Читать книгу The Spirit of God as Fire; the Globe Within the Sun Our Heaven - D. Mortimore - Страница 9

Table of Contents

We now propose to devote a short time to the contemplation of some of the wonderful works of the Creator, as we see them displayed in the firmament, and standing out in illimitable space, and, with the aids afforded us by that most exact of all sciences—astronomy—we hope to unveil mysteries, long since revealed by the revelations of God; yet, hitherto, not fully comprehended. These seeming mysteries, we shall endeavor to assist you to analyze by the light of God's own revelations. In order to our purpose, we shall avail ourselves of the writings of some of the most scientific, and eminent astronomers the world has ever known, even from the early days of Anaximander and Pythagoras, down to the times of Copernicus and Galileo, when feeble rays of light seemed to break in upon the intellect and mind of man, and from thence, the flood-lights which have been thrown in upon us by the Herschels—the leading stars of the empire of this science—and calling to our aid La Lande, Maury, Guillemin, Lardner, Darwin, Owen and Olmsted, and many others equally known to fame. Yet in our present effort, we shall rely mainly upon that master mind in compilation, Dr. Child, of England, who has grouped together the leading facts of discoveries, in order to incite the mind to the contemplation of the wonderful works of the Creator, that all intelligences of the world may be induced to join in with the three Hebrew Children, in "praising and magnifying the name of the Lord." We find, upon examination of the works of various leading authors, that his statements are as nearly correct as any compilation well could be, while, with a mind seemingly inspired for the work, his delineations are so graphic, sublime and beautiful, we shall take data, and quote freely from his writings, especially wherein he dwells upon the "Heavens," "Sun," "Moon" and "Stars," adding as we pass along, such reflections crowding upon our mind as we deem appropriate; and we think that in the contemplation of the subject now before us, that ere we have finished this feature of it, all will be ready to exclaim with the Psalmist, truly,

"The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament sheweth his handy work."

Dr. Child says, "Among all the sights the eye can look upon, nothing is comparable to the Heavens for the sentiment with which they charm the mind. The language they speak comes to us from remote mysterious worlds; but, though it may be imperfectly understood, it is at least universally felt. The great and the small—the civilized man and the savage, the philosopher, the divine, and the illiterate or humble citizen—all feel their influence, and are from time to time irresistibly drawn toward them by mingled emotions of admiration, gratitude and awe, such as none of the other features of nature can excite in an equal degree.

"So strongly, however, is the idea of the 'incomprehensible' associated by many with the mysteries of the firmament, that they are habitually prone to regard the teachings of astronomers as little else than scientific guess-work. Nevertheless, the best intellects in all countries assure us, and demonstrate before our eyes, that, within certain limits, Astronomy is the most exact and perfect of sciences, and that, even when it deals with distances and magnitudes, which are practically inconceivable, its conclusions, though often claiming to be approximative only, have yet no affinity whatever with guess-work. Let such sceptics think of the certainty with which sidereal events are predicted beforehand. Let them reflect on the evidence of the most exact knowledge of the heavenly bodies involved in the calculation of eclipses, in fixing the very moment when the moon's dark outline shall begin to creep over the sun's bright disk; marking its progress to the highest maximum, and its waning—giving the moment when the last visible shadow will disappear—predicting the instant when a planet's light shall be extinguished behind our satellite. And yet even more wonderful, the tracking of a comet's wanderings, millions of miles beyond the far-off regions of Uranus, the foretelling the time of its return after long years of absence! Do not these, and a thousand other equally wonderful feats, attest both the soundness of the principles on which the astronomer works, and the reasonableness of receiving his assurances with confidence and trust, even though it may be impossible for more than a few gifted minds to follow the calculations on which they are based?"

Examine the Nautical Almanac, published by the British Government, a chart found on every sea-going vessel. On the trackless ocean it is the mariner's guide, his trusted friend and counsellor. He may embark upon a long voyage over the trackless ocean, to be absent for years, yet through all this time, and in any part of the world he has his truthful friend to consult, who will warn him of dangers, and direct his ship in safety in every changeful clime. He left his native land years ago, yet now far out amid ocean's waves, in a different hemisphere, he consults this little chart of astronomers. He knows in any and every latitude the time of eclipses of the Sun and Moon, and of Jupiter's satellites, their sidereal positions, distances, etc. It seems charged with messages from the skies for his guidance and safety.

"When we consider the acquisition of such rare and precious knowledge—this mapping out beforehand, almost to a hair's-breadth, the exact order and track in which the heavenly bodies will run their course through space, and the precise relative position they will occupy at any given moment, when they can be seen in any part of the world—is not this convincing evidence of the correctness and truthfulness of the science of astronomy?"

But we have on record a more startling demonstration of its correctness—we say "startling" because of its magnitude and importance, and because when we come to examine suns, planets, and worlds, through the lights of this science, when we contemplate their distances, magnitudes, and numbers, we shall be startled by their immensity, and exclaim:

"How wonderful are Thy works, O Lord of Hosts!"

"The year 1846 will ever be memorable for having witnessed one of the most striking illustrations of the truth of Astronomy. Few can have forgotten the astonishment with which the discovery of the planet Neptune was then received, or the fact that it was due not to a lucky or accidental pointing of the telescope toward a particular quarter of the heavens, but to positive calculations worked out in the closet; thus proving that before the planet was seen by the eye, it had already been grasped by the mind. The theory of its finding was a triumph of human intellect. The distant Uranus—a planet hitherto orderly and correct—begins to show unusual movements in its orbit. It is, somehow, not exactly in the spot where, according to the best calculations, it ought to have been, and the whole astronomical world is thrown into perplexity. Two mathematicians, as yet but little known to fame, living far apart in different countries, and acting independently of each other, concentrate the force of their penetrating intellects to find out the cause. The most obvious way of accounting for the event, was to have inferred that some error in previous computations had occurred; and in a matter so difficult, so abstruse, and so far off, what could have been more probable or more pardonable? But these astronomers knew that the laws of gravity were fixed and sure, and that figures truly based on them could not deceive. By profound calculations, each arrives at the conclusion that nothing can account for the "perturbation" except the disturbing influence of some hitherto unknown mass of matter, exerting its attraction in a certain quarter of the Heavens. So implicit, so undoubting is the faith of the French astronomer Leverrier, in the truth of his deductions, that he requests a brother astronomer in Berlin, Prussia, to look out for this mass at a special point in space, on a particular night; and there, sure enough, the disturber immediately discloses himself, and soon shows his title to be admitted into the steady and orderly rank of his fellow-planets. The coincidence of the two astronomers—Leverrier, of France, and Adams, of England, arriving at this discovery through scientific calculations, based upon knowledge derived from physical observation, precludes every idea of guess-work, while such was the agreement between their final deductions, that the point of the Heavens fixed upon by both as the spot where the disturber lay, was almost identical." "Such a discovery" says Arago, "is one of the most brilliant manifestations of the exactitude of the system of modern astronomy."

Child continues: "Astronomy is without question, the grandest of sciences. It deals with masses, distances, and velocities, which in their immensity belong specially to itself alone, and of which the mere conception transcends the utmost stretch of our finite faculties. In no other branch of science is the limited grasp of our intellect more forcibly brought home to us, yet, though baffled in the effort to rise to the level of its requirements, our strivings are by no means profitless. Is it not truly a precious privilege to be able to trace, imperfect though it may be, the hand of the Almighty Architect in these, His grandest works, and to obtain by this means a broader consciousness of His Omnipotence?

Could each one be privileged to look through Herschel's telescope on a clear night, and visibly behold the wonders of the Heavens, our faith in the realities of astronomy would pass with a sudden bound from theory into practice; planets and stars would become henceforth distinct and solid existences in our minds, our doubts vanish, and our belief settle into conviction. We should behold the mysterious moon of our childhood, mapped into brilliant mountain-peaks, and dark precipices, and softly lighted plains; we should see Jupiter shining like another fair Luna, with attendant satellites moving round him in their well-known paths; or turn with admiration to Saturn encircled by his famous ring, with outlines as distinct as if that glorious creation lay but a few miles distant. Perhaps we may behold the beauteous Venus shining with resplendent circular disk, or curiously passing through her many phases in mimic rivalry of the Moon. Or, leaving these near neighbors far behind, we may penetrate more deeply into space, and mark how the bright flashing stars are reduced to a small, round, unmagnifiable point. Such a privilege would give us a more realizing sense of the power of the great Creator."