The Manchester journal. [volume] (Manchester, Vt.) 1861-current, 1861-06-25

gates Of morning were thrown opcn, and
the 'ljrd Of day, arrayed IN glories to
gorgeous for the eye o. man. began his
state. DO not wonder when am told
that the ancient Medeaus, ia the morning
Of tic world, went up 70 the hill-tops Of
Central Asia, and, ignorant Of the 10
God. admired the most glorious work OF
His hands bat ! am filed with wonder
and shame when ! reflect that, Ia this en-
lighiened age, IN the centre Of Christian
culIurc-n our own beloved New Eng
laud--ihere are and have been men, pub
liz teachers, who can behold this delightful
display of the creative power and wisdom
and goodness, and yailiug the philosophy
under a thin guise Of Pantheism. can deny
the presence Of the great creative mind,
and say, 10 effect, III their own hearts, there
is no God
RELIGIOUS LESSONS or ASTRONOMY.
No, my friends, there is no branch Of
science that ought to create and nourish
deyout ideas more than that of astronomy.
Aud great as was the tallacy Of the true
nature and real motions Of tho heavenly
bodies that peryaded the ancient world,
the mind Of antiquity was nevertheless de-
youtly and religiously impressed by their
survey. There is beautiful passage in
one Of those admirably philosophic works
that were written by Cicero in the decline
Of his life, as a solace from the cares of
advancing age, in which he treats this top
ic--I mean the natural effect OF astrono-
mical science Of producing devout, rclig-
ious ideas-with a beauty and power that
almost puts 70 shame our own Christian
teachers. The passage TO which refer il
IN substance this ;---Nobly does Aristotle
observe, that if there were natures which
had always lived beneath the ground, in
magnilicence, furnished with pictures and
statues and everything that belongs TO
prosperous life, but had never yet come up
TO the surface of the earth, yet had, by
fame and report, heartfbhat there were
gods and upon some occasion, the portals
Of the earth, being thrown open, they were
able TO emerge from their obscure abodes
TO the region that we inhabit and could
behold the earth-its sea and sky--and
contemplate the vastness Of the clouds, the
force of the winds---survey the sun, It's
magnitude and glory-understan IFS effect
and power; that il is He who makes the
day by dispensing His light throughout the
universe, and when darkness sits upon the
earth, could behold the sky, spangled with
stars--could witness the waxing and the
waning Of the moon, the risings and set
tngs Of the heavenly bodies--if, say, they
could behold all these things, truly they
would believe there Yves God, and that
these great things are the works Of His
hand
THERE'S much by day to attract the atten-
| ton Of the astronomers-the sun, his mag
nitude, bis apparent motions, the spots on
his surface, and the solar eclipscs, the tran
SO Of inferior planets over the SUMS disc.
| But night is the accepted time of the as
tronomer; he goes to his delightful labors
when busy world goes TO its resta dark
/ pail has settled over mountain and vale,
and tree and stream, and the resorts Of ac-
4 tive men. But the curtain is raised up
/ that concealed the celestial hosts. Then
they move and shine as they moved and
shone for Newton and Calico, for Kepler
and Copernicus, for Ptolemy and Hippar-
chus-as they moved and shone when "the
morning stars sang together, and the sons
Of God shouted for joyp All has chang
ed on earth, but the glorious heavens re-
main unchanged The ploHshare passes
over the ruins Of mighty cities, the homes
of powerful nations are desolate the Ian
euages they spoke have perished from the
/ lips Of men; but the same heavens look
down upon Us that looked down upon them !;
the same cclipses run their steady cycle
the same equinoxes bring forth the flowers
Of spring and send the husbandman to the
Joyous labor Of the harvest. The sun paus-
es at the same tropic as he did when his
course began; and sun and moon, and
planet and satellite, and star and constel-
laton, and galaxy, still bear witness to the
power, the wisdom, and the love which
placed them in the heavens aud sustains
them there