Recreations in Astronomy: With Directions for Practical Experiments and Telescopic WorkWarren, Henry White
Religion
Recreations in Astronomy: With Directions for Practical Experiments and Telescopic Work
Warren, Henry White
Astronomy
Le Sage's theory of gravitation by the infinitive hail of atoms
cannot stand a minute, hence we come back as a necessity of thought
to Herschel's statement. "It is but reasonable to regard gravity
as a result of a consciousness and a will existent somewhere."
Where? I read an old book speaking of these matters, and it says
of God, He hangeth the earth upon nothing; he upholdeth constantly
all things by the word of his power. [Page 254] By him all things
consist or hold together. It teaches an imminent mind; an almighty,
constantly exerted power. Proof of this starts up on every side.
There is a recognized tendency in all high-class energy to
deteriorate to a lower class. There is steam in the boiler, but it
wastes without fuel. There is electricity in the jar, but every
particle of air steals away a little, unless our conscious force is
exerted to regather it. There is light in the sun, but infinite
space waits to receive it, and takes it swift as light can leap. We
said that if the sun were pure coal, it would burn out in five
thousand years, but it blazes undimmed by the million. How can it?
There have been various theories: chemical combustion, it has
failed; meteoric impact, it is insufficient; condensation, it is not
proved; and if it were, it is an intermediate step back to the
original cause of condensation. The far-seeing eyes see in the sun
the present active power of Him who first said, "Let there be
light," and who at any moment can meet a Saul in the way to Damascus
with a light above the brightness of the sun--another noon arisen on
mid-day; and of whom it shall be said in the eternal state of
unclouded brightness, where sun and moon are no more, "The glory of
the Lord shall lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof."
But suppose matter could be dowered, that worlds could have a
gravitation, one of two things must follow: It must have conscious
knowledge of the position, exact weight, and distance of every
atom, mass, and world, in order to proportion the exact amount of
gravity, or it must fill infinity with an omnipresent attractive
power, pulling in myriads of places at nothing; in [Page 255] a few
places at worlds. Every world must exert an infinitely extended
power, but myriads of infinities cannot be in the same space. The
solution is, one infinite power and conscious will.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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