Fixed Stars. 57 



CHAP. IV. 

 Of the Fixed Stars, 



NO part of the universe affords such 

 exalted ideas of the structure and mag- 

 nificence of the heavens, as the consider- 

 ation of the number, magnitude, nature, 

 and distance of the fixed stars. We ad- 

 mire indeed, with propriety, the vast 

 bulk of our own globe ; but, when we 

 consider how much it is surpassed by 

 most of the heavenly bodies, what a point 

 it degenerates into, and how little more 

 even the vast orbit in which it revolves 

 would appear, when seen from some of 

 the fixed stars, we begin to conceive more 

 just ideas of the extent, of the universe, 

 and of the infinity of creation. 



The fixed stars comprehend all the ce- 

 lestial objects, excepting the sun, the 

 moon, and the planets, and some comets 

 which now and then appear, 

 E2 



