

ASTRONOMY. 



71 



manded to fly swiftly from the celestial regions, 

 reached the prophet about the time of the even 

 ing sacrifice.&quot; This fact implies, not only that 

 angelic beings are endued with powers of rapid 

 motion, but that they are intimately acquainted 

 with the directions, distances, and positions of 

 the bodies which compose the material universe. 

 This heavenly messenger, having been previous 

 ly stationed far beyond the limits of our planeta 

 ry system, had to shape his course in that direc 

 tion, to discriminate the orbit of the earth from 

 the orbits of the other planets, and the particular 

 part of its orbit in which it was then moving ; 

 and having arrived at the confines of our atmos 

 phere, he required to discriminate the particular 

 region in which Daniel resided, and to direct his 

 flight to the house in which he was offering up 

 his devotions. Now, since angels are neither 

 omniscient nor omnipresent, as they are limited 

 beings, possessed of rational faculties, and as it 

 s probable are invested with bodies, or fine ma 

 terial vehicles,* they must be guided in such 

 excursions by their reasoning powers, and the 

 faculty of rapid motion with which they are en 

 dued. Such excursions imply the recognition of 

 certain mathematical principles, and I have al 

 ready had occasion to notice, that these princi 

 ples are applicable throughout every part of the 

 universe, and must be recognised, more or less, 

 by all intelligent beings. 



The Creator himself has laid the foundation 

 of the mathematical sciences. His works con 

 sist of globes and spheroids of all different dimen 

 sions, and of immense concentric rings revolving 

 with a rapid motion. These globes are carried 

 round different centres, some of them in circles, 

 Borne in ellipses, and others in long eccentric 

 curves. Being impelled in their courses by dif 

 ferent degrees of velocity, their real motions can 

 not be traced, nor the beautiful simplicity and 

 narmony of the different systems made apparent, 

 without the application of mathematical investi 

 gations. To an observer untutored in this sci 

 ence, many of the celestial motions would ap 

 pear to display inextricable confusion, and lead 

 him to conclude, that the Framer of the universe 

 was deficient in wisdom and intelligent design. 

 The principles of mathematics are also exhibited 

 in the numerous and diversified figures into 

 which diamonds, crystals, salts, and other bodies, 

 are formed ; in the hexagonal cells of bees, wasps 

 and hornets, in the polygons and parallel lines 

 which enter into the construction of a spider s 

 web, and in many other objects in nature. Now, 

 since God has exhibited the elements of this sci 

 ence before us in his works ; since he has endued 

 us with rational faculties to appreciate and ap 

 ply these elements to useful investigations; and 

 since his wisdom and intelligence, and the beau- 



The Author will afterwards have an opportunity 

 of illustrating this position, in Part III. of this work. 



ty and order of hi? works, cannot be fully under 

 stood without such investigations, it is evident, 

 that he must have intended, that men should b. 

 occasionally exercised in such studies ; in order 

 to perceive the depths of his wisdom, and the ad 

 mirable simplicity and harmony of his diversified 

 operations.. And as the applications of this sci 

 ence are extremely limited in the present world, 

 its more extensive applications, like those of 

 many other branches of knowledge, must be con 

 sidered as reserved for the life to come. To 

 suppose, therefore, that such studies will be aban 

 doned, and such knowledge obliterated in a fu 

 ture state, would be to suppose, that the works 

 of God will not be contemplated in that state, 

 and that redeemed men in the heavenly worlc 

 will lose a part of their rational faculties, and re 

 main inferior in their acquirements to the inhabi 

 tants of the earth, even in their present imper 

 fect and degraded condition. 



ASTRONOMY. 



Astronomy is another science which will oc 

 cupy the attention of pure intelligences in tho 

 future world. The object of this science is, to 

 determine the distances and magnitudes of the 

 heavenly bodies, the form of the orbits they de 

 scribe, the laws by which their motions are 

 directed, and the nature and destination of the 

 various luminous and opaque globes of which 

 the universe appears to be composed. It is the 

 most noble and sublime of all the sciences, and 

 presents to our vie%v the most astonishing and 

 magnificent objects, whether we consider their 

 immense magnitude, the splendour of their ap 

 pearance, the vast spaces which surround them, 

 the magnificent apparatus with which some of 

 them are encompassed, the rapidity of their mo 

 tions, or the display they afford of the omnipotent 

 energy and intelligence of the Creator. In con 

 sequence of the cultivation of this science, our 

 views of the extent of creation, and of the sub 

 lime scenery it unfolds, are expanded far beyond 

 what former ages could have conceived. From 

 the discoveries of astronomy it appears, that our 

 earth is but as a point in the immensity of the 

 universe that there are worlds a thousand times 

 larger, enlightened by the same sun which 

 &quot; rules our day&quot; that the sun himself is an 

 immense luminous world, whose circumference 

 would inclose more than twelve hundred thou 

 sand globes as large as ours that the earth and 

 its inhabitants are carried forward through the 

 regions of space, at the rate of a thousand miles 

 every minute that motions exist in the great 

 bodies of the universe, the force and rapidity of 

 which astonish and overpower the imagination 

 and that beyond the sphere of the sun and planets, 

 creation is replenished with millions of luminoug 

 globes, scattered over immense regions to which 

 the human mind can assign no boundaries. 



