^^H L Wk -> A Y NE ) INA^ sus ruRi 'Or' R'h aNlCL IS ;< PRINCETON, N. J. ^ Presented bT^V-S^y S \Ov (S^X^V'^crA'Wo Y^x BS 650 .M54 1901 Miller, Samuel, 1842- The Bible and nature versus Copernicus THE UNIVERSE. ( A c cording- to Goiesis . ) T/ic Earth surrounded by the Firmanicut containing the Sun Moon and Stars. The ]\(pors tjcyond the Finnament. THE BIBLE AND NATURE VERSUS COPERNICUS. A SERIES OP I^ECTURES IN DEFENSE OF SACRED TRUTHS DISCREDITED BY MODERN SCIENCE. Br SAMUEL MILLER. PREFACED BY REMINISCENCES & REVERIES Of the Author. ILLUSTRATED. 1901 Copyrighted. igoi. By Samuel Miller CONTENTS. INTR on UC TION:— Motive for, (page and Object of the Work. 5—13 MOTTO, ''Non Nobis Soliimr 14 CHAPTER I. Reminiscences. 15 My Ancestors. J5 Personal Peculiarities. 19 **Perpetual Motion." 23 First Astronomical Calculation. 26 "Taking- the Sun's Altitude." 27 First Effort at Self-conquest. 28 The Dawn of Hope. 30 My First Great Sorrow. 31 Standing- by the "Old Flag-." 34 Facing- the Enemy's Guns. 36 An Unpleasant Situation. 38 The Charms of Solitude. 40 Adrift in a Strang-e Port. 42 Asleep on Guard. 43 CHAPTER II. Reveries. 47 The Champion. 48 A Dream of the Ag-e. 54 11 CONTENTS. A Retrospection. 56 Deacon Prohi's Son "Will." 58 ''Cuba Libre r 61 "Placed on File." 64 The Nation's Hope. 66 Blind Justice. 72 A Reverie. 75 CHAPTER III. Reveries. 77 Our Savior's Baptism. 77 Mother, Home, Heaven. 80 In Charity. 82 "Suffer Little Children—" 84 The Modern Samaritan. 86 The Rescue, and the Saved. 89 Lazarus the Beg-g-ar. 91 The Lamp Still Burns. 94 CHAPTER IV. Life on the Farm. 97 A Perilous Incident. 100 Entering- the Lecture Field. 103 Fortune still Coy. 106 Truth of Humble Orig-in. Ill In the Nig-ht Watches. 113 CHAPTER V. "Hig-her Criticism." 117 Author Criticises a Hig-her Critic. 118 The Doctor's Reply. 122 CONTENTS. Ill The Author's Response. 125 The Doctor's Ultimatum. 128 The Author's Finale. 132 Why Disturb Existing" Conditions? 137 LECTURES. CHAP. VI. The Bible r^ Copernicus. 141 The Flood. 146 The Sun Stands Still. 151 The Sun Turns Back. 156 God's Estimate of Our World. 162 Man's Estimate of Our World, 165 Cannot be Pleasing- to God. 167 The Witness of the Spirit. 168 Our Chief Defense. 170 Physical Apparatus. 180 CHAP. VII. Nature 2'^. Copernicus. 181 The Refraction of Lig-ht. 182 Counter Refraction. 184 The Lunar Eclipse. 189 Celestial Distances. 1% A Transit of Venus. 198 The Sun Spot Paradox. 207 CHAP. VIII. Nature 1-6. Copernicus. 217 Equation of Time. 217 IV CONTENTS. The Aberration of hight. 222 Stellar Parallax. 22') Kepler's Second Law. 235 Its Fallacy Shown by Diag-ram. 242 A New System Outlined. 245 Universal Gravitation. 248 Conclusion. 254 CHAP. IX. Introduction to Lecture, 257 "How the Poor may become Rich." 258 A Great First Cause. 264 Man's Free Moral Agency. 265 Eternal Life the Free Gift of God. 276 Christian Conversion a Reality. 280 A Word to the Young. 284 CHAP. X. Religious Faith. 287 Is the Soul Absolutely Immortal? 2W An Intermediate State. 2% Immortality. 302 Author's Creed. 303 INTRODUCTION. -c/. 122 HIGHER CRITICISM. The Doctor's Reply. Editor Utica Daily Press: The report of my lecture was so indefi- nite and misleading, that I expected some one would take issue ^\ith statements there made. Reporters often fail to grasp the truth, as uttered, and a partial statement does not do justice to the speaker, even when it does not misrepresent him. Mr. Miller evidently believes that the earth was arrested in its motion on its axis, and that in place of the sun standing still, in appearance, it did actually do so, and that this miracle lasted through a whole day, and on this basis he does a wonderful amount of philosophizing. Parties who pin their faith to a literal understanding of our E^nglish translation of the Bible, often get into a fearful muddle. Mr. Miller regards our translation, we sup- pose, as a divinely inspired one, without er- rors or mistakes. With those who so regard it, we can have no argument; their faith, or ' HIGHER CRITICISM. 123 superstition is so immense that nothing- can meet it. Only one thing- is possible, to allow them to think as they please, and comfort themselves with their ig'norance. The men who once believed that the world was flat and did not move, were the only wise men on earth, according* to their own estimation, and the faith of the times in which they lived. The trouble of Mr. Miller and many others arises from their misunderstanding" of the clause in the 13th verse of the 10th chapter of Joshua, where it reads : **So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to g-o down, about a whole day." The sentence "About a whole day," should be rendered, thoug^h the day was whole, or finished, or ended. The idea of the sentence is, the sun did not g-o down, althoug-h the day was finished. At a certain time of the month the sun is about to set; on the opposite side of the ho- rizon the moon is just rising*; this w^as the condition when Joshua desired that the sun should not set, until his enemies were thor- oug-hly defeated, and the sun hasted not to 124 HIGHER CRITICISM. go down, thoug'h the day was whole, or fin- ished. The time of the added lig-ht is no- where given in the narrative, and is simply an assumption of parties who misunderstand the whole affair. The trouble is not with the Bible, but with a wrong- interpretation of it. Ten minutes, or half an hour at the long-est, was all the time required. It cer- tainly did not take Joshua a whole day to defeat his already panic-stricken foes; they were just begfinning- their flig'ht, and Joshua wanted to clinch his victory by following- them and making- their defeat absolute, and about 15 or 20 minutes — or half an hour at the long-est — was ample time for all this. Mr. Miller has been raising- a fearful g-host, in order to have the pleasure of pounding- it. Two days of daylig-ht tog-eth- er, according- to his theory, would indeed have been a stupendous miracle; but the Almig-hty never by miracle, or otherwise, did such a foolish thing- as to gfive two da3^s in one fcr the accommodation of a few strugf- g-lers in Palestine, at the peril of the whole solar system. He simply, by refraction. HIGHER CRITICISM. 125 leng-thened one day 15 or 20 minutes, to ex- hibit his care for his chosen people of Israel. He never resorts to extraordinary means when simple measures will answer a great deal better. The object of the lecture was to show that by the simple law of refraction the whole matter could be accomplished without disturbing- anything- whatever, and this was done by charts and a demonstration by experiment, which, we think, w^as satis- factory to all present. July 7, V/- The Author's Response. Editor Utica Daily Press: Sincerely beg-g^ing" pardon in advance for presuming- to differ with a disting^uished clergfyman and scientist on biblical and sci- entific points, yet as a firm believer in the truth and inspiration of the Bible, I feel that it would be a dereliction of duty, to pass unansw^ered the reverend g-entle man's article on "Joshua and the Sun/' in this mornino-'s * 'Press. " 126 HIGHER CRITICISM. A few years ag-o a congress of the most devout and cultured men to be found in all Christendom, assembled for a revision of the Bible; into which, it was believed by many, some errors had crept, throug'h imperfect translation. This committe was composed of the profoundest antiquarians, historians, ling'uists and theolog'ians, chosen from dif- ferent creeds and countries; and when their labors were completed vvithout disco vering- any material errors, a grateful hallelujah ^vent up from all Christian lands, that the "Old Book'' stood justified, and that the strong'hold of skepticism, (claims of faulty translation,) was forever fallen. But in the article which lies before me, the printer has it that a portijn of the lOtli chapter of Joshua does not read arig'ht, — that it should read thus and so; — when I take up to-morrow morning'^s Press, I hope I may see notice of an erratum, sig'ned by the man who set the article up. This article also reads that the sun, in- stead of standing- still, obedient to Joshua's command, was simply retarded, or delayed HIGHER CRITICISM. 127 in its settino-, perhaps a half hour; possibly only 15 minutes. If we read carefully that portion of the 10th chapt. of Joshua running- from the 15th, to the 28th verse, we find that from the time Joshua commanded the sun to stand still, to the "o-oing- down of the sun," the following- events transpired : Joshua and Israel returned to their camp at Gilg*al — it took all of the preceding" nig'ht to march up to Gibeon, (see Joshua, 10 : 9, ) and they doubtless took as much, or more time in returning-. They pursued their ene- mies with g-reat slaug'hter, till the remnant took refug'e within their fenced cities. It was told to Joshua that the five king's of the Amorites were hidden in a cave at Mak- kedah, and he ordered the mouth of the cave closed, and a g-uard set; — afterward he ordered the cave opened and the king's bro't before him. Joshua then commanded the captains of Israel to draw near and place their feet upon those king's' necks. This order obeyed, he addressed his people, assur- ing- them that thus should the Lord do to all their enemies ; and Joshua smote those 128 HIGHER CRITICISM. kiiig-s and slew them, and hang-ed them on five trees; all this before "the going down of the sun that Joshua commanded." Was that only a common day, or is the Old Book correct in saying", "There was no day like that, before it, or after it?" As I represented in yesterday's commu- nication, the maximum of refraction of our atmosphere is a little more than one-half a deg-ree ; which is equivalent to a little more than two minutes of time. Then if, as the gentleman surmises, the sun mig'ht appar- ently have been delayed only 15 minutes in setting', it would yet have required a refrac- tion seven times g-reater than the maximum to produce such an appearance. July 6\ 'gy. ^^- ^^• The Doctor's Ultimatum. Editor Utica Daily Press : If Mr. Miller so chooses, I am perfectly willing that he should l>elieve that the sun stood still for 12 hours, or 24, or any period that will satisfv him. There are some who HIGHER CRITICISM. 129 believe that he has stood still ever since. But Mr. Miller will please excuse me from believing the absurdity that the Almighty ever ran two days into one. The old woman said it made no difference to her w^iether the w^hale sw^allow^ed Jonah, or Jonah sw^al- lowed the whale; if the Bible said he sw^al- lowed the w^hale, she w^ould believe it just the same. Mr. Miller is willing only to accept a whole day for the standing* still of the sun, because he thinks the Bible says so, w^hen in fact the Bible says no such thing. It is only the error of his wrong interpretation. It says the sun did not hasten to go down, although the day was finished, made w^hole or perfected. Again, how^ long Joshua remained in the camp at Gilg'al, after his return from the slaughter of his foes, the narrative does not say; but probably long enough to rest his wearied soldiers, w^ho had been marching the night previous and fi;4-hting all the next day. The time may have been a day or even several days, before the transactions in the 130 HIGHER CRITICISM. l()tli, and following- verses took place ; but Mr. Miller huddles all these thing-s into the l)rief time the sun stood still ; work suffi- cient for several days at least. In all history periods of time are very imperfectly gfiven, and in this case certainly so. It was not in human endurance for any men to stand such a strain as Mr. Miller would put on the soldiers of Joshua , — it \\ ould demand a miracle in each individual person. Let us remark that the 15th verse he re- fers to is omitted in several manuscripts ; the Septuag-int omits it altog-ether, the An- g-lo-Saxon and the ancient Hexapla versions have it not, and it is no doubt a simple g-loss by some late transcriber. The 20th and 21st verses are much out of place, and are mean- ingless \\ here they stand ; and the whole chapter has been very much mixed up by transcribers; and that ''learned cong-ress^' of disting-uished clergymen, who met to re- vise the Bible, to ^^ hich Mr. Miller refers, had neither the ability nor courage to do anything* with it, and simply left it in its HIGHER CRITICISM. 131 g'lorlous obscurity, as something* they knew nothing' about. It serves however, one good purpose ; it shows how much some persons can believe. This whole matter, as we stated in the beg'inning of our lecture at the Y. M. C. A., was not one of ability on the part of the Al- mighty, but one of methods. How did the Creator accomplish the work, by miracle or by using the ordinary laws of matter ? We think he used the general laws, and did ev- erything- without in any measure disturbing the earth or the sun. Any other theory call- ing for difficulties without end, and those who defend, or attempt to defend the Bible on other g-rounds, simply hurt, in place of helping their cause. As we stated in our first article, we can have no arg*ument with those who cling to old and absurd methods of interpretation. Such * 'Bible scholars" must simply die out. They cannot be in- structed or converted. Mr. Miller will please excuse us from any further consider- ation of this subject at XDresent. July 10, '97, • 132 HIGHKR CRITICISM. The Author's Finale. Editor Utica Daily Press: Noticiiio- in this morninof's Press that the learned divine calls a halt, and since we have thus far only been playing with peb- bles along' the shore, kindly permit us, in conclusion, to take one hasty glance toward the broad ocean of scientific truth which, as yet so imperfectly explored, lies spread out before us. Respecting this scriptural narrative of Joshua and the sun, it has been doubtfully regarded by scientists indorsing the Coper- nican theory of the universe, for the reason that the sun being considered already at rest (relatively to the earth's orbital move- ment,) it must therefore appear to us to travel around the earth wholl}" on account of the earth's rotation on its axis. Then the sun appearing- to stand still on Gibeon, could only have been caused by the earth ceasing- to rotate; \^ hich it is claimed, would not onlv have had a disoro-anizino- eifect on HIGHER CRITICISM. 133 the whole solar system, but would have been hig-hly disastrous to everything* on the earth's surface. We are taug-ht that the earth has two motions, — its diurnal rotation on its axis, and its annual revolution around the sun. Now, if the earth's prog'ress in its orbit were dependent on its rotation — that is, if it rolled along- in its orbit like a car wheel on a railroad track, when it ceased rotating- its orbital motion would also cease, and the Avhole system be more or less disturbed. But we find that its orbital motion is far more rapid than its rotary motion, and con- sequently independent of it; the earth mov- ing* in its orbit about 63 times faster than it would if it simply rolled along- like a ball on a plane surface. Then, to stop its rota- tion on its axis, would not necessarily dis- turb its orbital movement, and would not therefore disturb the order of the S3^stem to \yhich it belong's. But would not every thing* on the earth's surface fly off at a tang^ent into space ? No, for this reason : The resultant of these two 134 HIGHER CRITICISM, motions of the earth, as affecting" any object on its surface, (the orbital motion so larg-ely predominating-) would deviate so little, com- paratively, from the orbital line, that if the earth simply ceased to rotate on its axis, the slio-ht chanofe from resultant to orbital mo- tion alone, would hardly be felt by its inhab- itants, since the absolute movement of any g'iven portion of the earth's surface (except at the poles) is never quite uniform throug'h the twenty-four hours; its rotary movement being- direct, and added to the orbital motion at nig-ht, or when on the opposite side from the sun, and retrog-rade, and subtracted from the orbital motion during* the day, or when turned toward the sun. If however, we take the position that the astnmomical plan outlined in the first chap- ter of Genesis, which would appear to place the earth in the centre, is the correct one, and that the reg-ular succession of day and nig'ht is produced by the reciprocal motion of the earth simply rotating- on its axis in one direction, while the sun moon and stars revolve slowly around it in the opposite di- HIGHER CRITICISM. 135 rection, it could make but little difference to the other bodies of the system whether the earth rotated on its axis or not ; since, being- permanently located at the centre, its attractive influence would in either case al- ways be the same. And to cause the sun to stand comparatively still on Gibeon,it would only have been necessary, as in the preced- ing* fig-ure, to g-radually retard the earth's rotation till it ceased turning- on its axis ; which mig-ht have been accomplished inside of one hour w^ithout disturbing- the lig'htest leaf on any tree ; as objects, even at the equator, only move by the earth's rotation, 1,040 miles an hour, or about 26 times as fast as an ordinary mail train, w^hich can be stopped without jolt or jar in one minute. Pursuing- this line of thoug-ht, it may yet be found, on a fuller and freer investigation, that true science is in perfect harmony with those portions of the Bible which the hig'her critics w^ould stamp as improbable and un- true; thereby unintentionally, yet no less certainly, leading- men to doubt the whole. July 12, ^^ J, S. M. 13() HIGHER CRITICISM. I made several more efforts to g'et my lectures before intellig'ent audiences, but failed to secure any satisfactory eng-ag^e- ment, and most earnestly desiring to g-ive the results of my work to the public, I pre- pared a series of short articles, treating in concise lang'uag'e on the physical facts I was read}^ to illustrate and discuss. These I offered, first to astronomers and scientists, for examination ; but they all de- clined to receive them, and one of our Gov- ernment astronomers declared plainly that he would not take time to read any article differing" with the theory of Copernicus. I next tried the publishers; but they had so many beautiful works of sentiment and fiction on hand, awaiting* publication, that they could noh for a moment consider a work devoted to unpopular, thoug^h undeniable scientific truths, rang-ed in defense of that ''Word"^^ hich is the hope of the world. The newspapers and periodicals were next applied to; but they were too deeply engrossed \^ ith the affairs of the present, to HIGHER CRITICISM. 137 waste any thought on an effort to correct the errors of the past, and establish on a firmer basis the hope of the future. It will therefore be seen that both my lectures and my writing's have thus far met with a very frig-id reception ; having been avoided^ not only by the scientists, and the self-styled "higher critics"of the Bible, but by the "old school" theologians as well; the latter of whom, thoug'h believing the Bible, are 3^et content to let theology and science drift along in their wonted channels, regard- less of the encroachment the one is making on the other; passively raising* the question, *'What need of disturbing* their present relations?" To such interrogation I would reply, that man, dreading annihilation and panting* for immortality, fondly hopes, when the rough journey of this life is ended, that he may live ag*ain, in a higher and happier sphere. The Bible alone gives promise of, and is his only guide to such a sphere — destroy its authenticity, and with nothing else to fol- low, that hope perishes. 138 HIGHER CRITICISM. This Bible outlines, in a g-eneral way, the gTcat plan cf the universe; but in the 16th century Nicolaus Copernicus, a German sci- entist, physician, and divine, disregarding- the scriptural plan, formulated a new and entirely different one, which was published in 1543, but was however for many years rejected by the Christian world, who be- lieved the Scriptures true. But in 1609 Johann Kepler, an eminent German mathematician, who enjoyed the confidence of the people, published an in- dorsement of the theory of Copernicus, with some new theoretical laws of motion, which would appear to sustain it, — and the first decisive step was thus taken toward eleva- ting- the science of man above the inspired Word of God. And what is the result? To-day the Old Book is being- ruthlessly assailed on every hand. Men, in their vain-wisdom, would tear line after line and precept after precept from its pag*es, and leave the g-rim shadow of doubt hang-ing- over what remains. We are told the story of Jonah is a mvth, that HIGHER CRITICISM. 139 Moses did not write the Pentateucli, and that the miracles of the Bible in g-eneral, includiu'^- the miraculons birth of our Lord and Savior, are simply tales of fiction. Yet many of these wise critics profess to believe in, and love that Savior who, while on earth, is recorded as constantly referring-' to, quoting- from, and indorsing- the Scrip- tures. And the more they ig*nore his indorse- ment, the more they multiply the emblems of his crucifixion in their sanctuaries. This latter, may however be appropriate. And what are we to receive in return for that which they would take from us? Only the morbid satisfaction of feeling* that some of our fellow men possess the extraordinary ability plausibly to arg^ue that this Book of promise and of hope abounds in fiction, and is therefore unreliable. Such teaching- must needs tend toward the g-ruesome conclusion of those morbidly wise men who esteem the present all there is of life, the scriptural Heaven a phantasm, eternal happiness an idle dream ; leaving- the dear ones g-one before, whom we have 140 HIGHER CRITICISM. fondly hoped and prayed to meet agfain, to molder in the damp earth, to which we, ere lono-, must be consio-ned. Is it not time then, that we retrace our steps, to see if that first step was well tak- en ? Let us calmly, and without prejudice consider this question in the following- chap- ters; keeping" ever in mind the important lesson g^ained from human experience, that theory is one thing-, and practical demon- stration sometimes quite another. "// cannot he; each hope, each fear, That lig-hts the eye, or clouds the brozL\ Proclaims there is a happier sphere Thau this bleak zcorld that holds us novj. There is a voice zvhich sorrozu hears, Whoi heavy zceig-hs life's g-alliug- chaiw, ' Tis Heaven that zuhispers — Diy thy tears. The pure in heart shall meet ag'ain, " LECTURES. CHAPTER VI . IvECTURE I. — THK BIBI.E VS. COPERNICUS. With firm convictions of the rig-ht, forti- fied by God's Holy Word and his revealed Book of Nature, yet feeling' keenly my own inability to battle with the learned of earth backed by the lore of centuries, with whom I have taken issue, I find myself shrinking- from the weig-hty task which I have set me. And that I must know my testimony may be rejected, and myself contemned, weig'hs my courag-e down, as with a leaden pall. But moved by a sense of duty, and a hope that the thoughts expressed may find a re- sponsive chord in some heart, and prove a g-erm of truth, which may become a power in the coming years for winning- men back to their primal faith in God, with awe and 112 LECTURES. liumility I enter — dissentino-l}^ tlie temples hallowed by the illustrious dead, and cher- ished by the profound li/in^\ But with God's Word for my g-uide, and his won- drous works for my justification, why then should I falter, thDug-h men may frown ? While mankind have been movino- down throug"h the ag-es, and human wisdom has been advancing-, methinks our Heavenly Fa- ther, with displeasure, sees the g^rowing* tendency of men, as they delve deeper and deeper in the mines of human knowledg^e, to misconstrue, combat, or even to reject the teaching's of his sacred volume. But while skepticism assails and science ig^nores, the soul redeemed, with eye of faith can pierce the mazes men have wroug'ht, and trace in each inspired pag-e the authorship divine. Where the Christian who, in the first raptures of his new-born existence, that has not felt all doubts and seeming- inconsisten- cies vanish, and a deep conviction pervading' his inmost being-, that the Bible is true ? Who the dying* saint, just latmching* out from the shores of time, and g-azing" throug'h LECTURES. 143 death's portals toward the New Jerusalem, that has ever renounced his faith in it? Thanks be to God, the Bible is true ! All nature breathes it ! Ang'el voices hymn it ! The dying- witness to it ! — and we will trust our all upon it. O, we love to believe the Old Book true; it is the anchor of our faith, the day-star of our earthly existence; on its precious promises hang- all our hopes of Heaven. Without it we w^ould be indeed, like a lost ship on an unknown sea, without chart^ or compass, drifting-, it knows not whither ; or like a shipwrecked mariner on a desert isle, with vision bounded and ob- scured by the black clouds of chaotic nig-ht hanging- o'er his head, and the black waters of despair breaking* at his feet. Accepting- it then as true, and from God, lest we err in its perusal, let us keep in con- stant recollection its last solemn warning-, and the possible breadth of its application : *'And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophec3% God shall take away his part, out of the Book of Life." Revelation^ 22 : ig. 144 LECTURES. Reverently, prayerfully, let us then open at the beginning", and accept ^^ hat we may iind. As the first chapter of Genesis is fa- miliar to all, we will refrain from a general reading, inviting 3'our attention more par- ticularly to the 16tli and 17th verses, which read as follows : ''And God made two great lights; the greater lig-ht to rule the day, and the lesser lig-ht to rule the night : he made the stars also. — And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth.'* To give light upon the earth ! Can this be true ? Why, the proud science of Astron- omy teaches us that this greater lig'ht, the sun, is the centre of a system, around which the earth, with other planets, revolves; the earth being simply a planetary attendant of the sun, and more than a million times its inferior in size. But this first chapter of Genesis appears plainly to imply that the earth is the centre, and that sun, moon and stars, were created especially to serve the earth, and set in a firmament enveloping it. LECTURES. 145 True to my convictions, and my faith in God's Word, I shall assume that the Bible is correct, and shall undertake to show, by this series of lectures, that Science may be vjrong'. The 7th verse of the chapter reads, "And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under tlie firmament, from the waters w^hich were above the firm- ament; and it was so." What do we find in support of this reve- lation ? The divine psalmist, exhorting- men to praise God, says in the 148th psalm,— "Praise Him ye heavens of heavens, and ye waters that be above the heavens !" Ag-ain he says, in the 24-th psalm, — "The earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof ; the ^vorld and they that dwell therein : for he hath founded it upon the seas, and estab- lished it npo?^ the floods.'' And ag-ain in the 29th psalm,— "The Lord sitteth upon the flood, etc." These few passag^es, and others which C3uld be cited, tend to show that whatever men in modern times may think of — "The 14() LECTURES. waters beyond the heavens," David accepted the revelation in its most literal sense. THE FLOOD. And why should not that revelation be so accepted? We read in the 7th chapter of Genesis, that after Noah and his family had entered the ark, "the fountains of the Great Deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened," causing it to rain on the earth till the mountains were covered. Now, whence came this g-reat delug-e of waters, — from within, or from without the firmament? Could the rains catised by na- ture's reg"ular process of evaporation and condensation of the water already on the earth, have produced such an overwhelming- result? In a word, could the world have been drowned with its own waters? Could the water which was on the earth before the flood, not only have extended its bounds over the whole earth, but actually have swollen its own volume, and raised its own surface manv feet above the earth, till LECTURES. 147 the mountains were covered? Surely not by any natural process ! Clearly then, the material for this great inundation must have come from without the firmament — shall we say from "the wa- ters beyond the heavens ;" which may be the Great Deep, referred to in the chapter: — presumably not reposing- there in liquid form, nor 3^et perhaps in vapor as dense as floats in clouds above the earth; yet zvater, nevertheless. This conclusion also finds support in the words found in the 37th chapter of the Book of Job; the 6th verse reading- thus: "For He saith to the snow. Be thou on the earth; likewise to the small rain, and to the g-reat rain of His strength." It will be noticed that a marked distinc- tion is here made between God's small, or ordinary rain, and the "great rain of his streng'th," — -such as was necessary to sub- merge the world. But how was the earth again relieved of this aggregation of waters? We read in the 8th chapter of Genesis that God caused a 148 LECTURES. wind to pass over the earth, and the waters assNCt^ed. Please to note that expression, "And the waters assuag-ed." The fount- ains of the deep and the windows of heaven were also stopped, and the rain from heav- en was restrained; and the waters returned from off the earth continually, till the end of one hundred and fifty days, the w^aters w^ere abated. The w^aters "assuag-cd," and the w^aters were"abated;" — both these terms implying" that the w^aters were lessened, but not all removed ; and leaving" us to infer that while a portion may have floated back in vapor to whence it came, yet part w as left to increase permanently the waters of the earth. While I have no desire to urg-e this theory on the popular mind, yet there appears to be some scriptural foundation for believingf that the earth's surface was formerly rep- resented by a much smaller proportion of w^ater than at present, from the fact that in the Scriptures, the g-athering-s of water on the earth, before the Flood, are only spoken of as Seas; but afferzcard, as the Great and LECTURES. 149 Wide Sea, The Deep, etc. — terms implying* a vast whole ; and not like the term, Seas , im^)lyino- smaller divisions of water. The truth however, which I wish to im- press here is, — that in the first chapter of Genesis, the earth is made the first, the principal, and the central object in creation; while sun moon and stars were hung- in a firmament surrounding- it, to be subservient to it ; and that the history of the Delug-e, when carefully considered, directly confirms that revelation. That this plan of creation was also the one understood and accepted by patriarchs and prophets, who appear to have enjoyed m.ore direct intercourse with God than men in modern times, is clearly shown by their frequent expressions in the Old Testament. Of the fixedness, or non-wandering- state of the earth, David says, in the 33d psalm : *'Let all the earth fear the Lord; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him : for he spake, and it w^as done, he commanded, and it stood fast," And again, in the 104th psalm, he savs : 150 LECTURES. "Who laid the foundations of the earth, that it should not be removed forever?" Job also, it seems, held the same views. In chapter 26. of the Book of Job, he says: "He stretcheth out the North over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon nothinof." While passag-es of a like import abound throughout the Old Testament, yet with a careful study of the Scriptures, I fail to find a single sentence even remotely implying' that the earth travels millions and millions of miles annually, in an orbit around the sun. But to the movement of the sun itself, we find man}^ references; and I crave your indulgence while I quote a few extracts : "And it shall come to pass in that da}^ saith the Lord, that I will cause the sun to g-o down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day." An2os, 6' : g. "The sun also riseth, and the sun g-oeth down; and hasteth to his place where he arose." Err I. i : ^. "Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the LKCTURES. 151 world. In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun, which is as a brideg^room com- ing- out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong- man to run a race. His g'oing 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." Psalms^ 7p.-^,5,d. This is indeed strong- lang-uaofe. No one could desire more positive declarations as to the belief of those inspired men in the sun's circuitous movement. But leaving- now the expressions quoted, for your consideration, we will ag-ain g-ive our attention to some of the memorable events recorded in Sacred History, which have claimed the interest of the student and philosopher in all ag-es. In the 10th chapter of the Book of Joshua we find record of a most wonderful instance of God's care of his chosen people, Israel, which is also in direct support of Moses' history of the creation. THE SUN STANDS STILL. Moses was dead. After leading- forth his people from bondag-e, and throug-h many 152 LECTURES. perils, to the borders of the Promised Land, he was called — up hig-Jier ; and Joshua, a man of force and valor, yet devout and God- fearing^, was chosen leader of Israel. Kn joy- ing- divine favor and help, he carried ruin and defeat into the camp of his enemies, and hostile cities were either scattered like chaff before him, or forced to capitulate. Of the latter, was the proud and populous city of Gibeon. The king- of Jerusalem, (it was then a city of the Amorites,) fearing this important acquisition to Israel's stand- ard, consummated an alliance with the cities of Jarmuth, Lachish, Eglon, and Hebron, for Gibeon's conquest. Marchino- a-^-ainst the doomed citv with all the panoply of war, calmly confident of superior streng-th, they deliberately pitched their camp, and prepared for battle. The men of Gibeon promptly dispatched swift messeng'ers to Joshua, encamped at Gilg-a1, saying' : ''Slack not thy hand from thv servants ! Come up unto us quickly and save us and help us, for all the king's of the Amorites that dwell in the mountains, are LECTURES. 153 g-atliercd tcg-ether ag-ainst us !" {6th verse. ^ It was the hjur of slumber. But quick the trumpet's call To anus.' aroused the sleeping" host; the line of march was taken up, and 'neath the silent stars, Israel went forth ag-ain — to victory! For did not the Ivord say to Joshua on that midnig'ht march, *'Fear them not, for I have delivered them into thine hand; there shall not a man of them stand before thee." Gray morning* dawned in the east. As its first beams kissed the battlements of Gibeon, the reveille was heard in the allies' camp, and the silence of repose soon g-ave place to the hum and bustle of activity and preparation, — the eventful day had beg'un. The marshalled hosts encompassed that fair city, whose spires now g-littered in the morning" sun. The trumpet's call to charg'e was taken up along" the line, and like an avalanche they hurled themselves ag"ainst its walls. Fiercly the battle rag-ed — higher climbed the sun — and as the day advanced, anxious watchers on the towers strained their g"aze toward Gilgal, in quest of the 154 LECTURES. summoned relief. At leiig-tli, above the din of battle, rang; the g'lad shout. They come ! they come ! Israel's host advances ! Ivike a thunderbolt from a clear sky, that valiant l)and fell on the heathen host: shout answered shout, steel clanged to steel, while fell the foe on every hand. Soon the tide of battle turned — the besiegers were routed, and Israel was in victorious pursuit of the vanquished legions. And now, behold the power of God, and his care of his people! — great hailstones were rained down on the flying foe, so that they who fell beneath them, were more than they who perished by the sword. In the midst of the fearful carnag-e, Joshua stood forth and gave his memorable command, to the end that the day mig-ht be prolong-ed, so that the enemy's destruction could be made complete. These were his words : *'In the sig-ht of Israel, Sun, stand thou still on Gibeon ! And thou, Mo^m, in the valley of Ajalon !" Was that command honored? The two verses following- it in the chapter, tell us LECTURES. 155 that it was; — they read thus : "So the sviii stood still, and the moon stayed, till the l^eople had avenged themselves on their ene- mies. Is not this written in the Book of Jasher? 'So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to g-o down about a whole day. And there was no day like that, before it or after it, that the Lord hearkened unto the voice of a man ; for the Ivord foug'ht for Israel.' " O, sublime and awe-inspiring spectacle ! The Sun ! which through thousands and thousands of successive journeyings, had never swerved from its appointed course in the heavens — had never before forg-otten its fixed periods of rising and setting ; whose progress across the celestial arch had ever been marked by a constancy and steadiness surpassing' all other movement, that day — stood still over Gibeon ! The humble peasant turned again and again to his hour-g'lass, shaded his eyes and gazed at the sun ; the man of wealth anx- iously consulted the astrolog'er, who eagerl v scanned the record, in a vain search for a 156 LECTURES. precedent; — meanwhile time sped on, but not the sun. As the hours went by, blanched faces peered from lowly cottag*es and princely pal- aces. Had God's purpose changed? Should the brio'ht orb of day henceforth dart down his fierce rays on the parched landscape, evermore, without intermission or change ? Should morning' mists, and evening' dews, and nig"ht's repose never more refresh the earth ? Let us turn to the chapter : We read that after Israel's people had aveng-ed themselves on their enemies, and the king-s of the allied cities had been led from their hiding--place and executed, then resuming* its majestic course — slow descend- ing- to the w^estern g-ates, mid the g-old and crimson, and all the g-lorious blending*s of an Oriental setting-, — the sun went down. Could he who had power thus to command, have known naug-ht of that system which obeyed his behest ? THE SUN TURNS BACK. Passing over a period of more than seven LECTURES. 157 hundred years of the world's history, we come to another event, very similar, in the conclusions it offers, to the one just noticed; though differing- widely, both in detail and in g-eneral characteristics. You will find it recorded in the 20th chapter of 2d. King's, also in the 38th chapter of Isaiah. The two records ag-reeing- substantially, while each serves to elucidate and confirm the other. Jerusalem had already been for several centuries in Israel's possession, and had be- come its chief city and seat of government. The wicked and idolatrous reig-n of Ahaz, king of Judah, was ended by his death, and Prince Hezekiah, an upright, pious young man of twenty ^ve, ascended his deceased father's throne. Though all the other tribes of Israel were later g-iven over to their common enemy, the Assyrians, for their idolatrous practices, and thoug'h Judah was also resting under God's displeasure for the same offence, yet thro' the wise counsels of this noble young king, the remnant of Israel was spared. Devoutly fearing, and intent on himself 158 LECTURES. and people honoring* and serving the true God, he caused all the accessories to false ^vorship to be destroyed; even to the brazen serpent which Moses had made for Israel centuries before. And God's wrath was turned aside, and Judah once more restored to favor. Prospering" in their civil and domestic af- fairs, they were also successful in repelling* invasions of their foes by force of arms, but their humane and pious kin.of preferred the g"entle arts of peace ; and when, in the four- teenth year of his reig'n, the Assyrians came up and seized some of the outlying- cities of Judah, Hezekiah, instead of resorting- to vi- olence, purchased their release by a ransom of fabulous amount. But Assyria's kino- was not content. He knew full w^ell that yet there reig-ned within Jerusalem's walls a kin^ who despised and rejected the heathen rites and practices of Assyria, and who taug'ht his people to honor and serve one hig-h and ever-living* God; and in defiance of that gfod. King- Sennacherib sent a mig-hty host against the Holy City, IvECTURES. 159 under the leadership of able advocates, who soug-ht first by specious ar<>'ument ; finally l)v threat and bombast, b) draw Hezekiali and his people from their alleg'iance to the Most Hig-h. In this dilemma, Hezekiah went up to the Temple, and laid his case before the Lord ; praying- for deliverance from his enemies. — And now behold ag-ain the power of a prayer hearing, and a prayer answering' God : *'And it came to pass that nigdit, that the ang"el of the Lord w^ent out and smote in the camp of t!ie Assyrians, one hundred four score and five thousand ; and when arose the morning-, behold they wxre all dead." Thus, substantially, reads the 35th verse of the 19th chapter of 2d, King's. — A most wonderful intercession of Divine Providence! One hundred and eig-hty five thousand slain in one night, in direct answer to Hezekiah's prayer for deliverance. This sketch may seem a digression ; but I have presented it for the purpose of intro- ducing King Hezekiah in his true character, and to show w^hat wonders the Lord was 160 LECTURES. ready to perform in answer to his petitions; that we may be better prepared to accept the miracle which was wrou^-ht later, by his request, and which we will now proceed to consider: Some time after, was the King* sick with a g'rievous boil; and the prophet Isaiah, son of Amox, came and said to him: ''Hezekiah! thus saith the Lord ! 'Set thine house in order, for thou shalt die, and not live.' " What a messag^e was this to a man of only thirty nine years; — just entering" his prime, and in the heig-ht of his gflory and usefulness. The King of Judali ! revered and beloved by his subjects, and invincible, throug-h divine favor, in the presence of his foes. His future a dream of peace, rose- tinted with brig'ht anticipations. Was it strangfe that the king* wept ? Oh ! hoAv the stricken heart must quiver and recoil at such a summons ! How must the poor dazed intellect roam the confines of human possibilities, seeking- an outlet ! and oh! the agfony, the horror! Avhen at last baffled and bewildered, the despairing" cry tECTURES. 161 is wrung- out, lost! lost! Was it thus with King- Hezekiah ? O, no ! Scarcely had the first tremor of human weakness ceased to rack his frame, ere he soug-ht his accustom- ed refugee, prayer to God. With streaming" eyes and averted face, he prayed : **Remember now Oh Lord, I beseech thee, how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which was g"ood in thy sig-ht !" and ha may have added : And now. Oh Lord, with my work all unfinished, I am called hence ! Oh gfrant me yet a few more years, that I may bring' thee "a few more harvest sheaves, in recompense of all thy mercies ! Was that prayer answered? Why, before the prophet had reached the inner court of the palace, on his way from the sick cham- ber, the Lord commanded him, by the spirit; *'Go tell Hezekiah, thus saitli the Lord — the God of David, thy father : I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears; behold I will add unto thy days fifteen years. And this shall be the sign unto thee that the Lord will do this thing that he hath spoken :— 162 LECTURES. "Eeliold, I will brino- ao'aiu the shadow of the deg-rees which is g'one down in the sun-dial of Ahaz, ten de^-rees backward !" Was this to be simply an optical illusion? A turning back of the shadow^ only, inde- pendent and irrespective of the true position of the sun? Kv^idently not — we paused in our Bible quoting-, at the middle of the 8th verse of the 38th chapter of Isaiah;— the re- mainder of the verse reads thus: "So the SUN, returned ten deg-rees, by which de- g-rees it w^as gfone down." Believer of the Sacred Scriptures ! liovv the majesty^ of his. Immaculate Presence? No ! no ! none of these ! His lot was cast among the poor and lowly; he came to his LECTURES. IT'^ own, and his own received him not. Cruel hatred and stubborn unbelief opposed him ever}^ where ; and after o-iving- to mankind the hig-hest proofs of his divinit}^ inculca- tinof the noblest lessons of true charity and Godlike virtue, and establishing- a Christian m^inistry, later commissioned to evang'elize and bless and save — the World ! — He was seized by his enemies, and crucified ! The sun was darkened ! The earth quak- ed ! The vail of the Temple was rent in twain — He yielded up the gfhost : the sacri- fice was complete. And that g-reat sacrifice — was it for a comparative speck in God's universe, such as man assumes this world to be ? 180 LECTURES. PHYSICAL APPARATUS. The apparatus illustrated on the opposite pag*e, besides various other appliances, not shown, were desig-ned, constructed, and em- ployed by the author, to demonstrate, step by step, the deductions submitted in the two following" lectures: and their success- ful operation is explained by the assistance of diagrams introduced at the proper places throug-hout the lectures. The large disc, S, with the small dot,^, on its face, is the one already referred to on ]>age 166, to show comparative size of sun and earth. — A, is a large mounted scroll of diagrams, moving* mechanically, as desired, from the upper, to the lower roller. B, illustrates mechanically the Sun Spot Paradox explained in Lecture il. — C\ is the liquation of Time device, — />, the Aberra- tion of Light, — and /", the apparatus for testing- Kepler's Second Law of Motion, in Lecture iii. PHYSICAL APPARATUS. CHAPTER VII. I.ECTURK II. — NATURE vs, COPERNICUS. We may perhaps at some time have seen a beautiful edifice, \\hose superstructure was correct, both in outline and detail ;— mag^nificent in proportions, artistic in de- sign, g-org'eous in decoration, admired by all beholders; the pride of its architect and builders ; — yet resting- on an unsound base: rendering* it desirable, for the public g*ood, that its instability be known of men. May the honored dead, and their living" representatives, forgive my presumption in concluding' that such is the noble monument of thought and observation and calculation, which we are about to examine; and wdiich has been built, block added to block, by men whose genius and culture would sink in ig- nominy and despair my poor dwarfed, mea- g-er attainments. But remembering it is for 182 LECTURES. the Master, I must prevSs forward ; waithio- for justification, if must needs be, till that time when we shall know, even as we are known; and when our spiritual eyes may be able to discern the pare motive often lying- beneath the haltino-, unsuccessful, or per- chance mistaken deed. Maintaiuino- that the foundation of such a structure should be God and his revealed Word, with the operations of Nature, cor- rectly observed, as material for the buildino- of the superstruction, we will now" proceed to investio-ate as to the solidity of the corner blocks on w^liich men have builded this tow- er to the skies. THE ReFRACTION OF LIGHT. If we hold a straig-ht rod in the water obliquely, we observe that the part below the surface appears to be bent upward; but knowinsT, from the firmness of the rod, that this is not really so, w^e are led to discover that the rays of lig*ht passinQf throug-h the two media of air and water, are bent down- ward at the water line. This, we all under- LECTURES. 1S3 Stand is called the Refraction of Lig'ht; and takes place whenever lig-ht passes from a rarer to a denser medium, and vice versa ; the deg-ree of refraction depending" on the obliqueness of the rays, and the difference in density of the media. In considering- the lig'ht-refracting* prop- erties of our atmosphere, we might treat it as consisting- of an infinite number of strata, each lower stratum a trifle denser than the one above it; which would have the effect (as it really does have) of bending* rays of lig'ht passing- obliquely throug-h it, into that infinite number of ang'les which constitute a curve; the curvature or refraction being* g-reatest at the horizon, and decreasing- rap- idly toward the zenith, where it disappears altog-ether. So g*reat an obstacle has this proven to correct observation of the heavens that Sir. Geo. Airy, England's Astronomer Royal, termed it The bane of astronomers ; and in my simplicity I shall g-o still farther, by calling- it the vail which God has drawn betw^een the known, and the unknown and unknowable. 181- LECTURES. To obviate this bar to direct vision, emi- nent observers and mathematicians have formulated tables of these refractions, as they present themselves to us at the earth's surface, which are doubtless true records of the observations made, thoug'h they are subject to variation in different localities, and different states of the atmosphere. But they do not appear to estimate the contin- gfency that atmospheric refraction may not be g'reatest at the immediate surface, over a larg-e portion of the earth; since in all but the colder reg'ions, the lower portion of the air becomes warmed and attenuated by the radiated and reflected heat it receives from the earth, to the extent of perhaps reducing- the deflections of lig-ht coming- to it from the cooler air above by a counter refraction, as shown by the line r, in Fig', i . (opposite pag-e), in which fig-ure E represents a hemi- sphere of the earth, a a, the surrounding- atmosphere, the closer lines representing- the denser portions. K and S indicate the polar reg-ions, locating- the equatorial belt verticallv at the centre ; ^^ hilc lu and ;/ LECTURES. 185 represent stars, each sending- a beam of li.>-ht (r and d) to the earth. COUNTER REFRACTION. In support of this theory, we find that the air is always more bracing- in elevated re onions than in the valleys. Aeronauts and mountain scalers also tell us that at no S"reat hticrht above the common level of the 186 LECTURES. earth, even in the tropics, the air is cold ; and we know that some of the hig-her mount- ains there, are capped with ice and snow, while the heat in the valleys, and on the plains, is ^^ itherino- in its intensity. The effect of such a condition must be to so rarefy the low er portion of the air, as to produce this counter refraction. And as we behold objects in the direction in which the rays of lig-ht emanating* from them, present themselves to our eyes, we naturally lose the effect of that g'reater refraction in the more elevated reg^ions of the air, which aer- onauts inform us is so gfreat that the earth beneath them, instead of appearing* like a g^lobe, as it really is, actually looks like a hug*e bowl ; the horizon appearing* lifted up on all sides of them. But as refraction is observed to be so o-reat in the polar reg*ions, we must conclude that this g-reater refraction comes to earth there, and that it may also be intensified by the denser, frost-laden air which it encoun- ters at the earth's surface, as indicated by the line, d, in I^i^. /, — preceding- i^ag'c. LECTURES. 187 In refutation of such a theory, it may be arg-ued that there is the same gradual fall of barometer when ascending* elevations in the tropics that there is in hig-her latitudes, indicating* the same steady chang-e in densi- ty; and rig'ht here permit me to draw the line between barometric pressure and true atmospheric density: — If we fill a rubber bag* slackly with air in a cold room, and closing' it tightly, bring* it into a heated apartment, in a short time the confined air, becoming* heated, will dis- tend the bag* to double or more its former volume, and will hold it distended after it is removed to the cold room ag^ain, till it loses its increased temperature ; thereb}^ clearly demonstrating- that, with the atmospheric densi t3^ reduced one half, or more, by the aid of heat, the barometric pressure remains the same. If then, refraction is such an inconstant and uncertain quantity, can we anywhere obtain a reliable g*eometrical parallax of a heavenly body? I doubt not how^ever, that there is a region of the air, though it is not 188 LECTURKS. accessible for making observations, where refraction is far more constant than at the earth's surface, and may also be far greater than we have estimated ; and that is the re- gion just above the clouds ; where, relieved of the earth's radiated and reflected heat, atmospheric temperature and density must be nearly uniform, at equal altitudes, all around the earth. It may however be suggested that in the region referred to, the atmospheric density may be less than one half w hat it is at the earth's surface; and I would reply that this does not affect my theory; for so long as the air nearest to the earth becomes sufficiently rarefied by heat to cause a counter refrac- tion in receiving the rays of lig-ht from the cooler air directly above it, we are unable to correctly estimate the refraction of that up- per region ; which, as I have said, may far exceed present estimates; since refraction is caused, not so much by the g-reater abstract density of media, but chiefly by the differ- ence in density. Let us take, for example, the two media LECTURES. 189 of air and water, which differ in density as about 1,000 to 1 only, yet they give results far exceeding the refractions observed in our lower atmosphere. So mig'lit not those re- fractions just above the clouds g-ive similar results? For assuming that the atmospheric density there is but one fifth \\ hat it is at the earth's surface, Dr. Crookes tells us of exhausting- air in a receiver to a millionth part of its common densit}^; and is it likely that man, by mechanical means, could pro- duce greater attenuation than always exists in the outer stratum of our atmosphere? Yet the figures quoted would give a difference in density between the air of that upper re- gion and the outer stratum, not only of 1,000 to 1, as with air and water, but of 200,000 to 1, or 200 times greater, I have observed however, that astrono- mers, in treating on the subject of the Lunar Eclipse, appear to consider our whole atmos- phere as being the region of cloudland, but the best authorities I have been priveleged to consult on that point, place the highest cloud formations almost entirely within six 190 LECTURES. miles of the earth, while beyond, the air is clear and cold, and offers little resistance to rays of light, except that of refraction. THE EUNAR ECEIPSE. They also tell us that the umbra, or dark shadow of the earth on the moon, indicated by A, in J^i^. 2, — S representing- the sun, £ the earth, a a its enveloping' atmosphere. LECTURES. 191 and M the moon, partially eclipsed ; — they tell us that this umbra, A^ is outlined or circumscribed by those direct rays of the sun which pass the earth above, or outside of its atmosphere, or at least so far above the earth's surface, that they suffer no sen- sible refraction ; while those ra3's passing- throug'h our atmosphere are refracted, or bent inward by it, and cast on the umbra ; g-iving' to the eclipsed moon a faint illumina- tion, except when the atmosphere is cloudy, when these rays are intercepted, and the moon is left in total darkness; and that the umbra is therefore much larg-er than the moon's disc — sometimes as many as 5,950 miles in diameter, and never less than about 5,650 miles. This is the langfuag'e, in substance, of an eminent author of astronomical works, and I presume it fairly expresses the Copernican view of the subject; while the breadth of umbra gnven is doubtless, relatively to the moon's estimated diameter, correct. The heig^ht of our atmosphere appears to be variouslv estimated from 40 to 80 miles : 192 LECTURES. thoug*h an eminent English astronomer says in one of his text-books, "There is evidence to show that we have an atmosphere of some kind at a height of from 400 to 500 miles above the earth." Also an eminent Ameri- can astronomer has said, "It is evident that our atmosphere extends upward more than 100 miles, while we have no certain knowl- edge that it does not extend out into space indefinitely." Now, we find by computation, that this breadth of the earth's shadow in a Lunar eclipse, to w^liich we have referred, is calcu- lated from the direct rays of the sun, (as is shown in /^i^. 2,) passing the earth just 50 miles above, or outside of its solid surface ; and whether they pass throug'h the upper and thinner portions of our atmosphere, or just skirt its outer edges, the effect would be the same on all other rays from the sun passing below these, or nearer to the earth. Let us as briefly as possible consider ^^ hat that effect would be : Our atmosphere being free from clouds, and offering little resistance to rays of light LECTURES. 193 beyond a heig^ht of six miles above the earth, and diminishing" in density as it extends up- ward with a constancy due to natural laws, it is evident that the next course of rays coming- from the sun, inside the direct ones, ^vould be refracted slig-htly inward in pass- ing- throug-h the attenuated outer portions of our atmosphere; the next course a little m.ore, and our atmosphere increasing- still in density toward the earth, the next course still more, and so on ; the result being- that a larg-e percentag-e of those ra3's would, at time of central eclipse, be focused on the face of the moon. But whence then, comes the dark shadow^ we are accustomed to see pass over the moon in a Lunar eclipse ? Where among- those re- fracted rays would its line of demarkation fall? Is it not plain that there would be no definite shadow — onl}^ a lig'ht, penumbral shade, of perhaps unequal density ? And how would ever be cast the totally black shadow, w^hich has on rare occasions obscured the moon by total darkness? since the clouds, extending- upward in any event, 194 LECTURES. less than one sixth the hig-hth of our atmos- phere, at least five sixths of it must always remain clear for the rays of the sun to pass throug-h it, and thus be focused, in part at least, on the moon ? But since the moon is at times eclipsed by this fairly ^^ ell defined, and more rarely by this totally black shadow, I am convinc- ed that both are outlined, not by the direct, but by the refracted rays of the sun passing- throiig-h our atmosphere. This ^\ould indicate g-reatly reduced di- mensions and distances from earth of those two important bodies, the sun and moon, and mio-ht be illustrated as in Fig-. 3, pag-e 190, in which ^S" represents the sun sending- its rays to the moon M, throug-h the atmosphere a a, of the earth E, which they traverse as obliquely as possible, and therefore receive the maximum of refraction, both in their entrance and exit. As clouds are always floating- someA\ here in our lower atmosphere, and have a decided tendency to g-ather at the horizon which the earth presents to the su.n, as we see at its IvECTURKS. 1^)5 rising" and setting-; and as rays of sunlig*ht just g-razing- this horizon must travel many miles of cloudland of the hight ascertained, I feel assured that comparatively few of the sun's rays ever make their way across this cloud-belt, and that the umbra of a Lunar eclipse is outlined wholly by those rays of sunlig-ht passing- through that region of the air before referred to, just above the clouds; where the uniform atmospheric temperature and density tend to give them that uniform refraction on all sides of the earth, w^hicli is necessary to faithfulh^ describe its circular shadow on the moon ; while those rays only which make their way through the cloud- belt, at remote parts of the earth, where the low^ temperature favors atmospheric density at the surface, are refracted enoug-h more than those passing above the clouds, to cast their diminished light on the umbra. [ Note. ] — The Lunar Eclipse of the evening of Dec. 16, 1899, was observed by me, and view^ed through a small telescope, presented a beautiful appearance. The skv w^as with- 1% LECTURES. out a cloud, the eclipse was nearly total, the shadow at greatest obscuration being* of a copper ting-e, deepening toward the centre. When the shadow was leaving* the moon, and about one third of its disc was uncover- ed, the view was especially distinct and sat- isfactory; the shadow appearing-, relatively to the uncovered portion of the moon, of a dark copper color, w ith its edg-e though a little jagged, yet very clearly defined ; the appearance forcibly suggesting the passag'C of the sun's rays over banks of clouds, and thus most decidedly supporting- my former views on that subject. CELESTIAL DISTANCES. In determining celestial distances, the distance of sun from earth has received the most attention, as it supplies the basis, or astronomical unit, for calculating* nearly all other celestial measurements. Of the many ingenious methods emplo3xd from time to time for finding the solar par- allax, those which gave results incompatible with the theory of Copernicus, have been LECTURES. 197 entirely discarded ; while such as g-ave re- sults fairly accordant w ith that theory, and also with each other, have been accredited ^vith various degrees of reliability. These are mostly based on the assump- tion that the Copernican Theory is correct; the g-ravitational methods, now in favor with astronomers, further assuming- the correct application of the law of g-ravity to the workings of the planetary system. The physical method also assumes that lig'ht travels with the same velocity throug'h in- terplanetary space, as in a vacuum. While I am wholly incompetent, and also disinclined to criticise the physical experi- ments pertaining- to this latter method, yet I would sug-g-est that the rays of lig-ht from Jupiter's satellites may pass through a far lighter aether in coming- to earth, when that planet is in opposition, than when it is in conjunction ; as it is evident the rays must, in the latter case, pass throug'h that reg*ion surrounding the sun, containing the zodiac- al lig'ht; which, whatever it may be, inter- poses a so)}2cfhIn^ which those rays must 193 LECTURES. then pass throug-li, which they do not have to pass throtio-h when the planet is in oppo- sition. And mig-ht not those inequalities in the eclipse periods of Jvipiter's satellites be larg-ely due to the lig-ht-retarding- influence of a denser medium, or mig-ht they not be easily accounted for by some other S3'steni than that of Copernicus, without resort to the Equation of Lig^ht? My estimate of the methods first named, will be apparent when we later take up the subject of Universal Gravitation ; while the g-eometrical methods are all subject to what we have said, and may say further respect- ing* the uncertainties of refraction. One of these methods however impressed me as be- inof so nearly independent of the refraction of the earth's atmosphere, as to claim my most earnest thoug-ht — I refer to that based on a Transit of Venvis. While this method may not rank hig-hest with modern astronomers, 3^et it appeared to me at first to establish, independently of any system, such an immense distance for the Sim from earth, as to place be3'ond all IvECTURES. 199 doubt the correctness of the Copernican theory. But it recurred to me that Venus is accredited with having- a hig-hly refractive atmosphere, throug^h which those rays of sunlig-ht must pass which outline her dark disc on the face of the sun during- a transit; and mig-ht not this condition cause compli- cations which have not as yet been properly estimated? Let us as briefly as may be, ex- amine this question : — In Fig-. 4, (next pag-e,) E represents the earth, J>' the sun, and the small dark disc c, Venus in central transit. Ey the aid of this diag'ram we will now consider the capacity of Venus' atmosphere for refracting" rays of sunlig'ht passing" throug^h it. Those rays passing* throug^h its outer and thinner portions would naturally be refract- ed least, while refraction would gradually increase centre ward, or toward the planet. The same effect would thus be produced as if the rays were passing" tliroug"h a lens having" a cross section of the peculiar form represented by a a, in Fl^. 4, which is there substituted for the planet's atmosphere. 200 LECTURES, B.S- 4, O o A TRANSIT OF VENUS. LECTURES. 201 Then, referring- to the diag-ram, it is evi- dent that the ray ;;/, in passing- from sun to earth will suffer little or no refraction from the lens, since it passes throug-h its nearly plane outer edg-e ; but the ray ;/, passing- as shown, throug-h a hig-hly refractive part of the lens, will be turned from its course and broug-ht to a focus with the ray ;;^, at the earth's surface. Observers at this rig-ht hand earth sta- tion would then see the sun in the direction of the ang'le of vision described by ;;/ and n as they approach the earth, and slightly enlarg-ed, as it really apx3ears during- a tran- sit of Venus, while the planet would appear on its disc, as at b, instead of at b\ where it w^ould appear, relatively to the sun, if it were visible and there were no refraction ; while observers at the opposite station, as shown by the dotted lines, w^ould witness the same result in reversed order, thereby g-reatly reducing- the true parallax. This mig-ht also explain the cause of that drawn out internal contact called **the black drop" observed durinof a Transit of Venus. 202 LECTURES. But it will doubtless be objected that the atmosphere of Venus has no such extent as this diao-ram would appear to g-ive it; but as is evidenced by the narrow, brig-ht belt w^hich is seen to encircle the planet \\hen entering" on a transit, the hig-ht of its atmos- phere must be many times less than its ow n diameter. I w^ould answer by sugg^esting* that this luminous, or visible belt is only the misty, or vapor-charg-ed portion of the planet's atmosphere, while the invisible, or ckar air beyond it, thins out g-radually into the aether of space. Let us ag-ain, by the aid of Fig-, s, (pag"e 200) consider what obstacle the atmosphere of our globe interposes to gfaining- a true parallax of a heavenly body: — In this diag-ram, E represents a hemi- sphere of the earth, with its atmosphere a a, while i)i and )i represent stars sending* rays of lig-lit to the earth. Now% if we consider this atmc sphere, a a, as a kns of an equal density througfhout, a little knowdedg-e of the science of optics wmII tell us that these rays coiild enter the lens at points where lyKCTURES. 203 they mig-ht be refracted parallel to, thoug-h a little removed from each other, as shown at the left of the ligaire; but if the two ra^'s entered the lens a little closer tog-ether, so that they came to a focus at the earth, then they would no long-er be refracted parallel, and we would g-et a parallax. But as our atmosphere is not of uniform density, and does not refract ra3^s of lig'ht thus, but in curved lines, as show^n at the right of the iig-ure, is it not equally clear that these rays could be broug-ht tog-ether 0)1 the same plane at the earth's surface by atmospheric refraction, as is there show^n? And as we behold objects in the direction of those portions of rays reaching- our eyes, no parallax would be obtained ; and I believe this to constitute the chief bar to g-aining- a parallax of a heavenly body by observing- it from opposite sides of the earth. And would not this also assist Venus' at- mosphere in still further reducing- the sun's parallax toward that narrow limit observed during- a transit of Venus, aside from other possible causes, whose existence and effects 204 LECTURES. arc not so apparent? These diag'rams are necessarily very much intensilied, for the sake of plainer illustration, but I respect- fully commend the principles they represent to a careful consideration. But the immensity of stellar space is con- tended for, from the fact that the so-called fixed stars, observed through a telescope, appear smaller than \\ hen viewed with the unaided eye; and the larg-er the telescope used, the smaller do they appear. Yet the use of the telescope brings to view myriads of stars which the eye could not discover. Astronomers tell us that this is on account of their immense distances from us. Is this sound logic? Can we conceive of anything being so distant, that to bring it hundreds of times nearer to us, (as the large telescopes do, optically,) it a\ ill appear, not many times larger, but really smaller than it did before? Pardon my stupidit}, Men of Science ! but I have not been able to re- ceive this tlieorv. The only conclusion I have been able to arrive at is, that the light from those more LECTURES. 205 distant orbs, in passing- throug-h the aether of space and our adjacent atmosphere, has already, on reaching- us, sulTered so much from reflection and refraction, that all but its brig-htest and most direct rays have be- come, in a manner polarized, and are extin- g-uished by further deflection in a telescope; and the more powerful the instrument, the g"reater the reduction. That optical science is not yet mastered, is evident from the trustworthy report of a party of g'entlemen making- investigations a few years ag-o in a certain branch of optics, and w^ho discovered — or rather reaffirmed a former discovery — that a ship at sea whose topsails only are visible to the unaided eye, above the horizon, may be broug-ht fully in view by the use of the telescope. This report was how^ever, I think, pretty g-enerally discredited by the scientists ; and while I have made no special observations in that direction, yet I am inclined to accept it, from the fact that w^hen serving in my country's navy, whenever during a "mast- head lookout" I reported a sail just barely 20() LECTURES. visible to my unaided eye above the horizon, the officer of the watch, thoug-h 60 feet be- low me, would level his g'lass in the direction indicated, and soon respond, "I see it !" But how could this be possible? I have made no careful study of the subject, but the first thouo-ht occuring- to me was, that visible objects emit rays of lig-lit differing- in refrang-ibility, which are refracted in dif- ferent deg-rees in passing' throug^h an atmos- phere of unequal density; the more direct ones only being- able to form an imag-e of a distant object on the retina of the unaided eye; while those which are refracted much more, may yet be collected by the use of the telescope in sufficient numbers to convey to the assisted eye the imag'e of an object that is really below the horizon. Be this as it may, the discovery referred to leads me to believe that we have much to learn yet in the science of Optics. But leaving" now the subject of refraction of lig'ht, we will proceed to consider some of the peculiarities of that g-rcat fountain of lig-ht, the sun itself. LECTURES. 207 THE SUN SPOT PARADOX. The theory appears to be still accepted that the central mass of the sun is a smaller body inside the luminous shell which we see, and which is known as the photosphere, or light-g'iving' sphere of the sun. This photo- sphere appears to consist of hig-hly incan- descent vapors, in which there are at times dark depressions, observable by the aid of the telescope, commonly called sun spots ; which, moving- as they do across the sun's disc, have enabled astronomers to not only discover, by close and continued observation, that the sun turns around, but to estimate the time and direction of its rotation, with the inclination of its axis. In astronomical text-books we frequently see a diagram, as in Fig". 6, (next pag-e) for indicating- the direction of these spots on the sun's disc at different periods of the year; the straig-ht lines and arrows showing- their course in June and December, and the curv- ed lines the same in September and March, as seen from the earth. 208 LECTURES. The text-books however, usually have the axis of b and d, vertical in perspective. I discovered that this was an error; but as an eminent American astronomer used that form of illustration in one of his text-books, I corresponded with the g-entleman concern- inof the matter; and after due consideration he admitted the error by further explaining- that, at the periods of the year indicated, the paths of the sun spots, as seen from the earth, do not, and could not appear thus ; but in a manner indicating* the inclination of the sun's axis, relatively to the earth's axis, as in b and d, in the fio-ure. This, in a Copernican svstem, would indi- cate that the sun's axis is inclined nearly in the direction of the equinoctial points ; the LECTURES. 209 apparently side view a presenting- itself to us in June, the other side view c, when we g-et directly on the opposite side in Decem- ber; the partially end view b nearly at the September equinox, and d in March. The first impression I received from this fig-ure and its accompanying- explanation in the text-book was, that it gave substantial proof of the earth indeed traveling around the sun; for how could the sun present these different phases, except it were viewed from different points of observation? But as I pursued the subject further, I found by experiment that if the earth were at the centre, and the sun revolving around it in the earth's supposed annual orbit, the sun's axis meanwhile being- constantly in- clined in the direction of some fixed point in the heavens, the course of the sun spots, as seen from the earth at the four periods indi- cated, would appear as shown in the fig-ure; and that in this case Earth around Sun, and Sun around Earth, are reciprocal, or inter- changeable terms. These sun spots however, do not appear 210 LECTURES. to move with a uniform velocity ; but contra to vv^hat mig'ht be expected, those farthest from the sun's equator, and therefore having* the lesser circumference to travel, appear to us to take the g-reater time in g'oing' around it — apparently about 27 days ; while those nearest its equator, and having- the g-reater circumference to travel, appear to g-o round it in about 25 days. As the lig-lit, floating-, vaporous photo- sphere w^ould be likely to remain quiescent, except as it is carried along- by friction with the rotating- inner mass of the sun, the nat- ural tendency would be, for those portions to fall behind which have the larg-er circuit to travel ; but as a matter of fact, this order appears to us, reversed. Now, if the sun really is the centre of our planetary system, and is, relatively to the earth's orbital motion, at rest, except as it turns on its axis, then viewed at the g-reat distance lying- between us and the sun, these sun spots must certainly g-o around the sun in the order in which they appear to us to move, — that is, those nearest to its equator LECTURES. 211 g-oing- around it in the shortest time: which however astronomers concede is the opposite of what might be expected, being* entirel}^ inconsistent with natural results. Experimenting* with a view to ascertain- ing- if this paradoxical behavior of the sun spots (from a Copernican standpoint) would not harmonize with natural results in some other system, I finall}^ produced an appara- tus which gives ver}^ interesting' results. It is designated by the letter B, in group of physical apparatus, page 180 ; and its pri- mary parts outlined in the diag-ram. Fig: 7, next page, which I will describe as follows: The two circular areas, E and S, repre- sent respectively the earth and the sun. The axis of the earth disc, E, has its bearing's in the standard, A, and is driven by a crank secured to it. The arm, B, to which the sun disc, S, is pivoted, is connected by g-earing with the earth-axis, so that when the earth disc is rotated in one direction, the sun disc is carried slowly around it in the opposite direction, describing the orbit shown by the dotted circle in the fio-ure. 212 LECTURES. SUN SPOT APPARATUS. In illustrating- with this apparatus, the earth disc E^ is caused to turn on its axis from west to east, or counter-clockwise, one complete rotation in time representing- 25 hours and 49 minutes, while the sun disc .S' revolves in the opposite direction, as shown by the arrows, in a fraction over 14 davs ; LECTUKES. 213 or in such time as to come into conjunction with the earth-point of observation (the ra- dial line c\) every 24 hours. The days are indicated by a bell, which is struck at each of these conjunctions. The sun fig-ure S, is composed of two separate discs, one smaller than the other, and each bearing- a sun spot on its margin, as is shown. These discs are rotated inde- pendently, but in the same direction, on the sun axis, by means of separate belt connec- tions with the central shaft, or earth axis ; the outer, or equatorial sun spot appearing- from c to go round the sun in the opposite direction to its orbital motion, in 25 days ; while the inner spot takes 27 days. In demonstrating this, both sun spots are brought opposite to, or in conjunction with the semi-meridian c\ and the apparatus set in motion, while the bell calls off the days. In just the periods above indicated, these spots will respectively appear to go around the sun figure, by coming to conjunction again with the earth meridian, c. But this only gives the apparent periods 214 LECTURES. of revolution of the sun spots, as seen from the earth, while the sun is always chang-ing- its position, relatively to the earth, in mov- inof around it. The question now arises, — What are the absolute periods of these sun spots ; or in what time do they absolutely pfo around the sun? We can determine this by reducing- the central mass of the sun to a state of rest — that is, deprive it absolutely of all rotation, and then note how the sun spots will move relatively to it. We will accomplish our purpose by loosely pivoting- the small dark disc D, (at left of fig'ure) to the sun's axis, to represent its central portion. It carries a pointer H, and a weig-ht W on the oppo- site side, which by the force of g-ravity will keep it always in the same position — that is, absolutely without rotation, the pointer always being- directed upward. If we now turn the apparatus in the same direction as before, starting- with both sun spots exactly at the pointer, and note how thev move relatively to it, with no reference to the earth whatever, we will discover that LECTIJKKS. 215 they not only go round the sun (relatively to the pointer) in the opposite direction to the one they appeared to move in before, as seen from the earth, but that the inner spot will now complete its circuit first, by coming- lo conjunction with the XDointer ag-ain in just 29 days, while the outer, or equatorial spot falls behind, and will not come to conjunc- tion with the pointer under three days more; making- its absolute period 32 days, w^iile that of the inner spot is but 29 days. This result, it will be seen, completely obliterates the Copernican paradox ; as the sun spots now move in the order we mig-ht expect them to move, thereby accounting- in a natural way for that mysterious factor in the sun's rotation, its apparent !Rquatorial Acceleration. Men of Science ! is there not a deep sig-- nificance in this? Here we have one of the most remarkable phenomena (viewed in the lig-ht of Copernicus,) — a condition utterly irreconcilable with his theory, under natural laws, which yet g-ives evidence, throug-h a fair and positive mechanical demonstration, 216 LECTIIKES. of being- in natural and perfect harmon}^ with that cosmic system outlined in the Sa- cred Scriptures. — A system that obeyed the command of a Joshua, and g-ave heed to the pathetic prayer of a Hezekiah ; whose won- drous working's were pondered and extolled by the philosophic Job, and whose praises sung- by the poetic David. — A system that survived the wisdom of a Solomon, and was mirrored in the prophetic vision of Ezekiel. Shall a few w^ords soberly and considerately spoken in its defense, be denied a sober and considerate hearing-? CHAPTER VIII. IvKCTURE III. — NATURE VS. COPERNICUS. In observing- the movements of the heav- enly bodies, many inequalities have been discovered from time to time, — some of but slig-ht sig-niiicance, but among- them one of that important body, the sun, early became conspicuous, which is of such a mag-nitude that the Copernican school have g-iven it much attention in the past, and after long*- continued and patient measuring- and modi- fying-, trimming and adjusting-, they have adapted their theory to lit it very well, and now employ it as one of the strong- pillars of its support. I refer to that inequality treat- ed on in astronomical works under title of, EQUATION OF TIME. When I first took up this subject, failing- to be a g-ood enoug-h mathematician to quite 218 LECTURES. understand the Copernican solution of the problem, I fell to doubting* its correctness ; and to settle the matter, I constructed an apparatus (indicated by C\ in g-roup of ap- paratus, pag-e 180 j for mechanically testing- the same, in which the earth is represented by a g'lobe adapted to move around the sun- centre in the earth's supposed annual orbit, complying- faithfully with Kepler's law of "equal areas in equal times," and all other conditions of the Copernican theory. When my device was completed, I confi- dently expected that it w^ould disclose to me an error; but in this I was disappointed, for as I carefully moved the g-lobe through its orbit, the indicator traced on its surface wnth strict iidelit}^ those devious transverse paths indicated by the heavy double looped line at the centre of Fig-. S, (the next pag-e), which paths mark those variations of the sun throug-hout the 3 ear from the meridian of mean, or clock time, fthe horizontal line .V iV,) w^hich are recorded in our almanacs in the column, 'Sun fast,' and 'Sun slow.' As it traced this looped circuit, which I LECTURES. 219 had drawn from tables in the Ephemeris, and knew to be correct, I stood in silent awe contemplating- the wonderful accuracy and surpassing" g'enius of the master minds who had elaborated the system. Fig-. 8, — SPIRAL ORBIT OF SUN. 220 LECTURE?. So the result of my first experiment with the apparatus only g-ave me the small satis- faction of having" made a mechanical success of my work, w^hile its real object appeared defeated. But I did not rest well under de- feat; and on carefully reviewing- the matter I found that I could so transpose its primary parts as to have the earth in the centre and the sun g'oing* round it in the earth's orbit; and that by strict compliance with all the conditions of the first experiment, precisely the same results would be obtained ; and that in this case also, as in that of the sun spot problem, Earth around Sun, and Sun around Karth, are reciprocal terms. But how would I reconcile the apparent annual revolution of the sun with that semi- monthly revolution indicated by the device for illustrating- the sun spot paradox? In Fig-. 8, we assume the earth to lie at the centre of the outlying* dotted circle, its axis being- in line with .V N; while the solid vertical lines represent the circuits of the sun's s|:>iral orbit in revolving- from east to west around the earth, in a little more than LECTURES. 221 14 days, and in moving- also from north to south, or from solstice to solstice ; the dot- ted lines showing- the same in returning-. It will be observed that the circuits of this spiral orbit are broader over the northern, than over the southern hemisphere, thereby producing- Aphelion and Perihelion. I have found that a movement like this w^ould cause the sun, as seen from the earth, to appear perfectly to describe that inclined annual orbit on the plane of the ecliptic, now called the earth's orbit, by the stars revolving around the earth in the same di- rection as the sun, (from east to west,) but enoug-h faster to g-ain one complete revolu- tion on the sun in a year; w^hich w^ould give the sun the appearance of moving- eastward among the stars. It is a remarkable coincidence, that the areas described on either side of the equator by the looped circuit of sun variations, (see Fig-, , in the fastest portion of its orbit, it would roll out toward the aphelion stop a, but return to p agfain on or before reaching- the slowest, or the aphelion portion of its orbit, and remain there till it neared the fastest, or perihelion portion of its orbit again; and when the or- bital motion was slightly increased to gain better results, it would roll out to a, and remain there; manifesting a disposition to leave the system, but for the restraint of the cord h, and stop a ; thus clearly dem- onstrating that Kepler's second law fur- nishes another instance in which theory and practice do not join hands. The fallacy of this law may however be illustrated ^vithout resort to the mechanical 242 LECTURES, experiment which we have described, by the use of the following* diag'ram : A. Fig-. /?. — KEPIvER's eaw. In this fig-ure, S represents the sun, or centre of force, and iM a planet at the peri- helion point of its orbit, revolving* around S in the direction of the arrows — its radius vector describing* equal areas in equal times. LECTURES. 243 As the central attraction must necessari- ly be a little stronger than the tang^ential tendency of a revolving* body, to keep it in its orbit, we will (referring- to the diag-ram) let 10 represent the centrifug-al force of the planet M, g-ained from its orbital velocity, at P; and 11 the combined focal attraction due to the "Newtonian constant" and the g-eneral law of g-ravitation, (assuming- the Newtonian constant to be 1.) At a, with the velocity of the planet and the focal attraction diminished, let 9 repre- sent the centrifug'al, and 9 plus 1, — or 10, the centripetal force affecting- it; at b, let 8 and 9 represent the two forces; at c\ 7 : 8, and at A, 6:7. The planet has, at A, reached its lowest velocity, and from this point on toward P ag-ain (according- to Kepler) its orbital mo- tion, and therefore the centrifug-al force will g-radually increase, and the centripetal force also reassert itself. Prom P io A, the influence of the two opposite forces on the planet was steadily diminishing-; but throuofh the assistance of 244 LECTURES. the Newtonian constant, that of the centrip- etal force weakened less than the other — as 7 : 6 exceeds 11 : 10; yet with this advantag'e it has only in part been able to restrain the planet from flying" off in a tangent, since its radius vector has steadily leng-thened. But from A to P ag*ain, the conditions are reversed ; the centrifug*al force steadily increasing*, while the centripetal force will increase in a smaller ratio (falling- from 7 : 6 at A, to 11 : 10 at P.) How then could the latter, with its power, relatively to the cen- trifug-al force, Z'jcakeiiing-^ draw the planet back to perihelion, or shorten its radius vec- tor, when it was unable to restrain the same from Icug-tlicniiig-, on its way from P to A, where the conditions were reversed, wholly to its advantag-e? The truth of the matter is, that at P the centripetal force is not sufficiently strong-, relatively to the centrifug-al, to keep the ra- dius vector of the planet from leng-thening-; but by the aid of the Newtonian constant it becomes so at ^, from which point, if the orbital motion continue the same as at A — LECTURES. 245 no greater, no less — the planet will continue in a circle, without any chang-e in its radius vector; but if the orbital motion be increas- ed at A, then the centrif ug-al force will also increase, and carry the planet still farther from the centre; since the focal attraction on the planet can only be increased — by first bring'iug' it nearer to, the eentre of foree. A NEW SYSTEM OUTLINED. Though I have been freely criticising- our present accepted astronomical system, yet it is neither my purpose nor desire to advo- cate a new one; as I am far from being- fully assured that it is the Divine pleasure to re- veal to our finite minds, except in a g-eneral way, the g-reat plan of the Universe. But lest it should be said of me — He seeks only to demolish and destroy where he could not plan to build, — I will sug-g-est the outline of a plan by which the apparent movements of the heavenly bodies mig-ht all be produced, not only in harmony with natural laws, but also with the revealed Word of God. In such a plan, I would have the earth 246 LECTURES. practically at the centre, as indicated by E in Fi§^. 14, rotating- on its axis (from w to e) in 25 hours 49 min. 10 sec ; the moon M re- volving* around the earth in the opposite di- rection to the earth's rotation, (or from E to Wj in her sidereal period of 27.32 days ; the Fig-. 14. — A NEW SYSTEM. sun S going- around the earth in the same direction as the moon, in 14.19 days; moving- LECTURES. 247 spirally from solstice to solstice and return, with its circuits a little broader over the northern, than they are over the southern hemisphere, for aphelion and perihelion, as shown in Fig-. 8, page 219. I would have Mercury ;;/, and Venus V, revolve round the sun, as shown, and travel with it, as satellites of that body, in its cir- cuits round the earth; the superior planets, as is shown by their orbits, moving' slowly (from E to w) around the sun as a secondary centre in their synodical periods, while trav- eling" round the earth with the sun, and like that body, moving- spirally from north to south and return, in their sidereal periods ; the stars revolving- around the whole in or- bits a little eccentric to the earth-centre, in the same direction as the sun, but enoug-h faster to g-ain one revolution on the sun in a year; which would be a complete revolution in 13.66 days. This would produce the apparent move- ments of the celestial bodies in their proper order and periods, and account for aberra- tion, equation of time, and that apparent 248 LECTURES. equatorial acceleration of the sun, in the manner already explained; but how wotild I reconcile such a plan with the established law of g'ravitation? I would reply — Not by seeking" to change that law, so far as it pertains to things ter- restrial, (of which portion only we are able to take practical account) but by amplifying and extending the demonstrable portion of that law, to embrace the universe. UNIVERSAL GRAVITATION. Respecting the application of this law of gravity to our habitable globe, we have been taught that those portions of the earth the nearest to its centre, are the least attracted centreward, while the attraction increases directly ^vith the distance from the centre, being therefore theoretically g'reatest at the earth's svirface. Now, is this the result of Cohesion, or is the law of gravity, in this case, modified by that force? Presumably not, since we are taught that cohesion acts only at insensible distances. If then, it is the result of gravi- LECTURES. 249 tation, pure and simple, would not the order of attraction be the same, if the earth were divided into millions of small bodies — sepa- rated b}^ space, but collectively retaining- the g-lobular form? And may not the mill- ions of visible bodies, tog-ether with that boundless infinity of invisible ones which constitute our universe, — thoug-h separated by space, yet united by the strong bonds of their mutual attractions — be drawn in the same order toward a common centre, yet retained in their places by the centrifug-al force evolved by their orbital velocities? — The moon (nearest the centre of the system) revolving- slowest, being- the least attracted; while velocity and attraction increase stead- ily as they move out from the centre, — the stars revolving- most rapidly, being- most attracted. This would be in perfect harmony with that natural, familiar, and easily demonstra- ted law of centrifug-al force, that the orbit of a revolving- body is expanded bv increas- ing- its velocity, and contracted by decreas- ing- it. It is also evident that the farther a 250 LECTURES. body g-yrated from the centre, the more it would be restrained from leaving" such a system, and the nearer one drew to the cen- tre, the less it would be attracted toward it; both of these conditions operating* against a chang'e in the original distribution of bodies throughout the universe, while the failure of Kepler's second law to sustain itself in a fair and carefully conducted physical test, demonstrates that directly opposite and dis- org*anizing conditions exist in the theory of Copernicus. But it may be arg'ued that a planet like Jupiter or Saturn, for example, with its sat- ellites revolving' around it, in direction from w to E, those with largest orbits revolving* slowest, is a visible presentation and justi- fication of that theory, and discloses God's plan of operating world systems. To such an argument I would reph% that the satellites of a planet, in the Copernican plan, or in the one I have suggested, have two motions— their lesser, or secondary rev- olution round the planet, and their g-reater, or primary revolution ivith the planet round LECTURES. 251 the centre of the S3^stem. Now, in the plan outlined in Fig: 14, those planets revolve absolutely round the earth, and also around the sun, from E to w ; and their satellites, in revolving- round them from w to E, would be affected by that more rapid primary mo- tion round the earth, as follows : Those satellites revolving- farthest from their planets, or having- the larg-est orbits, would, in keeping- with my theory, have the slowest primary motion around the earth, when nearest to earth, and the most rapid when in the opposite, or most distant part of their secondary orbits around the planet; and the secondary motion of the satellite — from w to E around the planet — would be in the same direction as the primary motion when it is nearest to earth and moving- the slowest around it, which tends to retard its secondary progress, and therefore prolong* its period; and this secondary motion would ag-ain be retarded on the opposite, or farther side of the planet, as it would there be coun- teracted by the increased primary motion, which it would then be moving- ag-ainst; this 252 LECTURES. would still further prolong- its period. It is evident that on this principle, the nearer a satellite revolved to its planet the less those retardations would be, and in consequence, the shorter its period. This would account for the perplexing'ly short period of Phobos, — inner satellite of Mars; and mig-ht also throw some lig-ht on the eccentric behavior of the satellites of Uranus and Neptune. But wherein exists the chief difference between the two theories which promise the same apparent results? Manifestly in this: Instead of esteemino- our universe as being- at rest, except as a few bodies of the Solar system move in their orbits, and the stars, by their scarcely perceptible so-called prop- er motions, move chaotically, "like bees in a swarm, "as the Copernican text-books ex- press it, I would ascribe to it, as a universal zvholc, the action of rotation — as in action only there is life — the stars in their respect- ive orbits differing* sufficiently in motion to produce their apparent "proper motions," while the lesser velocities of sun, moon, and LECTURES. 253 planets, give those bodies the appearance of traveling* eastward among* the stars. The plan I have sug^g-ested would also correct that g-laring* inconsistency of the Co- pernican theory which would g-ive to those planets observed to have the slowest rota- tion, the most rapid motion in their orbits : For example, Mars is observed to take 24 hours 37 minutes, in turning- on its axis, but is gfiven an orbital velocity of about 15 miles per second; while Jupiter rotates in a little more than one third of that time, ( 9 hours 55 minutes ) but is g-iven an orbital motion of less than 8 miles per second. This g-reat- er rotary motion would however harmonize perfectly with the increased orbital velocity of bodies farther from the universal centre, in the plan outlined. Of most importance however, is the con- sideration that such a plan, by puncturing* the root, might tend to check the growth of that false sentiment which would arrogfate to modern man the superior wisdom, ability and privelege of supplanting the records of Divine revelation with the records of human 254 LECTURES. achievement, and set at naug'lit the inspired words of those devout men who in the purity and simplicity of an exalted faith— throug'h Nature's works, communed with Nature's God ; nor deemed it necessary to attempt the elaboration of an astronomical system whose w^ell defined outlines no sacrilegious hand mig-ht e'er disturb. But as I have said, I have no intention of advocating a different system, either new or old; for in the light of the discoveries I have made, and deductions I have drawn — and by the memory of an early experience, when a Voice Beatific spake Peace! from out the shadows, I have been led up to the conclu- sion that it is unsafe to advocate any theory, or formulate any system of human knowl- edge which is not found, after the fullest and fairest investigation, to be in perfect harmony with both God's Word and works; and while memory lives, and reason retains its throne, the recollection of that early ex- perience when the mind's eye was quickened into gazing* retrospectively through God's Word, as along* a panorama, from Patmos LECTURES. 255 even back to Chaos, to see all alleg"ed incon- sistencies vanish, all apparent differences reconciled, and the Star of Truth shining- resplendent over all, — that recollection will prompt me to maintain that where Science and the Bible clash, there Science must give w^ay; and thoug^h Man, with his God-given powers has achieved wonders, and is still prog-ressing*, yet we should ever remember that, as in the material world the stream cannot rise above its source, so in the g-rand- er realm of thoug*ht, human knowledg'e can- not, and must not assume to rise above the Source of all knowledge. And while to man much to know^ is g^iven, yet as God's thoug^hts are not our thoug^hts, neither our w^ays his ways; for as the heavens are hig-her than the earth, so God's ways being- hig-her than our ways, and his thoug-hts than our thoug-hts, there must of necessity be some knowledg-e which is pecul- iarly and exclusively his; and to which we may not hope to attain, till that time when standing- in the lig-ht of his presence, we shall be more like him, for we shall see him 256 LECTURES. as he is. And I feel that I can offer no more "fitting* conclusion to this discourse than that impressive stanza from Derzhaven's Ode to the Deity, which thus beautifully embodies this sentiment : "/;/ its sublime research^ Philosophy May nicasure out the ocean deep, may count The sands, or solar rays; but God, for thee There is no zueig'ht nor measure! none can mount Up to Thy mysteries! Reason' s brig-htest spark, Tho' kindled by Thy lig'ht, zvonld vainly try To trace Thy counsels, infinite and dark; And thought is lost ere it can soar so high. Even like past moments in Eternity !''' CHAPTER IX. While preparing- the foreg-oina- lectures, the impression gained with me that a work in defense of the Bible would be imperfect and unfinished, which did not also make a practical application of its teaching's to the needs of mankind; and when I went forth to g-ive the results of my labors to the world from the lecture platform, I took with me the following- discourse, hoping- my scientific lectures might receive that financial support which would enable me to present it from the same platform, without fee or collection, or desire for any personal advantag-e. I hoped in this way to reach many people who would come to a public hall, but could not be induced to enter either a fashionable church, or a charity chapel. The results of my effort are already known to the reader. — The lecture follows : — 258 LECTURES. {Free Leeture.) How THE Poor may become Rich. In these days of cultured skepticism when Infidelity proclaims its tenets in our public halls, and is applauded to the echo for its bold attacks on our Christian faith, it be- hooves us who are followers of the Master, each to do what he or she can, to stem that tidal wave whose dark wake is strewn with physical, mental, moral and spiritual suicide and death. It may however appear highly presumpt- uous for a plain working-man to announce a lecture in this wealthy and prosperous city, whose object is to benefit the poor; but I am credibly advised that there is one poor man like myself residing* somewhere in this town, and I appear in the interest of that man, — I have g-iven him a special invitation to be present, and I think he is with us on this occasion. I trust therefore you will pardon me if I keep my promise with him, by pointing- out LECTURES. 259 the way by which he may also become rich. I feel the more constrained to pursue this course, because in the house of the Master I am so poorly serving-, there is more joy over one poor man who becomes rich, than there is over ninety and nine other men, who are already rich enoug^h. While I am indicating- the way by which he may g-ain a clear title and a lasting- ten- ure of a beautiful mansion in a deliofhtful country, I shall also be answering-, definite- ly and unequivocally, that question of vital import which Col. Robt. Ing-ersoU has been asking- all up and down the land, for two hundred dollars, and upward, a nig-ht; while his vaofue and futile efforts at answering- the same himself, have received that g-enerous applause which usually crowds a triumph- ant success. [Note.] — reference is made to Ing-ersoll's lecture, "What must we do to be saved. "He was living- then, and I expected to meet him, and answer his question. — As this answer concerns us all, I hope to retain your attention while I unfold to my 260 LECTURES. fellow working-man the grandeur of the in- heritance which may be his; and that its beauty and desirableness may be enhanced by contrast, let us first, my friend, briefly survey your past life, present condition, and your present hope of the future : You started out in life's fair morning, with the hope and health and strength of youth. How beautiful the world looked, and how easy seemed the battle of life. Kind friends greeted you everywhere; encourag- ing- words and smiles cheered your walk by day, and sweet sleep with pleasant dreams, renewed your strength by night. How your young- heart beat with lofty aspirations— -you would mount the ladder of Fame, and would stand up in noble defence of the rig'hts of your people and yonr coun- try; or you would g'ather liberally of the wealth which lay at your feet, and bestow it on the less fortunate with that bounteous hand which w^ould cause men to bless your life, and cherish your memory. Your strong right hand, unclouded brain, and evenly pul- sating heart — appeared to you, to hold the LECTURES. 261 key to your destiny, and if you failed — the fault would be your own. Time sped, the conflict deepened. Life's poetry was merg-ing* into prose — its ideal- ism into stern reality. With clenched hand and flashing- eye and girded purpose, j^ou met the condition, and strug-gled nobly for the mastery. The tide of fortune ebbed and flo^\ed, while time moved on ^^ ith relent- less tread. At leng'th misfortune came — a trusted friend proved false, a business enterprise unsound; — anxious days, sleepless nig^hts, sickness followed ; and when you rose from that couch of pain, the world for you had lost much of its freshness, and your heart much of its hopefulness; but the thought of loved ones dependent on you called you ag'ain to the post of duty, and with strength im- paired, and hopes modified by defeat, you entered once more life's great struggle. Brighter days came, and hope revived : but alas! how fleeting. One morn a cheery voice which had made music in ^^our home, was stifled by throes of pain. A few days 262 LECTURES. of sulTerinof — of mortal a^^ony, and the pure spirit was wafted upward, w liile the beau- tiful form w^as laid from your sio-ht, beneath the cold clods of the valley, and your hand was again unnerved for the conflict. Thus on and on, life's tide has ebbed and flowed, — each successive circle narrowing a little, till you have been brought down to the hard lot of unremitting toil for your dai- ly bread; hopino- for nothing now% but that the work may hold out, and the frugal pay continue, that you may keep the hungry wolf from the door. Meanwhile time goes on. The form is less erect, the step shorter, the hand less steady; w^hile the eye is growing dim, and tell-tale locks of silver lead your thrifty em- ployer to ponder if your place could not soon be better filled by younger help. And w^hat then? A place by your chil- dren's fireside? Perhaps a nook in the home for the stranger. A few months or years of w^eary waiting, — then a simple burial serv- ice, a narrow^ g*rave, — and all that is mortal of your once happy self, will be hid from LECTURES. 263 earth, forever ! And is this the end? Is this the end? O no! O no! Look up! h)ok up! "Behold I bring" you g^ood tidings of g-reat joy, which shall be to all people! For unto you is born ill the city of David, a Savior, who is Christ the Ivord !" And what messag-e bring-s this Savior to you ? "Blessed are the poor in spirii", for theirs is the King-dom of Heaven. "Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. "In my Father's house are many man- sions: if it w^ere not so I would have told you. I g-o to prepare a place for you." But methinks I hear this toiler say. What is all this to me? Have I not lived to see Vice prosper, and Virtue g-o threadbare — to see the wicked and unscrupulous rolling- in wealth and luxury and ease, while the hon- est and deserving" and the God-fearing* were ^-round beneath the iron heel of Povertv? 264 LECTURES. This has led me to doubt God's direct interference in the affairs of men, and to at- tribute all results to that unrelenting- law whose operations culminate in the survival, not exactly of the fittest, but of the strong- est and most crafty. . Believing" that as the bonds of the toiling" millions are tig^htening-, this sentiment is also g-rowing", you will pardon me if I beg'in at the root of this subject : In the first place, reason and observation and experience, all teach us that nothing" exists or takes place without a cause; and the existence of a Great First Cause, I think no sensible person will attempt to deny: and whether, in the lang'uage of the freethinker, we choose to call that Cause — Nature, or whether, in the languag-e of the Scriptures, we say — God ! does not in the least affect his personality; but what most directly con- cerns f(s is, What relation exists between us and that Great Cause, and how are we affected by such relation? In the vegfetable and in the animal king"- doms, ever3^thing" docs indeed appear to be LECTURES. 265 g-overned by some general and immutable law. The tender shoot spring's from the seed, takes root, develops into the tree, puts forth its leaves, flowers and fruit; and the eag'le builds his nest, and the wild beast his lair, the same as centuries on centuries ag*o; no prog^ress, no improvement. But with man all this is chang-ed. Born into the world the most helpless of all creat- ures, he matures into a being- endowed with those hig-her attributes of inventive and cre- ative power which so emphatically distin- g-uish him from all else created; and which under favoring* conditions rise to a g-randeur of achievement, bearing- unmistakably the imprint of divine preferment. Is it strang-e then, that this distinctive and superior being- should have been made the recipient of God's special consideration and care? But the question may be raised. Why then did he leave man free to fall into temptation and sin, whereby came death, and all our woes ? I w^ill try to answer that anticipated question by the use of a homely, thoug-h I think, pertinent illustration : 266 LECTURES. We will suppose you have a beautiful horse — far more beautiful and intellio-ent than any you have ever before possessed or cared for; so intellig-ent, in fact, that you decide on g-iving- him a few extra points in horse culture. You attach a long- cord to his bridle and start him toward the street, saying, Now sir! when I call Halt! you are to stop. And when I say, Return! then you must turn, and come back to me. When the horse reaches the street, you draw firmly on the cord, call Halt!— and the horse stops, because he does not feel at lib- erty to do any other way. You say. Return! and beg^in to reel in the cord hand over hand, and he comes back to you, for the same rea- son. You repeat the lesson several times — always with the same result, of course. Well now, you are not very mvich elated over that animal's behavior, — he has only done for 3^ou what you compelled him to do; but finally you strip off the bridle, and send him out free. As he ag*ain nears the street, you call, Halt! and (anxious moment) the horse stof)s! You say. Return! and pirou- LECTURES. 267 etting- o-racefully, he hastens back to you. O, how the o-lad smiles illumine your coun- tenance, and how heartily you caress that noble animal, who has honored you by his obedience, though free to transg-ress. The inspired poet, Milton, expresses this sentiment in loftier phrase in his "Paradise Lost," where he assumes God to say: "I made him (man) just and rio-ht. Sufficient to have stood, thoug-h free to fall. Such I created all the ethereal Powers And Spirits, both them who stood, and them who failed; Freely they stood who stood, or freely fell. Not free, what proof could they have g-iven Of true alleg-iance, constant faith, or love. Where only that they needs must do appear- Not what they would? What praise [ed, could they receive. What pleasure I, from such obedience paid; When will and reason (reason also is choice) Useless and vain, of freedom both despoiled, Made passive both, had served necessity. Not Mcf' Miltou. 268 LECTURES. Thus the poet very reasonably raises the question, What satisfaction, what recom- pense \\ould it have been to God, to endow man with these hi^-her attributes, and then place him in leadino--string's, by \\ hich he would be compelled to serve Him; instead of leaving* him free, that he might honor and g'lorify God, by serving* Him of his own vo- lition ? "For verily I say unto you, that joy shall be in Heaven over one sinner that re- penteth, (or comes back to God of his own free will, ) more than over ninety and nine just persons who need no repentance." With this brief arg'ument in support of the doctrine of man's free moral ag-ency and consequent fall, \\ e \a ill now proceed to con- sider the reasonable requirements and the efficacy of the Gospel plan of redemption: The Scriptures inform us that as men multiplied on the face of the earth, throug-h an evil influence they became disobedient to the extent that God repented of ever having* created man, and that he determined to cut off the whole human race; but finding- one rig-hteous family, he mercifully spared them LECTURES. 269 from the angry Flood, and when the waters abated, Noah and his family wxnt out from the Ark, to re-establish man's dominion on the earth. It would seem that the descendants of such g-oodly stock, which had been so mirac- ulously saved from the g-eneral ruin, ought to have been able to w^alk in the paths of rectitude and holiness; but it appears how^- ever, that as their numbers ag-ain increased, many w^andered from their alleg-iance and became as heathen and outcast to the Lord, while the descendants of faithful Abraham became his chosen people. Of the w^andering-s of this chosen race and God's dealing's with them, it is not our purpose now to speak, more than to remind you that throug-hout the whole record there runs a sentiment indicating- that God had not forg-otten the remnant of mankind, and that he would in his own gfood time declare a g'eneral amnesty to all the human race, as is evinced by the frequent references which his prophets make to a Messiah, who when He came, would deliver those in bondag-e. 270 LECTURES. And how nearly are the ways of our wis- est and best men fashioned after this course. Many will recollect that at the close of our Civil War (1861 — 65) only a portion of those who had borne arms ag-ainst the Governm't were pardoned, while the instigators, lead- ers, and worst offenders were denied all the rio'hts of citizenship. But as time passed, and passions cooled, and wounds healed, our statesmen relented, and it was resolved to send out a g*eneral amnesty proclamation; that whoever would mi^ht come and take the oath of alleg-iance and receive pardon. And now, in what form and after what manner came the l)earer of that other and earlier proclamation from On Hig-h? Not as the Jews expected He would come — with pomp and power; which have everywhere and in all ag-es been the accompaniments of wrong- and oppression; but he came just as God's prophets foretold, centuries before, that he would come,— as a man of sorrows, and acquainted with g-rief; as the Lamb of God to be offered for our transg'ressions; as LECTURES. 271 the meek and lowly Jesus,— with passions human enoug-h and sensibilities keen enough and sympathies deep enoug'h, — and power great enough, to understand and pity and forgive all our sins — if we wish to be, and will seek to be forgiven. But what are the proofs of his divinity? When he came up from his baptism in the River Jordan, Behold! the heavens parted, and the Spirit of God was seen descending upon him like a dove; and Lo! a voice from Heaven was heard saying, "This is my be- loved Son, in whom I am well pleased!" At his command the lame walk, the blind receive their sight, the lepers are healed, the dead arc raised! He calms the wild waves, and walks upon the sea: later he bursts the bars of the tomb, and is seen by competent witnesses ascending- bodily up to Heaven. And we w^ho have been touched by his heal- ing power — we knovj that he was Messiah who was to come. And this was his proc- lamation to mankind : "For God so loved the world that he gave his only beo-otten Son, that whosoever be- 272 LECTURES. lieveth in him should not perish, but have everlasting- life." St, John, j : i6. "I am the resurrection and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live; and whosoever livcth and believeth in me, shall never die.'' John, ii. "I am the way and the truth and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." St. John, 14 : 6. Since on the promises contained in this message hang-s our only hope of Heaven, let us g-ive it a calm and dispassionate consid- eration, to see if that hope is well founded : First, the proclamation is not made to any particular race, creed, or class; but to all mankind: for it distinctly, emphatically, and repeatedly uses the word. Whosoever; which in our lang'uag-e means anybody. But why does it not say everybody f Because my friend, there is one condition embodied in it; — not the taking' of an oath of alleg*iance, as in man's proclamation, but simple belief in the Savior — "Whosoever believeth in him shall not perish, but have everlasting" life." But vou mav sav, I believe in the Savior, LECTURES. 273 — that is, I believe there was such a person, and I never raised the question but that he performed the miracles ascribed to him, or that he was the Son of God. I would ask. Have you ever felt a deep conviction — a conviction akin to knowledg-e itself — that God has, for Christ's sake for- given you all your sins? If not, perhaps then you have only believed of the Savior, and not /;/ him, as the condition requires ; for there is a most decided difference be- tween the two ways of believing*. To illustrate this, suppose you were suf- fering- from some disease which baffled the skill of your family physician, and he would advise you to employ a skilled specialist in a neig-hboring- city. Well now! you would believe (9/ that other physician — that there was such a person, because you had been so credibly informed of him; and you would not dispute the medical skill your physician ascribed to him; but you would not believe in him fully, would you, till he had cured yoii f Then you would believe in him with all the fervor of a gfrateful heart. 274 LECTURES. And how would you be cured; by simply believing- that there was such a physician, and that he did cure cases similar to yours? Or by going" to him, and asking* him to exer- cise his professional skill in your behalf? This is just what you must do to acquire that belief in the Savior which w^ill g-ive you a passport to eternal life and happiness be- yond the g^rave — you must come to him and be morally and spiritually healed ! Then why not come — his invitation is so cordial and assuring'? He says "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will gfive you rest. Ask, and it shall be gfiven you; seek, and ye shall find; knock and it shall be opened unto you." But why come to Christ? Why not carry our petitions direct to the Father? Because Christ, the divine representative of the Fa- ther distinctly says: "I am the way and the truth and the life: no man comet h unto the Father, t)ut by Me!'" And how much is the human heart like this, after all ! We will suppose you had a son who disobedientlv wandered awav from LECTURES. 275 you, and became so lost and sunken in mor- al depravity and shame, that in your deep disappointment and sorrowful resentment, you disowned and disinherited him: but as the years roll by, and the first sharp pangs of your g-reat grief become softened into a sad memory, your parental heart yearns for that boy, who has never been out of 3^our mind for a sing'le day; and you resolve to send a friend out after him. In due time your messenger reaches the boy, and informs him that you desire his re- turn with the messenger, that you may for- give, and restore him to family and friends. But suppose that boy should reply. No Sir! I'll not go with yon; if Father wants to forgive me, he must come to me himself ! Whose fault would it be if that insolent and wicked son remained outside the family fold forever? Or whose fault would it be if a condemned criminal perished, who on be- ing assured of a full pardon if he would but petition the Governor of his state, replied — No Sir! I'll ask pardon of no one but the hiofhest official in the land — the President 276 IvECTURES. himself! And, my friends, whose fault will it be if we likewise perish, if we persist in rejecting- this natural, reasonable, and easy condition of our redemption? But some one may truthfully say, I have always tried to do right — have been honest, industrious, peaiceable and charitable; and I think my daily walk will compare favor- ably with that of a g-reat many Christians with whom I am acquainted ! My friend ! your course is certainly wor- thy of the highest praise; and I believe that somehow and somewhere in God's just prov- idence, you will surely receive your reward. But how could a few years — ten, twenty, forty, or even eighty years of good conduct on your '^?irt, purchase coid pay for millions and millions without end of years of eternal life and peace and rest and joy? Why! that would be a very unequal business transac- tion, would it not? No, my friends! eternal life cannot be earned or purchased; but it is just what the Gospel declares it to be — the Free Gift of God, to every one that bclieveth. LECTURES. 277 If it were not so, what hope would the ag-ed who had renounced their sins have of earning- it, as compared with those who set out for the prize in the morning" of life ? The Savior very clearly illustrates this in his parable of the laborers in the vineyard; in which you will recollect that those who beg-an at the eleventh hour, were rewarded the same as those who had borne the bur- den and heat of the day. And now, are v^e ready for the question : What is the first step — what must I do, or how must I beg-in, to attain to that belief w^hich leads to life eternal ? My friends ! I trust you will pardon me if I g-ive you my own experience on this point of inquiry, because when I speak of that, I know whereof I affirm; and it cannot then be said of me, that I am dependent on the testimony of others : When in my twentieth year, in possession of a fair education for my years, with some knowledg^e of the Bible, and with encourag-- ing- worldly prospects, I became impressed with a sense of my duty to God, and with a 278 LECTURES. desire to g-ain his pardon and favor. It was not in time of a revival, or of any special relig-ious interest in the locality where I re- sided, so my frame of mind could not be at- tributed to excitement or urgent appeal; but in the calm and quiet of my own peaceful boyhood home, I confronted the great prob- lem — "What must I do to be saved?" I began w^itli earnestly and attentively reading the New Testament; the readings being later accompanied by prayer — though always to the Father, without reference to the Son. Not that I denied Christ's person- ality nor his divine mission — No! I believed o/the Savior and w^hat w^as recorded of him, just as I believed of G-eorge Washington or Benjamin Franklin; and I honestly thought that really constituted all the belief in the Savior required. Each day I grew more earnest in my de- votions and scriptural readings, each day more sad and abstracted; for no light yet penetrated the overhanging darkness — all w^as heaviness and gloom. This continued for two or three wxeks, till one Sabbath dav THE LITTLE DISTRICT SCHOOL-HOUSE. LECTURES. 279 I went to rclig-ious services in our little dis- trict school-house, up aniong* the g-reen hills of Central New York. The officiating" clerg-yman was not one of the hig'h-cultured pulpit orators of the day; he indulg'ed in no g^rand flig'hts of eloquence nor fine figfures of rhetoric — his sentences may not all have been gframmatical ; but he knew the "Old, Old Story!" He had sat at the feet of Jesus, and had learned of him ! And as he earnestly portrayed Christ's per- sonality, divine mission, and present atti- tude, standing* at the rig-ht hand of God, making" intercession for us as our mediator, advocate, and Great Hig"h Priest, and that throug"h him must our petitions to the Fa- ther be made, — as he pictured this, a new conception of Christ's character and office dawned on me; and on reaching" home I at once retired to my room, and on bended knee fervently prayed God, for Chrisf s sake, to forg"ive my sins. And then the g"lad lig"ht came — rig-ht then and there, just as the Savior told Nicodemus that it would come — "As the wind bloweth 280 LECTURES. where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh and whither it g-oeth, so is every one that is horn of the Spirit." And in this age of free thoug-ht, liberal Christianity, and trying to get to Heaven by climbing up some other way, I ^^ ish to place myself on record as saying- that Christian conversion, as defined in the New Testament, is a g-lorious reality, and if you would gain the high and beauti- ful Heaven, do not rest till you have experi- enced it, whether in the church, or out! As I arose from prayer on that eventful Sabbath day, I knew just as wxll that I was forgiven, and had passed from darkness to light, as the g-lad prisoner knows that he is free, when with the Governor's pardon in his hand, he steps forth from his gloomy cell into God's free air and sunlig-ht; but being of a somewhat retiring and bashful temper- ament, I reasoned to myself, — Now I have this "Pearl of great price," I can hide it in my bosom, and the world and my young as- sociates need not know what God has done for me. You see the work was not quite OUR UNION CHURCH. LECTURES. 281 completed yet; but as I continued in prayer throug*h the week, g-radually that reserve g'ave way, and before the week was ended I was ready and willing" and anxious to con- fess Christ before the world, thoug-h all the world should forsake me. And this 1 did on the following* Sabbath in our union church, triumphantly and without fear, in the pres- ence of a larg-e cong'reg'ation. And in the days immediately following*, I experienced a sense of calm security and restfulness and lig-ht-heartedness which I had never felt before. O, I could laug'h then! The g-loom was all dispelled, and the beau- tiful Heaven seemed just a little overhead; while the difficult passag-es of the Bible all seemed cleared up, and a consistency and a harmony ran throug-h the whole, which the discord of sectarian strife and the teaching's of the 'hig-her criticism' have never yet been able to disturb. And thoug-h I have since, at times, wandered far, far from the path in which I first set out, and have said and done many foolish and wicked thing's, yet thro' all these vears God has not forsaken me, 282 LECTURES. and I truly feel that I am one more example of his patience and long--sufferino- with them that believe. And now, my friends! will you accept the riches of God's g"race on these liberal and easy terms? If you are timid and bash- ful, as I was, and have a dread of arising- to express your determination in public, be not in the least discouraged; but in the re- tirement of your own homes carefully study the Scriptures — read attentively the words of promise and instruction uttered by our Savior, as found recorded in the first four books of the New Testament, and pray to your Heavenly Father! asking" all thing-s in the name of the Savior, w^ho stands ready to intercede for you. Be earnest and persevering-, and the g-lo- rious lig"ht wall surely come; and you will have courag-e and confidence then — you will not shrink from coming* to the church or to the prayer-meeting- and confessing- Christ before men, as he reasonably requires; that he may also confess you before his Father in Heaven. And thoug-h worldly prosperity LECTURES. 283 may not directly follow, yet God will give you Christian fortitude to bear those ills of life which are common to all. You will not dread to g-row old then; but each trace of advancing- years, each monitor of life's waning day, will be to you a mark of progress toward your Heavenly heritage; and if sorrow and affliction come, you will be sustained by the reflection that Christ said to his own beloved disciples, "For in the world ye shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer— I have overcome the world." St, John, i6 : jj. And that he also said, "He that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved !" Matt, 24 : ij, O, Christian soldier and cross-bearer! — mid the tumult of daily life, the assaults of skepticism, the clash of creeds, — the fall of dynasties and the wreck of worlds ! — keep your eye ever on this bright beacon-light, — "He that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved !" And from what shall we be saved ? From all further poverty and toil, sickness sorrow and death; for there shall be no more death 284 LECTURES. there ! From the snubs and extortions and overreachinofs of the proud and sellish and avaricious, for they will not be there; — no more cold winter's storms nor sultry sum- mer's heat, but one perpetual Spring-time of life and light, peace and plenty, health and rest and joy; — reunion with the dear ones, and communion with the truly good and great from every Age and Clime, in a World vjithoiit end — FoREVER ! I had purposed ending here, but one more thought is suggested by attendant circum- stances, w hich unexpressed, would leave my effort altogether incomplete: My words have thus far been addressed more particu- larly to the mature, the middle-aged, and to those well advanced in life; but I see before me many of the young, the hopeful and the happy — those to whom life still seems, as it were, an unwritten poem, and the future a blissful dream. Far be it from me to willingly say aught that would in the slightest measure detract from the innocent pleasures of Youth, but as the firm friend of, and sympathizer with LECTURES. 285 the young-, I would commend to each of 3^ou, my young- friends! those words of approved wisdom — "Remember now thy Creator, in the days of thy youth:" , assuring- you there is no worthy ambition but that a true Chris- tian faith elevates and ennobles, no proper pleasure but that it purifies and enhances, no life but that it beautifies and blesses, — no death but that it may divest of its g-loom, and transform the passag-e across the dark waters into a triumphal entry throug-h the Gate Beautiful, to the Beautiful Beyond. And while we have full assurance that God will in no wise reject the truly contrite heart, even thoug-h that heart contain but the dreg's of a wasted and a misspent life, yet O! how like sweet incense must rise to the Throne of Grace the offering- of one of these young- and joyous hearts, to whom the world offers so much, yet willing- to forsake all, if need be, for the hig-her, happier, and better Christ-life. Then pardon me if I urg-e upon you the importance of attending- to this matter while the heart is still tender and susceptible, and 286 LECTURES. ere the evil days come, when in bitterness and sorrow despondently you say, "I have no pleasure in them!" And that the God of g-race and peace and love may be with you always, and bless your lives and g-uide your footsteps, and at last bring- you into his Heavenly Rest, is the sincere prayer of your humble servant. CHAPTER X. RELIGIOUS FAITH. As I have been disposed to examine and consider and decide for myself, in pursuing* those sciences pertaining* to the material, so I have held myself equally independent in studying* and interpreting* that Revelation which treats of thing's spiritual. While believing- implicitly in the truth and inspiration of the Bible, yet my under- standing* of some portions of it may differ quite materially from that of many people whose faith in the Old Book is nevertheless as perfect as mine could possibly be; and it was, until recently, my determination never to g*ive my peculiar relig*ious views to the public, lest they mig*ht tend to unsettle the faith of any who have accepted some wor- thy established creed. But since coming- in contact with the so- 288 RELIGIOUS FAITH. called "hig-her criticism," the question has very forcibly presented itself to my mind, if the extreme views of the Orthodox faith re- specting" everlasting- punishment etc. , may not have incited this Bible revolt, which we are told numbers in its ranks so many who have been sealed and sanctified for its de- fense. Hence my decision to undertake an honest and unbiased discussion of those vital principles which g-ive form to the Christian faith; admitting" however, that I believe we may without 'prejudice differ in minor par- ticulars, and that it may not have been the Divine -plan to have all men interpret the Scriptures strictly alike. If, for instance, the Bible had been writ- ten so plainly, and every proposition made so transparent that a sing'le reading- would satisfy, and convey the same impressions to every reader, men would soon have laid it aside, as being- of no farther use to them, and it would long- ag'o have become an obso- lete and forg-otten book. But it is wisely so constituted that each new reading- discovers new" and interestino- truths; and while true RELIGIOUS FAITH. 289 believers accept in common its fundamental precepts, they may yet differ sufficiently in the lesser matters of faith to maintain that friendly controversy which keeps it always before the people. It is estimated that the active life of the averag*e book is no more than ten years, and that but very few survive a century; yet to this divinely wise feature of their composi- tion is perhaps due the survival of the Holy Scriptures through all the years of history, whose steady flight has witnessed the birth triumph and decay of the grandest w^orks of art, literature and science; the rise and fall of empires, — while the glorious onward march of the Gospel of Peace has encircled the Globe. Up to the time of my conversion to Chris- tianity, my religious training* had been pure- ly Orthodox, and I had never for a moment questioned the correctness of its teachings respecting the absolute immortality of the soul — that for weal or woe the soul of man shall live on and on, through the countless ages of eternity. But with the new light 290 RELIGIOUS FAITH. and interest gained from that conversion, I studied the Scriptures, not for the purpose of fortifying" any preconceived opinions of my own, nor any accepted creed, — I sought for Truth! and the truth only. And now, at the risk of being' charged with heresy, I must confess that I found no \\ords in the Old Testament or the New, declaring', or directly implying that the soul of man is absolutely immortal. Though we find abundant promise that they who have accepted the Gospel condi- tions of man's redemption, and manifest the same in their daily walk, are heirs of Heav- en and a blest immortality, yet all passages referring to future punishment, if properly analyzed, tend to show that the unrepentant \Aicked, vjith a fezv exceptions, shall finally die: *'Por the wages of sin is death." This is also evinced in the words of our Savior — "For Crod so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoso- ever believe th in him should not f>erish, but have everlasting life." JoIdi, j : /6. These words plainly imply that the unbelieving RELIGIOUS FAITH. 291 shall perish: and we find that the definition of the word, perish, is to die, to decay; and not to live in torment. But I am aware that the Bible contains several other passag^es which are commonly interpreted as being- declarations of eternal punishment to the wicked. I will not under- take to review them all, but will take up a few of those which appear most positive and forcible in expression: In the 9th chapter of Mark's Gospel we find several times repeated the often quoted words, "Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched!" which passag^e is by many supposed to imply that the fire and the condemned soul, both exist forever; the one always tormenting- the other. But if we analyze this sentence, we will see at once that the two words, worm and fire, are simply a repetition of terms, both meaning- that which destroys; fire being- re- ferred to. throug-hout the Bible, and at all times recog-nized as the g-reat destructive element, and the term, worm, being- used in the same scriptural sense. For example, in 292 RELIGIOUS FAITH. the book of Joel, 2 : 25— "And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the canker-worm and the caterpillar, and the palmer- worm, my great army which I have sent among- you." And again in Job, 19 :26 — "And though after my skin, worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God!" The book of Revelation also contains some forcible expressions of this character; con- spicuously among- these being Rev. 14 :11 — "And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night who worship the beast and his imag-e, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name." This passage, strong and conclusive as it may at first appear, and is by many regard- ed, does not say that the unfortunate ones referred to coutinuc in torment; it sa3^s that the smoke of their torment — of the firey me- dium of their destruction, ascends forever; and this for a reason considered later. The latter clause of the passage quoted does however appear to imply a eoutimied RELIGIOUS FAITH. 293 unrest ; but as the verb employed in it has the form of the present tense ('they have no rest, etc.') and not of the future tense (they shall have no rest,) the lang-uage would ap- pear to refer rather to this present state, as it is quite unlike the form of expression used in Rev. 20 : 10, which, in referring to an end- less future, employs the verb. Shall be! But lest this should not be conclusive, let us briefly examine two more passag-es which appear the strong-est in their denunciation of sinners of anything- found in the Bible. In Matt. 25:41, we find these words: "Then shall he also say unto them on the left hand. Depart from me ye cursed, into everlastinof fire prepared for the Devil and his ang-els." Also in 2d. Thess. 1:9. "Who shall be pun- ished with everlasting- destruction, from the presence of the Lord, and from the g-lory of his power." The first of these quotations, positive as it may sound, does not imply eternal torture to the accursed in g-eneral, unless the word prepared refers to them, as many carelessly construe it; but if we examine the passag-e 294 RELIGIOUS FAITH. in connection with others in the Bible which have a reference to it, w^e will lind that the word prepared refers to the fire, and not to the condemned, and it mig-ht properly read thus — Depart ye cursed into that fire rchich is prepared for the Devil and his angels. This conclusion is sustained by the words of the second quotation, in which the ever- lasting' fire is called "everlasting- destruc- tion;" and the lost souls w^ho have a part in it must necessarily be destroyed; which, as repeatedly declared in the 20th. and 21st. chapts. of Rev. "Is the second death." The words of our Savior, as recorded in Matt. 10 :28, also clearly imply that the soul of man is not absolutely immortal, and that Hell is the appointed place for the destruc- tion of lost souls: the passag-e reads thus — "Fear not them that kill the body, but can- not kill the soul; but rather fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in Hell." But \yhy then is that place of destruction made everlasting-, if after the final day of judg-ment, the condemned are destroyed ? A few pag"es back, I referred to some excep- RELIGIOUS FAITH. 295 tions apparently made, in which the second death bring-s no relief. Those exceptions are clearly indicated by the words found in Rev. 20 : 10—' 'And the Devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brim- stone, w^here the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and nig-ht, for ever and ever." In Rev. 19:19,20,21, though a different fig'ure of expression is used, yet it not only confirms the foreg^oing* quotation, but plain- ly marks the distinction made between those arch offenders and the rank and file of sin- ners. It reads thus : "And I saw^ the beast and the king's of the earth, and their armies g-athered tog-eth- er to make w^ar agfainst Him that sat on the horse, and ag-ainst His army. "And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wroug-ht miracles be- fore him, w^ith which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshiped his imag^e. These both w^ere cast alive into a lake of fire burning* with brimstone. 296 REIvIGIOUS FAITH. "And the remnant were slain \\ ith the sword of Him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of His mouth; and all the fowls were filled with their flesh." AN INTERMEDIATE STATE. That there is an intermediate state, in which the souls of mankind have either a conscious, or an unconscious existence, from the time of departing* this earthly life, till the final resurrection, is clearly indicated by many passages of Scripture, w^hile none seem to plainly refute it. When the thief on the cross spake in the Savior's defense, and prayed for his remem- brance when he should come into his king-- dom, our Savior gfraciously replied, "to-day shalt thou be with me in Paradise!'' Luke 2j : 4J, But we read in the first chapter of the book of Acts, that it was forty days be- fore Christ ascended to Heaven; therefore the Paradise he referred to could not have been the hig"h Heaven wherein the Father and his holy ang-els dwell. We also read in Acts, 2 :34 — "For David RELIGIOUS FAITH. 297 is not ascended into the Heavens:" and in John, 3 : 13, Christ himself says, "And no man hath ascended up to Heaven, but he that came down from Heaven, even the Son of man which is in Heaven." And ag^ain in 1st. Cor. 15:20, St. Paul says, "But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the Jirst fruits of them that slept." These passag-es, and several others of a like character, imply that up to the time of the Savior's advent no man had yet ascend- ed to the hig'h Heaven; and that until the final resurrection, which will be heralded by his second coming*, none will so ascend, is manifested by the Savior's own words in Matthew, 16 :27 — "For the Son of man will come in the gflory of his Father, with the ang*els; and the)i he shall reward every man according- to his works." Also in St. John, 5 : 28,29— "Marvel not at this, for the hour is coming-, in the which all that are in their g-raves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done g"ood, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrec- 298 RELIGIOUS FAITH. tion of damnation." (that is, shall be raised or resurrected to meet condemnatory judg- ment). Likewise in Thess. 4 : 16, Paul says, "For the Lord himself shall descend from Heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first." As many ag-es have already passed since Christ's departure from this earth, and we know not how many more may ensue before his second coming', when all shall rise and appear before the judgment bar of God, a consideration of how that period of existence is employed by those who have departed this life, is a study of particular interest. Many expressions throughout ilie Bible would lead us to infer that the departed may repose in that unconscious state called slccf> till the resurrection morn, since that term is freely employed in the Scriptures to de- scribe their changed existence. And \\ hile that may be true of the majority, 3^et the inspired teacher Paul, though appearing to hold this view, in part, as is shown by his words in 1st. Cor. 15 : 51 , vet makes a most RELIGIOUS' FAITH. 299 decided exception. The passag-e reads thus : "Behold, I show you a mystery: we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be chang*ed." These words appear to imply plainly, that while many vjill sleep, yet others will not. This exception is in perfect accord \^ ith the Savior's words recorded in John, 11 \%^, which read, "And whosoever liveth and be- lie veth in me, shall never die !" I interpret this clause as meaning- that they who believe in the Savior in this life, and manifest their faith by their works, will at once, on leaving- the earthly sphere, enter into a conscious and blessed intermediate state; or in the lang-uag-e of the Savior, shall never die. This I believe to be the First Resurrection, spoken of in Revelation, 20 :6, — "Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such, the second death hath no power." But does the exception apply only to the Lord's redeemed? There is introduced into the 16th chap, of Luke's Gospel a narrative from the Savior's own lips, which appears emphasized by standing- alone; apparently 300 RELIGIOUS FAITH. having- no connection with the preceding- por- tion of the chapter; and whether g-iv^en as a parable, or as a historic fact, men have been unable to decide. But as it came from the lips of One who never spake an idle w^ord, and whose every expression was fraug-ht with a purpose, we must conclude that it was g-iven for our instruction. In this narrative, the miserable and ema- ciated beg-gfar, Lazarus, is represented as lying' at the rich man's gate, and desiring- to be fed with the crumbs which fell from his table: that in time the begfg-ar died, and was carried by the ang-els into Abraham's bosom. The rich man also died, and was buried; and in Hell he lifted up his eyes, being- in torment; and seeing- Abraham afar off and Lazarus in his bosom, he implored Father Abraham to send Lazarus to relieve him in his torment. But Abraham replied, "Son! remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy g-ood thing's, and likewise Lazarus evil thing-s ; but now he is comforted, and thou art tor- RELIGIOUS FAITH. 301 mentcd. And besides all this, between us and you there is a great g-ulf fixed, so that they w ho would pass from hence to you, can- not; neither can they pass to us that would come from thence." The inference drawn from this picture is that, aside from the conditions already con- sidered in the intermediate state, it may also be the place where the wrongfs of this world are in a measure righted; and that they who have known extreme poverty and sufferino- here, as \\ ell as they who, by inflicting- such suffering- on others, have been enabled to fare sumptuously, shall each of them receive his proper reward; while the two, in their changed conditions, are separated by a g-ulf more exclusive and impassable than the so- cial barrier which separates them here. This inference finds further support in the words of our Savior, as recorded in the 6th chap, of St. Luke, the 21st verse reading- thus : "Blessed are ye that hunger now; for ye shall be filled. Blessed are ye that weep now; for ye shall laugh." The 24th verse also reading- — "But woe unto vou that are 302 RELIGIOUS FAITH. rich! for ye have received your consolation." Several passag-es of Scripture however confirm my belief that the latter quotation refers only to those rich people who lead selfish and ung^odly lives, and not to the no- ble few who are faithful stewards of God's bounty. IMMORTALITY. Of the second, and final death of the unbe- lieving-, after the g-eneral resurrection and g^reat judg-ment day, and the everlasting" punishment of Satan and the false prophets that deceived the people, enough has already been said, I trust, to make plain my opinion on those important questions. But when I come to write of the unspeak- able g'lory and happiness of the eternal life awaiting- those who will be found worthy to enter the pearly g*ates of the New Jerusa- lem, I feel that pen and brain are inadequate to discuss the g-lowing* descriptions of the inspired writers. And I can only conceive that it will be the complete g-ratifying- and satisfving* of that constant long'ing' for some- RELIGIOUS FAITH. 303 thing- better and liig-her and nobler, which is an inseparable part of the normal earthly life: and the thought that it will he forever should render lig-ht and insig-nificant all the sacrifice to g-ain it w^hich we are called upon to make in this life, whose duration, as com- pared with eternity, is as a single drop to the great Ocean. In conclusion then, I most reverently com- mend to every unbeliever the words of prom- ise and hope uttered by our Savior, "He that believeth in me hath everlasting- life." ,and to every believer, his words of comfort and encourag-ement, "He that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved!'' From the foreg-oing- discussion of relig'- ious faith, I deduce the following', which is — MY ACCEPTED CREED. I believe in God the Father, Creator of Heaven and Earth; in Christ the Savior, in his divine orig-in, and in his power and wil- lingfness to forg-ive and save all who dili- g-ently seek him: also in the Holy Spirit, 304 RELIGIOUS FAITH. which the Lord sendeth to those whom he receiyeth. I believe in an intermediate state wherein all souls w^ait, either unconsciously, or in some degree of happiness or unhappiness, the General Resurrection: that in the great Judgment Day the conscious existence of un- believers will finally end, which is the Sec- ond Death: but that Satan and the false prophets will live under God's displeasure forever. I believe that they w^hose names are found written in the Book of Life wnll then be re- ceived into a blest Immortality, and a home in the Beautiful Heaven wherein the Father dwells; there to live in peace and happiness forever. . APOLOGIES, In the earlier pag^es of this volume I spoke of my failure in g-aining- recog-nition from the publishers, and in consequence the query will arise as to how I finally g"ot into print. If the volume were a better production of the book-maker's art, that query would re- main unanswered by me. But as it is, I feel that I owe not only an explanation, but an apolog-y to the reader, as well, for the im- perfections apparent to the critical eye. Lacking- the necessary means, and being* persistently denied the opportunity to earn means sufficient to g-et my work published, I finally resolved to turn printer myself; and securing" a small S18. press and three fonts of type, I beg-an without any instruction, or previous knowledge of the printer's trade. 306 APOLOGIES. Thoug-h by continued effort I in time ac- quired a deg*ree of skill at the case and the press, yet owing- to my inexperience and my vision being' a little impaired by too close ap- plication, I find on review that some faults exist — that besides imperfect press work, there are errors typog-raphical, and perhaps g*rammatical and orthog^raphical, as well as errors of taste and judg-ment in arrang-ing- matter; and for all these I most humbly and sincerely apolog-ize. But for the sentiments expressed, I have no apology to offer. They have been care- fully weig-hed and considered, and are the result of years of observation, study, and investio-ation, founded on an unmistakable Christian conversion, and I am willing- to be judg-ed by them. Thoug-h the sig-ns of the times, and the history of past efforts in the cause of Truth tell me that I shall hardly hear the g-rateful "Well done" in this world for the effort I have made, and though I have no great and buoyant hope of hearing- it in the world to come, yet I shall live hoping, and die hoping MY PRINTING HOUSE. APOLOGIES. 307 that when the greater works of men are being- reviewed, and Heaven's arches ring" with the g*lad praises of those w^ho have been more liberally endowed and favorably circumstanced, then He in whom I have believed, and whose cause of Truth I have tried to serve, will offer this apolog-y for me : — "He hath done what he could." THE END. Date Due fipn::^-^ } m PRINTED IN U. S. A. 1 1012 01007 6216 i 1 m mm iilll i ^'♦•^•^l>Wit^{>5»5>i iffl m m§m} 'r%W/////\¥>Vt9' iililii