28 ASTRONOMYANDTHEBIBLE
thosefilmystains inthedeeppureblueheaven,now
fallingonyoureye,hasbeentraversingspaceforun-
numberedyears.
"Wouldyougathersomeknowledgeoftheomnipo-
tenceofGod,weightheearthinwhichwedwell,then
count themillions of its inhabitants thathavecome
andgoneforthelastsixthousandyears. Unitetheir
strengthintoonearm,andtestitspowerinaneffort
tomovethisearth. Itcouldnotstiritasinglefoot
in athousand years; and yetunder the omnipotent
handofGod,notaminutepassesthattheearthdoes
not flyformore than athousand miles. Butthis is
amereatom;themostinsignificantpointamongHis
innumerableworlds. AtHisbiddingeveryplanetand
satelliteand comet,and thesun himself, flyonward
intheirappointedcourses. Hissinglearmguidesthe
millions of sweeping suns, and around His throne
circlesthegreatconstellationofunnumbereduniverses.
"Wouldyoucomprehendtheideaoftheomniscience
ofGod, rememberthatthehighestpinnacleofknowl-
edge reachedbythewholehumanrace, bythecom-
bined efforts of its brightest intellects, has enabled
the astronomer to compute approximately the per-
turbationsoftheplanetaryworlds. Hehaspredicted
roughly the return ofhalf a score of comets. But
God hascomputed themutual perturbations ofmil-
lionsofsuns,andplanetsandcometsandworldswith-
out number, through the ages that are passed and
throughouttheagesthatareyettocome,notapproxi-
mately,butwithperfectandabsoluteprecision. The
universe is inmotion—system rising above system.