Изображения страниц
PDF
EPUB

the centripetal, and the latter the centrifugal motion; and thus, the great machine is kept in action, and the planets wheel steadily in their respective orbits, and perform their various beneficent functions. I may add, that this is the principle, not of the solar system only, but of the system of the universe.

"O, unprofuse magnificence divine!

O, wisdom truly perfect! thus to call
From a few causes such a scheme of things.—
Effects so various, beautiful, and great,
A universe complete!"

THOMSON.

FOURTH WEEK-WEDNESDAY.

III. THE STARRY HEAVENS. THE PLANETARY SYSTEM.

IN the account of the creation given by Moses, the heavenly bodies are spoken of merely with reference to the earth, and the living beings which were created to inhabit its surface. Any other view would seem to have been inconsistent with the design of Revelation. The words of the inspired writer, therefore, are, "God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven, to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven, to give light upon the earth and it was so. And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: He made the stars also."

This account very accurately and distinctly enumerates the uses of the sun, moon, and stars, so far as the inhabitants of our planet are concerned; but there is another, which may be called the philosophical view of the subject, on which man was wisely left to exercise his own powers. This treats of the heavenly bodies, with

reference to each other, and to the universe. Here, a new and most wonderful scene opens to our view, bright with the glory of the Divine perfections; and this, is the scene which now presents itself for our consideration.

Keeping in mind that our object is not to write a treatise on astronomy, but merely to point out some remarkable facts in the construction of Nature, which can only be referred to an intelligent and benevolent First Cause, let us look more minutely at the appearances of the starry heavens. Besides the moon, which shall be afterward considered, one of the first things which strike an observer, is, that the great mass of the stars, though apparently in constant motion round a point from east to west, occasioned by the diurnal movement of the earth, are yet stationary, or, in other words, preserve, generally speaking, the same relative position, with reference to each other; but that there are a very few of those lamps of night which follow a different law, continually changing their place, and making progress among the rest, from west to east, with different degrees of velocity. It was discovered, too, as soon as the telescope was applied to the heavens, that, while no known magnifying power could increase the apparent dimensions of the fixed stars, these moving bodies were readily affected by that instrument. Such circumstances indicated an essential difference in the nature of the two classes of stars; and, in the progress of science, it was found that the latter were no other than bodies partaking of the conditions of our own globe, and moving, like the earth, in a constant orbit round the sun. These are called planets.

To the ancients only five planets were known,-Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. To this list, modern science has added the Earth,-which takes its place, with relation to its distance from the sun, between Venus and Mars, and Uranus, or Georgium Sidus, [or] Herschel,] which is the most distant of them all. Besides these, a still later discovery has been made, of four other planetary bodies, which move in orbits considerably more eccentric than the rest, and are of much smaller dimensions, whose situation has been found to be between Mars

I.

9

VII.

and Jupiter. All these planets are nearly globular, and each moves round its own axis, as well as round the sun. Some of them have attendant bodies, called satellites, of which our moon is an example, moving round their primary planets, nearly in the same plane in which the latter revolve round the sun, and nearly also in a similar orbit. Now, of the orbit of these bodies, the sun, as has been observed, is the centre; and the first observation which may be made in reference to this arrangement, as indicating wise design, is, that this central body is the source of light and heat. Had the world been, as the atheist contends, a mere fortuitous concourse of atoms,-granting, for the present, that other arrangements might be accounted for, on causes entirely mechanical, inherent in the constitution of matter,-there seems to be no reason deducible from such causes, why the great body, whose enormously superior size constituted it the centre of motion to the smaller globes, should, at the same time, be endowed with those peculiar properties so essential to the very existence of vegetable and animal life. How comes it, that any of the bodies belonging to our system should shed light and warmth over the rest, and that, of these, only one should be endowed with such properties? If this can be accounted for, then why does that body occupy the position at the centre, the only position, be it observed, which could render these life-sustaining propperties available for the purpose? There seems to be no possible reason, except that of Creative Intelligence, why the illuminating body should not be one of the planets; and, if that had been the case, how irregular, and how totally inefficient would have been the operation.

This proof of contrivance, which is strikingly and convincingly illustrated by Whewell, attracted the attention of Sir Isaac Newton, himself. In his correspondence with Bentley, he concedes that the sun and fixed stars might be formed by the mere force of attraction, and might exhibit their present appearances, provided the matter were of a lucid nature; "But," adds he, "how the matter should divide itself into two sorts, and that part of it which is fit to compose a shining body, should fall

down into one mass, and make a sun; and the rest, which is fit to compose an opaque body, should coalesce, not into one great body, like the shining matter, but into many little ones; or, if the sun were at first an opaque body, like the planets, or the planets lucid bodies, like the sun, how he alone should be changed into a shining body, whilst all they continued opaque; or all they be changed into opaque ones, whilst he continued unchanged, I do not think explicable by mere natural causes, but am forced to ascribe it to the counsel and contrivance of a Voluntary Agent."

It seems impossible that any unbiassed mind should hesitate to acquiesce in the conclusion of this great man ; and thus, from the very existence of a sun in the centre of our system, a satisfactory proof is drawn of the being of a God.

FOURTH WEEK-THURSDAY.

IV.. THE STARRY HEAVENS. THE SUN AS THE SOURCE OF LIGHT AND HEAT.

IN considering the advantages derived from that obviously intentional and most wise arrangement, by which the sun has been made the centre of our system, reference was necessarily made to that body, as the source of light and heat. A cursory view of some circumstances connected with these properties, seems, therefore, to suggest itself as an appropriate subject for this day's consideration.

The sun is a body of such immense magnitude, that it fills a space nearly twice as large as is comprehended within the orbit of the moon in its motion round the earth, being in diameter no less than 882,000 miles, and in bulk considerably more than a million of times larger than the earth. From this amazing orb, light and

heat are in some manner communicated to our planet, and to all the other planetary bodies, with a velocity which surpasses conception, the influence, whatever it is, travelling at the rate of 12,000,000 of miles in a minute, and reaching our globe in something less than eight minutes. It was supposed by Sir Isaac Newton, and has, till lately, been assumed as a fact, that the properties in question were transmitted from the sun by emanation; that is, that he was continually throwing off from his surface, a material substance, of extreme tenuity, possessing these properties. Late discoveries, however, of certain peculiarities in the nature of light, have given currency and probability to another opinion, namely, that the sun is no more than the spring which communicates activity to qualities or substances residing in our own atmosphere, from which the phenomena of light and heat are derived. This, is called the theory of vibrations : and it has been aptly illustrated by the manner in which sound is caused and propagated. It supposes an ethereal fluid diffused through the universe, of inconceivable rarity and elasticity, to which the luminiferous vibrations are communicated, and through which they are transmitted.

It is not the province of this work to enter into any discussion on this curious subject; and it is enough for our present purpose to know, that the Creator has caused the most salutary effects to depend on the presence and influence of this central body. Whether by vibration or by emanation, the properties of heat and light, indispensable to the existence of organized beings, in all their different grades, are, by means of the sun, adequately conveyed to the earth, otherwise dark and dead. We shall by and by have occasion to notice some of the qualities of heat, the partial absence of which, in our climate, at this season of the year, indicates how necessary this subtile agent is to life and enjoyment. Let us, at present, look at the kindred element of light, and we shall see that its operation is scarcely less indispensable in a world constituted as ours. Without light, in

It is necessary to vegetable life.

« ПредыдущаяПродолжить »