits to labor 
 many of his wants must remain unsupplied, 
 and many of his desires ungratified. By the 
 slothful man the riches of nature are allowed to 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 43 
 
 run to waste, while physical misery is prolonged 
 and extended. Instead of assuming the place 
 which God has assigned him as lord of creation, 
 he continues a slave ; he remains a savage 
 naked, helpless, and destitute of domestic com- 
 fort. But, on the other hand, the man who has 
 the instincts of industry awakened within him, 
 and who has by exercise matured these latent 
 principles, and who has tasted the sweets of his 
 daily toil that man has entered upon a course 
 of progress ; he has taken hold of his original 
 charter, and nature itself is so adapted as to 
 yield to his continued efforts. It is true that 
 man labors for himself, and the distinctions of 
 property become a stimulus to, exertion, but 
 while he labors for himself he is filling up his 
 place in the comprehensive plan, and benefitting 
 his species. By the exercise of those powers 
 wherewith the Creator has endowed him he can 
 subdue and rule over that physical domain ac- 
 corded in his original grant. It is thus that one 
 of our poets* represents the transition from 
 savage to civilized life : 
 
 ' Industry approached, 
 And roused him from his miserable sloth, 
 His faculties unfolded ; pointed out 
 Where lavish Nature the directing hand- 
 Of art demanded ; showed him how to raise 
 His feeble force by the mechanic powers : 
 
 * Thomson. 
 
44 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 To dig the mineral from the vaulted earth ; 
 
 On what to turn the piercing rage of fire ; 
 
 On what the torrent, and the gathered blast ; 
 
 G ave the tall ancient forest to his axe ; 
 
 Taught him to chip the wood, and hew the stone, 
 
 Till by degrees the finished fabric rose ; 
 
 Tore from his limbs the blood-polluted fur 
 
 And wrapt him in the wooly vestment warm ; 
 
 Nor stopt at barren bare necessity, 
 
 But still advancing bolder, led him on 
 
 To pomp, to pleasure, elegance, and grace ; 
 
 And breathing high ambition through his soul, 
 
 Set science, wisdom, glory in his view, 
 
 And bade him be the lord of all below." 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE GRADUAL DEVELOPMENT OP MECHANICAL INVENTIONS AN 
 EVIDENCE THAT THEY ARE COMMUNICATED IN ACCORDANCE 
 WITH THE PURPOSES OF GOD. 
 
 ...'.'"". :.':'. '. . .'.. jJvO ,'. :.!-;,>:'.'Oitl 
 
 THE second branch of our argument "bears 
 upon the date of discovery, or the characteristics 
 of society at the time when some of the most 
 remarkable inventions have been brought into 
 general requisition. The relations of time in 
 their successive development, as well as the fact 
 of .their construction, furnish an invincible argu- 
 ment that the God of infinite wisdom has fixed 
 the period, and that in the dispensations of His 
 providence, He has raised up the inventor, and 
 so arranged concomitant circumstances as to 
 open a channel for the application of the 
 machine. This might be illustrated by the 
 whole history of mankind ; for the history of the 
 arts reaches back to the expulsion from Para- 
 dise, and may be viewed as the record of man's 
 intellectual and physical progress. And what 
 is the history of the human family but the 
 
46 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 register of facts evolved in the exercise of God's 
 physical and moral dominion in our world ? It 
 is freely admitted that there has been a disturb- 
 ing element the introduction of moral evil, 
 which has changed the entire aspect of human 
 history, opened the bitter fountains of sorrow, 
 and given dominion to the "king of terrors/' 
 Besides, sin has been the moral cause producing 
 vast physical changes upon the world, in accord- 
 ance with the curse pronounced by the righteous 
 Governor. But amidst these convulsions, physi- 
 cal and moral, the reflecting mind will be able 
 at all times to trace the over-ruling and directing 
 providence of God. Universal nature bears the 
 impress of infinite wisdom and Almighty power, 
 while every page of human history displays the 
 outgoings of a boundless beneficence. A benefi- 
 cence, however, regulated by restraining circum- 
 stances in relation to labor, discovery, and 
 invention, without which the introduction of sin 
 to a world, constituted as the earth was' at 
 creation, would have involved the human race 
 in physical as well as moral ruin. Truly may it 
 be said that, " were God to let the world alone, 
 man would become a fiend ; angels would flee as 
 from another Gomorrah, and cease to minister 
 to it: Satan, wearing the regalia of hell, would 
 lord it over sea and land, and time commencing 
 with Paradise would end with Pandemonium," 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 47 
 
 It is worthy of observation that, throughout 
 the history of man's social progress while the 
 characteristics of the age, imparted an impulse to 
 the inventive faculties, the inventions themselves 
 gave a new impulse to society. The triumphs 
 of genius are thus the monuments of human 
 progression, each adapted to its respective age, 
 and all tending to universal development. Could 
 there he a more convincing proof of the hand of 
 God in the history of inventions than the fact 
 that each important discovery has been made at 
 the very time in which it was most calculated to 
 ameliorate the condition of the human family ? 
 In proof and illustration of this, only a few 
 examples can be selected from the entire field of 
 artificial phenomena. But what holds true of 
 the more important and conspicuous machines 
 which are bat parts of the whole mechanical 
 development is also true of the least of these, 
 in its relative position, and of the entire range 
 of inventions, in their relations to each other, and 
 to humanity. 
 
 THE MARINER'S COMPASS. 
 
 The discovery of the mariner's compass in its 
 relations to, and bearings upon other discoveries, 
 has, in the providence of God, changed the 
 whole aspect of society, and as the silent guide 
 of the heralds of truth, arnid the dark and 
 
48 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 jarring elements of nature, it is destined to pro- 
 duce greater changes throughout the entire 
 globe. The art of navigation reaches Lack to 
 the days of antiquity, but the invention of the 
 mariner's compass is comparatively modern. 
 Navigation, simply considered, is the art of 
 conducting a vessel by sea, from one port to 
 another. This art was, doubtless, known in the 
 first ages of the world, though we have no 
 record of any floating vessel previous to the Ark 
 of Noah. In subsequent Scripture records the 
 references to navigation prove that the whole art 
 was in a very infantile state, compared with 
 what it has now attained. It is true that ship- 
 building and coast sailing had been in operation 
 from time immemorial, but down till the time 
 of the discovery of the compass, the ocean had 
 not become the pathway of nations. Fleets, 
 though safely launched and ably manned, were 
 continually land-bound not by the opposing 
 elements of nature, but in consequence of the 
 want of an instrument by which the mariners 
 might discover their locality, and mark their 
 direction amidst the trackless waste of waters. 
 How dreary the coasting trade of such times as 
 those of Solomon, when his well appointed fleet, 
 in company with that of Hiram, King of Tyre, 
 could only reach and return from Tarshish 
 once in three years ? How slow and uncertain 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 49 
 
 the voyages accomplished by the Phenieians, 
 Carthagenians, Egyptians, Komans, and other 
 nations of Europe and Asia ? With no guide 
 but the sun by day and the stars by night, 
 uncertainty marked every attempt to cross even 
 the larger estuaries of the sea. Whenever the 
 sky lowered, or the storm-cloud collected, these 
 ancient seamen were thrown into alarm lest they 
 should be carried in a course entirely different 
 from that intended, or landed upon some un- 
 known and inhospitable shore. The dangers 
 and difficulties of ancient navigation are evident 
 from the deliberations, great preparations, and 
 alarms of Homer's heroes, when proposing to 
 cross the Egean Sea, a voyage of not more than 
 150 miles ; and the expedition of the Argonauts, 
 under Jason, across the sea of Marmora and the 
 Euxine, to the Island of Colchis, a distance of 
 only four or five hundred miles, was celebrated 
 as a most wonderful exploit, at which the gods 
 themselves were said to be amazed. The history 
 of Paul's travels, recorded in the Acts of the 
 Apostles, corroborates the same fact, respecting 
 the difficulty of navigation without the compass. 
 " When neither sun nor stars in many days 
 appeared, and no small tempest lay upon us, all 
 hope that we should be saved was then taken 
 away." Being deprived of their guides hav- 
 ing lost their reckoning, and sight of land; 
 3 
 
50 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 even though they might weather the storm, they 
 had no idea whither their course would lead 
 them, as now tossed and driven up and down in 
 the Mediterranean. This was but one hopeless 
 bark among many, that, by undue detention, or 
 by storms, were in those days of infantile naviga- 
 tion tossed upon the troubled waters of Adria, 
 and wrecked upon the barren shores of the island 
 of Melita. It was not until the discovery of the 
 polarity of the magnet, and the invention of the 
 mariner's compass, that distant voyages could be 
 undertaken, that extensive oceans could be tra- 
 versed, and commercial intercourse opened up 
 between remote continents and the islands of 
 the sea. 
 
 It is not to our purpose to trace the history of 
 this discovery, nor to consider the comparative 
 claims of those supposed to be the inventors of the 
 compass. The subject is at this distance of time 
 involved in obscurity an obscurity which is 
 calculated to evince more clearly the hand of 
 God in a discovery and invention, which in 
 their first application were deemed unworthy of 
 record, though their results have astonished and 
 enriched the world. But it is of little conse- 
 quence to our argument to be deprived of ex- 
 plicit historical testimony regarding the name 
 of the individual who first discovered the fact 
 of the Northern attraction for iron, or who first 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 51 
 
 balanced the needle in the formation of a compass, 
 as it is chiefly with the state of the world at that 
 period that we have to do, and the influence 
 which this discovery has imparted to the whole 
 circle of the sciences, to politics, to religion, and 
 to all the interests and comforts of social life. 
 
 The polarity of the magnet has existed from 
 creation. The iron had been in use, at least, 
 from the time of Tubal-Cain, whose name is 
 recorded in the fourth chapter of the book of 
 Genesis, as "an instructor of every artificer in 
 brass and iron." The mind of man possessed 
 the same mental powers, his curiosity was as 
 easily excited, and his ambition for wealth and 
 for territory as great during these, as they have 
 been during any succeeding periods. Progress 
 had been made in other mechanical departments; 
 as Nineveh, and Babylon, and Jerusalem, and 
 Home give evidence. But this discovery of the 
 polarity of the magnet was merely a matter of 
 observation, and yet not observed, till that 
 period when the God of Providence designed 
 by its instrumentality to open up the world, and 
 accomplish the original purpose, that the human 
 family should multiply, subdue, and possess the 
 earth. 
 
 From the contradictory claims of different 
 countries, as to the discovery of the polarity of the 
 magnet, it is impossible now to fix upon the precise 
 
52 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 date when the natural fact was made known, yet 
 it is evident, from authentic history, that the mar- 
 iner's compass was not commonly used in navi- 
 gation before the year 1420, that is, only a few years 
 previous to the invention of printing. That the 
 loadstone had the property of attracting iron 
 was known in all ages, but its tendency to point 
 to the north and south was only discovered about 
 the beginning of the twelfth century, and its ap- 
 plication to practical use in the art of navigation 
 was still a secret, until the beginning of the 
 fifteenth. The simplicity of the discovery, as 
 transmitted by traditionary records, marks the 
 hand of God as there. It was not, as might have 
 been expected, some scientific mariner, speculat- 
 ing like Columbus upon the probability of dis- 
 covering a vast continent beyond the world of 
 waters, or the best means of obtaining a sure 
 guide across the trackless element. Nor was it a 
 traveller, burning with ardent desire to explore 
 some hitherto unknown country. Neither was 
 it a learned philosopher seeking the solution of 
 a problem that might render his name illus- 
 trious in coming generations, but, according to 
 the uncertain traditions which have reached us, 
 " some curious persons were amusing themselves 
 by floating a loadstone suspended upon a piece of 
 cork in a basin of water, which, when left at liber- 
 ty, was observed to point to the north. In addi- 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 53 
 
 tion to this, it was observed that a piece of iron 
 rubbed with loadstone acquired the property not 
 only of turning to the north, but also of attract- 
 ing needles and the filings of iron. Thus the ele- 
 mentary idea was communicated, and scientific 
 minds and mechanical genius left to apply the 
 boon conferred upon humanity. It is not to our 
 purpose to cast any light upon the steps of pro- 
 gress, the experiments, the failures, or the 
 triumphs of science, in the elucidation of this 
 discovery. Nor shall we notice the prejudice 
 which in this, as in every other case of mechani- 
 cal progress, was ready to enchain this world- 
 wide principle as a thing of nought. Neither can 
 we dwell upon the complete revolution's, physi- 
 cal and mental, which it has already produced. 
 Suffice it to say, that the discovery of this simple 
 elementary fact, a fact which had always existed, 
 speedily cast a new aspect over the entire globe. 
 Oceans, hitherto unknown and trackless, became 
 the pathway of the nations. Countries and 
 kingdoms, hitherto isolated, were brought into 
 neighborhood. The vast world of waters, here- 
 tofore supposed to be an insuperable barrier to 
 commerce, was subjected to the use of man. The 
 original command to replenish the earth and 
 subdue it, was re-echoed from the mountains and 
 the valleys of hitherto unknown regions of the 
 earth, laid open by every successive discovery ; 
 
54 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 while the last injunction of the ascending Ke- 
 deemer, to "go into all the world, and preach the 
 Gospel to every creature/' became practicable 
 to the Church, even unto the ends of the earth. 
 The discovery of this natural principle, and its 
 embodiment in a mechanical instrument, has 
 been succeeded by the revelation of vast contin- 
 ents and islands unknown to the European world, 
 and the establishment of friendly and commer- 
 cial intercourse between the remotest regions of 
 the earth. Without the aid of this distinguished 
 invention, America, in all probability, would 
 have remained a secret to the Eastern nations ; 
 Australia, the fifth great division of the globe, 
 the numerous islands in the Indian and Pacific 
 Oceans, the isles of Japan, and other immense 
 territories inhabited by human beings, or yet to 
 be inhabited, would have remained as much un- 
 known and unexplored by the nations of Chris- 
 tendom as though they had never existed. As 
 these were the sole depositories of the records of 
 revelation, they could never have transmitted 
 the glad-tidings of salvation to unknown tribes 
 of mankind, of whose existence they were entire- 
 ly ignorant. Even though the whole terraqueous 
 globe had been stretched out before them, and 
 its seas, and oceans, and continents, and islands 
 mapped with precision, without this natural, yet 
 artificial guide the compass to direct their 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 55 
 
 course amidst the billows of the ocean, they 
 could have afforded no light and no relief to 
 cheer the moral gloom of those distant nations, 
 " who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death." 
 Though the art of printing had been discovered, 
 aad the sacred volume multiplied in millions, 
 jand the original tongues translated into every 
 language. And though there had been churches 
 ready to scatter them as the leaves of the tree 
 of life for the healing of the nations, and mis- 
 sionaries to expound their soul-inspiring doc- 
 trines, all would have been unavailing to vast 
 portions of the heathen world without the mari- 
 ner's compass to guide the messenger of mercy 
 across the trackless ocean. 
 
 Without the aid of the compass, the business 
 of the merchant, and the work of the mission- 
 ary, would be limited within the narrow bounds 
 of a coasting voyage or a land journey. But when 
 the set time had come that Christianity should 
 be emancipated from the thraldom of the dark 
 ages, when the moral Governor would give a 
 new impulse to the world, and a new field for 
 the conquest of the Church, this fact in nature 
 was made known, and has resulted in discove- 
 ries which have already revolutionized the men- 
 tal world, and which are destined to produce 
 still more astonishing revelations in the physical 
 and the moral. Who can calculate the effects 
 
56 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 produced upon commerce and national inter- 
 course ? Or who can predicate the past or future 
 influence of these again, as reacting upon the 
 human family, in the development of civiliza- 
 tion, freedom, self-government, philosophy, lit- 
 erature, and religion ? 
 
 Had the discovery of the compass been sooner 
 made, while war was the professional life of 
 monarchs, nothing but human destruction could 
 have ensued. Nations, slumbering in the secu- 
 rity of their boundless sea-girt position, would 
 have been daily overrun and destroyed by the 
 barbarian invader. In the existing state of the 
 apostatized Church during the dark ages, when 
 pure Christianity was well nigh extinguished, 
 and " spiritual despotism had overlaid the pre- 
 cepts of the Gospel, the discovery of this inven- 
 tion could only have shaded in deeper gloom 
 the dark folding clouds of heathen superstition. 
 But in the purpose of God, the day of the Ke- 
 formation was soon to dawn, the Bible to be 
 emancipated, and reproduced in millions, for 
 dispelling the mists of Popery ; the policy of na- 
 tional isolation to be supplanted by the policy 
 of national commerce, and, in prospect of these 
 mighty moral changes, the God of providence 
 evolved the secret of nature, and directed human 
 ingenuity to the solution of the problem, that 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 57 
 
 the sea, as well as the land, might be made the 
 thoroughfare of nations. 
 
 The intercourse of nations has extended know- 
 ledge, and, as a necessary consequence, has given 
 rise to freedom, has renovated politics, has eli- 
 cited the pent-up affections of man towards his 
 fellow-man, and rendered war a stern necessity 
 rather than a pleasure. It is true that the Mil- 
 lenium has not yet come, when " peace on earth, 
 and good will to men," shall be the watchword 
 of the nations. The trumpet of war has been 
 blown, and the slumbering nations of Europe 
 have been called to furbish their swords, and 
 engage in the conflict. It is true that already 
 many thousands of the mighty have fallen, and 
 the cry of lamentation, under bereavement, has 
 been re-echoed from the halls and hamlets of 
 peaceful Britain. We admit that the dark 
 thunder cloud is yet suspended, which may at 
 some unexpected hour burst in a wide-spread 
 European conflagration. But the conflict, as 
 now waged between the Northern Czar and the 
 Western Allies, is a struggle between grasping 
 despotism and disinterested freedom. It is the 
 result of human passions unsubdued the ambi- 
 tion of conquest nourished in a despotic heart. 
 But opposed to these stand out in bold relief, 
 for the contemplation of future ages 3 the confer- 
 ences, notes of diplomacy, .protocols, and pro- 
 
58 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 tests against war and Kussian aggression, from 
 the free and civilized nations of Europe. These 
 are monuments of social progress, of respect for 
 the rights of humanity, and the laws of nations ; 
 clearly indicating that the whole tendency of 
 discovery in science, and progress in art is to aid 
 in ushering in the reign of peace, and the re- 
 establishment of the brotherhood of nations. 
 
 In this invention, then, we have distinct evi- 
 dence of the hand of God in directing and over- 
 ruling the efforts of human genius to subserve 
 the purposes of grace and mercy ; as these have 
 been, and shall be fully exhibited in the redemp- 
 tion of our world. When the prophet Isaiah 
 comforted the ancient Church with the announce- 
 ment, " The glory of the Lord shall be revealed, 
 and all flesh shall see it together," it must have 
 been difficult for even him to understand how 
 his own predictions should be accomplished. 
 From the existing state of the art of navigation 
 at that period, the intercourse of Israel with the 
 world was comparatively limited. " The great 
 and wide sea," known in modern times as the 
 Mediterranean, formed the eastern boundary 
 beyond which as a geographer, he could not 
 penetrate. Of the distant continents, and the 
 " isles afar off," and of the waste of waters that 
 lay between, he had no knowledge, and how the 
 "ends of the earth" could be reached, he could 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 59 
 
 not, as a philosopher, form any conception. But 
 as a prophet, it was enough- for him that " the 
 mouth of the Lord had spoken it," he could gaze 
 in the exercise of faith, and in the light of in- 
 spiration, down the stream of time, to the period 
 when Divine Power, with or without the inter- 
 vention of human means, should accomplish all 
 that he had spoken. How different with those 
 whose .lot has been cast in these latter days ? 
 Not only has the Sun of Kighteousness arisen 
 over the nations, but all the instrumentality 
 which Infinite Wisdom saw meet to employ in 
 the diffusion of the Gospel, is being gradually 
 developed. We see in progress the grand de- 
 signs of the Divine economy as yet to be accom- 
 plished, and science and art in their appropriate 
 sphere, and at the appointed time, lending their 
 aid towards that consummation. Already may 
 be seen the indications of that period when all 
 the discoveries of science, and all the efforts of 
 genius, shall be consecrated to the service of the 
 King of Zion. 
 
 THE ART OF FEINTING. 
 
 This invention marks an important era in the 
 world's history, and the time of its discovery is 
 peculiarly illustrative of the over-ruling and 
 directing providence of God. Like the mariner's 
 compass, its primitive history is involved in 
 
60 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 obscurity. The greater proportion of papular 
 historians fix the date of invention in the early 
 part of the fifteenth century, or about the year 
 1430 a period regarding which it may be 
 justly said that darkness covered the earth, and 
 gross darkness the people ; but of this period 
 it may be also appropriately affirmed that the 
 Spirit of God brooded over the gloomy chaos ; for 
 it was, though a darkness that might be felt, the 
 gloomy hour which preceded the dawn of light 
 and liberty. Could it be by chance that a man 
 of Haarlem, a town of Holland, named Lauren- 
 tius or Lawrence Coster, should, while amusing 
 himself in a wood, by cutting letters on the 
 smooth bark of a tree, evolve the whole mystery 
 of the art of printing ? In the transference of 
 the letters to paper he only thought of amusing 
 his children as any other father would but 
 the Divine purposes was to illuminate a world by 
 means of his discovery. This simple fact of 
 transference from the bark of a tree to the 
 unsullied sheet, of a few rudely engraved letters, 
 gave rise within him to the discovery and appli- 
 cation of a suitable ink. Thus, encouraged by 
 his success, whole pages of letters upon blocks 
 of wood soon gave to the world a power of 
 diffusing knowledge hitherto unknown-. We 
 are aware that the honor of this invention has 
 been claimed by other cities besides Haarlem. 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 61 
 
 Strasburg and Mentz have both contended for 
 priority, and to other individuals besides Coster 
 has the pen of the historian accorded this dis- 
 tinguished invention. The names of Fust, 
 Schoeffer, and Gutenberg have each been respec- 
 tively contended for, while recent researches have 
 led some historians to date the discovery as early 
 as the middle of the tenth century, and to accord 
 the honor of the invention to the Chinese. It 
 has also been supposed that the knowledge of the 
 art was obtained from China, as there is some 
 resemblance between their block-printing, and 
 the most ancient specimens, or first efforts, in 
 Europe. Be this as it may, and it cannot now 
 be determined, the guiding providence of God, 
 in respect to time, would only be transferred 
 from the first elements of the discovery to its 
 importation into Europe. Of two things we are 
 certain, that between 1450 and 1455 the first 
 great work was completed, and it is still more 
 interesting to discover the fact that the earliest 
 homage of this inestimable invention was paid 
 to the " Word of Life." The Latin Bible '? of 
 six hundred and forty-one leaves, was the first 
 volume printed with moveable metal types. 
 Shortly after the discovery had been reduced to 
 a systematic application, the printed Bible was 
 offered in Paris for sixty crowns, but so deep 
 was the moral darkness of the period that the 
 
62 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 uniformity of the copies, and the numbers 
 issued gave rise, not only to astonishment, 
 but also to. persecution. The vender of these 
 copies of the sacred volume was supposed to be 
 a magician, and, but for his timely flight, would 
 have been executed for witchcraft. 
 
 What would the men of that generation think 
 of the modern achievements of the printing 
 press ? Could they be resuscitated for a single 
 day, and introduced to the manufactory of the 
 London Times. And were they to occupy for 
 a month the place and power of the British 
 Cabinet, retaining their prejudices, little more 
 would be heard of the " heart-rending scenes " 
 of the Crimea, nor of the mismanagement of the 
 war at home or abroad. How much better the 
 state of things as they are, with a free and 
 patriotic press, though slight inconveniences 
 may arise to personal and political interests ? 
 The printing press as it now stands unfettered, 
 and liberally supported by the British public 
 may be justly viewed as the palladium of civil 
 and religious liberty. Think of its mighty 
 power and vast resources for the exposure of 
 wrong, and the diffusion of intelligence ! Let 
 one example suffice, and it is taken from the 
 establishment already named. The following 
 statistics are mentioned in a report by Mr. 
 Cowper, from which it appears that on the 7th 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 63 
 
 of May, 1850 the Times and " Supplement " con- 
 tained 72 columns, or 17,500 lines, made up of 
 upwards of a million pieces of type, of which mat- 
 ter about two-fifths were written, composed, and 
 corrected after 7 o'clock in the evening. The 
 " Supplement " was sent to press at 7.50 P.M., the 
 first form of the paper at 4.15 A.M., and the 
 second form at 4.45 A.M. ; on this occasion 7000 
 papers were published before 6.15 A.M., 21,000 
 before 7.30 A.M., and 34,000 before 8.45 A.M., or 
 in about four hours. The greatest number of 
 copies ever printed in one day was 54,000, and 
 the greatest quantity of printing in one day's 
 publication was on 1st of March, 1848, when 
 the paper used weighed seven tons, the weight 
 usually required being four and a half tons. The 
 surface to be printed every night, including the 
 " Supplement," is 30 acres ; the weight of the 
 fount of type in constant use is seven tons ; and 
 110 compositors, and 25 pressmen are constantly 
 employed. This is but a single specimen of the 
 productive powers of the printing press. What 
 must be the accumulative power of all the print- 
 ing presses in the world ? How vast must be 
 their influences for good or evil now, and assured- 
 ly for good hereafter ? This power has been 
 well described by one of our English poets* when 
 he speaks of it as 
 
 Rev. Robert Montgomery. 
 
64 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 " That mighty lever that has moved the world 
 The Press of England ! 
 The magic of its might no tongue can tell ; 
 Dark, deep, and silent oft, but ever felt : 
 Hix'd with the mind, and feeding with the food 
 Of thought, the moral being of the souL 
 It could have half annihilated hell 
 And her great denizens by glorious sway." 
 
 It is not, however, upon the benefits of the 
 printing press that we design to fix attention. 
 These statistics have been introduced as an 
 illustration of the influence wielded through 
 this one invention, so that Divine wisdom and 
 goodness may be more apparent as regards the 
 time when it was bestowed. Had the discovery 
 of the art of printing been earlier in Europe, its 
 utility could not have been appreciated, nor 
 could there have been found channels for the 
 extension of its benefits. Indeed, there is reason 
 to believe that it would have been sacrificed to 
 the superstition and barbarism of the dark ages, 
 or entirely lost among the rubbish of a lifeless 
 and decaying literature. But the discovery was 
 made at the very time, and associated with the 
 very circumstances which were calculated to 
 render its birth a blessing. The invention of 
 printing was coeval with the revival of learning 
 and literature among the European nations. It 
 so far preceded the Eeformation as to be fully 
 matured, and sufficiently powerful to extend the 
 knowledge of Bible truth, as well as to record 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 65 
 
 and perpetuate its triumphs. The long huried 
 current of thought began to move amid the 
 mental darkness, and to burst forth in the con- 
 troversies of councils sacred and civil. The 
 electric spark of truth was already shaking 
 the ecclesiastical throne of error. Italy was 
 animated by a fresh ardor, and the continent 
 of Europe generally gave indication of an 
 approaching crisis. The mighty deep was now 
 subjected to the unrestrained use of the mariner, 
 and vast continents were looming in the distance, 
 soon to be discovered, inhabited, and illuminated 
 by that light which was dawning on Europe. 
 It was at such a time that the obscure German, 
 heaven-directed, was revolving in his mind the 
 first principles of the art of printing, and uncon- 
 sciously introducing a mental revolution which 
 has marked a new era in the history of the 
 world. Could these circumstances, taken in 
 connexion with the discovery, be the result of 
 chance ? To every reflecting mind there must 
 be here the evidence of a guiding and over-rul- 
 ing Providence. 
 
 The fact that the printing press 'should also, 
 be committed to Christian hands, and that the 
 Bible should be the first permanent memorial of 
 its new-born triumphs, is another evidence that 
 it must be of God ; and there seems also in the 
 fact, that its first efforts were consecrated to the 
 
66 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 service of Jehovah, an emblem of that blessed 
 era when this, and every other mechanical in- 
 vention, shall be received as a gift from " the 
 Father of Lights," and willingly dedicated to his 
 service. 
 
 In whatever aspect the printing press is 
 viewed, there must be conviction that God is its 
 primary Author. In its history, emerging from 
 chaotic ignorance. In its application, the per- 
 manent defence of truth ; in its extension, the 
 harbinger of liberty ; in its mighty influence 
 upon the development of science and art upon 
 every physical, mental, and moral resource 
 upon every social and sacred interest upon the 
 well-being of the human family in time, and the 
 preparation of man for eternity, there is a mag- 
 nitude of purpose, and plan, and result, beyond 
 the grasp of- the human intellect, an elevation 
 and a comprehension manifestly divine. The 
 printing press, though evolved and employed by 
 the ingenuity of man, possesses characteristics and 
 relations to the Church and the world, which, 
 calmly and intelligently considered, will neces- 
 sarily lift the mind to Him who is the Governor 
 among the nations, "who doeth according to 
 His will in the army of heaven, and among the 
 inhabitants of the earth," and who directs the 
 mental powers and mechanical operations of men, 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 67 
 
 for promoting the progress and prosperity of that 
 kingdom which shall never be moved. 
 
 THE STEAM ENGINE. 
 
 It has been well remarked that " steam and 
 lightning are not secular, but Divine powers/' 
 and they have been well described as " inspira- 
 tions from on high, preparing the way of the 
 Lord." The steam engine, like the mariner's 
 compass, existed in its elementary principles and 
 powers from creation. The water, the fire, and the 
 minerals had each a place and a form in the region 
 of natural phenomena, though not yet arranged 
 by human ingenuity so as to produce locomotive 
 power. It can not be questioned that, in all 
 ages, water could be converted into steam or 
 vapor. It was thus transformed by a natural 
 process in the first week of the world's history, 
 when " there went up a mist from the earth and 
 watered the whole lace of the ground." Besides 
 this elemental process, wherever artificial heat 
 was applied, the same phenomenon was produced. 
 In the most common culinary operations of do- 
 mestic life, steam was necessarily generated by 
 the contact, of water and fire. In the gentle 
 upheavings of the lid of the tea-kettle, the mecha- 
 nical force of steam was daily exhibited. But 
 how does it happen that the acutest minds among 
 ancient philosophers never thought of the prac- 
 
OS THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 tical application of this mighty agent ? How 
 does it come to pass that, even after its power 
 as a mechanical force has been discovered, and 
 applied in the coal-mines of Cornwall, it could 
 not be rendered available for general purposes 
 until the days of James Watt ? The only 
 answer is, that the time appointed in the pur- 
 pose and evolved in the mysterious providence 
 of God, for solving the problem, had not come. 
 Hitherto the. world was unprepared for this 
 inestimable boon. Had it been discovered prior 
 to the invention of the mariner's compass, it 
 would have been of comparatively little advan- 
 tage ; or had it preceded the art of printing, the 
 ignorance of the human family would have pre- 
 cluded the possibility of enjoying the benefits 
 which it was calculated to bestow. Nay, it may 
 be questioned whether the introduction of steam 
 at an earlier age would not have proved posi- 
 tively injurious a curse rather than a blessing. 
 Had the power of steam as a mechanical force 
 been known to- the ancients, whose professional 
 life was war, how fearful must have been the 
 carnage upon the peaceful shores of every sea- 
 girt island ? The ocean itself would have be- 
 come the high battle-field of the nations ! In 
 the ages of barbarism, the power of steam would 
 have been the instrument of universal devasta- 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 69 
 
 tion the mechanical exterminator of the hu- 
 man race. 
 
 OBJECTION ANSWERED. 
 
 It may be objected to this line of argument, 
 that we have not yet reached the reign of justice, 
 nor attained to the enjoyment of universal peace. 
 We admit the fact but deny the force of the ob- 
 jection. War is not now the stock in trade of 
 national enterprise. It may, as at present, in the 
 case of aggression by the Russian Autocrat, be 
 rendered an act of stern necessity ; but in all such 
 cases, it is simply the administration of public 
 justice the infliction of merited punishment by 
 the sword of the civil magistrate. In such cir- 
 cumstances, war, though an instrument of de- 
 struction, is nevertheless the visitation of aven- 
 ging justice, protecting the weak against the 
 oppression of the strong, and ultimately destined 
 to break the scepter of every despot. But, it 
 may here be urged, that art in such cases is per- 
 verted, and made instrumental for the destruc- 
 tion of human life ; that the brightest genius is 
 frequently expended in rendering more effective 
 the life-destroying apparatus of war. We admit 
 the fact ; and in no preceding age has the pro- 
 gress of art been more manifest than in the 
 present Crimean struggle. Witness our steam 
 fleets, our guns, our railway from the harbor 
 
70 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 to the camp, and our telegraph wires among the 
 lines of our soldiery, conveying despatches from 
 the commander-in-chief to the principal officers 
 But let it be kept in view that, if war is ren- 
 dered a necessity, a simple act of public justice 
 because of national wrong, the more destructive 
 the implements of war are the better, and the 
 more efficiently it is conducted the sooner will 
 its horrors terminate, and peace be restored. 
 
 But it may again be replied that this argu- 
 ment is like a two-edged sword which may cut 
 either way. May not the agressor improve in 
 Art as well as in War, and thus render his power 
 more destructive, and extend the sphere of op- 
 pression ? Is it not so in the modern history of 
 Russia, with her improved guns, and forts, and 
 infernal machines, which have hitherto kept in 
 check our besieging army, and rendered the 
 navigation of her dangerous coasts still more 
 hazardous ? This is true, and capable of uni- 
 versal extension, were there no counterbalancing 
 influences in the arrangements of an all- wise Pro- 
 vidence. But we have already seen, that the 
 extension of knowledge, and the enjoyment of 
 freedom, impart a mighty impulse to science and 
 art ; consequently, as knowledge is the basis of 
 civil liberty, those nations enjoying the light of 
 the Gospel will necessarily be found in advance 
 of those despotic and enslaved. Thus, the pro- 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 71 
 
 gress of art, when applied to the implements of 
 war, will ever be found in its most advanced 
 state in connection with constitutional freedom.. 
 Has it not been so in the past history of 
 Britain ? Is it not so in the present conflict ? 
 The superiority of the Allies in shipping, in the 
 material of war, associated with fidelity, disci- 
 pline and moral courage, have already been fully 
 established before the walls of the Crimean 
 Strong-hold, and are our only hope under God 
 of victory over vastly superior numbers, and of 
 ultimately dictating the terms of an honorable 
 peace which will secure and re-animate the lib- 
 erties of Europe. 
 
 Besides, in the present development of martial 
 prowess, the Allies, and especially Britain, have 
 been placed in a position of great disadvantage. 
 The secret purposes of the Kussian Czar have 
 been maturing plans offensive, and defensive, for 
 many years while Britain was slumbering upon 
 her oars, and occupied with extending and re- 
 gulating her commercial relations with the 
 world, rather than projecting aggressive schemes 
 of aggrandizement, or training her sons in the 
 science of war. Even while her gates were freely 
 opened to strangers from every kingdom, and 
 while her Crystal Palace was exhibiting the pro- 
 ductions of the industrial arts from every clime, 
 as the first instalment of universal brotherhood 
 
72 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 restored, Kussia was forging her implements 
 and training her armies for the re-establishment 
 of a European despotism. Yet, in the day of 
 battle, the highest development of science, art, 
 and invincible courage is found upon the side of 
 the Western Allies, clearly establishing the fact 
 that mechanical progress will ever be in advance 
 upon the side of civilization and freedom, until 
 the banner of Peace shall float triumphant in 
 every land, and the "good will" of the Gospel be 
 embodied in works of universal philanthropy. 
 
 And, is it not manifest, that in the over-rul- 
 ing providence of God, a peace of forty years has 
 been accorded to Britain, in order to prepare her 
 for this eventful struggle ! Though that pre- 
 paration has not been direct, nor with a view to 
 the display of martial prowess, it has been pro- 
 gressing securely in her vast acquisition of wealth 
 and in the unprecedented development of her 
 arts and sciences. Inexperience, she may be 
 charged with, in her earlier campaigns, but what 
 are these compared with the forty years of 
 peace and prosperity, during which inventions 
 have come to light, and intellectual and moral 
 influences have been at work, which in harmony 
 with the dissemination of the Gospel, will at 
 length issue in the peace of the Millenium. It 
 is worthy of observation, that the discovery of 
 the Steam Engine was given at the very period, 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 73 
 
 best adapted for its development even during 
 this unparalleled period of peace. In the early 
 part of last century, many efforts were made to 
 render steam available for general purposes, but 
 none succeeded until Watt, after years of study 
 and experimenting, was commissioned to solve 
 the problem. The latter half of the eighteenth 
 century was a time of experimenting. The first 
 half of the present century has been the period 
 of application. While the continental wars were 
 drawing to a close, the inventor of the steam 
 engine was unconsciously preparing Britain for 
 the present conflict, and no less than forty years 
 of peace were given to test its utility, and de- 
 velop its mighty influence upon the whole range 
 of mechanical arts ! Is it possible to view these 
 facts the relation of the invention to time, and 
 the circumstances of human history, without the 
 conviction that the wisdom of God has fixed 
 the one and that His almighty power has evolved 
 the other ? 
 
 This peculiar relation of time and discovery 
 is equally apparent in connexion with the ex- 
 tension of national intercouse. The discovery 
 of America, Australia, and other distant regions 
 of the unknown world, by the aid of the mariner's 
 compass, prepared the way for the most enlarged 
 application of steam. Had this mighty engine 
 of locomotion been in use previous to the dis- 
 4 
 
74 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 covery of the great western continent, what 
 would have been the natural result ? Is it not 
 evident that had the population of the European 
 world been poured into this newly discovered 
 country in millions as they have recently been 
 by the agency of steam, the organization of the 
 social fabric would have been utterly impossible. 
 Provision for the wants of emigrants arriving in 
 weekly thousands in a new country, where all 
 was unsubdued, could not have been realized 
 without a miracle, such as sustained the Israel- 
 ites in the desert; The misery of the primary 
 mining huts of California, or the sufferings of 
 the first settlers in " Canvass Town" at Mel- 
 bourne, or even the recent state of the hospitals 
 of Balaclava, would furnish but a faint picture 
 of what must have been the state of American 
 society, had its discovery been co-evil with the 
 present use of steam, or had its desert waters been 
 peopled by the million, as in modern times. But 
 no anomaly of this description occurs in the dis- 
 pensations of Providence. He who taught the 
 crane and the swallow the time of their coming, 
 has also arranged the entire chain of events, so 
 that none shall fall out before its appointed 
 period, nor shall the discoveries of man, or the 
 policy of nations, derange the benevolent schemes 
 of the moral Governor. To sail for Columbia, 
 under the former mode of navigation, was the 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 75 
 
 thought of years, and the actual enterprise of 
 many months. Thus was emigration restrained 
 within moderate limits, until the land of adop- 
 tion was prepared to receive and sustain its im- 
 ported population. Nor was this restraint less 
 important to the mother country, which would 
 otherwise have been left destitute of her native 
 population, before she had become sufficiently 
 commercial to command the trade of the civil- 
 ized world. By comparatively slow, but steady 
 progress, both countries were prepared for emi- 
 gration upon a gigantic scale. In the new 
 world, the vast and trackless forests yielded to 
 the industry of man. Cities rose in majesty 
 and splendor. Civil constitutions were framed. 
 Churches were organized and schools established. 
 And thus, the land which had been so long be- 
 yond the ken of the Eastern kingdoms, was 
 prepared for the most extensive operations of 
 steam and commerce. At home there is a cor- 
 responding preparation, though of an entirely 
 different description. Forests of shipping are 
 found accumulating in British ports. Manu- 
 factories are being established on every hand. 
 Inventions and discoveries, are daily transferring 
 labor from human hands to machinery, and thus, 
 the over-crowded and over-taxed operatives, 
 and peasants of Britain are set free, to find a 
 home and a land of independence beyond the 
 
76 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 waves of the vast Atlantic. To pursue the argu- 
 ment in all its aspects would be endless, nor is 
 this necessary, as every reflecting mind must be 
 convinced that these arrangements of time and 
 circumstances are not the result of chance, but 
 the manifestations of Divine wisdom, and power, 
 and goodness. 
 
 THE SPINNING MILL. 
 
 What is true of the invention of the steam 
 engine, in respect to time, is equally true of the 
 spinning mill and the power loom, as regards 
 their rapidity of production. Had not the in- 
 vention of the steam engine preceded both, 
 neither could have existed without injury to 
 society. Of what utility could the spinning mill 
 have been without the discovery of America, by 
 the help of the compass, and the transit of raw 
 material, and manufactured goods by the aid of 
 steam ? It would have reduced the value of 
 human labor in Britain, while there was not 
 yet furnished a new country for its rapidly in- 
 creasing population. It would have arrested 
 employment, and shut up the channels of sus- 
 tenance, ere yet the fertile plains and boundless 
 resources of the Trans- Atlantic world had been 
 laid open. Nor is this all the evil which would 
 have followed the inversion of these discoveries. 
 Had not the intercourse of nations been pre- 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 77 
 
 viously established, there could have been no 
 market for our manufactured goods, nor sup- 
 plies of provision for our working population. 
 Besides, had the invention of the spinning mill 
 and power loom preceded the use of steam, all our 
 manufactories must have been established on 
 the banks of this, or that rural stream, and, con- 
 sequently, instead of our seaports becoming the 
 marts of merchandise, existing towns would 
 have sunk in decay. Kural villages might have 
 risen in the mountain recess around the busy 
 factory, but our modern cities, adorned by the 
 residences of our merchant princes, could have 
 had no existence. The carriage inland would 
 have at once reduced the profits, and retarded 
 the progress, while the want of a proper relation 
 between the powers of production, and the chan- 
 nels of consumption, would have deranged the 
 harmonizing influences of the social structure, 
 and have produced revolution and ruin to the 
 body politic. But that Infinite Wisdom which 
 compounded the elements of water so as to pro- 
 duce steam in given circumstances that Al- 
 mighty Power which deposited the beds of coal 
 and iron that boundless Beneficence which em- 
 braced man in all his relations and necessities, 
 so arranged the varied revolutions of the wheels 
 of Providence that each discovery should turn 
 
78 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 up at the appropriate period, and that all united 
 should glorify their Divine Author. 
 
 THE POWER LOOM. 
 
 To refer but once more to the successive de- 
 velopment of inventions, the wisdom and good- 
 ness of God are manifest in the spinning mill 
 taking precedence of the power loom. Without 
 the former, the latter would have been utterly 
 unnecessary. The spinning mill, producing 
 yarn from the raw material with such velocity, 
 without the power loom to convert it with 
 equal rapidity into the destined fabrics, would 
 not only have disturbed the balance of labor, 
 but have entirely failed to accomplish the de- 
 signs, which both united, are destined to effect. 
 Destitute of either, or of both, at the present 
 time, our country could not compete with other 
 countries where labor is cheap, nor take the 
 lead, as it now does, in the foreign marts of mer- 
 chandise. 
 
 It is freely admitted that, in the transition 
 from the distaff, or the matron's domestic wheel, 
 to the merchant prince's spinning mill, priva- 
 tion, suffering, and disappointment must be 
 borne, by interested parties. And in passing from 
 the hand to the power loom, personal disadvan- 
 tages may be experienced. So apparent was 
 this fact, and so keenly were the sympathies and 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 79 
 
 selfishness of men enlisted, that Arkwright, 
 with his spinning mill, was driven by riotous 
 opposition from Preston to Nottingham ; while 
 even later in the progress of invention, Cart- 
 wright's factory with 500 looms was maliciously 
 and wilfully burnt to the ground. But as well 
 might man attempt to close the gates of the 
 East, to prevent the rising of the sun of nature, 
 as to turn back or restrain the heavenly im- 
 parted movements of the wheels of Providence. 
 The persecution of an inventor of machinery has 
 only the sooner attracted men to the considera- 
 tion of its importance, just as the persecution of 
 the witnesses for truth extended and established 
 their living testimony. Taking his stand point 
 on self-interest, and embracing within the com- 
 pass of his vision, his isolated importance, man 
 will persecute his fellow if supposed to cross his 
 path. But, on the other hand, let the glory of 
 God be the centre principle of action, men, and 
 all that pertains to their personal or relative in- 
 terests, will be viewed in their relations to the 
 moral government of God. And thus it will be 
 manifest, that, while one portion, and that a 
 small minority in the great family, is suffering 
 reverses, another portion of the human race is 
 reaping the benefit of the change introduced by 
 the invention of machinery. What is the ulti- 
 mate object in converting the raw material into 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 mechanical fabrics ? Not assuredly the aggran- 
 dizement of the Western planter ; neither is it for 
 the acquisition of wealth to the enterprizing 
 spinner ; nor is it simply for the distribution of 
 wages to the operative classes. The clothing and 
 the comfort of the human family is the design 
 of God, who provided the material, the ma- 
 chinery, and the skill of the manufacturer. He 
 who made coats of skins, and clothed our first 
 parents on leaving Paradise, has, by a variety of 
 substances and instrumentality, furnished the 
 wardrobes of their erring descendants. Conse- 
 quently, all should rejoice together in the exten- 
 sion of the productive powers, of machinery, as 
 keeping pace with the increasing necessities of 
 the human family, so that the agriculturist, the 
 merchant, the artizan, and the laborer, may 
 each be enabled to say in the spirit of gratitude, 
 " Every good gift, and every perfect gift is from 
 above, and cometh down from the Father of 
 Lights, with whom there is no variableness, 
 neither shadow of turning." 
 
 THE RAILWAY AND ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH. 
 
 These are taken in conjunction, because, 
 though there is a difference of time in their in- 
 vention, they are to be viewed rather as different 
 departments in one complicated mechanism. If 
 the spinning mill and power-loom were the 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 81 
 
 great commercial phenomenon of the first quar- 
 ter of the nineteenth century, the railway and 
 electric telegraph unquestionably occupy the 
 same position in the second. Nothing of a 
 merely mechanical kind, in modern times, has 
 produced such vast changes, or been followed by 
 so many beneficial results. Of all human inven- 
 tions the alphabet, the manufacture of paper, 
 and the printing press excepted those inventions 
 which abridge distance have done most for the 
 civilization of our species. It has been remarked 
 by an acute observer of historical changes* that 
 " every improvement in the means of locomotion 
 benefits mankind morally and intellectually, as 
 well as materially, and not only facilitates the 
 interchange of the various productions of nature 
 and art, but tends to remove national and pro- 
 vincial antipathies, and to bind together all the 
 branches of the great human family." By way of 
 illustration it is added, " In the seventeenth cen- 
 tury the inhabitants of London were, for almost 
 every practical purpose, further from Reading 
 than they are now from Edinburgh, and farther 
 from Edinburgh than they are now from Vienna." 
 If it is thus with respect to the rapid locomotive 
 transference of persons or traffic from one city, 
 or country to another, what shall be said of the 
 conveyance of thought upon the wings of the 
 
 * Macaulay. 
 4* * 
 
82 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 lightning, from friend to friend in places far 
 remote ? Is there not here what may be justly 
 termed the mental department of the railway 
 agency ? Modern astronomy, through the aid of 
 the telescope, has disclosed the gloomy belts of 
 Jupiter and the silvery rings of Saturn. These 
 are glorious discoveries for the philosopher giv- 
 ing rise to most interesting speculations and conjec- 
 tures, without producing much practical result to 
 the human family as a whole, or altering in the 
 slightest degree the relations of space. But the 
 discovery of the materials, and the construction 
 by human skill, of iron belts across the continents 
 and islands of the earth ; and, in connexion with 
 this, the circulation and direction of currents of 
 thought, by the electric wires, from shore to 
 shore imbedded in the soil, suspended in the 
 air, or submerged in the sea are not only mar- 
 vels of science to astonish the learned, but also 
 ministers of physical and mental elevation to 
 the human race. The earth itself is becoming 
 a vast machine ; not only wheeling its inhabitants 
 through infinite space, but encircled with a me- 
 chanical framework, it is bearing to and fro, upon 
 iron rings, its living millions, while its electric 
 net work of wire arteries is incessantly throbbing 
 with the quick pulsations of human thoughts. 
 
 It is but recently since the first locomotive 
 engines breathed the breath of defiance, and soun- 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 83 
 
 ded the shrill notes of absolute triumph upon an 
 English railway ; and yet the generation which 
 was startled by the prospective announcement 
 of these probable futurities, has lived to see the 
 face of the country and the aspect of society 
 completely changed by their agency. Though 
 feeble attempts were made in the direction of 
 railway discovery in the beginning of the present 
 century, from 1841 to 1850 may be termed the 
 period of locomotive progress. During these ten 
 years, 841 parliamentary Acts were passed for 
 the construction of railways in Great Britain and 
 Ireland, to the extent of 10,705 miles. At the 
 close of 1850, notwithstanding the number which 
 were abandoned when the 'mania' subsided, 
 6621 miles had been opened for public traffic. 
 The passengers conveyed during this year were 
 66,840,175, who paid fares amounting to the 
 enormous sum of 6,465,575. Add to these the 
 railways of the continent and of America, how 
 vast the exertion, and how mighty must be the 
 influence of this invention upon these countries, 
 and upon the world ? Still more rapid and 
 more wonderful has been the development of 
 the telegraph. Mechanical telegraphs on a small 
 scale and for special purposes on sea and land 
 preceded the invention of the railway, but the 
 electric mechanical telegraph is of very modern 
 construction. In 1837 the first of these was 
 
84 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 patented by Messrs. Cooke & Wheatstone,* and 
 laid down upon the London and Blackwall Kail- 
 way. Year after year patented some new im- 
 provement, and line after line began to breathe 
 through this channel of communication. The close 
 of the year 1849 found in Britain, Prussia and 
 the United States of America, no less than 14,000 
 miles of suspended or insulated wire, transmit- 
 ting with lightning speed, the thoughts of men 
 separated by the breadth of a continent or the 
 length of an island. But 1855 can boast of still 
 mightier triumphs ! The depths of the sea have 
 been traversed by the magic conductor. France 
 can converse with England, and Scotland with 
 Ireland, more quickly than two friends at oppo- 
 site sides of a spacious street, could meet and 
 give each other a morning salutation ! Nor is 
 this all. The daily news of a distant campaign 
 can be transmitted from capital to capital of 
 kingdoms far remote in space, though united in 
 purpose and policy. Nay farther, while we 
 write, the Mediterranean Electric Company is 
 on the point of dispatching their cable, which is 
 shortly to complete the telegraphic communication 
 between London and Algiers. Last year 110 miles 
 of cable were sent out from England and laid down 
 between Spezzia and the most northern point of 
 Corsica. The communication is now completed 
 
 * Knight's Cyclopedia. 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 85 
 
 from London to Cagliari, in the south of Sardinia 
 and the line from Algiers to Cape Borran, on the 
 African coast, was opened last January, so that 
 nothing is now required to complete the work 
 but a submarine cable from Cape Spartivento, 
 adjoining Cagliari to Borran, which is at present 
 prepared and coiled in the hold of the ship, 
 Result. This cable is 150 miles long and weighs 
 1200 tons. The most astounding announcement 
 remains " The company anticipates that in two 
 years and a half it will have a direct communi- 
 cation with Bombay, and from thence by tele- 
 graphs, already at work in the Presidencies, 
 to Calcutta." Is not a similar announcement 
 looming in the- distance as regards the American 
 continent, and the still more distant region of 
 Australia ? These latter achievements once 
 realized, the earth is subdued to human inter- 
 course, and the heaven-directed intellect, which 
 has obtained the victory over wind and tide, 
 shall start afresh on higher and more mysterious 
 discoveries, and appropriation of the elements of 
 nature, created and preserved for the benefit of 
 man. Even noiv " many are running to and fro" 
 then " shall knowledge be so increased" that the 
 world shall be scientifically as well as spiritually 
 illuminated. 
 
 It is unnecessary to draw any contrast between 
 the modes of traveling in ancient and modern 
 
86 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 times. The present generation have not yet for- 
 gotten the tedious wintry days, and dreary nights, 
 of the swiftest coaches inventions which, in their 
 day contrasted with the pack-horse, or the lum- 
 bering wagon, as our railway carriages now 
 do, with the best appointed mail in the coaching 
 system. Nor is it to our purpose to place in 
 opposition the foot runner of the seventeenth 
 century, and the Electric Telegraph of our own 
 day. To every reflecting mind the changes are 
 astonishing, while to every philanthropist, the 
 influences resulting from these changes must give 
 rise to the most enlarged expectations of future 
 progress, and universal advantage. In the mean 
 time, we desire to contemplate the providential 
 aspects of these inventions, as regards the time 
 of their discovery, and their relations to each 
 other, or to previously existing machinery. 
 
 Had railways been sooner constructed in Brit- 
 ain, ordinary roads, such as are now in general 
 use, could never have been formed. It was 
 absolutely necessary, for the progress of the 
 country, as a whole, and for the development of 
 its vast resources, that good roads should be 
 constructed through every agricultural and 
 mineral district. Had Kailway Acts preceded 
 Turnpike Acts in British legislation, future 
 generations might have been for ages struggling 
 through the mire of ancient bye-paths, and ford- 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 87 
 
 ing the rivers as our ancestors did in the seven- 
 teenth century. Of this period it is said by a 
 living historian,'-' that even the "highways ap- 
 pear to have been far worse than might have 
 been expected from the degree of wealth and 
 civilization which the nation had even then at- 
 tained. On the best lines of communication 
 the ruts were deep, the descents precipitous, and 
 the way often such as it was scarcely possible to 
 distinguish, in the dusk, from unenclosed heath 
 
 and fen, which lay on both sides It 
 
 was only in fine weather that the whole breadth 
 of the road was available for wheeled vehicles. 
 Often the mud lay deep on the right and left ; 
 and only a narrow track of firm ground rose 
 above the quagmire." Still heavier calamities 
 at times awaited the traveller, when his way 
 was completely intercepted by the rising flood, 
 or cut short by the armed highwayman. To 
 prepare for railways, or to enjoy their benefit, it 
 was necessary that the nation should struggle 
 through the operation of making roads and 
 building bridges, and, indeed, in a mechanical 
 point of view, both were necessary to the rapid 
 construction of modern railways. The arts of ex- 
 cavating, embanking, and bridging, evolved in 
 the formation of the common roads, prepared the 
 modern engineer for the execution of gigantic 
 
 * Macaulay. 
 
88 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 works in the construction of railways, and thus, 
 while the apprenticeship of construction was in 
 progress, the country became intersected with 
 roads, at once accommodating the public, and fur- 
 nishing channels of transit for the railway traffic. 
 Though the iron roads of modern times may 
 intersect a country, stations can only be placed 
 at considerable distances, otherwise the speed is 
 retarded by frequent stoppages, and the expense 
 increased by railway officials, consequently, com- 
 mon roads will still be required, both in the 
 city and the rural districts, not only as channels 
 of local intercourse, but also as feeders for the rail- 
 way's gigantic commerce. With these the coun- 
 try was gradually furnished during an age of 
 peace and prosperity, and the best leading roads 
 of both kingdoms have been so far redeemed, 
 that a moderate expenditure will maintain them 
 in permanent repair. Could funds have been 
 raised for the construction of these since the 
 Kailway mania ? Verily not ! consequently it is 
 evident that an All- wise Providence was overrul- 
 ing and directing the policy of man, so as to 
 accomplish the results which, in combination 
 and harmony, astonish the world. Individual 
 and local sufferers there may, and must be, in any 
 of these radical changes which affect and benefit 
 the masses, but the good of the whole is the 
 purpose of the moral Governor , and all individ- 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 89 
 
 ual and local disappointment ought to be con- 
 sidered as checks upon selfishness, and lessons in 
 philanthropy. 
 
 OBJECTION. 
 
 It may be objected that the argument is only 
 local, and cannot be legitimately adduced 
 in support of a general fact or principle. It 
 may be said, " Is not America an exception to 
 this rule of priority ? Are not railways in many 
 of the Western States, passing through the dense 
 forests and prairie plains, where no trace of 
 human labor has been found in the formation 
 of roads ?" This fact is at once admitted, 
 though the reasoning founded upon it is no re- 
 futation of our argument. America, unlike the 
 Isle of Britain, has its frosty winter of many 
 months, during which the traveller skims the 
 snowy wreath with his sledge, upon the icy 
 tramway, or crosses at pleasure, regardless of 
 ford or bridge, the majestic ice-bound river 
 with his lumbering waggon. Nor are the sum- 
 mer months an exception -to the ease and 
 freedom of transit. By the intense heat of the 
 sun's rays, the ruts and pools of the unformed 
 road vanish, and even the moisture of the fen 
 and swamp are so absorbed, that the traveller 
 may pursue his journey at pleasure, or convey 
 his merchandise to the city, the steamboat, or 
 
90 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 the railway. In consequence of the climate, 
 and geological formation of Britain, such modes 
 of transit could never have been realized. To 
 its present greatness common roads are ab- 
 solutely necessary, as well as railways, and 
 we cannot too much appreciate the Divine dis- 
 play of wisdom and goodness, in giving us both, 
 in the relation of time in which they have been 
 introduced. 
 
 COMMERCE AND RAILWAYS. 
 
 The relations of time are peculiarly striking, 
 as regards the development of commerce, and 
 the accumulation of wealth, so far preceding 
 the construction of railways. The antecedent 
 development of the cotton trade, by machinery, 
 rendered necessary such modes of transit as are 
 now employed. While the domestic wheel, or 
 even the spinning jenny, were preparing the raw 
 material for the hand-looms, intelligence travelling 
 for weeks, or goods for months, before reaching 
 their destination, was felt to be no inconvenience 
 in regard to time. But when the spinning mill 
 came to devour the cotton by the bale, and the 
 power loom to suck up its twisted fibres with in- 
 satiable appetite pouring forth its ever-varying 
 fabrics by the million it became a mercantile 
 necessity that the steamboat should plough the 
 briny waves to distant regions, with somewhat of 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 91 
 
 mechanical precision, and that railways should 
 transfer her freights on land, to the manufactory 
 or the warehouse with corresponding velocity. 
 At the close of the seventeenth century, the whole 
 annual import of cotton to Manchester did not 
 amount to two millions of pounds, a quantity, 
 whicli would now hardly supply the demand of 
 forty-eight hours.* Such a change, in the powers 
 of production, must either be succeeded by corre- 
 sponding changes in the means of transference, or 
 be absolutely checked and retarded. But progress 
 and not retrogression, is the natural principle 
 embodied in the history of the arts and sciences ; 
 consequently, the relations of steam and manu- 
 facture are established and regulated by inherent 
 influences, communicated and directed by an 
 all-wise Providence. 
 
 In the constitution of the human system, 
 mind takes precedence of matter in mechanical 
 action. So also, in the development of the arts 
 of industry, in connexion with commerce, it was 
 necessary that there should be discovered 
 methods of conveying intelligence, more rapid 
 than the transit of goods by the steamship or 
 the railway, and hence, in the providence of 
 God, at the appointed time, the Electric Tele- 
 graph astonished the world. The rapidity of con- 
 version from the raw material to the finished 
 
 * Macaulay's History. 
 
92 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 fabric, required intelligence regarding the state 
 of distant markets ; otherwise the importer might 
 be ruined by an unprofitable speculation. The 
 improved postage supplied the channels of intel- 
 ligence sufficiently early, until outstripped, by 
 the railway or steamboat, conveying the goods 
 as quickly as the intelligence regarding them. 
 Then, and not till then, did the telegraph take 
 its place in the temple of discovery, inconceiv- 
 ably distancing all former speed, annihilating 
 space, and placing side by side in commercial 
 and political intelligence, the marts and manu- 
 factories of national merchandise. Is there not 
 wisdom in such mysterious arrangements, beyond 
 the most enlarged comprehension of human 
 sagacity ? The electricity still existed, and was 
 not unfrequently soliciting attention by its 
 destructive power in the bursting thunderbolt, 
 but man obtained not the key to its hidden 
 storehouse, nor the skill to restrain or direct its 
 current, until the world was prepared to employ 
 its agency and appreciate its benefits. As in the 
 processes of nature, there is no waste in the pro- 
 portionate adjustments of cause and effect, so 
 also in Providence the demand and supply are 
 mysteriously regulated, so that each invention, 
 though distant and separate, is fitted into its 
 appropriate place at a given time, and is found 
 not only to be self-adjusting in its local position, 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 93 
 
 but also a joint regulator of the movements of 
 all with which it is co-existing. Besides, it 
 possesses a latent power which sooner or later 
 will defy legislation, dispel the clouds of preju- 
 dice, and work out the designs and purposes of 
 the universal Benefactor. 
 
 RELATION OF CAPITAL TO RAILWAY DEVELOP- 
 MENT. 
 
 The commercial prosperity of Britain was ab- 
 solutely necessary to the present development of 
 the railway system. The precedence of Britain 
 in manufacture has concentrated wealth, and 
 furnished opportunities of investing capital and 
 employing labor, which have given our country 
 a mercantile superiority in the marts of mer- 
 chandise at home and abroad. Capital profit- 
 ably invested, and labor judiciously directed, 
 lay the foundation of national wealth and social 
 prosperity. National wealth, acquired by na- 
 tional industry, and invested with commercial 
 intelligence, must necessarily encourage, and will 
 liberally furnish the means of mechanical im- 
 provement. Thus, the national wealth rapidly 
 accumulated by the manufactures of the first 
 quarter of the present century, enabled the 
 second quarter to develope its railway system, 
 and to bear the shock of its temporary railway 
 crisis. At no former period could so much cap- 
 
94 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 ital have been withdrawn from existing com- 
 merce and manufacture, and turned into an 
 entirely new channel, without destruction to the 
 general trade of the country ; nor could such 
 commercial and agricultural distress have been 
 endured previously without ruin to the social 
 fabric. Even when Chartism was at its height, 
 and the country, distracted by commercial dis- 
 tress, accompanied by famine, the relative in- 
 terests of the various classes drew closer the 
 bonds of union, while the capital at stake, and 
 the constitutional liberty enjoyed, elicited such 
 a demonstration of loyalty to the throne that in 
 one day the lowering cloud of insurrection was 
 dispelled from the city of London, and the 
 sophistical bond of the democratic charter for 
 ever dissolved. At this very period, the con- 
 struction of railways lessened at once the misery 
 and the social danger, by giving employment to 
 those very parties who were nearest the point of 
 starvation, and most likely to be roused in 
 physical force demonstrations. By being scat- 
 tered over Britain, their power was diminished, 
 and their local ranks thinned, so that by the 
 time the Kailways had been completed, they 
 were transferred beyond the Atlantic by emi- 
 gration, or absorbed in the social community. 
 Is there nothing in all this, but fortuitous coin- 
 cidences falling out at random ? They must be 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 95 
 
 blind indeed, and verily ungrateful, who do not 
 see and adore that God who is the " moral Gov- 
 ernor among the nations/' 
 
 MINERAL RELATIONS TO THE CONSTRUCTION AND 
 WORKING OF RAILWAYS. 
 
 The relation between the railway system and 
 the sources from which all its machinery are 
 constructed and sustained in operation, furnishes 
 another convincing argument that the time of 
 its development was the most appropriate, and 
 such a time as infinite wisdom alone could de- 
 termine. Iron and Coal are essential elements, 
 and relatively considered, occupy a chief place 
 in the formation and constant working of rail- 
 ways. The procuring of these in sufficient 
 quantity, draws most heavily on human skill 
 and labor. In reviewing the political and 
 scientific history of our country, we are convinced 
 that, at no earlier period could railways, as now 
 established, have been constructed or employed. 
 Coal fields existed in abundance, but hitherto 
 mining had not attained that perfection which 
 was necessary to meet the increasing demand of 
 modern times ; neither had the stationary engine 
 at the pit's mouth become auxiliary to the loco- 
 motive on the rail. Iron was also deposited in 
 exhaustless stores, but the quantity requisite 
 had not been obtained ; neither had the machi- 
 
96 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 nery destined to roll out its bars, in adaptation to 
 the dimensions of the rail, any place among 
 mechanical inventions. As late as the second 
 half of the seventeenth century, a great pro- 
 portion of the iron used in this country was im- 
 ported from abroad ; and the whole quantity cast 
 here annually, seems not to have exceeded ten 
 thousand tons. At present, the trade is presumed 
 to be unprosperous, if less than a million of tons 
 are produced in a year. These comparative 
 statistics show a close relation between the 
 mineral dug out and railway development. Un- 
 til the mists of prejudice were dispelled, by the 
 extension of practical knowledge, and until 
 legislation was guided by more enlarged con- 
 ceptions of our national resources ; many of the 
 most important branches of industry were posi- 
 tively discouraged. It was thus with the iron 
 trade of Britain. Even in the reign of Elizabeth, 
 fears became general regarding the consumption 
 of wood, and complaints were made of whole 
 forests being cut down, for the purpose of feeding 
 the iron furnaces coals not then being used for 
 melting the ore. This led to injudicious legisla- 
 tion, and Parliament passed an act prohibiting 
 the iron masters of that age from burning timber. 
 This caused the trade to languish for a consider- 
 able time, though it doubtless tended to stimu- 
 late, at a later period, the mining for coals. It 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 97 
 
 is clear to a demonstration that, in such a state 
 of mining as then existed, it would have been 
 utterly impossible, by any expenditure of wealth, 
 to have procured the requisite iron, or to have 
 kept the engines in motion by a sufficient quan- 
 tity of coal. In the last year of the reign of 
 Charles the Second, it was the boast of the 
 ' Londoners/ that two hundred and eighty thou- 
 sand chaldrons, that is to say, about three 
 hundred and fifty thousand tons were brought to 
 the Thames, At present nearly three millions 
 and a half of tons are consumed yearly, by the 
 metropolis alone ; and the whole annual produce 
 cannot, on the most moderate calculation, be 
 estimated at less than thirty-five millions of tons.* 
 It is evident, then, that railways were invented 
 arid have been brought into general use, as early 
 as the state of commerce required their aid, and 
 as soon as the state of mining admitted of their 
 construction, and continuous operation. Lead- 
 ing inventions may be retarded, by short-sighted 
 legislation, but evolved in their natural order of 
 time, each becomes auxiliary to the general de- 
 velopment of mechanical phenomena, and all 
 unite in benefiting the human species. 
 
 It is not less remarkable, in respect of time, 
 that Gutta Percha was discovered at the very 
 period when philosophers and mechanics had felt 
 
 * Knight's Cyclopedias. 
 5* 
 
98 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 the absolute need of some non-conducting sub- 
 stance, in which to encase the electric wires for 
 submersion in the mighty deep ? Being the 
 gum of the percha tree which grows, and which 
 has probably grown from time immemorial in 
 Singapore, Borneo, and various other Eastern 
 Islands, is it not amazing that a substance so 
 easily procured by tapping the bark, should 
 never have been known in England until the 
 year 1843, when Dr. Montgomerie presented a 
 specimen to the Society of Arts in London. It 
 has now become a regular article of commerce, 
 being used in the preparation of innumerable 
 articles, from the sole of a shoe, to the official seal 
 attached to patents, and other similar documents 
 issued by state officials, besides ornamental work 
 of all descriptions. But the insulating power of 
 gutta percha, as a non-conductor, and shield for 
 the submarine telegraph, is evidently its primary 
 purpose as yet known, and it is the only sub- 
 stance yet discovered that could supply the want 
 formerly experienced in every attempt at sub- 
 mersion of the wires. Has not this tree been 
 created, preserved, and shown to man, by the God 
 of providence, as certainly as the renovating 
 tree was shown to Moses, at the wells of Marah, 
 by the God of grace and salvation. 
 
 It is unnecessary to pursue this branch of the 
 argument, by adducing historical illustrations in 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 99 
 
 respect to the state of society, as related to, and in 
 connexion with other inventions. The argument 
 as presented may be carried through the entire 
 region of mechanical phenomena. It has been 
 shown that the elements are all of God, that they 
 have been preserved from age to age, by almighty 
 power, and that all the circumstances have been 
 arranged for their development, at the time best 
 adapted to the existing state of the human 
 family. Though in regard to the early history 
 of some inventions, they might seem as if dis- 
 covered before the time. But what has been the 
 result of this precocity ? Such have fallen still- 
 born upon the world. Men have not discovered 
 their utility, or there was the want of some corre- 
 sponding element in the material, or some im- 
 pelling influence in the commercial world, and 
 they consequently wasted away. But these 
 efforts of genius, though failures, were the signal 
 tokens of future triumphs. The same materials, 
 placed in other hands, modified or proportioned 
 by other ideas, and surrounded by other circum- 
 stances, at once astonish and enrich the nations. 
 Apparently broken links there may be, in the 
 providential chain of scientific discovery, and 
 mechanical invention, but the time will come 
 when in its full suspension in the sight of a re- 
 novated world, each end will be seen as attached 
 to the throne of the moral Governor, and every 
 
100 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 link in the place which infinite wisdom has as- 
 signed it, and into which it has been fitted by 
 almighty power. Is there not enough, even now, 
 in the progressive development of machinery, to 
 convince the most sceptical rejector of an over- 
 ruling providence, that God is there in its first 
 elements of thought its embodiment in mater- 
 ial form, and its ultimate results upon the physi- 
 cal, intellectual, and moral condition of the 
 world. True it is, in the region of artificial 
 phenomena as well as of that which is natural. 
 
 "The Globe knoweth not increase, either of matter or of 
 
 spirit. 
 Atoms and thoughts are used again, mixing in varied 
 
 combinations ; 
 And though by moulding them anew thou makest them 
 
 thine own, 
 
 Yet have they served thousands, and all their merit is of 
 t*. God." 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE TENDENCY OP INVENTIONS, A PROOF THAT THEY ABE OP GOD. 
 
 FEW will be disposed to deny that this world, 
 in its minute, as well as its comprehensive pro- 
 vidential arrangements, bears unequivocal testi- 
 mony to the benevolent designs of the Creator. 
 It is impossible to contemplate the constituent 
 elements of which it is composed, without the 
 conviction that they were primarily selected and 
 deposited in accordance with the anticipated 
 wants of the human family. In every aspect 
 there appears adaptation to the physical and 
 mental constitution of man, whether considered 
 in his original state, or fallen and depraved con- 
 dition. As a holy and happy being, he had few 
 physical wants ; but such as he experienced, 
 were amply supplied in that world over which 
 he obtained dominion. As a spiritual being, 
 made in the Divine image, he enjoyed complete 
 felicity in communion with God. To him, as 
 lord of creation, all nature tendered a physical 
 service ; but vet a service only rendered in 
 
102 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 obedience to the dictates of his mental being, 
 and actually elicited through the operation of 
 his own physical organization. Nor was this a 
 constitutional necessity only, it was the law of 
 his materio-mental being, corresponding to the 
 law judicially announced, and to the charter of 
 privilege munificently granted when Adam was 
 commanded to " be fruitful, and multiply, and 
 replenish the earth, and subdue it, and have 
 dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the 
 fowls of the air, and over every living thing that 
 moveth upon the earth." Subdue the earth was 
 the primary command, and the claim of " do- 
 minion over it" seems to rest upon obedience 
 to this injunction. Until the human family has 
 multiplied so as to replenish the earth, that sub- 
 jection cannot be obtained, nor that universal 
 dominion established. Those physical and 
 moral revolutions which have resulted from the 
 introduction of sin, do not make void the pri- 
 mary commission, nor cancel its obligations. 
 Subdue the .earth was the mandate issued to 
 Noah amidst the desolations disclosed by the 
 receding deluge, as well as to Adam surrounded 
 with the luxuriant productions of Paradise. 
 Subdue the earth and have dominion over it is 
 the Divine mandate addressed to their posterity 
 as much as to those progenitors of the human 
 race ; and until the work is accomplished, the 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 103 
 
 obligation must remain immutable. It is true 
 that human capabilities, mental and physical, 
 were impaired by the shock of moral evil, and 
 even the world itself was convulsed by the 
 thunder-bolt of Divine wrath, drawn down by the 
 electric wire of human guilt ; but no such 
 changes, whether physical or moral, could alter 
 the divine decree, rescind the original law, nor 
 release humanity from primary obligations. 
 With a darker intellect and a weaker constitu- 
 tion with consequent liability to exhausting 
 fatigue and frequent disappointment with a 
 blighted world and rebellious subjects man 
 must, from age to age, pursue his laborious 
 course until the original purposes of his Creator 
 regarding earth, are all accomplished. In the 
 beneficence of God every effort is accompanied 
 by a present benefit, while each succeeding dis- 
 covery is not only a stimulus to future exertion, 
 but also a re-echo of the voice of the original 
 proprietor as saying to the sons of men " subdue 
 the earth and have dominion over it." 
 
 Let it not be supposed that the violation of 
 the Divine law embodied in the covenant of 
 works could abrogate or disannul those in- 
 junctions which had respect to man's duty in 
 regard to temporal things. Though man be- 
 came a rebel, he cannot frustrate the pur- 
 pose of an all-wise God. The earth was made 
 
104 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 a habitation for man, and sooner or later shall 
 it be inherited by the sons of men. Though as 
 a person, man, the moral agent, must be punished 
 for the transgression of the Divine law, yet man 
 as an instrument shall be constrained to accom- 
 plish the divine purposes. So comprehensive 
 are the plans of infinite wisdom, that reluctantly 
 or willingly the eternal decree shall be carried 
 into execution* The very fact which separated 
 man from his Creator the fall by transgression 
 has been the occasion of revealing, not only 
 the mystery of redemption, but also the 
 mysterious economy of Providence. The latter 
 is subservient to the former, but both in harmony 
 reveal the glory of God. In both there is full 
 scope for the free agency of man, the person, 
 while there is also retained absolute sovereignty 
 over the actions of man, the instrument. His 
 motives, and efforts, and ends may be selfish 
 and rebellious ; but yet, in the moral govern- 
 ment of God, they are so over-ruled, restrained, 
 and directed, that they ultimately accomplish 
 the Divine purpose. This is peculiarly illus- 
 trated in the history of Adam's fall. In that 
 sentence of condemnation which was pronounced 
 in Paradise by offended Deity, the primary law 
 of labor in respect to man, and the original 
 purpose of God to subdue the earth through his 
 instrumentality, are beautifully intertwined. 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS, 105 
 
 " Cursed is the ground for thy sake ; in sorrow 
 shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life ; 
 thorns and thistles shall it hring forth unto thee, 
 and thou shalt eat the herb of the field. In the 
 sweat of thy face shalt thou eat hread till thou 
 return unto the ground ; for out of it was thou 
 taken; for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt 
 thou return." In this sentence there is no re- 
 peal of the existing law no absolution from 
 primary obligation. The purpose of God re- 
 garding the earth, and regarding man its occu- 
 pant, is unchanged. But the relations of man 
 to his Creator, and all the circumstances in 
 which he is destined to accomplish the divine 
 purposes, are completely altered. There is uni- 
 versal schism in the natural and the moral world. 
 The heart of man is alienated from God ; his 
 will is opposed to the Divine will, nevertheless 
 as an instrument he must fulfil his destiny. 
 Exercising a delegated dominion over the earth, 
 the active duties involved in subduing it were 
 accompanied with sensations of unalloyed plea- 
 sure ; but having, by transgression, forfeited 
 that dominion, fallen man is constrained by ne- 
 cessity to labor as a slave, while the pleasure 
 of labor is embittered by its penal characteris- 
 tics. Irrespective of this, the work originally 
 indicated must be accomplished. Man must 
 retain his place as the agent by which it shall 
 5* 
 
106 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 be effected. But in the mysterious providence 
 of Grod, the work of subduing the earth is so 
 planned that each succeeding generation may be 
 amply occupied, and also realize increasing 
 benefits in proportion to the progress made, 
 while the united efforts of all are requisite to 
 carry it forward to final consummation. As the 
 various workmen in the erection of a building 
 individually and unitedly contribute towards the 
 completion of the plan designed by the architect, 
 so the human family is gradually filling up the 
 comprehensive plans of Providence regarding the 
 world. 
 
 Viewed in this aspect, there appears a close 
 connexion between man's nature and his duty 
 as a creature. Destined for occupation, his 
 wants furnish a permanent motive where his 
 moral obedience fails to constrain him to duty. 
 In the appointment of heaven the increase of 
 his wants by the fall counterbalances the reluc- 
 tance of his rebellious spirit, so that he renders 
 as an instrument that obedience which, as a 
 moral agent he declines to yield. The natural 
 activity of his constitution, though benumbed 
 by the chilling effects of sin, is stimulated by 
 stern necessity to work out the doings of Grod 
 regarding the earth as his temporary habitation. 
 Work or want is the bye-law of actual adminis- 
 tration, which even savage life cannot disregard, 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 107 
 
 and which the highest state of refinement can- 
 not utterly repeal. All must earn their bread 
 by the sweat of their brow, or the exercise of 
 the brain within it. From the very constitu- 
 tion of things both are brought into requisition 
 in every department of human occupation. 
 From the sovereign to the humblest subject 
 there is labor in procuring supply for official, 
 relative, or personal wants. If the hands are 
 freed from grinding toil, the mind will be taxed 
 with exhausting activity ; and even where both 
 seem to be emancipated by the possession of 
 riches, the cares of preservation, of distribution, 
 of modes of increase, are found as harassing to 
 the possessor, as if both head and hands were 
 employed in daily labor. Thus it is found in 
 universal experience, that " All things are full 
 of labor ; man cannot utter it ; the eye is not 
 satisfied with seeing, nor the ear with hearing." 
 In beholding the toiling multitude, we may 
 be ready to inquire, Whence the necessity for 
 this incessant labor ? Is it simply by way of 
 punishment that God has doomed the fallen race 
 to work that life may be preserved, and yet in 
 the excess of work demanded, and sometimes in 
 its very nature, that life is being wasted by con- 
 tinuous exhaustion ? This might seem at first 
 sight the reason, and as announced in the sen- 
 tence passed upon Adam, it is no doubt presented 
 
108 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 as an element in the penalty. Indeed the toils 
 of human life have been adduced as an argument 
 that man is fallen. But when considered in 
 relation to the comprehensive plans of the moral 
 government, labor appears in the aspect of a 
 blessing. It is at once a check upon human 
 depravity a preventive of crime, and the source 
 of social comfort ; while at the same time afford- 
 ing a wider range for the operation of relative 
 affections. The fall of man did not introduce 
 but only increased and aggravated human labor. 
 The primary law was announced ere yet the 
 bloom of Paradise had been blighted by sin. 
 " The Lord God took the man and put him into 
 the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it." 
 That garden was planted by the Divine hand, 
 with every tree and herb good for food, and 
 pleasant to the eye ; but though divinely planted 
 in fructiferous maturity, they were committed 
 to the care of our first father " to dress and keep." 
 It is also evident, from the primary law of the 
 Sabbath, that our first parents were destined to 
 active labor during six days of the week, else 
 what would be the meaning of the rest of the 
 seventh ? It is evident the ground was not 
 yet under the effects of the curse, and that the 
 earth yielded spontaneously all that man could 
 require ; but even then some labor was necessary 
 in order to the enjoyment of what nature so abun- 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 109 
 
 dantly provided. The very formation of man 
 teaches that he was designed for some species of 
 labor. It has been clearly demonstrated by 
 comparative anatomy that the formation of all 
 the creatures is in adaptation to their habits of 
 life, and the exercise of their peculiar instincts ; 
 as well as to the place which they are des- 
 tined to fill in the scale of creation. The 
 human species is no exception to this univer- 
 sal law of creation. The wonderful organiza- 
 tion of man, in adaptation to the work given 
 him to do, has been already noticed. The hu- 
 man hand furnishes a distinct, and irresistible 
 argument for the existence of God ; while it 
 affords a not less convincing proof that man was 
 originally designed to labor. It is to the hand 
 as directed by an intelligent mind, that we are 
 indebted for all mechanical inventions. 
 
 Taking man's constitution as the index, in 
 accordance with universal analogy, it is evident 
 that labor was the original law of his being. 
 If angels pure and holy spirits are actively 
 employed in the service of God and if irrational 
 creatures, with material organization are destined 
 to a certain amount of labor, in prolonging 
 their existence, may it not be legitimately in- 
 ferred that man also combining the material and 
 the mental must be designed for activity and 
 labor. Nor is this all that raav be adduced 
 
110 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 from the nature of his constitution. It is clear 
 -to a demonstration that without labor, either in 
 a holy or a fallen state man's capabilities and 
 powers could never be disclosed. Without the 
 arts of industry many of his latent faculties of 
 invention must lie for ever dormant, and the 
 marvels of science and art which these have ex- 
 hibited must have been forever lost to the page 
 of human history. Indeed, until the last inven- 
 tion of genius shall be constructed, upon the eve 
 of the world's dissolution, the full extent of man's 
 mental and physical capability shall not be made 
 manifest. It thus appears that while labor is 
 necessary to man in his individual and relative 
 position, it is also necessary to exhibit what man 
 was as God made him, and what mysterious 
 treasures Divine goodness had stored up at crea- 
 tion for his future benefit even in a fallen state. 
 It is not tlie/ac of labor, as the law of exist- 
 ence, that has produced human misery. Nor is 
 labor in itself any evidence of a fallen state. It 
 is the nature, the amount, and the aggravating 
 circumstances in which labor must be prose- 
 cuted, that tend to characterize it as evil in 
 man's estimation. The introduction of moral 
 evil has deranged the nature and increased the 
 quantity and aggravated the circumstances of 
 human toil. Its evils are not inherent, but may 
 all be traced to the fountain of moral evil. In 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS, 111 
 
 man's original constitution there was absolute 
 perfection. The finished works of creation were 
 all pronounced " very good " by their Divine 
 Author. Man's mental and physical constitution 
 responded harmoniously to the works of nature, 
 while the appropriation of what infinite goodness 
 had provided was but the increase of human 
 happiness. There was nothing in the primary 
 law of labor repugnant to man's tenderest feel- 
 ings. Activity was the most joyous part of his 
 existence. He could run without being weary, 
 and walk without fainting. In his system there 
 was no weakness, giving rise to suffering under 
 exertion ; and in his labor there was no dis- 
 appointment, to perplex or disturb his mental 
 complacency. The duties assigned to Adam in 
 Paradise were as pleasant to his entire constitu- 
 tion, as the prospect of his luxuriant garden was 
 to his organ of sight, and perception of beauty. 
 
 It was the curse the blight of sin that 
 changed the entire aspect of human employ- 
 ment. Beneath the frown of an angry God, the 
 elements of nature were convulsed the earth 
 became not only barren, but thorns and thistles 
 sprung up as the indigenous productions of the 
 soil. The original, spontaneous, vegetative pow- 
 ers of earth were arrested, so that to man, the of- 
 fender, it could only yield its reluctant produce, 
 when moistened with the sweat of his L*QW. It 
 
112 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 is therefore clear to a demonstration that the 
 evils of labor are not in its nature, but in the 
 quantity necessary to subdue the soil thus blight- 
 ed in the liability to fatigue and exhaustion, 
 inseparable from the shattered constitution of 
 man as fallen and from the circumstances, 
 relative and social, in which human toil must 
 be endured. Labor is healthful and pleasant 
 under proper regulations ; all its embittering 
 elements are the consequences of sin. 
 
 It is evident, however, that in ascending from 
 a fallen state of utter destitution such as that 
 of Adam, thrust out from the garden, to a future 
 state of comparative ease and comfort such as 
 his descendants shall attain during the mil- 
 lennium the toils of labor must be endured, 
 and the graces of faith and patience duly exer- 
 cised and strengthened. The human family 
 must be painfully taught what has been forfeited 
 physically, as well as -morally, by the fall, and 
 thus at length, through bitter experience, be ren- 
 dered better able to comprehend and appreciate, 
 these temporal blessings which are bestowed by 
 God, though communicated through interme- 
 diate channels. Besides, in the moral govern- 
 ment of God all events and instruments are so 
 arranged and harmonized as to accomplish his 
 purposes and show forth his glory. 
 
 This ifi peculiarly illustrated in the history 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 118 
 
 of human toil. To man, as fallen, the law of 
 labor is of the utmost importance and advan- 
 tage. It is true that many seem to speak and 
 to act as if labor in itself were the curse ; but 
 such speak unadvisedly and act without due 
 reflection upon the providence of God. The 
 entire absence of labor could not ameliorate the 
 condition of the human family, while the de- 
 praved passions and appetites remain unre- 
 strained. Universal idleness in such circum- 
 stances would make earth one wide-spread 
 hot-bed of iniquity, and evoke the ghostly fea- 
 tures of even hell itself ! Who are the pests 
 and plagues of society, but such as are idle, 
 whether found in the ranks of wealth or the rags 
 of poverty ? To remove human labor and leave 
 human depravity, would deteriorate rather than 
 improve man's condition. There was mercy as 
 well as judgment in the decree which enjoined 
 him to " subdue the earth," even though it must 
 be " in the sweat of his brow/' With his pres- 
 ent constitution he could not be idle and yet be 
 happy. Indeed it is questionable whether in 
 any circumstances a being naturally active could 
 be happy in a state of physical inertia. Even 
 mental activity could not satisfy the native pro- 
 pulsion of a material organization invested with 
 life. If, then, this native tendency to action 
 were not restrained and exhausted bv lawful 
 
114 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 labor, it would be all embodied in the produc- 
 tion of crime. It has been well remarked by an 
 eminent writer * that " if man were not obliged 
 to toil for his bodily sustenance and comfort, 
 his native restlessness would impel him to deeds 
 which would throw society into hopeless disorder, 
 and deluge the earth with blood/' How true is 
 the language of the poet : 
 
 " That like an emmet thou must ever toil, 
 Is a sad sentence of an ancient date 
 And, certes, there is for it reason great ; 
 For though it sometimes makes thee weep and wail 
 And curse thy stars, and early rise and late, 
 Without 'en that would come a heavier bale 
 Loose life, unruly passions, and diseases pale."f 
 
 The crowning evil in connexion with human 
 toil is, that in certain states of society, the 
 amount and the nature of the labor demanded 
 are such, that mental and physical slavery is the 
 result. To this the Divine record bears testimony 
 in the history of the Hebrews as enslaved in Egypt. 
 "The children of Israel sighed by reason of their 
 bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up 
 unto God by reason of their bondage." Under 
 this type of slavery the body is so exhausted and 
 impaired by manual labor, that the mind is 
 utterly unfitted for intellectual exercise. In 
 many modern cases of nominal liberty right is 
 
 * Dr. M'Cosh. 
 
 f Castle of Indolence. 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 115 
 
 overlaid by might, and selfish ambition is found 
 wreathing a yoke of bondage, almost as galling 
 as ancient slavery. ' It is here that the evils of 
 labor, are experienced in their most aggravated 
 forms ; but it is here also, that mechanical in- 
 ventions come to the aid of oppressed humanity. 
 As the God of Jacob heard the cry, of the 
 enslaved Israelites, and with a mighty hand 
 accomplished their emancipation ; so the G-od 
 of providence hears the cry, and recognizes 
 the suffering of the oppressed, and by the 
 invention of this, and that implement of in- 
 dustry works their deliverance. It may be that 
 the first efforts of machinery will increase those 
 sorrows, as the demand of Moses did the woes of 
 the Hebrews ; but when the transition period 
 from manual to mechanical labor has tran- 
 spired it will uniformly be found, that all parties 
 have been benefitted by the changes introduced. 
 The tendency of mechanical inventions is to 
 give mind supremacy over matter, and to es- 
 tablish that dominion accorded to man, in his 
 original charter. In proportion as man under- 
 stands his privileges, and exercises his capabili- 
 ties, amidst the profusion of nature ; in that 
 proportion will he find its adaptation to his pe- 
 culiar circumstances, and in so far as he obeys 
 the original mandate, " Subdue the earth" will 
 he find its treasures laid at his feet. " The earth 
 
116 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 hath God given to the children of men," conse- 
 quently, it is their province to discern, and dis- 
 pose of the riches therein deposited, so as to 
 promote human comfort. It is with this view 
 that art is made auxiliary to human power, and 
 has enabled man to carry his researches, and 
 appropriation of terrestial things, beyond the 
 primary limits of manual capability. Nor is 
 this all, the ultimate tendency of inventions is, 
 to emancipate the human family from the 
 heavier portions of manual labor, and to give 
 the mind more extensive power, so that machi- 
 nery may take the place of human hands, and 
 one individual be able to accomplish what hun- 
 dreds could not have effected* 
 
 THE TENDENCY OF INVENTIONS TO MITIGATE 
 HUMAN TOIL. 
 
 The application of machinery is the extension 
 of man's mechanical powers. With the levers 
 and pulleys of his own mechanical frame, he 
 can raise a given weight, or transport a burden 
 through a given space. But how limited the 
 extent of his unaided efforts ? How soon must 
 all his native energies be exhausted ? But seiz- 
 ing nature's elements, and applying nature'* 
 mechanical laws, he extends his powers to inani- 
 mate objects ; so that instead of his mind direct- 
 ing the machinery of his own hands, or his own 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 117 
 
 mechanical system, only it becomes the directing 
 agency of a vast and complicated machinery ; 
 effecting results beyond the capability of thou- 
 sands of his species. Without artificial machi- 
 nery, the efforts of the human mind must be 
 limited by the efforts of the human hands ; but 
 with the full development of mechanical in- 
 ventions, the mind will be enabled to establish a 
 most comprehensive supremacy over the world 
 of matter. How feeble the power of the human 
 hand, compared with the stroke of the steam- 
 engine, and yet these hands can direct all its 
 movements. How diminutive is the helmsman 
 when contrasted with the mighty ship, which 
 he directs in her course through the waste of 
 waters ; and yet it is but the extension of his 
 moral and physical power, over the varied parts 
 and movements of this vast machine. How 
 apparently insignificant are the operatives in a 
 spinning mill, compared with the magnitude of 
 the machinery by which they are surrounded ; 
 and yet all these wheels, and shafts, and spindles, 
 are but an extension of their own mechanical 
 system, presided over, and directed by their men- 
 tal being. The desired results are increased ten 
 thousand-fold, and yet, the amount of manual, 
 and mental exhaustion is proportionally dimin- 
 ished. It is thus, that by mechanical inventions, 
 man establishes his supremacy over the elements 
 
118 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 of nature, in order to employ them in his service, 
 and render them subservient to his interests. 
 
 How different is the amount of physical force 
 required in a modern stone quarry with powder 
 for rending the hardest rocks, with levers and 
 cranes for lifting the huge masses with railway 
 trucks to remove them to a distance, and 
 machinery to prepare, and place them on the 
 building coinpared with the operations of an- 
 cient times, when hundreds of slaves were yoked 
 to a block of stone, to remove it from the quarry 
 to the destined building ! Similar changes have 
 occurred in every other department of operative 
 production. The plough rapidly effects what a 
 whole community could not accomplish with the 
 spade. The sickle, the scythe, and the modern 
 reaper cut down the yellow grain with a velo- 
 city which the hands of the whole population 
 unfurnished with an implement could never 
 have attained. Thus labor is set free from the 
 agricultural world, to meet the demands of the 
 commercial, without a diminution of the food 
 raised, or the capability of preserving it. Nay, 
 so divinely regulated have been the agricultural 
 and manufacturing implements, that modern 
 draining, subsoil ploughing, reaping, thrashing, 
 grinding and baking machinery, stands contem- 
 porary with the steamship, the spinning mill, the 
 power loom, and the railway. And thus, while 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 119 
 
 there is division of labor upon an extensive scale, 
 each department is found keeping pace with 
 every other. Consequently, the increase of the 
 human family, or their advancement in one or 
 other department of civilized comfort never out- 
 strips the amount of requisite provision yielded 
 by the soil. Nor even where that provision is 
 increased a thousand-fold, does the burden of 
 toil press heavier upon the peasant, or the agri- 
 culturalist. Progressive discovery and invention 
 are constantly balancing between the amount of 
 produce required, and the amount of toil ; so 
 that the latter is gradually diminishing in each 
 department, while the former is steadily increas- 
 ing throughout the whole. 
 
 Thus, it is manifest, that in every department 
 of labor, machinery is taking the place and 
 performing the office of human hands. The 
 products of the mineral, vegetable, and animal 
 kingdoms are assuming the place, in the region 
 of toil, and accomplishing the purpose of men 
 under a former system. In the spinning mill, 
 power loom, and the railway, the steam en- 
 gine is the substitute for animal strength. A 
 pint of water and a pound of coal originate a 
 power and sustain a motion which would soon 
 wear out the human system of the strongest 
 operative. The metal fingers, moved with ex- 
 haustless energy and devouring speed, set at 
 
120 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 defiance all attempts of manual competition. A 
 steam engine of one hundred horse power has 
 been computed at the strength of eight hundred 
 and eighty men.* This is sufficient to produce 
 and sustain the motion of fifty thousand spindles, 
 each producing a separate thread of a mile and 
 a quarter in length, in twelve hours. Thus 
 every twelve hours of fifty thousand spindles will 
 produce sixty two thousand five hundred miles 
 of thread, a length sufficient to go two and a 
 half times round the globe. In ordinary prac- 
 tice these fifty thousand spindles require seven 
 hundred and fifty persons to superintend their 
 operations ; but, by the aid of this machinery, 
 propelled by the power of steam, they can con- 
 vert as much raw cotton into yarn as would 
 have required two hundred thousand persons by 
 the former method of spinning. Thus, by the 
 aid of inventions, which is simply the employ- 
 ment of so much water, and coal, and iron, the 
 labor of one individual is made to equal the 
 combined efforts of two hundred and twenty 
 six. This holds true in a greater or less degree 
 of every other department of machinery where 
 steam is employed ; the rapidity of production 
 is accompanied by the decrease of human toil. 
 How remarkably is this illustrated by the rail- 
 way, which is, indeed, the great conservator of 
 
 * Instincts of Industry. 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 121 
 
 human strength ! Were the same distances 
 traversed by walking, or even by the best modes 
 of locomotion previously introduced, how soon 
 would the human system wear down under the 
 operation ? But the entire sum of physical 
 strength would be utterly inadequate to meet 
 modern demands ; hence all that has been ob- 
 tained beyond the powers of walking, must be 
 put to the account of human inventions. Nor 
 is the amount alone affected ; this entire increase 
 of locomotive power has been obtained while 
 there has been a corresponding decrease of 
 bodily fatigue. 
 
 The reduction of human labor might be il- 
 lustrated by the history of each individual 
 machine, as well as by the productive power of 
 all combined. The human mind is gradually 
 planning and constructing some implement of 
 industry, which may release the human hands. 
 Thus the mind is gaining supremacy over matter 
 the mental is directing and controlling the 
 material. The higher and nobler faculties of 
 man are expanding, while his physical powers 
 are relieved and his toil diminished. But this 
 process will not be completed by merely trans- 
 ferring the burden of toil from the physical to 
 the mental. The ultimate tendency is to re- 
 lease the whole man from toil as a burden, and 
 to make necessary labor a pleasant exercise. In 
 
122 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 the rapid progress of the present age may be 
 seen signs of approaching deliverance from the 
 evils incident to manual labor. Already are the 
 heavier kinds of work transferred to untiring 
 machinery, so that by mere direction, one man 
 can accomplish what previously hundreds could 
 not have affected. 
 
 OBJECTION. 
 
 " Why has not the introduction of modern in- 
 ventions already produced the results specified ?" 
 " Is it not a fact that the population of our cities 
 is as busily occupied as before the introduc- 
 tion of spinning mills or railways ?" It is 
 freely admitted that the fruits of modern inven- 
 tions are but partially developed, and the com- 
 munity, as a whole, is more busily occupied than 
 even under the former system. But there are 
 both moral and social reasons sufficient to ac- 
 count for the fact. The moral state of the 
 masses is not yet such as to admit of that full 
 measure of relaxation which machinery is calcu- 
 lated to afford, while there are social revolutions 
 sufficient to account for the seeming paradox, 
 that, while machinery is doing the work of man, 
 humanity itself should be more occupied. It 
 must be observed that in connexion with this 
 rapidly increasing power of production at home, 
 new nations have been springing up abroad, at 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 123 
 
 once absorbing the operative classes, and increas- 
 ing the demand, in accordance with the powers 
 of production ; while national wealth and com- 
 fort have been increased to all. Besides, the 
 covetous spirit of man may and will pervert the 
 choicest blessings. The race for riches has kept 
 pace with the newly developed means of acqui- 
 sition, and consequently, that release from grind- 
 ing toil, which ought legitimately to be accorded 
 to the operative, has been either wasted in fruit- 
 less competition or turned into the channels of 
 personal aggrandisement. But though, in the 
 present progressive state of transition, in the 
 social history of the world, and in the earlier 
 efforts of mechanical invention, the demand 
 may seem to keep a-head of the increasing speed 
 of production ; and though this at first sight 
 would seem to indicate that no release from toil 
 can be expected by the introduction of mechani- 
 cal inventions, yet, viewing the subject as a 
 whole, it is evident that when machinery has 
 attained its climax, and when the various de- 
 partments have been balanced and adjusted, and 
 when the entire system of manufacture and com- 
 merce shall be directed and regulated by sound 
 moral principles, the necessary tendency of ma- 
 chinery must be to emancipate the operative 
 classes, and thus equalize the privileges of 
 those who employ and those who labor. Even 
 
124 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 under all the disadvantages resulting from a 
 transition state, and in spite of the eovetousness 
 of the age, the hours of toil are already abridged, 
 and the physical system so far relieved as to en- 
 courage mental culture. The ultimate result of 
 this must be the revival of social and domestic 
 affections, which were ready to expire under the 
 exhaustion of slavery. Enlightened legislation 
 has judiciously fixed the age as well as the time, 
 beneath, and beyond which, grasping employers 
 shall not be permitted to protract the hours of 
 toil in public factories. This legal movement 
 has been succeeded by another still more 
 praiseworthy, as it presents a nobler aspect 
 of mutual interest between employers and em- 
 ployed in which merchants and shopmen have 
 voluntarily agreed to abridge the hours of daily 
 attendance, besides, in many notable cases, add- 
 ing the Saturday half-holiday as preparatory to 
 the Sabbath. Let the covetous learn that "a 
 man's life consisteth not in the things that he 
 possesseth ; " and let the avaricious be taught the 
 benevolence of the Gospel: then shall the Saviour's 
 definition of a. day be taken as a standard, and 
 all classes shall enjoy the domestic bliss of the 
 evening. " Are there not twelve hours in the 
 day ?" was the interrogation of Him who set the 
 sun in the firmament. Will any man be pre- 
 pared to say, that this is not a sufficient time to 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS, 125 
 
 devote to the pursuits and objects of the present 
 world ? The aid of machinery renders the 
 abridgment of the period of labor practicable. 
 It is avarice alone that gives rise to a spurious 
 competition, and encroaches upon the privileges 
 of domestic life. It is evident that even now 
 the long-hour system, opposed at once to the 
 claims of nature and grace, is doomed. That 
 God who made the sun to rule the day, also 
 framed the human constitution in accordance 
 with this physical arrangement, and that which 
 the introduction of sin has deranged in the past 
 history of man, the grace of the Gospel will rec- 
 tify in the coming Millennium. Then, indeed, 
 shall the poet's vision be realised 
 
 " The hand that held a whip was lifted up 
 To bless ; slave was a word in ancient books 
 Met only ; every man was free ; and all 
 Feared God, and served him day and night in love." * 
 
 THE TENDENCY OF INVENTIONS TO ALLEVIATE 
 HUMAN MISERY. 
 
 It has been previously established that the 
 whole tendency of machinery, legitimately ap- 
 plied, is to reduce the quantity, and improve 
 the character of manual labor. The trans- 
 ference of the heavier portions of human toil to 
 mechanical inventions, is the direct method of 
 cutting off a vast amount of physical suffering. 
 Indeed, under proper regulation, machinery 
 * Pollok. 
 
126 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 renders it possible to remove all that constitutes 
 actual suffering in legitimate labor. But it is 
 equally evident that the mitigation of mental 
 and physical exhaustion must be accompanied 
 by a reduction of disease. The substitution of 
 activity in superintending machinery, for the 
 patient endurance of grinding toil, must neces- 
 sarily tend to the health of the mental and phy- 
 sical system. 
 
 Mechanical inventions also tend to promote 
 health, and to alleviate human misery, by re- 
 moving those physical causes which produce 
 disease, especially in towns and cities. The 
 improvements of modern times in architecture, 
 in the formation of streets, the introduction of 
 water, the subterranean sewerage, the burning 
 of smoke, the disinfection of putrid substances, 
 the lighting, ventilation, and construction of 
 public buildings and private habitations, must 
 all tend to improve health, prevent disease, and 
 mitigate suffering. The progress of medical 
 science, aided by chemical inventions, gives ever 
 increasing access to the pharmacopoeia of Nature; 
 while, already, the improvement of surgical in- 
 struments, in conjunction with the use of chlo- 
 roform, and other narcotic agents, has mitigated 
 the excruciating pain formerly endured under 
 surgical operations. Besides, the discovery of 
 this agent has marked a new epoch in the heal- 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 127 
 
 ing art, by giving a wider range to human in- 
 genuity, by sparing the feelings of the operator, 
 as well as the pangs of the subject. Is it not a 
 remarkable fact that this secret should be dis- 
 closed in Britain at the very time when it may 
 be most extensively employed in dressing the 
 wounds, and amputating the shattered limbs of 
 her soldiers, upon a distant field of battle ? Are 
 not these signs of coming deliverance from a 
 vast amount of physical evil ? What the achieve- 
 ments of the future may be, none can predict, 
 but enough has already been realized to warrant 
 the hope that agents such as these may be ren- 
 dered available in mitigating all those forms of 
 suffering which are incident to our nature in a 
 fallen state. The mind must be sceptical in- 
 deed, that recognizes not the hand of God in the 
 discoveries and improvements of medical science, 
 as really as that hand is seen in the forms of 
 disease. Do we not even now behold in the 
 triumphs of the present age the harbingers of 
 that blessed future, which the poet anticipated, 
 under the sanction of inspiration, and of which 
 he says 
 
 " Disease was none ; the voice of war forgot ; 
 The sword, a share ; a pruning-hook, the spear. 
 Men grew and multiplied upon the earth, 
 And filled the city and the waste ; and Death 
 Stood waiting for the lapse of tardy age 
 That mocked him long." POLLOK. 
 
128 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 THE TENDENCY OF INVENTIONS TO INCREASE 
 THE SOURCES OF HUMAN COMFORT. 
 
 The reference here is not simply to the mitiga- 
 tion of toil, or the alleviation of suffering which 
 must of themselves detract from human comfort 
 but to the general diffusion of those elements 
 which, in a personal, relative, and social aspect, 
 lead to its most extensive enjoyment. In Eden, 
 our first parents had all that the pure heart 
 could desire, or that the material system could 
 need in a state of innocence ; but, in consequence 
 of the fall their descendants are subjected to 
 innumerable wants. The earth, as a vast depo- 
 sitory, contains all that they require to supply 
 their physical necessities, but these elements of 
 comfort are scattered wide as the world itself, 
 throughout the mineral, animal, and vegetable 
 kingdoms. Many even of the necessaries of life 
 are not only beyond the reach of man in a given 
 locality, but also beyond the possibility of dis- 
 covery, or appropriation, without the help of 
 mechanical inventions. Art is well defined to 
 be Ce the proper disposal of the things of nature 
 by human thought and experience, so as to 
 answer the several purposes of mankind."* Is 
 it not also the intermediate, secondary means by 
 which the God of Providence, through human 
 
 c Lord Bacon. 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 129 
 
 industry, renders available the various elements 
 of comfort, which have been profusely deposited 
 in the different departments of that world, which, 
 as a whole, is constituted the habitation of the 
 human family. Thus the development of the 
 arts is destined to occupy a prominent place in 
 the manifestations of Divine beneficence. A por- 
 tion of that wisdom which foresaw and provided 
 for man's necessities in nature, is imparted to his 
 mental being, so that from age to age he may 
 appropriate and enjoy what his Creator has be- 
 stowed. It is thus that there is a common pro- 
 vision for a common race, stored up in nature, 
 yet so distributed in the wisdom of God, that 
 man's faculties and powers may be exercised in 
 its appropriation, and human industry rewarded 
 by its progressive development. Thus, while 
 mechanical inventions extract and prepare the 
 various substances of every region for the use of 
 man, railways and steam-ships, accompanied by 
 all the inferior and local modes of transit, lay 
 them upon his table, or deposit them in his 
 wardrobe. Indeed, the very house in which he 
 dwells, the furniture of his apartments, the fire 
 that warms, and the light that illuminates, are 
 so many monuments of mechanical invention. 
 The luxuries, and substantial comforts of his 
 table, are each and all under tribute to the 
 sciences and arts. By the help of marine and 
 6* 
 
130 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 terrestrial machinery, the luxuries of one region 
 are profusely strewed upon another. Though 
 locally far removed from the lands of the tea- 
 plant, the vine, the olive, the orange, and the 
 palm, their produce is spread upon our table ; 
 while, in reciprocal commerce, our spinning- 
 mills and power-looms produce for the million, 
 clothing adapted to the climate and habits of 
 those by whom they are cultivated. While the 
 Eastern children are gathering the oranges, the 
 grapes, or the tea, that may soothe us in afflic- 
 tion, or stimulate our flagging spirits under daily 
 toil, our children in the factory are joining the 
 ends, and guiding the threads and forming the 
 fabrics which will comfort and adorn the aged and 
 the young of these distant regions. It has been 
 computed by an ingenious calculator, that, in 
 Great Britain alone, there is machinery doing 
 the work of five hundred millions of men ; that 
 is to say, the inventions of varied kinds in the 
 United Kingdom will, in a week, weave as much 
 cloth, and prepare as much food, and supply the 
 human family with as many comforts as could 
 be made by hand, if all the adult population of 
 the globe were exerting and exhausting their 
 personal powers of production. 
 
 Not less astonishing are the mechanical in- 
 ventions for dyeing and printing these artificial 
 fabrics, by which the glowing tints of nature, 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 131 
 
 and the inimitable forms of beauty, are trans- 
 ferred in infinite variety, and with incalculable 
 speed to the heaviest vesture, or to the lightest 
 of those gossamer fabrics which are destined to 
 adorn the person and decorate the dwelling. 
 Nor is it substantial comfort alone that genius 
 contemplates in the construction of mechanical 
 inventions. Whatever tends to elevate the taste 
 and please the fancy whatever imparts an in- 
 fluence to industry or extends civilization, finds 
 here an auxiliary. The achievements of the 
 past and the present, are extended to the future 
 by the aid of modern inventions. 
 
 "The mere mechanic skill, 
 That stamps, renews, and multiplies at will ; 
 And cheaply circulates, through distant climes, 
 The fairest relics of the purest times." ROGERS. 
 
 How great the contrast between the home of the 
 British manufacturer, artizan, or peasant, when 
 compared with the wigwam of an Indian chief, 
 or the hut of an ancient Druid. Or if a com- 
 plete contrast of the person is desired, compare 
 the native barbarians of Britain, in their scanty 
 untanned habiliments of skin, with our portly 
 merchant in his broadcloth, or his comely 
 partner in her silks, satins, lace, embroid- 
 ery, and jewels, and it will be at once ap- 
 parent what machinery has accomplished in 
 
132 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 the progress of taste and the advancement of 
 civilization. But a richer harvest is yet to be 
 reaped out of this world's vast resources, when 
 the earth, subdued, shall open her hidden stores, 
 and the casket of Nature exhibit its concealed 
 treasures in obedience to the long lost key of 
 human knowledge, as embodied and applied to the 
 ancient wards in the form of mechanical inven- 
 tions. The wants of the past have all sprung 
 out of man's ignorance in the use of temporal 
 things, and not from any parsimony in the 
 Divine Benefactor. To this there shall be abun- 
 dant evidence during the Millennium. Of that 
 blessed era it will justly be recorded 
 
 " Men grew and multiplied, 
 
 But lacked not bread ; for God His promise brought 
 To mind, and blessed the land with plenteous rain, 
 And made it blest for dews, and precious things, 
 Of heaven, and blessings of the deep beneath, 
 And blessings of the sun and moon, and fruits 
 Of day and night, and blessings of the vale, 
 And precious things of the eternal hills, 
 And all the fulness of perpetual spring." POLLOK. 
 
 THE TENDENCY OF INVENTIONS TO PROLONG 
 RATIONAL LIFE. 
 
 The reduction of exhausting toil, the mitiga- 
 tion of suffering, and the increase of the means 
 of physical comfort, each and all, tend to the 
 increase of the species, and prolongation of 
 human life. But it is evident that, to prolong 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 183 
 
 the natural life of the species, must necessarily 
 lengthen out that rational life which is on earth 
 peculiarly the glory of man. The question is not 
 simply, how long an individual has existed, but 
 what has been the extent of his mental and 
 moral development, and what the amount of ra- 
 tional life which has been devoted to the grand 
 purposes of man's original destination ? Some 
 there are who live as much intellectually in five 
 years as others do in fifty. Some who accom- 
 plish more in the works of benevolence in a few 
 months than others effect in the longest life- 
 time. How vast must be the influence of mechan- 
 ical inventions upon the exercise of all the 
 intellectual powers ? Nor is that influence less 
 in giving scope and stimulus to those which 
 are moral. The whole art of printing is asso- 
 ciated with the nurture of intellectual being. 
 Though the press cannot create a thought, yet 
 it^is capable of recording and transmitting all 
 that is worthy of being retained ; and conse- 
 quently, while the physical being of innumerable 
 generations has vanished, the mental and moral 
 being is revived and reproduced from age to 
 age : thus " feeding with the food of thought " 
 the rational life of immortal beings. Nor is 
 this true of the printing press only, all the im- 
 plements of industry are auxiliary to this con- 
 summation. If the mind is the measure of the 
 
134 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 man, all that helps the man must directly or in- 
 directly tend to the expansion of the mind, and 
 what is this but the extension of rational ex- 
 istence ? 
 
 It must not be forgotten that the rational 
 existence of the benefactors of the race was 
 measured by the amount of good they were able 
 to accomplish. In this respect, the public life of 
 Immanuel, stretching over only three and a half 
 years, was so filled up with benevolent acts, that 
 the evangelist John declares the impossibility of 
 their being recorded.* In the public history of 
 the apostle Paul there is exhibited a living, spir- 
 itual energy, which cannot be measured by years, 
 but by acts of self-devotement. And yet how 
 much of that precious life was spent in tedious 
 journeys by sea and land, which would now be 
 accomplished in a few hours by the help of rail- 
 ways and steamboats ? The value of time, and 
 the reduction of physical exhaustion, are not yet 
 sufficiently appreciated, though the speed of 
 modern locomotion is the lengthening of life, 
 measured by the amount of good that a man may 
 accomplish. It is impossible to calculate what 
 the burning zeal of the apostle might have 
 effected with the aid of modern inventions. 
 What would not Luther, or Calvin, or Knox, 
 have given for a single year of the railway sys- 
 
 ' * John, xxi. 25. 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 135 
 
 tern ? The actual labors of patriots and refor- 
 mers, of philanthropists and Grospel missionaries, 
 would have been doubled by the present modes 
 of conveyance. The time formerly spent in pro- 
 tracted sea journeys, may now be spent by the 
 heralds of the cross in actual evangelistic labor. 
 The running to and fro of many in the earth, as 
 foretold by Daniel, must necessarily be accom- 
 panied by the increase of knowledge ; and what 
 is the increase of knowledge but the expansion 
 of rational life ? 
 
 But the influence of mechanical inventions, in 
 prolonging rational life, is not confined to those 
 portions of machinery which merely record the 
 triumphs of genius, deposit truths, or carry 
 rapidly over space, the heralds of political or 
 spiritual emancipation. The tendency of all in- 
 ventions is to abridge the hours of toil, which 
 must necessarily leave a larger portion of human 
 existence to be devoted to the culture of man's 
 mental and moral nature. Hitherto the hours 
 of manual labor have borne a large proportion 
 to the hours of mental cultivation or spiritual 
 reflection. The tendency of machinery, regu- 
 lated by moral principle, is to reverse this ano- 
 maly, the fruit of moral evil, and to give mental 
 employment the complete ascendency over that 
 which is merely manual. As the calculation of 
 miles in journey is now giving way before the 
 
136 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 calculations of time, so the occupations of phy- 
 sical life shall be supplanted by those which are 
 mental ; and even those which are mental, under 
 the sanctifying influence of the Gospel, shall be 
 characterized as moral and spiritual. The ra- 
 tional life of man, elevated, emancipated, and 
 purified, shall be devoted to the service of God, 
 and realize, in the enjoyment of the Divine 
 favor, that which constitutes the real existence 
 of all immortal beings. 
 
 THE TENDENCY OF INVENTIONS TO PROMOTE UNI- 
 VERSAL PEACE, AND RESTORE THE HUMAN FAM- 
 ILY TO ONE BLESSED BROTHERHOOD. 
 
 We have already considered the influence of 
 the printing press upon the diffusion of know- 
 ledge, and the consequent extension of civil and 
 religious liberty. The whole history of mecha- 
 nical inventions is associated with the progress 
 of commerce and international communication. 
 The extension of commerce has gradually under- 
 mined the strongholds of prejudice. We . admit 
 that the primary cause the alienation of man 
 from God, which, in its effects, separated roan 
 from man must be removed, before the restora- 
 tion of brotherhood can be realized ; but though 
 the result is moral, the providential circum- 
 stances, and the relations of men, are embraced 
 among the means which shall accomplish this 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 137 
 
 desirable result. It is true that, to reconcile 
 man to man, he must first be reconciled to Gocl. 
 This is the ultimate design of that religion which 
 the Bible propounds a religion which stands 
 distinct from all human theories of amelioration, 
 and which must never be confounded with 
 mechanics or philosophy. But this religion, in 
 accomplishing its high mission the restoration 
 of peace on earth disdains not to employ ordi- 
 nary means in effecting its triumphs. True 
 Christianity smiles upon the efforts of human in- 
 dustry, and becomes the animating spirit of gen- 
 uine scientific progress. The kingdoms of Provi- 
 dence and Grace are contemporary, consequently 
 the subjects of both shall rejoice together in the 
 triumphs of their King. Peace on earth shall 
 be the evidence and type of peace with heaven, 
 during the coming Millennium. The citizens of 
 the world shall, no less than the members of the 
 Church, recognise Christ as Lord, and fellow- 
 men as brethren. Already are the materials of 
 civilization being prepared and scattered over 
 the world. The division of labor is being grad- 
 ually effected by emigration, by new discov- 
 eries of the precious metals, by the invention 
 of machinery, by the transition of politics, and 
 by the opening up of home and foreign marts 
 of merchandise. Are not all these indications 
 of a better day, when " nation shall not lift up 
 
138 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 the sword against nation, nor learn the art of 
 war any more." It has been well remarked by 
 Dr. Wayland, that " God intended that all men 
 should live together in friendship and harmony. 
 By multiplying indefinitely their wants, and 
 creating only in particular localities the objects 
 by which their wants can be supplied, he in- 
 tended to make them all necessary to each other, 
 and thus to render it no less the interest than 
 the duty of every one to live in amity with all 
 the rest." Thus, when men come to read the 
 book of nature in the light of revelation, and 
 when they come to see with David that unto 
 God belongs the earth, with all its fulness ; and 
 with the good Samaritan, that every man is a 
 brother, then, indeed, shall the mechanical in- 
 ventions be rendered tributary to the universal 
 benefit of humanit}^ while glory to God, as the 
 giver, shall be the universal ascription of praise 
 and gratitude. 
 
 We admit that, notwithstanding the hopes 
 excited by the London Exhibition of 1851, of 
 continued peace, and enlarged national inter- 
 course, the dark clouds have lowered, and another 
 volume of human history must be written in 
 blood. True it is that those nations, which met 
 in the Crystal Palace in mechanical rivalry, 
 have now met in the field of carnage, to decide 
 with the weapons of death the fate of nations. 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 139 
 
 This fact is an evidence, that the Gospel only, 
 received and believed, can medicate the fester- 
 ing diseases of depraved humanity. But it fur- 
 nishes no argument against the truth already 
 announced, regarding the tendency of machinery 
 to promote the brotherhood of nations. While 
 it is the religion of the Bible alone <that can heal 
 the wounds of humanity,, that religion embraces 
 all social duties, and defines our relations to God 
 and man. Consequently, by the aid of machin- 
 ery, man will be enabled to do for his fellow 
 what, with the purest motives and the warmest 
 heart, he could never accomplish by the simple 
 and immediate operation of his hands upon the 
 elements of nature. There is implanted in our 
 constitution a principle, which leads man to 
 smile upon whatever tends to the general benefit 
 of the species ; but it is also accompanied by a 
 principle of attraction, which draws us insensi- 
 bly to the author of the good effected. Apply 
 both in the exercise of a free agency, and under 
 the guidance of moral principle, and man will 
 become the friend of man. Each will be the 
 minister of good to others, and thus shall rise 
 and roll, the full tide of Millennial felicity. The 
 assurance expressed by the illustrious President 
 of her Majesty's Commissioners of the Industrial 
 Exhibition, though future, is not the less true 
 as regards its realization, when he said, that 
 
140 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 " nobody who has paid any attention to the par- 
 ticular features of our present era will doubt for 
 a moment that we are living at a period of most 
 wonderful transition, which tends rapidly to 
 accomplish that great end to which, indeed, 
 all history points the realization of the unity 
 of mankind*" 
 
 It is freely adinitte.d that the perversion of 
 mechanical, as of any other gifts of the great 
 Benefactor, may tend to present alienation of 
 man from his fellow. It was thus in the early 
 history of the arts, that the building of the Tower 
 of Babel provoked the wrath of God, and led to 
 the confusion of the builders, and the scattering 
 of the human family. But there was indicated 
 in that judgment no frown upon architecture, 
 but only upon rebellion ; and, consequently, 
 though this ancient monument of art was the 
 occasion of local separation, because of the con- 
 fusion of languages, mechanical inventions form 
 a part of those comprehensive plans by which 
 locally separated, and long alienated tribes of 
 the human family shall become acquainted with 
 each other's language, and habits, and interests. 
 The commerce of modern times has done much 
 to remove national prejudice, but machinery 
 lies at the very foundation of that commerce. 
 The mariner's compass, the spinning-mill, the 
 power-loom, the steam-ship, and the railway, are 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 141 
 
 the implements in daily use, originating and 
 sustaining commercial intercouse. But besides 
 those implements which promote physical com- 
 fort, the printing-press, pouring forth Bibles by 
 the million, is the grand mechanical mediator 
 between the alienated nations of the earth. That 
 influence which has already been so powerfully 
 felt in India, and in the South Sea Islands, 
 before which local prejudice is rapidly vanishing, 
 shall yet be -experienced throughout the world. 
 The intercourse of nations is comparatively in 
 its first development. But when the steam-ship 
 is daily bearing its living freight from shore to 
 shore ; when the railway is uniting the most 
 remote places of the largest continents, and when 
 the telegraph is transmitting, with lightning 
 speed, the messages of business or of friendship 
 from distant climes, how can the members of 
 the human family remain in bitter hostility, or 
 keep up that feeling of selfish isolation which 
 under a former state of development, character- 
 ized the human race ? The tendency of mechani- 
 cal inventions to unite the separated sons of 
 Adam, has already been clearly evinced ; but 
 the achievements of the past and the present are 
 but faint types of the future, when that which 
 has been done locally shall be accomplished for 
 the world. There is a good time coming, when 
 the poet's description shall be a blessed reality : 
 
142 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 " None were ignorant, selfish none ; 
 Love took the place of law ; where'er you met 
 A man, you met a friend, sincere and true. 
 Kind looks foretold as kind a heart within ; 
 "Words, as they sounded, meant ; and promises 
 "Were made to be performed. Thrice happy days ! 
 Philosophy was sanctified, and saw 
 Perfection, which was thought a fable long. 
 
 The desert blossomed, and the barren sung. 
 Justice and Mercy, Holiness and Love, 
 Among the people walked, Messiah reigned, 
 And earth kept jubilee a thousand years." * 
 
 THE TENDENCY OF MECHANICAL INVENTIONS TO 
 PRODUCE THOSE PHYSICAL CHANGES UPON 
 EARTH WHICH REVELATION GIVES REASON TO 
 HOPE SHALL YET BE ACCOMPLISHED. 
 
 In considering the tendency of inventions, it 
 has been assumed that God designs to promote 
 the physical, as well as the moral interests of 
 humanity. Were this questioned, the benevo- 
 lence of God might be demonstrated from the 
 whole field of nature, as adapted to the wants 
 and . circumstances of the creature ; while the 
 Bible is at once the monument and depository 
 of evidence, .which it would require volumes to 
 elucidate. But assuming what every principle 
 of reason must confirm, it is evident that the 
 tendencies of mechanical inventions already ad- 
 duced, are sufficient to show that they are of 
 God. Were it necessary to pursue the argu- 
 * Pollok. 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 143 
 
 ment further, it might be conclusively shown 
 that these and all other mechanical tendencies 
 are destined to effect those physical changes 
 upon the world, which the goodness of God, and 
 the necessities of man, seem to indicate, as yet 
 to be realized, in the onward march of discovery 
 and invention. The Bible tells us what the 
 world was as God made it ; and what it became 
 as blighted by the curse of sin, and overwhelmed 
 by the sweeping deluge. What was originally 
 "very good," became armed against man, the 
 transgressor, with innumerable evils. That world 
 which was bestowed in covenant grant, became 
 as forfeited, a hostile region, only to be reclaimed 
 by the skill and industry of the fallen family. 
 Since the day that Adam was thrust out from 
 the Garden, the work of subjugation has been 
 progressing. Already has this sin-smitten earth 
 been divested of half its physical evils ; while Ke- 
 velation exhibits a still brighter period of pro- 
 gressive development during the Millennium. 
 Then, there is good reason to believe, that liter- 
 ally as well as spiritually, " the wilderness and 
 the solitary places shall be glad, and the desert 
 shall rejoice and blossom as the rose/' 
 
 If the God of infinite goodness would not permit 
 the universal reign of moral evil in this revolted 
 region, but made the fall of man the occasion 
 for the interposition of redeeming love, is there 
 
144 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 any ground to believe that physical evil shall be 
 permitted to hold universal dominion in that 
 world which has been selected as the field of con- 
 flict, between the Prince of Peace and the 
 powers of darkness, and which has been signal- 
 ized by the triumphs of the former over the 
 latter ? The moral victory has been won, and 
 soon the dragon shall be bound a thousand 
 years. The physical conflict with nature is pro- 
 gressing. To man it has been entrusted under 
 the original mandate, 'subdue the earth,' and 
 through man as the mental instrument in the 
 Divine hand shall the victory over nature also be 
 obtained. The miseries of groaning creation 
 shall in due time be alleviated, and the creature 
 that was made subject to vanity, shall be re- 
 stored to its appropriate place, and made to 
 subserve its original purpose. If the moral 
 effects of sin upon the soul of man are removed 
 through the grace and Spirit of God in the work 
 of redemption, and if the Divine image is restored 
 to that soul, which has become a moral ruin, is it 
 too much to expect, that there shall be a corres- 
 ponding restoration of the physical world, to at 
 least a measure of that beauty, and glory, and 
 fertility, and salubrity, by which it was charac- 
 terized as a work of Grod ? May we not even 
 literally anticipate the fulfilment of the promise ? 
 "Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir- 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 145 
 
 tree, and instead of the briar, shall come up the 
 myrtle-tree ; and it shall be to the Lord for a 
 name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be 
 cut off." 
 
 We freely admit that on this point the Bible 
 is neither so full nor explicit, as it is upon all 
 that pertains to the work of redemption ; be- 
 cause the grand design of Kevelation is, to lift 
 man's affections above the world that is, and to 
 direct his hopes to that world which is to come. 
 But there are general principles propounded, 
 and incidental hints given, which considered in 
 the exercise of faith, will lead to the assurance 
 of a glorious physical, as well as moral re- 
 demption. In the creation and disposition of 
 earth's elements in the mental and material 
 constitution of man, and in the dispensation of 
 providence, there is conclusive evidence, as re- 
 gards the Divine purposes, in relation to 
 the future condition of the physical world. 
 Much has already been done to change the 
 aspects of the globe, and to improve the tem- 
 poral condition of man. The achievements of 
 the past are sufficient to warrant the most en- 
 larged expectations regarding the future. As- 
 cending the mount of observation with the poet 
 Young, we may hear him addressing us as he did 
 Lorenzo 
 
146 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 " Come, my ambitious ! let us mount together, 
 And from the clouds, where pride delights to dwell, 
 Look down on earth. What seest thou? wondrous things! 
 Terrestrial wonders that eclipse the skies. 
 What lengths of labor'd lands ! what loaded seas ! 
 Loaded by man for pleasure, wealth, or war 1 
 Seas, winds, and planets, into service brought, 
 His art acknowledged, and promote his ends. 
 Nor can the eternal rocks his will withstand : 
 What level'd mountains! and what lifted vales ! 
 O'er vales and mountains sumptuous cities swell, 
 And gild our landscape with their glittering spires. 
 Some 'mid the wandering waves majestic rise, 
 And Neptune holds a mirror to their charms. 
 Far greater still ! (what cannot mortal might!) 
 See, wide dominions ravish'd from the deep ! 
 The narrow'd deep with indignation foams, 
 Or southward turn to delicate and grand. 
 The finer arts there ripen in the sun. 
 How the tall temples, as to meet their gods, 
 Ascend the skies ! the proud triumphal arch 
 Shows us half heaven beneath its ample bend. 
 High through mid air, here streams are taught to flow ; 
 Whole rivers there, laid by in basins, sleep, 
 Here plains turns oceans ; there vast oceans join, 
 Through kingdoms channel'd deep from shore to shore, 
 And changed creation takes its face from man. 
 Earth disembowel'd ! measured are the skies! 
 Stars are detected in their deep recess ! 
 Creation widens ! vanquished nature yields ! 
 Her secrets are extorted ! art prevails ! 
 What monument of genius; spirit, power! 
 
 Whose footsteps these? Immortals have been here ; 
 Could less than souls immortal this have done ?" 
 
 What would the poet have said, had he seen the 
 triumphs of modern engineering ? How much 
 more expansive would have been his vision, had 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 147 
 
 he gazed upon the manufactories, and ship- 
 yards, and marts of merchandise in our own 
 times ? While agriculture has transformed the 
 aspects of the landscape, nautical skill, and 
 steam-power, have changed the appearance, even 
 of the deep. However lofty his strains as 
 elicited by what art and science had then ac- 
 complished, much more sublime would now be 
 their theme, when embracing the marvels of 
 science recently disclosed. The steam-ship, and 
 the spinning-mill, and the railway, and the 
 telegraph, were objects beyond the grasp of the 
 most extravagant poetic imagination. But now 
 they are a practical reality ; entering at once 
 into the daily pursuits of mercantile enterprize 
 and the ordinary arrangements of social life. 
 Could the distinguished poet of the past, have 
 gazed from his mount of observation upon 
 modern steam-fleets, almost hourly despatched 
 on voyages of business, or warfare, or pleasure 
 could he have marked the velocity of the 
 railway engine dragging in its train, what seems 
 at times like a street in motion, with its nu- 
 merous apartments and various classes of a liv- 
 ing population or could he have heard the 
 joyful tidings of the fall of Sebastopol in the 
 Exchange of London, while yet the cloud of 
 dust, and the sheet of flame were ascending from 
 the crashing ruins of the doomed city as trans- 
 
148 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 mitted through the agency of the mysterious iron 
 chain by which the distant Crimea is bound to 
 the capital would he not have asked with still 
 deeper emotions 
 
 "Whose footsteps these?" 
 and have responded with a deeper emphasis 
 
 " Immortals have been here." 
 
 Nay, more, we apprehend, that had he seen the 
 Minister at War, in London, conversing with 
 the Commanding General before the walls of the 
 besieged Kussian city, by the aid of lightning, 
 would he not rather have been disposed to ex- 
 claim 
 
 " That MORE than mortals have been here ?" 
 
 Would he not have discovered, by the most con- 
 vincing evidence, that, though immortals have 
 been there as agents, " the King immortal, eter- 
 nal, and invisible," was there as the Almighty 
 Author ? It is true that immortals are the 
 visible agents in the production of all mechani- 
 cal inventions. But who is the Author of these 
 immortals ? Who gave intelligence to the con- 
 triver, or strength and skill to the artificer, by 
 whom machinery is constructed ? Are the 
 materials or the operators self-created ? Nay ! 
 Both owe their existence to God, and both fulfil 
 their mission, and occupy their respective places 
 in the scale of creation. Here, then, is a vast 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 149 
 
 region of artificial phenomena, constructed by 
 man, and employed for his benefit. We ask, 
 Who is its proprietor ? Unto whom redounds 
 the glory of these wonderful works ? To some 
 one it must be accorded. Shall it be to man, 
 the agent, or to God, the Author of the agent 
 and his work ? It is evident that, unless man 
 made the machinery, as God made the heavens 
 and the earth out of nothing, he has no right- 
 ful claim to the glory of their existence, in a 
 world whereof he is but a transitory inhabitant; 
 In the preceding arguments an appeal has been 
 made to Nature, but Nature, so replete with 
 their elements, has no power to proportion or 
 combine them. A reference has been made to 
 their successive development in regard to time, 
 in order to discover whether they are the result 
 of fortuitous circumstances ; but Nature and 
 history with one voice declare 
 
 " There 's no such thing as chance ; 
 And what to us seems merest accident, 
 Springs from the deepest source of destiny. 
 This various human being's thoughts and deeds, 
 Are not like ocean billows, blindly moved. 
 The inner world his microcosmos, is 
 The deep shaft out of which they spring eternally." * 
 
 We have appealed to the constitution of man. 
 The relations and adaptations of that constitu- 
 
 * Schiller's Wallenstein. 
 
150 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 tion to the world without, have been traced. The 
 past and prospective history of humanity has 
 been viewed in the light of Providence disclosed, 
 and Providence distinctly indicated. But here, 
 as before, the creature is constrained to say, " It 
 is not in me to work the work, nor does it be- 
 long to me to receive the glory." Kather will 
 the child of reason, enlightened by the page of 
 revelation, be found saying of this region . of 
 phenomena, what was said by our first father, as 
 described by Milton, regarding nature : 
 rftti kis- 
 
 " These are Thy glorious works, Parent of Good ! 
 Almighty ! Thine is this universal frame, 
 This wondrous fair, Thyself how wondrous then : 
 Unspeakable, who sittest above the heavens, 
 To us invisible, or dimly seen, 
 In these Thy lowest works, yet these declare 
 Thy goodness beyond thought and power divine." 
 . 
 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 SCRIPTURAL EVIDENCE THAT MECHANICAL INTENTIONS ARE 
 OP GOD. 
 
 THE arguments already adduced by an appeal 
 to facts in the history of inventions, must be 
 conclusive to every mind accustomed to trace 
 effects to their originating causes. We now 
 proceed to state the theological argument in 
 order to prove that it is not only a truth that 
 may be discovered, and defended within the 
 region of philosophy, but also a truth which 
 is clearly revealed in Scripture "a doctrine 
 according to godliness"- i -which ought to be 
 studied and reduced to practice in the contem- 
 plation of artificial phenomena. 
 
 THE PROVIDENCE OF GOD IN RELATION TO 
 MECHANICAL INVENTIONS. 
 
 By the Providence of G-od is understood " His 
 most holy, wise, and powerful preserving and 
 governing all His creatures ; ordering them, and 
 all their actions, to His own glory."* This de- 
 
 * Larger Catechism. 
 
152 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 finition is in strict accordance with the plainest 
 declarations of Scripture, which testify that 
 " His kingdom ruleth over all ;" that He worketh 
 all things after the counsel of His will ;" that 
 " He doeth according to His will in the army of 
 heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth, 
 and none can stay His hand, or say unto Him, 
 What doest Thou ?" The providence of God has 
 been considered by some philosophical writers 
 as general; which consists in upholding certain 
 general laws,* without special direction of the 
 individual creatures. Thus it has been said 
 " That the Creator of the universe founded the 
 constitution of nature in such a manner at the 
 beginning, as to stand in need of no succeeding 
 alterations ; that He established certain laws in 
 the material and in the moral world, which uni- 
 formly and invariably operate, producing all the 
 effects which He ever designed, they should ac- 
 complish ; as when an artist frames a machine for 
 certain purposes, and for a limited duration, the 
 effects which result from it spring not from the 
 immediate direction and influence of the artist, 
 but from the original frame and composition of 
 the machine." On the other hand, it is main- 
 tained that " Almighty God, upon special occa- 
 sions, directs and overrules the course of events, 
 both in the natural and moral world, by an im- 
 mediate influence, to answer the great designs 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 153 
 
 of His universal government/' These views are 
 widely different, and have led to much contro- 
 versy and misconception ; though the doctrines 
 of a general and special providence are in no 
 way antagonistic. Indeed, they are inseparably 
 connected. " The general providence of God, 
 properly understood, reaches to the most partic- 
 ular and minute objects and events ; and the 
 particular providence of God becomes general 
 by its embracing every particular." It seems 
 remarkable that any professing to bow to the 
 authority of the Bible on this point, should ques- 
 tion the special providence, seeing that no doc- 
 trine is more expressly stated in the sacred 
 volume. Is it not declared thaj a sparrow can- 
 not fall to the ground without the knowledge of 
 our heavenly Father ; and that the hairs of our 
 head are all numbered ? that He " compasses 
 our paths, and is acquainted with all our ways." 
 But even reason must convince those who hold 
 the doctrine of a general providence, that if God 
 has certain designs to accomplish with respect 
 to, and by means of, his intelligent creatures, 
 these designs can only be realized by a particular 
 attention to their individual circumstances, their 
 movements, and all the events of their lives. 
 How is it possible to take care of a whole, with- 
 out taking caje of the parts ; or to preserve a 
 species, if the individuals are neglected ? Great 
 
154 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 and small are relative terms, springing from our 
 limited comprehension of the essential properties 
 of being, which can never he appropriately em- 
 ployed in speaking of the relation of God to His 
 creatures. It is as impossible for a man to create 
 an atom as a world ; and as easy for the Creator 
 to preserve the one as the other. To exclude 
 the idea of a special Providence, reaching every 
 creature in its existence and its actions, is to set 
 limits upon the Holy One, and to measure the 
 power of God by human weakness. The ad- 
 ministration of the Divine Government in our 
 world is so arranged that the individual cannot 
 be absorbed in the general, so as to be deprived 
 of immediate care ; nor can the direction of the 
 whole interfere with the regulation of every part. 
 The infinitude of God at once embraces all, and 
 comprehends each individual and element, as 
 though there were none other in the universe. 
 As no creature can possibly exist without God, 
 so there is not a creature that can act independ- 
 ent of Him. His presence fills immensity, His 
 power is the universal operator, whether the in- 
 strument be inanimate or animate, irrational or 
 rational. No event, in heaven, earth, or hell 
 escapes His observation, or exceeds his control. 
 The existence of every thing, from an atom to a 
 world, and the actions of every creature, from an 
 insect to an angel, are equally within the com- 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 155 
 
 pass of His knowledge and the grasp of His 
 power. No event that can possibly occur is too 
 momentous or too minute to be embraced in 
 this administration. The fall of a sparrow, the 
 death of a sovereign, the tints of a lily, the hues 
 of the firmament, the fall of a dewdrop, the over- 
 throw of a tyrant, the course of a river, the sub- 
 version of an empire, the invention of a machine, 
 and the development of a national constitution, 
 are each and all under Divine direction. Every' 
 hair is numbered, every atom and world assigned: 
 their course, every element and instrument 
 directed to their original design. "All things 
 are full of labor," but this labor testifies that 
 they are full of God, without whom existence is 
 not, and activity cannot be sustained. In the 
 regions of the atmosphere, in the depths of the 
 dark mine, in the hidden caverns of the sea, 
 Divine Providence is reflected by every object 
 Divine power is felt in every operation Pivine 
 guidance is imparted to every agent. Actions, 
 as well as creatures, are the exponents of His 
 purposes. Physical changes upon material 
 things, though produced by intelligent agents, 
 are not the less manifestations of Divine designs. 
 The studio of the philosopher, and the workshop 
 of the mechanic, are as much within the domain 
 of Providence as the most secret laboratory of 
 nature's operations. " In Him we live, and move, 
 
156 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 and have our being/' Life in existence, life in 
 contrivance, and life in operation, must equally 
 be traced to the Fountain of universal being. 
 If, therefore, God is acknowledged in this general 
 providence as the Author of those effects which 
 flow from natural causation, ought not His spe- 
 cial providence to be equally recognised in those 
 effects of mechanical operation which have been 
 produced by an intelligent agent ? If we call 
 the varied processes of nature the works of God, 
 while only instruments in the Divine hand, may 
 we not, with more propriety, call mechanical in- 
 ventions the works of God, seeing that they 
 have been contrived and formed by agents 
 possessing mental intelligence, imparted and 
 directed by the universal Author ? The truth 
 is, that both are instruments in the Divine hand, 
 though in a very different category, and both, 
 when viewed as the exponents of the Divine 
 will, are calculated to elevate the mind from im- 
 mediate causes, to the fountain of causation. If 
 it may with propriety be said, that 
 
 "Nature is but a name for an effect 
 Whose cause is God," 
 
 may it not with equal propriety be affirmed that 
 genius, that mechanical skill, are emanations of 
 Deity, in whomsoever they may be reflected ? 
 
 In adducing the special providence of God, 
 as regulating and directing the actions of intel- 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 157 
 
 ligent beings, it might seem as if the actors were 
 divested of a moral character, and had, conse- 
 quently, no responsibility to the moral Gover- 
 nor. Some may be disposed to ask, why should 
 the instrument employed by a higher power, be 
 dealt with as a moral agent ? If every thing 
 has been overruled, and directed by that power, 
 may it not be asked, in the language of the 
 objector to Paul's doctrine, " why doth He yet find 
 fault? for who hath resisted His will?" To 
 this it may be replied that all moral agents 
 have a twofold relation to God. The one as an 
 instrument in the Divine hand, the other as a 
 moral agent responsible to the Divine govern- 
 ment. All free agents have power to act under 
 certain limitations, in their personal character ; 
 but they may be and are employed, in the ad- 
 ministration of the Divine government to effect 
 certain purposes unrevealed, until embodied as 
 facts in history. In the one aspect, a man may 
 be inspired with genius by the Spirit of God, 
 but this inspiration does not in any respect 
 change his moral character, or moral relations 
 to God. Though he may be able to produce 
 astonishing changes upon the material world, 
 and though these changes may be again instru- 
 mental in effecting moral revolutions, he is as 
 a person, as a moral agent, subject to the same 
 laws, as any other of his fellowmen. The Scrip- 
 
158 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 ture record furnishes many instances of this 
 twofold aspect of humanity. Thus, Pharaoh, 
 king of Egypt, is represented in both aspects. 
 God sent Moses with a Divine message to him as 
 a person. To him the will of heaven was dis- 
 tinctly made known, with the seal of an unequi- 
 vocal miracle ; but Pharaoh absolutely refused 
 obedience. In contempt of God, he asked, 
 " Who is the Lord that I should obey His voice 
 to let Israel go ? I know not the Lord, neither 
 will I let Israel go." Thus he hardened his 
 heart, rejecting the clearest evidence, and re- 
 nouncing the highest authority. Shall the pur- 
 pose of God be frustrated, or the fulfilment of 
 the promise fail ? Shall Pharaoh be relieved 
 from doing his part as sovereign, in granting 
 the request Divinely announced ? Shall he be 
 simply reserved as a person for final punish- 
 ment ? Nay, the purpose must be accomplished. 
 The command shall be obeyed ; but in both 
 the haughty monarch shall be employed as an 
 instrument in doing God's work, though finally 
 destroyed, because in the doing of that work he 
 refused Divine homage. When he would not 
 obey God as a person, he was, nevertheless, pre- 
 served as 'an instrument, until the purposes of 
 God in raising him up had been fulfilled. 
 Hence it was said to Moses, " Now, thou wilt see 
 what I will do to Pharaoh ; for, with a strong 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 159 
 
 hand shall he let them go, and with a strong 
 hand shall he drive them out of his land." 
 Through a series of judgments he was compelled 
 by external influences, * do as an instrument 
 what he absolutely refused to do as a moral 
 agent. Besides, though the act of liberation was 
 good, in so far as it accorded with the purpose 
 and will of God, the person was punished be- 
 cause his will was directly opposed to the Divine 
 will. 
 
 Balaam, the false prophet, appears in the same 
 aspect. He was solicited by the messengers of 
 Balak to go, and curse Israel. God commanded 
 him not to go, but his heart was won by the 
 prospective rewarc^ The will of God was ex- 
 pressly revealed to him, as a moral agent. For 
 " God said unto Balaam, Thou shalt not go with 
 them ; thou shalt not curse the people ; for they 
 are blessed." Beyond this the prophet required 
 no further direction ; but when solicited the 
 second time, with the promise of a great reward 
 he desired in his heart to go, though restrained, 
 and God in judgment permitted him to accom- 
 pany the Princes of Moab, while he employed 
 him as an instrument in the Divine hand to bless 
 the chosen people. As a person he was willing 
 to curse the Israelites, but inspired as an instru- 
 ment he was constrained to bless ; and even 
 Balak afforded the occasion, and enlisted the 
 
160 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 prophet, by whom a most sublime prediction, re- 
 garding the future triumphs of the Israelites, 
 was poured out in the presence of their ene- 
 mies.* 
 
 The King of Assyria is also presented in this 
 twofold aspect, while permitted to smite the of- 
 fending Israelites. "0, Assyrian, the rod of 
 Mine anger, and the staff in their hand is Mine 
 indignation, I will send him against an hypocri- 
 tical nation, and against the people of My wrath 
 will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and 
 to take the prey, and to tread them down like 
 the mire of the streets. Howbeit, lie meaneth 
 not so, neither doth his heart think so ; for it 
 is in his heart to destroy and^ut off nations not 
 a few/' f Here the ambition and pride of a so- 
 vereign give rise to a bold invasion, with a view 
 to national aggrandizement ; but here also is 
 the providence of God, directing the same line 
 of action, with a view to the correction of the 
 Israelites, and the ultimate promotion of their 
 spiritual interests. The conqueror of nations 
 was an instrument wielded by the hand of the 
 Almighty to punish the guilty. But, when the 
 Lord had accomplished His purpose by chastise- 
 ment, and the time had come for 4he deliverance 
 of His people from captivity, another mighty 
 sovereign, though a heathen, was employed as a 
 
 <* Num. xxii., xxiii., xxiv. f Isaiah, x, 5. 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 161 
 
 minister of mercy. The Lord stirred up the 
 spirit of Cyrus, King of Persia,* to pass a decree 
 of emancipation. 
 
 The Jews appear in the same aspect, as 
 charged with guilt by the Apostle Peter, in re- 
 lation to the crucifixion of our Lord. " Ye men 
 of Israel, hear these words ; Jesus of Nazareth, 
 a man approved of God among you, by miracles, 
 and wonders, and signs, which God did by him 
 in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know : 
 Him being delivered by the determinate counsel 
 and fore knowledge of God, ye have taken, and 
 by wicked hands, have crucified and slain." f 
 The Jews, as persons, were involved in the 
 deepest guilt because of their rejection of the 
 Lord of glory, irrespective of the clearest evi- 
 dence of His Messiahship ; while their enmity 
 was overruled, for the accomplishment of the 
 eternal purposes of God, regarding the death of 
 Christ as the Saviour of sinners. 
 
 The testimony of the Apostle Paul is conclu- 
 sive upon this subject. He represents himself 
 as a person under solemn responsibility, and at 
 the same time, as an instrument constrained to 
 do God's work. " Though I preach the Gospel, 
 I have nothing to glory of : for necessity is laid 
 upon me ; yea, woe is unto me, if I preach not 
 the Gospel." He felt impelled by inspiration. 
 
 * Ezra i, 1. f Acts ii, 22-27. 
 
162 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 He must become an agent in the Divine hand 
 to perform the work given him to do. But, he 
 feels that the reward is related to the spirit in 
 which the work shall be done ; hence he adds, 
 " For if I do this thing willingly/' that is, as a 
 person a free agent, having received a com- 
 mission, and holding it under deep responsibility, 
 " I have a reward, but if against my will" if 
 merely as an instrument " then a dispensation 
 of the Gospel is committed unto me." As under 
 the Constraint of inspiration, he must unfold the 
 Gospel of Christ, though merely as an instrument ; 
 while comfort in his work, and the reward of it, 
 must be regulated by the spirit in which, as a 
 free agent, the duty is performed. That the 
 spirit might not be retarded, he watches strictly 
 over the state of the outward man. "I keep 
 under my body, and bring it into subjection ; 
 lest that by any means, when I have preached 
 to others, I myself should be a cast-away." 
 
 If, then, individuals of the human family, 
 have been specially employed by a peculiar in- 
 spiration to perform some special work, in the 
 dispensations of providence, may not the prin- 
 ciples embodied in their destination to a special 
 service, be unfolded in the whole development 
 of human genius ? If one man in the capacity 
 of a warrior be employed, as an instrument to 
 execute Divine vengeance upon a nation, and if 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 163 
 
 he be inspired as Gideon was, by the Spirit of ' 
 God, with skill and courage to accomplish his 
 work. If another is inspired as Cyrus, to grant 
 a decree of emancipation to an enslaved nation. 
 If a third is inspired to proclaim the will of 
 God in regard to the redemption of sinners, on 
 what principle shall we exclude special genius 
 from the category of mental inspiration ? The 
 providence of God includes the physical, as well 
 as the moral administration of the affairs of the 
 world. In both, men are employed as instru- 
 ments, and by a special providence are prepared 
 for their work. In both, there are certain facts 
 unknown to man, which must be revealed, be- 
 fore he can realize their benefit. In both cases 
 there seems to be a similar necessity, for the in- 
 spiration of the Spirit of God to reveal the un- 
 known, so that man may ever feel his absolute 
 dependence upon the Universal Governor. This 
 doctrine of mental inspiration shall afterwards 
 be distinctly proved, when considering the scrip- 
 tural records of the arts and sciences in illustra- 
 tion of our main theory. 
 
 Admitting the doctrine of Divine providence 
 universal and special, as restraining, directing, 
 and overruling the actions of men, there cannot 
 possibly be any exclusion, of the triumphs of 
 genius from this universal and special source of 
 causation. Within this exercise of Divine power, 
 
164 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 must be included every object, inanimate or 
 animate, natural, or mechanical. In the natural 
 phenomena, all things were made for the glory 
 of God as creator. In the transitions of the 
 natural, and in the development of the me- 
 chanical phenomena, all things are destined to 
 show forth the wisdom and goodness of the God 
 of providence. The world as originally made, 
 is but the embodiment of the Divine decrees re- 
 garding creation. The world, in its history, 
 and in the transformation of its elements by 
 natural causes, or by mechanical skill, is but the 
 development of the Divine decrees in the pro- 
 gressive dispensations of Providence. The Bible 
 reveals to man vast physical, and social changes, 
 as embraced in the purposes of the Moral Gov- 
 ernor. The distribution of genius, and the in- 
 vention of machinery, are providential means by 
 which these purposes of benevolence shall be 
 accomplished. Both are the gifts of God, com- 
 ing through the ordinary or special channels of 
 His providence ; at once designed to bless 
 humanity, and elicit from the recipients, grati- 
 tude and praise to the bountiful benefactor. 
 " Every good gift, and every perfect gift, cometh 
 down from the Father of lights with whom there 
 is no variableness, neither shadow of turning." 
 If, therefore, God is the author of every mental 
 and mechanical gift, irrespective of the species 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 165 
 
 of instrumentality by which it is bestowed, it 
 must be apparent that these gifts themselves 
 ought to be considered as emanations of the 
 wisdom, and power, and goodness of God. Thus, 
 in the doctrine of Providence, the whole theory 
 which has been previously propounded, finds a 
 solid and capacious foundation. Here, the whole 
 argument might be conclusively settled, seeing 
 that both reason, and revelation, claim for God 
 the glory that is due to His name, from every 
 region of the material world. But in order that 
 it may be clearly manifest that this doctrine is 
 not merely a deduction from reason, or an in- 
 ference from the doctrine of Providence, we pro- 
 ceed to show that it is a principle fully acknow- 
 ledged in the Bible ; being not only a truth which 
 may be discovered, but a doctrine according to 
 godliness, to be received and applied in all our 
 conceptions of the arts and sciences. 
 
 THE BIBLE RECORD OF MECHANICAL PROGRESS, AN 
 EVIDENCE THAT INVENTIONS ARE OF GOD. 
 
 The history of inventions is nearly coeval 
 with the existence of man, and the Divine re- 
 cord carries us within the precincts of paradise. 
 That record may be viewed either in respect to 
 what the command of God implied, or the facts 
 in human history, which it has transmitted. In 
 regard to the former, the command to "dress 
 
166 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 the garden and to keep it," as well as the com- 
 mand to " subdue the earth/' implies the use of 
 implements. Some have supposed that even in 
 Eden, our first parents were furnished with me- 
 chanical inventions, suited to their work in 
 dressing and keeping the garden ; otherwise 
 their work must have been reduced to the scale 
 of savage efforts. But upon such a question 
 the reasonings of man can only amount to con- 
 jecture. Whether G-od furnished Adam with 
 utensils, suited to his work, cannot now be de- 
 termined, nor does it lie within the line of argu- 
 ment adopted. But of this there is Scripture 
 evidence, that work was given him to do, and a 
 constitution adapted to, that provision made in 
 the world for "the accomplishment of this work. 
 The commission given to Adam respecting the 
 garden, and the world, must have awakened 
 ideas in his mind, concerning the means by 
 which that commission might be carried into 
 execution. Let it be borne in mind that man 
 was made in the image of Grod, in knowledge, 
 righteousness, and holiness ; and being thus 
 made, he could not blindly receive a charge, re- 
 garding the means of accomplishing which he 
 could form no conception. In receiving his com- 
 mission, he was addressed as a person a moral 
 agent ; and consequently, his moral nature re- 
 sponded in accordance with the light then 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 167 
 
 enjoyed. And what was that light but the efful- 
 gence of divinity, beaming upon the heaven-born 
 soul ; and reflected upon the field of nature, 
 over which he was constituted legal sovereign ? 
 How comprehensive, must necessarily have been 
 his knowledge of that world which he was ap- 
 pointed to govern ! Equally ODrnprehensive must 
 have been his knowledge of the means and in- 
 struments by which he might perform the work 
 given him to do in the discharge of present 
 duty. But by the fall, the Divine image was 
 lost, the intellectual, as well as the moral nature 
 became depraved. So little remained of the 
 previous knowledge, that when human naked- 
 ness was discovered, human ingenuity found in 
 nature nothing better than fig-leaves for a tem- 
 porary covering. This is the primary fact of 
 mechanical development ; showing that man has 
 not only lost the moral capability of obeying the 
 command of Grod ; but also that he has lost the 
 knowledge of nature's elements ; and must 
 henceforth be guided even in mechanical opera- 
 tions by the Author of his being. 
 
 Even this first attempt at invention seems to 
 be tacitly rejected by offended Deity. The re- 
 storation of man, physically as well -as morally, 
 must begin with God. The criminal must not 
 appropriate even the least of the blessings for- 
 feited in the violation of the covenant, until di- 
 
168 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 rected by Divine example, and recommissioned 
 by Divine authority. In this commission the 
 subduing of the earth is inseparable from human 
 toil ; while God himself gives the first impulse, 
 and presents the first specimens of mechanical 
 operations. " Unto Adam and to his wife did the 
 Lord make coats of skins and clothed them." 
 It is generally supposed that the skins were 
 those taken from the first sacrifices, conse- 
 quently, the very symbols which instructed fallen 
 man in the mysteries of spiritual redemption, 
 also afforded first lessons upon the elements 
 and means of physical elevation. Does not this 
 clearly indicate that the moral renovation of the 
 world shall be accompanied by a physical eman- 
 cipation, from much of the evil inflicted by the 
 curse ? In this Scripture record, the mind is 
 led up to the source of mechanical inventions, 
 while God himself is the designer, and the opera- 
 tor. Is not the whole region of artificial pheno- 
 mena, ennobled by this origin, apparently limited 
 though it be ? Who need be ashamed of honest 
 labor, though humble, when the Author of the 
 universe made coats for man, in the day of his 
 extremity ? 
 
 From this example, there is reason to believe 
 that the sons of Adam would in process of time 
 be similarly clothed, and instructed in the mys- 
 teries of the sacrificial system. Implements, 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 169 
 
 and skill to use them, must have been in requi- 
 sition in the time of Abel, who "brought of the 
 firstlings of his flock, and of the fat thereof" for 
 sacrifice, which could not have been prepared 
 for the altar without some mechanical inven- 
 tions. Cain was a tiller of the ground, which 
 also implies the invention, and use of agricul- 
 tural implements. But these records of the 
 early history of humanity are not confined to 
 the first efforts of husbandry, or to the initiatory 
 rites of the sacrificial system. Though the 
 raising of food from a blighted soil, and the 
 spiritual teaching by types and symbols were' 
 necessarily among the earliest expositions of the 
 arts, they were immediately accompanied by 
 another invention which lies at the foundation 
 of social progress. 
 
 The outcast, Cain, is represented as building 
 and naming a city. We are still within the 
 limits of Adam's family, and yet there is pre- 
 sented an extensive acquaintance vuth the arts 
 of industry. The idea of a city implies the 
 erection of permanent buildings, and conse- 
 quently the invention, and use of architectural 
 implements. Though he was a fratricide, and 
 under the ban of heaven an exile from his 
 father's dwelling, the Spirit of God has recorded 
 his first efforts in the founding of those congre- 
 gated habitations which have exerted so much 
 8 
 
170 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 influence over the social history of humanity. 
 That God of providence who disclosed in the 
 field, the blood of Abel, and who brought the 
 culprit Cain to condign punishment, yet pre- 
 served him as an instrument, giving a new 
 aspect to the world, and the Spirit records him 
 a builder as well as a murderer. The sense of 
 fear which the guilt of his brother's blood, and 
 the sentence of God impressed upon his soul, 
 gave rise to the idea of union for protection. 
 The fortified cities of ancient and modern 
 times are but an expansion of this primitive 
 idea; and thus the guilt of Cain was made 
 the occasion of introducing a system of social 
 polity which has been the guardian of life 
 through ages of barbarism. The Spirit of God, 
 who " knoweth the end from the beginning," has 
 marked the first efforts of genius, though the 
 fuller development has not been made a matter 
 of sacred history. Is not this designed to teach 
 man the minute care of the providence of God, 
 and the relation of all the arts of industry to His 
 moral government ? 
 
 In the brief history of Cain's descendants, 
 there is a more explicit record of the progress 
 of the arts. Though the name of Lamech 
 the fifth in descent from the builder of the city 
 is associated with the invasion of the domestic 
 constitution by the introduction of polygamy ; 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 171 
 
 yet in his family the pen of inspiration has 
 traced the rapid development of the arts and 
 sciences. Of his first-horn, Jabal, it is recorded, 
 " He was the father of such as dwell in tents, 
 and of such as have cattle." To be a father, in 
 Scripture language, usually implies the origina- 
 tor, or inventor of some new enterprize. In the 
 time of Abel sheep were kept, but it seems to 
 have been under the hand of Jabal that this 
 primitive calling was reduced to anything like 
 a system, destined to exist from age to age. 
 He is thus represented as the founder of the 
 Nomadic tribes, which, throughout the east, 
 even till the present day, dwell in tents, and 
 pasture their cattle at will, without respect to 
 local boundaries. This aspect of social life 
 arose, in some measure, out of domestic circum- 
 stances. So rapid was the increase of the flocks, 
 around a. fixed habitation, or primitive city, that, 
 like the herds of Abraham and Lot, the ground 
 was unable to bear them, consequently the scat- 
 tering of the shepherds gave rise to the necessity 
 of moveable habitations ; and thus was evolved 
 in the time of Jabal, the art of tent making, 
 which was learned by the Apostle Paul about the 
 Christian era ; and which is still the occupation 
 of many in eastern countries. 
 
 These inventions of Jabal, the result of ne- 
 cessity, were accompanied by others calculated to 
 
172 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 elevate and refine society. The practical saga- 
 city of the shepherd is associated in Holy Writ, 
 with the spontaneous efforts of taste and genius; 
 clearly indicating that man was constituted not 
 only to labor and live upon the productions of 
 nature, as possessing animal life, but also to 
 draw from nature sources of mental elevation 
 and social enjoyment as a rational and spiritual 
 being. The sacred narrative announces, that 
 " his brother's name was Jubal : he was the father 
 of all such as handle the harp and organ." 
 Here were disclosed the grand types of all me- 
 chanical harmony. Wind and stringed instru- 
 ments, in their varied artificial combinations 
 constitute the chief, and embrace in their expan- 
 sion the whole development of musical ma- 
 chinery. Simple and rude these primitive in- 
 struments must have been, in their 'original con- 
 struction ; but the fact of their existence in this 
 early age, and the recorded notice of the name 
 of their inventor, prove, that even before the 
 wilder notes of the voice of nature, were heard 
 amidst the conflicting elements of that stormy 
 sea of judgment, which encircled the globe ; the 
 softer strains of Eden's dying melody were 
 stereotyped by Jubal and his musical descend- 
 ants. From this name Jubal, it is evident that 
 we derive the term jubilee ; and well does the 
 invention of musical instruments accord with the 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 173 
 
 year of jubilee among the Israelites ; when the 
 trumpet sounds, were the peals of liberty, caus- 
 ing the heart of every slave to thrill with joy. 
 Nor is the record of inspiration devoid of hope 
 for the world, in which the jubilee trumpet of 
 liberty shall yet be sounded, "and the ransomed 
 of the LORD shall return, and come to Zion with 
 songs and everlasting joy upon their heads : they 
 shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and 
 sighing shall flee away." 
 
 In the succeeding verse of the same narra- 
 tive, there is a more general exposition of the 
 arts of industry. " Tubal-Cain was an instruc- 
 tor of every artificer in brass and iron/' This son 
 of Zillah, is generally supposed to be the Vulcan 
 of the ancients that fictitious deity whose name 
 occurs so frequently in classic story. He is not 
 like his brethren Jabal and Jubal, described as 
 the father of those who were his contemporaries, 
 or descendants in the same profession, but as 
 their instructor. Besides, this title is employed 
 in its most comprehensive sense, " the instructor 
 of every artificer in brass and iron." It would 
 seem as if he was endowed with a peculiar 
 genius for the special instruction of all his con- 
 temporary artificers, in the smelting, and mould- 
 ing, and mechanical use of these precious metals. 
 At a later period, Bezaleel and Aholiab, inspired 
 by the Spirit, are represented as qualified " to 
 
174 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 teach" and instruct others in the mechanical 
 arts. Even in this peculiar case of Tubal-Cain, 
 as recorded by the Spirit, it would appear that 
 there must have been some mental inspiration, 
 by which he was distinguished from all his fel- 
 lows. How extensive must have been his know- 
 ledge of the precious metals, and the purposes to 
 which they may be applied ? In this single re- 
 cord there is unfolded an extensive exposition of 
 the founder's art. There is the extraction of the 
 mineral ore the smelting, mixing, and mould- 
 ing or beating of these substances into mechani- 
 cal forms suited to all the varied purposes of 
 agricultural, or social life. There must have 
 been, even in this early age, considerable ac- 
 quaintance with practical chemistry, accom- 
 panied by mechanical skill, ere the mineral ores 
 could be prepared for the artificer, or when pre- 
 pared, to be rendered subservient to their vari- 
 ous purposes. Is not this early discovery of the 
 most useful of all the metals, and the Scripture 
 record of this distinguished mechanic, a testi- 
 mony to the care with which the God of provi- 
 dence, watched over, and directed the progres- 
 sion of the arts and sciences ? 
 
 The heathen poets have sung of the golden 
 age, may not Christian poets sing of the age of 
 iron ? That age stretches back until at least 
 the period of Tubal-Cain. The history of iron 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 175 
 
 is associated with the progress of mechanical in- 
 ventions, and the civilization of kingdoms ; and 
 never were such triumphs of genius realized as 
 those which in modern times have been effected 
 by its instrumentality. From the least to the 
 greatest of mechanical inventions, it finds a 
 place either as embodied in, or giving form to, 
 every implement. Though not usually esteemed 
 one of the precious metals, its value to man ex- 
 ceeds that of all others. None else could supply 
 its place ; and were its precious ores exhausted, 
 universal paralysis would arrest mechanical pro- 
 gress. The whole history of mercantile and 
 social life would be completely transformed. 
 The existence of this single mineral, and the 
 large proportion it bears to other minerals, 
 taken in connexion with its relation to the pre- 
 sent condition of man, must convince even the 
 sceptic that it has been created and deposited 
 by a God of infinite wisdom and boundless bene- 
 ficence. This argument, addressed to reason, 
 is confirmed by revelation, which at once un- 
 folds the creative power and providential care, 
 of the sovereign Kuler. This family of Lamech 
 was not within the line of the antideluvian 
 Church, neither is the exposition of the arts in 
 that family presented in immediate relation 
 to the development of the covenant of grace ; 
 but yet the Spirit of God has recorded both the 
 
176 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 names of the inventors and the departments of 
 art in which their skill was exercised, in order 
 to show with what care the God of providence 
 watches over His creatures, and also their com- 
 mon operations in the field of nature. Besides, 
 it seems apparent, from such incidental records 
 of inspiration, that God will honor those who 
 honor Him, even in common things, by dis- 
 playing the riches of the earth, which are but 
 the material embodiment of the Divine decrees 
 of wisdom and goodness. There seems in the 
 human constitution a native principle, which 
 constrains man to look above and beyond him- 
 self in mechanical operations. The ancient 
 heathen world, having lost the key of knowledge, 
 attributed their achievements in art to their fic- 
 titious deities ; but the Bible, by revealing the 
 relation in which God stands to the world and 
 to its inhabitants, as its Creator and Governor, 
 claims for Jehovah the praise of all His works. 
 Thus the Psalmist, responding to this claim, 
 invokes not only the homage of angels and of 
 saints, but also the silent homage of creation 
 work in all its departments. " Bless the LORD, 
 all His works, in all places of His dominion ; 
 bless the LORD, my soul ! " 
 
 In the rapid degeneracy of the human race, 
 the command, " Subdue the earth" was forgot- 
 ten, while human depravity displayed itself in 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS, 177 
 
 the attempts of the strong to overcome and sub- 
 due the weak. The giant strength of the 
 mighty, instead of heing employed, as in the 
 beginning, with agriculture or art, was made the 
 instrument of unparalleled violence. " God saw 
 that the wickedness of man was great in the 
 earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts 
 of his heart was only evil, and that continually. 
 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the 
 earth was filled with violence/' There is little 
 doubt that the rapid progress of the arts in the 
 previous age, as associated with universal cor- 
 ruption, would become a curse, instead of a 
 blessing. The violence of human depravity 
 would be rendered more violent through their 
 instrumentality. But the Flood, as a judgment 
 from God, cut short that reign of terror, and 
 swept away all the apparatus of former tyranny. 
 The ark alone survived the storm of Divine 
 wrath, and rested upon Ararat, the memorial of 
 providence and grace. But in the ark, as well 
 as in the experience of its inhabitants, the world, 
 emerging from a second chaos, possessed a com- 
 prehensive stock of mechanical knowledge. This 
 is apparent from the history of its construction. 
 This refuge from the flood was not created, but 
 made by human hands, in accordance with a 
 Divine plan. "Make thee an ark of gopher- 
 wood : rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and 
 8* 
 
178 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 shalt pitch it within and without with pitch. 
 And this is the fashion which thou shalt make 
 it of : the length of the ark shall be three hun- 
 dred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and 
 the height of it thirty cubits. A window shalt 
 thou make to the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou 
 finish it above ; and the door of the ark shalt 
 thou set in the side thereof ; with lower, second, 
 and third stories shalt thou make it." This 
 commission furnishes clear evidence of the pro- 
 gress already made in the mechanic arts. From 
 the tenor of this announcement, it is apparent 
 that the geometrical proportions were already 
 understood that doors and windows, or openings 
 for light, ventilation, and entrance, had been 
 usually framed that first, second, and third 
 stories had been previously constructed and 
 that pitch had been employed in conjunction 
 with wood to resist the action of wind and water. 
 Had the whole work been original, like the 
 Tabernacle, then specific directions and explana- 
 tions would have been absolutely necessary. 
 But in this case, the language is such as would 
 be addressed to any contractor acquainted with 
 the elements and mode of operation necessary in 
 the accomplishment of a given work. Indeed, 
 it would seem from the narration that Noah 
 must have had some acquaintance with the art 
 of navigation, or at least with the fact that a 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 179 
 
 building of wood could be so constructed as to 
 float upon the waters. In this case, the vessel 
 constructed was not designed for crossing the 
 mighty deep from shore to shore, but for holding 
 out amidst the warring elements, and floating 
 upon the bosom of the earth-encircling ocean, 
 consequently the plan was not only original, but 
 Divinely communicated. Thus, in the goodness 
 of God, while the deluge was reducing the world 
 to a state similar to that in which it was found 
 as occupied by Adam, in respect of population, 
 and while the curse had now taken fearful effect 
 upon the physical globe in this dread outburst 
 of Divine wrath, provoked by sin, the education 
 of the human family in religion, in morality, 
 and in scientific knowledge, was gradually pro- 
 gressing. All the skill acquired by Noah and 
 his family in building the ark was transferred 
 directly to the postdiluvian world ; while far 
 above the tide-mark of ocean's future boundary, 
 and the most elevated region of agricultural en- 
 terprize, stood the ark upon Ararat for the 
 study of future generations the model of 
 architecture in its construction, and the em- 
 bodiment of naval science in its history. Thus 
 it appears that the history of the postdiluvian 
 world started from a much higher altitude than 
 that of the world into which fallen Adam was 
 cast out. It would seem that the congregating 
 
180 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 of the animals and fowls within the ark, and the 
 time during which they were entrusted to Noah's 
 care, were designed to renew that acquaintance 
 with their nature, habits, and uses which man 
 had lost by the loss of dominion, but which was 
 now rendered necessary by the renewal of his 
 original charter. The sagacity which was in- 
 tuitive in Adam, when he gave them their names, 
 could only be realized by his fallen descendants 
 through persevering study and observation. 
 Viewed in this light, the ark appears as combin- 
 ing all the elementary principles of a school of art, 
 a school of natural history, and a school of experi- 
 mental navigation ; while the raging storm, and 
 the swelling flood, were the awe-inspiring teach- 
 ers of a heavenly morality. Nor was the Church 
 without her form, as well as her existence. The 
 most distinguished theologian of the age, even 
 the "preacher of righteousness," was there at 
 the head of authority, to expound the mysteri 
 ous events of Providence, and to dispense the 
 ordinances of redeeming grace. 
 
 No sooner had the exercises of the ark been 
 concluded, than an altar was erected, on which 
 were sacrificed burnt-offerings, at once expres- 
 sive of faith in the atonement, and gratitude for 
 deliverance. With this observance is connected 
 the restoration of man to dominion over the 
 creatures ; and from this point in human history 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 181 
 
 may be traced a second time the rise of science 
 and art. The charter of privilege forfeited by 
 Adam was renewed to Noah. The breadth, 
 and benefits of this charter, gave a mighty im- 
 pulse to the arts and sciences. There was a 
 grant of land, co-extensive with that which was 
 bestowed upon Adam. " God blessed Noah and 
 his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and 
 multiply and replenish the earth." There was 
 also a corresponding grant of dominion over the 
 irrational creatures, of which it was said, " Into 
 your hands are they delivered ; " while upon each 
 and all the fear of man was impressed. But 
 they were delivered into his hand, not only to 
 be ruled, but to be used, both for service and 
 sustenance. "Every moving thing that liveth 
 shall be meat for you, even as the green herb 
 have I given you all things." Here, then, is the 
 Divine warrant for the construction of machinery 
 from, and for the general use of, the productions 
 of the mineral, vegetable, and animal kingdoms. 
 Consequently, when in the exercise of skill, and 
 by the aid of mechanical inventions, we obtain 
 from the earth the necessaries, conveniences, and 
 luxuries of life when we discover the hidden 
 treasures of the globe, and appropriate them 
 when we abridge distance, by quickening the 
 means of transit when we use material ele- 
 ments in the transmission of knowledge when 
 
182 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 to sum up all we go to this threefold kingdom 
 and discover its secrets when we unfold and 
 appropriate its latent powers when we develop 
 its treasures, and distribute them when, as 
 commissioned vicegerents, we take our seat 
 upon the throne of nature, and rule for the 
 glory of the universal Governor, then it is that 
 genius and industry perform their mighty work, 
 and fulfil their original destiny then it is that 
 man becomes alive to the extent of his legitimate 
 privileges, and, stimulated by the exhaustless 
 munificence of nature's resources, he obeys, by 
 constraint as an instrument, or willingly as a 
 moral agent, the primary and renewed commis- 
 sion, " SUBDUE THE EARTH, AND HAVE DOMINION 
 OVER IT." 
 
 Thus Noah, on leaving the ark, with this re- 
 newed commission, " began to be an husband- 
 man, and he planted a vineyard." This was the 
 restoration of the arts of industry the source 
 from which .may again be traced the rise of 
 mechanical inventions. Within a century after 
 the flood, the arts were again found flourishing 
 in the erection of munificent cities, and the sub- 
 duing of irrational creatures. "Nimrod was .a 
 mighty hunter before the LORD." But he was 
 also " a mighty one in the earth," founding king- 
 doms and erecting cities. It would seem as if 
 his skill in hunting and in building had given 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 183 
 
 him the ascendency over his fellow-men, for he 
 is represented as the founder of monarchy. 
 " The beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and 
 Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of 
 Shinar." When his project, to rule all the sons 
 of Noah by concentrating one universal dynasty, 
 was blasted, he enriched other lands by his 
 architectural example. To the genius of Ashur, 
 another great builder, Nineveh, and Rehoboth, 
 and Calah, and Kesen, in the land of Assyria, 
 owe their architectural greatness as ancient 
 cities. Why have their names been preserved 
 in connexion with their founder ? Is it not to 
 show the progress of the arts, and their influence 
 upon the formation of ancient empires ? This, 
 again, is a part of the Divine plan in ruling the 
 human family ; consequently, the arts take their 
 appointed place in the vast and comprehensive 
 plans of Providence. 
 
 The erection of the Tower of Babel was at 
 once a record of mechanical progress in the post- 
 diluvian world, and the memorial of a peculiar 
 crisis in the history of humanity. In that build- 
 ing there was an extensive exposition of the 
 arts. Brick, prepared from clay of Shinar, sub- 
 stituted for stone, and bituminous pitch for mor- 
 tar. The plan was novel, and the design of the 
 tower directly opposed to the command, " Mul- 
 tiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it ;" 
 
184 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 yet for a season the work prospered. According 
 to tradition, three years were spent in prepara- 
 tion of materials, and twenty-two in building, 
 ere the day of confounding judgment came. 
 Mark how the spirit of inspiration records the 
 arrest put upon this display of human genius : 
 " The LORD came down to see the city and 
 the tower which the children of men builded." 
 This language is after the manner of men, but 
 the design is to teach us that God watches over, 
 and takes cognizance of, the enterprizes and 
 operations in which men are personally and 
 socially engaged, as well as the motives and 
 principles by which they are actuated. In this 
 notice of mechanical progress, there is no con- 
 demnation of the -postdiluvians for building a 
 city, or erecting a lofty tower ; but the object of 
 both was to concentrate the human family under 
 one dynasty, to foster human pride, and increase 
 sovereign power, and thus to frustrate the ex- 
 pressed purpose of God to " replenish and sub- 
 due the earth/' " Go to," said the projectors of 
 this enterprize, " let us build us a city, and a 
 tower whose top may reach unto heaven ; and 
 let us make us a name, lest we be scattered 
 abroad upon the face of the whole earth." " Go 
 to," says the moral Governor, " let us go down 
 and there confound their language, that they 
 may not understand one another's speech. So 
 
. THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 185 
 
 the LORD scattered them abroad from thence 
 upon the face of all the earth." The evil so 
 much dreaded was imaginary, but the means em- 
 ployed to prevent it hastened its approach. If 
 they would not, as moral agents, acknowledge 
 the Divine authority, they must, at least, as in- 
 struments, accomplish His purpose. " There are 
 many devices in a man's heart, nevertheless the 
 counsel of the LORD, that shall stand." 
 
 In the history of Abraham there is an inci- 
 dental record, showing, that the balance had 
 been introduced, with a view to commercial in- 
 tercourse. In payment of the field of Machpelah 
 purchased for a burying place from the Hittite, 
 " Abraham weighed to Ephron the silver .... 
 four hundred shekels of silver, current money 
 with the merchant." Now, God distinctly claims 
 the balances as His own in the book of Proverbs. 
 " A just weight and balance are the LORD'S, all 
 the weights of the bag are His work." Were 
 they not devised and formed, and adjusted by 
 human skill ? As the products of human genius, 
 how can they be considered as the LORD'S work ? 
 Just in the way already explained. He created 
 the materials of which they were made. He im- 
 planted the skill by which they were invented, 
 formed, and adjusted : consequently the work is 
 His though made subservient to the purposes 
 of social life by an intermediate agency as 
 
186 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. . 
 
 really as though they had been the products of 
 immediate creation. 
 
 While God thus claims individual objects and 
 instruments, there are general statements in the 
 Bible designed to direct all our inquiries regard- 
 ing inventions to the same source. The greatest 
 achievements of human genius are but the re- 
 flection of that wisdom which is infinite, and 
 that power which is almighty. How conclusive 
 is the language of inspiration, " I wisdom dwell 
 with prudence, and find out knowledge of witty 
 inventions." Many theologians seem to think 
 that this declaration has respect to the work of 
 salvation only. It is usually applied to Christ 
 in respect to that knowledge by which He found 
 out, the expedient of human redemption. " Fallen 
 men have sought out many inventions for 
 their own ruin, but He found out one for their 
 recovery." It is evident that Christ is the 
 speaker in the passage, and that to him only can 
 belong the title assumed, and the language 
 uttered. But we apprehend that He is not here 
 speaking directly of either the plan propounded, 
 or the means employed in the execution of re- 
 demption work. This aspect of the subject is 
 clearly brought out in the closing section of the 
 chapter ; where He unfolds His appointment as 
 surety from everlasting, and His own " delights 
 as with the sons of men." But in the section 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 187 
 
 from which we have quoted, the subject clearly 
 is, the administration of the Kingdom of Provi- 
 dence in which He represents Himself, as the 
 embodiment of wisdom and strength. "Counsel 
 is Mine and sound wisdom, I am understanding ; 
 I have strength. By Me kings reign, and princes 
 decree justice. By Me princes rule, and nobles, 
 even all the judges of the earth. . . . Kiches 
 and honor are with Me ; yea, durable riches 
 
 and righteousness I lead in the way 
 
 of righteousness, in the midst of the paths of 
 judgment, that I may cause those that love Me 
 to inherit substance ; and I will fill their trea- 
 sures." Thus, the dominion of Christ, as Medi- 
 ator, appears as embracing all things for the 
 good of His Church. By the fall, man lost his 
 original wisdom, as well as his original dominion 
 over the creatures. The grant of inanimate, and 
 animate creation for his use, was forfeited by 
 apostacy. The service which he obtains from 
 the creature is by constraint ; nay, they are fre- 
 quently turned by God into instruments of de- 
 struction. But the original grant was renewed 
 to Christ, as head of the Church for her benefit. 
 This appears from the eighth Psalm, and from 
 the grant contained in it being applied to Christ 
 by the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews. 
 " For unto the angels hath He not put in subjec- 
 tion the world to come, whereof we speak. But 
 
188 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 one in a certain place testified, saying, What is 
 man, that Thou art mindful of him ? or the son 
 of man, that Thou visitest him ? Thou madest 
 him a little lower than the angels ; Thou 
 crownedst him with glory and honor, and didst 
 set him over the works of Thy hands : Thou 
 hast put all things in subjection under His feet. 
 For in that He put all in subjection under Him, 
 he left nothing that is not put under Him. But 
 now we see not yet all things put under Him ; 
 but we see Jesus who was made a little lower 
 than the angels for the suffering of death, crown- 
 ed with glory and honor." 
 
 The Church is destined to embrace the world. 
 Mechanical inventions have had a vast influence 
 upon the Church, and are designed to ameliorate 
 the condition of the human family during the 
 period of millennial glory. If the creatures, in- 
 animate and animate are given to Christ for the 
 good of His people, it is evident that the employ- 
 ment of these creatures must be directed by Di- 
 vine wisdom. Fallen humanity is as destitute 
 of the knowledge to discover their use as it is of 
 the right to their appropriation. But while the 
 right is restored to Christ, as universal sove- 
 reign, ruling as Mediator over all things for the 
 Church's benefit, the knowledge of witty inven- 
 tions must emanate from the same source. Is 
 not this the import of the passage already 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 189 
 
 quoted ? It is not the design of the Bible di- 
 rectly to solve the problems of science, nor to 
 define in detail the works of art destined to be 
 brought into operation. But it reveals the do- 
 minion of Christ over all temporal things, and 
 His infinite wisdom as developed in their regula- 
 tion. The mental powers, assuming the aspect 
 of sagacity or prudence, are as much the gift of 
 God as the materials upon which they are dis- 
 played. But it is wisdom dwelling with them 
 controlling, directing, and leading them on 
 to discovery and invention that must be recog- 
 nized as the source of all mechanical phenomena. 
 Will any believer in Bible truth be prepared to 
 say that the intellectual powers ordinary or 
 peculiar are not emanations from the fountain 
 of all wisdom ? If they are not of God, then, 
 whence are they ? Is ther.e any other source 
 celestial or terrestrial to which they can be 
 traced ? Are they self-created ? Do they ope- 
 rate by chance ? Keason rejects the very 
 supposition. Kevelation reveals to reason the 
 fountain of Divine wisdom as the primary 
 source 
 
 "The deep shaft, out of which they spring eternally." 
 
 "Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, 
 neither let the mighty man glory in his might, 
 let not the rich man glory in his riches : but 
 
190 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 let him that glorieth glory in this, that he 
 understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the 
 LOKD." As He makes the sun to rise upon the 
 evil and the good, and sendeth rain upon the 
 just and the unjust, so in the dispensations of 
 providence, He sheds the light of genius, and 
 bestows the power of invention upon whomsoever 
 He designs to employ in accomplishing the Di- 
 vine purposes. Nor are those blessings realized 
 through the agency of man less the gift of God 
 than though they had come through the ordinary 
 course of nature. 
 
 Nay, we would venture to press the argument 
 farther, and show that these channels of Divine 
 communication are more wonderful than those 
 opened up in the ordinary course of nature. In 
 the latter case we have inanimate objects acted 
 upon at all times, in all circumstances, and in 
 all combinations by the immediate power of 
 Deity, exercised through the medium of certain 
 constitutional principles ; the universal experi- 
 ence of which has given rise to the term natural 
 laws. But, here, there is no mental operation 
 distinct from the will of the Divine Author. 
 The mineral kingdom possesses its shining ores, 
 and brilliant pearls, and crystalline diamonds. 
 Incessant changes are being effected among all 
 its elements. But throughout its entire regions, 
 there is no life, nor thought, nor mental capa- 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 191 
 
 city. Thus it is also in the vegetable kingdom. 
 The flower blooms, and emits its fragrance, 
 while utterly unconscious of the first elements 
 of vegetable life or beauty. The cedar spreads 
 its majestic arms towards the heavens, and in its 
 season yields its goodly fruits, but of its own 
 existence, or of any other, there is no conception. 
 The corn of wheat falls into the furrowed grave, 
 springs into the blade, and the full ear, for 
 the use of man ; but it reaches not the lowest 
 form of animal life. The soil awakens its latent 
 germs, the dew refreshes its earth-born blade 
 the winds of heaven fan it the rays of light 
 nurse it ; the currents of electricity stimulate its 
 growth, but like itself, they are each and all des- 
 titute of physical life and intellectual capacity. 
 These are constituted, the natural sources from 
 which animal and rational life is sustained ; but 
 how limited their agency, under the effects of 
 the curse, in supplying the wants of the human 
 family ! Stop with nature reject the appliances 
 of art leave all for the operation of these agen- 
 cies, and the world will soon become a region as 
 destitute of human life as that on which God 
 commanded the light to shine forth in the morn- 
 ing of creation ! 
 
 But here the God of providence has brought 
 into operation another class of agencies the 
 " witty inventions" by which man obtains from 
 
192 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 the field of nature the treasures deposited in in- 
 finite goodness. By the aid of mechanical 
 inventions the earth is subdued, and its stores 
 rendered available for the use of humanity. It 
 is evident, however that the simplest machine 
 cannot be produced without a reflecting mind. 
 The reflecting mind cannot be produced without 
 the creating power of a Being at once the foun- 
 tain of life, and possessing the attributes of in- 
 finite wisdom. Thus, while the channels in 
 nature are opened by physical causes, the powers 
 of appropriation are furnished through the union 
 of a physical and mental agency. In the one 
 case, God operates by inanimate objects, in the 
 other, by living, reasoning, reflecting, and im- 
 mortal beings. To work by natural laws, proves 
 the wisdom and power of God, by whom these 
 were engraven upon material elements. Is that 
 power less apparent, or that wisdom less conspic- 
 uous, when creating a mechanical agency, in- 
 habited and impelled by an invisible Spirit ? 
 Are we to see more of the Divine Author in the 
 material elements of the world of matter, than 
 in the development of sentient humanity ? Is 
 it consistent with reason to recognize God in 
 the process of nature by which the wheat was 
 prepared for food, or the flax for clothing, and 
 to reject every idea of God in connexion with, 
 the human inventions by which these were ren- 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 193 
 
 dered available for our sustenance and comfort ? 
 Will we acknowledge the Divine hand in prepar- 
 ing the luxuries of the eastern clime, and yet 
 reject every sense of His relation to the construc- 
 tion of the ship, or the nautical skill by which 
 they were brought to our sea-girt island ? Shall 
 we recognize God in the gloomy metal dug from 
 the deep mine, and disown Him in the genius 
 of a Watt or an Arkwright ? Shall we behold 
 the symbols of this power in the stately elms of 
 the transept, and yet look upon all the wonders 
 of the Crystal Palace, and forget that He created 
 a Stevenson and a Paxton ? Nay, it is here that 
 we are invited to contemplate a fuller, richer, 
 and more glorious display of the wisdom, power, 
 and goodness of God, in creating man with such 
 capabilities. Though fallen from his pristine 
 dignity and glory, he is permitted to retain his 
 place as a worker together with God, in re- 
 arranging and re-distributing nature's riches, in 
 adaptation to human necessities. Have we not 
 here the most wonderful display of the Divine 
 attributes redemption work excepted to be 
 found in our globe ? The material clay united 
 to the pure spirit, and thus constituted a sentient 
 being, sent forth to discover the vast resources 
 of the world, and, by mechanical inventions, to 
 appropriate and use them. 
 
 If in the arts of industry we see the evidence 
 9 
 
194 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 of human wisdom, and the proofs of design, how 
 vast is the field of contemplation, when viewing 
 these, not only as types of mental power, separ- 
 ated from conceptions of the Deity, but when 
 we see the human body and the human mind, 
 in all this mechanical and intellectual develop- 
 ment , as but the faint types of that mind which 
 contrived the universe, and made the earth, in 
 adaptation to man, before he had a being. 
 True it is, that the eye of faith which looks 
 to heaven, when it turns again to natural or arti- 
 ficial phenomena on earth, seems to bring down 
 with it a purer radiance, like the very beaming 
 of the presence of Divinity, which it sheds upon 
 every object. The mental eye, thus illuminated, 
 gazes upon every subject in the kingdom of 
 Providence, encircled in a halo of glory. That 
 is the true philosophy of nature which leads the 
 mind direct to the fountain of causation, and 
 that is the genuine mental philosophy which 
 traces all legitimate knowledge to the source of 
 infinite wisdom. This philosophy is little un- 
 derstood, and still less acknowledged, in the past 
 history of human progression. But being a 
 philosophy pervading all nature, the grace of 
 God shall yet quicken it into universal life and 
 power in the human mind. Let men but come 
 within the " shadow of the Almighty," realizing 
 on every side a present Deity, and then nature, 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 195 
 
 providence, and grace, will be found in close con- 
 nexion and absolute harmony. The lofty strains 
 of poetic inspiration, as breathed by Cowper, 
 shall become a reality in the e very-day experi- 
 ence of man. 
 
 " One spirit His, 
 
 Who wore the plaited crown with bleeding brow, 
 Rules universal nature 
 The soul that sees Him, or receives, sublimed, 
 New faculties, or learns at least to employ 
 More worthily the powers she owned before ; 
 Discerns in all things, what with stupid gaze 
 Of ignorance till then she overlooked. 
 A ray of heavenly light gilding all forms 
 Terrestrial, in the vast and the minute; 
 The unambiguous footsteps of the God 
 Who gives its lustre to an insect's wing, 
 And wheels his throne upon the rolling worlds." 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE INSPIRATION OP GENIUS AN EVIDENCE THAT MECHANICAL 
 INVENTIONS ABE OF GOD. 
 
 THE agency of the Holy Spirit is generally 
 considered in its relations to the moral world, 
 and its immediate operations upon the soul in 
 regeneration and sanctification. Many, while 
 contending for the personality and divinity of 
 the Holy Ghost, seem strangely to overlook His 
 modes of operation in the Church and the world, 
 prior to the advent of the Son of God. The 
 language used by many divines arid expositors, 
 in expounding the Old Testament Scriptures, 
 seems to accord with the reply of certain dis- 
 ciples whom Paul interrogated regarding their 
 experience of the Spirit's influence : " We have 
 not so much as heard whether there be any 
 Holy Ghost/' It is true that the New Testa- 
 ment economy is peculiarly the dispensation of 
 the Spirit. To the Christian Church He was 
 promised as the " Spirit of truth," to testify of 
 Jesus, and as " the Comforter," to impart con- 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 197 
 
 solation. Upon the primitive Church he was 
 poured out in a copious measure. In the doc- 
 trines of the Gospel He is exhibited as applying 
 the benefits of that redemption which Christ has 
 purchased. In consequence of this fuller revela- 
 tion regarding the work of the Spirit, and espe- 
 cially in consequence of the tendency of modern 
 divines to dwell chiefly upon the New Testa- 
 ment, and to treat the Old as if it were a 
 piece of antiquated history, the agency of the 
 Spirit, in all that preceded the Christian era, is 
 comparatively forgotten. But both Testaments 
 form only one Bible, regarding the revelation of 
 the Divine will contained in which it is declared, 
 that " all Scripture is given by the inspiration 
 of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, 
 for correction, for instruction, in righteousness." 
 Both Testaments are replete with doctrinal 
 statements and historic records regarding the 
 operations of the Holy Spirit. In the old crea- 
 tion, and in the new, He occupies a place per- 
 sonal and peculiar. The works of God are 
 either natural or gracious. To both the Spirit 
 stands in close relation. The opening sentence 
 of the Bible, recording the act of creation, is 
 succeeded by one recording the operation of the 
 Spirit. " The earth was without form, and void ; 
 and darkness was upon the face of the deep : 
 and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of 
 
198 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 the waters." The whole matter being created, 
 out of which the globe should be fashioned, and 
 from which all living creatures were soon to be 
 educed, He assumed its preservation, and cherish- 
 ed its elements, that, having its subsistence by 
 the power of the Word of God, so it might be re- 
 duced to that form, order, and beauty, predeter- 
 mined in the eternal counsels. It seems, from 
 the form of expression employed, that He com- 
 municated unto the elements of the globe a 
 quickening and prolific virtue by which, at the 
 command of God, vegetable and animal life, in 
 every varied form, sprung into existence. This 
 agency, which was ascribed to the Spirit, in the 
 act of creation, is still ascribed to Him in the 
 continued dispensation of Providence. Thus, 
 while the Psalmist represents the decay of 
 nature by death, the revival of nature is attri- 
 buted to the Spirit's influence. " Thou sendest 
 forth Thy Spirit, they are created ; and Thou re- 
 newest the face of the earth." 
 
 In the creation of man there was a twofold 
 operation the forming of the body, and the in- 
 spiration of the soul. " The Lord God formed 
 man of the dust of the ground, and breathed 
 into ^his nostrils the breath of life, and man be- 
 came a living soul." In this act of the Spirit, 
 there is the introduction of the moral principle, 
 in relation to a world which had previously been 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 199 
 
 a chaos, destitute of light and life. There was 
 here evolved a physical good, and a moral good 
 a world fitted and furnished for the habitation 
 of a rational being, and that being constituted 
 so as to stand in close connexion with that physi- 
 cal world ; nay, more, to unite in his person 
 mind and matter. Man forms the connecting 
 link between the irrational creatures and holy 
 angels. He was formed of the dust physically, and 
 made in the image of God spiritually. At this 
 stage of human history there were unfolded two 
 aspects of the Divine government a moral 
 good, having respect to man, and a physical 
 good, having respect to the world in its future 
 history, as made subservient to his interests. To 
 both these aspects of the Divine government the 
 Spirit is closely allied, and in both the Bible 
 represents Him as the permanent operator. The 
 physical world is so constituted as to minister 
 to the moral, consequently, the events of Pro- 
 vidence must ever have produced their influence 
 upon the character of man. Thus, while the 
 Spirit has a special and peculiar operation in 
 forming and endowing this moral agent, man 
 is constituted a permanent physical operator, by 
 which the world, in its elements and creatures, 
 is made subservient to the interests and happi- 
 ness of the human family. 
 
 The fall of Adam, by transgression, produced 
 
200 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 a moral chaos in the soul of man, which was 
 accompanied by a shock of judgment that reach- 
 ed not only his corporeal system, but produced a 
 revolution throughout the entire physical system 
 of that world and its creatures, over which he 
 had obtained dominion. The earth and its in- 
 habitants, under the curse, appear in a state of 
 universal schism. The lord of creation, having 
 lost the centre of moral attraction by turning to 
 the creature, has also lost the sceptre of moral 
 power, and dominion. The creatures the very 
 elements of nature, are armed against the rebel 
 king. The " creation groaning " proclaims hu- 
 man guilt, and if unrestrained, would execute 
 the vengeance of God upon its author. 
 
 But here again, the Spirit of God is revealed 
 in Scripture as engaged in a twofold operation. 
 That which has respect to nature, and that 
 which has respect to grace. The world itself is 
 not abandoned, though man has fallen. The 
 same Spirit that operates in the plan and appli- 
 cation of redemption is incessantly operating in 
 the physical world, and its inhabitants, for the 
 accomplishment of the Divine purposes. That 
 Holy Spirit who is restoring to order, the moral 
 chaos in the renewed soul, is also restoring to 
 order the universal chaos of this revolted region 
 inhabited by man. In the one department 
 spiritual means are universally employed. In 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 201 
 
 the other, physical and mental instrumentality 
 are brought into operation. In the work of re- 
 demption the Son of God was the mighty agent. 
 In the restoration of nature's harmony, the sons 
 of men are employed as instruments. In the 
 assumption of our nature by incarnation, the 
 holy humanity of Christ was formed, and filled 
 by the Holy Spirit without measure. In the 
 creation of successive generations, the constitu- 
 tion of man, physical and mental, is formed, 
 and endowed with intellectual gifts by the Spirit 
 of infinite wisdom. " There is a spirit in man ; 
 and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth him 
 understanding." 
 
 It seems clear, in the light of Scripture, that 
 there is nothing excellent amongst men, whether 
 absolutely above the production of natural prin- 
 ciples, or whether it consists in a peculiar en- 
 largement, and improvement of those principles 
 and abilities, that is not ascribed to the agency 
 of the Holy Spirit, as the immediate operator, 
 and efficient cause of its production. That 
 which results from the common operations of the 
 Spirit, however extraordinary in degree, is en- 
 tirely distinct from those influences which are 
 gracious and saving. Thus, a man may be em- 
 ployed in distinguished service as an instrument 
 while he is absolutely guilty as a person or moral 
 agent. 
 
 9* 
 
202 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 In regard to those gifts which are altogether 
 extraordinary, and in their very nature abso- 
 lutely beyond the limits of man's mental consti- 
 tution, however highly improved, it may be ob- 
 served that these have a direct and immedi- 
 ate bearing upon the development of the plan of 
 salvation. The gift of prophecy lies beyond the 
 compass of man's finite nature. But "Holy 
 men of old spake as they were moved by the 
 Holy Spirit." The writing of the Scriptures 
 falls within the same category. Many prophe- 
 sied who never wrote, for " all Scripture is given 
 by the inspiration of God/' The power of work- 
 ing miracles was realized from the same source. 
 Even the Redeemer of men, gave these as the 
 seal of heaven, attesting His doctrine. "If I, 
 by the finger of God, cast out devils, no doubt 
 the kingdom of God is come upon you." Such 
 were all the signs and wonders wrought by 
 Moses, by the prophets, and by the apostles, for 
 these were exhibited as pledges and tokens of 
 the Spirit's presence, by whom their message 
 was communicated, and their miraculous power 
 imparted. In the earliest record of supernatural 
 power as bestowed upon Moses, the very magi- 
 cians of Egypt were constrained to admit the 
 reality of that power, and to acknowledge the 
 source from which it was derived. " The ma- 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 203 
 
 gicians said unto Pharaoh, This is the finger of 
 God." 
 
 But there is a second class of the Spirit's in- 
 fluences and operations which consist in the ex- 
 pansion and exaltation of those mental and 
 physical powers which are common to hu- 
 manity. 
 
 INSPIRATION OF GENIUS FOE LEGISLATION AND 
 GOVERNMENT. 
 
 The special influence of the Spirit in prepar- 
 ing men for legislative and political administra- 
 tion is minutely recorded. The glory of God, 
 and the good of mankind, were deeply involved 
 in the institution of civil government. Desti- 
 tute of this ordinance, the whole world would be 
 filled with violence, and the human family would 
 soon be thrown into inextricable confusion. In 
 the establishment and exercise of judicial au- 
 thority, the best gifts require to be improved, and 
 even the best of ordinary gifts are found insuf- 
 ficient to restore order out of political chaos. 
 Thus, when the God of infinite wisdom would 
 organize a model nation out of the rude ele- 
 ments of a long enslaved people, the Holy Ghost 
 inspired Moses with wisdom and courage to 
 conduct their emancipation from Egypt, and to 
 initiate them in the elementary principles of 
 political economy. In the first institution of the 
 
204 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 Sanhedrim, or court of seventy elders, to bear in 
 conjunction with Moses the burden of the 
 people, in their rule and government, the Lord 
 is said to " put His Spirit upon them," and again 
 it is said, that the " Spirit rested upon them." 
 " And the LORD said unto Moses, Gather unto 
 me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom 
 thou knowest to be the elders of the people, and 
 officers over them. . . . And I will take of 
 My Spirit which is upon thee, and will put it 
 upon them ; and they shall bear the burden of 
 the people with thee. . . . And the LORD 
 took of the Spirit that was upon Moses, and gave 
 it unto the seventy elders, and the Spirit rested 
 upon them." Previous to this appointment, the 
 spiritual influence was concentrated in Moses as 
 the sole ruler of the people, whereas now, that 
 the government was divided among a number 
 of individuals, it was requisite that each should 
 be duly qualified, and furnish some evidence 
 that he was commissioned by Divine autho- 
 rity, hence it is said that, " when the Spirit 
 rested upon them, they prophesied, and did not 
 cease."* 
 
 Again, when God organized a limited mon- 
 archy in room of the Sanhedrim, and of the 
 judges, there was a special communication of 
 the Spirit to him who was chosen as the first 
 
 * Numbers, xL 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 205 
 
 sovereign. Regarding Saul, it is said, that 
 " God gave him another heart ; that is, as after- 
 wards expressed, " the Spirit of God came upon 
 him, and he prophesied." He was, by the special 
 influence of the Spirit, endowed with that wis- 
 dom, and energy, and magnanimity, which were 
 essential to the proper exercise of magisterial 
 authority. The anointing with oil at the in- 
 auguration ceremony, when the kings of Israel 
 were set apart to public office, was a symbol of 
 the communication of the gifts of the Holy 
 Spirit. So great is the burden of responsibility 
 under which a just and righteous government is 
 laid so numerous are the temptations to which 
 the exercise of authority gives rise, that even 
 the best of men without the special assistance 
 of the Spirit, will be found ready to sink under 
 its weight, or to mismanage its administration. 
 This sense of responsibility and human incapa- 
 city overwhelmed the spirit of Solomon, though 
 trained by circumstances, in the family and 
 court of David, to the exercise of legislative and 
 judicial functions. Consequently, when he had 
 the Divine grant of whatsoever he should ask, 
 the right discharge of official duty lay nearest 
 his heart, hence the petition for wisdom " I am 
 but a little child : I know not how to go out or 
 come in. And Thy servant is in the midst of 
 Thy people which Thou hast chosen, a great 
 
 <<*,. 
 
206 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 people, that cannot be numbered nor counted 
 for multitude. Give, therefore, Thy servant an 
 understanding heart to judge Thy people, that I 
 may discern between good and bad : for who is 
 able to judge this Thy so great a people ?" In 
 answer to this petition, the Divine response is 
 most significant " The speech pleased the LORD 
 that Solomon had asked this thing. And God 
 said unto him, Because thou hast asked this 
 thing, and hast not asked for thyself long life ; 
 neither hast asked riches for thyself ; neither 
 hast asked the life of thine enemies ; but hast 
 asked for thyself understanding to discern judg- 
 ment ; Behold, I have done according to thy 
 words ; So, I have given thee a wise and an un- 
 derstanding heart, so that there was none like 
 thee before thee, neither after thee shall any 
 arise like unto thee." We shall have occasion 
 afterwards to consider how this communication 
 of wisdom and understanding displayed itself in 
 science, and art, and literature, as well as in 
 government. 
 
 These special gifts were not confined within 
 the limits of the Church. In the case of one 
 heathen monarch, the inspiration of the Spirit 
 is recorded, as preparing him for the special 
 work to which God had appointed him. Cyrus 
 was chosen by name, and in the prophecy of 
 Isaiah, God calls him His " anointed," for Cyrus 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 207 
 
 had a special work to accomplish, for which he 
 needed special qualifications. The work in one 
 aspect, had relation to human history for he 
 was made the executioner of Divine justice upon 
 Babylon while on the other hand it was closely 
 allied to the Church for he was the appointed 
 instrument to deliver the captive Israelites. 
 Though he was in himself but a " ravenous bird 
 of prey," he was especially endowed as an instru- 
 ment to effect the purposes of God. " Thus saith 
 the LORD to His anointed, to Cyrus, whose right 
 hand I have holden to subdue nations before 
 him, and I will loose the loins of kings to open 
 
 before him the two-leaved gates For 
 
 Jacob, My servant's sake, and Israel Mine elect, 
 I have even called thee by thy name ; I have 
 surnamed thee, though thou hast not known Me. 
 
 I girded thee though thou hast not 
 
 known Me."* Thus, the administration of Cyrus 
 had special reference to the Church, though he 
 was not within her pale, and though he knew 
 not the Holy One of Israel. " The LORD stirred 
 up the spirit of Cyrus, king of Persia, that he 
 made a proclamation throughout all his king- 
 dom, and put it in writing, saying, Thus saith 
 Cyrus, king of Persia, All the kingdoms of the 
 earth hath the LORD God of heaven given me, 
 and He hath charged me to build him an house 
 
 * Isaiah, xlv. 1-5. 
 
208 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 in Jerusalem which is in Judah ; who is there 
 among you of all His people ? The LORD his 
 God be with him, and let him go up."* Thus 
 Cyrus was divinely qualified as an instrument, 
 though in a state of condemnation as a person, 
 and thus we apprehend that many distinguished 
 conquerors, and renowned deliverers have re- 
 ceived special inspiration though unsconscious ot 
 the fact, and though considering themselves as 
 the source of that wisdom and ability in the 
 exercise of which they had conquered nations, 
 and reigned in earthly glory. Nay, more, seeing 
 that the affairs of the world are regulated with 
 a special view to the Church, and that Christ is 
 constituted head over all "principalities and 
 powers" for her benefit : and seeing that the rise 
 and fall of nations is preparing the way for the 
 full establishment of His visible kingdom, is it 
 not evident that the Spirit of God is from age 
 to age endowing special instruments for special 
 work, as really as He did Cyrus for the infliction 
 of judgment upon Babylon, and the administra- 
 tion of mercy to the captive Israelites ? Alas ! 
 that in the infidelity of our hearts, we are so 
 prone to contemplate the most distinguished 
 talents as if they had sprung of earth, and to 
 view their application in relation to the creature 
 only ; whereas, by these recorded examples, the 
 
 * Ezra, i. 1, 2. 
 
THEOLOGk' OF INVENTIONS. 209 
 
 human mind is taught to recognize the gifts of 
 the Spirit, and to adore that God who reigns as 
 moral Governor, and who makes even the wrath 
 of man to praise him ! 
 
 INSPIRATION OF GENIUS FOR WAR. 
 
 The existence of war is demonstrative evi- 
 dence that man is fallen. In itself it is evil, 
 only evil, and that continually. But in the moral 
 government of God, it is at times as necessary 
 as the existence of civil government. Civil ma- 
 gistracy being " an ordinance of God," the gird- 
 ing on the sword is as necessary, in peculiar 
 circumstances, as the wielding of the sceptre 
 The Bible bears testimony to the connexion of 
 the Spirit's influence with special warriors and 
 special victories. " Blessed be the LORD my 
 strength," says David, "which teacheth my 
 hands to war, and my fingers to fight." There 
 seems not a shadow of doubt that the moral 
 courage wherewith he met the Philistine was 
 an inspiration from on high. The names of 
 David's chief warriors, to the amount of thirty- 
 seven, are given in the sacred volume, not we 
 presume, because of their delight in war, or of 
 their deeds of martial prowess, but because they 
 were endowed by the Spirit with extraordinary 
 strength and valor to execute vengeance upon 
 the enemies of Israel. What is said of one of 
 
210 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 these, regarding the slaughter of the Philistines, 
 is in fact true of all. They conquered, but it was 
 " the Lord who wrought a great victory." But 
 there is no room for conjecture or inference re- 
 garding inspiration of genius for war, when the 
 sacred volume explicitly reveals the doctrine. 
 Of such men as Othniel, and Gideon, and 
 Jephtha and Samson, it is said, "the Spirit of 
 the Lord came upon them/' Of Othniel the 
 record is, that " the Spirit of the LORD came 
 upon him ; and he judged Israel and went out to 
 war." Of " Gideon and Jephtha, it is intima- 
 ted previously, that they were men of valor/' 
 consequently, the coming of the Spirit of God 
 upon them must imply that their natural gifts 
 are peculiarly enlarged, and their natural courage 
 excited and sustained amidst the dangers to 
 which they were exposed, in the field of conflict. 
 Besides, it seems evident that they experienced 
 an efficacious impression of His power upon them, 
 by which their call to the work was confirmed, 
 and the confidence of those whom they led to 
 victory stimulated by the conviction that God 
 was with them. The degree of influence seems 
 at times peculiarly adapted to the danger and 
 difficulty of the work to be accomplished. Such 
 were the gifts bestowed upon Samson. His 
 bodily strength was supernatural an immediate 
 effect of the power of the Spirit while his mind 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 211 
 
 was endowed with courage unknown to the 
 human species. In the record of his victory 
 over the lion, which " he rent as he would have 
 rent a kid" without a weapon in his hand, it is 
 said that, "the Spirit of the Lord came mightily 
 upon him." When he went down to Askelon 
 and slew thirty men that he might obtain their 
 changes of garments, the influence imparted is 
 expressed in less emphatic language. Like that, 
 which has been noticed in the case of the dis- 
 tinguished judges who went out and conquered 
 at the head of their respective armies, it is said, 
 " the Spirit of the Lord came upon him." But, 
 when the Philistines shouted against him, as 
 bound at Lehi, "the Spirit of the LORD came 
 mightily upon him," so that " the cords became 
 as flax burnt with the fire," and one thousand of 
 the enemies of Israel fell by his hand, smitten 
 "with the jaw-bone of an ass." Is there not 
 here evolved the fact, that the measure of influ- 
 ence is granted, in accordance with the difficulty 
 and magnitude of the work to be done, or the 
 deliverance to be achieved ? Can we possibly 
 with these examples Divinely recorded read 
 the pages of human history, and not recognize 
 the inspiration of that patriotism and philan- 
 thropy, which have led the most distinguished 
 victors to risk their lives in defence of the rights 
 of humanity and the liberty of nations ? 
 
212 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 ' 
 
 INSPIRATION OF GENIUS, MECHANICAL OB 
 SCIENTIFIC. 
 
 This species of inspiration belongs to the same 
 category as that which is unfolded in legislation 
 and warfare. To this inspiration the whole 
 development of artificial phenomena may be 
 traced. The care with which Providence 
 watches over, and the particularity with which 
 the Spirit has recorded some of the earlier inven- 
 tions, has been already noticed. The object 
 now is, to prove directly the communication of 
 intellectual gifts by the Spirit, to be exercised 
 about physical elements, and to be embodied in 
 mechanical inventions. 
 
 THE TABERNACLE. 
 
 The construction of the Tabernacle is at once 
 a proof and illustration of the inspiration of 
 mechanical genius. God Himself is represented 
 as the Divine Architect. He contrived the 
 mysterious plan, furnished the materials, through 
 the instrumentality of His people, raised up the 
 artificers in the dispensations of His providence, 
 and qualified them for their work by the inspi- 
 ration of the Spirit. The command to make a 
 sanctuary is accompanied by a description of all 
 its parts. "And the LORD spake unto Moses, 
 saying, Speak unto the children of Israel that 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 213 
 
 they bring Me an offering : and let them make 
 Me a scantuary, that I may dwell among them. 
 According to all that I shew thee, after the pat- 
 tern of the tabernacle', and the patterns of all 
 the instruments thereof, even so shall ye make 
 it." It appears from the sequel that the entire 
 plan was Divinely propounded. Not merely the 
 dimensions of the fabric, as formerly in the 
 building of the ark, but every part was described 
 in its relative proportions and special aspect. 
 The curtains, the hangings, the loops, the taches, 
 the pins, and the sockets, the ornamental work, 
 and the curious furniture, were each and all spe- 
 cially described. Every object and element, 
 from the least to the greatest, was modelled in 
 the Eternal Mind, and presented to the concep- 
 tion of Moses upon the mount, with the most 
 explicit nota bene. " Look that thou make them 
 after their pattern, which was shewed thee in 
 the mount ;" or still more emphatic, as found in 
 the marginal reading, " according to the pattern 
 which I caused thee to see." In this contract 
 there was nothing left for the exercise of human 
 ingenuity, as respects the plan. The perfection 
 of infinite wisdom could admit of no interfer- 
 ence. But while the design was absolutely per- 
 fect, the skill to fill it up was not to be found in 
 the concentrated wisdom of the human family, 
 and much less among those who had been 
 
214 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 trained from infancy under the yoke of abject 
 slavery. 
 
 The whole plan was original, nay, Divine. 
 No earthly model could be examined, no pre- 
 vious experience could be consulted. To God 
 the Hebrews must look for all that pertained to 
 this itinerant sanctuary. There is something 
 very peculiar and instructive in the fact that 
 God who " stretched out the heavens like a cur- 
 tain, and who laid the foundations of the earth," 
 should now, in the wilderness, sketch, and plan, 
 and preside over, and at length fill with His 
 glory, an artificial tent, constructed and furnished 
 by human hands. Does not the fact imply that 
 He is the God of order and beauty in the mecha- 
 nical as well as in the natural world ? By the 
 fall, the lines of beauty and proportion had been 
 obscured or obliterated in the darkened under- 
 standing. By the flood, the physical world was 
 despoiled of its pristine glory. But here the 
 God of grace evolves in symbol the highest glory 
 of the moral world Christ the true Tabernacle 
 while the symbol itself seems designed to ex- 
 hibit the adaptation of material elements to 
 mechanical purposes, and to restore, in a pecu- 
 liar manner, the primitive ideas of the beautiful 
 and true. In the day that Adam sinned, that 
 wisdom with which he was endowed returned to 
 God who gave it, but in the economy of redemp- 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 215 
 
 tion there seems to be a restoration in measure 
 of that practical skill or genius by which the 
 subjection of the creature to man shall be duly 
 regulated. In the case of the Israelites, there was 
 the organization of a Church, and of a state, des- 
 tined to extend over centuries, and impart in- 
 fluences to the world through coming ages. 
 The whole training of the wilderness has a rela- 
 tion to their future greatness nationally, as well 
 as to their present instruction in spiritual 
 knowledge, consequently their arts and sciences, 
 their martial enterprizes, and their civil consti- 
 tution, are all evolved in connexion with that 
 revealed religion which recognizes every blessing 
 as emanating from, and conducive to, the glory 
 of the moral Governor. 
 
 Considered in this light, the erection of the 
 Tabernacle is peculiarly instructive. The Cre- 
 ator of the heavens and the earth condescends 
 to become the teacher of degenerate man, in 
 common as well as in spiritual things. While 
 the revelation of the Covenant occupies the first 
 place, the dispensations of Providence regarding 
 the condition of man in the present world are 
 not overlooked nor forgotten. That God who 
 reigns over universal nature deigns to direct, in 
 the spreading out of badgers' skins, the binding 
 of curtains, the planting of a beam, the fitting 
 of a socket, the insertion of a pin, so that the 
 
216 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 perfection of natural beauty might be displayed, 
 while the radiance of Divine glory was lumin- 
 ously reflected. 
 
 EXPOSITION OF THE ARTS IN CONSTRUCTING THE 
 TABERNACLE. 
 
 The Tabernacle was in itself a most compre- 
 hensive exposition of the arts. There was the 
 hewing, sawing, plaining, joining, carving, and 
 gilding of wood. There was the melting, casting, 
 beating, boring, and engraving of metals. There- 
 was the spinning, weaving, dyeing, bleaching, 
 sewing, and embroidering of fabrics. There 
 was also the tanning and coloring of skins. 
 There was work in gold, and in silver, and in 
 brass, in blue, and in purple, and in scarlet, and 
 in fine linen, and in goats' hair. There was 
 work in the preparation of oil for the light, and 
 spices for anointing oil, and for sweet incense. 
 There was work for the lapidary in polishing 
 stones, and for the sculptor in their engraving. 
 But it is impossible to enumerate all the profes- 
 sions introduced in this Divinely-planned edi- 
 fice. They are best described by the Spirit, 
 when speaking of the qualifications of those 
 called to the filling up of this perfect design, as 
 being capable of working "in all manner of 
 workmanship." 
 
 But how could all this artistic work be exe- 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 217 
 
 cuted by those who had been trained in slavery 
 for the manufacture of bricks, and the building 
 of store-cities, in the land of Egypt ? Even 
 Moses, who was instructed in the highest 
 branches of Egyptian learning, nay, who was 
 Divinely instructed in " the words of God, and 
 the visions of the Almighty," though he had 
 been made to see the model Tabernacle on the 
 mount, yet he knew not how to weave, or en- 
 grave, or embroider. His position in the court 
 was as far above the daily toils of the silversmith 
 or the founder, as the degradation of his brethren 
 was below them ; nor had the shepherd life in 
 Midian tended to the elucidation of his mechani- 
 cal genius. But that God who had caused His 
 Spirit to rest upon the Jewish legislator, now in- 
 spired by the same Spirit the artisans who were 
 chosen to construct the Tabernacle^; thus clearly 
 evincing the instructive fact that mechanical 
 skill flows from the same Divine source as legis- 
 lative wisdom and moral courage. Thus it ap- 
 pears that human distinctions are found to 
 vanish in proportion as we come within the 
 radiance of the eternal throne. The ruler and 
 the artisan feel alike distant from the infinite 
 majesty of the universal Sovereign, while both 
 are equally dependent upon Him for the wisdom 
 respectively imparted. That God who had said 
 to Moses at the back of the desert, " I will be 
 10 
 
218 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt 
 say," now promised to direct the head and the 
 hands of those called to the building of the 
 Tabernacle. "And the Lord spake unto Moses, 
 saying, See, I have called by name Bezaleel, the 
 son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah : 
 and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, in 
 wisdom, and in understanding, and in know- 
 ledge, and in all manner of workmanship. And 
 I, behold, I have given with him Aholiab, the 
 son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan : and in 
 the hearts of all that are wise-hearted I have 
 put wisdom, that they may make all that I have 
 commanded thee." There is no previous record 
 regarding these artificers, by which it can be 
 ascertained whether they had formerly given 
 themselves to the acquisition of a knowledge of 
 the arts and ^sciences. The probabilities are 
 rather against such a supposition. The frequent 
 removal of the camp, together with the fact that 
 their garments waxed not old in their march 
 through the wilderness, go far to prove that 
 there was no extensive cultivation of the arts 
 prior to this period. Be this as it may, the in- 
 timation of their call to the work, and the 
 announcement with which it was accompanied, 
 leaves no room to doubt that the present endow- 
 ments were altogether extraordinary. The Spirit 
 of God inspired them with genius to understand 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 219 
 
 the Divinely-communicated plans, and with skill 
 to fill them up, in that order and beauty which 
 had been prescribed. 
 
 But this inspiration of genius was not con- 
 fined to Bezaleel and Aholiab, the chief archi- 
 tects and partners in this vast undertaking. All 
 who were called to the work are designated 
 " wise-hearted." " And Moses called Bezaleel 
 and Aholiab, and every wise-hearted man, in 
 whose heart the LORD had put wisdom, even 
 every one whose heart stirred him up to come 
 unto the work to do it." Nor were the daughters 
 of Israel excluded from having a part in the 
 sanctuary, and in the gifts of the Spirit. " And 
 all the women that were wise-hearted did spin 
 with their hands, and brought that which they 
 had spun, both of blue, and of purple, and of 
 scarlet, and of fine linen. And all the women, 
 whose hearts stirred them up in wisdom, spun 
 goats' hair." Thus, it would appear that there 
 was a general inspiration of genius in proportion 
 to the special work given each to accomplish ; 
 and in the case of all the will and the affections 
 seem to have been moved in conjunction with 
 the understanding. The erection of the Taber- 
 nacle was a " labor of love," succeeding the re- 
 vival of true religion among the tribes of Israel. 
 For a season that work had been retarded by 
 the backsliding of the people. The erection and 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 worship of the golden calf had provoked the 
 Holy One to hide His face, and to inflict His 
 judgments. But, by the intercession of Moses, 
 their sin was pardoned, the promise of the Di- 
 vine presence was renewed, and the tables of 
 stone were again engraven with the moral law. 
 The people had been deeply humbled, so that 
 the return of Moses with the message of 
 mercy was a signal for universal gratitude. The 
 same commission that restored the tables an- 
 nounced the purpose of God regarding the sanc- 
 tuary, and His holy command regarding the 
 offerings to be dedicated for its construction 
 and future service. This revival of true religion 
 in the souls of the Israelites, accounts for that 
 unparalleled liberality which characterized their 
 offerings ; and it accorded with, and was prepara- 
 tory to, that extraordinary inspiration of genius 
 which, like their goods, was laid as a voluntary 
 sacrifice upon the altar of a gracious God. The 
 season and the circumstances in which the offer- 
 ings were presented, and the work itself accom- 
 plished, indicate, in the most convincing manner, 
 the close relation which subsists between the 
 moral and the intellectual powers, and especially 
 between the work of grace in the soul, and the 
 expansion of all the human faculties. Is there 
 not reason to believe, from this coincidence in 
 the building of the Tabernacle, that when the 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 221 
 
 whole human family shall become wise-hearted, 
 through the illumination of the Spirit during 
 the Millennium, and when their offerings shall 
 again flow with equal liberality into the treasury 
 of the Lord, human genius shall be extended 
 beyond all present conceptions ? May it not be 
 that, through this very channel, the God of 
 providence shall open the treasury of nature, 
 and pour out a blessing, that there shall not be 
 room enough to receive it. 
 
 THE SACRED VESTMENTS. 
 
 The sacerdotal garments for the priesthood 
 were made in conformity to a Divine pattern, 
 and the skill whereby they were prepared is 
 attributed to a Divine source. " Thou shalt 
 make holy garments for Aaron thy brother, for 
 glory and for beauty. And these are the gar- 
 ments which they shall make ; a breastplate, 
 and an ephod, and a robe, and a girdle." So 
 explicit is the command regarding their forma- 
 tion that a whole chapter* is devoted to a de- 
 scription of the materials, the form, and mode of 
 joining the various parts, the setting of the 
 stones in the breastplate, together with the 
 order and the seasons when they should be put 
 on. These, like the Tabernacle, were prepared 
 under the inspiration of the Spirit. " Thou 
 
 * Exodus xxviii. 
 
222 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 shalt speak unto all that are wise-hearted, whom 
 I have filled with the Spirit of wisdom, that they 
 may make Aaron garments to consecrate him, 
 that he may minister unto Me in the priest's 
 office." The harmony of all parties in the erec- 
 tion of the Tabernacle, and the preparation of 
 the sacred garments, is peculiarly marked by the 
 forms of expression employed in their descrip- 
 tion. Those who gave are designated "willing- 
 hearted," and those who wrought are represented 
 as " wise-hearted." These terms seem to indi- 
 cate the union of genuine piety with liberality, 
 on the part of those who offered ; 'and the com- 
 bination of moral interest with inspired genius, 
 on the part of those who performed the work. 
 Here there was " wisdom dwelling with pru- 
 dence, and integrity of purpose associated with 
 consummate skill. Never before had there been 
 seen such workmen, and never since has there 
 been such perfection displayed in filling up the 
 individual details of a stupendous design. The 
 inspired penman has recorded their eulogium. 
 " According to all that the LORD commanded 
 Moses, so the children of Israel made all the 
 work. And Moses did look upon all the 
 work, and behold, they had done it as the LORD 
 had commanded, even so had they done it : and 
 Moses blessed them." No sculptured marble 
 transmitted their names or physiognomies to 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 223 
 
 future generations. No earth-born titles of 
 knighthood were conferred by the king in Je- 
 shuran upon these successful artificers ; but " he 
 blessed them in the name of the Lord," and re- 
 corded their zeal and obedience in the Divine 
 service as an imperishable memorial. The 
 Tabernacle itself was their monument ! The 
 benediction of Moses was the public record of 
 approbation from God and man. Kealizing the 
 inspiration of the Spirit, their work had been 
 characterized as a labor of love. To them the 
 glory of Divine wisdom was apparent in the 
 selection of every element, in the formation of 
 every instrument, in the adaptation of every part 
 to the consummation of the original design. 
 What must have been their feelings at its final 
 dedication, when the whole was irradiated with 
 the glory of the God of Israel ? 
 
 THE TEMPLE. 
 
 The Temple, like the Tabernacle, was a work 
 of God, though erected and furnished by human 
 hands. The record regarding it is less explicit 
 concerning the inspiration of the workmen, but 
 there is enough to convince the unprejudiced 
 mind that the skill of Solomon's artificers must 
 be traced to the same source as that of Bezaleel 
 and Aholiab. In this, however, the circum- 
 stances are entirely different. The exposition of 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 the arts involved in the construction of the 
 Tabernacle, had been progressing for nearly four 
 centuries. The nation of Israel was the most 
 prosperous of all the nations of the earth. We 
 doubt not that during this intervening period, 
 many artificers had been specially endowed for 
 the development of art as well as for the science 
 of war. The accumulative wisdom of these 
 centuries must be devoted spontaneously to the 
 service of God in the building of that house 
 where the Holy One of Israel should place His 
 name. But there is another circumstance which 
 must not be overlooked. The chosen king of 
 Israel was endowed with understanding, and 
 wisdom above all the men who had gone before 
 him ; and also above all by whom he has been 
 succeeded. " God gave Solomon wisdom and un- 
 derstanding exceeding much, and largeness of 
 heart, even as the sand that is on the sea shore. 
 And Solomon's wisdom excelled the wisdom of 
 all the men of the east country, and. all the 
 wisdom of Egypt. For he was wiser than all 
 men." This special inspiration immediately 
 preceded the building of the Temple. The 
 first efforts of this wisdom were consecrated to 
 God. 
 
 But though this was the largest measure of 
 wisdom ever communicated to mere man, it was 
 not sufficient to plan that house which was now 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 225 
 
 to be built to the LORD upon Mount Moriah. 
 The God of infinite wisdom communicated the 
 design to David, which Solomon was inspired 
 with wisdom and understanding to fill up in 
 mechanical detail. The parting counsels of the 
 dying sovereign to his son and successor on the 
 throne of Israel, has especial reference to the 
 building of the Temple. " Take heed now, for 
 the LORD hath chosen thee, to build an house for 
 the sanctuary ; be strong and do it. Then David 
 gave to Solomon his son the pattern of the porch, 
 and of the houses thereof, and of the treasuries 
 thereof, and of the upper chambers thereof, and 
 of the inner parlors thereof, and of the place of 
 the mercy seat, and the pattern of all that he had 
 by the Spirit, of the courts of the house of the 
 Lord, and of all the chambers round about, of 
 the treasuries of the house of God, and of the 
 treasuries of the dedicated things, and all the 
 vessels of service in the house of the Lord. . . . 
 All this said David, the LORD made me under- 
 stand by writing, by His hand upon me, even all 
 the works of this pattern." In receiving this mo- 
 mentous charge, there were communicated gra- 
 cious promises. David said unto Solomon his son, 
 " Be strong and of good courage and doit; fear not, 
 nor be dismayed, for the LORD God, even my God 
 will be with thee, He will not fail thee nor forsake 
 thee until thou hast finished all the work for the 
 10 
 
226 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 service of the house of the LORD. And be- 
 hold the courses of the priests and the Levites, 
 even they shall be with thee, for all the service 
 of the house of God, and there shall be with 
 thee for all manner of workmanship, every will- 
 ing and skilful man for any manner of service, 
 also the princes and all the people will be wholly 
 at thy commandment." Here there is the pro- 
 mise of Divine guidance, the promise of skilful 
 willing workmen the promise of priestly coun- 
 tenance, and of princely assistance. Does not 
 this promise, as given by inspiration to David, 
 necessarily imply that the skill and the readi- 
 ness of mind must be traced to the source from 
 whence the promise itself emanates ? The har- 
 mony and co-operation are similar to what was 
 unfolded in the previous construction of the 
 Tabernacle, consequently, even upon the philo- 
 sophical maxim, that " like causes produce like 
 effects," the mechanical glory and perfection of 
 the Temple must be traced to the inspiration of 
 the Spirit of God. 
 
 This is fully acknowledged in the dedication 
 prayer by which it was set apart to the service 
 of Jehovah, on that solemn day, when it was 
 filled with " the glory of the Lord." " Blessed 
 be the Lord God of Israel who hath with His 
 hands fulfilled that which He spake with His 
 mouth to my father David. ... LORD 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 227 
 
 God of Israel, there is no God like Thee in the 
 heaven nor in the earth ; which keepest cove- 
 nant, and showest mercy unto Thy servants. . . . 
 Thou which hast kept with His servant David 
 my father that which Thou hast promised him, 
 and speakest with Thy mouth, and hast fulfilled 
 it with Thine hand, as it is this day/'* In the 
 introductory sentences of this dedicatory prayer, 
 he unfolds the relation in which this holy house 
 stood to God the designer, and to Solomon the 
 architect. "The LORD hath said, That He 
 would not dwell in the thick darkness. But I 
 have built an house of habitation for Thee, and 
 a place for Thy dwelling forever." While pro- 
 ceeding with a review of the Divine promise, 
 made to the house of Israel ; and while reflect- 
 ing upon the dispensations of Providence to- 
 wards the house of David and especially when 
 he gazed upon the Temple as filled with the 
 Divine glory, he lost sight of his own regal dig- 
 nity he forgets his comprehensive wisdom he 
 rises above the priests, the princes, the cunning 
 artificers he beholds the Temple as of God and 
 to God as the exposition of eternal wisdom in 
 its first elements of thought, and of Almighty 
 power, and infinite goodness in its final consum- 
 mation. 
 
 In the dedication of that, which David the 
 
 * 2 Chron., vi. 14, 16. 
 
228 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 king had prepared for the building of the Temple, 
 God was in the fullest sense recognized as the 
 Author of every gift. " Thine, Lord, is the 
 greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the 
 victory, and the majesty ; for all that is in the 
 heaven and in the earth is Thine ; Thine is the 
 kingdom, LORD, and Thou art exalted as head 
 over all. Both riches and honor come of Thee, 
 and Thou reign est over all ; and in Thine hand 
 is power and might ; and in Thine hand it is to 
 make great, and to give strength unto all. Now, 
 therefore, our God, we thank Thee, and praise 
 Thy glorious name. But who am I, and what is 
 my people that they should be able to offer so 
 willingly after this sort ? For all things come 
 of Thee, and of Thine own have we given Thee" 
 To this the gracious soul of Solomon responds, 
 when he beheld the goodly Temple beaming 
 with the rays of heavenly glory. In every stone 
 of that building in every gilded beam in every 
 ornamental pillar, in every brazen altar, the 
 hand Divine was visible. Nay, in every object, 
 from the tongs and the snuffers, to the mercy 
 seat and the cherubim, the glory of God was 
 exhibited to the eye of faith, in their original 
 construction and sacred use. Genius, and wis- 
 dom, and princely power, and sovereign author- 
 ity, vanish in conception, before the glory and 
 majesty of the Holy One of Israel. The God of 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 229 
 
 the promise fulfilled the God of the covenant 
 pledged the God of the Temple irradiated 
 the God of the Holy of Holies beaming in in- 
 finite majesty from above the mercy seat was 
 ''all and in all" to the faith and hope of Solo- 
 mon, and unto Him alone will he ascribe 
 the glory. " Blessed be the LOBD that hath 
 
 given rest unto His people, Israel 
 
 Now, therefore, arise, LORD God, into Thy 
 resting-place, Thou and the ark of Thy strength ; 
 let Thy priests, LORD God, be clothed 
 with salvation, and let Thy saints rejoice in 
 goodness." 
 
 The Tabernacle, and the Temple, and the 
 sacred vestments were holy, and in their con- 
 struction and use were typical. But though 
 typical, they were still mechanical. That wis- 
 dom by which they were formed was available 
 for common purposes, and those lines of beauty 
 which they displayed might serve as models to 
 future artisans. In their consecration to God, 
 they were not viewed simply as types, but also 
 as the exponents of that wisdom and skill which 
 the Spirit of God had conferred. The artificers 
 were willing-hearted as well as wise-hearted, 
 consequently, the intellectual gifts communi- 
 cated, were dedicated to the service of God, as 
 really as the materials from which it was formed. 
 Is there not here a type of the future renova- 
 
230 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 tion of the arts and sciences, and their entire 
 consecration to the service and honor of God ? 
 To this the prophet Zechariah looked forward. 
 " In that day shall there be upon the bells of 
 the horses, HOLINESS UNTO THE LORD ; 
 and the pots in the LORD'S house shall be like 
 the bowls before the altar. Yea, every pot in 
 Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holiness unto 
 the LOED of hosts." That is, when with the 
 gracious outpouring of the Spirit, there shall be 
 vast enlargement of the human powers, all their 
 energies shall be devoted to God. The wisdom 
 communicated from above will be profitable to 
 direct in every enterprize, and the most common 
 operations of business, shall be conducted with 
 an eye to the glory of God. Then shall the 
 matron and the merchant meet at the Lord's 
 treasury. Then shall the architect and the me- 
 chanic rejoice together in the work of the Lord, 
 Nor is this all, The Spirit of the sanctuary shall 
 pervade the workshop and the manufactory 
 the counting-house and the exchange the 
 stately mansion and the humble cottage. Then 
 shall the family crests the badges of earthly 
 heraldry be supplanted by this universal sym- 
 bol of the supremacy of Jehovah. Nor shall 
 this recognition of the moral Governor be only 
 public or official. HOLINESS UNTO THE LORD 
 shall be the motto exhibited in everv social circle 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 231 
 
 and reflected in the grace and purity of every 
 Christian family. Then shall the angelic song, 
 " Glory to God in the highest," be re-echoed 
 from the mountain and the plain from the 
 bosom of the sea, and from the solitude of 
 the desert from the joyous city, and from 
 the sober hamlet. The factory and the fireside 
 shall both become vocal with the praise of the 
 LORD. 
 
 The language of the prophet is peculiarly 
 emphatic. It is not only in the Temple, that 
 the dedicated vessels of service are holy, but 
 "every pot in Jerusalem and Judah" shall bear 
 the same inscription. That is, In the Temple 
 in the city of solemnities, and in the rural 
 mansion, God shall be recognized, acknowledged, 
 and adored. The religion of the Bible shall no 
 longer be confined to the Sabbath or the sanc- 
 tuary, but permeating the hearts of the reno- 
 vated community, it will manifest itself in every 
 enterprize sweeten every relation sanctify 
 every joy alleviate every trial, and mitigate the 
 sum total of human suffering. Then shall in- 
 deed be realized the conclusion of the angelic 
 stanza " On earth peace, good-will toward 
 men." Then shall the redeemed of the LORD 
 rejoice in the reign of righteousness, and in the 
 triumphs on earth, of grace and truth. Such 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 were the inspired anticipations of the poet 
 Cowper 
 
 " The groans of nature in this nether world 
 "Which heaven has heard for ages, have an end, 
 Foretold by prophets, and by poets sung 
 "Whose fife was kindled at the prophet's lamp, 
 The time of rest, the promised Sabbath comes. 
 Six thousand years of sorrow have well nigh 
 FulfilTd their tardy and disastrous course 
 Over a sinful world ; and what remains 
 Of this tempestuous state of human things 
 Is merely as the working of a sea 
 Before a calm that rocks itself to rest" 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 SCRIPTURE RECORD OF INSPIRED GENIUS DEVOTED TO THE 
 ORDINARY PURPOSES OP SOCIAL LIFE. 
 
 THE building of the Temple was succeeded 
 by the golden age of Jewish history. The reign 
 of Solomon was the culminating point of the 
 Hebrew dynasty. During his administration 
 the body politic had realized its fullest develop- 
 ment. The preceding ages were preparatory 
 for that wonderful display of human wisdom and 
 regal glory by which the land of Palestine was 
 distinguished at this period among the nations 
 of the earth. It has been poetically remarked, 
 that "just as the aloe shoots, and in one stately 
 blossom pours forth the life which has been 
 calmly collecting for a century, so it would ap- 
 pear as if nations were destined to pour forth 
 their accumulated qualities in some characteris- 
 tic man, and then they droop away." It was 
 thus with the nation of Israel during the period 
 of Solomon's glory. That vine which the LORD 
 had brought out of Egypt had taken deep root, 
 
234 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 and had filled the land. The previous inspira- 
 tion of legislators, and warriors, and artisans, 
 had prepared the way for a fuller and richer 
 display of justice, peace, prosperity, and progress, 
 than were attained -during any other period of 
 the Jewish nationality. In Solomon is exhibited 
 the apex of this constitutional pyramid, radiant, 
 indeed, with the rays of wisdom, but reflecting 
 a borrowed light, even that effulgence which 
 beams from the eternal throne. " The LORD 
 gave him wisdom and understanding exceeding 
 much, and largeness of heart, even as the sand 
 that is on the sea shore, so that his wisdom ex- 
 celled the wisdom of all the children of the East 
 country, and all the wisdom of Egypt." As 
 " Melchisedec, King of Salem, priest of the most 
 high God," stood alone in the ministrations of 
 the spiritual sanctuary, thus stood Solomon as king 
 in Jerusalem, gloriously isolated by the magni- 
 tude of his mental powers, when inspired as the 
 minister of Nature's temple, to elicit and ex- 
 pound her hidden treasures. The first fruits of 
 inspired genius were properly devoted to the 
 building of the Temple ; but that wisdom where- 
 with he was endowed was not exhausted by one 
 gigantic effort. His mental powers seem only 
 to have been strengthened by exercise in accom- 
 plishing that stupendous enterprise. Having 
 tasted the sweets of wisdom in laying nature 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 235 
 
 under tribute for the honor of God, he turned 
 again in the giant strength of that genius 
 wherewith the Spirit had endowed him, to her 
 exhaustless resources, that he might elicit her 
 treasures for the benefit of man, and increase the 
 stdfck of human knowledge, by an exposition of 
 their nature and purposes. 
 
 It is customary to contemplate and to speak 
 of Solomon in regard to his regal glory and 
 mental magnitude, and to. view these as if they 
 were designed for his personal aggrandisement. 
 But though isolated by the expansion of his 
 mental powers, there was no design that his wis- 
 dom should be concentrated in himself, or appear 
 merely to be admired by his fellow-men. The 
 inspiration of the Spirit was received as a talent 
 to be traded with, for the benefit of humanity. 
 The record of his great works is a Divine testi- 
 mony to the manner in which his peculiar wis- 
 dom was exercised. In his person and history 
 we are furnished with an illustration of the 
 mind's capabilities, and of the natural course it 
 will pursue when Divinely illuminated. The 
 interests of the Church, the welfare of the state, 
 and the comfort of the family, are beautifully 
 blended in the early period of his administration. 
 Each of these branches might furnish a topic 
 for lengthened illustration, but the present ob- 
 ject is, to contemplate the wisest of men in the 
 
286 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 most favorable circumstances for mental de- 
 velopment ; and, more especially, to consider the 
 objects and pursuits in which, this colossal genius 
 is found embodied. 
 
 INSPIRED WISDOM EVOLVED IN AGRICULTURE. 
 
 His reign was distinguished by the cultivation 
 of the useful arts. In agriculture, and land- 
 scape designs, he had no compeer. " I made me 
 great works, I builded me houses, I planted me 
 vineyards. I made me gardens and orchards, 
 and I planted in them trees of all kinds of fruits. 
 I made me pools of water, to water therewith 
 the wood that bringeth forth trees. I had great 
 possessions of great and small cattle, above all 
 that were in Jerusalem before me." Here is, 
 perhaps, the first example of scientific agricul- 
 ture. The record, as furnished by the Spirit 
 seems to indicate, though yet future, the partial 
 restoration of the luxuries and beauties of Para- 
 dise. Under the hand of Solomon the " earth 
 was subdued/' and its fruitfulness elicited, as it 
 never had been in any preceding age. Is there 
 not, in the portrait of Jerusalem and Judah, as 
 drawn by the Spirit, a lively picture of what 
 this barren world shall yet become, when the 
 Lord shall pour forth his blessings upon his re- 
 deemed people ? Is there not here a type of 
 earth's golden era ? 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 237 
 
 11 Of scenes surpassing fable, and yet true, 
 Scenes of accomplished bliss ; which who can see, 
 Though but in distant prospect, and not feel 
 His soul refreshed with foretaste of the joy ? 
 Rivers of gladness water all the earth, 
 And clothe all climes in beauty : The reproach 
 Of barrenness is past. The fruitful field 
 Laughs with abundance, and the land, once lean, 
 Or fertile only with its own disgrace, 
 Exults to see its thistly curse repealed. 
 The various seasons, woven into one, 
 And that one season an eternal Spring 
 
 INSPIRED GENIUS UNFOLDED IN ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 Of the Temple, as a monument of architectu- 
 ral magnificence, notice has already been taken. 
 As a monument of Divine wisdom reflected in 
 the person of Solomon, it stands in the sacred 
 category with the Tabernacle, and' the Altar, and 
 the Ark of the Covenant, which were all conse- 
 crated to the spiritual service of Jehovah. But 
 there are other monuments of his inspired wis- 
 dom, which stand in the class of common bless- 
 ings such as his royal palace, which occupied 
 thirteen years in its construction, and the house 
 of the Forest of Lebanon, of which the Spirit of 
 God has given us a geometrical design.* The 
 magnificence of these palaces can only be con- 
 ceived by a careful scientific study of the descrip- 
 tion recorded. The exposition of the arts ap- 
 pears in comprehensive development, when we 
 
 * 1 Kings, vii 
 
238 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 reflect upon all the inventions which must neces- 
 sarily have been brought into use at their erec- 
 tion. Of some of these the Spirit has given us 
 distinct information. These palaces were built 
 of " costly stones, according to the measures of 
 hewed stones, sawed with saws, within and 
 without, even from the foundation unto the cop- 
 ing And the foundation was of costly 
 
 stones, even great stones, stones of ten cubits, 
 and stones of eight cubits." These must have 
 required extensive engineering skill to transfer 
 them from the distant quarry, and to place them 
 upon the stately edifice. The ornamental work 
 was in keeping with the building, and all the 
 fittings and furnishing were of the most exqui- 
 site description. Let one specimen suffice. 
 " Moreover, the king made a great throne of 
 ivory, and overlaid it with the best gold. The 
 throne had six steps, and the top of the throne 
 was round behind, and there were stays on either 
 side on the place of the seat, and two lions stood 
 beside the stays. And twelve lions stood there 
 upon the one side and upon the other, upon the 
 six steps. There was not the like in any king- 
 dom." Why, it may be asked, did the Spirit 
 record this exposition of art ? Simply because 
 it was the exponent of that Divine wisdom 
 wherewith the king was so largely endowed- 
 the innocent application of that architectural 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 239 
 
 taste of which he was constituted the historic 
 head. The designs of Babylonian palaces have 
 perished with the ruins of the doomed city ; hut 
 though Jerusalem has fallen, the plans of the 
 Tabernacle, the Temple, and the House of the 
 Forest of Lebanon, have been deposited in the 
 imperishable archives of Bible history. This re- 
 cord is at once a testimony to God's faithfulness 
 in fulfilling the promises of prosperity made to 
 David, to the inspiration of genius wherewith 
 Solomon was endowed, and to the resources of 
 wealth in that land in which the Israelites were 
 planted. May it not be that during the Millen- 
 nium, when righteousness shall reign, and uni- 
 versal peace shall be enjoyed, spiritually illumi- 
 nated kings and nobles shall yet revive this 
 model architecture, restoring the beautiful and 
 the true, while exhibiting the riches of the Di- 
 vine Benefactor ? 
 
 INSPIRED GENIUS DISPLAYED IN WORKS OF 
 TASTE AND ORNAMENT. 
 
 The precious wood imported from Ophir im- 
 parted a fresh impulse to Solomon's inventive 
 powers. " The king made of the almug trees 
 pillars for the house of the LORD, and for the 
 king's house, harps also and psalteries for singers." 
 These he afterwards describes by the significant 
 appellation, " The delights of the sons of men, 
 
240 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 as musical instruments, and that of all sorts." 
 Though his reign was one of peace, his halls ex- 
 hibited the trophies of war wrested from the 
 enemy. Beside these were placed the targets 
 and the shields of beaten gold which were made 
 by the hundred, and deposited in the house of 
 the forest of Lebanon. To these warlike sym- 
 bols may be added the gorgeous drinking 
 vessels of gold, and " all the vessels of the house 
 of the forest of Lebanon which were of pure 
 gold." Space forbids a description of the mol- 
 ten sea, or the chapiters of molten brass, or the 
 nets of checker work, and the wreaths of chain 
 work, which were prepared for ornament. We 
 refer the student of artistic operations to the full 
 and explicit record given by the Spirit in the 
 seventh chapter of the first book of Kings. But 
 let it be observed that in addition to the inspi- 
 ration of Solomon, a heathen artist was prepared 
 by the Spirit to accomplish this work. " King 
 Solomon sent and fetched Hiram out of Tyre. 
 He was a worker in brass, and he was filled with 
 wisdom and understanding, and cunning to 
 work all works in brass." Like Bezaleel and 
 Aholiab he was Divinely qualified, and called by 
 the king of Israel to special work, both sacred 
 and civil. If there was found a worker in brass 
 " filled with wisdom" at Tyre in the highest day 
 of Jewish prosperity and favor, may not such 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 241 
 
 be found from age to age even in the lands of 
 heathenism, and shall not many such be found 
 in this world's Christendom during the coming 
 Millennium ? 
 
 INSPIRATION OF GENIUS, GIVING RISE TO NAVAL 
 ARCHITECTURE, AND INTERNATIONAL COM- 
 MERCE. 
 
 Prior to the reign of Solomon, there seems to 
 have been little traffic by sea. The wants of 
 the Israelites were supplied from internal re- 
 sources. But Palestine being destitute of gold 
 in its mineral state, the necessity for commerce 
 with other lands soon became apparent to the 
 mind of Solomon. David obtained gold by 
 conquest in great abundance ; but Solomon in- 
 troduced a peace-policy, and obtained by com- 
 merce what had formerly been sought only by 
 the sword. " King Solomon made a navy of 
 ships in Eziongeber, which is beside Eloth, on 
 the shore of the Eed Sea, in the land of Edom." 
 This fleet was manned by Tyrian sailors, who 
 were distinguished for nautical skill. " Hiram 
 sent in the navy his servants, shipmen that had 
 knowledge of the sea, with the servants of Solo- 
 mon/' This navy traded with the East Indies, 
 bringing gold and almug trees and precious 
 stones from Ophir. He traded with Egypt and 
 the surrounding kingdoms, in horses and cha- 
 11 
 
242 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 riots and linen. It seems evident, that the prin- 
 ciples of free-trade, which in modern times have 
 so long been overlaid by national selfishness, 
 were fully established by the king of Israel ; 
 and so great was his prosperity under that 
 policy, that " he made silver to be in Jerusalem 
 as stones, and cedars made he to be as sycamore 
 trees in abundance." These records of Bible 
 history are sufficient to prove the tendency of 
 true wisdom to develop itself in the useful 
 arts ; and also the influence of the arts in pro- 
 moting the brotherhood of nations. The won- 
 der is, that with such convincing evidence the 
 question of free-trade should have been so long 
 pending for solution in Britain ; and the greater 
 wonder is, that Britain alone has adopted this 
 policy. The reign of Solomon is a standing 
 memorial of the legitimate application of native 
 genius in solving the question of national inter- 
 course. Strange ! that with the aid of the com- 
 pass, and the use of steam, nations should still 
 be iron-bound by the shackles of prejudice and 
 local selfishness ! But the time shall yet come 
 when inspired genius shall sit upon the thrones 
 of earth, and the world shall become like Pales- 
 tine, in its policy of peace, and universal pros- 
 perity. 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 243 
 
 THE INSPIRATION OF GENIUS AS EMBODIED IN 
 PHILOSOPHY AND LITERATURE. 
 
 The bent of Solomon's mind towards agricul- 
 ture, art, and commerce, has already been no- 
 ticed, and the record of his achievements is such 
 as to place him pre-eminently above all kings. 
 But even these departments were insufficient to 
 exhaust that genius wherewith he was endowed. 
 It is in the higher branches of human know- 
 ledge that he stands transcendently above the 
 stature of all his contemporaries and successors. 
 His mind appears, in the plane of human know- 
 ledge, as a mental Colossus, whose altitude can- 
 not be measured by the ordinary intellectual 
 quadrant. His was a culminating mind which 
 embraced the entire region of existing know- 
 ledge. His genius was the practical embodi- 
 ment of that prophetic type of intellect which 
 stretches far in the distance, and grasps the full 
 development of a future age. He was the chief 
 of those master spirits which constitute the land- 
 marks of human progress. As the snowy-crown 
 of the Alpine chain reflects the morning rays of 
 the sun of nature, long ere the depths of the 
 vallies are flooded by his effulgent beams ; so the 
 towering intellect of Solomon was made to reflect 
 that light of genius which shall yet be diffused 
 in copious measure upon future generations. 
 
244 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 None can predict what may be the expansion of 
 the mental powers in that coming age, when 
 " the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and 
 all flesh shall see it together." 
 
 How difficult to classify his studies or his ac- 
 quirements ! The amplitude of his knowledge 
 confounds philosophic distinctions. Each branch 
 appears so radiant that it naturally blends with 
 the pure light of every other. Each topic 
 and object seems as if brought within the 
 beams of divinity, reflected through the most 
 exalted of merely human intellects. He was a 
 living Encyclopaedia of the arts and sciences a 
 system of philosophy a body of divinity. The 
 cabinet of knowledge natural, political, moral, 
 and sacred opened before the touch of his 
 genius ; as the prison gates unfolded their leaves 
 before the Apostle when led by an angel. Of 
 his general knowledge it is said, " he was wiser 
 than all men, than Ethan, and Heman, and 
 Chalcol, and Darda." " His wisdom excelled 
 the wisdom of the children of the East country, 
 and all the children of Egypt, and his fame was 
 in all nations round about." 
 
 As a naturalist, " he spake of trees, from the 
 cedar tree that is in Lebanon, even unto the 
 hyssop that springeth out of the wall ; he spake 
 also of beasts, and of fowl, and of creeping 
 things, and of fishes." As a moralist and econo- 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 245 
 
 mist, he stands unrivalled for "he spake three 
 thousand proverbs," of which such as were suited 
 to general utility have found a place in the 
 sacred volume. As a poet, we may form some 
 conception of his genius from the number of 
 songs indited, being no less than " one thousand 
 and five." The solitary specimen of these, which 
 has found a place in the temple of revealed 
 truth, is eulogised by the Spirit, when he speaks 
 of it as " the song of songs" that is, the perfec- 
 tion of moral purity and poetic beauty. As a 
 philosopher, he could solve the most abstruse 
 problems, and with inimitable brevity and power 
 record their solution in some proverbial sentence. 
 Thus, the question of circulation in the atmos- 
 phere; and liquid elements of nature as now 
 discovered by philosophical observation was 
 stated in a single verse, as an ordinary matter of 
 course. "All the rivers run into the sea, yet the 
 sea is not fuU : unto the place from whence 
 the rivers come, thither they return again." 
 Volumes have been written by those esteemed 
 great philosophers, upon such topics, but by this 
 master-mind the essence of most comprehensive 
 truths is combined in a sentence, replete with 
 instruction. 
 
 Acquaintance with even one of these depart- 
 ments of knowledge would render the name of a 
 philosopher illustrious in our own day, notwith- 
 
246 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 standing the lapse of more than twenty-eight 
 centuries since Solomon's prelections were deliv- 
 ered to crowned students in Jerusalem. To write 
 or speak with scientific acumen upon any branch 
 of modern physics, will furnish a note of intro- 
 duction to the literati of Europe. But Solomon 
 was alike at home in every department of know- 
 ledge, and not more at home than ready to com- 
 municate. The fame of Solomon's wisdom drew 
 around him all the master spirits of the age. 
 Jerusalem was the seat of science for the world ; 
 the court of Solomon the rendezvous of philo- 
 sophers, who came to light their lamps at this 
 planetory orb, that they might shine by his re- 
 flection in their own remote and gloomy spheres. 
 " There came of all people to hear the wisdom 
 of Solomon, from all kings of the earth, which 
 had heard of his wisdom." 
 
 The wisdom of Solomon was associated with 
 the most enlarged affections, even " largeness of 
 heart as the sand that is on the sea shore." 
 In ordinary minds, a very diminutive portion of 
 Solomon's learning frequently leads to the nur- 
 ture of pride, which is usually exhibited in the 
 ungainly hauteur of the pedantic preceptor. 
 But amidst the vastitude of knowledge in which 
 his capacious soul daily revelled, there was ever 
 found benignity beaming from those eyes, which 
 reflected the inner light upon his distinguished 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 247 
 
 pupils, and " in his tongue was the law of kind- 
 ness," even while pouring forth that burning 
 eloquence which astonished and enriched the 
 world. Though grasping in one intellectual 
 embrace, philosophy, morality, and divinity ; and 
 though sweeping with a heaven-taught and 
 divinely-directed hand the sympathetic chords 
 of Nature's harmonicum, yet, as a wise and 
 humble preacher, " he still taught the people 
 knowledge." Every question was answered with 
 candor and kindness. In his presence feminine 
 delicacy was encouraged to pour forth freely all 
 its interrogatories. " When the Queen of Sheba 
 heard of the fame of Solomon, concerning the 
 name of the LORD, she came to prove him with 
 hard questions." When admitted to an audi- 
 ence, " she communed with him of all that was 
 in her heart. And Solomon told her all her 
 questions : there was not any thing hid from the 
 King that he told her not." 
 
 Perhaps the best comment upon Solomon's 
 greatness is the simple Scripture record of this 
 interview. This Queen was the sovereign of 
 one of the richest countries, even of Sheba. She 
 was a person of no ordinary acquisitions in 
 knowledge and wisdom. She came not merely 
 to see the magnificence of the palace, and the 
 manners of the court, but to obtain from this 
 master-spirit the solution of all her perplexing 
 
248 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 questions. How striking the result upon her 
 mind though trained amidst the profusion of 
 earthly glory in her court at Sheba " when she 
 had seen all Solomon's wisdom, and the house 
 that he had built, and the meat of his table, and 
 the sitting of his servants, and the attendance 
 of his ministers, and their apparel, and his cup- 
 bearers, and his ascent by which he went up to the 
 house of the LORD, there was no more spirit hi 
 her. And she said unto the King, It was a true 
 report that I heard in mine own land of thine 
 acts and of thy wisdom ; and behold the half 
 was not told me." To whom does she ascribe the 
 honor of all this wisdom and magnificence ? 
 Does she flatter Solomon, or give him the praise 
 of his architectural achievements ? Does she 
 look upon his wisdom as self-attained, and give 
 him the personal honor of all his acquisitions ? 
 Does she burn incense to genius, and present 
 her offering at the shrine of human wisdom ? 
 Verily, no ! " Blessed be the . LORD thy God, 
 which delighted in thee, to set thee on the throne 
 of Israel : because the LORD loved Israel for- 
 ever, therefore made He thee king to do justice 
 and judgment." The conduct of the Queen of 
 Sheba is the best illustration of the principle for 
 which we contend throughout this treatise. She 
 admired the works of Solomon as highly as her 
 mental constitution would admit. She admired 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 249 
 
 the genius by which they had been contrived 
 and constructed. But she admired most of all, 
 nay, adored, the blessed God of Israel, by whose 
 Spirit that genius was inspired, and by whose 
 providence these riches were provided, and thus 
 presented in their forms of magnificence and 
 beauty. 
 
 This feeling was common to the ancients. The 
 worshippers of the true God, and the worship- 
 pers of heathen idols, were wont to ascribe 
 peculiar manifestations of genius to a Divine' 
 source. The poets invoked the muses, and war- 
 riors presented their sacrifices to propitiate fic- 
 titious deities. Shall Christianity alone discard 
 the recognition of God from the gifts He com- 
 municates ? The inspirations of genius, as re- 
 vealed, and the operations of genius, as recorded 
 in the Bible, clearly prove that it is a special 
 gift, which God in His supremacy bestows upon 
 whom He will, for the accomplishment of His 
 designs. It is a reflected light, which centres 
 in the fountain of infinite 'wisdom the source 
 of all that is beautiful, and true, and beneficent 
 in nature and in art. 
 
 - 
 
 " Say, why was roan so eminently raised 
 Amid the vast creation ; why ordain'd 
 Through life and death to dart his piercing eye, 
 With thoughts beyond the limits of his frame ; 
 But that the Omnipotent might send him forth, 
 In sight of mortal and immortal 
 11* 
 
250 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 As on a boundless theatre, to ran 
 The great career of justice ; to exalt 
 His generous aim to all diviner deeds." 
 
 Some may be ready to found an objection 
 against the general theory deduced from this 
 species of inspiration, upon the testimony of So- 
 lomon, when describing all such achievements 
 as characterized by vanity. " I have seen all 
 the works that are done under the sun, and be- 
 hold all is vanity and vexation of spirit." Again, 
 the decline of Solomon's piety may be ascribed 
 by some to his occupation with these works of 
 science, art, and literature. Of this cause there 
 is no indication in the sacred narrative. As to 
 the origin of his apostacy the Bible is explicit. 
 He yielded not obedience to his own maxim. He 
 ceased to rejoice with the wife of his youth ; and 
 having loved idolaters, their influence over him 
 alienated his affections from the true God. 
 Though these works were characterized as 
 vanity, there was no condemnation of any of 
 those legitimate pursuits in which he had been 
 engaged. It is evident that while he was most 
 occupied, tlte current of his piety ran deepest. 
 It was only when his ardor in the service of God 
 had somewhat abated, and when his studies had 
 been supplanted by ease and indulgence, that 
 his piety declined. Besides, his record of embit- 
 tered experieno^may bo viewed as an evangelical 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 251 
 
 reflection upon the relation between the immor- 
 tal soul and the most exalted of creature com- 
 forts. If any descendent of Adam could possibly 
 realize happiness in temporal things, Solomon 
 had the best opportunity ever afforded. But 
 the wildest range the fullest cup of creature 
 comforts, viewed apart from God, is utterly in- 
 sufficient to confer happiness. 
 
 " Attempt how vain 
 
 With things of earthly sort, with aught but God, 
 "With aught but moral excellence, truth, and love, 
 To satisfy and fill the immortal. soul!" 
 This is the attempt : 
 " To satisfy the ocean with a drop ; 
 To marry immortality to death ; 
 And with the unsubstantial shade of time 
 To fill the embrace of all eternity." POLLOK. 
 
 The argument, as hitherto pursued, has been 
 illustrated by reference to special and peculiar 
 cases. These cases, however, though beyond 
 the ordinary capabilities of man, embrace the 
 common operations of the human mind, and the 
 ordinary application of human knowledge to 
 material things. The great difference is in the 
 degree of skill and knowledge brought into 
 operation. There is another point of difference 
 the fact that they are historically associated 
 with the development of the plan of redemption. 
 Legislators, such as Moses, the Elders, Saul, 
 David, and Solomon, were raised up in immediate 
 relation to the Church of Israel. Artisans, 
 
252 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 such as Bezaleel, and Aholiab, and Hiram, were 
 specially prepared for the construction of Di- 
 vinely-planned sanctuaries, to be dedicated to 
 holy purposes. Warriors, such as Othniel, and 
 Gideon, and Jephtha, and Samson, and David, 
 were chosen deliverers of a chosen people. Con- 
 sequently, the inference is fallaciously drawn, 
 that it is only in such peculiar cases that we can 
 expect extraordinary gifts, or that we ought to 
 recognize the outgoings of the Spirit of God as 
 a ruling and guiding Spirit in the moral go- 
 vernment of Jehovah. Is not this to set limits 
 upon the Holy One, and to confine the Provi- 
 dence of God to special cases related to the 
 Church instead of embracing the circumstances 
 of the Church in the universal plan, and viewing 
 the government of God as directing the whole 
 with a reference to His own glory in her complete 
 development ? This is also to draw a line of 
 distinction between great and little events, 
 founded upon our local conceptions of moral and 
 physical relations among the creatures. But 
 the whole world has a relation to the universe, 
 and to the Moral Governor. The whole family 
 of man has a physical relation to the world, and 
 a moral relation to God, by whom both were 
 created. The "principalities and powers" of 
 the world have a relation to the Divine govern- 
 ment, and are made subservient to the Divine 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 253 
 
 purposes. The Church has a relation to huma- 
 nity, to civil institutions, and to the Divine do- 
 minion. The family institute has a relation to 
 the Church, to the state, and to the moral 
 dominion of God. Each individual has a relation 
 to all these ; consequently nothing that transpires 
 in the universe can be unimportant to the Moral 
 Governor, nor to the various parties within the 
 range of that government. Science and art, or 
 the knowledge of physical things, and the capa- 
 bility to use them, have a relation to every man 
 personally, and to all men socially, as respects 
 the means of sustenance, the enjoyment of phy- 
 sical comfort, and the progress of mental devel- 
 opment. Science and art have a relation to 
 God, inasmuch as they expound His attributes, 
 and show forth the riches of His kingdom. It 
 is no degradation of Deity in our conceptions, 
 to behold Him producing and conducting physi- 
 cal and mental operations in the artificial, as 
 well as in the natural world. If the comfort and 
 happiness of His creatures are not beneath the 
 condescension of His love, the means by which 
 these may be promoted are certainly not beyond 
 the compass of His wisdom, or the grasp of His 
 power. Why, then, should any display of Di- 
 vine beneficence in the history of His creatures 
 be overlooked and disregarded ? 
 
 It is true that those special dispensations and 
 
254 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 peculiar gifts, which are recorded in the Bible, 
 stand in near relation to the Church and the 
 exhibition of the plan of mercy. Are all 
 other dispensations of providence, besides those 
 recorded, or such as may be in the same 
 category, to be treated as common ; nay, as the 
 operation or acts of the creature only ? Would 
 not this be an exclusion of God from His own 
 dominion ? The acts of the Kedeemer to which 
 John refers, as not recorded, are not less Divine 
 than those which have obtained a place in the 
 sacred narrative. In like manner, the dispen- 
 sations of providence relating to the world, and 
 to the history of humanity in the world, are as 
 really Divine as any recorded in connexion with 
 the history of His Church. But this is a doc- 
 trine, not merely to be inferred from the Divine 
 testimony regarding His moral government, but 
 a doctrine explicitly stated by the prophet 
 Isaiah,* in which God is represented as the au- 
 thor of agricultural skill, and also of the ordinary 
 farming implements. 
 
 "Give ye ear, and hear my voice; hearken, and hear my 
 speech, 
 
 Doth the plowman plow all day to sow ? Doth he open and 
 break the clods of his ground ? 
 
 When he hath made plain the face thereof, 
 
 Doth he not cast abroad the fitches, arnd scatter the cum- 
 min, 
 
 * Chapter xxviii. 23-30. 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 255 
 
 And cast in the principal wheat and the appointed barley, and 
 the rye in their place? 
 
 For Ms God doth instruct him to discretion, and doth teach 
 him. 
 
 For the fitches are not threshed with a threshing instru- 
 ment, 
 
 Neither is a cart wheel turned about upon the cummin ; 
 
 But the fitches are beaten out with a staff, and the cummin 
 with a rod. 
 
 Bread corn is bruised ; because he will not ever be thresh- 
 ing it, 
 
 Nor break it with the wheel of his cart ; nor bruise it with 
 his horsemen. 
 
 This also cometh forth from the LORD of hosts 
 
 Which is wonderful in counsel and excellent in working.' 1 ' 1 
 
 This passage is so direct and explicit, that it 
 requires no comment when adduced in proof of 
 the whole theory propounded in the preceding 
 chapters. The simple reading of the text, will 
 convince any mind believing in Bible truth, that 
 the works of art were emanations of Deity. The 
 man who will deny the fact in face of this testi- 
 mony, must be prepared to deny the existence 
 of God, and to reject that revelation which un- 
 folds His character. This is a testimony to the 
 minute care with which the moral Governor 
 watches over the lives and actions of His crea- 
 tures. The Spirit here selects the simplest 
 efforts of human skill, to " subdue the earth/' 
 and He shows that even these elementary prin- 
 ciples of agricultural genius must be tfaced to 
 the fountain of infinite wisdom. By beginning 
 
256 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS, 
 
 thus, with the simpler arts, would He not teach 
 us that God is the author of all ? If the plough- 
 ing, sowing, reaping, and threshing out of the 
 grain by the simplest Oriental implements be of 
 God ; on what principle, shall Divine wisdom, 
 power, and goodness be excluded from the com- 
 plicated machinery of modern "husbandry ? If 
 the communication of knowledge and wisdom 
 and power be derived from God, in conducting 
 the concerns of a farm, is it not equally, nay, 
 more clearly manifest in the complex machinery 
 of the workshop, and the factory in short, of 
 all that obtains a place in the region of artificial 
 phenomena ? If the common flail or staff, the 
 drag, the threshing-wain, and, even the tramp- 
 ling hoofs of oxen, as employed by the Orientals 
 in separating the grain from the straw, led the 
 prophet to adore the LOUD of hosts, as " won- 
 derful in counsel and excellent in working," 
 shall those upon whom the light of the Gospel 
 has risen, become obscure in their views of God's 
 special providence ? Shall the increase of know- 
 ledge make men so far forgetful of God that 
 mechanical inventions will only elicit the wor- 
 ship of genius ? 
 
 If these simpler operations and implements 
 moved the mind of the ancient prophet, shall 
 magnetism and steam, and electricity excite no 
 sense of gratitude to the God of Providence ? 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 257 
 
 If the sight of a plough, and the lowing of the 
 oxen, and the sound of the flail, drew forth 
 these sublime and pious acknowledgments of 
 God, shall the spinning-mill, the power-loom, 
 the steam-ship, the railway, and the electric 
 telegraph, elicit no glory to the LORD of hosts 
 who is wonderful in counsel and excellent in 
 working. God forbid, that with the rapid de- 
 velopment of the world's resources the expan- 
 sion of knowledge the extension of commerce 
 the increase of national wealth the multipli- 
 cation of the means of personal and social com- 
 fort we should become so far atheistic as to 
 forget or deny the Author of every blessing ! 
 With the Bible doctrine of a presiding and 
 directing providence so clearly revealed, shall we 
 become the worshippers of mammon or bow 
 down to genius, or sound the note of praise to 
 national enterprize ? Shall the discoveries in 
 science, and the inventions of art tend only to 
 lead this highly favored generation away from 
 God? Shall the mitigation of the physical 
 curse only tend to produce fresh acts of rebellion 
 against the supremacy of the moral Governor ? 
 Let it not be y is the warning voice of inspira- 
 tion ! Let it not be, is the solemn response of 
 enlightened reason ! Let it not be, is the testi- 
 mony of God engraven at once upon the mental 
 and artificial phenomena of the world. To be 
 
258 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 guilty of such ingratitude would degrade the 
 civilized nations below the scale of heathendom. 
 The bards oft Greece and Home celebrated the 
 praises of their fictitious deities the supposed 
 sources of wealth the patrons of agriculture, of 
 science, of art, and of war. Shall Christian 
 nations withhold from the " Father of lights 
 the Giver of every good and perfect gift," that 
 homage which the heathen world accords to 
 imaginary deities ? Nay, rather let us plant 
 our foot upon the firm foundation of a special 
 providence. Let us see as of old, the operations 
 of the Spirit revealed in this or that aspect of 
 human genius. Let us receive every useful in- 
 vention as a special gift of the bountiful Bene- 
 factor. Then shall we feel that " God is in the 
 heavens, in the earth, and in the sea." Then 
 shall His steps of infinite majesty appear in the 
 mighty deep, and on the swelling tide of human 
 history. Then shall the traces of omnipotence 
 be seen inscribed upon every mechanical, as 
 really as upon every natural object. Then shall 
 it be felt that God's presence is not confined to 
 consecrated temples or hallowed shrines ; nor 
 the homage which he justly claims, to the stated 
 worship of the Sabbath or the sanctuary. While 
 heaven is His throne, and earth His footstool ; 
 angels and men, in all the busy walks of life, 
 are but His agents. Consequently, amidst the 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 259 
 
 revolving wheels of the factory the sounding 
 hammers of the workshop the rushing car- 
 riages of the railway, and the trembling vi- 
 brations of the electric telegraph, 'the Divine 
 presence may be seen and felt as really as when 
 reflected by the sublimest objects of natural 
 scenery. To the devout philosopher, the pious 
 mechanic, and the Christian operative, the vari- 
 ous works of art must appear as the spontaneous 
 emanations of infinite wisdom, and the standing 
 monuments of boundless beneficence. 
 
 Were we heaven-taught, as we might have 
 been, with the Bible for our guide, we would 
 discover by a spiritual intuition, that the natural, 
 the intellectual, and the moral, are but three 
 concentric spheres of which God is the 'author ; 
 in and over every department of which Divine 
 sovereignty and glory are peculiarly displayed. 
 Consequently, that which holds true of the uni- 
 verse that " without Him was not any thing 
 made that was made," is also true of the entire 
 region of artificial phenomena. The genius 
 that contrived, the skill that formed, and the 
 materials out of which every invention was con- 
 ^structed, furnish no exception to this universal 
 announcement. That propriety which Grod as 
 Creator claims over the artificer in iron, is ap- 
 plicable to every constructor of machinery. 
 " Behold, I have created the smith that bloweth 
 
260 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 the coals in the fire, and that bringeth forth an 
 instrument for his work, and I have created the 
 waster to destroy." The artisan that forges the 
 sword of destruction, the iron of which it is 
 formed, and the hand that wields it, are but 
 different instruments employed by the Grod of 
 providence to avenge His quarrel. If this be 
 true regarding the weapons of war, is it not 
 equally true of those inventions which confer in- 
 numerable blessings upon the family of man ? 
 And is it not evident if they are God's, to 
 Him redounds the glory, whosoever may be em- 
 ployed to discover their elementary principles, 
 or to adjust their due proportions ? 
 
 However vast may be the expansion of mind 
 in the contemplation of nature, there is here 
 also a source of mental elevation when behold- 
 ing the rude elements of her material system re- 
 modelled in innumerable forms of utility and 
 beauty. In not a few cases the inanimate 
 elements are presented as the very automatons of 
 active life ; doing man's work and increasing 
 general comfort. Nothing in science or art is 
 so humble as to be unworthy of notice, nor so 
 simple, if viewed in a believing spirit, as not to 
 afford profitable lessons. The fact that God has 
 made provision in nature for its production, and 
 in due time created the reflecting agent to ad- 
 just its proportions, is sufficient to invest it with 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 261 
 
 a permanent interest. As' a mere machine, it 
 is associated with a living agent, by whom its 
 symmetry was evolved. That moral agent is asso- 
 ciated with a still higher intelligence even 
 with the Author of the universe. Of all that is 
 sublime in nature, the mind of man is the most 
 exalted. Though now a ruin, it bears evidence 
 of its original glory. Even as fallen, it exhibits 
 some of the remaining rays of Divine efful- 
 gence. 
 
 "Search, undismayed, the dark profound, 
 Where Nature works in secret ; view the beds 
 Of mineral treasure, and the eternal vault 
 That bounds the hoary ocean ; trace the forms 
 Of atoms, moving with incessant change, 
 Their elemental round ; behold the seeds 
 Of being, and the energy of life 
 Kindling the mass with ever active flame ; 
 Then to the secrets of the working mind 
 Attentive turn ; from dim oblivion call 
 Her fleet ideal band ; and bid them go 
 Break through time's barrier, and o'ertake the hour 
 That saw the heavens created. Then declare, 
 If aught were found in these external scenes 
 To move thy wonder now." AKENSIDE. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 INQUIRY REGARDING THE SOURCE OP THAT DIFFERENCE OF 
 CONCEPTION WITH WHICH THE MIND IS WONT TO VIEW THE 
 WORKS OF NATURE AS COMPARED WITH MECHANICAL IN- 
 VENTIONS. 
 
 THE source of that difference of feeling with 
 which man contemplates artificial, as contrasted 
 with natural phenomena, becomes an important 
 subject of inquiry. Having proved that both 
 are of God, and that both are designed to re- 
 flect the Divine glory ; how is it, that in the one, 
 God is almost universally acknowledged, while 
 in the other he is almost as universally disre- 
 garded ? How is it that even the Bible student 
 absorbed .though he may be with the wonders 
 of redemption can yet overlook any department 
 of the works of God, or mentally exclude the 
 Deity from the walks of science, or the achieve- 
 ments of art ? Whence that apathy of the me- 
 chanic, which leads him to contemplate with 
 indifference those manifestations of wisdom and 
 goodness, which are brought to light by the in- 
 vestigations of philosophy, and made to minister 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 263 
 
 to human comfort by the inventions of art ? 
 How is it that a cascade or a boiling fountain 
 a burning volcano or an eddying whirlpool 
 a deep defile or a towering mountain a bril- 
 liant star or a glowing worm a blazing sun or 
 a shining pearl will tend at once to lift the 
 meditative soul to God ? And yet the same in- 
 dividual be he peasant or philosopher may 
 be conducted through the most intricate and 
 beautiful works of art, and recognize not that 
 God is there ! He may admire the complicated 
 machinery of the spinning-mill, with its thou- 
 sands of revolving wheels and belts and shafts 
 and spindles he may survey the mighty engine 
 standing at majestic distance, propelling them 
 all, in their complex and reflex revolutions, as 
 if moved at will by some master spirit of irre- 
 sistible authority he may stand upon the beach 
 and behold the gallant ship dashing through the 
 angry surf, or breasting the mountain billow, 
 propelled by the same artificial power of steam 
 -he may mark the rapid progress of the rail- 
 way train as dragged at will by the breathing 
 locomotive he may recognise the presence of 
 the mimic lightning, noiselessly receiving its 
 message, and ascending with trembling footsteps 
 the wiry path-way to distant continents you 
 may show him the products of mechanical skill 
 inventions of every description from the 
 
264 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 agricultural implements of savage life to the 
 draining, watering, reaping, threshing, steam- 
 propelling instruments of a model farm you 
 may include naval architecture, from the wicker 
 skin-covered coracle of the ancient Druid, to the 
 British man-of-war or steam-propelled fleet 
 you may rise in the survey from the Oriental 
 maiden's distaff, to the princely merchant's 
 spinning-mill nay, you may traverse the nave, 
 the galleries, and the suburbs of this world's 
 " Palace of Industry," and yet not hear one note 
 of response to the devotional announcement of 
 the prophet, " this also cometh forth from the 
 LORD of hosts, which is wonderful in counsel 
 and excellent in working;" nor one expression 
 of sympathy with the apocalyptic elders as seen 
 by John, casting their crowns at the feet of Him 
 who sat upon the throne, exclaiming in holy 
 ecstacy, " Thou art worthy, LORD, to receive 
 glory, and honor, and power, for Thou hast 
 created att things, and for Thy glory they are 
 and were created !" 
 
 For this difference of feeling in the review of 
 mechanical inventions, as contrasted with natu- 
 ral objects, many reasons might be adduced and 
 largely illustrated from human experience. 
 Every mind might present some new phase of 
 the subject, though all may be traced to one 
 source the natural atheism of depraved hu- 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 265 
 
 manity. That God is dishonored by mental 
 exclusion from any department of His works, 
 must be apparent to every reflecting mind. 
 Hence, before concluding the arguments already 
 presented, the following reasons are assigned as 
 some of the more prominent in leading to the 
 practical denial of the wisdom and goodness of 
 God:- 
 
 FIRST THE HUMAN MIND RECOGNIZES IN NATU- 
 RAL PHENOMENA THE IMMEDIATE CREATIONS 
 OF DEITY, WHILE IT BEHOLDS IN MECHANICAL 
 INVENTIONS, THE PRODUCTIONS OF GENIUS. 
 
 This difference of conception arises not simply 
 from that disparity which must ever exist, be- 
 tween the works of God, and those of the most 
 exalted of His creatures. We admit the con- 
 trast, and hold that the mind must be atheistic, 
 indeed, that cannot, or rather will not recognize 
 the impress of the Divine hand upon the stu- 
 pendous works of nature. The experience of 
 David meets a response in every bosom, in which 
 reason has not been completely perverted, when 
 beholding the wonderful works of Deity, he ex- 
 claimed, " The heavens declare the glory of 
 God, and the firmament sheweth His handy- 
 work." In the least if we can pronounce upon 
 magnitude, where creative power alone operates 
 as well as in the greatest the presence and 
 12 
 
266 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 power of God are distinctly visible. The ephe- 
 meral insect, fluttering in the sunbeam, pro- 
 claims the divinity of its Author as much as the 
 soaring eagle, borne aloft upon his untiring 
 pinions, beyond the reach of human vision, in 
 the azure vault of heaven. The animalculee, 
 whose ocean is a single drop from the stagnant 
 pool, declares by its existence, that the life giv- 
 ing God is there, as really, as the mighty levi- 
 athan, whose watery habitation and store-house 
 encircle the globe. The molecule of light, as 
 truly as the blazing sun, reflects the glory of 
 Him who dispelled chaotic darkness by the 
 word of His power. And, what is true of one 
 is true of all the productions of creative energy. 
 Regarding the whole of these, the reason of the 
 philosopher responds to the faith of the Chris- 
 tian while exclaiming with gratitude 
 
 " My Father made them all." 
 
 This clearly proves, that it is not mere mag- 
 nitude, nor apparent utility, which produces 
 disparity of feeling in the contemplation of na- 
 tural as contrasted with artificial phenomena. 
 Neither is it the wonderful mechanism of the 
 former, as compared with the latter, that gives 
 rise to pious emotions in reviewing nature, while 
 the review of inventions is calculated to excite 
 only speculative ideas regarding commerce and 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 267 
 
 profit. It seems that this disparity arises partly 
 from the association of ideas with them, as the 
 productions of different agents. In the natural 
 world the hand of God is seen directly and ex- 
 clusively. The history of creation exhibits these 
 objects as formed before man had a being ; hence 
 they are associated in human conception, with 
 Divine attributes. In the artificial phenomena 
 of the world, the hand of man is seen inclusively 
 and proximately, consequently, overlooking the 
 Author of the artisan, and the work of art pro- 
 duced, the mind is ready to associate inventions 
 with man entirely, and to exclude from its con- 
 ceptions the perfections of Deity. Forgetful of 
 the universal Proprietor, mental associations are 
 connected with the immediate object, and the 
 proximate agent by which it has assumed its 
 present form, rather than with the original 
 elements, and the powers of genius in their re- 
 lation to the Creator of both. There is thus a 
 mental transference of the invention from God, 
 the primary cause of its existence, to man the 
 immediate agent employed in its construction. 
 Thus, the steam-engine is associated with the 
 genius of Watt, while the relations to God of the 
 iron and brass the water and the coal the 
 mental faculties and skilful hands are com- 
 pletely forgotten. It is thus, that in the mental 
 separation of the artificial, from the natural 
 
268 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 phenomena, there is a separation of all associated 
 ideas, and this separation extends to the Author 
 as well as to the objects. In consequence of 
 this, there is a corresponding transference of the 
 glory which is due to God, to the creature em- 
 ployed and qualified as an agent in accomplishing 
 the Divine purposes. This has given rise to the 
 atheistic adage 
 
 "God made the country, but man made the town" 
 
 while it is evident that nothing can possibly be 
 exhibited in the erection of the town, but the 
 elements of which have been provided in the 
 country, and no skill or genius can be displayed 
 but such as God has communicated. " The earth 
 is the LORD'S and the fulness thereof, the world 
 and they that dwell therein." 
 
 SECOND THERE IS AN INNATE TENDENCY IN 
 
 DEPRAVED HUMANITY, TO EXCLUDE THE IDEA 
 OF GOD THE FIRST CAUSE, WHEREVER REASON 
 CAN DISCERN THE OPERATION OF AN INTEL- 
 LIGENT PROXIMATE CAUSE. 
 
 The original error of Adam is oft repeated by 
 his posterity. He turned for happiness from 
 the Author of his being, to the subjects of his 
 dominion from the Creator of all his comforts, 
 to the creature, denied in infinite wisdom. This 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 269 
 
 is the radical error of all his fallen descendants. 
 The more of human reason there is displayed in 
 any object, the less is God, the Author, of reason 
 recognized. " The fool hath said in his heart, 
 no God." Under a sense of guilt, and a conse- 
 quent dread of punishment, yet resolved to 
 gratify his depraved lusts and appetites, the de- 
 sire of the heart, rather than the conviction of 
 the understanding is, that there were no God. 
 And, it is not in the moral world only that the 
 unrenewed soul would seek to dethrone Jehovah. 
 It would, if possible, banish every trace of God 
 from the universe. The carnal mind would 
 willingly exclude Deity from the moral world, 
 as it has practically done from the natural and 
 artificial ; because, if convictions of the presence 
 of God be retained, in association with any de- 
 partment of His works, it is impossible to ex- 
 tinguish a sense of responsibility. It is natural 
 therefore, to exclude the thoughts of God from 
 those works with which sinful man is most con- 
 versant ; and especially from those artificial 
 works in the construction or use of which selfish- 
 ness, envy, jealousy, and pride, are the predomi- 
 nating motives. It would be difficult for the 
 most depraved, to over-reach and defraud, in 
 the current transactions of business, with appar- 
 ent complacency, if the presence of God, even 
 as the God of infinite wisdom and goodness 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 were felt, as reflected in the artificial phenomena 
 by which the mechanic or the operative is daily 
 surrounded. "No God" is consequently the 
 wish, and no God is the unphilosophical conclu- 
 sion attained in the face of the clearest evidence 
 revealing His character. " It is thus that the 
 atheistic heart makes atheistic logic." 
 
 The palpable fallacy, which would not be ad- 
 mitted for a moment in the simplest chain of 
 reasoning regarding causation in the natural 
 world, is voluntarily adopted in deciding upon 
 the first, and fundamental question of all exist - 
 ence, and eternal destiny. The denial of the 
 existence of God, or of His providential arrange- 
 ments in any department of His works is not so 
 much simple atheism, as antetheism. It is not 
 a feeling of indifference only, in regard to that 
 relation which man sustains to the Author of his 
 being, but the risings of rebellion against the 
 holy nature, and righteous claims of the moral 
 Governor. Such sceptics cannot think of God 
 without a sense of actual hatred. Their eyes 
 are voluntarily closed against the evidence of 
 His existence, because the fact of that existence 
 to the resolute sinner is the foreboding of eternal 
 destruction. The sceptic does violence at once 
 to God, and to his own mental constitution. 
 Because conscience warns him of danger, and 
 reproves him under a sense of guilt, he would 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 271 
 
 root up this radical principle from his sentient 
 nature. Should he succeed in obliterating the 
 last remnants of his moral sense, or even con- 
 vince himself that there is no God, will he 
 prove a more faithful husband, a more affec- 
 tionate father, a kinder master, a better servant, 
 a more confidential friend, or a more useful 
 member of society ? Will he soar higher upon 
 the wings of genius, than the believer in God, 
 or leave behind him the precious ointment of a 
 better name ? The concurrent testimony of 
 centuries proves the very opposite. The sceptic, 
 as a moral Upas, poisons the atmosphere of so- 
 ciety, and blights the last remnants of human 
 happiness. How can it be otherwise ? As well 
 might the earth expect a summer, were the sun 
 of nature blotted out from the universe ! To 
 reject the conviction that God is present, acting 
 in, producing, regulating, restraining and over- 
 ruling all facts, times, persons, and events, is to 
 aggravate ten thousand fold the perplexities and 
 miseries of humanity. Once drifted from the 
 sure anchorage of faith in Divine providence, or 
 the sense of a presiding Deity, the human soul 
 is tossed like a shivered bark amidst the con- 
 flicting elements, without chart or compass, 
 helm or sounding line. To such an one crea- 
 tion is a chaos, and thick darkness broods in- 
 cessantly over its fairest scenes of life and beauty. 
 
272 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 The events of providence to such are confusion 
 worse confounded. What next ? amid the ap- 
 parently new career of uncertainties, is a ques- 
 tion that must excite the deepest anxiety. The 
 floating clouds of moral gloom are suspended 
 upon all sides, which if lifted at all, only admit 
 a sufficiency of light to make the " blackness of 
 darkness" visible. This is no exaggeration of 
 the sceptic's feeling. The dread reality could be 
 illustrated by the life and deathbed of hundreds, 
 who in the agonies of violated nature, have 
 borne testimony to their own experience. Thus 
 David Hume, the infidel philosopher, and avowed 
 enemy of all true religion, recorded the writhings 
 of his mental misery. 
 
 " I am affrighted and confounded with the 
 forlorn solitude in which I am placed by my 
 philosophy. When I look abroad, I see on every 
 side dispute, contradiction, destruction. When 
 I turn my eye inward, I find nothing but doubt 
 and ignorance. Where am I ? or what ? From 
 what cause do I derive niy^existence, and to 
 what condition shall I return ? I am confounded 
 with these questions, and begin to fancy myself 
 in the most deplorable condition imaginable, 
 environed with the deepest darkness." This ex- 
 position of infidel experience is but the groan- 
 ings of a spirit whose elementary principles 
 have been violated by sheer enmity to that Grod 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 273 
 
 whom it cannot dethrone. Let another of the 
 rebel chiefs be interrogated respecting his 
 boasted freedom and mental independence. 
 " Who/' says Voltaire, " can without horror 
 consider the whole world as the empire of de- 
 struction ? It abounds with wonders, it abounds 
 also with victims. It is a vast field of carnage, 
 and contagion. Every species is without pity 
 pursued and torn to pieces through the earth, 
 the air, the water. In man there is more 
 wretchedness than in all other animals put to- 
 gether. He loves life, and yet he knows that he 
 must die. This knowledge is his fatal preroga- 
 tive : other animals have it not. He spends the 
 transient moments of his existence in diffusing 
 the miseries which he suffers cutting the 
 throats of his fellow-creatures for pay in cheat- 
 ing and being cheated in robbing and being 
 robbed, arid in repenting of all he does. The 
 bulk of mankind are nothing more than a crowd 
 of wretches, equally criminal and unfortunate. 
 I tremble at the review of this dreadful picture 
 I wish I had never been born." 
 
 These extracts have been introduced as faintly 
 representing the mental conflict, by which the 
 bosoms of the whole infidel class are torn through 
 self-inflicted torture. It is impossible to con- 
 ceive views more gloomy, out of the place of 
 eternal doom. It is true that such men are 
 12* 
 
274 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 wont to represent Christianity, or even the be- 
 lief of a God, as calculated to produce a sense 
 of moral gloom. The theory we have been pro- 
 pounding would, in their estimation, be an 
 eclipse of human glory the suspension of a 
 cloud over the joyous and busy scenes of human 
 industry. But where can any thing be found 
 in the experience of the believer akin to this ? 
 Were there ever lighter hearts, or happier work- 
 men, than those who constructed the Tabernacle ? 
 The beams of Divinity reflected through the 
 genius of Bezaleel and Aholiab, shed a light upon 
 the elements of nature, which resolved every 
 problem, and made the labors of the "wise- 
 hearted" artificers joyous and pleasant. Would 
 not a similar sense of the Divine presence dis- 
 pel the clouds in which many of our modern 
 mechanics are laboring in sullen gloom ? And 
 would not a believing trust in the Grod of provi- 
 dence enable many of our desponding operatives, 
 in times of depression and trial, to say in the 
 language of the prophet, " Although the fig-tree 
 shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the 
 vines ; the labor of the olive shall fail, and the 
 fields shall yield no meat ; the flocks shall be cut 
 off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in 
 the stalls ; yet will I rejoice in the LORD, I will 
 joy in the G-od of my salvation." 
 It is not, however, with speculative atheism, 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 275 
 
 or antetheism, that we have more immediately 
 to do. It is rather with that practical atheism 
 which pervades the human heart that tendency 
 to forget God in the matters of common life 
 against which even the believer must resolutely 
 struggle. There is a disposition to limit the 
 presence of Deity to the highest heavens, or at 
 least to the sacred sanctuaries raised amidst the 
 scenes of the earth an unbelief that would say 
 to the Divine attributes, "Hitherto shalt thou 
 come, but no farther/' There is an expedient 
 policy which would freely admit the Divine pre- 
 sence in certain peculiar circumstances of a re- 
 ligious kind, but which would be disposed to 
 say, " Abide here by the sanctuary, while I go 
 and trade yonder." This is the practical atheism 
 which is so widely spread among all classes in 
 our manufactories, workshops, and marts of mer- 
 chandise. Of a very large proportion it may 
 be said, in truth, that " God is not in all their 
 thoughts." How, then, can they see His glory ; 
 either in the works of nature, or in those mecha- 
 nical works which He has brought into exis- 
 tence, by the intervention of man as a spiritual 
 agency ? 
 
276 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 THIRD THE MORAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE 
 RESPECTIVE AGENCIES TEND TO FOSTER THAT 
 DISPARITY OF FEELING, WHICH DISPLAYS IT- 
 SELF IN THE CONTEMPLATION OF ARTIFICIAL, 
 AS CONTRASTED WITH NATURAL PHENOMENA. 
 
 In beholding the works of nature, the mind 
 conceives of a holy and beneficent Being creat- 
 ing, arranging, and preserving all for wise and 
 holy purposes. But in the contemplation of the 
 most distinguished inventions, the depravity of 
 man clings to His works in our mental concep- 
 tions. Viewed historically, also, many of the 
 inventions of men are constructed from sinful 
 motives, and perverted to sinful purposes. The 
 man of brilliant genius may be, and not unfre- 
 quently is, a very wicked man ; hence, by the very 
 association of ideas, the moral character of the 
 agent is transformed to the work of art pro- 
 duced. In consequence of this, the superficial 
 thinker sees more of God in the instinct of a 
 humble insect than in the most exalted men- 
 tal powers of a distinguished genius. Thus, for 
 example, the wonderful instincts displayed in 
 the bee hive have elicited the admiration of 
 heathen poets, and the highest eulogiums of 
 Bible-taught believers ; while few of either class 
 seem to have discovered still greater wonders in 
 the industrial instincts of their fellow-men. Why 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 277 
 
 is this ? In the contemplation of pure instinct, 
 as displayed in the bee hive, the mind is intui- 
 tively lifted up to that God by whom it was 
 implanted. Why are not similar, yea, sublimer, 
 feelings excited in surveying a sugar plantation, 
 where the works and designs are in some 
 respects similar ? The reason is obvious. Here 
 there is a moral eclipse ! The element of human 
 depravity is present in full development ! The 
 laborers are slaves. Slaves of the planter, as 
 regards their civil rights, but worse slaves of 
 sin, that bitter plant transmitted through the 
 root of human depravity ! A sense of their 
 wrongs as men, and of their guilt as transgres- 
 sors, pervades every thought regarding the pro- 
 ducts of their labor. In many respects their 
 work resembles that of the bees. Both are ex- 
 tracting the luscious treasures deposited in the 
 storehouse of nature. Both are toiling with a 
 view to personal interest, though, in the one 
 case, every act is voluntary, with a view to en- 
 joyment ; while, in the other, it is the result of 
 constraint, arising from a desire to avoid a greater 
 evil. Both are preparing luxuries for man. But 
 among the inhabitants of the hive there is no 
 tyranny. Tears and blood mingle not with their 
 produce, as they frequently do with the stores 
 extracted by the degraded slave. Their song 
 mingles with the melody of nature, while joy- 
 
278 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 fully hastening from flower to flower, beneath 
 the bright ray of the summer sun. They sip, as 
 necessity requires, their own sweet nectar, during 
 the dreary months of winter. Whereas the poor 
 slave too frequently mingles his sigh with the 
 pestilential breeze. He is moved like a mere 
 machine, by propulsion from without, preparing 
 the juice of the sugar cane to sweeten the Euro- 
 pean cup of comfort, without knowing the plea- 
 sure of possessing, or the luxury of enjoying, the 
 fruits of his toil. Besides, in the happy hive, 
 there is no rude violence, no swearing, no pro- 
 fane language, no dissipation, no immorality. 
 It is far otherwise, not only with the benighted 
 slave in the toils of the plantation, but with the 
 sons of boasted freedom in the factory and the 
 workshop. The most splendid achievements of 
 art are too frequently stained by the immorality 
 of the artisan. The obscene jests and profane 
 oaths of our manufactories, not unfrequently 
 tarnish their brightest ornaments in our moral 
 conceptions. Now, as all these elements of 
 thought are combined in beholding the works 
 of art, the mind insensibly not only detracts 
 from the manifestations of Deity therein exhi- 
 bited, but is disposed to consider them as though 
 they were completely separated from God, their 
 divine author. Even the pions raind is ready 
 to yield to the feeling, that if a genuine servant 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 279 
 
 of God can scarcely occupy a place in many of 
 our public works, without his soul being daily 
 vexed with the profane conversation of his com- 
 panions in labor, how can God Himself be 
 there ? But this is to overlook the fact of His 
 omnipresence, to exclude the idea of His univer- 
 sal dominion, and to forget that He employs 
 even wicked men as the ministers of comfort 
 to humanity ; and, as in the case of Balak and 
 Balaam, makes the wrath of man to praise 
 Him. 
 
 In the latter day, when " knowledge shall be 
 increased," and when the " wise-hearted" and 
 the " willing-hearted" shall provoke each other 
 to love and good works when " holiness unto 
 the LORD shall be upon the bells of the horses, 
 and every pot in Jerusalem shall be holy," then 
 the mists of infidelity shall for ever vanish, and 
 the monuments of human skill shall be no 
 longer tarnished by the rust of immorality. 
 Every trophy of genius shall reflect the glory 
 of God, and point the thoughts of man to the 
 bountiful Benefactor. 
 
280 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 FOUKTH FKOM THE COMMON POINT OF OBSERVA- 
 TION, MEN ARE MORE AFFECTED BY PROXI- 
 MATE OBJECTS ADDRESSED TO SENSE, THAN BY 
 A REMOTE SPIRITUAL OBJECT ADDRESSED TO 
 FAITH. 
 
 This might be illustrated largely both from 
 reason and Kevelation. The atheistic philoso- 
 pher recognizes a certain connexion between 
 cause and effect in nature, though he admits not 
 the same connexion between the world and God, 
 as the source of all causation. He believes that 
 fire burns that light dispels the deepest dark- 
 ness, but he believes not that " the worlds were 
 framed by the word of God" that the original 
 darkness was made to vanish when " God said, 
 Let there be light, and there was light." Thus 
 also he beholds the triumphs of science and art, 
 as the productions of applied genius ; while he is 
 told in vain of that God by whom the materials 
 were deposited at earth's formation, by whom the 
 body and the soul of the artificer were created at 
 the appointed time, and by whose Spirit that 
 genius was inspired, wherewith the forms of 
 utility and beauty were successively evolved. 
 Nor is this fallacy common only to the sceptic. 
 It pervades the entire constitution of fallen 
 humanity, and is displayed in subjects of eter- 
 nal importance. 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 281 
 
 How difficult, at any time, and even upon 
 subjects the most momentous, to arouse human 
 activity, or to excite personal interest, by the 
 strongest appeals to motives presented only to 
 faith ? Tell a man that a fire has broken out 
 upon the side of the city opposite to that in 
 which he dwells, and tell him of the possibility 
 that the consuming flames may reach his habi- 
 tation in their dire progress ; how comparatively 
 small his excitement, because the distance of 
 the fire, which he has not yet seen, affords hope 
 of escape. But let the same man see his nearest 
 neighbor's house ignited, his fears are at once 
 awakened, and all his activities put forth to 
 avert the impending danger. Or, to apply the 
 same test in reference to things temporal and 
 spiritual, the burning roof of a human dwelling 
 will present stronger inducements to activity 
 upon the part of the inmates, than the fullest 
 description which the Bible gives of the " worm 
 that dieth not, and of the fire that shall never 
 be quenched/' as the final portion of the impeni- 
 tent sinner. And why is this, but because of 
 the unbelief of the carnal heart ? Depraved man 
 is more affected by the temporal calamity ad- 
 dressed to sense, and in immediate prospect, 
 than by the dreadful infliction of eternal punish- 
 ment, as addressed to faith, but seemingly far in 
 the distance. 
 
 H 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS, 
 
 Thus it is with mechanical inventions, when 
 compared with natural objects. Sense seizes 
 the inventor, or the artisan, being the proximate 
 agent, glad to discover an intelligent cause upon 
 its own level ; while faith must rise above the 
 intermediate agency to the first cause, or Author 
 of both the agent and his work. Nor is this 
 all. In such a mental process the mind is car- 
 ried above and beyond an agent to whom it 
 feels a natural approximation, to one at an infi- 
 nite distance, both natural and moraL It is 
 only the believer in God who " walks by faith, 
 and not by sight ; " and, consequently, the me- 
 dium through which God reveals his attributes, 
 both in the book of nature and the book of pro- 
 vidence, is mistaken for himself. Hence the 
 praise that is due to His name, from every new 
 discovery and mechanical invention, is freely 
 lavished upon the intelligent instrument by 
 whom it has been introduced to the notice of 
 the world. As reasonably might the honor of 
 a victory be ascribed to the warrior's steed, or 
 the regal homage rendered to a beloved Sove- 
 reign be lavished upon the state chariot by 
 which the royal personage was borne through 
 the streets of the capital to the palace and the 
 throne, as to give to man, the created instru- 
 ment, the honor which is due to God the 
 Author ! Hence, we infer, that the enlightened 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 288 
 
 citizen who worships genius, and who makes 
 the gifts of heaven an occasion of rebellion, dis- 
 honors God more than the degraded Indian 
 who bows down to the dragon-fly sporting in the 
 sunbeam, or renders homage to the base reptile 
 crawling in the dust ! 
 
 FIFTH THE TENDENCY OF HUMAN PRIDE IS TO 
 EXALT THE CREATURE, AND DETHRONE THE 
 CREATOR. 
 
 It is generally believed that pride lay at the 
 root of the first development of moral evil in the 
 universe. It entered largely into the first temp- 
 tation. " Ye shall be as gods, knowing good 
 and evil." It has characterized the whole his- 
 tory of man's rebellion against God. It is the 
 last point yielded in the subjugation of the soul 
 by the power of the Spirit ; and all other ele- 
 ments, it forms a chief ingredient in that aliena- 
 tion of the heart from God, which leads man to 
 reject, even the overtures of redeeming love. 
 That native pride, which would dethrone the 
 Deity in the moral world, is equally ready to 
 disown him in the primary works of creation, 
 and in the progressive emanations of wisdom, 
 power, cind goodness, as these are displayed in 
 the dispensations of Providence. This charac- 
 teristic of depraved humanity is well described 
 by the Scottish poet Pollok, when he says 
 
284 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 "Pride, self-adoring pride ; was primal cause 
 Of all sin past, all pain, all woe to come. 
 Unconquerable pride ; first, eldest sin, 
 Great fountain head of evil ! highest source, 
 Whence flowed rebellion 'gainst the Omnipotent. 
 Whence hate of man, and all else ill. 
 Pride at the bottom of the human heart 
 Lay, and gave root and nourishment to all 
 That grew above. Great ancestor of vice 1 
 Hate, unbelief, and blasphemy of God. 
 
 Pride 
 
 It was the ever moving, acting force, 
 The constant aim, and the most thirsty wish 
 Of every sinner unrenewed, to be 
 A God ; in purple, or in rags to have 
 Himself adored." 
 
 SIXTH GENEBAL NEGLECT IN CULTIVATING THAT 
 PIOUS SPIEIT OF OBSERVATION, WHICH KECOG- 
 NIZES GOD IN EVEKY EVENT AND OBJECT, TENDS 
 TO THE EXCLUSION OF THE KECOGNITION OF 
 DEITY IN RELATION TO MECHANICAL INVENTIONS. 
 
 The habit of spiritual contemplation must be 
 cherished in order to its growth, and general 
 application in viewing the objects with which 
 we are surrounded. In savage life the sublimest 
 objects of nature excite no perceptions of beauty, 
 and awake no feelings of interest, unless when 
 associated with acts of idolatrous worship. 
 Those scenes of nature which awake the 
 sublimest strains of poetry, and which elicit the 
 most glowing descriptions from the cultivated 
 tourist, move not the lethargic soul of the child 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 285 
 
 of ignorance. Nor is this absence of the con- 
 templative spirit confined to the untutored 
 savage ; it is common to all in whom the habit 
 of observation has not been cherished. The 
 rustic, though surrounded by the most cultivated 
 minds, if unaccustomed to reflection, will see 
 nothing to admire even in nature's beauty. 
 
 " The primrose by the river's brim 
 A yellow primrose is to him, 
 And it is nothing more." 
 
 It cannot for a moment arrest his thought, nor 
 excite any peculiar emotions. But to the 
 botanist it is invested with scientific interest. 
 To the believing observer of nature's profusion, 
 its fragrance and beauty are calculated to 
 awaken the liveliest emotions of gratitude to 
 that God who has constituted the world not 
 only a store-house of essential provisions, but 
 also a floral depository of beauty's choicest 
 treasures. 
 
 The cultivation of taste invests every object 
 with peculiar interest. This interest once ex- 
 cited, and associated with faith in God, must 
 necessarily lead the mind from nature to the 
 Author of all existence ; and also from the tran- 
 sitory operations of nature to the embodied acts 
 of Divine Providence. In a similar way, the 
 sanctified cultivation of science and art, and the 
 pious habit of viewing mechanical objects in 
 
286 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 relation to the moral government of God, and 
 the happiness of His creatures, must necessarily 
 tend to enlarge our conceptions of Divine wis- 
 dom, power, and goodness. Were pious parents 
 imbued with the same sense of the providence 
 of God, in leading their children through the 
 productions of art, which many are, in beholding 
 and in directing the youthful mind to the won- 
 ders of nature, there is reason to hope that at 
 no distant period, the region of artificial, might 
 re-echo in unison with the world of natural phe- 
 nomena, proclaiming the presence and power of 
 Deity to every beholder. Then would all feel 
 disposed to respond to the Psalmist, when lifting 
 up his soul in the contemplations of Divine good- 
 ness, he exclaims, " Thy works praise Thee, 
 LORD, Thy saints bless Thee/' 
 
 These reasons for the non-recognition of God 
 in the works of art can furnish no excuse to the 
 Bible reader. In the teachings of the sacred 
 volume, every element, and object, and creature, 
 are traced to God as their Author, and to the 
 manifestation of the Divine glory as their end. 
 The rightful claim, as Author of man, and all 
 the works and wisdom of man, He will not 
 forego the glory He will not give to another. 
 The earth replenished with the descendents of 
 Adam, the earth transformed by human in- 
 genuity is under tribute to God in every ele- 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 287 
 
 ment, in every existence, in every invention, as 
 really as it was when originally created. Hence 
 we infer that the non-recognition of God, in 
 relation to any object, is the practical embodi- 
 ment of infidelity ; and that the worship of 
 genius by a refined and civilized people is more 
 offensive to the* God of Eevelation than even the 
 superstitious homage which the benighted na- 
 tions of heathenism render to their imaginary 
 deities. Is it, therefore, any wonder, when that 
 God who sent the pestilence with the miraculous 
 provision of the ungrateful Israelites, should send 
 at times increase of misery with mechanical gifts 
 to a people who will not so much as acknowledge 
 their Author ? The gift is not withheld the 
 Divine purpose is accomplished but the inven- 
 tion, like the world under the curse, is restrained 
 in its ultimate power to bless, until the receiver 
 shall recognize the beneficence of the giver, and 
 until the benediction of the moral Governor 
 shall accompany the machinery bestowed. The 
 extension of Scriptural knowledge shall ulti- 
 mately lead to the universal recognition of the 
 claims of Jehovah. When the way of the LORD 
 is known upon the earth, and His saving health 
 among the nations, " Then shall the earth yield 
 her increase ; and God, even our God, shall 
 bless us. God shall bless us ; and all the ends 
 of the earth shall fear Him." 
 
288 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 IN CONCLUSION. 
 
 Let none despise the sons of toil. They are a 
 part of the machinery by which the beneficent 
 purposes of God are accomplished. Let none 
 be ashamed of the duties of his humble calling 
 To labor was. honorable in Paradise before the 
 fall. It has opened up the path to honor ever 
 since, and shall in the Providence of God usher 
 in the physical comfort, and social honors of 
 the Millennial world. Let the operative bless 
 God for the means of employment, and the im- 
 plements of industry. Let the artisan study 
 closer the elements of nature, that he may appro- 
 priate and employ them for the benefit of man- 
 kind. Let those who are relieved from harassing 
 labor devote their leisure hours to the acquisi- 
 tion of knowledge, and the objects of philan- 
 thropy. Let genius bow in reverent homage 
 to the God of infinite wisdom who giveth to all 
 men liberally, and upbraideth not. Let none 
 be exalted in the achievements of human in- 
 genuity. The triumphs of science are not the 
 products of finite wisdom, but the revelations of 
 eternal purposes the footprints of Omnipotence, 
 upon the sands of human existence. The tide 
 of popularity, or the whirlpool of selfishness, 
 may for a season seem to obliterate the primary 
 impression, but the world shall yet discover that 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 289 
 
 God was there, and in the end it will be patent 
 to every observer that, as there is nothing use- 
 less in the kingdom of nature, so there is no- 
 thing superfluous or wanting in the kingdom of 
 Providence. Even now it is evident, to every re- 
 flecting mind, that those inventions which prove 
 a failure, as regards the object of the artisan, 
 and which are not unfrequently the jest of the 
 scientific world, are yet made subservient to the 
 designs of God, by stirring up other minds 
 through which He communicates other imple- 
 ments. " Thus saith the LORD, let not the wise 
 man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty 
 man glory in his might, let not the rich man 
 glory in his riches ; but let him that glorieth 
 glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth 
 Me, that I am the LOKD, which exercise loving 
 kindness, judgment, and righteousness in the 
 earth." 
 
 Let us carry a sense of the Divine presence 
 into all the walks and relations of life. Let the 
 eye of faith gaze upon every aspect of artificial 
 phenomena, as it does upon the changing scenes 
 of the vast and sublime in nature. In every 
 distinguished genius, let us see the reflection of 
 fresh rays from the central Sun of the universe. 
 In every discovery, let us behold the dawning 
 beams of that Divine light which is destined to 
 illuminate our world. And while we mark tfye 
 
 13 
 
290 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 rapid progress of this enterprising age, let us 
 behold with joy the majestic shadow of Omni- 
 potence sweeping over the currents of time, ad- 
 justing the most complicated events, while 
 restraining the influence of the most refractory 
 agents, and directing the steps of the wise and 
 the prudent. It is thus that the providence of 
 God is found seizing the elements of mind and 
 of matter, in order to combine, harmonize, and 
 reproduce them in mechanical form, for the ad- 
 vancement of His glory, in the comfort and hap- 
 piness of man. And while we gaze in wonder 
 at the works of nature, and while we turn in 
 amazement at the marvels of art, let us hear the 
 re-echo of the voice of the Eternal, as it once 
 came from the throne of universal dominion 
 ""1 am the Lord ; that is My name, and My glory 
 will I not give to another." 
 
 Let those who mingle with the scenes and 
 subjects of toil, be reminded by the revolving 
 machinery, of the goodness of that God who 
 directs and sustains the mechanism of the uni- 
 verse. Let the manifestations of Infinite Wis- 
 dom sweeten the hours of labor, and dispel 
 from the mind those gloomy clouds of discontent- 
 ment, which are evidently of Satan's brooding, 
 and which ascend as the poisoned malaria of 
 envy from the bottomless pit. The design of 
 the seducer is to spread a cloud of gloom ovei 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 291 
 
 every portion of human history, and to render 
 the descendents of Adam dissatisfied amidst the 
 profusion of Divine beneficence, as their first 
 father was with the fulness of Paradise. Thus, 
 by exciting the feelings of jealousy, man is made 
 the enemy of his fellow-man, and class is leagued 
 against class in the social fabric. Ought not 
 those who are dependent on the same bounty 
 to live in amity ? Why should any aggravate 
 the trials of a fellow-laborer, or increase the 
 sorrows of a dependent ? Should not all rather 
 unite in the song of praise with the symphony 
 of nature ? Let the cords of mutual sympathy 
 be drawn closer around the hearts of -those who 
 employ and those who labor, that both may 
 occupy their appropriate sphere, and each fulfil 
 his relative destiny. Let all look above the dic- 
 tates of human wisdom, and the acts of human 
 legislation, to the administration of the Moral 
 Governor. He alone can open the channels of 
 national or personal sustenance. He alone can 
 solve the hidden problems of science and of social 
 comfort ! 
 
 That there is approaching a physical, as well as 
 an Ecclesiastical and Political, Millennium, the 
 Bible plainly testifies. Until it dawns upon the 
 benighted world, let faith and hope oil the wheels 
 of industry. Let gratitude for the gifts bestowed 
 excite to greater diligence in personal and rela- 
 
292 THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 
 
 tive duty. The whole circle of the sciences 
 the entire development of the arts the expan- 
 sion of human knowledge the progression of 
 civil liberty and the increasing wealth of 
 nations, have an immediate bearing upon the 
 Church of Christ. And, as easily as He obtained 
 the services of the ass's colt upon which He rode 
 in triumph to Jerusalem, so He can render the 
 whole artificial phenomena of the world subser- 
 vient to His purposes, when " the Divine glory 
 shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it 
 together." As the devout astronomer rejoices 
 in the discovery of a new planet, and hails with 
 adoring wonder the approaching silver beams 
 of some distant sun, to us only a star, so let our 
 philosophy stand upon the watch-tower, with 
 the torch of Divine truth in her hand, which 
 will, in every event and object, declare a present 
 God ; and ever and anon, as new discoveries 
 burst upon the mental world, and original works 
 of art are deposited in the temples of industry, 
 let there be heard from within a voice proclaim- 
 ing their Divine Author, and let them find in 
 the soul of the spectator a spiritual response, 
 corresponding to the language of David, " that 
 men would praise the Lord for His goodness, 
 and for His wonderful works to the children of 
 men !" . 
 
 Hpw happy would be the inmates of our work- 
 
THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS. 293 
 
 shops and factories, were all imbued with the 
 spirit of the Gospel, and all impressed with 
 the presence of Deity ? Then would fellow- 
 laborers provoke each other to love and to 
 good works. The language of faith would find 
 embodiment in such poetic effusions as the 
 following, addressed by an artisan to his com- 
 panions, during the elemental strife of Chartism, 
 which seemed ready to explode in a social revo- 
 lution : 
 
 " God, my brothers, will not leave us, 
 
 Still His heaven is o'er us bent ; 
 His commandments are not grievous, 
 
 Do His will, and be content. 
 Only truth and love shall flourish, 
 
 In the end, beloved mates ; 
 Only charity can nourish 
 Those whom charity creates. 
 , Believe in God. 
 
 " You have wrongs by forge and furnace, 
 You have darkness, you have dread, 
 But you work in radiant harness, 
 
 And your God is overhead. 
 Does not night bring forth the morning? 
 
 Does not darkness father light? 
 Even now we have forewarning, 
 Brothers, of the close of night. 
 Believe in God. 
 
 1 Many, many are the shadows 
 That the dawn of truth reveals ; 
 
 Beautiful on life's broad meadows 
 Is the light the Christian feels. 
 
294 THEOLOGY OF INTENTIONS. 
 
 Evil shall give place to goodness, 
 Wrong be dispossess'd by right ; 
 
 Out of old chaotic rudeness 
 God evokes a world of light 
 Believe hi God. 
 
 44 Do ye toil ? 0, freer, firmer 
 
 Ye shall grow beneath your toil ; 
 Only craven spirits murmur, 
 Lightly rooted in the soil. 
 Through the gloom, and through the darkneaa, 
 
 Through the danger and the dole, 
 Through the mist and through the inurkneas, 
 Travels the great human soul 
 Believe in God. 
 
 "I through doubt and darkness travel. 
 
 Through the agony and gloom, 
 Hoping that I shall unravel 
 
 This strange web beyond the tomb. 
 0, my brothers ! men heroic I 
 
 "Workers both with hand and brain I 
 Tis the Christian, not the Stoic, 
 That best triumphs over pain. 
 
 Believe in God. 
 
 "O, my brothers! love and labor, 
 Conquer wrong by doing right ; 
 Truth alone must be your sabre, 
 
 Love alone your shield in fight 
 Virtues yet shall cancel vices ; 
 Look above, beloved mates I 
 Only God Himself suffices 
 
 Those whom God alone creates. 
 Believe in God." 
 
 THE END. 
 
THE Publishers take pleasure in presenting the 
 following note from the Rev. Dr. KNOX, of the 
 Collegiate Dutch Church, of this city : 
 
 "Having been favored by a respected friend with a copy of 
 1 THE THEOLOGY OP INVENTIONS,' by the Rev. John Blakely, 
 immediately on its issue from the Glasgow press, I have read 
 the larger portion of it with great interest and delight. It is 
 the work of a master-mind. The subject is original in its con- 
 ception, and is treated with consummate ability. The Divine 
 superintendence in works of invention is demonstrated, and the 
 illustration which they afford, in their nature, order, and respec- 
 tive dates, of the power, wisdom, and goodness of God, is pre- 
 sented in a form the most compact, lucid, and impressive ; ex- 
 hibiting the Author's large, accurate, and diversified knowledge, 
 in a style terse, vigorous, and graceful 
 
 " The work only requires to be known, to obtain the widest 
 circulation. The Messrs. CARTER confer a favor on the reading 
 community by its re-publication. 
 
 "JOHN KN'OX. 
 
 "Nsw YORK, January 21, 1856." 
 
 

 
 

 
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