In the preceding sections it has been shown that the Copernican, or Newtonian theory of Astronomy is “an absurd composition of truth and error;” and, as admitted by its founder, “not necessarily true or even probable,” and that instead of its being a general conclusion derived from known and admitted facts, it is a heterogeneous compound of assumed premises, isolated truths, and variable appearances in nature. Its advocates are challenged to show a single instance wherein a phenomenon is explained, a calculation made, or a conclusion advanced without the aid of an avowed or implied assumption! The very construction of a theory at all, and especially such as the Copernican, is a complete violation of that natural and legitimate mode of investigation to which the term zetetic has been applied. The doctrine of the universality of gravitation is an assumption, made only in accordance with that “pride and ambition which has led philosophers to think it beneath them to offer anything less to the world than a complete and finished system of nature.” It was said, in effect, by Newton, and has ever since been insisted upon by his disciples—“Allow us, without proof, the existence of two universal forces—centrifugal and centripetal, or attraction and repulsion, and we will construct a system which shall explain all the leading mysteries of nature. An apple falling from a tree, or a stone rolling downwards, and a pail of water tied to a string set in rapid motion were assumed to be types of the relations existing among all the bodies in the universe. The moon was assumed to have a tendency to fall towards the Earth, and the Earth and Moon together towards the Sun. The same relation was assumed to exist between all the smaller and larger luminaries in the firmament; and it soon became necessary to extend this assumption to infinity. The universe was parcelled out into systems—co-existent and illimitable. Suns, Planets, Satellites, and Comets were assumed to exist, infinite in number and boundless in extent; and to enable the theorists to explain the alternating and constantly recurring phenomena which were everywhere observable, these numberless and for-ever-extending objects were assumed to be spheres. The Earth we inhabit was called a planet; and because it was thought to be reasonable that the luminous objects in the firmament which were called planets were spherical and had motion, so it was only reasonable to suppose that as the Earth was a planet it must also be spherical and have motion—ergo, the Earth is a globe, and moves upon axes and in an orbit round the Sun! And as the Earth is a globe, and is inhabited, so again it is only reasonable to conclude that the planets are worlds like the Earth, and are inhabited by sentient beings! What reasoning! Assumption upon assumption, and the conclusion derived therefrom called a thing proved, to be employed as a truth to substantiate the first assumption! Such a “juggle and jumble” of fancies and falsehoods, extended and intensified as it is in theoretical astronomy, is calculated to make the unprejudiced inquirer revolt in horror from the terrible conjuration which has been practised upon him; to sternly resolve to resist its further progress; to endeavour to overthrow the entire edifice, and to bury in its ruins the false honours which have been associated with its fabricators, and which still attach to its devotees. For the learning, the patience, the perseverance, and devotion for which they have ever been examples, honour and applause need not be withheld; but their false reasoning, the advantages they have taken of the general ignorance of mankind in respect to astronomical subjects, and the unfounded theories they have advanced and defended, cannot but be regretted, and ought to be resisted. It has become a duty, paramount and imperative, to meet them in open, avowed, and unyielding rebellion; to declare that their unopposed reign of error and confusion is over; and that henceforth, like a falling dynasty, they must shrink and disappear, leaving the throne and the kingdom to those awakening intellects whose numbers are constantly increasing, and whose march is rapid and irresistible. The soldiers of truth and reason have drawn the sword, and ere another generation has been educated, will have forced the usurper to abdicate. The axe is lifted—it is falling, and in a very few years will have “cut the cumberer down.”
The Earth a Globe, and it is necessarily demanded that it has a diurnal and an annual and various other motions; for a globular world without motion would be useless—day and night, winter and summer, the half year’s light and darkness at the “North Pole,” and other phenomena could not be explained by the supposition of rotundity without the assumption also of rapid and constant motion. Hence it is assumed that the Earth and Moon, and all the Planets and their Satellites move in relation to each other, and that the whole move together in different planes round the Sun. The Sun and its “system” of revolving bodies are now assumed to have a general and all-inclusive motion, in common with an endless series of other Suns and systems, around some other and “central Sun” which has been assumed to be the true axis and centre of the Universe! These assumed general motions with the particular and peculiar motions which are assigned to the various bodies in detail, together constitute a system so confused and complicated that it is almost impossible and always difficult of comprehension by the most active and devoted minds. The most simple and direct experiments, however, may be shown to prove that the Earth has no progressive motion whatever; and here again the advocates of this interminable and entangling arrangement are challenged to produce a single instance of so called proofs of these motions which does not involve an assumption—often a glaring falsehood—but always a point which is not, or cannot be demonstrated.
The magnitudes, distances, velocities, and periodic times which these assumed motions eliminate, are all glaringly fictitious, because they are only such as a false theory creates a necessity for. It is geometrically demonstrable that all the visible luminaries in the firmament are within a distance of a few thousand miles, not more than the space which stretches between the North Pole and the Cape of Good Hope; and the principle of measurement—that of plane triangulation—which demonstrates this important fact, is one which no mathematician, demanding to be considered a master in the science, dare for a moment deny. All these luminaries then, and the Sun itself, being so near to us, cannot be other than very small as compared with the Earth we inhabit. They are all in motion over the Earth, which is alone immoveable, and therefore they cannot be anything more than secondary and subservient structures, ministering to this fixed material world, and to its inhabitants. This is a plain, simple, and in every respect demonstrable philosophy, agreeing with the evidence of our senses, borne out by every fairly instituted experiment, and never requiring a violation of those principles of investigation which the human mind has ever recognized, and depended upon in its every day life. The modern, or Newtonian Astronomy, has none of these characteristics. The whole system taken together constitutes a most monstrous absurdity. It is false in its foundation; irregular, unfair, and illogical in its details; and in its conclusions inconsistent and contradictory. Worse than all, it is a prolific source of irreligion and of atheism, of which its advocates are, practically, supporters! By defending a system which is directly opposite to that which is taught in connection with all religions, they lead the more critical and daring intellects to reject the scriptures altogether, to ignore the worship, and doubt and deny the existence of a Supreme Ruler of the world. Many of the primest minds are thus irreparably injured, robbed of those present pleasures, and that cheering hope of the future which the earnest christian devotee holds as of far greater value than all earthly wealth and grandeur; or than the mastery of all the philosophical complications which the human mind ever invented.
The doctrine of the Earth’s rotundity and motion is now shown to be unconditionally false; and therefore the scriptures which assert the contrary, are, in their philosophical teachings at least, literally true. In practical science therefore, atheism and denial of scriptural authority have no foundation. If human theories are cast aside, and the facts of nature, and legitimate reasoning alone depended upon, it will be seen that religion and true philosophy are not antagonistic, and that the hopes which both encourage may be fully relied upon. To the religious mind this matter is most important, it is indeed no less than a sacred question, for it renders complete the evidence that the Jewish and Christian scriptures are true, and must have been communicated to mankind by an anterior and supernal Being. For if after so many ages of mental struggling, of speculation and trial, and change and counterchange, we have at length discovered that all astronomical theories are false, that the Earth is a plane, and motionless, and that the various luminaries above it are lights only and not worlds; and that these very doctrines have been taught and recorded in a work which has been handed down to us from the earliest times; from a time, in fact, when mankind could not have had sufficient experience to enable them to criticise and doubt, much less to invent, it follows that whoever dictated and caused such doctrines to be recorded and preserved to all future generations, must have been superhuman, omniscient, and, to the Earth and its inhabitants pre-existent.
To the dogged Atheist, whose “mind is made up” not to enter into any further investigation, and not to admit of possible error in his past conclusions, this question is of no more account than it is to an Ox. He who cares not to re-examine from time to time his state of mind, and the result of his accumulated experience is in no single respect better than the lowest animal in creation. He may see nothing higher, more noble, more intelligent or beautiful than himself; and in this his pride, conceit, and vanity find an incarnation. To such a creature there is no God, for he is himself an equal with the highest being he has ever recognised! Such Atheism exists to an alarming extent among the philosophers of Europe and America; and it has been mainly fostered by the astronomical and geological theories of the day. Besides which, in consequence of the differences between the language of Scripture and the teachings of modern Astronomy, there is to be found in the very hearts of Christian and Jewish congregations a sort of “smouldering scepticism;” kind of faint suspicion which causes great numbers to manifest a cold and visible indifference to religious requirements. It is this which has led thousands to desert the cause of earnest, active Christianity, and which has forced the majority of those who still remain in the ranks of religion to declare “that the Scriptures were not intended to teach correctly other than moral and religious doctrines; that the references so often made to the physical world, and to natural phenomena generally, are given in language to suit the prevailing notions and the ignorance of the people.” A Christian philosopher who wrote almost a century ago in reference to remarks similar to the above, says, “Why should we suspect that Moses, Joshua, David, Solomon, and the later prophets and inspired writers have counterfeited their sentiments concerning the order of the universe, from pure complaisance, or being in any way obliged to dissemble with a view to gratify the prepossessions of the populace? These eminent men being kings, lawgivers, and generals themselves, or always privileged with access to the courts of sovereign princes, besides the reverence and awful dignity which the power of divination and working of miracles procured to them, had great worldly and spiritual authority.... They had often in charge to command, suspend, revert, and otherwise interfere with the course and laws of nature, and were never daunted to speak out the truth before the most mighty potentates on earth, much less would they be overawed by the vox populi.” To say that the Scriptures were not intended to teach science truthfully, is in substance to declare that God himself has stated, and commissioned His prophets to teach things which are utterly false! Those Newtonian philosophers who still hold that the sacred volume is the Word of God, are thus placed in a fearful dilemma. How can the two systems, so directly opposite in character, be reconciled? Oil and water alone will not combine—mix them by violence as we may, they will again separate when allowed to rest. Call oil oil, and water water, and acknowledge them to be distinct in nature and value; but let no “hodge-podge” be attempted, and passed off as a genuine compound of oil and water. Call Scripture the Word of God—the Creator and Ruler of all things, and the Fountain of all Truth; and call the Newtonian or Copernican Astronomy the word and work of man, of man, too, in his vainest mood—so vain and conceited as not to be content with the direct and simple teachings of his Maker, but who must rise up in rebellion and conjure into existence a fanciful complicated fabric, which being insisted upon as true, creates and necessitates the dark and horrible interrogatives—Is God a deceiver? Has He spoken direct and unequivocal falsehood? Can we no longer indulge in the beautiful and consoling thought that God’s justice, and love, and truth are unchanging and reliable for ever? Let Christians—for Sceptics and Atheists may be left out of the question—to whatever division of the Church they belong, look at this matter calmly and earnestly. Let them determine to uproot the deception which has led them to think that they can altogether ignore the plainest astronomical teaching of Scripture, and endorse a system to which it is in every sense opposed. The following language is quoted as an instance of the manner in which the doctrine of the Earth’s rotundity and the plurality of worlds interferes with Scriptural teachings:—“The theory of original sin is confuted (by our astronomical and geological knowledge), and I cannot permit the belief, when I know that our world is but a mere speck, a perishable atom in the vast space of creation, that God should just select this little spot to descend upon and assume our form, and clothe Himself in our flesh, to become visible to human eyes, to the tiny beings of this comparatively insignificant world.... Thus millions of distant worlds, with the beings allotted to them, were to be extirpated and destroyed in consequence of the original sin of Adam. No sentiment of the human mind can surely be more derogatory to the Divine attributes of the Creator, nor more repugnant to the known economy of the celestial bodies. For in the first place, who is to say, among the infinity of worlds, whether Adam was the only creature who was tempted by Satan and fell, and by his fall involved all the other worlds in his guilt.”[42]
[42] Encyclopædia Londenensis, p. 457, vol. 2.
The difficulty experienced by the author of the above remarks is clearly one which can no longer exist, when it is seen that the doctrine of a plurality of worlds is an impossibility. That it is an impossibility is shown by the fact that the Sun, Moon, and Stars are very small bodies, and very near to the earth; this fact is proved by actual non-theoretical measurement; this measurement is made on the principle of plane trigonometry: this principle of plane trigonometry is adopted because the Earth is a Plane; and all the base lines employed in the triangulation are horizontal. By the same practical method of reasoning, all the difficulties which, upon geological and astronomical grounds, have been raised to the literal teachings of the scriptures, may be completely destroyed. Instances:—The scriptures repeatedly declare that the Sun moves over the Earth—“His going forth is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it.” “He ariseth and goeth down, and hasteth to his place whence he arose.” “The sun stood still in the midst of heaven.” “Great is the Earth, high is the heaven, swift is the Sun in his course.” In the religious poems of all ages the same fact is presented. Christians especially, of every denomination, are familiar with, and often read and sing with delight such poetry as the following:—
“My God who makes the Sun to know
His proper hour to rise,
And to give light to all below