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Editorial transcription, mechanically normalized from the cited scan. The claims remain those of The Flaming Sword.
wai^s»<»Gfcefcs»sse»(»<»<^<»ee»s»siie»©ne « (0 New Century Studies ^ Reviews I I T | & Lucie Page Borden £? ^ »t3H3 43 '4 3 i«3 il S i C 3 i»3 s»3 i»3 3 i»®i CSi«3 s C®i»c)i«0 i»®i»Si»3 ©i|3 « THE HELPLESSNESS OF MODERN SCIENCE. A True Story of the Attitude of a University Graduate; the Proofs T'HK OBSERVATORIES of the world with their 1 magic lenses are pitted against one little mechan ical demonstration of the ea rth ’s contour, which con futes them all. In presenting the practical test of the terrestrial surface which has already been made in good faith and honesty, one is struck by the fact th at not even college-bred persons have the courage to tru st their own minds. A little diagram which a lad of nine can understand, is put forward to show th at the air-line projected far enough m ust determine the curvature of the surface. W hat is the answer from the average graduate of a great university? Th at he did not take up astronomy, and does not feel com petent to pro nounce upon the experiment. “But a child of nine can see th at it m ust show the earth’s curvature by the relation of chord, arc, and ta n gent. Now, does it not appeal to your common sense?” “Yes, it seems so, but I should w ant to know the opinion of Prof. Pickering, of Prof. Young, of the as tronomers in charge of the g reat observatories. If they were convinced, I should believe in the concave earth .” “Then you cannot tru st your own m ind?” “Well, I should say th at the experiment was incom plete if it only carried the air-line over four and one half miles of arc.” “But you do not see the drift of the experiment at all. The line mechanically extended touched the w ater level at the end of th at distance. T hat was the test. That showed the earth ’s surface to be concave. The object was to extend the line far enough to determ ine.” (All this had been carefully explained at the start.) “Well,Idonotfeelthat Iunderstandastronomy enough to decide.” “But this practical, mechanical experim ent has nothing to do with star-gazing. It stands on its own leet. It is independent of anything in the old as tronomy.” “Was the line extended by a com petent surveyor?” “The mechanical line has nothing to do with a surveyor’s line. T hat is an optical line. This is a novel and entirely original m ethod of proving the ea rth ’s contour. The surveyor uses a theodolite.” Then follows a description of therectilineator. The argument rests for a moment. “Well, I think the men who have proved the Copernican system m ust know enough to refute this. I feel sure they do.” This is the helplessness of the product of modern science, face to face with a dem onstration so startlin g and so novel th at it overthrow s all the hypotheses of Not Forthcoming. The Framing Sword 5 the p ast; yet so simple th ata child can comprehend its bearings. When any book is supplied with a challenge to the m ultitude and no one appears to answer it, the giant Goliath is either slain or intim idated. Where are the men who have the proofs of the Copernican system ? The graduate spoke in good faith. He was sure thev had them, but they are either dead or sleeping, for they havenotbeenfoundsincethechallengewasputforth. When any mind so brilliant as th at of Johann W olfgang Goethe denounces the Copernican hypothesis as a“ universally dissem inated delirium of lunatics,” the common people m ay be pardoned if they tru st their own minds and their common sense. The m ajority of persons are accustomed to rely upon the au th o rity of the heads of observatories as the greatest men of the day. It is not necessary to disparage these instructors who sweep the heavens with their telescopes; but they cannot give the lie to a dem onstration th at has told the tru th . The conversation above n arrated actually took place, and it shows th at the average university g rad u ate believes the proofs are at hand to refute Ivoreshan Science, but he cannot produce them. | ’H E UNSEARCHABLE RICHES of Christ were not scientifically declared to the Gentiles nineteen hundred years ago. They are so declared today. He was the continent, therefore the dry land of the age. He declared the will of God. He was th at will; but the scientific was infolded in the philosophic, so he con tained th at of which exposition is now m ade through his Messenger. The science of n atu ral life and of the physical universe could not be declared nineteen hun dred years ago, because the infant Redeemer came on another mission. He came to renew the wills of the members of his church. He did not come to give them abaptism which should then change and glorify the m ortal bodies of these members. Th at is the function of his Messenger today. The questioning of the age is in regard to the origin and destiny of m an; in regard to the shape of the earth; in regard to the origin of m atter and the cause of the world. Look at the work done by Darwin and Huxley and Tyndall. W hat does it denote? The inquiry into the laws of physical nature which has been continued by Loeb and his associates, was begun in the labora tories of these men. It was an index to the tem per of the age. We w ant to understand the things th at our fathers never knew. We not only handle dynam ite and highexplosives,butwewantto count ourselves fortu nate in harnessing the lightning and chaining the steam . When these forces are tam ed, there are new worlds to conquer in the microscope and the telescope. W hat causes the sta r dust? Why do Ju p iter and Mer cury revolve around the sun? And where are the lim its of the universe set? These are samples of the inquiries th at have ab sorbed the men of this generation and of the preceding. The Great Question, Who Hath Wisdom? 6 The Flaming Sword To settle some of these points, men have invented instrum ents and have given time and attention better spent in considering the principles of history, according to some of their friends. The scientific interest during the p ast hundred years has developed as never before. The two great representatives of science or of organ ized knowledge were Roger Bacon and his successor, Sir Francis Bacon. These men recapitulated w hat was known, each in his own day. It is only necessary to re fer to the w ritings of these men to gather an inkling of the advance in scientific inquiry since their time. Darwin suggested w hat Lam arck and others had already sighted from afar, the “ Descent of M an” from the lower forms of anim al life. He entirely forgot what W allace has put forward in the “Ascent of Man and w hat the Founder of K oreshan Science has recently called atten tio n to in these columns: The fact th at to descend from the anim als is to take a position of in feriority to their spheres, but to ascend from them is to rise to greater heights. Loeb and M atthews have been trying to discover the genesis of life, to make protoplasm , and to found life itself upon electricity. They have skirted the bor ders of parthenogenesis in their solutions, and they have actually discovered nothing of the unsearchable riches of Christ. The secrets guarded from all tim e in regard to the origin and destiny of man have been ex pounded in this m agazine and in the w ritings of the Messenger to the Gentiles. The whole house of Israel has become the fulness of the Gentiles. We are the Gentiles, and unto us are the secrets th at all men de sire made known. The m ethod of determ ining the ea rth ’s contour is original. It is a direct proof. None of the hypotheses th at pass current in astronom y have been verified. The minds of men had not expanded so far at the tim e the Christ came, th at he could give them the science of n atu ral phenomena. His riches are called unsearchable by the Apostle to the Gentiles. They had the tru th with them in Palestine, but how little of all He tau ght were they perm itted to un derstand! “Christ in you the hope of glory,” not the realization of glory which is the intellectual pa rt of Deity. God’s glory is his intellect. His love was shown in the Christ; his glory is shown today in the revelations of a true science. The carpenter’s Son has been worshiped by the Christian world for nineteen hundred years. Now the carpenter’s tool, the square, has been used to define the contour of the earth and to establish the premise of a new gospel th at opens a new era. The teachableness of “ modern science” is not seen. Jesus took a little child and set him in the m idst. He said th at of such was the kingdom of heaven. Those who are not willing to be taughtthetruth as proved by the line forced with the square, cannot enter into the work of propagating tru th . To be tau gh t, means to assume the childlike attitude. K oreshanity is no t presenting to the world an im possible standard. J 1 ^D epartm ent of Astro-Biology ; if) I ^ ^ Rabon Adonoseperi & PROGRESS OF THE SPIRIT OF LIBERTY. A Portrayal of Revolutionary Crises in the History of the Develop ment of the Anglo-Saxon Race. Part I. Continued.—Cromwell and Charles I. T HE MARCH OF AGES, dimly marked by bellying clouds, in slow procession crosses my visual field, when, glittering like a diam ond on a virgin Nubians brow, a rising sta r embedded in the inky setting of a moonless night is shown revealed; as riven by the breeze th at heralds dawn, the atm ospheric curtain that obscured my sight is rent in tw ain. Now as I gaze ami seek to probe the inner secrets of this stellar light,as courier fleeting on the wings of time, it swiftly rises to the zenith’s height, where, poised between the satyr; double horn, it sheds to earth the glories of a, sun, unt the dense obscurity of night has fully yielded to this brilliant orb of day. From out this portal of deep in terio r light, whose sacred courts no m ortal man has trod, and down the gilded stairw ay of projected light, the full-armed figure of a knight descends. No gaudy love-knots deck his dress, nor do the tinseled gew-gaws th at bespeak a regal court besmirch the chaste sim plicity a rustic soldier’s garb should show. His brow, unfurrowed by the passions’ sharp relentless plough unharrow ed by the rising lines th at cunning leave;, acclaims the culture of a sainted knight, sans pern ti sans reproche. As serpent creeping from its covert lair, a second figure, a royal knight, emerges from the lingering mist! the risen sun has not dispelled. And as this braced w arrior stars in close conjunction blend their orbs,a m ightier co n trast here unfolds th an ever Helios’ dusky ring of falling night presented to his shining eye of ris ing m orn. And as I watch, I know th at yet again tin wandering pilgrim from the glorious E ast has met to fierce opponent from the W est, and th at the radiant figure of the saintly knight enwraps the spirit of the infant son th at Anglo-Saxon barons of a by-gone day delivered to the people of their sacred trust. No weak ling m onarch of a listless court is this that now pm sents the menace of the ty ra n t’s sword, to stem tkrising tide of freedom’s cause, but the virile scion of a noble house, in which tw o thrones have entered into nuptial bonds; the proud defender of a royal cause,t U spirit of a nether hell proclaim s divine. W ith bated breath and quickening pulse, 1 no aw ait the horrid jar th at rends the shell and bring!' birth the fledgling brood of b attles’ carrion crew, wk [ E d ito r’s N ote;.—The characterof this Epic of Histon was described in our note under heading of first instalment. I: this issue Part I., covering English History, is concluded,d Part II., which re fe rs to American History, is to be continue into the next and lastinstalment of the series.
The Flaming Sword · Vol. 20, No. 15 · Sep 18, 1906 · PDF pp. 5-6