The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1868-12-20

l HOW many persons, Of otherwise high attain
A str1no n,e .ouna 70 be entirely ignorant Of
/ anything of it, There certainly is no study
peter calculated to inspire faslngs Of reverence
% S5 TO the sss Of
there's nothing more sublime, nothing that e1-
poses . larger field of investigation, such
IN unlimited space, yet unexplored by man. Who
bright twinkling worlds-fragments Of q
universe, parts of one great whole-that looks
and does not admiref We observe that the
steady and the light is coiored. We do not
know the true cause Of these scintillations
There are theories on this subject, but none
are satisfactory. We notice at intervals the
silver chord bordering tho outline of half o
sphere. We next observe the crescent, and
finally the full round moon. The changes are
familiar to every one, but how few know or
control the creation of worlds that move with
out discord around their established centers.
By sapposing the moon to be inhabited, we
them. It is very interesting: The earth un-
dergoes all the phases of the moon, being
however, at extreme changes, in opposition-
new or dark of the earth. The appearance of
the earth, to an inhabitant of the moon, when
the earth is full, is grand sight, the earth
being several times larger. The most interest
ing part of the appearance is that the earth
apparently has no motion, going through all
these changes in the same portion Of the
hefS Gin III respect TO the LunarlanS.
The sun appears to rise and set in something
over fourteen days and half, making about
fifteen days of alternate day and night. Now,
to one half of these inhabitants the earth is
never visible, and this half are in darkness
fifteen Of our days and nights, while the ether
portion enjoy, besides the same sunlight, about
fifteen days and nights by our time of rejected
light from the grand old earth. ~
There is, however, great difference in our
earth to them, according to the longitude of
the place of observation. .il -
Tho mOet favored, in this respect, are those
to whom tie earth seems fixed in the zenith
first the crescent, and then comes the grand
round earth, which-full just at their mid
night.
Those to whom it appears in the west have
less benefit of it's light 1t becomes new earth to
them when the sun is about forty-fve degrees
below the western horizOn-that is, becomes
visible and full at sunrise. To those who see
1t in the east, the crescent appears when the
sun is about forty-five degrees above the hor-
lion, and it fulls about sunset. And SO it APP
parently occupies every degree of longitude,
from horizon to horizon.
These appearances are readily understood
when we reflect that the moon makes a diurnal
revolution in exactly the same period with her
are subject to the same phases, but, owing to
their positions, in respect to earth and sun, are
not visible at or very near the time of full.
Let us not forget the comets, those silent
wanderers that appear in, our sky, rushing
with inconceivable velocity around the sun,
sweeping the heavens with their fiery trains,
huu hyiuS away WHO KNOWS WueTe
May they not be embryo worlds thrown fresh
from the creative element, rushing through
space in liquid fire, eliminating the curves, and
cooling, to take elliptical orbits and in time to
bring forth vegetable and animal life and
pass ON through the natural course of progress
sion.
blaze out upon the night and leave their line
of light, traced for an instant upon the blue
ethereal space, emblem of mans coveted prize
of EARTH to flash and then to disappear.
The Aurora Rnraa1iS 10 liar nhap
enon, and many persons will remember the
appearance of the sky in the month of August
in the year 1859, when the whole canopy of
heaven was bright with a red-rose hue.
We must consider all things to have direct
and absolute cause, emaDating from the Great
First Cause, and not without design. Are the
designs of men reliable in all their wisdom,
at the distance of a moments time, the
rising and setting sun generations hence Has
there ever been doubt to the certainty of
any one established law to come to time
Eclipses are calculated thousands of years to
come with as much precision as the rising of
to morrOw's sun.
are infinite and immutable. There is no more
certain method OF insuring piety and it's con-
sequeut morality than by cu1tivating at once a
study so purely grand.
tions-as he gains knowledge of these laws, |
then does he comprehend his own frail power
not only does he perceive his own weakness
but the insignificance of the world compared |
with the immense Creation. He sees, too, that
not only himself, the world, but our system |
of worlds, could be struck from existence, swept |
away by the Great Will, to leave an unperceiv- |
able blank, q void unknown and unseen by all |
save him who can replace it.
To the fxed stars there is no parallax, no
shadow or change. At one extreme of the
orbit of the EARTH q direct line being taken to
any fixed star, and six months from this period,
when tho earth is 100, 900 of miles from the |
place of forme. observation, another line being
drawn to the same star is found to show no
angle-or in other words they are parallel.
Such is the immense distance of those nearest
to our sun.
The stars in the northern heavens have been
noticed to have become gradually Separated
that is, the space of a particular constellation
has been observed to increase. This argues q
The contemplation of these grand revolutions
leads the mind to sublime feelings and inspires
it with deep awe for that Unseen Power SO