The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1895-09-21
TIME AND SPACE,

or all human conceptions, perhaps time
is the most common. Yet, when we an.
alyze It. how bewildering the task be-
comes! We can penetrate the beautifully
crystalEned chambers Of the snowflake
and there read the story Of its wonderful
formation. In geology we can recall the
age OF rock formations and by the aid OF
that most fascinating Of all sciences.
astronomy. We are enabled to tell, with
an astonishing degree Of accuracy, the
distances to all the members of the solar
family But, In our efforts to measure
time, how fruitless the result as We gaze
into an unbounded, unfathomable sea OF
nOth.ngness!
We say that time is measured duration.
II 50. when did this duration begin
Did time begin amid the throes of crea-
tons birth? We look backward through
the generations Of human history. to that
mystic point. the beginning" and the
mystery begins to increase. In all prob
ability the earth could not have been a
III abode for sentient beings more than ten
thousands OF years. What was back of
this? A timeless blank, tncomprehensi-
BILE; We cannot sound Its depths. nor
scale Its height. We are tossed, without
"a guiding star" upon its shoreless
ocean With our mental horoscope we
scan ITS horizon. but the m.sts Of its end
less future obscure our vision. Astron-
omy divides its present. Geology partly
reveals its past while theology throws no
Eght upon its end. There always has
peen and. at present Is. and ever shall
be, past. a present. and future. There
ed, Self-existent God. His presence fills
all time and space. All intellgences must
be Emitted to time and space. and be SUBJ
1ects to its never ceasing flow.
The Archangel Gabriel was caused to fly
quickly and touched Daniel at the time
OF the evening Oblat.on; showing that he
could act in one place at given time
only. After our immortal spirits shall
have been liberated from their present
environments We shall still be subjects of
time: We read in the Book of Revela-
ton, that the angel shall stand upon the
earth and sea and swear that there shall
be time no longer" This does not refer
70 Time, abstractly considered. The fol-
lowing paragraph explains its meaning:
I'm the days Of the voice of the seventh
angel, when he shall begin to sound, the
mystery of God shall be finished" This.
then, Is the time of redemption. the
mediatonal dispensat:on shall be ended
and exist no longer. Time shall continue
10 go on forever and ever
Whatever means were employedto meas
ure time or space, they ever remain the
same, unfathomable, wonderfully grand.
yet real mysteries. Time and space are
synonymous terms; they shall ever re-
main hidden from human understanding.
What Is space? The profoundness and
ill!mtability OF Gods universe battles the
human mind In its effort to analyze it.
-
so near to us IN comparison that We can
put our hands upon the planet Neptune,
which Is only twenty-seven hundred and
hfty millions Of miles away. Suppose
that telegraphic message was sent to
the nearest star upon the day of George
Washington's birth, speeding uninter-
ruptedly at the rate OF eight thousands of
miles per second Of time. we would today
only receive the return answer. This dis
tance is only twenty billions. two hundred
and eight thousand millions of miles !,
The electric current is too slow to assist
us In reaching out to the uttermost
bounds OF space, or. to point where our
imagination can find a resting placc.
suppose We send telegram upon the
swift winged messenger Of Eight, travelling
at the inconceivable rate Of one hundred
and elghtythree thousands of miles per
second, 1t would take. eight minutes to
reach the sun. and three and one.half
years to reach the nearest star. There
are stars OF the NTH and sixth magnitude
and. visible to the naked eye. which would
require one hundred and fifty years for
the.r Eght to reach us. What, then, mus:
be the distance to those far of worlds Of
the sixteenth magnitude whose light
started upon its sidereal journey before
the birth Of the human race. and Is Just
now shedding the silvery rays upon us !!
Can 1t be that. at this distance. we would
are at present?
The widest flight Of the ina gination
cannot cross this limitless gulf nor solve
this hidden mystery. This Contemplation
nils us with deep sense OF reverence,
'oh, where Is this vast boundless region
Of space,
Can We look and the hand Of our Maker
not trace.
II We ride with Aurora, where beauty
appears,
Or tread with the comet. the Journey Of
years,
Should We not find. wherever we ,rod,
That natures upheld by the hand of her
God.' w. ID. owen.
There IS an unsurpassed Dining Car SER
nj at Di,t.