San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1895-02-20
THE NEW UNIVERSE.
A Theological Problem Considered
In the Light of Science.
tBY REV. n. SCHULTZ.

Under the above heading a series will be
published daily. Readers can govern
themselves accordingly until the whole
is completed
1t would seem paradoxical to
talk of "New Universe" as
though the worlds in it, with their
countless orbits, had not existed
for the ages back, or as though
anything had been added to their
number or magniflcence. But there
is way in which we may talk Of
a "New Universe" namely, as be-
ing in the understanding and con-
ception Of man. For, from age to
age in the history Of our race, the
universe and the Creator have
widened in the views Of men, until,
in our own time (thanks to the dis
coveries made through the use of
scientific Instruments our old con-
captions have nearly all been over
thrown, and the human intellect
wanders in what may be justly
termed "New Universe"
"The New Heaven and the New
Earth" Of the apocalypse have
come true, in sense, better than
the Sage Of Patmos could dream.
The earth Of Ptolemae, which was
like leaf floating in the air, was
a little better than the earth that
rested upon the shoulders Of Atlas,
or the one of the Indian mytholo-
gy, which laid upon the back Of an
elephant; the elephant stood upon
a trestle and the trestle upon moth
ing and the earth of our age, as
globe circling through space, is
new as regards the contemporaries
OF Ptolemae. So the old heaven, as a
armament located above Olympus,
| above Sinai, or above the clouds,
where God sat upon his throne, has
made room for a newer heaven, a
sky, infinite space, while in spir-
itual sense it has become limited
to the heaven within.
Giving a narrow scope to the
word Element, which really has
reference to the eighty or more
chemical entities, the Universe, l..
g., the matchmaking machinery,
may be divided into what | should
call "Prime Elements" Of which
there are six, viz: Space (Which
includes Time). Matter, Energy
(Force), Life, Mind Spirit, Intel
ligence) and God. The separation
of Mind and God may seem some
what irrational, but | will ask the
patient reader to hold these divis-
ions in mind until | arrive at the
proper exposition OF my argument.
1t will be necessary to consider the
six Prime Elements each by itself,
and l shall first take up
SPACE,
AS the prime or foremost neces-
sary condition Of all being, for
things must have room in which
to dwell. The dictionary defini-
ton that "Space is extension" gives
us but little idea in regard to it
Space is the absolute infinite, with
out beginning and without end. II
has neither height nor depth
it has no direction. In il
there is absolute darkness which
) is lighted up by what we tern
, Matter and Energy, but space with
out these IS cold, bleak, barren
; nothingness, of which we can hard
: ~ form an approximate idea by
mathematical calculations. Light
, which as far as we know travels a
a greater velocity than any othe
known force, i. O., at rate of l36,OO
: miles a second, takes eight minute
to reach us from the sun
it takes fifty years to reacl
US from Polaris, and the telescope
has discovered stars whose light i
takes a million years to reach Ut
II A cannon ball moving at the rat
j. Of 300 yards second, would tax
one hundred million years to reac
the nearest fixed star. AS we direc
4 the telescope into space we fin
q worlds after worlds-yes, univers
W (nebulae) like our own Milky-wa
still farther back in space, and We
the nearest star in the Milky-wa
% is so far away from us that il
=, light reaches us only after
a journey lasting two thousan
years.
The facts of the distance an
magnitude of the stars overawe tn
a human senses, and that these r
hottest star clusters, which W
% reach by means of the strongej
telescopes, cannot form the end
o the universe, a little thought wi
prove to US, when we consider tn;
40 all bodies attract one another, an
" consequently, must all draw towal
a common centre. II there we
VI such a centre Of gravitation, a
ry celestial bodies must gradual
re draw toward it. AS they, to all a
us pearances, however, 60 on undi