Joseph Smith as Scientist Part 4

Professor Simon Newcomb, perhaps the greatest astronomer of the day, says, "The sun, and the whole solar system with it, have been speeding their way toward the star of which I speak (Alpha Lyrae) on a journey of which we know neither the beginning nor the end. During every clock-beat through which humanity has existed, it has moved on this journey by an amount which we cannot specify more exactly than to say that it is probably between five and nine miles per second. The conclusion seems unavoidable that a number of stars are moving with a speed such that the attraction of all the bodies of the universe could never stop them."[C] In brief, the new astronomy holds that all heavenly bodies are in motion, and that the planetary system is but a small cl.u.s.ter of stars among the host of heaven. Further, it has weighed the stars, measured the intensity of their light, and determined their chemical composition, and it affirms that there are suns in the heavens, far excelling our sun in size and l.u.s.tre, though built of approximately the same elements.

[Footnote A: See C. G. Abbott, Report of Smithsonian Inst.i.tution, for 1901, pp. 153-155.]

[Footnote B: Light Science for Leisure Hours, Proctor, pp. 42-52.]

[Footnote C: The Problems of Astronomy, S. Newcomb, Science, May 21, 1897.]

[Sidenote: The solar system is only one of many.]

Sir Robert Ball expresses his views as follows: "The group to which our sun belongs is a limited one. This must be so, even though the group included all the stars in the milky way. This unnumbered host is still only a cl.u.s.ter, occupying, comparatively speaking, an expressibly small extent in the ocean of infinite s.p.a.ce. The imagination will carry us further still--it will show us that our star cl.u.s.ter may be but a unit in a cl.u.s.ter of an order still higher, so that a yet higher possibility of movement is suggested for our astonishment."[A]

[Footnote A: The Story of the Sun, R. S. Ball, pp. 360, 361.]

Another eminent astronomer expresses the same idea briefly but eloquently: "It is true that from the highest point of view the sun is only one of a mult.i.tude--a single star among millions--thousands of which, most likely, exceed him in brightness, magnitude and power. He is only a private in the host of heaven."[A]

[Footnote A: The Sun, C. A. Young, p. 11.]

And still another student of the stars propounds the following questions: "Does there exist a central sun of the universe? Do the worlds of Infinitude gravitate as a hierarchy round a divine focus?

Some day the astronomers of the planets which gravitate in the light of Hercules (towards which constellation the solar system is moving) will see a little star appear in their sky. This will be our sun, carrying us along in its rays; perhaps at this very moment we are visible dust of a sidereal hurricane, in a milky way, the transformer of our destinies. We are mere playthings in the immensity of Infinitude."[A]

[Footnote A: Popular Astronomy, C. Flammarion, p. 309.]

[Sidenote: Scientists believe that heavenly bodies are inhabited by living, thinking beings.]

It is not strange that men who have learned to look at the universe in this lofty manner should go a step farther, beyond the actually known, and suggest that some of these countless heavenly bodies must be inhabited by living, thinking beings. Sober, thoughtful truthseekers, who never advance needlessly a new theory, have suggested, in all seriousness, that other worlds than ours are peopled. For instance, "What sort of life, spiritual and intellectual, exists in distant worlds? We can not for a moment suppose that our little planet is the only one throughout the whole universe on which may be found the fruits of civilization, warm firesides, friendship, the desire to penetrate the mysteries of creation."[A]

[Footnote A: The Problems of Astronomy, S. Newcomb.]

Such, then, is in very general terms the view of modern astronomy with reference to the const.i.tution of the universe. Most of the information upon which this view rests has been gathered during the last fifty years.

[Sidenote: Joseph Smith taught that all heavenly bodies are in motion.]

Joseph Smith was doubtlessly impressed with the beauty of the starry heavens, and, in common with all men of poetical nature, allowed his thoughts to wander into the immensity of s.p.a.ce. However, he had no known opportunity of studying the principles of astronomy, or of becoming familiar with the astronomical questions that were agitating the thinkers of his day. Naturally, very little is said in his writings that bears upon the planetary and stellar const.i.tution of the universe; yet enough to prove that he was in perfect harmony with the astronomical views developed since his day.

First, he believed that stellar bodies are distributed throughout s.p.a.ce. "And worlds without number have I created."[A] "And there are many kingdoms; for there is no s.p.a.ce in which there is no kingdom."[B]

He is further in harmony with modern views in that he claims that stars may be destroyed, and new ones formed. "For, behold, there are many worlds that have pa.s.sed away by the word of my power."[C] "And as one earth shall pa.s.s away, and the heavens thereof, even so shall another come."[D]

[Footnote A: Book of Moses, 1:33.]

[Footnote B: Doctrine and Covenants, 88:37.]

[Footnote C: Book of Moses, 1:35.]

[Footnote D: Doctrine and Covenants, 1:38.]

At the time that Joseph Smith wrote, there was considerable discussion as to whether the laws of the solar system were effective with the stars. The Prophet had no doubts on that score, for he wrote, "And unto every kingdom is given a law; and unto every law there are certain bounds also and conditions."[A]

[Footnote A: Doctrine and Covenants, 88:38.]

Likewise, his opinions concerning the motions of celestial objects were very definite and clear. "He hath given a law unto all things by which they move in their times and seasons; and their courses are fixed; even the courses of the heavens and the earth, which comprehend the earth and all the planets. The earth rolls upon her wings, and the sun giveth his light by day, and the moon giveth her light by night, and the stars also giveth their light, as they roll upon their wings in glory, in the midst of the power of G.o.d."[A]

[Footnote A: Doctrine and Covenants, 88:43, 45.]

In another place the same thought is expressed. "The sun, moon or stars; all the times of their revolutions; all the appointed days, months, and years, and all the days of their days, months, and years, and all their glories, laws, and set times, shall be revealed."[A]

[Footnote A: Doctrine and Covenants, 121:30, 31.]

The two revelations from which these quotations are made, were given to the Prophet in 1832 and 1839 respectively, many years before the fact that all celestial bodies are in motion was understood and accepted by the world of science.

[Sidenote: Joseph Smith taught that the solar system is only one of many--in advance of the astronomers of his day.]

The accepted conception that groups or cl.u.s.ters of stars form systems which revolve around some one point or powerful star, was also clearly understood by Joseph Smith, for he speaks of stars of different orders with controlling stars for each order. "And I saw the stars that they were very great, and that one of them was nearest unto the throne of G.o.d; and there were many great ones which were near unto it: and the Lord said unto me: These are the governing ones; and the name of the great one is Kolob because it is near unto me--I have set this one to govern all those which belong to the same order as that upon which thou standest."[A] That the governing star, Kolob, is not the sun is evident, since the statement is made later in the chapter that the Lord showed Abraham "Shinehah, which is the sun." Kolob, therefore, must be a mighty star governing more than the solar system; and is possibly the central sun around which the sun with its attendant planets is revolving. The other great stars near Kolob are also governing stars, two of which are mentioned by name Oliblish and Enish-go-ondosh, though nothing is said of the order or stars that they control. The reading of the third chapter of the _Book of Abraham_ leaves complete conviction that Joseph Smith taught that the celestial bodies are in great groups, controlled (under gravitational influence) by large suns. In this doctrine, he antic.i.p.ated the world of science by many years.

[Footnote A: Book of Abraham, chapter 3.]

[Sidenote: Joseph Smith taught that other worlds are inhabited.]

It is perhaps less surprising to find that Joseph Smith believed that there are other peopled worlds than ours. For instance, "The reckoning of G.o.d's time, angel's time, prophet's time, and man's time, is according to the planet on which they reside,"[A] which distinctly implies that other planets are inhabited. Another pa.s.sage reads, "The angels do not reside on a planet like this earth, but they reside in the presence of G.o.d, on a globe like a sea of gla.s.s and fire."[B]

[Footnote A: Doctrine and Covenants, 130:4.]

[Footnote B: Loc. cit., verses 6 and 7. See also 88:61.]

While the idea that the planets and stars may be inhabited is not at all new, yet it is interesting to note that Joseph Smith taught as an absolute truth that such is the case. Probably no other philosopher has gone quite that far.

These brief quotations go to show that the doctrines of the Prophet of the Latter-day Saints are in full accord with the views that distinguish the new astronomy. It is also to be noted that in advancing the theories of universal motion among the stars, and of great stars or suns governing groups of stars, he antic.i.p.ated by many years the corresponding theories of professional astronomers.

In various sermons the Prophet dealt more fully with the doctrines here set forth and showed more strongly than is done in his doctrinal writings, that he understood perfectly the far reaching nature of his astronomical teachings.

Did Joseph Smith teach these truths by chance? or, did he receive inspiration from a higher power?

Chapter VII.

GEOLOGICAL TIME.

[Sidenote: The history of the world written in the rocks.]

G.o.d speaks in various ways to men. The stars, the clouds, the mountains, the gra.s.s and the soil, are all, to him who reads aright, forms of divine revelation. Many of the n.o.blest attributes of G.o.d may be learned by a study of the laws according to which Omnipotent Will directs the universe.

Nowhere is this principle more beautifuly ill.u.s.trated and confirmed than in the rocks that const.i.tute the crust of the earth. On them is written in simple plainness the history of the earth almost from that beginning, when the Spirit of G.o.d moved upon the face of the waters.

Yet, for centuries, men saw the rocks, their forms and their adaptations to each other, without understanding the message written in them. Only, as the wonderful nineteenth century approached, did the vision open, and the interpretation of the story of the rocks become apparent.

[Sidenote: Water and heat among the shaping forces of the earth.]

How the earth first came into being has not yet been clearly revealed.