Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1875-02-17
The End of the World.

Ii the body's death seems to teacl
the lesson that modesty is becoming t,
the scientific speculator, what shall W,
say as to the prospects of that materia
frame which is beyond ourselves-th,
general orderly frame of the univers,
as We see it around us? People woult
suppose, from the way in which yor
hear men talk now, that there was no
the slightest chance of any great organic
change ever coming across the outward
world in which we live. No doubt Goo
works by fixed laws. No doubt tn,
world goes on morning and evening
and summer and winter but what rea
son have you to suppose that it will SC
go on to infnity? Have no greai
catastrophes befallen the world befor,
now? Does not physical science itseli
speak of these catastrophes What is
there to prevent other catastrophes
produced by the operation of laws OF
which at present We are very ignorant,
coming athwart the globe on which We
live, and a complete change taking
place in the relations in which things
even in the outward world stand al
present, so that in the scriptural sense
OF the word there may be an end to the
world, as there is certainly to be an end
of our earthly life? To be sure, things
have gone on for a long time in the
same way, but is that any proof that
they are to go on in the same way for
ever? You arise morning after morn.
ing in good health and strength, and
seem to say to yourself for time that
this will last for ever but one morn
ing something happens, you cannot ex-
plain what the best physician in the
world cannot tell you what but some
thing has happened that lays you on a
bed of sickness, and in two days sends
you of to your grave a corpse. Will
the experience of the reality of the way
in which everything has gone on since
you were young, till you have attained
maturity, save you from that great
mischance Again, men for centuries
had ranged over the mountains in
Campagna; they thought that all
would go on there, herds and fiocks
feeding and vineyards growing as they
had done for centuries and suddenly
there was a strange sound heard, and a
volcano burst forth, and the greatest
philosopher of the age came to look at
it, and lost his life whe was looking.
But neither be nor any of the men who
had speculated with him ever expected
that these great cities were to be swept
to destruction, and their beautiful pas
lures to become for time an arid will
derness. 1 do not say such instances
explain or tell us distinctly that such
catastrophes will befall the whole globe;
but at all events, l think they ought to
make us modest, seeing that the wisest
know so very small a portion of the
laws that regulate Gods creation.
Surely We may not dogmatically as
sumo that such catastrophes are beyond
the range of possible or probable
events. 1t is true, say, things have
gone on for long time, and men say /:
"Where is the promise of His coming,
for all things continue as they were
from the beginning of the world ?" But
still with Him, with whom one day is
as as a thousand years, and a thousand
years as one day, there may be changes
maturing which no philosopher of the
present or of any previous age has ever
dreamed of, which will bring this great
catastrophe to the globe, which will
answer, on the whole outward creation,
to something as great as is our passage
from life to death. and what is beyond
it. do not think there is anything
fanciful in such an expectation. l be-
lieve that a man, of that modest mind
which is the characteristic of true sci
ence, will hesitate before he pronounces
with any assurance that such change
may not come over the world as has
been distinctly predicted in the Scrip
tures.-Dr. Tat. archbishop OF Can
tcr6ury.