The Infinities Around UsIiichard A. Proctor. 



with, and that therefore Dime is occupied iu conveying 

 light messages th;it wo Imow not of. We are immedi- 

 ately led from tho infinity of spat-o to the iiifliiity of 

 time. Let. us make this comparison. As wo take iu 

 epace au infinite line, a quantity which extends in every 

 direction, so let us take au inliuite lino i;i tune. L >r us 

 carry back our thoughts inflnitely, au infinite progress 

 backward. Do wo como to au endl Is ii not 

 a thing that can have no endl You como 

 to the beginning of all things ou that side, the begin- 

 ning of all created matter. Beyond all that is the in- 

 finite void of time. Suppose you como to the end of all 

 things; beyond all that is the infinity of time, the infin- 

 ite void of time. We have ou either side of us in Unity ; 

 the idea that the whole of time has b^en and is to be ex- 

 pended, in the past and future; tho idea that the whole 

 of time has been occupied by the occurrences of 

 events, or the idea that there has been some 

 part of time unoccupied. Both Ideas are equally impos- 

 sible to our conceptions. Since both are equally incon- 

 ceivable, we would naturally take that which is most 

 congruous, the idea that the whole of time has been 

 occupied. We are led again to the utterly inconceivable 

 idea that there can be no beginning and no end. One 

 need not be repelled there by the words of Scrip- 

 ture. The words of Scripture are, " in the be- 



ginning ; 



but they don't say that there was a 



beginning of time, but a beginning of forces, as far as 

 we are concerned. It has been said that the very idea 

 of the progress of time implies a beginning. It has been 

 said that the very idea of space implies a limit, but we 

 know it has not a limit. So we find ourselves, whether 

 we consider space or time, led to iuconcaivables. 



EVENTS AND MATTER OCCUPYING TIME AND SPACE. 



Now let us consider that as far as we know they are 

 occupied by events and matter. What are the events 

 tliat have occupied time and the matters which have 

 occupied space 1 The matters that have occupied 

 space are those which astronomers have 

 brought to our mind worlds, system?, systems of 

 systems, universes in stars, collections of universes and 

 the mind is carried ou to yet higher ideas of what occu- 

 pies space. But as to what occupies time, we recognize 

 continual action iu those parts of space, one upou an- 

 other. We recognize a sun gathering in all 

 around it, deriving power from the indraft, 

 and spreading out that supply of power over the 

 creatures that live upon the worlds around. We recog- 

 nize all the progress of time, and iu the regions of space 

 we recognize the continual action of power. There is 

 continual force and continual energy. We are told by 

 science that so far as our knowledge goes there is an 

 end to all that energy. The earth, for instance, was 

 once an orb like tue sun, which gradually parted with 

 its inherent lieat until it reached its presant stage ; 

 and looking into the future of the earth we trace the 

 titre when it will be like the moon, when it will have 

 dismissed its inherent heat and no longer be fit to bo tne 

 abode of life. Passing on the other side, wo come to orbs 

 like Jupiter in a longer state than this cart!), still 

 instinct with their inherent fire; and still higher 

 than that we come to orbs like our sun, 

 fit to be the center of schemes of circling worlds. Wo 

 find these various orders, and recognize the fact that 

 the orbs of our order are passing rapidly down to the 

 next order. The sun is gradually parting with its inhe- 

 rent heat, and will unquestionably assume one day or 

 another the state of the planet Jupiter. 



Tben again the planeta Jupiter aud Saturn are passing 



down to a lower order. Our earth h passing down to tho 

 order the moon presents; Hie moon may he HI ill furl her 

 parting w.'tli its inherent heat, and so them is a eontin- 

 iial progression from the Hgher to the lower order-i. 

 Hut is there au end to that progress 1 Does it 

 imply ou one hand a beginning from which 

 all these orbs arrive at this state, or, on tin- oilier hand, 

 aueiid to which they am all lending, and to an end 

 when all the orbs in the universe will bo equal in point 

 of ht-iif, and then, although the force in tho universe will 

 remain unchanged, tue real acting energy, depending, 

 as wo know it does, on temperature, will have pasted 

 away. Th;it is the view tj which we aoeiu tending. 



WILL THE UNIVERSE BE RICNKWKD? 

 I have heard the view insisted upon by a philosopher 

 of this country, for whom I have high respect, as tend- 

 ing to show that astronomy is the one science teaching 

 us that therj was a beginning: aud that there will 

 be an end. Here again it scorns to me 

 tho finitcuess of our conceptions has le I us astray, 

 aud when we view the matter rightly we recognize 

 iu this progress a progression which neither implies a 

 beginning nor an end. We find ourselves merely mem- 

 bers existing through a long series of agus, and it ap- 

 pears to mo that we may look back into tho iuliuite past 

 through which these changes had a present 

 state. It is as though. persons reasoning 

 about a tree, for instance, springing, as 

 we know it does, Jrom a seed, were not 

 aware of the f.ict that tue tree, after it was dead, would 

 give birth to other trees, and so there would be a con- 

 tinual progression. In the same way we can under- 

 stand it is quite conceivable that the state of things 

 which now appaars tending toward an endis really tend- 

 ing toward a condition where there will be a new be- 

 ginning, and evidences of energy will continue 

 forever, and thus there is neither a real beginning nor a 

 real end. At any rate, we see that the universe, having 

 infinity of space, and infinity of material occupying that 

 spuco, has also infinite power. The quantity of ma- 

 terial matter would not imply power, but material 

 matter separated by enormous distances at least 

 implies power. Take our sun, for instance ; 

 grant him his present enormous mass, let all the matter 

 lie gathered iu upon his surface, aud power is not im- 

 plied, but let that matter be restored to its original 

 distance, and give the sun his in-drawing power, 

 and then iu the sun resides power making 

 him fit to bo the center from which 

 are to be dispensed endless supplies of' life aud energy. 

 Since this distance of matter implies power, and since 

 matter is infinite and distances are infinite, and matter 

 occupies infinite space, according to our assumptions 

 power m the universe is infinite also. 



And thus we come to the conception that there is in 

 tho universe, quite apart from all ideas of God, iuh'nito 

 power. We have been led then from the thought 

 of infinite occupied space, to the thought 

 of infinite tiinu occupied by events, and 

 now to the thought of infinite power; 

 aud yet all these ideas are utterly beyond our powers 

 of conception. Why, then, dismiss the idea of a God 

 merely because He is beyoTd our powers of conception 1 

 Tho materialist is right when he says this or that djc- 

 triue is inconceivable, but ho is wrong when he says I 

 will not admit it; tho idea or space is inconceivable, 

 that we must admit; the idea, of infinite timo is incon- 

 ceivable, that we must admit ; the idea of infinite power 

 is inconceivable; but, taking the view that iuUuite 



