212 ASTRONOMYANDTHEBIBLE
everyoneofthemhasitsordainedpath intheheav-
ens, fixedand settled for eternal ages. Theirpath
isasdefiniteasthetrackthatthetrainrunson. But
thereisonegreatdifferencebetweenthetrainandthe
stars. Thetrainsometimes leavesitstrackandpiles
up in ruin. Not so with the stars. No star ever
leavesits path. Andnopath everfailsastar. Be-
causeof themightoftheCreator, notone ofthem
evercanbemissing.
Butthereisanotherthingwemustaddtothepic-
ture. The paths of the stars are not parallel lines.
The stars are moving in many different directions,
untiltheyseemtoweavein andout,couldwewatch
them for ages, like a mass ofbees around a hive.
The asteroids, or minor planets, between Mars and
Jupiter, areso thick, andtheirorbits sointerwoven,
thatifthoseorbitswerewires,nobodywouldbeable
to untangle them. Yet the astronomer sees these
asteroids, every particleof star dust—for they are
not much better—keeping their places in their ap-
pointedpaths, never changingfrom them,never col-
Hdingor interfering, an object lesson close at hand
ofwhatistakingplaceona largerscalethroughout
thestarryuniverse.
But allthis wouldbe simply impossible werenot
Godable toread the future, andsee and determine
whereeachheavenly bodyshallbeinallthecoming
ages,and knowthatthey cannevercollide orinter-
ferewithoneanother, orso settletoonesideofthe
universeastomakeitoverbalancedorunstable. As-
tronomers,bycombiningthehighestknowledgegained