STAR-GAZING. 165 



I. The first thing the stars have to say to those 

 who have ears to hear is, that there is a Creator : 

 " The heavens declare the glory of God, and the 

 firmament showeth His handy work." 



La Place scoured the sky with his telescope, and 

 told his age that he found no God there ; but what 

 the wise men of this world have often failed to 

 discover because they were blinded by the dust of 

 Materialism, babes and sucklings, simple and un- 

 learned, have distinctly seen. Many a child who 

 knows not what the stars may be, and many a 

 devout man to whom astronomy is a sealed book, 

 has gazed with rapture on those bright gems that 

 make the brow of night resplendent, and has felt, 

 with a strength of conviction that no mere argumen- 

 tation could beget, and that no gloomy rationalism 

 could destroy, that there must be a great Being some- 

 where Who made these shining orbs. Napoleon I. 

 once heard a knot of officers stating some objections 

 to the belief in a Creator, and at once, with that 

 common sense for which he was far more remarkable 

 than for his piety, he silenced them by the blunt 

 remark : " It's all very well, gentlemen, but who 

 made the stars ? " Atheism is still without an 

 answer to that question. It traces them back to 

 the primeval fire-mist, and assumes certain physical 

 forces in virtue of which they have become what 

 they are, but the difficulty is only evaded. Whence 

 came that fire-mist, and how were originated those 

 laws ? Who made the stars ? 



! it is sad to see so many looking around with 

 professed intelligence upon all the marvels of 



