LESSON II. 



VIEW OF THE HEAVENS. 



Heaven 



Is as the book of GOD before thee set 

 Wherein to read his wond'rous works. MILTON. 



The heav'ns declare the glory of GOD. DAVID. 



AGREEABLY to my plan, I shall now endea- 

 vour, in the first place, to describe to you the na- 

 ture, size, and motion of the principal heavenly 

 bodies; the beauty and variety of which have no 

 doubt often filled you with astonishment: follow- 

 ing the advice of Ovid, 



' We, though from heaven remote, to heaven will move 



' With strength of mind, and tread th' abyss above ; 



' And penetrate with an interior light, 



' Those upper depths which nature hid from sight. 



' Pleas'd we will be to walk along the sphere 



* Of shining stars, and travel through the year." 



The science which teaches the knowledge of 

 the celestial bodies, their magnitudes, motions, 

 distances, periods, eclipses, order, &c. is called 

 ASTRONOMY : the study of this has been pursued 

 with avidity in all ages, and it is now arrived at 

 a tolerable degree of accuracy. The hypotheses 

 which have, been invented by astronomers, at 

 different times and in different countries, are nu- 

 ll 3 merous, 



