is different: "The heavens will
pass away with [Page 238] a rushing noise, and the elements will be
dissolved with burning heat, and the earth and the works therein
will be burned up." The latest conclusions of science point the same
way. The great zones of uncondensed matter about the sun seem to
constitute a resisting medium as far as they reach. Encke's comet,
whose orbit comes near the sun, is delayed. This gives gravitation
an overwhelming power, and hence the orbit is lessened and a
revolution accomplished more quickly. Faye's comet, which wheels
beyond the track of Mars, is not retarded. If the earth moves
through a resisting substance, its ultimate fall into the sun is
certain. Whether in that far future the sun shall have cooled off,
or will be still as hot as to-day, Peter's description would
admirably portray the result of the impact. Peters description,
however, seems rather to indicate an interference of Divine power at
an appropriate time before a running down of the system at present
in existence, and a re-endowment of matter with new capabilities.

After thousands of years, science discovered the true way to knowledge.
It is the Baconian way of experiment, of trial, of examining the
actual, instead of imagining the ideal. It is the acceptance of the
Scriptural plan. "If a man wills to do God's will, he shall know."
Oh taste and see! In science men try hypotheses, think the best they
can, plan broadly as possible, and then see if facts sustain the
theory. They have adopted the Scriptural idea of accepting a plan,
and then working in faith, in order to acquire knowledge. Fortunately,
in the work of salvation the plan is always perfect. But, in order
to make the trial under the most favorable circumstances, there
must be faith. The faith of [Page 239] science is amazing; its
assertions of the supersensual are astounding. It affirms a thousand
things that cannot be physically demonstrated: that the flight of a
rifle-ball is parabolic; that the earth has poles; that gages are
made of particles; that there are atoms; that an electric light
gives ten times as many rays as are visible; that there are sounds
to which we are deaf, sights to which we are blind; that a thousand
objects and activities are about us, for the perception of which we
need a hundred senses instead of five. These faiths have nearly all
led to sight; they have been rewarded, and the world's wealth of
knowledge is the result. The Word has ev