Astronomy and the Bible;

THEFIXEDSTARS 155

allthehostsoftheheavenareinmotion? Anditsays
morethansimplythattheyareinmotion;"thatbring-
ethout theirhosthynumber." Theyall move;but
more,theymovebynumber;itis amathematicalaf-
fair. And how fully has astronomy demonstrated
the truth of this! Men used all the mathematical
knowledgeintheirpossessioninattemptingto follow
and tracethe paths of theheavenly bodies; and in
morethanoneinstance,theywerecompelledtoinvent
newbranches ofmathematics, toconceivenewmeth-
odsofcalculation. Thuswerebornanalyticalgeome-
tryandcalculus.
Inorder forustounderstand thisone expression,
"bringethouttheirhost bynumber,"wemust know
somethingofthemightyworkofKepler,andofthe
threelawsofmotionwhichhediscovered;ofNewton,
and ofthe lawsof gravitationwhich he taught the
world. Infact,wehavebeforeus,inthesewordsin
theScriptures,allofmathematicalastronomy.
But men had no more than discoveredthe move-
mentsoftheheavenlybodies,thanseemingirregulari-
tiesandperturbationsbegantocreatedoubtsastothe
stabilityoftheuniverse. Foranumberofyears,men
thought that the universe had been so badly con-
structed,andwassucharicketyconcern,thatitcould
nothold together longenough toget fairly started.
Againtheyshowedhowlittlefaiththeyhadinthat
Wordwhichdeclares,"ForthatHeisstronginpower

;

notone faileth,"orastheGermanhasit,"Hisability
andstrongpoweraresogreatthatnotoneofthemcan
bewanting." Isa. 40 :26. Therewereseemingirregu-