Chapter II · FIRST DAY. (continued 2)

“When we see the multitude of reeds filled and surrounded with sandstone, having their thin scaly bark converted into a true coal, it is impossible to doubt of its vegetable origin.” Ure’s New System Geol. p. 166.

Quotations from the best authorities might be multiplied to the same effect, but it is deemed unnecessary. It remains to repeat the question, Could such an amount of vegetable matter have been accumulated, short of millions of years, at the ratio of the present vegetative powers of the earth? It is impossible. The only remaining conclusion is, the vegetative power of the earth anciently was much greater than at present, which could not have been except its temperature was much higher also.

In conclusion on this question, it is necessary to say, that the reduction of the earth’s temperature would be gradual, in a natural way, by the heat flying off into celestial spaces, until the crust became so thick and compact as to prove a perfect non-conductor of caloric. Then the surface of the earth would depend on the heating power of the sun altogether. The thickening of the crust of the earth would be attended with earthquakes, volcanos, and partial deluges, the natural and necessary results of the oxidations of the metals. Hence we would have different strata of rocks, sand, gravel, &c., deposited at different times, and over different sections of the country. Hence also forests would be overthrown, and the vegetation of years be thrown together in the nearest lakes or seas; which explains the origin of coal-basins. This state of things also well explains the alternations of strata of different kinds, as sand, gravel, chalk, fresh and salt water deposites, &c., as well as the dislocations, fractures, contortions, and confusions observable in the structure of the earth’s crust.

There are however various phenomena which indicate clearly that there was a general and sudden reduction of temperature. The state of preservation, in which those animals in Siberia are found, proves this. The vestigia of the last great revolution in our globe clearly indicate the deluge to have been the cause of this general and sudden reduction of temperature. This would be the natural consequence of submerging the earth in water: and the suddenness of the event is well attested both by the scriptures, and the physical history of our earth.

The action of the deluge does not come within the contemplation of this volume, and therefore will not be noticed here.]

The air is another storehouse of fire. When lucid igneous particles are strongly attracted to one another in great quantities, their heat becomes intolerable, and is capable of destroying the most solid bodies. It is well known, that when converged in the focus of one of Hartsocker’s burning-glasses, they will produce wonderful effects: tin, lead, or any soft metal, will dissolve at the first touch; and iron, which requires a very strong fire for liquefaction, will melt before one of these glasses almost as soon as applied. They will consume wood, though wet, in a moment; vitrify bricks and pumice stones, and dissolve earthen vessels full of water; and plume-allum, which will resist the fire of the hottest glass-houses, without alteration, is instantly melted. Even gold, that resists the force of common fire, is soon liquefied by their powerful agency. This plainly shows us that, provided there were not a wise and almighty Providence, superintending all his works, those materials which are of the greatest utility to the harmony and order of things, would have a direct tendency to destroy the whole. If lucid igneous particles were to form solid bodies, and depart from their state of fluidity, they would, in an instant, reduce this globe to ashes, or render it liquid fire. Were they all of one kind, it is probable they might unite in solid bodies; but the wisdom of Providence has formed them of various colors, and of different reflections and refrangibility. This prevents them from associating in such a manner as to do harm, which can only be produced by converging them with some instrument which prevents their flying off. As all these have not the same degree of reflexibility and refrangibility, but as some are capable of greater reflections and refractions than others, they cannot, without force, be united in one solid body, yet they are all serviceable for important purposes, contributing to the happiness of man, and the welfare of all living creatures.

Considering the extent of fire, and that its property is, when put into motion, to consume all combustible substances within its reach, it is astonishing that the world has not long since been destroyed! This terrible element is at present restrained and directed by its almighty Creator; but divine revelation informs us, that a period will arrive when its utmost energies shall be called into action. The apostle Peter asserts, that “the heavens and earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men;—in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat; the earth also, and the works that are therein shall be burnt up.” Again he says, “looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat.” The passing away of the heavens means the same as their being dissolved by fire. The word Ῥοιζηδὸν signifies with a very loud and terrible noise: with a sound resembling that of a great storm. In this place it more particularly denotes the horrid crackling noise of a wide-spreading fire.

The word rendered melt, is a metaphor taken from metals, dissolving in the fire, or wax before the flame; so will the fierce and spreading fire of the last day melt down this globe, and its surrounding atmosphere.36 That the world was to be dissolved by fire was the opinion of Anaximander, Anaxiphanes, Anaxagoras, Archelaus, Diogenes, and Leucippus.37 The inference which the apostle deduces from this view of the general and final conflagration of the world, is highly impressive. “Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness.”

Section III.—Light.

Motion of luminous and fiery particles the first cause of light — Light the most simple body — Velocity of light — Light diffusive — Light the medium through which objects become visible — Light beautiful, or its rays of different colors — Light a visible resemblance of its Divine Author, in his spirituality, simplicity, purity, energy, goodness, manifestation, glory.

Moses, in the original word אור aur, seems plainly to hint at the operation of a principle in the universe which, as a second cause, produced the phenomenon of light. This, most probably, was the motion of the luminous and fiery particles in the chaotic mass which, at the Divine command, separated themselves from the other gross materials of the miscellaneous composition, and by an attractive sympathy associated in one body.

It is conjectured, that light was at first impressed on some part of the heavens, or collected in some lucid body. Dr. Wall says, Though the sun was not yet formed into a compact body, yet the most subtile and active particles had already begun to fly together to the centre of the solar system, which gave some light; though probably not so great as when afterward they made the compact body of the sun. And the earth, which was then only a round lump of mud, or muddy salt-water, being turned, as it has been ever since, upon its own axis, receiving that light on its several hemispheres successively, made night and day, or evening and morning. Milton gives his opinion in the following lines:

Light, after a short progression, concentrated in the sun, the common centre of our system; the various parts of this system, by his central light or fire, are balanced, and, by mutual attraction, move in the expanse, according to fixed laws, or determined distances.38

Light was once considered to be a property or quality of matter only; but more recently it has been discovered to be a body, a very subtile fluid, consisting of minute particles. We have no certain knowledge of its nature; though a collection of its rays make other things visible, yet its constituent parts themselves are most exquisitely small, and quite imperceptible; and therefore it approaches the nearest to the nature of spirit.39

Of all material bodies, light is the most simple. Most others are compounded of several parts, not only of different, but sometimes of contrary natures: but light is an unmixed body. It is also a most pure matter; It has no defilement in itself, neither is it capable of contracting pollution from other objects. When it shines upon a dunghill or sepulchre, which sends forth the most offensive effluvia, it still remains uncontaminated.

[The author is undoubtedly mistaken when he considers light “of all material bodies—the most simple,” and “an unmixed body.”

It is well known that a beam, or pencil, of light, as emitted from the sun, is not a simple body, but is capable of being divided into seven prismatic colors. The image which is formed by the refraction of the pencil, by means of a prism, is called a Spectrum, and clearly exhibits the compound nature of light. The refracted rays of the Spectrum may be collected and made to constitute a pencil of light again, which will be white, or colorless as before.

If this prismatic Spectrum be examined closely, it will be found that the different colored rays differ very much in their heating, illuminating, and chemical powers. Dr. Herschell, and other experimenters, have found that the orange rays possess a greater illuminating power than the red; and the yellow more than the orange: but the maximums of illumination lies in the brightest yellow or palest green.

There is also a very sensible difference in the heating power of these colored rays. By passing the bulb of a delicate air thermometer through the different colored rays, it indicates the greatest heat in the red rays; next in the green, and so on diminishing to the violet. But the maximum of heat has been ascertained to be immediately beyond the red rays, and of course out of the Spectrum, in an unilluminated spot: thus indicating that there are invisible rays possessing a greater heating power than any of the seven colored rays. These are called calorific rays.

By the experiments of Ritter and Wallaston it is now satisfactorily ascertained that there are also chemical rays which excite neither heat nor light, and lie on the other side of the Spectrum from the invisible calorific rays, just without the violet. It is true, the chemical effect can be distinguished even to the green rays, but this seems to be by diffusion, or a species of sympathy. The sensible chemical power is exerted just without the violet rays.

This fact is established more clearly by Berard. He concentrated, by a lens, all the portion of the Spectrum from the green to the red rays, and made them act on muriate of silver two hours without effect. He then concentrated all the portion of the Spectrum from the green to the violet rays, and made them act on muriate of silver, and they blackened it in less than six minutes. Thus, evidently, are detected very different properties in the different portions of the prismatic Spectrum.

Instead, therefore, of light being a “simple substance,” and “unmixed” it is found to be decidedly compound. It is capable of being divided into seven differently colored rays, and these rays, according to their natural properties, into three classes: the illuminating rays, calorific rays, and chemical rays.]

The rays of light always proceed in straight lines, unless diverted by some intervening body. They are subject to the laws of attraction like other small bodies. If a stream of light be admitted through a small hole into a dark room, and the edge of a knife be applied, it will be diverted from its natural course, and inflected towards it. When the rays of light are thrown back by any opposing body, they are said to be reflected. When in passing from one medium to another, they are inflected or diverted from their rectilineal course, they are said to be refracted; and this property of light is called its refrangibility. Refraction arises from this, that the rays are more attracted by a dense, than by a rare medium.

The velocity of light is prodigious, and almost incredible; it moves at the rate of near 200,000 miles in a second of time! Roemer, a Danish philosopher, was the first who found the means of determining the velocity of light, by the difference of time in the eclipses of Jupiter’s satellites, when the earth was on the same, or on the contrary side of the sun, with that planet. This point may be easily proved; for when the earth is between the sun and this planet, those eclipses will happen about 8¼ minutes sooner, than according to the tables; but when the earth is in the contrary position, the eclipses happen about 8¼ minutes later than they are predicted by the tables. Hence, therefore, light takes up about 8¼ minutes in passing from the sun to the earth, a distance of 95,513,794 miles; and it takes about 16½ minutes of time to go through a space equal to the diameter of the earth’s orbit, which is at least 190 millions of miles in length; which is near a million of miles swifter than the motion of a cannon-ball, which flies with the velocity of about a mile in eight seconds.40 In comparing this velocity of light with that of a cannon-ball, it has been observed, that light passes through a space in about eight minutes, which a cannon-ball with its ordinary velocity, could not traverse in less than thirty-two years! The velocity of sound bears a very small proportion to that of light. Light travels, in the space of eight minutes, a distance in which sound could not be communicated in seventeen years; and even our senses may convince us, if we attend to the explosion of gunpowder, &c., of the almost infinite velocity of the one compared with that of the other.41 Were the propagation of the rays of light less rapid, the darkness would be very slowly dissipated, and great inconveniences would result to the inhabitants of the earth.

The divisibility of the parts of matter is no where more apparent than in the minuteness of the particles of light. The unobstructed rays of light which proceed from a candle, will, almost instantaneously, fill a space of two miles; and it has been computed, says Dr. O. Gregory, that there fly out of the end of the flame of a burning candle, in a second of time, ten thousand millions of times more such particles than there are visible grains of sand in the whole earth. Dr. Nieuwentyt has computed, that an inch of candle, when converted to light, becomes divided into 269,617,040 parts, with 40 ciphers annexed; at which rate there must issue out of it, when burning, 418,660, with 39 ciphers more, particles in the second of a minute; vastly more than a thousand times a thousand million of times the number of sands the whole earth can contain; reckoning ten inches to one foot, and that 100 sands are equal to one inch.42 As sound is propagated only at the rate of 1,142 feet in a second, a particle of light must be 786,000 times more subtile than a particle of air. If the particles of light were not extremely small, their velocity would be highly destructive. Indeed, were they equal in bulk to the two millionth part of a grain of sand, this impulse would not be less than sand shot from the mouth of a cannon. If the particles of light had more density, they would not only dazzle us by their splendor, but injure us by their heat.

There is no creature of God that diffuses itself, and whose influence reaches so far and wide, and fills so large a vacuum, as light. All that inconceivable space between this globe and the fixed stars, a distance which numbers cannot reach, is replete with light. Nay, the space in which it is diffused is not less than the universe itself; the immensity of which exceeds the conception of human understanding. It is from this almost unlimited diffusion of light that the very remotest of the heavenly bodies in the solar system become discernible, either by the naked eye or by telescopes. And had we instruments that could carry our sight as far as the light is extended, we should discover those bodies which are placed at the very extremity of the universe.43

Light is the medium through which objects become visible to us. It is owing to it, that we are enabled to behold and contemplate the wonderful works of the great Creator; to discover unexplored systems in the trackless regions of unbounded space, to imbibe knowledge from things created, to hold intercourse with each other, to steer the hollow bark to distant climes, and to investigate the records of all science. Without its aid, the world would have been an inhospitable wilderness, involved in sable shades of perpetual night. “Truly the light is sweet, and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold it.”

Light beautifies every delightful object which comes within the reach of its rays.

All colors are rays of light differently reflected. The cause of their diversity was first rationally accounted for by Sir Isaac Newton. He has shown that color is not a specific property of bodies, but is caused by the different rays of light being reflected from the surface of the body; the rest of the rays passing into or through the body. He discovered that in the rays of light are all the colors in nature; and the primary colors he considered to be seven in number, namely, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet; and that bodies appear of different colors, as they have the property of reflecting some rays more powerfully than others. These colors are poetically enumerated by Thomson.

Since the time of this justly celebrated philosopher, it has been objected, that the seven colors above mentioned are not primitive. It seems very obvious that there can be only three primitive colors, namely, red, yellow, and blue; since all the colors can be made by means of these. It has lately been advanced by Prieur, that the primitive colors are violet, green, and red; that the yellow is formed with red and green, the latter being in excess; and that when the red is in excess, they form orange; the green and violet form blue. The colors excited by the different refrangible rays do not appear to determine what are the primitive colors, since we find that different rays are capable of producing the same color, as a mixture of the yellow with the red produces orange. And it must be admitted, that the violet rays excite, in some degree, the idea of red along with the blue; as in the green, the yellow and blue may be discerned, but none of the red. When the different colored rays are mixed together, either by recomposition, or by getting each color by a separate Spectrum, the result will be white light. Hence Sir Isaac Newton concluded, that when the rays are promiscuously reflected from any surface it will appear white. He also found, and the discovery has since been confirmed by the experiments of Dr. Herschell, that the different colored rays have not by any means the same illuminating power. The violet rays appear to have the least luminous effect, the indigo more, the blue a little more, the green very great, between the green and the yellow the greatest of all, the yellow the same as the green, and the red less than the yellow.44 From experiments it is found, that those rays of light are of the largest quantity that paint the brightest colors; and of all these, the red rays have the least refrangibility. Without light vegetables would have no color, but would appear white; this has been remarkably illustrated by Professor Robison. Some bodies absorb one colored ray, others another, while they reflect the rest. This is the cause of color in bodies. A red body, for instance, reflects the red rays and absorbs the rest. A white body reflects all the rays, and absorbs none; while a black body, on the contrary, absorbs all the rays, and reflects none:45 this shows, that black colored apparel is very improper during the heat of summer, or in tropical climates.

[There is one difficulty scarcely mentioned, and surely not accounted for, in the preceding chapter: i.e. How are we to reconcile the creation of light on the first day, and the creation of the sun not until the fourth?

This has been a standing proposition since the revival of learning. There can be no doubt but the account of the creation, arrangement and nature of the world, as given by Moses, is correct; and would so appear to the most philosophically scientific, could we ascertain certainly the meaning of the sacred historian, and did we understand perfectly the phenomena of nature.

It is reasonable to suppose that the discoveries in natural philosophy would tend to influence the explanations of Moses’ account. This is the fact. These discoveries have produced two theories in regard to light: The vibratory, or Cartesian; and the corpuscular, or Newtonian.

The Newtonian theory supposes the sun to be the original and principal source of light; and that light is emitted from the sun’s surface in inconceivably small corpuscles, in such rapid succession, and in straight lines, as to seem a continuous ray, though, in reality, the particles are a thousand miles apart in their approach to the earth.

This is the most popular of modern theories, and the only one, as I recollect, employed by commentators in illustrating the account of Moses; or rather in solving the difficulty by reconciling this theory with his account.

Some have supposed the sun was created long before, our earth, and that his beams took effect on our earth, as now, on the fourth day from his creation. Others have supposed that the sun and earth were created simultaneously, but that the sun’s beams did not fully penetrate our atmosphere, so as to make himself distinctly visible as now, until the fourth day. In both these cases it is supposed that the words of Moses, in regard to the creation of the sun on the fourth day, are to be interpreted of his appearance, and influence on the earth, by dispensing light. But this does not account for the existence of light from the first to the fourth day. This is an insuperable objection here.

Finding the foregoing theories pressed with this insurmountable difficulty, other commentators have supposed, Light was a real substance, created simultaneously, and in conjunction with the original chaotic mass of our earth; and when God said “Let there be light, and there was light,” He, by his divine power, caused the chaotic light to separate itself from the earth, and, departing, to condense in the body of the sun; or, as some would probably say, in view of Dr. Herschell’s solar discoveries, in the phosphoric clouds which surround the real body of the sun. In this case, if the light concentrated in the body of the sun, then that luminary must be a body of condensed light: if in the solar phosphoric clouds of Dr. Herschell, then those clouds would be condensed light. This body of condensed light is considered the source of our solar light, which flies off from it in the form of rays or beams.

Dr. Ure, in his Chemical Dictionary, article Light, takes this view. He says, “We learn from scripture, that light pre-existed before this luminary (the sun) and that its subsequent condensation in his orb was a particular act of Almighty Power. The phosphorescence of minerals, buried since the origin of things in the bowels of the earth, coincides strictly with the Mosaic account of the creation. We shall therefore regard light as the first born element of chaos, as an independent essence, universally distributed through the mineral, vegetable, and animal world, capable of being disengaged from its latent state by various natural and artificial operations.”

This theory, as I understand Dr. Ure’s view, has two advantages, and three disadvantages. It accounts for the production of light on the first day, as Moses says. It also accounts for the artificial production of light by friction between bodies which have never been exposed to solar light, by combustion, compression, &c. For though it supposes light “subsequently condensed” in the sun, I presume it does not suppose all the light thus transferred from the earth, and condensed: much of it is latent, and combined with other substances, from which it is evolved by friction, combustion, compression, &c.

But this ingenious theory, which is mentioned by our author, and attributed to Dr. Wall, is pressed with three difficulties:

1. It does not suppose the existence of the sun until the fourth day, and of course no common centre of attraction to the earth and other planets. But it is impossible to conceive of the safe existence of the planets previous to the existence of their common center, which now regulates their order and motion. This is an insuperable difficulty, unless we resort to a “particular act of Almighty Power.”

2. If the body of the sun be “condensed light,” abstracted from the earth, the scene of its creation, then we must suppose that a body more than a million times greater than the earth was drawn off from it, which indeed would require an “act of Almighty Power,” and is utterly irreconcilable to the laws of attraction.

3. This view also destroys the idea of the sun’s being an opake and habitable globe, unless we could conceive the inhabitants capable of dwelling in “condensed light;” which supposition is at variance with all our ideas of rational existence. Hence it robs the mind of the pleasing and almost intuitively correct idea of the sun’s being a habitable globe.

These difficulties appeared so great that others, and particularly Dr. Adam Clarke, have offered a new mode of interpretation, founded on the Newtonian theory as improved by Dr. Herschell. Dr. Clarke supposes that caloric, or latent heat, was produced on the first day, when God said, “let there be light; and there was light.” In this case he considers that latent heat and latent light are, probably, the same: or that it is the same subtile substance diffused throughout creation, which is capable of producing heat and light, when properly excited.

Yet, in his remarks on the sun, he embraces Dr. Herschell’s ideas of the sun’s real body being opake and habitable, surrounded by phosphoric clouds which are the source of our solar light. Of course the Doctor only transfers the source of light from the real body of the sun to these phosphoric clouds with which he is invested. Our solar light then comes by impulsion from these clouds, and not from the sun’s real body.

These clouds are supposed to give light to the Solar inhabitants also, the intensity of which is regulated by a stratum of clouds placed below the outer phosphoric clouds, and which defends the sun’s real body from too great degree of light.

This is Dr. Herschell’s supposition, and seems to be pretty well established.

This ingenious theory solves the difficulty under notice, by supposing that caloric, and not light, is intended in the third verse, where God said, “Let there be light.” And by supposing latent light, as well as latent heat, it seems to provide for the well known existence of light in combination with many, if not all, terrestrial substances; and yet it refers to the sun as the principal source of light, which according to this interpretation, was not necessary to the existence of the substance intended in the third verse—“Let there be light, and there was light.”

This theory has another most excellent suggestion, viz: that the heat excited by the sun at the earth’s surface, is produced by the luminous rays of the sun combining with the caloric in the atmosphere, and other substances at the surface of the earth. This suggestion supposes a very close affinity, if not identity in the matter of light and heat.

Although this explanation approaches much nearer a satisfactory solution of the difficulty in question, yet it is by no means unembarrassed.

In the first place it is built upon a singular translation of a word. The text, according to this theory, should be, “And God said let there be caloric, and there was caloric.” This may be the text; but I cannot help thinking, that a bias to a system of philosophy, and a strong desire to cut the difficulty rather than solve it, suggested this translation. The text seems to have been so generally and uniformly understood of light, it would be difficult to alter it. It would be better to suspect a defect in our knowledge of the source and nature of light.

Again: this view seems to suppose a consecutive creation, which is at variance with a seemingly well settled opinion, in regard to the Solar System, and even at variance with Dr. Clarke’s own remarks on Gen. chap. i, v. 2. On this verse he says: “God seems at first to have created the elementary principles of all things.”

Finally: as his view is Newtonian, it is liable to all the objections to which that theory is liable: such as the diminution which would take place at the source from whence the light came; and the destructive force with which it would fall at the surface of the earth.

These considerations, with others, have influenced many of the most learned and acute philosophers to look for another theory. Our own countryman, Dr. Franklin, felt them. He says, in a letter dated April 23, 1752, in reference to the theory, of light being particles of matter driven off from the sun’s surface; “Must not the smallest portion conceivable have, with such a motion, a force exceeding that of a twenty-four pounder discharged from a cannon? Must not the sun diminish exceedingly by such a waste of matter, and the planets, instead of drawing near to him, as some have feared, recede to greater distances, through the lessoned attraction? Yet these particles with this amazing motion, will not drive before them, or remove the least, and slightest dust they meet with, and the sun appears to continue of his ancient dimensions, and his attendants move in their ancient orbits.”

He then supposes the phenomena of light may be more satisfactorily solved by supposing a subtle fluid, universally diffused, which is invisible when at rest, but becomes visible when put in motion, by affecting the nerves of the eye, as the vibrations of the air affect the ear, and produce the sensation of sound; and that the different degrees of intensity in the vibrations, will account for the different colors. See Nicholson’s Encyclopedia, Light.

This is the vibratory or Cartesian system of light. As already suggested, it supposes the existence of a subtle, luminiferous ether, diffused throughout the universe, pervading every particle of matter, and is capable of being put in motion, so as to become visible, by the sun, as the grand natural excitant, friction, combustion, compression, &c. The laws of the vibrations of this luminiferous fluid, are precisely the same with those ascertained, and determined, in regard to light as commonly understood. This luminiferous fluid is to be considered an elementary substance, and was created when the different substances composing the chaotic mass were created. At its first creation, like caloric, it was in a latent state, as no excitant as yet had put it in motion.

It is to be understood, therefore, that the substances of each planet in the Solar System, as well as the sun himself, were created simultaneously in a chaotic state, at their proper relative distances from each other: that the requisite quantity of each elementary substance was present in each mass: but as caloric, and this luminiferous ether were latent, these masses were solid, frozen lumps; inactive and lifeless; and darkness necessarily prevailed. This then was the original condition of the elements of our Solar System, according to the scriptures. “And the earth was without form and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep.” Gen. i, 2.

In order, therefore, to produce a quickening in these masses, which rendered them soft, it was only necessary to call the latent caloric, and this luminiferous ether into action, which would agitate, and bring to light the whole mass, and thus commence the arrangement and organization of the Solar System. However, as there was no exciting cause then in operation, it is evident the Almighty must have given the first impulse to these elements. This he did, and the important fact is recorded by Moses in these words: “And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the great deep,” Jehovah saying at the same time, “Let there be light.”

Here is the Mosaic account of the production of light, and possibly heat also, which took place on the first day. The same process went on simultaneously in the sun and planets, and the continued action cleared up their respective atmospheres, and the sun became visible at the earth’s surface on the fourth day. Hence, the sun was said to have been made on the fourth day.

This solution of the difficulty is consistent with the account of Moses; and also all the well ascertained phenomena of light can be satisfactorily explained by it. It will naturally lead the mind to observe the resemblance between the phenomena of light and heat, and impel us to the conclusion, that light, or vision, is the effect of a material cause, as heat is of caloric: and it is natural to suppose this cause is in the same relation to light, that caloric is to heat. Of course we should conclude that light, or the luminiferous ether in a latent state, enters into combination with all substances, as does caloric; and at the same time a large proportion of it is free, or in motion, and of course sensible to the eye, as free caloric is to the sense of feeling. Moreover we must conclude that this latent light is capable of being set free or evolved by the exciting influence of the sun, as also by friction, compression, combustion, chemical action, &c. It will be of advantage, therefore, to establish the fact of the existence of latent light, in combination with terrestrial substances.

That this is the fact may be proven by a single reflection on the process of combustion. It is a daily observation that light is produced by burning bodies. Let us suppose these bodies burnt at midnight in a close room; still light will be given out copiously and constantly. Whence this light? The natural and obvious answer is, it was in combination in a latent state with the burning bodies, and by combustion it was set free, and thrown out, and thus put the surrounding luminiferous ether in motion.

It is said by some, the light evolved in this case is not from the burning bodies, but from the oxygen which is supplied by the air to support the combustion. This does not alter the case at all: for then the light was in combination with the oxygen, and was invisible, being in a latent state, until it was set free from the oxygen by combustion.

The same conclusion is obtained in the process of compression and expansion. If atmospheric air, or oxygen be suddenly compressed in a glass syringe; or if a glass ball, filled with the latter, be suddenly broke in vacuo, a flash of light is instantly perceived. In this case the light suddenly becomes visible, which was invisible before, being latent in combination with the air. (Ure.)

We arrive at the same conclusion in case of friction. It is well known that pieces of wood can be made to blaze by rubbing them together. But it is not so well known, that two pieces of rock crystal, or quartz, taken from any depth in the earth, and which cannot be supposed to have ever been in the light of the sun, when rubbed quickly together, even under water, will give out volumes of light. Whence this light? from the quartz doubtless. Of course it must have been in a latent state, and was set free by friction. Let it be strictly observed, the crystals never were exposed to the light of the sun, of course could not have derived this light from that luminary.

We must come to the same conclusion, in regard to the light given out by animal substances. Many insects are known to have the power of evolving light, or putting the surrounding luminiferous ether in motion, which is the same. Putrescent animal matter has been observed to possess it, in some cases, in a very great degree; sufficiently to illuminate a room, or pantry, for hours together. In some instances the fingers of those who touched the luminous flesh, became luminous.

This is eminently the case in regard to some fishes. A species of fish called pholas, has the power of evolving a large quantity of light. This power is greater when the fish is sound and fresh. Pliny mentions this fish, and says it rendered the hands and clothes of persons luminous. When put in water, under proper circumstances, it renders the water luminous. But when put in milk, a single pholas made seven ounces of it so luminous as to enable one to distinguish the faces of persons present. Ency. Brit. Art. Light.

The evolution of light from the sea in the night, is a fact of common observation, and is sometimes so great as to enable one to read large print on a ship’s deck. Ency. Brit. Art. Light.

In all the above instances, and many more might be added, the light evolved, or, (which is the same thing in this investigation,) the luminiferous ether put in motion, must have been in a state of combination with the substances from which it was evolved. The only question which remains is this: Was all this light transmitted from the sun, and become latent and combined at the earth’s surface by absorption?

It would certainly be hazardous to answer this question in the affirmative. For how could we account for the evolution of light from those bodies which have never been subject to the sun’s influence?

Again: If all this light had been transmitted from the sun, it will inevitably follow, that there was a time when the quantity of light at the surface of the earth, and in combination with terrestrial bodies, was very small, and of course combustion, friction, and compression of bodies produced anciently a much smaller quantity of light than now; because there was a smaller quantity in combination.

It is evident that this supposition would come to this conclusion: The quantity of light, in combination at the earth’s surface, has increased in the same ratio as the increase of the duration of the influence of the sun on the earth: and, by consequence, the quantity of light produced by artificial means has increased in the same proportion. Of course, fires and candles burn more brightly now than they did five thousand years since.

Though this conclusion is legitimate from the foregoing supposition, yet it is at war with common sense, and the current observations of the world.

We are therefore compelled to conclude that the matter of light is diffused throughout the universe, as is caloric, and that it is evolved, or put in motion by the influence of the sun; as also by artificial and chemical means; as combustion, compression, friction, chemical action, &c.

This conclusion is much strengthened by the fact, that the existence of caloric is well ascertained, not as proceeding from the sun, but in combination with all terrestrial substances; and also by the fact of the constant analogy between the phenomena of light and heat. This analogy is so strong and striking that we are compelled to conclude, if heat be the effect of a real substance, light must be also. Indeed the analogy is so strong that it almost convinces us of the identity of the matter of heat, light, electricity, and galvanism.

Notwithstanding the amount of evidence is against this supposition at present, yet there is a strong tendency in recent philosophical experiments to confirm it; and I am inclined to believe that future discoveries will confirm this identity. Some of the most obvious evidences in favor of it may be introduced here.

1. Almost all the celebrated authors and experimenters have occasionally suggested the probability of this identity. Mr. Turner, Elements of Chemistry, p. 67, says, in reference to heat and light: “It has been supposed that they are modifications of the same agent; and though most persons regard them as independent principles, yet they are certainly allied in a way which at present is inexplicable.” Again, p. 71. “Mr. Leslie conceives that light when absorbed, is converted into heat.” Dr. Henry (Art. Light,) says, “A new fact has been lately ascertained by Dr. Delaroche, which seems to point out a close connection between heat and light, and a gradual passage of the one into the other. The rays of invisible heat pass through glass with difficulty at a temperature below that of boiling water; but they traverse it with a facility always increasing with the temperature, as it approaches the point at which bodies become luminous.” “The general facts, says Sir H. Davy, of the refraction and effects of the solar beam, offer an analogy to the agencies of electricity.” (Ure, Chemical Dictionary, Article Light.) It is well known that this view pressed itself strongly on the attention of Sir Isaac Newton, during his philosophical investigation. See Ure, Chem. Dic. Art. Light.

2. This identity is strongly suggested by the constant and striking analogy between the laws of heat and light.

First: The color of surfaces has an influence on the passage of light and heat.

Secondly: The power of light, heat, and electricity diminishes as the squares of their distances.

Thirdly: The particles of heat, light, and electricity, are idio-repulsive.

Fourthly: The passage of the electric spark is generally attended with the production of light and heat.

Fifthly: Heat is emitted in all directions from the surface of an ignited body: so is light from the surface of a burning body.

Sixthly: The laws of reflection are the same in light and heat.

Other coincidences might be established, and other celebrated names added.

If this identity should be established finally, it would not effect the doctrine of the foregoing pages in the least. It would only be necessary to say, the luminiferous fluid of this essay is the well established substance now called caloric.

Addenda on Light.

1. It is now generally admitted that the real body of the sun is surrounded with a peculiar set of clouds, phosphorescent in their nature. It is also allowed that these clouds do not emit heat. And as it is well known that no one of the planets has such clouds, but receive their light from the sun, it is extremely probable that these phosphorescent clouds are intended by the Creator, to be the great dispenser of light to the solar system, by operating as the exciting cause to put the luminiferous ether in motion throughout the solar system.

By a parity of reasoning, each centre of a system may be invested with similar clouds, which operate in the same way in reference to the planets which belong to it.

2. If light were a real substance, as commonly understood, solar light must proceed from the sun by impulsion, and artificial light from burning bodies by evolution. Take the case of burning bodies. A single candle placed two miles above the surface of the earth in the air, and lighted up in that position, will instantly illuminate a space of two miles in every direction from itself, or a spherical space four miles in diameter. In this case a sufficient quantity of light is instantly evolved to fill this space, and the evolution continues as long as the candle burns. The question upon this fact is this: Can it be supposed that there is a sufficient quantity of light, in combination with a single candle, or the oxygen necessary to keep up its combustion, to fill a spherical space four miles in diameter for several hours together? This would indeed be almost incredible in view of the space filled by light evolved from a single candle.

But this difficulty would be satisfactorily solved upon the supposition that light is the effect, produced by a luminiferous ether, universally diffused, and put in motion, by which it becomes visible, by the sun, burning bodies, &c. Because, the motion which renders the luminiferous ether visible, commences instantly upon the commencement of combustion, and is propagated from the point of combustion in right lines, under the appearance of rays of light: but the motion ceases instantly on the cessation of combustion, and of course darkness instantly ensues.]

After having attended to the production of light, and noticed some of its properties, it is a paramount duty to contemplate its glorious Author; especially as by this mysterious production he himself has chosen to be represented. If creatures be excellent, what must be the Creator? and to admire the former without adoring the latter, would be profane and atheistical. “The Deity,” says Sir Isaac Newton, “in infinite space, as in his own sensorium, has an intimate perception of all things:” so we, possessing intellect, should “look through nature up to nature’s God.” Then matter, however rarefied or diversified, would serve as his minister to introduce us into his presence. A pious ancient, on being asked by a profane philosopher, How he could contemplate high things, since he had no books? answered, That he had the whole world for his book, ready open at all times, and in all places, and that he could therein read things heavenly and divine. As the visible creation is the outward expression of the existence of God, and displays several of his infinite perfections; so we should study him in the works of nature, and trace him in the operation of his hands.

The late excellent and pious Bishop Horne very beautifully observes,—“When the angels beheld the dark and disordered state of created nature upon its first production, they were, doubtless, thrown into some perplexity to conceive how it should ever be made a means of manifesting forth the glory of the Creator. But when they saw the light spring up, at the Divine command, from that blackness of darkness, and fix its residence in its tabernacle the sun, illuminating and adorning the firmament of heaven with its glorious show, and the earth with its beautiful furniture, all formed out of rudeness and confusion, then they confessed that the difficulty of the work served only to display the skill of the workmaster, which is proportionally estimated by the unpromising nature of the materials.

In like manner, whoever views the chaos to which the infinite wisdom of a presiding Providence sometimes permits the moral world to be reduced by the prevailing power of the prince of darkness, and the agency of his instruments, will scarce be able, at first, to discern any traces of the Divine counsels in a mirror so sullied and clouded over by the enormities of sinful men. Yet let him wait with patience for a little season, and those clouds shall pass away; a light shall shine, and some great end present itself to sight, so worthy of God, so beneficial to man, that standing amazed at a power able to bring the greatest good out of the greatest evil, he will be forced to cry out concerning the economy of the spiritual system, as David did concerning the operations of the natural—‘Oh Lord, how manifold are thy works! In wisdom hast thou made them all.’”46

Section IV.—Day and Night.

Original terms of Day and Night — Motion the effect of a Divine power — Commencement of Time — Utility of Day and Night — Religious improvement of Time — Sin moral darkness — The Gospel a Light to dispel it — A Christian the subject of a transition from the one state to the other.

The separation of light from the darkness, was the work of the first day. This was an arrangement made by infinite Wisdom, as well as a display of almighty power. When this took place, it is highly probable that God gave to the earth its rotation upon its own axis, to produce the necessary succession of day and night. “The word ערב éreb, which we translate evening, comes from the root ערב ârab, to mingle, and properly signifies that state in which neither absolute darkness, nor full light, prevails. It has nearly the same grammatical signification with our twilight, the time that elapses from the setting of the sun till he is eighteen degrees below the horizon, and eighteen degrees before he arises. Thus we have the morning and evening twilight, or mixture of light and darkness, in which neither prevails; because, while the sun is within eighteen degrees of the horizon, either after his setting, or before his rising, the atmosphere has power to refract the rays of light, and send them back to the earth. The Hebrews extended the meaning of this term to the whole duration of night, because it was ever a mingled state; the moon, the planets, or the stars, tempering the darkness with some rays of light. From the ereb of Moses came the Ερεβος Erebus of Hesiod, Aristophanes, and other heathens, which they deified, and made with nox, or night, the parent of all things. The word בקר boquer, which we translate morning, from בקר boquar, he looked out, is a beautiful figure, which represents the morning as looking out at the east, and illuminating the whole of the upper hemisphere.”47

All bodies continue in a state of rest, till they are put into motion by some external force impressed on them. Motion is the removal of a body from one place to another, or a continual change of place.48 Any force acting on a body to move it, is called a power. The momentum, or quantity of motion, is in proportion to the force impressed. The heavier any body is, the greater is the power required to move it.

There are but three possible ways of accounting for motion:—either by supposing that there has been an infinite succession of impulses communicated from one body to another from eternity, without any active principle either in matter or without it: or, that there is an active principle in matter that renders it self-active, and motion essential to it: or, else, that there is a Being distinct from matter, and is the cause of its motion.

An infinite succession of impulses, without an active or moving principle, will never give birth to motion, because this would be to produce an effect without the assistance of a cause. This absurdity was asserted by Spinosa; yet when urged by his friends to explain how matter could ever come into motion, if motion was neither essential to matter, nor proceeded from any external cause, he always avoided giving a direct answer. This conduct makes it reasonable to believe, that he himself would have given up his account of motion, if he could have saved his atheistical scheme and his reputation.

That motion is essential to all matter, and action as much an attribute of matter, as extension or solidity; and, consequently, every atom of matter is necessarily self-moving, or active from the necessity of its own nature, is asserted by Toland. Though he thought fit to reject the hypothesis of Spinosa as indefensible, yet he believed in the atheistic notion, that motion is essential to matter, and thinks it will be sufficient without troubling the Supreme Being. The reason which has always determined mankind to look out for a cause of motion extrinsical to matter, was this: though they could easily conceive it capable of being moved and divided; yet the conceiving of it to be undivided, and unmoved, was a more simple notion of matter, than the conceiving it divided and moved. This being first in order of nature, and an adequate conception of it too, they thought it necessary to inquire, how it came out of this state, and by what causes motion, from whence this diversity in matter arose, could come into the world?

Descartes, though he allowed the infinity of matter, as well as Toland, was yet sensible that even this would not alter the nature of matter, nor the idea that every person had of its inactivity, and therefore could see no way of altering its primitive idea, and reconciling it with the motion of matter, but by introducing an infinite Being, who had sufficient power to rouse matter out of that sleepy state in which its original idea had represented it.49

That such a circumstance exists, and what it is, a French author very clearly states. He says, The universe is composed of matter, and, as a system, is sustained by motion. Motion is not a property of matter, and without this motion the solar system could not exist. Were motion a property of matter, that undiscovered and undiscoverable thing, called perpetual motion, would establish itself. It is because motion is not a property of matter, that perpetual motion is an impossibility in the hand of every being but that of the Creator of motion. When the pretenders to atheism can produce perpetual motion, and not till then, they may expect to be credited.

The natural state of matter, as to place, is a state of rest. Motion, or change of place, is the effect of an external cause acting upon matter. As to that faculty of matter called gravitation, it is the influence which two or more bodies have reciprocally on each other to unite and be at rest. Every thing which has hitherto been discovered with respect to the motion of the planets in the system, relates only to the laws by which motion acts, and not to the cause of motion. Gravitation, so far from being the cause of motion to the planets that compose the solar system, would be the destruction of the solar system, were revolutionary motion to cease; for as the action of spinning upholds a top, the revolutionary motion upholds the planets in their orbits, and prevents them from gravitating and forming one mass with the sun.

In one sense of the word, philosophy knows, and atheism says, that matter is in perpetual motion. But the motion here meant refers to the state of matter, and that only on the surface of the earth. It is either decomposition, which is continually destroying the form of the bodies of matter, or recomposition, which renews that matter in the same or another form, as the decomposition of animal or vegetable substances enter into the composition of other bodies. But the motion that upholds the solar system is of an entirely different kind, and is not a property of matter. It operates also to an entirely different effect. It operates also to perpetual preservation, and to prevent any change in the state of the system.

Giving then to matter all the properties which philosophy knows it has, or all that atheism ascribes to it, and can prove, and even supposing matter to be eternal, it will not account for the system of the universe, or of the solar system, because it will not account for motion, and it is motion that preserves it. When, therefore, we discover a circumstance of such immense importance, that without it the universe could not exist, and for which neither matter, nor any, nor all, the properties of matter can account, we are by necessity forced into the rational and comfortable belief of the existence of a cause superior to matter, and that cause is God.

The motion of the earth, therefore, is an effect of Divine power, because there is none other equal to it; and the constant operation of the same cause is requisite to perpetuate its progress. How amazing it is that this globe, so large in circumference, should move at all! Plato attributes motion to the power of God, “How is it possible,” he argues, “for so prodigious a mass to be carried round for so long a time, by any natural cause? For which reason,” he says, “I assert God to be the cause, and that it is impossible it should be otherwise.”50 “Every thing that is moved,” adds Aristotle, “must of necessity be moved by some other thing; and that thing must be moved, either by another, or not by another thing. If it be moved by that which is moved by another, we must of necessity come to some Prime Mover that is not moved by another. For it is impossible that what moves, and is moved by another, shall proceed ad infinitum.”51 Since motion then is not a property of matter, but an effect produced by the power of a Divine agent, what a constant display we have of this efficient energy, in moving this earth, and with such a surprising, swiftness! Surely all men should fear and reverence a Being, who possesses and exercises such a power! He who created all things out of nothing, could, if he pleased, extinguish the light, and shake the solid earth into atoms!

When the ponderous wheel of nature first began to move, time, consisting of days, months, years, and ages, and measured by the duration and revolutions of the heavenly bodies, commenced.

The distinction between day and night is a wise and gracious provision for man. In the morning, after the weary limbs have repaired their exhausted vigor by the indulgence of soft repose, we are pleased with the blessing of light; and, after a few fleeting hours engaged in our diversified pursuits of the day, we begin to court the evening shades, pleased again to enjoy that balmy retreat which alone refits us for the fatigues of the ensuing day. When a few fleeting hours are spent, the day is no longer gratifying; but its light becomes burdensome, and we wish for the shadows of the evening to be stretched over us. This sable period is scarcely gone, when we welcome the dawning day, andleave the place of our rest with gladness.

Day and night, and their alternate changes, are adapted to suggest useful thoughts, and calculated to employ our serious meditation.

A force continually impressed by the supreme Being produces and preserves these different and useful motions, which measure out that portion of time assigned us, for the performance of his work, and the securing of our own salvation. We are directed in his word how to employ this important talent lent to us; also warned to guard against a misapplication of it, and told that a day will come when we shall have to give an account of our stewardship. As day is afforded for the management of those employments which could not be done in the night, how unwise would it be to postpone such concerns till the approach of darkness? So the short period of life is given us that we may “work out our own salvation.” We are favored with the light of Divine truth to illuminate our understandings; the operation of the Holy Spirit to influence our wills; and our pressing necessities should impel us to perform what God requires.

The Greeks have two words for time, χρονος and καιρος: the former signifies time in general; and the latter that part of it which is proper for doing a thing—the present season in which any thing to be done may be done fitly and to advantage. Accordingly Solomon says, “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven.”

What the apostle says to the Christians at Ephesus is equally applicable and interesting to persons in succeeding ages of the world; giving a view of the importance of time, and directing to a right improvement of it. “See that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil.”

Walking, in the Scripture style, is a word frequently used to denote the whole course of a man’s life and conversation, including all his thoughts, words and actions. Walking circumspectly, ακριβως, signifies correctly, accurately, consistently, or perfectly. In another place the same word is rendered diligently. Herod said to the wise men come from the east, Go to Bethlehem, and search ακριβως, diligently, narrowly, for the young child Jesus. But the word circumspect is from the Latin circumspicio, and signifies to look round about, on all hands, to be every way watchful, wary, and cautious, in order to avoid danger, discern enemies before they come too nigh, and secure a man’s interest by every possible and lawful means.52

The necessity of this duty is suggested in the Greek text, βλεπετε ουν see then or therefore, take care of this as a matter of the highest concern and greatest importance; it is that on which your all depends. He adduces a cogent reason for this—“Not as fools, but as wise.” As if he should say, It is your wisdom to walk circumspectly, and not to walk so would be your folly: to walk circumspectly is the wisdom that God recommends to you, and which is adapted to make you truly wise, both in this world and in that which is to come.

The word redeeming, εξαγοραζομενοι, literally signifies buying time. The term buying is proper in reference to civil contracts, but it is here applied morally. Properly speaking, time cannot be bought: it is a commodity for which all the treasures in the world would not be an equivalent. Its price is above rubies. But the term imports the great value of time, and intimates that we should be willing to suffer any privation or inconveniences, rather than lose it. Redeeming properly implies the laying down a price for re-purchasing or recovering that which was ours, but which has fallen into the possession of another. A captive sometimes is redeemed out of the hand of an enemy. Now, in this sense, to redeem time already past is impossible, for when once gone it is irrecoverable. So that by redeeming time, nothing else can be understood but a diligent and prudent improvement of it, which is the only way in our power to counterbalance the loss we have sustained by our former neglect. The effects of our past negligence should be counteracted by double diligence in future: we should do much work in a little time. This is to redeem that time, concerning which we have allowed worldly business, unprofitable visits, sensual indulgence, carnal recreations, and vain thoughts, to rob us, and, as it were, to take and keep us captive. To redeem time then is to be diligent in future, wisely improving it so as may make amends for our very culpable remissness. Future diligence is, as it were, the price of redemption paid down for what we had mortgaged into the hands of those things which we have suffered to deprive us of it.

The argument used to enforce the practice of this duty is, “because the days are evil.” Time, in itself, properly speaking, is neither good nor evil; but in regard to the moral state of mankind may be so called. The days here primarily intended by the apostle, denominated evil, were those of his own time, in which he himself and his contemporaries lived, and which abounded with trouble and danger, by reason of the opposition made by unbelieving Jews and Gentiles against Christianity. But all our days, as well as those, may be called evil, because of the prevalence of sin, Satanic delusion, and hostility of the ungodly against real religion. Many persons can adopt the language of the patriarch Jacob, “Few and evil have the days of the years of my life been.” Job gives a similar testimony, “Man that is born of a woman, is of few days, and full of evil.”

The whole argument runs thus: seeing that you cannot enjoy true quiet and substantial comfort in this terrestrial abode, and are in danger of being quickly deprived of all opportunity of getting and doing good, fail not to improve the present time to the best advantage, in reference to the future state, that you may secure for yourselves a happy and glorious eternity.