174 RAMBLES AND REVERIES. 



key with which to unlock the meaning of the sacred 

 language. In all parts of the sky are binary, triple, 

 multiple stars, vast systems and constellations kept 

 in unchanging association with each other by the 

 same forces that govern the falling mote. " The 

 bands of Orion," which awoke the wonder of the 

 patriarch Job, present the precise aspect now that 

 they did when he beheld them ; still hanging like 

 a triplet of diamonds upon the belt of the giant who 

 gropes along the track of the sun. These distant 

 worlds which, by reason of their remoteness, seem 

 to be but stationary points of light, are in reality 

 journeying rhythmically around some invisible centre, 

 so far away that from the Creation till now only a 

 minute arc of the vast circle has been traversed. It 

 used to be thought that this phenomenon was re- 

 ferred to in the question in Job : " Canst thou bind 

 the sweet influences of Pleiades ? " The Chaldean 

 word used here is Chimak, which means a pivot, or 

 axle, and it was affirmed by astronomers that 

 Alcyone, the brightest star of the group, was the 

 actual spot upon which the heavens were hinged as 

 they swept round in a stupendous orbit requiring 

 for its completion over eighteen millions of years. 

 This is now known to be not quite correct, but 

 there is a far-off centre towards which our solar 

 system is approaching. What is that centre? we 

 may ask. Is it the City of Light, whose Founder 

 is the living God ? Do some faint rays shine upon 

 our dull eyes from that glorious throne which is 

 more brilliant than a thousand suns ? And do we 

 need only an instrument subtle and powerful enough 



