JCWL 6: Stock, Scharff, Engelschall, J.J. Rambach – “Lindemann's List” grows against Copernicanism

      This continues from Part 5 (Table of Contents in Part 1), an 8-part series presenting an English translation of J. C. W. Lindemann's 1873 article "Copernicus and the Lutheran theologians." — By now "Lindemann's List" is getting rather long… don't you think?  Let us hear from even more Christian teachers in the defense against Copernicanism… Lutherans.

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Excerpt from Evangelisch-Lutherisches Schulblatt, vol. 8 (1873) pp. 65-74, 107-116; translation by BackToLuther; all highlighting, red text in [] square brackets, images, and hyperlinks are mine, underlining in original.

Copernicus and the Lutheran theologians.

[by J. C. W. Lindemann, Part 6 of 8, pp. 109-112]

Christian Stock (born 1672; died February 4, 1730 as a professor of philosophy in Jena) writes of the Sun [Sonne] in his “Homiletische Real-Lexikon” (3rd ed. 1741, p. 1004) [4th ed. 1749 here]: 

“The speed of its course is so great that, according to the calculations of some experienced stars, it runs ten times 100,000 miles, i.e. that no bullet is fired from a gun or barrel, no bird in the air, however quickly it flies, could do the same, indeed one could not even compare it with them.” 

And Stock wrote this even though he knew the new teaching of Copernicus.

Master Gottfried Balthasar Scharff, senior minister at Schweidnitz published in 1717 The Perverted Bible of the Ungodly, a sermon book in order to “expose to the ridiculous children of the world the foolishness of their sinful excuses”. In it is written on the preparatory sermon, p. 1: 

“I think... instead for Copernicus not to persuade the people, that the Earth always turns around, and the heavens stand still; for as they are made, I nevertheless firmly believe that the great Builder of them knows best how to speak of them, who let us be assured by the holy David: ‘Thou hast established the earth, and it abideth’.” [Ps. 119:90]

Master Carl Gottfried Engelschall [1675-1738], royal and electoral court preacher, wrote an excellent book in 1719, which bears the title: Void Prejudices of Today's World in Doctrines of the Faith. In it he also refutes the claim that the theology of Cartesius [René Descartes, who “considered himself to be a devout Catholic”] was often heard at the time is the safest. He also meets [page 110] the objections that the Cartesians make against the Scriptures, and says among other things: 

“The foremost thing they object to is that the Sun should be moved and the Earth, on the other hand, should stand still. They assume that it is undeniable that the Earth is being moved and that the Sun is on the contrary without movement. Although they cannot reasonably confirm this better than we deny it. Did God have the power to create the Sun out of nothing as an astonishing body, then why shouldn't he have been able to make it move indescribably fast? “The Sun rises and sets, and runs to its place so that it rises again. But the Earth remains forever,” Ecclesiastes 1:5-6. Or as 1 Chron. 16:30 [sic] says: “Fear before him, all the earth: the world also shall be stable, that it be not moved.” What could be but a clearer testimony of the Holy Spirit than this, which no dizzy mind is able to overturn. And certainly, there are also reasons in the schools of the worldly wise that some Cartesians should still be anxious and afraid of before they can come up with anything more thorough. Reason teaches us that the more fluid and flowing a body is, the more flexible it is; however, the thicker and harder it is, the less inclined it is to move. Now if an intelligent mathematician wished to make a comparison between the fact that the Sun is much smaller than the Earth, and between the Sun’s flowing and therefore its skilled nature to move, he would perhaps see that one had no cause to cry out the motion of the Sun as an incomprehensible thing. The senses themselves seem to contradict the Cartesian and Copernican claims. — — But telling the truth, this convinces me most of all of the falseness of the Cartesian hypothesis: a gunner points his mortar at a certain target, throws the bomb at where it is actually aimed. Now it is found that, if he is well versed in his art, he also happily achieves his end purpose. I ask: how could this be possible if the Earth were moved? The bomb will be in the air for at least a minute, so it would have to fall 300 miles from the target because the Earth moves so much and more in a minute. If one wanted to say: the atmosphere would be moved at the same time as the Earth, so I answer: No one will talk me into thinking that, even if this is true, their movement should be as strong and violent as the movement of a bomb projected from the fire mortar. For the sake of popular brevity, no other evidence is to be remembered.”

A clear and well-founded opponent of the Copernican system was also J. J. Rambach, born in 1693, died on April 19, 1735 as a superintendent and professor in Giessen. In his Church History [page 111] of the Old Testament (II, 77. ff.) he notes on Josh. 10:11-13 [Lindemann translates Hebrew and Latin into his native language, German, now English]:

“This history is usually used as one of the strongest evidences that the Earth is still and the Sun runs around. Because Joshua says: “Sun, stand by Gibeon!” It is also noted that this root (the Hebrew word for “stand, rest, silent”) is used for immovable stones, Exodus 15:16 and Hab. 2:19; hence the common translation: Sun, do not move! so that this indicates a rest or interruption of the movement. But if now an interruption of the movement, then a movement is assumed – therefore one concludes:

In the case where a daily movement is forbidden, there must necessarily be a daily movement.

Now the Sun is prohibited from daily movement.

So the Sun has to have a daily movement.

Some Copernicans who profess a standstill of the Sun and a movement of the Earth respond to this, that is to say they profess blasphemy (!) [lästerlich; Walther is less harsh than Rambach, more tolerant for the weak of faith.]: ‘The Scripture has accommodated and directed itself according to the erroneous concept of the common rabble.’ (* We will examine this claim in more detail on another occasion.) But others know a better way out of this difficulty and say: Joshua asked for nothing more than an extension of the day, namely that the Sun should not so soon leave the horizon where the battle was fought. Therefore it says: ‘Sun, stand still in Gibeon’, that is, the Sun should remain immovable in the line of sight in which Joshua saw it standing over the city of Gibeon. Now, they say, a rest of the Sun was needed, so Joshua said: “Rest, Sun!” However, Joshua did not determine how this rest of the Sun should take place. He only asked that the Sun remain above the horizon. That could now, they say, just as well happen if the rotation of the Earth around its own axis was inhibited as if the progressive movement of the Sun were interrupted. Therefore, they believe that the Earth has stopped rotating around its own axis.

But if you ask them: Why did Joshua address the Sun? Why didn't he say: Earth stand still, but Sun stand still? So they answer: Joshua had known that the Sun was the cause of the movement and that the movement of the Earth depended on its movement around its own axis, so he only addressed the Sun because then the Moon, Earth and all planets have to stand still at the same time, but have also started moving again with the Sun, so there is no confusion in nature caused by this miracle. With the Tychonic hypothesis (according to which the Earth stands still), a miraculous return is necessary. [page 112] 

This is how some want to explain it, who absolve Joshua and the Scriptures from acceding to the erring minds of the common people.

But the question still arises: why did he address the Moon in particular? — But these are things that indicate astronomy, not history; so let’s leave it at that.”

= = = = = = = = =  continued in Part 7  = = = = = = = = = =

      As noted above, Rambach's charge of "blasphemy" against Copernican theologians is harsher than Walther's warning.  Yet Walther's warning is actually the strongest of them all because his warning can be held for all time and for all Copernican Christians who are putting their spiritual life in danger.  And our Heavenly Father does not want us to do this, but He wants us to rather hold to His Word… period (or "full stop" or "Punkt") Psalm 119:105. – For those who want to believe their Bible, and so remain Christian, Lindemann offers us wonderful refreshment from those who have gone before and fought the good fight for Holy Scripture, as Christian teachers should. — In the next Part 7…