Astronomy and the Bible;

THEIMPRESSOFLIGHT^93

axisandbytheyearlyjourneyinits orbit,isturned
tothesun. Andthesuntouchestheearthwithlight,
andleavesthereitsimpression,evenasthesealtouches
andimpressestheclay.
Andnow,havingstudiedthispassagewhichdeclares
that therelation ofearthand sun isthat ofclayto
seal,letusreadafewlinesfromanotedscientist,and
see how nearly the same idea is expressed byhim,
thoughnoonewouldsupposethatthisversefromthe
Biblewasinhismind

:

"Our worldis ahalting place where this energy
[from the sun] is conditioned. Here the Proteus
workshisspells;oneselfsameessencetakesamillion
shapes andhues, and finallydissolves into itsprimi-
tive and almost formless form. The sun comes to
usas heat;he quitsusas heat;andbetweenhisen-
trance and departure the multiform powers of our
globe appear. They are all special forms of solar
power,—the molds into which the strengthis tem-
porarilypoured, inpassingfrom itssource through
infinitude/'—JohnTyndalL
Though these two illustrations are not identical,
theyare aimed atthe samegreat truth. The Bible
speaksofearth'smyriadformsastheresponseofclay
toseal;theyarethestampofthesunlight uponthe
earth. Thescientistcallstheseformsmoldsintowhich
the sunlight is poured. Doubtless Tyndall himself
wouldadmitthattheBible illustrationgives far the
truerconception. Scientistsnevergrowtiredoftell-
inghowmuchwe receive from the sun. I quote a
fewparagraphsfromapopularbook

: