The weekly American banner. (Yazoo City, Miss.) 1855-18??, 1856-11-07

81 sbs IS isint T. s. ssen 81 lbe nsEsd sys, are
not eaeE upiyeselike ot solar system. but each
d s.swArm' of universes or pnappr ciablA nngni-
tude Humboldt Cosmos III. ~ The mind sinks
overpowered by the contemplation. We repeat the
words but they no longer consey distinct ideas to
the understanding
prehension, carry US but auother ,step forward in
the realms or sideral Astronomy. A proper motion
In space of our sun and Of tie fixed stars as we call
them, has long been believed to exist Their vast
distances only prevent It's beng more apparent
The great improvement in insFuments OF measure
ment within the last generated rs not only estab
lished the existence q this moton but has pointed
whole solar and steller system with As myriad of
attendant planetary worlds apfear to be performing
mighty revolution. IT. then, We assume that OUT
side 81 the system to which we uelong and in which
our sun is but star like Aldebaran or Sirius, the
different nebule Of which we have spoken-thous-
ands of which spot the heavens constitute each
distinct family Of universes, must following tbs
guide Of analogy, attribute to each OF them also,
beyond all the revolutions Of their individual at
tendant planetary SYSTEMS great revolution, COM
pretending the whole; while the sane course OF
ward and in the last analysis, requires MS to
transcendental connection between all these mighty
svstems-a universe of uniyerses circl ng round in
the infnity Of space, and preserving its equilibrium
10y the same laws of mutual attraction which bind
the lower worlds together
It may thought that conceptions ike these are
calculated rather to depress than to elevate us in
the scale Of being; that banished as he is by these
CONCENTRATIONS to corner of creation and there re-
duced to an atom man sinks to Aothingness In this
Eintnity of worlds. But second thought ~corrects
the impression. These vast eontempations are well
calculated to inspire awe, but not abasement Mind
and matter are incommensurable. An immortal soul,
even while couthed in muddy vesture of decay, .
is in the eve Of God and reason purer essence than
the brightest sun that lights the depts of heaven
The organized human eye, instinct with life and
SOUL which, gazing through the telescope, travels up
to the cloudy speck in the handle Of Orions sword
and bids il blaze forth into GALAXY vast ours,
stands higher in the order of being than all tina
host lumiraries. The intellect Of Newton, which
discovered the law that holds the revolving worlds
together, is nobler work Of God than universe o
unthiEking matter.
IT, still tzeading the loftiest paths Of analogy, y
adopt the suggestion. Ito me own the grntefu
supposition.-that the countless planetary world
which attend these countless suns, are the abodes
rational beings like man, instead of bringing bacl
from this exalted conception of feeling of insignia
canoe. as if the individuals of our race were bu
poor atoms in the nfnity of being, regard it OIL
the contrary, glory Of our human nature tina
it belongs to family which no man can number Q
rational natures like itself In the order of bein
they may stand beneath US, or they may stand aboy
us; he may well be content with his place who
made "a little lower than the nngels'
Finally. my friends, believe there is no contem
iplaton better adapted TO awaken devout ideas tina
} that OF the heavenly bodies; no. branch of natura
science which bears clearer testimony to the powe
$ and wisdom of God, than that to which you thi
9 day consecrate temple
i There is much by day to engage the attention Z
the Observatory; the his apparent motions, hi
dimensions, the spots on his dire. Ito us the fair
d indications of movements of unimagined giandeu
n in his luminous atmospheric solar eclipse, trar
sit of the inferior planets the mysteries of the Spe
e trun,;-all phenomena of vast importance and il
s. terest But night is the astronomers accepted tim
he goes to his delightful abo when the busy worl
goes to its rest. A dark pail spreads the r.
sorts of active life; terrestrial objects, Hill and va
K ley, and rock and stream, and the abodes of me
e., disappear; but the curtain is drawn up which col
2. cealed the heavenly hosts. There they shine an
at there they move, as they moved and shone to Ii
- ewes Of Newton aad Calico, Of KepIer and Cope
II nicus, Of Ptolemy and Hpparcus yes, as they mo
IN ed and shone when the morning stars sang togeth
IN and all the sons of God shouted for ioy All h
is changed on earth:--but the glorious heavens rea
* unchanged The plough passes over the site
as mighty cities: the homes Of powerful nations a
desolate the languages they spoke are forgotten;
the stars that shone for them are shining for us;
Mt same eclipses run their steady cycle: the sar
=. equinox call out the flowers OF spring and send
rs husbandman to the harvest the sun panses at cit
er tropic as he did when his course began and
of and MOON and planet and satellite, and star al
h. constellation and galaxy, still bear witness to
NJ power, the wisdom and the love- which placed thu
IS in the heavens, and upholds them there.
MI -,--------..-------
re- Descent TO the Crater of PODOcat