power of rays of light transmitted from the sun: some divers were
working at Plymouth Breakwater; they were down in the diving-bell,
thirty feet below the surface of the water; but a convex glass, in the
upper part of the bell, concentrated the sun's rays full upon them, and
burned their caps. As I read this story, I thought it was a capital
illustration of the power there is in the gospel of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Some of our hearers are fully thirty feet under the waters of
sin, if they are not even deeper down than that; but, by the grace of
God, we will yet make them feel the blessed burning power of the truths
we preach, even if we do not succeed in setting them all on fire with
this powerful glass. Perhaps, when you were a boy, you had a
burning-glass, and when you were out with a friend who did not know what
you had in your pocket, while he was sitting very quietly by your side,
you took out your glass, and held it for a few seconds over the back of
his hand until he felt something rather hot just there. I like the man
who, in preaching, concentrates the rays of the gospel on a sinner till
he burns him. Do not scatter the beams of light; you can turn the glass
so as to diffuse the rays instead of concentrating them; but the best
way of preaching is to focus Jesus Christ, the Sun of Righteousness,
right on a sinner's heart. It is the best way in the world to get at
him; and if he is thirty feet under the water, this burning-glass will
enable you to reach him; only mind that you do not use your own candle
instead of the Sun, for that will not answer the same purpose.
Sometimes the sun suffers eclipse, as you know. The moon intrudes
between us and the sun, and then we cannot see the great orb of day. I
suppose we have all seen one total eclipse, and we may see another. It
is a very interesting sight; but it appears to me that people take a
great deal more notice of the sun when he is eclipsed than they do when
he is shining clearly. They do not stand looking at him, day after day,
when he is pouring forth his bright beams in unclouded glory; but as
soon as ever he is eclipsed, then they are out in their thousands, with
their glasses, and every little boy in the street has a fragment of
smoked glass through which he watches the eclipse of the sun.
Thus, brethren, I do not believe that our Lord Jesus Christ ever
receives so much attention from men as when he is set forth as the
suffering Saviour, evidently crucified among them. When the great
eclipse passed over the Sun of Righteousness, then all eyes were fixed
upon him, and well they might be. Do not fail to tell your hearers
continually about that awful eclipse on Calvary; but mind that you also
tell them all the effects of that eclipse, and that there will be no
repetition of that stupendous event.
Lo! the sun's eclipse is o'er;
Lo! he sets in blood no more.
Speaking of eclipses reminds me that there is, in the book I have
mentioned, a striking description of one given by a correspondent who
wrote to the astronomer Halley. He took his stand at Haradow Hill, close
to the east end of the avenue of Stonehenge, a very capital place for
observation, and there he watched the eclipse. He says of it: "We were
now enveloped in a total and palpable darkness, if I may be allowed the
expression. It came on rapidly, but I watched so attentively that I
could perceive its progress. It came upon us like a great black cloak
thrown over us, or like a curtain drawn from that side. The horses we
held by the bridle seemed deeply struck by it, and pressed closely to us
with marks of extreme surprise. As well as I could perceive, the
countenances of my friends wore a horrible aspect. It was not without an
involuntary exclamation of wonder that I looked around me at this
moment. It was the most awful sight I had ever beheld in my life."
So, I suppose, it must be in the spiritual realm. When the Sun of this
great world suffered eclipse, then were all men in darkness; and when
any dishonor comes upon the cross of Christ, or upon Christ himself,
then is each Christian himself in darkness of a horrible kind. He
cannot be in the light if his Lord and Master is in the shade.
One observer describes what he saw in Austria, where, it appears, all
the people made the eclipse a time for keeping holiday, and turned out
together on the plain with various modes of observing the wonderful
sight. This writer says: "The phenomenon, in its magnificence, had
triumphed over the petulance of youth, over the levity which some
persons assume as a sign of superiority, over the noisy indifference of
which soldiers usually make profession. A profound stillness also
reigned in the air; the birds had ceased to sing." The more curious
thing is that, in London, after an eclipse, when the cocks found that
the sun shone out again, they all began crowing as though they joyfully
thought that the daylight had broken through the gloom of night.
Yet this wonderful phenomenon does not appear to have always attracted
the attention of all persons who might have witnessed it. History says
that, at one time, there was a battle being fought, I think, in Greece,
and, during its progress, there came on a total eclipse of the sun; but
the warriors went on fighting all the same, indeed, they never noticed
the extraordinary occurrence. That shows us how strong passions may
make us forget surrounding circumstances, and it also teaches us how a
man's engagements on earth may make him oblivious of all that is
transpiring in the heavens. We read, just now, of how those horses, that
were standing idly on Salisbury Plain, trembled during the eclipse; but
another writer tells us that the horses in Italy, that were busily
occupied in drawing the carriages, do not appear to have taken the
slightest notice of the phenomenon, but to have gone on their way the
same as usual. Thus, the engagements of a worldly man are often so
engrossing in their character that they prevent him from feeling those
emotions which are felt by other men whose minds are more at liberty to
meditate upon them.
I met with a very pretty story concerning an eclipse, which you will
probably like to hear. A poor little girl, belonging to the commune of
Sièyes, in the Lower Alps, was tending her flock on the mountain-side at
six o'clock on a bright summer morning. The sun had risen, and was
dissipating the vapors of the night, and every one thought that there
would be a glorious, unclouded day; but gradually the light darkened
until the sun had wholly disappeared, and a black orb took the place of
the glowing disk, while the air became chill, and a mysterious gloom
pervaded the whole region. The little child was so terrified by the
circumstance, which was certainly unusual, that she began to weep, and
cried out loudly for help. Her parents, and other friends, who came at
her call, did not know anything about an eclipse, so they were also
astounded and alarmed; but they tried to comfort her as best they could.
After a short time, the darkness passed away from the face of the sun,
and it shone out as before, and then the little girl cried aloud, in the
_patois_ of the district, "O beautiful sun!" and well she might. When I
read the story, I thought that, when my heart had suffered eclipse, and
the presence of Christ had gone for a while, and then had come back
again, how beautiful the Sun seemed to me, even more bright and fair
than before the temporary darkness. Jesus seemed to shine on me with a
brighter light than ever before, and my soul cried out in an ecstasy of
delight, "O beautiful Sun of Righteousness!"
That story must, I think, close our illustrations derived from the sun;
for we want also to learn all we can from his planets, and if we intend
to pay a visit to them all, we shall have to travel far, and to travel
fast, too.
The nearest planet that revolves around the sun is MERCURY, which is
about 37,000,000 miles from the great luminary. Mercury, therefore,
receives a far greater allowance of light and heat from the sun than
comes to us upon the earth. It is believed that, even at the poles of
Mercury, water would always boil; that is to say, if the planet is
constituted at all as this world is. None of us could possibly live
there; but that is no reason why other people should not, for God could
make some of his creatures to live in the fire just as well as he could
make others to live out of it. I have no doubt that, if there are
inhabitants there, they enjoy the heat. In a spiritual sense, at any
rate, we know that men who live near to Jesus dwell in the divine flame
of love.
Mercury is a comparatively small planet; its diameter is about 2960
miles, while that of the earth is 7975. Mercury rushes round the sun in
eighty-eight days, traveling at the rate of nearly 110,000 miles in an
hour, while the earth traverses only 65,000 miles in the same time.
Fancy crossing the Atlantic in about two or three minutes! It is an
instance of the wisdom of God that Mercury appears to be the densest of
the planets. You see, that part of a machine in which there is the most
rapid whirl, and the greatest wear and tear, ought to be made of the
strongest material; and Mercury is made very strong in order to bear the
enormous strain of its swift motion, and the great heat to which it is
subjected.
This is an illustration of how God fits every man for his place; if he
means me to be Mercury--the messenger of the gods, as the ancients
called him--and to travel swiftly, he will give me a strength
proportioned to my day. In the formation of every planet, adapting it to
its peculiar position, there is a wonderful proof of the power and
forethought of God; and in a similar manner does he fit human beings for
the sphere they are each called to occupy.
I like to see in Mercury a picture of the child of God who is full of
grace. Mercury is always near the sun; indeed, so near that it is itself
very seldom seen. I think Copernicus said that he never did see it,
although he had long watched for it with great care, and he deeply
regretted that he had to die without having ever seen this planet.
Others have observed it, and it has been quite a treat for them to be
able to watch its revolutions.
Mercury is usually lost in the rays of the sun; and that is where you
and I ought to be, so close to Christ, the Sun of Righteousness, in our
life and in our preaching, that the people who are trying to observe
our movements can scarcely see us at all. Paul's motto must be
ours--"Not I, but Christ."
Mercury, also, in consequence of being so near the sun, is apparently
the least understood of any of the planets. It has, perhaps, given more
trouble to the astronomers than any other member of the heavenly family;
they have paid great attention to it, and tried to find out all about
it; but they have had a very difficult task, for it is generally lost in
the solar glory, and never seen in a dark portion of the heavens. So, I
believe, brethren, that the nearer we live to Christ, the greater
mystery shall we be to all mankind. The more we are lost in his
brightness, the less will they be able to understand us.
If we were always what we should be, men would see in us an illustration
of the text, "Ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God."
Like Mercury, we ought also to be so active in our appointed orbit that
we should not give observers time to watch us in any one position; and
next, we should be so absorbed in the glory of Christ's presence, that
they would not be able to perceive us.
When Mercury is seen from the earth, it is never visible in its
brightness, for its face is always turned toward the sun. I am afraid
that, whenever any of us are seen very much, we usually appear only as
black spots; when the preacher is very prominent in a sermon, there is
always a darkness. I like gospel preaching to be all Christ, the Sun of
Righteousness, and no black spot at all; nothing of ourselves, but all
of the Lord Jesus. If there are any inhabitants of Mercury, the sun must
appear to them four or five times as large as he does to us; the
brightness would be insufferable to our eyes. It would be a very
splendid sight if one could gaze upon it; and thus, the nearer you get
to Christ, the more you see of him, and the more he grows in your
esteem.
* * * * *
The next planet to Mercury is VENUS; it is about 66,000,000 miles from
the sun, and is a little smaller than the earth, its diameter being 7510
miles, compared with our 7975. Venus goes round the sun in 225 days,
traveling at the rate of 80,000 miles an hour. When the Copernican
system of astronomy was fairly launched upon the world, one of the
objections to it was stated thus: "It is clear that Venus does not go
round the sun, because, if it does, it must present the same aspect as
the moon--namely, it must sometimes be a crescent, at other times a
half-moon, or it must assume the form known as _gibbous_, and sometimes
it must appear as a complete circle. But," said the objector, pointing
to Venus, "she is always the same size; look at her, she is not at all
like the moon." This was a difficulty that some of the earlier
astronomers could not explain; but when Galileo was able to turn his
newly made telescope to the planet, what did he discover? Why, that
Venus does pass through similar phases to those of the moon! We cannot
always see the whole of it enlightened, yet I suppose it is true that
the light of Venus always appears about the same to us. You will
perceive in a moment why that is; when the planet's face is turned
toward us, it is at the greatest distance from the earth; consequently,
the light that reaches us is no more than when it is closer, but has its
face at least partly turned away from us. To my mind, the two facts are
perfectly reconcilable; and so is it, I believe, with some of the
doctrines of grace that perplex certain people. They say, "How do you
make these two things agree?" I reply, "I do not know that I am bound to
prove how they agree. If God had told me I would tell you; but as he has
not done so, I must leave the matter where the Bible leaves it." I may
not have discovered the explanation of any apparent difference between
the two truths, and yet, for all that, the two things may be perfectly
consistent with each other.
Venus is both the morning star and "the star of the evening, beautiful
star." It has been called Lucifer, and Phosphorus, the light-bringer,
and also Hesperus, the vesper star. You perhaps remember how Milton, in
"Paradise Lost," refers to this double character and office of Venus:
Fairest of stars! last in the train of night,
If better thou belong not to the dawn;
Sure pledge of day, that crown'st the smiling morn
With thy bright circlet: praise him in thy sphere,
While day arises, that sweet hour of prime.
Our Lord Jesus Christ calls himself "the bright and morning star."
Whenever he comes into the soul, he is the sure harbinger of that
everlasting light which shall go no more down forever. Now that Jesus,
the Sun of Righteousness, has gone from the gaze of man, you and I must
be like evening stars, keeping as close as we can to the great central
Sun, and letting the world know what Jesus was like by our resemblance
to him. Did he not say to his disciples, "Ye are the light of the
world"?
* * * * *
The next little planet that goes round the sun is THE EARTH. Its
distance from the sun varies from about ninety-two to ninety-five
millions of miles. Do not be discouraged, gentlemen, in your hopes of
reaching the sun, because you are nothing like so far away as the
inhabitants of Saturn; if there are any residents there, they are about
ten times as far from the sun as we are. Still, I do not suppose you
will ever take a seat in Sol's fiery chariot; at least not in your
present embodied state; it is far too warm a place for you to be at home
there. The earth is somewhat larger than Venus, and it takes much longer
to go round the sun; it is twelve months on its journey, or, speaking
exactly, 365 days, 6 hours, 9 minutes, and 10 seconds. This world is a
slow-going concern; and I am afraid it is less to the glory of God than
any other world that he has made. I have not seen it from a distance;
but I should suspect that it never shines anything like so brightly as
Venus; for, through sin, a cloud of darkness has enveloped it. I suppose
that, in the millennial days, the curtain will be drawn back, and a
light will be thrown upon the earth, and that it will then shine to the
glory of God like its sister stars that have never lost their pristine
brightness. I think there have been some curtains drawn up already;
every sermon, full of Christ, that we preach, rolls away some of the
mists and fogs from the surface of the planet; at any rate, morally and
spiritually, if not naturally.
Still, brethren, though the earth travels slowly, when compared with
Mercury and Venus, yet, as Galileo said, it does move, and at a pretty
good rate, too. I dare say, if you were to walk for twenty minutes, and
you knew nothing about the speed at which the earth is traveling, you
would be surprised if I assured you that you had in that short space of
time gone more than 20,000 miles; but it would be a fact. This book,
which has already given us much useful information, says: "It is a truly
astonishing thought that, 'awake, asleep, at home, abroad,' we are
constantly carried round with the terrestrial mass, at the rate of
eleven miles a minute, and are, at the same time, traveling with it in
space with a velocity of sixty-six thousand miles an hour. Thus, during
the twenty minutes consumed in walking a mile from our thresholds, we
are silently conveyed more than twenty thousand miles from one portion
of space to another; and, during a night of eight hours' rest, or
tossing to and fro, we are unconsciously translated through an extent
equal to twice the distance of the lunar world."
We do not take any notice of this movement, and so it is that little
things, which are near and tangible, often seem more notable than great
things which are more remote. This world impresses many men with far
greater force than the world to come has ever done, because they look
only upon the things that are seen and temporal. "But," perhaps you say,
"we do not feel ourselves moving." No, but you are moving, although you
are not conscious of it. So, I think that, sometimes, when a believer in
Christ does not feel himself advancing in divine things, he need not
fret on that account; I am not certain that those who imagine themselves
to be growing spiritually are really doing so. Perhaps they are only
growing a cancer somewhere; and its deadly fibers make them fancy there
is a growth within them. Alas! so there is; but it is a growth unto
destruction.
When a man thinks that he is a full-grown Christian, he reminds me of a
poor boy whom I used to see. He had such a splendid head for his body
that he had often to lay it on a pillow, for it was too weighty for his
shoulders to carry, and his mother told me that, when he tried to stand
up, he often tumbled down, over-balanced by his heavy head. There are
some people who appear to grow very fast, but they have water on the
brain, and are out of due proportion; but he who truly grows in grace
does not say, "Dear me! I can feel that I am growing; bless the Lord!
Let's sing a hymn, 'I'm a-growing! I'm a-growing!'" I have sometimes
felt that I was growing smaller, brethren; I think that is very
possible, and a good thing, too. If we are very great in our own
estimation, it is because we have a number of cancers, or foul
gatherings, that need to be lanced, so as to let out the bad matter that
causes us to boast of our bigness.
It is a good thing that we do not feel ourselves moving, for, as I
before reminded you, we walk by faith, not by sight. Yet I know that we
are moving, and I am persuaded that I shall return, as nearly as the
earth's revolution permits, to this exact spot this day twelve-month. If
they are looking down at me from Saturn, they will spy me out somewhere
near this same place, unless the Lord should come in the meantime, or he
should call me up to be with him.
If we did feel the world move, it would probably be because there was
some obstruction in the heavenly road; but we go on so softly, and
gently, and quietly that we do not perceive it. I believe that growth in
grace is very much after the same fashion. A babe grows, and yet does
not know that he grows; the seed unconsciously grows in the earth, and
so we are developing in the divine life until we come to the fulness of
the stature of men in Christ Jesus.
* * * * *
Waiting upon the earth is THE MOON. In addition to her duty as one of
the planets revolving round the sun, she has the task of attending upon
the earth, doing much useful service for it, and at night lighting it
with her great reflector-lamp, according to the allowance of oil she has
available for shedding her beams upon us. The moon also operates upon
the earth by her powers of attraction; and as the water is the more
mobile part of our planet, the moon draws it toward herself, so making
the tides; and those tides help to keep the whole world in healthful
motion; they are a sort of life-blood to it.
The moon undergoes eclipse, sometimes very frequently, and a great deal
more often than the sun; and this phenomenon has occasioned much terror.
Among some tribes, an eclipse of the moon is an occasion for the
greatest possible grief. Sir R. Schomberg thus describes a total lunar
eclipse in San Domingo: "I stood alone upon the flat roof of the house
which I inhabited, watching the progress of the eclipse. I pictured in
imagination the lively and extraordinary scene which I once witnessed
in the interior of Guiana, among the untutored and superstitious
Indians, how they rushed out of their huts when the first news of the
eclipse came, gibbered in their tongue, and, with violent
gesticulations, threw up their clenched fists toward the moon. When, as
on this occasion, the disk was perfectly eclipsed, they broke out in
moanings, and sullenly squatted upon the ground, hiding their faces
between their hands. The females remained, during this strange scene,
within their huts. When, shining like a sparkling diamond, the first
portion of the moon, that had disencumbered itself from the shadow,
became visible, all eyes were turned toward it. They spoke to each other
with subdued voices; but their observations became louder and louder,
and they quitted their stooping position as the light increased. When
the bright disk announced that the monster which wanted to stifle the
Queen of Night had been overcome, the great joy of the Indians was
expressed in that peculiar whoop which, in the stillness of the night,
may be heard for a great distance."
Want of faith causes the most extraordinary fear, and produces the most
ridiculous action. A man who believes that the moon, though temporarily
hidden, will shine forth again, looks upon an eclipse as a curious
phenomenon worthy of his attention, and full of interest; but the man
who really fears that God is blowing out the light of the moon, and that
he shall never see its bright rays any more, feels in a state of
terrible distress. Perhaps he will act as the Hindus and some of the
Africans do during an eclipse: they beat old drums, and blow bullocks'
horns, and make all manner of frightful noises, to cause the dragon who
is supposed to have swallowed the moon to vomit it up again. That is
their theory of an eclipse, and they act accordingly; but once know the
truth, and know especially the glorious truth that "all things work
together for good to them that love God, to them that are the called
according to his purpose," and we shall not be afraid of any dragon
swallowing the moon, nor of anything else that the fears of men have
made them imagine. If we are ignorant of the truth, every event that
occurs, which may be readily enough accounted for from God's point of
view, may cause the utmost terror, and drive us, perhaps, into the
wildest follies.
* * * * *
The next planet to the earth is MARS; fiery Mars, generally shining with
a ruddy light. It used to be thought that the color of Mars's "blood-red
shield" was caused by the absorption of the solar rays; but this idea
has been refuted, and it is now believed to be due to the color of its
soil. According to the former idea, an angry man, who is like Mars, the
god of war, must be one who has absorbed all other colors for his own
use, and only shows the red rays to others; while the more modern
notion, that the soil of the planet gives it its distinctive color,
teaches us that, where there is a fiery nature, there will be a warlike
exhibition of it unless it is restrained by grace. Mars is about
140,000,000 miles from the sun; it is much smaller than our earth, its
equatorial diameter being 4363 miles. Traveling at the rate of 53,600
miles an hour, it takes 687 days to complete its revolution round the
sun.
* * * * *