Vermont telegraph. [volume] (Brandon [Vt.]) 1828-1843, 1839-10-02

sooner, we shall surely behold some
trophies of rich grace redeemed by our
| agency, when we reach the fair banks of
eternal deliverance.
Inc following Sketch of the Modern Astrono.
N.Y. found in one of Chalmers sermons. will
richly repay repeated perusals.
Sketch OF the Modern Astronomy.
when consider thy heavens, the work of tbv
myers, the moon and the stars, which tbou hast
II::ua1hed what is man, that thou art mindful of
-'ii "lo tne son OF man, that thou vsitest him /"
PSALM viii 3, A.
have, with some hesitation, prevailed
upon myselfto attempt an argument which
i'nlnk lifted osoflen and subdue those pre-.
JUDGES which lie at the bottom of what
may be called the infidelity of natural sci
ence; IT possible to bring over 10 the bu-
inility OF The Gospel, those who expatiate
Win delight on the wonders and sublimi.
ties OF creation; and to convince them
that lofiier wisdom still than that even
OF their high and honorable requirements.
IS the wisdom of him who is resolved 10
Know nothing but Jesus Christ, and him
cruci6ed. ''''
1t Is truly most Christian exercise to
extract a sentiment of piety from the
works and the appearances of nature. Ii
has the authority Of the Sacred Writers
upon Its side, and even our Savior him
sell gives it the weight and the solemnity
OF his example, g Behold the lilies of the
neid; they toll not, neither do they spin,
yet your heavenly Father careth for
them He expatiates on the beauty of
a single flower, and draws from it the de-
ilghfnl argument of confidence in God
He gives US to see that taste may be COM
blned with pietv, and that the same heart
may be occupied with all that is serious
In the CONCENTRATIONS of religion, and be
at the same time alive to the charms and
he LONELINESS of nature.
The Psalmist takes stiH lofier f1ipbt.
He leaves the world, and lifts his imagin.
alton to that mighty expanse which
spreads above it and around it. He wings
his way through space, and wanders in
thought over its Unreasonable regions
Instead of dark and unpeopled solitude
ne sees it crowded with splendor, and fill
ed with the energy of the Divine pres
ence. Creation rises in Its immensely be-
fore him, and the world, with all which
it inherits, shrinks into lttleness at con-
temptation so vast and so overpowering.
He wonders that he is not overlooked
amid the grandeur and the variety which
are on every side of him, and passing up
ward from the majesty of nature to the
majesty of natures Architect, he exclaims.
" What is man that thou art mindful of
him, or the son of man that thou shouldest
deien to visit him ?"
1t is not for US to say, whether inspira-
ton revealed to the Psalmist the wonders
of the modern astronomy. But even tho
the mind be perfect stranger to the SCI
ence Of these enlightened Times, the heav-
ems present a great and elevating specta-
Gle; an immense concave reposing upon
the circular boundary of the world. and
the innumerable lights which are sus.
pended from on high, moving with SOL
emn regularity along its surface. 1t seems
to have been at night that the piety OF the
Psalmist was awakened by this contem-
plation, when the moon and the stars were
visible, and not when the sun had risen in
his strength, and thrown a splendor around
him, which bore down and eclipsed all
the lesser glories Of the armament. And
there is much in the scenery of nocturn-
al sky, to lift the soul to pious contempIa.
ton. That moon, and these stars, what
are they? They are detached from the
world, and they lift you above it. You
feel Withdrawn from the earth, and rise
in lofty abstraction above this little thea
tire of human passions and human ankle
ties. The mind abandons itself TO reverie,
and is transferred, in the ecstacy of its
thoughts. to distant and unexpIored re-
gions. 1t sees nature in the simplicity of
her great elements, and it sees the God
of nature invested with the high attributes
of wisdom and majesty.
But what can these lights be-? The
curiosity ofthe human mind is Unsuitable,
and the mechanism of these wonderful
| heavens has, in all ages, been its subject
and its employment II has been reserv-
ed for these latter times, to resolve this
great and interesting question. The SUBJ
FINEST powers Of philosophy have been
called to the exercise, and astronomy NAV
now be looked upon dis the most cer.ain
and best established of the sciences.
We all know that every visible object
appears less in magnitude as it recedes
from the eye. The lofty vessel as it re-
tires from the coast, shrinks into littleness,
and at last appears in the form of small
speck on the verge of the horizon. The
eagle with its expanded wings, is noble
object; but when it takes its flight into the
upper regions of the air, it becomes less to
the eye, and is seen like dark spot upon
!, the vault of heaven. The same is true OF
/ n II M, :4.,I I'LL, k1.o..onI.. haI;oc