136 ASTRONOMYANDTHEBIBLE
astronomywhichisfarbeyondhumanideasorhuman
conception, andthatmodernastronomy itselfis only
beginningtoappreciate. I believeGodhasheldthat
truthbeforemaneversincemantookhisplaceupon
this earth; and nearly four thousand years ago He
gaveitto Abraham and hisseed, coupled with the
greattruthofthosewhoshouldbesaved.
*'Ofthenumber and economy of the starswhich
composethisgroup [theMilky Way],we have very
little exact knowledge. Herschel informs us that,
withhisbestglasses,hesawandcountedfivehundred
andeighty-eightstarsinasinglespot,withoutmoving
histelescope;andasthegradualmotionoftheearth
carriedtheseoutofview,andintroducedotherssuc-
cessivelyin theirplaces, while hekept histelescope
steadilyfixedtoonepoint,therepassedoverhisfield
ofvisiononehundredandsixteenthousandstars;and
atanothertime,inforty-oneminutes,nolessthantwo
hundredandfifty-eightthousand. Atotherobserva-
tions,whenexaminingasectionof the MilkyWay,
apparently not more than one yard in breadth and
sixinlength,he discoveredfiftythousandstarslarge
enough to be distinctly counted; and he suspected
twiceasmanymore,which,forwantofsufficientlight
inhistelescope,hesawonlynowandthen."
—''Geog-
raphyoftheHeavens"page142.
Letusinimaginationvisitsomelargeobservatory.
"Weenterthebuilding,lanterninhand,androlling
openalarge segmentof thedome, standbeside the
telescope underthe starry sky. Lookingup at the
glorious spectacleofthemidnight heavens, werecall