p. 1 | LOOK UP by C. W. Stone

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Dec 7, 1876

LOOK UP.

By C. W. Stone

BY C. W. STONE.

TEXT : “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handiwork.” Psa. 19:1.

Thousands of people pass through the world without knowing what a telling picture of his works God spreads in the heavens on every starry night. Like Bunyan’s man with the muck-rake, they have acquired such a habit of looking down that the most glorious exhibition might be visible overhead without attracting their attention. They will gaze with admiration upon a well-wrought painting, admire its forest representations, look with awe upon its precipices, contemplate with pleasure the beauties of its blue sky and floating clouds, and go into ecstasies over its miniature waterfalls. They will pay hundreds of dollars for a painting of a landscape; and while they admire in it the beauties and perfection of the likeness, and talk of the skill of the artist, they often forget that this, beautiful as it may be, is but a faint representation of one of the great original pictures with which the great Artist has decorated our earth.

God has surrounded us with beautiful things and wonderful things well calculated to lift our minds to the contemplation of Him by whom all things were created. The study of the things of nature, pursued in a proper manner, will invariably enlarge the mind and elevate the thoughts; and when the door of Nature’s great storehouse of knowledge is once open, and the inquiring student gets a glimpse of its infinite fullness, he can but gaze in admiration, while from his swelling heart he pours forth praise and adoration to God, whose “tender mercies are over all his works.”

“To him who in the love of Nature holds Communion with her visible forms, she speaks A various language. For his gayer hours She has a voice, a smile and eloquence Of beauty; and she glides into his darker Musings with a mild and gentle sympathy That steals away their sharpness ere he is aware.”

The book of nature is ever present, always open. The lonely traveler may be cheered as he pursues his journey, and the weary laborer in the field may be rested as he toils, by turning his mind to the study of one of its pages.

Study the dewdrop, the waterfall, the blade of grass, the oak. Look closely at the beauties of the opening rose bud. “Consider,” said Jesus, “the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin; and yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.” “Consider” them. Do not let a passing glance suffice. “The lilies of the field,” even those that grow wild, without human care. What a happy selection to show God’s care! “Consider” “how they grow.” Yes; watch the rising stalk, the opening bud, the matchless painting of the unfolding leaf. “They toil not,” yet they are gloriously arrayed. Who arrays the lily in its gorgeous robes? Let Jesus tell. He says, “Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field,”—ah! it is God that makes the lily grow. He has fixed His laws; and the obedient lily, growing, points us to its Creator.

The smallest of God’s works preach sermons. What, then, shall we say of the heavens? What an endless field for study! Look up! and contemplate for a while some of the grand things of the sky. In a clear day, look up into the ether of the heavens. Passing far beyond those light, fleecy clouds, we look at the sun. The eye cannot endure its exceeding brightness, but turns quickly away in pain. Think of the glory of God, which so far surpasses the light of the sun that mortal man cannot look upon his face, and live. Ex. 33:20. When the light from Heaven shone around Saul, he was made blind for three days. When the angel of the Lord descended from Heaven to call the Son of God from the tomb, the Roman guard fell to the ground as dead men; for “his countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow.” In the new earth there will be no need of the light of the sun, “for the Lord God giveth them light.”

We can form no just idea of the distance of the sun from us. It is about 92,000,000 miles, but the mind can hardly fathom that number. Rays of light are about 8¼ minutes in coming to us from the sun. The great size of the sun is another thing that baffles our comprehension. Here is an illustration: The moon is a body smaller than the earth, and much nearer to it than the sun is, its mean distance being 240,000 miles. It completes a revolution around the earth in about 28 days. Now imagine that the earth stands still during that time, and that the moon leaves a brilliant track to mark its path around the earth. This would be an enormous circle. Now place the sun where the earth is, and it would fill this whole circle made by the moon, and extend 200,000 miles beyond it on every side.

The grandest display of the handiwork of God, however, is visible on a starry night, when worlds on worlds bespangling the blue expanse are visible.

“Consider” the stars. A new picture every night—steadily changing all the time. The moon puts on a new face and appears farther to the east. Mark its place among the stars to-night, and see to-morrow night how much it has moved. The planets, sisters of the earth, are seen wandering apparently to and fro, moving in their appointed orbits around the sun. The fixed stars appear to move all together toward the west, so that the star seen rising to-night at nine o’clock will appear at that time of night three months hence on the meridian, a line drawn from north to south overhead. This appearance is caused by the eastward journey of the earth in its orbit around the sun.

By noting these things we can realize that, not only the great heavenly bodies move, but our little earth is also moving. If you spend twenty minutes in reading this article, you will in that time ride on the earth in its journey around the sun over 22,000 miles.

The fixed stars are so many suns; and each is undoubtedly accompanied by a train of planets with their satellites, or moons, as our sun is. Many of them are of such size that our sun falls into comparative insignificance when compared with them; and they are at such a distance from us that our sun is made to seem quite near when we think of it. Light moves at the rate of 186,000 miles per second. The light reflected from the planet Jupiter, or what is the same thing, Jupiter’s picture, comes to us in three quarters of an hour, when at his mean distance from us; that of Neptune, the remotest of the planets, in four hours. From the nearest fixed star, a Centauri, the passage of light occupies full three years; from 61 Cygni, ten years; from Sirius, the brightest of all the fixed stars, twenty years; from the Pole star, forty-six years; from the serene Capella, seventy-two years; from the Pleiades, or seven stars, seven hundred years; and from others, as many thousands; and from others still, probably as many millions of years.

It appears, then, that from every satellite, planet, and sun, there float out in every direction rays of light bearing upon them the picture of the object from which they come. The mariner looks at the pole star, and receives the light that left it nearly fifty years ago. The astronomer peers at Alcyone, and sees it as it was seven hundred years ago.

To the inhabitants of those stars which are at such a distance that it takes light 256 years to pass from us to them, the landing of the Pilgrims of the May Flower is just becoming visible; while by others about seven and one-fourth times as far away, granting them the requisite powers of vision, the scene of Calvary may now be witnessed. Thus we may say that in the different parts of the universe, every scene that has transpired since God made the heavens and the earth, is somewhere still visible.

As the moon follows the earth, and the four moons of Jupiter follow it, in their journey around the sun, so the sun with its train of planets and satellites is moving around some other distant centre. This seems to be the case with the other stars. The centre around which our system of worlds is said to be revolving is the beautiful star Alcyone, one of the Pleiades. Thus star is linked to star, and system to system; and what is more rational than the conclusion, that the grand centre of all, whence emanates the attraction that binds, and the power that swings them in their mighty orbits, is the eternal Throne of JEHOVAH?

The perfect harmony that exists in the movements of the heavenly bodies, and the minute exactness with which they accomplish their revolutions in set time, show that there is one Ruler, and only one, whose laws they all obey. The astronomer can tell, years beforehand, the exact second when Venus in its revolutions will come between the earth and the sun, when the earth will cast its shadow upon the moon causing an eclipse thereof, or when the moon will pass between the sun and the earth causing an eclipse of the sun. The navigator in mid ocean, by measuring with his sextant the direction and angular distance of the moon from some principal star near it, can readily compute his distance and direction from any port on the globe, whose latitude and longitude is on his map.

The heathen believes in a multiplicity of gods, each god ruling over certain things. Anciently the Greeks and Romans named their chief deity Jupiter, whose empire was in the aerial regions; Neptune ruled over the seas, rivers, and fountains; Vulcan, over burning mountains and fires; Æolus, over the winds; Bacchus, over the vine; Pan, over the hills and pastures, herds, flocks, and bees; Ceres, over grain, harvests, etc. Not unfrequently the gods would quarrel among themselves, and the worshiper, in making his offerings to appease the wrath of one, would incur the displeasure of another still more powerful.

If such were the case, what discord and irregularity would attend the movements of the worlds ruled each by many and different gods! An eclipse might happen at any time; the mariner could never reckon his longitude at sea; and our little planet would be in constant danger of being broken into fragments by a collision with some of the mighty orbs of space. But, thanks be to God, “the firmament sheweth HIS handiwork,” and the heavens obey one God, who is supreme. Nature unites her testimony with that of Revelation, and they both affirm that there is one Law-giver. James 4:12.

The ancients were not unacquainted with astronomy, and the Bible makes frequent mention of the stars. On the first day of creation, God created light, and divided it from the darkness, putting the light on one side of the earth, and the darkness on the other. On the fourth day, God placed this light upon the sun, which he appointed “to rule the day.” He made the moon a reflector of that light “to rule the night; he made the stars also.”

When God made the promise to Abraham,—that promise to be fulfilled to Christ, whose heirs we may be through faith and obedience (Gal. 3:16, 29),—he brought Abraham forth and said to him, “Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be.”

The worship of the sun, moon, and stars, is expressly forbidden. Ex. 20:3–5; Deut. 4:15–20.

Job was an astronomer. In chap. 9, verse 9, he speaks of Arcturus, Orion, and Pleiades, and says that God made them. In chap. 38: verses 31, 32, the Lord addresses Job thus: “Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion? Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season? or canst thou guide Arcturus with his sons?”

The Lord spoke to the prophet Amos as unto one acquainted with astronomy. He said, “Seek him that maketh the seven stars and Orion,” etc. Creative power is the badge of the true God. “God that made the world and all things therein,” said Paul when he would make known unto the Athenians the true God. “For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is,” is the token or seal of authority which God gave to that law which he spoke from Mount Sinai. While we look upon the countless worlds that fill immensity, may our minds be enabled to realize more fully that our God, who made them, is great. May we, with the psalmist, be better able to see the great condescension of the Creator in his love and care for us. He says, “When I consider the heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; what is man, that thou art mindful of him?”

The appearance of the heavens on a clear, starry night is lovely beyond description; and it is made use of by the angel Gabriel in Dan. 12:3, in one of the most beautiful and impressive comparisons that the world has ever heard. I will quote it, beginning with verse 2: “And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to everlasting shame and contempt.” Now hear: “And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness, as the stars forever and ever.”

“They that be wise.” This includes the host of the redeemed. They are compared to the brightness of the firmament, the glorious, light, silvery blue, that seems almost to glow with inward flame.

“They that turn many to righteousness,”—the faithful ministers, the shepherds

of the flock, who have sounded the warning note fearlessly, exhorted faithfully, and pleaded feelingly, with all long-suffering and patience,—they “shall shine as the stars forever and ever.” The silvery expanse of the heavens represents that “great multitude, which no man could number;” and the shining stars, the faithful ministers and all who have labored successfully to save souls. “There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for one star differeth from another star in glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead.” 1 Cor. 15:41, 42.

Work on, worn laborers; your reward is great. And ye whose course of life is through less expanded fields, go on; fill well the humble place God marks for you, and that is all he asks. Be “faithful over a few things,” and thou shalt be made “ruler over many things.” Great advantages slighted bring no rejoicing, but small opportunities well improved may secure happiness forever. The widow’s mite received more credit in the bank of Heaven than the larger offerings of the wealthy. What encouragement we have to do what we can! Reader, take in the beauties of the next star-light night.

“The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge.” The works of God show his wisdom and power, and should lead us to render him unfeigned worship and love. But it is not left with these things alone, impressive as they are, to mark out our pathway and lead us to God,—“We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place.” 2 Pet. 1:19.

The words of the poet are to the point, and with them we close:—

“The heavens declare thy glory, Lord, In every star thy wisdom shines; But when our eyes behold thy word, We read thy name in fairer lines.”