SUNS, STARS, PLANETS, &c.

We come, now, to the contemplation of that which is of far greater importance to us than all other planets, worlds, stars, and wonders in the siderial Heavens. This is the Sun, which warms and lights up our earth, and all the other planets within its sphere.

Says Dr. Child, "There are not a few in this world who habitually receive God's blessings so much as a matter of course, that they are scarcely conscious of any active feeling of gratitude in regard to them. The very regularity and profusion with which these blessings are showered on all alike, seem to have the effect of deadening the sense of individual obligation. A general admission of thankfulness may occasionally be made at church or in the closet, but there is a want of that abiding consciousness of it, with which we ought to be imbued, as well as that frequent pondering upon details which, by illustrating the dependence of every creature upon God, causes the heart to swell with grateful adoration. Such thoughts never fail to improve our moral nature by bringing the truth home to us more and more that we are God's children.

"It would be no easy task for a thankful mind to sum up all the blessings diffused over our planet by the Sun. It is the mainspring of animated Nature. Without its genial rays the present system of Earth's government could not endure, and life itself would soon disappear from the globe. To it we are indebted for light and warmth—the two stimulants of vital force—for our food and raiment; for our busy days and rest-bringing nights, for months and years, and happy alternations of seasons. Its rays, in short, are intertwined with all our wants and comforts; they gladden the eye and cheer the heart. Contemplating all these temporal blessings, the Psalmist exclaims:

"I will praise the name of the Lord with a song, and magnify it with thanksgiving."

"The Sun is the central pivot of the solar system, and round it the earth and all the other planets keep whirling in elliptical orbits. Its power and influence, its light, heat, and attraction, reach through a domain in space which it would require six thousand millions of miles to span. With the greater part of this wide field, astronomers are familiar, and it may be truly said that scarcely a man knows the roads of his own parish or neighborhood, or a citizen the streets of his own city or village, with more exactness than they do the highways of the skies. Not only can they map out to a nicety the paths of the planets careering through it like islands floating through a sea of ether, but they can look backward and tell the exact spot where each globe was at any moment of the remote past, or forward, and point to the place where each will be found at any given moment of the remote future.

"What is the mighty power which maintains such order in the Heavens, which steadies the planets in their orbits, and traces out for them a route so wisely planned as to avoid all chances of collision? Two antagonistic forces—gravitation and attraction, combined with a centrifugal impulse—accomplish the wonderful task. To these faithful servants, God commits the safety of the Universe, nor can anything disturb or derange the order of this machinery, save the Word which created it.

"The Sun was placed in the centre, and became the pivot of the whole system, tying to itself the different planets by the cord of its superior attraction. In accordance with the law we have mentioned, this loadstone power of the Sun is the inevitable result of its superior mass, as it is computed to be six hundred times greater in magnitude than this earth and all the planets put together." But behold the wisdom and wondrous power of the Great Architect, in creating these vast worlds, and placing each in its proper position in space; where each revolves within its own orbit—some with the velocity of even one hundred thousand miles an hour—yet maintaining toward each other that centrifugal force which prevents their being drawn by the attractive power of that vast globe within the Sun, into certain destruction, by its surrounding fires.

"Astronomers inform us there are innumerable Suns, each of which is supposed to control a separate, or its own system of planets; giving light and heat thereto, even as our Sun does to this Earth, and its own system of planets. Their distances from the Sun that lights up our Heavens are immeasureable—far transcending our conceptions, or even our imagination—in illimitable space. They also inform us that the distance from this Earth, to the nearest one of these distant stars, or suns, is about twenty billions of miles." So vast is the distance here stated, that the mind cannot grasp or comprehend it. We can more nearly approximate by the measurement of light; a ray of which darting from its surface and travelling at the speed of 192,000 miles a second, would not reach our eye under three years and eight months. "Such then," says Sir John Herschel, "is the length of the sounding-line with which we first touch bottom in the attempt to fathom the great abyss of the sidereal heavens." Says Olmsted, "Until recently, astronomers gave almost exclusive attention to observations, and the study of the solar system. But Dr. William Herschel turned his attention to the sidereal heavens, and opened up new and wonderful fields of discovery, as well as of speculation. His son, Sir John Herschel, and Sir James South, of England, have followed the old master, with grasping minds and brilliant intellects, until more has been accomplished by them, and others of the present day, than all preceding astronomers had even ventured to conjecture," and that their deductions are founded mainly on facts, no intelligent mind will—on investigation—have reason to doubt.

But having thrown anchor and "touched bottom" in the wide expanse of the unlimited sphere of the sidereal heavens, "let us," says Dr. Child, "take another flight. Here next, within the domain of Sirius, we find ourselves six times as far distant as when at Centauri, first mentioned"—say one hundred and twenty billions of miles—"from which it would require twenty-two years for a ray of light travelling at the rate of 192,000 miles a second to reach our Earth." But, far distant, yonder, we behold the beauteous Capella, in all its splendor and glory, throwing its effulgent rays across the wide expanse of universe, and yet these rays of light, travelling at the same mentioned rate—192,000 miles each passing second of time—require about seventy years in transit, before the inhabitants of our Earth catch a glimpse of their brilliancy and beauty. And yet now the mind has only entered the borders of 'the starry regions'—far beyond, in illimitable space, lie the 'Hosts of the Stars;' their vast distances cannot be computed even by light itself."

It is wonderful to contemplate the probability that of some of the more distant stars discovered, the rays of light which have found rest in the eye of the Astronomer, through the aid of the telescope, may have left their native sun thousands of years ago, and travelled at the rate of 192,000 miles a second ever since. "A certain cluster of stars was estimated by Sir William Herschel to be 700 times the distance of a star of the first magnitude—therefore at least 700 times nineteen billions of miles!" But, observes Guillemin, if this cluster was removed to five times its actual distance, that is to say 3,500 times the distance of Sirius, the large Herschelian telescope of 40 feet focus would still show it, but only as an irresolvable Nebula. It is, then, extremely probable that, among the many Nebulæ indecomposable into stars, beyond the Milky Way, in the depths of the heavens, many are as distant as that of which we speak. Doubtless many are more so. Now to reach us, light-rays must have left stars situated at such a distance more than 700,000 years ago!" Says Child, "When we have touched the verge of this uttermost range, Infinity, boundless as ever, still lies beyond. The idea of God extinguishes in our mind every suspicion that there can be any limit to space, magnitude, or power, in relation to His works. The mighty universe we have been considering is but the stepping-stone to what is farther on; and although our imagination fails to grasp it, our reason assures us it must be so. There is no such thing as taking from or adding to The Illimitable.

"With what just propriety of thought has light been called the 'voice' of the stars. * * * In the 'speechless' voice of light the stars proclaim to us from the depths of space, the existence of innumerable other worlds which, like our own, share the Creator's care. * * * With mute argument stars prove to us that, in those far-off regions, gravitation—the power that brings the apple to the ground—still reigns supreme, and with suggestive whispers of probability, they persuade us that, like our own Sun, they bathe attendant worlds in floods of light; deck them in colors of beauty, and shower countless blessings on the life of myriads of beings.

"Having glanced at the distances and magnitudes of some of the stars, or suns, let us pause for a moment to consider their number, and the vast space they must necessarily occupy in the domain of Creation. By the most moderate estimate the number of stars that can be counted in the firmament by telescopic aid, does not fall short of one hundred millions. There is no doubt that most of those stars are Suns, dispensing light and heat to earths and planets like our own; and, indeed, no bodies shining by reflected light would be visible at such enormous distances.

"From the superior magnitude of those that have been measured—as compared to our Sun—it may be assumed that the average diameter of their solar systems must exceed our own; but taking them as nearly equal, it would give a breadth of at least six thousand millions of miles as the field of space occupied by each, while every star, or sun-system, is probably begirt with a gulf or void like that encircling our own, in which the antagonistic forces of attraction are lost, so as not to disturb each other. Hence, the distance from each of those suns to its nearest neighbor is probably not less than that which intervenes between our Sun and the nearest star, which cannot be less than about twenty billions of miles. How inconceivably vast, therefore, must be the space required to give room for so many and such stupendous solar systems. The mind absolutely reels under the load of conceptions so mighty. Yet Infinity still lies beyond."

"For what purpose," says Sir John Herschel, "are we to suppose such magnificent bodies scattered through the abyss of space? Surely not to illume our nights, which an additional moon of the thousandth part of the size of our own would do much better; not to sparkle as a pageant, void of meaning and reality, and to bewilder us among vain conjectures. He must have studied astronomy to little purpose, who can suppose man to be the only object of his Creator's care, or who does not see, in the vast and wonderful apparatus around us, provisions for other races of animated beings."

The Psalmist says:

"Whoso is wise will ponder these things, and they shall understand the loving-kindness of the Lord."

Let us here suggest the reasonable hypothesis, that those distant suns, standing far out in the sidereal regions of illimitable space—created, and placed there by the "Word" of the Almighty architect—may have been shining thus for untold billions of years; and so, also, the sun which shines upon and lights up and warms this earth, and the other planets within its domain; and will thus remain forever, as God's own lamps of eternal light, to all created intelligences.

Hear the Psalmist break forth again,

"Thy testimonies are wonderful. Who alone doeth great wonders.

The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament sheweth His handy works.

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me."

Job tells us,

"He alone spreadeth out the heavens, and treadeth upon the waves of the sea, and doeth wonders without number."

Fixed stars—held by astronomers to be suns—are known from the planetary stars by their perpetual "twinkling," and by their being, apparently, always in the same position relative to each other. Now, while the number of stars to be seen in the heavens by the naked eye on a clear night does not exceed about 3,000 in each,—the northern and southern hemispheres,—yet Herschel, Olmsted, and other examiners tell us that by the aid of the telescope, many millions stand out in brilliant array—so vast their number that they cannot be correctly computed, but are supposed to be at least one hundred millions.

Prof. Olmsted declares it fully demonstrated that "the fixed stars are suns," and, with other astronomers, argues the fair probability of many of them being of far greater magnitude than our own sun. Dr. Wollaston, a distinguished English philosopher, attempted to estimate the magnitude of certain of the fixed stars from the light which they afforded. "By means of an accurate photometer (an instrument for measuring the relative intensities of light), he compares the light of Sirius with that of the sun. He next computed how far the sun must be removed from us in order to appear no brighter than Sirius. He found it would require to be one hundred and forty-one thousand times its present distance, and even at that great distance Sirius must give out twice as much light as the sun, or that, in point of splendor, Sirius must be at least equal to two suns." "But," adds Prof. Olmsted, "as Sirius is more than two hundred thousand times as far off as the sun, he has rendered it probable that its light is equal to that of fourteen suns." (We wish you to bear these facts in mind, they will serve you when we come to speak of the magnitude of our own sun.)

But let us follow Prof. Olmsted a little farther. He says, "We have already seen that they are large bodies; that they are immensely farther off than the farthest planet; that they shine by their own light; in short, that their appearance is, in all respects, the same as the Sun would exhibit if removed to the region of the stars. Hence, we infer that they are bodies of the same kind with the Sun.

"We are justified, therefore, by a sound analogy, in concluding that the stars referred to were made for the same end as the Sun; namely, as the centres of attraction to other planetary worlds, to which they severally dispense light and heat. Although the starry heavens present, in a clear night, a spectacle of unrivalled grandeur and beauty, yet it must be admitted that the chief purpose of the stars could not have been to adorn the night, since by far the greater part of them are ever invisible to the naked eye, nor as landmarks to the navigator, for only a small proportion of them are adapted to this purpose, nor, finally, to influence this Earth by their attraction, since their distance renders such an effect entirely insensible." Therefore, arriving at the only rational conclusion that they are Suns, many of them suns of vast magnitude; shining with splendor and brilliancy equal to, or surpassing that of our own Sun; each giving out light and heat to their attendant planets and revolving worlds within their own domain, or sphere,—"may we not ask, for what purpose are these gifts dispensed to those surrounding worlds, if not for the use of percipient beings?

"We are therefore led to the inevitable idea of a plurality of worlds; and that they are inhabited by some order of intelligences, and the conclusion is forced upon our minds that the spot which the Creator has assigned to us is but a humble province in his boundless empire."

None, however, can form a correct estimate, or comparison, between this, our diminutive Earth, and those vast orbs—suns—fixed so remote from us in the sidereal regions, nor of the numbers, until in some measure they have familiarized their minds with, and understand, to some extent, the science of astronomy, and then survey the vast field through a suitable telescope. "Even the first view through it, pointed heavenward, will astonish and fill the mind with awe and wonder; and as each new-grasping power is given to the instrument; new fields of those regions are joined on to those already explored, and every new stratum of space thus added is found to be studded with stars in ever increasing ratio; until myriads have come forth from the dark depths of the firmament, and they have a grand panoramic view of a Universe of Worlds peopling the realms of boundless space." Then, in wonder and amazement, they will more fully realize and comprehend the Omnipotent power of God in the manifestations of His creative word. Then, in comparison, each realizing his own diminutiveness: that he is even less than an unperceived infinitesimal atom floating along in the gentle breeze, he will be led to exclaim with the Psalmist:

"How wonderful are thy works, O Lord of hosts!

What is man that thou art mindful of him, or the son of man that thou takest knowledge of him?"

Dismissing, for the present, the further contemplation of those far-off millions of stars, or suns, and their multiplied millions of attendant planets and worlds, we come back to the contemplation of our own Sun, and its attendant planets, things with which we are more familiar, and which are—seemingly—more tangible.

As we have before remarked, the Sun governs and controls our Earth, and the other planets and worlds within its domain. Some of these worlds are not greatly dissimilar to this in which we live; some are smaller, while others are vastly larger—some computed to be even a thousand times larger than this Earth, and, as we believe, all are peopled with some high order of intelligence.

Having gathered the foregoing facts from the most undoubted authorities—astronomers, whose mathematical and philosophical calculations have for their base the immutable laws established by creative wisdom, as now revealed in Nature, we shall still rely—more or less—upon them for statistical facts and data, in further expositions from which to make deductions and draw our conclusions.

We are desirous of familiarizing your mind with the mighty and wondrous works of God, so plainly manifested in His creating and sustaining power, which few, comparatively speaking, seem to comprehend in any other way save in the daily temporal blessings of life. Should our feeble efforts raise your thoughts higher, and enable you to contemplate Him with the eye of faith in the light of reason, and Divine revelation; to know more of His greatness and power, and your entire dependence upon Him for all temporal blessings in life; for the only consolation you can have in the dying hour, and as your only hope for the future, and should such contemplation draw your mind and heart to Him in holy love, and godly fear, we shall be well rewarded for our efforts.