Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1867-06-09
SUNDAY READING.
RELIeT8Us DOCTRINE

BY A LAYMAN.
! ALI the Universe was made by the
Deity, an infinity of time elapsed before
He created it. For all Time, that begins
and ends, though Of never so many mil-
lions OF ages, is but point midway be-
tween two eternities. Was the Deity
inactive during that preceding infinite
time? What new motive, then, urged
Him to create? l have thought so much
of that, and l cannot argue It out to my
own satisfaction. Can you not solve
this terrible enigma? The Universe
must end, too. Can / believe, that ex
cept during the poiut Of time which its
existence is, between an eternity behind
and one before, our Father who is in
] Heaven remained and will remain i'm
movable and stagnant? Is it not more
reasonable to believe that the Universe
is self-existent and eternal ?-and that is
either Atheism or Pantheism.
C.-Why have you thought so much
of that?
Ali it is true, how can the Deity
care for usP What are we to him Why
should there be any hope Of another life?
! L can not conceive Of Him as not Great
/ ing aud loving. That seems to me the
most hopeless atheism.
/ C.-You are right Better believe in
! ftD NNA- AlfAAN4 @AIGbDAlN1 6AofCo LAAN
same difficulty; but he does not, it seems
TO me, solve it, great as his intellect
was. He states the question thus
What was COP doing before He made
| Heaven and Earth For if He were
unemployed and wrought not, why does
/ He not also heneeforth, and forever, as
| He did heretofore? 4? For, did any new
motive arise in Cop, and new will to
make creature, which He had never
/ before made, how then would that be
| true eternity, where there ariseth q will,
which was not? For the will of GOD is
not creature, but before the creature
| seeing nothing could be created, unless
the will of the creator had preceded. The
/ will Of GOD, then, belOngeth to His very
! substance. And if aught have arisen in
I GODS substance, which before was not
/ that substance could be truly called eter-
nal. But if the will of GOD has been
| from Eternity that the creature should
be, why was not the creature also from
eternity p
P.-I remember; and that, addressing
/ himself to the task of replying, he says,
. / answer not as one is said to have an
( swered merrily, leiuding the pressure of
/ the question:, He was preparing He'll
saith he, for pryeFs into mysteries It
/ is one thing to answer enquiries, another
/ to make sport of enquiries. So | answer
/ not for l had rather answer, | know
nOt,' what I know not, than so as to
/ raise a laugh at him who asketh deep
! things, and gain praise for one who an
swereth false things'
Cit was well sad, and is worthy
| to be remembered by many people. I
will state as briefly as / can the answer
and attempt at solution, which the
/ Bishop did make. Eternity, he says, is
I eYer-fiXed, and times never-iXed Il can
not be compared with them in the Eter-
nal nothing passes, but all is present
! whereas no time is all at once present,
| but all past and to come is created, and
| grows out of that which is ever-pres-
I ent: Eternity, always standing still, Ut
( ters the times past and to come.
| Whence, before creation, could ages
pass by, which God did not G7dke} He
| is the Author and Creator of all ages.
| There could be no times, not made by
Him. They could not pass by, if they
never 7Uere. God is the Creator of all
times. None could pass by until He
made them. Before Heaven and Earth
were made, He made no time; there
was none: there was no Then. He does
not, by time, preeede time, else He
would not precede all times He pre-
cedes every thing past, by an ever-pres-
ent Eternity: and goes beyond all fu-
ture, because they are future, and when
they have come will be past. Gods
years neither come nor 60. They stand
together, because they do stand. His
years aTs our day: His to-day does not
give place to tomorrow or replace yes
terday: it is Eternity. 1t no time,
therefore. had He not made anything,
k-gr-s II
times are cO-eternal with Him, because
He d4ides; but if they abode, they would
not be timez.
He cannot, he says, explain Vbat time
is but, if time present were always
present, and never passed inte time past,
it would not be time, but Eternity.
Past time no longer IS future time not
yet IS and present time only is, because
it is tending not TO Ee be /; its cause of
being is, that il shall nos De, bgJ shall
pass into time past. The smallest con-
ceivable particle Of Time, only, is the
Present. Neither things TO come nor
past, ere; nor can we properly say,
there ere three times, past, present and
future.' We measure times as they pass.
But time present has &C space, and so
cannot be measured we do not measure
the fUrme, which is not yet we do not
measdre that which no longer is, the
past. We measure neither times to
come, nor past, nor present, nor passing;
and yet We % measIre= times. The mo-
tiOns of the heavenly bodies 40 not con-
stitute times. We measure thea in the
mind, measuring the impression which
things past by cause in 1t, and which re-
mains after they are gone. Time future
is not long, for as yet it is not but a
long future is long expectation Of
tbs future time past is not long, for it
no longer ts; but long past is a long
memory of the past and time present
has no space for The things to come
are not as yet and past things No longer
are.
And, by way OF summary, that
never cannot be predicated, when
time is not: that time cannot be with
out created being; and that GOD is
before all times, the Creator of Times,
and no times nor any creature eo-eter-
nal with Him. "Thou, LORD, ever
wOrkest, and art ever at rest. Nor dost
Thou see in time, nor art moved in time,
nor restest in a time; and yet Thou
makest things seen in time, yea, the
times themselves, and the rest which
results from time"
Al ana very glad that l never heard
that until now. 1t so eonfuses me that
can no longer think. 1t is just whirl |
of words.
C.-YOU express it perfectly. It is a !
whirl Of words, like more than half Of /
what has been called metaphysical /
argument from the times of PYTHAGO- !
RAs, ANAXIMANDER and ANAXIAfINES. |
It is a mere play upon words, leading /
inevitably TO conclusions of which |
AUGUSTINE was totally unconscious. |
There could be no more fruitful csU9s of |
utter and hopeless seepticism. Still, tits /
called Logic l will endeavOur to- !
demonstrate its fallscy.
1t is essential to the being Of matter, /
that it shall be present, in actuslity, some /
lUbere. Its presence consists ia its exten /
sion, that is, in its occupying q certain 4
space. There can be no occupancy Of an /
imperceptible point without length or
breadth. 1t is equally essential that its I
presence be continued. Its presence for
an insppreciable particle of time would
be unperceiYahle. The electric spark
must continue, though for ever so short
time, in order to be peroeiYed. As /
there is no l0herc of matter, without eg-
tension; so there is no tUhen without
continuance. One is as much an attri-
bsste OF matter, as the other. As a point
in space is no space, and can include and
afford place and home TO no extension;
so a point in time is no time, and in il
there can be no existence. As the least
Imaginable actual space is extension of
space, so the least actual imaginable
part or particle of time is extension or
Of time the matter occupy
ing the former is extended; that or the
existence occupying or being in the lat
ter, continues, though for never so brief
an instant. Being. existence, life, there
fore, involve continuance, and are not,
without it.
Space is not a thing" nor is time q
thing, any more than abstract numbers
or darkness are. Saint AUGUSTINE said,
that, if Ho one asked him what Time
was, he knew; bHt IL he wished to ex-
plain it to one asking what 1t was, he did
not know. It is no wonder he could not
define it. The word, like "space," is its
own definition. Nothing can explain
either. Each explains itself. Each is
the simplest term to express its meaning
and all humanity understands each
Neither of them is {" tsingn that could
be " created" or "Eadde.u Darkness is
not thing. 1t is the absence Of light:
but if there had never been any dark
ness, but light clone, the words "absenoe
of light" would convey no idea Of the