Astronomy and the Bible;

116 ASTRONOMYANDTHEBIBLE

orbitoftheearthwerelightedupintoaglobeoffire
600 millions of miles incircumference, it wouldbe
seenbytheneareststaronlyasatwinklingatom;and
to anobserverplacedatthis distance, oursun,with
itswholeretinue ofplanetaryworlds, wouldoccupy
aspacescarcelyexceedingthethicknessofafiberof
aspider'sweb."

—

Burritt.
Thuswhole systems,asthatofour sun,"dwindle
tomerepinpoints"asviewedfromsomedistantfixed
star. Thisiswhatastronomysays; buttheWordof
Godgoesfurther,foritmentionsallthevisiblestars
ofheaven,and assertsthatthese, allthatare within
ourview, arebuttheextremities ofthelinesof His
works—thatis,merepoints,asseenfromtheimmense
distancesofHisuniverse. Notmerelythatthewhole
spaceincludedwithintheorbitofNeptuneis amere
extremityofalineasseenfromsomedistantconfine
ofspace,butthatallthevisibleheavensarebutmere
points whencomparedwiththerestof God'sworks.
And all this wasstatedas longago as the daysof
Job. In spiteofthe gigantic strides of modernas-
tronomy,theoldBibleisstillahead,andsofarahead
thatscience maywell despair of ever overtakingit.
Gettingsomeideaoftheimportofparallax,weare
better ableto understand James i:17. These con-
siderations impart a force and sublimity to the ex-
pressionoftheapostle,whichnopowerofv/ordscould
improve. In thepassage, it is stated literallythat
withGodthere"isnoparallaxnorshadowofturning."
"Asiftheapostlehadsaid,peradventure,thatintrav-
elingmillions and millions ofmiles throughthe re-