THE VERACITY OF THE BIBLE MAY BE TESTED BY ITS COSMOGONY

Let us therefore apply this test, and let us settle the question whether we shall have to write at the end of these pages, “The Romance of the Bible,” or “The Romance of Science.”

Of course all thoughtful Christians will be able to state assuredly that it will be the latter.

Having traced the origin of the whirling globe theory, let us now analyze its nature and its bearings by the dictates of Reason, governed by the unimpeachable claims of the Holy Scripture.

If we only allow our reason and observation to act apart from the prejudice of our early training there is not a single fact in all Nature which goes in opposition to the teaching of the Bible, but, on the contrary, all the practical experiments that have ever been made, go unmistakably to prove that the Bible is as scientifically accurate when it states that God “hath fixed the earth on its basis that it shall not be removed for ever,” as it is in setting forth the promise of Eternal Life and Re-Creation in the through our Lord, Jesus the Christ.

In connection with the Newtonian theory the first thing of which we are informed is that the Earth is a “planet,” and that it is one of a group of orbs which circle round the sun, and hence are called the “Solar System.” If a reason for such a conclusion is asked for, the only attempt ever made to satisfy the enquirer is entirely unsatisfactory and unenlightening. They tell us that as the sun, the moon, and the planets are globular, therefore the earth must be globular. But this is contrary to the teaching of the Bible, which states that the earth is “fixed” and that the heavenly bodies were made to give light to our earth, and to divide the light from the darkness, and to rule over the day and over the night. Also the true order of Creation is given in the Second Commandment, which states that Heaven is above, the Earth beneath, and the water under the Earth.

These statements from Holy Writ, which agree with the evidence of our God-given senses, and by which we behold the fact that the Bible account of Creation is true, precludes the possibility of our acceptance of the unscriptural and wildly romantic teaching presented to us by modern scientists.

It also seems that the “shadow of the earth upon the Moon” proof is on its last legs; and we hope ere long to see the open admission that the periodical lunar eclipse (even as it has been admitted regarding circular sailing) is “no proof of the earth’s globularity” printed in books for instructing the young. For at last our opponents are beginning to realize that the fact that the sun and the moon having been both seen above the horizon at the time when a lunar eclipse occurred, proves, even from their own standpoint, that it is not the shadow of the earth which causes the so-called eclipse of the moon, as the following diagram will show:

If the sun and moon have ever been seen above the horizon at the same time during an eclipse of the moon, it is a proof that it is not the shadow of the earth which eclipses the moon. Let A be the earth and its horizon, and let B be the moon, and C the sun. Now it is evident that any shadow cast by A could not fall upon B but would fall upon D, because shadows always fall directly opposite the light, and as the light comes from C to A the shadow from A could not fall upon B but must be cast towards D. Therefore an eclipse of the moon under such conditions proves that the earth cannot be a globe.

We, planists, cannot for a moment admit that it is the shadow of the earth which is cast upon the moon, for we deny that the earth is a heavenly body. We may, or may not be able to say what this shadow is with certainty, but we are not above saying that “how” or “why” God darkens or eclipses the moon may be as “inexplicable a mystery to us as is the growth of a blade of grass.” Our Lord’s words regarding the Holy Spirit, when He said: we “cannot tell whence it cometh, or whither it goeth, and so is every one that is born of the Spirit,” should bring us to remember that God has not yet revealed unto us the “whys” and the “wherefores” of all things.

To proceed with our cursory glance at the nature of bearings of the Romance of Modern Science; regarding the earth’s supposed motions, we cannot enquire into the proofs of these motions for the simple reason that no real proofs are ever offered. We are required by our fellow mortals to believe, in contradiction to the evidence of our senses (under the penalty of being jeered at, and called cranks and “lunatics”) that the earth has a number of different motions, the two principal of which being its “axial” and “orbital” movements; and yet, not a single fact or proof is ever offered in support of such far-fetched and unreasonable suppositions save that which globe scientists terms “ the pendulum proof” which, though no proof at all, we must here discuss.