New-York, _July 22, 1796_.
NEW-YORK: _+Printed by JOHN BULL, No. 115, Cherry-Street+, where every
Kind of Printing work is executed with the utmost Accuracy and
Dispatch.--+Subscriptions+ for this +Magazine+ (at 2s. per month) are
taken in at the Printing-Office, and by E. MITCHELL, Bookseller, No. 9,
Maiden-Lane._
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_UTILE DULCI._
THE NEW-YORK WEEKLY MAGAZINE;
or, Miscellaneous Repository.
+Vol. II.+] +Wednesday, August 3, 1796.+ [+No. 57.+
[[For sources, see the end of the e-text.]]
_+View+ of the STARRY HEAVENS._
(_Concluded from page 25._)
Each star, then, is not only a world, but also the center of a planetary
system. It is in this light we must consider the stars, which shine over
our heads in a winter night. They are distinguished from the planets by
their brilliancy, and because they never change their place in the sky.
According to their apparent size, they are divided into six classes,
which comprehend altogether about three thousand stars. But though they
have endeavoured to fix the exact number of them, it is certain they are
innumerable. The very number of stars sowed here and there, and which
the most piercing eye can with difficulty perceive, prove that it would
be in vain to attempt to reckon them. Telescopes indeed have opened to
us new points in the creation, since by their assistance millions of
stars are discovered. But it would be a very senseless pride in man to
try to fix the limits or the universe, by those of his telescope. If we
reflect on the distance between the fixed stars and our earth, we shall
have new cause to admire the greatness of the creation. Our senses alone
make us already know that the stars must be farther from us than the
planets. Their apparent littleness only proceeds from their distance
from the earth. And in reality, this distance cannot be measured: since
a cannon-ball, supposing it always to preserve the same degree of
swiftness, would scarce, at the end of six hundred thousand years, reach
the star nearest to our earth. What then must the stars be? Their
prodigious distance and their brightness tell us,---they are suns which
reflect as far as us, not a borrowed light, but their own light; suns,
which the Creator has sowed by millions in the immeasurable space; and
each of which is accompanied by several terrestrial globes, which it is
designed to illuminate.
In the mean time, all these observations, however surprising they are,
lead us, at the utmost, but to the first limits of the creation. If we
could transport ourselves above the moon; if we could reach the highest
star over our heads, we should discover new skies, new suns, new stars,
new systems of worlds, and perhaps still more magnificent. Even there,
however, the dominions of our great Creator would not end; and we should
find, with the greatest surprize, that we had only arrived at the
frontiers of the worldly space. But the little we do know of his works,
is sufficient to make us admire the infinite wisdom, power, and goodness
of our adorable Creator. Let us stop here, then, and reflect, how great
must be that Being who has created those immense globes! who has
regulated their course, and whose right hand directs and supports them!
And what is the clod of earth we inhabit, with the magnificent scene it
presents us, in comparison of the beauty of the firmament? If this earth
was annihilated, its absence would be no more observed than that of a
grain of sand from the sea-shore. What are provinces and kingdoms in
comparison of those worlds? Nothing but atoms which play in the air, and
are seen in the sun-beams. And what am I, when I reckon myself amongst
this infinite number of God’s creatures? How I am lost in my own
nothingness! But however little I appear in this, how great do I find
myself in other respects! “How beautiful this starry firmament, which
God has chosen for his throne! What is more admirable than the celestial
bodies! Their splendor dazzles me; their beauty enchants me. However,
all beautiful as it is, and richly adorned, yet is this sky void of
intelligence. It knows not its own beauty; whilst I, mere clay, whom God
has moulded with his hands, am endowed with sense and reason.” I can
contemplate the beauty of those shining orbs. Still more, I am already,
to a certain degree, acquainted with their sublime Author; and I partly
see some rays of his glory. I will endeavour to be more and more
acquainted with his works, and make it my employment, till by a glorious
change I rise above the starry regions, and enter the world of spirits.
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