Part 11
To the dogged Atheist, whose “mind is made up” not to enter into any further investigation, and not to admit of possible error in his past conclusions, this question is of no more account than it is to an Ox. He who cares not to re-examine from time to time his state of mind, and the result of his accumulated experience is in no single respect better than the lowest animal in creation. He may see nothing higher, more noble, more intelligent or beautiful than himself; and in this his pride, conceit, and vanity find an incarnation. To such a creature there is no God, for he is himself an equal with the highest being he has ever recognised! Such Atheism exists to an alarming extent among the philosophers of Europe and America; and it has been mainly fostered by the astronomical and geological theories of the day. Besides which, in consequence of the differences between the language of Scripture and the teachings of modern Astronomy, there is to be found in the very hearts of Christian and Jewish congregations a sort of “smouldering scepticism;” kind of faint suspicion which causes great numbers to manifest a cold and visible indifference to religious requirements. It is this which has led thousands to desert the cause of earnest, active Christianity, and which has forced the majority of those who still remain in the ranks of religion to declare “that the Scriptures were not intended to teach correctly other than moral and religious doctrines; that the references so often made to the physical world, and to natural phenomena generally, are given in language to suit the prevailing notions and the ignorance of the people.” A Christian philosopher who wrote almost a century ago in reference to remarks similar to the above, says, “Why should we suspect that Moses, Joshua, David, Solomon, and the later prophets and inspired writers have counterfeited their sentiments concerning the order of the universe, from pure complaisance, or being in any way obliged to dissemble with a view to gratify the prepossessions of the populace? These eminent men being kings, lawgivers, and generals themselves, or always privileged with access to the courts of sovereign princes, besides the reverence and awful dignity which the power of divination and working of miracles procured to them, had great worldly and spiritual authority.... They had often in charge to command, suspend, revert, and otherwise interfere with the course and laws of nature, and were never daunted to speak out the truth before the most mighty potentates on earth, much less would they be overawed by the _vox populi_.” To say that the Scriptures were not intended to teach science truthfully, is in substance to declare that God himself has stated, and commissioned His prophets to teach things which are utterly false! Those Newtonian philosophers who still hold that the sacred volume is the Word of God, are thus placed in a fearful dilemma. How can the two systems, so directly opposite in character, be reconciled? Oil and water alone will not combine--mix them by violence as we may, they will again separate when allowed to rest. Call oil oil, and water water, and acknowledge them to be distinct in nature and value; but let no “hodge-podge” be attempted, and passed off as a genuine compound of oil and water. Call Scripture the Word of God--the Creator and Ruler of all things, and the Fountain of all Truth; and call the Newtonian or Copernican Astronomy the word and work of man, of man, too, in his vainest mood--so vain and conceited as not to be content with the direct and simple teachings of his Maker, but who must rise up in rebellion and conjure into existence a fanciful complicated fabric, which being insisted upon as true, creates and necessitates the dark and horrible interrogatives--Is God a deceiver? Has He spoken direct and unequivocal falsehood? Can we no longer indulge in the beautiful and consoling thought that God’s justice, and love, and truth are unchanging and reliable for ever? Let Christians--for Sceptics and Atheists may be left out of the question--to whatever division of the Church they belong, look at this matter calmly and earnestly. Let them determine to uproot the deception which has led them to think that they can altogether ignore the plainest astronomical teaching of Scripture, and endorse a system to which it is in every sense opposed. The following language is quoted as an instance of the manner in which the doctrine of the Earth’s rotundity and the plurality of worlds interferes with Scriptural teachings:--“The theory of original sin is confuted (by our astronomical and geological knowledge), and I cannot permit the belief, when I know that our world is but a mere speck, a perishable atom in the vast space of creation, that God should just select this little spot to descend upon and assume our form, and clothe Himself in our flesh, to become visible to human eyes, to the tiny beings of this comparatively insignificant world.... Thus millions of distant worlds, with the beings allotted to them, were to be extirpated and destroyed in consequence of the original sin of Adam. No sentiment of the human mind can surely be more derogatory to the Divine attributes of the Creator, nor more repugnant to the known economy of the celestial bodies. For in the first place, who is to say, among the infinity of worlds, whether Adam was the _only creature_ who was tempted by Satan and fell, and by his fall involved all the other worlds in his guilt.”[42]
[42] Encyclopædia Londenensis, p. 457, vol. 2.
The difficulty experienced by the author of the above remarks is clearly one which can no longer exist, when it is seen that the doctrine of a plurality of worlds is an impossibility. That it is an impossibility is shown by the fact that the Sun, Moon, and Stars are very small bodies, and very near to the earth; this fact is proved by actual non-theoretical measurement; this measurement is made on the principle of plane trigonometry: this principle of plane trigonometry is adopted because the Earth is a Plane; and all the base lines employed in the triangulation are horizontal. By the same practical method of reasoning, all the difficulties which, upon geological and astronomical grounds, have been raised to the literal teachings of the scriptures, may be completely destroyed. Instances:--The scriptures repeatedly declare that the Sun moves over the Earth--“His going forth is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it.” “He ariseth and goeth down, and hasteth to his place whence he arose.” “The sun stood still in the midst of heaven.” “Great is the Earth, high is the heaven, swift is the Sun in his course.” In the religious poems of all ages the same fact is presented. Christians especially, of every denomination, are familiar with, and often read and sing with delight such poetry as the following:--
“My God who makes the Sun to know His proper hour to rise, And to give light to all below Doth send him _round the skies_.”
“When from the chambers of the east His _morning race_ begins, He never tires _nor stops to rest_, But round the world he shines.”
“God of the morning, at whose voice, The cheerful sun makes haste to rise, And, like a giant, doth rejoice, To _run his journey through the skies_.”
“He sends the sun _his circuit round_, To cheer the fruits and warm the ground.”
“How fair has the day been! How bright was the Sun! How lovely and joyful The _course that he run_.”
All the expressions of scripture are consistent with the fact of the Sun’s motion. They never declare anything to the contrary. Whenever they speak of the subject it is in the same manner. The direct evidence of our senses confirms it; and actual and special observations, as well as the most practical scientific experiments, declare the same thing. The progressive and concentric motion of the Sun over the Earth is in every sense demonstrable; yet the Newtonian astronomers insist upon it that the Sun does not really move, that it only _appears_ to move, and that this appearance arises from the motion of the Earth; that when, as the scriptures affirm, the “Sun stood still in the midst of heaven,” it was the _Earth_ which stood still and _not_ the Sun! that the scriptures therefore speak falsely, and the experiments of science, and the observations and applications of our senses are never to be relied upon. Whence comes this bold and arrogant denial of the value of our senses and judgement, and the authority of scripture? The Earth or the Sun moves. Our senses tell us, and the scriptures declare that the Earth is fixed and that it is the Sun which moves above and around it; but a _theory_, which is absolutely false in its groundwork, and ridiculously illogical in its details, demands that the Earth is round and moves upon axes, and in several other and various directions; and that these motions are _sufficient to account for_ certain phenomena without supposing that the Sun moves, _therefore_ the Sun is a fixed body, and his motion is _only apparent_! Such _reasoning_ is a disgrace to philosophy, and fearfully dangerous to the religious interests of humanity!
Christian ministers and commentators find it a most unwelcome task when called upon to reconcile the plain and simple philosophy of the scriptures with the monstrous teachings of theoretical astronomy. Dr. Adam Clark, in a letter to the Rev. Thomas Roberts, of Bath,[43] speaking of the progress of his commentary, and of his endeavours to reconcile the statements of scripture with the modern astronomy, says: “Joshua’s Sun and Moon standing still, have kept me going for nearly three weeks! That one chapter has afforded me more vexation than anything I have ever met with; and even now I am but about half satisfied with my own solution of all the difficulties, though I am confident that I have removed mountains that were never touched before; shall I say that I am heartily weary of my work, so weary that I have a thousand times wished I had never written one page of it, and am repeatedly purposing to give it up.”
[43] Life of Adam Clark, 8vo Edition.
The Rev. John Wesley, in his journal, writes as follows:--“The more I consider them the more I doubt of all systems of astronomy. I doubt whether we can with certainty know either the distance or magnitude of any star in the firmament; else why do astronomers so immensely differ, even with regard to the distance of the Sun from the Earth? Some affirming it to be only three and others ninety millions of miles.”[44]
[44] Extracts from works of Rev. J. Wesley, 3rd Edition, 1829. Published by Mason, London, p. 392, vol. 2.
In vol. 3, page 203, the following entry occurs:--“January 1st, 1765.--This week I wrote an answer to a warm letter published in the _London Magazine_, the author whereof is much displeased that I presume to doubt of the ‘modern astronomy.’ I cannot help it. Nay, the more I consider the more my doubts increase; so that at present I doubt whether any man on earth knows either the distance or magnitude, I will not say of a fixed Star, but Saturn or Jupiter--yea of the Sun or Moon.”
In vol. 13, page 359, he says:--“And so the whole hypothesis of innumerable Suns and worlds moving round them vanishes into air.” And again at page 430 of same volume, the following words occur:--“The planets revolutions we are acquainted with, but who is able to this day, regularly to demonstrate either their magnitude or their distance? Unless he will prove, as is the usual way, the magnitude from the distance, and the distance from the magnitude. * * * Dr. Rogers has evidently demonstrated that no conjunction of the centrifugal and centripetal forces can possibly account for this, or even cause any body to move in an ellipsis.” There are several other incidental remarks to be found in his writings which shew that the Rev. John Wesley was well acquainted with the then modern astronomy; and that he saw clearly both its self-contradictory and its anti-scriptural character.
It is a very popular idea among modern astronomers that the stellar universe is an endless congeries of systems, of Suns and attendant worlds peopled with sentient beings analogous in the purpose and destiny of their existence to the inhabitants of this earth. This doctrine of a plurality of worlds, although it conveys the most magnificent ideas of the universe, is purely fanciful, and may be compared to the “dreams of the alchemists” who laboured with unheard of enthusiasm to discover the “philosopher’s stone,” the _elixir vitæ_, and the “universal solvent.” However grand the first two projects might have been in their realisation, it is known that they were never developed in a practical sense, and the latter idea of a solvent which would dissolve everything was suddenly and unexpectedly destroyed by the few remarks of a simple but critical observer, who demanded to know what service a substance would be to them which would dissolve all things? What could they keep it in? for it would dissolve every vessel wherein they sought to preserve it! This idea of a plurality of worlds is but a natural and reasonable conclusion drawn from the doctrine of the Earth’s rotundity. But this doctrine being false its off shoot is equally so. The supposition that the heavenly bodies are Suns and inhabited worlds is demonstrably impossible in nature, and has no foundation whatever in Scripture. “In the beginning God created the Heaven and _the Earth_.” One Earth _only_ is created; and the fact is more especially described in Genesis, ch. i., v. 10. Where, instead of the word “Earth” meaning both land and water as together forming a globe, as it does in the Newtonian astronomy, only the _dry land_ was called _earth_,” and “the gathering together of the waters called He seas.” The Sun, Moon, and Stars are described as lights only and not worlds. A great number of passages might be quoted which prove that no other material world is ever in the slightest manner referred to by the sacred writers. The creation of the world; the origin of evil, and the fall of man; the plan of redemption by the death of Christ; the day of judgement, and the final consummation of all things are invariably associated with _this Earth alone_. The expression in Hebrews, ch. i., v. 2, “by whom also he made the _worlds_,” and in Heb., ch. ii., v. 3, “through faith we understand that the _worlds_ were framed,” are known to be a comparatively recent rendering from the original Greek documents. The word which has been translated _worlds_ is fully as capable of being rendered in the singular number as the plural; and previous to the introduction of the Copernican Astronomy was always translated “_the world_.” The Roman Catholic and the French Protestant Bibles still contain the singular number; and in a copy of an English Protestant Bible printed in the year 1608, the following translation is given:--“Through faith we understand that _the world_ was ordained.” So that either the plural expression “worlds” was used in later translations to accord with the astronomical notions then recently introduced, or it was meant to include the Earth and the spiritual world, as referred to in:--
_Hebrews_ ii., 5--“For unto angels hath he not put into subjection _the world to come_.”
_Ephesians_ i., 21--“Far above all principality and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named not only in _this world_, but also in _that which is to come_.”
_Luke_ xviii., 29, 30--“There is no man that hath left house, or parents, or brethren, or wife, or children, for the kingdom of God’s sake, who shall not receive manifold more in this _present time_, and in _the world to come_ life everlasting.”
_Matthew_ xii., 32--“Whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in _this world_ neither in the _world to come_.”
The Scriptures teach that in the day of the Lord “the Heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat,” and the “stars of Heaven fall unto the Earth even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs when shaken of a mighty wind.” The Newtonian system of astronomy declares that the stars and planets are mighty worlds--nearly all of them much larger than this Earth. The fixed stars are considered to be suns, equal to if not greater than our own sun, which is said to be above 800,000 miles in diameter. All this is proveably false, but to those who have been led to believe it, the difficult question arises,--“How can thousands of stars fall upon the Earth, which is many times less than any one of them?” How can the Earth with a supposed diameter of 8000 miles receive the numerous suns of the firmament many of which are said to be a million miles in diameter?
These stars are assumed to have positions so far from the Earth that the distance is almost inexpressible; figures indeed may be arranged on paper but in reading them no practical idea is conveyed to the mind. Many of them are said to be so distant that should they fall with the velocity of light or above one hundred and sixty thousand miles in a second, or six hundred millions of miles per hour, they would require nearly two millions of years to reach the Earth! Sir William Herschel in a paper on “The power of telescopes to penetrate into space,” published in the _Philosophical Transactions_ for the year 1800, affirms, that with his powerful instruments he discovered brilliant luminaries so far from the Earth that the light from them “could not have been less than _one million nine hundred thousand years in its progress_.” Again the difficulty presents itself--“If the stars of Heaven begin to fall to-day, and with the greatest imaginable velocity, millions of years must elapse before they reach the Earth!” But the Scriptures declare that these changes shall occur suddenly--shall come, indeed, “as a thief in the night.”
The same theory, with its false and inconceivable distances and magnitudes, operates to destroy all the ordinary, common sense, and scripturally authorised chronology. Christian and Jewish commentators, unless astronomically educated, hold and teach that the Earth, as well as the Sun, Moon, and Stars, were created about 4,000 years before the birth of Christ, or less than 6,000 years before the present time. But if many of these luminaries are so distant that their light would require above a million of years to reach us; and if, as we are taught, bodies are visible to us because of the light which they reflect or radiate, then their light _has_ reached us, because we have been able to see them, and therefore they must have been shining, and must have been created at least _one million nine hundred thousand years ago_! The chronology of the bible indicates that a period of six thousand years has not yet elapsed since “the Heavens and the Earth were finished, and _all_ the Host of them.”
In the modern astronomy, Continents, Oceans, Seas, and Islands, are considered as together forming one vast Globe of 25,000 miles in circumference. This has been shown to be fallacious, and it is clearly contrary to the plain, literal teaching of the scriptures. In the first chapter of Genesis, we find the following language: “and God said let the waters under the heaven be gathered unto one place, and let the _dry land_ appear; and it was so. And God called the dry land _Earth_, and the gathering together of the waters called He Seas.” Here the Earth and Seas--Earth and the great body of waters, are described as two distinct and independent regions, and not as together forming one Globe which astronomers call “the Earth.” This description is confirmed by several other passages of scripture.
2 _Peter_, iii., 5--“For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the Word of God the Heavens were of old, and the Earth _standing out of the waters and in the waters_.”
_Psalms_ cxxxvi., 6--“O give thanks to the Lord of Lords, that by wisdom made the heavens, and that _stretchet out the earth above the waters_.”
_Psalms_ xxiv., 1, 2--“The earth is the Lord’s and the fulness thereof; the world and they that dwell therein: for he hath _founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the floods_.”
_Hermes_ (New Testament Apocrypha)--“Who with the word of his strength fixed the heaven; and _founded the earth upon the waters_.”
_Job_ xxvi., 7--“He stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the Earth upon nothing.”
Some think that the latter part of this verse, “hangeth the Earth upon nothing,” favours the idea that the Earth is a globe revolving in space without visible support; but Dr. Adam Clark, although himself a Newtonian philosopher, says, in his commentary upon this passage in Job, the literal translation is, “on the hollow or empty waste,” and he quotes a Chaldee version of the passage which runs as follows: “He layeth the Earth upon the waters nothing sustaining it.”
It is not that He “hangeth the Earth upon nothing,” but “hangeth or layeth it upon the waters” which were empty or waste, and where before there was nothing. This is in strict accordance with the other expressions, that “the Earth was founded upon the waters,” &c., and also with the expression in Genesis, “that the face of the deep was covered only with darkness.”
If the Earth were a globe, it is evident that everywhere the water of its surface, the seas, lakes, oceans, and rivers, must be sustained the land, the Earth must be under the water; but if the land and the waters are distinct, and the Earth is “founded upon the seas,” then everywhere the sea must sustain the land as it does a ship or any other floating mass, and there is water below the earth. In this particular as in all the others, the scriptures are beautifully sequential and consistent:--
_Exodus_ xx, 4--“Thou shalt not make unto thee any likeness of anything in heaven above or in the Earth beneath, or in the _waters under the Earth_.”
_Genesis_ xliv, 25--“The Almighty shall bless thee with the blessings of heaven above, and blessings of the _deep that lieth under_.”
_Deut._ xxxiii, 13--“Blessed be his land, for the precious things of heaven; for the dew; and for the _deep which couched beneath_.”
_Deut._ iv, 18--“Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves, and make no similitude of anything on the Earth, or the likeness of anything that is in the _waters beneath the Earth_.”
The same idea prevailed among the ancients generally. In Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Jupiter, in an assembly of the gods, is made to say, “I swear by the infernal _waves which glide under the Earth_.”
If the earth is a distinct structure standing in and upon the waters of the “great deep,” it follows that, unless it can be shown that something else sustains the waters, that the depth is fathomless. As there is no evidence whatever of anything existing underneath the “great deep,” and as in many parts of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans no bottom has been found by the most scientific and efficient means which human ingenuity could invent, we are forced to the conclusion that the depth is boundless. This conclusion is again confirmed by the scriptures.