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Read Ebook: Beethoven: A Memoir (2nd Ed.) by Graeme Elliott Hiller Ferdinand Contributor
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Ebook has 471 lines and 58018 words, and 10 pages
INTRODUCTORY
CONDITIONS PRECEDENT
Space
Time
Matter
Intelligences
THE GOSPEL
Inception
Purpose
Plan
Covenants
Perpetuity
CONDITIONS SUBSEQUENT
Nature
Man
CONCLUSION
BY WAY OF TEXT.
"What a thoughtful man most longs for is some firm center about which he can organize his knowledge of the world, his experiences of life, a point of view from which he can gather all into an intelligible unity and from which he can press forward with a deep assurance of divine guidance and an adequate outcome."--Selected.
INTRODUCTORY.
History relates of Hypatia, the daughter of Theon, an eminent mathematician of Alexandria, that before being committed to the flames by an ignorant mob, she exclaimed:--
"Who am I, whence am I, and whither am I going?"
These questions, elaborated and particularized, are universal. They belong neither to any time, nor sect nor civilization. They are the questions of life. They recur to us at every turn in life, and when life nears its close, the master-thought with studious men is that they shall soon know the answer.
But from that bourne no traveler returns, as the poet has it, to enlighten those who remain. And so we are beset by limitations. Swung into space with no means of exploring it, bound to this whirling ball, circumscribed in all our activities, without power to determine our lot here, the moment of our entrance, nor to extend the time of our exit; when we seek to know the mysteries of life, our condition is, in a way, as would be that of a family, inhabiting from time out of mind, a miniature island in mid-ocean, without means of communication with the world, should they, by conjecture, try to learn the history and civilization of mankind.
In the midst of these perplexities comes the Gospel to us as a welcome, gracious visitor from the realms beyond the reach of our knowledge.
The object of this work as intimated by the text, is to suggest a firm central point about which may be grouped in orderly arrangement, all our knowledge, and our guide shall be revelation. In this endeavor we shall be assisted materially, if we attempt, however crudely, a classification of the subject-matter; and we shall, therefore, consider:
First,--The universal, all-prevailing, eternal conditions of existence, under the head of,
Second,--The inception, purpose, plan, covenants and perpetuity of this system of organization in which we now find ourselves, under the head of,
Third,--The results, the fruits of this All-wise arrangement, under the head of,
It may be said at the outset that the attempt here made is to present in order and to hold up, as the answer to all the problems of life, the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, as restored to the earth through the Prophet Joseph Smith.
There are only two reasons that come to mind, why this effort may not be acceptable; one is a disbelief on the part of the reader in the divinity of the Gospel, the other, is the inadequacy of this presentation.
To the former objection it is sufficient for the inquiring mind to say, Judge for yourself whether or not the Gospel as here set out answers every requirement of life, where other systems of philosophy all fail; to the latter we reply, No attempt is here made to present in detail the principles of the Gospel, but only to sketch the outlines; and, moreover, the reader is at perfect liberty to supply whatever deficiency he may detect.
CONDITIONS PRECEDENT.
SPACE.
TIME.
MATTER.
INTELLIGENCES.
AS TO SPACE.
The school-boy is told that the idea held by people generally in the days of Columbus was that if the venturesome ships were to sail too far out on the ocean they would fall off into space; and in his silent meditations he often wonders where, in such a case, those ships would have gone. The natural answer to his mind is that they would have gone down; but when he learns later that the words "down" and "up" relate only to the earth, and that in speaking of space, there are no such terms as up or down, or east or west, or north or south, all his ideas of direction are at sea. His conception of space increases, however.
Later in school life he studies with interest the movements of the planetarium, and is surprised to find the earth, whose geographical extent has hitherto seemed so vast, represented by such an insignificant ball, so near the sun. This, however, is only the beginning of his surprises. He is told later that, large as the solar system seems, yet if our sun, viewed from one of the fixed stars, were as large as the orbit of Neptune, it would be eclipsed by a pin-head held at arm's length. And so his ideas of space continue to enlarge as he grows in understanding.
As we study Herschel's diagram of the group of stars in which we dwell and let the mind contemplate with the astronomer the nebulae, supposed by some to be other groups of stars, much more magnificent than our own, the mind is lost in wonder at the immensity of space and the grandeur of the works of God. But even this is simply a beginning.
The Lord gives us a still deeper insight into the situation when He reveals to us the fact that all these vast systems, as well as other systems of which as yet we know nothing, are revolving about other systems which are all controlled from a common centre, His "first creation," the great Kolob.
When, therefore, the Lord, standing in the midst of His works, comprehending and controlling them all, speaks to us of the "immensity of space," how shall mortal, finite man, state his conception of space! How far is the philosopher advanced above the school-boy with his query about the ships of Columbus?
So far as reason can answer the question as to the bounds of space, it is answered by Professor Orson Pratt. Discussing the necessity for endless time and boundless space, he says:
"That there must be an endless duration and a boundless space, are necessary truths which cannot possibly be conceived to be otherwise than they are. These are necessary truths, whether any being exists to conceive them as such or not. Indeed, if there were no being in existence, the same unalterable and unchangeable necessity would characterize these truths. Endless space and duration cannot be created nor annihilated by any being, but their continuance has been and must be eternal. These truths do not admit of being proved; for that which has no beginning cannot be preceded by a cause, and where no cause exists, there cannot possibly be any foundation for reasoning. There can be no reason why space and duration are as they are and yet we perceive a necessity for them to be as they are."
But we have a more sure word than unaided reason can offer. We are not left without revelation on this subject, meager though the reference may be. The Prophet Joseph Smith, speaking of the light of the sun, remarks:
"The sun has no beginning nor end; the rays which proceed from himself have no bounds, consequently they are eternal."
From this simple statement we receive more information than any man in our present condition, uninspired by the Lord, could ever obtain. Indeed, this very question is classed by the philosopher, Herbert Spencer, as among those the answer to which is "unknowable." But when we have this basic fact from which to reason, we are safe in concluding that if there are no bounds to the light of the sun, then it must follow that space is boundless.
AS TO TIME.
Another of the questions of life, the answer to which is classed by Herbert Spencer as among the "unknowable," is time; and of the same mind apparently is Thomas Carlyle, who says:
"The illimitable, silent, never-resting thing called 'time,' rolling, rushing on--this is forever very literally, a miracle, a thing to strike us dumb."
All sorts of ideas have been advanced in all ages of the world as to the mystery of time, and even its very existence has been called into question, as witness the following;
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