ASTRONOMY. 



91 



K a drop of a bucket,&quot; and be &quot; reputed as 

 nothing in his sight. Such declarations would 

 be contrary to fact, if this supposition were ad 

 mitted ; for it assumes that man holds the princi 

 pal station in the visible universe. The expres 

 sions &quot; The heavens, the heaven of heavens,&quot; 

 and &quot; the host of heaven worshipping God,&quot; 

 would also, on this supposition, degenerate into 

 something approaching to mere inanity. These 

 expressions, if they signify any thing that is wor 

 thy of an inspired teacher to communicate, evi 

 dently imply, that the universe is vast and exten 

 sive, beyond the range cf human comprehension 

 that it is peopled with myriads of inhabitants 

 that these inhabitants are possessed of intel 

 lectual natures, capable of appreciating the per 

 fections of their Creator and that they pay him 

 a tribute of rational adoration. &quot;The host of 

 heaven worshippeth thee.&quot; So that the language 

 of scripture is not only consistent with the doc 

 trine of a plurality of worlds, but evidently sup 

 poses their existence to all the extent to which 

 modern science can carry us. However vast the 

 universe now appears however numerous the 

 worlds and systems of worlds, which mav exist 

 within its boundless range the language of 

 scripture is sufficiently comprehensive and sub 

 lime, to express all the emotions which naturally 

 arise in the mind, when contemplating its struc 

 ture a characteristic which will apply to no 

 other book, or pretended revelation. And this 

 consideration shows not only the harmony which 

 subsists between the discoveries of revelation 

 and the discoveries of science, but also forms by 

 its-elf a strong presumptive evidence, that the 

 records of the Bible are authentic and divine.* 

 Vast as the solar system, we have now been 

 contemplating, may appear, it is but a mere 

 point in the map of creation. To a spectator 

 placed in one of the stars of the seventh magni 

 tude, not only the glories of this world, and the 

 more resplendent scenes of the planet Saturn, 

 but even the sun himself would entirely disap 

 pear, as if he were blotted out of existence. 

 &quot; Were the sun,&quot; says Mr. Addison, &quot; which 

 enlightens this part of the creation, with all the 

 host of the planetary worlds that move about him, 

 utterly extinguished and annihilated, they would 

 not be missed by an eye that could take in the 

 whole compass of nature, more than a grain of 

 sand upon the seashore. The space they pos 

 sess is so exceedingly little, in comparison of the 

 whole, that it would scarce make a blank in cre 

 ation.&quot; 



The Fixed Stars. When we pass from the 

 planetary system to other regions of creation, 

 we have to traverse, in imagination, a space so 

 immense, that it has hitherto baffled all the ef 

 forts of science to determine its extent. In these 

 remote and immeasurable spaces, are placed 



See Appendix, No VI. 



those immense luminous bodies usually denomi 

 nated the fixed stars. The nearest stars are, on 

 good grounds, concluded to be at least twenty bit 

 lions of miles distant from our globe a distance 

 through which light (the swiftest body in nature) 

 could not travel in the space of three years ; and 

 which a ball, moving at the rate of 500 miles an 

 hour, would not traverse in four millions five 

 hundred thousand years, or 750 times the period 

 which has elapsed since the Mosaic creation. 

 But how far they may be placed beyond this dis 

 tance, no astronomer will pretend to determine. 

 The following consideration will prove, to those 

 unacquainted with the mathematical principles 

 of astronomy, that the stars are placed at an im 

 measurable distance. When they are viewed 

 through a telescope which magnifies objects a 

 thousand times, they appear no larger than to 

 the naked eye ; which circumstance shows, that 

 though we were placed at the thousandth part of 

 the distance from them at which we now are, 

 they would still appear only as so many shining 

 points; for we should still be distant from the 

 nearest of them, twenty thousand millions of 

 miles : or, in other words, were we transported 

 several thousands of millions of miles from the 

 spot we now occupy, though their numbers would 

 appear exceedingly increased, they would appear 

 no aiger than they do from our present station ; 

 anu ve behooved to be carried forward thousand? 

 of millions of miles further in a long succession, 

 before their disks appeared to expand into large 

 circles, like the moon. Dr. Herschel viewed 

 the stars with telescopes, magnifying six thou- 

 sand times, yet they still appeared only as bril 

 liant points, without any sensible disks, or in 

 crease of diameter. This circumstance incon- 

 testably proves the two following things :- 



1. That the stars are luminous bodies, which 

 shine by their own native light ; otherwise they 

 could not be perceived at such vast distances. 



2. That they are bodies of an immense size, not 

 inferior to the sun ; and many of them, it is 

 probable, far exceed that luminary in bulk and 

 splendour. 



The stars, on account of the difference in their 

 apparent magnitudes, have been distributed into 

 several classes or orders. Those which appear 

 largest are called stars of the first magnitude ; 

 next to those in lustre, stars of the second mag 

 nitude, and so on to stars of the sixth magnitude, 

 which are the smallest that can be distinguished 

 by the naked eye. Stars of the 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 

 &c. magnitudes, which cannot bo seen by the 

 naked eye, are distinguished by the name of tele 

 scopic stars. Not more than a thousand stars can 

 be distinguished by the naked eye, in the clearest 

 winter s night ; but, by means of the telescope, 

 millions have been discovered. (See p. 11.) 

 And, as it is probable that by far the greater 

 part lie beyond the reach of the best glasses which 

 have been or ever will be constructed bv mail 



