The Mosaic History of the Creation of the World Illustrated by Discoveries and Experiments Derived from the Present Enlightened State of Science; With Reflections, Intended to Promote Vital and Practical Religion

CHAPTER V.

Chapter 1348,860 wordsPublic domain

FOURTH DAY.

_Section_ I.--THE SUN.

Signs -- Names -- Nature -- Motions -- Form -- Magnitude -- Distance -- Suspension -- Idolatrous worship of the Sun -- The Sun an Emblem of Christ.

On the _fourth day_, “God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night, and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so. And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also. And God set them in the firmament of the heaven, to give light upon the earth, and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness.” The light which had hitherto been scattered and confused, was now collected and formed into several luminaries, and so rendered more glorious and of greater utility.

A sensible and pious author observes, that not only the two great lights, which were made after a special manner to rule the day and the night, but, in general, all the lights in the firmament of the heaven, are said to be for signs and for seasons; or, as some render the words, “for signs of the seasons.” And indeed this seems to be the meaning of the inspired writer. As for the manner of expression, “for signs and for seasons,” it is very common in the Hebrew, as well as in many other languages, and is a figurative way of speech, expressing those things disjunctively, which must by the understanding be joined together. First, these lights are said to be _for signs_, and then the things are mentioned which they are to signify, namely, the _seasons_, the _days_, and the _years_: whereas, if we understand the word _signs_ in an indefinite sense, and not confined to what follows, we are through the whole text left in great uncertainty; seeing that there are _signs_ appointed _in the heaven_ for some purpose or other, but not knowing for what. Besides, if we must take all the parts of the text disjunctively, then “the lights in the firmament” must be taken for _seasons_, and for _days_, and for _years_, as well as for _signs_. But we know, that the celestial bodies are not themselves _seasons_, and _days_, and _years_, but only _signs_ of them, by such particular motions and aspects, as God, according to the laws of nature, has ordained them. Neither can I see reason to believe, that every motion or position of the heavenly bodies has a special signification in it: though serving in general to display the wisdom and power of God, in their regular courses. The sun, indeed, which is called the _greater light_, is said _to rule the day_, as it is by the appearance of his light, increasing and decreasing, that we measure the length of the day; and the moon likewise _to rule the night_, partly on the like account. Thus likewise the sun’s course (if we may so call it) is a determining sign of the beginning and ending of the year, and of its various seasons. And in general, the sun, the moon, and the other lights, are necessary signs of the seasons of sowing, reaping, planting, and are useful in navigation, as well as other arts.

Costard, in his History of Astronomy, makes some critical remarks on the name of this greater light. He says, The sun is, by the Greeks, called Ἡλιος: which is nothing more than the Hebrew word אל _El_, modelled after the Greek manner of pronunciation, and signifies _Lord_; the first idolatrous worship being paid to this planet. In the Hebrew language it is called שמש _Shemesh_, and in the Chaldee שמשא _Shimsha_, from שמש _Shamesh_, to _minister_, on account of its administering light and heat to this world. From this property of communicating heat, it is also called המה _Hammah_. By the Phœnician idolaters it seems to have been called בעל _Baal_, or בעל שמים _Baal-Shamim_, the _Lord of Heaven_. And on account of the supposed swiftness of its diurnal motion from east to west, it had a chariot dedicated to it at Sidon, an ancient town of Phœnicia. Such a chariot is still seen on the coins of that place. This superstition was likewise imitated by the idolatrous Jews: for we read of _the horses which the kings of_ Judah _had given_, or dedicated, _to the sun_. By the Chaldeans it seems to have been called בל _Bel_, and by the Assyrians פל _Pul_; and, with the addition, sometimes of אב _ab_, or אף _ap_, i.e. _father_, אף-פל _Ap-Pul_, or _Father-Lord_; from whence the Greeks formed their Απολλων, another name given by them to the sun. The name of this luminary, among the Romans, was _sol_; given more probably, on account of his scorching heat in the summer, or from his determining the length of the year by his course, than because he appeared _solus, alone_, according to the derivation given by Macrobius.

The _nature_ of the sun is a subject which has not only excited the most diligent inquiry among men of scientific knowledge, but the opinions concerning it have passed through a variety of vicissitudes. The sun being evidently the source of light and heat, was by the ancients considered to be a globe of fire. But Dr. Herschell’s discoveries, by means of his immensely large telescopes, tend to prove, that what we call the _sun_ is only the _atmosphere_ of that luminary: “that this atmosphere consists of various _elastic fluids_, which are more or less transparent; that as the clouds surrounding our earth are probably decompositions of some of the elastic fluids belonging to the atmosphere itself, so we may suppose that in the vast atmosphere of the sun similar decompositions may take place, but with this difference, that the decompositions of the elastic fluids of the sun are of a _phosphoric_ nature, and are attended by lucid appearances, by giving out light.” The body of the sun this celebrated astronomer considers as hidden generally from us, by means of this luminous atmosphere; that what are called _maculæ_, or _spots_ on the sun, are real openings in this atmosphere, through which the _opaque body_ of the sun becomes visible; that this atmosphere itself is not _fiery_ nor _hot_, but is the instrument which God designed to act on the caloric or latent heat; and that heat is only produced by the solar light acting on and combining with the caloric or matter of fire contained in the air, and other substances which are heated by it.

This indefatigable investigator of the heavenly phenomena shows, by many substantial proofs, drawn from natural philosophy, that _heat_ is produced by the sun’s rays only when they act on a calorific medium; and that they cause the production of heat by uniting with the matter of fire which is contained in the substances that are heated,--as the collision of flint and steel will inflame a magazine of gunpowder, by uniting with its latent fire, and bring the whole into action. This point is capable of a very clear elucidation. “On the tops of mountains, and at heights to which the clouds seldom reach to shelter them from the direct rays of the sun, we always find regions of ice and snow. Now if the sun’s rays themselves conveyed all the heat we find on the earth, it would of course be hottest in situations similar to the tops of mountains, where their course is least interrupted. But all those who have ascended in balloons confirm the coldness of the upper regions of the atmosphere; and, therefore, since even on the earth the heat of the situation depends on the facility with which the medium yields to the impression of the sun’s rays, we have only to admit, that, on the sun itself, the fluids composing its atmosphere, and the matter on its surface, are of such a nature as not to be capable of any excessive heat from its own rays. It is also a well known fact, that the focus of the largest burning lens thrown into the air, will occasion no heat in the place where it has been kept for a considerable time, although its powers of exciting heat, when proper bodies are exposed to it, should be sufficient to melt or fuse the most refractory metals.” That the sun is a luminous, and not an igneous body, has met with the general consent of modern philosophers; an opinion to which every new discovery in philosophy gives additional support.

The telescope, said to have been invented by the children of a spectacle-maker at Middleburgh, in the year 1590, but first brought to such a degree of perfection by Galileo as to make any considerable discoveries in the celestial regions, has led to the most important results in the science of astronomy. Among which are the _spots_ in the sun’s disk, by whose motion from west to east the sun is perceived to revolve upon his own axis in 25 days, 14 hours, 8 minutes. This revolution of the sun round his own axis is probably not the only motion which this luminary experiences. There is great reason to believe that he has another motion, either rectilinear, or round some indefinitely remote centre of attraction. In this last course, he carries along with him, through space, the entire system of planets, satellites, and comets; in the same manner in which each planet draws his satellites along with him in his motion round the sun. He communicates light and heat to at least twenty opaque bodies, which revolve round him, at different distances, in ellipses that differ but little from circles.

From the motion of the spots, which is sometimes straight and sometimes curved, we learn that the sun’s axis is not perpendicular to the plane of his ecliptic, but inclined to it, or the plane of the earth’s annual orbit, so as to form an angle of about 83 degrees. Christopher Scheiner, a most diligent observer of these spot’s in the sun’s disk, published a treatise concerning them in A.D. 1626. These spots are sometimes seen to increase to a very large size, and to continue for a considerable time. In the year 1779, there was a spot on the sun’s disk which was large enough to be seen with the naked eye: it was divided into two parts, and must have been 50,000 miles in diameter: this, and other phenomena of the same kind, may be accounted for from some natural change of the atmosphere. For if some of the fluids which enter into its composition be of a shining brilliancy, while others are merely transparent, then any temporary cause removing the lucid fluid, will permit us to see the body of the sun through the transparent ones. Dr. Herschell supposes that the spots in the sun are mountains on its surface, which, considering the great attraction exerted by this luminary upon bodies placed at its surface, and the slow revolution it has about its axis, he thinks may be more than 300 miles in height, and yet not be rendered unstable by the centrifugal force.

[There appears to be a _discrepancy_ between this last statement--“Dr. Herschell supposes that the spots in the sun are _mountains_ on his surface;”--and the statement made a few paragraphs preceding--“that what are called _maculæ_, or _spots_ on the sun, Dr. Herschell thought to be _real openings_ in his atmosphere, through which the opake body of the sun becomes visible.” These statements must have been made at different periods of his observations on the sun, which continued about fifteen years. The last statement was, doubtless, Dr. Herschell’s mature opinion.

As this seems to be a settled question among philosophers; and as it has induced the enlightened world to regard the sun as a _habitable globe_, it will not be out of place to enlarge a little on this point.

The spots on the sun’s surface has led to the conclusion above, and also to a determination of the motion of the sun around his own axis. They appear to have been observed, for the first time, in A.D. 1610, by Fabricius and Harriot; the first in Germany, the second in England. It is uncertain which noticed them first; but it is certain the discovery was _original with both_.

After the observations of these two fortunate persons were known, the attention of the scientific was directed to this phenomenon. Scheiner supposed the spots to be _planets_ which revolved very near the sun. In process of unwearied observations, it was ascertained that these spots changed their positions. Sometimes two would blend together, and thus run into each other. Sometimes one large one would divide into two or three smaller ones. They were observed to dilate, and contract; and to have umbræ, or shades attending them.

From these phenomena Galileo and others supposed the solar spots were _schoria floating on the burning liquid matter_, of which they supposed the sun composed. M. de la Hire, and La Lande supposed them to be eminences which occasionally rose above the rolling tides of fire, as islands rise above the sea. All these theories were on the supposition that the sun was an igneous body, in a high state of combustion, by which means he dispenses heat and light to the surrounding planets.

Dr. WILSON, Professor of practical astronomy in the University of Glasgow, was the first to conjecture that these spots were _depressions_ rather than elevations. This was about the year 1769. The Doctor rendered this conjecture very probable, by his close and lucid observations and illustrations.

These spots attracted the attention of the celebrated Dr. Herschell in 1779, who continued to observe them closely until 1794, and by means of his immensely large and powerful telescopes, he clearly established Dr. Wilson’s conjectures, _that these spots are openings in the luminous surface of the sun, through which his opake body appears_.

Dr. Herschell regards the real body of the sun to be an _opake nucleus_, fit for the habitation of intellectual creatures: that he has an atmosphere suited in density and height to his own magnitude: that in the higher regions of this atmosphere there are _two_ sets of clouds surrounding the sun, which are permanently and essentially luminous, being _phosphoric_ in their nature. The lower set of these clouds, which are _next_ the sun, are less bright, and more dense than the upper set. They are designed to serve as a _curtain_ to the sun’s body, to prevent a too great intensity of light at his real surface; the higher set of clouds, which are visible to us, being the principal source, or rather _agent_, of light.

It is plain from the foregoing theory, that _we_ never see the real body of the sun, except when we see the spots on his surface: that what we commonly call the sun, are only those bright, luminous phosphorescent clouds, which permanently surround his body, and which give light _outwards_ to the planets, and also _inwards_ to his own inhabitants.

It will be obvious also to any one, that the inhabitants of the sun _cannot see_ any heavenly body, as the stars, and planets; because they are inclosed by those clouds, which are impenetrable to vision. They may catch a glimpse of a passing star through these openings as we do of the sun’s body.

It is highly probable (see _our_ paper on light, attached to our author’s chapter on the same,) that these luminous phosphoric clouds _do not actually emit light, or heat_; but only _excite_ them at the surfaces of the different planets. That is: it is very probable there is a _matter of light_ or a _luminiferous ether_, diffused through all existing matter, as caloric is, which is _excited by these clouds_, and _thus_ becomes _visible_, which is light, as latent caloric is excited, and becomes sensible, by becoming _free_. Indeed it is very probable _that the matter of heat and light is the same_, and that heat and light are only _different modifications_ of the action of the same substance, excited in a different, or higher degree.]

The sun has two _apparent_ motions, namely, the diurnal and annual. By the _former_ he appears to move round the earth in twenty-four hours: and by the latter he appears to traverse that circle in the heavens, called the ecliptic, in the course of a year. These motions, are, however, only apparent: the sun does not travel round the earth in twenty four hours: he does not change his place in the heavens at different seasons of the year. His apparent motions are occasioned by the earth’s real motions. The sun’s apparent diurnal motion is occasioned by the earth’s real rotation about its axis: and the sun’s apparent annual motion is caused by the earth’s real motion in her orbit, through the whole of which she travels in a little less than 365 days, and 6 hours.

The fixed stars appear every twenty-four hours to make an entire revolution about the earth. The sun makes the same apparent circuit; but the apparent diurnal motion of the sun is evidently slower than that of the fixed stars. This appearance is occasioned by the daily rotation of the earth on its axis; for while it is turning once on its axis it advances in its orbit a whole degree; therefore it must make more than a complete rotation before it can come into the same position with the sun that it had the preceding day. In the same way, as when both hands of a watch set off together at any hour, as twelve o’clock, the minute hand must travel more than the whole circle before it can overtake the hour hand: hence the difference between solar and sidereal days, which it is important to understand in explaining the equation of time.

Though the sun appears to us merely as a circular disk, yet he is a _spheroid_, higher under his equator than about his poles. The deception arises from this; that all the parts of his surface are equally luminous, and consequently there is nothing which can suggest to us, at the great distance he is from the earth, that the central parts are more prominent than the sides, although in reality, they are nearer by half a million of miles.

This luminous body is supposed to be 886,473 English miles in diameter, about 2,700,000 in circumference, in solid bulk 24,000,000 times as big as the moon, and 1,384,462 times as big as the earth, and its superficies in square miles, about 2,236,603,000,000. This _magnitude_ of the sun may appear exaggerated; for our eyes can discover nothing so large as the earth which we inhabit; and as to this alone we compare the sun, so we are tempted to believe the testimony of sense rather than our reason. But what confirms this prodigious size, is his visible magnitude, notwithstanding the vastly remote point which he occupies in space. And, concerning this subject, no doubt can remain, if we admit the calculations of astronomers, which are made on principles indubitably correct.

The sun does not appear large; but this is owing to his _distance_ from the earth, which is 95,513,794 miles: this is so prodigious, that a cannon-ball, which is known to move at the rate of eight miles in a minute, would be something more than twenty-two years in going from the earth to the sun. If a spectator were placed as near to any of the fixed stars as we are to our sun, he would see our sun as small as we see a common star, divested of its circumvolving planets; and in numbering the stars he would reckon it one of them. But the earth’s orbit being an ellipse, the sun is not always at an equal distance from it. When he is in his apogee, that is, furthest from the earth, the sun is full two millions of miles further from us than when he is in his perigee, or nearest the earth: nevertheless, we feel greater heat than when he is in our winter. The difference of temperature between summer and winter does not depend chiefly upon our nearness to the sun, but upon the following causes. 1. In summer, the solar rays strike upon the earth more perpendicularly than in winter, and therefore they act with greater force than when they strike it obliquely. 2. The rays of the sun coming more perpendicularly in summer than in winter, have less of the atmosphere to pass through. 3. In the summer, the sun continues a longer time above the horizon than below it; and consequently there is time for the earth to accumulate a greater portion of heat than in the days of winter. We know, in the longest days, that the sun to us is above the horizon 16 hours; whereas, in the shortest days, it is not more than 8 hours visible.[114]

The miraculous suspension of the natural powers of the heavenly bodies, as recorded in the book of Joshua, shows that they are upheld, controlled, and directed in their operations, by a Being who is infinitely wise and powerful. To account for this miracle, and to ascertain the _manner_ in which it was wrought, has employed the pens of the ablest _divines_ and _astronomers_, especially of the last two centuries. For the elucidation of this important fact, I shall transcribe the view which Dr. Adam Clarke has given of it, which he considers to be strictly philosophical, consonant to the Pythagorean, Copernican, or Newtonian system, which is the system of the universe, laid down in the writings of Moses.

He assumes, as a thoroughly demonstrated truth, that the sun is in the _centre_ of the system, moving only round his own axis, and the common centre of the gravity of the planetary system, while all the planets revolve round _him_; and that his influence is the cause of the _diurnal_ and _annual_ revolutions of the earth.

“Joshua’s address is in a poetic form in the original, and makes the two following hemistichs:

שמש בגבעין דום וירח בעמק אילון Shemesh, be-Gibêon dom: Vyareach, beèmek Aiyalon. Sun! upon Gibêon be dumb: And the moon on the vale of Aiyalon.

“The effect of this command is related in the following words: וידם השמש וירח עמד _vayiddom ha_-SHEMESH _ve_-YAREACH _âmad; And the sun was dumb, or silent, and the moon stood still_. And it is added, _And the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a whole day._

“I consider, that the word דום _dom_, refers to the _withholding_ or _restraining_ this influence, so that the cessation of the earth’s motion might immediately take place. The desire of Joshua was, that the sun might not sink below the horizon; but as _it_ appeared now to be over Gibeon, and the _moon_ to be over the valley of Ajalon, he prayed that they might continue in these positions till the battle should be ended; or, in other words, that the day should be miraculously lengthened out.[115]

“Whether Joshua had a correct philosophical notion of the true system of the universe, is a subject that need not come into the present inquiry; but whether _he spoke_ with strict propriety on this occasion, is a matter of importance, because he must be considered as acting _under the Divine influence_, in requesting the performance of such a stupendous miracle: and we may safely assert, that no man in his right mind would have thought of offering such a petition, had he not felt himself under some Divine afflatus. Leaving, therefore, his philosophical knowledge out of the question, he certainly spoke as if he had known that the solar influence was the cause of the earth’s _rotation_, and therefore, with the strictest philosophic propriety, he requested, that that influence might be for a time restrained, that the diurnal motion of the earth might be arrested, through which alone, the sun could be kept above the horizon, and the day be prolonged. His mode of expression evidently considers the sun as the great _ruler_ or _master_ in the system; and all the planets, (or at least the _earth_) moving in their respective orbits at his _command_. He therefore desires him, (in the name and by the authority of his Creator) to suspend his _mandate_ with respect to the earth’s motion, and that of his satellite, the moon. Had he said, _Earth, stand thou still_--the cessation of whose diurnal motion was the _effect_ of his command, it could not have obeyed him; as it is not even the _secondary_ cause either of its annual motion round the sun, or its diurnal motion round its own axis. Instead of doing so, he speaks to the sun, the _cause_ (under God) of all these motions, as his great archetype did, when, in the storm on the sea of Tiberias, he rebuked the _wind_ first, and then said to the _waves_, Peace, be still! Σιωπα, πεφιμωσο, be _silent_! be _dumb_! And the effect of this command was, a cessation of the agitation in the _sea_, because the _wind_ ceased to _command_ it, that is, to exert its influence upon the waters.

“The terms in this command are worthy of particular note: Joshua does not say to the sun, _Stand still_, as if he had conceived _him_ to be _running his race round the earth_; but, be _silent_, or _inactive_; that is, as I understand it, _restrain thy influence_; no longer act upon the earth, to cause it to revolve round its axis; a mode of speech which is certainly consistent with the strictest astronomical knowledge: and the writer of the account, whether Joshua himself, or the author of the Book of _Jasher_, in relating the consequence of this command, is equally accurate, using a word widely different, when he speaks of the _effect_, the retention of the solar influence had on the moon: in the first case, the sun was _silent_, or _inactive_, דום _dom_; in the _latter_, the moon _stood still_, עמד _âmad_. The _standing still_ of the moon, or its continuance above the horizon, would be the natural effect of the cessation of the solar influence, which obliged the earth to discontinue her diurnal rotation, which, of course, would arrest the moon; and thus both it and the sun were kept above the horizon, probably for the space of a whole day. As to the address to the _moon_, it is not conceived in the same terms as that to the _sun_, and for the most obvious philosophical reason: all that is said is simply, _and the moon on the vale of Ajalon_, which may be thus understood: ‘Let the sun restrain his influence, or be inactive, as he appears now upon Gibeon, _that_ the moon may continue as she appears now over the vale of Ajalon.’ It is worthy of remark, that every word in this poetic address is apparently selected with the greatest caution and precision.

“At the conclusion of the 13th verse, a different expression is used when it is said, _So, the sun stood still_, it is not דום _dom_, but עמד _âmad_; ויעמד השמש _vai-yaâmod ha-shemesh_, which expression, thus varying from _that_ in the command of Joshua, may be considered as implying, that in order to _restrain his influence_, which I have assumed to be the _cause_ of the earth’s motion, the sun himself became _inactive_, that is, ceased to revolve round his own axis; which revolution is, probably, one cause, not only of the revolution of the earth, but of all the other planetary bodies in our system, and might have effected all the planets at the time in question: but this neither could, nor did produce any disorder in nature; and the delay of a few hours in the whole planetary motions, dwindles away into an imperceptible point in the thousands of years of their revolutions. I need scarcely add, that the _command of Joshua to the sun_, is to be understood as a _prayer to God_ (from whom the sun derived his being and continuance) that the effect might be what is expressed in the command; and therefore it is said, verse 14, ‘that the LORD HEARKENED UNTO THE VOICE OF A MAN, _for the Lord fought for Israel_.’”

How glorious an object is the sun! too dazzling for mortal eye long to gaze on: the brightest visible emblem of its adorable Creator. This luminary rejoices to run his prescribed course, makes our day joyful, and without his reviving beams we should dwell in perpetual darkness. He, as the great source of day, distributes light and life through all nature. Seeds, in the bosom of the earth, feel his vegetative presence, and unfold themselves. By his diffusive influence he causes the vital juice to ascend in the tubes of trees, plants, and vegetables; and clothes them with their various and beautiful foliage. He nourishes the young fruits, gives them their fine tints, and brings them to maturity. At his approach, millions of insects awake into life, shine, collect themselves, and sport in his rays. Animals partake of his benefits, and without his animating beams they would sink into insensibility and death: even in caves and dens of the earth, his visitation gives life. His heat has a pleasing effect on all the juices and fluids in the human body, which, without his directive or impulsive energy, would soon become stagnant and useless. He is, by the Divine wisdom and goodness, placed at such a proper distance from us, that, were he much nearer, the blood would boil in our veins, and our bodies soon be either dissolved or calcined: or, were he at a much greater distance, we should become torpid, and presently be congealed to statues of ice. The very bowels of the earth partake of his influence, thus producing many valuable and useful metals. He penetrates the highest mountains, though composed of stones and rocks. He darts his beams even into the depths of the ocean, where the watery tribes live and play at his command.

“---- O SUN; Soul of surrounding worlds! in whom best seen Shines out thy Maker!---- ’Tis by thy secret, strong, attractive force, As with a chain indissoluble bound, Thy system rolls entire.---- INFORMER of the planetary train! Without whose quick’ning glance their cumbrous orbs Were brute unlovely mass, inert, and dead, And not, as now, the green abodes of life!

* * * * *

As the sun is the greatest visible glory in the natural world, so it is selected by the pen of Divine inspiration as the brightest emblem of the Supreme Being--“The Lord God is a sun.” This great luminary has been considered by the Heathen as the representative of the Deity, and as such received religious adoration. According to Mr. Bryant’s system of Ancient Mythology, the worship of fire is nearly as old as the flood, having been propagated by the posterity of Ham, in Egypt, who called themselves Ammonians, and carried this worship with them wherever they went, erecting their _puratheia_, or fire-temples, in all their settlements. It is stated, that fire was the primitive, or at least the principal object of idolatrous worship, and common to all idolaters from the first apostasy at Babel. For the original institution of this sacred fire among the Chaldeans, we must go back to Nimrod, concerning whom the Alexandrian Chronicon asserts, that “the Assyrians called Nimrod, Ninus; this man taught the Assyrians to worship fire.” From the Greeks we may trace it backwards to the Ur of the Chaldeans; on which the learned Classius remarks, that “Ur is the name of a city wherein the sacred fire was conserved and worshipped by the Chaldeans, whence it was called _Ur_, which otherwise signifies _fire_.” Plutarch confesses that the Romans, in the days of Numa, borrowed their worship of fire from the Greeks at Athens and Delphi. Numa built a temple of an orbicular form, to represent, as Plutarch interprets, the system of the heavens; which temple was the conservatory of a holy and perpetual fire, kindled at first by the reflections of the sun-beams, and placed in the centre of the building; the astronomy of that early period placing the sun in the centre of the world. Fire has such an affinity to light, that the same word has sometimes comprehended them both. The _Ur_ of the Chaldeans was _fire_; the _Horus_ of the Egyptians was _light_: and the reason is plain, because fire and light are united at the body of the sun, and by him diffused over the world. If, therefore, we consider fire as called into action by the sun, and bear in mind that the ancient Pythagoreans used the same term ΠΥΡ to denote both fire and the sun,[116] we shall get at the root of most of the heathen mythologic divinity.

So universal was the attachment to this fire, that Macrobius undertook to reduce the names of all the heathen deities to the one object of the sun and its attributes. He says, “The Egyptians consecrated a lion in that part of the heavens where the heat of the sun is most powerful, because that animal seems to derive his nature from the sun, excelling all other creatures in fire and force, as the sun exceeds the other lights of heaven. His eyes, likewise, are bright and fiery, as the sun with a bright and fiery aspect surveys the world. The Lybians represented their Jupiter Hammon, which was the setting sun, with the horns of a ram, with which that animal exerts its strength, as the sun acts by its rays. The worship of Egypt abundantly shows, that the bull is to be referred to the sun; which is plain from the worship of a bull at Heliopolis, the city of the sun; and of the bull Apis at Memphis, where it was an emblem of the sun; and of the other bull called Pacis, consecrated in the magnificent temple of Apollo at Hermunthis.”[117]

Wheresoever fire was worshipped in the puratheia of antiquity after the manner of Numa, we may suppose that there the true solar system prevailed, which places the solar fire in the centre; and that this was really the universal opinion of the most ancient Heathens. This doctrine agrees with the name which they gave to the sun in his physical capacity, calling him _cor cœli_, the heart of the heaven;[118] which illustration and allusion is probably of very great antiquity, because it cannot with any propriety be applied to the more modern Ptolemaic hypothesis. The analogy is very striking; for as the heart is the centre of the animal system, so is the sun in the centre of our world: as the heart is the fountain of the blood, so is the sun the source of light and fire: as the heart is the life of the body, so is the sun the life and heat of animated nature, and the first mover of the mundane system: when the heart ceases to beat, the circuit of life is at an end; and if the sun should cease to act, a total stagnation would take place throughout the whole frame of nature. Macrobius, pursuing this analogy, says, “We have before observed, that the sun is called the fountain of the ethereal fire; therefore the sun is in the heavens, what the heart is in animals.” Since the circulation of the blood has been known, this analogy has been taken up with advantage by the celebrated Hervey himself, who, first of all the moderns, explained to us with sufficient accuracy this branch of natural philosophy. He observes, that the heart of animals is the foundation of life, the chief ruler of all things in the animal system, the sun of the microcosm, from which flows all its strength and vigor. The philosophers of antiquity called the sun the heart of the microcosm; the moderns call the heart the sun of the microcosm. There must be something very striking in the analogy which is thus convertible, and has been taken up at both ends by such different persons, at such remote periods of time.

The savage philosophy of America seems to have comprehended in it the relation, which we have already noticed, between the animal system and the frame of nature. Acosta, in his History of the Indies, reports, that in the human sacrifices of the Mexicans, the high priest pulled out the heart with his hands, which he showed smoking to the sun, to whom he offered this heat and fume of the heart, and presently he turned towards the idol, and cast the heart at his face. A very highly esteemed correspondent in Ceylon writes, There is a cast of people inhabiting this island who live wild in the woods, and worship fire as an emblem of purity; they are called Vandals, and several English officers have met a premature death by intruding near the holy fire, which is under a tamarind tree.

With the Persians fire was an object of worship from the earliest times, under the name of _Amanus_, and _Mithas_; and it is retained as such at this day by the Geberrs, Gaurs, Guebres, or Ghebers, a sect of Indian philosophers. Pottinger says, “At the city of Yezd, in Persia, which is distinguished by the appellation of the Darûb Abadut, or seat of Religion, the Guebres are permitted to have an Atush Kudu, or Fire Temple (which, they assert, has had the sacred fire in it since the days of Zoroaster), in their own compartment of the city; but for this indulgence they are indebted to the avarice, not the tolerance of the Persian government, which taxes them at twenty-five rupees each man.” Hanway informs us, that the Ghebers suppose the throne of the Almighty is seated in the sun, and hence their worship of that luminary. “As to fire,” says Grose, “the Ghebers place the spring-head of it in that globe of fire, the sun, by them called Mithras, or Mihir, to which they pay the highest reverence, in gratitude for the manifold benefits flowing from his ministerial omniscience. But they are so far from confounding the subordination of the servant with the majesty of the Creator, that they not only attribute no sort of sense or reasoning to the sun or fire, in any of its operations, but consider it as a purely passive blind instrument, directed and governed by the immediate impression on it of the will of God; but they do not even give that luminary, all glorious as it is, more than the second rank among his works, reserving the first for the stupendous production of the Divine power, the mind of man.” The temples are generally built over subterraneous fires. Rabbi Benjamin observes, “Early in the morning, they (the Parsees or Ghebers of Ouham) go in crowds to pay their devotions to the sun, to whom upon all the altars are spheres consecrated, made by magic, resembling the circles of the sun; and, when the sun rises, these orbs seem to be inflamed, and turn round with a great noise. Every one has a censer in his hands, and offers incense to the sun.”

It is not a little surprising that the descendants of faithful Abraham, taken into covenant with God, should fall under the influence of this idolatrous worship! The apostasy of the Israelites in the wilderness from the true God to the golden calf, was occasioned by a previous attachment to the sacred rites of the Egyptian idolatry. And the calves which were afterwards set up in Dan and Bethel, were probably derived from the same source. The Israelites were not only cautioned against this worship, but, if the charge of idolatry brought against an Israelite was proved by unequivocal facts and competent witnesses, it affected his life. Such was the progress of this idolatrous worship among this people at one period, that Josiah, king of Judah, took away out of the temple of the Lord the horses, and burned the chariots, which the kings, his predecessors, had consecrated to the sun. Job, in allusion to this vile worship, says, “If I beheld the sun when it shined, or the moon walking in brightness; if my heart hath been secretly enticed, or my mouth hath kissed my hand:[119] this also were an iniquity to be punished by the judge: for I should have denied the God that is above.” Ezekiel, in a vision, saw “at the door of the temple of the Lord, between the porch and the altar, about five and twenty men, with their backs toward the temple of the Lord, and their faces toward the east: and they worshipped the sun toward the east,” in imitation of the Egyptians, Persians, and other Eastern nations.

While the heathen have thus paid idolatrous worship to the sun, some persons, believing in the truth of revealed religion, have entertained strange notions concerning this luminary. It is remarkable, observes a polite writer, that whilst some of the ancients imagined the _sun_ to be the seat of future blessedness, from Psal. xix, 14, “He set his tabernacle in the sun,” a Mr. Swinden, among the moderns, endeavors to prove that _hell_ is seated in the sun, chiefly pleading that this is the grand repository of fire; that its horrible face, viewed by a telescope, suits the description given of the burning lake; and that being in the _centre_ of the system, it might be properly said that wicked men were _cast down into it_. But these are mere hypotheses, and unworthy of serious consideration.

Notwithstanding this idolatrous worship of the sun, there is a sober and religious use to be made of this luminary; for being the greatest visible glory in the natural world it is selected as the brightest emblem of the Supreme Being--“The Lord God is a sun.” An object thus illustrious and useful in the regular and wise economy of nature, is mentioned in the sacred volume as a metaphor fraught with truths of infinite moment, imparting wisdom to the simple, and instruction to the ignorant. He admirably represents the unity, glory, and bounty of God.

Viewing our sun in all his paramount qualities to every material object in nature, how is he eclipsed and surpassed by the Sun of Righteousness, of whose splendor, grace, and energy this is but a faint emblem, and from whom issues, in bright and gentle beams, all the light, life, joy, and hope received and enjoyed in the Christian world. The one is the most magnificent creature among the vast variety of objects which surround us, but the other is the source of all that is excellent, attractive, and beneficial, in the whole range of material causes and effects, as well as in the nature, extent, and perpetuity of the kingdom of grace. The material sun runs its course from day to day, with unwearied regularity, activity, and ardor, and thus completes its circuit according to its original destination. And did not our adorable Saviour also finish the great career of our redemption, after he held performed all those miracles, and published his own everlasting gospel, which are the sublime and interesting themes of the sacred writers, by offering himself on the consecrated altar a sacrifice for the sins of mankind? The former diffuses light, vitality, vegetation, and felicity through the whole mass of animated nature in our planetary system. And does not the other likewise dissipate the ignorance which darkens the intellectual regions, enlighten our minds in all saving knowledge, and produce in the human heart every grace and virtue?

Were our natural sun to withdraw his beams, or absent himself from the centre of our system for any given time, the planets would start out of their orbits; darkness, black as night, would instantly spread itself over the whole mass, and “chaos come again.” And if the glorious Luminary of the moral world were to hide his face behind a thick cloud of gathering vengeance and judicial desertion, this would introduce into the soul alarming fears and tumultuous passions, which would exist in a state of opposition and conflict. Those who have been brought out of the darkness of ignorance, wickedness and misery, into the light of knowledge, holiness and happiness, by Christ, who is the light of the world, should be careful to walk in the light of his countenance all the days of their life. Does not the earth return the fructifying warmth of the sun, and all his genial effects, in a profusion of verdure, foliage, and flowers? Do not all the irrational tribes joyfully greet his rising every morning, and bask in his presence through the day with great delight? All the orbs which revolve round him, and are preserved and cherished in their respective spheres by his ministry, pay him perpetual homage by maintaining invariable harmony and order. And being thus taught by natural objects, what is due for the reception of so many mercies, surely it is an unquestionable duty that we guard against every thing which would prevent us doing the will of our best benefactor.

Christian believers, rich in the bloom of holiness, and ripening for the harvest of glory, are said to be “clothed with the sun.” It is the gracious promise, on which all their hopes and wishes confidently rely, that the “righteous shall” ultimately “shine as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.”[120] Thus it is written, “The path of the just is as the shining light, that shines more and more unto the perfect day.” In the path of the just there is a progress from a less to a greater light: it does not only grow clearer, but increases in clearness till it is light in perfection; advancing from the break of day to the sun rising, and then to the brightness of noon-day.

“JESUS, let all thy lovers shine, illustrious as the sun, And bright with borrow’d rays divine, Their glorious circuit run.

Beyond the reach of mortals, spread Their light where’er they go; And heavenly influences shed, On all the world below.

As giants, may they run their race, Exulting in their might: As burning luminaries, chase The gloom of hellish night.

As the bright Sun of Righteousness, Their healing wings display; And let their lustre still increase Unto the perfect day.”

* * * * *

_Section_ II.--THE MOON.

Names -- Dimensions -- Motions -- Seasons -- Phases -- Harvest Moon -- Moon’s Surface -- Aërial Stones -- Eclipses -- Moonlight -- Epithets -- Religious Improvement.

The _moon_ is called a _great light_, but _less_ than the sun. Moses does not here speak philosophically, according to her bulk, but to the proportion of light she affords us, which is more than all the planets in the solar system and all the fixed stars put together.

“He smooth’d the rough-cast moon’s imperfect mould, And comb’d her beamy locks with sacred gold; Be thou, said he, Queen of the mournful night,-- And as he spoke, she rose o’erclad wish light, With thousand stars attending on her train.”

The moon is not a primary planet, but only a satellite, or secondary planet, attendant on our earth, round which she revolves, and along with which she is carried round the sun.

“The moon,” says Dr. O. Gregory, “is a dark, or opake body, shining principally with the light she receives from the sun. If she shone by a light of her own, we should feel a sensible warmth from her rays; but it is a light reflected from the sun with which she shines, and is so exceedingly weak and languid, that the greatest burning glass will not collect enough to make any sensible degree of heat. This has been accounted for, and those who have gone through the computation assert that the light of the full moon is ninety thousand times less than day-light.” The ancients early discovered, that the moon had no light of its own, but shone with that which it reflected from the sun. This, after Thales, was the sentiment of Anaxagoras and Empedocles, who thence accounted not only for the mildness of its splendor, but the imperceptibility of its heat, which our experiments confirm.

In the Hebrew language the moon is called ירה _Yarah_, or, more strictly speaking, says Parkhurst, the _lunar light_, or _flux of light, reflected from the moon’s body_, or _orb_. That this is the true sense of the word is evident from several passages of Scripture, one of which is, “For the precious (produce) נרש ירחים _put forth by_--what? Not the _orbs_ of the moon surely (for the orb is but _one_), but _by the fluxes_ or _streams of light_ reflected from it, which are not only _several_ but _various_, according to the moon’s different phases and aspects in regard to the sun and the earth. And this may lead us to the radical idea of the word ירח; for as יחר and אחר,‎ יחד and אתד &c., are very nearly related to each other respectively, so likewise I conjecture that ירח is to ארה, in sense as well as in sound, and consequently that it signifies _to go in a track_ or _in a constant customary road or way_; and this affords us a good descriptive name of the _lunar light_; for, _Behold_, says _Bildad_ in Job, chap. xxv, 5, _even to the_ ירח or lunar light ולא יאהיל _and he_ (God) _hath not pitched a tent_ (for it); as he has for the שמש or _solar light_. No! The _lunar_ stream has _fixed station_ from whence it issues, but together with the orb which reflects it, and which like a human _traveller_ moves now a quicker, now a slower pace, is continually _performing its appointed journey_, and _proceeding in a constant_, though regularly irregular _track_.”

The Greeks called the moon μηνη, which may be considered as a derivative from μην. Parkhurst says, This word may be derived either from μηνη, _the moon_, by the phases of which the month is reckoned, or else it may be deduced from the Hebrew מנה _manah_, _to number_, _compute_, as being computed by the lunar phases. And it is probable that the first _computations_ of time were made by the _revolutions_ of the moon. It is obvious to remark, that not only these two Greek words, but also the Latin _mensis_, a month, and the English _moon_, _month_, are ultimately derived from the same Hebrew מנה. Leigh observes, that “the Hebrews call the moon and a month by the same name, because the moon is renewed every month. The Greeks also call σεληνη, from σελας, because it every day renews its light.” Parkhurst on the word σεληνη says, “The Greek etymologists, and particularly Plato, deduce it from σελας νεον, _new light_, because its light is continually renewed.” But the learned Goguet says; “The Greeks gave to the _moon_ the name _selene_, which comes from the Phœnician word (לן or לון namely) which signifies _to pass the night_; whence also we may observe is plainly derived the Latin name of the moon, _luna_.” From _lun_ with the termination _a_, comes _luna_, and this name is given to the planet from her _changing_ or appearing under different phases.

As to the _dimensions_ of the moon, according to the most accurate calculations, her diameter is 2,175 miles, the circumference 6,831 miles, the surface contains 14,898,750 square miles, and its solidity 5,408,246,000 cubical ones. Her bulk is equal to about a fiftieth part of our earth, and her mean distance from the earth is about 240,000 miles.

The _motions_ of the moon are most of them very irregular. The only equable motion she has, is her revolution on her own axis. The time in which she moves round her axis is about 27 days, 7 hours, 43 minutes, 5 seconds; and her revolution through an elliptical orbit is performed in the same time as her rotation on her axis, moving about 2,290 miles every hour. Her revolution round her axis exactly in the same time that she goes round the earth, is the reason she always turns the same face towards us: she has only one day and one night in the course of a month. From a long series of observations, it has been ascertained that the moon makes a complete revolution in 27 days, 7 hours, 43 minutes, 5 seconds; this is called the periodical month; but, if we refer to the time passed from new moon to new moon again, the month consists of 29 days, 12 hours, and 44 minutes, which is called the synodical month. This difference is occasioned by the earth’s annual motion in its orbit. Thus, if the earth had no motion, the moon would make a complete round in 27 days, 7 hours, 43 minutes, and 5 seconds; but while the moon is describing her journey the earth has passed through nearly a twelfth part of its orbit, which the moon must also describe before the two bodies come again into the same position that they before held with respect to the sun: this takes up so much more time as to make her synodical month equal to 29 days, 12 hours, and 44 minutes. The motions of the hour and minute hands of a watch may serve to give some idea of the periodical and synodical revolutions of the moon; for when the minute hand has performed a complete revolution, it has yet some distance to go to obtain a coincidence with the hour hand, similar to that which it had the preceding hour.

We have observed that the same face is turned towards us during the whole of the moon’s revolution, and that the other half of her surface is never visible to us. This arises from the two motions we have noticed, which, with regard to our view of the moon, appear to counteract each other. Her revolution round the earth is performed towards the _east_; while the revolution upon her own axis is performed towards the _west_: so that, one of these motions turns as much of her face from us, as the other turns towards us. And from the moon’s axis being inclined to the plane of her orbit, sometimes one of her poles is inclined towards the earth, and sometimes the other: in consequence of which, we see more or less of her polar regions in different periods of her revolution. When the moon is in _perigee_, or nearest distance from the earth, her motion is quickest; and when in _apogee_, or most remote distance, her motion is slowest.

The length of the day is equal to our lunar month, for all that time is included in one revolution round her axis. Her days and nights, therefore, will constantly be of the same length, or almost fifteen of our days each. The year will be exactly the same with our year; because, being an attendant on the earth, she must go round the sun in the same time as that does. Her difference of seasons will be much less than on our earth, having only a small inclination of her axis of six degrees and a half; so that the variation between her summer’s heat and her winter’s cold must be comparatively inconsiderable. Hence there will be only thirteen degrees of Torrid Zone, on some parts most opposite the sun, and thirteen degrees of Frigid Zone on those contiguous to her poles; which consequently must leave seventy-seven degrees for what we should call her Temperate Zones, both in the north and south parts from her Equator. Our earth, unquestionably, performs the office of a moon to the moon, waxing and waning regularly, but appearing thirteen times as large, and, of course, affording her thirteen times as much light as she does to us. When she changes to us, the earth appears full to her; when she is in her first quarter to us, the earth is in its third quarter to her; and _vice versâ_. To the moon the earth seems to be the largest body in the universe, and must indeed be a most magnificent sight.

On the supposition that the moon is inhabited, it may be observed, that those who are placed about the middle of the surface, or face next to us, will constantly see our earth over their heads, and increasing and decreasing in light, like as the moon itself appears to us. Those who are situated near the borders, whether on the right or left, or upon the top or bottom, will also constantly have the same appearance in the opposite part of the horizon. But those who live on the side of the moon which is not presented to us, will know nothing of our earth, or at least, they will never have an opportunity of seeing this large and wonderful moon, without travelling perhaps more than 1,500 of our miles on the surface of that luminary. To those who live on this side of the moon, or travel to it on any account, as we may pass from the northern into the southern hemisphere of our globe, the earth, indeed, when at full to them, will appear to be more than three times as broad as the moon does to us, and to communicate, as has been already mentioned, about thirteen times as much light to her, as she does to us when at the full.

The moon, possessing no native light, shines entirely by light received from the sun, and which is reflected to us from her surface. That half of her which is towards the sun is enlightened, and the other half is dark and invisible: hence, when she is between us and the sun, she disappears, because her dark side is then towards us. Whilst making her revolution round the heavens, she undergoes a continual change of appearance. She is sometimes on our meridian at midnight, and therefore in that part of the heavens which is opposite to the sun; when she appears with a face completely circular, which is called a _full moon_. As she moves eastward, a part of her dark side comes forward on the western side, and, in a little more than seven days, reaches to the meridian, at about six in the morning, having the appearance of a semi-circle, with the convex side turned towards the sun: this crescent gradually becomes more slender, till, about fourteen days after the full moon, being so near the sun, and in a line between that luminary and our earth, she is rendered invisible to us, from the superior splendor of that orb of light. About four days after this disappearance, she may be seen in the evening, a little to the eastward of the sun, in the form of a fine crescent,[121] as before, but having her convex side turned from the sun. Travelling still towards the east, the crescent becomes wider; and when advanced to the meridian, about six in the evening, she again bears the appearance of a bright semi-circle, with the same difference that we observed of the crescent, that is, its convex side is now turned _from_ the sun. Advancing still more eastward, the semi-circular moon widens into an oval shape, till at last, in about twenty-nine days and a half from the last opposition to the sun, she is again in the same situation, and appears a full moon.

The following account of the _harvest moon_, so called, taken from the Pantalogia, will no doubt be acceptable to the reader.--It is remarkable that the moon, during the week in which she is full about the time of harvest, rises sooner after sun-setting than she does in any other full moon week in the year. By this means, she affords an immediate supply of light after sun-set, which is very beneficial for the harvest and gathering in the fruits of the earth; and hence this full moon is distinguished from all the others in the year, by calling it the harvest-moon.

To conceive the reason of this phenomenon, it may first be considered, that the moon is always opposite to the sun when she is full; that she is full in the signs Pisces and Aries in our harvest months, those being the signs opposite to Virgo and Libra, the signs occupied by the sun about the same season; and because those parts of the ecliptic rise in a shorter space of time than others, as may easily be shown and illustrated by the celestial globe: consequently, when the moon is about her full in harvest, she rises with less difference of time, or more immediately after sun-set, than when she is full at other seasons of the year.

In our winter, the moon is in Pisces and Aries about the time of her first quarter, when she rises about noon; but her rising is not then noticed, because the sun is above the horizon. In spring, the moon is in Pisces and Aries about the time of her change; at which time, as she gives no light, and rises with the sun, her rising cannot be perceived. In summer, the moon is in Pisces and Aries about the time of her last quarter; and then, as she is on the decrease, and rises not till midnight, her rising usually passes unobserved. But in autumn, the moon is in Pisces and Aries at the time of her full, and rises soon after sun-set for several evenings successively; which makes her regular rising very conspicuous at that time of the year.

And this would always be the case, if the moon’s orbit lay in the plane of the ecliptic. But as her orbit makes an angle of 5° 18ʹ with the ecliptic, and crosses it only in the two opposite points called the nodes, her rising when in Pisces and Aries will sometimes not differ above 1h. 40min. through the whole of seven days; and at other times, in the same two signs, she will differ three hours and a half in the time of her rising in a week, according to the different positions of the nodes with respect to these signs; which positions are constantly changing, because the nodes go backward through the whole ecliptic in 18 years 225 days.

This revolution of the nodes will cause the harvest moons to go through a whole course of the most and least beneficial states, with respect to the harvest, every nineteen years. The following table shows in what years the harvest-moons are least beneficial as to the times of their rising, and in what years they are most beneficial, from the year 1790 to 1861: the column of years under the letter L are those in which the harvest-moons are least of all beneficial, because they fall about the descending node; and those under the letter M are the most of all beneficial, because they fall about the ascending node.

HARVEST MOONS.

L M L M L M L M 1790 1798 1807 1816 1826 1835 1844 1853 1791 1799 1808 1817 1827 1836 1845 1854 1792 1800 1809 1818 1828 1837 1846 1855 1793 1801 1810 1819 1829 1838 1847 1856 1794 1802 1811 1820 1830 1839 1848 1857 1795 1803 1812 1821 1831 1840 1849 1858 1796 1804 1813 1822 1832 1841 1850 1859 1797 1805 1814 1823 1833 1842 1851 1860 1806 1815 1824 1834 1843 1852 1861 1825

When the moon is viewed through a good telescope, there appear vast cavities and asperities on various parts of her face, some of them extremely resembling deep caverns and vallies, and others mountains.

“Turn’d to the sun direct, her spotted disk Shows mountains rise, umbrageous vales descend, And caverns deep, as optic tube descries.”

The cavities, it is conjectured, do not contain water; hence it is concluded that there can be no extensive seas and oceans, like those which cover a great part of our earth. It is, however, imagined that there may be springs and RIVERS. The moon seems, as a learned author has observed, in almost every respect to be a body similar to our earth, to have its surface diversified by hill and dale, mountains and vallies, rivers and lakes. With regard to a lunar atmosphere, the existence of which has long been a subject of much dispute, it is now generally admitted.[122] The irregularity of the moon’s surface, arising from hills and vallies, renders her more capable of reflecting the sun’s rays to us. Though philosophers have differed widely in their ideas concerning the materials of the moon’s mountains, some from their brilliancy even supposing them to be rocks of diamonds, there is no diversity of opinion as to their use. If smooth and polished, like a mirror, or covered with water, she would not reflect and distribute the light received from the sun. In some positions she would show us his image no larger than a single point, and with a lustre that would injure our sight: but roughened by these hills and vallies, her surface returns the sun’s light to us in an equable and pleasant manner, and enables us to examine her with ease and precision.

That the moon is a planet similar to our earth, is a sentiment very early adopted. Orpheus is the most ancient author, whose opinion on this subject has come down to us. Proclus presents us with three verses of that philosopher, wherein he positively asserts, that the moon was another earth, having in it mountains, vallies, &c. Pythagoras, who followed Orpheus in many of his opinions, taught likewise, that the moon was an earth like ours, replete with animals, whose nature he presumed not to describe, though he was persuaded they were of a more noble and elegant kind than ours, and not liable to the same infirmities. Stobæus gives us the opinion of Democritus about the nature of the moon, and the cause of those spots which we see upon its disk. That great philosopher imagined, that “those spots were no other than shades, formed by the excessive height of the lunar mountains,” which intercepted the light from the lower parts of that planet, where the valleys formed themselves into what appeared to us as shades or spots. Plutarch went further, alleging, that there were embosomed in the moon, vast seas and profound caverns: he says, those deep and extensive shades which appear upon the disk of that planet, must be occasioned by _the vast seas_ it contains, which are incapable of reflecting so vivid a light, as the more solid and opake parts; “or by caverns extremely wide and deep, wherein the rays of the sun are absorbed,” whence those shades and that obscurity which we call the spots of the moon. And Zenophanes said, that those immense cavities were inhabited by another race of men, who lived there just as we do upon earth.

“And oft I think, fair planet of the night, That in thy orb the wretched may have rest.”

[The height of the moon’s atmosphere is supposed to be 1.622 miles; or a little more than a mile and a half.

The observations on the moon have been so accurate, and so often repeated, by means of the best glasses, that the _map of the moon_ is now considered nearly perfect. On this map is laid down the position of _spots_, _cavities_, and _mountains_, representing their _size_, _height_, _depth_, and _peculiarities_. They are very numerous.

Some of these mountains are full _five miles high_. They descend in height, from the highest to small elevations.

Several astronomers, particularly Herschell, has distinctly observed and described _volcanos_ in the moon, _actually flaming_; and others in an _expiring state_. _Craters_ of extinct volcanos are visible, and so numerous as to indicate very clearly, that volcanic action was once very extensive and powerful in the moon.

Some of the _cavities_ are more than _three miles and a half deep_, and sixteen broad at the surface. _Ferguson’s Astronomy, additional chapters by Dr. Brewster._]

That stones have fallen from the _clouds_ or from much _higher regions_, is a fact which has recently been very closely investigated, and also fully demonstrated. A table, constructed by M. Izarn, a foreign chemist, exhibits a variety of facts of this kind, from which the following is an extract.

The stones generally appear luminous in their descent, moving in oblique directions, with very great velocities, and commonly with a hissing noise. They are frequently heard to explode, or burst, and seem to fly in pieces, the larger parts falling first. They often strike the earth with such force, as to sink several inches below the surface. They are always different from the surrounding bodies, but is every case are similar to one another, being semi-metallic, coated with a thin black encrustation. They bear strong marks of recent fusion. Chemists have found, on examining these stones, that they very nearly agree in their nature and composition, and in the proportions of their component parts.

Their specific gravities are generally about three or four times that of water, being heavier than common stones. From the above account, it is reasonable to conclude, that they have all the same origin. I believe it is generally agreed among philosophers, that all these aërial stones, chemically analysed, evince the same properties; and that no stone, found on our earth, possesses exactly similar properties, nor in the same proportions: this is an extraordinary circumstance, and deserves particular notice. At the sitting of the Society of Natural History at Halle, July 6, 1816, M. Chladni submitted to the inspection of the members present, a collection of meteoric stones, or stones fallen from the atmosphere; and to the exhibition, he added his own observations on their nature and formation. Dr. Kæstner, taking up the subject in the same point of view which M. Chladni had given of it, admitted that these stones are not natives of this earth, but of other celestial bodies; to which he added, that the chemical analysis of them proves, that many of the same substances as are found in our mountains, and among the solids of our globe, are also component parts of the solids and mountains of other globes; certainly of those celestial bodies which are nearest to us; and probably of the others which form our planetary system.

That these stones are projected from lunar volcanos, very strong reasons have been assigned to prove. As 1. Volcanos in the moon have been observed by means of the telescope. 2. The lunar volcanos are very high, and the surface of that globe suffers frequent changes, as appears by the late observations of Schroëter. 3. If a body be projected from the moon to a distance greater than that of the point of equilibrium, between the attraction of the earth and the moon, it will, on the known principles of gravitation, fall to the earth. 4. That a body may be projected from the lunar volcanos beyond the moon’s influence, is not only possible, but very probable; for on calculation it is found, that four times the force usually given to a twelve pounder, will be quite sufficient for this purpose: it is to be observed, that the point of equilibrium is much nearer; and that a projectile from the moon will not be so much retarded as one from the earth, both on account of the moon’s rarer atmosphere, and its less attractive force.[123]

Of all the phenomena of the heavens, there are none which engage the attention of mankind more than _eclipses_ of the sun and moon; and to those who are unacquainted with the principles, nothing can appear more extraordinary than the accuracy, even to a second of time, with which they are predicted. Eclipses of the sun are occasioned by the shadow of the intervening new moon falling on the earth, and those of the moon are caused by the shadow of the earth falling on the full moon, the earth at the full moon being always in a direction between the sun and moon.

It is ascertained that, for an eclipse of the sun to be annular, the most favorable circumstances will be when the sun is in perigee, and the moon in apogee; and, for an eclipse to be total, the most favorable case is when the sun is in apogee, and the moon in perigee. The motion of the moon being much swifter than that of the earth, and the motions of both being directed from west to east, an eclipse of the sun must always begin in the western edge of the sun; and as the moon is a great deal less than the earth, her shadow forms a cone, the section of which is much less than the earth, so that a small portion of the earth only can, at any time, be involved in the shadow at one time. Hence it is, that an eclipse of the sun is not perceived, at the same instant, in every part of the hemisphere that is turned towards the sun, and that, in some parts, it will not be seen at all. For instance, a friend of mine, writing from Ceylon in the month of May, (1817,) says, “On the 16th of this month, we had a fine sight of an eclipse of the sun about noon: I think about 3-4ths of the surface were covered.” But in this country we had no solar eclipse at the same time. Again, in different situations, different parts of the sun’s disk will appear eclipsed; but, on the contrary, an eclipse of the moon is perceived, at the same moment, in every part of the earth where this planet is visible, and appears every where to occupy the same portion of her disk. Hence, eclipses of the sun are much less frequent in any particular place than eclipses of the moon.

If the nodes of the moon constantly corresponded with the same points in the heavens, the eclipses of the sun or moon might be expected in the same months, and even on the same days; but as the nodes shift backwards, or contrary to the earth’s annual motion, about 19½ degrees in a year, the same node will come round about nineteen days sooner every year than in the preceding. From the time, therefore, when the ascending node passes by the sun, as seen from the earth, there will be only 173 days before the descending node passes by him. If, then, at any time of the year, we have eclipses about either of the nodes, their return may be expected in about 173 days, in or near the other.

It may be further observed, that, after the sun, moon, and nodes, have been once in a line of conjunction, they will return nearly to the same state again in 228 lunations, or eighteen years and ten days; so that the same node which was in conjunction with the sun and moon at the beginning of the first of these lunations, will be within less than half a degree of the line of conjunction with the sun and moon again, when the last of these lunations is completed. In that time, therefore, there will be a regular period of eclipses for many ages.

These things being properly considered, it will not be difficult to conceive how astronomers are able to foretell the exact time when any phenomenon of this kind will happen; for, as an eclipse can only take place at the time of a new or full moon, the principal requisites are, to determine the number of mean conjunctions and oppositions that will happen every year, and the true places of the sun and moon in their orbits at each of those times. And, if from this, when proper calculations have been made, it appears that the two luminaries are within the proper limits of the node, there will be an eclipse. To facilitate these operations, we have astronomical tables ready computed, by which the places of the heavenly bodies, and every other particular required, may be easily found for any given instant of time.[124]

With delight we reflect on the invaluable benefits which this _lesser light_ confers on our globe. She sometimes appears visible in the presence of the sun; but how faint and pale is her shining! God has appointed her to _rule the night_, and give light to men. How cheerless and uncomfortable would our nights be, were we destitute of the light which this faithful and inseparable companion of our earth dispenses! How strange are her eclipses, occasioned by the earth interposing and shading her face! but, they are highly useful in astronomical, geographical, and chronological calculations. How salutary, too, is her attractive influence, which sways the ocean, and actuates the world of waters; causing the swelling of the tides, and perpetuating the regular returns of ebb and flow; by which the liquid element itself is preserved from putrefaction, and the surrounding continents from infection and disease.

A moonlight night has led the greatest poets in every age to vie with each other in attempting to describe its beauty and use. Among all the treasures of modern poetry, I know not one superior, for pleasing imagery, and variety of numbers, to that of Milton:

“Now came still evening on, and twilight grey Had in her sober livery all things clad. Now glowed the firmament With living sapphires: Hesperus, that led The starry host, rode brightest, till the Moon, Rising in clouded majesty, at length, Apparent queen, unveiled her peerless light. And o’er the dark her silver mantle threw.”

Homer, in the eighth book of the Iliad, gives us a description of a fine moonlight night, which is esteemed a master-piece of nocturnal painting. Milton’s pencil leaves off where that of Homer begins:

“As when the Moon, refulgent lamp of night, O’er heaven’s clear azure sheds her sacred light; When not a breath disturbs the deep serene, And not a cloud o’ercasts the solemn scene; Around her throne the vivid planets roll, And stars unnumbered gild the glowing pole; O’er the dark trees a yellower verdure shed, And tip with silver every mountain’s head; Then shine the vales; the rocks in prospect rise; A flood of glory bursts from all the skies; The conscious swains rejoicing in the sight, Eye the blue vault, and bless the useful light.”

The wise Son of Sirach, although his writings are not admitted into the sacred canon, deserves to be heard on this subject. He says, “The Lord made the moon also to serve in her season, for a declaration of times, and a sign of the world. From the moon is the sign of feasts, a light decreaseth in her perfection. The month is called after her name, increasing wonderfully in her changing, being an instrument of the armies above, shining in the firmament of heaven; the beauty of heaven, the glory of the stars, an ornament giving light to the highest places of the Lord. At the commandment of the Holy One they will stand in their order, and never faint in their watches.” This is paraphrased with great elegance and spirit by Mr. Broome:

“By thy command the moon, as day-light fades, Lifts her broad circle in the deep’ning shades; Arrayed in glory, and enthroned in light, She breaks the solemn terrors of the night; Sweetly inconstant in her varying flame, She changes still, another, yet the same! Now in decrease, by slow degrees she shrouds Her fading lustre in a vale of clouds; Now of increase, her gathering beams display A blaze of light, and give a paler day; Ten thousand stars adorn her glittering train, Fall when she falls, and rise with her again; And o’er the deserts of the sky unfold Their burning spangles of sidereal gold: Through the wide heavens she moves serenely bright, Queen of the gay attendants of the night: Orb above orb in sweet confusion lies, And with a bright disorder paints the skies.”

Many striking epithets have been given to this refulgent lamp of the night, some of which are noticed by Nichols in his Conference with a Theist. Tully asserts, that the moon was called _Diana_, because she made a day of the night, whilst all other stars did not make a twilight. Æschylus, a tragic poet, born at Athens 397 before the Christian era, calls her πρεσβυϛον αϛρων, the ancient, the governess, or mother of the stars. Apollinaris, bishop of Hierapolis, in Phrygia, about A.D. 171, denominates her, νυχιων βασιλεια αταρπων, the queen of the nightly paths. Tynesius, who flourished A.C. 400, styles her, ποιμην νυχιων θεων, the princess of the nocturnal gods: which is consonant to Horace’s lucidum cœli decus--syderum regina. Virgil likewise calls her, astrorum decus, the ornament of the stars. Seneca terms her, obscuri dea clara mundi, the bright goddess of the obscure world; and also clarumque cœli sydus et noctis decus, the bright star of heaven, and the grace of the night. Statius, who lived at Rome in the reign of Domitian, in his Thebais, terms her, arcanæ moderatrix Cynthia noctis, the moon the governess of silent night. “Fair as the moon,” was an ancient manner of describing beauty, and, it is said, still prevails in the East.

Among the ancients, observes Mr. Butler, the moon was an object of prime respect. By the Hebrews, she was more regarded than the sun, and they were more inclined to worship her as a deity. The _new_ moons, or first days of every month, were observed as festivals among them, which were celebrated with sound of trumpets, entertainments, and sacrifice. The moon was the goddess of the Phœnicians, whom they worshipped under the name Ashtoreth, or Astarte. The moon is sometimes in Scripture styled, the “queen of heaven.” She is likewise styled, “the goddess of the Zidonians,” and “the abomination of the Zidonians,” as she was worshipped very much in Zidon, or Sidon, a famous city of the Phœnicians, situated upon the eastern coast of the Mediterranean. Solomon, who had many wives that were foreigners, was prevailed upon by them to introduce the worship of this goddess into Israel, and he built her a temple on the mount of Olives, which, on account of this and other idols, is called “the mount of corruption.”[125] Milton says,

“There stood Her temple on th’ offensive mountain, built By that uxorious king, whose heart, though large, Beguil’d by fair idolatresses, fell, To idols foul.”

The _full_ moon was held favorable for any undertaking by the Spartans; and no motives could induce them to enter upon an expedition, march an army, or attack an enemy, till the _full_ of the moon. It is usual with the modern Arabians to begin their journeys at the _new_ moon; a practice which, indeed, appears to be very ancient. When the Shunammite proposed going to Elisha, her husband dissuaded her by observing that it was neither _new_ moon nor sabbath.

1. The _moon_ is an emblem of the _church_ of God, which receives its light from Christ as the moon does from the sun. Especially, of the Jewish dispensation, which consisted much in the observation of new moons, its solemn feasts being governed by them. The Jewish dispensation was a veiled and shadowy one: Christ and the blessings of the covenant of grace were revealed in dark promises, obscure prophecies, types and ceremonies, which were all significant figures of that grace which should be displayed, with fulness and evidence, under the Christian dispensation. The Jewish economy exhibits such marks of imperfection, as show the necessity of some new revelation to supply its defects. Its rites and precepts seem to be particularly suited to the condition, capacity, temper and genius of that particular people, for whom they were first formed, but not to be calculated for general use. It consisted chiefly of external performances, such as washings, sacrifices, and oblations, which could not purify the conscience, nor, indeed, satisfy the reason of man. The provision for sin, by way of atonement, was partial, and not thoroughly effectual: for some sins no sacrifice was admitted; and though sacrifice, where it was appointed, might atone for ceremonial impurity, yet the inward guilt and defilement still remained, and the justice of God was not satisfied. Yet the observance of these was enjoined in a very awful manner. The omission of what was prescribed by these laws, or even a defect in observing the minute circumstances of them, was made a capital crime, or rendered the delinquents liable to be cut off from the congregation. The Apostle styles the whole code of these laws, “a yoke of bondage;” and says, that, previous to the coming of Christ, the Jews were in bondage under what he terms “the beggarly elements of the world.”

There were indeed wise reasons for such a dispensation: to keep the Jews a distinct people, and preserve them from idolatry, while they were continually employed in the service of God; to remind them of their obligations to purity, inward and outward holiness; and, as a schoolmaster, to bring them to Christ; the law being a type and shadow of that “truth and grace which came by Jesus Christ,” who was “the end of the law for righteousness.” On which account, the law of Moses was not perpetual, but a temporary institution: thus the Apostle reasons, “There is verily a disannulling of the commandment going before for the weakness and unprofitableness thereof; for,” as he says in another place, “the law could not in any wise make the comers thereunto perfect.” He calls the law, “a shadow of good things to come.” The Levitical ceremonies led the Jewish church into the knowledge of the promised Messiah, and what he was to do, suffer, purchase, and apply. Hence the words of St. Peter, “Of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you: searching what or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow. Unto whom it was revealed, that not to themselves, but unto us they did minister the things which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you, with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven.” The Christian dispensation is attended with greater clearness. We have a far more comprehensive knowledge of the glorious Redeemer, in his person, natures, offices, and blessings; of the spiritual nature of his kingdom, and the way of salvation through faith in him, than what the Jews had. Thus the Apostle says, “But we all with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image, from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.”

In the Revelation, we have this representation given of the Christian church: “And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars.” An author, quoted by Dr. A. Clarke, gives the following elucidation of this passage.--That the woman here represents the true church of Christ, most commentators are agreed. In other parts of the Apocalypse, the pure church of Christ is evidently pourtrayed by a woman. In chapter xix, verse 7, a great multitude are represented as saying, “Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to him; for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his _wife_ hath made herself ready.” In chapter xxi, 9, an angel talks with St. John, saying, “Come hither, I will show thee the _bride_, the Lamb’s wife.” That the Christian Church is meant will appear also from her being “clothed with the sun,” a striking emblem of Jesus Christ, the Sun of Righteousness, the light and glory of the Church; for the countenance of the Son of God is, as “the sun shineth in his strength.” The woman has the “moon under her feet.” Bishop Newton understands this of the Jewish typical worship; and, indeed, the Mosaic system of rites and ceremonies could not have been better represented. The moon is the less light, ruling over the night, and deriving all its illumination from the sun: in like manner, the Jewish dispensation was the bright moonlight night of the world, and possessed a portion of the glorious light of the gospel. At the rising of the sun the night is ended, and the lunar light no longer necessary as the sun which enlightens her shines full upon the earth: exactly in the same way has the whole Jewish system of types and shadows been superseded by the birth, life, crucifixion, death, resurrection, ascension, and intercession of Jesus Christ. Upon the head of the woman is “a crown of twelve stars;” a very significant representation of the _twelve apostles_, who were the first founders of the Christian church; and by whom the gospel was preached in a great part of the Roman empire with astonishing success.

2. The phenomenon of the moon is _mutability_. This beautiful luminary, whose gentle beams render the summer evenings still more agreeable, and in the winter nights cheer the abodes of solitude, and aid the midnight traveller, is perpetually changing. In this, and in nothing but this, observes Mr. Basely, she is invariable, and a perfect index to all within her orbit. This should teach us, says Mr. Browne, that there is not any thing permanent in the present scene. Mutability is engraved in legible characters upon every earthly object. Every thing is in motion, and assuming a different appearance, whilst vicissitude and change wait on the affairs of mortals. Such is the fluctuating state of the present world, whether we view kingdoms in general, or the personal concerns of men in particular.

But while these things are fortuitous as to man, we should reflect that they are under the direction and control of a Divine providence. The prosperous issue of all our designs and enterprises depends entirely on the sovereign disposer of events. “Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it; except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.” “A man’s heart deviseth his way; but the Lord directeth his steps;” the result of his designs and projects being under the dominion and direction of God. Whether his undertaking shall succeed or fail, belongs alone to the Most High to determine. Let as arrange our worldly concerns in the most prudent and politic manner, so that there shall appear the greatest probability of success, yet God has the ordering of the event. Solomon has long since observed, that, amongst the many vanities under the sun, one is, “the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favor to men of skill: but time and chance happeneth to them all.” Some unforeseen circumstance may interrupt our pursuit, and disappoint our expectation. So great is the uncertainty which attends all human affairs, and all future events are concealed in such thick darkness, that we can never positively affirm that this or the other scheme, however wisely laid, cannot be frustrated, or that it is impossible the success should be otherwise than as we calculate. No man knows what shall be on the morrow; the only thing we know previously is, that every event shall be as God is pleased to settle it.

This consideration, that it is not by our own choice and foresight, but the will and wisdom of God, our affairs are directed and determined, we should apply to ourselves. We are not competent to mark out our own ways, nor can we seriously imagine that matters should be arranged exactly according to our imperfect views and secret inclinations; but we should refer ourselves to his guidance who cannot err, and willingly acquiesce in his providential decisions: saying, “I know, oh Lord, that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his own steps.” We are commanded by the Apostle James to say, “If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.” And Solomon’s advice is, “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.” Concerning all our lawful designs, enterprises, and projects, we may pray, “Establish thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish thou it.”

* * * * *

_Section_ III.--THE SEASONS.

Seasons: Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter -- Displaying Divine Power, Wisdom, Goodness, Faithfulness -- Religious Improvement.

The Divine Architect appointed the sun and moon the places of their rising, the circuits they were to run, and where they were to go down: he marked out the line in which they were to move through all the different climates of the earth. They instantly obeyed his all-powerful word, and have ever since acted faithfully to his command. In their operations, they measure out our days and nights, distinguish between different periods of time, and produce the several seasons of the year.

“With what an awful world-revolving power Were first th’ unwieldy planets launched along Th’ illimitable void! Thus to remain Amid the flux of many thousand years, That oft has swept the toiling race of men And all their labored monuments away, Firm, unremitting, matchless in their course; To the kind tempered change of night and day, And of the seasons ever stealing round, Minutely faithful.”

God is the supreme ruler in the kingdom of nature, and the constant changes of day and night, summer and winter, seed-time and harvest, are appointed and regulated by his providential influence. This wonderful and stupendous system, consisting of matter, is preserved by motion. Deprive it of motion, and, as a system, it must expire. Who, then, breathed into this amazing combination of things acting together, the life of motion? What power impelled the planets to move, since motion is not a property of the matter of which they are composed? Did not annual observation familiarize it to us (to speak unphilosophically), who that observes the sun going in appearance further from us during six months in succession, and all that time decreasing in light and heat, could ever think that he would again return to us? What hinders his projection into boundless space, till he should appear no larger than a star, or get beyond the reach of our powers of vision? What, but the immediate control of God! for this is a work superior to all created strength, and only to be effected by almighty energy.[126]

When we have seen that glorious lamp of heaven, the great ruler of the day, gone so far from us that we scarcely knew how to stand before the cold, how has his return revived and cheered us, visiting the frozen earth with his friendly beams, infusing a genial warmth into every creature, and inspiring us with the pleasing hope of once more enjoying those various fruits of the earth, which are the liberal gifts of an indulgent Providence! It is the Divine Being who commands the sun to rise, who, “coming out of his chamber” in the east, rejoices as a strong man to run a race. Again, he bids this glorious orb to withdraw, and obscure his beauty behind thick clouds, or sink below the western ocean; when, behold, the day is covered with darkness, and night succeeds. At his sovereign command, the glowing summer recedes, and winter approaches with chilling aspect. “He sends his snow like wool, and scattereth his hoar frost like ashes. He casteth forth his ice like morsels: who can stand before his cold?” He then recalls the solar influence, scatters the inauspicious clouds, thaws the frozen ridges of the field; the corn springs up and flourishes, and the heart of man rejoices with the pleasing hope of a plenteous harvest. Thus does the almighty Creator, and beneficent Governor of the world, order and regulate the constant succession of the seasons; his Providence over-rules and directs the whole movement, and nothing can come to pass without his superintendence.

Reason, as well as supernatural revelation, asserts the reality of a Divine providence. The happiest inquirers into the phenomena of nature have discovered that every thing is made with the justest proportion, and that the whole machine is directed according to the most exact rules: but they have also perceived a power above and beyond the energy of natural principles, and which could not possibly be accounted for any other way than by admitting an immediate act or influence of the supreme Being. In the revolving of the celestial orbs, we observe an exact agreement with the established laws of mechanism: but, yet, there is a force demonstrable in them which is altogether immechanical; and, consequently, immediately issuing from God himself.

The remarks made by Dr. A. Clarke on this point, will, it is presumed, gratify the intelligent reader. “The _double motion_ of a primary planet, namely, its _annual_ revolution and _diurnal_ rotation, is one of the greatest wonders the science of astronomy presents to our view.--The laws which regulate the latter of these motions are so completely hid from man, notwithstanding his present great extension of philosophic research, that the times which the planets employ in their rotations can only be determined by observation. How is it that two motions, so essentially different from each other, should be in the same body, at the same time, without one interfering at all with the other?--No astronomer, since the foundation of the world, has been able to demonstrate that the earth’s motion in the heavens is at all accelerated or retarded by the diurnal rotation; or, on the other hand, that the earth’s motion on its axis experiences the least irregularity from the annual revolution.”

The rotation of the earth round its own axis, from west to east, once in 23 hours, 56 minutes, 4 seconds, is the cause of the distinction between day and night, by bringing the different parts of the earth’s surface successively into, and from under the solar rays. And the revolution of the earth round the sun, from any equinox or solstice to the same point again, in 365 days, 48 minutes, 48 seconds, produces the agreeable vicissitudes of the seasons, and measures the length of our year. For though the revolution is that of the earth, yet both the hours of the day and night, the different lengths of the days and nights, and the seasons of the year, cannot be determined but by the heavenly bodies. Thus the earth has a two-fold motion, like a chariot-wheel; for while it goes forward on its annual journey, it is still in its diurnal motion turning upon its own centre. But it differs from the motion of a chariot-wheel in this: that its hourly motion in its orbit is 75,222 miles; and that by the motion upon its axis, the inhabitants on the equator are carried after the rate of 1,042 miles an hour, and those upon the parallel of London 580 miles.

The Dr. proceeds, “How wonderful is this contrivance! and what incalculable benefits result from it! The uninterrupted and equable diurnal rotation of the earth gives us day and night in their succession, and the annual revolution causes all the varied scenery of the year. If one motion interfered with the other, the return of the day and night would be irregular; and the change of seasons attended with uncertainty to the husbandman. These two motions are, therefore, harmoniously impressed upon the earth, that the gracious promise of the great Creator might be fulfilled, ‘While the earth remaineth, seed-time and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night, shall not cease.’

“The double motion of a secondary planet is still more singular than that of its primary; for (taking the moon for an example) besides its particular revolution round the earth, which is performed in 27 days, 7 hours, 43 minutes, 4½ seconds; it is carried round the sun with the earth once a year. Of all the planetary motions, with which we have a tolerable acquaintance, that of the moon is the most intricate: upwards of twenty equations are necessary, in the great majority of cases, to reduce her mean to her true place; yet not one of them is derivable from the circumstance that she accompanies the earth in its revolution round the sun. They depend on the different distances of the earth from the sun in its annual revolution, the position of the lunar nodes, and various other causes, and not on the annual revolution itself, a motion which, of all others, might be expected to cause greater irregularities in her revolution round the earth than could be produced on that of the latter by the planetary attractions. Who can form an adequate conception of that influence of the earth which thus draws the moon with it round the sun, precisely in the same manner as if it were a part of the earth’s surface, notwithstanding the intervening distance of about 240,000 miles; and, at the same time, leaves undisturbed the moon’s proper motion round the earth? And what beneficent purposes are subserved by this harmony? In consequence of it, we have the periodical returns of new and full moon; and the ebbing and flowing of the sea, which depend on the various lunar phases, with respect to the sun and earth, (as if demonstrable from each of these phases being continually contemporaneous with the particular phenomenon of the tides,) always succeed each other with a regularity necessarily equal to that of the causes which produce them. Thus we see that God is continually present, supporting all things by his energy, and that, while his working is manifest, his ways are past finding out.”

Thomson, in his descriptive, philosophical, moral, and religious poem, admirably well delineates the revolving seasons.

“These, as they change, ALMIGHTY FATHER, these Are but the _varied_ God. The rolling year Is full of thee. Forth in the pleasing spring THY beauty walks. THY tenderness and love Wide flush the fields; the softening air is balm; Echo the mountains round; the forest smiles; And every sense, and every heart is joy. Then comes THY glory in the summer-months, With light and heat refulgent. Then THY sun Shoots full perfection through the swelling year: And oft THY voice in dreadful thunder speaks; And oft at dawn, deep noon, or falling eve, By brooks and groves, in hollow-whispering gales. THY bounty shines in Autumn unconfin’d, And spreads a common feast for all that lives. In Winter awful THOU! with clouds and storms Around THEE thrown, tempest o’er tempest roll’d. Majestic darkness! on the whirlwind’s wing, Riding sublime, THOU bidst the world adore, And humblest nature with THY northern blast. Mysterious round! what skill, what force divine, Deep felt, in these appear! a simple train, Yet so delightful mix’d, with such kind art, Such beauty and beneficence combin’d; Shade, unperceiv’d, so softening into shade; And all so forming an harmonious whole; That, as they still succeed, they ravish still.”

He who governs the whole frame of nature, and directs and regulates these successive changes, must possess almighty _power_, without which, he would be infinitely inadequate to the task. He who made the celestial orbs of such a prodigious bulk, and whirls them round with an almost incredible swiftness, causing the regular return of day and night, summer and winter, what can he not do? None among the mighty host of heaven, or among the inhabitants of the earth, can resist his power, or stay his arm when lifted up. He who created all things out of nothing, could, if he pleased, extinguish the lights of heaven, and shake the solid earth to atoms. How easily, then, can he stop our breath, break the slender thread of life, dissolve our feeble frame, or hurl guilty and impenitent sinners into the pit of destruction! He who brought darkness for the space of three days upon the Egyptians, and a dreadful tempest of forty days and forty nights upon the inhabitants of the old world, can make the days of the ungodly darkness, and their nights full of horror. He can strike them with “the arrow that flieth by day,” his swift pointed lightning; or with the pestilential vapors of the night, which “walk in darkness,” and give the deadly stroke unseen.

“Lord, when my thoughtful soul surveys Fire, air, and earth, and stars and seas, I call them all thy slaves; Commissioned by my father’s will, Poison shall cure, or balm shall kill; Vernal suns or zephyr’s breath, May burn or blast the plants to death, That sharp _December saves_.

What can winds or planets boast But a precarious power? The sun is all in darkness lost, Frost shall be fire, and fire be frost, When he appoints the hour.”

Shall not, then, such a frail creature as man, think and speak of this omnipotent Being with the greatest reverence and profound humility? Oh God, fill the minds of all men with just and enlarged views of thy majesty and greatness! for thou killest, and thou makest alive; thou woundest, and thou healest: neither is there any that can deliver out of thy hand.

Divine _wisdom_ also shines forth in the regular and uninterrupted succession of the seasons. “The Lord by wisdom hath founded the earth, and by understanding established the heavens.” Not only the different magnitudes of the heavenly orbs, but their particular distances, and the harmonious laws by which they move, do loudly proclaim, that he who formed, ranges, and actuates them all, must be infinitely wise. Without looking into boundless space, where shine many thousand globes of light, or fixed stars, supposed to be suns like our own, and to have planets revolving round them, we may discover luminous displays of Divine wisdom in our own system, in the constant succession of the seasons, that may justly excite our wonder and adoration. How wise must he be who has so exactly proportioned the different magnitudes of the earth and the sun, and placed them at a proper distance from each other! Is not equal wisdom discovered in that equable, steady, swift, and complicate motion of the earth, by which the delightful and necessary succession of the seasons return? It is the wisdom of God that at first arranged the motion of the celestial bodies, and that preserves them in their rapid and yet regular progressions and rotations, with so much order and harmony. “How manifold, oh Lord, are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all. Thy understanding is infinite, for thou tellest the number of the stars, and callest them all by their names.”

The _goodness_ of God to the inhabitants of the earth, is also displayed in the revolving seasons. When the almighty Creator took a survey of all the works his hands had made, he saw that they were good; not only conformable to eternal reason, but proper to answer the end for which he designed them. And this goodness manifested in the formation of the world, is not more clearly discovered in any thing than in the return of day and night, heat and cold, summer and winter. We are pleased with the light in the morning, but it is after we have rested well in the night: when a few hours are spent, we grow weary of the light, and wish for the return of the silence and darkness of the nocturnal season. After a long cold winter, we joyfully welcome the approach of summer; but when scorched a few months with its heat, and ready to faint, the return of winter is not so unpleasant to us as it appeared more early in the spring. But whatever effect these successions may have upon us, it is certain they are very beneficial. The light of the day is advantageous for managing the toils and business of life; and the coolness and stillness of the night are as suitable for rest and sleep. The summer’s heat is necessary for ripening the fruits of the earth, and hastening the harvest: but the winter’s cold and hoary frost are subservient to prepare the earth for the seed, and render it fertile. Nay, this dreary season is serviceable both to man and beast; it tends to remove distempers contracted in the summer’s unwholesome air, and gives a new spring and vigor to nature. How great, then, is the Divine goodness in preserving the constant and regular revolution of these seasons, so pleasant and beneficial to mankind! “Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men.”

We cannot but perceive the _faithfulness_ of God in continuing these seasons, according to his promise, to this period. We still see day succeeding day, and year succeeding year: this covenant made with mankind is inviolably kept. The husbandman cultivates his land, ploughs up the furrows, casts in the seeds, in hope of the ensuing harvest, when he expects that his expense, labor, and patience, will be recompensed with a rich and large increase. But should God, in anger, open the bottles of heaven, pour down the rain in torrents, cause swelling floods to arise, and, rolling with alarming impetuosity forward, to sweep away at once the fruit of all his toil, how great must be his grief and astonishment! Such were the consternation and confusion that seized mankind at the time of the flood. The husbandman had tilled his land, thrown his seed into the ground; he saw it with pleasure springing up, and promised himself a plentiful harvest: when quickly, all the flood-gates of heaven were opened, all the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and a rapid current overflowed the springing corn, swept away numerous flocks of cattle, overthrew the habitations of the people, and drowned man and beast to the very tops of the mountains! But in this general ruin, Noah found favor with God, and he and his family were preserved in the Ark. When the waters had abated, and the earth became dry, this pious patriarch, being much affected with the awful judgment inflicted upon mankind, especially with the distinguishing mercies conferred upon himself and family, offered sacrifice, in testimony of his gratitude, to his great Deliverer, who was well-pleased with it. And on this, he made a covenant with him, and with all his posterity, in which he promises that he will not again curse the ground for man’s sake, nor any more smite every living thing, but that, “while the earth remaineth,” the successive seasons of the year shall be continued. The awful disobedience of the inhabitants of the old world rendered it necessary to inflict so dreadful a judgment; but as soon as it had subsided, God promised never to punish mankind again so universally. And, in token of his faithfulness, he set the rainbow in the cloud, to be a sign of his covenant, which has not been broken, but faithfully kept even to this day. However the Almighty may contend in anger with particular nations or provinces, he will no more do so with mankind in general.

How happy is the situation of our native isle! There are few countries, if any, that exceed it. The climate is temperate; neither days nor nights are ever of immoderate length; the summer and winter are neither extremely hot, nor excessively cold; the seed-time and harvest are generally favorable, and the produce of the land is plenteous. The inhabitants of some countries endure a long and severe winter, seeing not the sun for many weeks: nay, there are some places where it rises not for several months; but these parts are not inhabited in the winter season. In other countries, the inhabitants are scorched with the rays of a vertical sun, and wish in vain for the cooling winter’s snow. Some know not what is meant by the heat of summer, and others are as ignorant of the cold of winter. Some see the sun, but comparatively feel not his warming influence; while others are penetrated with his burning rays all the year. But the people of this country have moderate summer, heat sufficient for ripening the most useful fruits, and winter that may be well endured. The days are not so hot in the summer, but the nights are sufficiently cool for allaying the heat; and they are long enough in winter for managing the business that is requisite to be done. Some warmer climates produce more delicious fruits: but no country under the canopy of the heavens does more abound with all the substantial supports of life; not only equal to our own consumption, but frequently to enable us to assist our neighbors. Happy are the people that are in such a case: yea, thrice happy are they whose God is Jehovah. All his works praise him: may we join the grand chorus, and bless his holy name. Surely, if the works of creation were attentively viewed, and seriously considered, they would not only be truly admired, but their glorious Author would be sincerely regarded, diligently worshipped, and practically obeyed.

The following table has been ascribed to the illustrious astronomer, Dr. Herschell. It is constructed upon a philosophical consideration of the attraction of the sun and moon in their several positions respecting the earth, and confirmed by the experience of many years: actual observation will, without trouble, suggest to the observer what kind of weather will most probably follow the moon’s entrance into any of her quarters; and that so near the truth, that in very few instances will it be found to fail.

Hence, the nearer the time of the moon’s entrance, at full and change, or quarters, is to midnight (that is, within two hours before or after midnight), the more fair weather is in summer, but the nearer to noon the less fair. Also, the moon’s entrance, at full, change, and quarters, during six of the afternoon hours, viz. from four to ten, may be followed by fair weather; but this is mostly dependant on the wind. The same entrance, during all the hours after midnight except the two first, is unfavorable to fair weather; the like, nearly, may be observed in winter.[127]

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It is an easy and excellent method of conveying instruction, and impressing it upon the heart, to take occasion from natural objects to raise the mind to things spiritual and divine. The day and night, and their alternate changes, may suggest such thoughts as the following, to a serious mind engaged in meditation.

What a glorious creature is light! How beneficial to this world! How useful, nay, how necessary for managing those employments which could not be done in the night! How unwise, then, is he who postpones the necessary business of the day till night overtake him?--So beneficial, so requisite, is the light of life in the important work of human salvation. Does God allow men a day, a gracious season, and the light of his word, for the good of their souls? Of what extreme folly shall they be guilty, if they neglect the necessary business till the night of death come, and they drop into the grave, where there is neither work, nor wisdom, nor device! Now is the day of grace, and God is favoring them with the light of reason and revelation. May he give them wisdom to improve these advantages, to his glory, and their own happiness! They know not how soon their sun may set, and the night of death come upon them. If it should be before their everlasting interest is secured, they will be lost for ever. Oh Lord, teach us so to number our days, that we may apply our hearts to wisdom!

Night comes on apace; I must soon undress, and lie down to sleep. And it cannot be long before I must put off this body, lie down in the grave and sleep in the dust. What shall I do that my soul may not be found naked, but be clothed and adorned with the glorious robes of righteousness? Jesus, to whom shall I go but to thee, for thou hast the words of eternal life!--How awful, and full of horror, is this approaching darkness! If the imperfection of man did not require the rest of sleep, surely it would be a pleasant thing always to dwell in the light. Will it not then, be unspeakably delightful to abide in the light of God’s countenance, to see the Divine Majesty with a strong and open eye? and to behold his unutterable glories without any fear of being deprived of the beatific vision, or of returning night? But oh! how dismal must that place of darkness be where the light never shines! where the miserable inhabitants never see one beam of Divine light, one ray from God’s reconciled face! where the grossest darkness reigns for ever, without the least hope of returning day! and where nothing remains for them, but a black, a horrible, an eternal night!

“Is light so grateful to the human sense? Created light? a faint, refracted ray? One, distant sun? the shadow, but, of God! Dark adumbration of the DEITY? Oh! what is heav’n! that day of endless light? Where saints shall from th’ essential fountain drink Of radiance! in God’s full, paternal shine? Ah! what is Hell? of ever-absent day, A night all hopeless!--and all endless too!”

The successive changes of day and night may suggest what is frequently the condition of good people in this world. Their day of prosperity is sometimes followed with a night of adversity; and then, when sorrow and weeping have endured for a night, light and joy spring up in the morning.--Is the light of the day pleasing? rejoice in it with trembling, for the night is advancing. Is the darkness of the night solemn and awful? rejoice in hope that the day is approaching. Hence be instructed, oh my soul, in the concerns of thy eternal welfare. Are prosperity, health, and relatives, agreeable? rejoice in them as one that rejoices not: these must have an end; and adversity, sickness, and death, will come. Are losses, affliction, and pain, not joyous, but grievous? mourn as one that weeps not: ease, health, and gladness, are in prospect, and will continue for ever. And how happy and glorious will that world be, where light and joy shall never cease! But how dreadful is that abode where darkness, despair, and anguish shall never end!

The succession of cold and heat, winter and summer, will always suggest pious and useful reflections in retirement. How pleasing it is to see the sun return, and to feel his cheering rays, after a long, cold, and tempestuous winter! So it is delightful to the humble penitent sinner, after a long season of darkness and sorrow, when the Sun of Righteousness arises with his reviving influences, and God lifts upon him the smiles of his reconciled countenance. All misery, and clouds of doubt and fear, are then dispersed, and heavenly light breaks into the soul, and fills it with gladness. And does the want of the light of God cause the serious Christian to mourn and weep, and taste no sweetness in any of the comforts of life? How extremely miserable, then, must a person be, who is driven to an everlasting distance from the presence of God, and from the glorious Sun of Righteousness; only to see his glory very remote, but never to feel the reviving beams of his love; and to be punished in hell, far “from the presence of the Lord, and the glory of his power.”

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_Section_ IV.--THE PLANETS AND FIXED STARS.

Mercury -- Venus -- The Earth -- Mars -- Ceres -- Pallas -- Juno -- Vesta -- Jupiter -- Saturn -- Georgium Sidus -- Comets -- Fixed Stars -- Religious Improvement.

Moses, after stating that God created the sun and the moon, says, “he made the stars also.” A learned author explains it, “he made the lesser light, with the stars, to rule the night.” It is very probable that the whole _solar system_ was created in six days: but as the design of the sacred historian was to relate what especially belongs to our globe and its inhabitants, he therefore passes by the planetary system, leaving it simply included in the plural word, שמים _shamayim_, _heavens_. In a work of this nature, it is proper to take a concise view of all the planets, their number, distances, magnitudes, revolutions, &c.

_Wandering Stars_, says Baseley, is one of the many appellations by which our solar system has been sometimes designated. And the figure it makes in the heavens is not unaptly expressed by the phraseology. For we distinguish the planets from the fixed stars by the lustre of the former, which is only from that side which faces the sun, and by their motion, which is seldom, and then but apparently, interrupted. Their brightness seems more uniform, has the cast of reflected rather than direct illumination, and is altogether free from scintillation or twinkling. Their connection with the globe we inhabit is more perceptible, and their relative situation to one another less stationary. Their distance from us is not so remote, and more susceptible of calculation. The latter occupy a certain region situated in our neighborhood between us and the former.

The planets are opake bodies, and nearly spherical. Being opake in themselves, they become visible only by reflecting the light, which they receive from the sun. The laws by which they are governed were discovered by Kepler, who demonstrated that they must necessarily revolve in elliptical, and not in circular orbits. Astronomers have divided them into classes: the _primary_ planets are Mercury, Venus, the Earth, Mars, Ceres, Pallas, Juno, Vesta, Jupiter, Saturn, and the Georgium Sidus; and the second class includes the satellites which belong to some of the primary planets, such as the Moon, the attendant on the Earth, the four moons or satellites that revolve about Jupiter, the seven that attend Saturn, and the six that wait on the Georgium Sidus.

_Mercury_ is the smallest of the seven primary planets, and nearest to the sun; he appears as a small star, and emits a very vivid white light. He was called by the Greeks Στιλβων, plainly alluding to his brightness. Costard observes, “ברק אור _Bark-oor_, ברק אורי _Bark-oori_, or, changing the letter ב into מ as letters of the same organ frequently are, מרק אורי _Mark-oori_, we have in another dialect, with a Latin termination _us_, another name of this planet, Mercurius; and from whence comes _Mercury_, as he is called by us.” This planet never goes to a greater distance from the sun than about 27° 50ʹ; so that he appears only a little after sunset, and again a little before sunrise; he is never longer in setting after the sun than an hour and fifty minutes nor does he ever rise more than an hour and fifty minutes before that luminary: he is then about as far as the moon appears to be from the sun on the second day after the change. His mean distance from the sun says Dr. O. Gregory, is to that of the earth from the sun as 387 to 1,000: hence his distance is about thirty-seven millions of miles. To an inhabitant of Mercury, the sun appears almost three times broader than we see him from the earth; because the planet is almost three times nearer to the sun than the earth. Whence also the solar disk, seen from Mercury, is seven times greater than the disk as it appears to us, and Mercury has seven times more light than the earth.

“---- Mercury the first, Near bordering on the day, with speedy wheel Flies swifter on, inflaming where he comes With seven-fold splendor.”

The diameter of this planet is more than one-third of the diameter of the earth, or 3,180 miles. Hence his surface is about 1/7th; and his magnitude 1/16th of that of the earth. His period of revolution round the sun is 87 days, 23 hours, 14 minutes, 33 seconds, which is his year, and falls short of three of our months: hence he moves in his orbit round the sun at the rate of more than 95,000 miles in an hour. According to some astronomers, it has not been ascertained by observation, whether Mercury turns upon his own axis, and therefore it cannot be certainly affirmed that he has the vicissitude of day and night, neither the return of summer and winter: because they depend upon the inclination of the axis of his rotation, which is unknown, to the plane of the orbit which he describes about the sun; though there is very little doubt entertained on the subject. But Schroëter affirms that he “has distinguished spots and mountains, which he has assiduously followed, till he has arrived at the subsequent conclusions: that the apparent diameter of the planet is about 6ʺ; that it does not present any sensible ellipticity; that the mountains it contains are proportionably larger than those of Venus and the Earth; that the highest are, as in these two bodies, in the southern hemisphere; that the angle which the equator makes with its orbit is very considerable; that the difference of days and seasons ought to be much greater in Mercury than it is on the earth; that its atmosphere, like that of Venus, is very dense; and lastly, that its rotation about its axis is 24 hours, 5 minutes, 30 seconds.” When examined by means of a telescope magnifying about 200 or 300 times, he appears equally luminous throughout his whole surface, without the least dark spot. He exhibits the same difference of phases with the moon, being alternately horned, gibbous, and shining almost with a round face, though not entirely full because his enlightened side is never turned directly toward us; but at all times perfectly well defined without any ragged edge, and completely bright; and, like the moon, the crescent is always turned toward the sun. Mercury has no inferior planet known to us, and if that be actually the case, a spectator on his body will want the argument taken from the horned phases of the planets, to establish the true system of the world. But though we do not see any planets inferior to Mercury, it does by no means follow that there are none: for we seldom see Mercury himself, he being buried in the rays of the sun; and a planet much nearer the sun could never be seen from the earth. The first observation that was ever made of a transit, was by Gassendi, who saw Mercury on the sun, A.M. November 7, 1631. Since his time there have occurred seventeen other transits of this planet, the last of which was at his ascending node on the 9th of November, 1802. The ascending and descending nodes are in the 16° of Taurus, and 16° of Scorpio. Other transits are expected in the years 1822, 1832, 1835, 1845, and 1848.

_Venus_, the second planet from the sun in the order of the system, is the most beautiful star in the heavens, being easily distinguished by her brightness and whiteness, which exceeds that of all the other planets, and is so considerable, that in a dusky night she projects a sensible shadow. Concerning her name, Costard remarks, “From the Chaldee הן _Han_, or _Hen_, which signifies _gratia_, _decor_, _elegantia_, with the Æolic digamma Ϝ, comes _Fen_, or _Ven_, and with the additional termination _us, Venus_; the name by which this planet was known among the Romans, and by which, from them, it has been transmitted to us.” The mean distance of Venus from the sun is about 69,000,000 miles; her diameter is 7,630 miles; she performs her revolution round the sun in 224 days, 16 hours, 41 minutes, 27 seconds; her diurnal motion on her axis, according to some observations accurately made by Schroëter, is performed in 23 hours, 21 minutes; and she moves at the rate of 81,398 miles an hour.

This planet constantly attends the sun, and never departs from him more than forty-seven degrees, and consequently is never seen at midnight, nor in opposition to that luminary; being visible only for three or four hours in a morning or evening, according as she is before or after the sun. Venus is a _morning star_ when she appears westward of the sun, for she then rises before him, and is among poets called Phosphorus or Lucifer--

“----Fair morning star, That leads on dawning day to yonder world, The _seat of man_.”

but when eastward of the sun, she is an _evening star_, shining after he is set, and then the poets give her the name Hesperus or Vesper.

“---- Her lovely beams adorn As well the dewy eve, as opening morn.”

She is in each situation, alternately, between nine and ten months, or about 290 days. Pythagoras is said to have first discovered that Hesperus and Phosphorus were one and the same star. “From the name Phosphorus,” says Costard, “it seems as if this is the same star that in Isaiah is called הילל בן שהר _Helal-ben-shahar_, or _Helal, son of the morning_; a name given it on account of its remarkable brightness. If so, that is the oldest record of a planet that occurs in any author whatever now extant: this was about the year before Christ 710.”

Venus is frequently seen in the day-time, when in the inferior part of her orbit, at about forty degrees distant from the sun.

“No stars besides their radiance can display In Phœbus’ presence the dread Lord of day; Ev’n Cynthia’s self, though regent of the night, Is quite obscur’d by his emergent light; But VENUS only, as if more divine, With Phœbus dares in partnership to shine.”

To quiet the minds of some superstitious people, greatly alarmed at the appearance of Venus in the day-time, Dr. Halley wrote a small piece, published in the Philosophical Transactions (No. 349) to show that this was nothing extraordinary, and might be expected every eight years. Venus, when viewed through a good telescope, is rarely seen to shine with a full face, but has phases just like those of the moon, being now gibbous, now horned, &c, and her illuminated part constantly turned towards the sun, looking toward the east when a morning star, and toward the west when an evening star. M. de la Hire, in 1700, through a telescope of sixteen feet, discovered mountains in Venus, which he found to be larger than those in the moon. These observations have recently been confirmed by M. Schroëter, who, in the year 1780, commenced a course of observations on this planet, the results of which were published in the Philosophical Transactions for 1792.

Venus, as well as Mercury, is sometimes seen to transit the sun’s disk, in form of a dark round spot; but these transits seldom happen. The first that was ever observed, was seen by our countryman Jeremiah Horrox, at Hool, an obscure village fifteen miles north of Liverpool: his account of which was published by Hevelius at Dantzic in 1661, under the title, “Venus in sole visa, anno 1631, November 24.” Mr. Horrox’s friend, William Crabtree, according to his direction, saw this transit at the same time, at Manchester. Two have occurred in the last century, namely, one June 6th, 1761, seen by many astronomers, which excited particular attention by a dissertation published by Dr. Halley in the Philosophical Transactions (No. 348) in which he proposed finding, from that transit, the sun’s parallax, and thence the distance of the earth from the sun: and the other, June 3d, 1769, at 10^{h}. 10ʹ, according to M. de la Lande, and consequently invisible at Paris and London; but by comparing together two observations made, one at Mexico, and the other to the north of Petersburgh, we perceive the sun’s parallax, was determined with great precision. The transits of Venus, occurring between the years 1631 and 2110, according to the calculations of persons most eminent in astronomical science, are as follow:

1631 December 6 1639 December 4 1761 June 5 1769 June 3 1874 December 8 1882 December 6 2004 June 7 2109 December 10

The _Earth_ is the next planet in order; called by the Greeks Γη, and by the poets Γαια, from γαω to _generate_, _produce_, which, says Parkhurst, is from the Hebrew, גאה _to grow_ as a plant, because it produces, or is the mother of all terrestrial things; or in the poetic language of the Orphic hymn to the earth,

“---- Brings forth her various fruits, With throes maternal.”

The word used by Moses is הארץ _haarets_, translated _earth_, whence in the Anglo-Saxon, _eard_ and _eord_; Danish _jord_, _jorden_; Dutch _erd_ and _aerd_; and Teutonic _erd_, _erde_.

The distance of the earth from the sun is about 95,000,000 miles: her orbit round the sun is 597,000,000 miles, and she performs her revolution round the sun, from any equinox or solstice to the same point again, in 365 days, 5 hours, 49 minutes, 57 seconds; of course, her hourly motion in her orbit is 68,000 miles. Her diameter is 7,964 miles, her circumference is 25,000 miles, and the time of rotation upon her axis, from west to east, is 23 hours, 56 minutes, 4 seconds: by which the inhabitants upon the equator are carried after the rate of 1,042 miles an hour, and those upon the parallel of London, 580 miles, as we have already noticed. The annual and diurnal motion of the earth is thus described by Milton:

“She from the West her silent course advances With inoffensive pace, that spinning sleeps On her soft axle, while she paces even, And bears us soft with the smooth air along.”

From this circumstance arises the _apparent_ diurnal revolution of all the heavenly bodies from east to west.

“The motion of the earth,” says an intelligent writer, “has so long ceased to be a disputed question, that the arguments on each side are nearly forgotten; and those who do not scruple to adopt the hypothesis of the earth’s motions, are often less acquainted with the arguments on which it is supported, than they would have been in former times, when their opinions must have been the subjects of fierce contention.” La Place observes, “that if the earth be at rest, and the stars move, the velocity of these latter must be immense; and yet all the purposes thereof might have been answered by a moderate motion of the earth alone. The moon’s distance from the earth is 240,000 miles; of course, the length of the tract which it traverses, if it moves round the earth in 24 hours, is about 1,500,000; that is, at the rate of 62,500 miles an hour, instead of 2,290 miles, which is really the case: consequently, in each second of time, the moon, known to be the slowest of all the heavenly bodies, must move more than seventeen miles. Again, the sun’s mean distance from the earth is about 95,000,000 miles; consequently, the diurnal path of that luminary, if it revolve about our globe in twenty-four hours, must be 580,000,000: and therefore, in a single second, the beat of a clock, he must move nearly 7,000 miles. Upon the same principle; that is, supposing the earth to be the centre of the system, and not the sun, the planet Mars, in a second of time, must travel at the rate of more than 10,000 miles, Jupiter 36,000, and Saturn 62,000. And, lastly, the fixed stars being yet indefinitely more remote from the earth than the sun or Saturn, their motion in or near the equator must be vastly swifter than this. If the earth does not move round the sun, the sun must move with the moon round the earth; now; the distance of the sun to that of the moon is nearly 400 to 1, and the period of the moon being about twenty-eight days, the sun’s period should be, by the law above mentioned, full 600 years, whereas, it is, in fact, but a single year. This consideration was, of itself, thought of weight enough to determine the controversy between the two opinions, and to establish the motion of the earth in its orbit for ever.”

That the shape of the earth was an extended plane, and the visible horizon its utmost bounds, was the opinion of the ancients. But that it is globular, a little raised at the equator, and flattened at the poles, being about thirty-seven miles shorter than at the equator, so as nearly to resemble an orange, is demonstrable on the most evident and unquestionable principles. 1. All the appearances of the heavens, both at land and at sea, are the same as they would be if the earth were a globe. Mariners first begin to lose sight of the lower parts of objects, and then gradually of the higher parts; also, persons on shore first discover the masts before the hull of approaching vessels, and on leaving a port the masts are seen when the hull is out of sight, which must be owing to the convexity of the water between the eye and the object, otherwise the largest and most conspicuous parts would have been visible the longest.

“Behold, when the glad ship shoots from the port Upon full sail, the hulk first disappears, And then the lower, then the higher sails; At length the summit of the towering mast Alone is seen; nor less, when from the ship The longing sailor’s eye in hope of shore: For then, from the top-mast, though more remote Than either deck, the shore is first beheld.”[128]

2. Navigators sailing round the globe, as Magellan, Drake, Lord Anson, Cook, and others, have steered their course directly south and west till they came to the Magellanic sea, and from thence to the north and west, till they returned to their port from the east; and all the phenomena which should naturally arise from the earth’s rotundity, happened to them. Beside, their method of sailing was also founded upon this hypothesis, which could not have succeeded so happily, if the earth had been of any other figure. 3. In all lunar eclipses, the shadow of the earth falling upon the moon is always circular; and a body can be no other than a globe, which in all situations casts a circular shadow. It is true, the surface of the earth is not an exact geometrical globe: but what the earth loses of its sphericity by its inequalities, as writers on this subject have remarked, is very inconsiderable: the highest mountains bearing so little proportion to its bulk, as scarcely to be equivalent to the minutest protuberance on the surface of an orange, or a grain of dust to a common globe.

“These inequalities to us seem great; But to an eye that comprehends the whole, The tumor, which to us so monstrous seems, Is as a grain of sparkling sand that clings To the smooth surface of a sphere of glass; Or as a fly upon the convex dome Of a sublime, stupendous edifice.”

It is not so easy as some imagine, says a German philosopher and divine, to determine exactly the size of the earth. It is true, there is but one longitude; but there are two latitudes, the north and the south. Both of these begin at the equator; the one extends northward, the other southward, as far as the arctic and antarctic poles. But, no one has yet been able to reach either pole. The mountains of ice in Greenland and the Northern Sea, have always obstructed the passage to the north pole: and immense fields, mountains, and islands of ice, have rendered the passage to the south pole impossible. Thanks, however, to the geometricians, we can at present know very nearly the size of our globe. According to the most exact calculations, the surface of the earth is 199,512,595 square miles. The seas and unknown parts of the earth, by a measurement of the best maps, contain 160,522,026 square miles. The inhabited parts contain about 38,990,559 square miles, in the following proportion: Europe--4,456,065; Asia--10,768,823; Africa--9,654,807; America--14,110,874: Hence it appears that scarcely one-third of the globe is habitable. It has been calculated, that there might be at least _three thousand millions_ of men upon the earth at once: but in reality there are no more than about a _thousand and eighty millions_: of which there are, in Asia--650 millions; in Africa--150; in America--150; in Europe--130.

The path traversed by the earth, which, in astronomical language, is called its orbit, is the apparent path of the sun: it is called the _ecliptic_, because eclipses, both solar and lunar, always happen in this circle--also _via solis_, or the sun’s path, because the sun never departs from it; and, therefore, at any time to denote the sun’s place in the heavens, astronomers have divided the whole circle of the earth’s motion in 360 equal parts, which they term _degrees_, and every thirty of these a _sign_, of which there are twelve. In this circle the sun advances nearly one degree every twenty-four hours, and thirty degrees every month; thus passing through the whole 360 degrees in a year. The signs are called by different names, and, with regard to their situations and corresponding seasons and months, they stand in the following order:

_Northern Signs; so denominated as being north of the Equator._

{Aries ♈, the Ram, part of March and April. Spring. {Taurus ♉, the Bull, April and May. {Gemini ♊, the Twins, May and June.

{Cancer ♋, the Crab, June and July. Summer. {Leo ♌, the Lion, July and August. {Virgo ♍, the Virgin, August and September.

_Southern Signs; so called as being south of the Equator._

{Libra ♎, the Balance, September and October. Autumn. {Scorpio ♏, the Scorpion, October and November. {Sagittarius ♐, the Archer, November and December.

{Capricornus ♑, the Goat, December and January. Winter. {Aquarius ♒, the Water-bearer, January and February. {Pisces ♓, the Fishes, February and March.

The order of the signs is thus poetically described by Dr. Watts.

“The Ram, the Bull, the heavenly Twins, And next the Crab the Lion shines, The Virgin and the Scales: The Scorpion, Archer, and Sea-goat, The Man that holds the Water-pot, And Fish with glittering tails.”

Dr. Long observes, that ♈ represents the horns of the ram; ♉ the head and horns of the bull; ♊ the figure of gemini, the twins joining hands and feet; the character cancer ♋ represents the changes of the sun’s declination from north to south, by two lines or figures drawn so as to point two contrary ways; ♌ is the tail of the lion; ♍ was originally the three ears of corn which Virgo held; ♎ is the beam of the balance; ♏ was at first the picture of the scorpion; ♐ the arrow of the Archer; ♑ represents capricorn, the goat-fish; ♒ is a natural representation of the water’s undulating surface; ♓ is the picture of two fishes tied together back to back.

The figures of the twelve signs are supposed by Dr. Jennings, and other astronomers, to be Egyptian hieroglyphics, by which they designed to exhibit some remarkable natural occurrence in each month, as the sun passed through these signs. Thus the first three months, beginning from the vernal equinox, were remarkable for the production of those animals which they most valued, namely, sheep, kine, and goats. The lambs came first, which are represented by their parent, the Ram; next the calves, represented by the Bull; and the kids, which commonly come in pairs, and which, therefore, gave the name to Gemini, the third constellation; which was not at first represented by Two Boys, but by Two Beasts; as referring to the fruitfulness of goats, in producing _twin kids_ about the time when the sun was in that constellation. When, in the fourth month, the sun is arrived at the summer solstice, he discontinues his progress towards the north pole, and begins to go back again to the southward; this retrograde motion the Egyptians expressed by the Crab, which is said to go backwards. The excessive heat that usually follows in the next month, is signified by the Lion; an animal remarkable for his strength and fierceness; or, as others observe, when that animal, driven by thirst from the desert, made his appearance on the banks of the Nile. Nothing could be more proper than the symbol for the harvest: namely, the Virgin reaper or gleaner with an ear of corn in her hand. The seventh constellation, when the sun arrives at the autumnal equinox, is expressed by the Balance or Scales, in equilibrio, because the days and nights, being then of the same length, seemed to indicate an equilibrium like that instrument. October is often a sickly season, when the surfeits acquired in the hot months of the summer produce their fatal effects; the symbol is therefore the Scorpion, who wounds with a sting in his tail, as he recedes; or, according to others, when certain regular winds brought forth a burning vapor like the poison of the scorpion. The diversion of hunting, which is chiefly followed after the fall of the leaf, is designated by Sagittarius, or the archer. The Goat, which is an animal that delights to browse up hill and to climb the highest rocks, is the emblem of the winter solstice, when the sun begins to ascend from the southern tropic, and is continually mounting higher and higher for the ensuing half year. Aquarius, or the Water-bearer, fitly represents the rains, or snows, of the winter. And the Two Fishes in a band, had, it is imagined, reference to the prime fishing season, which began in February.

The names given to our months originated as follows:

The name given to the month of _January_ by the Romans was taken from _Janus_, one of their divinities, to whom they gave two faces; because on the one side, the first day of this month looked towards the new year, and on the other towards the old one. It was called _wolf-monat_ by our Saxon ancestors, on account of the danger they then experienced from wolves. Some etymologists derive _February_ from _Februa_, an epithet given to Juno, as the goddess of purification; while others attribute the origin of the name to _Februa_, a feast held by the Romans in this month, in behalf of the manes of the deceased. The Saxons named February _sprout kele_, on account of the sprouts of the cole-wort which began to appear in this month. Among the Romans, _March_, from Mars, was the first month, and marriages made in this month were accounted unhappy. The Saxons called March _lent-monat_, or _length-moneth_, “because the days did first begin, in length, to exceed the nights.”--_April_ is derived from _Aprilis_, of _aperio_, I open; because the earth, in this month, begins to open her bosom for the production of vegetables. The Saxons called this month _oster-monat_, from the goddess Eoster, or because the winds were found to blow generally from the east in this month.--_May_ is so called from _Maia_, the mother of Mercury, to whom sacrifices were offered by the Romans on the first of this month; or, according to some, from respect to the senators and nobles of Rome, who were named _Majores_, as the following month was termed Junius, in honor of the youth of Rome. The Saxons called May, _tri-milki_, because, in that month, they began to milk their kine three times in the day.--The Saxons called June _weyd-monat_, because their beasts did then _weyd_ or feed in the meadows.--The word _July_ is derived from the Latin _Julius_, the surname of C. Cæsar, the dictator, who was born in it. Mark Antony first gave to this month the name of July, which was before called _Quintilis_, as being the fifth month in the year, in the old Roman calender established by Romulus. July was called by the Saxons, _hew-monat_, or _hey-monat_, because therein they usually mowed, and made their hay-harvest.--_Sextilis_ was the ancient Roman name for _September_, it being the sixth month from March. The Emperor Augustus changed this name, and gave it his own, because in this month Cæsar Augustus took possession of his first consulship, celebrated three triumphs, reduced Egypt under the power of the Roman people, and put an end to all civil wars. “The Saxons called August _arn-monat_ (more rightly _barn-monat_,) intending thereby the then filling of their barnes with corne.” _September_ is composed of _septem_, seven, and the termination _ber_, like _lis_ in _Aprilis_, _Quintilis_, _Sextilis_. This rule will also apply to the three following months, Octo-ber. Novem-ber, Decem-ber. Our Saxon ancestors called it _Gerst-monat_, “for that barley which that moneth commonly yielded was anciently called gerst.”--_October_ was called _Domitianus_ in the time of Domitian: but, after his death, by the decree of the senate, it took the name of October, every one hating the name and memory of so detestable a tyrant. It was called _wyn-monat_, or wine month, by the Saxons--The Saxons called _November wint-monat_, or wind-month, on account of the prevalence of high winds in this month.--_December_ was called _winter-monat_ by the Saxons; but, after they were converted to Christianity, it received the name of _heligh-monat_, or holy month.[129]

The names of our days are of Heathen origin. The seven planets were anciently looked on as presiding over the affairs of the world, and to take it by turns each one hour at a time, according to the following order: Saturn first, then Jupiter, Mars, the Sun, Venus, Mercury, and last of all, the Moon. Hence they denominated each day of the week from the planet whose turn it was to preside the first hour of the nychthemeron, a term compounded of νυξ, _night_, and ἡμερα, _day_, which implies both night and day, and is divided into twenty-four parts, called _hours_. Thus, assigning the first hour of Saturday to Saturn, the second will fall to Jupiter, the third to Mars, and so the twenty-second of the same nychthemeron will fall to Saturn again, and therefore the twenty-third to Jupiter, and the last to Mars: so that on the first hour of the next day, it will fall to the Sun to preside; and by the like manner of reckoning, the first hour of the next will fall to the Moon, of the next to Mars, of the next to Mercury, of the next to Jupiter, and the next to Venus: hence the days of the week came to be distinguished by the Latin names of _Dies Saturni_, _Solis_, _Lunæ_, _Martis_, _Mercurii_, _Jovis_, and _Veneris_. The ancient Saxons had a great many idols, seven of which were appropriated to the seven days of the week, because of some worship that was offered to each idol on its respective day. The northern nations substituted, for the Roman Divinities, such of their own as most nearly resembled them in their peculiar attributes, and hence the derivation of the names now in use. These were Seater, the Sun, the Moon, Tuisco, Woden, Thor, Friga: hence among us the names of Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. For, as Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, plainly denote the day of Saturn, the Sun, and the Moon; so Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, denote the day of Tuisco, Woden, Thor, and Friga, which are the Saxon names respectively answering to Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, and Venus. Verstegan, in his “Restitution of Decayed Intelligence,” describes the Saxon deities who presided over each day of the week, and gives plates of the idols, pp. 74-85.

How amazing it is that this ponderous globe should be suspended in the fluid air, without any visible support, and upheld only by the sovereign will of its almighty Creator! His power, who “hangeth the earth upon nothing,” is inconceivably great; and the revolutions of this globe produce the most beneficial effects. The daily rotation of the earth causes the uniform succession of light and darkness; and its annual motion occasions the difference of the length of the days and nights, and the beautiful diversity of the seasons. Many pious Christians, who read the Scriptures to great personal advantage, but who are unacquainted with the science of astronomy, are apt to doubt the truth of the astronomical principles concerning the shape and motion of the earth, because, as Dr. O. Gregory judiciously observes, they think them contrary to divine revelation. Such persons would do well to consider for what purpose the Holy Scriptures were written, whether as a measure of faith, or as a rule to regulate our philosophical notions? Gassendus, though he does not give a direct answer to the question, has made the following very pertinent observations on the subject. “There are,” says he, “two sacred volumes, the one written, called the Bible; the other Nature, or the World; God having manifested himself by two lights, the one of revelation, and the other of demonstration; accordingly the interpreters of the former are divines; of the latter mathematicians. As to matters of natural knowledge, the mathematicians are to be consulted; and as to objects of faith, the prophets; the former being no less interpreters, or apostles, from God to men than the latter. And as the mathematician would be judged to wander out of his province, if he should pretend to controvert, or set aside any article of faith from principles of geometry; so it must be granted, the divines are no less out of their limits, when they venture to pronounce on a point of natural knowledge, beyond the reach of any not versed in geometry and optics, merely from Holy Scripture, which does not pretend to teach any thing of the matter.”

_Mars_ is the first of the four superior planets in order from the sun, his orbit being immediately beyond that of the earth. He was called by the Greeks Αρης, the supposed god of war, which, says Parkhurst, comes from the Hebrew עריץ _violent_, _destructive_. Costard remarks, “This planet, I suppose, was called ערע _Ara_, ערץ _Aretz_, Αρης, and, in another dialect, מערץ _Ma-aretz_, or _Mars_, in a softer pronunciation, from his _strong glowing brightness_.” He is distinguished from the other planets by the red and fiery appearance, of his disk: whether his ruddy troubled color arises from a natural disposition to reflect the red rays of light best, or from a thick atmosphere attending it, is rather uncertain; but it is generally attributed to the density of his atmosphere.

“In larger circuit rolls the orb of Mars, Guiltless of stern debate, and wasteful wars, As some have erring taught: he journies on, Impell’d and nourish’d by the attractive sun; Like us, his seasons and his days he owes To the vast bounty which from Phœbus flows.”

His figure, like that of the earth, is an oblate spheroid. His mean distance from the sun is 145,000,000 miles, and he travels round that common centre of gravity in about 687 of our days, or 1 year, 321 days, 22 hours, 18 minutes, 27 seconds, which is nearly equal to two of our years; and therefore his velocity in his orbit is at the rate of 55,000 miles an hour. He has likewise a rotation upon his axis, which is performed in 1 day, 39 minutes, 22 seconds. This was discovered by means of spots seen on his surface. Dr. Hook, in 1665, observed several spots, which, having a motion, he concluded that the planet revolved upon its axis. In 1666, M. Cassini saw several spots in the two hemispheres of Mars, which, by continuing his observations very diligently, he found to move from east to west, and to return in the space of 24 hours, 40 minutes, to their former situation. Whence both the motion and period, or natural day of this planet, were determined. In 1781, Dr. Herschell observed the spots of Mars very minutely, from the motion of which he has found his rotation upon his axis to be performed in 24 hours, 39 minutes, 21-2/3 seconds; and he says that there cannot be more than two seconds of uncertainty in this result. The different seasons will take place on this planet very much like what they are known to do upon our earth, with this difference, that the seasons there will be almost as long again as with us, on account of the time he takes in moving round the sun being nearly twice as long as our year. The diameter of Mars being 4,135 miles, he is about 2/11, or less than a fifth, and more than a sixth part as large as the earth; and if any moon attend him, she must be very small, for it has not yet been discovered by the best telescopes of our most eminent astronomers; if without a moon, walking his round in perpetual solitude, he must consequently want that division of time, which, from the moon’s revolution round the earth, is called a month.

From the greater distance of Mars in his orbit than our earth is, the inhabitants there will scarcely see Mercury, unless it be when he appears on the sun’s face, and passes over him like a dark spot, in the same manner as he sometimes does to us. Venus will to them appear somewhat similar to the appearances of Mercury to our earth, the apparent distance from the sun being nearly the same to them as Mercury is to us. Our earth to them, also, will be an inferior planet, or within his orbit, being nearer to the sun, in a way similar to what Venus appears to us, and will alternately be a morning or evening star; and our moon, which will always be seen to accompany her, when in a position to have the benefit of the sun’s light, will not be seen at a greater distance, than about a semi-diameter of the sun or moon from it.

This planet being half as far again from the sun as our earth is, his light and heat are not half so much as our own. When in opposition to the sun, he is found to be five times nearer to us than when in conjunction; and, therefore, he appears so much bigger and brighter at one time than another. In 1719, his apparent magnitude and brightness were so much increased, that, by the uninformed, he was taken for a new star.

The telescopic appearance of Mars is very variable. This planet exhibits larger and more remarkable spots than any of the others. The belts and cloudy appearances are found to change their shape and arrangement frequently. The predominant brightness of the polar regions leads to the supposition that those parts of his surface, like the poles of the earth, are intensely frozen, or always covered with snow; and Dr. Herschell imagines that the changes in brightness are connected with the summer and winter seasons on that planet. The phases of Mars were first discovered by Galileo. Having his light from the sun, and revolving round it, he has an increase and decrease like the moon. At his quadratures, he appears gibbous, but never horned, like Venus, Mercury, and the Moon; which shows, that his orbit includes that of the earth, and that it is from the sun that he receives his light.

Between the orbit of Mars and that of Jupiter, the smaller planetary bodies, lately discovered, revolve. _Ceres_ was discovered on the 1st of January, 1801, by M. Piazzi, astronomer at Palermo, in the island of Sicily. When viewed through a good telescope, it is of a ruddy color, appears to be of the size of a star of the eighth magnitude, and surrounded with a dense atmosphere. Her mean distance from the sun is 260,000,000 miles; and her revolution is performed in 4 years, 7 months, 10 days. Dr. Herschell and Schroëter differ very much as to the magnitude of this planet; the former says the diameter is only 160 miles, but the latter makes it more than ten times greater, or 1,624 miles. _Pallas_ was discovered on the 28th of March, 1802, by Dr. Olbers, of Bremen. Its mean distance from the sun 270,000,000 miles; its diameter 80 miles; and it performs its revolution in about 4 years, 280 days. _Juno_ was discovered on the 1st of September, 1804, by M. Harding, of Lilienthal. Its mean distance from the sun is 290,000,000 miles; and its diameter is 119 miles, and the time of revolution round the sun 5 years, 181 days. _Vesta_ was discovered by Dr. Olbers, on the 29th of March, 1807. It is nearer to Mars than either of the other newly discovered planets; and the revolution through its orbit is performed in less time. The size of this planet is not known. Its light is more intense, pure, and white, than any of the other three.

A century and half ago it was conjectured, says a very intelligent author, that there must be a planet between the orbits of Jupiter and Mars, on account of the distance subsisting between those two planets. The discovery of Ceres confirmed this happy conjecture; but the opinion which it seemed to establish respecting the harmony of the solar system, appeared to be completely overturned by the discovery of Pallas and Juno. Dr. Olbers, willing to find a theory that should account for the facts newly ascertained, imagined that these small celestial bodies were merely the fragments of a larger planet, which had burst asunder by some internal convulsion, and that several more might yet be discovered between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. He therefore concluded, that though the orbits of all these fragments might be differently inclined to the ecliptic, yet, as they must have all diverged from the same point, they ought to have two common points of re-union, or two nodes in opposite regions of the heavens, through which all the planetary fragments must sooner or later pass. One of these nodes Dr. Olbers found to be in Virgo, and the other in the Whale; and it was actually in the latter of these regions that M. Harding discovered the planet Juno. With the intention, therefore, of detecting other fragments of the supposed planet, Dr. Olbers examined, thrice every year, all the little stars in the opposite constellation of the Virgin and the Whale, till his labors were crowned with success, by the discovery of a new planet in the constellation of Virgo, to which he gave the name of Vesta.

The existence of four planets between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, (continues the same author,) revolving round the sun at nearly the same distances, and differing from all the other planets in their diminutive size, and in the form and position of their orbits, is acknowledged to be one of the most singular phenomena in the history of astronomy. The discordance of these phenomena with the regularity of the planetary distances, and with the general harmony of the system, naturally suggests the opinion, that the inequalities in this part of the system were produced by some great convulsion, and that the four planets, as we have already hinted, are the fragments of a large celestial body, which once existed between Mars and Jupiter. To suppose them independent planets, as they must necessarily be if they did not originally form one, their diminutive size, the great eccentricity and inclination of their orbits, and their numerous intersections, when projected on the plane of the ecliptic, are phenomena absolutely inexplicable on every principle of science, and subversive of that harmony and order which before the discovery of these bodies, seemed to pervade the planetary system. Admitting, however, the hypothesis that these planetary bodies, are the remains of a larger body, which circulated round the sun, nearly in the orbit of the greatest fragment, the system resumes its order, and we discover a regular procession in the distances of the planets, and a general harmony in the form and position of their orbits. But, independently of analogical reasoning, the elements of the new planets furnish several direct arguments, drawn from the eccentricity and inclination of their orbits, and from the position of their perihelia and nodes; and all concurring to show, that the four new planets have diverged from one point, and have, therefore, been originally combined in a larger body.

_Jupiter_ is the largest of all the planetary bodies, and, next to Venus the brightest. He was called by the Greeks Ζευς, which is from ζεω, _to be hot_, or, says Parkhurst, immediately from the Hebrew זי _to shine_, compounded, perhaps, with יש _substance_, q.d. _the shining substance_; a name very justly given to this planet, on account of his strong and clear light.

----“In distant skies Revolves the mighty magnitude of Jove, With kingly state, the rival of the sun.”

His mean distance from the sun is 490,000,000 miles, and his diameter is 89,170 miles, or more than 11 times that of the earth, and therefore his magnitude is 1,400 times greater than our earth; of course, as the surface of a globe increases according to the square of its diameter, our earth will, to the inhabitants of Jupiter, appear 121 times less than this noble planet appears to us. His revolution round the sun, from east to west, is performed in 11 years, 315 days, 14 hours, 39 minutes, 2 seconds, which is nearly twelve of our years; and his motion in his orbit is 29,000 miles an hour. He performs his diurnal rotation upon his axis in 9 hours, 55 minutes, 33 seconds, by which motion his equatorial parts are carried round at the amazing rate of 26,000 miles an hour, which is about twenty-five times the velocity of the like parts of our earth. He has, of course, a rapid succession of days, as the poet observes,

“In ample compass Jove conducts his sphere, And later finishes his tedious year; Yet swiftly on his axle turn’d, regains The frequent aid of day to warm his plains.”

The axis of Jupiter is nearly perpendicular to his orbit, so that he has no sensible change of seasons. This is not the work of chance, as Dr. O. Gregory observes, but wisely ordered by the Divine Architect; for if the axis of this planet were inclined any considerable number of degrees, so many degrees round each pole would be almost six years together in darkness. And as each degree of a great circle on this planet contains more than 700 miles, it is natural to conceive, that vast tracts of land would be rendered uninhabitable by any considerable inclination of his axis.

The appearance of this planet, through a telescope, opens a vast field for interesting inquiry. His surface is not equally bright, but variegated with certain bands, or belts, of a dusky appearance: they run parallel to each other, and are continued round the body of the planet. They are not regular or constant in their appearance: sometimes only one is seen; at other times six or eight. The breadth of them is likewise variable; one belt is sometimes becoming narrow, while another, in its neighborhood, grows broader as if one had flowed into the other: in these cases, an oblique belt has been observed to be between them, as if for the purpose of establishing a communication. Sometimes, one or more spots are formed between the belts, which increase till the whole is united in a large dusky belt. There are also bright spots to be discovered on Jupiter’s surface; these are rather more permanent than the belts, and re-appear after unequal intervals of time. The remarkable spot, by whose motion the rotation of Jupiter upon his own axis was first ascertained, disappeared in the year 1694, and was not seen again till 1708, when it re-appeared exactly in the same place, and has been occasionally seen ever since.

Jupiter is enlightened by four moons, or satellites, each of them larger than that with which we are supplied, and which revolve at different distances from that planet. In the solar system the moons, or satellites, revolve round their respective primary planets as centres, in the same manner as the primary planets revolve round the sun. By means of Jupiter’s satellites, a method has been obtained for demonstrating that the motion of light is progressive, and not instantaneous, as was formerly supposed; which discovery is important to the interests of science. M. Huygens, in his Treatise on Light, concludes from these eclipses, that light transmits itself about 600,000 times faster than sound.

Distances and Revolutions of Jupiter’s Satellites.

Revolution. Distance. _d._ _h._ _m._ 1st Satellite 250,000 1 18 36 2d 401,000 3 13 15 3d 648,000 7 3 59 4th 1,128,000 16 18 30

They are thus referred to by Mallet:

“About him round _four_ planetary moons, On earth with wonder all night long beheld, Moon above moon, his fair attendants dance.”

To a spectator placed on the surface of Jupiter, each of the satellites would put on the phases of the moon; but as the distance of any of them from Jupiter is but small, when compared with the distance of that planet from the sun, the satellites are therefore illuminated by the sun very nearly in the same manner with the primary itself; hence they appear to us always round, having constantly the greatest part of their enlightened half turned towards the earth: and indeed they are so small, that were they to put on the phases of the moon, these phases could scarcely be discerned through the best telescopes. When the satellites pass through their inferior semicircles, they may cast a shadow upon their primary, and thus cause an eclipse of the sun to his inhabitants; and in some situations this shadow may be observed going before or following the satellite. On the other hand, in passing through their superior semicircles, the satellites may be eclipsed in the same manner as our moon by passing through the shadow of Jupiter: and this is actually the case with the first, second, and third; but the fourth, by reason of the extent of its orbit, passes sometimes above or below the shadow, as is the case with our moon.

These satellites were first discovered on the 7th of January, 1610, by the celebrated Galileo, who called them _Medician Stars_, in honor of the family of the Medici, dukes of Tuscany, his patrons. These satellites, revolving about Jupiter at different distances, from west to east, when viewed through a telescope, make a beautiful appearance. As our moon revolves round the earth, enlightening the nights, by reflecting the light she receives from the sun; so these satellites, revolving round Jupiter, may also be supposed to enlighten the nights of that planet.

_Saturn_ is a very conspicuous planet, though he shines with a pale and feeble light, very unlike that of Jupiter and the other planets. He was called by the Greeks φαινων. “From the account given by Diodorus Siculus,” says Costard, “it seems as if the Chaldeans called this planet by some name not widely different from this of the Greeks. In the language of Chaldea, the verb פנא _phana_, or פנה _phanah_, signifies _convertere se_, _divertere se_, _declinare_. And whatever _vanishes_, or _disappears_, very properly _declines_, or _turns aside_, from our view. This planet, therefore, was most probably called פן _phen_, or פין _phain_, and, with a Greek termination, φαινων, on account of his _withdrawing_ himself, by reason of his distance. And this conjecture is yet further confirmed from his name in another dialect, or among another people. For from סתר _sater, latuit, abscondit se_, with the paragogic ן _nun_ which is not unusual in the formation of Eastern words, comes the word סתרן _Saturn_, and with the Latin termination _us, Saturnus_.”

His mean distance from the sun is 900,000,000 miles, consequently his motion in his orbit is proportionably slow; and his annual revolution round the sun, from west to east, being so much longer likewise than that of the other planets, he takes 29 years, 164 days, 7 hours, 21 minutes, 50 seconds, which is almost _thirty_ of our years, to accomplish it, in his orbit travelling with a velocity of 22,000 miles an hour. His diameter is 79,000 miles; and his magnitude is about 1,000 times that of the earth. The time of rotation upon his axis is 10 hours, 17 minutes.

“Still further off, scarce warm’d by Phœbus’ ray, Through his wide orbit, Saturn wheels away; How great the change, could we be wafted there! How slow the seasons! and how long the year!”

There is a singular and curious appendage to Saturn, namely, a thin, broad, opake ring, encompassing the body of the planet, without touching it; like the horizon of an artificial globe; it appears to be suspended round the planet, and to keep its place without any immediate connection with it. The distance of this prodigious circle from the body of the planet is usually stated to be about 21,000 miles.

The dimensions of the ring, or of the two rings with the space between them, Dr. Herschell has given as follows:

Miles. Inner diameter of the smaller ring 146,345 Outside diameter of ditto 184,393 Inner diameter of the larger ring 190,248 Outside diameter of ditto 204,883 Breadth of the inner ring 20,000 Breadth of the outer ring 7,200 Breadth of the vacant space, or dark zone 2,839

It puts on different appearances to us, sometimes being seen quite open, or as a wide oval, and at others, only as a single line. When our eye is in the plane of the ring, or looking at it directly on the edge, it is invisible to us; and it is in this situation twice in each revolution of the planet; that is, once in about fifteen years: at these times, he appears quite round, for nine or ten months together. The ring was invisible to us on the 15th of June, 1803, and, since that time, gradually increased in light and breadth for about seven years: and, after which, has again decreased, till, as before, after an interval of fifteen years, in the present year 1818, the ring is again edgewise to us, and invisible. With telescopes of great magnifying power, two belts or stripes have been discovered on Saturn; they appear parallel to the ring, and are supposed to be permanent. Of what component materials this ring is composed, or by what means it is suspended, we as yet remain ignorant: but of its use, it is supposed to supply light and heat to the planet, agreeably to the observation of a poet who has evinced an extensive acquaintance with philosophy.

“Muse! raise thy voice, mysterious truth to sing, How o’er the copious orb a lucid ring, Opake and broad, is seen its arch to spread, Round the big globe at stated periods led; Perhaps (its use unknown) with gather’d heat To aid the regions of that gelid seat, The want of nearer Phœbus to supply, And warm with reflex beams his summer sky; Else might the high-plac’d world, expos’d to frost, Lie waste, in one eternal winter lost.”

Besides the ring, Saturn is also furnished with seven attendant moons, or satellites, which move around him at different distances, in a way similar to those of Jupiter.

Distances and Revolutions of Saturn’s Satellites.

Revolution. Distance. _d._ _h._ _m._ _s._ 1st Satellite 172,000 1 21 18 26 2d 217,000 2 17 44 51 3d 315,000 4 12 25 11 4th 705,000 15 22 41 14 5th 2,126,000 79 7 53 42 6th 137,000 1 8 53 9 7th 107,000 0 22 37 30

The sixth and seventh satellites were discovered by Dr. Herschell in 1787 and 1788: they are nearer to Saturn than any of the other five; but, to prevent confusion, they have been called the 6th and 7th. The 5th satellite has been observed by Dr. Herschell to turn once round its axis, exactly in the time in which it revolves round Saturn: in this respect it resembles our moon. Their distance from us is so far, as not to be easily visible, even with a good telescope, unless the air be exceedingly clear.

It was for ages that astronomical science limited the solar system to six planets, and Saturn was considered as its utmost extent. Vitruvius, speaking of the planet Saturn, says, that star “is near the extremity of the world, and touches the frozen regions of heaven.” He did not understand the extent of our planetary system.

It is to the indefatigable application of Dr. Herschell that we are indebted for the discovery of a new planet, which is the fourth of the superior ones then known, and, being at twice the distance of Saturn from the sun, has quadrupled the bounds formerly assigned to the solar system. This planet was discovered on the 13th of March, 1781, and is called by different names: the discoverer bestowed upon it that of _Georgium Sidus_, in honor of our present venerable and beloved sovereign; by the French it is called _Herschell_, and by the Italians, _Uranus_. This important discovery is very deservedly noticed by the Poet Laureat, in his Ode entitled “Carmen Seculare for the year 1800.”

“Mathesis with uplifted eye, Tracing the wonders of the sky, Beholds new constellations rise, New systems crown the argent skies; Views with new lustre round the glowing pole, Wide his stupendous orb the _Georgian Planet_ roll.”

On the 11th January, 1787, Dr. Herschell discovered the second and fourth satellites which attend his own planet the Georgium Sidus; and in the following years, previously to 1791, he observed four others revolving round the same body. Though this celebrated astronomer was the first who discovered the Georgium Sidus to be one of the planets of the solar system, yet no doubt can be entertained of its having been before observed and considered as a fixed star. Flamsteed in 1690, Mayer in 1756, and Monnier in 1769, determined the places of three stars which cannot now be found. And M. La Place, according to his theory of Jupiter and Saturn, has found that the Georgium Sidus was _exactly_ in those three points at those very times. These truly singular occurrences leave no doubt of the identity of these three stars with the new planet. The lines which Mallet applied to Saturn are now, with a little alteration, more applicable to the Georgium Sidus, or Herschell planet.

“Last, outmost Herschell walks his frontier round, The boundary of worlds; with his pale moons, Faint-glimmering through the darkness night has thrown, Deep-dy’d and dead, o’er this chill globe forlorn: An endless desert, where extreme of cold Eternal sits, as in his native seat, On wintry hills of never-thawing ice; Such Herschell’s earth.”

His mean distance from the sun is about 1,800,000,000 miles, and he performs his revolution from west to east round the sun in 83 years, 294 days, 8 hours, 39 minutes; and in his orbit he moves with a velocity of 15,846 miles an hour. His diameter is 4½ times larger than that of the earth, being more than 35,000 miles; and his magnitude is 80½ times larger than that of the earth. The orbit in which he revolves is nineteen times further from the sun than the earth’s orbit; consequently he has 361 times less light and heat from the sun than we have. Notwithstanding this, his proportion of light is considerable; for having been calculated, it is found to be equal to the effect of 284 of our full moons. When the sky is very serene and clear, and the moon absent, this planet may be perceived with the naked eye, unassisted by a telescope: and it appears as a star of the fifth magnitude, with a blueish white light, and a brilliancy between that of Venus and the Moon.

The want of light arising from the great distance of this planet from the sun, is supplied by six satellites, which revolve at different distances round their primary.

Distances and Revolutions of the Satellites of the Georgium Sidus.

Revolution. Distance. _d._ _h._ _m._ _s._ 1st Satellite 226,450 5 21 25 0 2d 293,053 8 17 0 0 3d 342,784 10 23 0 0 4th 392,514 13 11 0 0 5th 785,028 38 1 49 0 6th 1,570,057 107 7 35 10

All these satellites, it has been said, perform their revolutions in their orbits contrary to the order of the signs; that is, their real motion is retrograde, but probably, as suggested by Dr. Hutton, this is an optical illusion.[130] As the indefatigable Dr. Herschell has already discovered six satellites belonging to this planet, does not its immense distance from the sun leave some ground for conjecture, that there may remain some undiscovered, and that his attendants are as numerous, if not more so, than those of Saturn?

Characters used for the Sun, Moon, and Planets.

☉ The Sun ☽ The Moon ☿ Mercury ♀ Venus ⊕ The Earth ♂ Mars ♃ Jupiter ♄ Saturn ♅ Herschell, or Georgium Sidus.

The mark which characterises the planet Herschell is the initial of the discoverer’s name, intersected by a cross bar to represent a cross, by which to denote that the discovery of the planet took place after the birth of Christ.

Astronomy produces calculations concerning the magnitudes, distances, and revolutions of the planets, and their respective satellites, which, to the uninformed, appear absurd, chimerical, and presumptuous; while, probably, they laugh at such notions as were received among men, when even the wisest of them were weak enough to believe, that the earth was an immense plain, situated in the centre of the universe; that the vault of heaven was of crystal; and that the sun was no other than a plate of red hot iron, about as large as the Peloponnessus. The following thoughts, communicated by my much esteemed friend Thomas Exley, A. M. may assist such persons to entertain more favorable sentiments of the science of astronomy, and also serve to enlarge their views of the Supreme Being.

“Many persons who have not had the advantages of proper instruction in mathematical science, cannot be persuaded that it is in the power of man to ascertain the distances of the sun, moon, and planets, and, of course, pay little regard to the assertions of astronomers on this subject. Sometimes, they are bold enough to say the thing is impossible, because no one has ever been to any of those bodies. Let such persons consider, that it is not necessary to go to a remote object in order to measure its distance; for that purpose, it will be sufficient to know the length of a line at the place of the spectator, and the inclination of this line to two others directed from its extremities to the object; for, on the length of this line, and the position of the two others, depends the distance of the object from the ends of that line.

“Thus, if I wish to know the distance of a neighboring tower, or other object beyond a river, or in some other way inaccessible; I measure any convenient line terminating in my station, and by some instrument proper for measuring angles, I ascertain the position of my measured line to the lines connecting its extreme points and the object. On these data depends the distance, and from this line and these angles accurately measured, the exact distance may be with great ease truly found. It is on similar principles that astronomers investigate the distances of the heavenly bodies. They take as the given or measured line, which may be called the base, some line on the earth, the semi-diameter for instance, as being the most convenient. The angle formed, or rather contained by two lines drawn from the sun or planet to the ends of the semi-diameter of the earth, is called the parallax, because it shows the difference of the apparent situation of the object as seen from the extremities of the semi-diameter, that is, it measures the arc of a great circle in the heavens contained between its two apparent places. Hence to ascertain its parallax, or difference of the apparent place when the object is viewed from the other end of the semi-diameter, becomes a problem of great importance in astronomy; for this being truly discovered, the distance of the planet will be obtained with the utmost exactitude. If any other line besides the semi-diameter of the earth, whose length and position are known, be used as a base, and the parallax in respect of this line be found, the same conclusions will follow. The chief difficulty in this affair arises from the smallness of the angle to be measured, which is a consequence of the greatness of the distance in respect of the earth’s semi-diameter. Several ingenious methods have been proposed and employed by astronomers to discover the distances of the sun and planets, but nothing serves this purpose so well as the transits of Venus over the sun’s disk. At certain periods, which can be foretold by astronomers, this planet passes exactly between us and the sun, and is seen as a dark round spot for some hours, moving in a line across the sun’s face or disk. The observer should be furnished with a good chronometer, or pendulum clock with seconds, to note the time of the transit; and good instruments, to take the apparent diameters of the sun and Venus, and her greatest distance from the sun’s limb while passing over his disk: from these observations, and the known phenomena of the motions of the earth and Venus, the parallax may be found. But if two observers, at very distant places of the earth properly chosen, make these observations, the parallax may be obtained with much greater ease and nicety; because the distance of the apparent tracks of Venus across the sun as seen from the two places, and also the difference of the time of the passage, arises from the parallax of Venus and that of the sun. The two last transits, which happened in the years 1761 and 1769, were carefully observed for this purpose; and it is to the results of these observations that the present astronomers are indebted for their more accurate knowledge of the distances of the planets, and the dimensions of the solar system.

“It should be observed, that if the parallax, and consequently the distance of any one of the planets by any means becomes known, the same is easily obtained for each of the other planets, from the relation which has been clearly discovered to subsist between the periodical times of revolution of the planets round the sun, and their distances from that central luminary. Astronomers have most decidedly proved that the square of the time in which any planet revolves is to the square of the time in which any other revolves, as the cube of the distance of the first, is to the cube of the distance of the other; and since all the times are known from observation, if the distance of any one be determined, there is no difficulty at all to find the distances of all the other planets from the sun.

“It has also been matter of great surprise to the unlearned, that astronomers should pretend to tell the magnitudes of the sun and planets. But this is no difficult problem when the distance is known. The _apparent_ diameter is readily found from observation, and on this and the distance depends the _true_ diameter. If the apparent diameters of two objects be equal, the true diameter of the one will be greater as it is more remote; and the apparent diameter of any object will increase as the distance of it from the observer diminishes. From this every one sees, that a knowledge of the distance of the object is an indispensible element for finding its bulk; and, according to the accuracy of the measure of the distance, will be that of the measure of the magnitude, provided the apparent distance be truly taken; and this, in the present improved state of our instruments, presents no obstacle. There can be no doubt but that astronomers are very near the truth in the numbers which they now give us for expressing the distances and magnitudes of the sun and planets.

“The telescope has been of singular use to the astronomer; it has shown him many phenomena of the heavenly bodies, concerning which he would otherwise have been totally ignorant. It is by the assistance of this noble instrument that we have attained to the knowledge of the rotations of the sun and planets, the phases of Venus and Mercury, Saturn’s ring, and many other particulars exceedingly interesting. The telescope has discovered several planets which otherwise would have revolved in their courses unknown and unnoticed by the inhabitants of this globe; it has informed us that several of the planets have moons moving round them, as our moon revolves round the earth; besides, it has presented to our view an innumerable multitude of fixed stars which without this assistance we should never have seen.

“It is no wonder that great efforts have been made to improve this excellent instrument; these efforts have been attended with great success, and what may be further done in this respect we cannot tell; however, there is a limit to the improvements of the telescope, for after it has attained a certain degree of magnifying power, the motes and vapors in the atmosphere would be so magnified as to occupy its whole field of view, and thus render it a useless incumbrance.”

Who can contemplate the power which produced the solar system, at once so magnificent, beautiful, and delightful, without astonishment and admiration? The planets are kept in a regular motion, and retained in an invariable course round the sun, by the power of this luminary’s attraction or gravity. These bodies have a projectile force, being propelled forwards in a right line, which is the nature of all simple motion; but the sun’s attraction combining with their own projectile force, withdraws them from their rectilineal courses, and preserves the most perfect harmony in the system. This wonderful mechanism was originally impressed on the system by its infinitely wise and omnipotent Creator; to which primary impulse it has with undeviating uniformity adhered, having never suffered in its operations from the greatest distance of space, or intervals of time!

Surely no power less than that which at first gave existence and modification to matter, is equal to the government of the world. The solar orb and the planetary bodies could no more subsist in their present form and order, without a Divine, supporting, and directing hand, than they could at the beginning make themselves. What is that general law or force called _gravitation_, without which the whole frame of nature would soon be dissolved? Is it not a power constantly issuing from the Deity, and which if he should suspend but for one moment, the whole creation would sink into ruins? How inconceivably great and operative must that power be, that is present throughout the universe, with all the heavenly orbs to preserve them in their courses; and on this earth, with every creature, and every particle of matter, to preserve its present form!

In addition to the planets and their satellites, there are _Comets_, which revolve round the sun, and, consequently, are a part of the solar system. They have often a long tail, in appearance resembling hair, issuing from that side which is turned away from the sun. Comets are popularly divided into three kinds, namely, bearded, tailed, and hairy: but this arrangement seems to apply rather to the different circumstances of the same comet, than to the phenomena of several. Thus, when a comet is eastward of the sun, and moves with him, it is said to be bearded, because the light precedes it in the manner of a beard: but when it is westward of him, it is said to be tailed, because the train of light follows it in the manner of a tail: and, lastly, when the sun and comet are diametrically opposite, the earth being between them, the train is hid behind the body of the comet, excepting the extremities, which being broader than the body of the comet, appear round it like a border of hair (_coma_), from which circumstance it is said to be hairy, and is denominated a comet.

Without attending to the variety of opinions which philosophers and astronomers have entertained concerning the nature and use of comets, we may affirm, that they have been considered as alarming phenomena, displayed by the Divine Being to warn mankind of the near approach of some dreadful calamity, such as wars, pestilence, and famine. This opinion prevailed during the dark ages between the decline of the Roman empire, and the dawn of the Reformation. To this apprehension some of our modern poets have alluded in strong and descriptive language. Young says,

“Hast thou ne’er seen the comet’s flaming light? Th’ illustrious stranger passing, terror sheds On gazing nations, from his fiery train Of length enormous; takes his ample round Through depths of ether; coasts unnumber’d worlds Of more than solar glory; doubles wide Heaven’s mighty cape; and then revisits earth, From the long travel of a thousand years.”

Milton uses still greater strength of language when he compares his hero to a comet:

“Incensed with indignation, Satan stood Unterrified, and like a comet burn’d That fines the length of Ophiucus huge In the arctic sky, and from his horrid hair Shakes pestilence and war.”

Similar ideas are finely expressed by Savage:

“In fancy’s eye encount’ring armies glare, And sanguine ensigns wave unfurled in air! Hence the deep vulgar deem impending fate, A monarch ruined, or unpeopled state. Thus comets, dreadful visitants! arise, To _them_ wild omens, science to the _wise_, These mark the comet to the sun incline, While deep red flames around its centre shine! While its fierce rear a winding trail displays, And lights all ether with a sweeping blaze! Or when, compell’d, it flies the torrid zone, And shoots by worlds unnumbered and unknown; By worlds, whose people, all aghast with fear, May view that minister of vengeance near.”

Notwithstanding the present improved state of astronomical science, it is evident that the philosophy of comets is very imperfect. Kepler, though in other respects a very great genius, and to whose useful labors astronomy is deeply indebted, indulged in the most extravagant conjectures; he imagined that the planets were large animals, swimming round the sun: and that the comets were animals still more huge and monstrous, which had been generated in the celestial spaces. Jean Bodin, a learned Frenchman of the 16th century, entertained an opinion, if possible, still more absurd and ridiculous. He maintained that the comets are spirits, which having lived on the earth innumerable ages, and being at last arrived on the confines of death, celebrated their last triumph, or are recalled to the firmament like shining stars! Mr. Whiston was of opinion, that comets are so many hells, appointed in their orbits alternately to carry the damned into the confines of the sun, there to be scorched by its violent heat, and then to return with them beyond the orb of Saturn, there to starve them in those cold and dismal regions. Thus

“Born in an age more curious than devout; More fond to fix the place of heaven or hell, Than studious this to shun, or that secure.”[131]

James Bernoulli, in his Systema Cometarum, says, that comets are no other than the satellites of some very distant planet, which is itself invisible to us on account of its vast distance, as are also the satellites, unless when they are in that part of their orbits which is nearest the earth. Comets, according to Des Cartes, were formerly fixed stars: but which becoming gradually covered with maculæ, and at length wholly deprived of their light, cannot keep their places, but are carried off by the vortices of the circumjacent stars; and in proportion to their magnitude and solidity, moved in such a manner as to be brought nearer the orb of Saturn; and thus, coming within reach of the sun’s light, are rendered visible.

Aristotle, Seneca, Plutarch, and others, testify, that the Pythagoreans, and the whole Italian sect, maintained, that a comet was a kind of planet or wandering star, which appeared again after a long interval of time. Hippocrates Chius was of the same opinion as Aristotle informs us. Democritus held also the same opinion, as Seneca tells us in his “Natural Questions;” book vii, chap. 3, “For,” says he, “Democritus, the most curious and subtle of all the ancients, suspected that there were many more stars which moved, meaning by this expression the comets; but he neither established their number, or their names, the courses of the five planets not having as yet been discovered.” Again, Seneca assures us, that Apollonius Myndius, one of the most skilful philosophers in the search of natural causes, asserted, that the Chaldeans reckoned comets among the other wandering stars, and that they knew their courses. Apollonius himself maintained, that a comet was a star of its own kind, as the sun and moon are, but that its course was not yet known; that by its motions it mounts very high in the heavens, and only appears when it descends into the lower part of its orbit. And Seneca himself embraces this opinion in the following truly philosophical words: “I cannot believe,” says he, “that a comet is a fire suddenly kindled, but that it ought to be ranked among the eternal works of nature. A comet has its proper place, and is not easily moved from thence; it goes its course, and is not extinguished, but runs off from us. But you will say, if it were a wandering star it would keep in the zodiac. But who can set one boundary to all the stars? Who can restrain the works of the Divinity to a narrow compass? For each of those bodies, which you imagine to be the only ones that have motion, have very different circles; why, therefore, may there not be some that have peculiar ways of their own, wherein they recede far from the rest? But that their courses may be known, it is necessary to have a collection of all the ancient observations about comets; for their appearances are so rare, that their orbits are not yet determined; nor can we as yet find whether they have their periods, or whether they return again in a certain order.”--“The time will come,” continues he, “wherein these things which are now hid from us will be discovered; which observation, and the diligence of after ages, will find out. For it is not one age that is sufficient for so great matters: the time will be when posterity will wonder that we were ignorant of things so plain; one will arise who will demonstrate in what regions of space the comets wander, why they recede so far from the other planets; how great and what sort of bodies they are.”[132] The period, predicted by Seneca, in the first century of the Christian era, is not yet arrived. “After all that has been done and written on the subject of comets,” says a late writer, “we must confess, that our knowledge of these wandering bodies is still very imperfect.” “It appears to me,” says La Lande, “that almost every thing depends on comets. The only thing that I recommend to my correspondents, is to look after and attend to comets: the knowledge of comets is alone wanting to complete the science of astronomy.”

Several ages elapsed before this prediction of Seneca seemed likely to be fulfilled. Tycho Brahé was the first who attempted to restore the comets to their proper rank in creation. Having diligently observed the comet of 1577, and finding that it had no sensible diurnal parallax, he very properly determined its true place to be among the other revolving bodies in the planetary regions, as appears by his book De Cometa, 1577. And Sir Isaac Newton, from his amazing discoveries, gives the following theory of comets: “They are,” says he, “compact, solid, fixed, and durable bodies; in fact, a kind of planets, which move in very oblique and eccentric orbits, every way with the greatest freedom; persevering in their motions even against the course and direction of the planets: and their tail is a very thin and slender vapor, emitted by the head or nucleus of the comet, ignited or heated by the sun.”

Various conjectures have been formed concerning the nature of the tails of comets. Dr. Hamilton, of Dublin, in the second of his Philosophical Essays, urges several objections against the Newtonian hypothesis: he remarks, that, since the tail of a comet, though exceedingly rare, meets with no resistance in its rapid motion round the sun (except so slight a one as can only cause a very small condensation on that side of it which moves foremost, and thereby may make it a little brighter than the other side), it cannot possibly move in a medium denser and heavier than itself, and therefore cannot be raised up from the sun by the superior gravity of such a medium. And since the stars seen through all parts of a comet’s tail appear in their proper places, and with their usual colors, he infers that the rays of light suffer no refraction in passing through the tail; therefore, since bodies reflect and refract light by one and the same power, he concludes that the matter of a comet’s tail has not the power of refracting or reflecting light, and is, of consequence, a lucid or self shining substance. Also from what astronomers say of the splendor of comets’ tails, it is manifest they do not shine with such a dull light as would be reflected to us by the clouds or vapors at so great a distance, but with a brisker though a glimmering light, such as would arise from a very thin, volatile, burning matter. Dr. Halley, speaking of the great streams of light in the remarkable aurora borealis seen in 1716, says, “they so much resembled the long tails of comets, that at first sight they might be taken for such:” and afterwards, “this light seems to have a great affinity to that which the effluvia of electric bodies emit in the dark.” Dr. Hamilton improves upon these hints: and since, as he shows, the tails of comets, the aurora borealis, and the electric fluid, agree remarkably, not only in their appearance, but also in such properties as we can observe of each of them, he concludes that they are substances of the same nature. And, because the electric matter, from its vast subtility and velocity, seems capable of making great excursions from the planetary system, he imagines that the several comets, in their long excursions from the sun in all directions, may overtake this matter; and by attracting it to themselves may come back replete with it, and being again heated by the sun, may disperse it among the planets, and so keep up a circulation of this matter, which there is reason to think is necessary in our system.[133]

Comets, descending from the remote parts of the system with great rapidity become visible to us in the lower parts of their orbits; and after a short stay, go off again to vast distances, and disappear. They move about the sun in very eccentric ellipses; and the velocity with which they seem to move is variable in every part of their path round the sun; when near to which they appear to move with great swiftness, and, when very remote, their motion is slow. They are opake bodies, but of a much greater density than the earth; for some of them are heated in every period to such a degree, as would vitrify or dissipate any substance known to us. Sir Isaac Newton computed the heat of the comet, which appeared in the year 1680, when nearest the sun, to be 2,000 times hotter than red hot iron, and that, being thus heated, it must retain its heat till it comes round again, although its period should be more than 20,000 years; and it is computed to be only 575.

The number of the comets is much greater than that of the planets belonging to our system. From the beginning of the Christian era, till now, there have appeared about five hundred. Before that time, we have accounts of about one hundred others. But, when it is considered that there may have been many that have not been seen, from being too near the sun, from appearing in moon-light, from being in the other hemisphere, or from being too small, or from not being recorded, the number is probably much greater. Miss Herschell, by means of the telescope, has, within the last twenty years, discovered several comets. The orbits of about one hundred comets have been calculated with sufficient accuracy for ascertaining their identity on any future appearance. Many of these orbits are inclined to the plane of the ecliptic in large angles, and many of them approach much nearer the sun than the earth does. Their motions are also different from those of the planets, some of them being direct and others retrograde, nearly half the number moving each way. The different motions of the comets, and the various inclinations of their orbits to the plane of the ecliptic, must not be regarded as the work of chance, but as calculated to answer beneficial purposes, or avoid baneful consequences; for if these orbits had been nearly coincident with that of the earth, both bodies might have arrived at the common point of intersection of their orbits at the same time; in which case a derangement of both motions must, at least, have been the necessary result.[134] But, according to all the observations that have been made respecting their present distribution and direction, there is not the least reason to apprehend any such consequence.

The following table contains a list of the last twenty-three of the principal comets that have been observed, with the time of passing their perihelia, and their nearest approach to the sun.

Nearest distance Passage of the from the Sun in Direction of Years. Perihelion. English Miles. their Motion. ------ -------------- ---------------- ------------- 1790 January 15 71 millions Retrograde. 1790 January 28 101 Direct. 1790 May 21 75 Retrograde. 1792 January 13 122 Retrograde. 1792 December 27 91 Retrograde. 1793 November 4 38 Retrograde. 1793 November 18 142 Direct. 1795 December 15 23 Direct. 1796 April 2 149 Retrograde. 1797 July 9 50 Retrograde. 1798 April 4 46 Direct. 1798 December 31 73 Retrograde. 1799 September 7 79 Retrograde. 1799 December 25 25 Retrograde. 1801 August 8 22 Retrograde. 1802 September 9 103 Direct. 1804 February 13 101 Direct. 1805 November 18 35 Direct. 1805 December 31 84 Direct. 1806 December 28 102 Retrograde. 1807 September 18 61 Direct. 1811 August 20 25 Direct. 1815 April 26 121 Direct.

But of all the comets, the periods of three only are known with any degree of certainty, being found to return at intervals of 75, 129, and 575 years; and of these, that which appeared in 1680 is the most remarkable. This comet, at its greatest distance, is about 11,200 millions of miles from the sun, while its least distance from the centre of the sun is about 490,000 miles; being less than one third part of the sun’s semi-diameter from his surface. In that part of its orbit which is nearest the sun, it flies with the amazing velocity of 880,000 miles in an hour; and the sun, as seen from it, appears 100 degrees in breadth, consequently 40,000 times as large as he appears to us. The astonishing distance that this comet runs out into empty space, naturally suggests to our imagination the vast distance between our sun and the nearest of the fixed stars, of whose attractions all the comets must keep clear, to return periodically and go round the sun. How wonderful that, though this body travelled almost two thousand times faster than a cannon ball, yet it drew after it a tail of fire, or of phosphoric gas, eight millions of miles in length! How amazing to consider, that this stupendous body, traversing the immensity of the creation with such rapidity, and at the same time wheeling about in that line which its great Creator prescribed to it, should move with such inconceivable velocity, and at the same time with such exact regularity! How spacious must the universe be, that, gives such bodies as these full play, without suffering the least disorder or confusion by it! With what a glorious exhibition must those beings be entertained, who can look into this great theatre of nature, and see myriads of these tremendous objects wandering through those immeasurable depths of æther, and running their appointed courses! Our eyes may hereafter be strong enough to command this magnificent prospect, and our understandings able to find out the several uses of these immense parts of the universe. In the mean time, they are most suitable objects for our imagination to contemplate, that we may form more extensive notions of infinite wisdom and power, and learn to think humbly of ourselves, and of all the little works of human invention.[135]

The _Fixed Stars_ are objects of peculiar interest, and are so denominated, because they are observed always to preserve the same distance from each other; and are distinguished from the planets by their twinkling, which seems to depend on the atmosphere; for we are assured, that where the air is exceedingly pure and dry, the stars appear with a light altogether free from scintillation. All the heavenly bodies, the sun, moon, and stars, appear to move round the earth, in circles parallel to the equinoctial, once in the compass of twenty-four hours; though these _apparent_ motions are almost entirety to be accounted for by the _real_ motions of the earth: but by far the greater number of them never change their relative situations, each (so long as an observer continues in the same place) rising and setting at the same interval of time, and at the same points of the horizon;--these are called the _fixed stars_.

The fixed stars, as appears from several considerations, are placed at immense distances from us. Mr. Exley, in a friendly communication, says, “It should be noticed, that the distances of the fixed stars have never yet been discovered; not indeed so much for want of a method, as for want of a base line sufficiently large for this admeasurement. The diameter of the earth’s orbit is about one hundred and ninety millions of miles; and the fixed stars, viewed from the opposite ends of this extensive base line or diameter, have no sensible parallax, but all appear in the very same situations, and of the same magnitudes; and as this is the greatest line to the extremities of which we can have access, it is very probable we shall ever remain in ignorance of the true distances of the fixed stars. One thing, however, is fully ascertained by the observations which have been made to find the parallax of the stars, which is, that they are so immensely distant from our planetary regions, that the whole solar system, consisting of the sun and planets, with their satellites, and the comets, would, if viewed from the nearest fixed star, appear as crowded into one single point of space, which is also known from other observations. How astonishingly extensive is the view of the universe which such observations furnish!”

Our earth is at so great a distance from the sun, that if seen from thence, it would appear no bigger than a point, although its diameter is 7,954 miles. Yet that distance is so small, compared with the earth’s remote situation from the fixed stars, that if the orbit in which the earth moves round the sun were the circumference of a globe, that globe, seen from the nearest star, would likewise appear no bigger than a point, although, it is at least 190,000,000 miles in diameter. For the earth in going round the sun is 190,000,000 miles nearer to some of the stars at one time of the year than at another, and yet their apparent magnitudes, situations, and distances from one another still remain the same; and being viewed through a telescope which magnifies above 200 times, they still appear as mere points: which proves them to be at least 400,000 times further from us than we are from the sun.

It is not to be imagined, that all the stars are placed in one concave surface, so as to be equally distant from us; but that they are scattered at immense distances from one another through unlimited space. So that there may be as great a distance between any two neighboring stars, as between our sun and those which are nearest to him. Therefore an observer, who is nearest any fixed star, will look on it alone as a real sun; and consider the rest as so many shining points, placed apparently at equal distances from him in the firmament. The star nearest to us, or the largest in appearance, is Sirius, or the Dog Star, and astronomers have calculated from indubitable principles, that its distance from us is considerably more than two millions of millions of miles! The apparent magnitude of Sirius has been computed at 27,000 times less than the sun, and, therefore, supposing their magnitudes equal, is 27,000 times more distant. If so, as our earth is ninety-five millions of miles from the sun, that multiplied by twenty-seven thousand, will give two millions of millions, and an addition of 565 thousand millions, for the distance of this star from the sun.[136] Our earth, in moving round the sun, is 195,000,000 miles nearer to this star in one part of its orbit, than in the opposite one; and yet the magnitude of the star appears not to be in the least altered or affected by it. A cannon-ball flying from thence at the rate of 400 miles in an hour, would not reach us in 732,000 years! The distance of the star γ Draconis appears, by Dr. Bradley’s observations, to be at least 400,000 times that of the sun, and the distance of the nearest fixed star not less than 80,000 diameters of the earth’s annual orbit; that is, the distance of the earth from the former is = to 400,000 × 95,000,000 = 38,000,000,000,000, and the latter not less than 7,600,000,000,000. As these distances are much too great to be comprehended by the human imagination, we shall, perhaps, obtain a better idea of them by comparing them with the velocity of some moving body, by which they may, in some way, be estimated. The swiftest motion we know of is that of light, which passes from the sun to the earth in about eight minutes, or, at the rate of 200,000 miles nearly in a second of time: and yet even light would be more than six years in traversing the first space, and a year and a quarter nearly, in passing from the nearest fixed star to the earth. Again, a cannon ball, moving with its initial or greatest velocity of about ten miles in a minute, would be more than seven millions of years in passing from the star γ Draconis to the earth. The celebrated M. Huygens carried his thoughts so far upon this subject, as to believe that there might be stars at such inconceivable distances from our earth, that their light, though it is known to travel at the rate of 12,000,000 miles in a minute, has not yet reached us, since the creation of the world!

“How distant some of the nocturnal suns! So distant, says the sage, ’twere not absurd To doubt, if beams, set out at nature’s birth, Are yet arrived at this so foreign world; Though nothing half so rapid as their flight.”

And Mr. Addison observes, that this thought of Mr. Huygens is far from being extravagant, when we consider that the universe is the work of infinite power, prompted by infinite goodness, having an infinite space wherein to exert itself, so that our imaginations can set no bounds to it.

The magnitudes of the stars appear to be very different from one another; which difference may probably arise, partly from a diversity in their real magnitude, but chiefly, no doubt, from their different distances. Hence it is, that the fixed stars have been divided, for the sake of distinction, into six orders or classes. Those which appear largest, are considered as stars of the first magnitude; the next to them in lustre, stars of the second magnitude; and so on, through the different gradations, to the smallest that are visible to the naked eye, which are said to be of the sixth magnitude. This distribution having been made long before the invention of telescopes, the stars which cannot be seen without the assistance of these instruments, are distinguished by the name of telescopic stars. Bayer, besides accurately distinguishing the relative size and situation of each star, marked the stars in each constellation with the letters of the Greek and Roman alphabets, setting the first Greek letter to the first or principal star in each constellation, to the second in order; then, when the Greek alphabet was gone over, he passed to _a_, _b_, _c_, of the Roman, and so on. This useful method of noting and describing the stars has been adopted by all astronomers since the time of Bayer; and they have further enlarged it, by adding the ordinal numbers 1, 2, 3, &c, when any constellation contains more stars than can be marked by the two alphabets.

As it would be impossible to furnish names for all the fixed stars, and retain those names in the memory; it became necessary not only to ascertain their exact relative situations, but to invent some method by which the principal part of the stars which can be seen may be known, without having recourse to a separate name for each. Ancient astronomers formed a commodious plan of arranging the fixed stars in constellations under names and figures of various personages, celebrated in antiquity, and even of birds, beasts, fishes, &c. This division of the heavens into constellations is obviously very ancient; for some of them are mentioned by Hesiod and Homer, both of whom probably flourished nearly 1000 years before the Christian era. Arcturus, Orion, and the Pleiades, are twice mentioned in the book of Job: and in the prophecy of Amos, composed about 400 years before Christ, the _seven stars_ and _Orion_ are mentioned. As the knowledge of the stars became more extensive, the number of the constellations was increased; and at the same time more stars were introduced into each constellation. Such of the stars as were not comprehended under any constellations, were by the ancient astronomers, called unformed stars. The modern astronomers have reduced not these unformed stars only, but many other stars, into new figures; and it is probable that other constellations will still continue to be invented.[137]

With respect to the number of fixed stars, there have been several accounts, given by different persons, at various times. The celebrated Hipparchus, of Rhodes, 120 years before Christ, formed a catalogue of 1,022 stars; to which Ptolemy added four more. Ulug Beigh, the grandson of Tamerlane, formed a catalogue of 1,017 stars. Tycho Brahé’s catalogue only extended to 777; but he took care to ascertain all their places. Kepler’s catalogue amounted to 1,163, which Ricciolus enlarged to 1,468. Bayerus extended his catalogue further than any of his predecessors, having described the places of 1,725. Hevelius increased the catalogue to 1,888. Flamsteed enlarged these catalogues to the number of about 3,000. But by means of the telescope, which affords us a glimpse of infinite space, and presents to our view myriads of worlds, and systems of worlds, by which it is filled, the number of the stars is astonishingly increased. Galileo found eighty stars in the space of the belt of Orion’s sword, and F. de Rheita observed more than 2,000 in the whole constellation of Orion, of which not more than seventy or eighty can ever be seen without glasses. Dr. Hook reckoned seventy-eight stars in the single constellation of the Pleiades; and F. de Rheita, with a better telescope, discovered 188: whereas we cannot reckon above seven or eight seen by the naked eye. At the present period, the positions of 60,000 fixed stars have been exactly recorded, and they are generally arranged according to the size they appear; 20 of the largest are called stars of the first magnitude; 65 are of the second magnitude; 205 of the third; 485 of the fourth; 648 of the fifth; and about 1,500 of the sixth magnitude; the remainder, being invisible to the naked eye, are called telescopic stars.

Where the stars are in great abundance, Dr. Herschell supposes they form primaries and secondaries, that is, suns revolving about suns, as planets revolve about the sun in our system. He considers that this must be the case in what is called the _milky way_, the stars being there in prodigious quantity. Of this he gives the following proof: on August 22, 1792, he found that in forty-one minutes of time, not less than 258,000 stars had passed through the field of view in his telescope! Dr. Chalmers observes, If we ask the number of suns and of systems--the unassisted eye of man can take in a thousand, and the best telescope which the genius of man has constructed can take in eighty millions. Thus, by the help of telescopes, we discover a vast multitude of stars which are invisible to the naked eye; and the better the glasses are, still the more become visible; so that we can set no limits either to their number, or to their distances.

“Myriads beyond with blended rays inflame The _milky way_, whose stream of vivid light, Poured from innumerable fountains round, Flows trembling, wave on wave, from sun to sun, And whitens the long path to heaven’s extreme: Distinguished tract!”

From an attentive examination of the stars with good telescopes, many that appear only single to the naked eye, are found to consist of two, three, or more stars. The late Dr. Maskelyne observed the α Herculis to be a double star, and other astronomers have discovered many more to be double. Dr. Herschell has found 700; of these about forty had been observed before. The following will serve as a specimen, and afford the observer a few objects for his attention. α Herculis is a beautiful double star: the two bodies are apparently unequal: the largest is red, and the smallest of a blueish color inclining to green. γ Andromedæ, double, very unequal: the larger of a reddish white color; the smaller a fine bright sky blue, inclining to green. β Lyræ, quadruple, unequal white, but three out of the four inclined to red. ε Bootis, double, very unequal, larger, of a reddish color; the smaller is blue, or of a faint lilac color. α Lyræ, double, very unequal; the larger is a fine brilliant white, the smaller dusky.

New stars sometimes appear, while others disappear. Several stars mentioned by ancient astronomers are not now to be found: several are now visible to the naked eye, which are not mentioned in ancient catalogues; and some stars have suddenly appeared, and again after a considerable interval vanished. Fortunio Liceti, a celebrated physician, who died in 1656, in Padua, published a treatise, entitled, “De novis Astris et Cometis.” In it he gives us an ample account of the several new stars spoken of by the ancients, among which he mentions that remarkable one which appeared A.D. 389, near the Eagle. It was as bright as the planet Venus, for the space of three weeks, but afterwards entirely disappeared. In the ninth century, the Arabian astronomers, Massahala, Haly, and Albumazar, observed a new star in the 15th degree of Scorpio, whose light equalled that of the moon in her first octant: it was visible for four months. Cyprianus Leovitius relates, that in the reign of the emperor Otho, A.D. 946, a new star was seen between the constellations of Cepheus and Cassiopeia; and also that another was seen A.D. 1264, very near the same part of the heavens, which had no proper motion. One of the most celebrated of the new stars is that discovered by Cornelius Jansen, November 8, 1572, in the chair of Cassiopeia: it exceeded Sirius in brilliancy, and Jupiter in apparent magnitude; it gradually decayed; and, after sixteen months, disappeared. On the 13th of August, 1596, David Fabricius observed a new star in the neck of the Whale, and it disappeared after October in the same year, but was supposed to be again discovered in the year 1637. In the year 1600, William Jansen discovered a changeable star in the neck of the Swan. It was seen by Kepler, who wrote a treatise upon it, and determined its place to be 16° 18ʹ ♒, and 55° 30ʹ or 32ʹ north latitude. Ricciolus saw it in 1616, 1621, and 1624. Cassini saw it again in 1655; it increased till 1660; then decreased, and at the end of 1661 it disappeared. In November, 1665, it appeared again, and disappeared in 1681. In 1715 it appeared, as it does at present, and is of the sixth magnitude. In 1686, Kircher observed χ in the Swan, to be a changeable star in the neck of that constellation; and, from twenty years’ observations, the period of the return of the same phases was found to be 405 days. In 1604, Kepler discovered a new star near the heel of Serpentarius, so very brilliant that it exceeded every fixed star, and even Jupiter, in apparent magnitude. For more recent discoveries, see Dr. Herschell’s paper, “On the proper Motion of the Sun and the Solar System, with an account of the several changes that have happened among the fixed stars since the time of Mr. Flamsteed,” vol. lxxiii, of the Philosophical Transactions, or the fifteenth of the Abridgment.

All the stars seem to have a common and general motion about the pole of the ecliptic, at the rate of a degree in seventy-two years; this is occasioned by the precession of the equinoctial points. In consequence of this apparent motion, the constellations change their positions in regard to the equinoctial points. Hence it is, that the constellation Aries now is in the sign Taurus, and Taurus occupies the sign Gemini. It has been the common opinion that the fixed stars have no real motion, but the accurate observations of modern astronomers show, that some of them have a motion peculiar to themselves, by which they slowly change their places. Thus Arcturus is found to approach the ecliptic about four minutes in 100 years; and its distance from a small star near it has been sensibly changed during the last century. Sirius seems to recede from the ecliptic about two minutes per century. Similar motions have been observed in Aldebaran, Rigel, the eastern shoulder of Orion, the Goat, the Eagle, &c. Other stars have been observed to have a motion in different directions. Perhaps all the stars have similar motions, which are performed by certain fixed laws in spaces, which, though very large in reality, yet, because of their immense distance, subtend at the earth angles so very small, as in some cases to be quite imperceptible, while in other cases they may be observed, as in the stars above-mentioned; and on this rational supposition the appearance and disappearance, and variations in magnitude, of some stars may be accounted for.

The fixed stars do not appear to be all regularly disseminated through the heavens, but the greater part of them are collected into clusters; and it requires a large magnifying power, with a great quantity of light, to distinguish separately the stars which compose these clusters. With a small magnifying power, and small quantity of light, they only appear as minute whitish spots, much like small light clouds, and thence they are called nebulæ. The number of nebulæ was formerly imagined to be about 103; but Dr. Herschell, early in the year 1784, had discovered 469 more, and since then has given a catalogue of 2,000 nebulæ which he has discovered. The most careful and accurate observations give great reason to conclude, that they all consist of large masses or clusters of stars at prodigious distances from our system. Dr. Herschell is of opinion the starry heaven is replete with these nebulæ, and that each of them is a distinct and separate system independent of the rest. The milky way he supposes to be that particular nebulæ in which our sun is placed; and, in order to account for the appearance it exhibits, he supposes its figure to be much more extended towards the apparent zone of illumination, than in any other direction; which is a supposition that he thinks allowable, from the observations he has made on the figures of other nebulæ.

That there are other worlds, beside our earth, inhabited by rational beings, endued with bodily constitutions adapted to the nature and economy of the respective planets for which they are destined, is a conjecture that approaches the nearest to certainty. There is scarcely any doubt now remaining amongst philosophers, that our moon is a habitable globe. The most accurate observations that have been made with the most powerful telescopes, have confirmed the opinion. The surface of the moon seems to be diversified by high mountains, large valleys, and small and larger collections of water; consequently she resembles our earth; and there can be no doubt that our earth serves as a moon to the moon, whose inhabitants, comparing it with the sun, may well say,

----“gives us his blaze again Void of its flame, and sheds a softer day;”

which similarity existing between them, is a presumptive proof that the moon, like our earth, is a commodious habitation for creatures endowed with capacity for knowing and adoring their beneficent Creator. By a very correct analogy we are led to infer, says a learned author, that all the _planets_ and their _satellites_ or attendant moons, are _inhabited_; for matter seems only to exist for the sake of intelligent beings. And Dr. Herschell’s discoveries have, by the general consent of philosophers, added, besides the Georgian planet, a _new habitable world_ to our system, which is the SUN.

To an attentive mind it will appear highly probable, that the planets of our system, and their moons, are much of the same nature with our earth, and destined for the like purposes; for they are solid opaque globes, capable of supporting animals and vegetables. Some of them are bigger, some less, and others about the size of our earth. They move round the sun, as the earth does, in a shorter or longer time, according to their respective distances from him: and have, where it would not be inconvenient, regular returns of summer and winter, spring and autumn. They have warmer and colder climates, as the various productions of our earth require: and, in such as afford a possibility of discovering it, we observe a regular motion round their axis like that of our earth, causing an alternate return of day and night; which is necessary for labor, rest, and vegetation, and that all their surfaces may be exposed to the rays of the sun.

Can a person who attends to the vast magnitude of the three planets, Jupiter, Saturn, and Herschell or the Georgium Sidus, and compares the systems of moons together which belong to them, bring himself to think, that an infinitely wise Creator should dispose of all his animals and vegetables here, leaving the other planets destitute of living and rational creatures? To suppose that he had any view to our benefit in creating these moons, and giving them their motions round their respective primaries; to imagine, that he intended these vast bodies for any advantage to us, when he well knew, that they could not be seen but by a few astronomers looking through telescopes; and that he gave to the planets regular returns of day and night, and different seasons to all where they would be convenient, but of no manner of service to us, except only what immediately concerns our own planet, the earth; to imagine, I say, that, he did all this on our account, would, I presume, be charging him with having done much in vain: and be as absurd, as to fancy that he has created a little sun, and a planetary system within the shell of our earth, and intended them for our use.

“As well might the minutest emmet say, That Caucasus was raised to pave his way The snail, that Lebanon’s extended wood Was destin’d only for his walk and food. The vilest cockle, gaping on the coast, That rounds the ample seas, as well may boast, The craggy rock projects above the sky, That he in safety at its foot may lie; And the whole ocean’s confluent waters swell, Only to quench his thirst, and move and blanch his shell.”

These considerations amount to little less than a positive proof, that all the planets are inhabited: for if they are not, why all this care in furnishing them with so many moons, to supply those with light which are at the greater distances from the sun? Do we not see, that the further a planet is from the sun, the greater apparatus it has for that purpose? Such of the planets as are most remote from the sun, and therefore enjoy least of his light, have that deficiency made up by several moons, which constantly accompany, and revolve about them, as our moon revolves round our earth. So that if the more distant planets have the sun’s light in less proportion by day than we, they have an addition made to it morning and evening by one or more of their moons, and a greater proportion of light during the night. We know that the earth goes round the sun, and turns round upon its own axis, to produce the vicissitudes of summer and winter by the former, and of day and night by the latter motion, for the benefit of its inhabitants: may we not then fairly conclude, by parity of reason, that the end or design of all the other planets is the same? And is not this agreeable to the beautiful harmony which exists throughout the works of nature? Surely it is! and it raises in us the most magnificent ideas of the supreme Being, who is every where, and at all times present; displaying his power, wisdom, and goodness, among all his creatures; and distributing happiness to innumerable beings of various ranks!

When we consider the infinite power and goodness of God; the latter inclining, the former enabling him to make creatures suited to all states and circumstances; that matter exists only for the sake of intelligent beings; and that wherever we see it, we always find it pregnant with life, or necessarily subservient thereto; the numberless species, the astonishing diversity of animals in earth, air, water, and even on other animals; every blade of grass, every tender leaf, every natural fluid, swarming with life; and every one of these enjoying such gratifications as the nature and state of each requires: when we reflect also, that some centuries ago, till experience undeceived us, a great part of the earth was judged uninhabitable; the Torrid Zone, by reason of excessive heat, and the two Frigid Zones because of their intolerable cold; it seems highly probable, that these numerous and large masses of the planets are not destitute of beings capable of contemplating with wonder, and acknowledging with gratitude, the wisdom, symmetry, and beauty of the creation. It is an undoubted truth, that wherever God exerts his power, there also he manifests his wisdom and goodness.

From what we know of our own system, it may be reasonably concluded, that all the rest are with equal wisdom contrived, situated, and provided with accommodations for rational inhabitants. Taking a survey of the system to which we belong; the only one accessible to us; from thence we are the better enabled to judge of the nature and end of the other systems of the universe. For although there is almost an infinite variety in the parts of the creation which we have opportunities of examining, yet there is a general analogy running through and connecting all the parts into one scheme, one design, one whole!

The stars, being at such immense distances from the sun, cannot possibly receive from him so strong a light as they seem to have; nor any brightness sufficient to make them visible to us. For the sun’s rays must be scattered and dissipated before they reach such remote objects, that they can never be transmitted back to our eyes, so as to render these objects visible by reflection.

“I launch into the trackless deeps of space, Where, burning round, ten thousand suns appear Of elder beam, which ask no leave to shine Of our terrestrial star, nor borrow light From the proud regent of our scanty day.”

The stars, therefore, shine with their own native and unborrowed lustre, as the sun does; and since each particular star, as well as the sun, is confined to a particular portion of space, it is plain, that the stars are of the same nature with the sun.

It is not probable that the Almighty, who always acts with infinite wisdom, and does nothing in vain, should create so many suns, fit for so many important purposes, and place them at such distances from one another, without proper objects near enough to be benefited by their influences. Whoever imagines they were created only to give a faint glimmering light to the inhabitants of this globe, must have a very superficial knowledge of astronomy, and a mean opinion of the Divine wisdom: since, by a much less exertion of creating power, God could have given to our earth considerably more light by one single additional moon. Since the fixed stars are prodigious globes of light and heat, like our sun, and at inconceivable distances from one another, as well as from us, it is reasonable to conclude they are made for the same purposes that the sun is; each to bestow light, heat, and produce vegetation, on a certain number of inhabited planets, kept by gravitation within the sphere of its activity.

Instead then of one sun, and one world only, in the universe, as the unskilful in astronomy imagine, that science discovers to us such an inconceivable number of suns, systems, and worlds, dispersed through boundless space, that if our sun, with all the planets, moons, and comets belonging to it, were annihilated, they would with difficulty be missed, by an eye that could take in the whole creation; the space they possess being comparatively so small that it would scarce be a sensible blank in the universe, although Herschell, or the Georgium Sidus, the most remote of our planets, revolves about the sun in an orbit whose mean distance from the sun is 1,822,575,228 miles, and some of our comets make excursions to an amazing distance beyond the bounds of that planet: and yet, they are incomparably nearer to the sun than to any of the stars; as is evident from their keeping clear of the attractive power of all the stars, and returning periodically by the virtue of the sun’s attraction.

“In the immensity of God’s creation,” says a learned author, “we may readily conceive one system of heavenly bodies, and others beyond them, and others still in endless progression, through the whole vortex of space! Every _star_ in the vast abyss of nature being a _sun_, with its peculiar and numerous attendant worlds. Thus there may be systems of systems, in endless gradation, up to the throne of God!”

“Oh, for a telescope HIS THRONE to reach! Tell me ye learn’d on earth, or blest above! Where your great Master’s orb? His planets where? On nature’s Alps I stand And see a thousand firmaments beneath! A thousand systems as a thousand grains! _Each_ of these STARS is a _religious house_; I saw their altars smoke, their incense rise, And heard Hosannas ring through _ev’ry sphere_; A seminary fraught with future gods! Oh, what a root! Oh, what a branch is here! Oh, what a Father! What a family! Worlds, systems, and creations!---- And creations In one agglomerated cluster hung, Great _Vine_! on THEE; on THEE the cluster hangs; The filial cluster! infinitely spread In glowing globes, with various being fraught; And drinks (nectareous draught!) immortal life!”

What an august! what an amazing conception, if human imagination can conceive it, does this give of the works of the Creator! Thousands of thousands of suns, multiplied without end, and ranged all around us, at immense distances from each other, attended by ten thousand times ten thousand worlds, all in rapid motion, yet calm, regular, and harmonious, invariably keeping the paths prescribed them; and these worlds peopled with myriads of intelligent creatures, formed for endless progression in perfection and felicity. If so much power, wisdom, goodness, and magnificence, is displayed in the material creation, which is the least considerable part of the universe, how great, how wise, how good must He be, who made and governs the whole![138]

The persuasion that rational beings inhabit other worlds, has a powerful tendency to excite our curiosity.

“Ye sparkling isles of light that stud the sea Of empyrean ether! Ye abodes Of unknown myriads, spirits, or in bands Held of corporeal frame! Fain would my soul A thirst for knowledge unreveal’d to man, Question your habitants, and fain would hear A voice responsive from your distant bourn. Tell, tell me who possess your radiant climes; What are their forms, their faculties, their hopes, Their fears, if subject or to hope or fear? What fond pursuits, what animating toils Diversify existence with delight? Rove they in course aërial unconfined From sphere to sphere, with interchange of joy Heightening their mutual bliss; or dwell they fix’d, Each in his native solitary orb, Unconscious of the lot of neighboring worlds? What homage, what returns of grateful love Yield they to Him who made them? Stand they fast In undecaying blessedness, secure From risk of loss: or tread they yet the stage Of perilous probation? Hath sin won Conquests through disobedience o’er those hosts In your bright regions yawn the gates of Death? Falls he, who falls, for ever?--Power supreme Pardon the aspiring thoughts that would presume To pierce the veil which shrowds from mortal eye The wonders of thy realms! Enough, to know That Thou art Lord! Thy universal love Pervades Creation; on each living form Showers down its proper happiness; and, when guilt Wakes thy reluctant vengeance, stays the bolt Of wrath, and pales its mitigated fire!”[139]

* * * * *

Stars are the hieroglyphics used to express both rulers and teachers; therefore they may with great propriety be applied to the pastors of the church. The Jews, says Dr. Doddridge, are said to have called their teachers _stars_. They are represented under that emblem in the Revelation, where St. John, speaking of our Lord, says, “He had in his right hand seven stars;” and the allegorical explanation is, “The seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand are the angels (or ministers) of the seven churches,” namely, in Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, Laodicea. By αγγελοι, _angels_, we are to understand the _messengers_ or persons whom God sent to preside over these churches. “Angel of the church,” in this place, says a learned author, answers exactly to that officer of the synagogue among the Jews, called שליח ציבור _sheliach tsibbor_, the messenger of the church, whose business it was to _read_, _pray_, and _teach_, in the synagogue. The ministers of the gospel bear this allegorical designation.

1. Because, like stars in the firmament, they are placed in a _high situation_ in the church. Eliphaz says, “Behold the height of the stars, how high they are!” The sacred office is the highest that men can occupy, both in point of rank and importance; and therefore the views, dispositions, and deportment of ministers, should accord with it. They should not be sordid in their attachments, nor grovelling in their pursuits. A predilection for lucrative places, and worldly honors, is inconsistent with the sanctity of their character, and the design of their profession. As they are in a station above others, so their minds should have a high elevation, contemplating spiritual and divine things, with intense application, and holy delight. The glories of the new Jerusalem, and the felicities of the celestial Paradise, are subjects which should engross their thoughts, and be exhibited in their official ministrations. They should look on all debasing pleasures, fleeting honors, and perishing riches, as things vastly below the dignity of their character, and contrary to the objects of their professional engagements. They have higher considerations to excite their solicitude, and more important affairs to employ their powers, than to spend their time in things, which neither can afford them any rational satisfaction, nor are of long duration. St. James calls their attention to what is of most interest to them, where he says, that “he who converteth a sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.” Success is the most valuable remuneration, and should actuate ministers both in their private studies, and their public labors.

2. Because of the _beneficial effects_ of their ministerial labors, being useful to men, in affording them light, direction, and comfort; and, consequently, the need the church has of them. Gospel ministers are as necessary to the moral world, during the present state of things, as the sun, moon, and stars are in the universe. A church without such helps, would be like a firmament deprived of globular lights. Ministers, with the bright rays of heavenly doctrine, dispel the darkness of ignorance, chase away the clouds of error, scatter the mists of prejudice, disperse the fogs of vice, from the human mind. As stars engage the attention, and draw the eyes of persons toward heaven, presenting in themselves astonishing displays of the infinite perfections of wisdom, power, and goodness: so it is the work of ministers to endeavor to excite people to the contemplation of Divine things--to behold through the medium of the sacred Writings, the mediatorial character of Christ, the results of his passion, the prevalence of his intercession, the happiness of his subjects, and the glories of his kingdom. As the stars serve for guides to seafaring men, while traversing the untrodden paths of the swelling ocean; so these symbolical stars are guides to those who embark in the vessel of the church, directing her course, through the inconstant sea of this tumultuous and fluctuating world, to the harbor of everlasting rest. And as an extraordinary star in the east directed the wise men to Bethlehem, where Christ was born; so it devolves upon ministers, as stars of the church, to conduct inquiring sinners to Jesus, who is able and willing to save them from their sins, and bless them with holiness and eternal life. They may with propriety adopt the language of an old poet:--

“Oh that his light and influence Would work effectually in me Another new Epiphany, Exhale and elevate me hence:

That as my calling doth require, Star-like I may to others shine; And guide them to that Sun divine, Whose day-light never shall expire.”

3. All the light that ministers communicate to mankind, or to the members of the church, is derived from Christ, the Sun of Righteousness, as the light of the planets is from the natural sun. The pastors of the church have neither light nor grace of themselves: they receive all from the “Father of lights,” in whose light only they can see light; and it pleased him that in Christ should “all fulness dwell.” Both ministers and people must be enlightened with emanations from him, or remain in darkness. St. Paul frankly acknowledges, “By the grace of God I am what I am.” Without him, the most eminent minister would be like a dark lamp. Hence they have no reason to be proud of their qualifications; for they have received all their gifts and graces from Christ. Their fitness for the ministerial work is not to be ascribed either to their natural powers, the force of a superior genius, a liberal education, intense study, or even to goodness and piety, but to the gratuitous bounty of God only. So likewise, whatever success in the exercise of those gifts and graces they may have had, it flowed not from such sources, but from Christ. “I have planted,” says St. Paul, “and Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.” The largest planets are inconsiderable in comparison of the sun, which is the great natural fountain of light and heat. The holy prophets are nothing when brought into contrast with Jesus Christ. And John the Baptist, though superior to all his predecessors, conscious of his own vast inferiority, confessed, “He it is who coming after me is preferred before me, whose shoe’s latchet I am not worthy to unloose.”--As the planets shine with no other light than that derived from the sun; so ministers are to be resplendent only with the radiance of Divine truth, received from the eternal Fountain of illumination. They are not to shine with the glimmering light of fallable reason, the sparks of human wisdom, the glow-worm rays of vain philosophy; not with the subtlety of Aristotle, the penetration of Cartes, the eloquence of Cicero, the speculations of Plato, the propositions of Euclid; but with the correct and comprehensive knowledge of the Scripture, which is “given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness; that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.” In a lower sense, it must be acknowledged, that human learning is of considerable use, affording ministers certain qualifications for their work. The knowledge of the languages, moral and natural philosophy, sacred and profane history, mathematical science, the art of speaking, particularly those branches of logic which teach us to range our thoughts in a right method, to form propositions distinctly, and to draw just conclusions from acknowledged premises: I say, the knowledge of these different branches of literature and science, may very much assist ministers to discover and defend the truth, and refute its adversaries with their own weapons. But they must derive all their peculiar lustre and excellence from the volume of Divine inspiration, whence, as chosen instruments, they can make people wise to salvation.

4. Ministers are like the stars of heaven, because of the difference that is among them, in respect of gifts and ability. The stars differ from one another in situation, magnitude, influence, and glory. “There is one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory.” The gradation extends from stars of the first to those of the sixth magnitude. Some are so dazzling, that they appear with a peculiar splendor among the shining beauties of the night: others are obscure and nebulous; and there are many which can only be seen with the help of telescopes. The stars of the moral hemisphere are not all enlightened, “by the Day-spring from on high,” with the same degree of intellectual and Divine radiance. They have not all the same gifts, nor gifts in the same measure. Profound knowledge, excellency of speech, solidity and firmness of judgment, prudence and dexterity of conduct, are not usually the portion of one, but distributed among several ministers. One excels in a talent for preaching, another is eminent for utterance and power in prayer, and another is distinguished by wisdom and stability for government. Paul was sublime and cogent in reasoning; Apollos was copious, eloquent, and mighty in the Scriptures; John soars high in mysteries, and yet excels in sweetness; Isaiah is pompous and magnificent in his style; David charms and surprises us at the same time, with his ecstatic raptures and poetic strains. In the largest assembly of ministers there are not two alike, far less equal in all things. Some, like stars of the first magnitude, shine with great brilliancy: others have rays which are weak and obscure. Some are prudent, but not eloquent. Some have the gift of preaching, but are not remarkable for prudence and moderating their passions. Some have the art of affecting the passions: others have the skill of enlightening the mind, and informing the judgment. Some, appearing as if formed in a finer mould, have a talent of politeness and address, in their intercourse with people of character. Some, like skillful physicians, know how to deal with afflicted souls, and relieve wounded consciences. Some are sons of thunder, while others are sons of consolation. Though every minister should have a competency of each of these gifts, yet some excel in one, and some in another. Thus “there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit;” and God, in diversifying his gifts, makes his manifold wisdom appear. The Christians at Corinth not understanding this, or too emulous for the first-rate talent, without sufficiently regarding Divine agency, which can render the meanest useful, became clamorous, and their indecorous conduct is held up to all succeeding ages, with the censure they deservedly merited. However, to calm their perturbation, he says, “Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours; whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas; and ye are Christ’s; and Christ is God’s.”

5. While some stars disappear, others arise that were not previously observed. “Your fathers, where are they? and the prophets, do they live forever?” Many, “of whom the world was not worthy,” who were bold to suffer for the name of Christ, not only the spoiling of their goods, the loss of liberty, and banishment from their native country, but even death itself, have rested from their labors and afflictions, and are now enjoying a glorious reward. The Lord also sometimes raises up extraordinary lights, for asserting and propagating the truth, when his church is overwhelmed with the dark clouds of heresy and superstition. Of this Moses, Joshua, Elijah, and Elisha, as well as many other prophets, whom the Lord called in an extraordinary manner, were remarkable instances, in the Old Testament: and, in the New Testament, John the Baptist, and the apostles of Christ, whose voices were heard, and whose rays extended to the ends of the earth. When the Christian church was covered with the dark superstition and idolatry of antichrist, God raised up some eminent lights, from time to time, to diffuse the pure doctrines of the Gospel, and lead the people out of mystic Babylon. Such were John Wickliffe in England, John Huss and Jerome of Prague in Bohemia; and, a hundred years afterwards, Luther in Germany, Zuinglius in Switzerland, Calvin in France and Geneva, and John Knox in Scotland, whom Beza calls the apostle of the Scots. Then did the Gospel run, and was glorified, like a mighty torrent carrying before it not only cities and provinces, but whole nations and kingdoms.[140] Actuated by zeal for religion, says a clergyman of the Establishment, “Wickliffe, Jerome, and Huss, roused the slumbering clergy to opposition. The zeal of Luther and his associates alarmed all Germany, and shook the Papal throne itself. Gilpin alone, in a dark period, evangelized a large part of the northern counties of England. Cranmer, Latimer, and Ridley, by their steady perseverance unto death, illuminated the British Isles. The zeal of Whitefield and the two Wesleys has, even in our day, made England, Scotland, Ireland, and America, experience very important consequences.” Missionaries actuated by primitive zeal, and sent out by different societies to preach the Gospel among Heathen nations, like burning luminaries are chasing away the darkness of ignorance, gross superstition, and degrading idolatry, and, on their ruins, establishing the kingdom of Christ, and the reign of truth, peace, righteousness, and benevolence, in the earth.

6. Ministers, considered as stars placed in the moral firmament, should shine with purity of doctrine, fervency of zeal, and holiness of life, both in the summer of prosperity, and in the winter of adversity. 1st. In the _solemn assemblies_ of God’s people. Jerome says, Our pulpit should be as Mount Tabor, where we should converse with Moses and the Prophets, Christ and his Apostles, minding that we have to do with a holy God, and with the immortal souls of people, which must be shortly either in heaven or hell. 2d. Amongst _their flocks_, by an innocent, instructive, and pious conversation, giving them no encouragement, by their example, to sin; but alluring them to better worlds, and pointing out the way thither. Their whole life should be a transcript of the holy life of the blessed Jesus, a living epistle in which the people may read the way wherein they ought to walk. 3d. In _their families_. A minister should be “one that ruleth well his own house,” properly presiding over and governing his own family: “for if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?” Eli’s conduct brought heavy judgments on himself and family, and a great scandal on the church.

_Theory of the earth._

[Such intimations and analogies as can be drawn from nature may, with propriety, be applied to the explanation of natural phenomena, in the absence of direct and satisfactory proof. Allowing this assumption, we conclude that the intimations and analogies in nature are sufficiently strong and clear to authorize a belief, _that all heavenly bodies are similar in their great constitutional principles, and designs, and that our earth may be taken as a fair and satisfactory sample of them all_.

The only probable departure from this strong analogy in the heavenly bodies, seems to be this: the _suns_, or _centres of systems_, have a peculiar collection of phosphorescent clouds, which are designed to be the great exciting causes, or dispensers, of light to the planets which move round them. The planets have not these phosphorescent clouds.

This does not interfere with the _general_ analogies between the heavenly bodies; and establishes the _strict analogies_ between the planets of all systems; and the suns, or centres of all systems.

From all this we conclude, that a theory of _our earth_ which is satisfactory, will also be deemed satisfactory in regard to the other heavenly bodies. We therefore lay down, as authorized by the intimations and analogies of nature, the following positions.

1. _There is a general analogy between the constitutional principles and designs of the heavenly bodies; i.e. the suns and their planets._

2. _That the sun, or center of each system, with all the planets and satellites revolving about it, were created simultaneously, as it regards their substances._

3. _That they were created at their relative distances from the centre which they now preserve._

4. _That they were stationary when first created, having no motion either on their axis, or in their orbits._

5. _That the materials of each body, when first created, were solid, frozen, and lifeless._

6. _That the materials of each body were created in their simple, uncombined, or elementary states._

7. _That it is most probable these elementary materials were promiscuous in the mass, without regard to specific gravity, or any other principle or law._

8. _That the arrangement of the materials of which our earth is composed was effected by the operation of the laws of nature, as they are called, which were simultaneously impressed upon the matter of the Solar System, and is continued impressed, by the direct agency of the Divine Being._

9. _That this reference of the commencement, and continuance of the energies of the laws of nature, directly to the Almighty, is both philosophical and scriptural; and is noted by Moses in these words: “And the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters (or deep.”)_

Reasoning from these data, let us now see whether the phenomena of the structure and arrangement of our planet are explicable to a satisfactory degree.

1. Immediately upon the impress of the laws of nature, by the direct effort of the Divine Being, the whole mass would commence revolving on its own axis, and moving around its centre in its orbit. At the same time a quickening impulse would be felt, from the operation of the laws of nature, which would impart life and animation to the mass. The first effect of this impulse would be to call the _caloric_, light, and electricity into action throughout the body. This would raise its temperature instantly, and call into action all the other powerful agents, as soon as formed: such as the acids, alkalis, &c.

2. There will be no difficulty, to those who know the power of these agents, in believing _that the consequence of their united action would be an immediate fusion of the whole mass_. This would establish a state of _chemical mobility_; i.e. the various materials, owing to their fusion, would be at liberty to _combine_, according to the laws of chemical affinity; and to take their relative positions, according to the laws of gravitation.

3. The result of this process would be binary, and ternary, and other combinations. Oxygen would enter into combination with the bases of the various acids, and thus form the acids; and with the various metals and thus form oxides; and the acids and oxides would unite and thus form other compounds, commonly called _salts_.

4. As such combinations as these would commence forming first, water and air would be gradually and subsequently formed, by the three gasses, oxygen, hydrogen, and nitrogen, escaping from the mass and rising to the surface, where the oxygen combining with the hydrogen would form water; and with the nitrogen would form air.

5. It is evident that the very small specific gravity of the gases would cause them to escape from the interior parts of the earth, rapidly, and to accumulate at the surface in immense quantities. The consequence of this would be, _an immense amount of water would be generated at the earth’s surface; but the oxidizable bodies in the interior of the mass would not, all of them, be completely saturated with oxygen_.

6. The condition of the earth, at this stage of the action, would be an inconceivably high state of ignition, specially in the interior, and a rapid chemical action still going on; the combinations still forming, and the bodies thus formed arranging themselves. In a very little time the various classes of bodies would have obtained, generally, their natural relative positions, according to their specific gravities; and all the combinable elements, in the same neighborhood, having combined, a state of comparative rest would ensue of course.

7. In the mean time, large quantities of different substances would be held in solution by the acids, alkalis, and water, whose solvent powers would be very much increased by the presence of intense heat.

8. If we examine the whole mass at this stage of the natural process, we will find it is in a condition to _crystallize_ whenever it can be _reduced_ to a sufficiently low temperature to admit of crystallization. We know that the reduction of temperature would commence at the surface, where the caloric would be conducted upwards through the waters, and would fly off into the celestial spaces. Of course, the first crystallized depositions would take place _at the junction of the waters with the oxides or earths, in a state of fusion, on which the lower stratum of water was resting_.

9. This first deposition would extend all around the globe, as the waters _entirely invested_ the earth, and would lay the _foundation of the primitive family of rocks_, which are well known to be crystalline in their structure, and the result of chemical action. It is, however, evident that there were occasional tremendous agitations, and concussions during the deposition of the primitive rocks, which altered the state of the fluids, and caused successive, and, sometimes, alternating strata to deposit.

10. The period of the deposition of the primitive rocks continued until the elevations on the earth’s surface were uncovered, became dry, and were subject to the disintegrating, and rending powers of the elements: at which time some marine animals, and some vegetables, adapted to warm and moist climates, were created. The consequence of this state of things would be that fragments of rocks, and marine animal and vegetable remains would be found in the composition of the strata deposited at this period, and subsequently. The family of rocks thus deposited is called _transition_ rocks.

11. This is the proper place to institute an inquiry into the origin of these _primitive elevations or mountains_.

12. It will be very obvious, that a mass of materials thrown into chemical action, and raised to a very high temperature, as explained above, would naturally, and necessarily be upheaved at different points on its surface, by the gases, and other bodies escaping from the interior. And though the general softness of the mass would cause these elevations to sink back again _at first_, upon the escape of the gaseous bodies upheaving them; yet, when the surface of the earth, which would cool by coming into contact with the water, would thus begin to become solid, _the elevations would maintain themselves, and consolidate_, and thus lay the foundations of the irregularities which, subsequently, would rise into mountains, and mountain chains, and sink into vallies, by the combined action of the internal heat, and the occasional rapid rise and subsidence of the waters, which would alter the shape and appearance of the mountains, and deepen the vallies.

13. But it becomes very natural to inquire into the cause of the rapid rise, and subsidence of the waters at particular times; which will also explain the cause of the distinctions so obvious in the nature and ages of the different families of rocks.

14. It will be recollected that the interior parts of the earth are in a state of high ignition, and an immense quantity of water surrounds the globe, the crust of which is consolidating. By the natural pressure of the water, by an occasional eruption of gas from the interior, and by percolation, &c, the water would have access to the interior materials in a heated state. In this case there would be an immense production of steam, and decomposition of water, which would of course produce an earthquake, until it broke forth in a volcano under the waters. In this case an _elevation_ would be produced on the surface, and, in all probability, a _cavity_ in the interior from whence the elevated materials came.

15. These phenomena would happen in quick succession, and very extensively in the first period of the world; and every time they happened, they would _reduce_ the quantity of water at the surface, by admitting some into the interior cavities; and by decomposing much; the oxygen and hydrogen of which would enter into other combinations.

16. This will account for the rise and subsidence of the waters, the formation of vallies, and mountains, and the alterations in the fluids, so as to deposit the different strata in succession.

17. During this process above, cavities sufficiently numerous and capacious, filled with water, would be formed in the earth to relieve the surface, in a great measure. But it seems pretty evident that the waters thus retired into those cavities were occasionally thrown back on the earth, by the same means with which earthquakes and volcanos are produced; and thus tremendous currents would ensue, which would successively bury the vegetable materials in the adjoining lakes, out of which the coal basins are formed; and also bury those immense forests of trees, with the bones of animals, and fishes also, which have been so clearly and satisfactorily described by geologists.

18. Each successive deluge, in proportion to its power and extent, would alter the quantity and quality of the materials held in solution, and thus cause a corresponding deposition subsequently. Hence, as remarked above, the distinction in the strata, and the alternations of different substances successively.

19. It may not be amiss here to say, it is very probable, that many deluges preceded the formation of man, produced on the same principles as the deluge of Noah, though for different purposes, according to the wishes of the Divine Being.

20. To what has been said above, it is only necessary to add, that all depositions, or formations of rocks took place _at the bottom of the ocean_, or waters which held the materials in solution, or suspended; and that this ocean maintained its dominion for long periods together, in comparative tranquility, and during such times the different rock formations were deposited. The marine animals would multiply, die, and their exuviæ quietly fall to the bottom: at the same time carbonate of lime would be copiously deposited from the sea waters, and thus would consolidate into a stratum of rock, the thickness of which would bear some proportion to the length of the period of its deposition. If this stratum _remained in its place_, upon the retiring of the sea, it would appear at the surface at first; until it was covered with mould, and the ruins of other rocks disintegrated into earth, or soil. But if it were _upheaved_ by the force of the internal fire, it would become a _limestone mountain_, containing the organic remains as they were first quietly deposited. The same may be said of primitive mountains, or any other kind.

21. The _transition_ rocks, the formation of which was barely noticed above, (No. 10) were deposited successively in strata, indicating their relative ages by the increase of rocky fragments, and fossil remains in their composition, from the oldest of the family to the newest: and also by the gradual change in their structure, which is more crystalline in the oldest, and becomes less so in the newest, owing to the decrease of chemical action, and the increase of mechanical deposition.

22. From the fossil remains in the different strata of the transition rocks, we have good evidence of successive deluges, which swept away the animals existing at the time, and buried their remains which are now found in a fossil state; and others succeeded them. This will account for particular animals being peculiar to particular strata of rocks.

23. During the transition period the chemical action ceased almost entirely, and the succeeding family of rocks, i.e. the _secondary_, was deposited _mechanically_, their materials being merely _suspended_ in the waters. This class, therefore, is not crystalline in its structure, and is nearly horizontal in position and contains greater quantities of fossil remains, both of animals and vegetables. These remains are, also, the relics of beings more delicately organized, and approach much nearer to the genera and species of animals now existing.

24. During the deposition of this class of rocks, and also of the _tertiary_ class which succeeded it, the sea retired far from the up-lands, and well nigh into its permanent beds. The up-lands would, by the disintegrating power of the elements, be worn away at their surface, and thus afford the matter of soil, which would naturally be carried down towards the final retreat of the sea, by the waters, and be deposited in the vallies, and low countries. The same process would furnish fragments of rocks in abundance, and of all kinds, which would be rolled down the declivities of the up-lands, and become more or less rounded, and thus be found entering into the rocks of the secondary and tertiary classes; or in beds of sand and gravel, or in the channels of rivers in the form of _pebbles_. If these fragments were thrown together in sufficient quantities, and a suitable cement deposited among them they would consolidate and form _pudding-stone_, or breccia marble; such as the Potomac marble, of which the columns in the Capitol at Washington City are made.

25. It is very evident that this process would deposit the heavier fragments, and materials nearest the highlands whence they originated; and carry the finer and richer matter further away towards the sea, and deposit it nearer the mouths of the rivers. This is well known to be the case, as in the Mississippi. Here the phenomena are doubtless, from the mouth, along all its tributaries to their sources.

26. While these successive depositions were making, modified by tremendous eruptions from the force of subterranean fire, the same agent of these modifications would produce another very striking phenomena. The immense quantity of matter thrown from the interior to the surface in a melted state, would either shoot up in the form of cones, or columns, and by cooling crystallize and consolidate; or would flow in its melted state over the surface of the upper rocks, and thus cover them. This is the case with a class of rocky substances which may be called by the general name of _basalt_. Sometimes when the force below was not sufficient to protrude the melted matter through the superincumbent rocks, it drove it in _between_ the strata, or shot it up _through_ some of the strata; frequently upheaving the rocks on one side of the protruding body, or depressing them on the other. In this case the injected matter constitutes what is called a _fault_, _shaft_, or _dike_, by miners.

27. It is not improbable, nay, it is pretty certain, that many of these basaltic ejections took place under the ancient chaotic abyss of waters, and have become visible by the retiring of the sea.

28. In this theory we have a satisfactory explanation of the formation of _metallic veins_, and the _dispersion_ of metallic grains in sands, and soil. The metals being in a pure state, or nearly so, in the bowels of the earth when _projected_ upwards by the force of subterranean power, would be _injected_ into the rocks in the direction of the operating force. Hence they are found in veins in solid rocks, running in all directions, and descending to unknown depths. Sometimes the whole of the vein appears to be _insulated_ by the rock. In this case, the whole mass was _fused_, at least partly, and when the force ceased to act, it would consolidate around the injected metal, leaving no trace of its injection. Sometimes the metallic vein evidently entered the rock _from above_. In this case the metal in a _melted_ state was thrown to the surface, and _meeting with a chasm, ran into it and consolidated into a vein_. When the metal was raised from below in a state of fusion in conjunction with an immense mass of rocky matter in a state of fusion, they would appear at the surface mixed throughout. When this rocky mass yielded to the disintegrating power of the elements, the particles of the metal and rock would be carried off together into the lower positions, and be found in the form of _dust_, in the secondary, or lower countries.

29. The shape of the earth, in regard to which it is said the polar diameter is less than the equatorial, would be the same on the above theory, as it has been shown to be, on the supposition that the earth was in a soft state by the solvent powers of water, as commonly supposed.

30. It is a matter of peculiar pleasure to the Christian philosopher, to observe the strong tendency in the Science of Geology, to confirm the account of the creation of the world, as given by Moses in the Bible. By a careful comparison of the account of Moses with well established geological positions, it will be found that _they agree expressly, in the_ ORDER _and_ NATURE _of the events_. This is a splendid evidence in favor of revelation. There can be no doubt, but, that if the phenomena of nature, and the teachings of the Bible were better understood, more striking and unexpected agreements would be found. Religion and Science will one day be inseparable.

_Remarks._

1. It will be necessary for the reader to peruse the above theory very attentively, in order to form a correct judgment of it, as it is merely an _outline_, very briefly drawn up, yet it is hoped, pretty clearly. Whether it be well calculated to explain the great leading geological phenomena which we observe, the reader will determine for himself. It was not drawn up _in view_ of such explanation, but was constructed by _induction_ from those well ascertained phenomena. It was drawn up _out of view_ of any ultimate object, or system, _previously_ embraced, and is even _different_ from the writer’s previous opinions, before he had diligently compared all the facts within his reach. It is therefore entitled to the merit of having been drawn up with a sincere desire to attain to truth on this interesting subject, and not to support a favorite theory.

2. Upon examination it will be found to reconcile, in a great measure, the _Vulcanian_ and _Neptunian_ theories which have so long divided the principal writers on Geology. It will be found that both _fire_ and _water_ were concerned in producing the great geological phenomena. It cannot be doubted but that subterranean force _commenced_ the irregularities on our earth’s surface, and continued the action, probably with occasional intermissions, in upheaving the mountains, and mountain chains: but as this was commenced, and principally accomplished, _under_ the ancient sea, there can be no doubt but that the water has had a powerful and extensive agency in modifying the structure and composition of mountain, and moderate elevations. And while we have every reason to believe the force of subterranean fire was the principal agent in rending, dislocating, and confusing the rock formations of the crust of our earth; we have no less reason to acknowledge the agency of water in depositing the various strata; contributing to the disintegration of the exposed uplands; and carrying down the _alluvion_ which form the fertile tracts of vallies, and low countries; and the sand bars, and banks at the outlets, of rivers, bays, gulfs, &c.

3. This view will be more clearly explained by examining the _shape_ of continents, islands, and countries, which will be found to correspond, pretty nearly with the shape of the mountain ranges in each. That is: the _length_ of a continent, island, or country will be found to be _in the direction of the mountain range_; and the _breadth across_ the mountain range.

4. This would be the shape which would naturally result from the transition, secondary, and tertiary formations arising principally from the disintegration of the materials of the mountain range. This is evident from a single reflection: if a _conical_ body stood in the midst of a plain, and was equally exposed to a power which wore it away, the portions thus torn from the body would roll down the declivity towards the base of the cone, and would occupy a circle, generally speaking, of the plane at the base equidistant from the body. In the same manner the wasting away of the primitive elevations would deposit the detritus equidistant from the foot of the range.

5. It will be obvious, however, that the conformity of a country, _in shape_, to the mountain ranges which run through it, will be more or less modified by adventitious circumstances. If one side of the mountain range was originally more precipitous than the other: or if some tremendous collection or current of water lashed or swept one side, and not the other, the shape of the country would be modified; but not so much as to destroy the general conformity in shape. The above remarks will be confirmed by an inspection of accurately drawn maps.

6. Finally: Some formations are entirely owing to the agency of water; as sand banks, bars, shoals, &c, and some entirely owing to the action of fire, as the deposites of lava; the upheaving of volcanic mountains, even in the memory of man. These are _adventitious_ formations, and do not even _modify_ a general theory.]

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Footnotes - Chapter V

[114] Time’s Telescope for 1815, Introduction.

[115] Dr. Robert Wittie, in his Survey of the Heavens, makes the following observations concerning this miraculous interposition of Divine providence. “We read that Joshua, in his zeal against the enemies of God and his people, in the heat of battle, called to the sun and moon to stand still, &c. The design was that the light might be lengthened, till he might destroy the army of the Amorites, and the day was accordingly prolonged, as the sun went not down for the whole day, and the moon also staid.--But why should Joshua call to the moon to stand still, as well as the sun, which I could be of no use to him, while the sun was up? To this I answer with all due modesty; I do believe Joshua did call thus by inspiration, and a special impulse from God upon his spirit: for that which would make the sun stand still, would stay the moon. He that from the hasty zealous call of this great general, shall think to form an argument to prove the philosophical notion of the sun’s diurnal motion about the earth, by taking the words in a proper literal sense, may as well go on, and eke it out a little further, and then he may prove the sun to have been in the next great town, Gibeon, and the moon in the valley; but if to all men this latter shall be judged a weak inference, I dare say, to many wise men, so will the former.” P. 12, 13.

[116] Aristotle de Cœl. lib. ii, cap. 13.

[117] Macrob. Sat. lib. i, cap. 21.

[118] Macrob. in Somn. Scip. lib. i, cap. 20.

[119] That is, in adoration; from _ad ore_, to the mouth, i.e. _hand_ to the mouth.

[120] Baseley’s Glory of the Heavens, pp. 73-76.

[121] The new moon is often styled a _crescent_; a word formed from the Latin _crescere_, to _grow_; and though it is used from the same figure of the moon in her wane or decrease, when her horns are turned towards the west, yet these horns always point to the east in the just crescent.

[122] M. Schroëter, of the Royal Society of Gottingen, has recently published a very curious and elaborate work in German, entitled, Selenotographische Fragmente, &c, or Selenotopographical Fragments, intended to promote a more accurate knowledge of the moon’s surface: a valuable extract from which may be seen in the Pantologia, article _Moon_.

[123] See Mr. Howard’s valuable paper on the Philosophical Transactions for 1802, Dr. Hutton’s Dissertation in the New Abridgment, part xxi, and Dr. Adam Clarke on Josh. x, 11.

[124] The principal eclipse of the sun, for the present century, has been already calculated, and it is fully determined that it will take place in the year 1847. It will be annular in this country, and several other places. Time’s Telescope for 1815.

The Athenians, according to Plutarch, entertained very terrific ideas of eclipses of the moon. Nicias and his army, when they were on the point of withdrawing secretly from Sicily, without being observed or suspected by the enemy, refused to embark, because the moon became suddenly eclipsed; this ignorant and superstitious conduct proved fatal, for they were all, shortly after, either slain or taken prisoners.

[125] A valuable correspondent writing from Matura, in Ceylon, May 7, 1817, says, “A festival was lately celebrated here, principally on the river. A large boat was rigged for the purpose, somewhat after the manner of a ship, which carried a number of dancers and other persons in disguise, accompanied with the music of pipes and drums. I particularly inquired into the meaning of the ceremonies; and, as far as I could learn, it was a celebration of the birth of the sun and moon. The world is believed to have been once inhabited by holy brahmins, whose bodies were transparent, and afforded sufficient light. When these fell into sin, they lost their splendor, and other lights became necessary.”

The African negroes, in the West Indies, on seeing the new moon, take out of their pocket a piece of whatever money they have, and, holding it up in their hand, say, “God bless the new moon, this is all I can give you; take this, and give me good luck:” and then throw it up toward it. After this action, they believe that prosperity will attend them during the time that moon continues. On embracing the Christian religion, they lay aside this heathenish practice.

[126] On the dial of the cathedral at Bruges, the sun is represented directing the hours, with this motto, _Non rego, nisi regar_: signifying, that the sun could not rule the day, if it was not first ruled itself. Had the Pagan world known this truth, the greatest part of it had not fallen into idolatry.

[127] Literary Panorama, for January, 1814, pp. 954, 955.

[128] “At what time the earth began to be considered, or rather suspected, to be spherical,” says Costard, “is uncertain, but probably not before the undertaking long voyages; the first of which, it may be, were down the Arabian Gulf, and out of the Straits of _Bab-Al-mandub_, by Europeans corruptly called _Babelmandel_. What opinion was commonly entertained of those who undertook those long voyages, may be learned, in some measure, from this word. For _Mandub_ is one that is lamented at his funeral; therefore _Bab-al-mandub_ is the _gate_, or _strait_, of one lamented at his funeral; as if a person sailing beyond that point, was considered as going to certain death, or never to return.”

[129] See Verstigan’s “Restitution of Decayed Intelligence,” Edit. 1673, pp. 64-68; and Time’s Telescope.

[130] On June 14, 1815, was published the following astronomical notice. The Georgium Sidus is now visible to the naked eye any clear night. It souths now a little before midnight, is paler and less vivid than the fixed stars near it in Scorpio; it will remain in company with Arcturus for two or three years, passing north of it about the middle of the year 1816, and veering to the east, or left hand, at the rate of 4° 18ʹ annually, being near seven years in passing one sign, and near 84 in making an entire revolution.

Dr. Herschell assumes, that the eclipses of the satellites of the Georgium Sidus will, in the year 1818, be visible to those who possess telescopes of high magnifying powers, when they will appear to ascend through the shadow of the planet in the direction almost perpendicular to the ecliptic.

[131] In the year 1712, Mr. Whiston having calculated the return of a comet, which was to make its appearance on Wednesday, the 14th of October, at five minutes after five in the morning; he gave notice to the public accordingly, with this terrifying addition, that _a total dissolution of the world by fire was to take place on the Friday following_. The reputation Mr. Whiston had long maintained, both as a divine and a philosopher, left little or no doubt with the populace of the truth of his prediction. Several ludicrous events took place in consequence. A number of persons in and about London seized all the barges and boats they could lay their hands on in the Thames, very rationally concluding, that when the conflagration took place, there would be the most safety on the water. A gentleman who had neglected _family prayer_ for longer than five years, informed his wife that it was his determination to resume that laudable practice the same evening; but his wife having engaged _a ball at her house_, persuaded her husband to put it off till they saw whether the comet appeared or not. The South-sea stock immediately fell to _five per cent._, and India stock to _eleven_. The captain of a Dutch ship threw all his powder into the river, that the ship might not be endangered.

The next morning the comet appeared according to the prediction, and before noon the belief was universal, that _the day of judgment was at hand_. About this time of the day 123 clergymen were ferried over to Lambeth, it was said, to petition that a short prayer might be penned and ordered, there being none in the church service on that occasion. Three maids of honor burnt their collections of novels and plays, and sent to a bookseller’s to buy each of them a Bible, and Bishop Taylor’s Holy Living and Dying. The run upon the Bank was so prodigious, that all hands were employed from morning till night in discounting notes, and handing out specie. On Thursday, considerably more than _seven thousand kept mistresses were legally married_! in the face of several congregations. And to crown the whole, Sir Gilbert Heathcote, at that time head director of the Bank, issued orders to all the fire-offices in London, requiring them “to keep a good look out, and have a particular eye upon the Bank of England.”

The comet which might have put the earth in most hazard, was that of 1680. By Halley’s calculation it passed, November 11, within 60 semi-diameters of the earth’s orbit: and if, at that time, the earth had been in that part of her orbit, there is no conjecturing at the consequences.--Literary Panorama, for December, 1811.--Probably the above was only a hoax upon Mr. Whiston on account of the singularity of his opinion concerning comets.

[132] Dr. Keill’s Astronomy, 5th Edit. pp. 189, 190.

[133] Dr. O. Gregory’s Treatise on Astronomy, p. 413.

[134] The celebrated Buffon supposed, that our earth was originally formed by a comet’s sweeping off and receiving in his train a portion of the exterior part of the sun; which, after having been sufficiently cooled, in the lapse of time, perhaps hundreds of thousands of years, had gradually assumed its present form! When we reflect that this eminent French naturalist was an infidel and a libertine, his many strange theories confirm the remark of the Poet,

“An undevout astronomer is mad.”

When a person through the pride of intellect, will not submit his fallible understanding to the sure light of Divine revelation, he is liable to embrace the greatest absurdities, which a sober and well-regulated mind would prevent.

[135] Guardian, No. 103.

[136] The distances of the fixed stars have never been absolutely determined, and what is here stated is not given as the true distance of Sirius; but from what has been ascertained, the distance cannot be less than as above. Dr. Bradley, after another method of calculation, makes it to be more than ten times greater, or twenty-five millions of millions, and 650 thousand of millions.

[137] In 1627, Schiller published a work, entitled Cœlum Stellatum Christianum, containing the ancient catalogue, with new constellations. In this work he rejected the old designations, and substituted new figures for the constellations, and names taken from the sacred Scriptures; thus Aries he changed into St. Peter; Taurus, into St. Andrew; Andromeda, into the holy sepulchre; Lyra, into the manger of Christ; Hercules, into the wise men of the east; Canis Major, into David; and so on. This he is said to have done in imitation of the venerable Bede, who, instead of the profane names and figures adopted by pagans, substituted the names of the twelve apostles for those of the twelve constellations in the zodiac: but these innovations were disregarded by astronomers. Weigelius, professor of mathematics at Jena, attempted to make an innovation of another kind; he wished to change the starry heavens into a kind of Cœlum Heraldicum, by introducing the arms of all the princes and states of Europe, by way of constellations; but his project experienced the same fate as those of Bede and Schiller.

[138] See Ferguson’s Astronomy.

[139] Gisborne’s _Walks in a Forest_, sixth edit. pp. 44, 45, 46.

[140] The author thankfully acknowledges his obligations for many of the above thoughts to an old sermon preached “at the opening of the Synod of Lothian and Tweeddale;” but cannot say of what date, or by whom delivered, as his copy of it is without title-page.

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