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Page 55
[Page 193]
X.
THE STELLAR SYSTEM.
"The heavens number out the glory of the strong God."--DAVID.
[Page 194]
Richter says that "an angel once took a man and stripped him of
his flesh, and lifted him up into space to show him the glory of
the universe. When the flesh was taken away the man ceased to be
cowardly, and was ready to fly with the angel past galaxy after
galaxy, and infinity after infinity, and so man and angel passed
on, viewing the universe, until the sun was out of sight--until
our solar system appeared as a speck of light against the black
empyrean, and there was only darkness. And they looked onward,
and in the infinities of light before, a speck of light appeared,
and suddenly they were in the midst of rushing worlds. But they
passed beyond that system, and beyond system after system, and
infinity after infinity, until the human heart sank, and the man
cried out: 'End is there none of the universe of God?' The angel
strengthened the man by words of counsel and courage, and they flew
on again until worlds left behind them were out of sight, and specks
of light in advance were transformed, as they approached them, into
rushing systems; they moved over architraves of eternities, over
pillars of immensities, over architecture of galaxies, unspeakable in
dimensions and duration, and the human heart sank again and called
ont: 'End is there none of the universe of God?' And all the stars
echoed the question with amazement: 'End is there none of the universe
of God?' And this echo found no answer. They moved on again past
immensities of immensities, and eternities of eternities, until
in the dizziness of uncounted galaxies the human heart sank for
the last time, and called out: 'End is there none of the universe
of God?' And again all the stars repeated the question, and the
angel answered: 'End is there none of the universe of God. Lo,
also, there is no beginning.'"
[Page 195]
X.
_THE OPEN PAGE OF THE HEAVENS._
The Greeks set their mythological deities in the skies, and read
the revolving pictures as a starry poem. Not that they were the
first to set the blazonry of the stars as monuments of their thought;
we read certain allusions to stars and asterisms as far back as
the time of Job. And the Pleiades, Arcturus, and Orion are some of
the names used by Him who "calleth all the stars by their names,
in the greatness of his power." Homer and Hesiod, 750 B.C., allude
to a few stars and groups. The Arabians very early speak of the
Great Bear; but the Greeks completely nationalized the heavens.
They colonized the earth widely, but the heavens completely; and
nightly over them marched the grand procession of their apotheosized
divinities. There Hercules perpetually wrought his mighty labors
for the good of man; there flashed and faded the changeful star
Algol, as an eye in the head of the snaky-haired Medusa; over them
flew Pegasus, the winged horse of the poet, careering among the
stars; there the ship Argo, which had explored all strange seas
of earth, nightly sailed in the infinite realms of heaven; there
Perseus perpetually killed the sea-monster by celestial aid, and
perpetually won the chained Andromeda for his bride. Very evident
was their recognition of divine help: equally evident was [Page 196]
their assertion of human ability and dominion. They gathered the
illimitable stars, and put uncountable suns into the shape of the
Great Bear--the most colossal form of animal ferocity and
strength--across whose broad forehead imagination grows weary in
flying; but they did not fail to put behind him a representative of
themselves, who forever drives him around a sky that never sets--a
perpetual type that man's ambition and expectation correspond to
that which has always been revealed as the divine.
The heavens signify much higher power and wisdom to us; we retain the
old pictures and groupings for the convenience of finding individual
stars. It is enough for the astronomer that we speak of a star as
situated right ascension 13' 45", declination 88� 40'. But for
most people, if not all, it is better to call it Polaris. So we
might speak of a lake in latitude 42� 40', longitude 79� 22', but
it would be clearer to most persons to say Chatauqua. For exact
location of a star, right ascension and declination must be given;
but for general indication its name or place in a constellation
is sufficiently exact. The heaven is rather indeterminably laid
out in irregular tracts, and the mythological names are preserved.
The brightest stars are then indicated in order by the letters of
the Greek alphabet--Alpha (a), Beta (b), Gamma (g), etc. After
these are exhausted, the Roman alphabet is used in the same manner,
and then numbers are resorted to; so that the famous star 61 Cygni
is the 111th star in brightness in that one constellation. An
acquaintance with the names, peculiarities, and movements of the
stars visible at different seasons of the year is an unceasing
source of pleasure. It [Page 197] is not vision alone that is
gratified, for one fine enough may hear the morning stars sing
together, and understand the speech that day uttereth unto day, and
the knowledge that night showeth unto night. One never can be alone
if he is familiarly acquainted with the stars. He rises early in the
summer morning, that he may see his winter friends; in winter, that
he may gladden himself with a sight of the summer stars. He hails
their successive rising as he does the coming of his personal
friends from beyond the sea. On the wide ocean he is commercing with
the skies, his rapt soul sitting in his eyes. Under the clear skies
of the East he hears God's voice speaking to him, as to Abraham, and
saying, "Look now toward the heavens, and tell the number of the
stars, if thou be able to number them."
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