-----
“It is besides from astronomy, that we borrow the division of time in
the common transactions of life, and the art of regulating clocks and
watches. We may say, that the order and the multiplicity of our affairs,
of our duties, our amusements; the attachment to exactness and
precision; in short, our habits; all have rendered this measure of time
almost indispensable, and placed it among the number of the _desiderata_
of human life.
“If, for want of clocks and watches, we should be under the necessity of
recurring to meridians and sundials, even this would further prove the
advantages derived from astronomical science; since dialling is only an
application of spherical trigonometry and astronomy.
“Le Sage is displeased with good reason with those, whom an admiration
of the stars has carried so far, as that they fancied them to be
Deities:[29] but, far from condemning the study of them, he recommends
it, for the glory of the Creator.”
-----
Footnote 29:
Lucius Cælius Lactantius Firmianus, a Christian writer in the
beginning of the fourth century, reasons in a conclusive manner
against the heathen mythology, in the inference he draws from the
argument, used by the heathens, to prove the heavenly bodies to be
divinities. His argument, on this head, will be found towards the
conclusion of Mr. Derham’s _Astro-Theology_, where it is translated
from the Latin of that early and eloquent advocate of Christianity (in
his _Divin. Instit._ l. 2. c. 5.) in these words:—
“That argument whereby they” (those idolaters) “conclude the heavenly
bodies to be gods, proveth the contrary: for if therefore they think
them to be gods, because they have such certain and well-contrived
rational courses, they err: for, from hence it appears that they are
not gods; because they are not able to wander out of those paths that
are prescribed them. Whereas, if they were gods, they would go here
and there, and every where, without any restraint, like as animals
upon the earth do; whose wills being free, they wander hither and
thither, as they list, and go whithersoever their minds carry them.”
Those vast orbs of matter in the universe, which constitute the
planets of our system, if even we consider this alone, and each of
which is known to have its appropriate motion, must of necessity have
had those motions communicated to them, at first, by some Being of
infinite power; the perfect order and regularity of their motions
render it equally plain, that that Being was also infinite in wisdom;
and the uninterrupted continuance of the same regularity of motion, in
their respective orbits, demonstrates in like manner, that He who
originally imparted their motions to the several planets is, moreover,
infinite in duration.
The _vis inertiæ_ of all _material_ substances, a quality inseparably
interwoven with their nature, deprives them (considered merely as
such) of the power of spontaneous motion; matter is inherently
_inert_: consequently, those great globes of matter, the planets
(including the earth,) necessarily derive their motions from a
supremely powerful First Cause, as well as from one infinitely
intelligent, and everlasting in his Being. Hence, Lactantius well
observes, in another place, that “There is, indeed, a power in the
stars, of performing their motions; but that is the power of God, who
made and governs all things; not of the stars themselves, that are
moved.”
The reasoning of Lactantius, on this subject, is more worthy of a
philosopher, than that employed by Descartes, in supporting his
chimerical notion of vortices; or than that which led Kepler to adopt
his scheme, equally unsupported by any rational principles, of a
vectorial power produced by emanations of the sun, as primary agents
of motion in the solar system. Because these schemes of Descartes and
Kepler make it necessary to recur to some ulterior, as well as more
adequate and comprehensible cause of motion, in the planets, than
either vortices or emanations from the sun: whereas Lactantius
resorted, at once, to an intelligent First Cause, capable of producing
the effect; without conjuring up inefficient agents, as first movers;
which left them still under the necessity of going back to a CREATOR
of their respective causes (but second causes, at best,) of the
planetary motions; consequently, the First Cause; and, also, of
admitting the existence of Intelligence, as an essential attribute in
the nature of that Being.
An edition of the works of Lactantius (who was a native of Fermo in
Italy,) was printed at Leipsick, in 1715.
-----
Adverting to such as considered “fire, or wind, or the swift air, or the
circle of the stars, or the violent water, or the lights of heaven, to
be gods which govern the world,”[30] he applies the words of
Solomon:—“With whose beauty, if they, being delighted, took them to be
gods; let them know how much better the Lord of them is: for the first
Author of beauty has created them—For, by the greatness and beauty of
the creatures, proportionably the Maker of them is seen.”[31]
-----
Footnote 30:
Wisdom of Solomon, ch. 13. v. 2.
Footnote 31:
Ibid. ch. 13. v. 3 and 5.
-----
“David found also, in the stars,” continues Lalande, “means of elevating
his contemplation of the Deity:”—“The heavens declare the glory of
God;”[32] “I will view thy heavens, the works of thy fingers, the moon
and the stars which thou hast established:” and we see that Mr. Derham
has called by the name of “_Astro-Theology_,” a work, in which is
presented, in all their force, the singularity and grandeur of the
discoveries that have been made in astronomy; as being so many proofs of
the existence of a God. (See what Aristotle thought on this subject, in
the eighth book of his _Physics_.)
-----
Footnote 32:
Psalm 19. v. 1.
-----
Such were the reflections of Mr. Lalande, on a subject with which he was
intimately acquainted.
The opinions of eminent and enlightened men have deservedly great
weight, in all those matters on which it is presumable, from the nature
of their pursuits, their thoughts have been most employed.
Notwithstanding, therefore, the fulness of the foregoing extracts, the
writer believes that the very apt and judicious observations contained
in the following passage, in support of similar sentiments, extracted
from a voluminous work of a distinguished English astronomer, of the
present day, will not be deemed to have been improperly brought into
view, on this occasion:—
“The obvious argument of the existence of a DEITY, who formed and
governs the universe,” (says Mr. Vince, the author referred to,) “is
founded upon the uniformity of the laws which take place in the
production of similar effects; and from the simplicity of the causes
which produce the various phænomena. The most common views of nature,
however imperfect and of small extent, suggest the idea of the
government of a GOD, and every further discovery tends to confirm that
persuasion. The ancient philosophers, who scarce knew a single law by
which the bodies in the system are governed, still saw the DEITY in his
works: how visible therefore ought He to be to us, who are acquainted
with the laws by which the whole is directed. The same law takes place
in our system, between the periodic times and distances of every body
revolving about the same centre. Every body describes about its
respective centre equal areas in equal times. Every body is spherical.
Every planet, as far as our observations reach, is found to revolve
about an axis; and the axis of each is observed to continue parallel to
itself. Now as the circumstances which might have attended these bodies
are indefinite in variety, the uniform similarity which is found to
exist amongst them, is an irrefragable argument of design. To produce a
succession of day and night, either the sun must revolve every day about
the earth, or the earth must revolve about its axis: the latter is the
most simple cause; and, accordingly, we find that the regular return of
day and night is so produced. As far also as observations have enabled
us to discover, the return of day and night, in the planets, is produced
by the operation of a similar cause. It is also found, that the axis of
each planet is inclined to the plane of its orbit, by which a provision
is made for a variety of seasons; and by preserving the axis always
parallel to itself, summer and winter return at their stated periods.
Where there are such incontestable marks of design, there must be a
DESIGNER; and the unity of design through the whole system, proves it to
be the work of ONE. The general laws of nature shew the existence of a
Divine INTELLIGENCE, in a much stronger point of view, than any work of
man can prove him to have acted from intention; inasmuch as the
operations of the former are uniform, and subject to no variation;
whereas in the latter case, we see continual alterations of plan, and
deviations from established rules. And without this permanent order of
things, experience could not have directed man in respect to his future
operations. These fixed laws of nature, so necessary for us, is an
irresistible argument that the world is the work of a wise and
benevolent BEING. The laws of nature are the laws of GOD; and how far
soever we may be able to trace up causes, they must terminate in his
will. We see nothing in the heavens which argues imperfection; the whole
creation is stamped with the marks of DIVINITY.”—[See _A Complete System
of Astronomy_; by the Rev. S. Vince, A. M. F. R. S. &c. printed at
Cambridge, in 1799—vol. ii. p. 290, 291.]
None of the works of creation present to the contemplation of man
objects more worthy of the dignity of his nature, than those which
engage the attention of the astronomer. They have, interested men of the
sublimest genius, in all ages of the world: and the science of astronomy
is spoken of with admiration, by the most celebrated sages of antiquity.
Although no astronomer of our day, how enthusiastic soever he may be in
favour of his science, will be disposed to say with Anaxagoras, that the
purpose for which he himself or any other man was born, was, that he
might contemplate the stars; yet it does seem, as if the objects of this
science more naturally attracted the attention and employed the research
of elevated minds, than those things, within the narrow limits of this
world, an acquaintance with which constitutes the ordinary mass of human
knowledge. The disposition of man to direct his eyes frequently upwards,
and the faculty to do so, arising from his erect figure and the position
and structure of the organs of his vision, furnish no feeble argument in
proving, that this temporary lord of his fellow-beings on this globe has
nobler destinies, infinitely beyond them; being enabled and permitted by
the Author of his being, even while in this circumscribed state of his
existence, to survey those myriads of worlds which occupy the immensity
of space; to contemplate their nature, and the laws that govern them;
thence, to discern, with the eye of reason, the Great First Cause of
their being;[33] and thus having acquired, a juster knowledge of his own
nature, to grasp at an endless futurity for its existence.
-----
Footnote 33:
In Mr. Smart’s _Poetical Essay on the Immensity of the Supreme Being_,
after a glowing description of some of the admirable works of nature,
is this apt, though laconic address to the Atheist:—
“Thou ideot! that asserts, there is no God,
_View_, and be dumb for ever.”
-----
That the erect countenance and upward aspect of the human species were
his peculiar endowments by the Deity, for these purposes among others,
appears to have been the impression on the mind of Ovid, when he said:—
“Finxit in effigiem moderantum cuncta deorum;
Pronaque cum spectent animalia cætera terram,
Os homini sublime dedit, cælumque tueri
Jussit, et erectos ad sidera tollere vultus.”[34]
_Met._ i. 88.
-----
Footnote 34:
The poet gives a whimsical account of the first formation of man, out
of this earth, which is represented as being then new; and, having
been recently separated from the high æther, is therefore supposed as
yet holding some affinity with heaven, and retaining its seeds. He
describes the son of Japetus (Prometheus) moulding a portion of earth,
mixed with river-water, into the similitude of those heathen deities,
who were said to rule over all things.
A poetic translation into our own language, of the lines above quoted,
which exhibit “the godlike image,” thus formed, after its being
animated by the stolen fire of Prometheus, is comprehended in the
_italicised_ lines of the following passage, extracted from Mr.
Dryden’s versification of the first book of Ovid’s Metamorphoses; in
which the English poet has well preserved the beauty, the force, and
the sublimity of the thought, so finely expressed in the original:—
“A creature of a more exalted kind
Was wanting yet, and then was _Man_ design’d
Conscious of thought, of more capacious breast,
For empire form’d, and fit to rule the rest:
Whether with particles of heav’nly fire
The God of nature did his soul inspire;
Or earth, but now divided from the sky,
And pliant still, retain’d th’ ætherial energy:
Which wise _Prometheus_ temper’d into paste,
And, mixt with living streams, _the godlike image cast_:
_Thus, while the mute creation downward bend
Their sight, and to their earthly mother tend,
Man looks aloft, and with erected eyes
Beholds his own hereditary skies_.”
-----