THE EARTH AND MOON.

Auckland Star, Volume LIII, Issue 95, 22 April 1922, Page 17

THE EARTH AND MOON.

THEIR REUNION APPROACHING THE NEW HEAVEN AND NEW EARTH.

(By J. LIDDELL KELLY.)

In Nature there is no fixity; all is Motion, Change, Life. The sea and the dry land, the mountain and the plain, exchange places with each other. So do the Poles, the Equator, and the Equinoxes. Even planets and stars blaze out and disappear, while new heavenly bodies at times "sail into our ken." The very interesting series of diagrams published in the "Star" of April 8 aptly illustrated how, in all probability, the moon was formed by. the detachment of a portion of the earth's bulk, which by.the law of gravitation took globular form, rotated on its axis, and settled down to travelling in an orbit around the earth. The theory that mutual tidal "pull" on our planet and its satellite gradually retarded the moon's motion, which was originally propounded by Kant, assumes the former existence of great oceans on the moon's surface; but as these seas no longer exist, it is apparent that the process of evolution is still going on—in other words, that the relations between our earth and its satellite are not finally fixed, though they have prevailed for thousands of years. What if the moon should yield to tbe attraction of the earth? The question may he a startling one; but the return of the satellite to its parent is quite within the range of the probable. If a "temporary collapse of equilibrium" caused the earth to assume a peaV-sbape, and later led to the throwing-off of the moon's bulk, why should not a similar collapse cause the' return of the moon to the earth? The result of such an occurrence would be a natural catastrophe of greater magnitude than any -known to human experience. Although the moon's bulk is only-one-fiftieth of that of the earth, the collision of the two bodies, each' of them travelling at enormous speed, would give" a vivid realisation of St. Peter's description of the time of the end:—."'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. Nevertheless we, according- to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth." Christ and many of the ancient prophets have foretold the same thing—a time of great trouble and natural cataclysms, followed by a period of .peace and 'blessedness; and many people are of opinion that this time is at hand. Of this I have been personally convinced since 1912, and between then and now many things have happened to confirm my view. About a year ago there came under my notice a little treatise on "The New Jerusalem," by the Key. George Berry, ■formerly vicar of Emmanuels, Plymouth, and now of Stoke, near Devonport, England. This appears to he a reprint from a larger work, "The End of All Things," first published in 1912, which I have never seen. Now, the chief feature of this .booklet on the New Jerusalem is an attempt to show that the heavenly city that John saw in vision descending from heaven is none other than the moon, which is destined soon to fall upon the earth. When I first read this, I thought it was a fanciful notion, without any foundation in probability; but after reading the illustrated article in the "Star" of Bth April, I have again turned to Mr. Berry's work, and am fully satisfied that.it is worthy of si.rious attention. That gentleman is evidently a student of astronomy as well as of Scripture, and the illustrative diagrams in his booklet are quite as convincing as those evolved from the scientific imagination. Most clergymen of to-day assume the cautious attitude of Dr. Inge, the Dean of St. Paul's, who confessed in one of his sermons that ho was "unable to locate heaven," either within or without the visible universe. Mere laymen like myself have very va<me ideas on the subject—some placing heaven in the realm of ether, or on some happier planet, or in the burning glory of the sun. Mr. Berry is troubled by no doubts on the matter. Accepting literally the vision vouchsafed to John, and described in the Book of Revelation, he announces the future location of the Heavenly City to be on the earth. Let mc summarise his argument. First, as to the shape and dimensions ot the New Jerusalem, the words of John are:—"The city lieth foursquare, and the length is as large as the breadth; and he measured the city with the reed, I*ooo furlongs. The length and the

breadth and the height of it are equal." Only two mathematical figures fulfil these conditions—a cube and a pyramid —and Mr. Berry chooses the latter, advancing the bold hypothesis that the city of God, or "place prepared" for his saints, is now actually existent on the moon, ready to come down to earth at the appointed time. Why on the moon? Well, the dimensions of the city (12,000 furlongs or 1500 miles square) are exactly those of the moon; that is, the diameter of the moon is "almost equal to the diagonal of the base of the mighty pyramid which forms the heavenly Jerusalem"; in other words, the foundation of the Holy City would just find room enough to stand within a plap.e section drawn through the centre of the moon. If the New Jerusalem is "prepared" on the moon's surface, why do not we see it? Because the moon always turns the same side of herself to the earth—a well-known astronomical fact. Why does the moon always hide half her face from us? Here is MrBerry's explanation:—lf the other side of the moon is assumed to be pyramidal in shape, the result would be that "the centre of gravitation in the moon would then fall within the hemisphere turned to the earth, and the moon would be compelled, like a huge ark, to sail in the ocean of ether around the earth, as ships do upon the ocean of water, with their hulls pointing downward to the centre of gravitation in the middle of the earth's mass." This explanation seems quite satisfactory, and in accord with accepted scientific theories. '

Turning to John's further description we find:—"The city had no need of the sun neither of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God did lighten it . . . and there shall, be no night there, and they need no candle, neither light of the 6un, for the Lord God giveth them light." Mr. Berry's scientific explanation of this is that, when the mass of the moon is added to one side of the earth, the result will be that our planet (like the moon at present) will always turn the hemisphere at- the antipodes of the Holy City towards the sun, so that the sun's rays will never reach the New Jerusalem. He points out that Mercury and Venus, moonless planets with orbits inferior to the earth's, turn always but one hemisphere towards the sun; and he hazards the conjecture that these planets have already heavenly cities on the sides invisible to us. The surface occupied by the Holy City to be set upon earth will be smaller than that of Europe; the space outside it will be inhabited by "the nations of the saved"— the people preserved from eternal destruction, but not counted worthy of citizenship in the New Jerusalem. As there will he "no more sea," and the desert places are to "blossom as the j-ose," the new earth will probably sustain many more millions than the present one. Mr. Berry's details concerning the configuration of the "Mountain of the Lord's House," with its twelve terraces, each a thousand furlongs in height; its one street of gold, slimbing from terrace to terrace, with the River of Life, proceeding out of the Throne, flowing all the way from top to bottom, do not seem convincing, being outside of human conception. So also with his explanation of how the City comes down intact, while all else is involved in ruin and chaos.

His leading idea, however, of the moon falling on the earth and burying half of its bulk in the earth's mass, is quite in accord with probability and with scientific teachings, facts and analogies. Bearing on the lighting of the Holy City, it is worthy of note that, on the occasion of the latest transit of Venus, observers remarked a brilliant point of light in the middle of the dark disc of the planet. It might be asked —Is this the light "above the brightness of the sun" that is to illuminate the New Jerusalem? A scientist of some authority, Dr. M. Albert Nobles, of Philadelphia, has predicted the early destruction of Europe and parts of Asia and Africa, as the result of volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, and other violent phenomena, followed by the emergence of a New World above the waters of the Pacific. He says that the physical signs of the nearness of these changes are "many and unmistakable." I am no scientist; but I read the moral and spiritual signs of the times, and these can hardly be mistaken. I am no alarmist; but I say to everyone— Watch!