THE DIVINE SHIP 221 



or flat, whether it moves or remains at rest ? Do you 

 reason and speculate the same under Kepler's laws 

 as under Ptolemy's spheres ? 



What a tremendous assurance is that simple asser- 

 tion of the astronomer that the earth is a star ! How 

 it satisfies one, infinitely more than all preaching, 

 theories, or speculations whatever! What does it 

 not settle ? I will not douht or fear any longer. This 

 day I have a new faith. Let the preacher preach, 

 let the theorists contend, let the old incessant war- 

 fare go on, — the sky covers all, and the elements 

 administer to all the same, and, undisturbed, the 

 " divine ship sails the divine sea." 



Eead correctly the moral of the solar system, — of 

 this harmony, this balance, this compensation, and 

 there is no deeper lesson to be learned. Follow out 

 this elemental form for which the earth stands — 

 the curve or sphere — and you shall solve all prob- 

 lems, reconcile all philosophies, mend all breaks, and 

 make the commonest fact illustrious. You have been 

 pronouncing judgment now from this standpoint, 

 now from that, shifting and changing to meet the 

 facts, — never entire master of the situation. 



Now you have reached the standpoint from which 

 all may be spoken, — all theories, literatures, arts, 

 religions, — tried and judged. This principle shows 

 all as parts of one plan, and makes every fact signif- 

 icant. Can there be any failure or miscarriage now ? 

 Because the circle is emblematical of nature is why 

 nature will not be reduced to a point. We cannot 

 put our hand upon this or that and say, " Here is 



