The Advent Of Relativity Voldemar Smilga

download

https://ebookbell.com/product/the-advent-of-relativity-voldemar-
smilga-25263998

Explore and download more ebooks at ebookbell.com

Here are some recommended products that we believe you will be
interested in. You can click the link to download.

The Advent Of The British Labour Party Philip P Poirier

https://ebookbell.com/product/the-advent-of-the-british-labour-party-
philip-p-poirier-51912170

The Advent Of Pluralism Diversity And Conflict In The Age Of Sophocles

Lauren J Apfel

https://ebookbell.com/product/the-advent-of-pluralism-diversity-and-
conflict-in-the-age-of-sophocles-lauren-j-apfel-2510668

The Advent Of Unmanned Electric Vehicles The Choices Between Emobility

And Immobility 1st Edition S Van Themsche Auth

https://ebookbell.com/product/the-advent-of-unmanned-electric-
vehicles-the-choices-between-emobility-and-immobility-1st-edition-s-
van-themsche-auth-5235278

The Advent Of Universal Protection Of Human Rights Theo Van Boven And
The Transformation Of The Un Role 1st Ed Bertrand Ramcharan

https://ebookbell.com/product/the-advent-of-universal-protection-of-
human-rights-theo-van-boven-and-the-transformation-of-the-un-role-1st-
ed-bertrand-ramcharan-7320838
The Advent Of The Lamb Of God Russ Ramsey

https://ebookbell.com/product/the-advent-of-the-lamb-of-god-russ-
ramsey-47048716

The Advent Of Phylocode The Continuing Evolution Of Biological

Nomenclature Michel Laurin

https://ebookbell.com/product/the-advent-of-phylocode-the-continuing-
evolution-of-biological-nomenclature-michel-laurin-50401152

Blockchain The Advent Of Disintermediation Matthieu Quiniou

https://ebookbell.com/product/blockchain-the-advent-of-
disintermediation-matthieu-quiniou-10005470

The Changing Governance Of The Sciences The Advent Of Research

Evaluation Systems 1st Edition Richard Whitley Auth

https://ebookbell.com/product/the-changing-governance-of-the-sciences-
the-advent-of-research-evaluation-systems-1st-edition-richard-whitley-
auth-4390436

Law Of The Land The Advent Of The Torrens System In Canada 1st Edition
Greg Taylor

https://ebookbell.com/product/law-of-the-land-the-advent-of-the-
torrens-system-in-canada-1st-edition-greg-taylor-51589278
 Advent
The

Relativity
of
 b2530   International Strategic Relations and China’s National Security: World at the Crossroads

This page intentionally left blank

b2530_FM.indd 6 01-Sep-16 11:03:06 AM

 Advent
The

Relativity
of

Voldemar Smilga

World Scientific
NEW JERSEY • LONDON • SINGAPORE • BEIJING • SHANGHAI • HONG KONG • TAIPEI • CHENNAI • TOKYO
 Published by
World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd.
5 Toh Tuck Link, Singapore 596224
USA office: 27 Warren Street, Suite 401-402, Hackensack, NJ 07601
UK office: 57 Shelton Street, Covent Garden, London WC2H 9HE

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

THE ADVENT OF RELATIVITY

Copyright © 2021 by World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd.
All rights reserved. This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form or by any means,
electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or any information storage and retrieval
system now known or to be invented, without written permission from the publisher.

For photocopying of material in this volume, please pay a copying fee through the Copyright Clearance
Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, USA. In this case permission to photocopy
is not required from the publisher.

ISBN 978-981-123-114-8 (hardcover)

ISBN 978-981-123-115-5 (ebook for institutions)
ISBN 978-981-123-116-2 (ebook for individuals)

For any available supplementary material, please visit

https://www.worldscientific.com/worldscibooks/10.1142/12128#t=suppl

Printed in Singapore

Lakshmi - 12128 - The Advent of Relativity.indd 1 3/2/2021 5:34:02 pm

 CONTENTS

Foreword ix

Introduction, in which the author confides in the gentle reader 1

and endeavours to explain, most didactically, why and wherefore
he ever sat down to write this book
Chapter I, which is devoted entirely to the one who laid the 7
foundations
GALILEO. THE PRINCIPLE OF RELATIVITY
Chapter II, which touches very briefly on the life and character of 32
Newton. Towards the end the reader finds out about the method
of principles
NEWTON. MECHANICS (the method)
Chapter III, the longest and probably most difficult chapter in the 40
book. It discusses the theory of measurement in physics
NEWTON. MECHANICS (analysis of basic concepts: length
and time)
Chapter IV, the shortcomings of which are atoned for by the 82
epigraph. It contains a rather dry and long-winded explanation
of what is meant by a frame of reference; the important idea
is brought home that without a frame of reference any talk of
mechanical motion is absolutely pointless
NEWTON. MECHANICS (analysis of basic concepts: motion)
Chapter V, in which the author first discourses and then professes 97
amazement and calls upon the gentle reader to follow suit
NEWTON. MECHANICS (analysis of basic concepts: frame of
reference)
Chapter VI, which, the author hopes, is rather interesting 128
NEWTON. GRAVITY

12128.indb 5 2021/01/26 3:26:23 PM

 vi The Advent of Relativity

Chapter VII, which, though rather vague, after many digressions 148
finally explains why physicists were so attracted by the ether
hypothesis
LIGHT, THE ETHER (Newton, Huygens)
Chapter VIII, which is devoted to the wave theory of light. 162
The patient reader may derive some satisfaction out of an
acquaintance with some very subtle and far-reaching conclusions
developed from an investigation of the strange effect of double
refraction
THE ETHER (continued)
Chapter IX, a perusal of which may help the reader to form a 176
slightly better idea of how “simple” it is to study physics
THE BIRTH OF THE STATIONARY ETHER
Chapter X, the chief merit of which lies in a rather detailed 199
account of the Doppler effect and Michelson’s experiment, and
the chief fault of which is an abundance of soliloquising. In this
chapter the reader finally parts with the ether and is ready for
the theory of relativity
RISE AND FALL OF THE STATIONARY ETHER
CHAPTER XI, in which the author seeks to confuse the patient 233
reader by convincing him of the contradictions of Einstein’s
postulates. As a result, it turns out that they are incompatible
with classical mechanics, and the author asks the reader to
share his profound admiration for Einstein. The first half of the
chapter may seem somewhat difficult, but the reader may find
consolation in the fact that it is the second half that matters
more
EINSTEIN (basic postulates)
CHAPTER XII, which expounds in considerable detail on the 255
postulate of the uniformity of the velocity of light and then
goes over to discuss the concepts of time and simultaneity in
relativity theory
EINSTEIN (simultaneity, time)

12128.indb 6 2021/01/07 5:16:35 PM

 Contents vii

CHAPTER XIII, which informs the reader in a very matter-of- 274

fact way what is meant by “spacetime interval” and the Lorentz
transformation. Towards the end of the chapter, if he ever gets
to it, the reader will find out the curious formula for adding
velocities in Einstein’s theory
EINSTEIN (“astonishing” conclusions)
CHAPTER XIV, which discusses two corollaries of relativity 284
theory which are usually the cause of much bewilderment
EINSTEIN (time, length)
Chapter XV, the content of which should atone for its faults 300
EINSTEIN. THE LAWS OF MECHANICS (mass and energy)
Conclusion, in which the author bids the reader farewell 315

Chapter XVI, the last, and in some respects a heretical one. It 317
anathematises photon rockets and sets forth the author’s
ideas on day-dreaming. After this the over-patient reader will
probably fling the book away with a sigh of relief
PHOTON DREAMS
Index 337

12128.indb 7 2021/01/07 5:16:35 PM

 b2530   International Strategic Relations and China’s National Security: World at the Crossroads

This page intentionally left blank

b2530_FM.indd 6 01-Sep-16 11:03:06 AM

 FOREWORD

During his illustrious life, Voldemar Smilga (1929–2009) wrote

about 200 scientific papers on condensed matter physics, two
monographs and three popular science books. Two of the popular
science books were translated into English and published in Moscow
in the nineteen sixties.
One of them entitled In the Search for Beauty, republished by
World Scientific in 2019, was devoted to the historical attempts
to prove the fifth Euclidean postulate, eventually leading to the
discovery of non-Euclidean geometry.
The current book also narrates a dramatic story of the
development of scientific ideas, this time not in geometry, but in
physics. The author explains how the physicists, passing through
confusions and fallacies, finally understood the nature of light and
the nature of spacetime we live in.
It was first published in Russian back in 1960. The English
translation by Vladimir Talmy was published by Mir publishers in
Moscow in 1964, under the title Relativity and Man. But for this
edition, I have refined the translation a bit: mostly, corrected the
terminological bugs.
The witty and amusing illustrations belong to Boris Zhutovsky.

Andrei Smilga
January 2021

ix

12128.indb 9 2021/02/01 1:22:59 PM

 b2530   International Strategic Relations and China’s National Security: World at the Crossroads

This page intentionally left blank

b2530_FM.indd 6 01-Sep-16 11:03:06 AM

 INTRODUCTION,
in which the author confides in the gentle reader
and endeavours to explain, most didactically, why
and wherefore he ever sat down to write this book

I do not know what I may appear to the world,

but, to myself I seem to have been only like a boy
playing on the seashore, and diverting myself
in now and then finding a smoother pebble or
a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great
ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me.

NEWTON

This book is about the special theory of

relativity. A secondary schooling is adequate
to understand it, but reading it calls for some
mental concentration as well as an ability for
mental abstraction. The unsophisticated reader
may, therefore, find it difficult and boring.
Nevertheless, since the discourse is abundantly
interspersed with general statements and
sundry examples and analogies, and insofar
as most statements of fact are declared but not
proved, the book can probably be classified as
popular science reading.
Quite a number of popular books have been
written on Einstein’s theory, some of them by
celebrated scientists. The author regrets that

12128.indb 1 2021/01/07 5:16:35 PM

 2 The Advent of Relativity

he does not rank among them. Under the

circumstances, can he hope that this effort of
his will compare favourably with other popular
expositions of relativity theory? After all, it
contains hardly an example, consideration, fact
or generalisation which has not been taken, in
full or in part, from some other source. More,
the very presentation of the subject matter,
the structure and layout of the book, are also
borrowed. Still, there is one consideration
which might be advanced in its favour: the
author has dipped into many sources in the
hope of gleaning all that is good from different
works. His “creative individuality” bodies forth
only in his evaluation of certain published
books. In short, as they say in such cases, only
the author’s blunders are really his own.
This method of work is not new, but the
author has adhered to it with the utmost con-
sistency and zeal. Moreover, he thinks that the
task of gathering gems of thought from different
sources is both honourable and rewarding, and
he will be genuinely happy if the reader finds
that he has been at least partially successful.
Now a few words about why all that follows
was ever set down on paper.
The style and presentation of any narrative
(even if you are simply retelling somebody else’s
ideas in your own words) depends, naturally
enough, on the narrator’s own attitude to the
facts he is relating.
The motivation for writing this essay was
one of awe and admiration. It is this feeling of
reverence for real science and real scientists,
this wonder at the power of the human mind,
that I have sought to convey. If you muster

12128.indb 2 2021/01/07 5:16:35 PM

 Introduction 3

sufficient patience to reach the end of the

book, you may get to understand better the
psychology of the scientist and realise what a
really wonderful thing physics is.
But now you might well ask: What has all
the foregoing got to do with Einstein’s theory?
Well, the theory of relativity is probably the
most striking of all physical investigations.
Since the author is in some ways associated
with physics, he naturally considers physics
to be the most wonderful of all sciences. This
explains why he has chosen to write about
relativity theory. But there is still another
reason.
Einstein’s theory has been the victim of an
unhappy paradox. Its revolutionary role lies not
only in its revision of purely physical concepts.
Equally important is that after Einstein it
is no longer possible to employ many a “self-
evident” notion, term or assertion, which on
closer inspection often turn out to be absolutely
meaningless. At the same time, though, no
other physical theory has given rise to as many
absurd and meaningless notions. This applies
especially to the layman’s understanding of it.
Our task is to comprehend the purely phy-
sical essence of the theory, without going into
problems which cannot be explained here
with sufficient clarity. In particular, I have
reluctantly given up the idea of discussing
the general theory of relativity. You should
appreciate the extent of the sacrifice, for
nothing is more delightful than to argue about
obscure things and thereby demonstrate one’s
erudition.
The incomprehension of Einstein’s theory
displayed by many non-physicists is, in my

12128.indb 3 2021/01/07 5:16:35 PM

 4 The Advent of Relativity

view, due not so much to the intricacies of the

theory itself as to the fact that the fundamen-
tals of classical Newtonian mechanics (to say
nothing of the classical electromagnetic theory)
are as obscure to the non-specialist as the most
involved and abstract postulates of modern
science. What is worse, whenever Newtonian
mechanics is discussed there persists the
illusion of understanding bred by the fact that
most people have studied its fundamentals
at school. It is probably this illusion that has
given rise to the popular belief that, unlike
nineteenth-century physics, modern physics
is inaccessible to the uninitiated. From this
follows the inevitable conclusion that “science
today is more difficult than it was before”.
And yet the content of Newtonian physics is
no simpler (perhaps even more complex) than
that of Einstein’s theory. That is why, before
discussing Einstein, it is important to retrace
the road which led to relativity theory. Besides,
genuine respect for scientists can appear only
when one realises, to some extent at least, how
difficult their work is.
And one final remark. In physics, no
declarations can be taken for granted, even if
they come from the lips of Einstein or Newton.
Probably the worst affront to the memory of
Albert Einstein, the greatest physicist of our
time, would be to declare the validity of some
postulate only because it was advanced by him.
Therefore any statement in the course of our
conversation — and you will probably find
many new and unusual ideas even in questions
ordinarily considered to be quite clear — should
be accepted with caution.
It may well happen that you will feel a bit

12128.indb 4 2021/01/07 5:16:35 PM

 Introduction 5

dismayed after a closer acquaintance with

physics. Physical theories seem so graceful
and consummate, you are carried away by the
sound, compelling logic of their authors and
unwittingly fall under the spell of someone’s
ideas or, even worse, authority; you stop
thinking and start quoting. This process is
often facilitated by the subconscious conviction
that “everything of consequence in science has
already been done”, even if you verbally protest
to the contrary. The mind ceases to work and
in time the habitual is more and more readily
accepted as the veritable. This attitude can
hardly be changed by exhortations alone.
The subject of our discourse — relativity
theory — is the best example of the eternal
incompleteness of science. This should be
apparent when you finish the book and will be
in a better position to appreciate the truth of
Newton’s modest appraisal of his work quoted
in the epigraph.
And finally, in writing this book the author
has taken freely from the works and ideas of
L. I. Mandelshtam and S. I. Vavilov. It is to
their memory that he humbly dedicates this
effort.

12128.indb 5 2021/01/07 5:16:35 PM

 b2530   International Strategic Relations and China’s National Security: World at the Crossroads

This page intentionally left blank

b2530_FM.indd 6 01-Sep-16 11:03:06 AM

 CHAPTER I,
which is devoted entirely to the
one who laid the foundations

GALILEO.
THE PRINCIPLE OF RELATIVITY

My purpose is to set forth a very new

science dealing with a very ancient subject.
There is, in nature, perhaps nothing older than
motion, concerning which the books written by
philosophers are neither few nor small; never-
theless I have discovered by experiment some
properties of it which are worth knowing and
which have not hitherto been either observed or
demonstrated…. This and other facts, not few in
number or less worth knowing, I have succeeded
in proving; and what I consider more important,
there have been opened up to this vast and most
excellent science, of which my work is merely
the beginning, ways and means by which other
minds more acute than mine will explore its
remote corners.

GALILEO

“I, Galileo Galilei, son of the late Vincenzio A rather lengthy de-
Galilei of Florence, aged seventy years, being scription of Galileo’s
time: the age of the
brought personally to judgement, and kneeling Renaissance.
before you, Most Eminent and Most Reverend

12128.indb 7 2021/01/07 5:16:35 PM

 8 The Advent of Relativity

Lord Cardinals, General Inquisitors of the

Universal Christian Commonwealth against
heretical depravity, having before my eyes the
Holy Gospels which I touch with my own hands,
swear that I have always believed, and will
in future believe every article which the Holy
Catholic and Apostolic Church of Rome holds,
teaches, and preaches. But because I have
been enjoined, by this Holy Office, altogether
to abandon the false opinion which maintains
that the Sun is the centre and immovable, and
forbidden to hold, defend or teach, the said false
doctrine in any manner, and because, after it
had been signified to me that the said doctrine is
repugnant to the Holy Scripture, I have written
and printed a book, in which I treat of the same
condemned doctrine, and adduce reasons with
great force in support of the same, without
giving any solution, and therefore have been
judged grievously suspected of heresy; that is
to say that I held and believed that the Sun is
the centre of the world and immovable and that
the Earth is not the centre and movable.
“I am willing to remove from the minds of
Your Eminences, and of every Catholic
Christian, this vehement suspicion rightly
entertained towards me; therefore, with a
sincere heart and unfeigned faith I abjure,
curse, and detest the said errors and heresies,
and generally every other error and sect
contrary to the said Holy Church; and I swear
that I will never more in future say, or assert
anything, verbally or in writing, which may
give rise to a similar suspicion of me; but that if
I shall know any heretic, or any one suspected
of heresy, I will denounce him to this Holy
Office….”

12128.indb 8 2021/01/07 5:16:35 PM

 Galileo. The Principle of Relativity 9

To all appearances this formula of abjura-

tion pronounced on June 22, 1633, by Galileo
Galilei, kneeling before his judges and suitably
clothed in the sackcloth of a repentant criminal,
represented the sequel of his whole life. The
remaining nine years he spent under what we
would now call “house arrest” and in almost
utter seclusion. A special interdict issued
by “His Holy Fatherhood” Pope Urban VIII,
“humblest of God’s servants”, forbade him to
publish his works.
Unfortunately for “the powers that be”, the
interdict was violated and Galileo’s principal
work, the true outcome of his life, his Dialogues
on the Two New Sciences, was published in
1638 in Holland, that “den of Protestant heresy
condemned equally by God and man”.
Galileo, the son of an impoverished Floren-
tine nobleman, was born in Pisa in 1564.
In the course of the preceding century or
so the cramped world of the Middle Ages had
expanded tremendously. Portuguese, Spanish,
and later English and Dutch ships plied the
Mare Incognitum (the Unknown Sea) in quest
of gold, spices, ivory, slaves and the legendary
El Dorado, the country of fabulous riches. Each
new voyage was a thrust into the unknown, and
the navigator or pilot was at least the second, if
not the first, man on board. It was his duty to
steer the vessel according to the naval charts
and sailing directions, calculate its course and
determine its position by the stars. Sailors
and, more important, merchant ship-owners
(whose number grew rapidly) clamoured for
better charts and instruments: people had
come to realise that the success of a voyage

12128.indb 9 2021/01/07 5:16:35 PM

 10 The Advent of Relativity

depended on them no less than on a ship’s sea-

worthiness. That was one of the reasons why
mathematicians and astrologers (astronomers)
enjoyed the utmost respect and esteem. The
more fortunate sailors sometimes acquired
money, fame and titles. More often, though,
they got nothing. The trading companies, how-
ever, never failed to get their profits. Trade
capital, and then gradually industrial capital,
began to accumulate, the bourgeoisie appeared
and feudal Europe began to waken from its
medieval slumber.
Neither was the Church immune from the
wind of change. Catholic rites and services
were much too elaborate and costly. Obviously,
a “cheaper church” was required. Soon
Lutheranism triumphed in Germany and
Scandinavia, and Calvinism in Switzerland,
Holland and England. Religious wars rocked
France.
The new class needed new ideas and a new,
pragmatic, science. Belief in authorities was
shaken for, when put to the test, the ideas of
some of the most venerable sages sanctified by
the authority of Rome proved to be nonsense
pure and simple. In truth, it was a “dark and
evil time”. Some (though very few) even began
to question the existence of the Almighty
himself.
As in the old tale of the magician’s disciple
who died at the hands of the genies he had
conjured forth, the new age sparked ideas
which were much more revolutionary than it
could possibly digest. Besides, the Catholic
Church, whose power and authority were still
immense, reacted quickly and drastically to the
challenge.

12128.indb 10 2021/01/07 5:16:35 PM

 Galileo. The Principle of Relativity 11

True, as far as scientific heresy was con- A few words about the
Church and its “scien-
cerned, the reformers saw eye to eye with tific” methods.
the Catholics, and the stake in Geneva was
as efficient as the stake in Rome. Especially
frequently the flames leaped up in Spain,
Portugal and Italy, the most powerful strong-
holds of the Catholic Church.
The system of education, which was evolved
and polished over the centuries and com-
pletely subordinated to Rome, was aimed at
imbuing blind faith in authority and dogma
from childhood on. The method to be followed
in investigating a new phenomenon was
simple enough. All one had to do was find an
appropriate passage in the writings of the
“Fathers of the Church”. If the phenomenon
was found to be in contradiction with the texts
— why then, all the worse for the phenomenon!
“To such people,” Galileo wrote in a letter to
Kepler, “philosophy is a kind of book, like the
Aeneid or the Odyssey, where the truth is to
be sought, not in the universe or in nature but
(I use their own words) by comparing texts!…
The first philosopher of the faculty at Pisa…
tried hard with logical arguments, as if they
were magical incantations, to tear down and
argue the new planets out of heaven!”
The method yielded its results. Think of the
number of talented people who wasted their
lives in interpreting some obscure passage
from Thomas of Aquinas (such passages
abound in the writings of the reverend fathers)
or in studying some such “topical” problem as
how the immaculate conception was achieved!
It took an outstanding mind to escape from
the dogmatic prison of scholastics. But in that
case….

12128.indb 11 2021/01/07 5:16:35 PM

 12 The Advent of Relativity

Tommaso Campanella (1568–1639), socio-

logist, philosopher and astrologer, according to
the categorical conclusion of the Jesuit fathers
“more venomous a serpent than either Luther
or Calvin”: spent 27 years in 50 prisons, seven
times subjected to cruel torture.
Giordano Bruno (1548–1600), philosopher:
burned at the stake in Rome.
Lucilio Vanini (1584–1619), philosopher,
and diehard heretic who denied, among other
things, the divinity of Christ: hanged in
Toulouse. Before the execution his tongue was
torn out; his body was burned and the ashes
scattered to the wind.
Andreas Vesalius (1515–1564), founder of
scientific anatomy: sentenced to death by the
Spanish Inquisition.
Michael Servetus (1509–1553), Spanish
physician: burned at the stake by Calvin in
Geneva.
This terrible roll could be continued on and
on. Not many of the apostates lived to die a
natural death. The Jesuit fathers saw to that.
The new pathways in science were probably
more dangerous than the roads of the con-
quistadors, for they held no hope of a happy
end.
Executions of heretics were so common a
sight that the death of such an outstanding
philosopher as Giordano Bruno, burned at the
stake in the presence of a huge crowd, passed
almost unnoticed by his contemporaries. There
are very few records concerning his death, and
at one time it was even rumoured that he had
been burned in effigy and his life spared.
Most people, including even the “enlight-
ened” classes, continued to trust implicitly in

12128.indb 12 2021/01/07 5:16:35 PM

 Galileo. The Principle of Relativity 13

the church and harboured the wildest super-

stitions. Scientists were no exception. The
manner in which great ideas existed side by side
with fantastic absurdities is really amazing.
People embarked in full seriousness on voyages
to discover the country of dog-headed people or
the island of sirens, whose existence was con-
sidered to be quite plausible.
As late as the end of the seventeenth century, This is hardly a cause
Fellows of the Royal Society in London would for ridicule. Know-
ing nothing, scientists
gather to see whether a spider could escape were ready to check
from a circle made of powdered rhinoceros horn. everything. However
The spider would escape and the fact was duly naive it seems to us,
this was a real scien-
recorded. Then at a following meeting Newton tific experiment.
might report on his work.
No new science existed as yet and, what was
probably more important, there were no new
methods: they were still in the making.
Aristotle continued to reign supreme in
authorised science. Everything capable of
arousing independent thought had long since
been expurgated from his teachings and his
works, which had been commented and inter-
preted thousands of times. Aristotle, it was
known “for sure”, had posthumously received
the supreme benefaction, for the Almighty
by special injunction had relieved him of the
torments of Hell due to him as a pagan. His
works were ranked almost as high as the
writings of the “Fathers of the Church” and to
question them (even if one professed acceptance
of the truth of the Scriptures) was tantamount
to heresy. Every Christian was fully aware of
the implications of such an accusation.
It was in this stimulating atmosphere that A brief outline of Gali-
Galileo embarked on his studies. Education leo’s life.

began, quite naturally, in the monastery, and

young Galileo was accepted as a novice to a

12128.indb 13 2021/01/07 5:16:35 PM

 14 The Advent of Relativity

brotherhood. Luckily, though, his father took

him home, thus terminating his clerical career.
Vincenzio Galilei was probably the boy’s first
tutor. An educated man, musician and mathe-
matician, and undoubtedly a talented and
interesting person, he passed on to his son his
devotion to science and sceptical regard for
authorities.
An interesting detail: Galilei Sr. is the
author of a treatise on old and new music,
written in the form of a dialogue (subsequently
his son’s favourite literary form), in which he
makes some caustic remarks about the practice
of quoting authorities as the ultimate argu-
ment in scientific debates. In those days such
sentiments were seditious indeed.
At his father’s insistence, young Galileo
began to study medicine at the University
of Pisa. He fared poorly, however; besides,
the Aristotelian philosophy, which he had
studied most assiduously, began to arouse
serious doubts in his mind. Actually, though,
Galileo had no intention of becoming either
a physician or a physicist. His desire was to
follow the profession of a painter. But Galilei
Sr. intervened again and Galileo, acting on his
advice, opened the books of Archimedes and
Euclid. Very soon he forgot his momentary
artistic dreams, and physics became the
vocation of his life.
There is a fine portrait of Galileo in old
age. Looking down from the canvas is not a
scriptural sage nor a repentant martyr of the
Inquisition but the wise, imperious and stern
countenance of a person who has lived a hard
and toilsome life devoted to one absorbing idea.

12128.indb 14 2021/01/07 5:16:35 PM

 Galileo. The Principle of Relativity 15

Galileo soon found out that a scientist

without a patron was as helpless as a sailor
without a compass. His first patron was the
Marchese Guidubaldo del Monte, himself a
scientist of no mean ability who sincerely
admired the young man’s talent. Later on
patrons were to be procured by intrigue and
humiliating flattery.
Early in his career Galileo received an
objective lesson at Pisa which taught him to
keep his thoughts to himself. First he aroused
the universal indignation of “learned circles”
by his criticisms of Aristotle; then he was
forced to resign his professorship for a scathing
report on an absurd project drawn up by one of
the many bastards of his sovereign, Cosmo de
Medici I.
For eighteen years after that Galileo held
a chair at Padua. His views had already
taken shape: he knew for sure the insolvency
of Aristotelian physics and the truth of the
Copernican doctrine. He had practically all
the arguments at his finger-tips, but thirty
years elapsed before his famous Dialogue on
the Two Great Systems of the World appeared.
Meanwhile he continued to lecture on the
Ptolemaic system. Only his friends knew about
his work. He wrote to Kepler (in 1597!):
“I have as yet read nothing beyond the A letter worth reading
preface of your book, from which, however, I
catch a glimpse of your meaning, and feel great
joy on meeting with so powerful an associate in
the pursuit of the truth, and, consequently, such
a friend to truth itself; for it is deplorable that
there should be so few who care about truth,
and who do not persist in their perverse mode

12128.indb 15 2021/01/07 5:16:35 PM

 16 The Advent of Relativity

of philosophising. But as this is not the fit

time for lamenting the melancholy condition
of our times, but for congratulating you on
your elegant discoveries in confirmation of the
truth, I shall only add a promise to peruse your
book dispassionately, and with the conviction
that I shall find in it much to admire.
“This I shall do the more willingly because
many years ago I became a convert to the
opinions of Copernicus and by this theory have
succeeded in explaining many phenomena
which on the contrary hypothesis are altogether
inexplicable. I have arranged many arguments
and confutations of the opposite opinions,
which, however, I have not yet dared to publish,
fearing the fate of our master, Copernicus, who,
although he has earned immortal fame among
a few, yet by an infinite number (for so only
can the number of fools be measured) is hissed
and derided. If there were many such as you I
would venture to publish my speculations, but
since that is not so I shall take time to consider
of it.”
Now and then, however, Galileo would lose
control of himself. In 1604 he had a fierce argu-
ment with scholastics concerning a new star,
whose appearance contradicted the Aristotelian
doctrine of the unchangeability of the starry
sphere. Other questionable statements of his
aroused suspicion, as did his lectures, delivered
not in the traditional Latin but in vernacular
Italian.
Galileo was quite aware that his character
of a well-behaved Catholic was somewhat
tainted, and he discreetly sought high-ranking
patrons. Among his pupils we find the Grand
Duke of Tuscany, who in turn appointed him

12128.indb 16 2021/01/07 5:16:35 PM

 Galileo. The Principle of Relativity 17

“philosopher and mathematician extraordi-

nary”; among his friends is Cardinal Barberini
(the future Pope Urban VIII), to whom he
dedicated many of his works. His life is filled
with intrigues, priority squabbles and the
exasperation of foolish opposition and lack of
understanding.
“What do you say of the leading philosophers
here,” he wrote to Kepler, “to whom I have
offered a thousand times of my own accord
to show my studies, but who, with the lazy
obstinacy of a serpent who has eaten his fill,
have never consented to look at the planets, or
Moon, or telescope?…”
He had to be constantly on his guard, but
he worked indefatigably till the last days of
his life. Seriously ill, exhausted physically
and morally, forced to recant his beliefs and
condemned, he completed his Dialogue, the
work of his life and, half-blind (!), continued
his astronomical observations. “Though I
am silent, I am not quite idle,” he wrote with
characteristic reserve.
Decades of humiliating struggle against
ignoramuses left their imprint on Galileo. He
grew short-tempered, uncommunicative and
morose; often cynical and derisive, he held few
people in esteem and developed a highly un-
complimentary notion of the human race: “The
number of thick skulls,” he wrote, “is infinite.”
In time he learned to evade the fashionable
small talk about science with titled dilettantes
and debates with countless “mateologists”, as
he called them.
But he was not completely alone. The close
circle of friends and pupils who idolised their
teacher constituted a promised haven in an

12128.indb 17 2021/01/26 3:26:24 PM

 18 The Advent of Relativity

ocean of ignorance. In their company he was

neither the morose old man nor the smooth-­
tongued courtier. He was himself, a humanist,
a daring and profound thinker and forever
and always a great physicist in love with his
science.
His pupils, incidentally, later did him a poor
service. Their adoration was so great that they
embellished his biography to such an extent
that much of their information can hardly be
trusted.
Galileo’s interests were extensive; he was
a brilliant scholar of ancient and modern art,
and in his free time he composed sonnets. His
books abound in references to poets and in
witty examples; among other things, he can
be regarded as the originator of a new genre
in literature, popular science. In his work,
however, there was no place for the poet: he
dealt with facts and facts alone, investigating
them carefully and without prejudice, always
restraining the flight of fancy. Years would
pass before he formulated his conclusions.
The very antithesis of Giordano Bruno with
his sparkling imagination, with whom he is
often compared, Galileo adhered to the same
faith of Truth and, I am sure, possessed no less
personal courage.
Probably the best estimate of Galileo was
given by Lagrange: “The discovery of Jupiter’s
satellites, of the phases of Venus, of the sun-
spots, etc., required only a telescope and assi-
duity; but it required an extraordinary genius
to unravel the laws of nature in phenomena
which one has always under the eye, but the
explanation of which, nevertheless, had always
escaped the philosophers.”

12128.indb 18 2021/01/07 5:16:35 PM

 Galileo. The Principle of Relativity 19

It is not our purpose to go into all, or even A sort of introduction

to the second half of the
nearly all, of Galileo’s work: just to list his chapter.
researches and findings would occupy too much
space. Our interest lies in one of his inves-
tigations, perhaps the most important of all:
his study of the laws of motion, a study which
to this day causes scientists to wonder at the
greatness of his genius.
There will be only one more small digression
before we get down to business.
The genius of Galileo can best be compre- Speaking of habitual
notions, do you find it
hended in comparison with Einstein. The fun- easy to believe (mind
damental concepts of Einstein’s theory are no you, believe!) that the
more involved or paradoxical than the notions air presses on each
square inch of your
advanced by Galileo. Yet most people find body with a force of
Galileo’s ideas simple and understandable, 14.22 pounds?
while Einstein’s theories require a great deal
of brainwork. This is only natural. From child-
hood on we have been brought up in the spirit
of classical physics and, as a rule, we find it
difficult to change habitual notions.
It would be best, therefore, to forget all
we know and simply draw conclusions from
the facts of “the great book of Nature”, to use
Galileo’s words.
And so, motion. Motion is undoubtedly Attention! A minor
mystification.
caused by force. A cart won’t move without a
horse. Four horses draw it faster than two.
Ergo, the greater the acting force the greater
the speed. If the harness breaks the cart stops.
We know this from daily experience. Hence, to
maintain velocity, a force must continuously be
applied. For a body to be in uniform motion in
a straight line the force has to be uniform in
magnitude and direction.
Don’t be in a hurry to shrug your shoulders.
You have, of course, immediately noticed the

12128.indb 19 2021/01/07 5:16:35 PM

 20 The Advent of Relativity

fallacy of Aristotle’s theory of motion. But this is

because you were taught the laws of mechanics
at school: you received them cut-and-dried, so
to say.
And yet I am almost sure that you have been
deluded. Because, if I am right, you have not
stopped to analyse the meaning of the concepts
“uniform, rectilinear motion” and “force of
uniform magnitude and direction”. By using

these words we have either said very much

or nothing at all. In fact, an analysis of these
concepts should serve to shape one’s views on
space and time. You might object that space,
time and force are self-evident categories and
concepts which require no further definition.
But remember that some of the greatest mis-
takes in science were made because things
were assumed to be self-evident.
A rather important edi- Anticipating our narrative, I should like to
fying remark.
point out that it must be put down to Einstein’s
credit that he demonstrated that even at the
close of the nineteenth century physicists had
no clear idea of such a “self-evident” concept as
time. However, time is not our concern, for the
time being, at least.

12128.indb 20 2021/01/07 5:16:35 PM

 Galileo. The Principle of Relativity 21

How to refute Aristotle? The proof of the

pudding is the eating, and only experiment can
disprove (or prove) a physical theory. Galileo
was the first man in medieval Europe to realise
this with utmost depth and clarity.
The idea, of course, had been expressed
before. To the semi-legendary Paracelsus*

belongs the statement that “theory not con-

firmed by facts is like a saint who has performed
no miracles”. But Galileo was the first, in
physics at least, who made the investigation
and analysis of experiments and practical find-
ings a firm principle in his work. Thanks to
this he was able to pinpoint Aristotle’s error.
Galileo had no faith in words, his faith lay in
experiments.
It did not take him long to establish that
in equal times a body falls through increasing
spaces and that a constant force — the body’s
weight — produces uniformly accelerated
motion (though he had no clear notion of force).

*
Paracelsus, born Theophrastus Bombastus von
Hohenheim, a famous physician and alchemist of the
Middle Ages.

12128.indb 21 2021/01/07 5:16:36 PM

 22 The Advent of Relativity

In order to measure short time intervals

Galileo built an ingenious new water clock.
Again and again he had to overcome purely
practical difficulties of this kind. No one pre-
ceded him and he had to tread on entirely new
ground. Still this part of his work required only
great diligence and ingenuity. Much more diffi-
cult was to draw the unexpected and far from
apparent conclusion: if not for the resistance
of the air, “all bodies would fall similarly, that
is, with the same speed from equal heights…,
moving with uniform acceleration, such that in
equal times their speed increases by the same
value”. In other words, Galileo noted that the
speed of a falling body changes as a function of
time according to the law so familiar today to
any schoolboy:
V = gt.
Speaking of Galileo as a theoretical physicist,
two points should be noted.
Firstly, he never cast about in endless
search for the causes of a phenomenon, as was
so characteristic of the Aristotelian school.
(Actually, his was Newton’s method of prin-
ciples, which we shall discuss further on.)
Galileo knew nothing of the law of gravitation,
he was virtually ignorant of the meaning of
“force”, he did not know why the Earth attracts
bodies and accelerates them all equally. His
main interest lay in the manifestations of
various phenomena. He sought the answers to
these questions in experimental analysis.
Secondly, Galileo’s wonderful intuition
enabled him, in analysing phenomena, to
assess and cast aside the secondary and non-
characteristic in favour of the fundamental.

12128.indb 22 2021/01/07 5:16:36 PM

 Galileo. The Principle of Relativity 23

Thus, in studying falling bodies, he took into

account not only the air drag but also the effect
due to Archimedes’ law. He pointed out that
when a body falls through a medium it is not
the total weight but its excess over the weight
of the displaced fluid or medium that acts upon
it.
The transition from experiment to theore-
tical generalisation is usually the most difficult
part of any research. The physicist never
studies a phenomenon in its “pure state”. He
can be likened to a photographer studying
a picture on which several negatives have
been superimposed. There are hundreds of
examples on record of scientists overlooking
discoveries only because they failed to grasp
the significance of their observations. It was
in the analysis of results that Galileo’s talent
displayed itself to the fullest.
The formidability of his task will be realised
if we recall that Aristotle’s theories of motion
had remained unchallenged for some two
thousand years.
In studying the laws of fall, Galileo pro- Some results of Gali-
leo’s investigations.
ceeded naturally from vertical fall to motion on
an inclined plane. He found that acceleration is
constant with time and is the less the smaller
the angle of inclination. In the limiting case
of a horizontal plane, he claimed, a body will
move without acceleration. The force that
causes a body to move down an inclined plane
is its weight. Furthermore, Galileo realised
that motion on an inclined plane is caused not
by the whole weight but by a portion of it, that
portion being the smaller the less the slope.
Remember again that Galileo had no idea as
to why a body falls to the Earth. Moreover, he
had no clear understanding of the concept of

12128.indb 23 2021/01/07 5:16:36 PM

 24 The Advent of Relativity

force, no formula connecting force and accele-

ration, and he had not read Newton’s Principia,
which would appear only 45 years after his
death.
Yet Galileo’s intuition led him to the conclu-
sion: A body projected along a smooth horizontal
plane would, if all resistances and external

impediments were removed, continue to move

uniformly along that horizontal plane forever.
Thus, if there is no impressed force, velocity
is constant. Any velocity once imparted to
a moving body is maintained as long as the
external causes of acceleration or retardation
are removed.
Figuratively speaking, this formula sets the
whole of mechanics from its head back to its
feet.
The first formulation The respective theories of Galileo and
of a proposition which
brings to mind the in-
Aristotle deserve careful comparison. Aristotle,
ertia law. it will be recalled, held that a constant force
was necessary to maintain a constant velocity.
Galileo’s views were diametrically the opposite:
velocity, he declared, is constant only if no
forces whatsoever are made to act on a body.

12128.indb 24 2021/01/07 5:16:36 PM

 Galileo. The Principle of Relativity 25

This was not an elaboration of an old theory,

not a question of extending or restricting its
field of application. Far from it! This meant the
rejection of the whole of Aristotelian mechanics.
Such situations occur very rarely in science,
and they are usually found in its infancy. As a
rule, a discoverer has some point of departure,
some landmarks on the road he is following.
Only the pioneers have nothing to take from
their predecessors and therefore have to start
from scratch.
Galileo is one of the founding fathers of
physics. It fell to him to lay the foundations
on which Newton later erected his system of
mechanics. Much remained obscure to Galileo.
Often he was mistaken and took the wrong
path. This was hardly surprising, and Galileo
himself realised better than anyone else both
the significance and the failings of his work
(recall his words quoted in the epigraph).
We find in his works many statements which
might suggest that he was well aware of both
the first and second laws of mechanics and
that hence Newton was to some extent merely
a populariser of his ideas. We should not,
however, overestimate Galileo’s contribution.
In fact, neither he nor any other predecessor of
Newton had a clear understanding of the first
law of mechanics, which Galileo, it would seem,
had formulated so clearly. Only in Newton’s
works do the laws of mechanics acquire that
precise, polished form in which we know them
(though, as we shall see later, Newton too
erred). This evaluation of Galileo’s work might
seem a bit restrained. A detailed analysis,

12128.indb 25 2021/01/07 5:16:36 PM

 26 The Advent of Relativity

however, would lead us into deep waters, so let

us proceed further.
If we follow up Galileo’s reasoning, we
observe a definite similarity between a body at
rest and in uniform motion. A ship ploughing
the high seas with constant speed and a ship
at anchor are equally free of “external causes

of acceleration or retardation”. Moreover, the

Earth itself might be at rest or in uniform
motion through space, and in either case there
would be no “external causes”.
But if that is the case, then maybe (maybe!)
the physical processes taking place on a uni-
formly moving body, such as the Earth (if it
is in uniform motion, of course), must be the
same as if that body were at rest?
Galileo formulates this idea as well. Yes, he
says, from the point of view of mechanics there
is absolutely no difference between a body at
rest and a body in uniform motion.
Here it is, Galileo’s rel- If the laws of mechanics are valid in any
ativity principle!
frame, then they are valid in any other frame in
uniform motion in a straight line relative to the
original one.

12128.indb 26 2021/01/07 5:16:36 PM

 Galileo. The Principle of Relativity 27

This is Galileo’s relativity principle, one of

the most wonderful and remarkable laws of
nature.
At this point several remarks are called for.
First, the observant reader will probably have
noticed that we have not yet defined motion,
therefore our reasoning about bodies in motion
and at rest is, to say the least, groundless.
Further on the concept of mechanical motion —
which is not so simple as might be expected —
will be examined in detail. At this stage we shall
continue to follow in Galileo’s footsteps, and
Galileo, strange as it may seem, had no clear
understanding of mechanical motion.
Secondly, later on, when Newton’s laws will
have been formulated, we shall see how the
Galilean relativity principle can be inferred
from them. At present we shall note that the
inertia law is, by itself, insufficient to affirm
the principle of relativity. True, we have just
linked the inertia law and the relativity prin-
ciple in Galileo’s mind, as it were, but this was
merely a literary device. Actually, although
the inertia law and the relativity principle are
closely connected, Galileo had rather guessed
his principle, “espying” it from nature without
associating it with the inertia law. This can be
observed on reading the portion of his Dialogue
where, in effect, he expounds the relativity
principle. (It goes without saying that Galileo
himself had never formulated the “Galilean
relativity principle” as we know it today.)
Galileo’s Dialogue, which dealt the Ptolemaic
system its death blow, is a masterpiece both in
content and in form. Though enjoined to abstain
from promulgating the Copernican system,
Galileo with his extensive connections was able
to secure the publication of a book discussing

12128.indb 27 2021/01/07 5:16:36 PM

 28 The Advent of Relativity

that “heretical” system. He doesn’t defend

Copernicus. For all appearances he merely
sets forth the facts of the case “Ptolemy versus
Copernicus”. Outwardly the author does not
take sides and no conclusions are drawn. Two
scholars, adherent of Copernicus and Ptolemy,
argue between themselves. Galileo merely sets
forth their reasoning. The reader is free to
decide whose arguments are more convincing.
Acting in the capacity of an impartial judge,
Galileo analyses attempts to refute Copernicus
with the laws of Aristotelian mechanics.
If any mechanical experiment conducted
on Earth could disprove its motion around the
Sun and prove it to be at rest, the argument
would have been settled. In his Dialogue
Galileo offers what seem to be sound objections
to Copernicus.
If the Earth is moving, then a stone dropped
from a tower should be deflected, as its fall is
directed towards the centre of the Earth, but
during the time of fall the Earth slips away from
beneath it. A shell shot vertically up should, for
the same reason, fall far away from the gun. A
shell shot to the west should fly much farther
than one shot to the east, as the Earth’s motion,
if it exists, must carry the cannon to the east,
“away from the shell” in the first case, “in its
wake” in the second. Clouds and birds should
trail behind the Earth, etc. Daily experience,
however, tells us that all this is not so. Hence
the Earth is at rest?!
Incidentally, Galileo employs a very subtle
method of reasoning. The arguments against
the hypothesis of the Earth’s motion are ad-
vanced by Salviatus, the Copernican adhe-
rent, whereas Simplicius, the Aristotelian,
listens with delight and agrees with him. Then,

12128.indb 28 2021/01/13 8:28:09 AM

 Galileo. The Principle of Relativity 29

after showing that he understands Aristotle

better than the Aristotelians themselves and
expounding seemingly irrefutable arguments
in his favour, Salviatus Galileo makes a volte-
face.

He draws an analogy between the Earth and

a uniformly moving ship. All bodies on board a
ship behave as if it were at rest: a stone dropped
from the mast hits the deck at its base; a ball
travels the same distance whether thrown, with
the same force, towards the bow or the stern. No
experiment carried out in a uniformly moving
ship can establish whether it is in fact moving
or not. Hence, no experiment on Earth can tell
us whether it is at rest or travelling through This proposition of
Galileo’s is, of course,
space with tremendous speed and revolving at
erroneous.
the same time about its axis.
You may well shrug your shoulders and voice
opposition: scores of experiments carried out
on Earth can visually demonstrate its diurnal
motion. Suffice it to recall Foucault’s pendulum
or that a stone dropped from a tower does, in
fact, deviate to the east.† In our time such

†
To be more precise, a falling body deviates to the southeast
(in the Northern hemisphere), but the southerly deviation
is very small as compared with the easterly.

12128.indb 29 2021/01/13 8:28:09 AM

 30 The Advent of Relativity

ignorance is impermissible, for these facts are

known to any secondary school-leaver. The author,
too, is well aware of them, but not so Galileo.
The relativity principle In formulating the principle of relativity
is discussed in detail in Galileo failed to realise that it holds good
Chapter V.
only for uniform rectilinear motion — and he
applied it to rotational motion. Today we know
that mechanical phenomena in a rotating body
take place in a different manner than in a body
at rest or in uniform rectilinear motion.
At this stage one might Uniform motion along a circular path can
ask, what is meant
by “a body in uniform
be detected by the centrifugal forces that are
motion” or “a rotating developed, and therefore it can be readily
b o dy ”? An sw e r s t o distinguished from the state of rest or uniform
these questions can be
found in Chapters IV
rectilinear motion. But this truism was
and V. unknown to Galileo. Even in his mistakes,
however, he was nearer to the truth than
Aristotle.
A person with a secondary education will
readily detect the erroneous and obscure prop-
ositions in Galileo’s work, but it would take a
man of equal stature to obtain results of the
same magnitude as he did.
That is all about Galileo. Later on, armed and
fortified with Newton’s laws, we shall return to
the problems raised in this chapter. We shall
formulate the basic principles of mechanics.
Then, after finally achieving complete clarity,
we will dwell on the points which escaped
Newton, on his errors.
We shall see further on how the study of
another seemingly unrelated branch of physics,
electromagnetic oscillation, led in time to the
need for a complete revision of our notions
of space and time. Physicists were driven to
investigate the question: “What are time and
space?”

12128.indb 30 2021/01/07 5:16:37 PM

 Galileo. The Principle of Relativity 31

Some day new revolutions will probably take

place in physics, and several generations from
now, our notions will seem as naive as some of
Galileo’s ideas seem to us. But physicists of all
ages will always revere Galileo as the first man
to realise that new ideas must be sought in “the
great book of Nature”, relying on facts alone.
In conclusion I should like to cite an ex- And last.
ample which offers a fine characteristic of the
precision and honesty of Galileo’s scientific
reasoning. You may probably have heard that
it was Giordano Bruno who first advanced the
hypothesis of the infinity of the universe. This
is not quite so. The question of the infinity of
the universe seems to have interested Galileo,
who returned to it several times and probably
went further than Bruno.
In the absence of experimental data proving
or disproving the finity or infinity of the
universe, Galileo wrote: “I hesitate to declare
which of the two propositions is correct, though
my own conclusions incline me in favour of the
infinity of the world.”

12128.indb 31 2021/01/07 5:16:37 PM

 CHAPTER II,
which touches very briefly on
the life and character of Newton.
Towards the end the reader finds
out about the method of principles

NEWTON. MECHANICS (the method)

To derive two or three general principles of

motion from phenomena, and afterwards to tell
us how the properties and actions of all corporeal
things follow from those manifest principles,
would be a very great step in philosophy, though
the causes of those principles were not yet
discovered.

NEWTON

It is traditional to venerate Newton. The

stock of enthusiastic epithets, comparisons
and hyperbolas applied to him was all but
exhausted by his contemporaries. Subsequent
generations could only repeat them: which
they do to this day without fear of wearying
humanity.
Everyone reveres Newton: scientists who
can really appreciate the import of his work,
and laymen whose notions of it are rather
vague but who know that to revere him is the
correct thing to do.

32

12128.indb 32 2021/01/07 5:16:37 PM

 Newton. Mechanics I 33

The best way for the uninitiated to fully

appreciate Newton’s genius and scope would
be to read Academician Vavilov’s excellent
book, Newton, probably the best work on the
history of physics ever to appear in Russian.
It would probably leave you for the rest of
your life with a feeling of plain childish awe. I
personally think that one can rever only what
one understands, but Newton’s creative genius
defies understanding.
The life and career of Sir Isaac Newton was
not in the least spectacular and, outwardly at
least, followed the pattern of many a respect-
able English gentleman, often hard-working
and gifted, who had pulled himself up by his
bootstraps, devoted to his God and his King
and firmly convinced that there was no land
better than Merrie Olde England with her
fine traditions and that it was the paramount
duty of every Englishman to work for her (and
incidentally his own) prosperity.
Newton was born in 1642, the year Galileo A short biography of
died, into a family of very ordinary means. Isaac Newton.

He must have been fortunate to have a good

schoolmaster who, it seems, was a cultured and
educated man. In 1661, young Newton entered
Cambridge University’s Trinity College. Eight
years later, in 1669, he became a professor of
mathematics at Cambridge (no exceptional
career in those days, when it took much less
time than now to climb the ladder from student
to professor). A serious and reserved youth, he
enjoyed the respect of those about him, but
even the few close friends he had were hardly
aware of the fact that he had already invented
his method of “fluxions”, or calculus, drawn
up a comprehensive programme of further

12128.indb 33 2021/01/07 5:16:37 PM

 34 The Advent of Relativity

researches and formulated revolutionary ideas

and findings in mechanics, optics and gravi-
tational theory. By then he had already carried
out his experiments on breaking down sunlight
into different colours, so familiar today to any
schoolboy, and formulated the law according to
which gravitation reduces with distance.
All this he carried out in a matter of two years
(1665–67), during which he also developed
many experimental techniques, including the
manufacture of telescopes, the most precise
instruments of the time.
Newton was in no hurry to publish his works.
Even more than Galileo or any other celebrated
scientist, was he particular about his findings,
and he never made them public until he was
quite sure of their finality and unquestionable
accuracy.
Like Galileo before him, Newton owed his
career to the telescope. His invention of the
reflector telescope earned him membership
of the Royal Society, whose president he was
later to become. He was elected a Fellow on
January 11, 1672. On February 6 of the same
year he already presented his famous New
Theory about Light and Colours, which, as
Academician Vavilov writes, “for the first time
demonstrated to the world the possibilities of
experimental physics, if properly approached”.
And ever since the world has never ceased to
wonder at the scope and quality of his work.
His social standing mounted accordingly. In
1686–89 he sat in Parliament as Member for
Cambridge. True, wicked tongues claim that
he only took the floor once — to ask that the
windows be shut because of “the foul odour
coming from the Thames”, Newton, however,

12128.indb 34 2021/01/07 5:16:37 PM

 Newton. Mechanics I 35

was not the unworldly scientist that some of

his biographers make him out to be. In any
case, when he was appointed Warden (1696),
then Master (1699), of the Mint, he successfully
coped with his difficult job, which called for
considerable administrative abilities, and su-
perintended a complete recoinage.
He was knighted in 1705 and became Sir
Isaac Newton, honoured officially and unoffi-
cially, by friends and foes alike, as the greatest
“natural philosopher” of his time. His theological
works were also highly acclaimed, even though
he frequently deviated from canonical dogma. It
is difficult to imagine Newton wasting his time An interesting aside:
Newton’s theological
on theological problems, but the fact remains views also inf luenced
that he was a very religious man and that he subsequent genera-
tions.
probably actually regarded his scientific work
as his contribution towards the comprehension
of God’s Providence. True, in his time there was
nothing extraordinary in such a combination of
physical and theological researches, but to us
his religious studies must seem incongruous.
In later years administrative and social
duties frequently distracted Newton from his
work. Moreover, age and the overstrain of the
intense work of his earlier years began to tell.
Still, he continued his researches and even his
experiments. Most of his time, however, was
devoted to polishing his earlier findings, es-
pecially the main work of his life, Philosophiae
Naturalis Principia Mathematica (Mathemati-
cal Principles of Natural Philosophy). Published
in 1687, the Principia, as it is commonly known,
expounds the theory of gravitation and planetary
motion and formulates the fundamental laws of
mechanics, which remained intact till Einstein’s
time.

12128.indb 35 2021/01/07 5:16:37 PM

 36 The Advent of Relativity

And so, mechanics. First, the method.

The next few pages are “I frame no hypotheses,” Newton writes. “For
devoted to Newton’s
method. They can
whatever is not deduced from the phenomena
safely be skipped. But is to be called a hypothesis; and hypotheses,
they can equally safely whether metaphysical or physical, whether of
be read, with some
benefit to the reader, I occult qualities or mechanical, have no place in
hope. experimental philosophy.”
Hence, a hypothesis is not the result of
experiment. A hypothesis may be formulated
by intuitive reasoning on the basis of certain
analogies; later it is balanced against the avail-
able facts. Thus, the atomic structure of matter
remained a hypothesis until fairly recently.
Often a hypothesis may totally collapse
under pressure of facts; scores of years may
pass before such facts appear, as happened in
the case of the Kant–Laplace hypothesis of the
origin of the solar system.
Principles, on the other hand, are formu-
lated on the basis of a thorough analysis
of experimental data. Principles cannot be
proved by speculative reasoning and they
must necessarily rest on the firm foundation
of experiment. Therefore, in one form or
another, the principles remain forever, though
subsequent investigation may restrict their
applications or reveal that some principle
is rather an approximate than an absolute
statement of fact.
Examples of principles are the axioms of
Euclidean geometry, the Newtonian laws of
motion and universal gravitation and the laws
of conservation.
Thus, when we propound a hypothesis we
should be prepared for the possibility of new

12128.indb 36 2021/01/26 3:26:26 PM

 Newton. Mechanics I 37

facts refuting it completely. When we formulate

a principle we can be sure that, even though it
may prove to be only approximately correct and
its field of application may become narrower
than originally assumed, it will nevertheless
remain in science in one form or another.
Still, when we come to think of it, the dis-
tinction between a principle and a hypothesis
appears to be rather a notional one: after all, a
hypothesis, too, must agree with experimental
data and be based on experience. On the other
hand, no one is safeguarded against wrong con-
clusions in analysing an experiment, and hence
against formulating an erroneous principle
which will later be refuted by facts.
Our task, however, is not to provide ideal
definitions (hardly a rewarding undertaking
at best), but to understand Newton’s method
of principles.
Let us approach the problem from another
aspect. Consider what Newton has to say: “To
derive two or three general principles of motion
from phenomena, and afterwards to tell us
how the properties and actions of all corporeal
things follow from those manifest principles,
would be a very great step in philosophy, though
the causes of those principles were not yet dis-
covered.” The last words, I think, formulate
the gist of the method of principles and its
fundamental difference from the method of
hypotheses. In his studies Newton deliberately
refused to go into explanations concerning
the causes and nature of phenomena or the
properties of matter that underlie the general
laws derived from observations. He is content
to formulate those general laws.

12128.indb 37 2021/01/07 5:16:37 PM

 38 The Advent of Relativity

An excellent illustration is the law of gravi-

tation. What does Newton have to say about
the nature of gravitation? What theoretical
considerations are there to confirm that the
force of interaction of two bodies is proportional
to the product of their masses and inversely
proportional to the square of the distance
between them? None at all. Newton has no
idea as to why the gravitational law is such.
Moreover, he doesn’t even care. He is content to
have formulated the law on the basis of obser-
vations.
There is another way of scientific research.
Having established, for example, the law of
gravitation one might set forth propositions
concerning the nature of gravity and draw up
theoretical formulas to support the law. More,
without even knowing the law one might pro-
pound no end of hypotheses concerning the
nature of gravity.
The physics of hypotheses, the method of
hypotheses, consists in that the scientist seeks
to penetrate deeper into the nature of a phe-
nomenon than the available facts allow. In this
he naturally has to make bold — and often
erroneous — surmises.
It might seem that the method of hypotheses
is more interesting and ingenious than the
method of principles and that fundamental
science should prefer the former. But any con-
trasting of the two methods would be of little or
no value. Both methods are employed in science
and, we shall see later on, Newton himself
often resorted to the method of hypotheses,
even though he had good reason to be wary of
them.

12128.indb 38 2021/01/07 5:16:37 PM

 Newton. Mechanics I 39

The method of principles, or the inductive

method, as it is often called, was practically
non-existent before Newton’s time.* Hypotheses
reigned supreme in the scientific world.
Celebrated scientists and nonentities and semi-
literate ignoramuses propounded whole systems
designed neither more nor less than to explain
all and every known natural phenomenon.
Hypothetical physics was inherited from the
Greeks, enthusiasts of speculative reasoning
and conjecture. The efforts of the generation
immediately preceding Newton prepared the
ground for new methods of work.
It required courage and clear thinking to
evade the temptations of hypothetical physics
and to make the dry, sober, unfanciful method
of principles the basis of work.
Academician Vavilov is probably right when
he says that the secret of Newton’s immortality
lies in his choice of method. And now that we
know the architect’s style, let us examine the
structure erected by him.

*
Though we might say that in this, too, Galileo had in
some respects anticipated Newton.

12128.indb 39 2021/01/07 5:16:37 PM

Other documents randomly have
different content
of the state of his feelings. What a change! How surprising! I seem
as if I were suddenly roused from an enchanting dream."
"Yes, my dear," said Mr. Stevens, "it is surprising that the Lord of
glory should condescend to subdue the enmity of the human heart,
and thus make the child of disobedience an heir of glory; but it
ought not to surprise us. If we look back, we shall remember the
time when to us the theatre possessed more attractions than the
house of God, and the follies of gay life gave us more delight than
the exercises of devotion; 'but God, who is rich in mercy, for his
great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins,
hath quickened us together with Christ (by grace are we saved), and
hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly
places in Christ Jesus.'"
"If," said Mrs. Stevens, "Mr. Roscoe should come forth a decided
character, it will make a powerful impression on his irreligious
friends. Surely they will not be able to withstand the force of such a
striking evidence in favour of the divine origin of the Christian faith—
why, it is a self-evident demonstration. I begin to anticipate the
happiest results."
"But, my dear, you must not be too sanguine; Mr. Roscoe may not
come forth so soon, nor so decidedly, as you anticipate. Though I
trust the great moral change has taken place which distinguishes the
real from the nominal Christian, yet, as his mind is of a very singular
order, we may conclude it will still retain its individuality, and
develope its new qualities with that precision and precaution which
are its distinctive characteristics. We may calculate on decision, but
not rash or hasty decision; on energy, but not much ardent zeal; and
on unbending integrity and unremitting constancy; but his
progression is likely to be that of a man moving onwards with the
dignity of principle, rather than under the impulse of strong
passion."
"But do you not suppose that he will go to Broadhurst, and hear
our dear Mr. Ingleby next Sabbath?"
 "Certainly not; you are not to conclude, from the conversation of
this evening, that he yet sees the truth with perfect clearness. No,
he rather resembles the man of whom we read in the gospel, who,
when the mystic power commenced its mighty operation, saw men
so indistinctly that they appeared 'like trees walking.' The film is but
partially removed from the eye of his understanding; and though he
has the power of spiritual discernment, yet not perfectly. And such is
the degree of influence which prejudice, and family, and social
connections may still have over his mind, that probably he will not
very soon break through his long-established habits, and mingle
among us as one of our own people. Indeed, I hardly wish it;
because it will be so extraordinary, that it would be considered as a
religious mania, taken as by some kind of mysterious infection,
rather than the positive result of deep thought, and cool and
deliberate judgment. Oh, no; minds, when under the dominion of
grace, are usually governed according to the settled laws of their
own constitution; and hence the difference of conduct, in relation to
an open profession of religion, which is so apparent among the heirs
of salvation."
"I am sure Mr. Ingleby will be delighted to hear of it. I have often
heard him say, that the conversion of a moral man to the faith of
Christ is a more decisive proof of the efficacy of Divine truth, than
the conversion of an immoral man, and a much more rare
occurrence."
"Yes, my dear, it is more rare, and more difficult, because it is not
so easy to convince of mental sin as of an overt act of impiety; but I
do not wish that there should be even the most distant allusion
made on the subject to any one but Miss Roscoe."
"My dear, you surprise me."
"Perhaps I may, but I think you will be satisfied with my reasons
for wishing silence to be observed. If we hastily proclaim to our
friends that Mr. Roscoe has undergone a great change in his
religious opinions and principles, we may raise expectations which
his cautious habit of mind may disappoint, at least for a season, and
thus bring on ourselves the censures of some, for stating as a fact
what we merely wish to be true. And not only so, but we shall
deprive his decision of that power of impression which I think it will
ultimately possess. For if we are more forward to speak of such a
mental change than he is to profess it, we may be considered as the
originators of it; and in that case his example will not have such a
powerful influence over his irreligious friends, as it will have if it
appear to be the result, as I expect it will, of calm deliberation. He
will move with great caution, and we should speak with equal
caution."
"What effect do you think his conversion will have on Mrs.
Roscoe?"
"Why, unless it should please God to interpose, and bring her to
the knowledge of the truth, I have no doubt but it will be regarded
by her as some astounding and destructive visitation, sent by an
unknown hand to destroy her happiness for life. She is but partially
reconciled to the piety of her daughter; and, even now, expresses
not only her surprise, but her deep regret; and if her husband
become pious (as I have no doubt but he will), though she may
endeavour to conform herself to his religious habits, yet it will be
with extreme reluctance. But perhaps by his conversation, and the
dignified consistency of his conduct, he may succeed in process of
time, in answer to his own fervent prayers and the wrestling prayers
of dear Sophia, in winning her to Christ."
"It is possible, nay, very probable, as prayer will be made for her
continually; and the prayer of faith brings to pass moral wonders.
We may live to hail them both as fellow-heirs of the grace of life."
"What a blissful consummation!"
 A NIGHT CALAMITY.
Near Fairmount Villa stood a tasteful cottage, which Mr.
Stevens had erected as a means of giving additional
security to his premises. It was occupied by a worthy
man, named Josiah Hargrave, who gained his livelihood
as a common carrier. He had commenced life as a
labourer; and, by honest industry and perseverance, had risen to a
state of comparative independence. His cottage was well furnished;
he had two cows, a good horse and cart, a donkey, a large stock of
poultry, some pigs, and hay and straw enough to last him through
winter. He had been married about seven years; and had three
children, two sons and a daughter. Here they lived in peace and
contentment, neither envying their richer, nor despising their poorer
neighbours.
I called on them one day; and, when congratulating them on their
prosperity, I was struck with the very sensible remarks which Mrs.
Hargrave made on the uncertain duration of all earthly blessings.
"Our heavenly Father," she observed, "has blessed us indeed; He
has given us more than we deserve, and more than we expected;
and He, who has given us all, can, if He please, take all away."
"Yes, He can; and suppose He should deprive you of your little
possessions, do you think you could bow in submission, and say,
'Thy will be done?'"
"Yes, Sir, if He give the disposition; but if not, we should repine."
"Ah! Sir," Josiah remarked, "we are poor sinful creatures. In
prosperity we are ungrateful, and in adversity rebellious, unless it
please the Lord to sanctify to us His dispensations."
"Which state," I asked, "should you prefer, if it were left to your
choice—prosperity or adversity?"
 "Why," said Josiah, "I would rather let my heavenly Father choose
for me, than venture to choose for myself, because He cannot err;
but I may. Prosperity, without His blessing, would be a snare;
adversity, with it, would be a comfort."
We were interrupted in our conversation by the sudden entrance
of the eldest boy, a lad about five years of age, who exclaimed, "I
have said my hymn! and,"——before he saw me.
"Come," said the mother, "go and speak to the gentleman."
"Yes," added the father, "and say your hymn to him."
The boy approached with a modest blush, and immediately
repeated the following verses, with ease and propriety:—

"I thank the goodness and the grace,

Which on my birth have smil'd,
And made me, in these Christian days,
A happy English child.

"I was not born, as thousands are,

Where God was never known,
And taught to pray a useless pray'r
To blocks of wood and stone.

"I was not born a little slave,

To labour in the sun,
And wish I were but in the grave,
And all my labour done.

"I was not born without a home,

Or in some broken shed,
A gipsy baby, taught to roam
And steal my daily bread.

"My God, I thank thee, who hast plann'd

A better lot for me;
And placed me in this happy land,
 Where I may hear of thee."
He repeated also the third chapter of the Gospel according to John,
without making any mistake.
"And where does your boy go to school?"
"He goes," said Josiah, "to Mrs. Stevens's Sabbath-school; and, for
the last six months, he has been twice in the week up to Squire
Roscoe's; and Miss Roscoe has been so kind as to teach him."
"There was a time," I remarked, "when the rich were either too
proud, or too much devoted to the pleasures of the world, to attend
to the improvement of the lower classes; but now they discover a
disposition to favour almost every institution which pure benevolence
establishes."
"Yes, Sir," said Josiah, "some do; but not all. We have a few in the
parish who are very angry with Mrs. Stevens for setting up her
Sabbath-school; and they have tried to put it down; but, thank God,
they have not been able to do it. We have but little light; and why
should they try to put it out? I went the other day up to Cleveland
Hall, and Sir Harry Wilmot, who was a great enemy to Mrs. Stevens's
Sabbath-school, was pleased to say that my Charles was a very
sharp and well-behaved lad, and did us credit. 'Yes, Sir,' I replied,
'and we may thank Mrs. Stevens for that; for if she had not opened
her Sunday-school, our boy would be as rude and as ignorant as
other boys.' 'What!' said Sir Harry, 'does your boy go to her school?'
'Yes, Sir.' He was silent some time, and walked backwards and
forwards his room, and then went to his bureau, and took out a
pound, and said, 'Make my compliments to Mrs. Stevens, and give
her this towards the support of her school; and tell her that as long
as I see such fruits of her labour, I will encourage them.'"
"It is pleasing," I remarked, "to see the prejudices which some of
the more opulent and powerful have cherished against the
benevolent institutions of society, giving way; and I have no doubt
but they will ultimately become the generous supporters of them."
 We had protracted our conversation at Fairmount to an unusually
late hour, and were preparing to retire to rest, when we heard the
cry of "Fire!" We immediately rushed out, and, on passing through
the back yard, we saw the flames issuing from Hargrave's cottage.
We hastened to afford assistance; but as the wind blew hard, and
we had no engine, it was impossible to save more than a few articles
of furniture. It was a dismal scene; I shall never forget that awful
night. The mother, with one child in her arms, and another by her
side, with difficulty made their escape; and Josiah, in trying to
remove his poor dumb ass from the shed, which stood close behind
the cottage, was severely scorched; and, though he returned again
and again, he was obliged to abandon her.
At length the fury of the wind abated, the rain came down in
torrents, and the neighbours, flocking to our assistance, we were
able, within the space of about two hours, to extinguish the fire. We
now turned our attention to the poor sufferers, who had taken
refuge in the villa. On entering the kitchen, I beheld Mrs. Hargrave
with her infant in her arms, Charles standing close by her chair, and
her husband reclining against the wall, as the surgeon was
examining his wounds. When they were dressed, and the terror had
somewhat subsided, Josiah said, "The Lord gave, and the Lord has
taken away, but, blessed be his name, he hath not taken away my
wife nor my children."
"There are," said Mr. Stevens, "some circumstances connected
with every affliction which take off their keen edge, and give a
stronger excitement to our gratitude, than to a murmuring
disposition."
"But," said Josiah, as he stood gazing on the living wreck of his
possession, "where is Henry? I don't see him."
"Where did you carry him?" said the mother. "You took him up and
ran out with him, when I came out with Charles and Ann."
"I have not seen him," said Josiah.
 The mother, on hearing this reply, darted from her seat,
exclaiming, with a look and in a tone of frantic agony, "My Henry is
burnt! my Henry is burnt! O, my Henry! my poor dear Henry! I shall
never see him again!" This subdued the firmness of Josiah; but he
could not weep. He looked like a man bereft of his reason. He fell
back in a chair, and said, "Alas! my poor dear Henry!" This scene of
parental anguish was too much for Mrs. Stevens; and, though she
bore up for a time, and endeavoured, by efforts of kindness, to allay
their sorrow, yet she was obliged at length to retire.
 THE LOST CHILD RESTORED.
Vol. i. page 270.

As the mother was again exclaiming, "O, my poor Henry! I shall

never see him again!" the gardener entered the kitchen with Henry,
and said, "Here he is, safe and sound!" The father sprang up as with
the rapidity of thought; the mother rushed across the room, and
they both seized the child, as though each was afraid to let the other
touch him. But after the first maternal kiss had been given to little
Henry, who knew nothing of what had been passing, she suffered
her husband to take him, as she still held her infant in her arms, and
they both sat down, with their Charles between them, while the
inmates of the villa pressed round to participate in their joy.
"And is it you, my Henry?" said the mother. "Kiss me, my boy."
"Kiss me, Henry," said Charles.
We now shed tears of gratitude, and after recovering ourselves
from this agitating excitement, I asked the gardener where he found
the child.
"I found him, Sir, asleep between two trusses of hay in Master
Hargrave's stable."
"O, I now recollect!" said Josiah. "I carried him and put him in the
stable when the fire broke out, as I knew he would be safe there,
but I had forgotten it."
Early in the morning I hastened to the ruins, where I found Josiah
and his wife examining the extent of their loss.
"This has been to you a night which will never be forgotten."
"Very true, Sir," said Mrs. Hargrave, "we never had so many
mercies crowded within such a short space of time. What a mercy
that we were not consumed, that none of our children were burnt,
and that the horse and cart are not injured, so that Josiah can go on
in his business; we can sing of mercy as well as of judgment."
"Ah! Sir," said Josiah, "what a mercy that, though we have lost
some of our little property, yet we have not lost any property but
what was our own. The Lord gave it to us, and now He has been
pleased to take it away, but He has not taken all. He has spared
more than I expected, and much more than we deserved."
"It will be a long time before you will be able to repair this loss."
 "Yes, it will; but you know, Sir, that it is 'the blessing of the Lord
that maketh rich.' This trial is sent to moderate our desires after the
things that perish, to teach us to walk by faith, and to derive our
happiness from communion with Him who is invisible."
As we were conversing together, Mr. Stevens came up, and taking
Josiah by the hand, said, "Don't be cast down, I will have the
cottage repaired immediately, and till it is finished, you shall have my
other cottage at the grove, which happens to be vacant."
"Thank you, Sir, for your kindness; I hope Mrs. Stevens is well this
morning?"
"She is not well; she has had a bad night."
Several of the more respectable inhabitants of the village now
joined us in their expressions of sympathy; and it was unanimously
resolved that a subscription should be made for the benefit of the
Hargraves. "Gentlemen," said Mr. Roscoe, "I shall be happy to see
you at my house in the evening. In the meantime we shall be able to
ascertain the extent of this good man's loss, and then we can adopt
some effectual measures to repair it."
There is a kind provision made for the children of sorrow in that
sympathy which is implanted in almost every breast. Who can avoid
its excitement when an object of distress is seen, or a tale of woe
narrated? Yet there are some who will weep over misery, but will
make no personal sacrifice to relieve it. They will talk, but they will
not give. They will recommend to others the benevolence which they
never practise; and profess to admire the virtue which they are not
anxious should adorn their own character. "But," says the apostle,
"whoso hath this world's goods, and seeth his brother have need,
and shutteth his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the
love of God in him?"
The loss which Josiah Hargrave sustained by the fire, amounted to
about thirty pounds; and Mr. Roscoe consented, at the urgent
request of the gentlemen who met at his house, to accompany Mr.
Stevens in soliciting the benevolence of the neighbours towards
repairing it. They commenced their work of mercy on the following
morning, and finished it in the course of the day. The first person
they called on was the Rev. Mr. Cole, the rector of the parish, and he
refused to contribute, because Hargrave chose to attend the ministry
of Mr. Ingleby in preference to his own.
"This refusal," said Mr. Roscoe to his friend, "does not surprise me,
but it grieves me. Mr. Cole is an amiable man, but he is, what I once
was, a religious bigot; and though he is very charitable to the poor,
yet his charity is confined to those who come to his church."
"We may," said Mr. Stevens, "call his charity the charity of bigotry,
not the charity of the gospel."
"I was once taking tea with him, when a poor woman, near the
time of her confinement, applied to him for relief; but when he
found that she attended your chapel, he first reproved her, and then
dismissed her without giving her any assistance."
"But perhaps he thought she was an impostor?"
"No, Sir, she brought with her a note of recommendation from
your friend, Mr. Stone."
"And is it possible that a man, who professes to be a minister of
Jesus Christ, could refuse to assist a poor woman in such a time of
need, because she does not attend his church? Then, I suppose, if
he had been passing by Josiah Hargrave's house when the fire broke
out, his first inquiry would have been, Do you attend my church?—
and on finding that he hears Mr. Ingleby, he would have gone on,
and left him to perish."
"No, no; I think he would have knocked you up, and sent you to
assist him, because his argument is, 'Let those who imbibe the same
faith, assist each other.'"
"A similar argument was employed by the priest and Levite, when
they passed by on the opposite side of the road, disdaining to do
more than merely look on the wounded traveller; but the good
Samaritan, whose breast glowed with pure benevolence, 'when he
saw him he had compassion on him, and went to him, and bound up
his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast,
and brought him to an inn, and took care of him.' And are we not
commanded to display the same comprehensive benevolence,
without standing to consider the character of the sufferer, or
presuming to inquire into the orthodoxy of his faith?"
"I was much pleased with a little anecdote which I heard the other
day, of your friend Stone. A person applied to him on behalf of a
poor man in great distress. He was in a hurry, and had no money
with him. 'I cannot,' he said, 'examine the case now, as I have a
gentleman waiting to see me; but, if the poor man belong to the
household of faith, I will thank you to advance ten shillings for me; if
not, advance five. My maxim is, according to the law of the
Scripture, to do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of
the household of faith.'"
The subscription which was raised by Mr. Stevens and Mr. Roscoe,
with the remittances received from the Rev. Messrs. Ingleby and
Guion, amounted to nearly fifty pounds, and this was given by Mr.
Stevens to Josiah, who was so overcome by this unanticipated
expression of sympathy, that at first he could scarcely speak. He
modestly requested Mr. Stevens to express his grateful thanks, and
those of his wife, to his benevolent friends, assuring them that they
would endeavour, by future conduct, to prove how deeply they felt
this unexpected kindness.
Within the space of three months Hargrave returned to his
cottage, with his family, a richer if not a happier man than before the
fire drove him out; and there he lived for many years, respected and
beloved by all who knew him.
If we say that afflictions spring up by chance, or are brought
about merely by secondary causes, which are not under the
guidance and control of God, we not only reject the authority of the
Bible, but deprive ourselves of the consolation which follows from a
firm belief that the design for which they are sent is merciful and
gracious. If the sufferer should suppose that his afflictions are of
such a peculiar nature that they cannot possibly answer any good
purpose, I would say, Do not impeach the wisdom of God, nor yet
presume to fix limitations to the operations of his power. If you have
never yet repented of your sins, nor sought the salvation of your
soul through the mediation of Jesus Christ, your trials may be sent
to prepare your heart for the reception of the truth, by which you
are to be sanctified and saved. As the gentle rain, descending from
the clouds of heaven, fits the soil for the seed which it is to nourish
for a future harvest, so it pleases God, in the dispensations of his
providence, to allow those painful events to transpire, which,
imperceptibly, predispose the mind, first, to bow in submission to his
authority, and then to seek after the enjoyment of his favour. There
is a native independence in some minds, which, in relation to man, is
a high and noble virtue, but in relation to God, is a daring sin. When
one is made rich, and the glory of his house is increased, he is
sometimes apt to think, if not to say, "What is the Almighty, that we
should serve him? And what profit should we have if we pray unto
him?" What is this but absolute rebellion against Divine authority,
which must be subdued; and, if it please Him to employ severe and
varied afflictions to subdue it, then "why should a living man
complain—a man for the punishment of his sins?" "Should we not,"
says an admired writer, "principally value that which is morally good
for us; that which influences and secures our eternal welfare; that
by which the safety of the soul is least endangered, and the
sanctification of the soul is most promoted!" Upon this principle
many have had reason to say, "It is good for me that I have been
afflicted." "Disease," says one, "commissioned from above, sought
me out, found me in a crowd, detached me from a multitude, led me
into a chamber of solitude, stretched me upon a bed of languishing,
and brought before me the awful realities of an eternal world." "I
never prayed before," says another; "my life was bound up in a
beloved relative; I saw my gourd smitten and beginning to wither; I
trembled; I watched the progress of a disease which doomed all my
happiness to the grave. In that moment of bereavement, the world,
which had won my affections, was suddenly deprived of all its
attractions. I broke from the arms of sympathizing friends, saying,
'Where is God, my Maker, that giveth songs in the night?' I entered
my closet, and said, 'Now, Lord, what wait I for? My hope is in
thee.'"
Misery seems to possess one of the attributes of the Supreme
Being, and is everywhere present, inflicting its anguish in every
human breast. No situation in life, however elevated, is above its
reach; none, however obscure, is beneath its notice. It goes up to
the throne, and disturbs the peace of the monarch; it creeps into the
lonely hut, wringing the heart of poverty; nor can the tears of
penury, nor the moans of distress, move its pity. It fastens on the
babe in the days of infancy; follows him through the various stages
of childhood and of youth; becomes a more intimate associate as he
advances in life, but often reserves its most poignant inflictions and
its bitterest draughts till old age, when the mind is bereft of its
vivacity and strength. It lurks beneath the most fascinating objects
of delight, and springs out at a season when no danger is expected;
sometimes it throws around itself the garb of complacency, and,
under the appearance of the truest friendship and the purest
affection, disarms suspicion, that it may more effectually entangle its
victim.
Where can we find an antidote for human misery? Not in the
speculations of philosophy. Philosophy tells us that we must endure
our sufferings, because we cannot avoid them; and that it would be
visionary to expect an entire exemption from them in a world in
which they everywhere abound. Miserable comforter! I need some
substantial relief, some prop on which I can lean in the days of
adversity. Where shall I find it?—in human friendship? Alas! that is
too often a phantom of the imagination, which plays before the
fancy while prosperity shines on my pathway, but disappears as the
storm arises, and the darkness of the night falls upon me. I need a
more stable source of consolation. Where shall I find it? "In sweet
submission to thy will, O my God!" Here is bliss. Here I find joy in
grief. Here I have the bitter waters of life made sweet, the heavy
burden of care lightened, and my strength becomes equal to my
day.
 A SURPRISE.
The indisposition of Mrs. Stevens increased, and became
more and more alarming; she was soon confined to her
room, then to her bed; and her life was considered in
imminent danger. The fever rose so high that she
became somewhat delirious, but even then, while her
fancy wandered amidst the wild scenes of her own imaginative
creation, she spoke with rapture of her approaching dissolution. On
one occasion, as I entered her room, she raised herself up, and
sang, with a strong yet softened melody of voice:

"Lord, what are all my suff'rings here,

If thou but make me meet,
With that enraptur'd host t' appear,
And worship at thy feet!"

At length, while we were silently watching the progress of a

disorder which was threatening to take from us one of the most
interesting and amiable of women, it pleased the Father of mercies
to throw her into a deep sleep, which lasted many hours. In the
morning she awoke both revived and composed; and, after asking
for Mr. Stevens, she requested some refreshment. Thus the cloud
which had been hanging over us with such a lowering aspect, now
gradually dispersed; and, in a few days, she was pronounced out of
danger. "I thought at one time," she said, addressing herself to her
husband, "I should have left you. I felt the parting pang; and it was
such a pang as my heart never felt before. I looked into the valley of
death; and though the light of life illumined it, yet nature recoiled at
the prospect of entering. I had no doubt of the issue of dying, but I
dreaded the act of dying. But now I am coming back to life. Oh! that
my life may be more devoted to Him who lived and died for me!"
 Miss Roscoe had left home the morning after the fire at Hargrave's
cottage, to spend a few days with her friend, Miss Holmes, but as
soon as she heard of Mrs. Stevens's illness, she returned. "I am
happy to see you once more," said Mrs. Stevens. "This is a pleasure
which I did not anticipate. How uncertain is life!"
"Life is uncertain," replied Miss Roscoe, "but they who believe in
Christ shall never die. They may, in the progress of their being, drop
their mantle of mortality, as the insect leaves his shell, when he
expands into a more beautiful form of existence; but the soul,
redeemed by the blood, and purified by the Spirit of the Lord Jesus,
'liveth and abideth for ever.' I hope your mind has been kept in
perfect peace during your severe affliction."
"It has been kept in peace, but not in perfect peace. On the
second day, when my disorder assumed a threatening aspect, a
horror of great darkness fell upon me. I was compelled to admit the
possibility of having deceived myself—of having claimed privileges to
which I had no title—of having mistaken the excitement of feeling
for the fervour of spiritual devotion—of having indulged prospects
which I should never realize. But, just as I was beginning to sink into
despair, the light of mercy broke in upon me, and revived my hope.
Never, oh! never had I seen such beauty as I then perceived in the
verses—

'Jesu! lover of my soul,

Let me to thy bosom fly,
While the billows near me roll,
While the tempest still is high:

'Hide me, O my Saviour! hide—

Till the storm of life is past;
Safe into the haven guide;
O receive my soul at last.'"

"It is consoling to meet with others who are exercised in a similar

way with ourselves. I thought your faith was too strong ever to
stagger, and your prospect of eternal life too clear ever to be shaded
by dubious uncertainty; but now, I perceive, you can doubt, which
encourages me to hope that my faith may be genuine, though it is
sometimes involved in perplexity, and sinks into depression."
"Have you," Mrs. Stevens asked, "had any recent conversation
with your papa on religious subjects?"
"Not very recently, because he has manifested a more than
ordinary degree of reserve when there has been any allusion to
them, and therefore I have judged it proper to observe great caution
while his prejudices are in such a state."
"But may not this reserve on his part be the solemn musings of a
mind deeply impressed by the truth, which has hitherto been either
misunderstood or rejected?"
"I should be happy if I could put such a favourable construction on
his manner; but I fear not."
"Our favourite poet says:—

'Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take,

The clouds ye so much dread,
Are big with mercy, and shall break
In blessings on your head.'

Allow me, my dear friend, to offer you my congratulations. Your

prayers, I hope, are answered; and you may go home, and embrace
your father as a 'fellow-heir of the grace of life.'"
"If I could, the sun of my bliss would never go down; but, alas! I
fear that you congratulate me on what we wish to be true, rather
than on what actually is the case."
"My dear, I speak what I believe."
"Impossible! Has he made any particular communication to you,
which enables you to speak in such a decisive tone?—if so, tell me,
my dear friend, what you know. I am impatient to hear it."
 "The evening before Josiah's cottage was consumed, your father
spent some hours with us, and seemed not only willing, but anxious
to converse on religious subjects. At one time, he was affected
almost to tears, when he said, 'My dear Sophia has often told me
that a Divine illumination of mind is the great secret in personal
religion; and on one occasion, when she quoted the words of the
apostle, "The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of
God, for they are foolishness unto him; neither can he know them,
because they are spiritually discerned," she made an impression on
my mind which has never left me.' Thus God has not only subdued
the prejudices of your father's heart against the truth, and opened
the eyes of his understanding to see its excellence and importance,
but has employed you as the agent in the accomplishment of this
great work."
After recovering herself from the surprise which this
communication produced, she said, "I feel as if enjoying a most
pleasant dream—my fancy beguiled and deluded by its own
visionary conceptions—not less surprised than delighted to find
myself awake—with you—listening to the most joyful news that
could be conveyed to my soul." She wept. "And is it possible?—Is it
true?—What, my father!—Excuse me; I must go, that I may hear
these glad tidings from his own lips."
On the following Sabbath Mrs. Stevens was so far recovered as to
be able to go to church, where she expected to see the Roscoes; but
she was disappointed. "I fear," she remarked to her husband, as
they were returning home, "that Mr. Roscoe will not become a
decided character; but I hope he will not neutralize our dear
Sophia."
"He will proceed, I have no doubt, very cautiously; examine and
re-examine every step he takes; but when the Rubicon is passed,
there will be no fruitless attempts to unite religion and the world, but
an unreserved devotion of soul to God."
In the evening Miss Roscoe was at the chapel, and after service
called at Fairmount to see her friends.
 "It is true," she said; "my dear father is at length brought to know
that he is a sinner, and to feel the importance of redemption through
the blood of Christ. I went with him in the morning to hear the Rev.
Mr. Cole, with whose sermon he was not so well pleased as on some
former occasions; and he would have accompanied me this evening,
had it not been for mamma, who most earnestly requested him not
to go."

The evening came when we were to pay our promised visit to the
Roscoes, and just as we were about to set out, the Rev. Mr. Guion
arrived. When he found where we were going, he proposed
returning home; but Mrs. Stevens said, "No, no; you must
accompany us. You may be the means of doing some good; and I
think your Master has sent you for that purpose."
Mr. Roscoe gave us a cordial welcome; but when the name of
Guion was announced, Mrs. Roscoe drew back with a very polite
movement, and became unusually reserved. Conversation flagged,
till Mr. Roscoe mentioned that he had been reading Buchanan's
Christian Researches in Asia, and called our attention to some
passages, which had much interested him:—
"I have returned home," says the writer, "from witnessing a scene
which I shall never forget. At twelve o'clock of this day, being the
great day of the feast, the Moloch of Hindoostan was brought out of
his temple, amidst the acclamations of hundreds of thousands of his
worshippers. When the idol was placed on his throne, a shout was
raised by the multitude, such as I had never before heard. It
continued equable for a few minutes, and then gradually died away.
After a short interval of silence, a murmur was heard at a distance;
all eyes were turned towards the place, and behold, a grove
advancing! A body of men, having green branches in their hands,
approached with great celerity. The people opened a way for them;
and when they had come up to the throne, they fell down before
him that sat thereon, and worshipped. And the multitude again sent
forth a voice like the sound of a great thunder. But the voices I now
heard were not those of melody; for there is no harmony in the
praise of Moloch's worshippers.
"The throne of the idol was placed on a car, about sixty feet in
height, resting on wheels which indented the ground deeply, as they
turned slowly under the ponderous machine. Attached to it were six
cables, by which the people drew it along. Upon the car were the
priests and satellites of the idol, surrounding his throne. I went on in
the procession, close by the tower of Moloch, which, as it was drawn
with difficulty, grated on its many wheels harsh thunder. After a few
minutes it stopped; and now the worship of the god began. A high
priest mounted the car in front of the idol, and pronounced his
obscene stanzas in the ears of the people, who responded at
intervals in the same strain. 'These songs,' said he, 'are the delight
of the god.' After the car had moved some way, a pilgrim announced
that he was ready to offer himself in sacrifice to the idol. He laid
himself down in the road before the car, as it was moving along,
lying on his face, with his arms stretched forward. The multitude
passed round him, leaving the space clear, and he was crushed to
death by the wheels of the car.
"A horrid tragedy was acted on the 12th of September, 1807, at a
place about three miles from Calcutta. A Brahmin died at the
advanced age of ninety-two. He had twelve wives, and three of them
were burned alive with his dead body. Of these three, one was a
venerable lady, having white locks, who had been long known in the
neighbourhood. Not being able to walk, she was carried in a
palanquin to the place of burning, and was then placed by the
priests on the funeral pile. The two other ladies were younger; one
of them of a very pleasing and interesting countenance. The old lady
was placed on one side of the dead husband, and the two other
wives laid themselves down on the other side; and then an old
Brahmin, the eldest son of the deceased, applied the torch to the
pile, with unaverted face. The pile suddenly blazed, for it was
covered with combustibles; and this human sacrifice was completed
amidst the din of drums and cymbals, and the shouts of the
Brahmins."
"What horrid rites!" exclaimed Mr. Roscoe. "I fear they have been
too long practised to be easily destroyed. I think Christianity ought
to be established in India, for the moral benefit of our countrymen.
Many of them go out when young—when their passions are strong—
and when they have but very faint conceptions of the nature or the
importance of religion; and as there are no Sabbaths—no religious
ordinances or instruction—they must be in great spiritual danger
from the contagion of evil by which they are surrounded."
"I was intimately acquainted," said Mr. Guion, "with a very amiable
young man, the son of a pious solicitor, who went to India, where he
remained ten years, and then returned. He called on me some time
ago, and I derived much information from him; but I was grieved to
find, by his own confession, that he had become a deist. I asked him
if his deism was the result of any fair and earnest investigation; and
he very honestly said, 'No, I found my belief in the Divine origin of
Christianity becoming weaker and weaker when I was separated
from its ministry and institutions, till at length it became extinct; and
though I have sometimes made an effort to recover it, yet I have not
been able to do so.'"
"But," said Mr. Roscoe, "though the establishment of Christianity in
India might preserve our countrymen from infidelity, yet I do not
think we can calculate on bringing over the natives to embrace it."
"Why not? Is the conversion of a modern pagan to the faith of
Christ more difficult than the conversion of an ancient one? If
Greece and Rome were subdued by the preaching of the gospel,
who can despair of India?"
"If we had the same miraculous powers as those with which the
apostles were endowed, we might anticipate similar results; but we
have not; and I confess that, though I approve of the motive which
originates and supports missionary institutions, yet I do not think
they will ever prove successful."
 "By what means, then, did Paul convert the heathen? Was it by
the exhibition of miracles? Certainly not. A miracle may make some
impressions on the judgment, by demonstrating the power of a
present Deity, and of his direct agency in its production, but it
cannot renew the heart, and inspire the soul with the love of God,
with a hatred of sin, and a hope of glory. The miracles of the first
ages were merely the credentials of the teachers, and were given as
a solemn confirmation, once for all, of the divinity of the new
dispensation, which they were commissioned to establish; but they
were not the ordained means of conversion. The apostle Paul
performed miracles but seldom; and when he did perform them,
they had not always a salutary effect on those that beheld them.
When he wrought a miracle in Lyconia, the people first worshipped
him, and afterwards would have put him to death. What, then, were
the ordained means of conversion? The same that are ordained now
—the preaching of the cross; as the Scripture hath declared, 'Faith
cometh by hearing.'"
"If we admit," said Mr. Roscoe, "the concurrence of a supernatural
power with the agency of man in teaching and in preaching, we
ought not to doubt the possibility of converting the whole population
of India to the belief of Christianity."
"Certainly not; and is not this supernatural concurrence promised
by Jesus Christ, to his ministers of every age? 'Lo! I am with you
alway, even unto the end of the world.'"
"My heart often aches," said Miss Roscoe, "when I reflect on the
degradation and wretchedness of women in India—where, if they
escape an untimely grave in the days of childhood, they are doomed
to a state of perpetual ignorance, excluded from all the
accomplishments of society, treated as the refuse of the human
family, and are often burned along with the body of their deceased
husbands. I think every woman ought to make some effort to raise
her own sex from this most appalling condition; and as nothing will
prove successful but the principles of Christianity, we ought all to
become the advocates and supporters of missionary and Bible
societies."[10]
"I have no doubt," said Mrs. Roscoe, who was not at home on
these subjects, "but the natives of India are as happy with their
religion as we are with ours; and if the females do not meet with
that respect which we meet with, you know, Madam," addressing
herself to Mrs. Stevens, "that they do not expect it. Therefore, as it
hath pleased the Almighty to give them their religion, I think we
ought not to try to take it from them. We should not like to have
ours taken from us. However, I think there is too much attention
paid to religion in our days; it was not the case in the good old times
of our fathers."
"But, mamma, would you not save a little child from being
drowned, or a widow from being burned, if it were in your power?"
"Certainly, my dear."
"Now, mamma, as this cannot be done by force, we propose
convincing the people, by a process of fair reasoning, that such
practices are sinful and impolitic; and thus induce them, if possible,
to abolish them."
"Oh! that may be very proper, but I think that we have nothing to
do with it, and therefore, why should we trouble ourselves about it?
Why not let things remain as they always have been?"
"I must confess," said Mr. Roscoe, "that I begin to differ from you,
and I shall be very glad to see an auxiliary missionary society
established amongst us. If we have a purer faith than the Hindoos,
and one better calculated to promote individual and relative
happiness and improvement, we ought to impart it. To monopolize it
would be an act of selfishness and injustice; and though I have
hitherto, like too many around me, been guilty of this act, I will go
and sin no more."
"But, surely," said Mrs. Roscoe, "you do not intend to become a
missionary, and transplant us to some province of India?"
 "No, no, my dear; I will not go myself, but I will give some portion
of my property to send others."
Had some shapeless figure, of hideous look, suddenly entered the
room, and denounced a heavy woe on each inmate of the dwelling,
Mrs. Roscoe might have been more alarmed, but she could not have
appeared more surprised than when she heard this last sentence.
"What!" she said, in a more lofty tone than I had ever known her
assume, "and have you so far forgotten your own dignity as to
connect yourself with missionary societies, which go abroad on
purpose to disturb other people in their religion, as we have been
disturbed in the enjoyment of ours?"
"My dear, you seem strangely excited, as though I was going to do
some barbarous or immoral act; when all I propose doing, is to give
a little of that wealth which God has given to us, to convey to the
deluded and degraded Hindoos the good news and glad tidings of
great joy which the holy angels announced to the shepherds of
Bethlehem, and which the ministers of Christ proclaim to us. Surely
you cannot object to this."
"I do not suppose you would like the Hindoos to send their religion
over to us, for our adoption."
"They may if they please; but they would not manage to persuade
our widows to burn on the funeral pile of their deceased husbands,
or induce fathers and mothers to destroy their lovely children."
"Well, at any rate, I think you ought to stay till they apply to us for
our religion as a substitute for their own."
It was now late, and the company upon the eve of retiring, when
Miss Roscoe arose, took from the book-case one of the volumes of
Doddridge's Exposition on the New Testament, placed it on the
table, and said to Mr. Guion, "I know, Sir, that it is your custom to
conclude your social visits by reading the Scripture and prayer; and
if you will consent to do so this evening, you will greatly oblige us."
"I have no objection, if it be perfectly agreeable."
 "Certainly, Sir," said Mr. Roscoe, "we ought not to object to
prayer."
The bell was now rung, and the servants were requested to come
to family prayer. We waited several minutes, during which time Mrs.
Roscoe was very restless. At length they entered, at irregular
intervals of time, seating themselves on the corner of the chairs
which stood nearest the door, expressing, by their looks, the utmost
degree of surprise at this novel service, and occasionally, by the
satirical smile which played over their countenance, indicating either
their contempt or their disposition to merriment. I needed no one to
tell me that this was the first time the family had ever knelt together
at the throne of grace; but, knowing that a great moral change had
taken place in Mr. Roscoe, I felt conscious that it would not be the
last; and could not refrain offering my inaudible expressions of
praise to the God of all grace, for permitting me to see that fire
enkindled on this newly-erected domestic altar, which has ever since
burnt with unceasing brightness.
 THE CONSULTATION.
Mamma," exclaimed Miss Denham, as she entered the
drawing-room one morning, after rather a
lengthened walk, "I have heard something that will
surprise and distress you; I can scarcely believe the
report, but I have been assured of its truth from the
best authority."
"What is it, my dear? you seem agitated, has anything alarmed
you?"
"Nothing more, mamma, than this dreadful report; really none of
us seem safe; dear Mr. Cole never spoke a greater truth than when
he said there was something of a bewitching nature in this new
religion! I am alarmed for myself, and almost wish that we were
away from this place altogether. But I must tell you the story. Mr.
Roscoe has taken to his daughter's religion, and is now as fanatical
as herself!"
"I cannot credit this, my dear," replied Mrs. Denham; "you know
how often I have said this is the worst place I know for scandal; you
should be careful how you receive these reports; no, no, my dear, I
cannot believe such a story as this about Mr. Roscoe; he is too good,
amiable, and virtuous a man to be led so far wrong, and too much
of the gentleman to stoop to anything so mean and vulgar."
"I hope, mamma, it may be so, but I am afraid it is true; and
every one is so distressed and affected by the intelligence, I assure
you it has produced quite a sensation."
"My dear, it is impossible; I saw him at church on Sunday, and
heard him myself repeat the responses louder than he ever did
before; and if you recollect, we talked about it when we got home."
 "No, mamma; if you recollect, we dined last Sunday with a large
party at Mr. Gladstone's, and did not go to church."
"Then it was Sunday week."
"It has happened since then. It happened one night last week;
and as I have been at some pains to get at an entire knowledge of
this disaster, I will tell you about it."
"Oh! dear," said Mrs. Denham, as she composed herself to listen
to the tragical story, "what a world we live in! Really nothing but
religion seems to be thought of. Our very servants are becoming
religious, and who can wonder at it, when the rich set them the
example! And if this should be true about Mr. Roscoe, which I
devoutly pray heaven may forbid, there is no saying where the evil
will stop."
"Well, mamma, you know that on Tuesday week Mr. and Mrs.
Stevens, and the gentleman that is on a visit there, and the Rev. Mr.
Guion, all went to spend the evening at Mr. Roscoe's."
"I have always said," interrupting her daughter, "that there is no
good doing when such people get together. If I had seen them go, I
would have given Mr. Roscoe a hint to be on his guard. He was
taken by surprise, I have no doubt. Well, my dear, go on."
"Well, ma', as I was saying, they all went; and when there, Mr.
Roscoe said that he would change his religion, and have that which
flourished so luxuriantly at Fairmount; and he got Mr. Guion to read
a chapter out of the Bible, and to say prayers, and had all the
servants in to hear him, and they all knelt down, though I heard that
the cook stole out slyly, when they were all upon their knees. She
didn't like it."
"I always thought well of that cook; she has a taste above her
class in life, I should like to have her; do you think she will leave?"
"I don't know, ma', but I should think she will; I will ask her if you
wish it."
 "No, my dear, it won't do for you to appear in the matter; I'll
speak to John to speak to her. But now about Mr. Roscoe, what is to
be done?"
"But, ma', I have something more dismal to tell you."
"I hope not. Why, this is enough to shock the feelings of an angel.
Reading the Bible, and prayers, and kneeling down on the floor with
servants! I hope Mrs. Roscoe is not gone off."
"No, all this was much against her will, and she is very unhappy
about it, and says she shall never be happy again."
"Dear creature, it is impossible; but what else have you to tell?"
"Why, Mr. Roscoe proposed to set up a missionary society, to raise
money to send this new religion abroad."
"Well, my dear, this last part of your story relieves my mind. This
is a proof of mental derangement. The Chancellor would not want a
stronger. It is often the case, when people go wrong in their mind,
they profess strong attachment to the things they hate most when
they are in their right senses. I now must insist upon it that you
never make another call at Fairmount. Really, if you should ever take
up with this evangelical religion, I should be tempted to wish myself
in heaven, to escape the mortification."
"Indeed, ma', you need give yourself no uneasiness on that
subject. I have no predisposition in favour of religion. Indeed, I have
my doubts, and if it were fashionable, I think I should profess myself
a sceptic, but that would not be lady-like."
Mrs. and Miss Denham, after much long and serious debate,
resolved on making a call on Mrs. Roscoe. They found her at home,
alone, depressed, and reserved, and though she made an effort to
rise to her usual vivacity, yet she could not succeed. Mrs. Denham
was very particular in her inquiries after the health of Mr. Roscoe,
and was surprised to hear that he was well; and on being informed
that he was gone with Miss Sophia to spend an hour at Fairmount, in
company with the Rev. Mr. Ingleby, she became greatly agitated.
 "Then I fear, my dear Mrs. Roscoe, that it is too true? Oh! I have
had no rest since I heard it. What a trial! Really, no one is safe. That
such a sensible, and amiable, and virtuous man as Mr. Roscoe used
to be, should so far forget himself and all his friends as to change
his religion, is very astonishing and affecting. We called on the Rev.
Mr. Cole as we came by, to ask if he had heard of the report, and
here he is, dear man, coming to condole with you."
"I am glad to see you," said Mrs. Denham to Mr. Cole, as he
entered the parlour; "we have been offering our sympathy to dear
Mrs. Roscoe—but can't something be done, Sir?"
"Then I suppose there is some foundation for the report. I always
thought Mr. Roscoe a very judicious and sensible man, and I still
hope, that though he has diverged into this eccentric course, his
good sense will, on cool reflection, induce him to return."
"Yes, Sir," replied Mrs. Roscoe, "I hope so too, but it is possible
that the influence and example of our daughter may protract, if it do
not perpetuate, the delusion under which he unhappily labours; and
if so, I shall never see another happy day."
"O yes, you will," said Mr. Cole, "his sun is only passing under a
cloud, and when his mind clears up, it will shine with its accustomed
brightness. His good sense will preserve him from that fatal vortex
into which too many have fallen."
"If, Sir, this were a sudden change, I should be induced to believe
that he might be recovered, but it has been coming on for a long
time. You know that he does not make up his mind on any subject
very suddenly, but when he has done it, you know how firm he is."
"Very true," said Mr. Cole, "but his spirits have been unusually
depressed for some months. I remember the last time we spent an
evening at Mr. Denham's, that I rallied him on his dulness when we
were at play. We must raise his spirits, and then we shall drive away
his evangelical notions."
"I have not noticed any particular depression. He has been rather
more grave, yet he has been cheerful; and has talked rather more
frequently on religious subjects, but they have not affected his
spirits."
"Well," said Mr. Cole, "I will come and have a rubber with him, and
I will engage to rub these notions out of him."
"Indeed, Sir, he has formally declined playing any more, and has
requested me never again to introduce cards."
"Really," said Mrs. Denham, "this is very affecting. Not play again!
Not suffer cards to be introduced? Then I suppose he intends to
break off connection with all his old friends, and take up with the
evangelicals; but I hope you have too much firmness to yield to
him."
"It has been my maxim through life to sacrifice everything for the
sake of domestic peace. I cannot oppose Mr. Roscoe, and I must
confess that he has manifested the utmost degree of affection and
kindness."
"The apostle St. Paul has predicted," said the Rev. Mr. Cole, "that
in the last days perilous times should come, and indeed they are
come. The church once enjoyed quietude, but now she is rent into
divisions; not so much by the Dissenters who have seceded from us,
as by the evangelical clergy who are admitted within her pale. Their
eccentric notions, and their extempore and familiar style of
preaching, operate as a charm on the minds of their hearers; and
wherever they go, some stir is always occasioned about religion. In
general, the poor and the illiterate become their admirers; but
sometimes we see men of sense and learning beguiled by their artful
sophisms. I can account for their success among the lower orders,
but when I see an intelligent man brought over to their belief, I
confess I am puzzled. But still I won't give up Mr. Roscoe. I will, in
the course of a few Sundays, preach a sermon which I will procure
for the occasion."
"You will greatly oblige me if you will, Sir, but you must do it soon,
for I dread the idea of Mr. Roscoe going to hear Mr. Ingleby while he
is in his present state of mind."
 "But you have no idea of his leaving my church?"
"Why, you know very well," Miss Denham remarked, "that none of
the evangelicals think you preach the gospel. I have heard Miss
Sophia say so many times, and you may be sure that she will try to
make her papa believe it, and if he is become an evangelical, he is
sure to believe it; for I have noticed that what one believes, they all
believe. Really, Sir, there is so much ado made now about the word
gospel and evangelical preachers, that the subjects are become
quite offensive."
"Yes, to persons of intelligence and taste."
"Exactly so, Sir; you will excuse what I am going to say, but I
often think that you are rather severe, too much so I know for some
of your hearers; but I have no idea how any people of sense can go
and hear such preaching as Mr. Ingleby's. I heard him once, on the
loss of the soul. I could not sleep after it—and even now, at times I
think of it. But, Sir, you know we have nothing to do with such
subjects till we die, or till after death."
"Such preaching," said Mr. Cole, "is as offensive to pure taste, as it
is revolting to our feelings."
"Exactly so; you know we are to be allured to a brighter world—
not frightened there. Pray, Sir, shall we have the pleasure of meeting
you and Mrs. Cole at Mr. Ryder's on Tuesday? By the by, I wonder
you do not cure Mr. John of his scepticism. There is to be a large
party, and rather a gay one."
"I don't think," replied Mr. Cole, "that Mr. John Ryder has any more
scepticism than does him good—it keeps off the gloom which a
belief in the Bible almost necessarily brings over the youthful mind.
No, I shall not be with you. I have an engagement with a few friends
who are going to Bath, to see Romeo and Juliet."
"How dull and insipid is a religious service when compared with a
play. What a pity that our Maker requires us to be religious. I have
not seen a play for some months, and when I was hearing Mr.
Ingleby, I really thought that I should never have courage to see
another. Oh, how he did denounce the theatre! He really said that it
was the pathway to hell."
"Yes," said Mr. Cole, with high disdain, "that man would interdict
us from every social enjoyment; would batter down the temple of
the muses, or change it into a house of prayer; and bring before our
imagination the awful realities of the eternal world, with so much
force, as should compel us to think, with perpetual awe, on death
and the future judgment."
"Oh! dear, they are awful realities indeed. When I heard him, he
alluded to dear Miss Patterson, who took cold on returning from the
play, and died, you know, Sir, a few weeks afterwards? Oh! she was
a lovely creature. She was too good to live on earth. Had she been
religious, she would have been a saint. But she often used to say
that her grandpapa left his religion to her aunts, and his fortune to
his grandchildren. Mr. Ingleby, after condemning plays, &c., as
impure and sinful, made a long pause, and then proposed his
questions with so much solemnity, that my pulse began to beat with
feverish rapidity.—'Should you like,' he said, and he looked while he
said it so stern and solemn, 'to pass from the theatre to the
judgment-seat of Christ? Should you like to leave the gaieties of this
world, to associate with the awful realities of another?' There was so
much stillness in the church as he went on in this strain of awful
eloquence, and so many people were overcome by what he said,
and such a serene smile on his countenance when he began to
speak about our Saviour, that I do really think, if I had not been very
firm and decided, I should have become as religious as any of them.
It was, I assure you, very difficult to withstand his fervour."
"I hope," said Mr. Cole, "you will never go again, for evil
communications corrupt the best of hearts."
"Go again!" exclaimed Mrs. Denham, "not if she have any respect
for her own happiness, or ours. Why, to hear this about the sermon
is enough to frighten any good Christian; what must it have been to
have heard the sermon itself! One thing puzzles me when I think
about it—why do our bishops consecrate such men?"
Welcome to our website – the perfect destination for book lovers and
knowledge seekers. We believe that every book holds a new world,
offering opportunities for learning, discovery, and personal growth.
That’s why we are dedicated to bringing you a diverse collection of
books, ranging from classic literature and specialized publications to
self-development guides and children's books.

More than just a book-buying platform, we strive to be a bridge

connecting you with timeless cultural and intellectual values. With an
elegant, user-friendly interface and a smart search system, you can
quickly find the books that best suit your interests. Additionally,
our special promotions and home delivery services help you save time
and fully enjoy the joy of reading.

Join us on a journey of knowledge exploration, passion nurturing, and

personal growth every day!

ebookbell.com