|
Main
- books.jibble.org
My Books
- IRC Hacks
Misc. Articles
- Meaning of Jibble
- M4 Su Doku
- Computer Scrapbooking
- Setting up Java
- Bootable Java
- Cookies in Java
- Dynamic Graphs
- Social Shakespeare
External Links
- Paul Mutton
- Jibble Photo Gallery
- Jibble Forums
- Google Landmarks
- Jibble Shop
- Free Books
- Intershot Ltd
|
books.jibble.org
Previous Page
| Next Page
Page 67
Since the opening revelations of the past show an unsearchable
wisdom in the Word, has that Word any prophecy concerning mysteries
not yet understood, and events yet in the future? There are certain
problems as yet insolvable. We have grasped many clews, and followed
them far into labyrinths of darkness, but not yet through into
light.
We ask in vain, "What is matter?" No man can [Page 237] answer. We
trace it up through the worlds, till its increasing fineness, its
growing power, and possible identity of substance, seem as if the
next step would reveal its spirit origin. What we but hesitatingly
stammer, the Word boldly asserts.
We ask, "What is force?" No man can answer. We recognize its various
grades, each subordinate to the higher--cohesion dissolvable by
heat; the affinity of oxygen and hydrogen in water overcome by
the piercing intensity of electric fire; rivers seeking the sea
by gravitation carried back by the sun; rock turned to soil, soil
to flowers; and all the forces in nature measurably subservient to
mind. Hence we partly understand what the Word has always taught
us, that all lower forces must be subject to that which is highest.
How easily can seas be divided, iron made to swim, water to burn,
and a dead body to live again, if the highest force exert itself
over forces made to be mastered. When we have followed force to
its highest place, we always find ourselves considering the forces
of mind and spirit, and say, in the words of the Scriptures, "God
is spirit."
We ask in vain what is the end of the present condition of things.
We have read the history of our globe with great difficulty--its
prophecy is still more difficult. We have asked whether the stars
form a system, and if so, whether that system is permanent. We
are not able to answer yet. We have said that the sun would in
time become as icy cold and dead as the moon, and then the earth
would wander darkling in the voids of space. But the end of the
earth, as prophesied in the Word, is different: "The heavens will
pass away with [Page 238] a rushing noise, and the elements will be
dissolved with burning heat, and the earth and the works therein
will be burned up." The latest conclusions of science point the same
way. The great zones of uncondensed matter about the sun seem to
constitute a resisting medium as far as they reach. Encke's comet,
whose orbit comes near the sun, is delayed. This gives gravitation
an overwhelming power, and hence the orbit is lessened and a
revolution accomplished more quickly. Faye's comet, which wheels
beyond the track of Mars, is not retarded. If the earth moves
through a resisting substance, its ultimate fall into the sun is
certain. Whether in that far future the sun shall have cooled off,
or will be still as hot as to-day, Peter's description would
admirably portray the result of the impact. Peters description,
however, seems rather to indicate an interference of Divine power at
an appropriate time before a running down of the system at present
in existence, and a re-endowment of matter with new capabilities.
After thousands of years, science discovered the true way to knowledge.
It is the Baconian way of experiment, of trial, of examining the
actual, instead of imagining the ideal. It is the acceptance of the
Scriptural plan. "If a man wills to do God's will, he shall know."
Oh taste and see! In science men try hypotheses, think the best they
can, plan broadly as possible, and then see if facts sustain the
theory. They have adopted the Scriptural idea of accepting a plan,
and then working in faith, in order to acquire knowledge. Fortunately,
in the work of salvation the plan is always perfect. But, in order
to make the trial under the most favorable circumstances, there
must be faith. The faith of [Page 239] science is amazing; its
assertions of the supersensual are astounding. It affirms a thousand
things that cannot be physically demonstrated: that the flight of a
rifle-ball is parabolic; that the earth has poles; that gages are
made of particles; that there are atoms; that an electric light
gives ten times as many rays as are visible; that there are sounds
to which we are deaf, sights to which we are blind; that a thousand
objects and activities are about us, for the perception of which we
need a hundred senses instead of five. These faiths have nearly all
led to sight; they have been rewarded, and the world's wealth of
knowledge is the result. The Word has ever asserted the
supersensuous, solicited man's faith, and ever uplifted every true
faith into sight. Lowell is partly right when he sings:
"Science was Faith once; Faith were science now,
Would she but lay her bow and arrows by,
And aim her with the weapons of the time."
Previous Page
| Next Page
|
|