The Invisible Things of God
“For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse.” Rom. 1:20. “THE invisible things of Him”—what are they? We are not left in doubt. We are not left to speculate. The scripture that speaks of “the invisible things of Him” also tells us what these things are. They are defined as “His eternal power and Godhead,” or as the Revised Version gives it, “His everlasting power and divinity.” As a person, God is invisible to mortal eye. “No man hath seen God at any time.” Being invisible, it is not therefore strange that some of the things of God in this world of ours are also invisible. And these “invisible things of Him” are classified by our text under two heads. They are “His everlasting power and divinity.” To the blind, all things are invisible. Morning and evening, day and night, are alike. The beauty of the spring, the radiance of the summer, and the glories of the autumn, are never seen. But all men are more or less blind. There are many things that even to the seeing eye are absolutely invisible. By means of our eyes, we learn most concerning the things about us. Without them, our ideas of things would be meager and miserable indeed. With our eyes, we may read the beauties of some flower at our feet, or view some gleaming star in the deep bosom of unfathomed space. And yet beyond the piercing gaze of the sharpest eye, beyond all that we can see or hear or feel or taste, there lie all the invisible things of God — an unseen, unheard, unfelt universe whose merest fringes we are just beginning to explore. Out from this world of the supersensual, a few years ago, came the revelation of the Roentgen, or X-rays. These rays are not visible to the eye; but by means of them and the fluoroscope, we may look straight into our bodies and see our bones. The rays are nevertheless invisible, and were utterly unknown through the ages until, by their action upon the photographic plate, their presence was made manifest. Take an example of sunlight. Along with the rays of light from the sun are also other rays utterly invisible. And the same thing is true of light from other sources. Let us follow an experiment with the electric arc-light. Back of the light, the experimenter places a strong, concave reflector. This focuses the rays of the light to a given point a short distance in front of the lamp. The mirror produces at this focus an inverted image of the carbon-points of the lamp. The experimenter now interposes a vessel filled with a solution of iodin in disulfid of carbon. This black solution cuts off all the visible light, and the image at the focus disappears. Place a piece of white paper at the focus, and the image, the invisible to the eye, is still there, for it chars itself out. If we use black paper, this invisible radiation, which is passing through the dark solution of iodin, will pierce two holes in it, corresponding to the image of the carbon-points of the lamp. Falling upon a thin sheet of platinum, this invisible radiation, or heat, is changed into light, and the image stamps itself in vivid incandescence upon the metal. But the experimenter is not satisfied. He will go a step further. The solution of iodin used in this experiment cut off every ray of visible light. It completely intercepted even the rays of the noonday sun. And so completely did it intercept the rays of the electric lamp that no rays from it were visible in the darkest room, even when a white screen was placed at the focus. Placing the hand at this focus, the heat was found to be intolerable. A block of wood was placed in the focus, and dense volumes of smoke rose swiftly upward. Dry paper was instantly ignited; chips of wood were speedily burned up; lead, tin, and zinc were melted; and disks of charred paper were raised to vivid incandescence. If the eye were placed at the focus, would the dark rays become visible? There is twofold danger in such an experiment. Either the heat rays might be intense enough to cook the humors of the eye, much as heat coagulates the white of an egg; or the dark rays might penetrate to the retina of the eye with sufficient force to destroy it. Defying the danger, however, the eye of the experimenter was caused to approach the dark focus; but the heat, acting upon the parts surrounding the pupil, could not be borne. An aperture was therefore pierced in a plate of metal, and the eye, placed behind the aperture of this metal guard, was caused to approach the focus of the invisible rays. The focus was attained, first by the pupil and afterward by the retina. Removing the eye, but permitting the plate of metal to remain, a sheet of platinum foil was placed in the position occupied by the retina a moment before. The platinum became red-hot. No sensible damage was done to the eye. But remarkable to say, no impression of light was produced. The invisible remained still invisible. The optic nerve was not even conscious of heat. The eye is made sensitive only to the effects of light. Of course, if our eyes were sensitive to these invisible heat rays as they are to light rays, we could see with heat just6as well as we see now with light. With such eyes, the day would be as bright as it is now; but we could also sit in a pitch-dark room with a warm stove and read as clearly by its dark heat as we do now with our ordinary lights. With such eyes, we could see through windows made of thin plates of hard rubber now to us entirely opaque; and we could view the heavenly bodies through telescopes having lenses of the same material. Imagine looking, with such eyes, through a black rubber comb, and seeing it to be as transparent as glass is now! But this is not all. We may shut out all the visible rays of the sun, and yet, with a sensitized plate, take photographs with the entirely invisible rays. These rays, in the hands of the chemist, do many wonderful things. For example, they will turn one kind of phosphorus into another quite different kind. They will cause violent explosions, and make substances conduct electricity which otherwise do not. These rays are called the chemical rays, and seem to have considerable healing power, and cure many kinds of skin diseases. Their work in the vegetable world is very important, as they stimulate many of the activities of vegetable life and growth. All this is but a fraction of the things that might be mentioned in this connection. But why go further into these regions of the invisible and the comparatively unknown? The truth of our text may be illustrated by more familiar things. All forms of energy are invisible. Light itself, that makes most material things visible, is itself entirely invisible. It is known only by its effects in the material world. Acting as a vibration, it touches the optic nerve of the eye, causing it to vibrate in sympathy with the undulations of light. These vibrations of the nerve filaments of the eye, being communicated to the brain, give us the sensation of vision. But seeing is one of the senses; it is not light. Sight is but the action of light upon the nerves of the eye. Darken a room, and arrange a dust-proof box, with a glass side to reveal the interior. Allow a single ray of light to enter the box. Let what dust there may be in the box settle until the air in the box is clear. The ray of light will be entirely invisible save where it touches some material object and illuminates it. Agitate the box slightly. The rising dust, being illuminated by the entering ray, shows its path through the box. But it is the illumination of the dust particles — the effect of light upon them — that we see, and not the light itself. Power is always invisible until it affects material things. Electricity is another form of energy, or power; and it also is invisible. For ages, men were utterly ignorant of its manifestation. In water and air, in sky and earth, electric energy has throbbed and vibrated for centuries, at last to be recognized in these later years. And so with the power of gravitation. Ever since matter first came into being, this mysterious power has been exerting its unending influence, atom attracting atom throughout all the wide universe. But not until Newton's time did men uncover the fact. They knew, of course, that unsupported bodies on the earth tend to fall toward the surface; but this was all. They saw certain phenomena, it is true; but back of the visible was the mighty, invisible energy. That this force operates not only between all heavenly bodies, but also between all particles of matter whatsoever in all the universe, men had not so much as dreamed until one great mind, under God, led the way. And this ignorance was possible because gravitation is invisible, and its presence is at last known only by its effects upon the visible world of matter. Heat, another form of energy, is also invisible. It may be felt; but this is its effect upon the skin. We may heat an iron until it is red-hot. We see, not the heat, but the effects of heat upon the iron. Thus it is with all forms of power; always it is invisible. When one throws a stone, we may see the movement of the arm, the action of the hand, and the passing of the stone through the air; but we do not at any time see the power that produces the different motions. What a strange world this would be if, by some sort of magic, we were enabled to see the undulations of the filmy waves of light which make visible to us the open scenery of the world! or the waves of sound which bear to us the varied notes and tones of nature! How strange a sight would greet our eyes if we could watch the twinge of pain or the thrill of pleasure as it travels along the sensory nerves! But force itself can not be seen. It is one of the invisible things of God. B.