In reference to the nebula in the Sword’s-handle of Orion, which contains matter sufficient to form two thousand and two hundred trillions of suns like our own; if this matter is of any density—or if not, even—it would seemingly cool almost instantly in an element 300° below zero. In truth how could it have become heated unless composed of some combustible element, like hydrogen, that would spring of itself into a mass of flame with an energy,—if there is conservation of energy,—that would exist for ever, and might repeat its work over and over again as do the oceans of our earth? There is no evidence, as far as we have ascertained, that this nebula rotates; nor can we believe that its luminosity is caused by swift revolution when our own sun, less than one million of miles in diameter, rotates but once in twenty-five days and is now moving swifter, according to the laws of mechanics appertaining to spherical, vaporous bodies, than ever before.
Even scientists and philosophers cannot tell us of the formation of a grass-seed, from which springs life identical with its kind; neither can they detect with the best microscope any difference between the varied forms of matter in the first stages of inception, nor feel sure whether there will be developed therefrom a tree, a dog, an elephant, or a man. For two hundred years spontaneous combustion has been discussed, some finding from an infusion of hay that life appeared; but when the idea was supposed to have been proved it was discovered that life was in air, and with the life-germs taken from it no spontaneous generation would arise. Later it was found that bacteriae would exist in great heat, and from that fact biogenesis was thought proved; for life only could come from life. We remember also that for years the famous Bodes Law was considered fully established, until upon the discovery of planet Neptune it was found to be so far out of position that the law was no longer applicable to the distribution of the planets of the solar system. Remembering all these changes after science considered the theories well established, we believe there are things to-day about nebulae, even, that conflict with the hypothesis under consideration; as, for instance the irregular shape they often assume, and the fact that many have already been resolved into stars with the aid of sufficiently powerful instruments.
CHAPTER IX.
LIMITATIONS.
To understand how our powers are limited let us take the following illustrations. We see a horse of great fleetness, power, and intelligence, with a barn before him all his life; and yet unable to build one though he well knows it will protect him from the winds, cold, and rain. We likewise see man with grass-seed, grains of sand and oceans of water before him, and floods of air above; unable to make a particle of any of these, no matter how much he needs soil to stand on, water to quench his thirst, or air to breathe. His powers are limited; he cannot live in ocean, sail the air, or even penetrate the earth to any great depth. There are barriers against him, and although he has invented wondrous ships, they do not yet take him to the North or South Poles. Not that he does not know where the Poles are upon the earth’s surface, but he seems thus far utterly unable to pass the surrounding barriers. May not these very barriers be protecting some creatures that otherwise might be exposed to injury or extermination? for we see how living things are protected, oftentimes, by their diminutive size so that animals of greater power and size cannot enter their homes to harm them; or the weaker ones have a fleetness given to them whereby they escape in time of danger.
We find man endowed with such reason and wisdom that occasionally he discovers keys unlocking the mysteries of creation; these have already opened to our view, the “ancient sunlight,” and developed steam, electricity, and other of the natural forces for man’s benefit. Suppose that George Washington had awakened after but a night’s sleep and been told that King George of England desired to speak with him. Would not the astonished General have asked: “What has become of the Atlantic ocean that I am expected to talk with King George without going to London to meet him!” That which would have inextricably puzzled the Great Commander-in-Chief is to-day scarcely thought of as mysterious, and we may believe that many like mysteries will yet yield to man’s remarkable intelligence. On this great earth with its 270,000 millions of cubic miles, with its oceans of water and the ocean of air surrounding it, and with the enormous amount of light and heat falling upon it from the sun, we see life enough to lead us to know assuredly there must be oceans of life of which we at present know nothing. Take, for instance, any field or garden and extend it however far you please—even to cover the whole earth if you will—and with but a single grass-seed you can cover the whole earth with that particular kind of grass;—assuming that it has the necessary light, heat, and moisture to make it grow and increase. We know there is light and heat in abundance, for enough falls upon the torrid zone alone to give to the whole earth a moderate temperature, if equally diffused. We know, further, that this single grass-seed is not the life but simply the key that will unlock any quantities of life. What is true of the seed is true also of every variety of vegetable and animal life. The present ocean and earth are invisible to one born blind, and as little do we see the oceans of life about us. Knowing as we must that such life exists let us look for the fire-mist of life, a few particles of which are familiar to us. We reason from the life we now see that it can be extended; then let us extend it, as the fire-mist of our planetary system, to Neptune’s bounds, reasoning in the same manner from the least to the greatest. If we do not choose to use one cycle of time we may take millions of them, as in the cooling fire-mist theory; but we must not forget that the life we know is only on the crust of earth and goes back but a few thousand years. If earth is the same material as the sun and it takes, as we have stated, two million earths to make one sun of a million miles diameter, with no limit to the number of such suns; we can readily understand, from what we know of life here, that there may exist other great and wonderful beings beyond our highest apprehension.
We are limited in sight, for we cannot see but a few miles through the clearest atmosphere. The mountains at no great distance take on a cloud-like appearance, and resemble more nearly the surrounding sky than the great heights of rock and earth they are found to be when viewed near at hand. When we endeavor to look beneath us and find that we cannot gaze for a single foot into the earth; and that gold and diamonds might lie six inches underneath our feet and we not be able to observe them, we understand how greatly our vision is limited. Electric currents pass over the many wires strung throughout our cities, and our sight is so limited that though we look long and intensely we are not able to detect that electricity. The life in all animals and vegetation is also imperceptible to us, for we only know of its existence from the movements and appearances of bodies that possess life, as compared with those that do not possess it. There are many qualities of life—as love, goodness, virtue, hate, jealousy, and revenge—that are as dissimilar as fire and water, or darkness and light; and could we behold them they would assume shapes differing as greatly as globes, squares, and triangles differ.
Still, what we most long to see are the spirits of our loved ones as they depart from this mortal life and ascend into the presence of their Creator; but look as long as we will, with all the faculties we possess, we must at last fall back upon the assurance that our faith in the Word of God lays hold of for our comfort and consolation. Though we there learn that “Enoch walked with God and was not, for God took him;” that Elijah went up by a whirlwind into Heaven; that Moses and Elias were revealed on the Mount of Transfiguration; and that Jesus after his resurrection was seen by His followers for forty days; yet the human beings we know and love must leave their bodies behind them as they wing their flight to worlds beyond, and our sight is so limited that we cannot perceive the souls even of our own life and being after they have left their home in the flesh. In the same manner we should know nothing of the depths of space only for the light that comes from stars removed an inconceivable distance; for of this fact we are assured by astronomers, and we should never dream that we looked a thousand miles into the heavens only for those outside worlds that give to us, through their magnitudes and distances, a faint conception of the Infinite Greatness.