The Spirit of God as Fire; the Globe Within the Sun Our Heaven
by D. Mortimore · English · Gutenberg #40443 · 307,846 chars · public domain (US)
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Title: The Spirit of God as Fire; the Globe Within the Sun Our Heaven
Author: D. Mortimore
Release date: August 8, 2012 [eBook #40443]
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Language: English
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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SPIRIT OF GOD AS FIRE; THE GLOBE WITHIN THE SUN OUR HEAVEN ***
Transcriber's note:
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Small capital text has been replaced with all capitals.
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THE SPIRIT OF GOD AS FIRE;
THE
GLOBE WITHIN THE SUN
OUR HEAVEN.
REASONS FOR SUCH HYPOTHESIS FOUNDED UPON GOD'S
OWN REVELATIONS AND RECENT DEVELOPMENTS
THROUGH THE LIGHTS OF ASTRONOMY.
BY
D. MORTIMORE, M. D.
PUBLISHED BY
F. C. COOK & CO., NEW YORK.
NEW YORK:
SHELDON & COMPANY, 498 & 500 BROADWAY.
1870.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1869, by
D. MORTIMORE, M. D.,
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the
Western District of Tennessee.
CONTENTS.
PAGE
PREFACE 7
THE THEME 13
THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL AND A FUTURE
STATE OF EXISTENCE 18
THE POSSIBILITY OF A MORE INTIMATE KNOWLEDGE
OF GOD; OUR RELATIONS TO HIM, AND OF A
FUTURE STATE OR PLACE OF HABITATION 28
THE CREATION 30
THE SUN, THE SOURCE OF LIGHT AND HEAT 33
WONDROUS WORKS OF GOD 35
THE DISCOVERIES OF THE MOTION OF THE EARTH
AND HEAVENLY BODIES 43
THE ROMISH CHURCH 51
GHASTLY REVELATIONS 61
ATTRACTION, GRAVITATION, &C. 73
SUNS, STARS, PLANETS, &C. 75
FIXED STARS ARE SUNS 89
A CONTEMPLATION 96
THE SUN,--AND GLOBE WITHIN 100
THE PLANETS OF OUR SOLAR SYSTEM 108
GOD'S THRONE SHALL ENDURE FOREVER; SO ALSO
SHALL THE SUN. SCRIPTURAL EVIDENCE FOR
ALL THAT WE CLAIM 118
SUN AND HEAVEN 141
A PLURALITY OF HEAVENS 145
A PLACE FOR THE WICKED 150
THE NATURE OF THE LIGHT OF THE HEAVENLY
WORLD 166
THAT HEAVENLY WORLD 169
THE DIMENSIONS AND CAPACITY OF THE CITY--THERE
IS ROOM FOR ALL, AND TO SPARE 175
THE NATIVE POPULATION OF THE HEAVENLY
WORLD 179
THE VAST NUMBERS OF THE ANGELS 183
AMAZING STRENGTH OF ANGELS 184
RAPIDITY OF MOVEMENT OF THE ANGELS 185
CERTAINTY OF A RESURRECTION 190
THE RESURRECTION 195
A SERIOUS CONTEMPLATION 201
THE FINAL JUDGMENT 205
A HOME IN HEAVEN 206
CONCLUSIVE AND CONCLUDING ARGUMENT 211
WILL ALL TAKE HEED? 215
APPEAL TO CHRISTIAN MINISTERS 218
APPEAL TO ALL 237
PREFACE.
In presenting this volume to the "intelligence of the world," the
author is fully aware of the incredulity with which it may meet in
many literary minds. Nevertheless, the truths which it contains will
remain unmarred by the salient attacks of "critics," when they have
passed away and have ceased to be remembered. Thus it has ever been
with the discovery of all great and important truths, from the
creation of man down to the present day. For more than eighteen
hundred years now past, the succession of a once prominent race have
disbelieved in the Messiahship of Christ. And even the Christian world
are still divided in their belief as to a Trinity in Unity.
Some three hundred years ago, the great and learned philosopher and
astronomer, Galileo, made an ascent in the empire of mind and science,
and promulgated immutable truths founded upon the laws of creation,
emanating from God himself; yet these were, for a time, disbelieved,
and, through the bigotry of a controlling Priesthood, he was even
forced to renounce them before a court of "Cardinals" of the Romish
Church, sitting as "_inquisitors against heretical depravity_" at the
city of Rome; and at the venerable age of seventy years, to accept the
sentence to a dungeon for life, in the "Inquisition;" and yet these
same truths have universally prevailed. So, also, are there
unbelievers to-day, in the existence of a God, and the immortality of
the soul--the truth of which all Christians, and even heathens,
believe.
We, therefore, feel that in advancing a new theory, especially one of
such magnitude and import, that we shall meet more or less opposition;
but we are willing to abide time's inevitable changes, in advancing
the mind to grasp and comprehend truths which God himself has revealed
for our contemplation. Still, we believe that there are many millions
who are now ready to comprehend and believe, and are only waiting for
a little additional light, or the grouping together of facts founded
on the revelations of God, and examined in the light of a true
science.
Philosophers and astronomers have advanced the idea of "a plurality of
suns, and a plurality of worlds," and have sustained this theory by
the most convincing evidence. This lays the foundation for a further
advance in the contemplation of the wonderful works of the Creator,
and justifies the hypothesis of a _plurality of heavens_; and we think
the revelations of God, and revelations through the science of
astronomy, will sustain the additional hypothesis that within what are
denominated "suns" there are vast globes or worlds, separate and apart
from the surrounding _photosphere of ethereal fire_, and that within
what we denominate our sun, _is our heaven_.
We have, therefore, penned the following pages with this impression
fixed in our mind, and send this volume forth to encounter the
enlightenment of the age, to be sifted and weighed in the _sieve_ and
_scale_ of intellect; and, relying on the Word of God and His
revelations to man, we feel satisfied that when the ordeal is past, we
shall still have remaining "full measure and weight."
In order to afford a more perfect comprehension of the "wonderful
works of God," and of His revelations to man, we have, necessarily,
availed ourselves largely of the results of the science of astronomy,
quoting the writings and conclusions of various eminent authors,
giving due credit therefor; and to them the author acknowledges his
indebtedness for statistical data and facts which could not otherwise
be obtained by any single individual. Grouping these together as
assistant lamps, we have relied, mainly, upon the Word of God, and His
revelations, as found recorded in the Bible, and evidences manifest in
perceptible and visible nature around us, while we trust that all we
have written will the more forcibly impress the mind with deep
humility, and with awe and reverence for the Great Jehovah, who
created all by the "Word of His power."
We have endeavored to avoid sectarian issues, as to Protestant
communities, throughout the world--save our own convictions of
immutable truth in regard to the true principles of Christianity, and
that salvation is offered alike freely to _all_, and that by due
repentance toward God, and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, all may
come to the knowledge of His Truth, and "know the Lord, whom to know
aright is eternal life." And, believing as we do, that every soul is
held alike accountable to God alone--and in nowise to Pope, Bishops,
or Priests--there were historical facts connected with our subject,
which, we thought, justified our strictures on the Romish Church, and
these it may be well for Protestants to consider.
We, therefore, dedicate this volume to the
PROTESTANT WORLD,
and, while we acknowledge our inability to do the subject ample
justice; yet--hoping we have been made the humble instrument, under
the direction of Divine Providence, of opening up to the mind a new
field for profitable contemplation--we ask for it a candid perusal, in
the spirit of prayer and Christian leniency, commending all to a
careful consideration of the words of the _Psalmist_:
"By the word of the Lord were the Heavens made, and all the
hosts of them by the breath of his mouth.
"The Heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament
sheweth His handy work.
"Whoso is wise, and will observe these things, even they
shall understand the loving-kindness of the Lord."
THE AUTHOR.
THE THEME.
The theme we are now about to contemplate is one of deepest interest
to the human mind. If we can fathom and unfold the mystery--as we
believe we shall--by analogy, founded in the light of _reason_, Divine
revelations, and the lights afforded us by the science of Astronomy,
and give tangibility to the--hitherto--chaos of the mind upon the
subject, we may lay the foundation for a more comprehensive and
intimate knowledge of God, the great Creator of all things, and this
knowledge should lead to more speedily Christianizing the world.
God has made himself manifest in everything, and to every individual.
Nature yields to this manifestation, yet does not comprehend it. Even
man, the human family--the only creatures of a high order of
intelligence placed by Him upon this earth--seem not to have risen to
that comprehension of knowledge to which they should attain from his
lessons of the Past, as well as those of the Present, and which
lessons are renewed unto us day by day.
Our principal theme is that of _the place of our future
existence--especially_ HEAVEN.
We approach the subject with fear and trembling, asking wisdom and
Divine aid of Him who hath said, "Seek and ye shall find," and of whom
it is written, "If any lack wisdom, let him ask of God, and it shall
be given him."
We know that we cannot throw that flood-tide of light upon the subject
that the theme demands, yet we may be the humble instrument, under
direction of Divine Providence, to mark out a path through the
wilderness of doubt, along which may shine, or through which the "eye
of faith" may catch, a ray of light from the bright "celestial
throne," which may induce others--more able minds and giant
intellects--to step forth, wielding mightily "the sword of the
spirit," and open out to the mind a plainer path, as the "king's
highway," leading up to that celestial world, to glory and to God.
We believe that if a reasonable, tangible idea of the constant
presence of God with us prevailed, as also of the heavenly world, and
the glories that shall be revealed; the nature of the soul of man;
from whence derived; the certainty that it must endure forever; the
requirements of the law of God; the certainty of the judgment; who is
to be the judge; the certainty that no error can be committed in His
judgment; no influences can be brought to bear to defeat the ends of
justice; that the righteous shall be adjudged to the enjoyment of
happiness and eternal life; the wicked be "banished from the presence
of God, and from the glory of His power," "to dwell in everlasting
flame, and languish in eternal fire," and that this righteous judgment
will never be revoked, but stand immutable as God Himself--on and on
through all eternity--we say we believe if this could be fully
comprehended by finite minds, the time would not be distant "when all
_would_ come to a knowledge of the truth, and know the Lord, whom to
know aright is eternal life." This knowledge should not be sought
through fear alone, but mainly through love to God, and faith in His
Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, and from the delights we feel in our
consciousness of the constant presence of God--by His Spirit--with us;
stimulated by love to our fellow-men; love of all Nature around us;
love of the wonderful works of the creative power of the
Omnipotent--even the vast wonders of His creations throughout His own
native Empire.
May we not? Can we not know more of all this? We are not forbidden to
investigate, to found reason on His revelations. Nay, He hath said,
"search the Scriptures, for in them ye think ye have eternal life, and
these are they which testify of Me."
We do not propose the building of a "Tower" like unto that of _Babel_,
for He hath said, "not by _might_, but by my _Spirit_." Therefore, by
the manifestations of His Spirit, which becomes sufficiently
enlightening, when properly comprehended, we will endeavor to throw a
faint--if not a flood-light from that eternal world into the eye of
_faith_. And, if we cannot, like the martyr Stephen, "see Heaven
opened, and the Son of man standing at the right hand of God," or
ascend to it with "Elijah in a chariot of flaming fire," we may, by
the mind's eye of faith, "see through the vail darkly," yet with
sufficient light to direct us, and guide our wandering footsteps in
the path that leads to that "bright clime," where the "glory of God"
is the light of that heavenly world.
Our theme necessarily leads us forth through trackless realms of
boundless space, where, with the mind's eye, we shall behold with
wonder and amazement some of the vast creations of the Omnipotent
power of God; such as will inspire the mind, and fill it with awe and
reverence for the Great Jehovah. We shall have a panoramic view of
millions of Suns--_Heavens_--planets, and worlds, standing out, or
careering through ethereal regions; peopling the realms of illimitable
space. We shall comprehend more fully the diminutiveness of this
earth; on which we dwell, as compared to the vast creations brought
forth by the "Word of His power," and of our own nothingness before
Him, while all must inspire us, not only with awe, but with gratitude
and love for His merciful provision for our redemption, and for
regaining "an inheritance which is incorruptible, undefiled, and that
fadeth not away."
_THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL, AND A FUTURE STATE OF EXISTENCE._
The Bible--now "The Book of the World"--is God's own revelation to
man. That it was penned by holy men of God, who wrote as they were
inspired, has been fully manifested by the fulfilment of prophecies;
many of which were miracles, and others--in their accomplishment--awful
and fearful judgments. Hence, none can doubt its authenticity as God's
own revelation to man. It is our only history of the wonderful
creations emanating from the Great First Cause; especially the
creation of _man_; his mortal, as well as his immortal nature. From
this history we learn that
"God created man in his own image; in the image of God
created he him; male and female created he them. And God
breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man
became a living soul."
Now, man is here spoken of in the plural: hence, the whole race--the
entire human family, are included, and this living principle,
emanating from God himself, partakes of his own immortal nature, and
can never cease or be extinguished. Therefore, the soul, or spirit of
man, must continue to endure through all eternity.
The belief in a future state of existence has obtained in all ages;
even in the dark regions of heathen lands, where the light of
Christianity has never yet shed its radiance, and where missionaries
have never penetrated. The mind of man--the thinking principle of
human intelligence--seems to have comprehended this great truth; even
where Christianity, founded upon Bible truths, is unknown. Indeed, the
idea of the immortality of the soul of man seems _inherent_. For, go
where we may, among the aborigines of every heathen clime, even from
the Islands of the Bahamas to Hindostan, India, Japan, and China; the
savage tribes of South America, the red tribes of our own continent,
or even the black races of Africa--all hold the idea of a future state
of existence. True, they may not have formed correct opinions as to
the nature of the place to which they expect to be transported, nor of
the felicities to be enjoyed there; yet all have the idea of a future
state, and it has ever prevailed.
If we trace history back to the ancient Egyptians, the Persians, the
Scythians, the Assyrians, Greeks, and Romans; indeed, with all nations
of which history gives us any knowledge, we find that it has ever
prevailed. Plato, Socrates, and Demosthenes held the doctrine of the
immortality of the soul, and of a future state of existence; while
such belief almost universally prevails in every land and clime where
civilization and Christianity are known. Thus we see it an inherent
law of human nature, and, in the minds of all, there is "a longing
after _immortality_."
May we not ask, from whence comes this intuition, that all feel that
death to the body is not the end of existence? Is it not that immortal
spirit-life which God breathed into our first parents? that
_spirit-fire_ which is eternal in its nature? that which can never be
quenched nor extinguished?
The Patriarchs, the Prophets, and Seers of old realized that here they
had no abiding place, and that they were but pilgrims and strangers on
the earth. We are told that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob desired a better
country, and looked forward to a heavenly one. Paul tells us "these
all died in the faith, not having received the promises, but having
seen them afar off." See how Moses submitted to sufferings, and
endured privations; yet in all these he "had respect unto the
recompense of reward."
How many of those worthy ancients suffered persecutions in various
ways for their acts of piety? even cruel mockings, scourgings, bonds,
and imprisonments. Some were cruelly tortured, others were stoned,
and still others sawed asunder; and yet under all these trials, and
even scourgings unto death, they held firm in the faith of a living
God, a future existence, and "a sure recompense of reward."
See Job, that faithful servant of the living God, how his faith was
sorely tried by all manner of afflictions. His flocks and herds
destroyed; his wealth dissipated; while disease, painful and
loathsome, preyed upon him. His sufferings and agonies were so intense
that all his friends believed him cursed of God, and forsook him; and
even his wife--who had enjoyed the fruits of his efforts in life,
reviled his integrity of faith, and scornfully told him to "curse God
and die."
But let us hear this patient, suffering child of God:
"_True_, my flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust;
my skin is broken and become loathsome, and I feel as though
I would not live alway. Yet all the days of my appointed
time will I wait, until my change comes, _and even_ though
He slay me, yet will I trust in Him. I know that I shall be
justified. For He shall be my salvation. If a man die he
shall live again. And now, behold my witness is in heaven,
and my record is on high. For I know that my Redeemer
liveth, and that He shall stand in the latter day upon the
earth. And though worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh
shall I see God, whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes
shall behold."
Where! oh, where, hath such faith been shown! And his faith being
sorely tried and found true and unwavering, his God came to his
relief, restored him to health, and blessed him--even more abundantly
than before; after which he lived an hundred and forty years and died
in peace.
Here we see, that, long anterior to the coming of Christ, Job declared
that he knew his Redeemer was then living, and that in the "latter
days" he should "stand on the earth." See this truthful evidence of
the Son of God coming down from heaven to ransom and redeem fallen
man!
The prophets foretold the coming of the Messiah, who should "ransom
his people from the power of the grave," and "redeem them from the
second death."
The sweet singer of Israel, looking forward to coming ages, through
the vista of revelations, breaks forth in rapturous confidence--
"Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive
me to glory. Whom have I in heaven but thee, and there is
none upon earth that I desire beside thee. Though my heart
and my flesh fail me, yet Thou art the strength of my heart
and my portion forever."
The prophet Isaiah declares,
"Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall
they arise."
And, calling in spirit unto the silent dead, he saith:
"Awake and sing, ye that dwell in the dust, * * the earth
shall cast out her dead."
In fulfilment of prophesy, the Son of God came as the "plague of
death" and "destruction of the grave." His advent into the world was
signalized by a "star in the East," guiding the wise men--who were
looking for his coming--to the "town of Bethlehem, where lay the babe
in the manger." While an angel, commissioned by the Father, announced
his arrival, and "good tidings of great joy" to the shepherds who were
watching their flocks by night upon the plains of Judea, saying, "Unto
you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ
the Lord." "And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the
heavenly host, praising God," and, as a heavenly choir, sounding the
loud anthem, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good
will toward men." This was "Him of whom Moses in the law, and the
prophets did write," even the "Sun of righteousness," whose coming was
foretold by the prophet Malachi.
By his teachings, and miracles wrought in after life, he proved his
origin and mission. But this mission could not be fully accomplished
until he should conquer death, hell, and the grave, and "bring life
and immortality to light through his own Gospel." Finally, the day
and the hour came for its complete fulfilment. Borne down with the
weight of the sins of a guilty world, he prayed his Father to
strengthen him, while "in agony he sweat great drops of blood."
See him ascending the rugged steeps of Calvary, bearing his own cross,
upon which his human nature must expire between Heaven and Earth.
Nailed to that cross, he hung upon it in painful agony, and for three
dreadful hours the sun, the source of light, was veiled, "and there
was darkness over all the land," and about the ninth hour, his
humanity "cried with a loud voice, my God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me!" and gave up the ghost. "And behold the vail of the
temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did
quake, and the rocks were rent, and the graves were opened, and many
bodies of the saints which slept, arose."
Now, while his lifeless body was still suspended upon the cross, the
work was not yet complete until the Roman soldier approached and
plunged his spear into his side, and thus Baptized the world in a
fountain of Blood. And, through faith in him, that is the only
fountain that can wash our guilty stains away, and present us purified
before his Throne.
Mark you the circumstances as they then transpired. The sun was
veiled, and "darkness prevailed over all the earth, from the sixth
until the ninth hour," and it was at the ninth hour he cried, "It is
finished and gave up the ghost." It was his mission "to bring life and
immortality to light." God, the Father, had veiled the sun, that the
earth should be in utter darkness. May it not have been the first act
of His son's immortality--after this tragic scene--to unveil the sun,
and throw its light--under a new dispensation--upon the world? But he
had come to conquer "death, hell, and the grave," "and lead captivity
captive." His body was placed in a sepulchre; from whence he had said
he would rise on the third day. The Priests and Pharisees remembering
this, besought Pilate, who commanded that the sepulchre be made
secure, which was done by a great stone under seal, and a guard
stationed over it, that no one might approach by day or by night. But,
behold, on the morning of the third day, an "angel of the Lord
appeared from heaven," whose descent caused a great earthquake, who
"rolled back the stone and sat upon it; and his countenance was like
lightning, and his raiment white as snow; and for fear of him the
keepers did shake and became as dead men." The angel said unto the two
Marys, "I know ye seek Jesus, which was crucified; He is not here, for
he is risen."
Thus, behold his triumph! He burst the bands of death asunder, and
rushing forth from the tyrant's grasp, shouted in triumph over this
last enemy, "Oh, death where is thy sting? Oh, grave where is thy
victory?" "I am the resurrection and the life." "I am he that liveth
and was dead, and behold I am alive forevermore, and have the keys of
hell and of death." Thus the fulfilment of prophesy and the promise,
that he should become the first fruits of them that slept.
We have subsequent evidence of his resurrection, where he appeared in
the midst of his disciples, when they had met in their private chamber
and had closed the door. But there have been doubters, and
unbelievers, in all ages--even though confirmative evidences have been
strong and plain. So, also, was there one in that little assembly.
Poor Thomas could not believe, even though his Lord and Master stood
before him; but the Saviour, full of tender compassion, said to him:
"Come, place thy fingers in the nail prints, and thrust thy hand into
the opening made by the soldier's spear in my side, and be not
faithless, but believing."
Now while God through his prophet hath said, "There is a spirit in
man, and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth him understanding,"
revelation is replete with evidence that "though a man die, yet shall
he live again." Christ, the Son of God, illustrated his power in
uttering the command, "Lazarus, come forth," and he that had been dead
four days, whose mortality was fast decomposing and yielding to
corruption, arose again into life. Thus in the days of his
incarnation, he manifested his power by the miracles he wrought in
numerous instances of restoring sight to the blind, causing the deaf
to hear; the dumb to speak; the lame to walk; healing the sick;
cleansing the leprous, and bringing the dead to life again: while, in
the power of his own resurrection, he made triumphantly manifest the
immortality of the soul; and the entire New Testament scriptures
abound with evidences that through Him "life and immortality have been
brought to light." Thus we see that the immortality of the soul, and a
future state of existence are plainly manifest.
_POSSIBILITY OF A MORE INTIMATE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD; OUR RELATIONS TO
HIM,--AND OF A FUTURE STATE OR PLACE OF HABITATION._
We believe that God himself has furnished us evidences through which
we should gain a more intimate knowledge of him; of our relations to
him, and of our future state and place of habitation.
In sustaining this belief, and the hypothesis we have already
advanced, as to the location of heaven,--to which we shall also add
our views as to the location of _hell_,--we shall rely mainly upon the
revelations of God, as found recorded in the Bible. Should we not
furnish positive, we believe we _shall_ furnish strong _circumstancial_,
evidence which will as forcibly impress the minds of our readers with
the correctness of our theory, as it has our own, upon the
investigation of it. With this we shall grasp, and intermingle, the
evidences afforded by the science of astronomy; the mighty
revelations of the wondrous works of God as now revealed to us by the
aid of the _telescope_.
We know that some of the most learned theologians and ablest divines,
of the past, as also many of the present age, have written, and have
labored hard--theoretically--to point out to the mind's eye the
locality of heaven, fixed somewhere in illimitable space. But, as yet,
their most profound efforts, aided though they might have been by the
lights afforded through the science of astronomy; the Bible, and all
nature around them as assistants to their own brilliant imaginations,
have failed to satisfy, even themselves, and all has resolved itself
back again into doubt and uncertainty, leaving the minds of all
bewildered with ideas as numerous, yet as vague and uncertain as
mystery itself. And yet we believe we have within, and all around us,
evidences which, if properly considered and comprehended, may shed
true light upon the subject, and give to us ideas and faith more
reasonable and tangible than any heretofore contemplated.
_THE CREATION._
Let us now make some investigations of the evidences given us in the
Bible in regard to creation. No one ever has, no finite mind ever can
fully comprehend the creative power of the Almighty; nor can we form
an idea of the time, in the remote past, when creation, "by the word
of His power" commenced.
We learn from Bible history, that "In the beginning God created the
Heavens and the Earth." Now as to the time when that "beginning" was,
we can form no positive idea. It is as reasonable to suppose it to
have been untold millions of years ago, as at any later period. So far
as this earth on which we dwell is concerned, it is but as an _atom_
when compared to the productions of His creative power; and of the
time when this atom was created, no one knoweth. Geologists, tracing
effects back to causes, agree on the fair probability that the
earth--this globe and its solid elements--have been in process of
change and formation, many thousands, and possibly millions, of years.
These students understand, in a great measure, the laws which govern
and control such formation in nature, and have data for their
conclusions. As for the time when God created man to dwell on this
earth, we need not now stop to investigate.
But, continuing this history, we read:
"And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was
upon the face of the great deep. And the Spirit of God moved
upon the face of the waters; and God said, Let there be
light; and there was light."
Thus we see that the _Spirit_ of God was then, as it ever has been,
and still is, the _source_ of light. Now, to our finite comprehension,
the Sun is the source of light and heat; or, rather that which we
denominate the Sun is a vast body or volume of intense heat, and
heat--or that which we denominates _fire_--is, to us, the source of
light. That God's spirit is fire, and light, we shall be able to show
in our further contemplation of the subject
The Psalmist tells us that:
"By the word of the Lord were the heavens made, and all the
hosts of them by the breath of his mouth."
Job tells us that:
"A flame goeth out of his mouth and God by his spirit
garnished the heavens."
Now let us bear these facts in mind: that the Psalmist speaks of a
plurality of heavens made by the word and breath of God, while Job
also tells us of a plurality of heavens, and that "a flame goeth out
of his mouth," and "God by his Spirit garnished the heavens."
We know that God is the Great First Cause, and the Creator of all
things that exist. He created the Heavens and the Earth, Suns, Moons,
Planets, and Stars, and all pertaining thereunto; as, also, the
firmament of the heavens, in which all are placed; and while all come
forth at His command, or by His word, yet we are plainly told, that
His breath, or Spirit, was the active agency in this mighty creation.
When we come to investigate the nature of this active
agency--Spirit--we find that it is _fire_, a principle, or element
which pervades all nature; one which is indestructible--can never be
destroyed--and yet an element of destruction; indeed, one of seeming
annihilation. Now, seeing that the element of fire pervades all
things, so also are we told, that God's Spirit is everywhere.
THE SUN--THE SOURCE OF LIGHT AND HEAT.
First, acknowledging God--the Supreme, Infinite, and Eternal One--as
the Great First Cause, and Author of all things created, we all know
that the Sun is the mainspring of animated Nature. Without its genial
rays, the present system of Earth's government could not endure, and
life itself would soon disappear from our globe. It is the source of
light and heat--the two great stimulants of vital force.
Now, so far as we can comprehend, the _Sun_ is the immediate or direct
source of light and heat--or fire--hence, the source of animated
existence of all pertaining to this Earth; and so, also, as we
believe, to all the other planets, or worlds belonging to our solar
system, or within the Sun's vast domain. That source is fixed and
permanent, and is ever the same; neither increasing nor diminishing,
although constantly dispensing its influence to all around it.
Its source is eternal, and it is, evidently, an attribute of Jehovah,
and the time of its past existence we cannot comprehend, nor can we
believe otherwise than that it will continue to exist through all
eternity. We believe it one of God's eternal lamps, placed by His own
Omnipotent power to light up the sphere which He has appointed unto
it, and to give its warmth and animation to this, and all other worlds
belonging to its domain. Cast your eye upward at noon-day, when no
clouds intervene, and behold that brilliant orb, whose light pales
that of all else, and seems to make all dark in illimitable space
beyond its own empire. Look at it but for one second of time only, for
a steady gaze at that bright flame for one minute alone, is fatal to
the sight of the eyes.
There _is_ "a dimning veil" to mortal vision, which hides the glories
of that _inner world_ from our sight; even those resplendent glories
which, while yet in the body, we can contemplate only by the eye of
faith.
_WONDROUS WORKS OF GOD._
We now propose to devote a short time to the contemplation of some of
the wonderful works of the Creator, as we see them displayed in the
firmament, and standing out in illimitable space, and, with the aids
afforded us by that most exact of all sciences--astronomy--we hope to
unveil mysteries, long since revealed by the revelations of God; yet,
hitherto, not fully comprehended. These seeming mysteries, we shall
endeavor to assist you to analyze by the light of God's own
revelations. In order to our purpose, we shall avail ourselves of the
writings of some of the most scientific, and eminent astronomers the
world has ever known, even from the early days of Anaximander and
Pythagoras, down to the times of Copernicus and Galileo, when feeble
rays of light seemed to break in upon the intellect and mind of man,
and from thence, the flood-lights which have been thrown in upon us by
the Herschels,--the leading stars of the empire of this science,--and
calling to our aid La Lande, Maury, Guillemin, Lardner, Darwin, Owen
and Olmsted, and many others equally known to fame. Yet in our
present effort, we shall rely mainly upon that master mind in
compilation, Dr. Child, of England, who has grouped together the
leading facts of discoveries, in order to incite the mind to the
contemplation of the wonderful works of the Creator, that all
intelligences of the world may be induced to join in with the three
Hebrew Children, in "praising and magnifying the name of the Lord." We
find, upon examination of the works of various leading authors, that
his statements are as nearly correct as any compilation well could be,
while, with a mind seemingly inspired for the work, his delineations
are so graphic, sublime and beautiful, we shall take data, and quote
freely from his writings, especially wherein he dwells upon the
"Heavens," "Sun," "Moon" and "Stars," adding as we pass along, such
reflections crowding upon our mind as we deem appropriate; and we
think that in the contemplation of the subject now before us, that ere
we have finished this feature of it, all will be ready to exclaim with
the Psalmist, truly,
"The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament
sheweth his handy work."
Dr. Child says, "Among all the sights the eye can look upon, nothing
is comparable to the Heavens for the sentiment with which they charm
the mind. The language they speak comes to us from remote mysterious
worlds; but, though it may be imperfectly understood, it is at least
universally felt. The great and the small--the civilized man and the
savage, the philosopher, the divine, and the illiterate or humble
citizen--all feel their influence, and are from time to time
irresistibly drawn toward them by mingled emotions of admiration,
gratitude and awe, such as none of the other features of nature can
excite in an equal degree.
"So strongly, however, is the idea of the 'incomprehensible'
associated by many with the mysteries of the firmament, that they are
habitually prone to regard the teachings of astronomers as little else
than scientific guess-work. Nevertheless, the best intellects in all
countries assure us, and demonstrate before our eyes, that, within
certain limits, Astronomy is the most exact and perfect of sciences,
and that, even when it deals with distances and magnitudes, which are
practically inconceivable, its conclusions, though often claiming to
be approximative only, have yet no affinity whatever with guess-work.
Let such sceptics think of the certainty with which sidereal events
are predicted beforehand. Let them reflect on the evidence of the most
exact knowledge of the heavenly bodies involved in the calculation of
eclipses, in fixing the very moment when the moon's dark outline shall
begin to creep over the sun's bright disk; marking its progress to the
highest maximum, and its waning--giving the moment when the last
visible shadow will disappear--predicting the instant when a planet's
light shall be extinguished behind our satellite. And yet even more
wonderful, the tracking of a comet's wanderings, millions of miles
beyond the far-off regions of Uranus, the foretelling the time of its
return after long years of absence! Do not these, and a thousand other
equally wonderful feats, attest both the soundness of the principles
on which the astronomer works, and the reasonableness of receiving his
assurances with confidence and trust, even though it may be impossible
for more than a few gifted minds to follow the calculations on which
they are based?"
Examine the Nautical Almanac, published by the British Government, a
chart found on every sea-going vessel. On the trackless ocean it is
the mariner's guide, his trusted friend and counsellor. He may embark
upon a long voyage over the trackless ocean, to be absent for years,
yet through all this time, and in any part of the world he has his
truthful friend to consult, who will warn him of dangers, and direct
his ship in safety in every changeful clime. He left his native land
years ago, yet now far out amid ocean's waves, in a different
hemisphere, he consults this little chart of astronomers. He knows in
any and every latitude the time of eclipses of the Sun and Moon, and
of Jupiter's satellites, their sidereal positions, distances, etc. It
seems charged with messages from the skies for his guidance and
safety.
"When we consider the acquisition of such rare and precious
knowledge--this mapping out beforehand, almost to a hair's-breadth,
the exact order and track in which the heavenly bodies will run their
course through space, and the precise relative position they will
occupy at any given moment, when they can be seen in any part of the
world--is not this convincing evidence of the correctness and
truthfulness of the science of astronomy?"
But we have on record a more startling demonstration of its
correctness--we say "startling" because of its magnitude and
importance, and because when we come to examine suns, planets, and
worlds, through the lights of this science, when we contemplate their
distances, magnitudes, and numbers, we shall be startled by their
immensity, and exclaim:
"How wonderful are Thy works, O Lord of Hosts!"
"The year 1846 will ever be memorable for having witnessed one of the
most striking illustrations of the truth of Astronomy. Few can have
forgotten the astonishment with which the discovery of the planet
Neptune was then received, or the fact that it was due _not_ to a
lucky or accidental pointing of the telescope toward a particular
quarter of the heavens, but to positive calculations worked out in
the closet; thus proving that before the planet was seen by the eye,
it had already been grasped by the mind. The theory of its finding was
a triumph of human intellect. The distant Uranus--a planet hitherto
orderly and correct--begins to show unusual movements in its orbit. It
is, somehow, not exactly in the spot where, according to the best
calculations, it ought to have been, and the whole astronomical world
is thrown into perplexity. Two mathematicians, as yet but little known
to fame, living far apart in different countries, and acting
independently of each other, concentrate the force of their
penetrating intellects to find out the cause. The most obvious way of
accounting for the event, was to have inferred that some error in
previous computations had occurred; and in a matter so difficult, so
abstruse, and so far off, what could have been more probable or more
pardonable? But these astronomers knew that the laws of gravity were
fixed and sure, and that figures truly based on them could not
deceive. By profound calculations, each arrives at the conclusion that
nothing can account for the "perturbation" except the disturbing
influence of some hitherto unknown mass of matter, exerting its
attraction in a certain quarter of the Heavens. So implicit, so
undoubting is the faith of the French astronomer Leverrier, in the
truth of his deductions, that he requests a brother astronomer in
Berlin, Prussia, to look out for this mass at a special point in
space, on a particular night; and there, sure enough, the disturber
immediately discloses himself, and soon shows his title to be admitted
into the steady and orderly rank of his fellow-planets. The
coincidence of the two astronomers--Leverrier, of France, and Adams,
of England, arriving at this discovery through scientific
calculations, based upon knowledge derived from physical observation,
precludes every idea of guess-work, while such was the agreement
between their final deductions, that the point of the Heavens fixed
upon by both as the spot where the disturber lay, was almost
identical." "Such a discovery" says Arago, "is one of the most
brilliant manifestations of the exactitude of the system of modern
astronomy."
Child continues: "Astronomy is without question, the grandest of
sciences. It deals with masses, distances, and velocities, which in
their immensity belong specially to itself alone, and of which the
mere conception transcends the utmost stretch of our finite faculties.
In no other branch of science is the limited grasp of our intellect
more forcibly brought home to us, yet, though baffled in the effort to
rise to the level of its requirements, our strivings are by no means
profitless. Is it not truly a precious privilege to be able to trace,
imperfect though it may be, the hand of the Almighty Architect in
these, His grandest works, and to obtain by this means a broader
consciousness of His Omnipotence?
"Could each one be privileged to look through Herschel's telescope on a
clear night, and visibly behold the wonders of the Heavens, our faith
in the realities of astronomy would pass with a sudden bound from
theory into practice; planets and stars would become henceforth
distinct and solid existences in our minds, our doubts vanish, and our
belief settle into conviction. We should behold the mysterious moon of
our childhood, mapped into brilliant mountain-peaks, and dark
precipices, and softly lighted plains; we should see Jupiter shining
like another fair Luna, with attendant satellites moving round him in
their well-known paths; or turn with admiration to Saturn encircled by
his famous ring, with outlines as distinct as if that glorious
creation lay but a few miles distant. Perhaps we may behold the
beauteous Venus shining with resplendent circular disk, or curiously
passing through her many phases in mimic rivalry of the Moon. Or,
leaving these near neighbors far behind, we may penetrate more deeply
into space, and mark how the bright flashing stars are reduced to a
small, round, unmagnifiable point. Such a privilege would give us a
more realizing sense of the power of the great Creator."
_THE DISCOVERY OF THE MOTION OF THE EARTH AND HEAVENLY BODIES_.
The science of Astronomy is one of the oldest that has occupied the
human mind. That the belief in Astrology was its forerunner, we cannot
doubt. Professor Olmsted tells us, that, "At a period of very remote
antiquity, Astronomy was cultivated in China, India, Chaldea, and
Egypt." Three several schools were established, ranging from three to
six hundred years before the Christian era. Anaximander, in the school
of Miletus, taught the sublime doctrine that the planets are
inhabited, and that the stars are suns of other systems. Pythagoras
was the founder of the celebrated school of Crotona, upon the
south-eastern coast of Italy, some five hundred years before the
Christian era. He held that the Sun was the centre of the solar
system, around which all the planets revolve, and that the stars are
so many suns, each the centre of a system like our own. He also held
that the Earth revolves daily on its axis, and yearly around the sun.
Although many of his opinions were founded in mere conjecture, and
were erroneous, yet we see that some important ones were founded on
truth.
He also held that the planets were inhabited, that the earth and
planets were ever revolving in regular order, "keeping up a loud and
grand celestial concert, inaudible to man, but, as the 'music of the
spheres,' audible to the Gods."
But the mind of man was not then prepared to grasp the feeble rays of
light, and add thereto, by the power of expanding intellect. Although
many succeeded Pythagoras, whose scientific attainments proved a
blessing to the world, and whose names will go down to all succeeding
generations, as the learned, the good, and the great of their time;
yet prejudice and superstition again prevailed, and the true lights of
this science were lost sight of, and, for near two thousand years,
ages of darkness prevailed, until Copernicus appeared about the
fifteenth century of the Christian era. He again revived the idea
advanced by Pythagoras, that the earth and planets moved regularly in
their orbits, and that the sun was the centre of the solar system. Yet
with him, as with the former, it was little more than mere conjecture.
We quote again Prof. Olmsted, in regard to these earlier astronomers,
who were struggling after light, and truth, in this grandest of
sciences: "Although, therefore, Pythagoras fathomed the profound
doctrine, that the Sun is the centre around which the earth and all
the planets revolve; yet we have no evidence that he ever solved the
irregular motions of the planets, in conformity with his hypothesis,
although the explanation of the diurnal revolution of the heavens, by
that hypothesis, involved no difficulty."
Again he says, "Ignorant as Copernicus was of the principle of
gravitation, and of most of the laws of motion, he could go but little
way in following out the consequences of his own hypothesis; and all
that can be claimed for him is, that he solved, by means of it, most
of the common phenomena of the celestial motions. He was indeed upon
the road to truth, and advanced some way in its sure path; but he was
able to adduce but few independent proofs, to show that it was truth.
It was only near the close of his life that he published his system to
the world, and that only at the urgent request of friends;
anticipating, perhaps, the opposition of a bigoted priesthood, whose
fury was afterwards poured upon the head of Galileo, for maintaining
the same doctrines."
The bigotry and superstition of the priesthood of the Church of Rome
again crushed out the lights of this science, and forbade further
investigations, and all was resolved back again into the doctrine
first taught by Eudoxus, who lived more than three hundred years
before Christ. This doctrine was the system of _crystalline spheres_;
"the earth the centre of the world, and all heavenly bodies set like
gems in hollow, solid orbs, composed of crystal so transparent, that
no anterior orb could obstruct in the least, the view of any of the
orbs lying behind it," that the heavens revolved or rolled round from
East to West, performing the circuit every twenty-four hours, carrying
along the sun, planets, orbs, &c., and that "above the whole were
spread the _grand empyrean_, or 'third heavens,' the abode of
perpetual serenity."
"To account for the planetary motions, it was supposed that the
planetary bodies, as also the stars, and sun, each had a motion of its
own from East to West, while all partook of the common diurnal motion
of the starry sphere."
"Aristotle taught that these motions were effected by a tutelary
genius of each planet, residing in it, and directing its motions, even
as the mind of man directs his own movements."
Thus, from the time of Copernicus, until Galileo appeared in the
sixteenth century, the lights of this science were again extinguished
by the superstition, bigotry, and intolerance of the priesthood, who
would make no proper advance with intellect beyond the established
dogmas of the church; even to ascertain truths which God himself had
made plainly perceptible in His wondrous works.
Galileo, born in Pisa, Italy, in the year 1564, evinced in early life,
a fondness for the study of philosophy, and the higher order of
sciences, and proved himself also a genius in mechanical inventions.
Fortune favored him in his day, and, enjoying all the greater
advantages of the best schools of his time, he studied well all the
old masters, who had preceded him, and became perfectly familiar with
every theory of philosophy and astronomy then known, and prepared
himself for an advance in the sciences. He invented the first
telescope, with which to survey the heavenly bodies, and the result of
his experiments proved conclusively the correctness of the theory
advanced by the conjectures of Copernicus.
He pursued his investigations for years, and established the truth, in
his own mind, of the constant movements of the earth and planets, each
revolving in its own orbit, with the Sun as the common centre of all;
of the truth of which he could never more entertain a single doubt.
But the laws which governed and controlled their movements--the power
and force of attraction and gravitation--he could not yet fully
comprehend. This great work of discovery was left for Sir Isaac
Newton. Knowing the bigotry and intolerance of the ruling powers of
Rome, he, Galileo, resorted to subterfuge in order to obtain
permission to publish his opinions to the world. Yet, when published,
these drew down upon his head the stern persecution of the Pope and
Cardinals, and also opposition and accusations from all other
philosophers and astronomers of his time. At length, hearing the
distant muttering "thunders of the Vatican," he resorted to Rome, to
reason with the powers that then held universal sway. But, like all
other lights of reason--from time immemorial to the present hour--the
fiat of the Romish Church would ever obscure, or crush out light,
chain down the intellect, become the arbiter of the consciences of
men, and permit no advance, save as she might lead; and even then
binding all to her dogmas, and decrees, by the power of force, and
threatenings of her Inquisitions. She has ever stood ready, where she
had the power, to crush with her iron heel every one who dared to
oppose, or sought to lead the mind of man to light and liberty. And it
has been the force of circumstances alone, that has, in part, broken
this chain of bondage, emancipated the mind, given freedom to thought,
and permitted the advance of human intellect.
Galileo seemed, indeed, as Nature's philosopher of his time. "He
interrogated the laws of nature by experiments and observations, and
we have to ascribe to him the first true investigation of the laws of
terrestrial gravity." Had he stood firm and maintained the truths
which God had permitted him to comprehend, the lights of a true
science would then have shone forth, and it is possible that our
knowledge to-day would be far in advance of what it is. We judge thus,
because of the rapid advance made during the last century, especially
since Dr. William Herschel first pointed his telescope toward the
heavens.
But on Galileo's arrival at Rome, neither his venerable age, his
enlightened mind, his acknowledged comprehensive and brilliant
intellect, nor even his honorable and eloquent appeals for a full and
scientific investigation as to the correctness of his theory, could
gain a generous response. The powers that ruled had not made the
advance, and it was dangerous to them to permit any one outside to do
so. Hence, all new doctrines were held as heretical, and must be
crushed at once. He was placed in confinement, charged with treason
and conspiracy against the Church; his views heretical, such as
demanded the most rigorous punishment;--even after he should renounce
them before the cardinals sitting as Inquisitors in his case. The
charges against him were those of his published views, which he freely
acknowledged, and, while he knew them to be _truths_, yet so
controlling was the influence of his belief in the dogmas of that
church--even as it is with all its adherents--that he bowed to its
fiat, and, on bended knees laid his hand upon the Holy Gospels, and
swore by them and the Roman Catholic Church, before God, and the
Inquisition of Cardinals, that the _truths he had published_ were
_false_, abjuring, cursing, and detesting them as heresies; and swore
a life allegiance to the Church, and received submissively, his
sentence to a dungeon in the Inquisition for life.
Says Prof. Olmsted, "We cannot approve of his employing artifice in
the promulgation of truth; and we are compelled to lament that his
lofty spirit bowed in the final conflict. How far, therefore, he sinks
below the dignity of a Christian martyr!"
Says Dr. Brewster, "At the age of seventy, on his bended knees, and
with his right hand resting on the Holy Evangelists, did this
patriarch of science avow his present and past belief in the Romish
Church; abandon as false and heretical the doctrine of the earth's
motion, and of the sun's immobility, and pledge himself to denounce to
the Inquisition, any other person who was even suspected of like
heresy. He abjured, cursed, and detested, those eternal and immutable
truths which the Almighty had permitted him to be the first to
establish. Had Galileo but added the courage of a martyr, to the
wisdom of the sage; had he carried the glance of his indignant eye
round the circle of his Judges; had he lifted his hands to heaven, and
called the living God to witness the truth and immutability of his
opinions; the bigotry of his enemies would have been disarmed, and
science would have enjoyed a memorable triumph."
THE ROMISH CHURCH.
It is impossible for the mind to contemplate the scene presented to
the world, by the history of that trial and unjust condemnation,
without a shudder, if not a premonition of what may yet be in the
future.
Religious bigotry is more intolerant than any other power of dominion,
and where the mind and conscience is trammelled, and brought under the
subjection of superior intellect, the masses become almost as menials,
ready to do their masters' bidding. We hold to a system of religion,
one which leaves the mind untrammelled, and permits free intercourse
with the spirit of God; that which casts aside all that might obstruct
or intervene, and which enables the soul to commune with its Maker and
Redeemer; that which enables each "to know for himself and not
another." This is the Protestant faith and doctrine, contra-distinguished
from the Roman Catholic faith, whose Popes, Bishops, and Priests,
become, as it were, the arbiters of the minds and consciences of their
adherents; stand between them and their Maker, and trifle with the
souls of men, as implements and matters of commerce. It is time that
the days of superstition were ended.
It is fast losing ground in the old world, where, for long centuries
past, it has held the masses in ignorance. But, of late years, it has
been rapidly gaining ground on our own continent, and its progress of
late has been fearful, and may well alarm the Protestants of our own
country. We hold that Catholicism is little else than a complete
system of superstition. The minds of the masses of its votaries are
trained and educated to it from childhood. Hence, there is no
possibility of ever eradicating it from the minds of those thus
educated. The priests, cardinals, and Pope, can, at any moment,
trammel free thought by their own edicts, and bring their subjects to
their own terms. Their subjects are taught to believe them to possess
superior power; to be able to stand between them and heaven, or hell,
to lock, or unlock at pleasure; and so ingenious is their system of
religion taught, that it ensnares the mind and holds it ever
subservient.
We have seen with what submission that mighty man of learning and
towering intellect, Galileo, bowed to this imperial power. By arduous
study, labor and experiments, he had gained a knowledge of his
Creators wonderful works, far transcending all that was known of it by
the ruling powers of Rome. He knew this knowledge was truth, as
immutable as God himself, yet, if _cursed_ by the Pope of Rome, he,
doubtless, believed this curse would place him in perdition, and no
one would pray his soul out of purgatory. Therefore, he perjured
himself (for when he had sworn it false, he still believed it true) in
order to reconcile the rulers, and secure their intercession. This is
only an isolated case out of, doubtless, thousands of others, where
mind and conscience is brought fully under their subjection.
Rome to-day, and the Romish Church, is the same in spirit and ambition
of universal sway, as in the days of Galileo. Give her but the power,
and rather than lose it again, she would bind humanity in chains of
perpetual ignorance as to the source and lights of eternal truth, save
that which she alone might graciously promulgate; and this to a
favored few, whose trainings were such that their consciences were
securely chained to her car, more ponderous and destructive, than that
of Juggernaut.
Some, perhaps, are ready to say we have borne down too severely upon
the Roman Catholics, that they, too, are now more enlightened, and
more liberal in their views than formerly, that they have founded
schools and institutions of learning, equal--perhaps superior, to
those of any other denomination in our country. Grant all this; but
why, and for what purpose? _Answer._ The force of circumstances; the
enlightenment of the age has compelled them to move forward. They are
ever wily and on the alert; the philosophy of science was marching
onward; the millions could no longer be held in the old beaten track
of ignorance to pander to the few, and Rome, comprehending all this,
foresees her impending downfall, unless she, too, steps forward with
her _gilded robe_. She therefore, takes a new tack, with her ponderous
ship, upon the sea of mind. She has in store her mines of wealth,
gathered daily from the poor sons and daughters of toil, some of whom
almost starve themselves in order to pay penance to the Priests for
sins laid to their charge, committed--if sins they be, in ignorance.
These priests--some of whom are besotted--still stand forth as the
arbiters of the consciences of their deluded followers; pretend to bar
the gates of heaven; admitting none, save for the _shillings_ or the
_pounds_, showing plainly that the continued organization of this
church, in this enlightened age, is but the force of early education.
Yes, they have erected their school and college edifices, and also
their _convents_ and _monasteries_. They have ample material for
efficient teachers: but mark you, these have all been well trained
from infancy in the "_lap of the Church_." They are obedient,
efficient and orderly, and, at proper times, are ready to make
advantageous displays. They take charge of all the youth of _their_
flock, and, alas, by their seductive insinuations, are now making
rapid progress against Protestantism in our own country. They are
educating tens of thousands of Protestant youth.
Do they ever exhibit to, or instruct them in your Protestant Bible?
No, never! but on the other hand; are they not constantly trying to
instruct, charm, and fascinate them with their own system of religious
worship? They are partial to your children--especially to your
_daughters_, who will, in time, be among the mothers of the succeeding
generation, and who, of course, will train up their offspring in the
same faith. Just let them secure a majority of mothers as firm
believers in the Romish faith, and they will bid defiance to all
opposing influences. How long since one of their Archbishops said, in
a public address, in one of our leading cities: _Let us once control
the children, the youth of the land, and we can soon control the
nation_; or words of this import? See their indefatigable exertions;
their complete system of organization; their primary schools, their
Seminaries, Academies, Colleges, Convents, and Monasteries, already
established, and to which they are adding, annually, many more, while
Protestants seem to be slumbering over the kindling fires of a
volcano, which may in time break forth in all its destructive fury, as
it oft-times has during past centuries.
Is it not high time that Protestants of our own country, were waking
up in regard to their present, and eternal interests? Let a
preponderance of power be centered in any one man, and you may then
bid a final adieu to a republican form of government, and must,
perhaps, bow to infamous and oppressive "decrees" emanating from an
iron will.
In our own country, this cannot yet be, unless the usurper is backed
by a soldiery, who are hired, and paid, out of a controlled treasury.
This could not long maintain, in this, or any country, where there is
freedom of mind and thought, and where conscience remains
untrammelled. But let the masses be thus controlled by one superior
intellect, and feel that their ETERNAL interests are subject to his
will, and they will be ever ready to do his bidding.
The Popes of Rome have--successively--held this power over a portion
of Europe, even as the history of the dark days of the "Inquisitions"
and martyrdoms attest. Thus it has been, and thus we believe it ever
will be, where Roman Catholics gain universal sway: for we believe
there is scarcely a member of that organization living to-day, who
would not--at the Pope's command--make every desired sacrifice; not
only of worldly goods and interests, but even of life itself--if
required.
We do not condemn--collectively, nor individually, the masses, and
members of that faith. Far be this from us. We believe that a very
large majority of them are honest, and truly devotional. No other
class of people on the globe have been more self-sacrificing than many
of them, in performing acts of kindness, charity and mercy, and these
offices have been performed in a true spirit of Christian benevolence.
Would that all other professed Christian organizations would equal
them in this respect. All should render relief, when within their
power, to suffering humanity. We believe that all such efforts upon
the part of any one, will merit, and obtain, individual reward. What
we condemn is the spirit of the ruling powers of the Romish Church;
its bigotry, and intolerance; and because they--by educating into
their system of religion--trammel the mind, and control the
conscience, rendering them subservient to the dictation and will of
the rulers. The Pope, bishops, and priests, claim to be the mediums
through which their adherents are saved, as, also we believe mediums,
whose "curses" pronounced against any, will consign the soul to
perdition, while they chain the mind to superstition.
The Bible teaches that Christ is our only mediator, that all may come
to God through faith in His Son; every soul is held alike responsible,
and is alike accountable to its Creator. That life and salvation are
freely offered alike to all, the requirement being, to forsake the
ways of sin, and through faith in Jesus Christ, "return unto the Lord
who will have mercy, and to our God who will abundantly pardon."
It will be perceived that our principal objections to that sect are
their superstitions, bigotry, arrogance and intolerance; the chaining
down the mind, and controlling the conscience, and using all for
temporal sway. The antecedents of this power are sufficient to warn
all Protestants against its encroachments, and stimulate them to say,
"Thus far shalt thou go and no farther," and in order to this, let
every Protestant denomination see to the educating of their own
children.
"But," say some of our Protestant mothers, "they have the best
schools, and I want my daughters to be well educated, and
accomplished; and I do not fear their making Catholics of them." So,
likewise, have said thousands of others, and yet, trying the
experiment, they have been mistaken. Their daughters have returned
home fascinated with show and tinsel, and firm adherents to that
doctrine, which, when educated into the mind, can never thence be
eradicated.
Few are aware of the rapid advance the Catholics are making against
Protestantism, at the present time. It is safe to say, that not less
than from fifteen to twenty thousand daughters, belonging to
Protestant families, are baptized into that church annually, in the
United States. On the other hand, few, if any, Catholics ever become
Protestants; and nine out of every ten who do, will--if sick and
fearing the approach of death, send for Catholic Priests; make
confession, and implore their intercession, to rescue their souls from
purgatory, where they feel sure of going for this great sin of
apostasy.
Now we ask, how long will it take, with so large and ever increasing
accessions of our Protestant daughters, for that organization to gain
the ascendancy in our country? Their motto is _eternal vigilance_,
while they wage eternal warfare _against the Protestant faith, and
Christian religion_. The time was, when they held almost universal
sway throughout a large portion of Europe. The edicts of the Pope, and
Roman Catholic rulers, must be obeyed by _all_. Curses, torture,
imprisonment, and _death_--where they had the power--was the portion
of all who disregarded their mandates. And then, as now, their hatred
and persecutions were against those whom they termed "_heretical
Protestants_;" against your ancestors, and your religion. Kings, and
Emperors, trembled on their thrones, and lent willing obedience, lest
a "Bull" should be issued against them from the "Vatican" by the
ruling Pope. Those were dark days for poor Protestants; they had to
worship God in _secret_, or in dens and caves. Even only a few
centuries ago, terror and darkness reigned; multiplied thousands were
slaughtered, or dragged to the "stake" and consumed by fiery faggots;
grey hairs, age or decrepitude, were no shields against their bigoted
fury. The priests then, as now, controlled and directed the
consciences of their followers. No compassion, could be shown--even to
purity and innocence of defenceless females, or helpless children.
Those who could manage to escape and flee the country, did so,
leaving all of worldly goods and possessions behind them _confiscated
to the Church_, and, as strangers, poor and friendless, sought, as
best they could, asylums in other lands--some of whom, finally reached
our own continent, here to enjoy liberty and the freedom of
conscience. And we have to lament the fact that many of them, still
tinctured with the rule and form of despotism, had, by the force of
previous circumstances, imbibed notions akin to despotism and
persecution, and were, for a time, while they had the power, disposed
to use it as manifested by the Puritans first landing on our shores.
But they could not hold this power, because of lack of a complete
organization of a hierarchal power. Free thought and free speech, and
the liberty of a free untrammeled _conscience_ prevailed, and soon
swept away every vestige of religious intolerance and despotism, and
our North American continent soon towered in sublime grandeur and
beauty, and became the home and asylum of freedom for the oppressed of
every clime. This land is the birthright of Protestants, wherein those
of every religious faith, Catholics, and all others, have equal rights
and privileges; but to maintain our liberties, we must educate into
the minds of all, _personal liberty, and accountability_, and leave
the conscience untrammeled so far as regards popes, priests, bishops,
or ministers, _controlling man's future destiny_. All are held
individually, and personally, accountable to God, and He hath sent
His Spirit to enlighten every one, and all who go direct to Him in the
spirit of humility, with faith and prayer, will obtain this light.
In regard to the workings of the ruling powers of the Roman Catholic
Church less than two centuries ago, we give place to the following
recent developments, written as a matter of history, by one who
assisted in the investigations only a few weeks ago. This is from
"Catholic Spain:"
GHASTLY REVELATION!
MORE RELICS OF THE SPANISH INQUISITION UNEARTHED.
The London _Star_ has the following from Madrid:
A somewhat ghastly incident has caused considerable
excitement here within the last few weeks. Within a few
hundred yards of the new Plaza de Dos Mayo, inaugurated on
the 2d of this month, there is a locality called the Cruz
del Quemadero. It is a field some three hundred metres
square, at the top of the Calle Aricha de San Bernardo, near
the hospital built by the ex-Queen. Through it a new road
was lately opened, and as the ground was elevated, a cutting
of considerable depth had to be dug. The workmen laid bare
several peculiar looking horizontal strata, of irregular
formation. One was one hundred and fifty feet in length,
another fifty, another ten. The thickness varied from eight
to eighty centimetres. In color the soil was black, the
lower strata being much blacker than the superior ones.
On examination lumps of charred wood were found,
interspersed with ashes, evidently the remains of some huge
fire. Curiosity was soon excited, and further investigation
demonstrated that in portions of these ugly-looking strata,
the finger came upon small pieces of adipose matter, which
yielded, like butter, to the touch. Iron rings were grubbed
up; human bones, a cranium, a long tuft of hair, having
belonged to some female. All these were more or less
charred. Some of the iron was partially fused, and the
texture of bone intermingled with sand was plainly
discernible. _A gag turned up._ The question, what were
these lugubrious records was answered at once. This field of
the Cruz del Quemadero was the place where the
"_Inquisition_" disposed of some of its victims. Here were
the ghastly proofs of the horrors of which this place had
been the scene, suddenly brought to light after the lapse of
two centuries. On the 12th of May, 1689, eighty-three
heretics, including twenty Hebrews, of whom five were women,
were immolated on this very spot. The pile of wood was
eighty feet in length by seven feet in height. A great
concourse witnessed the _auto da fe_, and the horrible
ceremonial completed, the people buried the remains of their
victims under cart-loads of earth. These irregular
geological strata are naught else but the silent testimony
to the atrocities perpetrated on this in the name of
religion and "Catholic Unity." Out of one, your special
correspondent hooked out with his finger, one entire bone of
a human vertebral column, a portion of the tibia, a
fragment of a shoulder-blade with a hole through it, and a
bit of a rib, all bearing the marks of fire. Upward of two
cart-loads of remains of this sort have been carried away
and decently buried. But these horrible strata! There they
remain to tell their own tale, and instruct the present
generation. On the 13th, a public meeting was convened, to
be held at the Quemadero, by the Republican youth of Madrid,
to protest against priestly intolerance and to advocate
_freedom of conscience_. That this discovery should have
been made at a moment when the Spanish clergy are striving
their utmost to affirm the "unity of the Roman Catholic
Church," and are preaching in the churches of the metropolis
against heresy, is a striking coincidence.
The Quemadero is so frequented by people in search of
relics, and the explorations of these strata have been so
extensive, that the authorities have barred the frontage
off, and prohibited access. It is their intention to cut a
square block, and there erect a monument. It is estimated by
Llorente, the great historian of the Inquisition, that this
atrocious tribunal has deprived Spain of twelve millions of
souls, including the Jews, and Moors, expelled from the
country. Thirty-one thousand and ninety-two perished by
fire; 17,659 were first butchered and then burned; 221,985
died of torture. Total, 270,736.
Rome, ever intolerant in spirit, her persecutions have ever been the
same through all ages, and in all countries, where she had the power
of physical force. And thus, we believe, it would be to-day, on this
continent, had she now the ascendency here. Daily, in private, are you
denounced by their priests, and minions, as heretics, while it would
seem that no bishop, or priest, of that church, can ascend a rostrum
in any of their cathedrals, without venting his spleen in outspoken or
implied anathemas against all Protestants.
Your daughters, under their special care in their schools and
academies, are taught by the Lady Superiors, and sisters--by
insinuations, if not directly--to believe theirs the only true church
of God on earth. They are told by their confidential associates, that
all who do not believe their faith, and in the Roman Catholic Church,
are held by them as "_heretics_" and, without this belief, need never
hope to get to heaven. Their governesses and teachers are ever wary,
at first, of manifesting, or of exercising a direct influence, as
regards controlling their religious belief, and will tell you, when
you are about to place your daughters under their care, that they
never teach the children of Protestants the Catholic religion, and
yet, by their machinations, adopt the most efficient means of
accomplishing it. They are sure to gain their _confidence_, and, very
soon, with nine out of ten, they have more of this than even the
mother enjoys. When they have gained this, confidence, their task
becomes an easy one, and they know well how to perform it. On each
recurring Sabbath, all who are under their care must attend church,
and they are accompanied by the superiors or teachers, to _their_
church, and there must sit and hear the religion and faith of their
own parents denounced in the boldest terms. They are young and
inexperienced; their minds susceptible of impressions, and these they
receive and nurture with such effect, that long before the period
arrives for them to leave the "Institution," the faith and doctrines
of the "Church of Rome" are firmly ingrafted in their minds; and they
return home fully resolved to be (even if they have not already been)
confirmed by the ordinance of Baptism in that church. Thus, their
religious belief is educated into their minds, and no parental
influence can ever change their views.
"But," say some, "we send our children to their day-school, and hence,
have them under home influence most of the time, and in this way there
is no danger." Let us examine and see whether there is, or is not.
This mode of procedure is one of their organized systems for induction
into your "good graces," so that they may eventually accomplish their
ends. By this seeming open-heartedness, they allay all suspicion, and
overcome any prejudices you may have cherished against their system of
religion. They are all working for the future ascendency of their
church. It must not be a matter of haste; the minds of Protestants,
who are yet in the ascendency, are not prepared to yield all in open
conflict. Hence, they must be patient; must work and wait. Such a
course, on their part, will disarm you of even suspicion, and cause
you to think and speak well of them. This is always their first step.
Soon they will open the doors of their academies to admit your
daughters, where they MUST remain during all the term--save a short
"home visit" now and then, from which they must return on the day, and
even the very hour stated by the "Superior." Have you ever noticed how
_promptly_ your daughter has felt it her duty to obey this command,
and return to that school? Was it ever thus while she was attending a
Protestant school? Think you she would be so mindful of _your_
request; so _anxious_ to leave pleasant society; unwilling to remain
even an hour longer, and return to you and loved ones at home? Nay, I
tell you she would not do it under ordinary circumstances. See now who
already holds the confidence of, and greater influence over your
child!
But see on yonder eminence a Convent, a Monastery, a Nunnery, with its
towering dome, and surrounded by massive walls. There, perhaps, is the
place wherein your young and beautiful daughter will be immured to
spend a weary life in _crucifying_ herself, and doing penance daily
for imaginary sins she has never committed. Thus, shutting herself up
within that living tomb from all the outside world, and the happiness
to be enjoyed in social life; she is as dead to you, and to the world,
as though in her coffin, and in her grave; while the mind is as
obscured as to the true lights and freedom of eternal truth and
salvation, as though reason were dethroned, and she a maniac. This
condition has been brought about by influences brought to bear upon
her mind, commencing with your daughter's first entrance into their
primary schools. Confessions must soon be made to the priest, and, by
his arts, he soon gains the ascendency over, and becomes the arbiter
of the mind and conscience, and more especially is this influence
exerted to this end, if the child is an _orphan_, and is the rightful
inheritor of a valuable estate. For it would seem that to this end do
the ruling powers of that sect devote time, energy, and influence--as
witnessed by so many young females, whose parents left them fortunes,
surrendering all to the church, and taking up a life abode in their
convents.
We do not condemn the poor deluded victims, nor believe they are held
accountable in their delusion. They are honest in their devotions, yet
perform these under false delusions. And when their spirits are
released from this double prison-house, and return to God who gave
them, they will then realize the freedom of the Spirit of God, and how
abundantly it giveth _light_, _life_ and _liberty_. And they will then
also realize that their salvation is alone of God--through his
boundless mercy; and not in anywise through intercession of the
_Priest_.
We warn you to look well to passing events. History so oft repeats
itself, that we can but believe there is danger. Remember that when
Luther--the bold pioneer of Protestantism--stood forth the champion of
Christianity, to his followers there came, from this same source,
persecutions, martyrdoms, and massacres--even a reign of terror and
darkness upon Europe. But it proved a darkness that preceded a dawn;
and although seemingly, at the time, dreadful in its consequences, yet
none can deny but that the world is far better because of his efforts,
than to have slumbered on in ignorance and in sin. From this same
cause, our own continent may be destined to pass through a period like
that of the "dark ages." If so, we trust in God it may come forth from
it cleansed and purified; even as the current of the "lost river,"
that loses itself in the bosom of the "Blue Ridge," where, with a wild
whirl, its turbid waters dash into the resounding cavern, but on the
other side reappear, clear, placid, and beautiful.
We say to all Protestants, remember, that in placing your children
under the care and influence of Catholic teachers, and Priests of that
Church, you lend your aid to obscuring their minds, and, in
accordance to your own belief, shutting out from the eye of faith
God's own eternal truth. They go to men as "intercessors" instead of
to Christ the Lord--the Son of God, who redeemed them with His own
precious blood--who alone can intercede for them. And you also aid in
re-establishing universal sway to the ever-intolerant Romish Church.
The time may come when--driven from the Old World--her central power
will be on this continent: and, erecting here her gorgeous temples
from the estates you leave to your children, the Pope will ascend the
throne of the American Vatican--under and around which will be the
dark dungeons of the Inquisition--and thence thunder forth his
"_Bulls_" and _Anathemas_ against the feeble followers of the blessed
Redeemer. That Church is by far the most intolerant of all the
professed Christian organizations on this globe. Their members are not
even allowed the privilege of attending religious worship anywhere
else than under their own instructions, and we opine, that should any
one of them do so without "dispensation," they are held as having
committed a sin, for which they must soon repair to the Priest, make
confession, do penance, receive absolution from him, and pay the
price.
Behold the avarice of this "whore of Babylon!" Not content with
tribute paid to her--perhaps weekly--through a long lifetime by her
deluded followers, when nature yields to the fiat of the Eternal One,
mortality drops to moulder into dust, and the spirit returns to God
who gave it, so completely are the minds of all her adherents under
the control of the Priests, that they can still lay _penance_ upon the
dead, and demand and obtain _tribute_ from the living offspring.
In closing our remarks upon this subject, we submit, for the
reflection of all Protestant ministers and members in every quarter of
the world, the following, a portion of the Pope's address to the
English clergymen, who presented him an address signed by some
eighteen hundred clergy, April 20th, 1869. After examining the
document closely, following other remarks, he said:
"In the mean time, we must cultivate in a most special manner the
_spirit of unity_, for in that lies our strength, and its want is the
weakness of our adversaries. I have noticed the Protestants are
perpetually appealing to the primitive Church; but when I turn to the
early ages of history, what do I see? Unity! all the more reasonable
because existing undoubtedly in a different state of society from the
present. The Apostles were all of one accord, and one mind. * * * *
Protestants, on the other hand, are disunited; and our strength, in
the difficulties we have to encounter, lies in _perfect union_. * * *
It will be the old story over again. There will be waves and storms
and threatenings on all sides, but we shall be brought safely through
* * * while our _adversaries_ are struggling with the waves."
Let all ponder well these remarks. The philosophy that "in union there
is strength" is a true one. And if all Protestants cannot unite as one
great body and family--because of minor non-essentials in matters of
faith, forms and ceremonies--let all unite in the one great essential,
that all their children, and orphan children of Protestants, shall be
educated in other than Catholic schools. For, in these latter, we hold
that the mind is chained to error and superstition, and the true
lights of God's truth and plan of salvation are obscured. Every parent
and guardian will be held accountable in a coming day, should they
neglect to "train up their children in the way they should go."
* * * * *
Our readers will please pardon us for the digression we have made from
the special subject we have under consideration. Had we not been duly
impressed with the importance and correctness of our views upon the
subject of the freedom and liberty of mind and conscience, and of the
personal accountability of _all_ to God alone, we should not have thus
pursued the theme. We believe firmly in the good _offices_ of a
teaching and advising ministry, but not in anywise where it _trammels
the mind or becomes the arbiter of the conscience_.
* * * * *
Returning to our subject, _viz._, the earlier discoveries of the
science of Astronomy. The intelligence of the world is indebted to Sir
Isaac Newton, who lived during the latter part of the sixteenth
century, for the discovery of the laws of _universal gravitation_. His
discovery, and philosophy, furnished the basis upon which all
subsequent astronomers have worked.
_ATTRACTION, GRAVITATION, &c._
The power of attraction and force of gravitation are the laws which
govern the universe of matter. "The discovery of this law," says Prof.
Olmsted, "made us acquainted with the hidden forces that move the
great machinery of the universe. It furnished the key which unlocks
the inner temple of Nature, and established the science of Astronomy
upon a sure and firm basis. Thus we discover in Nature a tendency of
every portion of matter toward some other. This tendency is called
gravitation. The larger the body, the more powerful the attraction;
and this attraction is always toward the centre. Hence, you may cast
an object of weight into the air, and, when the impelling force you
have given it ceases to force it upward, it falls in a direct line to
the earth." So also may the Chinaman, placed on the opposite side of
the globe, cast one as he deems upward, which is forcing it in an
opposite direction from where you sent yours; yet, when his impelling
force is lost, his too falls back to the earth, each falling toward
the other. This is gravitation, produced by the power of attraction.
Thus we now see this principle made plain to the simplest
comprehension.
_SUNS, STARS, PLANETS, &c._
We come, now, to the contemplation of that which is of far greater
importance to us than all other planets, worlds, stars, and wonders in
the siderial Heavens. This is the Sun, which warms and lights up our
earth, and all the other planets within its sphere.
Says Dr. Child, "There are not a few in this world who habitually
receive God's blessings so much as a matter of course, that they are
scarcely conscious of any active feeling of gratitude in regard to
them. The very regularity and profusion with which these blessings are
showered on all alike, seem to have the effect of deadening the sense
of individual obligation. A general admission of thankfulness may
occasionally be made at church or in the closet, but there is a want
of that abiding consciousness of it, with which we ought to be imbued,
as well as that frequent pondering upon details which, by illustrating
the dependence of every creature upon God, causes the heart to swell
with grateful adoration. Such thoughts never fail to improve our
moral nature by bringing the truth home to us more and more that we
are God's children.
"It would be no easy task for a thankful mind to sum up all the
blessings diffused over our planet by the Sun. It is the mainspring of
animated Nature. Without its genial rays the present system of Earth's
government could not endure, and life itself would soon disappear from
the globe. To it we are indebted for light and warmth--the two
stimulants of vital force--for our food and raiment; for our busy days
and rest-bringing nights, for months and years, and happy alternations
of seasons. Its rays, in short, are intertwined with all our wants and
comforts; they gladden the eye and cheer the heart. Contemplating all
these temporal blessings, the _Psalmist_ exclaims:
"'_I will praise the name of the Lord with a song, and
magnify it with thanksgiving._'
"The Sun is the central pivot of the solar system, and round it the
earth and all the other planets keep whirling in elliptical orbits.
Its power and influence, its light, heat, and attraction, reach
through a domain in space which it would require _six thousand
millions of miles_ to span. With the greater part of this wide field,
astronomers are familiar, and it may be truly said that scarcely a man
knows the roads of his own parish or neighborhood, or a citizen the
streets of his own city or village, with more exactness than they do
the highways of the skies. Not only can they map out to a nicety the
paths of the planets careering through it like islands floating
through a sea of ether, but they can look backward and tell the exact
spot where each globe was at any moment of the remote past, or
forward, and point to the place where each will be found at any given
moment of the remote future.
"What is the mighty power which maintains such order in the Heavens,
which steadies the planets in their orbits, and traces out for them a
route so wisely planned as to avoid all chances of collision? Two
antagonistic forces--gravitation and attraction, combined with a
centrifugal impulse--accomplish the wonderful task. To these faithful
servants, God commits the safety of the Universe, nor can anything
disturb or derange the order of this machinery, save the Word which
created it.
"The Sun was placed in the centre, and became the pivot of the whole
system, tying to itself the different planets by the cord of its
superior attraction. In accordance with the law we have mentioned,
this loadstone power of the Sun is the inevitable result of its
superior mass, as it is computed to be six hundred times greater in
magnitude than this earth and all the planets put together. But
behold the wisdom and wondrous power of the Great Architect, in
creating these vast worlds, and placing each in its proper position
in space; where each revolves within its own orbit--some with the
velocity of even one hundred thousand miles an hour--yet maintaining
toward each other that _centrifugal_ force which prevents their being
drawn by the attractive power of that vast globe _within_ the Sun,
into certain destruction, by its surrounding fires.
"Astronomers inform us there are innumerable Suns, each of which is
supposed to control a separate, or its own system of planets; giving
light and heat thereto, even as our Sun does to this Earth, and its
own system of planets. Their distances from the Sun that lights up our
Heavens are immeasureable--far transcending our conceptions, or even
our imagination--in illimitable space. They also inform us that the
distance from this Earth, to the nearest one of these distant stars,
or suns, is about _twenty billions of miles_." So vast is the distance
here stated, that the mind cannot grasp or comprehend it. We can more
nearly approximate by the measurement of light; a ray of which darting
from its surface and travelling at the speed of 192,000 miles a
second, would not reach our eye under three years and eight months.
"Such then," says Sir John Herschel, "is the length of the
sounding-line with which we first touch bottom in the attempt to
fathom the great abyss of the sidereal heavens." Says Olmsted, "Until
recently, astronomers gave almost exclusive attention to
observations, and the study of the solar system. But Dr. William
Herschel turned his attention to the sidereal heavens, and opened up
new and wonderful fields of discovery, as well as of speculation. His
son, Sir John Herschel, and Sir James South, of England, have followed
the old master, with grasping minds and brilliant intellects, until
more has been accomplished by them, and others of the present day,
than all preceding astronomers had even ventured to conjecture," and
that their deductions are founded mainly on facts, no intelligent mind
will--on investigation--have reason to doubt.
But having thrown anchor and "touched bottom" in the wide expanse of
the unlimited sphere of the sidereal heavens, "let us," says Dr.
Child, "take another flight. Here next, within the domain of Sirius,
we find ourselves six times as far distant as when at Centauri, first
mentioned"--say one hundred and twenty billions of miles--"from which
it would require _twenty-two years_ for a ray of light travelling at
the rate of 192,000 miles a second to reach our Earth." But, far
distant, yonder, we behold the beauteous _Capella_, in all its
splendor and glory, throwing its effulgent rays across the wide
expanse of universe, and yet these rays of light, travelling at the
same mentioned rate--192,000 miles each passing second of
time--require about _seventy years_ in transit, before the inhabitants
of our Earth catch a glimpse of their brilliancy and beauty. And yet
now the mind has only entered the borders of '_the starry
regions_'--far beyond, in illimitable space, lie the 'Hosts of the
Stars;' their vast distances cannot be computed even by light itself."
It is wonderful to contemplate the probability that of some of the
more distant stars discovered, the rays of light which have found rest
in the eye of the Astronomer, through the aid of the telescope, may
have left their native sun thousands of years ago, and travelled at
the rate of 192,000 miles a second ever since. "A certain cluster of
stars was estimated by Sir William Herschel to be 700 times the
distance of a star of the first magnitude--therefore at least 700
times nineteen billions of miles!" But, observes Guillemin, if this
cluster was removed to five times its actual distance, that is to say
3,500 times the distance of Sirius, the large Herschelian telescope of
40 feet focus would still show it, _but only as an irresolvable
Nebula_. It is, then, extremely probable that, among the many Nebulæ
indecomposable into stars, beyond the Milky Way, in the depths of the
heavens, many are as distant as that of which we speak. _Doubtless
many are more so._ Now to reach us, light-rays must have left stars
situated at such a distance more than 700,000 years ago!" Says Child,
"When we have touched the verge of this uttermost range, Infinity,
boundless as ever, still lies beyond. The idea of God extinguishes in
our mind every suspicion that there can be any limit to space,
magnitude, or power, in relation to His works. The mighty universe we
have been considering is but the stepping-stone to what is farther on;
and although our imagination fails to grasp it, our reason assures us
it must be so. There is no such thing as taking from or adding to _The
Illimitable_.
"With what just propriety of thought has light been called the 'voice'
of the stars. * * * In the 'speechless' voice of light the stars
proclaim to us from the depths of space, the existence of innumerable
other worlds which, like our own, share the Creator's care. * * * With
mute argument stars prove to us that, in those far-off regions,
gravitation--the power that brings the apple to the ground--still
reigns supreme, and with suggestive whispers of probability, they
persuade us that, like our own Sun, they bathe attendant worlds in
floods of light; deck them in colors of beauty, and shower countless
blessings on the life of myriads of beings.
"Having glanced at the distances and magnitudes of some of the stars,
or suns, let us pause for a moment to consider their number, and the
vast space they must necessarily occupy in the domain of Creation. By
the most moderate estimate the number of stars that can be counted in
the firmament by telescopic aid, does not fall short of _one hundred
millions_. There is no doubt that most of those stars are _Suns_,
dispensing light and heat to earths and planets like our own; and,
indeed, no bodies shining by reflected light would be visible at such
enormous distances.
"From the superior magnitude of those that have been measured--as
compared to our Sun--it may be assumed that the average diameter of
their solar systems must exceed our own; but taking them as nearly
equal, it would give a breadth of at least _six thousand millions of
miles_ as the field of space occupied by each, while every star, or
sun-system, is probably begirt with a gulf or void like that
encircling our own, in which the antagonistic forces of attraction are
lost, so as not to disturb each other. Hence, the distance from each
of those suns to its nearest neighbor is probably not less than that
which intervenes between our Sun and the nearest star, which cannot be
less than about _twenty_ billions of miles. How inconceivably vast,
therefore, must be the space required to give room for so many and
such stupendous solar systems. The mind absolutely reels under the
load of conceptions so mighty. _Yet Infinity still lies beyond_."
"For what purpose," says Sir John Herschel, "are we to suppose such
magnificent bodies scattered through the abyss of space? Surely not to
illume our nights, which an additional moon of the thousandth part of
the size of our own would do much better; not to sparkle as a pageant,
void of meaning and reality, and to bewilder us among vain
conjectures. He must have studied astronomy to little purpose, who can
suppose man to be the only object of his Creator's care, or who does
not see, in the vast and wonderful apparatus around us, provisions for
other races of animated beings."
The Psalmist says:
"Whoso is wise will ponder these things, and they shall
understand the loving-kindness of the Lord."
Let us here suggest the reasonable hypothesis, that those distant
suns, standing far out in the sidereal regions of illimitable
space--created, and placed there by the "Word" of the Almighty
architect--may have been shining thus for untold billions of years;
and so, also, the sun which shines upon and lights up and warms this
earth, and the other planets within its domain; and will thus remain
forever, as God's own lamps of eternal light, to all created
intelligences.
Hear the Psalmist break forth again,
"Thy testimonies are wonderful. Who alone doeth great
wonders.
The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament
sheweth His handy works.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me."
Job tells us,
"He alone spreadeth out the heavens, and treadeth upon the
waves of the sea, and doeth wonders without number."
_Fixed stars_--held by astronomers to be suns--are known from the
planetary stars by their perpetual "twinkling," and by their being,
apparently, always in the same position relative to each other. Now,
while the number of stars to be seen in the heavens by the naked eye
on a clear night does not exceed about 3,000 in each,--the northern
and southern hemispheres,--yet Herschel, Olmsted, and other examiners
tell us that by the aid of the telescope, many millions stand out in
brilliant array--so vast their number that they cannot be correctly
computed, but are supposed to be at least _one hundred millions_.
Prof. Olmsted declares it fully demonstrated that "_the fixed stars
are suns_," and, with other astronomers, argues the fair probability
of many of them being of far greater magnitude than our own sun. Dr.
Wollaston, a distinguished English philosopher, attempted to estimate
the magnitude of certain of the fixed stars from the light which they
afforded. "By means of an accurate _photometer_ (an instrument for
measuring the relative intensities of light), he compares the light of
Sirius with that of the sun. He next computed how far the sun must be
removed from us in order to appear no brighter than Sirius. He found
it would require to be _one hundred and forty-one thousand times_ its
present distance, and even at that great distance Sirius must give out
twice as much light as the sun, or that, in point of splendor, Sirius
must be at least equal to two suns." "But," adds Prof. Olmsted, "as
_Sirius_ is more than _two hundred thousand times_ as far off as the
sun, he has rendered it probable that its light is equal to that of
_fourteen suns_." (We wish you to bear these facts in mind, they will
serve you when we come to speak of the magnitude of our own sun.)
But let us follow Prof. Olmsted a little farther. He says, "We have
already seen that they are large bodies; that they are immensely
farther off than the farthest planet; that they shine by their own
light; in short, that their appearance is, in all respects, the same
as the Sun would exhibit if removed to the region of the stars. Hence,
we infer that they are bodies of the same kind with the Sun.
"We are justified, therefore, by a sound analogy, in concluding that
the stars referred to were made for the same end as the Sun; namely,
as the centres of attraction to other planetary worlds, to which they
severally dispense light and heat. Although the starry heavens
present, in a clear night, a spectacle of unrivalled grandeur and
beauty, yet it must be admitted that the chief purpose of the stars
could not have been to adorn the night, since by far the greater part
of them are ever invisible to the naked eye, nor as landmarks to the
navigator, for only a small proportion of them are adapted to this
purpose, nor, finally, to influence this Earth by their attraction,
since their distance renders such an effect entirely insensible."
Therefore, arriving at the only rational conclusion _that they are
Suns_, many of them suns of vast magnitude; shining with splendor and
brilliancy equal to, or surpassing that of our own Sun; each giving
out light and heat to their attendant planets and revolving worlds
within their own domain, or sphere,--"may we not ask, for what purpose
are these gifts dispensed to those surrounding worlds, if not for the
use of percipient beings?
"We are therefore led to the inevitable idea of a plurality of worlds;
and that they are inhabited by some order of intelligences, and the
conclusion is forced upon our minds that the spot which the Creator
has assigned to us is but a humble province in his boundless empire."
None, however, can form a correct estimate, or comparison, between
this, our diminutive Earth, and those vast orbs--suns--fixed so remote
from us in the sidereal regions, nor of the numbers, until in some
measure they have familiarized their minds with, and understand, to
some extent, the science of astronomy, and then survey the vast field
through a suitable telescope. "Even the first view through it, pointed
heavenward, will astonish and fill the mind with awe and wonder; and
as each new-grasping power is given to the instrument; new fields of
those regions are joined on to those already explored, and every new
stratum of space thus added is found to be studded with stars in ever
increasing ratio; until myriads have come forth from the dark depths
of the firmament, and they have a grand panoramic view of a Universe
of Worlds peopling the realms of boundless space." Then, in wonder and
amazement, they will more fully realize and comprehend the Omnipotent
power of God in the manifestations of His creative word. Then, in
comparison, each realizing his own diminutiveness: that he is even
less than an unperceived infinitesimal atom floating along in the
gentle breeze, he will be led to exclaim with the Psalmist:
"How wonderful are thy works, O Lord of hosts!
What is man that thou art mindful of him, or the son of man
that thou takest knowledge of him?"
Dismissing, for the present, the further contemplation of those
far-off millions of stars, or suns, and their multiplied millions of
attendant planets and worlds, we come back to the contemplation of our
own Sun, and its attendant planets, things with which we are more
familiar, and which are--seemingly--more tangible.
As we have before remarked, the Sun governs and controls our Earth,
and the other planets and worlds within its domain. Some of these
worlds are not greatly dissimilar to this in which we live; some are
smaller, while others are vastly larger--some computed to be even a
thousand times larger than this Earth, and, as we believe, all are
peopled with some high order of intelligence.
Having gathered the foregoing facts from the most undoubted
authorities--astronomers, whose mathematical and philosophical
calculations have for their base the immutable laws established by
creative wisdom, as now revealed in Nature, we shall still rely--more
or less--upon them for statistical facts and data, in further
expositions from which to make deductions and draw our conclusions.
We are desirous of familiarizing your mind with the mighty and
wondrous works of God, so plainly manifested in His creating and
sustaining power, which few, comparatively speaking, seem to
comprehend in any other way save in the daily temporal blessings of
life. Should our feeble efforts raise your thoughts higher, and enable
you to contemplate Him with the eye of faith in the light of reason,
and Divine revelation; to know more of His greatness and power, and
your entire dependence upon Him for all temporal blessings in life;
for the _only_ consolation you can have in the dying hour, and as your
only hope for the future, and should such contemplation draw your mind
and heart to Him in holy love, and godly fear, we shall be well
rewarded for our efforts.
_FIXED STARS ARE SUNS._
We now propose to dwell for a short time upon the distance, magnitude,
elements, and offices of the Sun.
The Sun itself speaks to us with its voice of light, and it is our
high privilege to understand, and thus comprehend mysteries long
hidden, which are now being revealed. Special manifestations were long
since made by Jehovah, which were left for those of the present
enlightened age to comprehend; when the mind of man is more fully able
to grasp His truths, and look up through Nature to Nature's God.
Now fix your mind's eye upon that brilliant orb of--seeming--eternal
day; that Sun which is ever shining, ah! whose light never pales, nor
fails its vast empire. No storm-clouds obscure its brightness in the
higher realm, neither is there waning of light, nor a wasting of its
substance. Possibly, from all eternity of the past it has been, and
through eternity to come it will remain the same. We, on this Earth,
have our days and nights, our sun-shine and shadows, tempests and
storms. Our nights are the result of the daily revolution of the
Earth, these are when that portion of it on which we dwell is turned
away from the Sun, and the shadow of the Earth--which is surrounded by
a dense atmosphere--is that which constitutes our darkness. This
atmosphere is a screen to us by day to modify the intense heat of the
Sun's rays. Otherwise, it is possible that no animated life could
exist. This atmosphere has in it the elements of production,
which--when absorbed by the Earth--assists in bringing forth for the
sustenance of man and beast, and all living things. Did not this
atmosphere exist, our midnight hours would be almost as bright as
noonday. See in this the wise provision of our heavenly Father.
That Sun is farther away, and of far greater magnitude, than you now
comprehend, or even imagine. We will now state its dimensions,
distance, elements, &c., as measured and determined by the science of
astronomy, and as agreed upon by all the best informed and most
profound mathematicians and astronomers throughout the world.
The diameter of the Sun is _eight hundred and fifty-five thousand
miles_. It would require _one hundred and seven worlds_, the size of
this Earth, set side by side to reach across it, and _one million four
hundred thousand Earths_, the size of this, to make a globe of equal
magnitude. It is _two millions six hundred and fifty-five thousand
miles round it_, while its bulk is not less than _six hundred times_
as great as all the worlds and planets it controls within its sphere
put together,--some of which, as we have told you, are estimated to be
a thousand times larger than this Earth.
Is your mind expanding? are your views enlarging, so as to enable you
to comprehend its vast dimensions? Let the revelations of astronomy
assist you. Look at it again. From the comparatively small size of its
disk as we see it from the Earth, the distance must be vast indeed to
dwarf it down thus. The distance is great, no less than about
_ninety-five millions of miles_. It is three hundred and eighty-five
times as far away as the Moon: it is estimated that a cannon ball
fired from this Earth and keeping up its velocity at the rate of _five
hundred miles an hour_, would not reach it in less time than about
twenty-two years. Still, though these are well demonstrated facts,
ascertained by very correct measurement, by the most scientific
mathematical surveyors of the heavens, yet we desire some more plain
or familiar illustration. Let us investigate. Here we have it; are you
ready for a journey? The celebrated Braley has calculated the time
required for a trip of ocular exploration. He observes, "A railway
train starting from this Earth, and running continuously, at the rate
of _thirty miles an hour_, would arrive at the Moon in eleven months,
but would not reach the Sun in less time than about _three hundred
and fifty-two years_." We can partially comprehend this by calculation
(although the years of the oldest individual of our country have not
been sufficient to take him more than one third of the journey, even
had he been placed on such train and started when an infant at his
mother's breast). Had the train been started only nineteen years later
than the discovery of North America by Columbus, in 1498, and
travelled thirty miles each hour since, it would just now be
approaching the border of the Sun, and, on arriving there, if a tunnel
was opened and a track laid direct through it, "this train, continued
at the same speed, would require more than a year and a half to reach
the Sun's centre; three years and a half to pass through it, and more
than ten years to pass round it.
"Now this same train would attain the centre of this Earth in five
days and a half; pass through it in eleven days; and go round it in
about thirty-five days." Thus you see the diminutiveness of this Earth
as compared to the Sun. These calculations are founded on facts so
clearly demonstrated by the science of astronomy, that but few who
examine into it will question their approximation to correctness.
Now while the mind is somewhat familiarized with that vast globe, the
Sun, let us contemplate it further.
Sir John Herschel, the most profound philosopher in the science of
astronomy the world has ever known; one whose inventions and
improvements in the telescope have far surpassed those of all others;
one who has enjoyed the highest advantages in the study and
demonstration of the science, and who has made most important
discoveries in regard to the sun, and moon, and the planets--and even
the fixed stars, or suns, in the far off sidereal regions--tells us
that from his investigations and discoveries in regard to the Sun,
there appears to be _a vast globe within_ the surrounding _photosphere
of fire_, shielded by a void or non-luminous atmosphere, thus
apparently protecting it from the surrounding flame of fire, and
rendering it possible that the vast globe within is susceptible of
animated life, which may exist there in some form. This, with the
general corroboration of other astronomers, as to the two encircling
volumes of atmosphere--the outer a luminous, and the inner a
non-luminous one--is strong evidence confirmative of our hypothesis of
the existence of that immense inner globe, or world, which is
doubtless in reality the _Heavenly world_; the Saviour's empire, and
the abode of the righteous.
Methinks, had Sir John Herschel but turned his attention for awhile to
the flood-lights of Divine Revelations, made by God himself through
His Spirit to fallen man, he would ere this have opened the "gate" to
the eye of faith, and bid the weary Christian to look and behold the
confines of that bright world which was opened, and flashed its inner
light upon the eyes of the dying martyr Stephen, when,
"Being full of the Holy Ghost, he looked up steadfastly into
heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the
right hand of God, and said, Behold, I see heaven opened."
Thus, we are led to the inevitable conclusion that heaven is not so
far distant but that it can be seen from earth by the _spirit-eye_, if
God shall but open, and disclose it to view. Where else can we imagine
its location, to be within range of--even immortal--vision from this
earth? St. John, while in the spirit, had a view of that heavenly
world, and the vast city with glittering jasper walls, and gold-paved
streets, and even the "great white throne," the Saviour on that
throne, surrounded by an innumerable company that no man can number.
St. Paul, in spirit, was caught up, even into the "third heaven," and
"saw and heard things which it were not lawful for man to utter" to
mortals on earth. He tells us that "eye hath not seen, neither ear
hath heard, nor hath it entered the heart of man, the glory that shall
be revealed." But we will not here anticipate the still stronger
evidence we have yet to lay before the mind as we pursue this
interesting theme.
Bear in mind the fact that heaven is considered by the most learned
and ablest writers on theology, as "a fixed place," permanent and
abiding. That it is vast in extent, and glorious in appearance, and
has, within, all the necessary elements and arrangements for complete
happiness. And, we believe, that not very remotely distant from it is
the place where is the element of punishment for the wicked. We think
the revelations of God, and the manner and mode of his manifestations
to the children of men, together with the revelations of astronomy in
regard to the Sun; its magnitude and elements, will, when we come to
consider them further, not only startle the mind, but prove our
hypothesis well-founded.
_A CONTEMPLATION._
Just here, may we not, for a few moments, speculate in mind upon a
possibility, which, as we advance, will assume more the form of a
probability?
Look once more upon that brilliant orb, whose light, _without_, may be
one of the lamps of eternal day. Look but for one second of time only;
for, as we have told you, a steady gaze into its fiery flame of
brightness for one minute alone is fatal to the blinding of the
unprotected eye. May not _within_ be the place of which the poet's
spiritual eye caught a glimpse, when alone in silent meditation he
penned those sublime and beautiful lines:
"There, on those wide extended plains, shines one eternal day,
There God, the Son, forever reigns, and scatters night away.
No chilling winds, nor poisonous breath, can reach that healthful shore,
Sickness and sorrow, pain and death, are felt and feared no more."
May not that be the _Heavenly world_ wherein stands the "City of God,
whose foundations are eternal," and whose maker and builder is the
great Architect of the Universe? Its walls are Jasper, and are ever
glittering in the glory-light of eternal day. Its apartments are
gorgeously furnished in brilliant array. "_I go_" said the Saviour,
"_to prepare a place for you._" There "the gold-paved streets," there
the "Great white Throne" and "Christ the Lord" who sits thereon as the
judge and ruler of His own native Empire--for it is He that shall
judge the nations of this Earth, and in the "great day" of "final
judgment" he will recount, in evidence, some of the scenes through
which he passed on this Earth, to justify his final and unalterable
decision.
May not there gush forth the crystal "fountains of life" from which to
drink will quench all thirst; and there the "rivers of life" ever
flowing, in whose waters to bathe will renew eternal youth, and
immortality, to dwell on and on with eternity itself? May not Moses,
and Elijah, and the Prophets, and Martyrs be there? May not many of
us, who are still on this Earth, contemplate the theme that there (in
that bright world at whose boundary surface we cannot, while dwelling
in mortality, gaze for even one minute of time without being blinded)
we have a father, a mother, sister, brother, husband, wife, a child,
or some loved friends, who have left the shores of Time, and are safe
with their blessed Saviour, to dwell in his sun-light throughout
"eternal day?"
May we not contemplate the possibility of these things, when we
remember that it is said of Heaven, "the Righteous shall dwell
_therein_," and that "God" in His eternal manifestations "dwells in
light unapproachable" to us in our mortality, and is only manifest to
us here by His invisible SPIRIT VEILED IN FIRE?
Startle not when we come to lay before you the well-defined elements
surrounding that vast globe. The timid mind might naturally recoil,
and stand aghast at the thought of approaching such volume of intense
heat and "devouring flames." Remember that you are still in the body,
subject to all the pains and penalties of fallen humanity. Remember
that God has created no element incompatible with his own nature;
remember that He is the Almighty power who hath created all things,
and in the infinity of His power, can control any element for our
happiness, and also the same for our misery. Thus it will appear that
"every man's work shall be tried as by fire;" the righteous to be
saved as by fire, and yet the wicked to be destroyed or tormented by
fire. In this we can see the Infinity of the power of God in the
salvation and happiness of His children--who are "the children of
light," as also in the torments of the "children of darkness."
But we shall be able to show that "God's Spirit _is fire_" and that He
_does_ so control this element, or change our nature, that whatever
these may be, they are properly adapted to constitute ineffable
happiness to the immortal state of the righteous. This, we trust, will
appear plain to you before you have finished the perusal of these
pages.
_THE SUN, AND GLOBE WITHIN._
We now propose to continue our investigations of the Sun; in
considering its surrounding elements, offices, &c.
We have already said that it is the main-spring, and we may add,
barring the Great Author, the source and fountain of animated Nature;
the source of light and heat, the two stimulants of vital force,
without which no animated life could exist on this earth; and so,
doubtless, with all the other planets and worlds which it controls.
And, while contemplating it thus as the immediate source of unnumbered
blessings to the human race, and to all intelligences or animation
belonging to this, or other worlds within its domain, we should not
fail in devout reverence to the _great Author_, who created all by the
"Word of His Power"--not only our Sun and its retinue of attendant
planets, but those innumerable, far distant ones of which we have told
you, with all _their_ attendant trains, yea, even all things, above,
around, and beneath; the computation of whose numbers, their
magnitude, grandeur, and transcendent glory so far exceeds our finite
comprehension, that we are lost in wonder and amazement, and can but
feel that, in comparison, we are less than an _atom_ of this vast and
boundless Universe of Creation.
The Sun, represented as a "brilliant orb" a "luminary" or "luminous
body," has also been denominated a "globe of fire." Some astronomers
consider it an "_incandescent_ body" (_glowing whiteness of intense
heat_).
Dr. Herschel's views respecting the Sun are, that it is a planetary
body like our earth, diversified with mountains and valleys, to which,
on account of the magnitude of the Sun, he assigns a prodigious
extent--some mountains six hundred miles high, and valleys
proportionately deep. He does not employ in his explanations volcanic
fires, as some others have done, but supposes two separate regions of
dense clouds floating in the solar atmosphere at different distances
from the sun. The exterior stratum of clouds he considers as the
depository of the sun's light and heat, while the interior stratum
serves as an awning or screen to the body of the sun itself, which
thus becomes fitted to sustain life-animation. This refutes the idea
advanced by that celebrated French Astronomer, La Lande, who held
"that the sun is a solid opaque body, having its exterior diversified
with high mountains and deep valleys, and covered all over with a
burning sea of liquid matter. The solar spots, he supposed, were
produced by the flux and reflux of the fiery sea, retreating
occasionally from the mountains, and exposing to view a portion of the
dark body of the sun."
But Prof. Olmsted (to whom we are indebted for this and much other
information on this subject), refutes this hypothesis by showing the
inconsistency that fluid, of the nature here spoken of, or supposed to
exist, should depart so far from its equilibrium and remain so long
fixed, as to lay bare the immense space occupied by the solar
spots--some of which are supposed to be fifty thousand miles in
diameter.
Prof. Olmsted also examines the hypothesis of Dr. Herschel, relative
to clouds surrounding the sun, and reasons as follows: "I am compelled
to think the hypothesis (of Dr. H.) is encumbered with very serious
objections. Clouds analogous to those of our atmosphere (and Dr. H.,
expressly asserts that his lower stratum of clouds are analogous to
ours, and reasons respecting the upper stratum according to the same
analogy) cannot exist in hot air; they are tenants only of cold
regions. How can they be supposed to exist in the immediate vicinity
of a fire so intense, that they are even dissipated by it at the
distance of ninety-five millions of miles? Much less can they be
supposed to be the depositories of such devouring fire, when any thing
in the form of clouds floating in our atmosphere, is at once
scattered and dissolved by the accession of only a few degrees of
heat. Nothing, moreover, can be imagined more unfavorable for
radiating heat to such a distance than the light, inconstant matter of
which clouds are composed, floating loosely in the solar atmosphere."
Prof. Olmsted continues, "If we inquire whether the surface of the Sun
is in a state of actual combustion, like burning fuel, or merely in a
state of intense ignition, like a stone heated to redness in a
furnace, we shall find it most reasonable to conclude that it is in a
state of ignition. If the body of the Sun were composed of combustible
matter and were actually on fire, the material of the Sun would be
continually wasting away, while the products of combustion would fill
all the vast surrounding regions, and obscure the light of the Sun.
But solid bodies may attain a very intense state of ignition, and glow
with the most fervent heat, while none of their material is consumed,
and no clouds or fumes rise to obscure their brightness, or to impede
their further emission of heat." Hence, for these and other reasons,
Prof. Olmsted thinks it more probable that the heat is that of a high
state of ignition, rather than produced from combustion.
Thus we see that while all Astronomers agree that the Sun is the
source of light and heat; that this heat is vastly intense; consuming,
and yet never consumed or exhausted, it is a difficult matter to
determine the nature and true element composing it. All agree however,
that God himself created it and placed it in its proper position, and
controls it for His own wise purposes.
Most Astronomers consider it an incandescent body (glowing whiteness
of intense heat), encircled with two atmospheres. That next its
surface is supposed to be nonluminous, while the outer one which
floats upon it is _luminous_--and forms a "_photosphere_," this is
what we see in looking at the Sun's bright disk. This photosphere
radiates the heat and light which vivify the planets of the solar
system, and imparts the stimulæ of life and animation. It is said that
flame-like masses--some computed to be one hundred and fifty thousand
miles in length--are piled upon, and overlap each other, and sweep
onward in constant agitation like mountain billows of living fire. Its
brightness far transcends and pales that of all other luminaries, and
would that of millions of stars as bright as Sirius, or even hundreds
of thousands of full moons.
We accept this view, as to the outer photosphere, and believe this
"_incandescent_," yet not a solid body, but rather a _photospheric
ethereal_ element occupying its appointed space, and that it has
nothing to do whatever, with the vast _inner globe_ which is entirely
shielded from it by the intervening void, denominated by Astronomers
as a surrounding nonluminous atmosphere. Sir John Herschel tells us
that his investigations led him to the belief that this shields the
globe within, and thus renders it susceptible of maintaining life, or
some form of animated existence. Hence, we deem the evidences afforded
by astronomy, strong, if not fully conclusive that our hypothesis is
correct. But when we add to this the evidences found in the
Bible--God's own revelations to man--we think there can scarcely
remain a doubt in the mind of any who follow us in this investigation.
* * * * *
We now propose to consider more definitely the nature of that volume
of flame, or intense heat, which we denominate the _Sun_. Of its
temperature it is difficult to form an estimate the least
comprehensive. We know our furnace heat will fuse cast-iron at a
little less than 3,000 degrees. Oxy-hydrogen flame--one of the hottest
known--is estimated at about 14,000 degrees Fahrenheit, while the
temperature ascribed to the Sun is about 12,000,000. There is nothing
our senses can realize, or our minds conceive, that will enable us
even to approximate the intensity of this heat.
* * * * *
Now we have seen that the Sun is the source of all light and heat; the
source--when the element is concentrated--of that which we denominate
_fire_. The phenomena that fire pervades, by some of its constituents,
every thing, and all space, is incomprehensible otherwise than in the
belief that the Spirit of God is everywhere. Although fire is always
on this Earth in a concentrated form, yet its source is the Sun, and
from this source we can concentrate it into visible ignition. And yet
we see that the element itself is _ethereal_; it will consume by
combustion, yet its heat and flame always tends upward, and disappears
in its own ethereal element, and we can recognize no solid substance
in it. We can feel and realize its warmth and vivifying influence; we
enjoy the light, as one of its productions, yet all are _ethereal_,
and we cannot grasp, mould, or retain it. We know that the Sun--that
volume of heat--is the active source and agency of life and animation,
and it imparts its blessings to us in a thousand ways; yet, misused,
it proves the source and element of punishment and destruction.
We have said that light and heat are the two great stimulants of vital
force. These two stimulants are inseparably connected. Heat is the
source of light, and without heat _there would be no light_, for even
reflected light is derived from this source; this is manifest to every
intelligent mind. Therefore, we see plainly that the Sun is the
source and mainspring of all animation, and to its influence, directed
and controlled by the Allwise Creator, are we indebted for every
blessing--nay, even life itself. It acts upon the elements appointed
unto it, and brings forth all animation. It causes the earth to yield
her productions; clothes the forest with green, gives to the "rose"
and the "lily" their beautiful tints and fragrance, and imparts to the
flowers of garden and forest their thousand variegated hues. It gives
to man his strength and wisdom, and to woman her beauty and
loveliness, and--with refined and cultivated intellect--her ten
thousand charms.
_THE PLANETS OF OUR SOLAR SYSTEM._
Let us now turn our attention, for a short time, to the contemplation
of the planets, or worlds, belonging to our own solar system; those
within the domain of our own Sun, and to which it dispenses light and
heat. With these, our Astronomers are, so to speak, quite familiar. We
cannot do better than to present them to you in the language of Dr.
Child, whose writings have afforded us so much correct data in
preceding pages.
"In gazing at our fellow-planets on a clear night, as we see them
stand out with pre-eminent brightness among the twinkling stars, who
has not longed to penetrate the mystery of their being, and to know
whether they, like our own Earth, are worlds full of life and
movement? The vast distance that intervenes between us forbids us to
expect a direct solution of the question, for no instrument yet made,
or that we can hope to make, will bring their possible inhabitants
within the range of our vision. We are reduced, therefore, to survey
them with the sifting force of intellect, and to rest contented with
such circumstantial proof as is derived from a knowledge of their
general structure, and the analogies subsisting between them and our
Earth.
"Among our nearest neighbors, _Venus_ is nearly the size of our Earth;
and _Mercury_ and _Mars_, though considerably smaller, would still
form worlds which, to our ideas, would not in their magnitude be so
very different from our own. As before remarked, all the planets
revolve in elliptical orbits round the Sun, and the time consumed in
their journey constitutes their year. Their polar axis is not
'straight up and down,' but leans over or is inclined to the plane of
their orbit, so that each pole is turned toward the Sun at one period
of the year, and away from it at another. This arrangement insures the
regular alternation of seasons and a variety of climates on their
surface. The orbital inclination of _Mars_, for example, is much the
same as that of the Earth, and, therefore, the relative proportion of
his seasons must have a close resemblance to our own. It might be
expected under these circumstances that ice would accumulate toward
the poles in winter time, as on our Earth, and accordingly glacial
accumulations have not only been observed by Astronomers, but it has
been remarked that they occasionally diminish by melting during the
heats of summer, while they increase in winter. Now as the planets,
like the Earth, turn round on their axis with perfect regularity--and
those just mentioned do so in very similar periods of time, hence, all
have their days and nights.
"We have already stated that the Earth and its fellow-planets are kept
steadily in their orbits by the exact adjustment of _centrifugal_ and
_centripetal_ forces. Hence each moves in its regular order.
"Now by way of comparison, Astronomers have denominated the Sun as a
globe two feet in diameter, or six feet in circumference. Starting
from this globe let us wing our way across the space filled by the
solar system. A short flight of thirty-seven millions of miles brings
us to a world which, compared to the two-feet globe, is no larger than
a grain of mustard seed, while it is so bathed in the Sun's dazzling
rays that it is not easily distinguished when viewed from the Earth.
This fussy little planet whirls round the Sun at the tremendous pace
of 100,000 miles an hour, by which he proves his title to be called
_Mercury_, the 'swift-footed,' of mythology. At a distance of
sixty-eight millions of miles from the Sun we behold _Venus_, the
brightest and most dazzling of the heavenly hosts. In comparative size
she may be represented as a _pea_. She is our nearest neighbor among
the planets, and the conditions under which she exists recall many of
those under which we ourselves live. About ninety-five millions of
miles from the Sun we come upon another 'pea' a trifle larger than the
one representing _Venus_, and in it we hail our own familiar Mother
Earth. Here we shall not now linger, but passing onward some fifty
millions of miles we are attracted by the well-known ruddy glow of
_Mars_--whose comparative size is that of a _pin's head_. His mean
orbital speed is 54,000 miles an hour--nearly our own pace--but as he
takes twice as much time to run round the Sun as we do, his year is
consequently twice as long.
"Casting a glance behind, we are reminded of the growing distance that
now separates us from the sun by the perceptible waning of his light.
"We next spread our wings for a very long flight. In passing through
the "asteroid" zone of solar space, about 260 millions of miles from
the sun, we may chance to fall in with some worlds of smaller
dimensions than those we have been contemplating. We know very little
about them, except that their ways are eccentric and mysterious. At
length the shores of huge _Jupiter_ are reached at a distance of
nearly 500 millions of miles from the sun. To carry on the comparison,
he is a "small orange" to the "pea" of our earth, or to the two feet
globe that represents the sun. His orbit is a path 3,000 millions of
miles long, which he accomplishes in an "annual" period of about 12 of
our years. The sun's light has now shrunk considerably; but four
brilliant moons or satellites, one or more of which are always "full,"
help to afford some compensation. But let us "onward" in our
"outward-bound" course. We again pass through a space of nearly equal
distance as that of _Jupiter_ from the sun. We are now more than 900
_millions_ of miles distant from the central pivot. Here we fall in
with _Saturn_, whose comparative size may be represented by an orange
considerably smaller than the last (bear in mind the comparative
sizes, our earth as a "_pea_" to these each an orange). His year
swallows up almost thirty of our own. And in this far distant region
the Sun, though giving only about one ninetieth part of the light
which we receive, is still equal to 300 full moons, and is at least
sufficient for vision, and all the necessary purposes of life, while
no fewer than eight satellites supplement the waning sun-light,
besides a mysterious luminous "ring" of vast proportions.
"Twice as far away from the Sun as Saturn, _Uranus_, represented by a
_cherry_, plods his weary course. Although his real diameter is 35,000
miles, his circumference over 100,000, being more than four times the
size of our own earth, yet he is rarely seen by the naked eye. His
annual journey round the Sun is 10,000 millions of miles, and he
consumes what we should consider a lifetime, 84 _years_, in getting
over it. Our little _earth_ has now faded out of sight.
"Only a few years ago, _Uranus_ was the last planetary station of our
system, but the discovery of Neptune in 1846, gave us another
resting-place on the long journey into space. Here, at a distance of
nearly 3,000 _millions_ of miles from the Sun, we may pause awhile
before entering upon the more remote exploration of the '_starry_
universe.'
"We are approaching the frontier regions of our system, and the Sun's
light and the power of his attraction are gradually passing away.
Between the shores of our Sun-system and the shores of the nearest
star-system--they also being suns--lies a vast, mysterious chasm, in
the recesses of which may still lurk some undiscovered planets, but
into which, so far as we yet know, the wandering comets alone plunge
deeply.
"We now stand on the frontier of the Sun's domain, and are, in
imagination, looking across one of those broad gulfs which, like
impassable ramparts fence off the different systems of the universe
from each other. It seemed needful that the great Architect should
interpose some such barrier between the contending attractions of the
giant masses of matter scattered through space; that there should be a
_sea_ of limitation in which forces, whose action might disturb each
other, should die out and be extinguished. In it the flood-light of
our glorious Sun gets weaker and weaker, and its bright disk wastes
away by distance, until it shines only as a twinkling star. And the
strong chain of its attraction which held with firm grasp the planets
in their orbits, after dwindling by fixed degrees into a force that
would not break a gossamer, is finally dissipated and lost.
"Now we ask, Is it likely that those vast orbs--with masses and
densities so wonderfully modified and adjusted in accordance with what
we perceive to be the requirements of living creatures--with years and
months, days and nights, seasons and climates--with atmosphere and
twilights, trade-winds and currents--with clouds and rains, continents
and seas, mountains and polar snows--with sun, moon, and stars, and,
in short, with all the elements that make up the conditions of a
habitable globe--is it likely that those glorious works of the Creator
should have been formed to lie waste, sterile, and unprofitable? Or
even if we could bring ourselves to think that those masses, whose
united bulk dwarfs our Earth into insignificance, had been solely
created as make-weights to keep this little atom of Earth in its
place, why should they have been provided with complicated systems of
moons revolving round them to give them auxiliary light? The Sun's
light they share in common with ourselves; but for what conceivable
purpose should deserts void of life have been supplied with those
wonderful lamps to light them up in the absence of the Sun? Conditions
that might be incompatible with our organization, may be by
adjustment of creative wisdom exactly suited to the beings placed to
inhabit them. All life, even if it be essentially the same in
principle, may not everywhere assume the same phase of outward
existence, nor need we attempt to set limits in this respect to the
Lord of Life. The spaces lie there furnished ready--the Word was only
required to people them with life.
"Such inquiries have an interest which goes beyond their mere
astronomical import, for they touch our conceptions of God's
greatness, wisdom, and power. Is there one who does not long to be
able reasonably to cherish the thought that, far away from this _tiny_
speck of Earth, in the remote realms of space, we behold worlds
inhabited by beings who, it may be, are privileged to know their
Creator, and to bless, praise, and magnify Him forever."
We have seen that all leading Astronomers agree in the fact of a
"_plurality of suns_," and a "_plurality of worlds_," and their
numbers so vast that they are beyond our computation. Now we hold that
in all this vast creation, there is a controlling element, and that
this element is necessarily manifest in all things, and so
predominates that percipient intelligences should, and we believe
can--to a certain extent--comprehend it. Do you ask, what is this
element? we answer _fire_!
We have presented to your mind--as far as we are able to
comprehend--the Infinity of God's wisdom and power, as manifested in
his wonderful Creations; not only in creating this Earth on which we
live, and all pertaining thereunto, but of Heavens, Suns, Planets and
Worlds, whose numbers are _millions_, as they are seen standing out
and peopling the realms of boundless space, and yet we know that so
vast is the infinity of His wonderful creations, that we have given to
the mind only a bird's-eye view within the borders of His boundless
Empire.
We are aware that the idea we advance--that the vast globe, encircled
by the photosphoric, ethereal flame (that which we denominate the
Sun), _is our heaven_, as also the heaven for intelligences of the
other planets of our solar system, and that there are numerous other
suns of similar import which may also be heavens for created
intelligences inhabiting their surrounding planets--is new to the mind
of man, and that at first thought some may be incredulous; thus, as we
said in the beginning, it has ever been with all important
discoveries, and especially so of discoveries through the lights and
science of astronomy. Nevertheless, the wondrous works of the Creator,
as we have surveyed and contemplated them--we think--will justify our
hypothesis. But to all the foregoing we shall still add stronger, and
we think, more convincing evidences, when we come to contemplate the
elements of the Sun--fire, heat, and light--in connection with God's
intercourse by His Spirit, and His dealings with man.
_GOD'S THRONE SHALL ENDURE FOREVER; SO ALSO SHALL THE SUN. CONCLUSIVE
SCRIPTURAL EVIDENCE FOR ALL THAT WE CLAIM._
God hath sworn by His Holiness, that the seed of David (the MESSIAH),
should "endure forever, and his throne as the Sun before him."
The Psalmist, referring to the Messiah says, "His name shall endure
forever. His name shall be continued as long as the Sun, and all
nations shall call him blessed." Here we have the assurance of the
eternal duration of the Sun; even as the Throne of God which is to
"endure forever and ever." The promise is, that
"His seed also will I make to endure forever, and his throne
as the days of heaven. Thy throne O God is forever and
ever."
Thus, we see that the Sun and the heaven are to endure as long as the
throne of God, and his throne is to endure "forever and ever."
Now to us, to all, while dwelling in mortality, the Sun dispenses its
blessings alike. "He maketh the Sun to shine on the evil and on the
good, and sendeth the rain on the just, and on the unjust."
Thus, we see that the Sun is the active agency for the dispensing of
His blessings to man and all animation on this Earth. Its rays of
light and heat penetrate the bosoms of oceans and seas, and draw up
from "the fountains of the deep" the "liquid element" in ascending
vapor, and condensing it into clouds, scatter and return it in rains,
and gentle showers, to water and replenish the Earth and make it bring
forth for sustenance of man and beast, and renew the verdure of
nature.
Now do we not see in all this, as in all things else, that the
Sun--its heat and light--are God's agencies in sustaining all things?
We have told you that we could comprehend that it _was_ an agency
pervading and controlling all things. But you have doubtless noticed
the fact that as we have followed up and grasped the revelations made
by Philosophers and Astronomers, that the ablest of them have failed
to comprehend the _nature_ of the eternal source of fire. All agree in
the one fact, however, that it is derived from the Sun. No finite mind
ever has comprehended, nor, it may be, ever will be able to fully
comprehend it. We know that it exists. We apply to it properties and
principles, or components which form the element. Beyond this we
cannot go, only we know that God himself is its author; that it is an
element intimately connected with Himself--nay more, that He has even
revealed to us that _His Spirit is fire_! And when we contemplate the
fact that it is the only completely destructive, or _annihilating_
element, and yet one that can _never be destroyed_; one that is to
purify the righteous, and yet punish the wicked, we are led to the
inevitable conclusion that it is an _attribute_ of the Great Jehovah.
We believe it an element of creative agency, one that has
existed--possibly--from all eternity, and will continue through all
eternity to come. We are told that God, by His Spirit, is manifest in
all His works. Now, what else than _light_, and _heat_, is thus
manifest to us? It is positively _the source of all light_, and St.
Paul tells us that "All things are made manifest by light;" while the
Psalmist declares "His going forth is from the _end of the heaven_,
and His circuit unto the ends of it, and there is nothing hid from the
_heat_ thereof."
Now we see that this declaration establishes our hypothesis of the
location of heaven. His going forth from the _end of the heaven_--from
the sun--and nothing is hid from the heat thereof--the Sun being the
source of heat--is conclusive evidence that the _Sun_ is near--even at
the _ends_ of the heaven.
In the further contemplation of the hypothesis, that the Spirit of
God is _as_ fire, you will remember that we have stated that some of
the constituent elements of fire pervades all things, and also that
God--_by His Spirit_--is everywhere, and in all His works. Hear the
Psalmist, on this subject:
"Whither shall I go from thy _Spirit_? Whither shall I flee
from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art
there; if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If
I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost
parts of the sea, even there thy hand shall lead me, and thy
right hand shall hold me.
"If I say, surely the darkness shall cover me; even the
night shall be light about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not
from thee: but the night shineth as the day: the darkness
and the light are both alike to thee."
Mark well this testimony, that while the Spirit of God is everywhere,
so, also, is that Spirit _light_, and there is no darkness, save to
those vailed in humanity. When spirit is free from mortality; is
accepted of God, and clothed upon with immortality; _as spirit_, it
partakes of His own nature, and will, henceforth, dwell forever in
eternal light.
Now what the Sun is to this earth and its inhabitants, so also we
believe it to be to the inhabitants of all the other planets belonging
to its system; all of which worlds it controls, even as it does this.
And here the mind goes out in the contemplation of the hypothesis,
that all those other suns, standing far out in sidereal regions--each
governing and controlling its own system of planets, or worlds--are
also _heavens_ for created intelligences inhabiting such planets. God
is Infinite, as well as Omnipresent. Infinite in wisdom, and in His
creative power.
"Who can set bounds to the Almighty?"
Therefore _Suns_, and consequently _heavens_, may be numbered by
_millions_, and their surrounding worlds by _billions_; yet all
created, governed, and controlled by the infinite wisdom and power of
the great Architect of the Universe. Such hypothesis is wonderful for
finite minds to contemplate, yet not more so than the fact of the
existence of our own solar system.
That the Sun shall endure forever, no rational mind can doubt. God's
own word assures this, and that His throne shall endure as long as the
Sun. Should He quench the fires of the Sun, and yet make no other
provision for light and heat, all would be blackness, darkness, and
desolation, and no animated life could exist on this earth, or
surrounding worlds.
* * * * *
Having assumed the hypothesis that that which we denominate the SUN is
a volume of _photospheric-ethereal_, or SPIRIT-FIRE; that it is the
source of all that we can comprehend of _light_ and _heat_; we have
also stated our belief that it is an _attribute_ of the Eternal
One--possibly an agency of _creative power_--we believe we shall be
able to make this plain to every reflecting mind, in our further
contemplations of the revelations which God has made of himself, as we
find them recorded in the Bible. These revelations are plain, and we
believe the time in the history of our world has come, when we should
more fully comprehend them--even the nature of His manifestations, and
thus comprehend more our own relations to Him, and by this means be
enabled to "come to a knowledge of His truth," and more fully realize
His prescience, day by day. That this has not been more fully
comprehended heretofore, must seem a mystery to every reflecting mind.
Now what are these revelations? Let us examine.
We learn from Bible History, that "God created man in His own image,
and after His own likeness." "In the image of God created He him; male
and female, created He them." Thus, in creation, man is spoken of in
the _plural_. "And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground,
and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a
living soul." Now "the first Adam was made a living soul, and the
second Adam a quickening spirit." The terms soul and spirit are held
as synonymous; both having reference to our immortal nature, and, as
this immortal nature emanated from God our Creator, and is of His own
eternal attribute, it can never die; hence, it must exist through all
eternity.
Job asks, "To whom hast Thou uttered words? whose spirit came from
Thee?" and in Ecclesiastes it is declared, "The spirit shall return to
God who gave it." St. John, the revelator, tells us that "God is a
spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in
truth." While St. Paul says, "His spirit beareth witness with our
spirits, that we are the children of God."
Now you will remember that St. John, the revelator, has told us that
it was revealed to him that "the seven lamps of _fire_, were the seven
spirits of God," while Job says, "A flame goeth out of His mouth, and
God by his spirit garnished the heavens."
We wish you to bear this evidence in mind. For Job not only speaks of
a _plurality of heavens_, but explains by what agency they were
garnished--even by the _Spirit of God_. Now we know that garnishment
is transcendent brightness, and brilliancy; to adorn and polish
_surface_. Is it not therefore, probable that Job had reference to
that bright _ethereal spirit flame_, whose brilliancy blinds us if we
attempt a lingering gaze at the Sun's bright disk? 'Tis said that
heaven within is lighted with the "glory of God."
In our previous arguments, we have showed, conclusively, that the Sun
is the source of fire, heat, and light. Let us now further examine the
offices of this element thus derived from the _Sun_, and note in this
investigation whether it is not, in some way, intimately connected
with _heaven_.
_First._ Under the Mosaic dispensation, God commanded His Prophets,
and Priests, to build unto Him an Altar, and to offer sacrifices
thereon; and such sacrifices would be accepted by Him, as should be
evidenced by his sending down fire from heaven to consume the
offerings. He also commanded, through Moses, that the fires should
ever be burning upon the altar, and that the Priests should continue
to renew sacrifices and burnt offerings upon it. These sacrifices were
as memorials before the Lord, and typical of the coming of Christ, who
should be the "great sacrifice," to ransom fallen man.
Now it will be remembered that when such offerings were made, fire
came down from heaven and consumed the offerings, and thus made
manifest that the sacrifices were accepted of God. (Let it be
remembered that we have shown, as far as finite mind can comprehend,
that the _Sun_ is the only direct source of fire, and then remember
that _fire came down from heaven_.)
In the book of Job we read,
"_The fire of God has fallen from heaven._"
The Psalmist tells us that
"God is a _Sun_ and a shield, who maketh His angels spirits,
and His ministers a flaming fire."
Now we know that angels are God's ministers, and how oft do we find
recorded in the Bible, how--under the earlier dispensation--they
appeared on earth in forms of _fire_, and with the brightness of the
_Sun_.
The Psalmist tells us again that:
"Our God shall come, a fire shall devour before Him. A fire
goeth before Him and burneth up His enemies."
The prophet Jeremiah proclaims:
"Wherefore, thus saith the Lord God of hosts, Behold, I will
make my words in thy mouth fire."
The Psalmist answers:
"While I was musing the fire burned."
Thus, how plain the revelations that _God's Spirit is fire_. Not
necessarily manifested at all times, by the burning and consuming our
mortal bodies--this only in His _wrath_--but by the purifying of our
natures; "burning up the dross, and base desires," and thus fitting us
for the enjoyment of heaven and happiness, for
"He shall be as a refiner's fire, and the righteous are
saved as by fire."
Let us hear what the prophet Jeremiah saith:
"For behold the Lord will come with fire; and with His
chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury,
and His rebukes with flames of fire, and the slain of the
Lord shall be many."
Ah, when He comes forth with His _Spirit of fire_ in _wrath_ and
indignation, then it is that this element is one of terrible
destruction. Comprehending this, the a same prophet inquires:
"Who among us shall dwell with devouring fire? Who among
_us_ shall dwell in everlasting burnings?"
Hear the answer of God, given through his prophet to all His obedient
and faithful children:
"Though thou walkest through the fires, thou shalt not be
burned, neither shall the flames kindle upon thee."
Again, of His Spirit in a milder form:
"Is not my _word_ like fire, saith the Lord?"
The prophet answers:
"His word was in my heart as a burning fire."
Now remember that:
"By the _word_ of the Lord were the heavens made, and all
the hosts of them by the breath of His mouth."
_And here His word is represented as_ FIRE!
In the first book of the Chronicles it is written:
"Every man's work shall be tried by fire."
And, in the second book of the Chronicles:
"And when the children of Israel saw how the fire came down,
and the glory of the Lord upon the House, they bowed
themselves with their faces to the ground, and worshipped
and praised the Lord."
Thus, no one dared gaze on the brightness of that _glory_, and all
bowed "with their faces _to the ground_."
Turning to the book of Deuteronomy, we find written:
"The Lord thy God is a consuming fire. Understand therefore
this day, that the Lord thy God is He that goeth over before
thee as a consuming fire. Out of heaven He made thee to hear
His voice, that He might instruct thee; and upon earth He
showed thee His great fire; and thou heardest His words out
of the midst of the fire."
In Leviticus we find written:
"And there went out a fire from the Lord and devoured them,
and they died before the Lord. And there came a fire out
from before the Lord, and consumed upon the altar the burnt
offerings--which, when the people saw, they shouted and fell
on their faces."
Let us contemplate, for a moment, the sacrilege of the attempt at
using this element--during the old dispensation--to the consuming of
an offering or sacrifice to any other than the _one true and living
God_. Turn to the Book of Numbers, and read,
"When the people offered incense upon the strange altar,
there came down fire from the Lord and consumed the two
hundred and fifty who offered the incense. And Nahab and
Abihu died, when they offered strange fire before the Lord."
Second Kings, vi. 17:
"Elisha said, they that be for us are more than they that
are against us; he prayed, and God opened the young man's
eyes, and he saw; and behold, the mountain was full of
horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha."
Thus we see that this element--in its destructive form--is the ready
manifestation of God's displeasure.
Turn to Exodus, and read,--
"And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him (Moses), in a
flame of fire out of the midst of a bush, and he looked, and
behold the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not
consumed." _Again_, "The cloud of the Lord was upon the
Tabernacle by day, and a fire was upon it by night in sight
of all the house of Israel." _Again_, "And the sight of the
glory of the Lord was like devouring fire upon the top of
the mount in the eyes of the children of Israel."
Now let us consider this element in its offices when controlled by the
Great Jehovah.
Judges, xiii. 20:
"For it came to pass when the flame went up toward heaven
from off the altar, that the angel of the Lord ascended in
the flame of the altar."
Here there was no delusive manifestation, but the actual _flame of
fire_, ascending upward toward heaven; even to the _Sun_ its original
source.
We will now turn to the Book of the Second Kings, and--in our mind's
eye--join the prophets "as they walked and talked with Elijah" and
witness one of the most sublime scenes the eye of man has ever beheld:
"And it came to pass as they still went on and talked, that
behold there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire,
and parted them both asunder, and Elijah went up by a
whirlwind into heaven."
Was there not a startling, and sublime revelation, that this element
controlled, can be suited, even to our enjoyment of _happiness_ when
the great change comes; when this mortal shall put on immortality?
In the Book of Malachi--the last of the Old Testament scriptures--we
hear the voice of Him who had promised deliverance, speaking to us
through His prophet:
"Unto you that fear my name, shall the _Sun_ of
righteousness arise."
Thus we see that the promised Messiah was spoken of as a _Sun_.
Turning to the record of the New Testament, we find the Saviour's
advent into this world signaled by a brilliant "Star," emblematical of
the _Sun_, shining in all its splendor, brilliancy, and beauty, and
leading the wise men to where lay the "Infant of days"--the veiled
"Star," or _Sun_, of light and immortality.
At a later day, behold Him manifesting His veiled brightness, as he
stood "_transfigured on the Mount_" before Peter, James and John, when
"_His face did shine as the Sun, and His raiment white as the light_."
But we deem it unnecessary to dwell upon all the symbols of _fire_,
_heat_, and _light_, so clearly representative, which may be found
interspersed throughout the Old, and the New Testament pages. We will
catch up a few others as we pass along, before, in mind, taking our
stand with John, the revelator, on the Isle of Patmos. St. Paul tells
us,--
"The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His
mighty angels in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that
know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus
Christ." And that the "Lord shall consume with the spirit of
His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of His
coming."
St. John, says:
"_I indeed baptize you with water, but he that cometh after
me is mightier than I, he shall baptize you with the Holy
Ghost and_ WITH FIRE."
Thus we see that _spirit_ is denominated _fire_ in the ordinance of
_Spiritual Baptism_.
And St. Paul says:
"By one spirit are we all baptized into one body."
* * * * *
Let us now glance at the account of John's spiritual vision while on
the Isle of Patmos, as recorded in the Book of Revelation:
"I heard behind me a great voice as the voice of a trumpet, saying, I
am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the
ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come,
the Almighty. And I turned to see the voice that spake with me, and I
saw seven golden candlesticks, and One in the midst of the
candlesticks like unto the Son of Man. His head and his hair were
white as the snow, and his eyes were as _flames of fire_, and his feet
like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace, and his voice as
the sound of many waters. And he had in his right hand seven stars;
and out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword; _and his
countenance was as the Sun shining in his strength_."
John saw the door of heaven opened and a voice as of a trumpet said
unto him, "Come up hither, and I will shew thee the things which must
be hereafter." He continues. "And immediately I was in the spirit,
and, behold a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne,
who, to look upon was like jasper, and there was a rainbow round about
the throne, in sight like unto an emerald, and around the throne sat
four and twenty elders in raiment of white, and out of the throne
proceeded lightnings, and thunderings, and voices, and there were
seven lamps of _fire_ burning before the throne, _which are the seven
spirits of God_. And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there
was seen in his temple the ark of his testament, and there were
lightnings, and voices, and thunderings. And there appeared a great
wonder in heaven, _a woman clothed with the Sun_. And I saw another
mighty angel coming down from heaven clothed with a cloud, and a
rainbow was upon his head and his face was, as it were the _Sun_, and
his feet as pillars of _fire_."
"_And the city had no need of the Sun_, for the glory of God did
lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof." "And there shall be no
night there, for the Lord God giveth them light, and they shall reign
forever and ever. The Lord God shall be unto them an everlasting
light, and the days of their mourning shall be ended."
"_Then shall the righteous shine forth as the Sun in the
Kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear let him
hear._" (Matt. xiii. 43.)
* * * * *
We have quoted the foregoing Scriptural passages--to which we might
add scores of others of similar import--to show the connection of the
element of fire, heat and light--with God himself, and that while it
proves the agency; at least in dispensing His blessings to all
animated life, and can be so controlled by Him that--even in its
intensity--it cannot harm the righteous, either in body or spirit,
when He interposes; yet it is the certain agency of destruction, and
the torment of the wicked at His will; or without this interposition.
Certain it is, that it is the _agency_ by which He has made Himself
manifest to man, and this agency still continues in the dispensing of
all the manifold blessings we enjoy, day by day, and should cause
every heart to turn to Him with reverence and grateful emotions. The
mind of the Christian world should acknowledge the omnipresence of the
Infinite One; that He pervades all space, and is manifest in all
things; while each individual should feel as Elihu did when he uttered
the words, "The _Spirit_ of God hath made me, and the breath of the
Almighty hath given me life;" and exclaim with the Psalmist:
"I will bless the Lord at all times, His praise shall
continually be in my mouth. The eyes of the Lord are ever
upon the righteous, and His ears are open unto their cry. O
magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name
together. God is our refuge and strength, a very present
help in trouble." "Lord, thou hast been our dwelling-place
in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth,
or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from
everlasting to everlasting, thou art God."
Now we have seen that God--by His Spirit, or influence--is everywhere;
that he pervades the universe of His Creation; that his nature is
eternal and indestructible, while all else--save man's immortal nature
derived from God--is destructible. We are plainly told in the Bible
that the _Spirit of God is fire_; that _His Word is fire_; that He is
like a _refiner's fire_--even as a purifier of silver. That every
man's work shall be tried _by fire_; the righteous saved as by _fire_;
that, to his people, He will be as _a wall of fire_; and though they
pass through the fire they shall not be burned; neither shall the
flames kindle upon them. And yet our God is a _consuming fire_, before
whom the wicked shall not stand. That the _fire_ of His anger, and His
_wrath_, shall be kindled against them, when all the proud, yea, and
all that do wickedly shall be cast into the fire that will never be
quenched; whose flames shall ascend up forever and ever. Oh, how plain
the revelations of God as to the immortality of the soul, and a future
state of existence! The righteous to enter into, and enjoy eternal
life; the wicked--who are dead in trespasses and in sins--to enter
into eternal death, even the "death that never dies."
How _startling_ the fact of these plain revelations! God is now made
manifest to our daily and hourly comprehension. How dare we trifle
with Him, and our own soul's immortal interest? We are daily and
hourly rushing on to our own eternal destiny. Ere another year, a
month, a week or day is past, we may realize that "it is not all of
life to live, nor yet of death to die." No one can escape the eternal
fiat of Jehovah, "_dust thou art and unto dust shalt thou return_." As
death leaves the body so judgment finds the soul. "The righteous shall
inherit eternal life;" "the wicked shall be driven away from the
presence of God, and from the glory of His power," and take up their
abode with tormenting devils "in everlasting burnings."
Stop, poor wandering child of sin; yield obedience to the requirements
of God's law; "acknowledge Him in all thy ways, and He shall direct
thy paths."
The Psalmist tells us that "_the Lord God is a Sun_." Saint John tells
us that, while in the Spirit, it was revealed to him that the
"_burning lamps of fire were spirits of God_." Now remember that we
have told you that the vast volume of flame of _ethereal fire outside_
and _around_ the heavenly world, is all that we can see or comprehend
as the _Sun_; that flame is the source of all _light_, heat, and
animation: hence, considered in connexion with its offices, may we not
safely conclude that it is an _attribute of Jehovah_?
The prophet Malachi foretold the coming of the "Sun of righteousness,"
behold the "star in the east!" Who can doubt this star being a visible
manifestation of the _Spirit of God_? Christ, the Son of God, is
called "the _Sun_ of righteousness; the bright morning star." His
advent into the world was signalized by this sacred emblem--even by
the _Spirit of God_ revealed as the _brightness of a star_. How
appropriate this representation, when the Son of God came to usher in
the light of an eternal day to his people. Transfigured during His
stay on earth, "His face did shine as the Sun, and His raiment was
white as the light." Now remember, we are assured that the heavenly
world and city "hath no need of the _Sun_, for the glory of God doth
lighten it, and the Lamb (the Son of God) is the light thereof."
Thus we think we have furnished conclusive Scripture evidence that
_God's Spirit is manifested by fire_. Fire is the source of all light,
and is also an element pervading all things throughout the vast
universe of God--in air and earth, seas and floods, rocks and
mountains, throughout all heights and depths. Hence, hear again the
exclamation of the Psalmist: "Whither shall I go from thy _Spirit_? or
whither shall I flee from thy presence?" Behold, God, by His Spirit,
is everywhere, even throughout the vast extended universe of all His
wondrous works.
We have but to consider the source of this element--which is God
himself--and we shall then easily comprehend how it can, by the same
power, be adapted or made congenial to our mortal or immortal natures.
We have said, He has created no element incompatible with, or
uncongenial to His own nature, nor any that He cannot adapt to the
condition of the spirit-life of His children. Fire is an element
destructive of all things else save immortality, and that it is not
destructive of this, we have evidence in the fact that the wicked
shall be cast into the flames of hell, and suffer its torments for
ever and ever. And yet, while it is an element destructive of all
else, save immortality, it is one, and the _only one_ we can--even
partially--comprehend, that can _never be destroyed_. Mortality shall
be destroyed, and naught remain but immortality, purified by
fire--_the Spirit of God_.
Now in order that His children _here_, might comprehend His infinite
power in controlling, or adapting this element to their happiness, He
has manifested this power even with mortality on this earth. Our
mortal bodies are susceptible of feeling its painful influences, and
of being destroyed by it--save when He intervenes, and changes our
nature so that it can have no impression upon us, or makes it a
congenial element in which we can enjoy happiness. That He can do,
and has done this, we have manifest in the miraculous preservation of
the three Hebrew children. For their refusal to forsake the Living
God, and worship the idol, or golden image set up by King
Nebuchadnezzar, the king commanded that the furnace should be heated
seven-fold, and they be bound and cast into it. This was done, and
while the heat was so intense as to destroy those who bore them to,
and plunged them into the fiery furnace, yet when the king looked into
it "he saw four men loose and walking in the midst of the flames;
praising God, and blessing the name of the Lord, and the fourth was
like unto the Son of God." The king called them to come forth, and
when the three who were cast in came forth, "not a hair of their heads
was singed, nor even the smell of fire passed on their garments."
Thus we see the power of God manifest in the adaptation at His own
will, of this,--to our mortal bodies--painful and consuming element,
to our condition of happiness. And, on the other hand, when this
saving power is withheld, how certain is destruction, as manifested by
its destroying those who approached near enough to the furnace to cast
them in. O, the measure of happiness those children of the Most High
enjoyed in the midst of the burning flames! shouting and praising God.
And when they came out of the fiery furnace, they still continued
their triumphant shout; calling upon everything--animate, and
inanimate--throughout the vast Universe, to "bless, praise and magnify
the name of the Lord forever."
That God can, and does make this element suited to the enjoyment of
happiness of His people, we have also seen manifested in the case of
Elijah taking his seat, at the command of God, in the "chariot of
fire," and with "horses of fire" ascending up into heaven. Thus,
"changed," as the apostle expresses it, "in the twinkling of an eye,"
his mortality ceased, and "clothed upon with immortality," by Divine
power, he could ride in triumph with his steeds of fire, sitting in
his chariot of _burning flame_.
We scarcely deem it necessary to refer again to the--almost
universally conceded--fact of man's immortal nature. By the breath of
God, man was made a living soul or spirit. God's spirit is _living
fire_; hence this immortal nature of man is _living fire_, an
attribute of God himself, and one which can never cease to exist; can
never be annihilated, but will live on, and on through all eternity.
But when this immortal principle of _spirit-fire_ leaves the body,
mortality ceases to live, and must decay and moulder into dust. For,
speaking of this mortal body, He hath said, "dust thou art, and unto
dust shalt thou return," and "the soul shall return to God who gave
it."
_SUN AND HEAVEN._
Now to show the intimate connexion with the _Sun_ and _Heaven_, spoken
of in the Scriptures, we will here group together a few of the many
passages found written therein.
The prophet Jeremiah, in referring to the great and terrible day of
the Lord, says "the light shall be darkened in the heavens;" and in
the Gospel according to St. Mark, referring to the same, we read that
"the _Sun_ shall be darkened;" and in the Revelation, that "the _Sun_
and the air were darkened." Again, Jehovah, speaking to His people,
saith: "I will cover the _heaven_, and make the stars thereof dark;"
and, in order that we may more fully comprehend, he added: "I will
cover the _Sun_ with a cloud;" and the Psalmist tells us that "He
covereth the _heaven_ with a cloud;" and thus saith the Lord through
His prophet: "Be not dismayed at the signs of _heaven_; for the
heathen are dismayed at them."
Thus we see that the _Sun_ and _heaven_ are often spoken of in
connexion with each other in regard to light. The Sun is to us the
source of _all light_, and in covering the _heaven_ He covereth the
Sun. But we see, as above, that He hath made this matter plain to our
comprehension by His own utterance: "_Be not dismayed by the signs of
heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them._"
Now you will remember that the heathen, in ancient times--and even so
with them at the present day--were always dismayed and frightened at
the recurrence of an eclipse of the Sun, and imagined the time of the
world had come to an end. But the science of astronomy has
comprehended the laws of nature, and has revealed the true causes of
these seeming phenomena to the enlightenment of the world, and many
years previous to their occurrence. Astronomers can foretell the day,
the hour, and even the very moment when they will appear, or be
visible in any part of the world, as, also, when they will disappear.
But we see, however, that God himself has spoken of such eclipses as
"signs in the _heaven_," and yet they are eclipses of the _Sun_.
But still more pointed and clear is the evidence of their connexion
given by the Saviour, where the Pharisees and Sadducees desired him to
show them "_a sign from heaven_." Hear His answer: "When it is
evening, ye say, It will be fair-weather, for the sky is red; and in
the morning, It will be foul weather to-day, for the sky is red and
lowering. O ye hypocrites! ye can discern the face of the sky, but ye
cannot discern the signs of the times." Now we here see that they
asked Him for a sign from _heaven_, and the Saviour answered promptly
by referring to the apparent phenomena produced by the disappearing
and reappearing of the _Sun_. Thus answering by signs which _they_ had
marked; _produced by the Sun_, which covereth the heaven from our
view.
We have shown what all must acknowledge; that the _Sun_ is the only
source of fire, heat, and light which is comprehended in Nature.
Revelations of the Past, and predictions as to the Future, assure us
that God's _wrath_ is revealed by _fire_. Now from whence cometh this
fire when His wrath is thus revealed? God rained down fire and
brimstone from heaven upon Sodom and Gomorrah, and thus destroyed
those cities and their wicked inhabitants. Now, as the _wrath_ of God
is revealed by _fire_, St. Paul sets this matter at rest. Hear him:
"_The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and
unrighteousness of men._" Thus, His spirit of wrath is manifested by
fire; the _source_ of fire is the _Sun_, and He sends _fire from
heaven_. Hence, we cannot for a moment doubt the correctness of our
hypothesis that the source of fire, as manifested in the Past, and
also that which shall be manifested in the Future, is the _Sun_. And
wherein it is declared that fire came down from heaven, or out of
heaven, it was natural that such expressions were used, because it was
held that God resided in heaven, and He sent down fire from thence to
execute His judgments.
_A PLURALITY OF HEAVENS._
The idea of a _plurality of heavens_, and their numbers almost
infinite, would seem at first thought to startle the mind, and
disarrange all our conceptions of the extent and machinery of the
universe, and of the employment of God, and all the angels, and other
intelligences He has made. Yet its truth only brings home to us the
insignificance of our own earth, and still more that of ourselves. We
are too prone to think that this earth and its inhabitants are the
principal objects of the Creator's care, and that _man_ is of vast
importance in the order of His arrangements, and of augmenting His
kingdom and glory. While the truth is, our world is insignificant,
when compared to His wonderful creations, and each individual as but a
single grain of sand among all that may be found upon the shores of
oceans and seas. And yet all that He hath made _are_ the objects of
His government and care. For "not even a sparrow falleth to the
ground" unknown to Him.
That in His omnipotent and infinite power He can, and has created
separate systems of planet-worlds, and a central sun and heaven for
controlling each, we cannot doubt; neither is there more of
incomprehensible mystery in this contemplation than in that of our own
system of planets, with its central and controlling _Sun_ and heaven.
Let us turn to revelations made, as recorded in the Bible, and see if
there are not declarations which sustain this hypothesis. In the
second book of the Kings it is written: "_But will God indeed dwell on
earth? behold, the heaven, and heaven of heavens cannot contain him_;"
and in the second book of the Chronicles: "_But who is able to build
him an house, seeing the heaven, and heaven of heavens cannot contain
him._" The Psalmist says: "_The heavens; even the heavens are the
Lord's_," and "_The heavens declare the glory of God_," and that "_By
the word of the Lord were the heavens made, and all the hosts of them
by the breath of his mouth._"
Thus we have conclusive evidence of a _plurality of heavens_, while,
possibly, their numbers are _millions_, their surrounding
planet-worlds _billions_, with a wide expanse of surrounding
"firmament of the heavens" bestrewn with "_glittering gems_," standing
out the grand _empyrean_ covering of all.
Says Dr. Nichol:
"Mystery, indeed, heavy, almost oppressive, hangs over all the
perceptive; but the shapes strown through that bewildering territory
have nothing in common with the fantastic creations of a dream. It is
the essence of these nebulæ that they are not formless, but, on the
contrary, impressed indelibly by system on the grandest scale; clearly
as a leaf they have organism; something has seized on their enormous
volumes, and moulded them into a wonderful order." Says Child: "Thus
every thing bears the mark of order impressed upon it by the Almighty
hand. That noble gift of God to man--the telescope--has magnified Him
by driving away every semblance of _chance_ from the firmament, and by
exhibiting in its place designs and established law. Up there, as down
here, the idea of irregularity or chance is but the suggestion of our
ignorance."
Thus, from a knowledge gained through that wonderful, and yet most
exact of all sciences--Astronomy--we base our conclusions. _That_
science is the grandest, most perfect, and comprehensive of all
sciences known to the human mind. It grasps, analyzes, and comprehends
the laws and forces which make up and control the universe, and every
other science known is intimately connected with, or based upon it.
There is no chance-work in Nature; all things are moulded and formed
complete by the great Architect, whose Word created them, and all the
grand panorama of suns, moons, planets, worlds, and stars, are perfect
and in the exact order of His creative wisdom.
Whatever of incomprehensible mystery our hypothesis of those
far-distant _suns_ and _heavens_ may involve, we feel satisfied of the
correctness of our theory in regard to our own, and our mind is
equally impressed with the probability of all the other planets
belonging to the Sun's domain, being inhabited by living
intelligences, and that, in the order of their Creator's arrangement,
they too find their heaven of eternal existence there. We know there
is room for all and to spare, within that heavenly empire, and would
be if they and our own earth should remain repeopling and passing
thither for cycles of ages to come; for, as we have seen from
astronomical measurement, it is computed to be more than one million
times the size of this earth.
How enrapturing the thought, that there we may not only meet the
prophets and seers of old; the apostles and martyrs; "those who went
up through great tribulations," "who washed their robes and made them
white in the blood of the Lamb;" our counselling ministers, who have
assisted us in the way; there the loved ones of our hearts, who have
already left us and this world of "sin and sorrow," and are now safely
at "home;" there other loved ones who are yet on this earth and are
striving with us for a home in that "better land;" but also, perhaps,
there we shall meet messengers, and children of God from all the other
worlds belonging to the Sun, or that heaven's domain; and with the
innumerable company of angels, and all the ransomed hosts, dwell
forever with our Saviour in the glory-light of the Spirit of God. O,
who will not seek and strive for a _home in heaven_?
_A PLACE FOR THE WICKED._
That there are two separate places and conditions--one for the
righteous and the other for the wicked--we cannot doubt. In regard to
no other fact are the revelations of God and declarations of the
Scriptures more clear and explicit. This of itself should startle
every inhabitant of Earth; cause due and solemn reflection; and
incline every one to search for light, and truth, and for the way of
salvation.
In stating the facts contained in this volume, it has not been our
design to indulge in a tirade against those who seem careless and
indifferent in regard to their own souls' eternal interest. If our
picture makes the final doom of the wicked a fearful one, we have only
presented the declarations of God through his prophets, and of the
Saviour and his apostles. These declarations are startling, when
properly considered, and should awaken every mind to the consideration
of what must be their final destiny, if they continue to neglect the
overtures of mercy. The law of God is fearful in its denunciations
against the wicked, and its sentence will be sternly executed.
Therefore we would "persuade all to be Christians."
If all the inhabitants of this Earth--all who have lived during the
past, or may live and die on it through long ages to come--were saved
and should go to dwell in that heavenly world, there would still be
room there for more. Yea, even then, untold millions of chambers,
ready and beautifully furnished by the Saviour in that vast and
glittering "City of God," would still be unoccupied. And to the
wicked, who will not turn from their evil ways, is lost forever the
privilege of occupying those mansions; of walking the gold paved
streets; of "drinking the waters from the fountains of life;" of
wandering amidst the "shady groves," and along the banks of the
beautiful rivers; of traversing valleys, and ascending the "hills and
mountains of the Lord," and of plucking and eating the "ambrosial
fruits" that grow on "the trees of life;" of having wealth and honor,
and a safe and permanent home with the angels; the Prophets and
Apostles of old; with Moses, and David, and Elijah; with Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob, and with all the great and good of every age and
clime--even with all "the redeemed of the Lord" "who have washed their
robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb"--with kindred
friends from Earth; with angels and spirits of just ones made perfect,
yea, "_with all the ransomed hosts_," and above all, with Christ, the
Son of God, who is, and will there be King and ruler forever.
And for what are all these exchanged? Let us see. The Bible is the
sure Word of God. It tells us that "the wicked shall be driven away in
their wickedness;" that they "shall be cast into outer darkness, where
shall be weeping and wailing, and gnashing of teeth."
They "shall be turned into hell with all the nations that forget God:"
"They shall be cast into the lake of fire, and the smoke of their
torment shall ascend up forever and ever." "These shall go away into
everlasting punishment," "But the righteous into life eternal." The
blessed Saviour, who died that they _might_ have eternal life, "shall
say unto those on his left hand (the wicked), depart into everlasting
fire;" while to those on his right hand (the righteous), "Come, ye
blessed of my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you before the
foundation of the world;" "enter thou into the joys of thy Lord."
Yes, reader, God has prepared the two places, and it rests with
_you_--as a free moral agent--to make your choice, and act
accordingly. He will never drag you into heaven by force. You are the
rightful inheritor of a precious immortal soul. He has prepared a
place of perpetual happiness, and _invites_ you to come to it. There
you may find a home, with peace, love and joy. There is for you honor
and wealth, and a "crown of glory." There the fountains, and "rivers
of life," and an abundance of spiritual food. There neither
decrepitude nor old age, nor sickness, sorrow, pain, nor death; but
the bloom of eternal youth and beauty may rest on thy brow forever.
Make your choice, and make it _now_, for delays are dangerous, and
death and the judgment may be near unto you. The _spirit-fire_ of
God's love is now kindling in your heart, and I hear you say, "_yes_,
I would like to be there." We implore you, quench not that
_spirit-fire_ of love, or it will change to a consuming SPIRIT-FIRE OF
WRATH, and when your soul is released from the body, that spirit-fire
will become an intense burning flame, and will be your torment forever
and ever.
The very thought of enduring _forever_--after this short life has
past--should startle the mind of every intelligent being, and cause
the most serious reflections. None can save but God, and this
salvation is through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. All must go to
Him. Our ministers can only advise and instruct, and to do this
properly, they must themselves be holy men of God. Christ Himself
assumed the office of the Priesthood. He made the atonement. He is now
our _only_ High Priest, and all must go to Him. The wealth of the
universe, given to an earthly Pope, Bishop, or Priest, could not save
one single soul, nor purchase it from perdition. And yet salvation is
freely offered to all who will forsake their wicked ways, and come to
God through love, and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
All are convinced of the immortality of the soul, and of a future
state of existence. The Word of God has set this matter at rest, while
it is fully evidenced by the inherent desire in every heart and mind
that it should be so; even this "longing after immortality." So, also,
does enlightened reason convince all that there will be a separation
of the righteous from the wicked in their future conditions. There is
no true harmony of mind and spirit between them even in this world;
much less could there be when the righteous are made pure and clean by
the "blood of the Lamb."
There has always been antagonism between the "spirit of light" and the
"spirit of darkness." The first gives "light, life, and liberty." The
second, darkness, death, and bondage. The word and revelations of God
teach this fact, while the experience and heart admonitions of all
confirm it. Even the ungodly condemn wickedness, and yet, strange to
say, continue on in sin. There has, from the beginning, been spiritual
antagonism between the good and the bad, and a consciousness upon the
part of the wicked of their own wrong-doing. This has been the case
ever since wicked Cain slew his brother Abel; God then pronounced His
curse upon the perpetrator of that wicked deed, and His curse has
stood against all wicked doers from that time to the present, and
will through all time to come. Bible history is replete with evidences
of His judgments against them, and plainly tells us that there are two
separate places, one wherein the righteous shall enjoy happiness and
eternal life; the other wherein the wicked shall be punished, and
endure a living death that never dies, showing us plainly that,
"It is not all of life to live; nor yet of death to die."
* * * * *
Now, the _location_ of that place of torment will claim a few moments
of our attention. Of this we think we are _not_ left to conjecture
alone. We believe our hypothesis of the location of heaven is correct,
and that we have one equally certain of the location of _Hell_, and
that each hypothesis strongly corroborates the other.
First, let us take direct testimony; that given by the Son of God
himself, who is to be the judge of all--even the "quick" and the
"dead." The first are those quickened into life by the spirit, the
last are "those who are dead in trespasses and in sin."
You will find this evidence in the 16th chapter of the "Gospel
according to Saint Luke." Christ, the Son God, said,
"There was a certain rich man, who was clothed in purple and
fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day: And there was
a certain beggar named Lazarus, who laid at they rich man's
gate, full of sores, and desiring to be fed with the crumbs
which fell from the rich man's table; moreover, the dogs
came and licked his sores. And it came to pass that the
beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's
bosom; The rich man also died, and was buried, and in hell
he lifted up his eyes. Being in torments, and seeing Abraham
afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom, he cried and said,
Father Abraham, have mercy upon me, and send Lazarus, that
he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my
parched tongue, for I am tormented in this flame. But
Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime
receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus his evil
things, but now he is comforted and thou art tormented. And
beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulph
fixed; so that they who would pass from hence to you cannot;
neither can they pass to us that would come from thence."
"Then he said, I pray thee, therefore, father, that thou
wouldst send him to my father's house, for I have five
brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come
into this place of torment. Abraham said unto him, they have
Moses and the prophets; let them hear them. And he said,
nay, father Abraham; but if one went unto them from the
dead, they will repent. Abraham answered and said unto him,
If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they
be persuaded though one rose from the dead."
Thus, we see plainly that there are two separate places; one for the
righteous, who are saved through obedience and faith, and the other
for the wicked who are lost through disobedience and unbelief. Nothing
could be more plain, pointed, or conclusive.
Now let us recall to your mind that which we have related in preceding
pages; wherein we have told you that most Astronomers have agreed upon
the fact, or hypothesis, of two atmospheres around the vast globe we
have denominated heaven. The one next to it appears to be
_non-luminous_; while the outer one--around this--is _luminous_, which
they denominate _photosphere_, to which we have added _ethereal_, or
"_spirit-fire_." This is what we see in looking at the Sun, and is the
vast volume of fire, or _ethereal flame_, that sends out heat and
light to this and other surrounding worlds. This light and heat extend
over a region of the illimitable space, not less than _six thousand
millions of miles in extent_. We have endeavored to approximate to the
mind the intense heat of the Sun at its source, but it far exceeds
finite comprehension.
We have also given you the views and suppositions of able
investigators that the extent of that photosphere, or volume of flame,
is vast indeed. It is said that 'flame-like masses--some computed to
be one hundred and fifty thousand miles in length--are piled upon and
overlap each other, and sweep onward in constant agitation like
mountain billows of living fire.' This, as we have told you, is the
source of all fire, or heat known to us on this Earth, and to all the
other planets of our solar system.
The precise nature and elements of fire, we have said, we cannot fully
comprehend; neither its original source, save that it emanated from
the Great First Cause. The Sun is its direct source to us, and we
realize it always the same; never augmenting nor diminishing. We know
that it is the source of light to a vast region around, and, from the
offices it performs, we cannot think less than that it is--as we have
before said--an attribute of the Great Jehovah; and especially this
when we consider God's own revelations as found recorded in the Bible.
In describing the dimensions of the _Sun_, we have said it is
2,655,000 miles round it, or to bring this vast extent nearer our
comprehension, we may state that it would require 321 Earths, the size
of this, set side by side to reach around it, and vast numbers more to
cover its surface, and when thus covered with worlds like this, the
stratum would only be about 8,000 miles deep, while it is reasonable
to estimate that _photospheric flame to be 100,000 miles in depth_.
We have mentioned the "_inner globe_," estimated to be more than a
million times the size of this Earth, and we have denominated it
_heaven_, and this outside surrounding volume of ethereal fire we
shall denominate _hell_, as we believe no other true hypothesis can
be advanced. And, in assuming this, we believe ourselves sustained by
the revelations of God, as well as by all we can comprehend of Nature.
In order to incite our minds to know and comprehend more of Him, and
become obedient to His requirements, God has shown us, by
manifestations, His instrument of destruction and punishment. His
prophets have also announced His threatenings against the wicked, and
have told us that _fire_--the element of heat--is the instrument with
which He will fulfil His threatened vengeance, and we have seen this
manifested by the destruction of the "cities of the plains"--even
"Sodom and Gomorrah," as also the destruction of those who offered
incense upon strange altars.
Now as this volume of flame, denominated the _Sun_, is the _only_
source of fire; and as fire seems to us one of the controlling
elements of nature, and pervades all things, and God rained down fire
and destroyed those cities, and also sent down fire and destroyed
those who offered incense on a strange altar, we plainly see where the
fire is that is to be the punishment of the wicked. That it is said
"fire came down from heaven," or "out of heaven," does not vitiate,
but rather confirms our hypothesis. For God is omnipresent, and dwells
in _all_ heavens, and, from that region, _that permanent source of
fire_, He commanded--doubtless--the concentration of the rays of the
Sun, and it thus came at His command from heaven, and fell as flame
of fire. But to prove that our hypothesis as to the location of hell
is correct, we direct your mind again to the narrative of the Saviour,
of the rich man in _hell_, and Lazarus in Abraham's bosom. That
Abraham was in heaven no one can doubt, while we are plainly told that
the rich man was "_in hell_," and, although "afar off," yet within
speaking distance.
How far distant the voice of _spirit_ can be heard, no one in
mortality can know. We know that on this earth sound is limited
because of the density of the atmosphere, and we realize even here
that when the atmosphere is the more rarified, the greater the
distance of sound. It is computed that the condensed, or
earth-atmosphere, extends outward from the earth about forty miles.
When we have passed this stratum, and have gained space in the
_ethereal atmosphere_, it may be possible that the same volume of
voice we are accustomed to here, might be heard thousands, or even
millions of miles distant from us. Heat rarifies atmosphere as we here
realize by the influence of the sun. If the addition of a few rays of
the sun will dissipate the dense clouds, and so materially rarify our
atmosphere at the distance of ninety-five millions of miles, what may
we suppose the condition of the atmosphere ninety millions of miles
nearer its source? Therefore, we may readily believe that although
Dives, and Abraham, were far apart--possibly thousands of miles--yet
they could see and converse with each other.
You will remember that astronomers inform us that there seems a volume
of non-luminous atmosphere, or void, between the outer phostosphere of
fire and the body of that _inner globe_ (which globe we believe is
heaven). Now remember the words of Father Abraham, "Beside all this,
between us and you there is a great gulph fixed; so that they who
would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us that
would come from thence." Is not here conclusive evidence that the two
places--heaven and hell--are not in far distant regions from each
other?
_Remember._ It is said of the wicked "These shall go away into outer
darkness, there shall be weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth."
When death and hell shall give up their dead (for the souls of the
wicked--who are dead in trespasses and in sin--are still enduring that
death that never dies), and all appear before the Judgment seat of
Christ, where "every one shall receive according to the deeds done in
the body," and the wicked are "driven from God, and from the glory of
His power," to reach again their eternal destiny, they will doubtless
pass through that dark void, even that "great gulph fixed between,"
and there _will_ be weeping and wailing, and gnashing of teeth.
* * * * *
Although we believe the evidence furnished is conclusive beyond cavil
or doubt to every intelligent mind, yet we will still add more
affirmative arguments which we desire that all should consider.
First, Let us refer again to the declarations--we have several times
repeated--of the Prophets and Apostles. That heaven, and the Holy City
in it, hath no need of the light of the _Sun_. That the "glory of God
doth lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof." That there is no
night there, but one eternal day.
Now let us call to your mind the _extent_ of that empire wherein _the
Sun does not shine_. From astronomical measurement, we may form in our
minds an approximation of its dimensions. To fix for it a low
estimate, we may safely conclude that the domain proper, is at least
_five hundred thousand miles_ in diameter, and _one million five
hundred thousand miles around it_. The empire is vast indeed, so great
that, by comparison, we can form no correc
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