18 ASTRONOMYAND THEBIBLEinrelationtothoseprinciples,thewordsoftheBible,—theseareouraimsinthisbook. Suchaviewwillnot
narrowourconceptionsofastronomy. Weshallsee,
beforewearethroughwiththestudy,thatonlythus
canwecomprehendthegrandeur,thedignity,thesub-
limity, theupliftingurge, of this important science.
Thus viewingit, weare carriedback to theages
whentheuniversebegan. Weviewthedawnofcrea-
tion. Wehearthefirstwhisperofthecreativeword.
Weseethefirstappearingsofthematerialworldunder
themanifestationsofdivineenergy.
Thus,too,welearnhowthemightyuniverseissus-
tained. We contemplate its complicated mechanism
of wheel within wheel rolling on in the deeps of
space,asage followsage. Wegazewith eagereyes
intotheagestocome. Webeholdorderandsystem
andeveradvancingvarietyandmagnitude. Wepon-
derthemightofimmensityandthegreatnessofeter-
nity. The finitemind expands, seekingevermore to
graspthemeasuresoftheinfinite.
Were it notforthe Bible, our conceptionswould
take intoolittle, eventhoughwemightbe aidedby
allthemeansandmethodsofmodernastronomy. In
theWord, our vagueguesses and gropingquestions
are answeredbythemost daringof revelations,the
grandest of delineations, the most sublime of state-
ments.
Indeed, no one can rightlyunderstand astronomy,
aside from the Bible. This is paramountly true,
whether we contemplate the beginnings of things,
"when themorning stars sang together, and all the