[Bro. J. Clarke of Ohio sends us the following account, copied, he says, from E. H. Burritt's Geography of the Heavens, p. 40.]
"Two hundred and fifty years ago, a bright star shone 50 deg. N. N. E. of Caph., where now is a dark void!
"On the 8th of Nov., 1572, Tycho Brahe and Cornelius Gemma saw a star in the constellation of Cassiopea, which became all at once, so brilliant, that it surpassed the splendor of the brightest planets, and might be seen even at noon-day! Gradually this great brilliancy diminished, until the 15th of March, 1573, when, without moving from its place, it became utterly extinct.
"Its color, during this time, exhibited all the phenomena of a prodigious flame—first it was of a dazzling white, then of a reddish yellow, and lastly of an ashy paleness, in which light it expired. It is impossible, says Mrs. Somerville, to imagine anything more tremendous than a conflagration that could be visible at such a distance. It was seen for sixteen months.
"Some astronomers imagined that it would reappear after 150 years; but it has never been discovered since. This phenomenon alarmed all the astronomers of the age who beheld it; and many of them wrote dissertations concerning it.
"Rev. Prof. Vince, one of the most learned and pious astronomers of the age, has this remark:—'The disappearance of some stars may be the destruction of that system at the time appointed by the Deity for the probation of its inhabitants; and the appearance of new stars may be the formation of new systems for new races of beings then called into existence, to adore the works of their Creator.'
"Thus we may conceive the Deity to have been employed from all eternity, and thus he may continue to be employed for endless ages; forming new systems of beings to adore him, and transplanting beings already formed into happier regions, who will continue to rise higher and higher in their enjoyments, and go on to contemplate system after system through the boundless universe.
"La Place says, 'As to those stars which suddenly shine forth with a very vivid light, and then immediately disappear, it is extremely probable that great conflagrations produced by extraordinary causes, take place on their surface.' 'This conjecture,' continues he, 'is confirmed by their change of color, which is analogous to that presented to us on the earth by those bodies which are set on fire, and then gradually extinguished.'
"The late eminent Dr. Good, also observes, that worlds and systems of worlds are not only perpetually creating, but also perpetually disappearing. It is an extraordinary fact, that within the period of the last century not less than thirteen stars, in different constellations seem to have totally perished, and ten new ones to have been created. In many instances it is unquestionable, that the stars themselves, the supposed habitations of other kinds or orders of intelligent beings, together with the different planets, by which it is probable they were surrounded, have utterly vanished, and the spots which they occupied in the heavens, have become blanks! What has befallen other systems, will assuredly befall our own. Of the time and manner we know nothing, but the fact is incontrovertible; it is foretold by revelation; it is inscribed in the heavens; it is felt through the earth. Such is the awful and daily text; what then ought to be the comment?"